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Bought with the income
of the
Class of 187-2 Fund

A
Treatise O N T H E
STUDY OF ANTIQUITIES
AS THE COMMENTARY
TO HISTORICAL LEARNING,
Sketching out
A GENERAL LINE OF RESEARCH:
Alfo Marking and Explaining
SOME OF THE DESIDERATA.
With an APPENDIX.
N° I. On the Elements of Speach.
N° IT. On the Origin of Written Language,
Piclure, Hieroglyphic, and Elementary-writing.
N° III. On the Ships of the Ancients.
N? IV. On the Chariots of the Ancients.
By T. P O W N A L L.

Archytas de Sapiemia, Lib. I. quoteJ by Jamblicus.

LONDON,,
Printed for J. D O D S L E Y, in Pjl!-.M.tll.
M«DCC.LXXXII.

TO.
^RESIDENT, COVNCIL, AND FELLOWS
OF
THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQVARIES,
THE FOLLOWING TREATISE
IS,
AS A TESTIMONY OF RESPECT
TO THAT LEARNED BODY,
ADDRESSED AND DEDICATED
BY
T. POWNALL.

t v ]

PREFACE.

A PREFACE is in general written
and given to a work as its letter of
introduction and recommendation to the
Reader. ' The merits of the work are offi-
cioufly holden forth to his eye : and every
art of addrefs is ufed to make a favourable
impreffion.' This preface on the contrary,
pointing out the defects and -demerits of
this work, approaches the reader with an
apology. The firfl draught of the following Trea-
- tife was made, with reference to the ge
neral fubjedt, in feveral feparate papers.
This courfe of Study was recurred to at
a period when the Author, finking under
the misfortune Of a lofs in- life which He
b had

vi PREFACE.
had fufiained, fought confolation not by
, arguments againij grief which nature mufl
feel ; but in an endeavour to prevent the
Nmind from dwelling on and liftening too
mu,ch to its own feelings, by diverting it
into a courfe of fludy which had formerly
amufed it. Out of this revifion of his
former refearches, when he was a reading
and not 'a bufy man,' arofe fome, of thefe
papers. Others had been written within
the intervalla negotiorutn, even when he
was' engaged in publick bufmefs. Some
of thefe have been read at the Society of
Antiquaries, and the author hath been
flattered by the manner in which they
were received. About two years ago, when
he quitted parliament, he began to collerft
thefe papers under the form in which they
now appear. The writing of this 'treatife
amufed him ': thinking that- the reading of
it might amufe others ; and that by point
ing out a lin^e of refearch to the Study of
Antiquaries ¦, the ,work might not be al
together ufelefs ; he gave the copy for this
impreffion to the Bookfeller. He neither derives

P R E F -A C E, Vii
- derives- vanity from being ari Author ; nor
profit from being a publisher.
In page 79 of the following treatife, the
"author entered into the difcuffiori of the
f Arithmetic of the Ancients, firft reduced
into a fcience (as is faid) by Pythagoras
the Samian, perhaps firft by him intro
duced as fuch to the Greeks: After ex- ,
plaining here, in the courfe of the work,
the ufe and abfohrte- neceffity '"which a
pra£tical ftudent has- of '-underfiah-dirig- ihe
operations of this'fcience, in the- manner in
which the Ancients worked them, not only
in abftra£t mathematical calculations, but
as applied to weight and meafure, and to
nummulary computations, he referred to a
little treatife, wherein he went into the
explanation, of that matter as of a Def-
deratum. This was meant for the third
number in the Appendix. The paper writ
ten many years ago, is fomewhere miflaid:
he has not been able to find it. As it was
drawn up in a mathematical line of reafon- ;
jng (a fpecies of ftudy which he has long
b 2 - ceafed

L-yiii ..F R E FA C E.
.ceafed. to exercife himfelf in) he is not
able 'to recollect in that form his ideas on
the fubjeCt. He wifhes therefore to re-
cornmend it to the notice of fome of the
learned members .of the Antiquarian So1
ciety, who are converfant in mathematics,
^efpecially in tthpfe of the Ancients *.
^ As - /a,r as he rxm®mbei-s, he firfi ex
plained the general mode of the decuple
numeration ; he then endeavoured to fhew/
,*hat all the practical operations of the an-
tient Arithmetick, prior to the introduc-
tion and ufe of the -Arabic method, were
performed by mean£ of the Abacus Pytha-
.goricus. ThaJ: this was the reckoning Board
&>£ the Greeks and Romans, was perhaps,
.derived from the ^Egyptians, and was no
other than the chequer and counters for?
* The following, amongft others, are books which niay
be referix-d toon this occanou.
Nicomadii 'Af^f/.r.rir.^ EiVayoTn?.
Euclidis, lib. 7, 8, 9. Elementorum, &c, *
Theonis Smyrnaei Lib. de .Aritbmetica.
Fabriciiis alfo mentions a MS. Tieatife of Pf.-lius in the
Medical Library.
The Arithmetic of Diophantus is the Analytic Algebra
of the Arabians.
merly

PREFACE. *k
merly ufed in the" Arithmetick of our Ex
chequer and Cofferers -office.
The numeration was reckoned by. a
decuple feries of unites ; which feries was
formed at two reprifes of fives ; as, one,
two,- three, four, five : five — one or fix ;
five — two or feven ; five' — three or .eight ;
five — four or nine; five— five or ten. This
feries thus formed, hath been univerfally
obfei'ved by moft nations : and however it
may feem at firft view to be founded in
caprice ; he endeavoured- to fhow; that1 its
universality arofe from its being derived
from nature. He here explained this from
the natural original mode of reckoning by
the fingures and hand ; as thus, the fou^
fingers exprefled the firfl: four numbers; the
whole hand (the thumb and fingers form
ing an angle, as V,) exprefled the fifth.
This whole hand, with one, two, three,
or four fingers of the other hand, gave fix,
feven, eight, nine : and the two hands
crofTed at the faid angles gave the figure X. He

* , PREFACE.
He then entered into the operations of the
ancient arithmetick as conducted on the
cbecquer - board * ; but all this he has been.
under the necefiity" of deferring for the
prefent, It is as' whimfical as it is true, that an
Author fees his work, as well in the mat
ter as to the manner, in a different view,
when he reads it in print, from that in
which it appears when he reads it in his
own hand-writing : he rather thinks over
than reads the latter, or, if he reads, does
it rather with the mind's eye than with that
of the body : he reads it with reference to
an accompaniment of ideas, which the
copy does not actually contain : which yet
the author thinks, he has fo explained as to
accompany his reafoning. To thefe eir-
cumftances, not only 'literal errors and
grammatical inaccuracies, but even fome
obfcurities are imputable : fome fuch the
* Dr. R. Record's Arithmeikk, Dialogue 2d, may be re
ferred to on this head.
'Author

PREFACE. xi
Author has found in fome of the firft fheets
of this treatife, which have been printed a
year ago, which he could wifh to have
corrected, but the copies were worked off,
and it was too late.
The different 'degree of accuracy in the
reafoning, with which different parts of
this work are conducted, tb.e unequal fpirit
of compofition, in. which different parts
are written, are owing to the degree of
painful abftraCtion with which the mind
was at times drawn off from its fubjeCt, or
to the degree, of attention which it was
able to exert upon it at different moments
of the period above referred to.
There remains one point on which he
wifhes to make an apology to ferious people.
The ideas hazarded in fome parts of this
treatife may perhaps crofs upon thofe Forms,
with which thefe ferious people have been
accufiomed to cloath their opinions : yet
as to 'Things, the author is, as he thinks it
the duty of every good citizen to be, as
ferious

\

xii P R E F A C E.
ferious about them, as the mof} zealous
profeflbr. .
With thefe explanations, and with thefe
apologies, he commits his work to the
amufement of fuch as may think it worth
their perufal.

E » 3

CONTENTS.

Page* i ' That the Society of Antiquafies is pe<*
culiarlyj by the nature of it's efta*
blifhment and institutions* adapted for
the inveftigatioh of ancient learning ^
and for that knowledge of antiquities
which may become the ground of the
Hijloria propria et jufla.
4 Is one of the ihofl- uieful Literary E/ld-
blifhmenU whieh have been made .hi
this country ; is not only a repertory of
the collections of Antiquarian Infor
mation, but actuates a principle which
hath a tendency to feftore arid re-edify
hiftory from the ruins, amidft whieh
it liesi
3 The two errors of the falfe antiquary
marked j ift, That of forming too
haftily virion ary fyfterris ; and 2dly*
That of making endlefs and ufelefs
collections of relies and fragments,
without fcope or view to any orie
point*
b 4 To

iv CONTENTS.
Page. 4' To explain the Principle of this branch
of learning ; the Principle ori which
the fociety is fuppofed to aCt ; and the
End towards which the inquiries and
labours of the Society ought to he di
rected ; is the /cope of this treatife ; it
marks in its courfe fome of the De-
fderata in this branch of learning.
5 Two concurrent lines of ftudy, that
of hiftory, properly fo called, both of
nature and man ; and that experi
mental hiftory of the extending and
advancing powers of man, as they
are elicited by the varying and en-
creafing wants of his being.
6 That there is, as it were, a golden
chain defcending from heaven, by
which all things are linked together
in a general iyftem; and that man
hath powers to trace back the links of
this chain up to the primary principles
of this fyftem ; and that the ftudy
of antiquities (hould be purfued in
this fpirit of philofophy ; and the
knowledge acquired thereby applied
as the commentary of hiftory.
7—43. The work then commences, in
the fpirit of this philofophy, and in
the line of the rule here Iayed down, with

CONTENTS. rii
Page, ^
with an Analyfis of the powers of Enun
ciation and the Elements of Speech,
and endeavours to mark^ both in rea
soning and by example, the ufe which
the truly philofophic Antiquary may
nwke in the resolution and compo-
iition of thefe powers and elements,
to the investigation of ancient hiftory.
This part refers to N° I* of the Ap
pendix, which is a treatife written
exprefsly on this fubjeCt ; it goes to
an inquiry into the powers and aCts
of vocal and articulated enunciation
as they exift in the nature of man,
and as the principles thereof ate to
he found in all languages : this the
true ground of Antiquarian Etymology ',
which, without it, will ever be the
mere ringing changes on one's own
ideas, and a wretched punning* Under
this head the language of men as
fpoken in the times of the kingdom
of Troy, the language of ancient
Greece before the arrival of the Hel*
lenifts, and the language of ancient
Europe in general j are confide red and
compared*
43 — 51, The Treatife then proceeds, by
the fame principles, and in the fame
line, to inquire into and explairf the?
b % various

viii CONTENTS.
Page. various efforts and inventions .'which
men in all ages and countries have
made to mark for diftant places and
times, the invisible tranfient expreflion
of ideas, which fpeech can only give
at the prefent time and place. This-
part goes in general to an inquiry into
the origin of PiEiure-writing, into
that which is commonly called Hiero-
glyphicst and into the nature of the
Elementary, or what is vulgarly
called Alphabetical writing; (hows
how thefe in their reciprocal ufe and
interpretation have given occafion to
the deforming the true and direct re-
pfefentation of the human Being and
Life ; and how by a philofophic re-
folution of the modes of the defor
mation, joined to combination of fuch
fragments of faiCts as remain amidft
the ruins of hiftory, the Antiquary
may elicit truth out of fable, and re
form and re-edify ancient hiftory to
fome femblance at leaft of the ftate of
things in faCt, which. it reprefents.
This part refers for a more particular
account of thefe points of antiquity
to N° II. of the Appendix, which is
a Treatife on this fubjeCt in detail.
i 53

CONTENTS. ix
Page* 52 — S3- Hiftqry compared to a fhip failing
down the tide of Time, fraught with
every thing ufeful to be known, but
which hath fufFered fhip-wreck ; f he
method of th* ftudy of Antiquities
explained by allufions to this fimile.
54—55. The folly of merely making col
lections of Antiquities, compared with
the right way of collecting and af-
forting the difcoveries of particulars
which the Antiquary may make, fo as
by an induction of thefe particulars to
lead to fome combination of the ge
neral fyftem of faCt.
56—57. Man is a finite Being circvJm-
jcribed in his natural wants; although
not eafily defined and circumfcribed
in his artificial wants ; yet his im
proved refources being proportioned
and adequate to thefe, in the various
progreffions and revolutions of his
exiftence, the line of inveftigation into
the one is marked by the knowledge
of the other, fo that the ftudy of
antiquities, here in this branch, is
not a boundlefs purfuit but is defined
both in mode and extent. This ex
plained by a reference to the qloath-
ing fuited to the fame kind of limbs
in the fame animals in all ages, and
b 3 to

x C O N T EN T S.
Page. to the inftruments ufed by all people,
being fimilar as fuited to like hands
and like aCtions, let imagination or
caprice try never fo much to vary
them. *»•
58 This Theorem applied to fhow that
there may he an afcertained line of
developing the fabulous, and refolving
the mythic parts of Hiftory, fo far
as they refpeCt the accounts of the
firft advancing ftages of human civi
lization.
5p By a careful analyfis of human na
ture, and by a combination from
analogy of fuch broken accounts as
the (hip-wreck of Hiftory affords, a-
defcription, almoft hiftoric, of the
progrefs, and firft ftagea of human
life may be compofed ; fuch as fhali
giveajuft reprefentation of the ge
neral courfe of events.
61 This exemplified in the fabulous ac
counts given of the fettlements made
in the JEgean and Euxine Seas, and
coafts thereof by the Phoenicians,
^Egyptians, and Hellenifts,
66 An idea, profefledly an imperfeCt one,
thrown out of the commerce of the
Euxine and Weftern ports of the
Mediterranean Seas ; the Chittim and.
Tar-

.CONTENTS. xi
Page. Tarmifh of the ancients ; and a wifh
expreffed, that Mr. Clarke, author of
the Treatife on Roman, Saxon, and
Englifh Coins, would fupply the
Dejideratum in this branch of jbiftoric
learning as to the one ; and that Mr.
.Bryant would turn his thoughts to
the other.
69 When the hiftory of thofe parts and
periods are once developed of their
myfterious garb, we fhall receive very
different accounts from what the de
formed and abufed fables now hold
forth ; this exemplified by an un
ravelled account of the fettlements
and exclufive commerce of the Cyclops
and their courts of admiralty.
73 Ancient Hiftory compared to a deformed
picture, and the philofophic reftau-
ration of it, to the mathematic mir-
rour, which will refleCt fuch deformed"
picture in its true proportions and
contours, tanquam infpeculo.
The treatife next proceeds to con
sider the mode in which the philOr
fophic antiquary may conduCt his
commentary on the Hiftoria propria
et jujla.
74 A knowledge of the component parts
and living fyftem of the human com-
b 4 munity,

xu

CONTENTS.

Page. munity, ift in Society, and 2dly un
der Government, without which,
Hiftory will be but a ftory of a crea
ture little known to us, ftated as a
Defderatum, Here the Antiquary,
whofe commentary gives the know
ledge of this procefs of the* human
Being, becomes the interpreter, who
renders hi/lory intelligible, and makes
. it become experimental knowledge. This
knowledge alone can explain thofe
vicijjitudines rerum etfunddmenta Pru-
ient'fa, which Lord Verulam ftates
as the proper fruit of hiftoric learn
ing. ¦ This exemplified by different
inftances in hiftory ; in the cafe of
the Roman fubjeCt, as taken from his
civil rights, and fubjeCted to military
imperium : in the cafe of the ftate
and progr^fe of the Grecian com
munity in the time of the Trojan
war, as explained by Thucydides ;
the ftate of the Egyptian commu
nity ; that of the Jews, and that of
the Phoenicians.
$9 Thefe preparatory and explanatory in
ftances lead to the application of this
Theorem, to the ftating of the fyf-
tem of meafures planned by Alex
ander, who was the firft prince-ftatef- man

Page.

CONTENTS^ xiii

man who combined upon fyftem the
intereft and powers of commerce,
with the operations of polity.*
06 An aCtual knowledge (fuch on which
experience may be founded) of the
ancient commerce of die Eaft, of
Perfia, and of India, wanted. It is
from the local knowledge! of fcientific
mercantile men alone, who have lived
in and had experience of thofe re
gions, that the world can expeCt
practical information on this fubjeCt.
97 The Treatife here clofes its obfer-
vations on the nature of the com
munity, and of commerce, as the
fource of wealth and power to it ;
and proceeds to the confideration of
the neceffity of underftanding the
channels in which certain portions of
this wealth, as the revenues of the
101 ftate, ran. This line of refearch,
illuftrated by a fummary defcription
of the Roman Revenues and meafures
of finance.
116 The Treatife next proceeds to con-
fider the aCtual mechanical force of
the community of the ancients in
fome inftances not hitherto adequately
explained, nor precifely underftood.
The firft inftance is, that of our want of

xiv CON T E'-N.T &
» ,
Page. of information as to the Jhips of war
of the ancients, their Triremes i $ua-
driremes, and ^uinqueremes. Thedif-
coyery and learned description of thefe
matters made and given by General
Melville, here firft publifhed, whofe
Memoire on the fubjeCt in N° III. of
120 the Appendix is referred to. The
fecond inftance is that of the military
Chariot „of the ancients ; a particular
Treatife on this fubjeCt is given and
referred to in N° I V. of the Appendix.
122 Of the chronology of the Ancients.
and its. defeCts, on which a comparifon
of the.Mythick or Fabulous^ and of
the Hifloriq Narratives pf the An
cients, is offered to obfervation. While
124 on one hand the defeCts of hiftory,
which pretends tq give the aCtual ftate
of faCt and deed, in the true order of
time, arranged, fixed, and afcertained by
epochs, which it neither does nor can
fo give for certain, are confidered; the
Mythic or Fabulous Hiftory is ftated on
the. other as giving a general reprefep*
tation of the general courfe of events, and
not a" particular narrative of a particular
train of faCts. In that view, the latter
is ftated as giving fufficient knowledge
to all the purpqfes, of experience and
ufe,

CONTENTS. X?
Page. ufe, equally as well as that which
aflumes and pretends to give an aCtual
ftate of faCt and deed. From this
opinion a rule is laid down, that
while on one hand we Jhould not refufe
all hiftoric faith to what is reprefented
only in fable % fo on the other extream
•we muji not receive that as hiftoric
narrative of actual facls and events,
which is only reprefentation in apologue
and muthos of the general Jlate and
courfe of events in the hiftory of man
and nature.
124 This doCtrine exemplified firft; by
an explanation of the fabulous hif
tory of the Argonautic expedition.
j 28 — 144. And fecondly, by a philofophic
commentary on the Antidiluvian hif
tory, which the books of Mofes give,
confidered as an apologue.
j 45 This rule further applied' to thofe
Fables which feem to veil the know
ledge of the ufe of the polarity of
the magnatic arrow, as known fo
and ufed by the ancients in their
navigation. END OF THE FIRST J*ART.
t • t •
L. A V P £ 8-

$vi CONTENTS.
APPENDIX. N° I.
Analyfis of the elements of fpeech, as ap
plicable to Etymology in the ftudy of
Antiquities. N° II.
A Treatife on picture -writing, hiero-
glyphick and elementary Writing, (hew
ing how the firft arofe from nature, the
fecond from art ; with an illuftration of
the effeCts which thefe have had on the
deviations and mutations of language;
in a letter to Tho. Aftle, Efq. OCt. 25,
J778- ¦ . --,...'
Read at the Society of Antiquaries, London,
Jan. 18, 1 78 1. N° III.
Memoire. — Being a narrative of the in-
veftigations and difcoveries made on the
fubjeCt of the Triremes, Quadriremes^,
and ^uinqueremes, of the Antients, of
the nature of Row-gallery, of the port
ing the rowers, and of the mode by
which thefe veffels were rowed, by Lieu
tenant

CONTENTS, xvii
tenant General Melvill. Communi
cated to Governor Pown all. May 1 5,
1781. N°IV.
Diflertation on the antient Chariot, the
exercife of it in the race ; and the ap»
plication of it to real fervice in war*
PART SECOND.
The obfervations on the ftudy of An*
tiquities, as the commentary of hiftory now
panes from that period which is called
Ancient Hiftory, to a fucceeding period,,
wherein a new race of men invaded the cul
tured world, and overwhelmed, as with a
deluge, its civilization.
The fpirit and character of thefe two
periods compared.
The faCts of this general revolution in,
the inhabitancy, the occupancy, and go
vernment of the world, are indeed gene*
rally and incidentally told by the Greek and
Roman writers of hiftory; but as the
fources and firft courfes of thefe peopl^
lay beyond the h'ftoric horizon ; as the-
x events were prior to the chronologic canon
of hiftory ; and the crifis of thefe events
not within the fcope of the philofophy of
thefe

xviii CONTENTS.
rhefe writers, this revolution hath beert
rather looked up to with aftonifhment and
wonder, than inveftigated and explained.
The Philofophic Antiquary will, as the
commentator on hiftory, examine -and
thence explain this, in a more detailed and
circumftantial manner, than the hiftorian
may perhaps think neceflary. He will,
from the fragments offaCts, as they lye
fcattered amidft the mafs of hiftoric ruins,,
or buried and overgrown by the weeds of
fable, fo combine the accounts of this
great event as to recompofe them into fome
femblance of the original faCt.
The Treatife, after given the rule, pro
ceeds to the application of it, by an at
tempt to defcribe the circumftances and
preparatory events, which led to this re
volution of the world.
The Hiftoric Horizon defined in its
northern limits, with reference to the
Cimri, Cimbri, Cimmerians, or Hyper
boreans, who are fabuloufly defcribed in
ancient hiftory to have had their dwelling
beyond the bounds of the earth, beyond chaos,
in Tartaros; as alfo to the Teyts or Titans,
the Teuts or Dteutfch, whofe habitancy
and the proceflion of whofe generations
Were bounded by this horizon not beyond
but on the extream borders of the earth. The
accounts given by Hefiod of this firft in
habitancy

CONTENTS. xbc
Jiabitancy are explained and fhewn to
coincide with thofe given by bur HS.
Hiftory. The Cymri traced in the proceflions of
their generations and habitancy (beyond
the boundary of the hiftoric horizon) from
the Moeotic Lake, to the Cimbric Ifles of
the Baltic, and to the Weftern Ifles and
coafts of Europe.
The Teuts in like manner traced along
the extremities of this horizon to the coafts
of the Baltic, the Saxon ihores, and into
the Britifh ifles.
The terminations Ingi; Ait, Aita or
JEtta ; Ones or Vones ; explained, as they
enter into the compofition of moft of the
names of both thefe people.
The Treatife then proceeds to fketch and
draw out the lines in which the hiftory
of the firft inhabitants, the proceffion of
their generations, and the final fettlement
of them as nations fhould be inveftigated.
The nature of their fituation, and of
the cireumftance, of the regions in which
they dwelt, and which they occupied, de
scribed. The forming caufe of thefe people
becoming finally a great naval power,
hence derived and explained in its prin
ciples. The Cimbric Cherfonefus, fhewn to
have been an ifland, and the Low Coun tries,

xx' CONTENTS,
tries, now called Flanders, to have been"
Sea, with fome exceptions of flooded
marfhes and iflands.
That the inhabitants of thefe regions
were fifhermen, marine navigators, rovers,
and pirates.
The nature of this ancient mode of life
deferibed as to its fpirit, character, and
naval operations.
Thefe Vies* Wiggs, Wiggans, and Vi-
canders (afterwards called PiCts), deferibed
in their roving excurfions, in their colo-»
nial fettlements, and in their conquefts.
Concurrent with this, an account is
given of the fuppofed firft original, and
next of the earlieft adventitious inhabitants
of Britain % of the Cymri, the Cotti, At-
tacotti, and Efcotti, as found therein ; alfo
of the Celtas and Belgae.
Hence a more particular account of the
aCtions, operations, and fettlements, of the
Vies, Vickanders, or PiCts, in Scotland,
in the eaftern and fouthern ifles and coafts
of Britain ; and on the coafts of Normandy
and Aquitaine, where they were in the
earlieft times under the name Cyn-haid^
Cyn-a'it, or as Herodotus writes it Kunaitte*
The manner and line marked out in
which the origin, progreffion, amplifi
cation, and eftablifhment, of the great?
northern naval power, may be invef*
tigated;

< C O -N T E N T S. xxi
tigated ; according to which rule, an EfTay
towards its hiftory, from the earlieft times
to the period when it was advanced, fo as
to come forward and .difpute the empire of
the world with Rome, is mferted.
The terreftrial lines in which the pro- '
ceffions. in generation and habitancy of
the Teuts or Teyts, of the Celts or Gauls,
may be inveftigated, are marked. In the
courfe of drawing which, an account is
given of thofe two fraternal branches of
the fons of Cottus, Gott-Teus, or Teu-
baal, the fon of Japetus or Japhet, as they
became' in procefs of time the fettled inha
bitants of Gaul and Germany, as nations.
The firft inhabitants of Europe and of
the Weftern part of Afia, as deriving from
Corner and IVIagog, the two fons of Ja
petus, and their fons Madai, Tubal, and
Javan, particularly deferibed : herein of
the Tr'oi'rn, the Ach-aians, the Tr'achs'
Or Thraces, D'achs or Daci ,and Davi.
The Getze, Teuts or Dteutfch, the Celtse
and their proceffions, as Galli and Gall-
•aitas ; ^oalians, or Gaeol. This account
Clofes with an etymology, different from
what hath been hitherto given, of the ap
pellatives German and Celt, as becoming-
national names.
From the refearch who thefe people
were, the treatife proceeds to mark the
c line

xxii CONTENTS.
line in which the inveftigation into what
they were fhould train ; that this ought
to be purfued by a line wherein principles
and faCts combine. The exemplification
and application of this mode of ftudying
this part of ancient hiftory : and firft of
the Sylvan Life inhabiting and occupying
the earth in its natural and original ftate —
of' the Foreft-hunter, the nature of his,
occupancy and population— ^of the Marine-
hunter, or Fifherman and Navigator, of
his occupancy and population1 — of the
fcites, circumftances and principles which
give fource to population — of the ad
vancing, fationary, and declining fate of
population in the different nations at dif
ferent periods, as thefe circumftances and
thefe principles operate : Herein of the
temporary plethorifm of populoufnefs in cer
tain periods of the progreffion of civili-
-zation ; as alfo of the fluctuation of in
habitancy and dominion in the early ages
of the world in confequence thereof.
The temporary Plethorifm of the northern
people who invaded and over-ran the Ro
man empire, explained from thefe prin
ciples by faCts. The ftate of their com
munity explained, from whence is de
rived the reafon why .they were enabled to
bring into the field fuch multitudes be
yond any proportion of numbers which fettled

CONTENTS. xxiii
fettled and compleatly civilized nations
could bring there.
The eafe with which they could migrate
in a body, as a whole nation, explained
from" the principle, which they invariably
and unalterably adhered to, that of not
becoming fettled landworkers ; the operation
and effect of this principle in the nature
of their inhabitancy, and in the forms of
their landed occupancy; their mode of life
and character, their community an army,
their inhabitancy a campaign ; and their
movements made by a fyftem of camps. —
Their habitual experimental knowledge in
the fupply of a moving body, their know
ledge and practice in the Res Frumentaria,
and -Res Portoria.
This again more particularly exemplified
by the routs they took by fea and up the
great navigable rivers ; the ufe they made
of the naval power eftablifhed in the parts
they came from or pafTed through.
As this treatife hath above explained
and deferibed the naval afcendaut power
which exifted in the Baltic, on the Saxon
fhores, and in the weftern ocean ; it now
proceeds to defcribe that which exifted in
the Euxine Sea, and on the rivers which
run into it ; as alfo that on the Ifter or
Danube. The nature of the avenues and
water-carriage of the Rhine and Danube
c 2 as

xxiv CONTENTS
as leading to the very gates of ¦Italy ex
plained. '
The relative numbers and force of the
¦invading nations, and that of the empire
'of Rome, as they met on the frontiers,
put in appofition, by a comparifon of the
nature of a loco-motive community, not
yet divided into all thofe branches of
labour, employ, and fervice, which form
the members of a -perfectly civilized com
munity of fetcled inhabitants.
Of the nature of the line of the Roman
frontiers and its defence; compared with
the nature of the attacks which it had to
refift., The effeCt of dividing the fervices and
commands : The effeCt of removing the
feat of empire from Rome to' Byzantium,
culled Conftantinople.
'¦¦' This fubjeCt explained by an exami
nation of the fyftem- of dominions and
frontiers, adopted and formed by the ex
perience and prudence of Auguftus. The
effeCt which the empire experienced when
the emperors quitted this fyftem ; this
exemplified by an explanation of, and a
criticilm xipon the third ode of the third
book of HoraGe. no
>o The concluiion of this Antiquarian
Commentary on this great Revolution, fo
Jar us rrjpcots the caujes of it.
- The

CONTENTS. xxv
The fame canfidered in its effe-Bs as it
operated in the fucceeding period of the
world, to the eftablifhment of a new
fyftem of occupancy, polity, and govern
ment. Herein of the feudal fate of pro
perty in land, and of the military fate of
'fervice in the perfon ; as a fundamental
eftahlifhrnent of the new Imperium.
That the fpirit of the government, thus
wholly military, confidered the -political
conftitution of the ftate, and the admi-
iiiftration thereof merely as ceconomical ;
and had therefore no conception* that it
was of any import, or any ways neceflary,
that the political ftate mould beco-exten-
five or co-exiftent with the fufr earn imperial
command of the 'fovereign.
This principle explained as the fource of
the various Curiae, JurifdiCtions, Laws,
Cuftoms, and even Governments, which
exifted in eodem Imperio at the fame time,
independent of each other, and paramont
within their refpeCtive JurifdiCtions, as po
litical ftates in their political oeconomy.
After having thus fketched out the line
of revifion by which the great revolution
of the inhabitancy and ftate of Europe
may be inveftigated, as to the eftablifh
ment of the new fyftem which hath from
that period actuated it, the treatife pro
ceeds to fhew how the Antiquary of each
country

xxvi CONTENTS.
country may take his own peculiar courie
of inquiry into the ancient ftate of his
own nation and jcommunity, by what
.means and by what modes of inhabitancy,
cultivation, and property, it was poflefled,
by the feveral fucceffive people who dwelt
in it ; as alfo what form the community
and government took under each ; in what
ftate thofe, inhabitants, who are commonly
and vulgarly called the original inhabitants,
poflefled and cultivated it.; how they lived,
and under what forms, and by what means,
under the Romans, the Danes, Saxons,
Normans ; how and by what ways and
means their conftitutions of government
took each in their refpeCtive form thefe
fucceffions of revolutions ; how their man
ners and cuftoms.
All this applied to the Antiquities of
Britain and England efpecially.

PART

CONTENTS. xxvii
PART THE THIRD.,
Inventarium opum humanarum quo ex-
cipiantur et breViter enumerentur omnia
hominum bona et fortunae (five fint ex fruc-
tibus et proventibus naturse, five artis) quae
jam habentur et'quibus homines fruantur,
adjeCtis iis, quae olim innotuifle conftat,
nunc autem perierunt, &c. Bacon de
Augment, Scient. Lib. III. c. 5.
Herein of the Antiquities of AbftraCt
Science ; of Arts, neceffary or ornamental
in thofe .articles by which Man is lodged,
cloathed, or fed. The commercial, me
chanical, and agricultural Antiquary.

N. B. I give here the contents of the
whole work as finifhed ; although the pub
lication of the fecond and third parts is
deferred. It is deferred, as my Bookfeller
doubts whether a work written on fubjeCts
of this nature, by a perfon of no 'literary
character, will become an article of fale
fufficient to pay the coft of publifhing, al
though, as I never take any money from a
Bookfeller, the copy cofts him nothing.
3 The

[ xxviii ]

The Reader is defired to correct, previous to reading
the work, the following Errata, which efcaped the
Author's notice in the courfe of correcting the prefs,
a talk he is not much ufed to.

lege reprehenfione
dele not
after the word it, a full flop
after the word ufed, put a full ftopi
after the word of infert the
after the word of infert the
read Neptunia
for evacuation lege excavation
from the word voire dele e
dele of
lege complaints
after the word of infert the
dele again
for almoft lege utmoft
for Paulus lege Palus
for J3>a»^ te Fabricus lege J^hu /* FahriciuS
for ultiesa lege ultima
for feven lege nine <
after the word y2«.s put a j

page

line

7

24

8

r3

15

22

26

26

29

18

31

4

33

23

54

11

55

9

60

28

79

11

88

15

20

94

ult

95

1

in

9

14

120

10

*3S

s9

(. * )

TREATISE o!l% THE
... 'if >
Study of antiquities; &c;

THE Society of Antiquaries, a body
of men knowing, fome from learn
ing, Others frOm experience, in all the
feveral branches of the hiftory of man,
and of the world his habitation, is, by
the confpiring information, and mutual
Communications of its members, as alfo! by
its being a Repertory of their collective
learning and discoveries, peculiarly adapt
ed to inftitute and build up that Hiftoria
propria et jufta^ which the Lord Veru-i
lam does, hold to be alone aCtual and
praCtick knowledge. B I' have

( * )
I have always confidered this Society in
its inftitution as one of the moft ufeful
literary Eftablifhments which have been
made in this country 5 as promoting and
encouraging true and ufeful learning ; as
aiding and conducting the refearches
thereof to real and practical knowledge £
the knowledge of our country ; of our na
tion ; of its aCtual hiftory ; of its laws and
rights; of its civil conftitution : As alfo by a
hiftory of the proceffion of the encreafing
wants, and elicited refources of man, lead^
ing to an Experience, applicable in prac
tice to the ftate of the fyftem in which he
is placed ; leading by experience of what
has been under various circumftances at
tempted, of what under various circum
ftances hath been the effeCt of fuch at
tempts, to information of what may and
can, or what cannot, be done with his
varied and encreafed powers in the varied
and extended circumftances of his being.
When I confider this Society as a Cor
poration, Lfuppofe it to have been in its.
inftitution fomething beyond that of a
mere Repertory. I look to fome plaftick
principle, fome tendency to affort as well
as to colleCt ; fome recognizing principle
which may reform as well as revive fome
of the multitude of materials which are
every

I 3 )
every day. -brought 3 to the fhafs of our
difcovevies, with a view td the reftoring
from its ruins, and re-edifying, that an
cient Structure of which our numberlefs
collections are. but the reliques and dife
perfed fragments.
Did we follow the feduCtidns of fancy1*
and quitting the fober fteps of experience1,
haftily adopt fyftem; and then from a dotage
on our own phantoms^ clrei's fuch fyftem
out in the rags and remnants o'f antiqui
ty, we fhbuld only make work to mock
ourfelves : or were we on the other hand
to.perfevere in making unmeaning endlefs
collections without fcope or view, we
'fhould.be the dupes of out own futility,
and; becOme in either cafe ridiculous.
The upftart fungus of fyftem is poifon to
the mind; and an, uiinutritive mafs of
learning may create and indulge a falfe
appetite:, but never Can feed the mind.
• HoXvuciStoi voov »x Si^acrxet *. All the
learning in the world, if it flops fhort
and refts on particulars, never will be
come knowledge. To avoid then thefe
extreams-Tof felf-del.qfion on one hand,
or of the falfe conceptions of barren folly
on the other, we fhould keep our minda
. , * Heraclitus.
B 2 conftantly

( 4 )
confirm tly fixed on the Principle and
End of our inftitution.
To analyfe and explain this principle,
to defcribe that line of refearch which
leads to this end, and, in the way, to
point out fome of the Defiderata of this
branch of learning, is the puiport of this
Treatife. The ftudy of the fyftem of the human
being; and of the ftate of nature, of
which that being is a part ; is the bu-
finefs and duty of him who is to move
and aCt in it. If he would have a real and
practical knowledge of it, he mufl feareh
and examine, not only the prefent ftate
of nature, the aCtual and immediate ftate
of his local or temporary fit'uation ; but
penetrate with philofophic patience and
inquifition into ancient hiftory,. ubi et
Hominum et Naturae res gefi<% et facinora
memorantur. He fhould examine and analyfe this
fyftem, like a great machine in all its
parts, powers, operations, and relations:
he muft endeavour to trace its nature in
every period of its progreflive exifteneet
and compare all with the prefent ftate of
it. " Difficile enim eft in Philofphia
.1 * «»• "• pauta

( 5 )
** paitca ejfe ei not a, cui non funt aut
" plura aut emnia *." Nor muft this
analyfis be made from any theoretick ab-
ftraCt view of things in general ; but by
clofely following ftep by ftep the path in
which nature ailing leads ; and by a ftriCt
induction of her laws as found in her ac
tions. " Omnes enim artes aliter ab lis
" traSluntur qui eas ad ufum transferunt,
" aliter ab iis qui ipfarum artitini tra£la-
" tu dtletlati nihil in vita funt alhid
" adtitri" In this line of refearch conducted
by this principle, he may hope to arrive
at the true end of learning, the know
ledge OF THE SYSTEM OF HIS EXIST
ENCE ; AND AT EXPERIENCE IN THE USE
AND APPLICATION OF HIS POWERS TO THE
RIGHT POSSESSION AND ENJOYMENT OF
IT. There are two concurrent lines, in
which . this knowledge may be traced.
The firft is that of hiftory properly fo
called, the other an experimental hiftory
of the varying and encreafing wants, and
of the refources and various contrivances ,
and inventions of man ; as thefe have from
time to time been called forth by the dif
ferent wants of the varying fituations of
b.i§. being. This fecond line of refearch
* Cic. Tufc. Quaeft. 1. ii. § I,
B3 is

( 6 )
is to.be purfued by forming what the lord
Verulam calls " Inyentarium opunr hu?
f rnanarum." If there was no ground as a bafis for
thefe experiments in aflbrting the fcatter-
ed fragments and reliques of antiquity
to a Rein.ftauration of (at leaft) the know
ledge of the fyftem . to which they be
longed ; the labqurs of learning: would be
but the building (as our proverb exprefles
it) caftles in the air.: if there was no cer*-
tain decided and defined courfe in the ,4
movements and operations of nature, all
theory on which thefe experiments could
be inftituted, would originate in caprice,
and muft end in empiricifm : but there
is in nature, a fyftem by which every
being is defined in its own efTence, and
in its relative exiftence ; by which that
being hath a certain energy and defined
extent of power, by which the direction,
which thofe powers in motion take, is
determined. This fvftem confifts. of a
feries of caufes and effeCts, linked toge
ther by that golden chain which defcen.ds
from heaven. If then this fyftem exifts
Ly fuch a- feries in nature, there mult be
in the, power of man a clue, by which
reafon in the patient fpirit of inveftigation
may retrace back the links of this chain
3 to

( 7 )
-to the primary, if not the very firft prin
ciples on! which. the whole depends.
I will commence my application o£
this theorem with the firft objeCt of in
veftigation that muft occur to the Anti^
quary in his refearches into the hiftoric
traces of the human being. I fhall apply
it to that fpecies of hiftory which may be
elicited by a truely philofophic etumo-
logy, and a fcientific examination of the
various modes of enunciation, by which
the primary elements of fpeech became
fb infleCted as to form various dialeCts of
the fame language, and fo devicus as to
create various derivative languages.
" Humana voce nihil majus varium',
" hujus tamen difcrimina in fingulis per-
** fonis facile internofcimus. Nihilmajus
" varium ~quam foni artieulati, verba
li fcilicet, Via tamen itiita eft earn re-
*' ducendi ad paucas litteras alphabeti *'.'
" In fonis quaedam eft antiquitatis Veritas
" quam neque confuetudine diverfam, ne-
"que rerephenfione nullam, neque yo-
" luntate noftra tranflatitiam efficere pof-
**- fumus -j-"
* Bacon de Augm. Scient.
¦{¦ Sir T. Smith de yera^ prpiiunciatione. Lingua
Gracae. 1542.
B4 The

( «. )
The line of this' refearch may be con
ducted by an analyfis of the powers of
articulation in man, deriving from the
varying form and texture of the organs of
fpeech. The peculiar jointing and mov-
ing mufcles of the human limbs deci-
fively determine the fpecific inflection of
thofe limbs'; all the movements and at
titudes therefore of all men in the world
muft be generically the fame : Particular
modes of exertion, caprices, and fafhions,
and divers habits and. cuftoms, may ffeate
fome perfonal, profeffional, or even na
tional peculiarities ; yet all are reducible,
by a knowledge of the conftruCtion of the
machine, to the movements and attitudes
of the one defined animal man. The va
riant enunciation of the elementary founds
of. fpeech' may feem almoft infinite and
infcrutable, not only as it. arifes amongft
various races of men ; but alfo in the fame
face of men at different periods of time,
and even in the fame individual, but they
are not fo, nor will be found to be fo
when examined, either by the nature or.
the e'xercife of the organs which found
them: various and almoft difcrepantas the
pronunciation of the fame language may
found, fpoken in different periods of time,
in various climates,' and under divers ha
bits; different as the different founds ufed
"  >:

( 9' )
hy the. various inhabitants of this earth?
may feem ; yet when the powers of enunr
ciatioui as they exift and are capable of
being exerted, are1 analyfed, they will be
found all to be confined to, and. circum-
fcribed within, .the fame .elements of
fpeech; -and thefe elements alfo,; how
ever infinite the words of .fpeech' may
feem^ when refolyed into their primary
and indivifibje founds of voice, will be
found -not to f exceed l fixteen. I fhall not
here enter further into the aCtual .analyfis
of this fubjeCt ; as No. I. of the appenr
dix is an exprefs ' treatife , of . this fubjeCt,
confidered as one of the deftderata in the
ftudy of antiquities. i 1 fhall only obferve
that this method of refolution and r'com-
pofition of the. elements, of fpeech '.did
actually lead in the fixteenth century to
many difcoveries in the etymon and, ortho
graphy of the dead languages. The truely
philofophic etymologifts have, in many
inftances, traced back the deviations in
different dialeCts of > the fame language,
and the variations of different languages,
through fources which : lay almoft buried
under the mines of time, fo as to dif-
pover the original root whence all deriv
ed. The difcoveries. made ¦ by thefe meri
torious labours in this line of. refearch have
led to the elucidation of the hiftory of
••-•;_¦ <Jj man

( io )
man in many points eflential to that "hif
tory1; to the afcertaining and identifying
the people, the perfon s, the country,;
which were the objects of the- narrative.
This philofophic etymology may '¦ tend ta
explain many circumftances of the cuf-
toms, policy/ and deeds of thefe people,
may in many cafes elucidate the geography
and even chronology of thofe countries^ ^
' I-
An attentive inveftigation, by this mode
of refolution and compofition, of the ^dif
ferent manner in which different nations
pronounce reciprocally the words of each.
the other's language; repeated experiments
by the ear, made ort the peculiarities
which each hath in founding the palatin
elements of fpeech, with a varying guttural
catch of the Voice, and in giving various
afpirations, -by which they furcharge the
dental, lingual, and labial elements ; will
elicite and elucidate many curious matters
which 'fhall continually arife to light by
thefe experiments fo conducted.
The Principle, indifpenfably to be ob-*
ferved; and never to be departed from- in
this mode of refearch, is, that the refo
lution and compofition be conducted in a
conftant reference of the flock and branches
(if I may foexprefs myfelf) of the word
under

( » )
imde* examination to the roots of -the Ian*.
guage, to which the word originally be'^
longed. The firft ftep : therefore iis care
fully both by internal and external "eviV
dence to enquire, -whether the word or
name is a native : of, or foreign to, the
language in which it is found *¦ ; whether
technical, and fpoken as foreign ; whether
adopted; and tranflatitlous ; Or whether
derived through the ordinary- 'generation
of languages peculiar to each 'race' of men,
and naturalized ; whether the thing, place,
or -perfon, which the . word eXprefles, be
foreign or domeftic ; if foreign, whether
the name be fuch, as the, language, in
which the word is found, Would" invent to
defcribe fuch thing, place, or perfon by;
or whether it, is the word by which the
nation in which the object exifts doth in
its own proper language exprefs it : if the
object is domeftick, Whether the word be
defcriptive, or appellative ; if fo, Whether
the word, expreffing; the defcription or
appellation, be found amongft, or was
ever known to, the language of the country
* Plato,'in the Dialogue colled Cratulus, fpeaking of the
.etymology of the word X\v$ , ignis, fays, that being, as he
'apprehends, ~a barbarous or Phrygian word, he (Fall not
attempt the analyfis of it hy Grecian element?, and then
lays down rhis rule, which I hce mention. Ei' t».- ^toi
Taina Koirat m EK\r,vixr,y Q&vw £fi lofxoTwg y.-A-xon, jKhap.ii
aar iXKivjj)' 1% ri$ to ovefjM Tvy^avei or, ola'fki o'n atpo^oi ut,
or

( i* y
W people that" is or are named by it 5 Of
whether it be an affumed appellative -jof
the peoples own invention, as a nomme. de
guerre, or a colony name. If it, be de
scriptive, whether ; the defcription arifes
from any _ real natural inherent Attri
butes, of the perfon or thing deferibed;; or
whether the defcription is imputed,, from
circumftances not inherent ¦ • but arifihg
from- habits of civil, and military difcipline,
or opinions nurtured: in religious eftablifh-
rnents, -or merely . from the caprice of
fancy. Addreffiwg royfelf to, a learned
Society, I need not robferve, that all the
defcriptive appellative : words, all -com
mercial foederal tei'ms, in fhort, all words
ufed by nations in their reciprocal inter?
courfe, expreffive of things, places; or
perfons, and which are therefore capable
of being referred to two or more lan
guages, fall under fome of thefe clafles,
Much lefs need I load this traCt with quo
tations giving examples of fuch. Thefe
enquiries into the Etymon, which pro
ceeds by the internal evidence of the
Words, mould always be attended by the
practical comment of the external evi
dence, which arifes from the hiftory pff
the country or nation, in which the thing,
place, or perfon deferibed exift s, or is
expreffed ; or at leaft by fuch comment as.

