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we know from other authorities, that the character in which this version was written, was either Runic, or one nearly resembling it. Several authors say, that Ulphilas invented it; but is it probable that any man should form a new alphabet for a nation which had one already? If the Goths of Mœsia and Thrace had not before his time had any knowledge of letters, would it not have been better to have taught them the use of the Greek character, already understood? Befides, Ulphilas neither wrote the Gospels on wood nor on stone, but on parchment; he would not therefore be under the necessity of disfiguring the alphabet of other nations for the sake of strait lines, which it is alledged gave birth to the Runic
been confuted by M. Knitell and others; and the Gothic claim has been further confirmed by a curious relic of the same language lately discovered in Italy, plainly written by one of the same Goths, being evidently of their time. The explanation of this we owe to the reverend Mr. Lye: See his Notes on the Gothic Gospels, &c.
To conclude; The letters used in the Gothic Gospels, being 25 in number, are formed with slight variations from the capitals of the Greek and Latin alphabet, and are extremely different from the Runic. The invention of them may therefore be very safely attributed to Bp. Ulphilas (as the ancients expressly assert); who might not chuse to employ in so sacred a work as the translation of the Bible, the Runic characters, which the Goths had rendered infamous by their superstitious use of them. T.
