It was not, however, universally used for some ages, even in Greece. The Athenians did not adopt it till about 550 years before Christ, nor the Sanmites for eighty years after. At length it became universal over Europe, and has since been retained. The Ionic Greek alphabet differed a little, but not essentially from the Pelasgic ; in Plate X. columns 5th and 6th, both of them are put down.
From the Pelasgic alphabet proceeded the Etruscan,T said to have been carried into Italy in the time of Deuca lion, and from the Etruscan the Oscan," the characters of which seem to hold a middle rank between the Pelas gic and Ionic.
The Jrcadian, Coptic,tt Ethiopic, ancient Gaztlish,li Ru.ssion, Got hirn Armenian and Scla vohic, are all derived from the Ionic alphabet.
From the Ionic also came the Roman or Latin alpha said to have been first adopted in the reign of their fifth king, Tarquinius Priscus. The Roman char acters, it is certain, constituted the source whence al most all our alphabets in modern Europe have taken their rise. The form of its letters, as still found in the ancie..t inscriptions, hardly differs from the form of out capitals at the present day.
The Greek alphabet nay then be regarded as the parent, immediate or remote, of the alphabets di use in modern Europe. It is itself one ol the most with which we arc acquainted, copious, accurate, and exhibiting an elegant analogical structure. SOH, how ever, it cannot be said to be perfect; its double letters are altogether superfluities, as their places might be more properly supplied by the combined single cirai ac ters whose room they occupy, and wnose power they exactly denote. Deficiencies are also to he hound in it; there is no single character to denote the sound indica ted by the double yin although that is a simple and peculiar sound. The Roman alphabet is still more defective than the Greek ; it has no distinct characters for the long vowels, and wants the two aspirates X and 0. The modern alphabets derived from it have depart ed yet farther from the simplicity and regular structure by which an alphabet ought to be characterized. These defects, so far as regards our own alphabet, will be af• terwards more particularly considered.
In regard to the form and structure of the letters in the principal European alphabets, the following particu lars, taken from Astle's Origin of Writing, are curious, and worthy of notice.
The ancient Gaulish letters are derived from the Greek, and their writing approaches more nearly to the Gothic than that ol the Romans: this appears by the monumental inscription of Gordian, messenger of the Gauls, who suffered martyrdom in the third century, with all his family. These ancient Gaulish characters
were generally used by that people before the conquest ol Gaul by Cesar; but after that time the Roman let ters were gradually introduced. The ancient Spaniards used letters nearly Greek before their intercourse with the Romans. The ancient Gothic alphabet was very similar to the Greek, and is attributed to Ulphilas, bishop of the Goths, who fired in MI Asia about 370 years after Christ. He translated the Bible into the Gothic tongue. This circumstance might have occasioned the tradition of his having invented these letters; but it is probable that these characters were in use long before this time. The Runic alphabet is derived from the an cient Gothic.
The Coptic letters are derived immediately from the Greek. Some have confounded them with the ancient Egyptian; but there is a very material difference be tween them. The Ethiopic alphabet is derived from the Coptic.
The alphabet proceeding from that of the Scythians established in Europe, is the same with what St Cyril calls the .S'treian. The Russian, Illyrian, or Sclavo nic, and the Bulgarian, are all derived from the Greek. The Armenian letters differ very much from the Greek, from which they arc deriNed, as well as from the Latin.
IVith regard to the alphabets derived from the Latin, the Lombardic relates to the manuscripts of Italy; the Visigothic to those of Spain ; the Saxon to those ol Eng- lanu ; the Gallican and Franco-Gallic or Merovingian to the of France ; the German to those ol that country ; and the Caroline, Capetian, and modern Gothic, to ail the countries of Europe who read Latin. The first six of these alphabets are before the age of Charle magne, the last three posterior to it. They ale more distinguished by their names than the forms of their characters; and the former indicate all of them to have been of Roman extraction. Each nation, in adopting the letters of the Romans, added a taste and manner pe culiar to itself, which obviously distinguished it Flom the WI kings of all other people ; whence arose the dif ferences between the writings of the Lombards, Spa niards, French, Saxons, Germans, and Goths, and all the strange turns observable in the writings of the Francic Gauls or Merovingians; and those of the Carlovingians, their successors, may be traced from the same source. From these distinctions the name of national writing was de rived.