account of a resemblance, which such symbols were supposed to bear, to the objects themselves. Thus an eye represented knowledge, and a circle, having neither beginning nor end, was the symbol of eternity. Egypt was the country where this kind of writing was most studied and brought into a regular art. In these characters, all the boasted wisdom of their priests was conveyed. They fixed upon animals, that were to be emblems of moral objects, according to the qualities, with which they supposed them to be endowed. Thus imprudence was de noted by a fly; wisdom by an ant; and victory by a hawk. But this sort of writing was, in the highest degree, enigmatical and confused; and therefore, a very imperfect vehicle of knowledge.

3. From hieroglyphics, mankind gradually advanced to simple arbitrary marks, which stood for objects, though without any resemblance to the objects signified. The manner of writing among the Peruvians was of this nature. They used small cords of different colours; and by knots upon these of different sizes, and variously arranged, they invented signs for giving information, and communicating their thoughts to one another.

4. The Chinese at this day, use written characters of this sort; every single character which they use is expressive of an idea. The number of these is of course immense. The various combinations to which the 214 elementary characters have been carried, are generally supposed to amount to 80,000.* The Great Dictionary of China, consists of more than 200 volumes, and contains above 60,000 characters: that of the emperor Kaungshee, consists of 35,000 characters. Each of these characters is monosyllabic, and denotes a great variety of things according to the accent or intonation given to it. The system of writing will of course, be hieroglyphic, or rather symbolic in all its improvements. It does not seem inferior to the alphabet, but it may be justly doubted, whether the practice be not more inconvenient and perplexing, than the theory is beautiful and ingenious. The Chinese alphabet consists of thirty-six selected characters, whose names sup

• This account of the French Missionaries, however, is somewhat exaggerated.

ply an equal number of initial consonant sounds; and of twelve other chosen characters, furnishing the same number of final sounds.*

5. The English alphabet contains twenty four letters, or (if j and v consonants, be added) twenty-six; the French twenty-three; the Chaldee, Hebrew, Samaritan, and Syriac, twenty-two, each; the Arabic twenty-eight; the Persian, thirty-one; the Turkish, thirty-three; the Georgian, thirty-six; the Coptic, thirty-two; the Muscovite, fortythree; the Greek, twenty-four; the Latin, twenty-two; the Sclavonic, twenty-seven; the Dutch, twenty-six; the Spanish, twenty-seven; the italian, twenty; the Ethiopic, and Tartarian, two hundred and twenty-two each; the Indian of Bengal, twenty-one; the Bramas, nineteen; the Sanskrita, twenty-eight.||

6. Letters were first brought into Greece by Cadmus, the Phenician, who was contemporary with David. This alphabet consisted of sixteen letters, and the rest were added afterwards, as signs for proper sounds were wanting. The antient order of writing was from right to left, and this method prevailed even among the Greeks. They used, afterwards, to write alternately from right to left, and from left to right; this continued to the time of Solon, the famous Athenian legislator. However, the motion from the left to the right, being found more natural and convenient, this method was adopted by all the European nations. Writing was first exhibited on pillars, and tables of stone; afterwards on lead, and on plates of the softer metals. When it became more extensively practised, in some countries, the leaves of plants, and the bark of trees were used;† in others, tablets of wood covered with a thin coat of soft wax, on which the impression was made with a stylus, or pen of iron. After this, parchment, made of the hides of animals, was used. On parchment were written books and records, and every kind of composition considered worthy

Marshman on the Chinese Language, printed at Serampore. Patrick has published a chart of the ten numerals in two hun dred tongues; and a learned German has published the Lord's Prayer in more than five hundred dialects.

+ Hence the word liber, which signifies the inner bark of trees; and as these barks were afterwards rolled up, for conveniency of removal, the rolls were called volumen, a volume.

of preservation. The waxen tablets were employed in business, in letter-writing, and on all occasions, which did not ⚫ admit of expense, or require to be preserved for any length of time. The purpose of the writing being accomplished, it was effaced, by rubbing the wax; thus, were the tables rendered perfectly serviceable for any new communication. The writing on parchment, was exceedingly expensive; and precluded from the use of books, all but the opulent. The several sheets of parchment were fastened together, and rolled up on a stick; the outside of the volume was called frons; the ends of the stick cornua, horns, which were usually carved and gilt, and sometimes ornamented with precious stones. The title was struck on the outside. The whole volume might be about 50 yards in length, and one and a half in width. The square form of our books, with separate leaves, was known to the antients, but little used.

Select Books on Writing.

