to others at a distance, of what had happened, or for preserving the memory of facts which they sought to record. Thus, to signify that one man had killed another, they drew the figure of a man stretched upon the ground, and another man standing by with a deadly weapon in his hand. Pictures could do no more than delineate external events. They could neither exhibit the connexions of them, nor describe such qualities as were not visible to the eye, nor convey any idea of the dispositions or words of men. To supply, in some degree, this defect, there arose, in progress of time, the invention of what are called hieroglyphical characters, or sacred sculpture, which are derived from two Greek words, signifying — sacred and to carve: which may be considered as the second stage in the art of writing. Hieroglyphics consist in certain symbols, which are made to stand for invisible objects, on account of some analogy, or resemblance, which such symbols are supposed to bear to the object. Thus, an eye was the hieroglyphic symbol of knowledge; a circle, of eternity, which has neither beginning nor end; honour, was denoted by a feather or palm branch; ingratitude, by a viper; impudence, by a fly; wisdom, by an ant; victory, by a hawk; a dutiful child, by a stork; a man universally shunned, by an eel; sometimes, they joined together two or more of the hieroglyphical characters; as a serpent, with a hawk's head, to denote nature, with God presiding over it.
Another remarkable instance, is the style of the Old Testament, which is carried on by constant allusions to sensible objects. Indignity or guilt, is expressed by a spotted garment; misery, by drinking the cup of astonishment; vain pursuits, by feeding on ashes; a sinful life, by a crooked path; prosperity, by the candle of the Lord shining on our head; and the like innumerable instances. But, as many of these properties of objects which they assumed for the foundation of their hieroglyphics, were merely imaginary, and the allusions drawn from them, were forced and ambiguous; this sort of writing could be no other than enigmatical, and confused in the highest degree.
The invention of hieroglyphical writing has been attributed to two causes:—the first of which has the erudite Kircher to support it, namely, "that it was invented by the Egyptian priests to conceal their knowledge of arts, sciences, and religion." The second, which is adopted by Bishop Warburton, in his Essay on Hieroglyphics, supposes "that they were invented merely as the first rude system of writing, which was afterwards exchanged for an alphabetical character," and that Kircher is under a general error. Both these origins are disputed.
The advocates of the mere human origin of letters, refer us to the Egyptian and Mexican hieroglyphics as to the rudiments of alphabets, and assure us, that "necessity, convenience, or chance would produce abbreviated marks, and ultimately the alphabetical character and system." But in no instance, do they shew us a nation carrying hieroglyphical signs to their completion in an alphabet. The Egyptians and Mexicans never appear to have deduced letters from the symbolic figures, which they were accustomed to describe, but to have continued the use of them with unvaried similarity, through the whole period of their history. The Greeks and other nations, on the contrary, who made use of alphabetical characters, never spoke of them as derived from hieroglyphical delineations, but as the invention of particular persons, or as communicated to them by their gods.
It cannot be doubted, that the first letters invented by men, were representations of
