artificially by analogy Secondly, from his not considering, that as we cannot think nor converse about things either accurately or intelligibly without words, so their intervention becomes necessary in explaining the marks of things. But therefore, to make hieroglyphics the marks of sounds, because sounds accompany things, would be as absurd as to make letters the marks of things, because things accompany sounds. And who, before our author, would say that letters signified things as well as sounds? unless he had a mind to confound all meaning. If he chose to instruct, or even to be understood, he would say, that letters naturally produced sounds or words; and that words arbitrarily denoted things: and had our author spoken the same intelligible language, and told us that hieroglyphics naturally expressed things, and that things were arbitrarily denoted by words, he would indeed have spared both of us the present trouble; but then he had said nothing new. As it is, I cannot but suspect that this learned writer, though he had been in Egypt, yet found his hieroglyphics at home, and mistook these for the Egyptian. No other agreeing with his description of picture characters standing for sounds, but that foolish kind of rebus-writing called by the polite vulgar, hieroglyphics, the childish amusement of the illiterate; in which, indeed, the figures stand only for sounds; sounds, divested of sense as well as things. Nor is Dr. Pococke the only polite writer who has fallen into this ridiculous mistake. See a paper called THE WORLD, N° XXIV.

P. 183. S. It may not be improper, in this place, just to take notice of one of the strangest fancies, that ever got possession of the pericranium of an Antiquary. It is this, that the Chinese borrowed their real characters or hieroglyphic marks from the Egyptians. The author of it expresses his conceit in this manner. "Linguam autem primitivam et barbaram vel puram, vel saltem parum immutatam, et politam Ægyptiorum consuetudine, retinere poterant [Sinenses,] et solum hoc sibi ab ipsis DERIVARE, ET ADOPTARE SCRIBENDI GENUS, ratione habita non ad linguam Ægyptiacam, sed unice ad ideas his Characteribus expressas, quos et sermonis sui nativi, immo etiam et linguæ suæ syllabis separatim sumptis eodem tempore applicaverunt." De Inscr. Egyptiaca Epist. p. 53. Authore Turbervil.

Needham.

From what hath been observed of the nature and origin of a REAL CHARACTER in general, supported by what the Chinese tell us of the very high antiquity of theirs, it is impossible to fix upon any period of time when the Egyptians (whether invited, or simply enabled by their improvements in navigation and commerce to penetrate into China) could find this highly policied people without a real character.

The question then will be, What possible inducements the Chinese could have to exchange their real characters for the Egyptian? Benefit by this change they could receive none, because one real character is just as good as another: And men at their ease, are rarely disposed to change native for foreign, but with the prospect of some advantage. To this it may be said, "that one alphabetic character likewise is just as good as another and yet nothing has been more common than for one nation to change its own alphabet for the alphabet of another." An instance, without doubt, very apposite. To change the shapes of four and twenty letters is but a morning's work; and I suppose a small share of civility and complaisance might go thus far, between neighbours. But to throw away a million of old marks, and to have a million of new to learn, is an amusement of quite another nature. I apprehend, that such a proposal (had the Egyptians made it, with an offer of all their learning along with

it) would have much alarmed the indolent unenterprising temper of the Chinese. But the Critic seems to think, that an old character, like an old coat, would be willingly exchanged for a new one. Alas! Time and Antiquity, which make such havock with the muddy vestures of decay, give a new gloss, as well as a stronger texture, to the spiritual cloathing of ideas. And if their old characters were like any old coat, it must be such a one as Settle wore in Elysium; which, as the Poet sings, had, together with its owner, received a new lustre in this its state of beatification :

"All as the Vest, appear'd the Wearer's frame,

Old in new state, another yet the same."