Astle's Origin and Progress of Writing, 4to. 2d. edit. Fry's Pantographia, royal 8vo. Milns' Penman's Repository, fol. Pride's Art of Pencutting, 12mo.

CHAP. III.-GRAMMAR.

THE origin of language, its slow and almost imperceptible progress, the formation of characters, or alphabets,and the invention of writing, having been noticed, the subject which next presents itself is Grammar. This teaches us to write and to speak with propriety. It gives our thoughts entrance into the minds of other persons with the greatest facility, and renders that perfectly intelligible, which, without grammatical order, would be perplexed and confused. Grammar explains the principles common to all languages; applies those common principles to one particular language, according to the established usage and custom of it; and treats of sentences, and of the several parts of which they are compounded. Or, it may be defined a collection of observations on the structure of any language, and a system of rules for its proper use.

ENGLISH GRAMMAR is divided into four parts. 1. ORTHOGRAPHY, which teaches the form and sound of letters, and the art of combining letters into syllables, and

syllables into words. 2. ETYMOLOGY teaches the deduction of one word from another, and the various modifications, by which the sense of the same word is diversified. 3. SYNTAX, which comprises the order of words in a sentence, and the correspondence of one word to another. 4. PROSODY, which treats of the just pronunciation, and poetical construction of sentences.

There are, in English, nine sorts of words, or, as they are commonly called parts of speech.

1. The ARTICLE is a word prefixed to substantives to point them out, and to show how far their signification extends. There are but two articles, a and the; a becomes an before a vowel, y and w excepted; and before a silent h preceding a vowel. A is indefinite, and the a definite article: of which take the following example,

"Man was made for society, and ought to extend his good-will to all men: but a mun will naturally entertain a more particular kindness for the man, with whom he has the most frequent intercourse; and enter into a still closer union with the man, whose temper and disposition suit best with his own."

2. A NOUN, or SUBSTANTIVE, is the name of a thing: of whatever we conceive in any way to subsist, or of which we have any notion. Nouns are either proper or common; the latter when they denote the kinds or species of things; as a man, a horse, a river; the former when they denote the individuals of any species; as John, Sarah, the Severn, London. To nouns belong number, gender, and case. Number distinguishes nouns as one or many of the same kind, called the singular and plural; as table, tables, church, churches. Gender constitutes the distinction of sexes, and is divided into masculine, feminine, and neuter. The two first can be applied to the names of living creatures only; all other substantive nouns ought to belong to the latter gender. The English is the only language (the Chinese excepted) which adheres, with singular propriety, to this philosophical distinction. Case, is that change in the terminations of nouns, which serves to express their relation to other words, as, Solomon's wisdom; the men's wit.

3. A PRONOUN is a word used as a substitute for a noun to prevent the too frequent repetition of the same word, as he did this or that, instead of expressly naming

the person doing, and the thing done, every time there is occasion to speak of them. Pronouns are divided into four kinds; personal, possessive, relative, and demonstrative. They are subject to the same variatious of gender, number, and case, as nouns.

4. An ADJECTIVE is a word added to a substantive to express its quality, as a sweet apple, a tall man, a swift horse. They change their termination on account of comparison only; of which there are three degrees: the positive in which the quality is barely mentioned, as hard: the comparative, which expresses the quality somewhat increased, and is formed by adding or er to the positive; as harder; and the superlative, which expresses the highest degree of the quality, by adding st or est to the positive; as hardest.

5. A VERB is a word which signifies, to be, to do, or to suffer. There are active, passive, and neuter verbs. A verb active expresses an action, and implies an agent, and an object acted upon: as to love; I love Thomas. A verb passive expresses a passion, or a suffering, or the receiving of an action; as to be loved; Thomas is loved by me. A verb neuter expresses being; or a state, or condition of being as, I am, I sleep, I walk. The verb active is called transitive, because the action passeth over to the object; or hath an effect upon some other thing: the verb neuter is called intransitive, because the effect is confined within the agent, and doth not pass over to any object.

6. An ADVERB is added to verbs, and also to adjectives and other adverbs, to express some circumstance belonging to them; the man lived righteously, the woman prayed fervently. Adverbs sometimes admit of comparison; as often, oftener, oftenest.

7. A PREPOSITION is a word put before another to which it is applied, and serves to connect words and show the relation between them; as, "he went from Paris to Berlin; he bought it with money."

8. A CONJUNCTION connects or joins together sentences, so as out of two or more, to make one sentence; as, r you and I rode to London, but Peter staid at home. And, in this sentence, is copulative; but, disjunctive.

9. An INTERJECTION is a word thrown in between the