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VII.

they employed in Speech. By being reduced LECT. to this fimplicity, the art of Writing was brought to its highest state of perfection; and, in this state, we now enjoy it in all the countries of Europe.

To whom we are indebted for this fublime and refined discovery, does not appear. Concealed by the darkness of remote antiquity, the great inventor is deprived of those honours which would still be paid to his memory, by all the lovers of knowledge and learning. It appears from the books which Mofes has written, that, among the Jews, and probably among the Egyptians, letters had been invented prior to his age. The universal tradi

tion among the antients is, that they were first imported into Greece by Cadmus the Phoenician; who, according to the common system of chronology, was contemporary with Joshua; according to Sir Ifaac Newton's fyftem, contemporary with King David. As the Phoenicians are not known to have been the inventors of any art or science, though, by means of their extenfive commerce, they propagated the discoveries made by other nations, the most probable and natural account of the origin of alphabetical characters is, that they took rife in Egypt, the first civilized kingdom of which we have any authentic accounts, and the great fource of arts and polity among the antients.

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LECT. In that country, the favourite ftudy of hieroglyphical characters, had directed much attention to the art of Writing. Their hieroglyphics are known to have been intermixed with abbreviated fymbols, and arbitrary marks; whence, at last, they caught the idea of contriving marks, not for things merely, but for founds. Accordingly, Plato (in Pucedro) exprefsly attributes the invention of letters to Theuth, the Egyptian, who is fuppofed to have been the Hermes, or Mercury, of the Greeks. Cadmus himself, though he paffed from Phoenicia to Greece, yet is affirmed, by feveral of the antients, to have been originally of Thebes in Egypt. Moft probably, Mofes carried with him the Egyptian letters into the land of Canaan; and there being adopted by the Phoenicians, who inhabited part of that country, they were tranfmitted into Greece.

THE alphabet which Cadmus brought into Greece was imperfect, and is faid to have contained only fixteen letters. The reft were afterwards added, according as figns for proper founds were found to be wanting. It is curious to obferve, that the letters which we ufe at this day, can be traced back to this very alphabet of Cadmus. The Roman alphabet, which obtains with us, and with most of the European nations, is plainly formed on the Greek, with a few variations. And all learned

men

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men obferve, that the Greek characters, efpe- LECT. cially according to the manner in which they are formed in the oldest infcriptions, have a remarkable conformity with the Hebrew or Samaritan characters, which, it is agreed, are the fame with the Phoenician, or the alphabet of Cadmus. Invert the Greek characters from left to right, according to the Phoenician and Hebrew manner of Writing, and they are nearly the fame. Befides the conformity of figure, the names or denominations of the letters, alpha, beta, gamma, &c. and the order in which the letters are arranged, in all the feveral alphabets, Phoenician, Hebrew, Greek, and Roman, agree fo much, as amounts to a demonstration, that they were all derived originally from the fame fource. An invention fo useful and fimple, was greedily received by mankind, and propagated with speed and facility through 'many different nations.

THE letters were, originally, written from the right hand towards the left; that is, in a contrary order to what we now practife. This manner of Writing obtained among the Affyrians, Phoenicians, Arabians, and Hebrews; and from fome very old infcriptions, appears to have obtained alfo among the Greeks. Afterwards, the Greeks adopted a new method, writing their lines alternately from the

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LECT. right to the left, and from the left to the right, which was called Bouftrophedon; or, writing after the manner in which oxen plow the ground. Of this, feveral fpecimens still remain; particularly, the infcription on the famous Sigæan monument; and down to the days of Solon, the legislator of Athens, this continued to be the common method of Writing. At length, the motion from the left hand to the right being found more natural and commodious, the practice of Writing, in this direction, prevailed throughout all the countries of Europe.

WRITING Was long a kind of engraving. Pillars, and tables of ftone, were first employed for this purpose, and afterwards, plates of the fofter metals, fuch as lead. In proportion as Writing became more common, lighter and more portable fubftances were employed. The leaves, and the bark of certain trees, were used in fome countries; and in others, tablets of wood, covered with a thin coat of foft wax, on which the impreffion was made with a ftylus of iron. In later times, the hides of animals, properly prepared, and polished into parchment, were the most common materials. Our present method of writing on paper, is an invention of no greater antiquity than the fourteenth century.

THYS

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THUS I have given fome account of the LECT. Progress of these two great arts, Speech and Writing; by which men's thoughts are communicated, and the foundation laid for all knowledge and improvement. Let us conclude the fubject, with comparing in a few words, fpoken Language, and written Language; or words uttered in our hearing, with words reprefented to the eye; where we fhall find feveral advantages and disadvantages to be balanced on both fides.

THE advantages of Writing above Speech are, that Writing is both a more extenfive, and a more permanent method of communication. More extenfive; as it is not confined within the narrow circle of those who hear our words, but, by means of written characters, we can send our thoughts abroad, and propagate them through the world; we can lift our voice, fo as to speak to the most diftant regions. of the earth. More permanent alfo ; as it prolongs this voice to the most diftant ages; it gives us the means of recording our fentiments to futurity, and of perpetuating the inftructive memory of paft tranfactions. It likewife affords this advantage to fuch as read, above fuch as hear, that, having the written characters before their eyes, they can arreft the fense of the writer. They can paufe, and revolve, and compare, at their leifure, one paffage with an

other;

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