The Hebrew language and letters are derived from the Phœnician, since Tyre, Sidon, &c. were distinguished cities in the age of Moses and Joshua. Even Abraham lived in their territory.
Sanscrit is the basis of Hindoo learning, and said to be the first character.
The most ancient Arabic, called Kufick, so named from Kufa, on the Euphrates, and is not now in use. The modern Arabic was invented by the Vizier Moluch, A.D. 933, in which he wrote the Koran.
Armenian is used in Armenia, Asia Minor, Syria, Tartary, &c. It approaches the Chaldean or Syriac, and the Greek.
Chaldean, Phœnician, or Syriac, ascribed to Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and Moses, is the same as the Hebrew.
The Coptic is an alphabet so called from Coptos in Egypt,—a mixture of Greek and Egyptian.
Ethiopic, or Abyssinian, is derived from the Samaritan, or Phœnician.
The Etruscan was the first alphabet used in Italy, and so called from the Etrusci, the most ancient inhabitants.
Gothic: the most ancient characters under this name are attributed to Bishop Ulphilas.
Cadmus, the Phœnician, introduced the first Greek alphabet into Bœotia, where he settled in B.C. 1500; though Diodorus says the Pelasgian letters were prior to the Cadmean.
The Greeks called the Phœnicians Pelasgü quasi Pelagi, because they traversed the ocean and carried on commerce with other nations.
Scaliger supposes the Phœnician to have been the original Hebrew character, otherwise the Samaritan,—which is generally supposed to be that which was used by the Jews from the time of Moses to the Captivity.
The alphabet of the Sanscrit is called the devanagari.
The Oriental alphabets are the Hebrew, ancient and modern; Rabbinical; Samaritan, ancient and modern; Phœnician; Egyptian hieroglyphic; Chinese characters.
The Irish alphabet is the Phœnician.
III.
Origin of the Materials of Writing, Tablets, etc.
The art of writing is very ancient. Its origin is actually lost in the distance of time. From one point, however,—this side of the gulf of lost ages, in which high art perished, and with it the key to all its antediluvian greatness,—we date our history.
The Bible gives us the earliest notice on the subject that is anywhere to be found. The most ancient mode of writing was on cinders, on bricks, and on tables of stone; afterwards on plates of various materials, on ivory and similar articles. One of the earliest methods was to cut out the letters on a tablet of stone. Moses, we are told, received the two tables of the Covenant on Mount Sinai, written with the finger of God; and before that, Moses himself was not ignorant of the use of letters.9 [Exodus xxiv. 4; xvii. 14.] A learned writer says:—“In Genesis v. 1, ‘This is the book of the generations of Adam,’ reference is made to the book of genealogy; whence it irresistibly follows that writing must have been in use among the antediluvian patriarchs; and, under the view that writing was a divine revelation, the same almighty power that, according to the preceding proposition, instructed Moses, could have equally vouchsafed a similar inspiration to any patriarch from Adam to Noah. Nor does it seem consistent with the merciful dispensation which preserved Noah’s family through the grand cataclysm, and had condescended, according to the biblical record, to teach him those multitudinous arts indispensably necessary to the construction of a vessel destined to pass uninjured through the tempests of the Deluge, that the Almighty, by withholding the art of writing, should have left the account of antediluvian events to the vicissitudes of oral tradition, or denied to Noah’s family the practice of this art, which, it is maintained, was conceded first to Moses.”
It is said that “Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians.” The five books of Moses carry with them internal evidence, not of one sole, connected, and original composition, but of a compilation by an inspired writer from earlier annals. The genealogical tables and family records of various tribes that are found embodied in the Pentateuch, bear the appearance of documents copied from written archives. We have the authority of Genesis v. 1 for asserting the existence of a book of genealogies in the time of Noah; and a city mentioned by Joshua was named in Hebrew “Kirjath Sefer,” “The City of Letters.” It is impossible to prove that letters were unknown before Moses; and the Hebrews of his day appear to have had two distinct modes of writing the characters of which, in one case, were “alphabetic,” and in the other “symbolic.” The inscription on the ephod itself is said—Exodus xxviii. 36—to have been written in characters “like the engravings of a signet.”
The materials and instruments with which writing was performed were, in comparison with our pen, ink, and paper, extremely rude and unwieldy. One of the earliest methods was to cut out the letters on a tablet of stone. Another was to trace them on unbaked tiles, or bricks, which were afterwards thoroughly baked or burned with fire. When the writing was wanted to be more durable, lead or brass was employed. In the book of Job, mention is made of writing on stone. It was on tablets of stone that Moses received the law written by the finger of God himself. Tablets of wood were frequently used as being more convenient. Such was the writing-table which Zacharias used. [Luke i. 63.] Cedar was preferred as being more incorruptible; from this custom arose the celebrated saying of the ancients, when they meant to give the highest eulogium of an excellent work, et cedro digna locuti,—that it was worthy to be written on cedar. These tablets were made of the trunks of trees. The same reason which led them to prefer the cedar to other trees, induced them to write on wax, which is incorruptible. Men used it to write their testaments, in order better to preserve them. Thus, Juvenal says, cereus implere capaces. The leaves and, at other times, the bark of different trees were early used for writing. From the thin films of bark peeled off from the Egyptian reed papyrus which grew along the Nile, a material was formed in latter times answering the purpose much better. It bore the name of the reed, papyrus, or, in our language, paper. Long afterwards its name passed to a different material, composed of linen or cotton, which has taken place of all others in the use of civilized countries, and is called to this day paper. Paper made of cotton was in use in 1001; that of linen rags in 1319.10
“The paper reeds by the brooks, by the mouth of the brooks, ... shall wither, be driven away, and be no more.”—Isaiah xix. 7.
