from the provinces of Carthage, or from Numidia, belong to the time when those countries were under the dominion of Rome.* The first example of the Scriptura Rustica, produced by the Professor, is that of a stone from Leptis, formerly in the British Museum, now at Virginia-Water. It formed part of a triumphal arch, and exhibits the Latin letters AV G. SVFF. for AUGUSTALIS SUFFECTUS, the officer of honour to the Imperial House. Under these letters is a Punic inscription, which Gesenius explains to signify, "THE IMPERIAL HOUSE OF ROME STANDS FOR EVER. The general result is to show a general identity of language, writing, and religion, between the Numidians and Carthaginians, by the evidence of proper names, &c. : thus connecting all with the Phoenicians, and proving the extension of this people along a large part of the north coast of Africa lying westward of Carthage. We shall be pardoned a few words on the general subject of letters-making Gesenius the basis of our remarks. The question has often been asked, whether the square Hebrew characters or those upon coins is the oldest? An alphabet, reputed to have been formed from pictures, originally existed, but all trace of it is perhaps hopeless now. The Hebrews, however, have preserved two simplified forms; the coin-inscriptive, and the square. The former is discovered on the coins of the Maccabees, and may fairly be deemed the earliest known Jewish alphabet, modified necessarily by time and circumstances in Palestine. We need not refer to the Samaritan. The Palestine-Hebrew writing closely resembles the Phoenician; and it may be observed that from their near relation to each other, or perhaps absolute identity, if these are not original characters, there is little evidence of the existence of this last. Both bear a strong affinity to the Greek alphabet. The Hebrew square characters, bearing traces of the older form, are Assyrian. Both this and the coin-inscriptive character are obviously connected with the Greek. If we glance, however slightly, at these alphabets we shall be satisfied that there is no real difference between the ancient Greek, Phoenician, or Pelasgian. The singular idea of Müller, therefore, that because the Greek alphabet did not contain a regular series of characters from one other older alphabet, it could not have been derived from any, we have examined in a former Number:† On the contrary, we do not hesitate to affirm, that so far as appearances sustain an opinion, there is not a single alphabet in the world that may not be traced with more or less of probability, if not of certainty, to a single source. There can be no dif * Journ. of As. Soc. † October, 1835. ficulty in reconciling testimonies differing only in appearance, as to the source of the art of writing, by examining the real denomination and composition of the nation contesting the claim. The fantastic sources attributed to the Hebrew alphabet do not deserve serious consideration; for how is beth like a house, and daleth like a door? Two parts wanting out of the four in the latter case to complete the similarity; and resh approaching to render the assertion farther questionable. The difficulties that have arisen from the want of proper arrangement and examination of the alphabetic systems of various nations, arising partly doubtless from their number, but still more from an unfortunate and idle prepossession of opinion that each nation was best able to afford the soundest authorities for the relics of its antiquity, may be now altogether or almost entirely dissipated, by what might long since have been attempted; viz. a comparison of the several systems with due reference to their chronological connection, so far as practicable. We must be understood distinctly to affirm, that ample evidence exists of the progressive changes of alphabetic form amongst nations the widest separated, as deduced from one common source; and that this progression is distinctly traceable as a connected series with very few interruptions. We admit there are exceptions at present: it is possible there may be really such; but we feel satisfied in declaring further our fullest and most deliberate conviction, that these exceptions are not such in fact, but simply proofs of the general rule. The variation of letters, and application of one shape to another sound are all, or nearly all, to be accounted for by what is now a series of ascertainable facts; and that those which we cannot absolutely explain are fairly presumable as coming under the same principle, and that any doubt left can exist only so long as our ignorance of the state and changes of pronunciation amongst certain nations exists, and not longer. The Greek Boustrophedon has served to obscure, it may now be brought to assist the philologist; for by this we find that, whether written dextrally or sinistrally, characters were read with equal fluency. And hence words that exhibit precisely converse arrangements of letters, whether in Asia or Europe, may be fairly presumed identical. The Rünic inscription was read only by adopting a portion of the Boustrophedon principle. To pass all the rest, as being unquestionably preserved aud authentic, we need only refer to the one most in doubt, the Zend. However suspicious its history, the value of the written characters are recognized and established by comparison with other systems of sound, as with the Japanese digamma, the Quichua, the ancient and modern Celtic; to say nothing of the systematic pro cess of the Cuneiform. That it can be subsequent to the Greek of Alexander's invasion, and borrowed thence, is impossible, since it contains sounds not used by the Greeks, and the Greek writing of that time is the square character; the sinaller alphabetic forms not existing then: so far as we can judge, therefore, it could not have been borrowed from them. On the contrary, this smaller kind might well have been borrowed from that, which it so strongly resembles; and an additional presumption in favour of the Oriental origin is derivable from the fact that many of the Zend letters seem but cursive varieties of the Cuneiform. This we have undoubted evidence now was of the age of Darius AT LATEST. If indeed, as we have already remarked, we compare the two, we shall find that the Greek small character is merely an improvement of the Zend, and turned the other way. We cannot attempt, in the few lines that are left us, to dwell upon the analogies that offer themselves spontaneously to our mind; but we conceive every difficulty will approach as nearly as possible to an elucidation if we doubt the generally received opinions regarding the earliest introduction of letters and their inventors. The question now left us is most important WHO WERE THE PHOENICIANS? A new Translation of the Tales of a Thousand and One Nights; known in England as The Arabian Nights Entertainments; with copious Notes. By Edward William Lane. London. 