The writing of Italy was uniform till the irruption of the Goths, who disfigured it by their barbarous taste. In 569, the Lombards, having possessed themselves of all Italy, excepting Rome and Ravenna, introduced that form of writing which goes under their name ; and as the popes used thILombardic manner in their bulls, the name of Roman was sometimes given to it in the llth century ; and though the dominion of the Lombards continued no longer than 206 years, the name of their writing continued in Italy from the 7th to the 13th cen tury, and then ceased ; when learning, having declined in that as well as in other countries, the manner of wri ting degenerated into the modern Gothic.
The Visigoths introduced their form of writing into Spain, after having overrun that country ; but it was abo lished in a provincial synod, held at Leon in 1091, when the Latin characters were established for all public in struments, though the Visigothic were used in private writings for three centuries afterwards The Gauls, on being subjected by the Romans, adopt ed their manner of writing; but by subsequent additions of their own, their characters were changed into what is called the Galilean, or Roman Gallic mode. This was changed by the Francs into the Franco-Gallic, or Alcro vinglan mode of writing, being practised tinder the kings of the Merovingian race. It took place towards the close of the sixth century, and continued till the be ginning of the ninth.
The German mode of writing was improved by Charle magne ; and this improvement occasioned another dis tinction in writing, by introducing the alphabet named Caroline, which declined in the 12th century, and was succeeded in the 13th by the modern Gothic. In France it had degenerated by the middle of the 10th century, but was restored in 987 by Hugh Capet, whence it ob tained the name of Calzrtian. It was used in England, as well as Germany and France.
The modern Gothic, which spread itself all over Europe in the 12th and 13th centuries, is improperly named, as not deriving its origin from the writing an ciently used by tia Goths. It is, however, the svor-e and most barbarous way of writing, and originated among the schoonnen in, the del Ime 01 the arts; being indeed nothing else than 1,a in writing degenerated. It began in the 1201 ce !duly, and A‘ as in general use. especially aniong monks and schoohnen, in all parts ol Europe, till the restoration of ah is in the lath century, and continued longer in Germany. and the northern nu timis. Our statute books are still printed in Gothic let ters. The most barbarous writing of the seventh, eighth, and ninth centuries, was in ekrable to the modern Gothic. It is diversified in such a manner as eau scarce admit of description; and the abbreviations used by the writers were so numerous, that it became very difficult to read it ; which was one of the great cause, of the ignorance of those times. Along with this, how ever, the Lombardic, Gothic, Roman, Caroline, and Ca petian modes of writing, were occasionally used by indi• viduals." Having taken a view of the old Hebrew and Phoeni cian alphabets, with all their numerous derivatives and ramifications, it still remains to advert a little to the Oriental, or Indian alphabets. With these, however, our acquaintance is as yet very imperfect ; our obser vations must therefore necessarily be general and short.
In the extensile country to the eastward of the Indies, it is certain there are in use a variety of alphabets, ap parentiv different from any that we have yet taken notice of. Ofthese, it is generally allowed, that the Sanscrit, or Sungscrit, is the parent. The term Sungsent signi
fies something brought to perfection, in contradistinc tion to Prakrit, which denotes something vulgar or un polished ; hence the refined and religions languages and characters of India are known by the former denomina-. tion, the vulgar mode of writing and expression by the. latter. There: are reckoned seven different sorts of In dian hand-writing, all comprised under the general term of Xagaree, which may be interpreted writing; of these the most elegant Sanscrit writing is denominated Dae b-nagaree, or Deva-nagaree, properly the writings of the immortals ; for the Dramins hold the letters to be of divine original : probably they are a refinement from the more simple Xagaree of lormer ages. The following observations on this alphabet, by Ali. Carey, in the preface to his Sanscrit Gramnrar, lately publish ed at Calcutta, are calculated to convey some general ideas of its structure.
"The De.va-nageree alphabet, in which the Sanscrit language is usually wi itten, deserves attention, on ac count of its singular nature and peculiar arrangement. All alphabetical systems may probably be reduced to two ; in one of which the consonants have certain powers, and the vowels follow in their proper forms to make syllables, as in Greek and all the European languages, and perhaps in some others. In the other system, the vowels are expressed by certain symbols, each of which being combined with a consonant, forms as it were a constituent part thereof ; and with it is pronounced as one syllabic sound. In the Deva-nagaree system, the alphabet contains original characters for the vowels as well as for the consonants ; and whenever a vowel pre cedes a consonant in forming a syllable, or when it forms a syllable itself, it retains its original form ; but when it fol lows a consonant, it is represented by a symbolical mark." "This alphabet exceeds all others in the regularity of its arrangement ; it consists of five classes of conso nants, cacti containing live letters, and of nine miscella neous letters. All the letters of each class are pro nounced by the same organ ; the second and fourth are the aspirates of the first and third, and the fifth is a vowel. The lour first and two last of the miscella neous letters are semivowels, and the three others sibi lants.' " This plan forms the basis of every alphabet in India. The forms, and even the number, of letters differ widely in different countries ; but the names and the arrange ments are the same ; the Mahratta ; the Telinga ;t the Karnata ; and the common Nagaree alphabets, with those of Orissa and Gazarat, have all the letters of the Deva-nagaree. In the Tamul alphabet,} all the letters of each class are rejected, except the first and the last ; and in some of these alphabets, only one sibilant is re tained. The alphabet of Tibet,§ those used in the Bur l/midi empire, and two at least of those used in Sumatra, agree in sound and arrangement with the Deva-naga ree, and only differ in the form of the letters. In these languages, some of the letters are, however, rejected, as being esteemed unnecessary." To these remarks it is only necessary to add, that the Sanscrit, or Deva-nagaree alphabet, contains 50 letters, I6 vowels, and 31 consonants. It is evident from inspec tion of the figures, (see Plate XI. Col. 1.) that many of these characters are in fact double characters for the same elementary sound, modified only by a slight shade, either of accentuation, quantity, or aspiration.