LETTER, a character used to express one of the simple sounds of the voice. As the different simple sounds are expressed’by different letters, these, by being differently compounded, become the visible signs or characters of all the modulations and varieties of sound used to express our ideas in a regular language. Thus, by the help of speech we render our ideas audible; by the assistance of letters we render them visible; and by means of these we can wrap up our thoughts, and send them to the most distant parts of the earth, or read the transactions of different ages. What letters were originally, who first invented them, and amongst what people they were primarily used, there is still reason to doubt. Philo attributes this great and noble invention to Abraham; Josephus, StIrenaeus, and others, to Enoch; Bibliander, to Adam; Eusebius, Clemens Alexandrinus, Cornelius Agrippa, and others, to Moses; Pomponius Mela, Herodian, Rufus Festus, Pliny, Lucan, and others, to the Phoenicians; St Cyprian, to Saturn; Plato and Tacitus, to the Egyptians; some, to the Ethiopians; and others, to the Chinese, who cannot possibly be entitled to this honour, since all their characters are the signs of simple ideas, and have nothing in common with letters.

There have also been various conjectures respecting the different kinds of letters used in different languages. Thus, according to Crinitus, Moses invented the Hebrew letters; Abraham the Syriac and Chaldaic; the Phoenicians those of Attica, brought into Greece by Cadmus, and thence carried into Italy by the Pelasgians; Nicoŝtrata, the Roman; Isis, the Egyptian; and Vulfilas, those of the Goths. These, however, are but fanciful conjectures, which it is sufficient to state, and would be vain to examine or discuss.

The natural order of invention, in the visible representation of thought, seems to be indicated, not merely by theory, but by facts ascertained from the analysis of ancient graphic remains, as well as by the practice actually followed amongst several existing nations. The primary and elemental form was unquestionably that of picture-writing, or the delineation, more or less rude, of external objects, as these present themselves to the eye; with perhaps some marks expressive of day, week, month, year, and even of time generally. The next was the hieroglyphic or ideagraphic form, which consisted not only of pictures or resemblances of external objects, but also, and in a much larger proportion, of images metaphorically or analogically transferred, so as to become signs of other things, and to indicate general notions as well as simple ideas. This was no doubt a very great improvement on picture-writing, inasmuch as it gave considerable extension and variety to the power of expression, and enabled mankind, though in a laborious form, to write their annals, inscribe their monuments, and preserve what knowledge they had acquired. The third and the last step in the gradual improvement of .writing, was the invention of letters; that is, of signs or marks expressive, not of ideas whether simple or complex, but of the elementary sounds of the human voice, lhis was the ultimate term, the final generalization, which led to the greatest and happiest of all discoveries, that of a literal alphabet.

It is no doubt true that some nations appear to have stopped short before reaching this final term, and to have remained satisfied with a more elaborate and imperfect mode of graphic representation. The Mexicans, for instance, had not advanced beyond picture-writing, in its rudest and simplest form. The Chinese have, for ages, employed a multitude of ideagraphic characters, derived, by composition and otherwise, from a limited number of elementary pictures or representations of external objects, without making the least step towards an alphabet, on the very verge of which invention they stand as often as they employ their ideagraphic characters, phonetically, to express the sounds of a foreign proper name. The ancient Egyptians also remained contented with their hieroglyphical system; and although Plato attributes to their god Thoth the invention of letters, the honour of that discovery appears rather to have belonged to other nations, who were not trammelled by habit, or restrained by prejudice, from attempting to improve their method of written expression. But it does not follow from this, as some have pretended, that letters are not derivable from ideagraphic signs, because some nations had not the ingenuity to make the derivation. It might with as much reason be maintained, that the law of universal gravitation is not deduceable from the fact of the descent of heavy bodies in a line directed towards the centre of the earth, because the deduction was not fully made, and clearly established, until the time of Newton. The Egyptians, like the Chinese, as often as they had occasion to write a foreign proper name, employed their ideagraphic characters phonetically, that is, as alphabetical letters expressive of sounds merely; in other words, the very exigencies of their graphic system forced upon them the knowledge and the practice of an alphabet, to the extent here indicated. They were, therefore, upon the very threshold of the discovery; necessity itself had impelled them in the right direction; the slightest attempt at generalization would have led them to the grand consummation; and, if they had tried to do that, generally, which they found themselves obliged to do in particular cases, the result would have been the displacement of ideagraphic by alphabetic characters. But does it follow, because they failed to make this final step, that the invention of letters was not the natural result of that state of things which immediately preceded it; or that alphabetic writing is not an invention of man, but “a miraculous gift to him from God,” as Dr Wall of Dublin and some others contend?

