LETTERS.

Letters, as γραμματα or characters, either really or emblematically personate, and represent things and ideas; and as notes of articulate sounds signify internal conceptions, and express them to others. They consist of various sorts, such as simple characters to denote elements or principles; compounds to express complex ideas, and things; the dividers of parts; actives, energies, and affirmatives; and privatives, and negatives. These are the smallest or elementary parts of language, as atoms are of matter and action of motion; an assemblage thereof form particles, as of atoms do those of matter; and a combination of either form more sensible bodies, and so on to the construction of larger forms, masses or sentences; letters having been formed in their shapes and sounds, agreeable to ideas and things, and having a natural connection therewith; and length and breadth affecting the eye in the same manner as their vibrations do the ear, and a combination of both the human will and perception.

Characters, which consist of irregular lines, circles, or curves, are incapable of general signs or meanings, or representing many things; but strait lines, and circles, and their division and multiplication, like the Roman, only are capable of that hieroglyfic, universal representation and meaning, which the first universal language must be supposed to express, and as most other characters seem to be only deviations from the Roman, from mere affectation, or for the conveniency of sculpture, there seems to be no great absurdity in supposing that Adam was furnished with those characters, and instructed in their sounds; that they continued in general use until the confusion of Babel, when mankind began to make use of the noise or sounds of cattle instead of human voices; and that the Romans were furnished with those characters by the Tuscans on their arrival in Italy. Nor does it seem in the least probable that those nations which had been destined by Providence to be the possessors of the most distant countries westward from Asia, who made their way thither accordingly, along the Mediterranean coasts, through Crete, Greece, Sicily, Egypt, Mauritania, Tuscany, Spain, Gaul, and Britain, were in Asia at the time of the confusion. And as those characters are adapted only for the Celtic, Phrygian, or British language, which resolves the names of places of the several countries through which it passed, preferable to the more modern dialects thereof, and Cæsar thought that Druidism began in Britain; it seems very probable that Mercury, Gomer, or Hermes, and other Druids, leaders of the western colonies, were always possest of those secret characters; it being certain that the Gauls before Cæsar’s time had the use of letters. Besides, ancient history takes notice of the hieroglyfics, as consisting of the figures of animals, parts of human bodies, and mechanical instruments invented by Thoth the first Hermes, which were afterwards translated into Greek, and deposited in books in the Egyptian temples, and which the learned supposed to be sacred characters.

The characters of the first language were without doubt simple, requiring but few rules for their combination and construction; and yet must have been expressive of all the natural signs and sounds of things; for such certainly ought to be the construction of a language proposed for an universal assent; and such in my opinion is the English, whose vocables are hieroglyfic; and their meaning agreeing with the picturesque combination. These were the ancient characters, engravings, or γραμματα; and their sounds were the στοιχα, the chief sounds; and which we shall here proceed to explain, together with the Greek characters.

Eng. Welsh. and Roman.	Greek.	Greek names.
a, ɑ.	α.	Alpha, the call upon parts.
b.	β, ϐ.	Beta, upon the beasts of the fields.
c, k, q.	κ.	Kappa, the action upon parts.
d, dd.	δ.	Delta, the division or race of things.
e, ɛ, h, ɜ.	ε, η, ϶, Η.	Epsilon and Heta, the clitoris, erectors, and all the interjectory generative springs.
f, ﬀ.	φ.	Phi, the penis in action and generative qualities.
g.	γ, Γ.	Gamma, the testicles, or an action about the mother.
i, j.	ι.	Jota, the rays of the sun upon things.
l, ll.	λ.	Lamda, things extended or place.
m.	μ.	Mv, man’s body, and things about as surrounding man.
n, ng.	ν.	Nv, in man, or betwixt his thighs, human will and the negatives.
o.	ο, ω, Ω.	Omicron and Omega, the little and great circle of space, place, and motion.
p.	π, Ψ, ψ.	Pe and Psi, the penis not in action, and animal and other dead parts.
r.	ϱ, ρ.	Rho, the eccho or sound of animals, &c.
s, ſ, z.	σ, Ζ, ζ.	Zigma and Zeta, sounds in general.
t, T, th.	τ, Θ.	Tau and Theta, man’s possessions, properties, extension, &c.
v, u, U, w.	υ, Υ.	Upsilon, the upper springs, as man’s face, &c.
x, ch, wh.	Ξ, ξ, χ.	Chi or χi, animal, gutteral, and sounds of superior actions.

Transcriber’s Note: This table is included as an image [here], as some of the characters in it may have more than one interpretation.

