the Philippine languages, represent but inadequately the living speech. The Dutch have, therefore, in a praiseworthy, practical spirit, endeavoured to introduce the Roman character into their vernacular (Malay, Batta, Sundanese, etc.) school books. Nearly all the languages which have been reduced to writing by European and American missionaries all over the globe now use the Roman character. As exceptions, may be noted some of the North American Indian tongues, for which by way of experiment a new simple alphabet has been invented; further, certain Finno-Ugrian and Caucasian dialects, which are written with Russian letters; and the various Karen dialects in Burma, for which a new set of characters has been devised on the Burmese pattern. In writing Swaheli, the lingua franca of the East Coast of Africa, Latin letters are now exclusively used in supersession of the unsuited Arabic script. There has been a ‘Romanizing’ invasion, with greater or lesser chance of abiding success, on several of the ancient literary languages of Asia. Chinese in its various dialectic forms, Japanese, Annamese, Siamese, Tibetan, Sanskrit, Pali, Zend, and the cuneiform inscriptions in their various tongues, have been presented to us in Roman transcript together with numerous attendants in the shape of accents, dots, hooks, circles, etc. In spite of all that may be urged in favour of this innovation, with which we are by no means disposed to quarrel, there is, and there ever will be, a large contingent of scholars, students, and lovers of oriental lore, who will prefer the original Eastern characters to their modern transliteration. It is these to whom the present publication mainly appeals, and whose interest, patronage, and goodwill the Directors of the Oriental Printing Establishment of Messrs. Gilbert and Rivington are anxious to enlist. But apart from this purely literary aspect, the extraordinary and almost unrivalled resources of their collection of oriental type, as set forth in the present