Pliny, speaking of the papyrus, says:—
“Before we depart out of Egypt, we must not forget the plant papyrus, but describe the nature thereof, considering that all civilitie of life, the memoriall, and immortalitie also of men after death consisteth especially in paper which is made thereof. M. Varro writeth that the first invention of making paper was devised upon the conquest of Ægypt, achieved by Alexander the Great, at what time as he founded the city of Alexandria in Ægypt, where such paper was first made.”—Holland, Plinie, b. xiii. c. 21.
We have alluded to the barks of trees being used. The thin peel which is found between the second skin of a tree was called liber,—from whence the Latin word, liber, a book; and we have derived the name of library and librarian in the European language, and in the French their livre for book.
THE PEN.
The instruments employed by the ancients for making the letters on their tablets was a small, pointed piece of iron, or some other hard substance, called by the Romans a style: hence a man’s manner of composition was figuratively called his style of writing. The use of the word still continues, though the instrument has long since passed away.
Style derives its name from stylus, Latin, as also from a Greek word, columna, an instrument with a point.
Reeds formed into pens were used to trace the letters with ink of some sort after the fashion that is now common; or else they were painted with a small brush, as was probably the general custom at first. Pens made of quills were not in use until the fifth century. The oldest certain account of writing with quills is a passage of Isidore, who died in 636, and who, among the instruments of writing, mentions “reeds and feathers.” In the same century a small poem was written on a pen, which is to be found in the works of Althelmus. He died in 709.
We annex the following as giving a poetical original of the pen:—
PENCILS.
The ancients drew their lines with leaden styles; afterwards a mixture of tin and lead fused together was used. The mineral known under the name of plumbago is supposed to have been first employed for the purpose of drawing in the fifteenth century. In 1565, an old author notes that people had pencils for writing which consisted of a wooden handle, in which was a piece of lead; and a drawing is given of the pencil as an object of curiosity. They continued to be uncommon for upwards of a century, when we hear them spoken of being enclosed in pine or cedar.
THE SCRIBE.
“Scribe was a name which, among the Jews, was applied to two sorts of officers. 1. To a civil: and so it signifies a notary, or, in a large sense, any one employed to draw up deeds and writings. 2. This name signifies a church officer, one skillful and conversant in the law to interpret and explain it.”—South. vol. iv. ser. 1.
The word scribe is derived from the Latin, scribere, which has the same meaning as “schrabben” (Dutch), to scrape or draw a style, or pen, over the surface of paper or parchment.
The name, however, was given to such as excelled in the use of the pen, and who were likewise distinguished in other branches of knowledge. It came in time to mean simply a learned man; and, as the chief part of learning among the Jews was concerned with the sacred books of Scripture, the word signified especially one “who was skilled in the law of God”—one whose business it was, not merely to provide correct copies of its volume, but also to explain its meaning. Thus, Ezra is called “a ready scribe of the law of Moses.”—Ezra vii. 6.
Before the introduction of types, books were written generally upon skins, linen, cotton-cloth, or papyrus: parchment in later times was most esteemed. The business of the scribes was to make duplicate copies of these books, which, when completed, the leaves were pinned together so as to make a single long sheet. This was then rolled round a stick: hence books of every description or size were called “rolls;” our word volume means just the same thing in its original signification.
“Volumed in rolling masses.”
In the time of our Saviour the scribes formed quite a considerable class in society. Many of them belonged to the sanhedrim, or chief council, and are therefore frequently mentioned in the New Testament with the elders and chief priests.—See Luke v. 17, x. 25; Matthew xxiii. 2; Matthew ii. 4, also xiii. 52; and Mark xii. 35.
ANCIENT INK.
The ink used by the ancients appears to have been what is termed in art a “body color,” or a more solid medium than is at present used, and similar to what is used by the modern Chinese.
Subsequently, lamp-black, or the black taken from burnt ivory, and soot from furnaces and baths, according to Pliny and others, formed the basis of the ink used by old writers.
It has also been conjectured that the black liquor of the scuttle-fish was frequently employed.11 Of whatever ingredients it was made, it is certain, from chemical analysis, from the blackness and solidity in the most ancient manuscripts, and from inkstands found at Herculaneum, in which the ink appears like thick oil, that the ink then made was much more opaque, as well as encaustic, than what is used at present. Inks red, purple, and blue, and also gold and silver inks were much used; the red was made from vermilion, cinnabar, and carmine; the purple from the murex, one sort of which, named the purple encaustic, was set apart for the sole use of the emperors. Golden ink was used by the Greeks much more than by the Romans. The manufacture of both gold and silver ink was an extensive and lucrative business in the Middle Ages. Another distinct business was that of inscribing the titles, capitals, as well as emphatic words, in colored and gold and silver inks.
INK-HORNS.
The ink-horns were sometimes made of lead, sometimes of silver, and were generally polygonal in their form.
HIEROGLYPHICAL WRITING.