This alphabet consists of seven vowels or voices, which in their own nature, actively, and without any super-addition, yield compleat articulate sounds, particles, or names, and hieroglyfically represent the elementary or active parts of the human body, and nature, as similar thereto, namely, a, e or h, i, o, u, w or ω, Υ; and of other characters or letters, which are called consonants from their yielding articulate sounds only in company with vowels. Of these b, c, d, f, g, l, m, p, t, are also hieroglyfic representations of the various parts of the human body and other things as similar thereto; and they are mutable and inflectory in the pronominal cases, from the less animate, slow, and almost silent radical state, both as to the sense and sound, to the rougher, louder, and more animate and active sounds and things; as for instance, c, p, τ, the most silent, as expressive of material or passive substances or local inanimate actions inflect into g, b, d, which are somewhat louder and rougher, as being expressive of the higher and more active things and actions of men and animals; and those again into the still louder and rougher sounds of ch, ff, th, as those are expressive of the most energic actions or modes of motion; but when g, b, d, are the radicals of inflection, they again inflect into ng, f, m, dd, n, and in some dialects the l and r have the aspirates ll and rh for the radicals, as has been shewn in my former treatises. To the loss of these inflections may in a great measure be imputed the great variety and confusion of languages; new dialects having been formed by changing the radicals and misapplying the inflectories, as father for pater, brother for frater, and mother for mater. b, c, d, j, k, p, q, t, as yielding little or no sounds, without the assistance of vowels, are called mutes; l, m, n, r, f, s, as having imperfect obscure sounds without the company of vowels, have been distinguished as semivowels; and l, m, n, r, also as liquids from their flowing in particles, as in, îf, îl, îm, în, îr, the flow of the sun’s rays, light, motion, liquid, and life or qualities upon the lower world of beings and things; but the distinctions of mutes and semivowels seem trifling, as most letters seem to be vowels in some degree.

Here, before we proceed to explain the figures and powers of letters, it may not perhaps be improper to observe that the parts, affections, and ideas of the human pair, incorporated, as in the figures at the end of this essay, were the archetypes or patterns of the original characters, whose figures and sounds are descriptive of the universe; that letters and particles have two sounds, the masculine and feminine, the active and passive, or the short and long; that a particle or syllable cannot in the genuine sense of language consist of more than two letters; and that there are not in fact any such things as dipthongs; those now supposed to be such, being two or three particles of one vowel each, which formerly was a common method of composition, as appears by the following piece of ancient poetry; in which there is no consonant made use of, the r being only a letter of sound.

Oer iu yr eira ar yr yri,

Oi riu or awyr i rewi;

Oer iu yr ia oi riu ri

Ar eira oer iu yr yri.

Thus Englished.

From its high hill cold is ice,

Cold is the snow on Snowden;

Its nature from the sky to freeze

On snow so cold is Snowden.

The letter o is an indefinite circle, signifying the universe, motion, space, the sun’s figure and motion, and all or ol, extension of length, breadth, and thickness; and it is expressible of parts only by a diminution of its general sense; as in b-ol, a ball or part of all, or-b, a circle part, w-or-l-d, a man’s circle part or place of life, b-or-d-er the circle part of the possessions and 10, one circle, which being repeated comprehends all numbers. This, like all other original letters, has two sounds, the long and the short, as in on, one, ton, tone; and its shape or figure was taken from the circumference of the human pair close together, face to face, which is man’s chief circle place, signified by the term world. The Greek ω is a double υ as has been explained in my former treatise.

The letter i is an indefinite line, representing man in his primitive state of innocence, as it does still his body, as a line, without its extension, and his head and senses by its dot; and in a secondary sense are expressed by this line and dot, length or heighth towards the sun, the sun-beams, fire, heat, and other qualities both spiritual and animal, as still flowing upon man, and other things as relative to him, and originally perhaps centering in himself, and since his fall only relatively. But though man and nature have been impaired by original sin, they still seem to be invested with certain springs, energies, or returns of those ilations and qualities, as, thinking, willing, voice articulate, powers generative and growth; whereby the human species may be extended, and acquire so much knowledge and virtue, as, with the blessing of Providence, to be capable of being reinstated. The chief of which springs is expressed by the letter u, a compound of two i’s signifying man’s compound of male and female, and spirit and matter, with a c at their bottom, springing them upwards; by y as to the generative and vegetative parts, which also is expressive of woods and other growth; it being a compound of i j, and half of the spring c, as not being expressive of the spirit of man. The i also expresses man as an upright line placed in the centre of all worldly beings and substances, to whom they bear a relation, as shall be shewn under adverbs. The u vowel seems to derive its figure from the human face, the seat of the voice, and the heart, and the feminine or consonant v from the vagina, if it be an original letter, but, from its sound, it seems to supply the place of the digamma. The y or Υ resembles trees, plants and vegetables, and the j consonant is the half of it, and sometimes made use of instead of g, to express some of the generative parts and qualities. These vowels have each two sounds, the high and low, long and short, or grave and acute, viz. i, as in, in, high, or i, go thou; the u vowel, as, in, unction, united; and the y as the u in unction and y in hyssop; but the w has only one long sound, as in woman, womb, wood, and it is mostly applicable to spirituals, man, and things belonging to him; the wh has the gutteral sound of the Welsh ch, or the Greek χ as in where, why; the j consonant has the sound of g in generation; and the v consonant that of the soft flowing f of the Welsh, or as in verb, vice; thus supplying the softer sound and meaning of the digamma.