This seems to be not only unphilosophical in an eminent degree, but likewise absurd and preposterous. For if it required a miracle to deduce letters from hieroglyphics, it must have equally required one to deduce hieroglyphics, in all their complex variety of tropical, kuriological, and anaglyphic, from mere imitative representations, such as were found in use amongst the Mexicans when the Spaniards first landed in the New World. The distance between the Mexican and the Egyptian systems is fully as great as, if not greater than, the distance between phonetic hieroglyphics and the alphabet of Cadmus. If we were always to presume the interposition of miraculous agency in cases where men failed to reach inventions or discoveries, upon the very borders of which they had been standing for ages, history would become a romance, and philosophy a manual of superstition. The order of nature is not thus dislocated and disturbed; nor does the ordinary progress of invention, improvement, and generalization require to be accounted for or explained by supposititious assumptions of supernatural interposition. The miracle connected with the invention of an alphabet is its extreme simplicity, united with the almost unlimited power which it gives to man of expressing his thoughts in writing.

Letters constitute the first or elementary part of grammar; and they are combined, first, into syllables, secondly, into words, and, thirdly, into sentences. The alphabet [7:13:254]of every language consists of a certain number of letters, which ought to have each a different sound, figure, and use. As the difference of articulate sounds was intended to express the different ideas of the mind, so one letter was originally intended to signify only one sound, and not, as at present, to express sometimes one sound, and sometimes another; a practice which has brought a great deal of confusion into languages, and rendered the acquisition of the modern tongues much more difficult than it would otherwise have been. This consideration, together with the defects of all the known alphabets, from their wanting certain letters to express certain sounds, has occasioned several attempts to form an universal alphabet, containing an enumeration of all the single sounds or letters which are used in any language.

Grammarians distinguish letters into vowels, consonants, mutes, liquids, diphthongs, and characteristics. They receive their denomination from the shape and turn which is given to them; and in writing are distinguished into different hands, as round text, German text, round hand, Italian, and so forth; and in printing, into Roman, Italic, and black letter.

The term Letter, or Type, amongst printers, not only includes the capitals, small capitals, and small letters, but all the points, figures, and other marks cast and used in printing; and also the large ornamental letters cut in wood or metal, which are employed instead of the illuminated letters used in manuscripts. The letters used in printing are cast at the ends of small pieces of metal, about three quarters of an inch in length; and the letter being not indented, but raised, easily gives the impression, when, after being blacked with a glutinous ink, paper is closely pressed upon it. (See the article Printing.) A fount of letters includes small letters, capitals, small capitals, points, figures, spaces, and other necessary adjuncts. See Fount. Letter is a writing directed and sent by one person to another. See Epistle.

The art of epistolary writing was considered by the Romans amongst the number of polite and liberal accomplishments; and we find Cicero mentioning, with great pleasure, in some of his letters to Atticus, the elegant specimen he had received from his son of his genius in this way. It seems indeed to have formed part of their education; and, in the opinion of Mr Locke, it well deserves to have a share in ours. The writing of letters enters so much into all the occasions of life, that no gentleman can avoid showing himself in compositions of this kind. Occurrences will daily force him to make this use of his pen, which lays open his breeding, and sense, and his abilities, to a severer examination than any oral discourse.

Purity in the choice of words, and justness of construction, joined with perspicuity, are the leading properties of the epistolary style. Accordingly, Cicero says, “In writing letters, we make use of common words and expressions and Seneca observes, “I would have my letters to be like my discourses, when we either sit or walk together, unstudied and easy.” For what prudent man, in his common discourse, aims at bright and strong figures, beautiful turns of language, or laboured periods? Nor is it always requisite to attend to exact order and method. He who is master of what he writes, will naturally enough express his thoughts without perplexity and confusion; and anything more than this is seldom necessary, especially in familiar letters.

As the subjects of epistles are exceedingly various, they necessarily require corresponding variety in the manner of expression. If the subject be something weighty and momentous, the language should be strong and solemn; in things of an inferior description, free, easy, and familiar; and upon lighter matters, jocose and pleasant. In exhortations, it ought to be lively and vigorous; in consolations, kind and compassionate; in admonition, grave and serious. In narratives, it should be clear and distinct; in requests, modest; in commendations, friendly; in prosperity, cheerful; in adversity, mournful, but not mean or desponding. In a word, the style ought to be accommodated to the particular nature of the subject concerning which it is the object of the writer to express his sentiments and feelings.

Letter of Attorney, in Law, is a writing by which one person authorizes another to do some lawful act in his stead.

Letter of Marque. See Marque. Letters Patent or Overt, are writings sealed with the great seal of England, by which a man is authorized to do or to enjoy any thing exclusively for a period of time, which, of himself, he could not do without such authority. They are so called by reason of their form, as being open, with the seal affixed, ready to be shown for the confirmation of the authority given by them.