( «3 )
&s ' can' be formed from concurrent eVH'
denees and analogy < Without a conftant
attention, referring alternately to both
thefe evidences, where they are to be had ;
and without a more than ordinary atten
tion, Watching with a jealous eye over our
imagination where We muft proceed only
by "the. one line of evidence ; the Anti
quary will become a mere futile punfter,
ringiag changes with fyllables on the
tinckling carillon of his own fancy. But
as the deviations of language do not, fo
neither does not the labour of analyfing
them end here; - Knowledge of the an
cient ftate of things comes to us, com
municated by language written and not
fpoken. It is not fufficient that the An
tiquary be converfant with the nature of
the variations of the elements enouncedy
but a very attentive obfervation, how dif
ferent nations or tribes, or eveir indi
viduals in different climes, and at different
periods of their progrefs in civilization*
apply and ufe the fame fyftem of ele*
mentary characters to exprefs that which
is meant to be the fame found. No two
perfbns receive exactly the fame irhpreffion
from the fame colour, nor will any two
(if they are to exprefs that from memory)
-exprefs with a pencil the fameprecife ton of
Colour : no -two jperfons hearing- the fame
found,

t H )
found, of a word ftrange to them* will
receive the fame impreffion, or imitate it
by the fame enunciation ; much lefs will
they, if they are of a different nation^
having a different language, write it down
in the fame manner. When the elements
Of fpeech, furcharged with the guttural
catch of the voice, or with the afpirates^
as the lingual dental, and labial elements
are affected by them, come to be written
down, accordingly as the more or lefs at
tentive habit of the ear catches the found;
and according to the idea which each na
tion hath of the powers of the elementary
character, by which they mean to exprefs
that found ; the words thus written, and
thus compofed, undergo fuch metamor-
phofes as to retain fcarce any of that- out-
Ward form with which their fpirit was
originally cloathed ; betides* there is in
every particular race of people fome pe
culiarities of enunciation, which another
people or nation are not capable of ex-
preffing precifely, for which peculiar tpne
they always fubftitute fome other tone*
fomewhat (according to their own ear
and expreflion) fimilar ; For example*
" the American Indians,*' (fpeaking of my
own knowledge, I fpeak particulaily of
the five nations, and by way of con
firmation, write from the teftimony of one
who

( '5 )
\vho perfectly underftood their affairs *')
'*' have no labials in their language, nor
" can they perfectly pronounce a word
** wherein there is a labial, and when one
" endeavours to teach them thefe words,
" they fay they think itsridiculou,s to fhut
" their lips to fpeak. Their language
kS. abounds with gutturals, and ftrong af-
" pirations." To the fame point, "¦ The
*' Chinefe*" fays Pallas -j-, in his Journal
through Siberia, " are not able to pro-
'* nounce R, but inftead of itj make
" life of L, ; and when two confonants
" come together, which frequently occurs
u in the Ruffian languge, they divide
if them by the interpofition of a vowel."
On the contrary, the Northern Greeks
generally inferted between two vowels their
digamma, in order to aid them in ex-
preftirtg thofe emollient founds of the
more" fouthern Hellenifts, which their
grofler rigid organs of fpeech could noC
well exprefs without it, Mr. Bayer, in
his Muleum Sinicum (fays Mr. Cox),
gives feveral curious inftances of the Chi-
* Lieutenant Governor Colden.
f Not having the book by me, I take my account frorri
Mju Cox's account of the Ruffian Difcoveries, in which he
inferts a H'ftory of the Tranfadtions and Commerce be
tween the Ruffians and Cbinefe, a work containing many
curious matters collected with great judgment, and ex
plained wi:h learning. nefe

riefe mode of articulating thofe founds5
which they have not in their own lan
guage ; for inftance, they change B, Dy
R, X Z, into P, T, L, S S.
For Crux they fay Culufu.
Baptizo - - - Papetifo.
Cardinalis - - Kia-ul-fi-ria-li-fu.;
Spiritus - - - Su-pi-li-ti-fu.
Adam - - - * Va-tam.
Eve - - - -f Ngeva.
Chriftus - - - Ki-li-fu-tu-fu.
'fc Hoc eft corpus meum — Hoke | nge-
fu'tu co-ulpufu mevum."
From the uncertain and undefined idea.
which each nation, or each tribe, hath of
the powers and combination of the ele
mentary characters ; fome ufe one, and
fome another of the fame, or even dif
ferent claffes, in their writing, when all
mean to exprefs one and the fame found ;'
fome even ufe particular marks, which are
not defined letters, peculiar to themfelves,
in order to exprefs their peculiar guttural
catchy or the afpirations, with which they
* Here is the initial, and f here the interpofed di'gamma.
J G in the two inilarices mult be only the mark of
the digamma, and n-it a confonant, and mult be pronounced
as Y. as wheu the Engltfti in Yorkihire fay Yate for Gate. fur-

( V )'
furcharge their enunciation. I have my-
felf been an ear-witnefs to* the matters
here ftated. When prefent at the treaties
or conferences with the Indians of North
America, I haveobferved that every feveral
interpreter has received a very different im-
preflion of the found uttered by the Indian
fpeaking ; and hath alfo ufed a different
mode of exprefling the fame name, when
endeavouring to enounce the fame found.
The found that ftruck my ear did alfo
feem, at the fame time, very different
from the tone feemingly imprefled on the
ear of the interpreter, or exprefled by
him ; and if I had endeavoured to enounce
what the Indian uttered, I fhould have
exprefled it very differently from what the
iaid interpreter did : fo that the fame name
or word becomes, when thus transferred
from one lauguage to another, quite a
different thing. But when thefe words,
thus, differently received by different ears,
and thus differently exprefled, come to be
written down, the confufion redoubles in
perplexity : when however one is once ap
prised of the fact, that thefe Indians ufe
no labial elements of fpeech, and that they
exprefs a greater variety in the ufe of the
digamma, and in the afpirats than the
Europeans know ; and that the Europeans
C do

( i8 }
do fubftitute, in order to exprefs thefe. pe
culiar founds, each nation very different
letters, Jo exprefs the fame word, which
yet do not really exprefs them ; one can
not but fee how the.barbarifms muft mul
tiply upon each other. One can however
obferve that there is generally a kind of
uniformity in thefe deviations, both in the
impreffion s- received, and in the peculiar
utterance and writing of each nation^
To mark this fpecifically is the indifpen-
fable duty of the philofophic Antiquary
in his operation of etymology. Analyfing;
hence any name or word, according to
the peculiar texture of thofe fubftituted
elements of the language, wherein the
word is received; and recompofing it again-
according to the peculiarities of the lan
guage to which it originally belonged j
inch words may generally be reftored to>
their original etymon.
May I here be permitted to fuggeft an
idea which in the courfe of the experience
above-mentioned has often ftruck me ?
My idea is,, that the diverging of the
human fpeech into various languages hath-
arifen more often, and gone into greater
diverfities, fince the invention of elemen
tary writing, than from' any other caufe
whatever..

( '9 )
whatever. ' I think that the fimilarity
which muft, as an actual faCt, be fup-
pofed to exift in the languages of different
people, who underftood one another prior
to any account which hiftory gives of the
vulgate ufe of letters; and the great dif-
crepancy which we know did aCtually
exift in the languages of thefe fame na
tions after the vulgate ufe of letters, is a
psoof of this.
If the various languages of the antient
world were in this line of refearch, by
this refolution and compofition, recipro
cally compared, at or about that period
when civilization began to fructuate in an
exuberance of population ; when the civi
lized were ifluing forth colonies in va
rious emigrations, and forming various
fettlements, amongft the yet uncivilized
natives of the Jylvan world: If this analyfis
at every ftep it took looked to the hiftory
of thofe times, although exprefled in me
taphorical pictures, although cloathed in
fables,, and thofe fables afterwards de-
formed by filly devices of mythology; many
very interefting facts in the Hiftory _ of
Man would be brought to light, which
have long lyen and muft lie buried under
the ruins that the devaftation of their
C 2 wars

* ( 20 )
wars and plunderings have made over the
whole face of the earth.
I may here, referring to an incontro
vertible proof in an illuftrious example,
aflert, that fuch a line of refearch, con
ducted by fuch philofophick etymology,
will lead to fuch difcoveries ; for in Mr.
Bryant's analyfis it hath in fact done fo.
His very fuperior literature, led by un
common ingenuity, hath through the
fourccs of ancient learning, opened, as it
were, the fountains of antient knowledge?
difpelled that more than Egyptian dafk-
nels, under which the learned themfelves
have been fo long loft. He hath given
fuch elucidation to the clouded hiftory of
the ancient world, that it fliould feem,
that truth, like the fun, is beginning
now to riie on our hemif-phere. The
more however that I hope from this firft
day-fpring, the more anxioufly do I fear,
left any intervening medium fhould over-
caft the dawn. , I fee no cloud, no fpot,
in our horizon, that can obflrudt ; and
yet there is fome thing that feems dif-
pofed to rejraSt and may pervert thefe rays
of opening light. It were much to be
wifhed, that in the ufe and application of
his learning to his argument, he would
attentively re-examine whether there be.
not

( a* )
not fome refraCtions caufing fome aber
rations from the ftriCt right line of de-
monftration. Where any thing has come
fo near perfection in its way, thofe, who
admire it, cannot but wifh it to be, if
poffible, abfolutely fo.
If by this mode of refolution and com
pofition of language, conducted by thefe
philofophic principles, the feveral individual
Literati were feverally to purfue the ety
mology of thofe languages, which they
are moft converfant in-; and if univer
fally the 'Literati, in different parts of the
world were by some established So
ciety reciprocally to communicate to
each other the modes of their refearches,
" the inftitution and iffue of their experi
ments, and the refult in their difcoveries ;
there would be found a much greater
analogy, and a much nearer agnation,
amongft the different languages in the
world, than their firft appearances offer :
fuch an agnation at leaft as* fairly traced,
would by degrees tend to remove that al
moft infurmountable difficulty, which lies
in the way of learning. " The variety of
languages through which that way leads to
knowledge" Although an universal .philo
fophic language, is rather to be wifhed than
.obtained ; and, if obtained, would be
C 3 ' found

( ** )
found not to be retained unchangeable;
although I have not, in what I here write,
the leaft reference to any fuch idea, yet I
think fuch a general knowledge of terms
and names, in the various languages of the
earth, might be obtained ; as that * " men
" might more immediately apply to
*' things, whereas now a great part of our
*' time is fpent in words, and that with
" fo little advantage, that we often blunt
" the edge of our underftanding by deal-
" ing with fuch rough and unpleafant
" tools." As Cicero fays of Memory,
that it is of two forts, the one more
adapted to receive and retain the im
preffion of words ; the other that of
things -j~ : So are the minds of men
thus differently formed, or thus differently
trained, that thofe who have exercifed
themfelves in, and devoted their ftudies to,
the purfuit of things, are feldom fo at
tentive to words, as to become good lin-
guifts : and on the contrary, thofe who
have kept their minds amufed and exer
cifed within the claffic pale of words, arjd
* Baker's Refleftions on Learning.
•}¦ Lucullus habuit divinam quandam memoriam rerum,
veiborum majorem Hortenfius : fed quo plus in negotiisi
gcrendis, res quam verba profunt, hsc erat me:noria ilia
pra;flar.tior.
com-

( 23 )
compofitions of language, are feldorn much
converfant with that philofphy which
looks to things. A philofophic Polyglott, ,
formed by means of fuch interCourfe and
communication of the Learned in divers
nations, might thus be eftablifhed. Such a
Polyglott, examined by» refolution and
compofition of the terms and their com
ponent elements, in the correfponding
words of each language, by fair reference
to the forms and tone, which thefe ele
ments either alone or in Compofition,
take, in the fafhion or. habits peculiar to
the enunciation or orthograhy of each
language ; by a fedulous and cautious en
quiry ' through means of fuch an efta^-
blifhed communication into the external
circumftances which might originally
caufe or afterwards affect thefe terms, as
names or appellatives given or affumed ;
fuch a Polyglott I fay might greatly clear
the path of learning, and render more
practicable the pafs to knowledge, and
anfwer all the practical purpofes of an
univerfal philofophic language. I have
been informed that there was, but fince
dead, a learned ecclefiaftical Regular in
Italy or Germany, who, on the bafis of
his own fingle learning and information,
with undaunted courage and indefatigable
C 4 per-

( u )
perfeverance, had laboured in a line Of re
fearch, into all the languages of the
world, fomewhat fimilar to what is here
fuggefted. If my information be right,
and there now exift any relicks of thefe
meritorious labours, they ought not to be
fecreted, or neglected, or loft to the world; if
they were fuch as the accounts given repre-
fent them to have been, they might be
made the ground-work of fuch a lettered
eftabliihment as I have prefumed to form
an idea of. There are manv learned men
ml
now living, peculiarly trained in their eru
dition to become members of fuch a corr
refponding fociety. Lieutenant - colonel
Vallency,Mr. Bryant, Mr. Richardfon, the
Profeflbr at Gottingen, Mr. Gebelin, Mr.
Pallas, and the learned members of the
fociety at Peterfburg, have fhewn in their
works, and by what they fingly have done,
what might be done by fuch a Society.
Labourers are not wanting ; the haryeft is
abundant : and this period, in which thp
feveral great nations of Europe are aflidu-
oufly inveftigating the various regions of
this our planet, and the various people who
inhabit it, feems to be the feafon, when
the gathering into ftores for ufe, the
fruits of thefe labours, mould be begun,
at leaft fhould be thought on. From

( *5 )
From what has fallen in the way of
a very fuperficial curfory reading, fuch as
the writer of this paper, who is: neither
Jettered nor learned, in his detached
hours of leifure has been capable of pur-
fuing, I am convinced that a certain
degree of agnation may be traced between
the languages of the north-eaftern ^and
Chinefe Tartars with the weftern Indians
pf North America ; that a very clofe ag
nation between the languages of the
ancient northern nations of Europe, with
the Greeks and Latins, would arife and
perpetually occur in every line .of this
refearch. The earlieft reference that can be made
to that ftate of civilization which gave
fource to the antient governments of
Europe, commences at that period, when
a race of ftrangers, advanced to a degree
of civilization and improvement in the
arts, either as an emigrating tribe, or as
a colony of adventurers, firft fettled in
Phrygia amongft a people then living the
fylvan-hunting, or roving paftoral life.
Thefe ftrangers, either from an affump-
fioi) of the title taken up of themfelve% or

( 2* )
or * receiving it from the fervility of a bar
barous people feeling their inferiority, or
from a tranflation of a real name, mean
ing quite a different thing, were called
Qeoi, or Gods. They taught the inhabi
tants Agriculture, whence they became
fixed to their habitation, and whence of
cOurfe arofe Civil Society. Over thefe civil
focieties they eftablifhed Polity, and be
came their Kings and Governors. Who
this race were, whether an emigrating
Tartar tribe, or whether a Syrian or
Egyptian colony, is not as yet beyond
Controverfy -fettled. Who the people
were, amongft whom- thefe gods fettled,
may, I think, be fairly deduced by a re
ference to their language in the manner
above fuggefted. Homer, who writes of
thofe times, tells us, that the names of
perfons, things, and fome animals, were
different in the language of the gods from
thofe names by which the race of men
called the fame things. In the courfe of
his poem he takes occafion in two or three
inftances to mention both names, which
each refpeCtively ufed, whether thefe gods,
fpeaking in common ufe the fame lan-
1* * Thus Caliban in Shakefpear makes- the drunken
Trincalo his god.
That's a brave god, and bears celeftial liqupr !
Haft thou not dropt from heaven ?
guage

( *7 )
guage as the people, had (as the Indians of
North America have) a council-language
different from that which was in common
ufe, or whether being of a different race
they actually fpoke a quite different lan
guage, is not clear. The language fpoken
by men, their fubjeCts, was the fame in
Phrygia and Thracia, and I believe ori
ginally in alf the inhabited coafts of the
./Egean and Euxine feas. What this lan
guage was may be fpecified from the fpe-
Cifick words mentioned as peculiar to that
language. Homer fays, that the appel
lative by which Briareus (fo called by the
gods) was named by men, was Aigeon ;
now Eigeon in Welfh fignifies the Ocean,
an appellative exactly fuited to the cha
racter, refidence, and particular power of
this great officer, who fuperfeded Nep
tune. He fays, that the river called by
the gods Zanthus, was called by men
?Scamander : now, cammendwr means
crooked or winding water, an exact de-
fcriptive appellative of this winding river
full of vortices. It is common with the
Welfh in many inftances to prefix the
particle Ys to many words. Prefix now
this to cammendwr, and pronounce it, no
uncommon way, as we pronounce efquire,
and you have 'Scammendwr,
Homer

( 28 )
Homer fays, that the night-hawk was
called by the men cumindis ; but by the
gods calchis; now calleas is in Welfh this
very bird. The fact here reverfes my
deduction. The poet; fays, there was a Taphos in
the plain of Troy, which the gods called
the tomb of Myrinne, while men called
it fimply Batteia : Now Beth in Welfh is
a grave, and Beddiad (the fame as Bettiat)
is in the plural a collective burying-place.
The people thus called this burial Taphos
by its generical name, while the gods in
naming it had reference to fome old ftory
of its being a burying-place of merchants,
who came there formerly to trade with
this foreign people. Horappollo fays, that
the fymbol in picture-writing for mer
chants trading in foreign parts, was the
MvoaTvK, or lamprey.
Homer in his Odyffee gives . the name
of a medicinal plant as called by the gods
Moli. He does not mention any diftinCt
name by which men called it. Moft likely
they adopted the name when they learnt
and adopted the ufe of it, fo as to call it
by the fame. There was a fecret in ga
thering this plant known only to the gods; and

( 29 )
and the commentators fay it is an Egyp
tian plant ; its root was black, but its
head or flower as white as milk. Now,
Moli fignifies in Welfh a white fcurf,
efpecially about the eyes. I could not
but mention this latter inftance, though, to
fay the truth, I repofe not much upon it.
Plato difcourfing of etymology, in his
Cratylus, fays,. But how fhall werefblve,
or to what fhall we refer, thofe words
which are barbarian ; as the word Tlvp,
for inftance, which is Phrygian. We
fhall be all wrong if we refolve this to
Grecian elements. Tlvp then fignifying
fire, is a barbarous word, or of the lan
guage of the race of men. Now, the
language which has this word with the
IT afpirated, is the language of north of
Europe, univerfally for Fuer in German ;
and Fir in Swedifh is fire. ,
We all know that the region which
was vulgarly and by relative appellation
called Theflaly, was originally named
Aimonia [Dionyf. Halicarm, fib. I.] Now
QstJxXios or ©oL-rJoiXix, and ©EcnroA/a, are
the fame ; but T'uat'dale in the Celtic
means, relatively fpeaking, northern dif-
triCt. Will any one deny that ©ccrjctiuet
^nd" T'uat'alia are the fame. So much for

( 3* )
for the language of men, in ^ontradi-
ftinCtion to the language of the gods^
In like manner many of the names and
appellatives given to the heroes aCting at
the fiege of Ilium may be traced directly
to their Celtic etymon.
Hector's fon was called by a compli
mentary appellation in Hellenic, : ' Agvavafct
which Plato fays is fynonymous to that of
HeCtor, to the meaning of which latter
name, Homer almoft always'adds,
Oio£ yocp epvro LXiov Lxrup —
or OTos yap crtpiv eputro •uoXa.q ^ TBi^eU fiaicpa.^
who alone was the city's defence ; or who
alone was the defence of the curtain, as-
modern engineers would exprefs, t£/%£as
pctKpa. "Epvpxi is cuftodio Protego, &c. and
"Efu^a is munimentum, praefidium. In
this fenfe in general the word is always
taken, and in particular is applied to mi
litary ideas, as for inftance, Soopaxes are
called in Xenophon's Cyri Paed. epvpxTd
a-oopuTuu applied to the defences of a
town, it exprefsly means a tower or tur
ret (or that projecting defence called by
modern engineers a baftion). Thus Xeno-
phon in his Hellenics mentions "Egvpa,
rsi^i^ovj-ec, and rocTg iiroXsiriv spvfjLu]oL is-egi-
Qdxxovjui ; fomewhere in Homer, . but I
do

( 3} )
do not juft recollect where, it is faid ToTog
<r<ptv nupyos" onruXsro, 8fc. which is a me-?
taphor direct to my analyfis. Plato, as
above, fpeaking of word HeCtor fays,
Aox.e'i poi nsro Tirapoi'^X^tnov t* swat, tw 'Ag-o-
amx]i, it) eoixzv 'HXXqvtKaTc, tocvtu to, ovofAMTa
6'yup 'Agvavuz it, o"EjtTwp %ii&ov t) to,vt*v
e'vifiaivsi (6u<rtXMo& apfyoTEpa eivoct ra ovopctTcf
hpuq tuvtov ffi\^Lavit. Sell, 'AqkottoXiS' The
etymon of the name Aftyanax is plain in
the Hellenic language : But Plato, though
he fays that HeCtor means the fame thing,
does not attempt its etymology. He
certainly thought it to be (as he fays of
the word Tlvp) of barbarous original ; had
he underftood the Celtic, the language of
men, the etymology would have been
equally plain to the idea of his com
mentary. Sciz. Ach-Twr. populi, feu tri-
buum, praefidium.
Paris is in the Hellenic language called
Alexander, which is Praefidium Hominum*
Priam from sTpia^wea protego.
— — og ertpiv ccfivvu
HjAczp oavayKouov 
means the fame thing ; and comes from
the fame roots in the Celtic, and is of
the fame compound, Sciz, Bri, Primus-
Honor-dignitas, &c. and Amwn or Amwg
to defend ; and means in the compound the

X 32 )
the principal or fupream defender. There
is a peculiar coincidence in matter of fact
with this notion, that is, that Priaf or Parif
is the Welfh (or Celtic) pronunciation of
Priam, fo that we fee thefe royal titles,
though feemingly different words, have all
the fame meaning, and are, as Plato fays,
fynonymous. Inftead of ufing as we do
George the firft, George the fecond, the
third, and fo on ; the richnefs of their
language enabled them to diftinguifh the
perfons of the royal family, although
having the fame or fynonymous ficartXtKci
ovofiosfct, by differently exprefled appel
lations. The country or region, which was the
fcene of this decifive war, is always called
by its Celtic name. Tre-oim, which fig-
nifies the habitation or fettlements of the
Oim or Ovim, or Goujim and Magoujim,
for fo thefe people were called ; oua or ey,
ia or ea, are terminations, when added
to a name, that means country. The
etymon then ftood thus, Tr'6-ia.
Ilium fignifies in the Hellenic language,
the holy dwelling, or holy city, I'epov rfjo-
Xtsfyov, and "ixicg Ipy, or Hx—^'ilov, juft as
Beth-el, God's Temple. And the city is
generally

(32 )
generally called by it's Hellenic name'lA*^
or "ikiov. Tpoiyg upov t^dX^aHv — '
It was faid to be built by Neptuiie; a
great naval commander, a god ; and to be
facred to 'Ha "Hxmg, or Apollo : and from
the concourfe of commercial people of
different nations refiding or trading here,
it was deferibed by Homer as TlcXig u.tao7rwv
' 71 t
CiVVgUTVOVV. When I firft wrote this, I had faid, that
this city Was always called by its Hel-
lenick name, Ilios ; but mentioning it to
Mr» Bryant, he reminded me of two places
in Homer, where the city is called Troia *,
*Y$itruhogTpoii]. I do therefore, in tran-
fcribing this, ufe the expreflion generally.
Ruieus is of the fame opinion as Mr.
Bryant, that Ilium meant fpeciaily the
tower or citadel, while Troia was the
name of the city,
—-. — ceciditque fuperbum
Illiurri, et omnis humo fumat Neptutiis Tfoja.
Per Illium, arx; per Trojam, urbs fignificatur f ,
But this diftinctiou does not appear to
me, to be well founded; the direct con-
* Lib. XVI. v. 687. and L. XXI. v. 544.
f Not. ad Virg. Lib. III. v. $,
X) trary

( 34 ),
trary fact feems to refult from the expref-
fions ufed. However the city might on
fome occafions, and by fome fpeakers, be,
called the city of Troja, as Tpoirig uroXig, or
Tpumv zroXtg, as in the Odyfley, Lib. IV yet
llion was the city, and fo it was generally
called, while the region was called Troja.
Homer, (in Lib. XX. Iliad) fpeaking of
the origin of llion, fays,
Actpoctyoi* O.V TagUTOV TBKejo VBtpBXljyBpBTCC Zsi/f ',
Kncrtrs Actpouvirjv bttbi httu "IXiog toy
JLv sjboIu •mtirt.Xigo, urcXig uspo7ruv dvQpwrruv,
Here llion is expreffly called the city,
inhabited by men of various langua
ges. The capital of Troy, before the
building of Ilios, was up in the high
lands near mount Idae ; but Ilios, built as
a commercial city, was built in the plain ;
XUTUXW/j 0/1, (pK^LBV £54 TMVi V^/TjXblV Big ftiya 7C,
KCxXoV uTBOtO'J, lXtov btti Xotyov rtva ovk. bfyqXov.
(Plato de Legibus, Lib. III.) In the fame
book, a little further on, he expreffly di-
itinguifhes the region Troja from the city
llion by their fpecific names. Of the
region, he fays, Tpoiotv otydfctjov l7rot7i<rav,
liK/x, erij wx fislvuvjeg. They kept the region
' Troja under a ftate of devaftation for ten
years together : but of llion he fays, to
' IXiov BTToXtoftKeTTo.', the city was blockaded.
Herodotus alio (Lib. I. § 5.) calls the
r.- taking

(, 35 )
fcakingof the city w'lXiv. 'dxcovig, and plainly
fpecifies the city Ilium to be diftinCt
from the country (Lib. II. § 1 1 8.),, where
he fays  IxSsTv ph yelp \g Tyv Teii-^fSdi
Tqv '.EXXij^v. XTputiYJV lit&oia-tt.v SI \g yv\v %,
fipvQefreiV; tvjv g-pa.Tr/jv; TyBfiftBiv \g to "iXiov
'AfysXng. That Ilium did not mean the
citadel, is as clear as language and defcrip
tion of circumftances can make any thing
fo *. HeCtor is faid to have taken his
• pofition 'txta ¦z3-po7rocgB.9t. It the city had
beeii taken; and the citadel was ftill de
fended by HeCtor, this- would have beeri
proper ; but he ftood before the city. The
great riches of the papulous city Ilium are
fpok,en of
- — - — no caret (pupiv
IXwv tzrr{(rQa.; Bvyot.iou.Bvov "TtjoXfedpov —
This expreffion is, proper for a great
city, but not for a citadel.
But to proceed with further iriftanceS'
of this language of men fpoken in thefe
parts.' The Pelafgic Temple, built
amongft thefe fylvan inhabitants of Epi-
fus, Was called by the people, amongft
whom it was built, the Oracle Dcdona,
which in Welch is literally Duwdewin,
God's Oracle. The priefts were called
* Lib. XV. v. 66,
H 2 Selloi.

( 36 )
Selloi. Now Sellwr is in Welch one
that feeth things at a diftance. Calidonia,
Calddun, Duncald,Gwaltdun, The Wolds,
or wooded hills, is a name found in every
part of Europe, from eaft to weft ; and
it is remarkable, that in the wefternmoft
point of England, and in the mountains
of Cilicia, there fhould have been two
caftles of the fame name, Pendennis ;
that in Cornwall now exifts ; that in Ci
licia is mentioned by Cicero. I mention
thefe things, not as facts eftablifhing
proof, but as inftances of the ufe of
reafoning from the agnation of languages.
And may we not here venture to fuggeft,
without being liable to the imputation of
whim, that as far as it appears from thefe
words, fpecified as peculiar to the lan
guage of the people, which are now found
living, the Celtic language was the lan
guage of thofe fylvan people, then called
Coilte, Coitae, Kersetg, Gualtas, or Gallata^
meaning Woldfmen, and afterwards in the
weft of Europe called Celtae and Galli ?
There are many arguments which arife
from geography and hiftory, which fup-
port this idea.
Reafoning on the fame principles, and
by the fame etymological deduction, may
1 not acknowledge an agnation, to a cer tain

(¦ 37 )
tain degree, between the language of the
Indians of North America and that of
the Tartars of the north-eaftern parts of
Afia, when I find them jufing the fame
kind of prefixes and affixes in compound,
to defcribe the relatives and circumftances
of perfons, places, and things ; when I
find the one and the other ufing the fame
or iimilar appellatives, in many cafes the
fame words, and in the numerals fome
words too iimilar, and too fimilarly fol
lowing- in their feries to be, imputed to ac
cident ? May I not impute this coined
dence to fome agnation in the language
of thefe different people? But when I
view them both of the fame copper-co
loured tint, both having the fame texture
of hair, both ofthe fame model of fcull,
I cannot even doubt of the agnation in
the race alfo.
" Both the Tartars and Indians, when
they mean to fpeak of a people as to their
tribe or nation, compound their name with
the word ach, ack, acha, or aga, which
people of different countries and climates,
from an almoft impoffibility of founding
the guttural exactly alike by organs of a
different texture, pronounce very differ
ently ; fome founding it ax, others aga,
agua, others aks, iki. When the Europeans
endeavour to pronounce or write. -the. Tar-
D 3 tar

, ( 3h ),.
far names: of their tribes, they fpell- them,
Ofti-ack, Budzi-ackiv Coft-ack, and Crofs-
aqui, Carakelp-iki, Galm-ucks, Com-uks,
Perm-iki, &c. The European interpreters
in America (generally pedling traders, very
illiterate and ignorant) when they at
tempt to exprefs the Indian pronunciation
either in fpeech or writing, make alfo va
rious terminations of the fame word. 'Saki,
Siffis-aki, Meffis-agaes,, Sen-aga, or Sen-
ak6j Ononda'-agaeaV :£ay:ug2-agaes, Cany-
ung'-agaes, Aban-aquis, Aban-ikis, Che-
rekees,v or Chararagaes, which the.; Spa
niards pronounce Cheri-aguas* What in
copying' the Tartar word is written, Sayoth
a hunter in. .'Europe, is hy. the • Frenoh
in-North America written Sieux. I muft
obferve en'paffant, that ach in 'Welch and
Irifh fignifies tribe, race, or people.
* Ski written varioufly, as ikoi and fkoia,
fki and.fls.ie, flcaia and ikaja, when affixed
at the 'end of a Tartar word, fignifies the
area or diftriCt fo called; To quote examples
i'pf this would he- .endlefs; the reader needs
.pnly. to throw.- his-, eye on any map of
Siberia or Tartary :.fki in the Indian lan
guage varioufly pronounced, .and written
by our. interpreters, as fkey, fkeag^ fkaid,
/foot, fcut, affixed to. 'ends: of -words, has
¦ - ¦ ' r " ' .' . '/ '
* Tim's Sty in F.ngliih'doesnbMnean the firmament, the
heavens.;, ,bm jthe expanfe— -the celeftial horizon, , ¦ . . ' . ,
u the

( 39 )
the fame meaning; multitude of inftances
of which the reader will find in any map--
of North America. . .
The Tartars, originally call Oiim^Ojim,
Ouim, Gojem ; Tjeudas, Tjeutae, ufe par
ticles of words, which, prefixed to the
names of places and people* fignify relative
pofitions, -as, on tbisfide-,.or sn the ether fide,
over, beyond, alfo a particle which feems
to fignify ««der, or below. Thefe particles
are ma, rnai, maje, or maeft ; es or efk ;
and ja ; as . Ma-gougi, Igougi, and, .la-
gougi, Schin, Maeichin, Zchin, Scheudi,
Ja-dfcdudi, and Ma-dfcudi. The Indians
of North America have the fame prefixes,
with this obfervable circumftance, that in
pronouncing the es or efk, they accom
pany the enunciation with the motion of
the hand from them ; in enouncing the
mai, with a motion towards them.
Whether the Tartars aid their fpeech in
like manner with aCtion I know not. To
¦give one or two inftances rather as ex
planation than proof, we have feenV above
that ack, aks, aqui, or aga, means in the
Indian language, tribe or race. Now, the In
dians, by adding 'sk, 's, and ma to this .word,
exprefs- the remote or hither tribes ;'i-.aks
means the firft, and maffafaki the fecond ;
both which" relative appellations are found
. D 4 amongft

( 40 ).
amongft the Weftern Indians. Oghneghta
is a pine-tree, Oghneght'ada is a country
of pine-wood, 'Sk-Oghheght'ada is the
country beyond, or on the other fide of
the pine-wood ; hence comes the name of
the town on the Mohawks river in New-
York, called Shenectady ; but to mark
the power of this affixed particle the
ftronger, it is to be obferved, that when
an Indian at Skenectady fpeaks of Albany,
he calls Albany 'Skoghneght'ada, Cani-
aderi is a lake, Caniaderi-ada is the coun
try of Lakes, 'Scaniad-eri-ada is tbe region -
beyond the country of Lakes. Watchufet,
or Watfhufed, is a great mountain, fo
xalled, in New England. The country
next the fea, when the firft fettlers fought
the name of it, was called Maeftchuied,
Maef-tchufet, Maflatchufet. The names of
that tribe of the five nation Indians, who are
byEnglifh and Dutch in New England
and New York called Mahawk and Ma-
quas, is Can-yongwe-aga, the people who
are at the head of men ; but the appel
lative given to them by the River and
New England Indians, was Ma-aga or
Ma-aqua, and Ma-ach', which fignifies the
hithermoft tribe, or that tribe of the Five
Nations which was neareft to them ; and
in the like manner, the tribe whofe actual
appellative was Tfononteouana-aga, fig
nifying

X 4-^
nifying the tribe' which lives on, or over,
the great high mountain, or on the height
of the land, called by1 the French Tfonon-
tuans, and by the Englifh and Dutch vul
garly Senekaes, is fo called by the relative
appeUative 'Seh-agaes;; or the furthermoft
tribe. In iike manner, confidering- the inde-
:fined impreffion which the founds by
which the name of the Tartars were ori
ginally exprefled, and the vague ufe made
of the elementary characters by thofe who
firft wrote them, Oi'm, Ojim, Ogim,
Ovim, Goigim, Tjeudim, or Tjeudae^ and
Tjeutae. I fee the very Tartar name in
the word Tjetae, Tjeutze. To this apply
ing the prefixed particles exactly and pre-
cifely as before, I find fhe'Stjeuthae, Mais-
Tjeuthae, the Scyths, and Maflageta?*
the yonider and the hither Getae, Goethaej
or Teuts. And to go one ftep further in
this explanation, when I find the Getae
written by the Greeks Kst/e/?, and by the
Hebrews, Chittim, or Chedim ; and then
fee the name of the people of Mecedoniaj
written MazBT^Big ; I do not hefitate to
analyfe this word Ma-chedim, or Ma-ce-
dom, the hither Chedim or Chittim.
There is another very Angular circum-
ftaiice of fimilarity between the names of

( 4?. )
of the .numerals of the. Weftern Indiana
of North; America, the Chipouaes, 'and'
thofe of the Northern Tartars of KamA
chatfki.

...jndiap'

Tartar

One^

J.-Pe$icky;:_.

Innen -

Two

Neech Zl

Neach

Three

Nizouy

Nioch"'

Four,

, Ni-annii\

_ Nizach

Thefingtilar circumftance,which'fi;rikes
me, \s, fthat of the unit feeming in both
to belong to a different feries from thofe
of the, two, three, and four, and in both'
changing to words beginning with 'Ni or
Nee, inftances- which I 'defife may be,
underftood to be adduced as examples or
illuftrations, not. proofs. I think the ufe that
the truly Analy tick etymology (not theSyn-
thetick; one taught to fchool-boys) may be
of ^o the philofophick Antiquary, will evi
dently appear. . I have prefumed to point
out the nature of the refolution and com
pofition by which this analyfis fhotild pro-
peed, as depending on" an experimental
knowledge of the efforts and operations of
the organs of fpeech, articulating the ele
ments of words according to the internal
conftitution or external circumftances by
which they are affected in different coun
tries and climates, and at different periods
' '"-¦' ;' "of

(' 43; )-
pf civilization. I have alfo-prefumed ,tq
(iH'geftan idea of a method by which this,
truly analytick etymology , may be .con
ducted to general purpofes of knowledge,
by fuch - -a eompqraUve , .polyglott of the
terms and names of things in different
nations, as fhall anfwer to the purpofes of
that great defideratum, an univerfal Ian-.
guage of philofophy. . , ,
Another, and indeed the next branch in
the analyfis of the philofophic Antiquary
goes into the inquiry after the various
methods by which men in the early
periods of their ; civilization, aimed to fix
the fleeting expreffions of fpeech in, per
manent palpable fymbols, that fhould rer
main, under the eye. This refearch ; will
fhew, that the firft ..efforts which men
, have made in all countries to mark for
diftant places and times, theinvinble-trau-
fient expreffion of ideas which fpeech gives
at the prefent time and place, have been
exerted- by making general portraits of
the ideas, not by detailed c,< arachrs of the
elements of fpeech,- compounded .in fj pictures
of words. . ...
The writing of all people in their firft
efforts has been invariable a picture re-
prefentation of Time ; of the feafons ; of
concorai-

( 44 )
concomitant circumftances of the feafons, -
exprefled by various pictures of the fun,
moon, and ftars, of birds of paflage, of
the animals peculiarly attendant on times
of inundation, or droiight ; by various
plants ; and by many other objects. When
they endeavoured to fix a record of perfons,
things, and actions* exhibiting to the cor
poreal eye piCturefque allufions to thofe
conceptions, which could be feen only by
the mind's eye ; they then fimply and na
turally tranflated and drew in pictures the
metaphors and fymbolick characters, which
in their language, they ufed to exprefs
their ideas by. Actions they exprefled
by the inftruments ufed in exerting
thofe aCtions : And the temper or defigns
of thofe aCtions, or aCtors, by pictures
of animals, in whom decidedly this or
that temper was fuppofed to predo
minate. I proceed no further here in this re
fearch ;.as I. have in a tract expreffly written
to explain the origin, nature, and inter
pretation, of picture-writing *, and here
unto annexed, gone into a fall exami
nation of it. I will therefore beg leave to
refer the fociety to that tract, and will
* Appendix, No. IL. pre-

C 45 )
proceed to explain the ufe which I think
may be derived from thus confidering the
picture-writings of the ancients, com
monly called Hieroglyphicks. It appears
to me, that if the Antiquary would hope-
to collect any information from thefe an
cient infcriptions, he fhould, inftead of
fearching amongft the Stoicks, the latter
Platonifts, and the Trifmegiftic Philo-
fophers, for myftical allegories, and di
vine romances, endeavour to collect all
the collateral accounts which are any
where to be met with of the civil and
natural hiftory of thofe countries, where
any of thofe picture-writings do remain ;
as alfo (if it were poftible to find fuch)
to fearch out the gradations of the feveral
ftages of the community in its civili
zation ; the progrefs of the clearing and
cultivating the land, and particularly the
ftate of its cultivation and produce ; the
inftruments of hufbandry, the machines
and tools of the arts ; the weapons of
their military, and navy, the enfigns of
office ; their mode of numeration, weight
and meafure ; their opinions, external
forms, and ceremonies of religion, with
utenfils and inftruments ufed in their
rites; and wheie it is poffible the turn and
phrafe of their language. If the Anti
quary could obtain any actual information in

( 46" )
in the,fei particulars, and fhould then go 0
the,. reading this picture writing, without.
any previous prejudice or impreffion of
their containing abftrufe and • myftick
doctrines, he would moft likely find thefe
infcriptions to be plain and fober records'
of the hiftory of the country or people ;
or regifters of the ftate of it, or regulations
reipeCting it ; or memorials dedicated to
the honour of fome king, containing th«
ftate of his adminiftrarion, and the hiftory
of his actions, thus held forth- to the ad
miration of the , people in the vulgate
picture-writing ; or rolls of the public
revenues, and payments to be made fet
down in numbers, weight, and meafure.
Kircher, and all the Trifmegiftick doctors-,'
down from JarhblichuS, copying the whim-
fies or defigned perverfions ot the Pla-
tonifts, have not only made fuch unin
telligible fluff" of thefe infcriptions- a&
nobody ever could be, Or ever was,: fatif-
fied with ; but have created even a defpair
in the learned of ever finding out any in
terpretation at all, if thefe iiiferiptions'
are to be .ftill viewed as the- images of an
.intellectual fyftem of incomprehenfible
myfterjes. As thefe learned romancers
have had their full fcope of experiments,*.
which have ended in the abortion of
j phantom j jf men will at length venture to
think

( 47 )
think for themfelves on facts as they
come before them ; they will find that all
this contemptible ftuffj about which fo
many bulky books have been, made, be
gan with the philofophers who wifhed to
throw a veil of Phyfslogy over mere fables,
which fuperftition had fanCtified ; and
hath been derived down from them, and
from no where elfe.
That the Egyptians had in their picture-
writings fymbqls by which to exprefs
their ideas of the Supreme Being, and
of the various manifeftations of his Pro
vidence, is certain, as well as thofe of
any other idea ; and the images and idols
of thofe ideas led both to the grofs and
the myjlick idolatry, and were perhaps in
:/Egypt the caufe of it ; but that all their
infcriptions were facred, and cabaliftick
fcripture of their religion, and nothing
elfe, was an After-thought of later phi
lofophers, in order to' cover the groflhefs
of their idolatry by a veil of phyfiologyi
One inftance will, as I think, who
venture to think for myfelf, be fufficient
to the purpofe. Let ,any man of fenfe and
learning read Kircher's interpretations of
the Obelifk which he calls the Pamphylian
Obelifk,- and be willing to believe all that
Kircher

( 48 )
Kircher makes out. I will defy any fuch
man, unlefs he be predetermined, to reft
fatisfied, or to think he has learnt any
thing, even one fimple idea, from all that
is thus interpreted. But even if he fhould
affect, becaufe he would be thought learn
ed, and in the fecret, to fay that he is
much informed, and has acquired know
ledge from what is interpreted ; I fhould
then hope to be taught from fuch learn
ing and knowledge what all thofe ele
mentary characters and lineal diagrams
mean to exprefs, whieh Kircher has pafled
by unnoticed, as though making no part
of the infcriber's intention. ,If none of
thefe learned men can fatisfy me, as I
know none that can, or that hath at
tempted it ; and if I then look upon thefe
infcriptions, and compare the figures and
diagrams with things fimilar, which
have been in ufe amongft men in other
parts of the world ; I fee clearly in fome
parts, elements or letters ; I fee numerals,
and combined numeration ; I fee meafures
of weight, capacity, and extenlion ; and
I fee thefe numbers applied to the num
bering thofe meafures, and fee them va
rioufly combined, and repeatedly occur-*
ing in thefe combinations. When with
thefe ideas I vLw at the top of the
obeljfk the enthroned figure fitting and
receiving

( 4> )
receiving the offerings from perfbns ap
pearing to be of the different claffes of
fubjeCts ; as priefts, foldiers, &c. I cannot
confider the whole of this Obelifk other
than a mere regifter, or record, of the na
ture, force, revenues, and regulations of
the king there, in his feveral capacities,
reprefented on the feveral fides of it. I
cannot but fee that each fide refpeCts each
refpeCtive order or clafs of the fubjeCts of
the kingdom. When I look to the un
doubted and decided fymbol of the fu-
preme, eternal, univerfal, intellectual, firft
caufe, at the top of the Obelifk, over his
head, and view this king and his fubjeCts,
by one fuperfcribed and comprehending
line, collected into one group, or as one
object under the providential care or in
fluence of this firft caufe, I cannot but
confider this record and regifter as mean
ing -to give and to hold forth the moft
efleiitial true principle of all juft and right
government, as fubfifting under God and
his Providence. And when. I fee the
fymbol Of the vivifying Spirit of this
material world, attendant on a crowned
hawk, at the head of the record or re
gifter, I cannot but remark how decidedly
this marks the derivation of this animating
fpirit into the aCtual exercife of the govern
ment itfelf, of which the following jn-
E fciption

( 5° 3
fcription is the record. . In order to give
my idea of thefe characters and diagrams,
which I fuppofe to be,. fome of them ele
ments or letters ; others to be numerals ;
and by their combinations various . nume
rations ; alfo of the others, which I fupr
pofe to be meafures of weight, .capacity,
and extenfon, which alfo are varioufly1
combined, and which alfo, together with
the numerals, form again various ^combi
nations ; I beg leave to refer to the draw
ings which I have annexed to the Treatife,
N° II. of the Appendix. As I have made
fo free with the interpretation given by
others, and even with thofe of learned
men, I do with the fame freedom acknow
ledge, that I give this of mine as a mere
experimental eflay in the application of the
principles above ftated, and not as a mat
ter either proved, or capable of proof:
fully however as capable of proof, as any
of the old adopted interpretations r capable
of proof * by analogy to fimilar things
actually exifting, and not from the after
thoughts of myftic priefts and philofophers
making comments of perverfion, not in
terpretation. I find myfelf however, fup-
ported in my manner of interpretation by
the fimilar interpretation which Herma-
* VWe N» II. Aj-pendjx.
¦ - pioia