The truth is, the Chinese, who have preserved specimens of all the various revolutions in their real characters, have the highest veneration for the most ancient. Now is it possible to conceive that a people, thus circumstanced and disposed, should part with their native characters, the gift of their Demy-gods and Heroes, to receive others, of the same sort, from strangers recommendable for no advantage which their own did not possess, and partaking of all the inconveniencies to which their own were subject. Had the Egyptians indeed offered them an ALPHABET (which, were they disposed to be so communicative, we know, they had it in their power to do, at what time soever it can be reasonably supposed they first visited the coasts of China), the offer had been humane, and, without doubt, the benefit had been gratefully accepted. But that the Egyptians did nothing of all this, appears from the Chinese being without an ALPHABET to this very day. And yet I am persuaded, it was the confounding of these two things, one of which was practicable and useful, the other useless and impracticable, I mean the communication of an Alphabet, which was common in the ancient world; and the communication of a real Character, which was never heard of till now,-I say, it was the confounding of these two things that gave birth to this strange conceit. And then the similitude of shape between the Egyptian and the Chinese marks, was thought to compleat the discovery. The Letter-writer did not seem to reflect, that the shapes of real characters, after great improvements made in them by a long course of time, such as the Egyptian and the Chinese, must needs have a great resemblance, whether the characters were formed by ANALOGY OF INSTITUTION. In the first case, nature made the resemblance, as being the common archetype to both nations. In the latter, necessity, for only straight and crooked lines being employed to form these marks, there must needs arise from a combination of such lines infinitely varied, a striking resemblance between the real characters of two people, though most distant in genius and situation. But the folly, which such Conjecturers are apt to fall into, is, that, if the forms of the marks be alike, the powers must be alike also.

What is here said will enable us likewise to appreciate another ingenious contrivance of one M. de Guignes of the Academy Royal of Inscriptions, &c. to get to the same discovery. Upon a supposition of the truth of what I had laid down, that the first Egyptian alphabet was taken from their hieroglyphic characters,* this Academician fell to work, to ANALYSE, as he terms

"M. Warburton avoit pensé que le premier Alphabet avoit emprunté ses elemens des Hieroglyphes mêmes; et M. l'Abbé Barthelemy avoit mis cette excellente théorie dans un plus grand jour, en plaçant sur une colonne diverses lettres Egyptiennes, en correspondance avec les Hieroglyphes qui les avoient produits. On pouvoit donc presumer que les Egyptiens avoient communiqué aux Chinois les caracteres que je venois de decouvrir, mais qu'ils les regardoient eux-mêmes alors comme des signes Hieroglyphiques, et non comme des lettres proprement dites."-De l'Origine des Chinois, pp. 63, 64.

it, the Chinese characters; when, to his great surprise, he found, that their contents were only a certain number of LETTERS belonging to the Oriental Alphabets, packed up, as it were, for carriage: which, when taken out, developed, and put in order, formed an Egyptian or Phenician word, that expressed the idea for which the Chinese real Character stood, as its Representatives. How precarious, and of how little solidity this fanciful Analysis is, may be understood by all who have seen these Chinese marks and Oriental alphabets; both of which consist of the same straight and curve lines variously combined; so that it cannot be otherwise but that in every Chinese mark should be found, that is, easily imagined, a composition of any alphabetic letters which the profound Decipherer stands in need of. But the pleasantry of the conceit lies here, that though the Chinese have alphabetic characters (which this ingenious Author has, with great astonishment, now first discovered) yet they themselves know nothing of the matter, as he at the same time has assured us.*

I might likewise insist upon this scheme's labouring under the same absurdity with M. Needham's. For though when M. de Guignes speaks of that part of the Chinese real character whose marks are symbolic, or formed upon analogy, pp. 71, 72. he is willing to have it believed (what his titlepage enounces), that China was inhabited by an Egyptian Colony, which carried along with them the Hieroglyphics they now use: yet where he examines that other part, consisting of arbitrary marks, or marks by institution, p. 64 et seq. he supposes them, as we see above, communicated to the Chinese by the Egyptians. On pouvoit donc presumer (says he) que les Egyptiens avoient communiqué aux Chinois les caractères que je venois de decouvrir.

To conclude, the learned world abounds with discoveries of this kind. They have all one common Original; the old inveterate error, that a similitude of customs and manners, amongst the various tribes of mankind most remote from one another, must needs arise from some communication. Whereas human nature, without any other help, will, in the same circumstances, always exhibit the same appearances.

P. 183. T. "L'Alphabeth Ethiopien est seul de tous ceux que l'on connoit qui tient encore des Hieroglyphes." Fourmont, Reflexions Crit. sur les Hist. des Anc. Peuples, tom. sec. p. 501. Kircher illustrates this matter in his account of the Coptic alphabet. But as on his system every thing that relates to Egypt is a mystery, the shapes and names of the letters of their alphabet we may expect to find full of profound wisdom: yet, methinks, nothing could be more natural, than for a people long used to hieroglyphic characters, to employ the most celebrated of them, when they invented an alphabet, in forming the letters of it: and if the Chinese, who yet want an alphabet, were now to make one, it is not to be doubted but they would use the most venerable of their characteristic marks for the letters of it. However, let us hear Kircher for the fact's sake :-" Ita Ægyptiis natura comparatum fuit, ut quemadmodum nihil in omnibus eorum institutis sine mysterio peragebatur, ita et in lingua communi, uti ex alphabeto eorundem, mysteriosa literarum institutione ita concinnato, ut nulla ferè in eodem litera reconditorum sacramentorum non undiquaque plena reperiretur, patet. De primævis Ægyptiorum literis variæ diversorum sunt opini

