ere acquainted with two or three kinds of writing, as well
as the one in which symbolical characters were employed, which was not
used for common purposes. On the contrary, such symbols had something
of a sacred character about them, being unknown to the common people,
and only to be deciphered by the priests. Obelisks and pyramids were
the great national records; and on these the hieroglyphics were
constantly used, because unintelligible to the people, until expounded
by those who had the exclusive office of explaining them.

_Symbolical_, having the nature of signs or symbols--that
is, representations of different things.

_Deciphered_, read, understood, made out.

_Unintelligible_, that cannot be understood.

_Expounded_, explained, interpreted.

Were Hieroglyphics employed before or after Alphabetic Writing?

They were undoubtedly employed at first from necessity, not from
choice or refinement; and would never have been thought of, if
alphabetical characters had been known. This style of writing must be
reckoned as a rude improvement upon picture-writing, which had
previously been used. Hieroglyphics were employed by the Egyptian
priests in after times, as a kind of sacred writing, peculiar to
themselves, and serving to give an air of mystery to their learning
and religion, though fallen into disuse for other purposes.

What materials were employed by ancient nations in Writing?

The Eastern nations used tables of stone, brass, and wood, so that the
characters were engraved instead of being written in the usual manner.
The instrument used in writing on wood, was made of metal, and called
a _style_. For stone, brass, &c., a chisel was employed. When the bark
and leaves of trees, skins, and other materials of a more pliant
nature, superseded the above-named tables, the chisel and the style,
or stylus, gave way to the reed and cane, and afterwards to the quill,
the _hair_ pencil (as now used by the Chinese,) and the convenient
lead pencil.

_Engraved_, inscribed with the graver, a tool used in
engraving on stone, &c.

_Pliant_, yielding, easily bent.

Have not the various nations among whom this useful art has been
cultivated, adopted different ways of arranging their written
characters?

Yes. The Hebrews, Chaldeans, Syrians, Arabians, and Egyptians, begin
each line on the right side, and write towards the left. The Greeks,
Latins, and all European nations, w