ter, and the sevententh verse. So B. IX. Sect. 24. signifies book the ninth, and the twenty-fourth section. Figures are also used to express the things following, namely, 1. The order or succession of things, as 1st, 2d, 3d, 4th, 10th, 39th; first, second, third, &c. 2. The fractions or parts of a thing, as one half, one third part, 1⁄2 one fourth, or quarter, two thirds, & quarters, & five eighths, &c. 3. The numbers of action, as 2ce twice, 3ce thrice. 4. The size of books, 4to quarto, 8vo octavo, 12mo duodecimo or twelves, 24mo twenty-four. T 5. The months, as 7br September, 8br October, 9br November, 10br December. TABLE XIV.-A Table of Letters and other Marks used for whole Words in Money, Weights, Measures, &c. The Seven wandering Stars, called, The Seven Planets. According to the vulgar Philosophy, the Planets may be thus described in their Order. The Earth, the centre of the world Or thus, according to the New Philosophy. First Saturn, Jupiter and Mars, And round the Earth the Moon: Venus and Mercury are next, The Sun is in the centre fixt, And makes a glorious noon. The Twelve Heavenly Signs or Constellations, or Companies of fixed Stars, through which the Sun passes in a Year. T Aries, or the Ram. The Twelve signs may be thus described. The Ram, the Bull, the heavenly Twins, The Virgin and the Scales, The Scorpion, Archer and Sea-goat, THE LAST TABLE. I persuade myself that I shall gratify many of my readers, by inserting here several copies composed for the use of children at the writing school. I. Copies containing Moral Instructions, beginning with every Letter of the Alphabet. Attend the advice Of the old and the wise. It is dangerous folly, To jest with things holy. Keep your books without blot, And your clothes without spot. Never stay within hearing Of cursing and swearing. Offer God all the prime Of your strength and your time. Quash all evil thoughts, And mourn for your faults. Shun the wicked and rude, But converse with the good. When you are at your play, Take heed what you say. Note, The letter X begins no English word, so that we must begin that line with Ex; unless the reader will choose this instead of it, namely, X is such a cross letter, Balks my morals and metre. II. Copies containing the whole Alphabet, or the twenty-four Letters. Knowledge shall be promoted by frequent exercise. A dazzling triumph quickly flown, is but a gay vexation. III. Copies composed of short Letters to teach to Write even with Ease. Virtue in an eminent station raises our esteem. Art comes in to imitate or assist nature. In Verse. Astronomers can trace A comet's various race. THE CONCLUSION. IT may not be amiss to conclude this little book with a short view of the unspeakable advantages of Reading and Writing. The knowledge of letters is one of the greatest blessings that ever God bestowed on the children of men. By this means we preserve for our own use, through all our lives, what our memory would have lost in a few days, and lay up a rich treasure of knowledge for those that shall come after us. But the Arts of Reading and Writing we can sit at home and acquaint ourselves what is done in all the distant parts of the world, and find what our fathers did long ago in the first ages of mankind. By this means a Briton holds correspondence with his friends in America or Japan, and manages all his traffic. We learn by this means how the old Romans lived, how the Jews worshipped: We learn what Moses wrote, what Enoch prophesied, where Adam dwelt, and what he did soon after the creation; and those who shall live when the day of judgment comes, may learn by the same means what we now speak, and what we do in great Britain, or in the land of China. In short, the Art of Letters does, as it were, revive all the past ages of men, and set them at once upon the stage; and brings all the nations from afar, and gives them, as it were, a general interview: so that the most distant nations, and distant ages of mankind, may converse together, and grow into acquaintance. But the greatest blessing of all, is the knowledge of the Holy Scripture, wherein God has appointed his servants in ancient times to write down the discoveries which he has made of his power and justice, his providence and his grace, that we who live near the end of time may learn the way to heaven and everlasting happiness. Thus Letters give us a sort of immortality in this world, and they are given us in the word of God to support our immortal hopes in the uext. Those therefore who wilfully neglect this sort of knowledge, and despise the Art of Letters, need no heavier curse or pu nishment than what they chuse for themselves, namely, “To live and die in ignorance, both of the things of God and man." If the terror of such a thought will not awaken the slothful to seek so much acquaintance with their Mother Tongue, as may render them capable of some of the advantages here described, I know not where to find a persuasive that shall work upon souls that are sunk down so far into brutal stupidity, and so unworthy of a reasonable nature. |