The remote antiquity of hieroglyphical writing may be inferred from the fact that it must have existed before the use of the solar month in Egypt,—“which,” says Gliddon, “astronomical observations on Egyptian records prove to have been in use at an epoch close up to the Septuagint era of the Flood.” From Egyptian annals we may glean some faint confirmation of the view that they either possessed the primeval alphabet, or else they rediscovered its equivalent from the mystic functions and attributes of the “two Thoths,”—the first and second Hermes, both Egyptian mythological personages, deified as attributes of the Godhead.
To “Thoth,” Mercury, or the first Hermes, the Egyptians ascribed the invention of letters.
The first attempts of “picture-writing” were to imitate certain images, each representing a word or letter. Drawing, therefore, was the most natural medium; and the study of representing things pictorially became popular and the only mode of communication.
The true origin of alphabetical writing has never been traced; but that of the Egyptians has been proved by the Comte de Caylus to be formed, as stated above, of hieroglyphical marks, adopted with no great variations. “We find,” says Warburton, “no appearance of alphabetical writing or characters on their public monuments.”
This, however true at the time he wrote, cannot now be asserted; since the celebrated Rosetta stone, in the British Museum, is engraved with three distinct sets of characters,—Greek, Egyptian, and a third resembling what are called hieroglyphics. The only doubt that can be entertained is, whether these are strictly hieroglyphics,—that is, representations of things,—or rather an alphabetical character peculiar to the priesthood, and called hierogrammatics. 1. The existence of this sacred alphabet is attested by Herodotus, Diodorus, and several other writers. 2. It went occasionally under the name of hieroglyphic, as appears not only by the passage quoted above from Manetho, if we do not alter the text, but from one in Porphyry, which may be found in Warburton. 3. It was, however, considered as perfectly distinct from the genuine hieroglyphic, which was always understood to denote things, either by mere picture-writing, or, more commonly, by very refined allegory. 4. Works of a popular and civil nature were written in this character, as we learn from Clement of Alexandria; whereas the genuine hieroglyphic was exceedingly secret and mysterious, and the knowledge of it confined to the priesthood. 5. The inscription upon the Rosetta stone is said, in the terms of the decree contained in it, to be written in the sacred, national, and Greek characters. 6. It could not be a mysterious character, such as the genuine hieroglyphic seems to have been, because it was exposed to public view with a double translation. 7. It occupies a considerable space upon the stone, although an indefinite part of it is broken off; although the real hieroglyphic, as is natural to emblematic writing, appears to have been exceedingly compendious. 8. The characters do not appear to be very numerous, as they recur in various combinations of three, four, or more, as might be expected from the letters of an alphabet. But this argument we do not strongly press, because our examination has not been very long. It appears to hold out a decisive test, and we offer it as such to the ingenuity of antiquaries.
Upon these grounds we think that the characters upon the Rosetta stone, which are commonly denominated hieroglyphics, are in fact the original alphabetic characters of the Egyptians, from which the others have probably been derived by a gradual corruption through haste in writing. They are, however, in one sense, hieroglyphics, being tolerably accurate delineations of men, animals, and instruments. If we are right in our conjectures, the value of the Rosetta stone is incomparably greater than has been imagined. We have no need of hieroglyphics: Roman and Egyptian monuments are full of them. But a primitive alphabet, probably the earliest ever formed in the world, and illustrating an important link in the history of writing,—the adaptation of signs to words,—is certainly a discovery very interesting to any philosophical mind. Through what steps the analysis of articulate sound into its constituent parts was completed—if we can say that it ever has been completed—so as to establish distinct marks for each of them, and whether these marks were taken at random, or from some supposed analogy between the simple sounds they were brought to represent and their primary hieroglyphical meaning, are questions which stand in need of solution.12
The Rosetta stone is the only one yet discovered, being no doubt the pioneer to many more that may yet be unearthed. The importance of this stone—its inscription indicating the probability of its supplying a key to the deciphering of the long-lost meanings of Egyptian hieroglyphics—“was immediately,” says Gliddon, in his Lectures on Ancient Egypt, “perceived by the learned, who in vain endeavored to trace the analogy between symbolical and alphabetical writing. Its arrival in London excited the liveliest interest in all those who had devoted themselves to Egyptian archæology; and the attention of the greatest scholars of the age was directed to its critical investigation.” (See Gliddon’s work on Ancient Egypt.)
Any one who will examine the hieroglyphical alphabet closely will discover a most extraordinary coincidence in that of the symbolical writing of our North American Indians, specimens of which are in the museum at Washington City. A war despatch, giving an account of one of their expeditions, has the same emblematical figures as has that of the Egyptians as used 1550 B.C.
There are also among other tribes many remarkable similarities, and analogous with Egyptian symbolical writings, which strengthen the supposition that the Indians of North America are one of the lost tribes of Israel. Nor is it alone the mere words which these signs and figures convey, but certain traits of character in their habits and customs as compared with the ancients.—(See Isaiah xi. 11-15.)
The Indians have a tradition among them to this effect: “that nine parts of their nation out of ten passed over a great river.” They also have traditions of the “Flood,” “a good book,” “Tower of Babel,” “dispersion of the Jews,” and the “confounding of language.” It is related by Father Charlevoix, the French historian, that the Hurons and Iroquois in their early day had a tradition among them that the first woman came from heaven and had twins, and that the elder killed the younger. In 1641 an old Indian woman stated that this tradition among her tribe was that the Great Spirit had killed his brother. This is evidently a confusion of the story of Cain and Abel. Still, the tradition is remarkable from the fact that this, as well as the others alluded to, existed long before the discovery of this continent.