• "Les caracteres Chinoises dans l'etat où nous les avons à present, constituent trois sortes de caracteres ; l'Epistolique ou ALPHABETIQUE, le hieroglyphique et le symbolique; c'est un nouveau rapport des plus singuliers avec l'Egypte, qui n'a point eté connu jusque à present, QUE LES CHINOIS EUXMEMES IGNORENT, et qui me jette dans le plus grand étonnement, un examen attentif-me l'a fait connoitre," &c.-Mem. de Lit. tom. xxix. p. 15.

ones. Omnes tamen in hoc consentiunt, plerasque ex sacrorum animalium forma, incessu, aliarumque corporis partium sitibus et symmetrio desumptas. Ita Demetrius Phalereus, qui septem vocales assignans, septem Diis consecratas, ait, cæteras ex animalium formâ desumptas. Eusebius adstruit idem."―Theatr. Hierogl. p. 42. tom. iii. of his Edip. Egypt. As for this fancy, mentioned by Demetrius Phalereus, it had a very different original from what Kircher supposes; being only an enigmatic intimation of the different natures of vowels and consonants. The latter being brute sounds without the aid of the former, by which they are as it were animated.

P. 184. U. The very learned and illustrious author of a work intituled, Recueil d' Antiquités Egyptiennes, Etrusques, Grecques et Romaines, vol. i. M. the Count CAYLUS, after having confuted the idle conjectures of certain learned men concerning the contents of a sepulchral linen, marked over with Egyptian alphabetic characters, proceeds thus :-"Il me semble qu'on tireroit de plus grands avantages de ce monument, si au lieu de s'obstiner à percer ces ténébres, on tâchoit de remonter par son moyen à l'origine de l'écriture, et d'en suivre le developpement et les progres: si l'on cherchoit enfin à connoître la forme des anciennes lettres, et le pays où l'on a commencé à les employer. Ces questions et tant d'autres semblables ne pourront jamais être eclaircies par les temoignages des auteurs Grecs et Latins. Souvent peu instruits des antiquités de leur pays, ils n'ont fait que recueillir des traditions incertaines, et multiplier des doutes, auxquels en prefereroit volontiers l'ignorance la plus profonde: c'est aux monumens qu'on doit recourir. Quand ils parleront clairement, il faudra bien que les anciens auteurs s'accordent avec eux. Avant le commencement de ce siécle on ne connoissoit point l'ecriture courante des Egyptiens, et plusieurs critiques la confondoient tantôt avec celle des anciens Hebreux, et tantót avec les hieroglyphes; mais depuis cette epoque il nous est venu plusieurs fragmens, qui ont fixé nos idées ; et il faut espérer que de nouvelles recherches nous en procureront un plus grand nombre. Conservons avec soin des restes si précieux, et tachons de les mettre en œuvre, en suivant l'exemple de celui des modernes, qui a repandu les plus grandes lumieres sur la question de l'antiquité des lettres. M. Warburton a detruit l'erreur où l'on etoit que les prêtres Egyptiens avoient inventé les hieroglyphes pour cacher leur science: il a distingué trois epoques principales dans l'art de se communiquer les idées par ecrit sous la premiere, l'ecriture n'etoit qu'une simple representation des objets, une veritable peinture; sous la seconde, elle ne consistoit qu'en hieroglyphes, c'est-à-dire, en une peinture abrégée, qui, par exemple, au lieu de representer un objet entier, n'en representoit qu'une partie, un rapport, &c. Enfin sous la troisieme epoque, les hieroglyphes altérés dans leurs traits devinrent les élémens d'une écriture courante: M. Warburton auroit pû mettre cette excellente theorie à portée de tout le monde, en plaçant dans une premiére colomne une suite d'hieroglyphes, et dans une seconde les lettres qui en sont dérivées; mais sans doute que les bornes qu'il s'etoit prescrites ne lui ont pas permis d'entrer dans ce detail. Quoi qu'il soit, tous ceux qui recherchent l'origine des arts et des connoissances humaines, peuvent verifier le systême du sçavant Anglois, et se convaincre que les lettres Egyptiennes ne sont que des hieroglyphes deguisés. Nous avons assez de secours pour entreprendre cet examin. Les recueils des antiquaires offrent plusieurs monumens Egyptiens chargés d'hieroglyphes: et la seule bande de toile que l'on publie ici [Pl. No 21, 22, 23, 24, 25.] suffiroit pour donner une idée de l'écriture courante-de s'assurer que l'alphabet de la langue Egyptienne emanoit des hieroglyphes, il suffira d'avoir une assez grande quantité des lettres isolées, et de comparer avec les

