in that language its pristine form, which
is that of our semicolon. In Hebrew, a full stop is denoted by a heavy
colon, or something like it; and this is the only pointing adopted, when
the vowel points and the accents are not used.

OBS. 4.--Though the points in use, and the principles on which they ought
to be applied, are in general well fixed, and common to almost all sorts of
books; yet, through the negligence of editors, the imperfections of copy,
the carelessness of printers, or some other means, it happens, that
different editions and different versions of the same work are often found
pointed very variously. This circumstance, provided the sense is still
preserved, is commonly thought to be of little moment. But all _writers_
will do well to remember, that they owe it to their readers, to show them
at once how they mean to be read; and since the punctuation of the early
printers was unquestionably very _defective_, the republishers of ancient
books should not be over scrupulous about an exact imitation of it; they
may, with proper caution, correct obvious faults.

OBS. 5.--The precise origin of the points, it is not easy to trace in the
depth of antiquity. It appears probable, from ancient manuscripts and
inscriptions, that the period is the oldest of them; and it is said by
some, that the first system of punctuation consisted in the different
positions of this dot alone. But after the adoption of the small letters,
which improvement is referred to the ninth century, both the comma and the
colon came into use, and also the Greek note of interrogation. In old
books, however, the comma is often found, not in its present form, but in
that of a straight stroke, drawn up and down obliquely between the words.
Though the colon is of Greek origin, the practice of writing it with two
dots we owe to the Latin authors, or perhaps to the early printers of Latin
books. The semicolon was first used in Italy, and was not adopted in
England till about the year 1600. Our marks for questions and exclamations
were also derived from the same source, probably at a date somewhat
earlier. The curves of the parenthesis have likewise been in use for
several centuries. But the clash is a more recent invention: Lowth, Ash,
and Ward,--Buchanan, Bicknell, and Burn,--though they name all the rest,
make no mention of this mark; but it appears by their books, that they all
occasionally _used_ it.

OBS. 6--Of the _colon_ it may be observed,