acknowledge my frequent obligations to the authors of Hebrew fcripture, -obligations, indeed, more frequent than those can poffibly imagine who have only fkimmed the furface of Oriental literature, or plucked its flowers without gathering the fruits: I was myself furprifed to find the moft ancient and authentic of the Perlian hiftorians, prove, unconsciously, no defpicable commentators on the Bible. "Of thefe hiftorians, many allude to, and describe as ftill visible in their days, various ftupendous and interefting monuments of antiquity, unnoticed by Europeans. To afcertain whether they exit at prefent, and to fatisfy fome doubts on the fubject of thofe already defcribed by travellers, I have refolved to vilit Perfia (if Providence continue to blefs me with life and health) whenever fome necellary domeftic arrangements, and the works on which I am now employed, thall have been completed. "London, August 1799." EXTRACT. P. xxxiii. "21. Khofru―the fon of Hormuz; he was furnamed Parvis, or the Victoricus. In his time the Prophet, to whom be peace! entered on his divine miffion: that holy perfonage invited the king to the true faith, which he rejected, tearing in pieces the letter (of Mohammed). And Perlia, from his magnificence, and the fuperabundance of all neceffaries, arrived at the fummit of its glory. It is faid, among other matters, that he conftantly kept in his palace fifteen thoufand female muficians, fix thoufand household officers, twenty thousand five hundred horfes and mules for the faddle and for baggage; alfo, nine hundred and fixty elephants. Whenever he rode forth, two hundred perfons attended him, fcattering perfumes on every fide, whilst a thousand feka. bers (water-carriers) fprinkled with water the roads which he was to pafs. Among the works of ingenuity which he poffeffed, was a certain cup, in which the quantity of water was never diminished, how much foever a perfon drank of it; alfo, an (expanded) hand of ivory, which, whenever a child was born to him, being immersed in water, clofed, and exhibited the conjunction of ftars prefiding at the infant's birth, and thus the horofcope was known: he had likewife a piece of pure gold, pliable and soft as wax; alfo a napkin, which, when foiled, and thrown into the fire, became clean. In his time, white elephants brought forth young ones in Perfia, What perfon, in harmonious powers, refembles his musician Barbud? or who in beauty is equal to At last, in the his mistress Shireen? feventh hour of the night, on Tuefday the tenth of Jemad-al-awul, the feventh year of the Hegira, he was flain by the hand of his fon, Shirouleh." P. 59. LXVII. Pantographia; containing accurate Copies of all the known Alphabets in the World; together with an English Explanation of the peculiar Force or Power of each Letter. To which are added, Specimens of all well-authenticated oral Languages; forming a comprehenfive Digeft of Phonology. By EDMUND FRY, Letterfounder, Type Street. Royal Svo. pp. 320. 21. 2s. Arch, Debrett. EXTRACTS FROM THE PREFACE. MANY nations have claimed the honour of this invention (alphabetical writing). The Greeks alcribed it to the Phenicians, and confequently ufed the word convexile, to act the Phenician, in the fame fenfe with avayan, to read: and Lucan afcribes the inven tion to the fame ingenious people. "That the Affyrian, Chaldaic, and Hebrew languages, were the fame, most of the learned are fixed in their opinions; and that their alphabets are of antediluvian antiquity, appears highly probable: for had an invention of fuch vaft importance to mankind been made fince that period, we conclude the author would have been commemorated in the annals of the country in which he lived. Josephus, book i. chap. 3. informs us, that SETH erected two pillars, one of brick, and the other of ftone, and infcribed upon them their aftronomical obfervations, and other improvements, which thows that there did exift fuch an opinion of the antiquity of the art of writing. "Among the European nations we do not find any who pretend to the invention of letters. All of them derived 222 the the art from the Romans, except the Turks, who had it from the Arabians. The Romans never claimed the difcovery, but confeffed their knowledge to have been received from the Greeks, who owned that they had it from the Phenicians, who, as well as their colonifts the Carthaginians, fpoke a dialect of the Hebrew fcarcely varying from the original. The Coptic refenibles the Greek in most of its characters, and is therefore referred to the fame original. The Chaldean, Syriac, and latter Samaritan, are dialects of the Hebrew, without any confiderable deviation, or many additional words. "The Ethiopic differs more from the Hebrew, but lefs from the Arabic; all thefe languages have iffued from the fame flock, as the fimilarity of their formation, and the numberless words common to them all, fufficiently evince. Alterations would naturally be produced, in proportion to the civilization of the feveral nations, and their intercourfe with others, which will account for the fuperior copioufnels of fome above the rest. It appears then, that all the languages in ufe among men that have been conveyed in alphabetical characters, have been thofe of people connected ultimately or immediately with the Hebrews, to whom we are indebted for the earlieft fpecimens of the communication of ideas by writing. "This propofition will be farther confirmed, by confidering the famenefs of the artificial denominations of the letters in the Oriental, Greek, and Latin languages, accompanied by a fimilar arrangement, as alpha, beta, &c. It may ftill be objected, however, that the characters employed by the ancients to difcriminate their letters, are entire ly diffimilar: it may be urged, why fhould not one nation adopt from another the mode of expreffing the art, as well as the art itself? Such an effect would not be very likely to take place, before the art of printing had establish. ed an uniformity of character. "The old Samaritan is precifely the fame as the Hebrew language; and the Samaritan Pentateuch does not vary a fingle letter in twenty words from the Hebrew: but the characters are very different; for the Jews adopted the Chaldaic letters during their captivity at Babylon, inftead of thofe of their forefathers. "What we know of those nations who have continued for many centuries unconnected with the rest of the world, ftrongly militates against the hypothefis of the human inven tion of alphabetical writing. The ex periment has been fairly made upon the ingenuity of mankind, both Chi nefe and favage, for a longer period than that which is fuppofed to have produced alphabetic writing by regu lar gradations, which decidedly con cludes against this art being of hu man invention. "The Chinese, a people famous for their difcoveries and mechanical genius, have made fome advances towards the delineation of their ideas, by arbitrary figns; neverthelefs, have been unable to accomplish this exquifite device; and, after fo long a trial, to no purpofe, we may reasonably in. fer that their mode of writing, which is growing more intricate and volumi nous every day, will never terminate in fo clear, fo comparatively fimple, an expedient, as that of alphabetical characters." P. xv. The Art of making Pens fcientifically: illuftrated by an Engraving, by which Ladies and Gentlemen, and particularly Youths at School, may inftantly learn to make Pens to fuit their own Hands. To which are added, genuine Receipts for making Inks, of the moft elegant and durable Qualities. Alfo Directions for secret Writing; by which may be conveyed the most tender Affections of Love and Friendship, and Secrets of every Description and on every Occafion. By JOHN WILKES, M. Á. P. 12mo. IS. 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