The Ottawas say that there are two great beings who rule and govern the universe, and who are at war with each other. The one they call “Mameto,” the other “Matchemaneto.” There is a wonderful, or rather, we should say, a remarkable, resemblance between the language of the Creek Indians with that of the ancient Hebrew; for instance: “Y He Howa” means Jehovah; “Halleluwah,” hallelujah; “Abba,” in Creek, has the same meaning as “Abba” in Hebrew; “Kesh,” kesh; “Abe,” Abel; “Kenaaj,” Canaan; “Awah,” Eve, or Eweh; “Korah,” Cora; “Jennois,” Jannon, both literally meaning, “He shall be called a son.” There is more in these similarities than can be attributed to mere chance.
Any one at all familiar with hieroglyphical writing need only to examine the Indian characters upon buffalo and other skins received in trade from the Indians to trace, as it were, a distinct line from that most ancient school of designing figures to suit expression and language, down to these tribes, who may well be called the descendants of the “remnant of” God’s people, who were scattered over the lands of Egypt and the “islands of the sea,” in the time of Isaiah.
In the Ambrosian Library at Milan there are to be seen Mexican hieroglyphics, painted in Mexico upon buck-leather, and were presented to the Emperor Charles V. by Ferdinand Cortez. These hieroglyphics are now as little understood as are those of Egypt, although both are now gradually yielding to the mind’s influence in their development. Impressions of these were taken on copper from fac-similes in the possession of Humboldt.
Perhaps the first real step made into the hieroglyphical arcana may be dated from 1797, when the learned Dane, George Zoega, published at Rome his folio “De Origine et Usa Obeliscorum,” explanatory of the Egyptian Obelisks.—(G. R. Gliddon.)
THE CONFUSION OF TONGUES—THE CONFOUNDING OF LANGUAGES.
One of the most remarkable passages in Holy Writ is that which speaks of the confounding of language. “And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language. Let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of the earth, and they left off to build the city.”
The name of it was called “Babel” (confusion), from the Hebrew. The consequence of this eternal fiat, which went forth like a flash of lightning, was, that the people became as strangers to each other, and spoke a language wild and chaotic. Gesticulation took the place of words; and hence their punishment for daring to contest power with their Creator.
The building of the Tower of Babel was an act of Nimrod’s, who “esteemed it a piece of cowardice to submit to God;” and he urged the people on to build this tower, saying, He would be revenged on God if he should ever have a mind to drown the world again; for that he would build it so high the waters could not reach it. The place wherein they built the tower is now called Babylon. From this date may be ascribed the history of languages. It is supposed, however, that Noah and other pious persons, chiefly the descendants of Shem in the line of Eber, not being concerned in this project, retained the original language. Now, if this was, as it is highly probable, the Hebrew, we may conclude it was thus called from Eber, to whose descendants it was peculiar; and perhaps this is the most satisfactory reason that can be assigned why Abraham is called the Hebrew and his posterity Hebrews.
It was not, however, the mere confusion of tongues which rendered the people incapable of conversing one with another, but it was the extraordinary miracle connected with it of the mind’s confusion. Incapable, therefore, of bringing their original language back to its former use, they invented new languages, new phrases; and thus in time every great nation had its own language. The dividing of languages was therefore the dividing of nations. The precise number of original languages then heard for the first time cannot be determined. The Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Teutonic, Sclavonian, Tartarian, and Chinese languages are considered to be original: the rest are only dialects from them.
History is silent on the early data of the building of the Tower of Babel; nor is one of its builders’ names mentioned, except the somewhat obscure intimation respecting Nimrod.13
Babylon subsequently became the head-quarters of idolatry, and the type of the “mystical Babylon,” the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.
The glory of Babylon departed. Its walls of sixty miles in circumference, eighty-seven feet thick and three hundred and fifty feet high, built of brick and containing twenty-five gates of solid brass and two hundred and fifty towers, are now the wonder of men who gaze upon the debris of “splendor in ruins.”
The ruins of “Birs Nimrod,” on an elevated mount, are supposed to be the Tower of Babel of the sacred Scriptures, and the temple of Belus, so minutely described by Herodotus. The base of this tower measures two thousand and eighty-two feet in circumference. Babylon was in its glory in the time of Nebuchadnezzar. It was besieged and taken by Cyrus B.C. 538, and afterwards by Alexander the Great.
IV.
Messengers, Carriers, etc.
There are so many beautiful passages both in sacred and profane history alluding to messengers, in connection with our subject, that there is no doubt but as civilization progressed the word and its meaning laid the foundation for the many improvements which are to be found in our present postal system,—a system which now connects all nations together by a letter-line mode of communication.
There is a beautiful passage in Holy Writ from which, figuratively, we date the origin of first carrier or messenger: it is that of the dove that went forth from the ark. “And the dove came in to him in the evening, and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.”
THE RETURN OF THE DOVE.
The name of messenger is derived from the Latin word missaticum, and this from missus, one sent. The old French mes was applied both to the message and the messager.
Gower, the poet of the fourteenth century, says:—
“The raynbow is hir messagere.”
Angels are called “winged messengers.”
“The angels are still dispatched by God upon all his great messages to the world, and, therefore, their very name in Greek signifies a messenger.”—South, vol. viii. ser. 3.
