confider, when I have made a remark or two on speech made vifible by writing.

48. A word is an audible and articulate fign of thought: a letter is a visible sign of an articulate found. Every man can speak who hears, and men have spoken in all ages; but in many nations the art of writing is ftill unknown. For before men can invent writing, they must divide their fpeech into words, and fubdivide their words into fimple elementary founds, affigning to each found a particular visible fymbol: which, though easy to us, because we know the art, is never thought of by favages, and has been overlooked, or not fufficiently attended to, by fome nations of very long ftanding. By means of writing, human thoughts may be made more durable than any other work of man; may be circulated in all nations ; and may be fo corrected, compared, and compounded, as to exhibit within a moderate compass the accumulated wisdom of many ages. It is therefore needless to enlarge upon the usefulness of this art, as the means of afcertaining, methodizing, preferving,

preferving, and extending human knowledge.

49. There is reafon to think, that this art must have been in the world from ve ry early times, and that the use of an alphabet was known before the hierogly, phicks of Egypt were invented. Thefe last were probably contrived for the purpofe of expreffing mysteries of religion and government in a way not intelligible to the vulgar. For a hieroglyphick is a fort of riddle addreffed to the eye; as if the figure of a circle were carved on a pillar, in order to represent eternity; a lamp, to denote life; an eye on the top of a sceptre, to fignify a fovereign. Such conceits imply refinement rather than fimplicity, and the disguise rather than the exhibition of thought; and therefore seem to have been the contrivance of men, who were in queft not of a neceffary, but of a myfterious, art; who had leisure to be witty and allegorical; who could express their thoughts plainly, but did not choose to do it.

50. In China they understand writing

and

and printing too, and have done fo, we are told, for many ages: but to this day they have not invented an alphabet, at least their men of learning use none. They are faid to have a diftinct character for each of their words, about fourscore thoufand in all; which makes it impoffible for a foreigner, and extremely difficult to a native, to understand their written language. In very early times, men wrote, by engraving on stone; afterwards, by tracing out figures with a coloured liquid upon wood, the bark of trees, the Egyptian papyrus manufactured into a fort of paper, the skins of goats, fheep, and calves made into parchment: in a word, different contrivances have been adopted in different ages, and by different nations. Pens, ink, and paper, as we use them, are faid to have been introduced into thefe parts of the world about fix hundred years ago.

51. The first printing known in Europe was, like that of the Chinese, (from whom, however, our printers did not borrow it), by blocks of wood, whereon were engra

ved all the characters of every page. This art is fuppofed to have been invented in Germany, or in Flanders, about the year 1420. Printing with moveable types was found out about thirty years later, and is a very great improvement upon the former method. By means of this wonderful art, books are multiplied to fuch a degree, that every family (I had almost faid every perfon) may now have a Bible ; which, when manufcripts only were in use, every parish could hardly afford to have; as the expence of writing out fo great a book would be at least equal to that of building an ordinary country church. This one example may suggest a hint for estimating the importance of the art of printing.

52. Within lefs than a century after it was invented, Printing was brought to perfection in France, by the illustrious Robert Stephen and his fon Henry; who were not only the greatest of printers, but alfo the most learned men of modern times ; and to whom, for their beautiful and correct editions of the Clafficks, and for their Dictionaries

Dictionaries of the Greek and Latin tongues, every modern fcholar is under very great obligations.

SECT. III.

Effentials of Language.

53. HOW many forts of words are ne ceffary in language? And what is the nature and use of each particular fort? When we have answered these two queftions, we may be fuppofed to have difcuffed the prefent fubject. In English, there are ten forts of words; which are all found in the following short sentence: "I

now fee the good man coming, but a"las! he walks with difficulty." I and He are pronouns ; now is an adverb; see and walks are verbs; the is an article; good, an adjective; man and difficulty are nouns, the former fubftantive, the latter abstract; coming is a participle; but, a conjunction; alas, an interjection; with, a prepofition. That no other forts of words are neceffary