Cadmus carried the Phoenician alphabet into Greece, where it was subsequently altered and enlarged.  The small letters were not invented till about the seventh century of our era.  The Latins, or Romans, derived most of their capitals from the Greeks; but their small letters, if they had any, were made afterwards among themselves.  This alphabet underwent various changes, and received very great improvements, before it became that beautiful series of characters which we now use, under the name of Roman letters.  Indeed these particular forms, which are now justly preferred by many nations, are said to have been adopted after the invention of printing.  “The Roman letters were first used by Sweynheim and Pannartz, printers who settled at Rome, in 1467.  The earliest work printed wholly in this character in England, is said to have been Lily’s or Paul’s Accidence, printed by Richard Pinson, 1518.  The Italic letters were invented by Aldus Manutius at Rome, towards the close of the fifteenth century, and were first used in an edition of Virgil, in 1501.”—­Constables Miscellany, Vol. xx, p. 147.  The Saxon alphabet was mostly Roman.  Not more than one quarter of the letters have other forms.  But the changes, though few, give to a printed page a very different appearance.  Under William the Conqueror, this alphabet was superseded by the modern Gothic, Old English, or Black letter; which, in its turn, happily gave place to the present Roman.  The Germans still use a type similar to the Old English, but not so heavy.

OBS. 5.—­I have suggested that a true knowledge of the letters implies an acquaintance with their names, their classes, their powers, and their forms.  Under these four heads, therefore, I shall briefly present what seems most worthy of the learner’s attention at first, and shall reserve for the appendix a more particular account of these important elements.  The most common and the most useful things are not those about which we are in general most inquisitive.  Hence many, who think themselves sufficiently acquainted with the letters, do in fact know but very little about them.  If a person is able to read some easy book, he is apt to suppose he has no more to learn respecting the letters; or he neglects the minute study of these elements, because he sees what words they make, and can amuse himself with stories of things more interesting.  But merely to understand common English, is a very small qualification for him who aspires to scholarship, and especially for a teacher.  For one may do this, and even be a great reader, without ever being able to name the letters properly, or to pronounce such syllables as ca, ce, ci, co, cu, cy, without getting half of them wrong.  No one can ever teach an art more perfectly than he has learned it; and if we neglect the elements of grammar, our attainments must needs be proportionately unsettled and superficial.

I. NAMES OF THE LETTERS.  The names of the letters, as now commonly spoken and written in English, are A, Bee, Cee, Dee, E, Eff, Gee, Aitch, I, Jay, Kay, Ell, Em, En, O, Pee, Kue, Ar, Ess, Tee, U, Vee, Double-u, Ex, Wy, Zee.