1838. THE vulgar scorn that delighted to exhibit its own ignorance in an outcry against the most delightfully varied, wild, and fascinating display of hunian fancy in the world, has passed with the ignorance that engendered it. It is not in fancy alone that the Arabian Nights exceed everything previously known to Europe in the shape of imaginative flights. The truth of the delineations of situation and feeling, of catastrophes wrought by love and tyranny, the tremendous influences of servility and despotism, are brought in these, the most glorious of fictions, to our bosoms, and insensibly impress the best of moral lessons on the infant mind by displaying the effects of the worst institutions. In the midst of unparalleled gorgeousness or overwhelming might, the wealth of natural and the spells of preternatural powers, a tone of truth and simplicity pervades every page, and amidst all the remote or the impossible, awakes in us the glow of sympathy not less than of admiration. It was to these tales that the brilliant intellect of Canning turned frequently, to relieve the heavier labours of the state, and he quitted them, according to his own account, always with renewed admiration and regret. Tales of enchantment! though the world may fling To the galled bosom their envenomed smart; How sweet to turn awhile from these, and reign That long, long, polar day, whose very light is pain! Much of the nightmare that oppressed our judgment as to the supposed extravagance and impossibility of this collection has vanished with the darkness of past hours; the fidelity of the descriptions has been recognized as giving the very best picture possible of Eastern manners: and this adherence to truth on one, and so material a point, gives earnest of accuracy on others upon which we cannot be so well informed. Much of this information however, Mr. Lane has undertaken to supply, and no one who is acquainted with his unrivalled and delightful volumes on Egypt, can doubt that he was absolutely the fittest of writers for the task be has undertaken. The doubtful and obscure becomes truth and elucidation in his hands; we are improved, in spite of ourselves, and even by the very means we seek to avoid it; and customs, and manners, and habits of thought, become familiarized to us, even as amongst the chosen playthings of indolent recreation. The grossness too of eastern manners is entirely avoided in this beautiful and useful edition of a work which must have readers so long as the heart is human. The parent need no longer fear, the maiden no longer blush, to take up the work or place it in the hands of a child. Were this the only praise, it would be no ordinary recommendation; but the beauty of type, correct pictorial embellishment, and faithful expression, render this one of the most delightful of works :—a waking dream, to sooth and wile the listless and vacant hours that creep along during "the long siesta of a summer's day!" Die Sprüche des Bhartriharis. Aus dem Sanskrit metrisch übertragen. (The Proverbs of Bhartriharis : rendered into verse from the Sanscrit.) Von P. von Bohlen, Professor der Orientalischen Sprachen, Konigsberg. Hamburg, 1835. THE Indian proverbs and sayings known under this title, were, about 200 years since, loosely translated into Dutch by the Missionary Abraham Roger, who obtained them from the mouth of a Brahmin on the Coromandel coast. They were paraphrased by Herder in his "Gedanken eines Brahminen." This interesting collection, which from its refined and ethical tendency assumes a high place in morals, and is singularly characteristic of its origin, is now placed before Europeans in an authentic and accurate shape: the slight and requisite changes of form and metre that have been introduced no way lessening the fidelity of the translator. We take from the Book of Love one single specimen. "Beauty, like the full moon fair; Eyes, that match the lily's beaming; Dark, as clustering bees, the hair, Hues, more bright than golden gleaming Flowing lines for hips and breast, Like the front of elephants; Speech, as odours sweet confest; These are charms a maiden wants." Forschungen im Gebiete der Heb. Egypt. Archäologie. Erster Theil. Zur Geschichte der Buchstabenschrift, in besonderer Beziehung der Hebräer, Phönicier, Griechen, und Aegypter. (Researches in the Fields of Hebræo-Egyptian Archaiology. Part I. On the History of Letters, and particularly those of the Hebrews, Phoenicians, Greeks, and Egyptians.) Von Dr. J. L. Saalschütz, Königsberg. 1838. THIS commencing part is of good augury. Authorities, though referred to with due deference, are not too implicitly or blindly followed. There is considerable merit in the wide view taken of the circumstances under which this interesting inquiry presents itself to the eye and mind. The labours of Gesenius form a broad and novel basis for such investigations, and will evince how rashly on one hand theorists have argued, and how still more unfoundedly the probabilities they have brought forward have been denied and ridiculed, as we have lately maintained. We can recommend the work to general readers, and feel anxious to see more of it. Asiastische Studien. Von Carl Friederich Neumann. Erster Theil. (Asiatic Studies, by C. F. Neumann, Vol. I.) Leipzig. 1837. A WORK which we eagerly and gladly hail as the first of a series, and trust that the remainder will bear out the promise of the present volume. Judgment and variety of research are so rarely united that we feel great pleasure in noticing their combination here. An elaborate view of Chinese speech and writing, in which the most recent authorities are carefully consulted, is the fitting introduction to many curious details, from Chinese sources, respecting the natives of the empire and the neighbouring nations and tribes. The volume contains also some notices of Tatar speech, and a view of the present trade of China. A New Method of Learning to Read, Write, and Speak the German Language in Six Months. By H. G. Ollendorff. Translated from the fifth French edition, by G. J. Bertinchamp, A. B. London: Bailliere; and Black and Armstrong. 66 THIS is the only mode; the way in which infants are taught; to learn whatever is needful for the one lesson before them, and no more: the men, of but larger growth, require only a larger lesson, and in the same easy form. German, to be understood properly, must be attacked exactly like mathematics, and there is no royal road" to knowledge. Ollendorff's method well deserves the title of Euclid of the German. After six months close application by this method alone, can this very difficult, but very charming language, be taught without confusion. Such a method is quite invaluable. By it the scholar advances step by step. The opinion of Captain Basil Hall, and he confesses himself a slow scholar, in favour of Mr. Ollendorff's system, both for effectiveness and speed, is the best eulogium for it is from a practical man. |