Plate I. fig. 2.) resembles somewhat a 4. The letter r occurs also in our word four; in the German fohr; in the Dutch vier; in the Latin quatuor; in the French quatre; in the Spanish and Portugueze, quatro; in the Italian quattro; in the Greek τέσσαρες; in the Russ, chetyïre; and in a variety of other languages.
The English L was borrowed from the Romans; they had it from the Greeks, and they again from the Hebrews, whose lamed is much like our L, excepting that the angle is somewhat more acute. L was used as a numerical letter for fifty, and may, therefore, be assigned to the figure 5. d, in writing is the reversed form of this figure. (See Plate I. fig. 2.)
c, k, g, q. The figure 7, with as light curvature, may be made to resemble a crooked stick, and as we shall remember this stick the better, if something be hung upon it, a cage shall be suspended there. In the word cage we obtain the consonants c and g; k also is added to the number for c is more frequently pronounced hard (ka) than it is soft (se); q being a gutteral and a crooked letter, shall go along with the cage and the stick. For the figure 7 there are then c, k, g, and q.
b, h, v, w. In the figure 8 there are two noughts, or two round things: these may be