Milton also thus beautifully alludes to the angel messengers:—
Carriers, in connection with letters, are modern appendages to the post-office, and now form one of its most important branches. They are indeed welcome messengers.
“The very carrier that comes from him to her is a most welcome guest; and if he bring a letter she will read it twenty times over.”—Burton.
THE CARRIER-PIGEON.
The first mention we find made of the employment of pigeons as letter-carriers is by Ovid, in his “Metamorphoses,” who tells us that Taurosthenes, by a pigeon stained with purple, gave notice of his having been victor at the Olympic Games on the very same day to his father at Ægina.
Goldsmith, in his “Animated Nature,” says:—“It is from their attachment to their native place, and particularly where they have brought up their young, that these birds (pigeons) are employed in several countries as the most expeditious carriers.”
When the city of Ptolemais, in Syria, was invested by the French and Venetians, and it was ready to fall into their hands, they observed a pigeon flying over them, and immediately conjectured that it was charged with letters to the garrison. On this the whole army raising a loud shout, so confounded the poor aerial post that it fell to the ground; and, on being seized, a letter was found under its wings from its Sultan, in which he assured the garrison that “he would be with them in three days with an army sufficient to raise the siege.” For this letter the besiegers substituted another to this purpose: “that the garrison must see to their own safety; for the Sultan had such other affairs pressing him it was impossible for him to come to their succor;” and with this false intelligence they let the pigeon flee on his course. The garrison, deprived by this decree of all hopes of relief, immediately surrendered. The Sultan appeared on the third day, as promised, with a powerful army, and was not a little mortified to find the city already in the hands of the Christians.
In the East the employment of pigeons in the conveyance of letters is still very common, particularly in Syria, Arabia, and Egypt. Every bashaw has generally a basketful of them sent him from the grand seraglio, where they are bred, and, in case of any insurrection or other emergency, he is enabled, by letting loose two or more of these extraordinary messengers, to convey intelligence to the government long before it could be possibly obtained by other means.
The diligence and speed with which these feathered messengers wing their course is extraordinary. From the instant of their liberation their flight is directed through the clouds at an immense height to the place of their destination. They are believed to dart onward in a straight line, and never descend except when at a loss for breath; and then they are to be seen commonly at dawn of day lying on their backs on the ground, with their bills open, sucking with hasty avidity the dew of the morning. Of their speed the instances related are almost incredible.
The Consul of Alexandria daily sends despatches by these means to Aleppo in five hours, though couriers occupy the whole day, and proceed with the utmost expedition from one town to the other.
Some years ago a gentleman sent a carrier-pigeon from London, by the stage-coach, to his friend in St. Edmundsbury, together with a note desiring that the pigeon, two days after their arrival there, might be thrown up precisely when the town-clock struck nine in the morning. This was done accordingly, and the pigeon arrived in London and flew to the Bull Inn, Bishopsgate Street, into the loft, and was there shown at half an hour past eleven o’clock, having flown seventy-two miles in two hours and a half.
Carrier pigeons were again employed, but with better success, at the siege of Leyden, in 1675. The garrison were, by means of the information thus conveyed to them, induced to stand out till the enemy, despairing of reducing the place, withdrew. On the siege being raised, the Prince of Orange ordered that the pigeons which had rendered such essential service should be maintained at the public expense, and at their death they should be embalmed and preserved in the town-house as a perpetual token of gratitude.
At Antwerp, in 1819, one of the thirty-two pigeons belonging to that city, which had been conveyed to London and there let loose, made the transit back—being a distance in a direct line of one hundred and eighty miles—in six hours.
It is through the attachment of the animals to the place of their birth, and particularly to the spot where they had brought up their young, that they are thus rendered useful to mankind.
When a young one flies very hard at home, and is come to its full strength, it is carried in a basket or otherwise about half a mile from home and there turned out; after this it is carried a mile, two, four, eight, ten, twenty, &c., till at length it will return from the furthermost parts of the country.
LETTERS.
The word letter is derived from the Latin “litera,” of which Vossius has not decided its etymology,—perhaps, from litum, past participle of linere, to smear, as one of the oldest modes of writing was by graving the characters upon tablets smeared over or covered with wax. From this word comes that of letters; and, as they are more immediately connected with our subject, we incline to the opinion of Pliny that the word linere, to smear, is by far the most truthful definition. In this respect—that of “smearing”—it has lost nothing of its original character, if we were to judge from the appearance of many letters daily passing through the post-office.
“Smeared o’er with wax” would not cause any great surprise to a modern post-office clerk if a letter presented itself with this only on it; but when in addition he could scarcely read the name through the mists of blotted ink and bad spelling, we venture to say he would endorse Pliny’s opinion, above that of all others, without the least hesitation.
An Oriental scholar, speaking upon the subject of writing as connected with the ancients, makes use of this language:—“The origin of the art of writing loses itself among the nebulous periods of man’s primeval history. With the original ethnographic varieties of the human species, the primitive distribution of mankind, the patriarchal fountains of a once-pure religion, and the earliest sources of the diversity of language, must be associated the first developments of this art which, from the remotest periods, has enabled man to record his history, and to overcome space and time in the transmission of his thoughts.”
Symbolical or hieroglyphic writing is also very ancient. It was the ancient style of writing among the Egyptians. They were also termed “sacred sculptured characters,” which was the original or, rather, monumental method. The hieratic or sacerdotal was used by the scribes and priests in literary pursuits prior to 1500 B.C.
