name from the belief that Virgil was a Chaldean magician or astrologer. He was of the order of men who were banished by Marcus Aurelius, under the name of Mathematici and Chaldei, of whom I shall have much to say hereafter.
95. From these leaf letters, or letters having the names of trees, and from the right-lined letters inscribed on the boles of trees, the ancients, particularly the Arabians, invented their almost innumerable allegories, an account of which, much more detailed than I think it necessary to give, may be found in the fifth volume of Gen. Vallancey’s Collectanea Hibernica.
96. On this subject General Vallancey observes, “And hence the Sephiroth-tree, or tree of numbers, of the Cabalistical Jews: and this tree contained ten names, viz. corona, sapientia, prudentia, clementia, gravitas, ornatus, triumphus, confessio laudis, fundamentum, regnum. The number ten seems to have been fixed on because, as relating to numerals, ten was called perfection, as from thence all nations began to count anew. For this reason the Egyptians expressed the number ten by the word mid, that is, perfection; and the Irish call it deag, a word of like meaning: and for this reason the Chaldeans formed the word jod, or number ten, by an equilateral triangle thus Δ,[1] which was the symbol of perfection with the Egyptians. The Egyptians doubled the triangle thus X, and then it became a cross of St. Andrew, or the letter X or ten, that is, perfection, being the perfect number, or the number of figures on both hands: hence it stood for ten with the Egyptians, Chinese, Phœnicians, Romans, &c., and is so used with us at this day. The Mexicans also use the same figure in their secular calendars. The Tartars call it lama, from the Scythian lamh, a hand, synonymous to the jod of the Chaldeans, and thus it became the name of a cross, and of the high priest of the Tartars; and with the Irish, luam signifies the head of the church, an abbot, &c. Ce qu’il y a de remarkable c’est que le grand prétre des Tartares port le nom de lama qui, en langue Tartare, signifie la croix: et les Bogdoi qui conquirent la Chine en 1644, et qui sont soumis au dalai-lama dans les choses de la religion, ont toujours des croix sur eux, qu’ils appellent aussi lamas.”[2]
97. It has been observed by General Vallancey, that “it seems natural and universal to man to have entertained the idea of numbering from his fingers, and it does not appear extraordinary that, when man led an agrestic life, (as the Chaldeans and Scythians, the parents of numerals, did,) and had occasion to carry numbers higher than the fingers on his hands, that, before he had assigned arbitrary marks for numbers, he should have adopted the names of trees—objects immediately surrounding him, some of which grew more luxuriantly than others—and that having invented an arbitrary mark for such a number, he should give it the name of the tree which stood for it: and thus, having formed a numerical alphabet, these numerals at length became letters, as I have shewn in the preceding pages, still bearing the original names.”[3]
98. I think it very probable that from the use of leaves as letters, the hieroglyphics may have taken their rise. Suppose letters in the shape of the leaves of trees to have been made of thin laminæ of gold or tin, and strung on a cord, something like the tripods of the ancient Peruvians, a magical letter would thus be invented which could be deciphered by none but those who understood the secret; and it might be made extremely complicated by the addition of leaves not in the alphabet, or by the forms of other things, between the words or real letters, which would not, to the initiated, increase the difficulty of reading it, but rather the contrary, and at the same time would render it perfectly unintelligible to those not initiated. After some time these leaf letters would be drawn on plain surfaces, and again, with a little more experience, all other kinds of objects would be added to increase the difficulty and mystery, until the leaves would be lost sight of altogether, and the hieroglyphics come to what we find them.
99. Much has been said respecting the picture-writing of the Mexicans, sent to Cortes, by the Emperor’s messengers. They made drawings of the horses, ships, &c., because they had never seen such objects before, and of course their language could convey no idea of them. But this had no resemblance, in reality, to the Egyptian hieroglyphics. The intention of the ancient hieroglyphics was to enable one person to convey to another information relating to something already known to both, and of which, therefore, they possessed an idea common to both. But the pictures of Mexico were intended, by the persons drawing them, to convey a new idea respecting something wholly unknown to the beholder, for whose use they were intended, and of which, consequently, he had never formed an idea before.
100. Mr. Astles, on the Origin and Progress of Writing, supports my opinion that hieroglyphics were not the origin of writing.[4] “The subject of this chapter (Origin of Letters) hath engaged the attention and perplexed the sagacity