figures représentées sur les monumens Egyptiens. Or je puis assurer que l'on appercevra entr'elles la liaison la plus intime, et les rapports les plus sensibles; et pour s'en convaincre, on n'a qu'à jetter les yeux sur le No I. de la XXVI. planche. J'y ai fait graver sur une premiere colomne une suite d'hieroglyphes tirés la plupart des obelisques, et dans une colomne correspondante, les lettres Egyptiennes qui viennent de ces hieroglyphes. On trouvera, par exemple, que le premier hieroglyphe representant une barque, a produit un element d'ecriture, dont la valeur a pù varier, suivant les points ou les traits dont il etoit affecté : que le troisieme hieroglyphe, qu'on croit être l'image d'une porte, en perdant son arrondissement a formé la lettre qui lui est paralléle; que la figure d'homme ou d'animal accroupie au No 4. est devenue une lettre qui ne conserve que les linéamens du symbole original; enfin que le serpent figuré si souvent sur les monumens Egyptiens, No 19. s'est changé en un caractère qui retrace encore aux yeux les sinuosités de ce reptile. On trouvera aussi que les autres hieroglyphes, tels que le 2. le 5. le 6. le 11. le 13, &c. ont passé dans l'ecriture courante, sans éprouver le moindre changement. Au reste, ce n'est ici que le leger essai d'une operation qui pourroit être poussée plus loin, et dans laquelle on appercevroit peut-être des rapports différens de ceux que j'ai établis entre certaines lettres Egyptiennes prouve visiblement leur origine; et plus il est approfondi, plus il sert à confirmer le sentiment de M. Warburton," p. 69. Thus far this learned person. I have borrowed the scheme he refers to, and the reader will find it marked, plate VII.

P. 184. X. Mr. Voltaire, in a discourse intituled, Nouveau plan de l'Histoire de l'Esprit humain, speaking of the Chinese printing, which is an impression from a solid block, and not by moveable types, says they have not adopted the latter method, out of attachment to their old usages.— "On sait que cette Imprimerie est une gravure sur des planches de bois. L'Art de graver les caractères mobiles et de fonte, beaucoup supérieure à la leur, n'a point encore été adopté par eux, TANT ILS SONT ATTACHES A LEURS ANCIENS USAGES." Now I desire to know of M. Voltaire, how it was possible for them to adopt the method of a Font of types or moveable characters, unless they had an alphabet. That they had no such, M. Voltaire very well knew, as he gives us to understand, in the same place. "L'art de faire connoitre ses idées par l'ecriture, qui devroit n'être qu'une methode très simple, est chez eux ce qu'ils ont de plus difficile ; chaque mot a des caractères differens: un savant à la Chine est celui qui connoit le plus de ces caractères, et quelques uns sont arrivés à la vieillesse avant que de savoir bien écrire." Would not Caslon or Baskerville be finely employed to make a font of letters for this people, who have so many millions of real characters? But this historian of men and manners goes on in the same rambling incoherent manner, and so he can but discredit the Jewish history he cares little for the rest.-"Qui leur donne une superiorité reconnue sur tous ceux qui rapportent l'origine des autres nations, c'est qu'on n'y voit aucun prodige, aucune prediction, aucune même de ces fourberies politiques que nous attribuons aux Fondateurs des autres Etats, excepté peut-être ce qu'on a imputé à FонI, d'avoir fait accroire qu'il avoit vû ses Loix ecrites sur le dos d'un serpent ailé. Cette imputation même fait voir qu'on connaissait l'ecriture avant Fohi. Enfin, ce n'est pas à nous, au bout de notre Occident, à contester les archives d'une nation qui etait toute policée quand nous n'etions que des Sauvages."-First, China has the advantage of the western world, because the Founders of its religious policy employed neither Miracles nor Prophecies, nor the Founders of its civil policy state tricks and cheats, like other Leaders. And yet he is forced, before the