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 As therefore I can form no Hypotheſis on which a conſiſtent Interpretation may be built, I muſt leave theſe looſe and unconnected Hints entirely to the Candour of the Reader, and confeſs that I do not think my Scheme of Explication juſt, ſince I cannot apply it throughout the Whole, without involving myſelf in Difficulties, from which the ableſt Interpreter would find it no eaſt Matter to get free.

Being therefore convinced upon an attentive and deliberate Review of theſe Obſervations, and Conſultation with my Friends, of whoſe Abilities I have the higheſt Eſteem, and whoſe Impartiality, Sincerity, and Probity I have long known and frequently experienced, that my Conjectures are in general very uncertain, often improbable, and ſometimes little leſs than apparently falſe, I was long in doubt whether I ought not entirely to ſuppreſs them, and content myſelf with publiſhing in the Gazetteer the Inſcription, as it ſtands engraven on the Stone, without Tranſlation or