earliest times of the world, and of reasoning exactly as they must have done. But as I have already made great progress in deciphering words, I could, of course, if assisted with public opinion, make a great deal more. Indeed, I am induced to believe that I might in a short time, with this powerful help, put every body in the way of deciphering with facility the words of all languages, As to the advantages to be derived from such knowledge I need say nothing, for they must rush upon every mind, they are so numerous and so evident. And can any body who has examined minutely the many instances I have already given of the manner in which the hidden meaning of words may be clearly discovered, without naming the many more which I am now about to offer, entertain a doubt as to the truth of my discovery in this respect, or as to the possibility of bringing this part of the science of languages to the greatest perfection? It is as evident as that one and one make two, that every word in every language in the world, carries in itself its own history and definition; for to suppose that men did not in the beginning of time attach to words a meaning as often as they made them, were to suppose them not only greatly inferior in wisdom to all human beings now living, but that they must not have been of the same species; since in our times there is no man, no matter how ignorant, dull, or narrow-minded he may be, that ever thinks of giving a name to a new object without attaching some meaning to that

name. But by supposing men to have been in ancient times of minds similar to our own, we are obliged to believe that their words must have been significant, and that we may consequently, by our knowing how to decipher them, discover a great deal of the primitive state of the world, and how one language has been made to vary so as to appear a vast number of other languages.

As many of the instances of the meaning of words which I am now about to give, are far more difficult than any yet given, I need not entreat the reader to be slow and attentive. For as my great desire is that every body should know as much as I do myself of this part of my discovery, I give, in addition to the meaning of words, the train of thought and reasoning by which I have been guided, to the end that the reader — should he feel so inclined-may, in the pursuit of similar knowledge, adopt the same method, in case he can find none better of his own.

In the opening of this work I have frequently referred to learned authorities to prove that of the science of grammar nothing whatever has been hitherto known; and it was most requisite that I should then do so, as the contrary opinion with regard to our knowledge of this science, has till now prevailed. But as every body must be aware that with words and letters, as I have in the following pages to consider them, the learned have not even affected an acquaintance, there will be no necessity for encroaching upon the short limits

within which I am now obliged to keep, by making numerous references and quotations to prove what nobody denies. Even such persons as know little or nothing of works on language, need not be told that of the origin of words and letters, as at present shown, nothing till now could have been known; or if so, the learned have tried to keep the secret to themselves, since nobody has been the wiser for their wisdom. For those persons must be aware, that as such knowledge is the very elements of language, it could not, had it existed, have escaped finding its way into school books, with whichfrom their being the first employed to communicate instruction-all are familiar. And as the latter observation will apply to all the preceding parts of this work, it may serve to show such persons as are not intimate with learned disquisitions on grammar, how far we have been hitherto justified in our pretensions to an acquaintance with its science.

As a knowledge of the Greek characters is alone sufficient to enable every body to understand the following account given of them, they are, for the benefit of such readers as have never studied Greek, set down here, with their names and the corresponding letters of the Roman alphabet:

The first letter of the Greek alphabet is named Alpha (in the Greek characters Αλφα), and it bears two forms, A and a. The learned know very well, from their perceiving it to stand first in the alphabet, that, of the twenty-four letters in the alphabet, it must be certainly the first; but their knowledge of it extends no farther, if we except that they are also aware of its being dissimilar from other letters in form and sound. Thus, why it stands first any more than the last, or why it has

these two forms, and how it came by them, or why it is called Alpha, any more than abba or acca, or any other word in the world beginning with an ɑ, or what its two syllables signify, they have not the most distant notion. Yet Alpha is, of all learned words, one of the most important and venerable in the world. In order to discover what has been thus unknown of this letter, let us begin by endeavouring to find out what it means. Its first syllable does not, I know very well, belong to the Greek language more than to any other; but no matter to what language it belongs—that is, to what people since it makes complete sense by itself, it is, for the present, to be considered as one word. If, by this method, we can discover what Alpha means, we may afterwards inquire more minutely into its first syllable. As the ph in this word has the sound of a single ƒ, we are also for the present to consider it as such. If ea at the end be not a modern addition that is, a word added to Alpha, only about three thousand years agoit must have once stood first; and then the analysis of this word ought to be ea-al-if, which would mean "the first whole life." If we suppose Alpha to be another name for the Divinity, such a meaning as "the first whole life" will be very appropriate. This meaning may be even found by analysing thus, alip-vie-ea (all high life it), that is, "it all the life above;" or by allowing ea to have preceded Al, thus, ea al-ip-vie (the whole high life), the meaning will be still the same. Nor is this definition of Alpha