There is a beautiful conceit of Lord Bacon’s,—“Literæ Vocales” (vocal letters), the designation given by that philosopher to the popular lawyers of the House of Commons in the reign of James I., meaning those lawyers who were bold enough to speak their minds and to stand up for the rights of their constituents.
Words, however, will pass away and be forgotten; but that which is committed to writing will remain as evidence; for then you have them in “black and white.”
“Litera scripta manet.”
THE FIRST LETTER-WRITERS.
Jezebel, it seems, was the first—or, at least, we believe the first—that is mentioned in the Bible as a letter-writer: “So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name, and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters unto the elders and to the nobles that were in his city, dwelling with Naboth.”—1 Kings xxi. 8.
For fear a wrong construction should be put upon this act of Jezebel, and the cause of letters affected thereby, it may be well to state that she was allowed to do so by him, and that his name and seal were to be used as she pleased. She, however, used both for a bad purpose: hence the name of Jezebel is synonymous with deceit and treachery.
Letter-writing is also alluded to in Nehemiah ii. 7: “Moreover I said unto, the king, If it please the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the river, that they may convey me over till I come into Judah.” Also, in Esther i. 22: “For he sent letters into all the king’s provinces, into every province according to the writing thereof, and to every people after their language, that every man should bear rule in his own house; and that it should be published according to the language of every people.”
Hiram, King of Tyre, when he heard that Solomon succeeded to his father’s kingdom, was very glad of it; for he was a friend of David’s . So he sent ambassadors to him, and saluted him, and congratulated him on the present happy state of his affairs. Upon which, Solomon sent an epistle, the contents of which here follow:—
SOLOMON TO KING HIRAM.
“Know thou that my father would have built a temple to God, but was hindered by wars and continual expeditions; for he did not leave off to overthrow his enemies till he made them all subject to tribute. But I give thanks to God for the peace I at present enjoy, and on that account I am at leisure and design to build a house to God; for God foretold to my father that such a house should be built by me. Wherefore I desire thee to send some of thy subjects with mine to Mount Lebanon, to cut down timber; for the Sidonians are more skillful than our people in cutting of wood. As for wages to the hewers of wood, I will pay whatsoever thou shalt determine.”
When Hiram had read this epistle he was pleased with it, and wrote back this answer:—
HIRAM TO KING SOLOMON.
“It is fit to bless God that he hath committed thy father’s government to thee, who art a wise man and endowed with all virtues. As for myself, I rejoice at the condition thou art in, and will be subservient to thee in all that thou sendest to me about; for when by my subjects I have cut down many trees of cedar and cypress wood, I will send them to sea, and will order my subjects to make floats of them, and to sail to what place soever of thy country thou shalt desire, and leave them there; after which, thy subjects may carry them to Jerusalem. But do thou take care to procure us corn for this timber, which we stand in need of because we inhabit an island.”14
Josephus says:—“The copies of these epistles remain at this day, and are preserved not only in our books, but among the Tyrians also.” They were at that period among the records in the city of Tyre. Other epistles are also there recorded, among which were those written by Xerxes, King of the Persians, to Ezra; Artaxerxes to the Government of Judea; Antiochus the Great to Ptolemy Epiphanes; and of the Samaritans to Antiochus, Alexander Balas to Jonathan, Onias to Ptolemy and Cleopatra, and many others.15
V.
Post-Offices—England.
The history of the English post-office affords but little interest to the general reader beyond that which its statistics and geographical calculations afford. It is, however, a history that goes hand in hand with its trade and commerce; and whatever improvements have been made upon its past history are owing altogether to the enterprise of those who are identified with those branches of the world’s great business.
It is not the statesman or the politician who originates, but the mechanic, the farmer, and the merchant. The former are the aristocrats of society; the latter, the workers—the very bone and sinew of a government.
It is to the farmer, the artisan, and the merchant that art and science are indebted to their position among the most brilliant things of earth. It is to them that commerce owes wings to fly to the remotest parts of the civilized world, laden with the handiwork of art and the richness of a nation’s growth. Society becomes more dignified, man more ennobled. It is to this power that kings, emperors, and lords owe their positions; for one word from that class will bring the loftiest head to the block, if by word or action the attempt should be made to lessen or destroy that power which elevated him or them to eminence.
The commercial power of England is its rule, and to it that nation owes all its present greatness. The politics of England is its disgrace; its commerce, its honor. The king and Parliament are at the head of the one,—the hewers of wood and drawers of water at that of the other.
We have already alluded to the postal system organized by the Emperor Charlemagne in the year 807. Yet in China posts had existed from the earliest times. These were called Jambs, and were established at a distance from each other of twenty-five miles. This mode of conveying letters was by horses; and it is stated by Marco Polo, the Venetian traveller, that there were frequently as many as three or four hundred horses in waiting at one of these places. He also states that there were ten thousand stations of this kind in China, some of them affording sumptuous accommodation to travellers. Two hundred thousand horses are said to have been engaged in the service.
Louis XI. first established post-houses in France. Post-horses and stages were first introduced into England in 1483.
