This, you perceive, _falls short, by eight letters, of the number of the Latin cyphers_, which could not have occurred if borrowed from that people, and will therefore _stand_, independently and everlastingly, a self-evident proof of the reverse. [Illustration] It is well known, that long prior to the arrival of Cadmus the Greeks were in possession of alphabetic writing.[474] Diodorus states so, but adds that a _deluge_ had swept all away. One thousand five hundred and fifty before the era we count by, is agreed upon as the year in which Cadmus visited Greece; and you have the authority of Pausanias, that he himself had read an inscription upon a monument at Megara, the date of which was 1678 before our epoch, that is, one hundred and twenty-eight years before Cadmus’s time. Besides those ordinary letters of the _Beth-luis-nion_, the Irish made use of various other _occult_ and secret forms of writing, which they called _ogham_,[475] and of which I insert some specimens. Among these you perceive the _arrow-headed figures_ whereof I have already advertised you; and the _mysterious import_ of which reminded the _initiated_ of the _solemn purchase of salvation by the cross_. These are all peculiar and totally separate from any Phœnician alliance. Instead, therefore, of my being _adverse_ to the _moderns_ as to the Phœnician _bubble_, I am their _auxiliary_. But, Mr. Montmorency, are there not other places in the East besides Phœnicia? And may not a people leave the “sunny plains that gave them birth,” from other motives than those of “choice”? And may not “Fidh Inis,” instead of being a name of reproach, such as you affected, by associating it with “wintry and uncultivated wilds,” be one of distinction and of renown? And though to you its _authors_, as well as the _mystery of its import_, were an _impenetrable_ secret, may it not, notwithstanding _what you see verified_ now, be made one of the engines exercised in the recovery of truth, to prove the splendour and the refinement of our venerable ancestors? It is to be hoped, therefore, that after this explanation, we shall hear no more sarcasms upon this _favoured_ spot. Nor would the anticipation be too great, that the whole _infidel_ host, with the gallant colonel himself at their head, _becoming_ alive to the injustice of their former disbelief, would now slacken their virulence, and if they will not _join_ in the acclamations of regenerated history, at least decently _withdraw_, and let the lovers of truth, in security and happiness, celebrate its triumph.