( 5« )
Jrion (as quoted by AmmiailusMarcellirius)
gave of the Obeliffe in the great Circus-.
There is on each fide, or face of this Obe*
lifkj a mitred perfon, fitting on a throne,
with a -perfon of inferior fubjeCt- rank
kneeling before him, and ft retching forth
his hands, as in the action of offering.,
And Hermapion begins his- interpretation-
juft as I have done* •>-' »<'
T& $s sgtv a. @Gt,<riXu *?&[*>$$¦¦$ $e$upii[&B8oii
The things here infcribed are what we"
have given to the king Rarheftes^ &c.
As the language of men in the firft
gradations of their civilization is all me-"
taphor and fimile, and the writing of the
fame, in their progreffive advances, is all
picture and painting ; fo the memorials
and hiftory of thofe times muft of courfe
be mere allegory and ". fable. If now the
Unprejudiced Antiquary will here' confider
things to be as what they actually are, and
muft have been ; if he will conduct his
refearch into the interpretation of the
Ancient fabulous hiftory, as originally, and
firnply the pictures of a rude people; he may
arrive at very diftinct accounts of the firft
ages of civilization ; of the eftabixfhment
ef government; of the p.rogrefs of Com
merce ; of the fettlement of colonies, and
E a of

' ( 5* )
of. the caufes. and effects of piracies and
wars. _ I mean to be underftood as fpeak
ing here of the accounts of the fcite
and circumftances of the people ;. of the
fpirit and nature of the times; and of the
various revolutions amongft mankind in
thefe their firft progreftions, although per-
1 haps not of the actual, perfons and actors
in this drama, which by the bye is of
very little ufe, except to aid and fix the
memory. Hiftory hath been compared to a great
fhip floating down the tide of Time,
fraught and replete with the precious
cargo of knowledge ; but if this repre
sentation of hiftory be true, and if ever
fuch a fhip. was fo freighted, unhappily it
hath never reached thefe our ports. The
veflel has fuffered fhipwreck ; and the
valuable ftores, which it is faid to have
contained, are funk and overwhelmed
under, the" waves of deep oblivion. Some
fragments of its bill of lading have come to
hand; fome parts of the drifted wreck have
by the tide been thrown upon our coafts ;
ibme buoyant parcels of the cargo have
been, found floating on the furface ; and
fome even valuable articles have been
filhed up out of the wreck; but none fuf-
ficient.as-yet, to. give a. clear and precife idea

( S3 )
idea of the veffel which was freighted for
us ; nor of the cargo which was meant to
have fupplied the wants of this knowledge.
Here then the ftudies and refearches of
the Antiquary come in aid ; it is his office
to collect all the fragments he can find
drifted on the wide ocean ; to dive for, and
to fifh up from the wreck, every thing that.
can be recovered : And finally, when that
can be done, to affort all thefe together
by various repeated experiments, led on
by what their matter and forms promife,
fo as to form fome theory at leaft of the
fyftem of which they were parts. If he
be but a fuperficial, or a hafty theorift, he
will moft likely be miftaken ; yet the cor
rection of his miftakes may lead to better
knowledge. If future difcoveries evince,
that even thofe conjectures which were
formed under the moft patient and philo-
fophick temper of inveftigation, are wrong;
the correction of the error will at leaft
have been a ftep in the gradation up to
knowledge. It is. by thefe collections of
the multitudes of parts and parcels ; and
by the thoufand varied experiments in
aflbrting them ; that the ftudy of Antiqui
ties is in a gradual, although perhaps flow
approximation to knowledge. To make
cumbrous collections of numberlefs par
ticulars, merely becaufe they are frag-
E 3 ments ;

( 54 )
merits ; and to admire them merely, as
they are antique ; is not the fpirit of an^
tient learning, but the mere doating of
fuperannuation, It is not the true religious
ftudy of antiquities, but a devotion for
jre'lipks : It may make us enthufiafts, fa
natic triflers, or dupes, but can never ad-
minifter real and fober knowledge to our
-underftanding. Great and meritorious
pains are taken to colleCt every fpecimen
of antiquity which arifes by the evacuation
of the ruined Herculaneum and Pompeii,
When the true fpirit of the Antiquary pre-?
fides over thefe works, the refearches are
conducted by fyftems that lead to know
ledge; when that is abfeat, the true vulgar
idea of making Collections of Antiquities
Leads to examples pfi genuine abfurdity,
like the following, -which I was told as a
fact *. In the courfe of their works the
labourers met with an infeription, the let-:
ters of which were brafs fixed in marble ;
thefe brazen letters they carefully picked
put of the marble, put them into a hafket,
and in that ftate they remain depofited in
the king's library, as examples of curious
antiquity, in hopeful expectation of the
return of fome Sibyl, who, reftoring the
* I do not mAe myfelf anfwerable for the fact, but re
fer to the llory as an llljltrasion or' that ridiculous fearch
into antiquities which I mean to reprobate. . ' letters^
I

( 55 )
tetters,; like her diffipated leaves, to their
order, may give the fenfe of the, in-
fcription, which was forgotten to be no
ticed at the firft difcovery. Should the
wreck of an ancient fhip ever be difcovered,
a collection of a multitude- of its timbers,
knees, ribs, beams, ftandards, fragments
of mafts and yards, bolts, planks, and
blocks, would be une chofe a voire, and
would make the learned as well as the
nnlearned ftare and wonder : but the eye
of knowledge would find no reft nor fa-
tisfaCtion there. Where the truly learned
Antiquary (by an analyfis of the firft
principles of naval architecture, and by
tracing thefe principles in all poflible
combinations which the materials admit
of) attempts various experiments of
combining thefe fragments into "fome
form, which, as parts, correfpond to fome
whole * — - there arifes the true fpirit of
antiquarian learning ; there begins genuine
and ufeful knowledge. It was in this ge
nuine temper of experimental reafoning,
that the fpirit and genius of the Romans,
analyfing the principles of naval archi
tecture, and combining the fragments of
a wrecked galley „eaft upon their fhore,
* Vide below the example given from general Melville's
Jfarning and fcience on this very ppint,
E, 4 com*

( 56 )
commenced with fuch fuccefs and glory
their naval power. As of the example in
fact, which the reafoning on the foregoing
metaphor had led us to ; fo by the like
analyfis, and combination, may .the re
mains of every branch of antiquity be
reftored, at leaft to fome femblance of its
original. Man is a being finite and circumfcribed
in his natural wants and defires, and in
his powers, which are however always
proportionable to the fupply of thefe wants.
View him in the various progreffions and
revolutions of his being, through the con
tinued encreafing feries of -his artificial
•wants, and of his improved refources ; ftill
his fcite and circumftances mark the firft,
and the limitation of his powers make
not the enquiry after the fecond a bound-*
lefs purfuit. Thofe, who in different ages
have reviewed this being in different re-.
gions, under different habits and m«des of
life, know how little he is able to vary,
how little to expand his powers. Being
the fame kind of hunter, or herdfman in
fylvan life, through all ages and countries
pf the like circumftances ; he becomes,
when he quits that life, the fame kind
of land worker ; the fame kind of fubjeCt
pf fociety ; the fame warrior ; in every ao-3

( 57 )
age and region under the like circum
ftances. Could we have a veftiary of all
the cloaths of every country, in all pe
riods of its cultivation, we might at firft
be ftruck with the variety of appearances ;
but a ferious attention would find little
difference in all this variety of forms, ex
cept what heat or cold, wet or dry, called
forth. Whenever we have been able to
compare the domeftic utenfils and inftru
ments which real ufe hath given invention
to, how little do they vary ! They are
almoft the fame with every kind of people.
However much the warrior has endeavoured
to add terror to his force,, in the inven
tion of new ways of murdering, yet how
little hath he been able to vary thefe inJ
ventions ! The inftruments of war, as of
like ufe in like hands, are fimilar, and
fcarcely varied, in any the moft differing
nations. Nay, where vanity has grown
wild in fancy, and racked invention to
produce a motley frippery of ornament,
the ornaments of all nations, from the
favage to the moft refined, are much the
fame *.

* See the rarious fpecimens of utenfils, habits^ weapons,
gcc. of favages, in Sir Afhton Lever's Mufeum.; and cor. -
pare thofe in the light of ufe and in their eflential circum
ftances, with the his^heft refinements of the moft civilized
fiations, and you will find that they fcarcely differ.
6' It

( 5* )
It i^ from principles which conduct this
reafoning that I venture to deduce the fol
lowing theorems. That even where hiftpry
has fuffered fhipwreck, as the allufion
above describes, and y/hetQ only a few
reliques and fragments* buoyed up in
fables and mythology, have come down
to our age ; yet where thofe fragments
mark the particular ftate in the progrefs of
human fife which they refer to, I fay,
reafoning from the analogous fimilarity
pf man, niuch more even pf hiftorick de
fcription^ of that -ftate can be formed
from thefe broken deformed materials,
than the firft fuperficial glance of undif-
cerning literature would imagine. What
can b.e the events of the fylvan life,
whether it is carried on by clans of
hunters, or hordes of herdfmen ? The
firft may make war, upon the beafts of the
foreft, or quarrel with their neighbour
hunters about their game or their hunt.
The fecpnd may endeavour to drive the
beafts of prey from their quarters, or
quarrel with like herdfmen about paf*
ture and water, or about their cattle,
whieh have ftrayed, or have been ftolen,
This is but a fingle drama, and has
been acted over and over a thoufand times, in

( 59 )
in different periods and regions of the
world. The firft will war, as they have
been ufed to hunt, by covert ftratagern, to
. utter extirpation. The fecond will, by
ppen force, attempt to drive their enemies,
as they have been ufed to drive their herds,
but their war will end in negotiation and
fettlement, This we have known, and
do know, to be the cafe, wherever we
have been able to trace the hiftory of any
fuch nation, in fuch ftated progrefs of its
being, If therefore any fragments and
relicks of antiquity point to this period in
the progreflion of human life, we cannot
he much at a lofs how to recompofe
thefe into the fyftem, of which they are
parts, If in very antient books, as thofe
pf Hefiod, Homer, and Herodotus, we
read actual portrayed defcriptions of this
life ; if we trace, although in fables,
draughts of the hiftory of fmall companies
pf wandering hunters and navigators, •car*
rying all the lineaments of that portait,
we cannot be totally without a line, by
which to finifh the imperfect fketch from
point to point, as the fcattered fragments
jead^ By a careful analyfis therefore of
human nature, and by a combination from
analogy of fuch broken accounts as the
ftiipwreck of hiffory affords; a defcription, I had

( <$o )
I had almoft faid an hiftoric defcription,
of that firft, original ftate of the human
life, which we infolently call lavage, and
even many footftep traces of their mo
tions and actions, to all the purpofes of
ufeful knowledge, may, by the truly
philofophic Antiquary, be obtained. If
we read in never fuch obfcure frag- -
, ments, and but in fables, accounts of man
quitting his woods, and beginning to till
the earth, cleared of its original vegeta
tion ; if we read of the individual thus
become a.fixt Being, and, by intercommu
nion of mutual wants, coalefcing into So
ciety ; and of that fociety, by the progrefs
of human nature, forming into an or
ganized body ; a very few traces of that
procefs will lead to a juft idea of the
whole operation.
Knowing from fact how thinly fcat
tered through the woods and wildernefs'
the individuals of the iylvan life always
are and muft be •. with what fuperabundant
population the firft fruCtuation of an ad
vancing fociety is loaded ; and that the
furplus parts of this plethoric body always
have and muft emigrate, going into the bor
ders of and amongft the rude 'inhabitants
of the yet uncultured world ; fometimes as

( 61 )
as armies, fometimes as merchants, fome-
times -as colonizing fettlers ; knowing, I
fay, this to have been in fact the invariable
hiftory, and the repeated drama of the
early ftages of life, we can be at no lofs
to underftand, although it is recorded by
pictures, and told in fables, the com
mencement of hiftory in the fabulous
ages, at the commencement of "civiliza
tion in the countries bordering' on the
Meditlerranean and Euxine Seas. Thefe
fables reprefent gods and heroes as going
forth from fettled civilized ftates, 'to
travel about the fylvan world, either with
armies as deftroyers, or with colonies as
benefactors of mankind ; in one cafe, re
ducing the poor aborigines to flaves ; af-
fuming to be of a fuperior race of beings ;
calling themfelves gods, and becoming
real tyrants : in the other, like the Su
preme Being himfelf, inftruCting them in
all the arts of - cultured life, and- commu
nicating the benefits of it to them ;• the
culture of bread-corn, of the grape, of
the olive, of the propagation of the fruits,
legumes, and efculent roots, of the earth;
the propagation and nature, the life and
fervice, of the domiciliated animals; the
communion of fociety, the protection of
government, x^lthough this is told in al
legories

legories and fables," although the foppery
of the learned working Upon the homely
tiffue of thofe early ages may have emn
broidered it .with fyftem s of mythology ^
and finally ^oU.phyfiology -, yet whoever
gives Unprejudiced attention to, and views
with untainted eye, the facts which form
the ffrnd of thefe fables, and compares
them, in the true fpirit of analogy, with
the accuftomed and known courfe of the*
human fyftem, may draw a very flrong
likenefs* if not an actual portrait, of the
hiftpry itfelf.
When I read of the firft voyages into
the iEgean, Euxine, and Mediterranean
Seas,, made by the various adventurers
who Were afterwards, although perhaps
of different nations, certainly living in
very diftant periods, tied up together id
that hiftoric bundle, called the Argos,-
canonized as a figb in the heavens, and
who were called Argonauts ; whether
that fable be meant to defcribe the pro-
greflive voyages of a nation (as Mr. Bryant
fuppofes), or whether the actions of a par"
ticular band, or a feries of adventurers ;
whether the perfonages there charaCterifed
were Greeks, or (as I rather believe) Egyp*
tlans, or Syrians, .makes no difference: when

< >3 )
when I read this, and compare it with
the voyage of Columbus land othterrAd-
venturers to the New World,. I am at
no lofs to ^nderftaiid the nature &£, the
adventures, as" weU .as, of many, parts
of it. When' I - read, ^though in fables,
of. the Egyptians, Edomites, and Ty«
rians, fettling on- trie cpafts, and* in the
jflands pf - the iEgean Sea, ai^.qfftheijr
paffing the Bpfphorus, and forming various
fettlements in the.EuxineiSea, particularly
their g^eat fettlement at Cokh is : when I
read this, and compare it with the voyages,
adventures, and fettlements of the Por-
tuguefe in Afia, and then purfue the ufe
pf all this by a detail of their trade, I am
at no more lofs to comprehend the for
mer, though told in fables of . goldeifc
fleeces and golden .apples, than of the
latter, delivered in fpber; hiftoric journals*
When I read of the travels and conqueft?
of Ofiris, Bacchus, Sefoftris, &c. and the
various Hercules, and fuch like pprfonified
characters, and compare this with . fimilar
travels, voyages, .adventures, and_ conqueft,
of Cortes, Pizarrp, and other Spaniards,
how is it ppffible not to fee the t real hif
tory through the veil pf metaphors and
allegories, which have transformed it into
Fable? When

( *4 )
When I read of a fet of foreign adven*
turers making fettlements in the iflands,
and oil the coafts of the ^Egean ; of fettlers
coming from fome country advanced in
civilization to a country wherein the in
habitants ftill lived the fylvan and paf-
toral life : when I read of thefe calling
themfelves - gods, children of the fun, or
Hellenoi, taking the lead and government
of men ; when I find thefe gods and their
fons fettled in different parts, in Phrygia
on one fide,j and in Greece on the other
("become in the courfe of their tranfaCtions
different and rival powers with different
interefts) quarrelling with each other;
when I read this, and compare it by ana
logy of facts, which we know have ac
tually happened ; with what the Spaniards
amongft themfelves, and the Europeans
amongft " one another, have done in their
fettlements in the Eaft and Weft Indies ;
I am at no lofs in underftanding the facts
of the War of the gods, nor why Neptune,
or rather Pofeidon, took the oppofite fide
againft Jupiter ; he was at the head of a
¦Separate intereft, and had been fuperfeded
•in his command of the i^gean by the
nomination of Briareus * to that command.
* I!ud, 15. I. ver. 4oj.
"Of

( 6j )
"Oj pa, wetfipt KpovtuvtxctSB^BJo, uvh'S yufav—-
Neptune had built Ilium near the mouth
of the Bofphorus, which might command
the' exclufive navigation of the Euxine,
and fupport his intereft amongft the
northern people there ; but he was de
ceived in the effeCt ; he got a quarrel with
the Trojans, and he loft his intereft and
office at Jupiter's court: And had become
the avowed enemy of Ilium, the building
of which was his own plan and m'eafure.
In the next generation, when thofe gods
had left the earth, this Ilium became (as
Carthage was to Rome) a rival object to
Greece that muft be deftroyed ; it was
that which had robbed them of, and
held them excluded from, their deareft and
.moft beneficial connections of commerce.
The Greeks carried their point, and for
ages after, efpecially the Athenians, fup-
ported on this bafis of the commerce of
the Euxine Sea, their government, riches,
and power. The conftant and invariable
meafure.of the Athenians, to maintain a
commanding (if not an exclufive) intereft
in thefe regions of this fea, and the va
rious attempts of other powers, Grecian
as well as Afiatic, to wreft this from them,
or at leaft to fhare it with them on equal
terms, became the repeated occafion, and
F certainly

( te )
certainly the decifive point of the future
wars which they were engaged in.
A knowledge of the nature and extent
of this Euxine- commerce and navigation,
.adequate _ to its importance, and to the
effects, pf its operation, is no where ftated
in ancient hiftory ; and yet information
on this, important point would prove the
beft comment and guide to the knowledge
of fome of the moft interefting parts of
the Hiftory of the Greeks and Afiatics.
There are many fragments and fcattered
parts of fuch information, which lie de
tached ; many other parts interwoven as
mere circumftances in affairs of another
nature ; many that might be fairly de
duced ; and many that would give and
receive reciprocal illuftration to and from
matters they are connected with. Here
opens a path of curious and interefting re
search to the learned philofophick Anti
quary. The hiftory of antient commerce,
written, by Monfieur Huet, bifhop of Av-
ranches, treats of this generally, and in
deed but fuperficially ; but from what
the very ingenious and learned, Mr.
Clarke *, in his Treatife on the Roman,
*,¦ Reftor of Buxted, and chancellor and rejidemiary of
the church of Chicheftcr. Printed for Bowyer, 1767.
6 Engliih,

( «7 )
J&iglfifh; and Saxon coins, has ia part,
•fnd merely as a collateral argument, ex-
-pJainied on this fubjeCt ; He has not only
{how® the importance of it to theknow-
Jedge of Ancient Hiftory, but has in
great: meafure by his learning and know
ledge Supplied this interefting Defide-
ratum. He has done fo much, in fo clear
and diftinCt a line of demonft ration, that
there i$ no one, who has read the £&w pages
which he has written on this fubjeCt, but
muft.. wifh that the fame ingenuity, the
•fame learning, the fame kno pledge, was
.engaged to write a fpecial treatife on
it ; from the firft Egyptian or Syrian
trade and fettlements, to the breaking up
of it by the Roman arms ; and the final
-deftruCtiOn of it by the recoil of the
deluge of northern people who over
whelmed all. Thefe regions, and thefe
commercial fettlements, were the Chittim
of Sidon and Tyre ; the America of the
ancient commerce : the merchants carried
•thither all the fame fort of wrought goods
and articles of improved civilization and
manufactures as the Europeans carry now
to America ; and brought from thence, \i\
the rough, lumber, efpeciaily fhip timber,
peltry, furrs, wool, thread, yarn, corn in
immenfe quantities, and flaves. One can
not but wifh alfo» that Mr. Bryant would
F a employ

( 68 )
employ his great talents, and litera
ture, to a like explanation of the weftern
regions of the .Mediterranean and Af-
lantick. This was early diftinguifhed by
being called, in the triple divifion of Sa
turn's empire, the diftriCt of Dis, or Pluto,
the God of Riches. This was the other
great commercial region of the Ancients,
the Tarfhifh of the Phoenicians and Tyre.
No man has read mere, or with more
precifion in the ancient accounts of thefe
matters ; no man is a better judge of
them; and furely there is no literary or
perhaps no practical ufeful point of know
ledge to which his literary refearches
could be more beneficially direCted. The
principal exports from hence were filver,
tin, and moft other minerals and metals ;
¦timber, corn, oil, fome butter, wax, pitch,
and tar, faffron, the ocres, and wool. The
people who fettled and poffeffed thefe
regions, employed a multitude of fhipping:
and fettled many rich and flourifhing co
lonies, as well many entrepots, and out
diftant factories ; and held all thefe fettle
ments and this commerce as exclufive
againft all ftrangers : I believe alfo it will
be found, that many of their regular
priefts, the Magi or Gours, did (as the
regulars of modern times and religions.
have done) fettle miffions amongft the
natives

( 69 )
natives in thefe moft diftant parts'. The
original Druids (however their fucceflbrs
may have become corrupted) will, I am
perfwaded, turn put to be thofe very
priefts, eftablifhing juft fuch miflions, on
exactly the fame principles, as the Jefuits
have done in Paraguay, under a like hier
archy. When this fubjeCt comes onee to be
confidered as the exertions and tranfaCtioiis,
of man (always the like being in like cir-"
cumftances), all the metamorphofic fables
of the Ancients turning policied and com
mercial people into horrid and favage
monfters, will, like clouds before the fun,
difpel and evaporate before the light of
truth. We fhall hear no more of a great
and fcientifick people employing the fu1-
periority of their knowledge in catching
men as their food ; no more of beautiful
accomplifhed women employing the magic
of their charms to entrap men, to eat
them ; no more of a race of innocuous
fhepherds and goat-herds who expreflly
lived on milk and cheefe, the produce of
their flocks, being delighted with the
venifori of human flefh. We fhall fee all
•thefe perverted and exaggerated traditions
(paffing from the accounts of the very
interlopers and pirates, againft whom
F 3 their

£ 70 )
thetr laws were made and. executed), ;ex.-»
plained from the plain Ample ftate; pf: the
exclufive poffejfions and commerce, which
thefe people, as colonizing nations do at
prefent, afluroed and maintained : many
of the ftpries, told as the cruelties of fa-
vages," will turn out to be the feverities
and the rigid executions of the courts
of juftice, which thefe people ereCted at
their maritime ftations to try offences
committed Againft this their eftablifhment;
and to punifh pirates, to whom they gave
no quarter, as, the common enemies of
the communion of mankind ; as wretches,
'-* quifublatis commerciis, raptoifoedere
' generis humani,.. fie .rnaria, bellp, quaft
* tempeftate prgecludunt.' I could ; here,
myfelf, , prove (I think beyond contra
diction) in fome of the ftrongeft cafes,
which feem to bear the hardeft on thefe
people, I mean in the cafe of the Cyclops,
of Minos and Rhadamanthus, That al
though they fuffered no ftrangers to come
within their fettlements, and punifhed all
fuch as they found interloping there ; yet
- they made adiftinCtion in the cafe, whether
fuch came with defign to trade; or were
driven thither by accident ; and.more es
pecially between thefe and direCt . pirates.
* L.- Ann. Florus, Lib. III. c. 6.' Th"is

1 ( 7* )
This appears from the inquifition taken
by the Cyclops on Ulyfles and his aflb-
ciates *:
XI %b~voi, ring IgB; /srohv wXi7&' vTpos xeXevSa ;
Htl Kara Tirp^iv; vj fiaty i}i<ag &XXvi<£lt;
Oidrs Avjifrripyg. vteBp aXa rot t aXoaivjixi
"Vxiyag "ErupQiftevoi, xcckov aXXooctTrdta-i (pBpovjsg;
' Thefe djftinCtions in the cafe of the pri-
{oners are here formed ; and even, as will be
feen afterwards, diftinCtions as grounds of
mercy are fuggefted by this horrid, pro
fane, blafpheming favage Canabal, as he
is called. Where, fays he, have you
ftationed your naval armament that brought
you here ? is it on or beyond the borders
of thefe regions, or is it within pur pre'
cinCts f i
'AXXct fiot eTp ony B%Bg luiv evEpysei vvjk;
''l{ txtz eir ea-^aTi/ig', $ ^ o-%b$ov; o<ppa, ^usiia.
Could they have proved that they had
not entered the precincts of his jurifdiCtion
with armed force, he here feems to lay
the grOund for their acquittal : But if
there was no diftinCtion made in the cafe
of ftrangers found within their fettle
ments, there is neither, ufe nor common
fenfe in the queftions afked.
* OdyfT. Lib. IX. f Ibid.
F 4 Although

( 7^ )
Although Minos 'was reprefented • by
thofe ancient rovers and pirates as a man*,
KW6uSe\jjog, yothBTtog, (pavXog; and that he <f
was Tvpoa/vizog, j3tex.Tog iy ho~i^qXoyog, auhpiigh
Rhadamanthus, whom he appointed as
judge in his courts, there held
 durijfima regno,
and was hard and fevere, even to cruelty ;
yet Homer and Plato both bear teftimony,
that every thing which Divine Wifdom,
God-like Benevolence, and the cleafeft and
pureft Juftice could give to man, was the
-character of Minos, the paftor, protector,
and governor of his people : and that the
other was a wife and juft judge *.— and fee
from Thucydides the effeCt of thefe efta-
blifhments made by Minos J. " He
" formed a navy, and cleared the. fea of
" pirates ; he expelled the robbers out pf
" the iflands, and fettled colonies of in-
" duftrious people in their room; fo that
*' the teas were .open and free to« com*
merce, the people could become fet tiers
and dwell with fafety ; and became
" rich and happy."
.,:It .this mode of. inveftigation and cpnr
fequent explanation of this fubjeCt be pui>
* Flatonis Minos. •{• Sirabonis, L. X,
T .Lib: L fued

.«-•

<¦' 73 )
Cued by i fuch analogy as compares man,
his being, and actions (fuch as we have
aCtually known him to. be) with what he
may fairly be fuppofed to have been in
thofe times, although deformed: and mif-
reprefented in fables, even truths ufeful to
mankind may he elicited; out of them.
There. are rules in the fcience of optics,
by which the Jines of a picture may be fo
drawn, as that, although they give every
point of that picture, the bearing of each
point mail be fo diffracted, and the tout-
enfemblebe fo deformed, as not. .to retain
the leaft femblance of the original draught;
this deformed picture may however, be re
formed to its original draught, by being
feen in a mkrour peculiarly, by the fame
rules p£ fcience, copftruCted . to -refleCt
back thefe lines, reduced to their -proper
traites, and thefe proportions to. their, juft
correfpondenee. r;Juft fo (withallufion to
this malh.ematick fact) I confider the hif
toric fables,. the pictures of the early ages
pf the. world. The picture has been de
formed in all its traites and proportions ; but
if the truly philofophic Antiquary can by
analogy, and fair comparifon of that Being
which man always has been, find out the
mode ,- of the deformation, he will be at
,np - lofs in applying the feientifick mir-
rour.

(( 7r ))
rour,- by which this picture fhall be tan-
qnam in. fpecuh, reflected back, reformed
in all its out-lines' and relations, to all the
purpofes of ufefurexperience, the only end
of real :and. actual hiftory.- : a.U: v-i-..
'¦ : , . i..':.f ::; '.-illV "!"
We will next, leaving the fabulous,
proceed to confider the mode of the philo
fophic Antiquary's 1 refearch intotharJpe-
riod of hiftory whereof ~u (the materials
being fuppofed to be intire,' and the order
and feries of the facts', iu fome meafure
preferved)..the narrative- is fuppofed to he
the aCtual portrait of the things and times
which it reprefents, : and is therefore called
and underftood to be' the juft and true
hiftory. When I confider that. he, who
writes profeffedly to -giyefuch information
of the ftate and aCtions of the human life
and fyftem as fhall enable us to form that
knowlege of it, which is experience,
fhould not -only tell us what has been
done (as chronicles < and regifters do), but
fhould mark to us how the agent-' was
able to do it, how it was done, and what
was the effect : I fay, when I confider
hiftorical knowledge in this light, yet find
that he who writes of ancient times, long
pafled, knows not often the bow, and that
he who writes of the living times, as they
are paffing, heeds not the how, but goes on

( 75 )
en, as of. courfe;; Ifeelthat Iwant fonie-
thing.more to r^ifermy learning up to
knowledge. The. hiftorian, either totally
ignorant of, or living: amidft the ordinary
movements, and under the canftant and
mechanick influence of the fprings and
principles, which, as things of courfe,
operate on the human actions, does no
more think it neceffary, or even proper, to
trace and mark; the ftate, organization,
and procefs of the community whofe
jvcViomsrhe is defcrrbing, than he would
think it neeeflary. to give an analytic de
fcription of his watch, in order by it to
tell you what the hour of the day. was ;
his office being to relate the operations of
the machine, not the compofition and re-
folution of its ppwers. He fuppofes the
knowledge of this to have been acquired
in fome other line of learning, or to lead
to other purpofes, or to be obvious in every
iCourfe, and open to every eye. While We
fee palpably the organization of the com
munity, the particular flate of its procefs;
v fo long as we feel the irnpulfe of the prin
ciples by which it is influenced ; and are
either! aCtually or fcieiitifieally mixed in
with the , circumftances • anaidft vwhich it
operates ; fo far the narrative may be per
fectly intelligible : but it may fo happen,
that the hiftory of the facts may remain, when

( 76 )
when the principles fhall have ceafed to
operate; when the particular- ftate of
wants which called forth thofe refources,
fromwhence particular powers, - acts, and
rights, are derived,! fhall no longer urge
their demands; when- the manners and
cuftoms have died away; and are utterly
forgotten : The hiftorythen, without that
.comment, which the living manners and
active drama give1, fhall become ufelefs,
and unintelligible/ The actions and ope
rations, appearing ungrounded, fhall be
come inapplicable ; and the moft ufeful
arts and beft exerted powers feem a wan
ton wafte of caprice. I dare fay" every
one who reads can here recollect many
things, many aCtions, many operations,
which appear fo to him, which yet could
not have been fo. Here then the Anti
quary becomes that Interpreter by whom
^hiftory is rendered . intelligible ; becomes
that Commentator by whom alone, it can
be conducted to ufe and practical know
ledge. The Antiquary fets before our
eyes, and puts into our hands, in a' way
that the hiftorian does not, every com
ponent part and whole frame of the
aCting fyftem. He makes his reader live
as it were in the times, and through the
fcenes^he defcribes : Animum injeribendo ad

( 77 )
ad pr<eterita retrahere, et veluti antiquum
facere magni utique labor is etjudicii eft *.
The Antiquary will fo defcribe the
community, whofe. acts are the fubjeCt of
hiftory, in the fcite and circumftances of
the country which it inhabits, in its mode
of pofleifing, and in its manner of living
on it ;N he will give a detail of its wants,
and of its refources, both in nature and
art ; he will fo defcribe the component
and acting parts, fo mark its organization,
its vegetative and animal- proceffion, its
growth, its utmoft perfect ftate ; and its
decay, its defeCts, its difeafes, and all the
accidents which give occafion to the work
ing of its natural or violent deceafe ; that
every fpring and movement, every acci
dent, act, and operation, the caufe, the
reafon, the end and effect of all, will be
.equally known to the reader, as though
he was living amidft them, and under
their influence. Without this knowledge
we may read hiftory, but it will be the
ftory of a creature little known to us.
We have all read the Perfian, ^Egyptian,
Grecian, and Roman Hiftory ; but will
the beft verfed in thefe matters fatisfy
himfelf that he has any fuch habile idea
- * Bacon de Augrn. Lib. II. c. 5. Of

{ 78 ;
jaf either of thefe people and their fyftem,
as above, required ? will he, when. I aflc for
information, be able to tell precifely what
was the ftate, what the fupplyand. con-
fumptipn of this ftate, while their labour
was confined folely, or principally, to the
earth ? why fuch and fuch poffeffions of
lands, waters, and things,. became neceffary
to them ? how they occupied and maintain
ed them ? how the interior fprings, and
exterior momenta arofe and; acted under
thefe circumftances ? how they were able
to put themfelves into fuch form as to
act towards objects ab extra? how under
thefe forms the diftribution pf. powers
and duties amongft the individuals in the
communities of Greece j but of Rome
more efpecially, were made, and yet the
political liberty of the ftate, - and the per-
fonal freedom of the individual, preferved?
how citizens of equal rank and liberties,
entitled to equal choice in a fhare of the
civil government, could (having been either
drawn out by lot, or prefled, to bear arms
as privates) be continued during long
wars, and retained for a feries of years
under the defpotifm of the military Impe-
riuvi, confiftent with that liberty of the
ftate, and that freedom of the citizen,
confiftent with the avowed rotation of
election to civil offices open to all ? how
thev

:( 79 )
they could be thus fecluded from their
.rights and excluded fo long from re-en
tering into their civil order? will any
hiftory explain this to me ? I know none
that does. I look tp the learning of, the
Antiquary for this information, but as y&
I know none that gives it. There are
many inftances in the Rornjru hiftory pf
the people and the foldiers revolting againffc
this unequal grievance. To quiet com
plains on this head the fenate was forced -
fo early as [U. C 246.] the Etrufcan war,
to liberate the Plebeians from paying, the
Portpria- and tribute, in confideration of
their perfonal fervices *.. " The rich,
" who were able to bear this burthen of
" taxes, fhould pay their contributions in
** this form ; while the people who were
" poor, fhould be confidered as paying
*' their fhare by bringing up children who
'*< were to ferve the ftate." This is the
only paflage which I can recollect, which
looks like an explanation of this difficulty;
and yet this was only a partial and tem
porary fluffing off the complaint {blandi-
menta Plebi per id temfus ab fenatu data)„
for we find again the Portoria and vefti-
galia in collection. A pay or fubfiftance
* TJt divites conferrent, qui oneri ferendo effent, pau-
peres fads ftipendii pendere, 11 liberos educarent.
Tit. Liv. Jib. IL § 9.
given

( "So )
given to the' foldiers was afterwards efta*
blifhed ; this and the ftate of dependency
to which the people were reduced by -their/
debts and general poverty, feems to be a
reafon of the claim to their perfonal
fervice, as private foldiers, being fub-
mitted to. The difficulty however of re
conciling this military imperium with
the freedom of the citizen, and the liberty
of the cOnftitution, ftill preffes. There are
many other curious difquifitions which
arife in this branch of learning : as, how
thofe communities divided into thofe who
labour on the earth, into thofe whofe
labour is employed on the produce of the
earth, thofe who adminifter the civil
powers of the community, thofe who are,.
either permanently or occafionally fet apart
for the defence of the community ;
how, after the community is fo divided,
thofe, who do not* produce what can be
eaten, are fed ; how the furplus produce
of labour which can be of no ufe to the
community can be exchanged for what is
of ufe ; how this leads to commerce ; how
commerce extending the communion, en-
creafes, by its naval adventitious members,
the power of the ftate; without fome
degree of this information of the com
munities and growing ftates of the ancient
world, we may read and learn a great deal

( 8. )
deal, but fhall know very little ; we fhall
continue reading about' a creature that we:
do not understand the nature or conftitu^
tutiort of; we fhall neither conceive the
fprings,: the means, nor the ends of its
actions; we fhall neither fefe the purport of
'the Wars, nor the reafons of the fcederal
connexions it may make, nor the grounds
on .which it flood by means of therm
<We may travel in hiftory for ages through
many regions, but it will be always as in
a thick fog. We may fee in fucceffive
fteps the -groups of thofe figures and faCts
only which are immediately local arid
temporary ; but the enfemble of the piece
will be hid from us and unintelligible.
We muft here have recourfe to the learned
Antiquary ; the light of his difcoveries
muft difpel the cloud ; when it does fo, the
profpeCt will open upon the mind's eye in all
its extent, in true perfpeCtive, and cloathed
in all its genuine colours. The objects
and figures in the piece will be feen in
their proper bearings and proportions ; a fyf
tem as pervading the whole will be feen in
the defign ; , the connexion between caufes
and' effects will be feen in the execution;
and hiftory may thus become experimental
knowledge. . f'.vX
G If

( %2 J
If I know the ftate of the produce of
a community, either by grazing, tillage*
hunts, fifheriesr or mines ; and the ftate"
of its manufactures as framed upon this
produce ; the divifion of the individuals p€
the community into huibandmen an<$
manufacturers ; the refpeCtive proportion
of* thefe ; the forplus labour employed;
and the furplus flock of labour created ?
whether this continues to; circulate as a.
living os is ftored as a dead ftock ; I fhall
be able to eftimate the in ternaf capabilities
of that community, its , happinefs-, its-
wealth, and- its power of external exertion.
This information is not found collected in
any hiftory; and yet the being ppffefTed
of it is neceffary to a real' knowledge of
the aCtions of that political being, whether
prince or ftate, which- one is reading of.
The Antiquary collecting and combining,.
many of thefe feattered and neglected
fads, which, feparate as they fie, are not
either relevent or applicable, will give me
this, information. Hiftory is .in general
only the recital of the brutal part of man's
fyftem, his robberies, plunderings, and
,wars, mixed with fome temporary inter
vals of neceffary truce called peace ; which
lafts no longer than till the power of war
il 4 has-

-( -«3 )
has acquired fome. frefh ftrength, or rteW
means of exerting itfelf again. , Two of
the principal drifts^ of true experimental
hiftory fhould be pointed to give us infor
mation, and lay, as in a map, before, the
irrund's eye, the vipiffitudines rerum,, and the
fundamenta prudentifie : Yet the narrative
pf ,hfftpry feldom enters into thefe minutiae
So far from giving the changes and revo
lutions of things, it does not (generally
fpeaking) give the actual ftate, pf them at
any one time : inftead of pointing Out the
fundamenta prudentice, it feldom enters into
the rationale* It is employed to ii>vent
myfterious reafons .for what, was mere
paflion, and to give an Sir, pf policy to
.the violences of- man ; to paint their ope
rations, to trace, their courfe, or to ftate
the effect j as acts of glory which forrn thje
:ftatefman and |t;hehero. It is the pomp and
cifcUmftance. of action, not tb^ , principlje
of the reafoning part, that is the general
object of the hiftorical- drama. An analytic
hiftory of the -progrefs, growth* expanfion,
and decay, Of the civil community, in.
whatever external-form it exifts,. can alonie
explain the vipiffitudines rerum, or trace the
fundamenta pkudentice. The very creature
whofe aCtions we view, , is, withoxtt this
knowledge, a creature quite unknown to
us : Could I .have anyridea of man, feeing
G 2 only

X *4 ;)
only ¦% --picture', of "hiiTi"trs a fprawling
child', ;:or in the- frelplefa "decr.epi.tnde- of
age -?; -Could I have arty idea of the pro-
'grefuW ftate 'of his being; of the ne-
ceffity of attentive' mixture to ' his - child
hood ;- of the neceflity of fupport and aid
to his oldage; if I faw, at pne view only,
the portrait of Ins manhood? As of man,
fo of the human community, thus fuper-
ficially pi' partially feen, -.P fhould neither
fee the different wants' "ih' the different
ftates of its' being, nor' have experience of
'the fupplies which ftiould eprrefpond to
thofe Wants; no? fof: the fburces -vvhich
-might' produce''" thofe -fupplies. If /.this
'-"point of knowledge (1 iiiesif the analytic
hiftory of " the humart\"comrminity)' • he* *a
'Dcfidcraiitm jii "the" rfiftbrrc^ine of learn
ing (as - to'-'rrie if feems to be), what \
glorious -la'ticf extenfive. field is here open
"to the learned- Antiquary to" fpatiate in I '":
ih- - '' -: 3Srt'.- , "iq rt_C ¦¦;<:. '. " •': : :¦
or"The vegetative fyftem" of the comrhu-
^nity-fjf ' I may To exprefs "rnyfelf), "the in-
tcrnaf living and growing; part of its being,
may be compared ~tov the/ roots of a tree,
'-which fupport the prefent- plant, andta-re
xontinually," though unfoeh, extending
the means andmaihteirai{ce--of its future
'e'xpanfionin.its branches. -If the foots are
'nbt-textericled in the '•' earth- below, the
\LV:" 7 L .''••' branches

( §5 )
branches can never' extend their- Growth
above. A furplus and collective ftock,
created ' by agriculture .and manufactures,
can alone give activity of power to numbers
of people in any degree : but commerce
alone is that vegetative fyftem of the 'com
munity,- that can give a permanent fource
to this activity: a knowledge then of the
Commercial movements, operations, and
-powers of the ancient communities, feems
abfoiutely neceffary to any one who would
iinderftand the actions of thofe commu
nities. In order to explain myfelf, when
I refer to the ufe that this, knowledge
would be of, I will illuftrate thefe fug-
•geftions with an example or two.
Does it not appear unaccounted for, and
•iihaccpuntable, that -after the Grecians had
pofleffion of the Trojan port and ftation ;
-after they had driven the Trojans out of
the field, had laid fiege to Ilium, and had
an army numerous enough to have made
a perfect blockade ;, that the Trojans and
all their auxiliaries maintained their fup-
ply, and continued in this ftate of re-
fiftance for ten years, without a dearth or
famine making any part of the diftrefs
which they laboured under. Thucydides,
who is our Antiquary here, explains this
fact. Giving fome prefatory account of
G 3 the

, ( 86 )
the antiquities of his country, and of the
ancient ftate of it ; he fpeaks to this yeyy
point of the ftate of the community ; of
the nature of the fupply, ; and of that
part of the people whofe labour was ne?
ceffary to produce that fupply. The diT
vifion of the people into hufbandmen, and
feparate manufacturers of the ftock of the
produce, was npt yet made, fo that there
was neither a fuperfluous ftpck pf labour,
or of hands, which could be fpared for
war, in fuch manner as that the fupply
could be continued and kept up. n
There were, he fays, men enough in
the country 5 and though the ftates fent
out above one hundred thoufand men,
they cpuld (he fays) have fent out many
more, could they have created a furplus
fupply for this number, while thefe hands
becarne thus unproductive of their own
fupply, being filled with arms and em
ployed in war. Not much more than a
third of thefe, who formed this armament,
could be. reckoned upon as effective in the
Jines. One part, he fays, was employed
on the Cherfonefus, to raife and maintain
a fupply for the army ; another was em
ployed jn their {flipping, and as marines,
to collect fupplies by trade, or plunder, as
they pould. Thus the blockade was not
only

wifty incompleat, hut the Grecians were
at times fo weakened with thefe detach
ments, as well as by death and ficknefs,
-that the Trojans were able to reprefs them
hack within their lines, and even to befiege
ahem there, in their turn.
That the ^Egyptians, -on ithe other
hand, had in the moft early periods a
fuperfluous ftock of fupply equal to the
fupport of muitit-udes ,of -\u\produCtive
hands, the ereCtipn of their pyramids,
obelifk s, and other .great works -of archir
teCture, is -a proof,: but it is a melancholy
jproof at the fame lime of the perverfion
¦ of the productive powers of man in fociety,
*when we fee fo much lafo©ur„ which, by
,2. right turn of the wealth and induftrious
enterprize of a ^populous' community might
ihaye produced and advanced, the ftate
of happinefs to mankind, thrown away,
.and wafted in works which .now remain
only monuments of the defective ftate of
their political.ceconCmy. However (taking
' things as they clearly were and muft he)
thefe monuments bear everlafting tefti-
mony to the goodnefs of the hearts of
thofe minifters, or thofe kings, who did
thus employ the fuperfluous idle hands,
/and fuperabundant ftock of fupply, which
;the fertility of the country gave, in works
,G 4 .of

( 88 )
pf harmlefs parade and -Vanity : inftead1 of
beingaCtuated by the common ardent arri^
bition of tyrants to employ them in the
deftrudtion of the human fpecies.
Let the ftudent in hiftory confider again,
in a different view of things, the nature
of the ftate of the -Hebrews, prior' to the
time of David and Solomon ; and the
growing extent of the'wealth and power
of that ftate, when (under the govern
ment of thofe1 enterprizing princes) they
got pofleffion of the Red Sea ; actuated
its. navigation ; and profited of the cir
cuitous commerce of -the Arabian and
Perfian Gulfs, and of Indian Seas. -Let
him view them emerging, as it Were by
masick, from an inconfiderable inland
ftate, to a commercial naval and powerful
empire ; and how again upon the lofs of
this they funk as fuddenly again to their
original littlenels.
When, in another- inftance, he fees how
a collection of- merchants (one can fcaree
call that community a nation, or its civil
corporation, a ftate, I mean the Phce^
niciaiis), fet down on the line of inter
Courfe between the great trade of the eaft
and tl at of the weft, and actuating the
movements pf this combined commerce, fpon

' ( »9 )
foon acquired ail afcendency. in and took
the lead of the interefts and powersof the
then great world, he will' i no j longer
wonder at the effeCt, he may derive know
ledge from experience in the caufe. , He
will fee the fame effect connected with the
fame caufe in the eftablifhment of the'
power of the Hanfeatic league in Europe,
If eonfidering'this and purfuing this line
of refearch, and examining it by this train
of reafoning, the learned- Antiquary will
review the plan, and fyftem of meafures^
which formed the conduct of Alexander,
truly called the Great, the ufe and impor
tance of this information, in this branch
of learning, will appear ftill more evident.
It will, be' feen that this great prince and
his council perfectly underftood the ope
rations and effects of- this fyftem, as. it lay
in nature; as it was interwoven into the
affairs of man ; and as it nurtured, ani
mated, and actuated, the interefts and
powers of ftates ; : as alfo how this might
be wrought- to confpire to the eftablifh
ment of an univerfal empire of the world.
His knowledge of the real weaknefs: which
there was in the impofing grandeur of
thofe ftates that he acted againft, led him
to the conqueft of them. His conquefts
led to aflured -knowledge on experience of
the

