their letters perpendicularly, and write from the top to the bottom of the page. The greatest number have followed the movement of the hand from left to right, which to an European appears most natural and easy accordingly all the western nations place their letters in this order. On the contrary it was the prevailing custom of the East, particularly of the Egyptians, Phoenicians, Arabians, and Hebrews, to pursue the opposité practice, and write from right to left. These various modes of arrangement may give some plausibility to the opinion that each particular people were the inventors of their own alphabet. A presumption so favourable to national vanity has accordingly prevailed, as the Egyptians attributed the origin of their letters to Mercury, the Greeks to Cadmus, and the Latins to Saturn. This opinion arose from the high reputation acquired by those who first introduced, or made improvements in the graphic For it seems highly probable, that all the alphabets now known and used, were originally derived from one and the same source, and were brought, at various periods of time, into different countries. art. Can any two sets of letters appear to the eye more dissimilar, than the Hebrew and the English? Yet it H 2 is is highly probable, that the latter were derived from, the former. And if we attend to the ingenious arguments of Bishop Warburton, we may carry the origin of letters higher than to the Jewish nation, and refer them to the Egyptian hieroglyphics. Moses, the great lawgiver of the Jews, brought letters with the rest of his learning from Egypt; and he simplified their forms, in order to prevent the abuse to which they would have been liable, as symbolical characters, among a people so much inclined to superstition as the Jews. From the Jews this alphabetical mode of writing passed to the Syrians and Phoenicians, or perhaps was common to them all at the same time. The Greek authors maintained that Cadmus and his Phoenician companions introduced the knowledge of letters into Greece. It is too well known to require any detail of proof, that the Romans were taught their letters by the Greeks. By the Romans their alphabet was communicated to the Goths, and the nations of modern Europe. And if evidence to this detail be wanted, the curious may furnish themselves with very sufficient arguments, in the authentic inscriptions of antiquity which time has spared; and by examining in the learned works of Montfaucon, Shruckford, and Warburton, how the characters have gradually been altered, and have deviated 1 deviated from the first forms through successive changes, previous to their assuming the shapes and figures under which they at present appear. 3. CHARACTERISTIC DISTINCTIONS BETWEEN ANCIENT AND MODERN THE formation of the modern languages of Europe, is intimately connected with the history of the dark ages. The Latin language began to be corrupted in the fifth century, as soon as the Goths and Lombards, both of whom derived their origin from Germany, had gained possession of Italy. From the reign of Theodoric and Athalaric, who laboured to soften the rough manners of the Goths by the refinements of learning, the Italian language gradually assumed its form and character; and its deviation from the Latin was particularly marked by the use of articles instead of the variations of cases, and of auxiliar verbs instead of many changes of tenses. In proportion as the Goths made more successful, and extensive ravages in the Roman empire, their phraseology was blended with that of their captives, and the coarse dialect of Provence and Sicily contri'buted many ingredients to the composition of the Italian language. As in the features of the Italian ladies, ladies, the curious traveller may now discern a striking likeness of the faces engraved on antique gems; so in the language of that country, he may discover a strong resemblance to the original from which it is derived. If it wants the strength and majesty of the Latin, it inherits that delicacy and melodious flow of expression, which never fail to charm every reader of taste, in the works of Dante, Ariosto, Petrarch, Machiavel, Algarotti, and Metastasio. It is the singular glory of Italy, that while the early poets and historians of France and England are become in a great measure obsolete, her writers, who flourished so early as the fourteenth century, are read with the fashionable authors of the present times, and share their popularity and applause. In the fifth century, the Franks, a people of Germany, under the command of Pharamond, invaded France, and conquered its ancient inhabitants, the Celts and Romans. By a mixture of the dialect of these people the French language was formed, which gradually polishing the rude expressions, and uncouth phraseology observable in its first writers, has acquired in later times a great degree of precision, delicacy, and elegance. Between the languages of Greece and Rome, and those of modern times, a very remarkable differ ence ence prevails. The prepositions of the latter supply the place of the cases of the former; and as these prepositions are of a very abstract and general nature, they shew the progress of the moderns in metaphysical reasoning. Auxiliary verbs are used instead of many of the ancient tenses: these forms of expression contribute greatly to simplify modern languages, in point of rudiments and first principles, and consequently render them more easy to be acquired. Still however they are subject to faults, which nearly counterbalance their excellence; for they are weaker in expression, less harmonious and agreeable to the ear, and, as the construction of the words necessarily fixes them to particular situations in a sentence, they are less adapted to the uses of poetry. Another very remarkable distinction prevails in poetry. Those effusions of fancy which the moderns express in rhyme, the ancients conveyed in metre. In the classic authors, the quantity of words is fixed, the various combinations of long and short syllables gives a pleasing variety to pronunciation, both in prose and verse, and render every word more distinct and harmonious to the ear. Rhyme was the inven tion of a dark and tasteless age, and is generally thought, when it predominates in the poetry of a language |