The mounted posts in France were stationed at distances of four miles apart, and were required to be ready day and night to carry government messages as rapidly as possible. Private correspondence, however, was carried on very differently. The students of a university in Paris established a postal institution in the eleventh century. A number of pedestrian messengers were employed, who bore letters from its thousands of students to the various countries of Europe from which they came, and brought to them the money they needed for the prosecution of their studies.
The great development of commerce following the Crusades, and the geographical discoveries of the Italians, Portuguese, and Spaniards, created a necessity for a more extended business-correspondence about the beginning of the sixteenth century.
In Peru, in 1527, the Spanish invaders found a regular system of posts in operation along the great highway from Quito to Cuzco, and messages as to the progress of the invasion, as well as on other subjects, were forwarded to the Inca by fleet-footed runners, who wound around their waists the quipu, a species of sign-writing, by means of knotted cord.
In Sierra Leone they have what is termed the “Kaffir letter-carrier,” who immediately on the arrival of a vessel takes charge of the letters; and, although it should be late at night, he starts on his mission into the settlement, and actually arouses the sleepers with his cry of, “Ah, massa, here de right book come at last!” The Kaffir carries his letters in a split stick, which he thrusts under your very nose as he approaches with his welcome document. He is one of those rare letter-carriers who never tires, nor complains of making too many trips a day.
The regular riding-post system owes its origin to Edward IV. This answered not only the demands of the government, but those of merchants, traders, and others. The former had, however, what were termed “government messengers,” whose business was more particularly to summon the barons, sheriffs, and other officers. Heralds are not to be confounded with these messengers, as they were more identified with the military than with the civil power.
In the reign of Henry I. messengers were first permanently employed by the king
“Messengers he sent throughout England.”
In the reign of King John, messengers were called the “nuncii:” subsequently they became attached to the royal palace, and wore the king’s livery, as in the reign of Henry III. Several private letters are in existence, dating as far back as the reign of Edward II., which bear the appearance of having been carried by the nuncii of that period, with “Haste, poste, haste!” written on the back.
Little or no improvement was made in England in the postal system until about the end of Queen Elizabeth’s reign. Even then it simply corrected some of the abuses of the old system, by establishing what was called “Master of the Postes.”
Some idea may be formed of the limited character of this department of her majesty’s service, when we state that before her death the expenses of the post did not exceed £5000 per annum. Previous to this estimate, however, the expenses were considerably larger, owing to the careless manner, as well as the extravagance, of those having charge of it.
The reign of Elizabeth was more distinguished for its number of great men in the world of letters than for almost any other characteristic feature. The names of these have been handed down to us, identified with literature in all its various branches,—statesmen, warriors, divines, scholars, poets, and philosophers. Among them we find the names of Raleigh, Drake, Coke, Hooker, and others of higher sounding and more frequently quoted,—Shakspeare, Sidney, Bacon, Jonson, Beaumont and Fletcher,—men “whose fame has been eternized in her long and lasting scroll, and who by their words and acts were benefactors of their country and ornaments of human nature.”
Although an age of letters, the commercial interest was not neglected. Still, that attention was not paid to the merchant’s demands for new laws and regulations which the increasing business demanded: hence there arose a difficulty in the postal system, which was more immediately identified with their interests.
In the early part of the queen’s reign, disputes were frequent with the foreign merchants resident in London, with regard to the foreign post, which up to this reign they had been allowed to manage among themselves. In 1558, the queen’s council of state issued a proclamation “for the redress of disorders in postes which conveye and bring to and out of the parts beyond the seas, pacquets of letters.”
This system—a system which the very spirit of trade should rise up against—was done away with, and the sole authority was given to the “Master of the Postes,” who, therefore, took charge of the foreign office. The title of his office was changed, in consequence, to that of “Chief Postmaster.” Thomas Randolph was the first Chief Postmaster in England.
It must be borne in mind that during all these periods of English history the “common people” held little or no communication with each other: hence their correspondence was very limited. Few of them could read or write. Palmers, nay, even wandering gipsies, were not unfrequently the “common people’s” post. The former, particularly, were trusted with letters and packets for the “gentry.”
Under the Stuarts a regular system of post was established, the benefits of which were to be shared by all who could find the means. Even then England was behind the other European nations in establishing a public letter-post. Still, it was a vast improvement on those of the preceding reigns.16
In 1632, Charles I. approved of William Frizell and Thomas Witherings, to whom the office had been assigned by Lord Stanhope under James I.
These two gentlemen, as the head of the post-department, gave general satisfaction, and tended much to satisfy those who had just reason to complain of the system as heretofore conducted.
1635.—Till this time there had been no certain and constant intercourse between England and Scotland.
Thomas Witherings, his majesty’s Postmaster of England for foreign parts, was now commanded “to settle one or two posts, to run day and night between Edinburg and London; to go thither and come back again in six days; and to take with them all such letters as shall be directed to any post-town on the same road; and the posts to be placed in several places out of the road, to run and bring and carry out of the said roads the letters as there shall be occasion, and to pay twopence for every single letter under fourscore miles; and if one hundred and forty miles, fourpence; and if above, then sixpence. The like rule the king is pleased to order to be observed to Westchester, Holyhead, and from thence to Ireland; and also to observe the like rule from London to Plymouth, Exeter, and other places in that road; the like from Oxford, Bristol, Colchester, Norwich, and other places. And the king doth command that no other messenger, foot-posts, shall take up, carry, receive, or deliver any letter or letters whatsoever, other than the messengers appointed by the said Thomas Witherings, except common known carriers or particular messengers to be sent on purpose with a letter to a friend.”—Rushworth, vol. ii., p. 104.
