In time, the Roman character was introduced into modern English, and also the Italian, so called from the types used by Italian printers. Ligatures, that is, double letters, like A, fl, were formerly more frequently used than now, as were also double vowels, like æ, œ. The character 3 was laid aside, g or y taking its place.

Thus we have seen how the English Alphabet was derived from the Phoenician Alphabet, through the Greek, and the Roman, and the Anglo-Saxon Alphabets.

Having, in the last two chapters, examined the defects of the English Alphabet, and also seen how they are historically accounted for, we are prepared to examine, in the next chapter, the expedients which have been resorted to in English orthography for expressing the sounds in the language.

QUESTIONS UNDER CHAPTER IV.

1. Was the English Alphabet invented to express the phonetic elements and combinations in the English language?

2. From what several successive alphabets was the English language derived?

3. What was the first mode of communication by visible signs, and the second mode, and the third mode, before the invention of letters?

4. From what is the word alphabet derived?

5. Is it known when and where letters were invented?

6. What is said of the honors paid to the inventor of letters by the Egyptians and the Greeks?

7. Of what alphabet is the Hebrew Alphabet a type?

8. Of how many letters is the Hebrew Alphabet composed, and what is said of them?

9. What is said of the shape of the letters, and in what direction was the anguage written?

10. What is said of the Greek Alphabet?

11. What is said of the Roman Alphabet?

12. What is said of the Anglo-Saxon Alphabet?

13. What is said of the Old English Alphabet?

CHAPTER V.

ORTHOGRAPHICAL EXPEDIENTS.

§ 222. To remedy the defects of the alphabet, certain ORTHOGRAPHICAL EXPEDIENTS are extensively employed, especially in expressing the quantity of the vowels.

The Long or Independent sounds of vowels are indicated in English orthography in several different ways.

1. The duplication of the letters, as in meet, door, seemly. Here the duplication indicates the long sound of e and the long sound of o. This expedient was adopted at an early period in the history of the language, as is seen in words like wyyf (wife), lyyf (life), wee (we). But these indications are not to be relied on, inasmuch as the double vowel letter often represents a short vowel sound, as in took, book, flood.

2. The diphthongal notation, as in rain, meat, groan, soul, bowl. Here the addition of one vowel indicates the long sound of a, of e, and of o. Still there is no distinctness in the indication, inasmuch as the two last words might be taken to rhyme with foul and howl.

3. A silent e, as in fame, shade, mode. Here the silent e indicates the long sound of a and o. Anciently, such words were pronounced in two syllables. When this pronunciation ceased, the spelling remained, and the e mute indicates the long sound of the other vowel. Still the indication is imperfect, inasmuch as it can not be continued in derivatives like famous, shady, modish, which might be taken to sound like famine, shadow, model.

4. A silent consonant, as in climb, talk, resign. Here the silent consonants b, l, g, indicate the long sound of a and i. This indication is useful to those who are acquainted with it, but others it would lead into error.

5. The duplication of a consonant, as in better, torrent, is an orthographical expedient to indicate the Short or Dependent sound of the preceding vowel. This has long been the habit of the language. But the duplication of the consonant in some

other cases seems to indicate the long sound of the vowel, as in roll, tall.

In a poem called "The Ormulum," every short vowel was indicated by a double consonant, as waterr, filledd.

6. The use of c before k is sometimes an orthographical expedient to indicate the short or dependent sound of the preceding vowel, as in pickle. K is never doubled.

7. The use of u after g is an orthographic expedient indicating the surd sound of g, as in guile, prorogue.

8. "The use of th for the simple sound of the first consonant in thin and thine is an orthographical expedient. The combination must be dealt with as a single letter.”

9. The use of d before g, as in edge, abridge, budge, lodge, is an orthographical expedient showing that the vowel is short. Elementary sounds, then, in the English language, are expressed,

I. By single appropriate elementary signs; as, in the words law and bar the first elementary sound in each is normally represented by the letter l or b.

II. By single elementary signs used abnormally or irregularly; as, in the words many, design, the a in the first, the s in the second, are used irregularly, the one to represent the sound normally represented by e, and the other the sound normally represented by z.