( 90 )
the powers whereon thefe ftates^ fhould
have .been founded. His progrefs, fuccefiP-
ful as it muft be, being guided by fyftem,
founded in aCtual truth, opened to him
every ftep he took, and every day which
rofe, more and more extended views of
the expanded intercourfe of commerce as
it aCtually moved and acted ; and of the
universal communion to which it was
capable of being extended ; all confpiring
to one great Lead, which, while it was fup-
plied by the commerce, might act with the
naval power of the whole world.
- This great prince was the firft flateftnan
" who from fyftem in knowlege, founded on
aCtual experience of the movements and
tranfaCtions of men, in the various lines
of trade, combined the interefts and powers
cf commerce with' the operations of polity,
fo as by the true attractive fpirit of
communion, as it acts in nature, to form
that organifed imperium, whence com
mand and government would, through
the laws of nature, derive upon all the
communities who became parts of this
combination, and who moved within the
fphere of this attraction. Having united
the naval power of Greece, raifed and
maintained by the afcendent commerce of
the Euxine and ^Egean Seas ; he foon
dxew

(-9i )
drew the aiayal interefts of the lonians
within the orbit of his revolving powers,
And thefe combined did, as they muft in
the natural courfe of things, create a
center to which the commerce of Tyre
muft become fecondary and fubordinate,
In this natural progrefs of his fyftem,
Tyre muft, as it did, fall under his do
minion. The merchants of Tyre had
actuated and commanded, what the ftatef-
men of Perfia fhould have done as an
effential part of their political fyftem, the
commerce of the Indies. This coming
under the command of Alexander, Perfia
became nothing in the fcale againft the
afcendent and predominant power of this
great ftatefman and warriour.. The fteps
which led to, and effected this conqueft,
did, as in a courfe of experiments, mark
out to his genius a fyftematic knowledge
of the bafis whereon this Perfian empire
fhould have been fet and would have flood,
and whereon a great empire might be
formed and founded.
His fixing on the fpot, whereon to build
Alexandria, aS the center of commercial
fyftem, and making that, perhaps, the
only fpot on the globe to which all the
three great departments of the commerce
pf the ancient world could have mutual, com-

¦ ( 92 )
commercial, and even naval communi
cation ; to which the directions of all
their reciprocal lines of movement might
concenter ; and in which all their inter
woven interefts might combine : His fix
ing upon this fpot ; and forming and efta-
.bliihing this glorious fyftem of commerce
thereon; and uniting /this! fyftem to the
conftitution of his Imperium, had this effect
in all his meafures, that while he was the
actuating foul, the circulation of commerce
(like the circulation of the blood in man)
was the life of the whole. The forming
fuch a fyftem of communion as the bafis,
and the building his fuperftructure of go
vernment thereon; diftinguifhes this great
prince from all other heroes the conquerors,
in order to be the tyrants of men : while
inftead of being the mere conqueror, acting
with the.brutal force of man, to deftruCtion ;
He (I had almoft faid) like a divinity actu
ated, and aCted with, the powers of nature
to the eftablifhment of nature's fyftem in
communion. It was on this fyftem, and by
a linked progreflion of meafures founded
thereon, that he made fuch inquifition
and iearch into all the fources and chan
nels of the trade of the Indian feas and
regions : that upon the refult of his dif
coveries he eftablifhed that great Ea/lern
branch of the commerce of the -world ;
¦> and

( 93 )
and that he interwove and combined this
"at one/:eenter of attraction with- the trade
of the north. This center to' which -all
confpired ; and from -which power • thus
collected- diverged to all parts of the com
mercial- -h'emifphere was Alexandria in
'^Egypt.- Thofe extenfive plans were, how
ever, but links of the chain, but/ parts
of his general fyftem. While' by the
entrepots,'- Which he created and fixed be
tween iEgypt and the Eaft ; by the trading
fettlements -which he eftablifhed -in the
Eaft, under the protection of his' arms ;
by 'the factories which -he: advanced -in
every remote fource under the covet" of
his outppfts ; ' While by thefe meafures this
great machine was getting ifito' motion
"and beginning to -act.; He was forming
the plan- of- drawing the late- • Ty rian ; arid
'remaining' Carthaginian Commerce 'of the
-Weft into the fame vortex. r
---Having -put, his meafures refpecting
commerce artd the naval power- "'in to
execution, he defigned, when the opera
tions of thefe meaiures had brought for
ward and prepared events for it, the irf-
vafion of Carthage and its fettlements.
'Acting by an afcendent fortune, and- be
come predominant, he mull ia all human
probability -have: fucceeded. ¦'-
Such

( 94 5
Such were his aflured fteps, that tni3
trade alfo, connected at the -root,- derive
ing its nouriture from the fame fpurces,
extending its branches interwoven oyer
the fame regions, moving witijin the
farne circulation, muft have come within
the -fphere of the fame attra£tipn ; muft
gravitate to and revolve about the famp
center ; and become thus a part within
the upiverfal fyftem or a very fuhordinate
and fecpndary fyftem of itfelf ab extra.
In -: either cafe, the trade of the Cartha
ginians muft have been impoverifhed,
their naval power weakened and reduced,
and the dominion itfelf fuccumb to the
univerfal Imperium of this greAt states
man pKjnce. Sed JDiis aliter vifum* He
died; and the foul, which was the center
of vitality, and the fpring of action to
this fyftem, departing, the unity of the
fyftem was broken ; feparation, like arto1-
ther cpnfufion of Babel reverfed the'
todjole. (Looking then up to this great com-'
mercial triangular pyramid, as it would
have ftood on a bafe, one point of which
projected beyond the Straights of the Me
diterranean on the weft, while another
advanced to the almoft bounds of the'
Euxine

( 95 )
-Euxjne and Paulus M^ptis; on the nofib*
and the third to ;t^he remoteft regions pf
India eaft; looking, up to this great cdoffal ,/
fyjkmL of empifg thfis founded on com
merce; and feeing what thecjty pf Rome
W3? at, that time, fighting for, the very
.fcite of its future empire, on its own nar
row world Italy, not pnly furrounded bqtr
. hemmed in by warlike, jealous j, and hoftile
neighbours on all fides,; one may, without
incurring much the imputation of pr-e-
fumption, decide upon the fpeculation
which Titus Livius, lib. IX- § I7- m-
ftitutes and difcufles on. this-. curious quef-
tion — £>uinam eventus Romania ... rebus, ft
cum Alexandro bellatum foret, futurus erif.
Thehiftorian's reaforxs are thofe pf a good
Giti^en,, and an ingeniotis advocate in" the
cafe : hut his; fpeculation does npt feem to
have comprehended the whole cafe ; and
his reafons' feem tp. have reyerfed the
eourfe of thp meafures which he was exa
mining, fpeaking of the mealure&, <jf
monarchs ^e Alexander, he ;fays,. Liomini
rerum tempsmmgue trahant conftliis cun£iu%
non fey uuntur; whereas the very fpirit pf the
meafures and fyftem, planned and purfued
by this great prince, were directly the
*everfe*:.He did not, as mere Quixote ad-
* Se, -qtfse concilia fftagis res dent hpminibus, quam ho-
roir.es rebus, ea ant&teiagus^iacniatuia, aaa prascepturun?.
Tit, Liv. lib. 21. § 38.
venturers

( 9'6 ¦¦)
ventuferesfjh politicks do, labour to make
occafion Sj but as all truly great Geniujh
do,l{ev£e and profit J of times and occa1-
fions :; He did- not by force attempt- to
'command.- nature,- but by courage- and
wifdom- to. follow -her to execute;.her dbifi-
"niands. Had he lived to have put in-exd-
- ration thofe" meafures which he had in
'contemplation ;--and-had'the train of thofe
meafures once brought him into the'field
"with Rome ; the fyftem of that ftate, then
in its infancy j muft ' have fuccumbed ' to
the power of Nature, / and the fpirit "of
Alexander, which combined were in the
" afcendenf-..v ¦•' - ~ j:C:?
"But to return. Having mentioned what
- appears to-me to have , been begun ; or ' fb
'•have' been in part done, and What- is ftill
-wanting of refearch into the great northern
'and weftern Courfes of the ancient com-
' mercial world : It cannot but occur' to
the- Society and to the Reader of this
paper, how much is alfo wanting of infor
mation in that extenfive multifarious and
rich commerce of the ancient Eaft Indies.
-Monfieur de Huet has entered into the
difquifition of this branch more in detail
and with more precifion than in other
parts, and, as- his extenfive reading and
great ingenuity enabled him, has gone
great

( Jtf )
great lengths in this inquiry ; but there
are many materials which afford ftill
further information; and much remains
to be as yet explained. This inquiry ha3
much to tempt the curiofity of the learned
Antiquary, and much to exerciie his in
genuity. It feems to me, that the An
tiquary, who can alone undertake this
refearch with fuccefs, and to effect, muft
be fome one who is perfect mafter of the
eaftern languages ; who is, from a courfe
of experience,' acquainted with thofe
countries, thofe people, their manners and
habits ; and finally one who has been a
practical merchant, or connected with
fuch. There are many ingenious, learned,
fcientifick, mercantile men, who live, or
have lived in, and had experience of, thefe
regions ; and it is from the learning and
experience of fuch alone, that the world
may expect knowledge on this fubjeCt.
Clpfing here our obfervations on the
nature of commerce, as the fource of
wealth and power to the community, we
are naturally led to confider thofe duCts
and channels, derived through which a
certain portion of the produce of this
fource is, as it were, fecreted from the
general circulation, and converted into re
venue of the ftate. H The

( 98 )
The, ordinary ftndents in hiftpry: read,
<gs of matters of courfe, of the wars of
nations, and of the conquefts of the hero
of the ftory ; of the marches aiid mul
titudes of the armies, and of the activity of
the general ; with as much fcope of ima
gination, as the pen can with eafe- mul
tiply numbers, or annihilate, fpace : But
if the ftudent by reading hiftory means to
acquire a real knowledge, founded in ex
perience and applicable to practice, and
not to colleCt a fet of crude and inappli-r
cable ideas merely as a fupply to the fhin-
ing in converfatson ; he fhould direct his re
fearches into the actual ftate of the fources
which create and maintain this power
of aCting ; he fhould know the nature of
the fupply, and the form and extent of
the revenues, of the political Being whofe
aCtions he is ftudying. Very few writers
have pointed out, and fewer readers con
sidered, thofe previous requisites. They
find no occafion for, and fo no difficulty
in the matter of fupply ; and yet it is
an obfervatiort not more fhrewdly con
ceived than furely grounded which Sancho
Paunch makes, that- he was always
ftruck with admiration of the vigour, act
tivity, and adventuring fpirit of the heroes,
yet following them carefully in. . their
', - . . marches

( '99 )
marches and excurfions, as he never could
find where they dined or fupped, or took
their reft, he did always fuppofe, that
thefe fuperior Beings had no occafion for
thefe neceflaries, without which men of
the ordinary race could not get on : under
this foiution he could eafily give his faith
and aflent to all the marvellous, on which
otherwife he fhould have entertained
fome fmall doubt. Men muft eat, and
food is not to be had without the means
of collecting it, as Cicero fays in a letter
to Atticus *, Res frumentaria nullo modo
adminiftrari fine veCtigalibus poteft ; and
in a letter to Brutus obferves f, Maximus
autem (nifi me forte fallit) in republica
nodus eft inopia rei pecuniariae; and we
find the Scipios in the career of their
victories in Spain, writing to the Senate J,
*' Pecuniam in ftipendium veftimentaque
" et frumentum exercitui, et fociis na-
" valibus omnia, deeffe ; ab Roma mit-
*' tendam efle nee aliter aut exercitum
" aut provinciam retineri poffe." Wichout
fome account therefore of the Revenues
of the ftates whofe aCtions we read of in
ancient hiftory, we fhall be very little
able to judge of the competency of the
* Epift. ad Att. Lib. IX. EP. IX.
f Ep. VIII.
% Tit. Liv. lib. XXIII. § 48.
JH 2 ftate

(• I0.° )
ftate to- the meafures reprefented ; or of
the means proportioned to the ends pro-
pofed by that actor whofe hiftory we .are
reading. We can. never form any judgement of
the reafons of ftate in the conduct of that
government, nor be able to diftinguifh the
probable from the improbable, the poffible
from the impoffibie, the competent from
the incompetent; we fhall never be able
to compare- the combination of wealth
, and power in one nation, with that 'of
another ; nor ever to form any judgement *
but from event, nor to know' the real
nature of that event neither.
Here the learning of the Antiquary
muft lend his aid to. knowledge '• his eru-
dition colleCts, and his knowledge afforts,
the many fcattered particulars which lie
referred to paflantly in the various hif-
tories of Antiquity, and form for the
ftudent fuch a fiyfte'm, as may enable him
tp become in great meafure cognifant of
thefe neceffary matters. There has been
much induftry and profound learning em
ployed by the Antiquaries on this fub-
j*Ct ; and yet, in all which has been, col
lected and compofed in ¦ thefe matters of
finance, a certain want of official expe
rience '

( I© I )
rience in the detail of the collection, and
in the. application of the revenue to the
fervice in practice, has occafioned an un
avoidable defect, which will only be per
ceived when it comes to be applied to ope
ration in the effeCt ; and. will therefore
Only be perceived by thofe who read, and
ftudy what they read, for the purpofe of
collecting experience : then, is it that we
find the difference between the blooms of
learning, and that fruit-bearing, fcience
which muft have a fource of knowledge
of principles at the root.
In order to explain and.illuftrate what
I think is here required, I will, by way of
inftance, attempt to give an account, from
what may be picked out of the Roman
authors, of the nature of the revenues and
treafury bufinefs of the Roman State.
• j >jjii'. 
The eftabli'/hment of the civil government
in the early periods of the Roman people,1
under t the7 kings as well- as -.under' the
confute, required very little expence": here
perfpnal -fe-r-viee ¦'- was the principal tax,'
which power and honor fully recofnpenfed.
When" the ' military^ eftablffhment , as, the'
conduct of -the "wars gjrew ' every- -day more
expenfive, -^'required the fupport of a re-"
venue;- the Plebeians complained of the'
. -a H 3 ine-

( IO? )
inequality and injuftice arifing frpna.; the
demand made upon them for taxes, while
the demand upon their perfonal fervice in
the army, taking from them thofe means
of labour which was their fupport, rein
dered them incapable of paying thpfe taxes :
they were accordingly excufed from payT
ing the tribute on this ground, " Pau-
" peres fat is fipendii pendere ft liber os edur
" carent" The expences, however, of
a growing ftate, involved in various wars,
and various foederal Negotiations and con
nections, was obliged, to maintain various
ordinary eftablifhments, and repeatedly in
curred various extraordinary expences. To
a ftate, in thefe circumftances, a perma
nent and regular revenue became neceflary,
and taxes were therefore, neceflarily im-
pofed and levied. Thefe, in the times of
monarchy, were : impofed by the kings,
and in the times of the Republick by the
Confute (perhaps in fenate) by the Cen'fo'rs,
or the .Dictators, as- the cafe flood and re
quired. I. have ventured to fay this, al
though I know that it is a point by no
means fettled, amongft, the Antiquaries.,
whether it was impofed by the fuprearn
magiftrate alone, or by him in Ten ate, or
whether it . originated in a Senatus-con-
fultum, or in a Pfebifcitum, or whether.
it, was originated by the Senate and enacted ' juflij

< I03 )
s juflu ,populi.' I take, my ground- fqr
this affertion from this certain fact ; that
the kings had the power of impofing
taxes,- and on the Revolution, at the ex,-
pulfidn of the kings, Livy informs: us *,
Libert at is aut em originem inde mas; is, quia
annuum inrperium confulare faSum eft, quam
quod diminutum quicauam fit ex regia po-
teftate. This ground can be made good by
various inftances which might be adduced;;
but with which, as I am not here, writing
expreffly on the fubjeCt of the Roman
'finances, I will not trouble the-^ fociety,
nor the reader ; I only fuggeft what ap
pears to me wanting^, and what I think
might be explained.- ¦•¦ , .; ¦
The fpirit and reafoning, by which thefe
taxes were laid, took their courfe in the
two following lines. The Tributum was
impofed upon property, real and perfonal;
or faculty, in proportion as rated in the
Cenfus. The VeEligalia, of which the Portoria
were the chief clafs, were impofed on the
produce of the lands, goods, and every
article of fale, in thei,r paflage to and in
*<T, Liv. II. §j;.
' H 4 their

( 104 ^
their fale at market ; thefe were the * vi-
cefima, or five per centum, and the * cen-
tefima, or one per centum ; this kind of
excife at different periods, and on various
occafions, were extended to numberlefs
and + namelefs articles.
The neceffity of impofing and. collecting
from the citizens of Rome the \ Tributum,
was fuperfeded by the depofit of treafure
placed at the bank upon the conqueft of
Macedonia : the reft continued as branches
of the revenue, collected as the vectigal
domefticum.

- * Thefe branches of the excife, not only exifted before
the regulations made in them by Atiguftus, but were paid •
Italy, and were a •ve&igal domefticum, as CiceYo calls
them. It feems to me therefore, that Mr. Gibbon- is
miilaken: when he fuppofes that Auguftus firft impofed
them on Roman Citizens, who hail been exempted from
any kind of contribution above a century and a half. Au«
-guikis made many regulations in them, and feveral exten-
iions of them,
c \ I fo defcribe them from the nafty and infamous nature
of the'm.
* Cicero in his Offices, Lib. II. § 2z. mentions this of
the Tributum. But when Mr. Gibbon fays, chap. VI,
_'* that the Roman people was. for ever delivered from' the
''Weight et taxes" he announces as of the genus, what
Cicero only faid of that fpecies the Tributum. ' When the
mutinous fpirit of the people, at the cvifis of the breaking
up of the republ'.ck, called for releafe from the pertoria,
and to have a divifjon-of the Ager Campanus, Cicero/writ
ing a long letter to Atticus on the fubje£t (Lib. II. F,p. 16 >
fays, Ponoriis Italia; fublatis, agro cqsnpano divil'o, quod
Vectigal fupereft dorn.efticum praster vicefimar, Betides

( ">5 )
. Befides, thefe, -the Roman government
derived a revenue from a landed property,
which it held zs.tbe demefnes oj "-the r ft ate.
As the Romans conquered the nations of
Italy, and of the "world, they generally
referved fome of the arable- and pdfture,
and other cultivated lands, to be held by
the government as the landed eftate of
the Republick, the produce or, profits of
which . were the publick revenue. The
government* let them to farmers for a cer
tain ftipulated rent; when fo let, they were
called ftipendarii: It let the arable to
Aratores, tillage hufbandmen, and received
tithes -j- of the produce in kind, or in fuch
manner and by fuch compofition as the
Aratores could make with the Tithingmen
or Decuman i. Thefe lands were called
Jlgri Decumani. Oil and wine alfo, as the
produce of the oliveyard and vineyard,.
paid a ve&igal in a given proportion. I
doubt whether I may call it a tithe, as I
find that hort-yards and gardens paid but
a fifth. There was alfo even in the Decunne
fome diftinCtion- made between the great
* The doing this was called, the Locatip Pnpdiorum
Rufticbrum. Li v. Lib. XL V. § 18.
-f Tithes were of old a financial eltabliihment . of Sicily,
Vnder its own kings, and I believe or many other ftates
alfo, prior to the adoption of them by the Romans, as one
of their ways and means,
and

( w6 )
and fmall corrt or grain ; the go^erfrftient
alfo, to fecure its fupplies in the reffu'nien-
tarid, made further conditions of pYe^-
emption at an affized price.
The revenue of the Ptifcua, the pafture
land, Was raifed by taking in cattle to
graze, ; adjoifted at a certain Locatio, or
contraCt rate per head, for the grazing.
The lifts taken by the publicani of the
number of cattle, &c. adjoifted by the
graziers, the paftores, was called the Scrip-
tura, whence this branch of revenue tbok
this name.
Thefe were the modes of raifing'the
ordinary revenue- from the landed1 d'e-
mefhes of the ftate ; but the government,
in cafes of emergent difficulty, had extra
ordinary ways and means of raiting" money
upon the capital by fale • of "them, with
equity of redemption, wheii the govern
ment could repay the money. ., ''.'
The revenues * raifed upon tHe pro
vinces in general was a vedigal certum im-
pofitum quod ftipendarium dieitur ; on the
contrary, omnis ager Siciliee civitatum de-
cumanus eft, with the exception of five or
* Cicero in Verrem. Actio 2da. lib. III. § 6. feven

( io7 )
feven cities, which were free and had im
munity from the tithes.
The* mines were ianother fource and
branch of revenue ; the government kept
thefe in their own hands, and worked them
by-their flaves and convicted" criminal?,
under the infpection of their own officers j
thefe. were called the Metalla,
The collection of thefe ordinary branches
of fherevenue were generally farmed out
to companies of bankers, to Societates, or
Socii Scripturas, &c. who' agreed, for them
at a ftipulated Locatio, or contract price,
by. which means the: income - revenue be
came .conftant and uniform. Thefe Jocie-
tatts, or companies- of bankers, were alfo
pf great ufe to the government, by ad
vancing money on loap in cafes of emer
gency, as will be -feen. : -
Befides the ordinary branches of re
venue by the Tributum, the Vetligalia, and
the Metalla, the goverment in cafes of
emergency did fornetimes call on the
patriptifm of the' people to: contribute to
the neceffities of the ftate, in proportion
to their love for rt their country, and to
their abilities in affifting it ; this, which
we fhould name a Benevolence, was called
Tributum

( ™8 >)
Tributum Temerarium, quando populus. in
ararium, quod habuit, detulit ; a curious
precedent of this in the fecond Punic war
may be read -in Tit, Liv. Lib. XXVI. § 36.
an din Florus, Lib. IV. cap. 6. §24, 25.
»w . ,?fcr ': r i'5'-;*
Another extraordinary method of railing
the current 1 fupply was by loan on, the
public credit, borrowed on fuch conditions
as the government could make at the time
^ * .
with the Societates.,. or companies of 'far
mers general. '/ This required an act of the
fenate. The following is the precedent in
V. C, S37-- * ' At the end of fummer,, the
' Scipios wrote an account of their fuc-
' cefles in Spain, ; but added, that money
* for the pay, cloafcbingv and fupplies of
,'ithe army, was wanting^ and - for, the
' foeial fleets every, thing. otAs to thepay,
' they would manage to.-arrange that! upon
' the fpot, but if money was not fent
' from Rome to defray the other charges,
? neither the army nor the province could
' be retained. Thefe letters beingcread in
' the. fenate,- there, was .not. one of the
' whole body who did not allow that
' what, was ftated was true, and that what
' was required was juft': but" then con'-'
* fidcring on one hand; what :great fupplies
-:uii ; "¦ "i !": nr t.
* ;rh. Liv. Lib. xxiii. § 4g, 45. r. "« the

( rop )
* the Macedonian war, fhould it come
* forward, would call for ; and nn the
' other, the deficiencies of the treafurv ;'
the fenate came to this refolution, "That
" unlets the government could raife the
" fupplies on Credit, they could not be
*'. raifed on the current revenues, of the
% ftate." *
" That therefore Fiilvius fhould go to
" the public aflembly of the people, and"
*' ftate to them the public neceffities, and
*' exhort thofe who had made their for-
" tunes by contracts and the public farms,
"that they fhould advance byloan to
*' the government, for a time, fome part
" of thefe fortunes which they had made
" under its adminiftration, which monies
<' fo advanced fhould be -repaid to them
" out of the firft furplus balances which
" were depofited in the treafury."
* The praetor fixed a day for making
' this contract, and on the day fo fixed
* three companies, of twenty-one each,
¦* offered the loan on two conditions ;
* i ft. That they fhould be exempt from
* military fervice. 2d. That the things
* they fent fhould be infured by the go-
' vernment againft the danger of the feas
' and of the enemy. ' On

( "O )
* On thefe conditions the contract ^ivaft
* made, and the public fervice was cari
' ried on by the monies of private ci-
* tizens, on the ground of public credit,
* juft as well as though the treafury had
* been in full efficiency.* i
The Bank *, which was foon after
eftablifhed at the end of the Macedonian
War, for ever after, while it remained
facred, fuperfeded not only that branch
of the ordinary revenue raifed on the ci
tizens' called the Tributum, but alfo the
neceffity of borrowing and funding. After
the feizure of the treafure of the Bank by
Julius Caefar, this neceffity returned again;
and in the time of Claudius one reads of
fomething of the like kind.
It appears that the fpoils of the Mace
donian conqueft were the firft depoftt on
which the Bank was eftablifhed. This
Bank, thus once eftablifhed, became a
bank of deposit. After this, all the
moveable wealth of every country, as they
conquered it, was depofited as facred to
* Cicero de Officiis, Lib. II. § 22. Omni Macedonum
gaza, quas fait maxima, potitus eft Paulus : tantum in
sfrarium pecunia invexit, ut unius imperatoris prxda finem
attulit Tributorunt.
the

( »* )
the public ufe, in the bank of the^rarium,
as were all furplufes of the taxes. ¦ Lucan
in his Pharfalia, Lib. III. gives in a few
verfes the heads of thofe feveral articles
of depofit :
Romani cenfus populi, quem Punicabella
Quem dederat Perfes, quem viCti prasda
Philippi, ^ .-'
Quod tibi, Roma, fuga Pyrrhus trepidairte
reliquit.
Quod te Fabricus regi non vendidit auro,
* Quiquid parcorum mores fervaftis avo-
rum,
Quod dites Afiae populi mi fere tributum,
ViCtorique dedit Minoia creta Metello,
Quod Cato longinqua vexit fuper. aequora
Cypro
Tunc -Orientis opes, captor umq; ultima
regum
Quae Pompeianis praslata eft gaza triumphis
Egeritur. The officers at the head of the adminf-
tration of this branch of the revenue,
were the Quaftors, for a time the Pr^etors^,
and at fome periods the ALd/les. The
general receipt- into the .^Erarium by aCtual
cafh, by bullion, or by the rationes of the
provincial quaeftors ; the coinage ; the
* Thefe are the furplufes which I refer to.
i jflue

c '« )
iflue to the fervice by cafh, or by align
ment, in payment, or by impreft upon
account ; and the keeping of the accounts
of the whole ; were of their department.
Whether this department in the whole,
or in part, and in what parts, was con
ducted by a concurrent jurifdiCtion with
(it was certainly under the control of)
the fenate, is not a matter decided, at leaft
as far as my information goes : there are
clearly fome matters, and were fome times,
in which the fenate interpofed its au
thority. The vote of the fenate in the
cafe of the loan above-mentioned, and the
fettlement of the ftipendium of Mace
donia, the arangements made in the col
lection of the VeCtigalia and the Tributum,
by a refolve of the fenate, is another. It
feems that this might have been left to the
executive officers ; " tamen infenatu quoque
*' agitata eft fumma conftliorum ut inchoata
" omnia legati ab domo ferre ad imperatores
" poftint */'
The aCtual collection of thefe revenues
were by the hands of the Publicani, or
of the Farmers-general in right of their
locationes or contracts j and the diftributioa
* Vide T. Livium. Lib. XLV. § 18. The detail of thefe
arangements are worthy the attention of the. learned An
tiquary. i by

( H'3 )
by the hands of "deputy pay-niafters, civil
and military.
By the account whieh I have here given
of the revenues and finances of Rome
(defective as this may be) wifl be feen
how much ftill lefs is known of this life-*
blood of other ftates. I could have drawn
out this matter into a greater detail of par^
ticulars, and have cornpofed thefe par
ticulars- into -a more full abd perfect de
fcription of this point of antiquity, had I
meant here -to have written an exprefs
treatife -o.n this fubjeCt: what I have;dpne
is only to give one example of the doCtrine
I laid down-; and- to fuggeft to the Anti
quary how much ftill remains to be done
in this line of refearch, as it concerns
the hiftory of every ftate and nation which
forms any of thefe dramatis, perfcnse of
ancient hiftory. When, we come to thofe
periods which fonn the beginnings of the
modern hiftory, the" neceffity of an exa
mination into and acknowledge of the
ftate and nature of the; fupply of thofe
•communities, who, .like fu'cceeding waves,
made that inundation which deluged the
old world, will appear ftill clearer ; as
¦without fuch knowledge every part of
that period of hiftory is inexplicable and
-incredible/' I This

( "4 )
This account of the fyftem of the Ro^
man revenue explains the encreafing fa
culty and capacities of that ftate, fore
running -its exertions, in fuch manner as
rendered it , competent to all the enter-
prifes that it engaged in.
The nature of this fyftem, fo working
at the rcot, as to become a fource to real
greatnefs and amplitude of .ftate, when
united by a pervading and afcendant fpirit,
points out at the fame time how liable the
republick was tp feparation of parts and
difTolution of fyftem,. when the lofs of
manners, the fever of faction, or the
gangreen of corruption, , once feized the
people, and a defect of vital union took
place in the government.
At the fame time alfo that this account of
the Bank of Depofite, which is here given,
fhows in reafoning and in fact the inex-
hauftible refources of the republick, it
explains the means by which Julius Czefar
was enabled to carry forward his plans
of war and government, when he took
pofleffion of it. He had, as dictator, an
oftenfible right to the cuftody and com
mand of this, and under pretext of this
•¦ ¦.. often.-

( .'.15 )
pftenfible, he by force of arms feized it,
and ufed it.
/-Fiirther ;,frpm this ftate of the financial
fyftem may be feen how the power of the
Patricians .as confuls, praetors, cenfors,
and dictators, and of the fenate, was
founded on real influence.
And from the detail of the landed
branches of this revenue, the motives both
real and pretended, both conftitutional and
factious, which urged the quarrels between
the Patricians and the people on the fub
jeCt of the Agrarian laws, may be ex
plained. From the nature of that branch of
revenue, the tythes, which arofe from the
agri-decumani; and by an inquiry how
this, -branch was transferred to the Chrif-
tian Church on its political eftablifhment,
may ;be difcovered, I fhould guefs, the
t;rue origin .of tythes, as they in fact came
tp. the church, which will alfo explain at
the. fame time, the reafon why there were
no tythes in Italy ; the lands there were
. heldhy a different tenure.
Thefe are fome of the ufes of this
branch of learning ; but every day's ex-
I 2 perience

<( no )
.perience in reading would prefent moft
than memory will thus fuggeft. •
As thus of the Jourees of power in the
ftate, much yet is wanting to an explicit
practical knowledge, applicable to fads
and events, of the ablual power in the
operations of the military eftablifhment as
a body. I am here fpeaking in general,
not of any particular ftate.
Repeated accounts are given in ancient
hiftory of the naval power of various na
tions ; aiid of the fucceffive dominion
which thefe nations held over the fea.
We read of their trading voyages-, and of
their naval enterprizes and wars : many
treatifes have been written on the nature
of their flapping; biit as the writers, how
ever learned in collecting, and accurate and
ingenious in explaining, the quotations
which paflantly mention thefe matters, as
when I mention profeflbr Seheffer, no one
will doubt ; yet not having been conver-
fant by practice, or experienced in voyages
at fea, in the effects of winds and waves,
and in the manoeuvres and working of a
veflel either by fails or bars, their ac
counts have been fuch as are inapplicable
either to the compofition or operations of
^naval mechanicks. Notwithftanding all
that

<( »7 )
that has been written on the fubjeCt of
their fkips qf-war^ of their birrmes,' "and
triremes, the learning has remained in
applicable, arid knowledge of the fubjeCt
a defideratumy until general Melville ap
plied his extenfive and very accurate learn
ing, in the line of practical analyfis, to the
inftituting an experiment of the fact. The
model in large, which, as an examplar,
he Very obligingly fhowed to me, together
With fome of Our fociety, was fo adapted
to the art of rowing, and to *the pro
ducing the effeCt confiftent with the power
of man ;' was fo guarded in the manner
of fecuring the oars, againft any accident
which might arrive by' the power of the
winds and waves," or be adduced by the
attacks of an enemy ; and was withal fo
fimple (as all things which are meant for
tife at fea muft be), and finally fo exactly
fimilar, in the frame and conftruCtion of
the rowing-gallery, to the1 models which
are to be feen in medals and bafio releivoV;
that one may venture to fay, that when
ever he fhall pleafe to communicate and
publifh to the world his difcoveries on this
fubjeCt, they will come forward with fuch
clear demonstration that the fubject-matter
will be no longer a puzzle nor the know
ledge of it a d'efideratum. I 2 • Having,

( Ii8 .)
Having, fince I wrote what is above,
feen General Melvill, and acquainted: him
of the liberty I had taken in mentioning
his difcovery. of the- true: .conftruCtion .of
the row.- gallery of the ancientj triremes.,
quadrirmef, and quinguaremeSj,' &c, and; of
the manner pfppfting the rowers, andthe
mode of rowing the Veflel ; and exprefling
a hope that . he would fome time or other
communicate -to the learned world,, what
.Would, fo '.much enlighten it op rthi-Sjfub-
ijeet ,; he • very politely, ,and with that lir
berality of fen timent -which all men ®f
real learning and fcience have, anfwered,
¦he would fo communiqateit, .and that this
treatife of mine fhould be the conveyance
of its firft publication;' He fent me, what
he calls, A Narrative of his inveftigations
and difcoveries on this ; fubjeCt, that I
might infert -jt in this treatife. But as
the courfe of this work goes;, in the body
•of it, pnly to fuggeftipns- of deftderata ;
and of the mode by which fuch fubjeCts
in which thefe, deftderata ftill remain may
be inyeftigated, and npt to what has been
inyeftigated and difcovetfed ; I have placed
this very learned and fcientifick inyefti-
gation, with the very interefting difcovery,
which arofe from it, in the Appendix
N° III, as a Memoire, .which by its dif
covery

( "9 )
covery fupplies the Deftderatum in that
branch of antiquities which this ^ -treatife
had pointed out. '-^ b-ji..
The? Generals idea, as. I conceive it, is,
that: a: fide-gallery, for the rowers, was
built out from the fides ,-^of <the galley be
tween the; waift and the water-line, pro
jecting with tits .under fide in an -angle of
4-5 degrees- to La breadth, that would admit
of. two,Tthriee,!four, five, or more rowers,
to fit fo obliquely, in an afeending diagonal
lind behind each other, that each rower
fhould.be able to work his oar a little to
the left in the larboard gallery,- and a
little to the right in the ftarboard -gallery,
of the oar of the. rower who fat imme
diately below and before him.
- By this-conftrnCtion of. the gallery, by
this arrangement of the benches, by this
pofting of the rowers; and this pofition
of the oars port-holes, every oar defcended
from its port- to the water in the fame
angle, and all the oars of courfe would
work parallel to each other, without any
ftrain upon one more than another, and
with much lefs ftrain on any than is ex
perienced by the modern way of- rowing,
from the circumftances of the oars thus
being fufpended in part at the ports; al
though the oars of the upper bench would
I 4 be

( 120 )
be fomewhat longer.than thofe- below (and.
that but a little fo), yet very; little would
be added to the weight of them i - by this
eonftructjon of the gallery, by this pofition
of the oar-ports^ and by this- direction.. of
the oars in rowing,- the >darsncwt>iliilid> pro
ject very little, if any thiug^v beyond the
projection of the gallery, . and: that: prcn
jeCtion, eyen in a quinqueremis^ -^need not
pe more than feven feet' and a:hal>f,:.Fjpm
this account of the < pofition and- direction
pf the oars, it may. be feen, that when
they were laid with the feather ^horizon*
tally, clpfe back up to the I under fide of
the gallery, they would avoid the^ftrokes
of the waves, and were defended by the
gallery" from any , attack that the enemy
might meditate againft them. But I beg
to: refer the Society and the Reader, to the
General's own "narrative, where he will
find eyery thing exactly, minutely, and
fully explained, 'from the orignal invefti-
gatipn Up to. the firft difcovery.
' , , - - ' • '-{:
That peculiar fpecies pf cavalry, the
military chariot, was'another method,
which the Antients, efpecially the na-
fipns in the eaft, had of applying force in
war. Without a diftinCt knowledge of
this machine, of the method of harneffing
tfre horfes to \t, of the manner in which
4 " the

( izr .)
the warriours rode and aCted in ihem, and
&f •the-applieatioiv of 'this- equipage to their
exercife- in thei-p 'ebupfes, va-nd vto their
"a^^aK'exertion si ak^-re volutions in- military
aMoWf in the-' 'field; °a-li the account of, or
reference to* eithieri'the one or the other
in;Hft ! be ; mere iconifafion and -'Hiexplicablei
M^4y years'-ago, T-drew tp for' iiiy own
life, % my ftudieiy'-a$fexpltoatipn;pf this
*ha*¥erf-I -ga^a ^py; Of 4"t 13o r%t?friend
4Mp, IteRENoW,-* th>publifh i^ihis^Treatife
«a?i?l©iCemanmipff , ' ' andibi-^p^^s. (printed

|*itfHe: hereJa3^ Wl4& the- 'Appendix,
TMJP rcont%i&in'|*), W the J< writer of this
paper has be^nfAde'tej' believe, a diftina
arid 'compfeat^ccoun^fof -this piece of An
tiquity; FfhalF^&terhere- no further on
this fubjeCt, 'hut' heg to refer the Society
an-d the'Reaiier to: that Treatife.'- !^- -r jv.>
>'"-f w, ../i ¦"N-'v: OJQI; - J ; ^-u. ;;-:v| Yo m
^: - ¦ I have- faid Nothing . in this my exami
nation of- the line^'in which I think the
;ra , ' : -j '//•,-; -Sir ; -yU>f;.-v> ,^i :.-- ;m
^ The JMory.and' Art of'Horj^feafflhijS; by R. Berenge*.
efq; Gentleman; pft-he Horfe to George til. king of Great
Britain. London, "printed for Jpavies and Cadell, 177:.
"A work wherein the' Author has combined an art -in
which he excells, with fo much erudition, and claffic
knowledge, invvhi<;h he is. eminent, that pa-nnot but, ad-
minifter pleafure,. information, and ufe, fp the lovers of
that noble art in particular, ap4 to learned 'njen in general.

( t'2.2 )
ftudy of 'Antiquities fhould.be directed, as
to the, ART- OF .CHROiNOLp&Y ?, ,0Ur,th.e
Jtfetbod'ofclafJing.FaBs according to) [Series
and Periods, ;, .under which, in- the : later
times^ oil- ancient hiftory j. the ^ memorials
of ; Events were;: fuppofed : fQ be, morp/pr
lefs, ^acquratelyii-eoorded^,, It ; hath always
appeared to me that .thefe .neyer, was much
care ¦'Hakenj,-. . ;pr . -any aCtuah.. precifion Obr
ferved,- in ^ajrklng-., the ): times ¦ of -^vents
(even in/dhei efiurfeqpfi t,heir> arifinf an4
paffing), accofding.foanv;^/;; thofe nqtices
of : the pon&smitant. phenomena. pf-i-the
heavens, by wkichirimejitfe^fris meafrired,
J.. have -always found tjlat,, thejadefeCtive
ftate of the^aftrpnprny fofni|trae. Ancients
has been an^;in|"uperaJ3.1er;bar:-'tp hiftoric
learning,- when -it. , hath .aj^ginpfejl^p-tface
jback th&tferiiesopi-Jan^gCi^Cts tp. their
-true, periods.; /-Several ^leam^ Antiquaries
have endeavoured to fupgly-this deftderatum
in our learning ; but thofe who know the
moft of it, knP^rbeft-i,tSr>ineei'tainty and
deficiency.; :Mjyl .conviction oft the iricer-
tainty of chronology has wrought my
mind to very .[great-- indifference' in diftin-
guifhing between the facts of thofe periods
called Hfiorkk, and thpfe Called Mythick.
-/'.;. :'. J ,':'M."'.--j -1-iu I ."..!'..' ,/i fi3-"lM«

-[;

Ch:'oi-dlogia; genus artem ftatuimus non' fcientiam ;
fctcutia finis eft Chronologia: idcirco genus effe, nequit. ' '
' Beveridg. Cm on. '
Without

( +>*3 )
Without being concerned what the real
names of the perfons qwerp, or who ^hey
Were, who formed rrtlie dramatis perfon^:
without much Caring <wbjit -. were thp pe
riods of the drama'; lean, ftudy. the cha
racter,- operation, .and '.efi%Ct ,pf it,^tp;all
the;purppfes o'f erx^efienpeiand^ufe,rin^the
my thick full as well a$ in/the hiftorick'-nziT
ratiye ; and. I verilyi believe, ; -that tnejeris
often as true a reprefontatipnof the general
ftate in tbjp Mythqs as, in the hiftory, which
•pretends tP give the^arjipular^ narratiy^pf
faCts. The only , difrafsneellias here,, that
where the perfons J aji^b aCtipns pf the. hif-
torick period, are piaffed ;under, feries,, hav
ing reference fo eppchas, ; prefuppofed ; tP
have a fixed period, and j keeping , a.:.kjnd
of chronologick order, the hiftory fo
clafled Under, chronology, becomes alitor
picai mufeutn to my memory ; and a;kiqd
of chart. to my courfe in reafoning on
them. This is the difference and no, other
that, the aflronomer makes, to aid: his
memory and, reafoning, between the ftars
.which are ' cla-fied into ; eonftellations, and
the unclaffed ftars.
To explajn . what is here affumed, I
will give; an inftance in fact of this matter
.which this adduced fimile has brought to
my memory. ;
When

\isy: .h - .;. ;: har.-;^- :-
X -'When the Egyptians firft formed the
map,- or piCture-defcription of the celeftiad
fpherP,- it was 'done by claffing the fixed
ftars into certain- groups, called conAe!*-
latioiis > ; * arid - then - circumfcribing thefe
fo' grouped within a line including that
group/ they drew the contour of this line
fb'Jas'! to form-'fomei imaginary picture of
-fo^e-perfon^inftr^Ment, animal, machine,
.;&£v •according 'tt> the cuftom of picture-
WriVBg in ^Egypt,- Arabia, Ethiopia, and
"Ghakrea. One' groups or eonftellation of
ftais fuggefted to the imagination of the
aftronomy-painter the idea of a fhip, ta
xvhicfi the firft defigner, or fome future
cbpyifts, ;f gave the name Argo, or Ark ;
within the contour- of this -picture of the
fhip, 'many bright ' ftars were included^
to thefe ftars, he, or others after him,
gave (in memory of their labours and
merits) the names of the feveral- great
navigators or leaders of colonies then re-
membred and renowned in the world. One
may fuppofe, that fome Grecian having
feen this picture, and having learnt the
ftories of the voyages and adventures of
each of thefe canonized navigators, and
finding all, as it were, embarked on board
this one fhip, made out, or perhaps had it fo
explained to him, a poetic hiftory of the
whal.e^

< i*5 )
whole, as cOmprifed in ohe common joint
voyage; After all the perplexities about
the chronology, geography, and'aftronomy,
of his fancied expedition, which according
to the common account muft neceflarily be
inextricable, I cannot but feel fatisfied, that
this conjecture of mine fuggefts a natural
account of it. Although, however^ this is
not an actually hiftorick fact, although k
neither is nor can be clafled according to
any one- period, or any feries Of times ; yet I
can pick out of it as much information of
the nature and hiftory Of the navigation,
-commence, and fettlements of the1 ancients
referred1 to in it, feparathig the facts, and
giving each to its proper actor, juft as if
this Argo was a compilation and collection
(likePurchafe's Pilgrimages, or Dr. Camp
bell's Lives of our Admirals) of the voy
ages and adventures of each individual
navigator; juft as if it gave an aCtual and
true narrative. Although the expedition it
felf cannot be true, as related ; yet, gene
rally fpeaking, the particular adventures
mentioned in it, if referred each to the in
dividual who performed them, :are fo : and
from the traces to be found (as Strabo
fays, in his ift book, pages 21. 45. and
elfewhere) in different parts of the world
of thefe adventures^ they may fairly be
faid to be facts. From this piCture-hiftory, or

•( I26 )
or fable, thus underftood, many very cu«
rious traites of the navigation, and even
inland commerce of the ancients, may be
elicited and drawn to light.
I cannot but think that many of the
faCts and things recorded in the picture-
writing, and the fables of Mythic hiftory,
if considered in this view of clafled and
conftellated memoirs of the general acts
of the race of men in their general ope
rations, and not as actual narratives of
arranged chronology, might be explained,
as forming a hiftory little fhort in .point
of ufe to thofe narratives in ,;the- early
periods of hiftory, which though con
sidered as clafled in chronological order for
method fake, are not yet to be depended
upon as clafled in the aCtual period and
feries of true time.
I do not fay this in difcredit of the ufe
of chronology ; on the contrary, I think
that a certain degree of dependence on its
authority even in the earlieft periods may
be formed: but, I wifh by the comparifon
of the little difference that there is be
tween the chronology of the clafled tra
ditions of the moft early hiftoric, and of
the picture records of the mythic,, to fug-
geft how ufeful a work it might be to
learning.