It will be observed, by those who are acquainted with the business of the postal department, that the above forms the groundwork of that gigantic institution which, linking itself with those of other nations, encircles the whole civilized world.
After undergoing many and various changes, it became, under the Protectorate, a sort of convenience for Cromwell and his council, who, taking advantage of its immense power, made it subservient to the interests of the commonwealth. One of the peculiar features which it assumed under Cromwell’s rule was that “it might be made the agent in discovering and preventing many wicked designs which have been and are daily contrived against the peace and welfare of this commonwealth, the intelligence whereof cannot well be communicated except by letters of escript.”
A system of espionage was thus established which no one having the interest of the nation and people at heart could consistently subscribe to. But Cromwell’s rule was based on fanaticism: hence those leading principles, the result of a long and religious study, and which made up the business character of England before he gained the right to rule, were all swallowed up in the vortex of his own created revolutions.
At the Restoration the system became adapted to the more enlightened intellect of the people, and various changes took place, which gave universal satisfaction. These were made in the reign of Charles II.
Two years before the death of this monarch the first penny post in England was established (1683).
This establishment was originated by one Murray, an upholsterer, and it was afterwards assigned to Mr. William Docwray, whose name long subsequently figured in post-office annals. The penny post was found to be a decided success. No sooner was this fact made apparent, than the Duke of York, on whom and his heirs male in perpetuity the entire revenue of the post-office had been settled by stat. 15 Car. II. c. 14, complained that this post was an infraction of his monopoly.
In 1685, Charles II. died, and, the Duke of York succeeding his brother, the revenues of the post-office reverted to the crown. Throughout the reign of James II. the receipts of the post-office went on increasing, though no great improvements were made in the administration. It was this bigoted king who commenced the practice of granting pensions out of the post-office revenues. The year after he ascended the throne he granted £4700 a year to Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland, one of his brother’s many mistresses, to be paid out of the post-office receipts. It is a curious and disgraceful fact that this pension is still paid to the Duke of Grafton as her living representative. The Earl of Rochester was allowed a pension of £4000 a year from the same source. These pensions were paid during the reign of William and Mary, and the following pensions were added:—
| Duke of Leeds | £3500 |
| Duke of Schomberg | 4000 |
| Lord Keeper | 2000 |
| William Docwray, 1698 | 500 |
Among the post-office pensions granted in subsequent reigns, Queen Anne gave one, in 1707, to the Duke of Marlborough and his heirs of £5000. The heirs of the Duke of Schomberg were paid by the post-office till 1856, when about £20,000 were advanced to redeem a fourth part of the pension, the burden of the remaining part being then transferred to the Consolidated Fund. There was, it must be admitted, some semblance of reason in giving Docwray a pension, for he had claims as founder of the district post or the penny post; but he only held his pension for four years, losing both his emoluments and his office in 1698, when charges of gross mismanagement were brought against him. Some of the charges alleged are curious. It was stated that he stopped “under spetious pretences most parcells that are taken in, which is a great damage to tradesmen, by loosing their customers or spoiling their goods, and many times hazard the life of the patient when physick is sent by a doctor or apothecary.”
Ten years after the removal of Docwray from his office, another rival to the government department sprung up, in the shape of a half-penny post. The scheme, established by a Mr. Povey, never had a fair trial.
The first act for establishing a general post-office in all her majesty’s dominions was the 9th Anne, c. 10. This act, which remained long in force, was the foundation of all subsequent legislation. By its provisions a general post and letter office was established in London for Great Britain, Ireland, North America, the West Indies, or any other of her majesty’s dominions, or any country or kingdom beyond the seas. To this end chief offices were established in Edinburgh, at Dublin, at New York, and in other convenient places in her majesty’s colonies of America and the islands of the West Indies. The whole of these chief offices were to be under the control of an officer to be appointed by the queen by letters patent under the great seal, by the name and style of Her Majesty’s Postmaster-General. The improvements introduced by this act increased the importance of the post-office and added to the available revenue of the country. For ten years no further steps were taken to develop the service; but in 1720, Ralph Allen, immortalized by Pope, appeared on the scene, and he was destined to be one of the great improvers of the establishment. Mr. Allen, who at this time was postmaster of Bath, and who from his position was aware of the defects of the system, proposed to the government to establish cross-posts between Exeter and Chester, going by way of Bristol, Gloucester, and Worcester, thus connecting the west of England with the Lancashire district. The Bath postmaster proposed a complete reconstruction of the cross-post system, guaranteeing improvement to the revenue and increased accommodation to the public. The Lords of the Treasury granted him a lease of the cross-posts for life, his engagement being to bear all the costs of the new service and to pay a fixed rental of £6000 per year. The contract was several times renewed to Allen, the government on each occasion stipulating that the service should be extended. In this wise, in 1764, the period of Allen’s death, it was found that the cross-posts had extended to all parts of the country. Notwithstanding the losses he suffered through the dishonesty of country postmasters, Allen estimated the net profits of his contract at the sum of £10,000 annually: so that at the end of his official life he had made nearly half a million sterling. He bestowed a considerable part of his income in supporting needy men of letters. He was the friend of Fielding, of Pope, and Warburton. Fielding has drawn his character in the person of Allworthy, and Pope has celebrated his benevolence in the well-known lines,—