like a very hard x, as in Xerxes, Xenophon.

Y, the form of this letter is borrowed from the Saxon alphabet, wherein it is expreffed with a dot over it thus y.. Its found is generally like an ; the Goths ufe it in the fame manner, and their character for it refembles our capital Y. It never occurs in the middle of words, unlefs in fuch, as are derived from the Greeks, as in fyftem. Hence fome, who are fond of affecting fuperior knowlege, among which we may reckon the Scots, pronounce thefe words, as if written with a u, as fyftem, is by them pronounced fuftem. At the end of a word this letter founds like an e, as in city, pity, integrity. It has been much questioned whether this letter be a vowel or a confonant; they who infift upon its being a vowel fay, that the fame found which we exprefs by the initial y, our Saxon ancestors, in many inftances, expreffed by the vowel e, as eower, which is founded your; and by the vowel i, as i founded yes, and iong, founded young they add, that in the word yew, they has precifely the fame found with i in the word view; now as the i is acknowleged to be a vowel in the latter, they afk how they can poffibly be a confonant in the former, when it has the very fame found? Its initial found, fay they, is generally like that of ee nearly; it is formed by the opening of the mouth without any motion or contact of the parts;

I

and, in a word, has every property of a vowel, and not one of a confonant. In reply, we are told, that when y follows a confonant, it is a vowel when it comes before either a vowel or a diphthong it is a confo

nant.

That it may have this double property may be perceived from the different pronounciation of y in city, and in ye, young or yield. To this may be fubjoined the obfervation made with refpect to w; that it follows a vowel without any hiatus, or difficulty of utterance, as in rofy youth, vaftly yellow wherein the difference of founds between the y at the end and that at the beginning cannot efcape notice.

Z, the ufual name for this letter, izzard, indicates its found, which is . that of s hard; it has the fame relation to s as to f, being a thicker. and coarfer expreffion of it; and is uttered by a clofer compreffion of the palate by the tongue than the s is, as in freeze, graze.

Thus we have finished our remarks

upon the English alphabet, and in beginning with fimple founds and the elements of words, have imitated the progrefs of nature in her attempts after fpeech; the infant at firit utters fimple founds; he then unites them into fyllables, from fyllables he proceeds to words, and from words to fentences. My next fhall treat of fyllables. I am, Yours,

W. R.

me.

Her

Her brilliant, but fierce, eyes darted on all fides angry looks: the fixed her eyes on me the moment the perceived me! Her treffes hung loose ly on her fhoulders and neck: fhe appeared to me majestic as Juno; with her right hand the shook a javelin, in her left fhe held a bow. I trembled at the fight of this haughty beauty, and with a timid air held down my eyes: for while I perceived a javelin in her hand, I was afraid of offending by an indifcreet look. At length I addrefs'd her in thefe words. "Be not difpleafed, moft beautiful nymph, to fee me fo confounded! An unexperienced youth, I am a fubject of the Cytherean goddefs; I have never before beheld the menacing eyes of a nymph, nor bows or arrows in the hands of a fair one. Among us no frowning beauty is ever feen, or if a fair one is by chance angry, the resembles the fun in Spring fhining through a cloud: her mouth, formed only to give and receive kiffes, is capable of fighs alone, not threats. Thus no nymphs are fo happy as thofe of the Cytherean queen! It is incredible, fair nymph, what a pleasure the kifs of a young man occafions! For whatever pleafures you can name, I can, by the charm of a kifs, introduce into a fair one's heart. Your neck is like alabafter, beauteous nymph, it is incomparable." I fpoke, and immediately this nymph, fo terrible, fmiled her fair bofom heaved with a figh: her looks loft their former fierceness, and of a sudden she seem

51

ed to repent of her difdainful carriage, "Give me alfo a kifs," said she, reclining against a tufted pine; I gave her a kifs, and preffed her to my bofom. "Ah," cried the, “oh youth, never, no never did I experience fuch delight! ah one more kifs; twenty! an hundred more!" "Lead me into thy grot," replied I, "and I will caufe you to taite inexpreffible pleafures!" "I dare not, amiable youth! Diana would be angry with me." Affrighted I looked up, and perceived Diana herself. "Who is this young man?" faid the haughty goddefs!" He is Love,” replied the fubtle nymph; catched him, as he was running after the game to fcare it away. I have cut off his wings, and thrown his quiver into the fea: fhall I throw him into the waves alfo?” “No,” answered the goddess; "lead him to your grot, and confine him closely; in the evening, when I return from the chace, I will fend him back to his mother, that he may wound no more of my nymphs." She fpoke, and quitted us. "Poor credulous goddefs! Love will certainly escape this evening: for who is more cunning than the untractable son of Venus? But I am fure the nymph will frequently rove about thefe beech trees, to endeavour to catch me by Diana's order; and if she sometimes fucceeds, alas! I fhall always make my efcape in the evening.

But, ye loves, erect trophies to the powerful conqueror, who has fubdued one of the nymphs of Diana.”

an, 263 years before Chrit. But,

by fome mistake, they place the deftruction of Troy twenty-five years too high; and, in confequence of that error, all the hiftorical facts,

both

both preceding nd after it, till the time of the annual archons, are also placed twenty-five years too high. We muft, therefore, if we would make a proper ufe of thefe marbles, in times before the taking of Troy, and to the annual archons, reckon fo many years as are fet down in them preceding the deftruction of Troy; and thefe years, reckoned with the true æra of Troy, or 1183 before the Chriftian æra, will always give the true time of the hiftorical facts before the Trojan æra; as we may deduct twenty-five years, when we compute facts mentioned in these marbles to the time of the annual archons. But if we reckon all the years fet down in them, with the addition of 263 years to the Chriftian æra, we fhall, with regard to the greater part at least, reckon twentyfive years too much.

This is abundantly evident from the concurring teftimonies of hiftorians and chronologers. Ifocrates (Orat. Panathen. p. 454) reckons the Athenian conftitution to have fubfifted, from its first establishment by Cecrops to the tyranny of Pififtratus, and the time of Solon, not lefs than a thoufand years. Now Pififtratus feized upon the government of Athens, in the year before Chrift 561, according to the marbles: and therefore, by the reckoning of Hocrates, Cecrops began to reign in Attica, in the year before Christ

!

1561. This is twenty-one years later than the marbles place him, for they reckon 1021 years from Cecrops to Pififtratus, and place Cecrops in the year 1582. before Chrift. This teftimony of Ifocrates is an ancient and forcible evidence, that the epoch of the marbles is fixed too high."

The many omiffions of reigns and archons in the marbles fhew, that they were not extracted from any public ancient records; but from fome ancient writers; from whom, alfo, many curious historical facts, not relating to the Athenian hiftory, are inferted. The facts are all adapted to the times of the kings, or archons of Athens, in which they happened, and from the time of the annual archons, they are the most authentic records extant: and, upon the whole, form a most valuable re-› main of chronological antiquities. They feem to have been engraved in Paros, when Atyanactes was archon there, as it is mentioned in the beginning of them; at least, they were engraved on marbles brought from that island.

Thus have I given you fome remarks on this celebrated remain of ancient affiduity, and flatter myself you will give this paper a place in your next number, which will greatly oblige, Your's, &c.

Oxford, July 26, 1768.

B. R.

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