, ( I27 )
¦learning, and' how far from impracticable
it is, to unveil the picture records of their
fable, and to tranflate them into hiftoric
reprefentations of the general operations of
Man in his bufinefs of this world.
The moft truly learned and grave Writers
amongft the- ancients, underftood the
mythic hiftory to be clafled reprefentations
of the general ftate and actions of man,
copied (as Plato fays) from the metaphoric
language, in which the traditions were
tranfmitted, into picture-writing and fables.
I find myfelf fupported in this notion by
a man of great learning and real know
ledge, and I afliime authority from this
fupport, I mean Mr. Wise. He is not only
of this opinion, but I find fince the firft
writing of this, from an ingenious work.*
of his, which was recommended to me,
that he had aCtually entered upon the re
fearch with great fuccefs, and to every
ufe and effeCt of the chronologic clafling .
of thofe hiftories which my moft fanguine
wifhes went to. If, with the great learn
ing which he poflefled, he had found
leifure to follow thofe rays of light of
which he hath juft fhown a gleam, he.
Would have difpelled from falfe learning
* The Hiftory and Chronology of the Fabulous Ages,
Oxford, 1764. that

'( -1*8 ,)
that darknefs vifible, which has hitherto
ferved only to deform and mifreprefent
every objeCt of knowledge*
Monfteur Gmium's, Monde Primitif en
ters expreffly into this line of refearch with
the very fpirit of analytic inveftigation,
aided by extenfive and greatly varied eru
dition;: fuch talents promife great matters
of information on this fubjeCt ; and in
in many parts the work makes gopd thofe
promifes: I have my doubts .about fome
other parts.; yet feel rather difpofed to
fubfcribe to his ingenuity and. great learn
ing. One general caution muft conftantly be
obferyed in this mode of reafoning, that
•while on one hand we do not refufe all hif
toric. faith to what is reprefented only in
fable;, we do not, in the other extreme, re
ceive that ms hiftoric narrative of aCfatal
events iixparticular, which is only refrefenr
tat ion' in apologue and mythos of the general
ftate and courfe of events in the hiftory of tnan.
I have illuftrated the rule in the former
part of this propofition by examples taken
from profane hiftory; I will endeavour
-alfo to explain this latter by fome diftant
iiiggeftions of the nature of this in the
earlieft parts of divine hiftory. If

( "9 )
If the Antiquary* as fome grave and
ferious Divines have done, was thus to con
fider the Antidiluyian hiftory, which the
books of Mofes give,, as an Apologue .-#*
hibiting the general train of natural and
human events i, doffed under mythic repre*
fentations, inftead of taking it as an hif
toric narrative of particular events*, placed
in the actual periods' of their exiftence,
and arranged in the real feries of true
time ; he would obviate, all thefe objec
tions which arife to the hiftoric part, and
might fhow, that, taken in that view, it
gives a much more accurate account of
nature, of man, and of the divine dif-
penfations ; and in every point comes up
more fully and comprehenfively to the
purpofe for which it feems to have been
written, than under any idea of recording
particulars as a hiftory.
This purpofe is, in a kind of preface to
a code of laws by which the inftitution of
a theocracy, is eftablifhed, to give fuch a
general account of the origin of things
and of man ; of his deviations from the
end of his being by various corruptions ;
and of his Fall from Innocence to fuch a
ftate of fin and punifhment, as requires the
offering of facrifices of expiation of his
K , guilt,

( *3& )
guilt, and of deprecation of his punifh-
ment ; perpetually repeated until fome
one general full and fufficient expiation
fhould be finally -made and accepted ;; alfo
of offerings for the ranfom of fouls, and
of atonement for crimes. This inftitution
made various regulations in the animal
ceconomy, not fo much from any foun
dation which they had in nature, as being
conftant outward pledges of inward bbe-
bience to, and faith in, the divine regimen.
One branch pre-fcribed regulations and
diftinCtions refpeCting food, deriving from
pofitive inftitution and command. Another
branch of thefe laws meant to -give ope
ration to, and to maintain, that exclufive
principle of generation, by which this
race, chofen for fpecial ends of providence,
were to be kept feparate from the rape of
man in common. A third branch con
tained the eftablifhment of a fyftem pf
facrifices fuited to this theology ; and of
ceremonies attendant on this particular
ftate of the individual and community.
This book commences with an account
of the origin of things, which rightly
underftood, is the moft truely and ftrictly
philofophic account which ever has been
given, or is at prefent any where extant.
The prefent enlightened ftate of philo-
3 fophy

( *3* )
fpphy can neither reprobate nor alter any
thing in it. It does only confirm it.
When this book fpeaks pf the origin pf
the world, it does not go beyond the
bounds of human knowledge into meta-
phyficks ; it does not attempt to defcribe
that aCt-of the Creator which fuppofes the
bringing of Nothing into Being, which is
nonfenfe in terms, and- contradicts what
it predicates ; but in the ' pureft light of
wifdom, and in the moft refined fenti-
ments of fublimity, writes, God said,
let it be; and it was. This com-
prehenfive expreffion communicates, with
out prefumihg at defined terms, the inde-
fined prae-exiftence of - the su£rea-m first
cause, when matter did not exift ; and
alfo the commencement of the exiftence
of matter by the will, and at the command
of this first cause ailing by that will.
This account of a vifible world does not
prefume to afcend above what is feen. It
takes up the account of the origin of
things at that ftate, to which philofophic
analyfis can, in its higheft range attain.
It divides its account into the four clafles
of exiftence, the origin of the planetary
and terreftrial fyftem ; the origin of animal
lifts; and the origin of man.. This is
K 2 fuppofed

( *3* )
fuppofed to proceed by fix diftinCt periods,
called metaphorically Daies (for they can
not aflually be deferibed as fuch before
that ftate of things exifted, which divides
time into night apd day). Thefe periods
on the whole are arranged rather to ftnt
the clafles of creation, than the order of
time ; yet under each clafs they follow
the order of the procefs of nature, in what
may be called the order of time.
As light or heat is vifibly the firft ma
terial inftrumental caufe and fupport of
the ftate and being of the fyftem, the
creation of light is reprefented as the firft
procefs. God faid, Let there be light, and
there was light. This is the firft Period.
Experience of exifting facts, the phi
lofophic inveftigation of the powers of
nature, and the operation of thofe powers
on matter, confpire to prove, that the
globe in its original ftate was amoift lump
of mud, a chaos in which the terreftrial
elements were all in an indiferete mafs pf
conrufed matter. The Mofaic account of
this earth being brought into its prefent
fyftem of being commences from this
ftate : The earth was without form, and
the Spirit of God moved upon the face
of the wafers, and directed the effeCts pf
light

( *33 )
light or heat to operate upon it. The firft
effect or procefs of this operation, which
is reprefented as the fecond period of cre
ation, is the feparating of the expanftve *
liquid, the unfixing the elaftic fluid, the
air (the caufe and food of all life), from
the waters which ftill covered the face of
the whole earth ; and God faid, let there
be expanfion in the midft of the waters, and
let it divide the waters front the waters ;
here comes in concurrent in the order of
time, and the procefs of nature; the firft
procefs of the third clafs, that is, the
production of aquatic animal life : And the
waters brought forth abundantly. That
this globe was once in this ftate, an uni-
verfat habitation for aquatic life, appears
from the ftill vifible traces and confe-
quences of this ftate. The fhells, the
Ikeletbns, and other exuvias of animals, of
aquatic life, are found in every part of the
globe in the deepeft vallies, and on the top
of the higheft mountains, even in the
bowels of the earth. That they fhould be
fo found every where, and more efpecially
on the tops of mountains, is fo far from
extrabrdinary, that it is a natural concoi
mitant circumftance of this ftate.
* Liquidum Ccelum. O'id. K 9 That

That the principles of vegetative life exifted
before the earth was reduced to that form
which made it a proper nidus for the
vegetables themfelves coming into life, is
directly faid *, and that the fame cafe
took place with refpect to animal life, may
fairly be deduced from the whole tenor of
the account ; namely, that the plaftick
fond of their corporal mechanifm was in
like manner prepared before jt was raifed
like man out of the duft pf the earth-
That the conftant operation and . un-
ceafing effeCt .pf light and heat produces a
continually encreafing exhalation and ex-
ficcatipn of this globe, fp that the terref-
trial parts, of this globe - perpetually gain
upon the aquepus, has. been proved by
the greateft philofophers ; I need npt men
tion Sir Ifaac Newton at the head of thefe.
That internal inflammations. and explofions
in the bowels of the earth are, and have '
been at all times, for myriads of ages
back, conftantiy making alterations and
inequalities on the furface of it, is equally
frue and fact,' feen in the effeCt. Thefe
fecondary caufes operating inftrumentally
as, the act of the Creator, would form this
f Ceqefis, chap, II, y„ 5. third-

( *35 )
third period of the Genefis, and throw
the earth into fuch form, that the waters
woufd be gathered together into one place;
and the dry -land would appear. The mo
ment that the dry-land was thus become
a nidus for the vegetative life ; The plants
and every herb of the field *, the fond of
whofe exiftence had been before prepared
and made, would now vegetate, and the
earth would of courfe bring forth grafs
and herb yielding feed, and the fruit-tree,
and every tree of the field, which is re
prefented as the third period. Under this
ftate of the globe, the fecond and third
procefs of the third clafs would in the
courfe of nature and the order of time,
come into concurrent effeCt ; that is, the
fowls that fwim on the rivers, lakes, and
feas that fly in the air, and live on the
..face of the earth ; every living thing after
its kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and
the beaft of the earth, would be 'brought
forth to a life prepared for them, from a
nidus which the Creator had animated.
This is reprefented as the fifth period.
The giving fyftem to the fecond clafs
of the God's work comes forward in this
apologue, not as a narrative in the order
* Ginefis, chap. II. ver. if.
K 4 ef

C itf )
of time, but as the fourth period ac-r
cording to the general cknling of the
parts of creation. This period does not
feem fo reprefent the creation of the plane?
tary fyftem, but as defcribing the effeCt of
the rotation of the earth round its axis, by
which day and night were divided, by which
the greater light ruled the day, and the leffer
light ruled the night ; by which the lights
in the firmament became figns to days,
months, and years, and the variety of
feafons, and by which they were produced,
When the whole fyftem, thus far per
fected, was prepared for man, God formed
man of the duft of the ground, and breathed
Into his noftrils the breath of life, by which
he became a living foul, after Qo$s own
image. : This is the ftxth and Iqft period
of the creation. A feven th period is that
in which God is faid to have refted from
his Work, and which period he is repre
fented as having therefore blefled and
fanCtified. The accouqt of the fancr
tifying the feventh day as a fabhath, can
not be meant as a narrative of fact, which
infpired truth relates as hiftory, becaufe it
is cpntradiCted by a different faCt in a difT
ferent * reafon given from the fame au
thority
* In this day, thou flialt do no work ; that thy man,
fe.jv.mr, &c. may reft as well as thou. Remember that
tboi)

( *37 y
thority, for God's fanCtifyingthe fabbath,
or feventh day *. It is an application of
the apologue in this part, as it is made
to apply in every other part, to the theo
cratic inftitution of the Ifraelites.
When thefe days are underftood to be
periods, and not days, as they are vulgarly
conceived and tranflated ; when underftood
to be clafled rather according to the parts of
the general fyftem, than placed hiftprically
in the order of time ; the Antiquary will
find this Mofaic account of the Genefis of
the world confirmed by the facts and phe
nomena which exift in every part of the
fyftern of the earth and heavens. Nor is
this truly philofophic account involved in
any fuch childifh, filly, ignorant notion as
fhe giving fo fhort a fpace of time to the
exiftence of this. globe, as it muft be con
fined to, ¦ if it literally began not more
than a week before that period whereat
pur accounts or hiftory of man commence*
The author of this book never meant,
and does not here or elfewhere give any
fuch idea: The fpirit of wifdom andjruth
which directed this account is raifed above
thou waft a fervant in the land of Egypt, and that thfi
Lord thy God brought thee out thence; therefore the Lord
Commanded thee to keep the Sabbath-day.
* Deut. chap. v. v. 14. all

( *3* )
all fuch vulgar unphilofophic fluff. This
earth, and this fyftem of the heavens, may
have exifted and been going on, in the
procefs of the operations and laws of na
ture (called here the acts of creation) for
myriads of age's, which the Mofaic accounts
divided into fix periods. To this account
the internal ftruCture of the earth itfelf
bears incontrovertible evidence. I do
ftrangely miftake all reafoning, and all fcale
of ideas, if this reference to the ftate of
this, earth, and of this fyftem fo explained,
is not the beft commentary to the Mofaic
Genefis : and if the fublime idea of it will
not be the more elevated, and the divine
philofophic truth of it the more demon-*
ftrably confirmed thereby.
If the Antiquary fhould be allowed to
proceed in this line of explanation of the
Mofaic antidiluyian hiftory, as an apologue ;
he would certainly find that the fecond and
third -chapters of this book mean to de
fcribe the two ftates in which man hath
lived upon this earth, concurrent with the
account of the progrefs of his depravation
and corruption, and the attendant punifh-
rnent thereof, all accommodated in the
moral of the Mythos to the Jewifh infti
tution. He is firft. reprefented in his
fylvan ftate, which is reprefented as a ftate of

(.*39 )
of perfection and innocence, living in the
garden of the world, on the fpontaneous
fruits and herbs of it, which were given
fo him for food. The mode of his life is
reprefented as regulated by fome pofitive
commands of God refpeCting the diftinC
tions of this food, There was one tree,
the tree of knowledge of good and evil, the
fruit of which he was forbidden to tafte.
This is a mythic tree (a * fymbol not un
known to the Egyptians) reprefenting in
the luxuriancy of its. branches, the wild-
nefs of mens opinion ; and by its tempt
ing but poifonous fruit, the mifchievous
effects of being feduced by the vanity of
falfe learning, to become wife above the
ftation prepared for us.
His quitting this ftate in which he was
originally placed, his growing too wife,
in his own conceit, for fuch a confined
fituation, his being tempted to views of a
more enlarged fyftem by a more expanded
fcope. of his capacity ; his fubftituting the
artificial fyftem of the land-worker, and
fpoiling a -good world, as the Indians of
America deicribe the clearing it to be ; his
becoming a member of fociety ; the fub*
* Vide-Norden, plate LVIII. " ject-

( Ho )
jeCt-'creature of government*, is finely re
prefented as his eating of this fruit of the
tree of 'knowledge of good and evil : and
the latter ftate, that of the land- worker,
is reprefented as under a curfe, and is
made the punifhmen't of his difobeying a
pofitive command. This account, taking
it a? a general clafled reprefentation,. not
an hiftoric narrative, is a true hiftory of
the ftate and progrefs of man's being on
earth, and thus told, is with infinite ad
drefs made relevant to the maintenance
of the fpirit of legiflation in the theo
cracy. When in the courfe of this mythic
hiftory, this fecond ftate of man is de
feribed, is his having the thoughts of his
heart on evil only ; of the wickednefs of
man being continually great, and againft
the order and ipirit of God's government t
how is all this corruption accounted for ?
It is ftated as arifing from a fuppofed crime
committed againft a pofitive regulation re
flecting marriage, relevant to a like regu
lation of the inftitution of the theocracy,
by which the children of Ifrael were for
bidden to intermarry with the daughters
of men out of their own nation. This
crime, an artificial one, made fo -only by
inftitution, which inftitution did not exift at

.( -hi ;.)
at that time, is reprefented as the "caufe
• of. all the; evil, as the thing in. the then
race of men which God reprobated, which
grieved him at his heart, on which: it re
pented him that he had made man, and
on which he refolved to deftroy him/from
off the face of the earth. The crime did
not only not exift at that time, but as far
as the account in this book goes, the act
could not exift ; as there was at that time
no fuch feparation of the human being as
that of the fons of God and the daughters
of men, either made, or fuppofed to take
place : The Antiquary therefore will not
iuppofe that this is meant to be ftated as
a narrative of a fact ; but as the mythos.of
the apologue out of -which the moral was
to arife and apply : As the prefent ftate of
the world is reprefented as having by re
novation arifen from the deftruction of a
former one, deftroyed by an univeifal
deluge brought on as a judgement upon- a
former race of men in confequence of their
crimes, and total corruption ; the leading
caufe of that corruption, and the .fpe
cifick crime which is fuppofed to be
punifhed with fuch exemplary feverity
of Divine Juftice, is that fpecifick act of
, marrying the daughters of ftrangers con
trary to the exprefs prohibition of a fun
damental lav/ of the ftate, the commilfion of

( M* )
of which would diftolve and totally break
up the exclufive eftablifhment of the com
munity chofen, feleCted and fet apart from
the reft of human race.
4
The confidering the prefent ftate of
the world as fuffering the execution of
a punifhment inflicted by the Divine
Judgement for the commiffion of a crime
which totally counteracted and perverted
the original ftate of it, a ftate originally
happy, is not only an example holden
forth of God's Juftice aCting by an
extraordinary Providence, but is, to the
faithful under this inftitution of the
theocracy, the plaineft and moft intel
ligible account of the Origin of Evil both
natural and moral, that is any where ex
tant, without being perplexed and involved
in any of thofe metaphyfical difficulties
which every philofophic account conftantly
leads to.
In like manner the underftanding that
prohibition which, after the Fall of man,
was given againft his eating of the Tree of
Life, as a veiled mythic part of his apo
logue ; not as if it was aCtually fuppofed,
that the accretion of any matter, efpe-
cially of divifible matter, taken and fe
creted as food, could in fail give immor tality

( '43 )
tality to the immaterial indiviftble part of
, man, to the living .foul which was after
God's image ; not only relieves the account
from hiftorical and natural difficulties, but
gives, in the precife line of analogy to the
whole, the beft- commentary to it. A
Tree here, as in -the former -cafe Of the Tree
¦of the -knowledge of Good and Evil,- is a
fymbol of man's/knowledge branching by
' various deductions and producing fruit,
and may fairly be fuppofed to- mean here
the knowledge or doCtrine of immortality,
&f life in a future ftate, the belief of which
jexpreflly counteracts the principles, the doc
trine, and fpirit of an inftitution of a theo
cracy, where all rewards and punifhments,
to the restoration, protection, and eftablifh
ment of right, were under an extraordinary
providence confined within the verge of the
prefent ftate, and prefent life. All thefe
metaphyfical difquifitions therefore into
the immateriality and immortality of the
foul, all thofe branchings of reafoning-
which produced the fruit of a belief of a
future life, and of a future ftate of re
wards and punifhmentSj were to be moft
ftrictly guarded againft, the mind was pro
hibited from tafting this Tree of Life.
Thefe inftances of crimes and punifli-
ments,; taken as the narratives of actually exifting

( N4 )
exifting facts ; thefe defcriptions of the
ftate of man ; thefe prohibitions litterally
underftood, are furrounded with ihnu"
merable and inextricable difficulties both
as to the facts, .the philofophic doCtrines*
and the general grounds of morality and
juftice. But taken together with the
whole of the antidiluvian hiftory, as parts
of an apologue explained, as above, /the
whole gives a real picture of the general
progrefs of the ftate of man ; of his. par
ticular ftate under the inftitution of the
theocracy; and is made lelavent to the
whole code of laws, to which this book
is a preface.
I fhall here clofe my review of ancient
hiftory ; and of the duty of the Antiquary
as its commentator ; with the examples as
above, taken from divine and prophane
hiftory, which I think prove, that thefe
hiftories will be beft underftood when on
one hand all idea of fact is not excluded
from what may be told in fable ; and on
the other, when that which is plainly
written as muthos, giving a general repre-
fentation, not a particular narrative, is not
tak^n as a ftate, or matter of fact. Tamen
nonnulli ifti, The, (fay eth Cicero) faciunt im-
perite qui in ifto opufculo, non ui a poeta',fed '
ut a tefte, veritatem exigant *, The ad-
* Cicero de Jegibus, lib. I. § t . during

( '45 ) <
during thefe" two particular inftances, gives
(in example) explanation and proof, that
although .* many things in the manner and
on the face of the Muthos may appear fie?
titious and impoffible ; yet when read aright
by thofe + " who wideiftan'd a proverb, and
*' the interpretation thtxeof, who difcern the
** words. of -the wife and fbeir dark fay.irigs,,v
they wilt be found to contain general Tritths;
which lead'ta zeal and effective .knozvledge, ¦
¦¦> It is arrant nonfenfe tb fuppofe, that a
voyage of fuch importance as the Argo-
n an tic. expedition, is reprefented to"" be,
-fhould have -been undertaken as a mere
/piratical] enterprize to fteiah a Fleece how>
ever precious,; but when it is underftood
in the interpretation as an expedition formed
Lby the Greeks,; in which the firft heroes
of their country are fuppofed to have, been
engaged, ^againft a commercial eftablifh
ment and colony'' of the '-Phoenicians or
Egyptians, in: order to obtain pofleffion of
that important trade of the Euxine ; then
there appears meaning, good fenfe, and
political wifdpm in that part pf the flpry,
It'is lmppffible that the; fame crew, in
the fame fhip, and in the courfe of the
- \(
ftart, Tft $ Iraqi*!. Strabo, lib. 5. p. 62.
f Pfovei bs, chap. i. v. 6.
& fam,(3

( H*. )
fame voyage, fhould * penetrate up to the
heads of the Danube, pafs the Alps, carry
this fhip and their booty over the portage
from the waters of the Danube to the
waters which run into the Mediterranean-,
and defcending by the navigation of thefe
into that Sea; and at the fame time be faid +
to have paffed up the Tanais, then over
the land to the heads of the: rivers which
interlock with this, and then down thefe
rivers into the Baltic Sea, from whence
by the weftern ocean, and the Streights
6f Gades, into the Mediterranean Sea. But
when this Fable is in its interpretation un
derftood, as I have ftated it,- to. be an
hiftorical map of Commerce, in which the
courfes of thefe two routs were principal
channels, the whole becomes plain and
actual information.
That \ Hercules fhould fail through
the fea to the moft weftern bounds of
* Vide Strabo, lib. iv. p. 177. et lib. vi. p. 305.
¦j- AtairKtwutlas S'auTsj <itu tS Tatvai'Jo; itoraiA.0 lilt T»s
ft-Viyos'xJ r'aitoi -mas tijf NaSsi JiAxiJo-avlaj xaS' iriga 5raAi»
sroTapS t»» piJ(7i» stylos Et; rbv 'SlKiettioi >utlair\tua-*t $rgoj rm
Sd>.aaira»' airo Si ru» ap-rwv Wt ri» Sva-tt KU(*io-fl5»ai, rm Tw
tjjov/a; e| limipwi, xa) TThrxrioii 7E»o/*e»bj TaSeifut tit ti)v xa9*
hpcLS Va\*<rtjat tiairXtvcrai. Diodorus Sic. lib. iv. c. iv. p. 180.
X Apollodorus Paryafis, and Pherecydes, quoted by Ma-
crobius Saturnal. 1. v. c. 21. Alfo Se"rvius, &c.
Europe

< '47 )
Europe in a cup*\'. That Abaris fhould
make his journey from the north pf Europe
to Magna Grecia conveyed upon- and guided
in his cpurfes,byan arrow; That the ships
of Alci-nous "%• fhoiuld be animated, and
moreover in fpired with .a knowledge of
their courfe ; is in the puvert meauiiig pf
the literals account l^Gpn^pre|>e$fib(ie Ro
mance ; But if the Antiquary, ^ffe^cd'of
the fail, ,
That the power of the magnet to attract
iron ; v ,•".-,- "¦/-:. i • - .; ;i-.:i -
To attract and fepell it alternately ;
To communicate this virtue to iron itfelf;
was known to the ancients ; fhould by an
induction and combination of fubfequent
fragments of facts as they lye fcattered in
the ruins, or veiled, and hid under the
myfteries of ancient learning, fhould be
able to colleCt, which I think may be done ;
that xVp^iJarity alfp was known Jo the
* Jamblicus.
\ Eitte Si f/oi y*ixv ti r=yivf avi^ov ti, vroXut ti*
0<p^» trs ry tri^jrufft rtTva-KOfxtvzt ^cci N»3Ef.
•  awrul \a-acri vatipuTa kJ (p^ivas avfyuy,
Ktzt ira viuv tcrxtrt rrohi*! K^ vinnxq ixyoys
Arjfbmm' jC Xa.Trf4.oc retytaW tcho! ekweoouo'Iv,
Hi{i Kj teps'/.n yix.xXvufA.itai. Homeri OdyfT. lib. viii.
rtrvan.ijj.uM fignifies being diredted as an arrow- ; or as
. by an arrow.
is'fi x) n$i\n KtKa/\vpniiiiti: The fight of the heavens and
places of the ftars was not wanted bylhips, which had this
guidance. - <¦{ 'i ' K 2 ancient

( f48 )
ancient navigators, ^and guarded by them
as a moft profound fecret ; as alfo, that the
knowledge of this came from the * north,
and that when the magnetic needle was
firft ufed, it was in the fhape of an arrow,
which it" retains to this day ; then thefe
Fables will, in their interpretation, open to
/lis ^important facl that will explain many
things, in the commercial hiftory of the
^Antients.
* Where it is called Lodejlone, or the Piiotftvne.
- Sueio-Gothic Didh of Ihre.

END OF PART THE FIRST.

APPEN-

( H9 )
APPENDIX. N°L
Analyfis of the Elements of Speech, as
applicable to Etymology, in the ftudy of
Antiquities.
MAN is endued with a power of ex-
preffing, or (if I may fo fay) taking
off copies of the fenfations, reflexions, and
reafonings, which refide and pafs in his
mind : and of communicating thefe to his
fellows by arbitrary vocal founds, which
have no natural connection with, no not
the moft diftant fimilitude to things they
reprefent. This effeCt of fpeech is fo uni-
verfal, and feems fo natural in its opera
tion, that to the unthinking unphilofophic
obferver, the connection betwixt thought
and fpeech will appear mechanical; and
indeed . nature fo works in us, that the
act of the fpeaker, and the effeCt produced
in the hearer, feem as though matters had
been all thus arranged by nature. Speech
is by the Naturalifts faid to be the peculiar
perogative of man ; but I apprehend that
this doCtrine favors more of the pride of
K 3 man,

( Uo )
man, than of the humble fpirit of phi
lofophy and truth. I fee, to my own
coaviCtiojn, thht all aninials, each in their
fpecies, have the means of communicating
with each other in aihfche degrees, and to
all the purpofes, neceffary to their ftate of
being, analogous to what we call fpeech.
* Beftiae ipfaequendam quafi mbdum lo-
quendi inter fe hahent, ut quofdam motus
affectuum fibi mutuo rep refen taut. ,.-.,.
I wift not, in this- place, and at this
time, enter into that queftion. I cannot,
however, but wjfh,, for the fake of mercy,
that we thought more highly of the
wretched brutes that have' fallen under our
po\yer, than we do. If we would exercife
fomewhat lefs of tyranny, and fomewhat
more of our reafoning and morality to
wards them, we fhould fee many things in
them that deferve our pity ; we fhould
difcern in them many traites of reafoning,
labouring to underftand us, when the
quarrel between the man and beaft arifes
from the infolept ignorance of man. We
fhould receive perhaps fome impreffion^-of
the patient-enduring, noble, generous,
courageous, and even grateful temper, in
them : and we fhould have the pleafure pf
* Sir T. Smith.
De recla et emendata Linguae Graecae Pronunciations et
Lingua: Anglicat.seScriptione. i<;t8.
5 receiving

( '5' )
receiving meritorious as well as beneficial
fervicesfrpm them.
Various as all the languages of the world
mav feem ; and infinite as the words of
thofe languages may be : yet are they all
compounded of and refolveable into a very
defined and fmall number of acts of the
voice. The inventing of characters to exprefs
the elements of fpeech, and render it vi-
fible to the eye, when the analyfis has once
led to them, is not a matter of great dif
ficulty ; but the being able to inftitute the
analyfis, by which this knowledge was firft
elicited out of the infinity of founds, was
a real difficulty, that feems, even now it
is known, wonderful, and above the comr
mon range of human underftanding.
I have heard of many letter'd and learn
ed men who have reafoned and written
difcourfes on this fubjeCt; but as it has not
fallen in my way to fee their books ;
nor to my leifure to have read many
that I have feen ; nor to my good "fortune
to receive much fatisfaCtion from what I
have read ; I was led, in my lonely and
leifure hours, fpent where I had not accefs
to books, to read nature on this fubjeCt,
% 4 by

by experiments on the articulation of the.
voice, plotted and fet down at the time.
What therefore, when I was in America,
1 did attempt to do for my own ufe on my
own ground (endeavouring to fettle fome
etymon of the Indian words) I will now
Venture upon revifal to communicate to
the public. As I do not fet myfelf up for,
nor aim at the character of a fcholar, I
can have no vanity in this. I rifque the
Wing thought prefumptuous ; but as I
think- my mode of analyfis may chance to
lead to fomething better, I 'will rifque this.
That the reader, however, may not enter
tain a prejudice that all which I attempted
was mere empiricifm without fome foun
dation in nature, . or conducted without
any reference to the laws and rules of phi4-
lofophy, I will beg to commence my
analyfis by the account which Plato gives
(in his Dialogue Philebus) of the fuppofed
analyfis by which Theuth arrived at the
knowledge of the elements of fpeech when
he is faid to have invented elementary
letters. — " Whether the invention of
•' writing by elementary letters derived
*' immediately from feme god, or whether
'" mediately through fome divine in-
" fpirt-d perfon, as Theuth is amongft
u the Egyptians faid to be ; the fpljow-
** -ing feem to be the human means ufed.
'.' He

, ( *53 )¦
" Hefirft applied his mind to the infinity.
'* of vocal founds, in the complex mul-
" titudes. He'then began to diftinguifh
"*x thefe into fimple vocals and articulations
'*¦*¦ of found. He found, thefe to be con-
" tained in a definite number. He next
" entered into a further diftinCtion of
'*' thefe, into unvecal and inarticulate*
" And then when by his mode of refo-
" lution thus conducted^ through the Vo-
" cales and articulate, the unvocal and
'* inarticulate, and the mixt or interme-
'" diate, he arrived at thofe ultimate founds
" and articulations which could be no
*' further divided, he not only perceived
,x that they were definite in their genus
" and fpecies, but in their number. He de-
" fined the number of each, and called
'" thefe Uroix^ or elements, and invented
** appofite rpafipctTa. figns or characters to
" exprefs them. Out of this he formed
*' the art of writing *.1" '
* As I have given above a free Interpretation o'f this
paflage, I here infert the original. *E*«$i $«'mv otwagot
xatxior&i*, (* TE TK ©EOf, it TE *J ^Tos avSpwffos, U! Xoyos, lit
Alyvirlui Qel»0 t»v« tbtov yintckxi Xsyw, 0! irguro! rot. Quweylao
It ru ccTre'fpw x.x\<f»ivio'trolyt £v ovla, aXXa. w\ziu\ .«) >craXiv 'inp»
(Puv7i! /aev u, $6oyf&$'dl fjLt[a.yp^\oi nvo^; oiQf/.oti Si mx ncti txtwj
iltat' t^irut Je cT^b« ypam/xarwv Snrri<r*io, T* tvv Xiyapna £<putxx
hfMf To fitla tSto higtt ret ti utpSoyfa xj citpuia ixiyjn has
- tKUrn. *! r* <pu-/]i.y\a i^ t» fi-io-ii. xala, tov xirat r/> oiroV t<Js aivvi
dpidpof * «»i) hi Tt exarw kJ iivpirouri roiftittn vsetojxxo't, pgaf*--
According

( ^54 )
According to this mode (jca7<* ™v mtov
rpovov) I began by confidering the ffow'of
the air as it comes from the lungs, and
purfued the progrefs of it as it paffed by
the organs of fpeech and was there formed
into intonations and articulations of .voice.
The firft pafs whereat the found is arti
culated, fo as to form an element of fpeech,
is at the glottis and roots of the tongue,
There, the founds G and K, and thefe two
only, are formed : G by giving a check
to the air, and then letting it pafs with, a
gradual accelerated mption by the lower
part of the glottis ; and K by a like- check
of the air, but then letting it pafs promptly
from the upper part of the glottis along
the roof of the mouth. To give by a
palpable image fome diftinCt idea of what
1 here mean, I will fuppofe a flowing
water fuddenly ftopt by fome fluice, and
then by a drawing door let to flow again,
which makes the firft pafe. A like flowing
ftrearnin like manner ftopt fuddenly by a
fluice, which, with a falling gate, lets
the water flow all at once, forms the fe-?
cond cafe.
There is yet another action of the glottis
which articulates in a more open or liquid
manner, and forms what I would call, in
diftinCtion to the clofe g, an open G or Y ;
of

. ( *55 )
of which the following are inftances and
explanations at the fame time. Gate a
Yate. Eight as the Scotch pronounce it,
Eiyht as the Englifh pronounce it. Dag
Germ. Day Engl. Wag Germ. Way Engl, -
Inftances of the ufe of this diftinCtion be
tween the clofe g and the open or y, will
occur repeatedly in etymology.
This mode of analyfing requires perfect
liberation from all prejudged fyftem, and
more quiet patience, than many, who
think they knpw me, will give me credit
for. I mention this becaufe J would not
have them truft me ; let thofe who think,
thefe ftudies worth their while, try the
experiments themfelves.
The next pafs which the current of air
has to gp through, is by the : middle of the
tongue. The air flowing over the tongue
approached tp the roof of the mouth, while
the point makes a fibilition, produces the
articulated found S : The found flowing
in the fame manner while the point of the
tongue makes a rougher vibration and
ftrikes the roof of the mouth, articulates
R. The tongue approached to and in con
tact with the roof of the mouth, as the
air is coming forward towards it, fo as to
let the found articulated pafs pn each fide of

( y )
of the, middle of the tongue, produces
L. Thefe three are the only articulations
which the tongue in this pafs of the found
can make.
The next pafs at which the air is formed
into articulated found, is, as it goes forth
between the end of the tongue and the
teeth or gums. Here again the air being
checked by the application of the tongue
to the teeth or gums, and then by a hid
den ftroke of feparation being let to pafs
forth articulated, forms the two elements
D and T ; the firft by an application of
the tongue laid broad to, the fecond by a
more pointed application and ftroke, at
feparation. As the air at its laft pafs goes forth by
the lips, thefe organs give it two articulated -
founds, which form the two elements B
and P. Here, as before, the air is checked
by a clofing of the lips, and particularly
preffing the nib of the upper lip againft
the under, fo as by a ftroke at the fepa
ration to let the air pafs articulated into
B and P ; the firft by a parallel equal
opening, the fecond by a more angular or
pointed opening.
There remain fall two other elementary
founds of voice, which can not properly be

( *57 )
be faid to^p'afs out at the mouth, for they
are articulated and founded, the-firft with
lips aCtually fhut, and the fecond clearly
in and through the nofe. In founding M,
the air is ftopt >abfolutely by the fhutting
of the lips, and is returned up into-- the
nofe. In articulating N-, the lips are not
actually elofed, but the air articulated into
found is returned back through the nofe.
The firft two may tie called .
guttural, or rather for diftinc- ¦'>
tion fake, as will be feen pre- '.--,11
2 fently, I fhould wifh to call on . ->
¦"• them glottal — — . — G. K.i
> & becaufe I fpeak of the guttural r\
catch befides
3 The chree next lingual — S; R. L.
-2 The two next dental — D. T. >
2- The two nexf labial — B. ' P;' ->
2 The two next nafal. -*-¦ -M>.:N.

m

1 1 articulated founds.
Not any one of thefe elements can be
pronounced without fome ora.L intonation
annexed to the articulation. Each can be
pronounced with five different fuclixjcal
founds annexed, -but with five onlyyzhd
no more ; all equally can have five oral
founds ^annexed, but they are yet the. fame
five iorals annexed in the fame manner.
Thefe oral elements can be founded as
parts

( *5« )
parts of fpeech when fepa rated- from ,xvhat
I call the articulated elementary founds.
The others, without an annexion of fome
,of thefe orals are not founds, but rather
¦the articulated vehicles of founds. Ana*
.¦lyfis then leads to experiments made ,of
.the voice as to .thefe orals, feparatelyfby
¦ themfelves, and conjunctly with all the
articulations j and the refult is that there
are but .five ultimately .diftinCt intonations
of voice in fpeach. . A * pronounced in
the opening of the mouth by an elevation .
of the roof and an angular elevation of
the upper lip ; U by a lowering fomewhat
of the under jaw, and an angular projection
of the under lip : E by a parallel opening
of the mouth and curvilineal contraction
Of the under lip. O by an oval or circular
opening of the mouth and lips, and 1 by
a Ample perpendicular- ftroke of the jaws
in the enunciation of it.
Thefe fixteen elements of fpeech are all
into which vocal found can be ultimately
refolved ; and more are not neceffary nor
are found as ultimate elements in any
language ; the five Nation -Indians of North
America do in no cafe ufe the lips in fpeak
ing. There cannot be therefore, nor are
any labials in that language.
* Vide Plate D in Appendix, No II. Thefe

t J59 )
Thefe indivifible elements heithet. are
nor can be pronounced differently (what
ever characters they may bear, which dif-
guifes them) from the ultimate elementary
articulated found into which the found of
all .languages may be refolved. r. o . j-.ini
.' - '•' .. 'TE '4'-'. ..1
All are, however, by different lauguages,
-and by the fame. .language fpoken under
different, climates ;. varioufly. furcharged,
either by a guttural catch of the voice, as
they; pafs the glottis ; or by various afpi-
rations as they pafs off after their articu
lation ; or (as in the fpecial caftvbf M and
N) are followed by a rebound of ..found,
the confequence of. the form which .the
organs had taken in articulating them.

¦ r - 3i :

-Sir T. Smythrfays, that each nation or
race of people hath each its peculiar founds,
which each. reciprocally cannot pronounce
exactly. And that therefore there .fhould
be different -letters to. reprefen.t thefe founjjs,
;lf by letters. he here meant characters, :tfee
conclufion js fairly drawn ; but unlefs 4ae
firft proves that thefe differing jfounds <are
ultimate indivifibfe. elements, they do opt
( require different elementary letters. -. Uppn
- examination r j (as will be feen ^hereafter)
they will all prove to be rthe^ fame ele
mentary founds which all men ufe,. but
eaT for-

( i.fo )
furcharged with a guttural catch or an
afpiration, or other mingled adjunct which
can be divided from them. 'Now thefe
peculiar enunciations of tb^ elements of
fpeech furcharged with thefe adjunct or
mixed compounds, arife from different
forms and textures of the organs of fpeech,
and thefe forms or textures arife from dif-.
ferent habits of life, or the effects of dif
ferent climates, Thefe guttural catches
or hanging of the voice about the glottis,
thefe afpiration s furcharged upon, Or
mudyly-mixt with the elementary founds,
are chiefly found in early barbarous times,
and in northern climates, and many of
them by degrees wear out of ufe,
In the glottals, being guttural, this
' catch of the voice became what was pro^
perly called the Digamma, as having by
the catch or hanging pf the voice the
^ effeCt, in pronunciation, of a double' G or
K. In the Unguals this furcharge in dif
ferent nations always^ preceeded the R :
- Added a hoarfe furcharge, a thick breath-
~ ing rather than a found to S : and doubted
L, with a hoarfenefs coming betwixt
* (fomething like but not F.) which no
r people, that I know, can pronounce but the
Welch, as they do when they pronunce

[ 161 ]
The deiitals -are in like manner fome-
times fur- charged with this hoarfe afpi
ration, fometimes with a kind of muddy
di'flblvent in jfe various pronunciations of
Dh and Th. The Englifh pronunciation
exprefles this, which I do not know to
defcribe,' but have given examples of in
pages 165 and 166.
The labials are alfo liable to the fame,
as in the inftances of B and Vaw or ev ;
and P or Phi, Fi, or iph and ef.
As the lips are clofe fhut at the articu
lating and pronouncing M ; when they
open, after if it is enounced, they feem to
give and add to it the rebound of B or P
mute, and thus we Englifh in many cafes'
pronounce it, as thumb and comb ; as
fwamp, from the old word fwamm ; where,
as Ihre in his preface to his Dictionary
fays, P additur a fine.
The found of N, in pronunciation, can
fcarce go off with a rebound of the voice
in a ton fomething like to g or k adjunct ;
the -French pronunciation hath this very
ftrong. The ancient Hellenifts had not originally
many of thefe furcharged adjuncts in their
L, enunci-

[ r6z ]
enunciation, and ufed but one borrowed
character to exprefs them all, the cha
racter, F, F, the .iEolic di-gamma. It
partook of H, F, V, G, J, Y and our W
founded ou, juft as the furcharge, at the
time, and in the cafe, happened to be
initial or final; mixt with and adjunct
to confonants ; or inferted between two
vowels. Dionyfius Halicarnaffus * mentions not
only the form but the power of the di-
gamma, which he fays was a character
refembling the double fr], gamma, as F;
and had a found when prefixed to a vowel
beginning a word, fomething like ou : He
then gives an example or two. Speak
ing of the low fwampy places which
the Aborigines in Italy affigned to the'
Pelafgoi upon a treaty with them, he fays
thofe places had t<% iroXXa, l\u>la, which,
according to the ancient pronunciation,
were called 'S'sXia., Wallia, Felia, or Velia,
or Vallies : Thus oTxog, written FoTkos., was
pronounced Vicos, or Wicos, the radix is
Wic.
* tZutr,(/t! yuf nv to~; apj^atoif EXXwrn, J; t« ns'aXXtt, isgoaiMvai
run ovofAGtluv, otvocuv a\ apxpfi airo Cpwvflfvlwv tyivglo Trif ov avX-
1\aZr,i eu ro%£'&> ypa$o(*iV,)v- t£to 8 r,t unr.i) yga.jj.fA.oi. Jirlai; IV)
jxixf ogflw It i£uym '/ahoy rot7; wAayiai; «'{ fiXwr). xj fava| xj
firms xj fang k, TziXXa, rotctvra.
Lib. I. Antiq. Rom. Edit. Sylburgii, p. 16.
When

C 163 )
When in after-times thefe Hellenifts
began to analyfe their language with fome
frientific attention, they invented charac
ters, to exprefs fome of thefe mixed founds,
as %i 0) <P> $¦> l» <f» an(i f° refined the reft,
as that the JEoYic digamma ceafed' to be of '
ufe or in practice with them.
What I have faid muft depend upon
fact in fuch inftances as the learned reader
fhall meet with. I, an unlearned labourer,
will give fome examples, or proofs,' of
what I here venture to aflert. To- begin
with the gutturals of the glottal elements.
Both G and K are furcharged frequently
with a catch or hard breathing, which
the ancients either fuppofed to be a hang
ing or catch of the voice, and therefore
exprefled by a Di-gamma or an afperate,
and fuppofed an h to be the adjunct of this
furcharged pronunciation, in the firft cafe
they ufed the For F; in in the latter T or
Gh and % or Kh and double F or ff.
The furcharge in the pronunciation of
the Unguals R, L, and S, was various,
as £ p, or F £, or B £, or H f . L was
doubled and had the digamma under, the
found of F interwoven as L F L. S had h
or rather ch adjunCt to it, but in my
opinion, formed on repeated experiments,
L 2 and

( x«4 )
and in the opinion of a much better judge
than me, I mean the very learned Sir T.
Smyth, neither/? as in Englifh, nor ch as
in German, anfwer the found of Sh.
The open g, or y, the true di-gamma, is
what here makes the proper adjunct. Ne
que fonus ille [inquit Smythius de recta
et emendata Ling. Angl. pronun. et fcript.]
quem nos proferimus dum illam (i. e. She)
aut fraxinum (i. e. Afh) dicimus, reCte*
per She et Afh, confcribitur, nee enim
verus et genuinus fonus utriufve literze
auditur. nam defit tu S ferpentiilus ille
fibillus, et tu h grandis et violentus afflatus.
Sed quidam intermedius et mixtus fonus
perfentitur. Vide autem quantum a vulgi
opinioiie differt judicium meum, et ut
intelligas clarius quod volo, primum fona
illud quod apud nos [viz. Anglos] infernus
appellatur, Hell, -fefva fonum hunc inte
grum et prepone s, s-hell. Ita fona quod
appellimus hall et prepone s. s-hall. Vides
non fonari illud quod nos concham noftra
vocamus lingua, nee quod eft futuri tem-
poris fignum noftrate. At nunc e contra
fona quod nos noftra lingua ejulare dicimus,
foil. fell, et idem quod de canibus dicitur
Taul, et prepone s. fervando femper pri-
orcm fonum, ut unam tantum fyllabam
faciendo, et invenies /yell et Jyall. Qua?ro
nunc abs te, mi Quinte, uter fonus pro-
pinquior

( *65 )
pinquior ei quem pronunciamus cum vo-
lumus dicere anglice concham "Shell] et
fignum temporis futuris [fhall]." ~ ProfeCto
lizec pofterior per S et Y — In the examples
which I fhall give prefently, the reader
will have frequent occafion to obferve that
Y (open G as I call it) founded as we
Englifh found it, occurs more often as the
true found of the di-gamma than any
other. In like manner the two dental elements
D and T are liable to be, and are aCtually,
furchaged with an adjunct found, which
is commonly fuppofed to be a mere af-
perate, and fuppofed alfo to be exprefled
by h, as Dh and Th. And the Greeks,
as is fuppofed about the time of the Trojan
war, invented the character 0 and S, to
mark the expreffion of this mixed found
Th. But no character was, as I under-
ftand, ever ufed to mark the furcharged D,
or Dh. And yet after all, this 9 does not
fully anfwer with precifion to the cafe in
which it is applied. T with the afpirate h
adjunct to it, has a very different found
from the S^tgs and the SrJTot, both which
are not only different from it, but from
each other. I will give examples of this
from our Englifh, Saxon, or Deutfeh
language, which I may fairly do, as it will
\ " L 3 appear

( ,<?6 )
appear that thefe derivatives obferved and
preferved the orignal pronunciation ; when
I fay that h as the afpirate is adjunbl to
the d or t, I follow the expreffion of my
learned mafter ; non dicimus permifceri
literas, fed adjungi ; now that h thus ad
junct to d, or t, does not give the very
different mixt founds which we perceive in
the words, Ta'en, Thane, Than. Tea,
The, Thief. Tye, Thigh, Thin, Thine,
Thy. Taw, Thaw, Though. Turn, (the
Latin word) Thumb,Thus ; Tun, Thunder,
nor either of them ; try it by my matter's
refolution and compofition, found firft e,
then h he,, then adjoint to this the diftinCt
found of /, preferving the unity of thp
fyllable and your ear will receive t'-he, and
fo of the reft ; but if defirous to proceed
further, you would wifh by this means,
by this T and h adjunct, to exprefs the
two very different founds which Th has
in the article The, and in the word Thief;
this adjoining of h either to T or D will
never do it. This is a peculiar permixt
found, which I believe will appear the
Greeks never had in ufe or any notion of,
nor the northern people whofe language
they originally fpoke, for by the words
in German which are clearly Greek, the
found is T'h and D'h. Ana-

( i*7 )
Analogous to what occurs in thefe, a like
furcharge operates on the two labials B and
P ; and here again the note of afpiration,
or the general mark of the digamma
varioufly founded, is fuppofed to ferve for
the peculiar expreffion. P is muddied into
Ph or F, and B into Vau or W.
This digamma bearing the femblance of
Gor r, at the beginning of words was emol-
liated into Y< and W, and often in the
latter end of words into Y, W, or ff, —
thus \Apijf made both warr and guerre ;
dag, day; octo, eight, eiyht ; daughter,
dawter ; laugh, laff. This digamma with
the femblance of G between two vowels is
feldom pronounced as G hard, but as open
G, or Y, or as V, or as H, of all which
there are examples in the fame word
pronounced in different languages,
I have faid, and upon repeated tryals I
am perfuaded to adhere to my opinion,
that there are but fixteen ultimate indi-
vifible elements of fpeech within the
power of mankind ; for although, from the
various ufe and texture* of their organs of
fpeech, they may afpirate, confufe, or
furcharge thefe ; yet whatever founds they
enounce, fuch ftill remain divifible to thofe
ultimate elements. The variety of dialects
L 4 and

( K58 )
and languages, however, arife from the
interchangable ufe of the elements of the
fame organ of fpeech, from the mixing of
them with each other, and from the fur-
charging them with the various modes of
afpiration. Thus one race or nation of
people is inclined to ufe G inftead of K ;
or K inftead of G ; D inftead of T ; or
T inftead of D ; B inftead of P; or P in
ftead of B.
By an attentive examination of the
peculiarities in enunciation which each
people have, in the one way or the other,
by a fair reciprocal analyfis of the agnate
words they reciprocally ufe, I think a
much greater agnation may be found
amongft all the languages in the northern
hemifphere of our globe, and much more
philosophic derivation of thefe from fome
other languages may be deduced than is
commonly thought to exift.
This fort of analyfis, this refolution and
compofition of language into its elements, uni
verfally purfued to its etymon, feems to. me
the duty of the antiquary, and would give
great light to tbefiudy of antiquities.
From the following lift of words, which
I write down more as examples to illuftrate, than

( x*9 )
than as teftimony of proof, will be feen.
how the words;- which are therein inferted,
although they, fcarce feem. to have the
leaft fimilitude, yet prove to be the very
fame words fpoken with the fame ele
ments differently afpirated, mixt, or
furcharged with adjunct founds. The
reader is defired to recollect the ideas given
of the various tones of the digamma, and
of the afpirate Th and Dh, and of G, and
what I call open G or Y, with more par
ticular attention.
At<z, ix, E«, Ey, all fignify in their ter
mination land or country ; and pronounced
with the guttural catch become l> and Taiot,.
"E«£, ver. with the digamma Y, is year.
E'la, gramen with the afpirate, is hay.
E'V/, with the/4fpirate, is in Swedifh,
Thet, with the digamma Y in Englifh,
is yet. A'loXog verfutus, with the digamma W,
is Wyley.
"Ayp muft have been fometimes pro
nounced with a digamma, inferted between
the two vowels, whence it produced
Ae(th)er, iEther; we fhall meet with
more examples of the fame.
"Apys, Mars, with the digamma W, is
war ; with the digamma G, is guerre. I believe

( i7° ) \
I believe it will be found that G was by
different nations, ancient as well as mo
dern, commonly pronounced as I and Y,
or open G, as I call it, and fometimes W,
and fometimes K.
Fovu = Genu, K'nee.
TuXtos = vafculum militare viaticum,
Wallet. Fepoivo = Grus, Yheran, Swedifh; or He
ron, Englifh.
ruvo-ou = facere curfum tortuofiim, to
yaw, faid of a fhip, when fhe runs a tor
tuous courfe. «
Teicrov — fuggrundium teCti, Joift.
Fevetov = mentum, Djin or Chin.
Aifeiv — colligere, German, 'legen. Old
Englifli, lig, now lay.
In like manner, thofe words which; are
in Swedifh, written and pronounced with
G or J, are in the Englifh derivatives writ
ten and pronounced as with Y, being fo
founded in the original.

