pronounces it.ritional, and requiring no particular refu tation. O such a subject the hlsuop is certainty very withal ; rani ctcrbestoucd so 6011 to in% esligate tile, title constituent principles 01 .11' tiCthatC speech, or the various methods of expressing it by writing ; and few have been better qualifier' to ascer tain what It as doubtful in the principles, by extensive learning, great ingenuity, and indefatigable perseve rance. in his Essay towards a real character and phi losophical language, he gives it as the result of his in vestigation, that .",1.characters would be requisite to ex press all the articulate sounds that are commonly used in the various known languages ; and this number lie thinks would be sufficient. The hollowing is a list of these cha.raciers expressed as nearly as may he in Eng lish spelling, with the bishop's remarks subjoined con cerning their frequent or more rare occurrence.
.172t, (as in law,) is frequently used by other naCons, but not owned w ith a distinct char icter by the English.
.4, (as in man,) is used by us Englishmen, but not so much by other nations.
B, (as in send,) is generally received, but very ambi guously pronounced.
I, (as is, not owned by us for a distinct vowel, lhough we frequently use the power of it ; and the Mexi cans are said not to use this letter. (Purcha.y. lib. v.
e. 9.) 0, (as in i'en.v,) is not in the Armenian alphabet, nor do the Syrians own it, but use or instead of it. some of the ancient cities of Italy, the Umbri and TuNei for instance, do not use this vowel, but n instead of it. (Priscian. Bishop Walton, introd. et Probg. lib. xiii. 5.) (as in foc/,) according to the true power of it, is not owned by us, nor by many other nations with a dis tinct claracte r.
U, (as in hot,) is scarce acknowledged by any nation except the Welsh, as requiring a separate character.
U, (as pronounced by the French.) " is, I think," says the Biship, proper to the French, and used by none else.' (*) .1/ and .V are so general, that I have not yet mt t with an account of any nation by whom they are not used.
is not owned for a letter by any, except pernaps the Ileb•ws.
? is not pronounced by the Mexicans, Arabians, Per sians, Saxons.
1)h seems difficult to most nations, though frequently used by us Englishmen.
G /2 is riot any where used except amongst the Irish.
L is not used by the Brasilians, (Vincent le Part iii. 16.) nor the men of Japan. (Alex. Diction. c. 1.) Many of the Italians, espee the Florentines, do scent to dislike this letter, though others style it the sweetest of ail the rest, saith sir Tho mas Smith. (Dc recta sent:none lincux .122,rflicanx.)
1? is not used by the Mexicans, Brasilians, nor the men of China, (say several of the same authors.) The. Americans near New England, pronounce neither L nor R; hut use N instead of both, pronouncing Nobsian for Lobster.
Z is not owned for a letter by the inhabitants of Co chin-China. (Alex. Rhodes, ibid.) Zh is not owned for a distinct letter either by us Eng lish, or almost any' other.
11m, 1ln, flag, are not, for aught I know, owned by any, excepting only the Welsh and Irish ; and the last perhaps by the Jews.
F is not pronounced by the Brasilians.
Th seems difficult to nations, and is owned by very few to be a distinct letter.
Ch is not used by any, OM. aught I can and) except the Grecians and the Welsh. ) is almost proper to the Welsh, and scarce used by others.
fI though frequent among the Grecians, yet is rarely used by others.
8 is not used by the Mexicans. (Purchus. lib. c. 9.) •/2. That this was not universal among the Jews, may appear by the Scripture story of Shibo/eth, nor is it either in the Greek or Latin.
.8 is not pronounced by the men of China or Japan. (Id. lib. x. e. 3.) D is not used amongst the inhabitants of China. Item, vol. v. c. 18. sect. 6.) G is not pronounced by the Mexicans. ( rossius de Gr. cap. 27 ) 1' is not acknowledged in the Arabic, nor was this used amongst the Jews before the invention of points. 7' is not used by the inhabitants of Japan.
C, as restrained to the power of K, is, for aught I kuow, of general use. (Essay towards a real Character, Part iii. c. 14.) It must he owned, that this alphabet of bishop Wil kins', is ingeniously construct•d ; and if brought into use, it would be sufficiently copious for the notation of almost any language with which we are acquainted ; in deed it may be rather deemed unnecessarily copious, as there would undoubtedly be no great occasion ever to adopt separate characters for sounds so seldom occur ing, as the hl, Jim, or hn.
For the notation of most of the modern European lan guages, with sufficient precision and fullness, it would appear that an alphabet, consisting of 28 or 29 distinct letters, might completely suffice, provided each of these were invariably appropriated to a different elementary sound, and none of them rendered superfluous, by either expressing a compounded instead of a simple sound, or by expressing a sound already marked by another cha racter..