III. By conventional expedients as above described.

Of these three modes, the first is greatly to be preferred, as being regular, and as promoting consistency in the language. The second and third are not to be encouraged, inasmuch as they introduce irregularity and confusion.

QUESTIONS UNDER CHAPTER V.

1. For what purpose are orthographical expedients especially employed? 2. In what several modes is the long sound of the vowel expressed? 3. In what several modes is the short sound of the vowel expressed? 4. What is said of the use of c before k?

5. What is said of the use of u after g?

6. In what three ways are elementary sounds expressed?

7. Which of these three modes is to be preferred, and why?

CHAPTER VI.

ORTHOGRAPHY.

IN WHAT ORTHOGRAPHY CONSISTS.

§ 223. ORTHOGRAPHY, or right spelling of a word, consists in the use of those letters which best agree, first, with its Pronunciation; second, with its Etymology; and third, with the Analogies of the English language, particularly of that class of words to which it belongs. A person acquainted only with the general power of the letters, but ignorant of the intricacies of English orthography, will very likely use those letters which merely express the sounds of the words which he employs, irrespective of the other two particulars. For thought he would write thaut. An etymologist would be inclined to adopt that spelling which would best give the history of the word. For governor he would very likely write governour. A spelling-book maker would, in forming his tables, have his mind fixed on the analogy of particular classes of words, and withdrawn from the other two particulars. But, in order to form a correct system of orthography, one must, instead of leaning to one of these modes, comprehend them all in his view, giving to each its due prominence, and at once expressing the Sounds of words, their Histories and Analogies.

§ 224. The diversities in Orthography which have existed in the Anglo-Saxon first, and then in the English language, may be dated back, I. To the original dialectic differences in the Saxons, the Angles, and the Jutes; II. To there being for a period eight Saxon kingdoms, each of which, in an age when there was no printing, might originate some peculiarities of dialect; III. To the partial introduction of Scandinavian terms from Norway, Sweden, and Denmark; IV. To the influence of the Norman Conquest; V. To the writers of the period of Queen Elizabeth, some of whom attached but little consequence to orthography. Shakspeare's name is spelled in at least two, if not three differ

ent ways in his will, and the proper way of spelling it is not yet fully settled.

In the Anglo-Saxon, a single word was sometimes spelled in as many as fifteen or twenty different ways. And more than one word can be found in the present English which are spelled by different authors in ten or twelve different ways. Though Johnson in his Dictionary was thought to have settled the "external form" of the language, there still remain what he calls "spots of barbarity," which the orthographist may endeavor to remove. Diversities still exist, and questions not unfrequently arise which can be settled only by an appeal to the true principles of orthography.

INCONSISTENCIES OF ENGLISH ORTHOGRAPHY.

§ 225. The inconsistencies of English orthography might be inferred from the examples under equivalent letters, § 209. They are still more strikingly seen in the following examples, in which the same sounds are expressed by different letters, or different sounds are expressed by the same letters. In the case of done, the analogical spelling would be rone, the actual spelling is (run). So eight, leight (late); thigh, trigh (try); design, lign (line); two, dwo (do); hearty, pearty (party); learn, tearn (turn); such, tuch (touch); double, bouble (bubble); despair, thair (there); beauty, deauty (duty); said, haid (head); laughter, aughter (after).

B makes road broad; c makes limb climb; d turns a crow into a crowd; e turns yes into eyes; f turns the lower regions into flower regions; g makes one gone; h turns eight into height; k makes now know; I changes a pear into a pearl; n changes a crow into a crown; p changes a rover into a prover; s changes hall into shall; t turns here into there; w turns omen into women; y turns ours into yours.-PITMAN'S Phonetic Journal.

DIFFERENT PLANS OF REFORM.

§ 226. For instance, the celebrated William Cobbett proposed, by a summary process, to give up the forms of the preterits of the irregular or strong verbs, and substitute for them the forms in ed, thus making the verbs regular, as arised for arose, abided Р