Swedifh.

Englifh.

Gabb = initio

Yabb or Yape

Garn = lana

Yarn

Gule = flavus

Yellow

Ju = tu

You

Yern = Ferrum

lr n

Jo = imo

Yan, Yea, or Yes

Jul

C 171 )
Jul = NativitasChriftiYule
Jull = Cimba Yaul
Junker = Juvenis Younker.
Hj is the afpirated /', which the Englifh
pronounce as' with a mute y after H.

Swedifh.

Englifh

HjelpHjelm Hjert

Hyelp Helm
Heart

Hjord Hjul

HerdWheel.

Whenever in foreign words G or Gh
termines, we foften- this by opening G to
Y, as in the common termination Lig, we
Open it to Ley; Laugh, Cough, we pro
nounce Laff and Coff ; Daughter, Dawter,-
and fo on. Dock, T'hough ; Tag, Day;
Wag, Way.
When the G as a digamma is inferted
between two vowels, 1 believe it is always
opened, as Vo(g)el, Fo-el, Fowl. When
one fees that oeil and oculus are agnate
v/ords, fignifying the fame thing, one
cannot doubt but that o-eil was pronounced
with an inferted digamma like vogel, or
like the Swedifh Hagel, foftened by the
Englifh into Ha'yel, now fpelt Haile ; as
thus,

I *72 }
thus, o(g)eil, and in fact we find it fo in
the word ogle.
The Greek 'Puav makes the Latin
T?ra(h).are and the German D*ra(g)en, and
the Englifh d'raw or drew.
Now cPvw was certainly afpirated, and
had in pronunciation a digamma, which
was neither a determinate h nor g— take
the open g or y, and the derivation, or
rather agnation, is clear in all the lan
guages. Our anceftors the Saxons had a peculiar
method of pronouncing the afpirated D
and T, in a way in which the original
found was well nigh loft. Although we are
in common taught to think that in thefe
we ufe the true Greek pronunciation of
the 9, lam apt to fufpeCt we are miftaken,
and that 9 was fcarce ever pronounced as
we ufe it ; for inftance, ®zo; made D'eus,
or T'eus, and not Theus. So the name
of the Punic city which the Romans wrote
Carthago, was Keir-Dagon, or Thagon
the City of Dagon, in the fame manner as
Beth-Dagon,. the Temple of Dagon is
written by the Greeks, Byjuyuv and Bijfi-
luyuv. i Maccabees, c. x. v. 83.
' Ayei8e$

( m )
*AyoiQos makes got or -god, and not goth.
©%fcfci, Fera Silveftris, makes T'hier and,
Deer, not Theer.
^""Oflium, makes T'hu'r and Door, ;
not Thoor.
©oivtl Caena, epulum.-^-D'hih, Dinner,
and not thinner.
©eivai operarej-^-T'heinen, T'huen, or
to do.
©xppSv audere. Saxon,; Dearren. Englifh,
Dare. The Teuts always fo pronounced Th
and Dh, and the observing this fimilarity
betwixt them and the Greeks will explain
many matters of Etymology.

German. * T'hal
T'hole T'hau i. e. ros.
T'haller T'heil T'heilenlPartire. J
fhum

Swedifh. D'al Dagg
D'augh Daller Del \
Pars./ Dela
Doma Judicare

and Englifh. DaleDole
Hew

.Dollar a Deal
to Deal
Doom

.}

* The fame as th.e old Greek Axvtit. See Strabo,
Lib. he.

>\

Din

( ^4 )

Din

Thine

T'hunder

D'uiider

Thunder

T'hon

Ton .
a Sound
In like manner we find the fame word
fignifying the fame thing originally, both
in Greek and German, the one fpelt with
the dental T, the other with the dental D.
Tft%oj and Dyke, alfo Aeai/ to Tye, fo
Ilcilyp, (pex,9ijp, fpoken Vadher or Father.
In like manner Uarog (from 7raTeo> calce-
conterere) fignifies via concalcata and trita,
Englifh, path or pad. So Uts^qv (quafi
TTETgf ov) afpirated q>e9^ov, feather.
There can be no doubt that Boos from
CSg was pronounced with an inferted di
gamma, when we find it in Latin Bovis,
and in French Beuf, and in Englifh: plu
ral Beeves. So"Oij-, OWf. Dr. Bentley in
a note, ad Lib. 23. Qd. Horat. fays,"TXij per
digamma. iEolicum, "rxfy, Silva.
The ./Eolians were faid to prefix B be
fore P. Of this we have feveral inftances
in illuft ration in the modern ' northern
languages. c?m^p, ./Eohe Bpur^, Fraenum,
a Bride or Bridle. 'Pctxog
( 175 )
and IvEolic, Bp»Kog, a Break or Breach.
"P«yv J
Alfo Papvog, !^Eolic, Bpupvog, a Bramble.
lPu«|, Aolic, Bpux%, Rivus, a Brook.
Here follow three inftances of B afpi
rated into Vaw ; in the firft inftance fpelt
by Pf ; in the fecond by V. ; in the third
f and v.
BsXog, Tellum fagitta. Pfeil, an arrow.
Bp\, a particle fignifying exceeding, but
chiefly as prefixt, hence very.
Aeiiretv, linquere. Saxon, Lifan. Englifh,
to leave.Inftances of the digamma founding as
Our W, or the Saxon y.
"€lov, TaCtum, won. to wonn, to dwell.
"Oap, Mulier, Whore.
"OXog, totum. Whole.
*Ov, neuter of %g. One, founded Wone.
OiW Wic. ,
OTvog, innum, Wine, and in Welfh,
Gwine. "r$u(>, Waffer, and Water.,
''YXy, 'rxu^g. Silva & locus Silveftris.
Weal. Weald.
eT(pau & xxpiq. Woof and weave.
In the word KotXog, as ufed by the
Englifh in the word agnate with it, there
remains

( i76 )
remains the guttural catch before the
afperate, the northern pronunciation for a
hole, is a hoil, with fonaething of a catch,
as Ghoil.
From thefe Principles of Refolution and
Compofition applied to the elements of
fpeech, as I have ventured to apply them ;
and from the few examples which I, who
do not pretend to be a linguift, have ad
duced ; -I think the learned Antiquary who
is a linguift, or rather fome fuch corre-
fponding Society as I have ventured to fug-
geft the idea of, would foon eftahlifh, a
philofophic Polyglott that would ferve all
the ufes of an univerfal language, and,
what is of better confequence, would be
practicable and .practical.

N'll.

( ^77 *)
No II.
A Treatife on Picture Writing, Hieroglyphic
and Elementary Writing, fhewing how
the firft arofe' from Nature, the fecond
from Art ; with an Illuftration of the
'Effekls which thefe have had on the De
viations and Mutations of Language, in a
Letterto Thomas Aftle, Efq;0cJ.2$, 1 778.
Read at the Society of Antiquaries, Jan. 18, 1781.
S I R,
AS you acquainted me, that you was
employed in making a collection of
Specimens and Exemplars of all the va
rious modes of writing praClifed by various
nations, from the earlieft to the prefent
time ; that you fhould * publifh thefe in
drawings,
* This collection is to cohfift of Specimens of the Phoe
nician, Chaldee, Hebrew, Etrufcan, Greek, Ofcian, Ro
man, Gaelic, Welih, Irilri, Gothic, Iflandic, and Anglo-
Saxon Writing, taken from original MSS, and othey an
cient Documents now preferved in public Repofitories, and
private Collections: in the courfe of which is to be illuf-
trated by examples from fimilar materials, The progrefs
of writing in Italy, in France, in Germany, The progrefs
of the Saxon and Norman writing in England, as alio of the
writing in the Englijh Language, from the earlieft times to
the reign of queen Elizabeth, with fpecimens of the char-
M tera

( '7« )
drawings, copied per faSlum fiimile ; that
you fhould accompany this with obferva-
tions on each, and with a Treatife on the
whole, in which you fhould be naturally led
by your fubjeCt to take fome notice of the
origin of writing ; and recollecting fome
opinions ' of mine, contained in a paper
read about three or four years ago at the
Society of Antiquaries, you defired I would
look it out and let you have it : it is with
the greateft readinefs and pleafure that I
comply with your requeft, and fend you
the following Treatife, a new draught,
extracted chiefly from that paper.
A knowledge of the methods by which
mankind in primitive times realized by
vifible images their ideas ; fo as tp place
them under the eye, and to fix them per
manent in time, is a fource of curious in
veftigation to the Antiquary.
The firft efforts which men of all races,
and in all countries, have made to this
ters of each fovereign, from William I. to Henry VIII.
As Mr. Aft!e has a peculiar turn for, and great information
in this branch of learning ; as he has one of the beft pri
vate Collections of thefe materials ; and as being keeper of
the Records, and, with Mr. Topham, has the care and
cuitody of the State Papers ; there is no perfon can have
greater opportunities ; the expedations of the world muft
therefore be' raifed for this publication. purpofe,

{ m 3
purpofe, have been made, not as the ele
mentary writing is, by pictures of their
•words, but by portraits of their ideas, and
alfo (as well as they coifld defcribe them,
by fig;ns and metaphors) of the circu.m-?
fiances, relations, actions, and effects, pro
duced and fuffered' in all combinations, juft
as they lay conceited in the mind. The
very language of thefe unlettered people is
conducted by metaphors and allegory ; the
tranfcript therefore into vifible ideas could
be nothing but the pictures of thefe
images. This reafoning is derived from
fact ; let us fee how the fact ftands.ft<
The American Indians do thus in fact.
When they would defcribe their nation,
their country, time, and the feafons;
aCtions of any kind, journeys by land, or
by water ; war and its operations and glory,
peace and its bleflings ; planting or "hunt
ing ; they draw or paint feme vifible" cha-
raCteriftic objeCts. They ufe, to defignate
their tribe or nation, fome fixt fymbol,'
generally taken from fome animal, whofe
acts are defcriptive of the particular cha
racter which they afliime or afcribe to thur
tribe, their race, or nation; fome vifible
known mark, charaCteriflic of the fort of
region which their country is. Time they
defcribe by the picture of the fun or
moon or ftars : The Seafons by that of a
M 2 tree

( *8o )
tree in leaf; the fall by a tree without leaf.
As their, journeys are mr-ftly made along
the rivers, they generally defcribe their
journeys or excurfions by a conoe ; not hut
they do fometimes, to exprefs travelling
by land, draw a * foot ; or, if by land in
winter,, a fnow-fhoe. War they commonly
exprefs by the hatchet ' or fcull-breaker :
Enemies killed by fcalps, prifoners taken by
withies or bands : hunting by the animals
of the chace : The making peace 'by the
burying of the hatchet, and a ftate of
peace by any thing which denotes their
planting ground, as a wigwam and corn.
They .afcribe characters to animals, ac
cording to their fpecific nature ; and, to
defcribe the characters of men or nations,
they give the portrait of thofe animals
whom they fuppofe as of notoriety to have
fuch, characters.
Thus, the names given to remarkable
characters have always this reference ; one
is called the eagle; another the wolf, the
fox, the tortoife, the bear, the ferpent,. the
beaver ; they make reference alfo to ina
nimate vifible objeCts, as, the fwift arrow,
light, &c. &c. and thefe animals or vi
fible objefts become the piCture-name of
fuch perfon ; of all which I have known
inftances. Thofe circumftances, and that
general ftate of things (to exprefs which
* The .(Egyptians do exactly the fame. in

( i8x )
in fpeech they have no general and com
plex words), they defcribe by reference
to vifible images, bearing fome ideal
fimilitude of, or allufipn to fuch. The
relolye, or act of going, to war, they
exprefs. by; the phrafe of." taking up the
" hatchet *, or ftriking with the hatchet ;"
the termination of war, by " burying the
"^hatchet;"- a breach of peace, or a re
newal, of war, by " digging up the hatchet
*' that was bury ed'" a ftate of peace, by
" a tree in its full vegetation, giving
** fhelter, and bearing fruit ;" the act of
condolence, by " 'wiping off the tears from
'* the' eyes .;". an act of reparation (with
them always preceded by the act of con
dolence) is exprefled by " wafhing off the
" blood, and by pre fent ing prefent s to heal
*' the wound ;" acts of oblivion, by the
<* covering the adlions with a blanket ;" acts
of explanation, by " prefents, to wipe the
" film off the eyes" Nor are thefe aCts
confined to the ideal metaphor only, they
are always accompanied by the prefent of
a blanket, linen, or wampum, where
with fuch act is fuppofed to be performed.
In what I have here referred to, I fpeak of
things of common notoriety, as generally
and univerfally occurring in their treaties.
* This means in general the -(cull-breaker. The French
tranflate it Caffe-tete ; our interpreters tranflate it hatchet,
as that instrument is now ufed for that weapon.
M 2 When

< kSi )
When they would write this, of re-
prefent it to the eye, what can their
writing be but -thefe -images forming a
picture-? Exactly1 in this manner, in the
piCture-hiftory of the Indians of Mexico,
publifhed by Pufchas/"you will fee the
ftate of the fettlement of a town or diftrict
reprefented by a.tree; and the reduction Of
that 'fettlement by- force -of arms to a fub
jeCt ftate, by that' tree being cut half
through.'1 The number of notches in that
principal cut either fignifies fhV number
of'ftrokes which it fuffered before it was
feduced to that flare, or -elfe the proportion
pf tribute it was under that ftatfe 'obliged
to pay. There is one inftance where the
tree is cut quite up by the roots-; and one
inftance wherein the iy.mbol of fp?ech, by
thereprefentation'o'fthe tongnefjas thus^)',
is given to a tree half cut through ; by
which I underftand, that the picture-
fymbol means to exprefs a furrender on ca
pitulation i
You alfo fee under the fame metapho
rical conception, in. Plate LVIII. of Nbr-
den's Travels, a picture-reprefeutation of
a treaty, on a fragment of a very fingular
Bas-relief, expreffed' by two perfons ne
gotiating by mutual reference to a tree that
'funds between them, on which tree is
hung a tablet of an oval form, with the
ele-

C **3 ]
elementary, characters on it, as in plate C
fig. 3. By thefe inftances the reafoning
and example come hand in hand to the
deduction of the fact. Obferve here, that
the courfe of the writing is in the perpen
dicular line^ and I think fhould be read
upwards. In like manner fome allegorick picture
of this very kind would beft, at leaft very-
fufflciently and compleatly, exprefs the
metaphorical reprefentation given by the
KenunCtioni, or Five-nation confederacy,
of their original ftate of alliance with the
Dutch and Englifh. This original and
firft intercourfe which they had with us
Europeans, they exprefs in their language
by " the arrival of a great canoe on their
M fhores, or on the bank of fome river."
Tnp firft act of their friendfhip they ex
prefs by " the tying this canoe fafe and
f* fecure to a tree on the fhore or banks"
This ideal tree they call the tree of peace,
protection, friendfhip, happinefs, &c. In
their tranfaCtions and treaties they ufe a
multitude of variations of this apologue.
They call the ligature, by which the cahoe
is tyed, a chain. Good faith is exprefled
by " the chain being kept bright;" and
the contrary by " this chain contra&ing
" fome ftain or ruft ;" a renewal of this
pld friendfhip by " brightening and clean-
M 4 " ing

[ i»4 ]
" ing this chain." This chain was at firft,
as I have faid, fuppofed to be faftened to
fome tree on the - banks ; Afterwards, as
this alliance extended itfelf more and more
into the concerns and interefts of the:
country, they exprefled this circumftance
by faying, " they had planted the tree of
" peace further back into the country."
When they would exprefs a morcfolid per
petuity of peace, they then marked that,
by faying, they would " make the chain
'.' faft i0 Iome mountain in the country. .
Finally, when this alliance became ge
neral an& national, they then exprefled this
ftate of it, by faying, " that they had
'* lengthened this chain, and had carried it
" up to their great council-houfe at Onon*
" daga, where they had made itfaft" This
is invariably, in their language, the picture.
of their ideas of the original friendfhip and
alliance with the Dutch and Englifh. Any
new treaties fet on foot with the Eu
ropeans, after they Were fettled in the
country, they exprefled by " fixing a place
'< where they fhould light afire," always to
be kept alive, not an actual, but, meta
phorical or allegorical fire. All the;ehanges,
accidents, interruptions, &c. of this ftate
pf union and communion are exprefled by
the'care taken in preferving this fire ; by
its burning bright, or by its being neglected and

<c l85- h
and. becoming frooaky and f mothered. And
if they do ever, renounce, tfi^t particular
treaty or ftate, of; uni&n and ;cpmm-union,
they exprefs it by " putting -but the fire"
I beard at the treaty at Albany, in 1754,
the great * Tianhoga ufe _ this expreffipn
to the Dutch CommiffioifersV.at Albany,
when he, on the part of the Five Nations, ,
refufed any more to treat with them.. The
Indians have in general' fome' 'ftrange
myftick, but undefined -j- notion 'of the.
pervading fpirit of fire ; and a communi
cation of, or communion in, this fpirit,
amongft parties contracting, is with them
the moft folemn facrament, of the higfieff.
form. Thus, the fmoaking. one common,
pipe of tobacco, fo that all the contracting
parties become participants of ; the fame
fire, is one of the moft facred , acts of
Faith pledged. The pipe ufed 011 this
occafion is not a common one, but one
prepared for the purpofe, painted and or
namented always with feathers, and ge
nerally with embroidery of. porcupine-
quills. It is called the Calumet, and. is
lodged by the propofing party, with the
* Vulgarly called, by a Chriftian nnme, Henicrkk.
¦f One fees this undefined idea well depifted in the fpe-
cimen of Indian pidture-writing given by Dr. Robertfon,
viz. an undefined, unfinilhed, imperfeft figure, exiftin*
amidft. flames : the hand (marking effed !) is drawn diftincHy,
ilie reft indillindt. party

( x86 )
party agreeing, as the moft folemn fecord
of that treaty fo made and concluded.
This calumet is to be kept readyfor fmoak-
ingupon any future ufe made pf, or any'
reference had to, that treaty,. The Indians
am very attentive to preferve this; hut
\tfe-, who tall ourfelves civilized, never
think more of it. And it is generally
given away as a cUrioiify tb fome perfon.
or other. I had one of thefe calumets,
which was thus lodged with my friend
Sir William John fon, on a Very folemn
treaty with fome of the weftern Indians ;
it was given to me after his death; he
Would not have parted with it. Efteeming;
it a lingular curiofity, perhaps unique in _
this county, I gave it to Mr- Horace'1
Walpole, and I fuppofe it is in his cabinet
at Strawberry Hill. Again : as every act
of communication, and eye'ry proportion
made, is pledged by fome token given,
which token generally was Wampum,
Beaver, Blankets, or Deer-fkins, &c. &c. and
as the importance of the proppfition is eftiT
mated by the value of the token attending
it, fo a firing, or two or more firings, of
a belt of wampum, exprefles the lefler or
greater importance of the propofition made,
or act done. On fome very important oc-
cafions, thefe belts of wampum had fome
device woven in them. • The great belt of
wampum, given by the Britifh Com-
miffioners

( *8? )
mifBon#s of Eleven- Provinces, met ~ at
Albany in 1754, to the Five Nations, Was
near a fathom- long, and about a hahd's
bceadth. i At one end were the figures of
eleven-men-, hand in hand ; on the other,
fhfe men1 alfo hand in 'hand. Thefe two
groups- Were connected by a line; reprefent-
ifig a, Belt of Treaty. I prepared and di
rected; the defign of this belt. The Indians
we'ref rriuch pleafed with this attention to
their manners 5 and this belt( I dare fay) is
kept at- this day very facred in the Council-
Hoiufe' at Onondaga, J as a record' of that
great, treaty, and renewal of alliance.
Let any one recur back to the meta-
pmorip and allegof ick' defcfiptive images by
Which thefe people thus in their 'language
and treprefentative aCtions exprefe ideas for
which they have no general words ; and
let him f then fet about to reprefent them
by writing to 'the eye: whoever does
fo,wiM naturally write their hiftory by a
ferjis' of piSiures, which Will better ex
prefs the ideas in which it is conveyed,
than any elementary writing whatfoever
could' do, was he arrived at the ufe of
fuch. This ftate of the matter is con
firmed by a curious fact. In the fpecimen
of the copy of American picture-writing
given by Dr. Robertfon, in his Hiftory of
America, you will fee many of thefe po
rtions verified ; particularly, you will fee
two

( i88: )
two warriors holding, a belt, and nego
tiating.- In another place, two warriors
offering prefents to a third warrior. In
another, part you will fee a. fymbol . of the
fpirit of fire, deferibed by an undefined
image, rounded with rays or flames. In
another part: is the War-kettle boiling,
with the fcalpin-g-jcnife .laid acrofs. it, .and'
a warrior performing fome ceremony be
fore it. In the fpeeimens publifhed by
Porchas, you may; read (if I jnay fo exprefs
myfel-f)" many others. I have feen * oil
deer-fkins, and on Indian powder-horns,'
inftances of this mode of picture-writing.,
I have been told of the feme fort of pic
ture-writing on the :, bark of trees, par
ticularly the birch-tree, a tree ufed much
by them for various, domeftick and field
purpofes, and with which alfo, in general,
they make their canpes.' I do not recollect1.
myfelf to ; have feen any- of thefejat leaft.
not fo as to -have been ftruck with them ;
but I have been told of them by Sir William-
Johnfon ; and I will give you teftimony
from .another perfon, who was perfect
mafter of -the Indian affairs; I mean the
late lieutenant governor Cplden. Speaking.
of the Indian cuftpin, .of their having a
rendezvous, where the warriors affembled-
before they went out to war, he relates*
' ' that before they- go from this place * , they
* Hilt, of the Five N-ation6.'4t}troduction, p. 7, 8. ;
" always

(<<(
<c ii

( -185 )
always peel a large piece of bark from
fome great tree. They commonly chufe
an oak as moft lafting ; upon the fmpoth
fide of this, they;, With J their red paint
draw the picture of one or more Canoes,
as going from home with a number of
men in them paddling, according to the
" number that go upon the expedition.
" They then paint the image of fome ani-
" mal, as a deer, or fox, the emblem of
" the nation againft which the expedition
** is defigned, at /the head of the canoe1."
I think Mr. Golden muft have forgot to
mention the painting alfo of 'an emblem,
both of the nation and tribe of the Indians,
who are engaged in the expedition, as well
as the Cattle or Home, from whence they
go forth ; this they never omit. He goes
on : " After the expedition is over, they '
" flop at the fame place in their return,
" and then continue the picture by a
"defcription of the event of the expe-
" dition ; in this "part the canoes are
" turned towards the Caftle. The number
*' of the eWefny killed is reprefented by
" fcalps painted black ; and the number
M of prifoners, by a number of ftrokeo re-
** prefenting withies, thefe being the
" bonds in which they bind them. Thefe
" in their painting, he fays, look likepot-
" hooks. Thefe trees (or rather rolls of
** of bark) are the annals or trophies of
4 '" the

( w )
" the Five Nations. I have feen, fays he,
" many of them ; and by them,, and their
*' war fongs, l;hey preferve the .h,iftpry of
" their great atchievements." I remember
to have heard the following ftory of ano
ther fort of picture-waiting. Qn,e of r our
miffionaries making a progrefs in eftablifh-
ing the divine doctrines of the Gofpel
amongft fome tribes of Indians, acquired
thereby great influence amongft them.
The Sachem, who. was at the head of thofe
tribes, found his power decline as that of
the miflionary arofe. He. grew jealous of*
but was not able to opppfe, the influence
which thefe doCtrines carried with them.
He fought therefore to create an influence
of the fame kind. He retired for fome
time into the woods, and thence brought
forth amongft the Indians a beggarly irn-
pofture in picture-writing delineated on a
deer's fkin ; he pretended that this was
dictated at leaft, if not drawn, by the
Great Spirit. Towards one edge of this
picture-writing were deferibed, by various
grpups of Europeans and Indians, all the
evils and grievances which the Indians
had incurred and fuffered by their Euro
pean connections. In one part there were
Europeans with furveying inftruments,
meafuring out all their lands ; in another
they were cutting down the trees ; in ano
ther, breaking up the beaver-dams ; in
5 another,

( «9X )
another, deftrpying and driving all their
game ; while the Indians, ,pent up in a
corner, were ftarving. In the middle pf
the fkin was pictured a great lake ; and
divers groups of Europeans and Indians
paddling acrofs it; the Europeans and thpfe
Indians who were embarked, in the fame
xanoes with them were overfet and drown
ing ; the Indians who kept to themfelves
in their own canoes were reprefented as
making a fafe paflage. On the further fide
of this lake was a fine wooded country,
full of deer and beavers, which Indians
were hunting ; while their wives and
children were planting maize, in peace.
1 have heard that he explained this lake as
the paffage to a future life on the other
fide. The Indians who adhered to their
- national principle, and who flood unaltered
by converfion, and maintained the intereft
of their tribes, were reprefented as paffing
over this with fafety and fuecefs to the
'Scaniaderiada", a country, on the further
iidetbis lake, which contained every good
thing that gave plenty and happinefs to
the Indian Being. So far as this ftory
goes to an inftance of picture-writing, :I
here quote it : but thinking it, at the time
when I was firft told of it, a piece of
trumpery fluff, I took little notice of it, fo
as not to remember exaCtly. amongft .what
tribe of Indians this happened ; yet, as well as

( 19* )
as I can recblleCt, I think it was fome of
the tribes- on the Delaware- or Sufquehana
rivers. Picture-writing of this fame nature,
and fome feemingly to the very fame pur
port, may be feen in feveral examples
given by * Van Strahlenberg, as exifting
amongft the Tartars.
Thefe1 Tartar infcriptions are alfo fo
exactly fimilar to fome found in Arabia
(as given by Nieuhburg), that one might
almoft fay they were drawn by the fame
hand. I do not recollect any mention of, or
reference to, any letters or writing in
Homer ; but of hiftories defcjribed by
pictures there are numberlefs inftances in
tapeftry, in inlaid work, in engraving and
carving. Whoever examines the fpecimen of
picture-writing, as praCtifed amongft the
^Egyptians, and commonly called hiero
glyphics ; and comes fairly and foberly to
the reading of them, without pre-conceived
notions of their myfterious meaning, and
takes them as he finds them, mere pictures
of birds, beafts, fifh, reptiles, and infeCts,
Portraits of jthe limbs, members, and
• Pefcription of N. E. parts of Europe and Tartary. various

t i'93 )
Various parts of the human body ; alfo of*
the human body itfelf in various attitudes
of reft and "action : draughts of various
inftruments, tools, weapons, enfigns ;
numerals and meafures ; alfo characters of
elementary writing mixed with them ; he, 1
fay, that examines thefe pictures, will per
ceive at firft view, that they relate merely
to human affairs: that they are either *
hiftorical memorials ; or regifter tables of
the ftate of provinces, of their lands,
people, forces, produce and revenues ; or
calendars of their feafons, &c. exprefled by
fymbolic characters, determined in their
form by law, from the earlieft ufe of
them, as will be feen prefently -f-.
" They ufe typical figures in the likenefs
'* of all forts of animals f the limbs and
" members of the human body ; weapons,
* What I here fay from" conjecture of the ^Egyptian
Piclure-writing, I can afTert literally as a fair, of the
Mexican Pi£hire-writing, which is in three parts. I. Hif
torical Records. II. Regifter Tables. III. Oecono-.
mical regulations. Religious and military Inftitutions. .
Purehas, L. v. c. 7. § iii.
•J- Ta; fj.li ruVa; vwdg%ii airat h/Ao'iHi %<"°H mailviruSoCs, jcJ
oM-g ori)g ion;;a,»@pt0xariiit!, £*» $4 igyodoK fnolhira. ri*lt>vix.oTs' a yag Ix. t?j
rm crvXXa.Zm <7v»9eVs0s i) yga.fj.jj.u\t>m -aag airoTs tov vTraxHuiwn
*°/o» xmtJiSueit' aXX ty. tft.(pa.a-iu! tuv iiilay(afojj,inaiii ty META-
*0PA2 it.tifj.fi <rvyr,\Q\vpiviis, &c. I)iodor. Sic. lib. iii. p.
145-
N " inftru-

C '94 )
" inftruments, ' and efpecially mechanic
" tools ; their writing is not formed by
" pictures of Words, and combinations of
" fyilables ; but by piCture-tranflations of
" the metaphors Jn which their language
" naturally flows," " They draw (fays
Dibdbrus, going on with the fame ac
count) " a hawk for inftance, a crocodile,
" or a ferpent, parts and members of the
" human body. The hawk, as fuppofed
" to be the fwifteft of all birds, is made
" the fymbol of Velocity. The fenfe then
" is thus transferred by thefe written me-
" taphors ; to every thing which has any
'* reference to velocity, nearly as well as
" if it was fpoken in direct terms. The,
" crocodile is made the fymbol of every
*' thing which is evil. The eye repre-
" fents watchful guard, and juftice." [I
might here add, and is therefore tranf--
ferred by metaphor, fome time with the
addition of a fcepter, to reprefent human
government and Divine Providence.]
*' The drawing the right hand open; with
" the fingers extended*, fignifies the fupply
" of human life ; the left hand elofed fig-
" nines care and cuftody of the goods of
" life. The like reafoning does in like
* Shakefpear ufes the fame metaphor :
He had an eye for pity, and a hand
Open as day for melting charity. '* manner

( '95 )
" manner tranflafe from the portraits of
" all other parts of the body, and from
" all fpecies of inftruments, tools, and
" weapons." To this account I may ven
ture to add, that under the head of ofava
TixJoviKM, Sec. conie the reprefentatien, by
thefe metaphors, of every fpecies of office ;
diftinCtion of civil Clafles ; and of every
occupation under thefe : likewife nume
ration and meafure, as applied to length,
fpace, weight, and capacity, in every
article to, which numeration or meafure is
applicable. As the mouth is that part by
which fpeech is effected, lineal portraits.
of the mouth, in the various forms it takes
in enunciation, are ufed (as to me appears)
to mark the various elements of fpeech,
which character I call oral *. As the
firft mode of numeration with all people
is by the fingers, fo we find a fyftem
of numeral characters exprefsly formed
on this idea -f. But they had other
methods alfo of numeration, fpecimens
of which are found on every ¦ hiero-
glyphick infeription. It is not only true,
that the ./Egyptians ufed elementary writ
ing, but they had two forts of thefe
elements. Thofe which took rheir form
and character from the mouth, I have, for
diftinCtion fake, called oral. The .other,
* Vide Plate D. •(• Vide Plate C. Part II.
N 2 which

( & )
which I conceive to-be the fecrete. cypher,
I have, for diftinCtion fake, determined to
call the Ogmian (the fecrete writing of
the Druids was fo called). See fpecimens
of this in the upper part of drawing C, as
copied from hieroglyphic infcriptions.
God, the Supream Being, is pictured by the
only two following fymbols invariably the
fame ; firft, by a winged globe, or circle, ,
fignifying infinity, unity, activity, and
omnrprefence : fecondly, by a globe or
circle, through which a ferpent, the fym^
bol of life, is paflant, fignifying the crea
tive, and plaftick manifeftation of the firft
caufe, animating and governing the ma
terial world.
The precife form of all thefe typical
characters, however they may differ in
fome unavoidable deviations of execution,
were originally (when firft ufed in public
infcriptions) fixed and determined by uni-
verfal concurrence. Since that, they are
by the laws confidered as thus fixt, and
are required to be fo portraied as they were
drawn <when firft fettled, neither better
nor worfe. Hence that uniformity ob-»
fervable in all the multitude of exemplars
which are found in various parts, and are
fuppofed to have been written in very
diftant

( f97 )
diftant periods. Plato, in his fecond dia
logue on laws,;confirms and explains this
point *. "Thefe types and figures, be they
fuch "as they are, and .whatever they are,
they are formed on the bafis of an inftitu
tion of the government of JEgypt, which
directs that no fculptor, painter, or ftatuary,
fhall,!, under any idea of improvement,
or-'orf :ahy pretence ^whatever, prefume to
innovate in thefe determined forms, or to
introduce 'any other than thev 'conftitu
tional ones of his country. Hence it is,
as you obferve, that thofe forms and
figured, : which were formed or painted
hundreds of ages paft, be. they what
they- may, are exactly . the forfns and
figures, neither better nor' worfe,' which
are fculptured and painted at this day."
Referring to this prefatory explanation,
I will firft lay before the fociety a collection
of thefe defined and prefcribed characters,
which repeatedly occur without variation
* Ta^afisvoi de ravra aria. Er», «$ oVot aria, ampfivety U
?o?s iegoTs* *£ 'usa.g* rccvra. &k efijv are i^aiygalpoi! are aXXon; oa-oi
vxpitocla iij offoi «t1» aTegyx^tylai xatyoTEfiuv, o»3' IvnosTy olX\'
aria ti ra, ¦motlpia,' iSl iwv f'lertv, out' h t«toi;> avr' h fj.vcn.v~r, avij,-
iru.'j-i). %\07tam a tvpncets ccvtoQl ra, pvpiorov et&j yi[g%fj,fj.Ua., n te-
TWKusu.vja (yjcwo"' eVoj e^tteiv pvpiorov, o.X}\ one)!) Twv yvv dEjr/x»yp-
ynpiyuy ours ti x.a.X.Xiovoi, out' aitr^ia T»» «bhi St T£^»?v »Wsig-
ya.o-p.iyx. Plato de Legibus, lib. ii. p. 789.
N 3 in

( 19* )
in moft or all of the exemplars of --^Egyp
tian piCture-writing., See Plate A. In
the Plate B, I have clafled fome of
thefe under the feveral heads to which I
fuppofe them refpeCtively to belong, ac
cording to what I collect from Dipdprus
and Plato. In Plate !(1C are given the
numerals as formed, from the fingers and
hands, according to the opinion of Pierius.
If how common fenfe, led by thefe
examples, will examine any of the. Egyp
tian piCture-written infcriptions, confider
ing them, as what they are, the moft an
cient exemplars ; as the efforts of man in
the earlieft, if not the firft, periods, of his
progreflive civilization, to exprefs and
communicate his ideas by vifible types ; as
writing by pictures, the very piSture-lan-
guage which he fpoke ; fuch common-fenfe
will be more likely to develope the mean
ing of thefe things called hieroglyphics,
than refined learning will be by following
the myftic after-thoughts of learned Myf-
tagogues, gleaned up from phyfiolpgick
philofophers. The metaphoric fymbols exprefled in
pictures, are the firft efforts of a rude not
the ftudied devices of a learned people :
they are drawn thus not to veil- and to
conceal,

( l99 )
conceal, but reprefent to the vulgar eye
'thofe ideas which they wifh publickly by a
publick infeription, to communicate and
record. This is the vulgate writing of all people
in the firft periods of their civilization.
Such hath invariably been the firft efforts
to form memorials, records, and regifters.
This cannot be otherwife, for it is neither
more nor lefs than the reflected image of
the * metaphors and fimilies by which
they fpoke. Language is local, and but of
the moment ; when it was meant to com
municate to perfons diftant in place,' or to
future periods diftant in time ; fixt per
manent, palpable arid portable, images pf
thofe ideas became neceffary. Such before
the invention of elementary types we're
the ^Egyptian picture-writing, commonly
called Hieroglyphics.
I have therefore always thought, and
am convinced, that we miftake the JEgyp-
tian accounts, when we call thefe picture-
records, written on their obelifks, arid
other public monuments, Hierpglypbicks..
If we mean thereby that they contain the
fecret myfteries of their religion, and Con
ceive them to be myfteripus fymbols of
* Diod. as above.
N 4 mythology

( -2QO )
mythology and divinity. The. real . hiero,-?
glyphick, the facred and fecrete writing,
the I'epog- Xoyog, aild i$pu yptxfjtpcocrciii the ocKO-r
xpbtya. ypa.iu,fiuros. was elementary, or what
we vulgarly call, Alphabetick. Whatever
chance, or Inte-rpofitjon of wifdom, or
whatever analyfis by reafoning, may have
led to the ufe of letters, it is certain, that
they have no apparent connection with
the ideas which they are meant to exprefs ;
and until the latent rationale of thefe ele
ments are taught, the writing muft remain
an impenetrable fecret. This mode of
writing" by. letters, invented by ftudy, and
applied to learning, and ufed by legif-
lators, ftatefmen,-and.priefts, became, and
. was truly the fecrete and facred writing,
the 'oiTTOKputpa. Xj lEpa ygaujAOiTct, and ¦ Hiero
glyphic ks, of thofe abftrufe and refined
Truths,- of which, while they .meant to
convey" the knowledge to the learned, they
thus kept it fecreted ' from the people at
large. . The picture-writing,, exhibiting
'jcvpwXoyiKug, the aCtual portraits- or types
of the ideas meant to be conveyed to. the
people, remained the vulgate. When firfl,
and by" what', error, this vulgate picture-
writing was fuppofed to be the Hiero-
glyphicks, in the" fenfe "above deferibed, I
know, not; one has but to read the ex
planations which the' moft ingenious and
learned
.¦'ijv... £ ~ l

( 2°' )
leanied:are able to give of it" under this
idea, to be convinced of the abfurdity of
the opinion. Horapollo, Piefius, .and Kir
cher that learned myftigogue, give ample
proof, that it is fo. The great learning
of the one, and the ingenuity of the others,
are merely exerted to befool one's under-
ftanding. I read in direct terms in Herodotus, that
theologick theorems, expreffive of the
abftrufe nature of the invifible fpirit, and
unity, were written in the I'spu, the «Vo-
xijvtpu ypa.ppux.TO!, in the facred and fecrete
.letters. And I find further, that the Egyp
tians had two forts of the elementary
writing, one of which they called the
Sacred, the other the Demotick or Civil.
At the fame time I do find, in fome ex
prefs and pofitive inftances, that thefe .
facred writings were the elementary or
alphabetic writing, being exprefsly faid to
be written from the right hand to the
left, a circumftance not predicable of pic-
. ture.s. Herodotus, giving an account of
one of the ftatues of Sefoftris, in Ionia,
fays, that on a line, drawn from one
, fhoulder to the other, were written thefe
words (in the facred letters of Egypt), " I
" obtained this region by the ftrength of
," thefe arms-" There

( 2°2 ,)
There is at this day, or at leaft was
when Van Strahlenberg was in Tartary,
an Hermetick figure, or Terminus, on the
back of which, like on that of Sefoftris,
there is an infeription in three lines, writ
ten in elementary characters, of which he
has given an engraving. It is to be ob-
ferved, at the fame time, that the general
run of the Tartar infcriptions is in the
vulgate picture-writing. Herodotus alfo
mentions an infeription on the pyramid of
Afychin, and gives a tranfeript of it, faid
exprefsly to be written in letters. And
again, he mentions an emblematic ftatue
of ./Ephaiftus, with a label, Asywv &« ygupt-
ptdruv rack, exprefiing in letters thefe
words, " Whoever looks to me, Ut him be
" a thorough Religion'ft." Diodorus Si-
culus alfo mentions an infeription on a
rock in the mountain Bagiftan, inferibed
by Semiramis, Zvpioig yodpipiacriy. But with
out going to books, recording inftances of
infcriptions written 5<a s-oix&uu, or in ele
mentary letters, we need only refer to the
obelifks, and other monuments now exift
ing, where thefe are aCtually extant. I
have made a collection of fome of thefe,
both oral and ogmian,- which you fee in
the annexed drawings, C. and D. What
has led to the idea and opinion that this
PiCture-writing contained the myftick and
hidden

( 2P3 )
hidden fcene of their religion, philofophy,
and politicks, "has been the mythdlogick
and allegorick explanation given to things,
which the people, from repeated acts of
veneration, had infenfibly been fed ,tp
make objects of adoration. The legislators,
priefts, and philofophers, feeing that the
unveiling of the fubjeCt, as mere matter
of record and human hiftory, after they
had heen made objeCtSof myfteryrand ado
ration, would deftroy "all myftery, ;and all
powef^ took up the people's adopted pre
judices, 'and grafted thereon Fables of
-Gods and Heroes, and formed an eftablifhed
Syftem of Mythology. As the world, in its
-progrefs of civilization, grew more inqui-
fitive and wifer,- thefe Fables' in their turn
hecame too grofs to bear in their direct
fenfe," the light of common fenfe. The
legiflators and priefts began then firft to re-
fplve all, by myftical Enigmas, into a
Syftem of P hyfiology , expreffive of the Being,
Attributes, Manifeftations, and Operations
of the firft active caufe of all things, aCt
ing on inert and paffive matter. ThePla-
tonifts, and more efpecially the Stoicks,
were. the firft authors of thefe divine Ro
mances. Chryfippus *, in libro fecundo,
vult Orphei, Mufei, Hefiodi, Homeri,
fabellas accommodare ad ea, quae ipfe, in
* Cic. de Nat. Deor. lib. I. feet:- 15. libro