The letters a, e, h, ε, η, Η, in their primary sense signify the male and female posteriors, the clitoris, erectores, &c. the impulse and springs of generation, and the earth and water place of man; whence a came to be an expression for the element earth or matter and things hard, rough, or interjectory, and ε for the element of water and any feminine, soft, or passive parts or things, but the interjectory aspirate e or he is masculine, and the ε has one spring resembling that of rain. The a has properly two sounds, as in animal, have, or name, but not that of o or the northern a in all; the masculine e or he has an aspirate sound, as in hero, and a mute one, as in echo; and the feminine ε was originally sounded soft, like the French cedill ç, as in fleece, vice, and the use of this character and sound ought to be continued or the soft c should be marked with a cedill to prevent the confusion of the hard and soft sounds of c; but more of this elsewhere.

The letters c, k, q, g, γ, wh, ch, κ, χ, Ξ, ξ signify actions of different sorts and degrees, viz. c as the half of o, signifying motion, and k and q, as significant of its sound, signify the modes of common local motions or actions; and the hard c also represents half the round of the posteriors, as o doth the whole of the male and female together, as the feminine or soft c doth the other half; g or γ represent the testicles or half the gamma, f being the other half, and the generative and growing parts of man and nature; and the rest are their gutteral inflections expressive of animal sounds and actions. The palatals should be sounded hard and short, as in quick, the soft c in some cases as the feminine ε before explained, and s before the vowel i, the superlative gutteral sorts, as the wh in where, why, and the Welsh chwa, chwant, and g or γ as in egg, edge. All these characters are nothing more than compounds of c, h, s, as will be shewn hereafter.

The letters d and b put together, thus, db, as compounds of i and o, or length and breadth, are expressive of man and woman’s body part, from the thigh to the part of the body which the elbow reaches, and all other living beings so extended, as τ does the extension of matter, but being again divided into d and b, they express living things, or the qualities of parts and diminutives of bodies, and emblematically spirits and privatives, as p does parts of matter, as divisor of τ. The d and b ought to be sounded alike in all languages, as, de, be, and dd, as the, but letters are farther explained in the former treatise.

T represents man’s legs together, with the feet upwards, and both toes turned outwards as upright and traverse lines, extension and man in his temporal state, turned out of paradise, under the sky, topsy turvy, and all things as relative to him, and the line upon which time or the manner of reckoning the distances of actions are measured. T sounds alike in all languages, and th and θ as in the, Thebes, and those are the inflections of T.

The letters p, ph, ff, f, π, φ, ψ, signify material or dead parts, or their qualities, as p divides T; ph is p high, up, or active; the digamma φ or f, the p inflecting the gamma; and ψ actions of a lesser nature, as growth. The p and π sound alike in all languages, ph, ff as φυω, fusee, or fun, ψ as in Psalms, it being only a compound of p, and f as the v consonant in verb, but these letters are farther explained in the former treatise.

m represents a man’s body and arms or wings from the top of b and d, or the elbow part of the body, up to the neck, and the world, forms, and things, as surrounding and belonging to man, as shall be further explained amongst the particles. It sounds the same in all languages. n is the thighs, with the parts above them, forming a traverse line, and the vacancy betwixt the same when extended, signifying to be in, or in existence or possession, having f and d for its auxiliaries, but before the vowels or springs it expresses a negative or privative; and it has no particular sound.

Ỻ, L, λ, are T or man’s legs, once put together, separated, and as divisors of T, which signifies space or extension, are expressive of particular lengths and breadths, and their places, qualities, &c. The L or λ is sounded as eel or îl and Ỻ has an aspirate hissing sound in the Welsh, Spanish, and some other dialects.

The letters r, ϱ, ρ, Ρ, R, represent animals and their parts, and their mouths as the place of sound; S being added to P, as a sound, forms R, the sound as well as part of an animal; and they are all to be sounded as in viper, except where they happen to be radical letters, and then with an aspirate h as in rhyme. The S, σ, Z, are also letters of sound, but express no part of man, and are rather the shape of some animal of the serpentine kind, the waving of the breath or water, &c. They have two sounds, the hard and soft, as in loss, zone. This explanation of letters, together with what has been given already in my former treatises, and shall be added amongst the particles, will, it is to be hoped, be deemed satisfactory, as to the sense and origin of letters, and the sacred characters; notwithstanding the pretensions lately set up for those of irregular lines, curves, and windings, which can express but few things, and the remarks of another ingenious gentleman, as to the non-entity or insignificancy of the Hieroglyfics; his enquiry having been confined to the vulgar sorts, or the paintings or engravings of animals, &c. when it now appears the Hieroglyfics consisted only of those few sacred or secret characters. The hints and specimens here given of the method of combining the hieroglyfic figures, being as compleat as the press will admit of; and a process thereof, thro’ the whole of the English language, considering the corrupt state of languages, tho’ the English is as capable of an hieroglyfic combination as any, requiring much loss of time, trouble, and expence, and perhaps the aid of a Hunter and a Hill, and some other reasons occurring, the author hopes he shall be excused for proceeding no further at the present, in the combination of characters.