iv

PREFACE OF THE EDITOR.

writers. In the present edition, it has been judged advisable not to interfere with this arrangement, but merely to point out in a note such instances as presented any manifest error.

To the Plates of M. Silvestre the most unqualified praise can be given, and it is only to be regretted that he did not personally visit the libraries of England as well as those of France, Rome, Vienna, and Munich, as by so doing he might have rendered the series of specimens of English writing equally full and complete as those of France, Italy, or Germany. This deficiency, however, is in some measure supplied by the works published in England by Shaw, Westwood, and Humphreys, all of which have contributed to diffuse a wider taste for palæography, and a more accurate knowledge of its various branches. To accomplish this desirable object more completely, an English edition of Silvestre seemed called for, in which the original Plates might be used, and retain all the advantages of their size, execution, and colouring, whilst the text by compression in an octavo form might be consulted with much greater convenience and at far less expense.

In order to render the English text on all accounts worthy of confidence, the Editor has not only scrupulously revised the translation word by word with the original, but has verified every statement and

reference in it to the utmost of his power, and in the notes at the foot of the page has added many corrections of inaccuracies which previously disfigured the work. A few omissions have also occasionally been made in the text itself, with a view to its improvement in such passages as were rendered obscure by the verbiage of the original. For the theory of the formation and dispersion of languages (embracing the history of mankind,) advanced in the Introduction, the French writers are, of course, solely responsible, but the Editor has ventured occasionally to soften expressions which might appear offensive to those who have formed different conclusions on such an important but difficult subject.

BRITISH MUSEUM,

August, 1849.

XIII. XIV. SIAMESE WRITING. Religious and astrological treatises. (Ibid.)..

XVIITH XVIIITH

XXTH to VTH B.C.

IIIRD XVIIITMH

XVITH XIXTH

Unknown.

XITH

XTH [XIITH?]

SAMARITAN WRITING. Pentateuch in the Bibl. Roy.,
Paris

HEBREW WRITING. Bible in the monastery of St. Sal-
vatore, at Bologna

Various Biblical texts. (Bibl. R., Paris)

Pentateuch roll belonging to the Duke d'Aumale
Recent Alphabet

XITH-XVTH

XVITH

XIXTH

XXXVII.-XXXIX. TURKISH WRITING. Various specimens. (Ibid.) XVI-XVIIITH

XL.

XLI.

..

OUIGOUR WRITING. Treatise on the fabulous ascen-
sion of Mohammed. (Ibid.)

MADAGASH ARABIC WRITING. Religious formulas.
(Ibid.)..
XLII. ARMENIAN WRITING. Various specimens. (Ibid.)
XLIII. GEORGIAN WRITING. Liturgical texts. (Ibid.)
XLIV.-XLIX. EGYPTIAN WRITING. Specimens of the hieroglyphic,
hieratic, and demotic characters. (Bibl. R., and
Mus. du Louvre, Paris; Museums at Turin, Vienna,
&c.)
COPTIC Writing. Various specimens.
Mus., Rome, and Bibl. R., Paris)

..

(Borgian

Evangeliarium of the Bishop of Damietta. (Bibl. R., Paris, No. 13)

XVTH

XVIITH
XITH XVITH

XIVTH XVIITH

XVTH to IIND B.C.

L. LI.

VITH-XIVTH

LII.

XIITH

Fragments of a Treatise on Rhetoric, and of the Iliad, on papyrus. (Mus. Egypt. du Louvre, Paris) III and IST B.C.6.14 (

Petition to King Ptolemy Philometor, on

..

papyrus. (Ibid.)
SMALL CAPITAL WRITING. Fragment of a papyrus
from Herculaneum, containing a Treatise on Music.
(Mus. Bourbon, Naples)
CURSIVE WRITING. Astrological natal theme, on
papyrus. (Mus. Roy. du Louvre, Paris) .

IIND B.C.143

IST B.C.. 146

IISD A.C. p. 149

Letter missive, and fragment, on papyrus.

LVIII.

LIX.

LX.

+ B

(Mus. Egypt. du Louvre, Paris)
UNCIAL WRITING. Roman History of Dion Cassius
(Bibl. Vat., No. 1288); and the Codex Vaticanus of
the Bible. (No. 1209) +

IIND IIIRD./52

IVTH VITH 154