( 2°4 )
libro primo de diis immortalibus"/ dixerat ':
Ut etiarri veterrimi ;Poetas, qui frJec ne fuf-
picaii qdidam Junt, Stoici fuiffe videantur.
Quem Diogenes. Babylonius confequens, in
eo libro, p^ui.Jnfcribifur de Minerva, par-
turn Jovis, origihemque, virgihis, ' ad phy-
jioiogiam trdducens, di^j-Vngit a fabula.
When, thefe Picture- writings, . at . firft
mere human recoro^s-pf the affairs of. man,
exprefled by ectypes,r delineated, from the
metaphprfek and , -..allegorick phrafes,. of
the very language which they -fpoke-, yW are
firft wrought into Faffes. of Mythology, and
by after refinements, into divine' romances
of Phyftohgy, it was natural they fhould-,
by thofe who thus explained, them,, be
called theHieroglyph,iGks",,,pr facred Writ
ings. Whereas, in fact, - they .were ori-
ginally only the vulgate; while, the- ele
mentary and letter-writing were; the uoa.
j£ oiTroxpvcpot, ypcx,piptcila. mentioned' by Hero
dotus, and Diodorus Siculus. _::,.,^,_;s;.
That there were letters in ufe prior to
the time geii-erally affigned- to th'erri ; and
that they exifted amongft- a people, -from
whom, thofe who were called the inven
tors of them, learnt them-; may be
affumed as a clear and decided fact, on the
teftimony of Diodorus Siculus *. The
* Lib. "v. fol. 340. ele-

( 205 )
elementary writing by" letters, he fays, was
known, as being amongft the Syrians;
that the Mufe's however invented them.
Now, it is very natural for a Greek writer,
or a Grecian tranfcriber, if he had. met
with the word Mofes,*, to convert it to
Mufts. From Mofes it -is moft likely the
Syrians received their knowledge of letters ;
be that as it may. Diodorus fays, that
from the Syrians the Phoenicians received
this invention and practice ; that the Phoe
nicians, making fome alterations in the
forms of the characters, when they com
municated them to the Europeans, they
were called Phoenician. He fays, in -f-
another place, that the letters were at firft
called in Greece Phoenician ; but that
being adopted by the Pelafgi, they were
after that called Pelafgic ; and that the
Thracian Poets wrote in thefe letters. —
That there were letters amongft the Sy
rians, as here mentioned, in a period prior
to what is heard of them amongft the
Phoenicians, appears from the ftory pf
Semiramis, ordering an infeription to be
engraved on. fome rocks of the mountains
Bagifton. "Lvpiotg r^d^pt.a.(Ttv. The tefti
mony of this ftory to the early exiftence
* So ealled froin Mos water, referring to the cir-
cumftance of his:being found there.
¦j- Lib. iii. fol. 201.
of

( - 206 )
of Syriac letters, is equally of force,
whether the ftory of Semiramis be true or
not. The reference to Syriac characters is
rather a ftronger proof of the actual exif
tence of fuch letters then in ufe, if the
ftory of that particular ufe of them fhould
not be true ; for then it appears, that the
known and undoubted fact of the exiftence
of Syriac characters is referred to, in order
to give fupport to a fabulous tradition of
Semiramis, and her infeription.
The Egyptians had letters prior to the
erection of the obelifks, and of two if not
three forts (befides their picture-writing).
They ufed, fays Herodotus *, two forts of
letters, the one they called the Hiera, or
Sacred, the other Demotica, or Civil;
which alfo he contrafts with the elemen
tary writing of the Greeks, when he fays,
that the Egyptian letters were written
from the right to the left ; whereas the
Greeks, on the contrary, wrote from the
left to the right. The invention of this
elementary writing is referred to the very
earlieft periods of their hiftory, as it is
afcribed to Phiot, Thoth, or Taut, h\ evPs
tjjv twv gor/eim ypcMpyi'.
Clemens Alexandrinus, who muft have
underftood this matter, living on the fpot,
* Lib. ii. c. 36.

gives

a a

( 2°7 )
gives an explicit account of it in the fifth
book of his Stromata *, of whiqh I venture
to give the following tranflation. " Thofe
who receive their education amongft
the Egyptians, learn in the firft place
the method of the Egyptian elementary
" writing, or letters, which is called the
" epiftolary writing : Secondly, the facer-
" dotal, which the hierographifts, the
** prieft-fcribes ufe: Laftly, as the per-
" feCting of this part of education, the
" Hieroglyphics. This 'pontiffs of two
*' methods ; the one is written by ele-
" rhents in direct terms ; the other is-
" fymbolic : The fymbolic may again, be
" divided into two kinds; the firft is a
" picture or direCt portrait of the matter
" or thing intended to be deferibed ; the
" fecPnd is written by metaphorical re-
" prefentations. This is fometimes alle-
" gorized by Enigmas." If my tranf
lation be juft, it defcribes the fact as it will
be found to have exifted. It defcribes
firft the two geberical diftinCtions ; the
writing by elements or letters, and the
* Aviiic 01 tiaga AiyinfUm 'axtoivofj.tyn tig «to» pey viailwt ru>
fuyvxliuy y.pXjjt,ftxrut ftEfioJoy lxj*«»9avs« rip lmroXoygx$tx.w
KzXvixB>y,»' aiingiiy $1 rw Ug«.Tixm, v %jpay[a.\ ol itgaygoijj.ij.aUTi;'
vrxmi o^s «J rr» r<Ksraiat rnv fegopAt/piw, «; i pty Jr* &« rut
vtgiiruy wx}\m xvgu/\oyixti' i Je o-u//.€oAijm. T?; ?e <ru/AfeoAix»; i
fjiy KvgtaXayiTTat xaclot, juipno'iy* i o*e aaicig rgoTixas yga<p£T»i i it
eylixgij aXXwyofiir* ksstoj Ti»*f ivty^af. Clemens Alex. Lib. 5.,
Stiomaton. ,:
a picture-

( 208 )
picture-writing ; and next the three fpecies
of each genus. Firft, the writing for
commmon bufinefs (the demotic, as He
rodotus calls it), next the court-hand, that
which the facerdotal Scribes ufed ; and
laftly, that which was ufed in the facred
engraved infcriptions, which is to be feen
to this day on the obelifques, and other
public records. The firft, the Symbolic,
was applied in aCtual portraits of the thing
to be deferibed ; the Second ufed, as Plato,
expreffes it, metaphors for defcriptions ;
the Third, which allegorized thefe pictures
into asnigmas, which the original writers,
ne fufpicati quidem funt, I have already
explained, as the mere phyfiologic com
mentaries, the divine romances, of the,
learned priefts : the , picture-writing was
but of two kinds, the Portrait and Sym
bolic. The learned authors differ much about
this paflage. Dr. Warburton has written
an ingenious (but not precife) commentary
on it. Angelus Maria Bandinus * has
quoted it, and given an explicative tranf-
lation ; but to my apprehenfion (and there
fore I give it) the above fimple and literal
* De obilifco divi Csefaris Augufti e campi Martii
ruderibus nuper erato Commentarius, 1750, Cap. v.
p. 16. 2 tranf-

( 209 )
tranflatidn precifely-. givps rJhe fact. Several
of the letters of the firft fpecies of the
elementary writing, may, I fhould guefs^
be found.. mixed .amongft the Coptic Vuh
gate. If there were any of thefe facer
dotal books, regifters, or records, whieh
feveral authors mention as written ,on
tablets: of wood, ftones,: or tiles, or in
volumes of papyrus ; and -as kept facred
and fecrete, : in the adyta- of their temples,
there might be hopes of recovering "feme
- fpecimens of thefe hierographick elements.
The elements of the hieroglyphick writ
ing ftill remain in] full * perfection on the
obelifks* and every othemEgyptian inferip-
tian, to point out which fact is- one of the
principal purports of'-, this : paper! - Both
the fpecies of the picture-writing may alfo
be eafiiy diftinguifhed, as feparately ufed,
each to its own particular purpofe, and in
its own particular ufe. In plates B, C,andD,
I have endeavoured to clafs the two fpecies
of the portrait and fymbolick writing.
Dr. Warburton was the firft writer who
clearly and explicitly explained the nature
of this picture-writing, as the natural fiift
efforts of writing ; calculated to commu-
"•.nicdte, not to conceal. Fie has by clofe and
clear reafoning on the evidence, which
his learning fupplied, - decidedly proved
O this

( 21° )
this pr opbfition. - As my : ideas .however,
©ri this fubjeCt, although they ran nearly'
parallel to his,; do not altogether coincide
vvith them, and, from the -opportunities
which I have had of confidering this
-practice in fact, go - fomewhat further in
explanation of it, as alfo differ fomewhat
on the point of the coeval'' exiftence and
ufe -Of the elementary writing:, together
with the picture in the earlieft times,
which: he has not touched upon ; I fhall
-here! continue my own plan.
Herodotus * in Euterpei, chapter 125,
mentions, that an account on. record was
written on one of the pyramids in the
Egyptian .letters ; of the amount of the ex-
pence in radices, onions and garlick, for
the workmen employed in building it.
- -If the picture: infcriptions found on the
obelifks, and on ¦ the walls and gates of
the.oldeft temples, and On the bafes of
ftatues, are fuppofed to be the oldeft fpe-
cimeiis now remaining, as undoubtedly
they are, of this method, the -reader will
-find the elementary letters always -mixed
with it. I have endeavoured in plate D to
clafs thefe elements, or ^oi^u, to their
r * 'S.tf/ijj.u.daA Six y^Xfxf/.a,'tuy Alyvzliut h rp. Tlvgafj-iSt oca lj
re cfff*x;av j^ «gi^jAva ^ axopvSx -suais-t^tuSi) toij Igya^opiyuai. fpeci-

( ^'i:i }
fpecifick. enunciation. • I, have in the fame
alfo: 'given, fome inftances of thefe elements
appearing plainly to be joined in -Words.
In plate Gj part III. fig; 3. I have given
an exemplar from- a very curious hiero
glyphic infeription taken from Norden,
plate. L VIII. .wherein the courfe of the
letters. and reading is in the perpendicular
line," and! think upwards as the tree grows.
And in figures.! and 2 of part III. in the
fame plate, I haye'gorie further, and give
tWo" exemplars of actually legible words in
Etrufcan letters, exactly the fame as the
Utters or ' elements found on the Mgyptian
infcriptions,. Mqiitfavfcon, book IV. b. 9.
plate 28, Englifh edit, exhibits a Roman
affis" with a Jarins biftons on one fide, and
"a club on the reverfe, with an infeription *,
Written in letters exactly the fame as thofe
"found On the obelifks and Other ^Egyptian
infcriptions. Montfaucon thinks it not
intelligible", but fays at the fame time, that
P. de" 'Midlines reads it from the right to
the left Ociicela.
Iii the "third1 volume of the Supplement,
B. IV- c. 7. plate 69^ Englifh edit, he
gives a -f- quincunx belonging to the' king's
cabinet, which he fays,-" has an Eirujcan
* Vide plate C.-. part III. fig. a. ¦-' o
t Plate C. part III. fig. 1. "1 '•
O 2 " word

( *I* )
4< <oW round it, which I cannot read™
This is plainly likewife read from right to
left, Odieia ; here again, I may affert that
every letter in 'this infeription may be
found amongft the hieroglyph icks.
It is Certain, that in the books afcribed
to Mofes, reference is made to hiftprieS
prior to the writing of thofe books. A
learned and very ingenious writer, in a
book * printed and publifhed at Bruxels
in 1753, avec privilege, et approbation, has
difcriminated, and arranged the feveral
memoirs from which the book of Genefis
was, as he fuppofes, litterally tranferibed.
The arguments by which he fupports this
opinion are ftrikingj if not convincing,
taken from the repetitions, and diflocated
anachronifms ; from the fpecifie ufe of the
word Elohim in one of thefe, and the fpe
cifie ufe of the word Jehovah in another,
as applied to exprefs the Supreme Being.
Having difcrimipated thefe feveral Me
moirs, he compofes and arranges the whole
of the book of Genefis into four columns,
in which each narrative is kept feparate,
and yet fo, as to fta'nd ranged in the feries
* Such is the title page ; brtt I have been informed,
that thjs was fo far from true, that, inftead of being
printed' al Bruxelles, under the licence and approbation
of the government of that country, it was attually
fecretly printed at Pari*.
©f

( 2I3 )
of order, and in the place where it was
inferted. By thefe means he accounts for
all the repetitions, the derangements pf
the Narration, and the anachronifms
which have been made matters of objec
tion againft this book. By an attempt to
prove, that the word Elohim was the only
word ufed by the Patriarchs ; and that
the word Jehovah was never applied till
ufed by .Mofes ; he fhews, how all the
difficulties, arifing as objections from the
refpeCtive ufe of thefe, two words, are re
moved-; by referring, the firft to the ancient
Memoirs of the Patriarchs, and the latter
to the compofitions of Mofes ; he adduces
many learned proofs, that writing by
letters was in ufe and practice before the
time of Mofes. I could not avoid giving
here this account of this very curious book ;
but the only ufe I make of it is in con
firmation of what I think a fact, that
writing by elementary characters or letters
was a practice in .JSgypt prior to the time
pf Mofes,. At the fame time, however,
that I do not think that Mofes was the in
ventor of writing by letters ; I think the
ftate of the faCt is, that he, frorn the prin^
ciples, and nature of his Divine Legiflar
tion, forbidding all piCture-writing, firft
rendered thefe, hitherto fecrete elements of
writing, the vulgate. O 3 Mofes,

( 2I4 )
Mofes, who was iritimately inftruCted
in the learning of the Egyptians, .muft
perfectly have underftood all thefe; different
methods of writing; and having feen how
the picture-writing in procefs of time led
both to the grofs and the myftick idolatry,
exprefsly and abfolutely forbad the ufe of
it, and was the first Man, of this our
WORLD, WHO USED THE ELEMENTARY
OR ALPHABETIC^ WRITING AS THE VUL
GATE writing. From the Hebrews it
foon fpread amongft the Syrian nations
bordering on them ; and from thefe the
Phenicians foon after learnt it, and com
municated it to the people of Europe and
Africa, with whom they had commerce ;
and thus the ufe of the elementary char
raCters fpread over the whole civilized part
pf pur hemifphere. . The progreffive copy-r
ing, by other nations, of the firft elements
ufed by the Hebrdws, is very minutely and
diflin-Ctly explained by Dr. Bernard, in his
table of Alphabets, re- publifhed by Dr.
Morton. As I have, in my account given above,
explained, how firft the piCture-writing
arofe into ufe ; and as I have here fuggefted
how, from whence, and by whom, the
elementary, or alphabetic writing (having
been amongft the Egyptians long, the
fecret

( «5 )
fecretand facred writing), was brought for
ward into vulgate ufe ; it may perhaps
neither be difagreeable, nor irrelevant to
the purpofe of this letter, to add an ex
planation, according to, my ideas of the
origin of letters, and to give the reafons,
as they appear to me, of the forms which
were given to thefe letters..
When I firft * discovered (I believe I
was the firft difcoverer of it) the inferip
tion in the caemetery of the great. Ir'ifh
Pyramid ox barrow at New-Grange,. -I ex
amined every alphabet and fpecimen of
elementary writing which I could meet
with, under trial to find put fomething
explanatory of it. Thofe, which I did find
fimilar to it (allowing for imperfections of
execution) ^did convince me that the cha
racters were numerals in Phoenician or
^Ethiopian elements : and that the inferip
tion, now part of the materials only of
which this barrow was formed, is a frag
ment belonging to fomething much older
than the barrow. In the courfe of this
fearch amongft the Egyptian hiero
glyphics, as they are called, I faw, or
thought I faw, lineal portraits of the *-
* Vide the Memoirs of the Society of Antiquaries
£t London, Vol'. II. p. 258.'
Q f forms

(( 2l6 )
'forms which I had obferved- (as may be
read in N° 1.) the organs of fpeech to take
in the enunciation of the vowels, and in
thp. combined act "of articulation. I exa
mined thefe by -comparifon of the act of
enunciation and articulation, in repeated
experiments, copying lineally,, and (if I,
may fay fo) Irterally, the forms which
the organs pf fpeech take in thefe acts :
'then comparing thefe with the various ele
mentary characters as I did, and do ftill
conceive them to be, which are intermixed
in all' the fpecimen s of ./Egyptian infcrip
tions, I found in Kircher, Pocock, Nor-
den, Mountfaucon ' (and I find fince in
^Nieuburh) lineal * characters (intirely un
noticed by thofe who pretend to explain
the hieroglyphics) ' which cprrefponded
exactly to the experiments which I had
made. Compare therefore firft the draw
ings in the plate '(D) with the defcription
* There is a very fing-vrlar and curious fpecimen of
elementary writing. in plate 28, No 61. of the The.
faurus Hieroglyphicoriim a Mufeo Johannis Georgii
Herewart, ab Kogeal>erg, 1607. I have not found
this in any other coileftion of Hieroglyphics; nnd as the
- -book is a very fcaroe one, I have given a copy of this
in plate D. Several of the charaflers ,are exactly .the
fame as thofe repeatedly found on ./Egyptian infcriptions,
-except one, vvhich \ find in a -Chinefe vocabulary, or
word-book, and have therefore put in plate C. part III.
Chitieie column. -of

( 2I7 )
of the forms of the mouth in pronouncing
the vOwels. A may be deferibed as formed
hy an elevation of the upper part of the
tfnauth, and upper lip fomewhat angular,
the point of the tongue appearing. V or U
founded ew is expreffed and may be dey
fcribed by a lowering the under part of the
mouth, with a like angular form of the
under lip fomewhat .projected. E or e by a
parallel opening of the mouth with a cur
vilinear contradiction of the under lip.
O may be deferibed by a circular or oval
aperture of the mouth and lips. I, may
be deferibed by a right line defcending per
pendicular or at right angles • with the
mouth, as reprefenting the perpendicular
ftroke of the under jaw in -enouncing that
intonation or vowel. As to the yariatipns
arifing from the different dwellings of the
voice on the broad or minced Au and aa,
on the long or fhort E, I, O, or V.
that ddes not ejriter into the analyfis of the
firft elements to which the indivifible
founds are reducible. Examine next the
lineal or literal characters which I have
^collected together in plate D, and which
characters I fuppofe to be c-e<%««, elementa
or ypdipi^KTu, and which being fuppofed by
me to be lineal reprefentations of the
forms and actions of the organs of fpeech,
I call Oral. I have

( *'8 )
I have' further ventured to fet forhe of
thefe elementary characters arranged in a
line with fome of the known, and decided
¦letters of the ancient alphabets ; not that
I dare prefume to fay *that thefe fo ar
ranged are decidedly this or that letter %
but merely to put them forward by fug-
' geftion to the more accurate examination
of literate and learned feholars, who un-
derftand the ancient eaftern languages :
The reafons for my thus arranging them
to this Or that letter derive fimply and
folely from my idea of their correfponding
more or lefs to fome lineal forms which I
had in my experiments defigned, and of
their reprefenting the contours of the or
gans of fpeech enpuncing this or that
element* > '• -
» The characters which I fuppofe to be the
- cypher or. T^cupt^ccjai d.-noK.^v<p», I have given
in plate C. parti. I call thefe Ogmian,
from their being precifely the fame as the
fecrete characters ufed by the ancient Irifh,
and called by them the Ogham, which
colonel Vallency has, by a- combination of
erudition and knowledge peculiarly his
own, fo accurately explained,
Whatever was the real name in the
Egyptian language of the author of the Art of

( 2i9 )
©f Writing,, he is. called differently by the
people of nations foreign to iEgypt ; the
Greeks ;call him Thoth and Teute;.the
ancient northern people of Europe called
himrOgbam or Och-am, that is, great Ham,
Tendered by the Latins Ogmius. As, I am
rather difpofed to believe this to come
neareft to the real name of the perfon al
luded to in this hiftory, I have called the
elementary characters of this fecrete writ
ing the. Ogmian.
Colonel Vallency acquaints me, that
3jje has found a defcription of the Ogham
given in Irifh verfe in. the antient bard's
primiefe ; and that the courfe of the writ
ing is in the perpendicular line ; I have fug
gefted to him an Opinion, that if fo, it fhould
be read upwards, as in addition we read
the Arabic figures ; which matter had be
fore ftruck me as appearing to be the cafe.
of the Egyptian-writing, in many in
ftances ; it is a certain fact that the Egyp
tians obferved a different arrangernent in
writing the letters from that which the
Grecians ufed. Herodotus fays, that they
wrote, as he conceived it, from the right
to the left ; while the Egyptians affirmed
that, although it was the reverfe of the
Grecian method, yet it was from the left
to the right ; I know no way of fleering betwixt

( 2Z0 )
betwixt thefe two contradictory opinions,
hut in the perpendicular line, which, as 1
fay, -feems to be the order of ranging the
elementary characters, in feveral inftances
in the exemplars, given by Kircher, Pocock,
Norden, Nieuburh, and Mountfaucon. I
throw this out, however, merely for fug-
geftion to examination.
This paper only means to adduce fome
probable account of that, analyfis which
gave to the firft written elements that pe
culiar form which they feem to have ori
ginally taken. It means alfo to explain
thofe reafons by reference to thofe forms
as mixt amongft Egyptian hieroglyphic pr
picture infcriptions now exifting.
, Not being myfelf of literature equal to
the tafk, this little treatife wifhes to excite
and call forth the induftry and ingenuity
of thofe learned men who are to make the
experiment whether the orginal ^Egyptian
elementary writing may not be found out,
and to ftate the want of information in
this point as a deftderatum.
As this art of writing by elements, al
moft as foon as it was known, and ufed as
the vulgate writing of one nation, became
the vulgate writing of the nations adjoin
ing, and fpread itfelf over the whole
northern and weftern civilized part of the
iEgean

t 2** )
.ffigeah herftifphefe, it feems ftrange, and
until -explained, almoft unaccountable, that
it fhoiild remain fo long fecrete- in ^Egypt,
that people continuing, even after it was
vulgate elfewhere, t5 ufe the picture-
writing -as their vtilgate.
A very curious paflage in Plato, written
expreffly in refoliition of this queftion, not
only fully explains the reafon, but will
fuggeft to the attentive and philofophic
antiquary many, other' ideas worthy his
moft diligent refearch on this fubjeCt.
Thoth or Phioth,: who is deferibed as
the author of many difcoveries -and inven
tions ufeful to mankind, never refted or
ftopt until he had brought them- to that
perfection which rendered them fit for
fradiical application to ufe; when he had
carried any of his" difcoveries or inventions
to that point, he laid them before Tham
[Cham or Ham] who was at that time
king of all iEgypt, and held his refidence
at Thebes.-; The fole point of, view in
which this wife king confidered them was
their applieablenefs and utility to the good
of man. Thofe which upon mature de
liberation and examination were proved
capable of good ufe, he ordered to be
communicated to his fubjeCts, that they
fhould

( ?2i )
fhould, be, inftructed.in thefe arts! Thofe,-
of whofe beneficial ufe. he did not receive
uncontrovertible proof,, he, rejected,, and
prohibited, frorn being communicated to
vplgate ufe. '.'' If Lwas (faith Socrates in
" Plato) to difeufs all the . arguments , on
" all the arts and inventions thus ex-
11 amined^ fl; fhould r, engage my felf in a
lij long' rand, tedious x djfquifition ; but on
". the, fubjeCt- of the- invention of -written
*.*, elements, the following is the fubftance
" of-w-ha,t-I heard in^Egypt. WhenThoth
" carneto the; explanation of the. ufe ,pf
" this invention. This learning (tS^o
'*¦ *»., 'piosflyipict)- fays.-Tfipth, Q king, will
il render ypur Egyptians- wifer, and pf
" more retentive and. .decifive memory*
" The king examining, this invention, on
" thefe two points, aniwered, — My moft
" ingenious and inventive Thoth, we are
" fo -formed, that one; man is morepecu-
'*' liarly apt and active in., the invention of
" arts and works, while another is better
*' calculated to judge what benefit of
" damage may derive, from the application
f( of them to ufe. You the father of this
" invention of letters, have been led by
** your benevolence to conceive of their
" ufe contrary to what would prpve the1
* In Phsdro Plat-onis.
" fa&

ti
a

( 223 )
*c:faCt in praCtice. This written Idaming
*' fro.m an inacuracy and relaxnefs in the
*' application of mfemory *, which would
" be, a riatural.;.Qpnfequence* of . it, would
*.*; be more likely to produce , oblivion , or a
ceffation of the act pf memory, than, aid
and ftrengthen.it.., Fet the mind trufting
** to thefe alien; types exifting; externally;
**. would he lefs Careful. to fix- and re-
" member the real-ideas internally, you
" may thereforeibe.faid to . have, invented,
.*'. a proper remedy for records, , -but no aid
"•or benefit to the application; or ,. exercife
*' of ..memory. ^'. - i
*' Upon the other point of this inven-
f'.-.tion being a vehicle of wifdom or know
ledge, lam afraid it would ; be . more
.likely, to communicate and convey down
to your difciples, opinions in learning
" rather than truth in knowledge. For thefe
** "difciples being by the meafis of this ve-
" hide, in a fituation to receive communis
" cation of many matters without the fu-
. * CaEfar fpeaking (Lib. vi. § 14. de Bello Gallicb) of
theDruids prohibiting their fcholars from committing their
learning and doftrines to writing, although in all other
matters they applied writing in common ufe, gives the very
fame "reafon for it. Id.m'ihi duabus de cau'fis' inftituifle vi-
deiitur; quod neque in 'vulgus difciplinam e'fferri velint;
neque eos qui difcunty Uteris confifos minus memorise
ftudere, quod fere plerifque accidit, ut prsefidio literarum,
diligemiam in perdifcerido, ac memoriam rerhittant.
" perintending

tia

[ «4 }
" perintending and guiding hand 6£inJ
" ftruCtion-; they, that is the-bulk of therri,
" would fancy themfelves.to have acquired
" a juft conception of many things, and
" to have -knowledge, where they have
" wholly mifconceiveo and are intirely ig-
** norant; and will become the more obfti-
*' hate-arid irripraCticalas they will be mere
" opinionifts inftead of wife ^." Thus far
is Socrates in' Plato fuppofed to give hi
this hiftoric narrative the aCtual riafons
adduced by-Tham Or Ham ; he may how
ever, truly* be fuppofed to give the#general
reafon s affigned by the politicians of Egypt
for not fuffering the elementary writings
to be in ufe, and for continuing the picture
writing fo long after the elementary was
become the Vulgate in every other country1.
Thefe reafon s derive from deeper fources
* tlolAajxtybii mfl. hcirn r?; rix'ii s*' a.p.poripa Qa/jS ra
©ud' /\syi\ai a),Tro<pit,aa@xi « Xiyof isrtXvs «y tli) SiexdtTf "$.irnoa
Si liri to~; ygxppMny ?». Tbto S/hii Bxo-iXtu ro M»8i)fia (e<J>n a
©1D8') a-op«1»£8? t«s Alyv!e\iu( >£ f»»J!fio«K«T«ps); *Bogi$ii' ftvi^ns
riyap xj trotyiaq <pd.gfj.xxc> iiigs<rdti. O 8 eittsv, <J ti^vixutoIc @suA'
"AXXoi; fii> riyui &ya!os Ta T?; ri^rtris, oi/XXo; Si HpTmi rit f%ei-
l*o7gat @Xa$ri; rt x} ufttX'Axf ro~? piXXoiT* yi£n<J%x\, xj yvi £u,
•ssurr.p uy ygafj.fj.arut, h citoioit r&yatriov iiVe;, i Svtaiai. TSto
yag rut paSiHuy t\i>Qi\* &>' }> y"Jt«»i *"»p«Jsr, n»if"i? o\fttJ\i\no-'ux
a T« Gia icrirly yf*^*JS Efa'Se)' iff aTvXolpiwy tiJtcwf, tx ey^bdEy apTSf,
iQ a&Tut ol>Xfj,iy.yino-iioititei, vx.ui n»i?^r,; <Lxx* ivojafno-iuf <fdg-
paxoy ivgi$. "Zo<piai Si rois paQiratf S<t£av ix . aX^Sitay OTogi^it;'
qro^vrjxocn xai aoi yrvo^iiyci avsr/ *if»p£ii$> fiToXfyyvjUEirs^ iTyaci Jo^a-
tnt xytufitvi.;, U( \m To «j>\i)6ot, o»7ej, *} jgaAsnroi |u n7raf Ao|o-
(ropoi ysyovtrt; dv1> aafSy, PlatOIlis Phacdrus,
5 of

«f-\vife policy- (taking iffaf the farrleTi rile
thtrfouifdation of their religious eftaoflftV-
ment), tha/i will perhaps ftri^e any of us
moderns, whofe prejudices -run a contrary,
way to an extreme in communication Of
the art or* reading and writing. After this j
Socrates goes on to give his Owii reafon s^
derived from the, principle univerfally
adopted by the ancient philofophers and
politicians, that the higher parts of know^
ledge, 'either in philofophy or politics,
when made ! Vulgate, ate moft likely to
be mifunderftOoa, and to be perverted;
When thofe things which may be fpokeri
openly, and thofe which cannot' with
fafety be vulgately fpoken, are. communi
cated in common to all indifferently, tb
thofe who know, and to thofe who are no
proper judges ; confufion certainly, if hot
daiiger, muft be the confequehce; Thefe ,
fentiments of Plato, if he may be fup
pofed to under ftand the fubjeCt, do hot
-; only prove the fact, that the picture-writ
ing was the, vulgate in Mgyp't \ but alfo
give the grounds on which the wlfdorh
of the .^Egyptians always kept a fecrete
elementary- writing for the communication
of thofe things which were fit only for
the efoterkk knowledge of the feWj while
¦s- P ,J'- '. tor

< .226 )
for public communication they contintled
to ufe the picture-writing as the vulgate*
I have the honour tb' be*
- ~ r '
: ,';; SIR, &c.
p. & v:
March 18, 1781.
j Since this, paper hath been read at the
Society of Antiquaries, I heard of a book,
jlaying it down as a pofition, that perfons
born deaf might not only underftand thofe
.who fpoke to them, but might in their
(turn acquire a certain ufe of fpeech, from
,a decided knowledge of the forms of the-
inouth and actions, of the tongue, .which
.are to be difcerned by the eye, and to be
learnt without the ufe of the ear. This
book is titled, Alphabet! vere naturalis
.Hebraici breviffima Delineatio — quae fimul
(methodum fuppeditat juxta quem, qui
,fbrdi nati funt fie informari poflint ; ut
non faitem alios loquentes intelligant, fed
et ipfi ad fermonis ufum perveniant — -
in lucem edita.
Par F. M. B. ab Helmont.
Typis AbrahamiLichtenthaleri, A. D. 1667 .
5 Being

( 227 )
feeing told that this hook explained the
formation ' of elementary characters Of
writing from the forms of the mouth, and
the acts ' of the organs of fpeech, much in
the fame .way as I had done, I was very
defirous of feeing it : it was in the pof
feffion of a friend, of. whom I borrowed
it ; but found myfelf disappointed *. The
author fuppofes, (as if the tongue was the
only acting organ which articulated into
nations) that the letters or elementary
characters muft originally have taken their
form in the facred writing1 of the Hebrews,
from the inflexions and contortions of the
tongue, in refpeCtively pronouncing each
element. Thefe, fa^s he, indeed, do no
-longer exift,. and. therefore he finds him-
felf at full liberty to form, and does form,
his. vifual vifiohary fpeech, his vox picla
from. -imaginary inflexions, and contor
tions of the tongue, which taken in pro-^
file, gives the forms of his alphabet. In
*• Sacra ftriptura fLebrteornm al'iqiiam habuit cum
lingua: humane motibus iimilittKllnem. . . . P'ox p'tla
fie primitus inftituta eft, ut ficut loquendi organa in
ternum afi-imi charaiSerem anribns, ita ilia eundem per
ioqaendi organa exp're'fliim o'culis fubjiciat. = Primarium
autcrrv loquendi organonilingua eft, e enjus var'io motu
a.t.que allifu loquela oritur. .Qtiifl ergo, (i.loquela pin-
ge&da eft, aliud pfngi poteritquam varjaejufdem motio;
¦e-x eonfiguratio . . . . vera earom literarura figurse,
uliun amplius iu aia .fiwt . apud Jud-i:os. ^>
zi.-i, P 2 the.

( 228 )
¦the firft place,; there are near two -thirds of
the letters which are not articulated: by
the tongue. In the- next place,: as thefe
forms of the tongue do only give the
fhapes of his fuppofed' letters when it is
feen in profile* I do not conceive how
thefe forms are to be rendered vifible, um-
lefs the fpeaker ; hath, not figuratively, but
literally, a lanthom yaw, or xuflefs ; the
cheek is cut away* to lay it- open by* a
feCtion.; and in faCt, rin the ipecimens
which he gives of thefe his letters, he
gives the drawing of a man's headifo dif-
fected. He gives, however, fome drawings
of the openings of the mouth in front,
as in the aCt of pronunciation, whichuare
nearly the fame as. ;T have, given o^ the
mouth enouncing, the vowels ; but he does
not define thefe- forms. ., to. thofe fpecifilek
acts. I could not but : think right ; to.' rtake
-notice of this matter in this pofi-foript;.

Feb. 2,1782, having heard of the Rev.
Mr. Woide, under whofe care the Oxford
edition of Labroze's Lexicon iEgyptiaco-
Latinum. ex veteris illius linguae monu-
i mentis* &c was publifhed; who alfo fpuh-
'lifhed Scholtz's Gi.ammiatica jEayptlaca ;
I had this day the pleafiire of feeing £ir».
I experienced in him -that open nefs and
"... liberality

C 22.9 )
liberalify- of communication which cha«
raCterizes all men of reaflearniug ; he ex-;
plained to . me , the \hiftory and nature of
thefe works, which are confined to the
modern Egyptian language, ufually called
the Koptic, or 'FvttIm ; he explained tb me
a matter very little known, but of which
he is perfect mafter,. the dialed of Upper
JEgypt, called by. Jablonfk, the .Sahidie,
but which he "more properly calls the
Thebaic: he is of opinion,* and hope:.\ ta
prove, that although : the- writing com
monly called the Coptic is mixt, efpecially'
fince. the time of the Ptolemies, with
Greek letters ; yet there are even in the
moft corrupt fome, and in the. higher
manufcripts many, letters which were ori
ginally ^ufed in theepiftolographick writing
of the ancient /Egyptians ; that there are
numbers of words, efpecially in the The
baic dialect, which are pure Egyptian.
Animated by a genuine ardor in the, pur-
fuit of. knowledge derived from very un
common learning in this branch of fcience ;
conducted by particular information in the
hiftory of. thefe refearches and difcoveries,
and aflifted by very extenfive communi
cations -on the fubjeCt, he is in purfuit of
the revival or reftoration of the knowledge
of the /Egyptian language ; and if he is
fupported and aflifted as he ought to be,
p 3 V

( 23° >
it may not be defpaired of: he alfo com-'
municated to me alittle diflertation, which
he is writing, on the /Egyptian language,
the fecond feCtion of which, not yet-
finifhed, goes to the ancient language and
hieroglyphicks. I communicated to him
the tables wherein I- have delineated the
Jymbols and elements found in the hiero-.
glyphick infciptions. He is clearly pf;
Opinion with this paper, that the elemen->
tary writing ftands in the infcriptions oq
the obelifks and other remains of /Egyp
tian antiquity ; he has not yet gone into
the analyfis of that fubjeCt ; whenever he
does, that end, which 1, through defi
ciency in a knowledge of the oriental
languages, muft have defpaired of, his ac
quaintance with them, combined with his
fpecial knowledge of the ./Egyptian manu-
fcripts, may hope to attain, If the few
unconnected words and names ill fpelt,
and deformed with prefixed and termi
nating additions, fhould luckily contain,
all or moft of the elements, they may be
picked out fo as to become a key to decy-r
phering the ancient infcriptions. What f
have done in commencement of this dif
covery, goes, but tp a few ; and thefe are
deferibed by guefs and conjecture on com
parifon, rather than in any certain line
pf analyfis. The want of information in
th?.

( 23l )
the /Egyptian language and facred writing
is fo great a defeat and desideratum in
learning, that making, as I do in the
treatife to which this paper is an appen
dix, a review of the ftudy of antiquities,
its defiderata and difcoveries, I could not
avoid taking this notice of Mr. Woide's
very learned and laborious refearches,
which promife fo fair for difcoveries in
this point. Whenever he fhall publifh his
learned Diflertation on the ^Egyptian
Language, the world will fee much lead
ing matter ; their curiofity muft be raifed
in expectation of it, and I hope their in-
duftry and exertion will be excited in pro
portion, to aflift in the jmrfuit.

Since the paper above was read at the
Society of Antiquaries, I received a letter
from Mn Rafpe, exprefting a defire to com*
municate fome ideas which he had con
ceived on this fubjeCt of the hieroglyphics,
as alfo his views in a project he had formed,
could he be enabled to effeCt it, of going
to /Egypt to inveftigate thefe matters on
the fpot, I have feen him on this fubjeCt,
and, as far as I am a judge, his ideas have
a much more conformable analogy to the
nature of picture-rwriting, refined to a
P 4 fymbolic

C H* )
fymbolic trqifcripf of mythological doc-?
trines; and bids fairer, if thjsibe the right
idea pf the right line, to [give: explication
of this involved myftical fubjeCt, than any
thing which I. have read pr,-, heard from
others. The hieroglyphick writing, according
to his feheme ofrit, in the" elements and
compofition of which he includes; both the
pictures and lineal diagrams unitedly, is
like Algebra, a fymbolic written language,,
containing, and expreffive of the general
terms of abftrqCt. prppofitions, whofe re
lations are marked by lineal figns.
To give fome fketch of what I mean,
when I explain Mr. Rafpe's idea by com
paring it to Algebraic writing, I will quote
Mr. Profeflbr S^underfon's Definition of
.Algebra, that it is " The Art of computing
." by Symbols,", alfo Sir Ifaac Newton's
expreffion, where, he fpeaks of the alge
braic language; " e fermone Latino vel
*' alioquovis, in quo problema proponitur,
" tranflatio fiat in fermonem (fi ita loquar)
" -aigebraicum, hop eft, in characteres qui
", aptiiiint ut noftros de quantitatum re-
" lationibus cpnceptus defignent." .This

( m )
rThis idea differs fromrhe fimple notion
which I have adopted of confidering the
Egyptian infcriptions, as being ".in part
jnerely and.diftinctly the ; ordinary vul-
gate... picture- writing as ufed" by p>her
nations ; and in^par^ diftmCt alfo, the ele4
mentary writing, ufed as the fecrete writ,
ing ; in which I think I have fhewn that
fome of the letters may be afeertained by
comparifon with the decided elements of,
writing, or letters of other languages.
Mr. Rafpe's opinion, however, if puriiaed
to its full. extent of refinement, may, for
aught I know, fuit the abftrufenefs of this
/Egyptian learning better than mine ; and
1 wifh that this learned and very ingenious,
but very unfortunate and diftreffed man,
was enabled by the affiftance of the ge
nerous to purfue this refearch ; as alfo
many others, in which he hath made great
..progrefs ; particularly his analyfis and ex
plication of our Doms Day-book. I wifh
that by fome method of fubfcription he
could be engaged and fupported in carry
ing into execution a work for which his
practical knowledge in the Saxon, Deutfch,
French, and Englifh languages, as well
as his general grammatical learning, pecu
liarly fits him ; viz. an etymological
Dictionary of our language, mowing its
agnation

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N° III,

Memoire. — Being a Narrative of the In-
veftigations and Difcoveries made on the
Subject of the Triremes, Quadriremes,
and Quinqueremes, of the Ancients, of
the Nature of Row-frallery, of the pofting
the rowers, and of the mode by which
thefe Veffels were rowed, by Lieutenant
General Melvill. Communicated to
Governor Pownall, May 15, 1781.

THIS narrative ftates, that the Ge
neral, while in the Weft Indies, fe-
yeral years ago, had many repeated dif-
cufflons with the officers of the navy on
r.he fubjeCt of the ancient War-gallies, par
ticularly respecting the manner of their
being rowed, that he found the officers
nnanjmoufly of opinion, that the Triremes^
the Quadriremes, and the Quinqueremes,
could never be fo constructed as to admit
of more ]than one row, bank, or t\xe, of
pars on each fide, as in the Mediterranean
gallies npw in ufe ; and that if the con
ftruCtion of the veflel could be made to
admit more, that it would be impracticable, nay

I ?& )
nay impoffible, for more than one row to
work at one time : That the difficulty, not
to be overcome, arofe/from the impracti
cability of the angle of the pofition of
the oar, and from the length fuch oar muft
haye in "any row except ¦-, thai whofe port's
for the oars were at the firfh practical
height from the, water: That therefore
thefe veflels of war, having, according, to
this notion, but one row of oars On each
fide, muft have received their name from
their having three, four, five, or more
rowers pofted to each oar. The General,
deferring to the practical knowledge of
thefe profeffional gentlemen, formed his
opinion upon their authority, that this
muft have been the cafe. He fetlhimfelf
to inveftigate the fubjeCt: for confirmation
of this opinion on fact,, as he fhould: find
that faCt to turn out in the ¦defeription-s of
fea fights, and. of other naval tranfaCtions,
¦as given by the ancient authors, particu
larly Polybius,. Caviar, < Livy, and Floras.
The hiue of this refearch obliged him to
relinquifh his opinion, which he had taken
up upon authority as above ; the defcrip
tions, accounts, and facts, in thefe au
thors, evinced moft evidently that thefe
Triremes, Quadriremes,- Quinquere-mes, i&c.
were reflectively fo r denominated, from
the number of rows, banks, or tire of
\ , oars.

