name of the second letter is Beth, whence the Greeks derived their Beta; and almost all who have paid any attention to these languages must have remarked, that in none of them does the form of the letter bear the least resemblance to a house, which the word Beth signifies. In the Runic only the form agrees with the name, and carries us back to hieroglyphics, the precursors of letters, and to a tent which is the house of a Nomadic people in the very infancy of civil society.

CHAP. III.

ON DIVERSITIES OF LANGUAGE WHICH APPEAR TO HAVE BEEN PRODUCED BY DIFFERENT MODES OF WRITING, THAT IS, FROM RIGHT TO LEFT, OR FROM LEFT TO RIGHT.

1. AT the first view of the subject, and before we have had time to collect the results of experience by the aid of memory, and deduce logical conclusions from them by the exercise of the reasoning faculty, the art of alphabetical writing appears to be calculated to fix the sounds of language beyond the possibility of mutation or accident; and yet on a close and attentive examination, we shall find reason to believe that the most rude and unwritten languages have experienced fewest and least changes, and the most polished and early written, the most numerous and greatest; in short, that refinement in language is almost another word for revolution. Almost all must have remarked the changes produced in language by the dropping of superfluous letters, by dismissing clusters of consonants, by the elision of vowels, and by the rejection of aspirates, initial and medial; in some instances, to assist the hand in writing, to keep pace with the speed of thought, and, in others, to gratify the ear by the charms of harmony, and add new attractions to the declamation of the orator, and the song of the poet. Instances of this sort are familiar to the minds of most well educated men; but perhaps it has occurred to few, and even when pointed out, will not be readily believed, that large classes of words have had their origin in, and been created by the art of alphabetical writing itself; and that if that art had never been invented, the probability is, that many words which we now find in the dictionaries of the oldest written languages would never have existed.

11. There are three leading modes or divisions in the art of writing, whether in hieroglyphics or letters; in a real character the sign of things, or a vocal character the sign of sounds. The Chinese, who, as my readers are well aware, use a real character, write from the top of the page to the bottom, in which they are followed by the Ceylonese, and many other Oriental nations who use an alphabetical character. The great family of the Shemitic, or Arabic class of languages, the Hebrew, the Chaldee, the Syriac, the Samaritan, and of course the Arabic itself, have from time immemorial been written from right to left; while, on the other hand, the Sanskrit, or Indian class of languages, comprehending the Sarmatian, or great Slavonic family, together with all the languages of modern Europe, are now written from left to right. But this was not always the case, for a few of the oldest Greek inscriptions, denominated Boustrophedon, from their supposed resemblance to the action of an ox ploughing, are written in lines running from left to right, and from right to left alternately. This mode of writing may be regarded as a connecting link between the two great families of languages, of which the Arabic and the Sanskrit may be regarded as the keys; but there are grounds for suspecting that, at a still earlier period, the Greeks wrote entirely from right to left like the Phoenicians, as by far the larger part of the inscriptions denominated Etruscan, but which are really little more than the remains of the Greeks settled in Italy, are written in that manner.

III. I shall begin with the names of some of the gods, commencing with the Chinese, as there are strong grounds for believing that their monosyllabic language, if not the oldest, is at any rate among the oldest spoken by mankind. In that language we find the word Tien, heaven, which is personified as a god, and appears to correspond as nearly as possible with the Ouranos of the Greeks, and the Coelus of the Romans. If we reverse Tien, or read it from right to left, we have Neit; and if we repair to Sais in ancient Egypt, we find the temple of Neitha with the following inscription, as given in Enfield's History of Philosophy: "I am whatever is, or has

been, or will be, and no mortal has hitherto drawn aside my veil; my offspring is the Sun." Neitha was certainly either Heaven personified, like the Chinese Tien, or Eternity, or at different periods both. Greek tradition brings Cecrops and a colony of Saites to Athens, and if we reverse Neitha again, drop the i, and add a final Eta to the word, we shall have the name of their tutelary goddess Athene; and the elder Minerva, or Metis, has much in common with Urania. In other words, the Greek Athene is etymologically the Chinese Tien, with a prefix and affix; while, mythologically, the Chinese worship a goddess, to whom they give the name of Tien-Heou, or Queen of Heaven.

IV. Again, if we take the Chinese word Tien, heaven, and recollect that d is a letter of the same organ with the initial t, we have Dien. In Sanskrit we find Tihan, a bow, and shall perhaps see reason to believe that the oldest Grecian Dihan or Diana, was the concavity or expanse of heaven personified. Diana, the goddess of hunting, is clearly the mere creation of poetry of a comparatively modern age. If we reverse Dihan, write Nahid, and open a Persic dictionary at the word, we shall find that it signifies the planet Venus, and a girl with a swelling bosom. If we prefix a to Nahid, and change the final d into Tis, we shall have Anaitis, which Strabo will inform us was a name of Venus in Armenia, and Pausanias of Diana in Lydia; while Pliny doubts if the worship offered by the Armenians was directed to Venus or Diana. Again, if we will take the trouble to open a Persic dictionary at the word Nihad, or Nahid transposed, we shall perceive that it signifies nature; and we discover in the Greek mythology ample reasons for believing that some of the goddesses, worshipped under the name of Diana, were merely so many personifications or abstract ideas of nature, as our common mother. The Arabic name of nature is Tabiat ; and Herodotus informs us, that the name of Vesta, or the Bona Dea among the Scythians, was Tabiti, which is doubtless the same word. Many of the Scythian words mentioned by Herodotus are unquestionably Arabic and Persic, having been carried into that bleak region by emigrants from the

countries of Southern Asia, impelled by the operation of the principle of population.

v. Again, we learn from Herodotus, that Mitra was the name of Venus among the ancient Persians. Written with the aspirate Theta, Mithras, or Mithres, it was undoubtedly a name of the sun, their principal god. The same author informs us, that the name of Venus among the Scythians was Artimpasa. Artim is certainly Mitra reversed, and Pasa may be the Sanskrit word Bhas, shine; and the name will apply either to the planet Venus, or the moon. The Egyptian Isis was the moon, the Syrian Ashteroth or Astarte was the moon, or the queen of heaven; and Cicero says that Astarte was the name of Venus in Assyria. Some authors inform us, that Mithras or Mithres was the name of the sun among the Persians, and Mithra of the moon. Be that as it may, the Greeks formed their Artemis by reversing Mitra, and indeed appear to have borrowed both the word and the worship from the Scythians. The Tauric Diana

was the tutelary goddess of Sparta, and Artemis reversed and transposed produces something like Misitra, the modern name of the city, but which is probably really as old as Sparta itself.

VI. If we open Wilson's Sanskrit Dictionary at the word Rama, we shall perceive that one of its meanings is the deity of love, Kama; and if we reverse the word, or write it from right to left, we shall have Amar, and by changing the a into o, Amor, love, or the god of love; but as the verb, which is unquestionably cognate, is written Amare, it may be fairly doubted if Amar is not an older reading than Amor. Again we find the Sanskrit word Dipaka, with the signification of kindling or inflaming, as another of the names of Kama, or love. Sir William Jones says the word is frequently written incorrectly Dipuc, and, reversing that form of it, we have the Latin Cupid, letter for letter, and the adjective cupidus. We have just seen that Rama in Sanskrit signifies love, and in Arabic the radical letters Rhm, pronounced Rahm, signify the womb, matrix, compassion, mercy, which, reversed Mhr, in Persic signifies love and the sun. There can be little doubt that