PREFATORY NOTE TO THE REVISED EDITION.

Since the first publication of this work in 1860, many new names have appeared in modern literature. Japan, hitherto almost unknown to Europeans, has taken her place among the nations with a literature of her own, and the researches and discoveries of scholars in various parts of the world have thrown much light on the literatures of antiquity. To keep pace with this advance, a new edition of the work has been called for. Prefixed is a very brief summary of an important and exhaustive History of the Alphabet recently published.