( *37 ) •
oars^ which'1" they' had2 oh each fide,'\ai9d
riot fldrficthe number- of meii p'ofted to
each oaf :'- on the caiVtraiy, it appeared
that each bar was' Worked by "one1 tower
only. Although this point was. cfearand
evident ; yet he ha'd not. been ahle'to de
termine, with" any fatisfaCtory conviction,
what cpuld he the poft and pofitidfi of .the
'rowers1, or what ! had befh the manner pf
arranging the feveral* hanks or' tire 'of oars
arid f owers" withih thefe. veffel^ .The
placlrig them on the'fYde^abbve each Other
feemed'to; be' fuhjecf? (at^brdin^ t'6 all-trie
fcherrres of moderh'wliter^ ^hicrf he/frad.
"perufed; 0i to' , ittfuperarjle' incin^eiiitehces.
The unmanageable, length and Weight 'of
the oars,''thatlmnft'ihave been required fdr
•the upper tires3*everiLQ|' Quadriremes" : and
^Qumquerehtesl^noi forpeak%f loftier Rallies
^of greate^jjates-, whicn^f^ive been feveral
ltim.e^u^lrffftfift haVe'rendered the .work-
•ingI^%^:n^fpraCticabteV.thd ptacRig Pf
•th^Sh^errP^rowers-'fP ih' feats ;~onJ it his
"plants5 hoc. to obftfuct 't eat h ' ' other* \ ' fe£fris
nrhpcirfible r- the. great, fpace which they
1 muft *have: occupied' feems" incompWifife
with' all* idea!s'6f,nava:ParchiteCture to avrad
that difficulty-; the unfavourable' aii'gfe 'Cfn
the fhi^'s'fide with which theymiift nave
rowed ;-ahd laftly, the difticrifty"and daH^ef
' with which the rowers muft havrafCended to,

(-2SS)
to, or fat upon the. fedilia, or feats, clofe
to the upright fides, when the galley had
a rowling motion, feems to . be what
neither the principles nor the practice of
mechanics could admits The objection of
thefe difficulties had baffled all . the , en
deavours, at folution, which had been ufed
by many very ingenious and,, learned
writers, for fome centuries paftj in, their
experiments to determine what ji#as the
true arrangement of rovers, in the ancient
gailies,; Mortified with thefe difappoint-
ments in this line of his refearches, and
defpainng of all hopes of obtaining an
explanation from thefe authorities v he re-
folved to try what he could do by the
unprejudged ufe . of his, own reafon, a.re-
fource which he had availed b.imfelf of ia
his inveftigation of fome other desiderata
refpeCting the ancients. He therefore fet
himfelf to confider what muft have been
the chief object of the Ancients, in raifing
their war-gall:es from one row of bars on
each fide, as they appear to have at firft
only had, up to 2, 3, 4, 5, and more
rows. It occurred to him, that , it muft
have been mainly for* the fake of rapidity
.in their movements ; and that, tp obtain
"this purpofe, the indifpenfable requifites
were, that the arrangement of the rowers
within each fide ought to have been fuch, as

( ,239 )
as to adrn.it of the. greateft number poflible j
that -they fhould, have been fo placed as
not to impede each other; that they
fhould be enabled to row to .the beft ad
vantage ; and that their oars;e^en for the
higheft tires both in refpeCt to length and
weight fhould be fufEciently manageable :
'from thefe grounds, the discovery im
mediately refulfed to him, which .was, that
by V combination , of two ; obliquities be
tween the galley, apd a rowers-gallery run
ning along its waift part, projecting out
wards from a fmall diftance above the
water's edge* with an angle of 45% and
rows of horizontal feats of about two feqt
'in length," fixe obliquely upwards from
the bottom of this' gallery, againft this
obliquely projecting part of the fide, , with
no more fpace betwixt them in all direc
tions, than fhould be found neceffary for
the free movement of men wh.en rowing
together, a Quincunx, or chequer - order
would be formed, With all the above-men
tioned requifites, fo < the higheft degree of
'/advantage, which could co-exift confiftent
with each Other. This would a,lfo af the
'fame time ^be free from, all the oppofite
difficulties,; infuperable ,,as- was proved,
4uhtilf his conftruCtion. was imagined, which
from" a defect in the principle pf inquiry,
had not been fuccefsfully .gombined by
other

other mveftiga'tOrs, many of whom how
ever he wafe fully Convinced Were of Very
fuperiof genius and learning to himfelf.
That in 1773,' being. theft in London,' lie
caufed a model of one" fifth part of the
waift of a ^uifiquerimis ^0 be .erected' againft
a high wall at the bottom of a back yard,
behind his houfe in Great Pulthey-ftreet.
This was conflruCted With the fame pro
portions as would have been 'requited for
a fifth part of areal galley, and Jheld in.
a very fmall fpace, but With fufticient^eafe',
thirty rdwefs in five tires of .fix' men' in
'each* lengthways, making oiie" fifth p'a"rt of
"the rowers ; on each fide "of a QuinqueHmis,
according to Polybius, wftd mentions. 'three
hundred as the whole number pf^rovfeYs
in it, beftdes 1 20 fighting'-' men; -This
model" had been viewed by many perfons
of diftinCtion," as' welfas' officers of both the
fea and land fervices, " witr{ fome of whom
he had performed' together the .motions
of rowing iivit,'and* all agreed, as well
'as one of hisrfiajefty's chief ffii'p-buildefi,
"who had come to mfpeCti;t,th£t^c^ arid
no other muft have been' the, CPnftruCtioin
of the ancient Waf/gaffiei, "General' Mei-
vill, after this 'difcovery^'Had :WitK:grelt
pleafure- found, that fome" oT/iheyobfoureft
•paflages on naval matters, which before
had not a tittle puzzled him,' were hbW
become

.( 341 )
hfecon!ie both intelligible and ! entertaining
to him; . That in Italy j where he travelled
in 1775 and 1776, he found none of the
Literati aiid Antiquaries (with whom he
bonvehfed) acquainted With this fubjeCt,
nor indeed with any other naval or mili
tary points of antiquity, however, learned
and ingenious fome of them fhewed
-themfelves to be in other branches. of an
cient literature. He conceived^ that their
want -of '-focbefs . in difcovering the true
icOnftfuCtion of the ancient row gallies had
, not only been owing, in a great degree,
to the want of iifing a proper principle of
invefc-igalioif, together with their igno
rance about fhipping and fea matters in
general ; but likewife to the form of their
pWrt gallies, fo often before their eyes, and
having Only one row of oars on each fide ;
and alfo to the ifnperfeCtnefs of many of the
coarfe Bajfi Relievi, aiid fmall coins, bear
ing images Of fmall row gallies, but with
out fhewing clearly either the obliquity of
the fideSj or the feparation. pf the oars
from them j which would indeed have
been an exceeding difficult work at firft, and
much too nice to have remained to this day.
On feveral pieces of feulpture however, par
ticularly at Rome, he found the figures
of row gallies, or parts of them, with
the oats reprefented as coming down from
Q^ oar

'¦'.( 242 )
oar holes difpofed chequerwife. In the
Capo di Monte Palace at Naples, he not
only faw, on the reveffe of a large Mcdag-
hone of the femperor Gordianus, the figure
of a "Triremis with three rows each of. x\
or 15' oars, very diftinguifhab-ly, ifiuing
chequerwife from an oblique fide, accord
ing to the model he had before conftructed;
but he alfo obfervfed,- -in the •''king's col
lection of ancient paintings ' on: pieces of
Stucco or plaifter,-at Portici (which had
heen- brought from Pompeii^ the figures cof
feveral row gallies, one or /two of which,
by prefendng the ftern part, fhewed both
the obliquity of- the fides and the: .rows of
oars reaching to:the water, in the fame
manner 'a? in the model above-mentioned.

•N<? IV-

( m >
': ; , 'N°XV*, .:.:¦',
Differ tat ion ,qn the ancient QqARio-f ; the
Mxer'cife jbfi it in the. Race ; and. the
' Application of it to real Service in War.
Thomas Pow'saLl to Michard BeRenge'r.

I

"^ HE i defcriptions pf thi Military
Chariot, which one meets with in
the ancient poets and hiftorians* - referring
to a thing: of common ufe and notoriety,
might indeed become, 'to thofe who were
converfant with the thing • itfelf, fuffi-
ciently. explanatory of the peculiar ufes,
properties,, and aCtions fpecified; but, to
a reader,, in. thefe diftanti days, .when the
thing no longer dxifts^ they are too vague
and obfoure, not to want a regular, full,
and diftinct explanation... . evx
. In fearching through: the fcholiafts and
annotators, we find nothing precife and
fatisfaCtory ; and the drawings from coins
and imarbles leave us equally- .uninformed
as to particulars. Thefe feldom mark any
particulars of the. harnefs or carriage, or
of the manner of joining the horfes to it.
•to ' Q^ lc

( 244 >
It was not the intention of the artifts,
who wrought thefe defign s, to mark the
detail. It was fufficient that they charac-
terifed the fpecific action meant to be ex
hibited. Befides this, their inattention in
thefe general defigns to the- minute rules
of perfpeCtive added confufion' to inde-
cifion. ^ -:./vu.v,
In confequence of this ftate of darknefs
and doubt, I put together, on a few fheets
of paper, all the paffages which in the
courfe of reading had occurred to -me on
this fubjeCt j with fuch remarks as the pre-*
fent moment fuggefted : and I did it with
a view of trying how they might elucidate
each other ; and as I foon found, as further
opportunities occurred to me, that there
were feveral marbles and coins which
afforded fpecimen S of parts, fome in one
particular, fome in another, of this fub
jeCt, I formed the defign of comparing
the defcriptions in thefe paffages with fuch
reprefentations of this equipage as I might
hereafter meet - with in coins or marbles,
or drawings made from them.
The refult of this inveftigation enabled
me to draw up fuch a particular-detail Of
this military. equipage, as left me in hq
difficulty of underftanding any defcription or

( 345 )
or narrative which I met with of the ufe
or application of the chariot, either in
war, or in the race. \
In treating the fubjeCt, I fhall avoid that
parade of literature, • which crouds the
margin with quotations, and fhall confine
myfelf folely to the refult of my in
quiries, referring, in my affertions, to fuph
authorities only, and in my defcriptions to
fuch paffages only, as are abfblutely ne-
ceflary to the explanation.
The ancient military chariot had but
two Wheels. The height or diameter of
thefe, in no inftance that I have met with,
exceeded the height of a man's knee.
There are fome inftances of thefe wheels
-being of one "plain dife, firmly compacted
with iron ; but the common form was
fuch as our wheels of the prefent day
bear, having fometimes four, fometimes
^fix, and feldom more than eight fpokes or
radii:; the fellies being armed or fnped
-with brafs.
The ufual, length of the Axel-tree w;>a
feven feet * in carriages of burden, as,
;well as. in thofe of war, drawn by one
* Hefiod.
ql 3 y°k-e

( 246 )
yoke or pair of horfes. When there were
more horfes abreaft, the axle extended tp
the extreme breadth of the whole rank, or
at leaft to the interval between the outfide
horfe, and that next to him, There is a
particular defcription of this matter in the
Military Chariot, deferibed by Xenophon *:
" They had ftrong compact wheels that
*c could not eafily be broken, and long
** axle-trees which would not be liable to
*' an overturn." This dimenfion of the
wheels, and this length of the axle-tree,
accounts for every action of the chariot,
whieh would be otherwife inexplicable ;
namely, the driving in full career upon all
kinds of ground, over heaps of arms and
flaughtered bodies, without being expofed
to (otherwife a common accident) an over
turn. It is from this length that we meet
with defcriptions of the -j- axle groaning
under the weight of two fuperior heroes.
It is this length of the axle which allows
room for fuch a breadth in the car, as
gives fpace for a warrior to ftand and act
on either fide the driver. But this matter
is put out of difpute by the examples to
be found in the ancient coins and marbles;
you there fee the wheel on the fame per-
fpeCtive bafe with the outfide horfe. The
* Xenophon Cyropoed. lib. yi. T7.
f Iliad, v. 838. head

( 247 )
head of the axle was capped with a nut
or box, to fecure the wheel upon it, which-
nut was ufually in the form of a Lions or
Leopard's head.
The Temo--, or pole, called by the Greeks
c?4fjt,sg ¦*, was fixed to the ' axle-tree, and
tied to it by two ftrengthening cheek-
pieces, as at c in fig. B, which I have taken
from profeflbr Scheffer de Re Vehiculari ;
this form, is confirmed by feveral paffages
defcribing it. The end next to the axle-
tree is therefore- called the furca, or, in-
Greek, Sr-sjp^^ and Sfrxisv '£v*.ov. The other
end, which lay upon the yoke, was called;
eltooog -j-, aiid- by Curtius, fummus tenia ;
that the temo was inferted into the axle-
tree, is plain from Ovid J-defcribing the
wreck of Phaeton's chariot ;
Jllic frana jacent, ilhc temone revtilfus*
- The body of the chariot-was fixed upon
this, part where, the axis and the -temo
united, "and.fo ftrougly were; all. compacted
together,.! that;- while we. frequently read of
the yoke's being torn off from the temo by
the violence of accidents, yet we never,
' * Iliad, v. 729. f i t> i
'% Met&itiorph. lib. iii.' rj'"^-<--,
Q^4 fiie si:

( *48 )
meet with an account of the temo being'
wrenched off from the axis, except in the
one inftance of the chariot pf 'the fun
driven by Phaeton.
At the other end, there was either a
hole through the folid body of the pole'
(or a ring affixed to it) through which a
pin (fet ereCt in the middle of the yoke)
pafled in the harneffing the hprfes; by this
yoke to the chariot, as will be feen pre-
fently. This hole or ring, (b in fig. B,)
is called by Homer, Iliad xx v. 272, xp.x&v.
In the original ufe of thefe chariots, each
pair or yoke of horfes were harnefled to
the chariot hy a feparate temo or pole. —
When there were1 one pair— there was
only one temo.— When two or more yoke, ,
two or more poles. In the firft cafe, the
temo was fixed in the middle of |he axis
as before- mentioned ; m the fecond cafe,
the two temones were fo fixed as to leave
two fourths of the whole length between
them, and one fourth towards each end of
the axis. There is in one of Mr. Ha
milton's drawings from the ancient Tufcan
urns and vafes, Plate 130, vol. I. an ex
ample of this cafe, where each temo forms'
each fide of the frame of the body of the'
chariot. 'When there were three pair pr.
yoke of horfes abreaft, of which alfo there are

(¦' M? )
are inftances in the antique marbles, . &c.
there is fuppofed to be, three tempnes: you
will in Xenophon ,read of r^W^off ««
JWw «V7«> and f cxIkovjuo^. But you muft
not underftand that in all thefe inftances,
and in all cafes, . the feveral yokes, or pair,
were abreaft ; in fome inftances, they
were a-head of each other, with a temone
perpetuo. The length of the terrio was
accommodated to the length of the horfes,
leaving no more fpace between the hind
quarters of the horfe and chariot, than was
fnfficient for the horfe to move his hind, >
legs clear of the carriage.
The Carriage thus . deferibed, the Body
of the chariot ;COmes next under confi
deration : in the firft place, it is,- clear that
in the military equipage the body was not
a feparate diftinCt part moveable, but fixed,
and aCtually a part of the whole com
pacted together iinfeparably, . as is aboVe
faid of the example in Mr. Hamilton's
drawings. The body of the, chariots of
ftate and parade were moveable, fo as they
were taken off from the carriage and fet
carefully by, when- not in ufe, and only
put on and hung, hy braces, when wanted
for ufe, as we read of Priam's chariot in
the 24th book of.the Iliad. The carriage,
is there called «««?«, and the body ¦nrelpivQee.
' T/ All

( *5°'- )
All thofe chariots which1 We read of in
Homer, as being fo: OCcafionally hung on
upon, or with braces, are of that fort ;
but in the military chariot, : the body and
the carriage were but different parts of the
fame, one infeparate compacted whole.
We find that; when Pallas returned from'
the engagement, the body of her chariot
is not taken off from the carriage, but the
whole upp&TK fet up inclining againft the
wall *. When Jupiter returns from the
battle to Olympus, the whole ecppeiTct is fet
upon a bafe or altar."-' Whereas Priam's
chariot is an example of the firft fort, as is
that of Juno mentioned in the fifth book
of the Iliad ; where, being a ftate or pa
rade chariot, it is faid Of the body, called
$/<pg«?,' that
Braces of gold fufpend the moving Throne.
The carriage is there called oypq. Although
thefe parade chariots might be fo hung
upon braces, and fixed occafionally on the
carriage ; yet thofe ufed in war, and in the
race, could not have flood the violent
fhocks to which they muft have been
liable, if they were not firmly compacted
and fixed ; and they appear fo to be in all
the examplars which 1 have feen.
* Iliad, lib. viii.
Mr.

( *5' >
.» Mr. Profeflbr Schejfer has deferibed the
parts of the body of the chariot With the
exaCtriefs'of a mechanic, yet he has not
touched upon the article of the hanging or
bracing it upon the carriage : nor has he
-taken -any notice of the difference above
deferibed, between the Parade chaript thus
braced- on,/and the Military chariot.' The
form pf the body of the chariot- is fo well
known, ' that it -would be a mere wafte of
words to defcribe it, .and a n-eedlefs ex-
pence to give a drawing of it. I will only
obferve, that the ¦ front of the body was
made •-' breaft high, and rounded like a
fhieldv fo as to anfwer to the driver the
purpofe of that defence, and was for that
reafon called uinr iVur-xy, or the fhield part.
The fides of the chariot floped away back
wards almoft to the bottom, or floor of
the body, but differently, and by various
lines in different bodies. The hinder part
was open, and although not higher from
the -ground than the height of a man's
leg, '"yet there was fomething-of a ftep to
it called isf^va.'. Whether the body of
the chariot was -extended in breadth to the
full extent of the axle-tree, is no where
specified ; Tthink that in no cafe it ex
pended further than to the interval between
the two outermoft horfes. However, from
the ufe made of it in actual fervice, it
muft

( 252 )
muft have been of a breadth fuffieient to
allow the officer to ftand -either on the
right or left of the driver, as the nature
of the fervice fhould require : on the coins
and marbles we find the officer fometimes
on the right, fometimes on the left : in
the impreffion of a coin given by Scheffer9
the officer is on the left hand ;. in ahaflo
releivo in the church of St. Ftlix at Spa-*
latro, as publifhed by Mr, Adams* the;
officer is on the right. .
The bodies Hyperferia or Capfas, ufed
in the race, were merely adapted, to the
carrying one perfon; the difference of
thefe are plainly difeernable in the various
defcriptions of them. There is in fome
of the exemplars of the chariots in the
race, an appearance of the charioteer's
being bound or braced in by a belt, or
fomething like it, which may perhaps
have been of ufe in that cafe ; and indeed
fome of the accidents which we read of
in the race, feem to confirm this iuppo-
fition. But this could not- be the qafe in
military fervice, for neither the actions
nor the accidents in battle, fo frequently
deferibed, could have been fo performed,
or have fo happened, if. the charioteer, or
officer ferying in the chariot, were fo; tied
in. I refer to fuch aCtions and accidents,
3 as

( *S3 )
as. the officers difmounting and remounting,
and tumbling- headlong' to the; ground out
of the chariot when'flain. • — "¦•¦> ,¦.-- <*
. jflTj-LLvi. -•¦-•: i.'J),:- ". i'J ":
The next confideration will be to ex
amine 'the harnefs^Sf the frprfes j 'and • the
bnamabr -of tacking rhem to the yoke, and
ofifixing the 'Yoki, 69>t$ie Temo. of the car
riage. The ortly J$h$t§ Of harnefs Which
I have met., w|ttrin;- reading-, or feen in
drawings, are th^ collar and bbdy-girth,:
the one Called ik'iTra.&iet. * ; the other Mourna-
Ktgrj'^.'' The- Lep&dna, or 'Cellar, was a
thick broad leathern belt,' cdnfifting to all
appearance of feveral folds ftuck together,
and bound at the edgesi; fo cut arid fhaped
,afc to fit: the neck' arid hreaftv without pref-
fing or pinching in one part more than
in another, when buttoned on. This
collary and the' manner of" buttoning it,
maybe feeh'iii the drawing,' (Fig. C a,)
taken partly from the horfes <>ver the great
gate of St. Mark's church at ^Venice, « and
(partly from a baffo relievo in'the temple
of Jupiter atPSpalatro." The ; fame collar,
with fcarce the leaft change of form, may
he feen in nttmberlefs ex-ampfes^ .-although
not perhaps with the fame diftifiCtnefsi'*-
\ ,-jg. ' .'¦r.rir'r) ¦ o; -.'-.?¦¦Kjo-.i .i:iv.
* Iliad, v. 729*
• -' The

C ^54- }-
The body-girth, or Mafkftliflcris, -, {Figt
C b,) was alfo- a broad leathern belt ; this
alfo may be feen. in almoftvevery exemplar
cf the chariot and horfes.
Both; thefe, rwfe^lfi^edfts. -the yoke which
lay upon the witJiet-6o(^vtC- % c.$, .•bound
to it by the fubfugia; off Ugdlia lora.::L.rThe
collar was i more, particularly, applied-,: in
drawing, ; the4atter ini keeping-". fteady, and
flopping '-the ''carriage,,- From, the manner
in which the horfes were Ijarn'efled to the
yoke, po other tackling \ was neceffary,
or ever j ufed, unlefs.- fome, trappings, or
ornamental additions ; hut, ftriCt ly Speak
ing, the collar, girth,, h'ra jugaliai and
yoke, were all the ' harnefe, ptppei-ly; fo
called, iy ;, -X- ; r;./ ;i _ tiihi::' !0 y.l.il

! Oil.'/'lfji. i7Dj.i.. 11'. Hi

The yoke Orjugum wtas. pf wood, of ,a
length fufficient to reach from the withers
of-one horfe to thofe. of the other, leaving
a prpper diftance between tKem^foroths
•temo.. it was of fu.crfa breadth*, and.fo
curved and hollowed in its form, fig. A,.e,\ei,
that th& refpeCtive ; ends*, which refted on
the &otpos,r or withers of each horfes :mig}i± >s
* li.e there with eafe to the horfe^ and
with fecurity to the carriage. Each end
* Sec fig. F,
0#

( % )
'bf the yoke was- varioufly carved' aiid of-
n&rtiented. ¦ The -middle part iof this yoke
; Was fo curved, 'fig. "A d, andhoUc-wed, as
to receive (the eixpofy the end of theitemo,
Which Was laid upon v it; • Inthe' middle
of which concavity a pin or peg tailed by
Hpfiiert * %?uy,> fig. A a, was fixed^ erect,
fo-as'to pafs through jeither the folid body
of the -head of the ', temo, or through a
ring called Hy 'Homer Kpmogs affixed to the
©ndrOf it. "T have;tafeen notice- of this
hole or- ring in. fpeaking of the temp.
When the temo was affixed 'as above- to,
the'7yoke^'it was faftened and. bound' -to- it
by ^ the long' leather thong called Zeuyc*-
Is&fjLocJi >ot faffiiBas;ftiVhe length being ge
nerally ^betwixt -fifteen aiid eighteen feet ;
that rne'ntioned' by Homer is nine cubits,
or thirteen feet and a half. This thong.
wa*i of • crude of white leather, in order
that it might be more pliant in its liga
tures. -That thefe ligatures might be fer
cured 0 againft flipping or giving way, the
yoke had three or more grooves, fig. Ace,
or niches cut in it, called opttpaXoi, in which
this thong is funk in the tying -f*. There
, were., alfo affixed upon the yoke, hooks or
rings, (Fig. Abbbb) called oweg, through
..- - , - - ¦ tr'.
* Iliad, xxiv.
f Ibid. v. 269. Ev (jUiiacro-it deifa.
7 which,

( *$« )
which, fays E;uftathius, the * rejns Which
guided the hprfes were paffed. The draw
ing in the plate will beft defcribe. &th*s
jugum, for every part of which there, is
fufficknt: authority , even, ; in this. $afj&ge
alone of -Homer. The method . , of ;,i/h|a>
neffing the jugal, -horfes was asr follows :
The charioteer firft put on upon the, horfes
the lepadna or collar, and the mafkalifteris,
or body-gitth, . They then laid th$ yake
acrofs their necks upon the .Ippboi or
.withers, . where it was tyed to the lepadna
and-rnafkalifteris. by the jugalia, fork f<
He then brought them; thus yoked to the
chaript, and laid the pole of the jcharjdt
upon, the yoke, paffing the eftor-ithro.Ujgh
the krikos,; the hole of: ring at the/£ne| of
it, after which he bound '(Fig. D*) both
firmly together; tying them trebly or threes
-fold % on each fide, (Fig* Cd)*- , After
;:  : ¦-- '¦-'. '..I .tr
* Amorigft the Florentine gerasi Vol.. Jl. Clafs. 2d.
Table 26. No I. is the Achilles in, prselium revertens ;
in this repfefentation are feem the ouxtfy oj rings,
through' which th« reins ran, ebta&Ijr as Ilfe^e <Jrawri
them. -; : - ;-:-
¦j- It appears from Homer, in thepaflfage abpifee cited^
that this was done in the ftable before trie jugum was
fixed to- the temo ; but th'eufual way was, after -hairftig
harneffed' the horfes, to tye the jugum- to the vtetti*,
and then bring the horfes to the jugum thus fixed^ and
tackle them to the jugum. . . .
i Homer. ",,' .
... i.»t.i,i., , . -.- .,.¦. t
„ Which

( *57 )
Which the fehjs, coming from the horfes*
head, were paffed through- the rings
fixed upon the yoke *¦. In a baflb relievo
6n a fepulchral urn, exhibited in Pira-
hefi, there- is an exemplar of the act of
harnefling the horfes to the jugum. If the
reader is curious enough" to turn to the
paflage above cited from Homer, of which
I have made fo much ufe in this defcrip
tion, as alfo to that in the fifth book of
the Iliad, v. 719,— and to refer his eyes
to the + many examples which he may fee
in drawings from antiquities (many very
fine examples of which he may fee in Mr.
Adam's drawings, from the remains at
Spalatro ; two in the compartments of the
frize of the temple of Jupiter, and one in
a baflp relievo in the church of St. Felix),
he will find every thing moft minutely
confirmed, which I have above deferibed ,:
he will fee from this defcription of the
harnefling the horfes to the chariot, the
reafon why no traces or harnefs, according
to our idea of fuch, are ever feen, and why
even the pole or temo is fearce, if ever,
feen |.— This defcription of the manner
* 'H»i* JisW fof$Mili. Homer, Book V. v. 583.
¦f Vide plate 43 and 117, of ancient monuments,
publifhed by Abbe Winkelman ; thefe I have feen fince
the firft publication of the above.
- • ? See fig. E.
R of

( *5» )
of affixing the yoke to the temo or pole,
and of harnefling the horfes to the yoke,
will explain evecy paflage that occurs in
commpn reading, fo far as relates to the
bijuga?, or chariots drawn by a pair, or one
yoke of horfes.
Before I proceed to the more mixed
kind of equipage, I will juft mark, as I
pafs, that the ancients fometime ufed car*
riagea drawn by one horfe, which had
fhafts as our prefent common carts have ;
which fhafts were tackled to the collar or
Lepadna, in the fame manner as at thi?
day ; how the weight of the fhafts and
carriage were fupported, Ihave no where
feen or read. The only inftance which I
remember, at prefent, to have feen of this
fort of carriage, does not particularize the
manner in which this weight was boras.
The reader wiU find the inftance which I
refer to in one of the paintings found at
Herculaneum ; it reprefents a grotefque, or
emblematic carriage, being one of thofe
fingle cars drawn by a hawk or parrot,
and driven by a grafshopper. Here, as in
the drawing from the Tufean vafes, the
fide pieces of the floor or Tovos of the
. body of the chariot continued make the
fhafts. it

( ±59 3
K has heeh remarked above, that iht
Indents, in the moft early ufe of the
chariots, ufed as many poles as they had
yokes, Or pairs of horfes in the carriage
abreaft^ but this Was not always fq, fpf
We read in Hdmer; in the cafe of Achilles^
chariot, of an additional extrajugal horfe ;
as alfo in that pf Priam's chariot, of two
extrajugal hoffes. I fhall therefore pro-
teed to defcribe the manner in which they
harnefled thofe extfajugal horfes^ wlieii
they ufed one or two additional hafneflecj
In this manner; It was very fimple, ancl
will therefore be the mOre eafily explained
and underftood: It appears that the an
cients wifely ftudied^ in thefe armaments^
to avoid every unneceflary matter that
toight become the occafion of embarraff»
ment or entanglement in the execution*
As to the hatnefs of this extrajugal
horfe, it does not appear that any other
was ufed (as indeed not rieeeflary) than
the lepadna or collar; For this horfe bore
no part of the weight of the chariot, nor
Was he in any way concerned in flopping
it, but fimply for drawing i and he drew
by a trace called a^tr^ov, inftead of a pole.
This uprnQov is feen, befides the temo, in
plate 130, of Vol. L of the drawings of
Mr. Hamilton's Tufean vafes. This trace
R 2 was

{ i6» )
was extended, between the jugpl horfe
and extrajugal horfe, from the Tlm^o^ix to
the axis. It "will appear that this pareoria
was not attached to the yoke, but was
pimply a trace by which the collar of fch'a
extrajugal horfe (called therefore naf^e?)
Wais joined to that of the next jugal horfe.
In the inftance of three horfes harnefled
to the chariot of Achilles, lent to Pa-
t roc lus, we read that after Automedon had
harnefled the two immortal fteeds, Zanthos*
and Balios, under the yoke, he harnefled
Pedafos by the Ila^of/a, or extrajugal
traces. This extrajugal horfe was called,
from this particular hamefs, napyopot;, or,
from the long trace by which he drew,
called Ef/ga, ,Z«fe5of, or 2«^a<po^oj, which
the Latins tranflated funalis.
The effect of the accidents which be
fell this horfe, as deferibed by Homer,
proves that this horfe Was hot harnefled
to the yoke. He fays, that upon this
horfe's being wounded and falling down
dead, the jugal horfes 'were diftraCted, or
drawn afunder as far as the yoke would
permit without breaking, for although
the yoke creeked with this ftiefs upon it,
it was not broken, nor were either of the
horfes feparated from it. /The coupling reins,

< 20* )
reins, trailed by Virgil, concordia frena,
were confounded and entangled. But the
moment that this extrajugal horfe was
feparated by cutting the trace, the jugal
fair flood again in their due order, and the
reins were righted. If the traces by whieli
this extrajugal horfe was fattened had been
any way tackled to the yoke, he muft, by
his falling, have pulled both the horfes
the fame way, and not afunder; but 'by
his pulling them afmnder, it is clear that
he was joined by the harnefs to the horfe,
and not to the yoke, as i have above de
scribed, drawing by a trace which paffed
between this outfide horfe and the jugal
horfe to which he was tied *. This again
accounts for our not feeing in the draw
ings even the 'body-girth, or any drawing
trace on the outfide horfe of the quadrigae,
in thofe .cafes where extrajugal horfes were
ufed. Neftor alio had an extrajugal horfe in
his chariot, which Paris killed ; and being
fiain, the ©Id man, in like manner, dil-
encumbered his equipage of him, by cut*
|in.g the Pareoria. * See fig. Ti
R ^ ^

[ %6% ]
The defcription of this pne extrajugal
horfe feryes likewife for the other on the
Other hand, as that was intirely fimilar?
This defcription of thefe extrajugal
Jiorfes will anfwer to the explaining every
action or evpjution of the chariot* bpth in
battle and in the race,
* With- refpeCt tp .the harnefling four
horfes abreaft, the. two on the outfide
rnight be extrajugal ; but I am convinced
(efpecially as 1 read it in Xenophon) thaf
when more pairs were put abreaft, each
pair had a temo or pole ; and a peculiar fort
of carriage for carrying great burthens is
actually fo deferibed i but the quadrigas,
which were moft in ufe, were certainly
moft commonly drawn with a pair of jugal
horfes, and a pair of extrajugal horfes
coupled on each fide!. The bufineft of
guiding, keeping fteady, and flopping the
carriage, depended chiefly on the jngal
pair ; that of wheeling up each extreme
axle depended on the ftfength.and activity
©f the refpectiye outfide extrajugal hprfe, '
as will be feen prefently.
The conftruCtion and the compofition
pf this equipage of the Bijuga, the Trigne,
tiud Quadriga? , being thus deferibed, the
exercife

( *h )
cxerdfe of thefe in the games, and the
application of them to fervice in war, is
the next point to be inquired into. This
inquiry will ftill more illuftrate the matter.
The whole of this is contained in one
line in Homer :
Kpxiirvci fiah' ItSa. Xj ev8u Siuttefisv %& (p&CtirQett*,
which Mr. Pope tranflates thus :
Pra&ts'd alike to turn, to flop, to chace,
To dare the fhock, or urge the rapid race.
If we view this line in the light of fcience,
we fhall find that it does very minutely
<$efcribe every manoeuvre ufed in the evo
lutions of the chariot, the advancing and
retreating, and thofe fudden rapid wheel
ings to the right or left, by which they
make their almoft irrefiftible attacks ;
which motion, as I fhall afterwards ex
plain it, is appropriated, of very ancient
time, to the movements of the knights in
fhe game of chefs,
-}- In gyrum grejfus magno impeie lunat
Curvatos„
* Iliad viii. 107.
+ ^idte Sacchia Ludnt.
R 4. The

( a64 )
The great excellence and perfection ©#
this manege was firft * fo to bit the horfes,
that their necks might be pliable and obe
dient to the reins : the next confifted in
teaching the horfes to move by fuch -f"
meafured fteps, that the whole equipage,
when two, four, or fix, were joined to
gether, might move as one body with
out cpnfufidn : Thirdly, to train them
to run with velocity, and to inure them
to courage and hardihefs, in either attack
ing by an impetuous fhock, or in receiving
firmly the attack. The laft was in drefling
them to execute the various evolutions of
wheeling with docility, activity, . and ve
locity : in fhort, fays Xenophon, to do all
other things which they would have oc-
,cafion to perform in aCtual fervice, to run
over all kind of ground, to ftretch up the
fteepeft afeents, and to rufh down the
fharpeft declivities.
The chief excellence in driving was
fteadinefs, fo as to proceed whether mov
ing in the right or curve line, in one uni
form direction, and not to and fro, by a
vapillating and finuous motion. But the
* Xenophon.
f Which you fee deferibed in all the ancient coins
and bafTo relievos. great;

[ *65 1
great excellence} of the hcrfes, as well a^
the higheft fl^ill of the driver, was called
forth, in performing the wheelings to an
exact given curve^ under full, fpeed.
The chariot race was inftituted for the
exercife of this military skill, to encourage
and afford opportunities of difpiaying it ;
and was fo regulated as to require the beft
horfes, the higheft finifhed manege, and
the moft perfect skill in driving. Tp
complete the noble competitors in this
moft difficult manoeuvre' of the wheeling,
the courfe was always fo laid put, that the
race depended chiefly pn the performing
this difficult evolution. He that will read
with the eye of fcience old Neftor's adr
vice to his fon in the Iliad, Book XXIII.
v. 306, wiU need no other explication of
this matter.
The courfe was generally of that length
that the race was' finifhed by going once
round ; although fometimes, in the more
confined circus, the chariot went four
times round, making feven wheelings,,
reckoning thofe round both termini taken
together. The route of the race was from
the right wheeling to the left, round the
extreme meta or terminus, and then re
turning back to the fame ground, fo as
• that

( 266 )
that the meta or terminus frbm which
they fet out fhould be upon their right ;
and, if the courfe confifted of more rounds
than one, then wheeling to the right round
this meta, and fo alternately in a line,
making the Arabic figure of 8. Now
four rounds thus performed will make juft
feven wheelings. I am confeious that this
opinion is new ; but being perfuaded that
I am grounded both in the nature of the
thing, and by fufficient authority, as will
he feen prefently, I venture to give it out.
According to the opinion commonly re
ceived of the chariot race, that the com
petitors ftarted from the right of the bar
rier, and wheeling to the left round the
meta, always went the fame way, always
wheeling to the left in every circuit, what
ever the number of rounds were, there
arifes a moft inexplicable injuftice, as to any
Chance that the merit of fwiftnefs in the
horfes, or of fkill in the driver could have,
except what they derived from their place
upon the right or left, which mere lot
gave them. For when there were from
ten chariots to forty at fometimes, all ar
ranged abreaft at the barrier ; that upon
the left, and that upon the right, would
j:un courfes of very different lengths, in
th?

( *«7 )
the proportion of the lefTer or larger
circle that their lot deftined them tp.
The explication of this difficulty given
by Mr, Weft, in his difcourfe on the
Olympic games, only adds confufion to it.
. The whole skill and courage of the cha
rioteers were (he fays) employed to obtain
the point of .advantage at the wheeling,
and he defcribes them in this attempt all
driving foul of one -another, by directions
all converging to this point ; this, I fajj,
may add to the confufion, but does not
relieve the difficulty, for ftill the chariot,
which was placed upon the right of all,
had, in this firft, attempt, the hypothenufe^
or longeft fide, of the triangle to run,
while the chariot . upon the left had only
one of the Legs of the fame right-angled
triangle, and fo the reft in gradation ; and
what a fcene of unavoidable inextricable
wreck muft all thefe chariots rufhing to
gether, in converging lines, have made \
This feems" fo abfurd, that one cannot but
reject it at firft fight, from the nature of
^he thing itfelf, Put this attempt of runT
ning fou;i on one another, and crofling
u|>on each other, is contrary to faSl, is
contrary to the laws of the courfe, which
forbad all fraud, all crofting or joftling, as
0Ur modern racers term it. And we find

( 268 )
in the 23d book of Homer's Iliad, that
Antilochits was deprived of the prize he
claimed (which prize was given to Mene-,
laus) becaufe he (Antilochus) had crofled
upon, and attempted to run foul of the
chariot of Menelaus,
< - ,
All this perplexity is relieved, and the
difficulty cleared up, by the explication
which I have given above : for by that
route of the race, he that was outermoft
»t the fetting off, returning to the fame
ground with the ftarting-poft upon the
right, would be innermoft at the coming
in ; and if the race confifted of more
circuits than one, the competitors would
he alternately outermoft and innermoft at
each alternate wheeling. So that he who
ran the largeft circle in the firft circuit,
would run the Jefler in the fecond* and
•vice verfd.
Whoever will read the account of the
chariot race in the ElecJra of Sophocles,
and will particularly attend to the nature
of the accident which happened between
the Thracian and Libyan cars ; and to
the fatal one which befel Oreftes at the
clofe of the race, will be confirmed in
this opinion. The narrative tells us, That
the chariots having : finifhed the third
circuit*

( *69 )
Circuit, and' running the fourth, fome of
them had made the feventh wheeling, anpt
were got again into the ftraight right line,
at that moment of time the JEnian cha
rioteer coming up to the Meta, in or near
the point where the route of the courfe
muft crofs ; and his horfes, hard of mouth,
breaking from him, fwerved and run foul,
with their front direCt, upon one of the
Libyan chariots. This is an accident that
could not happen, if the returning line
did not crofs upon the outgoing line, by
the chariots running the courfe in the
figure of eight. But the circumftances of
the -difafter of the car of .Oreftes put the
matter out of all doubt.
The narrative proceeds, and fays, That
this accident between the Libyan and
JfLman chariots drew after it an almoft
-generaiwreck of the chariots theh,rUnning.
But that the fkilful Athenian, who was
laft but one, obferving his time, bore to
the right out of the courfe, and fo avoided
them. That Oreftes, who lay by in. the
race, as having horfes pf that rating way
of going, that he depended upon the pufh
at the laft for his fuccefs ; finding that
«ow was the time tp make his pufh, bore
ftill more to the right, in order to pafs the
Athenian ; and, for this purpofe, haying given

( 2;d )
given the left-hand rein to his horfes^ mofl
unfortunately run with the end of his
axle-tree againft the Terminus, at the com
ing in. Now unlefs this terminus had
been upon his right at the coming in, this
accident thus deferibed could not have
happened ; but being upon the right, every
previous accident naturally leads to it.
However, as the route of the race ge^
nerally confifted but of one long courfe*
returning again to the ftarting-poft, the
Only wheeling performed in it was to the
left ; but to make that matter even and
fair, the chariots came in upon the left of
the ftarting-poft, as above deferibed ; fo
that thofe who were outermoft at the
wheeling round the meta, and had there
the difadvantage, were innermoft at the
coming in, and had that difadvantage mad*
up to them.
As in thefe courfes of one circuit, which
Were the moft common, the only wheel
ing performed was to the left round the
meta * j the horfe of the higheft vigour
and greateft velocity was harnefled extra*
jugal upon the right ; and for the like
reafon, the beft maneged and moft flexile
* Vide Scholiaft. in Amigoae Sopljoclis. horfe

( 27* )
horfe * was harnefled extrajugal on the.
left, becaufe the firft was to bring round
the chariot in the act of wheeling, and the
latter to maintain a kind of equably mov
ing fulcrum, upon which the whole mo
tion of the wheeling depended; fo that
each had his perfection, and each was firft
and moft excellent in his refpeCtive pro
perty ; the attending to which diftinCtion
might have cleared Scheffer's difficulties.
The horfes of the quadrigae were ge
nerally, though not without exception,
mentioned in the following order. Firft,
the extrajugal on the right : Second, the
extrajugal on the left. Third, the jugal
on the right. Fourth, the jugal on the
left. I mention this, as it will be ne
ceffary. to explain fome terms which the
reader will meet with in Homer, in «&<•
phonies? and in feveral of the other claffics.
Let the reader be led next, by this in
quiry, into the application of this equi
page; thus compofed, and thus exercifed
to actual fervice in war ; he will find thefe
chariots aCting as diftinCt fingle bodies, in
rufhing upon and breaking thp ranks of
the infantry, fometimes by a direct per
pendicular attack upon the front, but more
* Vide Sophocfis Eletfram.
6 com-

t *7* )
commonly by wheeling fuddenly to th©
right or left, and bearing down in a tranf-
verfe line along the front, fo as to elude the
points of the enemy's fpears advanced iii
front. He will find them fometimes flop
ping fhort upon a fudden halt, and ftand-
ing unmoved ; while the officer, who was
carried in them, jumps down upon the
ground, aiid puts himfelf at the head of
the infantry, or engages in fingle combat*
At other times he will find them coming
fhort about, and retreating. He will find
them, upon other occafion s, aCting in a
compaCt corps, formed into a rank in tire,
in order to break the enemy's front, and
then, by their various evolutions, making
way for the infantry to pafs up to action }
at other times he will find them drawn uri
in a body upon the wings, and fometimes
as a corps de referve in the rear. In fhort,
if we confider thefe chariots, trained as
they were with fuch skill and difcipline,
and exercifed to fuch great perfection, in
wheeling to right and left with fudden and
impetuous velocity, we fhall eafily per
ceive how every evolution of the cavalry*
might be performed in the fame manner
as the modern cavalry perform the mo
dern evolutions of wheeling by fours;
as alfo, how they might change their
fronts,

(• 273 )
fronts, refolve themfelves into lefler
bodies, and unite again into one. I could
quote inftances of all thefe manoeuvres,
but I think it will be more pleafing
to the reader to apply thefe obfervations
himfelf to the many inftances which
he will meet with', in the courfe of his
ftudies. Various were the methods taken and
praCtifed to evade this attack, which could
not be refilled byk the infantry, fuch as
wheeling back, and opening to the right
and left ; but the only one I fhall take
notice of is the manoeuvre mentioned by
Polycenus * in his Stratagemata. He fays.
that Alexander, having learned that the
Thracians had a powerful body of this
chariot cavalry, trained his Macedonians to
couch upon the ground, and with their
fhields thrown over them to form a teftudp,
over which the chariots of the enemy
might pafs without effect,.
As the Britifh ifland was, in the very
early ages of antiquity, planted by colonies
from the great commercial nations in the
eaftern parts of the Mediterranean fea ; lb
the learning and arts of thefe poiiihed
* Lib, IV. c. iii. §ji.
S' people

( 274 )
people were planted in this land. The afto*
nifhing monuments of the Druids, who
were the priefts of thofe colonies, are
proofs of a knowledge in mechanics, which
we of this enlightened- day only wonder
at, but are at a lofs to account for. This
ufe of the chariots praCtifed by the Afi-
atics and Libyans, was the peculiar art
of "war in which the Britons excelled, and
was peculiar to them. Although thefe
colonies, and indeed almoft the remem
brance of them, had been in the time of
Julius Caefar overwhelmed by the bar-
barifm of the natives, and of other un
cultivated people, who had tranfmigrated
from the continent of Europe ; yet this
peculiar Afiatic. art of war, the fame as
that ufed at the fiege of Troy, Continued
to be ufed even -fo late as the time of his
invafion, by the then inhabitants : in this
manege we find they excelled to a very
high _ degree of perfection. Diodorus fays
exprefsly, that they ufed chariots in war
exactly in the fame manner as the heroes
in the Trojan war * are faid to have ufed
them. They ufed the fame method of
forming- the line of battle, the fame
method of attack, and particularly that of
the tranfverfe attack, which is. what Cicero,
* T il- V in

( *1S )
In the 6th epiftle of his 7th book, refers
to, in the caution he gives Trebatius- to
guard againft thefe fudden unexpeded mo
tions. The Britifh order of battle, which
Caefar defcribes in the 24th chapter of his
4th book of the Gallic war, Concilio Ro-
manorum cognito, premiffo-equitatu et ejfedariis
quo plerumque genere in prueliis uti confue-
verant, reliquis copiis confecuti funt, is ex
actly the fame as that formed by the Greeks
deferibed in Iliad IV. I could quote other
paflages to the. fame purpofe, but this is
Sufficient. As this was the peculiar art of war
amongft the ancient inhabitants of this
country, fo had they the fame folemn
races, to train and exercife their vouth to
this difciplihe, and to maintain the fame
honour towards thofe who excelled in it.
There are, to this day, remaining in Eng
land fome veftiges of the Ourfus in which
they ran thefe races ; which races being
attendants on the folemn meetings of re
ligion, the curfus were near their temples.
The moft remarkable is that near Stone-
henge, which is a long tract of ground,
^about 350 feet (or 200 Drtiid cubits) wide,
and better than a mile and three quarters
(or 6000 Druid cubits) in length, enclofed
quite round with a bank of earth, ftretch-
S 2 ing

( 2?6 )
ing directly eaft and weft. The goal and
'career are at the eaft end. The goal is a
high bank of earth, raifed with a flope
inwards, whereon the judges are fuppofed
to have fat. The line of this bank is
north and fouth, directly acrofs the curfus,
beginning from the fouth bank of the
curfus, not reaching quite to the- north,
but leaving a fpace there for the chariots
to pafs to the career, between this goal and
the north bank, or fide'of the curfus. The
metae are two tumuli, or little barrows, at
the weft end of the curfus :
Some tomb, perhaps of old, the dead to grace,
Or then, as now, the limit of a race. Pope's Homer.
as old Neftor defcribes the meta of the
curfus on the plains before Troy.
From the ' very ftate and form of this,
hippodrome, or curfus, my conjeCture, as
to the manner in which the race was per
formed, is confirmed in fact. Here we
fee that the chariots fet out from the car
eer, on the right (or northward) of the
goal, and ran to the weft end ; whence,
wheeling to the left round the metae, they
returned again . eaftward, and muft pafs
again to the northward, or left of the goal,
keep-

( 277 )
keeping it on their right in their coming
in to the career, at the end of the race, as
I have before explained the race mentioned
in Sophocles.
Doctor Stukeley, not adverting to this
route, of the race, but feeing that it muft
end to the northward of the goal, at the
eaft end, has been led to imagine, con
trary to the fact of conftant praCtice, that
the chariots ran from the eaft along the
fouthern fide, and then wheeling to the
right, north about the metae, returned on
the north, fide, and fo ended to the -north
ward of the goal. But the explanation
which I have given is agreeable to practice,
and confirmed by this exifting fact.
The hyppodromes, or curfus, were Call
ed, in the language of the country, rhe-
dagua ; the racer rhedagwr, and the car
riage, as we find, rheda.
One of thefe hippodromes, about half
a mile to the fouthward of Leicefter, re
tains ftill, under the various corruptions
of fpeaking and writing, the old name
Rhedagua ; in the corrupted one, Rawdikes.
Doctor Stukeley fays, there is another
of thefe near Dorchefter : another on the
7 banks

( *78,)
banks of the river Lowther, by Perith ii\
Cumberland ; and another in the valley
juft without the town of Royfton.
Such were the* equeftrian fports of the
ancient Britons, who even in their Paftimes
encouraged a warlike fpirit and emulation,
and advanced the public welfare ; for by
making pleafure fubfervient to fcience, and
confidering the race only as an exhibition
of military fkill, they dignified' the fport,
and made their cavalry no lefs the delight
and ornament of peace, than the fupport;
and terror of war.

THE END.

.