Blair Collection > Celtic researches, on the origin, traditions & language, of the ancient Britons

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ν•Λίά much too important a connection, with my subject, in
tliu section before us, to be overlooked.
1. Mr. Hammtr, a German, who has travelled, lately, in
3^gi/pt, and Sjjria, has brought, it seems, to England, ä
manuscript, written in Arabic. It contains a number of
alphabets. Two of these consist entirely of trees. The
book is of authority. Introd. P. 37.
Whatever be the date of this manuscript, or the degree of
credit which it may deserve, it cannot have been fabricated
by the artificer, to confirm the doctrine of the Irish, and
British Bards : it furnishes, therefore, a collateral proof,
that the ancients regarded the symbols of sounds, in the de*
lineated form of in es ana plants.
2. The General quotes the authority of Bayer, " That
each of the Chaldean, or licbrezo letters, derives its name>
from some tree, or shrub; as, D, Beth, a thorn; 7 Daleth,
■A vine; π He, the pomegranate ; 1, Van, the palm; ', Jod,
Ivy; ÌD, Teth, the mulberry tree; D. Samech, the apple
tree; D, Pe, the cedar; 1^ Resh, the pine, ijc." Frcf,
P. 59, 60.
This opinion, is not grounded upon British, or upon Irishy
tradition.
S. The following quotations^ convey the same idea, re-
specting the origin of letters.
'' Fructiferaru/n arborum jjlantatio, Lierogli/phicè, in
divinis Uteris, acc/pitur pro di^^ipiinn doctoruni.'" Ilcsycli
Pierius.