Saxon hrana, or hranas. Its etymology thus settles its true spelling.

V. The Analogies of the English language. The ques tion may arise whether, upon the addition of the formative er to the word travel, the should be doubled; in other words, whether traveler or traveller is the correct spelling. It is a remark in the Cambridge Philological Museum, "that there is something extremely unpleasant in such a mass of letters as one finds accumulated in travelled, in an unaccented syllable." What, however, seems to settle the correct orthog. raphy of the word is the Analogy of the language. It is a rule in the English language, "that verbs ending in a single consonant, but having the accent on the syllable preceding the last, ought not to double the final consonant." According, then, to the analogy of the language, er should be added, and nothing more. See § 129.

VI. The analogies of kindred languages. The natural aim of Orthography, of spelling, of writing, is to express the sounds of a language. Syllables and words it takes as they meet the ear from the lips, and translates them by appropriate signs on the page, thus painting them, as it were, to the eye. But beyond this primary object there is, with the orthographical systems of many languages, a secondary one, namely, the attempt to combine with the representation of a given word the representation of its history and origin. The sound of c in city is the sound that we naturally spell with the letter s; and if the expression of this sound were the only object of orthographists, the word would be spelled, accordingly, sity. The following facts traverse this simple view of the matter. The word is a derived word; it is transplanted into our language from the Latin, where it is spelled with a c (civitas), and to change this c into s conceals the origin and history of the word. In cases like this Orthography is bent to a secondary end, and is traversed by the Etymology.

Moreover, modes of spelling which at one time were correct, may, by a change of pronunciation, become incorrect, so that the Orthography becomes Obsolete whenever there takes place a change of speech without a corresponding

change of spelling. If the letter y, in the first syllable of the word Chymistry, represented the vowel sound generally given in pronunciation to that word at the time Johnson wrote his Dictionary, then he accomplished the true end of orthography by spelling it as it was pronounced; but if afterward there was a general change in the pronunciation of the word, so that the letter y no longer represented the sound heard in that syllable, then, on that ground, the change ought to be made from y to e, if the letter e represents that sound; but if the letter e does not represent the sound heard in speaking so well as y, or its equivalent, i, then y or i should be employed to represent that sound. If, in addition, the Etymology of the word, derived from the Arabic Kimia, points to i, if the Analogy of some other languages points the same way, the French spelling it Chimie, the Spanish Chimia, the Italians Chimica, there is strong reason for spelling it either with i or y in the first syllable. This statement is brought forward not for the purpose of showing the true spelling of the word, about which nothing is asserted except conditionally, but for the sake of showing what kind of reasoning can be adopted by an Orthographist in settling the spelling of a word.

Between the two forms highth and height good use is perhaps divided, the first having the authority of Milton and some eminent modern writers, like Walter Savage Landor. This form can be defended not so much on the ground of throwing out the useless letter e, as on that of its being in analogy with high, from which it is derived. Between the two forms public and publick, use has been divided. The arguments in favor of the first form is, that it is free from a useless letter; that it better agrees with its etymology, derived as it is from the Latin word publicus, which has no k in it; that it is in analogy with its derivatives, publicly, publication. The argument in favor of the k is, that c has no determinate sound, being equivalent either at one time to s and at another time to k, and should, therefore, never end a word, since the next word may begin either with a broad vowel or a small vowel.

These instances are brought forward not for the purpose

of deciding any doubtful questions in Orthography, but only to exhibit the considerations which the Orthographist must take into view in order to come to a correct decision.

CAUSES OF THE DIVERSITY IN ORTHOGRAPHY.

§ 121. 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 different ways in his will.

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.

For instance, the celebrated William Cobbett proposed, by a summary process, to give up the forms of the preterites of the irregular verbs, and substitute for them the forms in ed, thus making the verbs regular; as, arised for arose, abided for abode. This would be a sweeping change in our Orthography. On the other hand, with more reason, that distinguished scholar, Archdeacon Hare, proposed that, following the example of Spenser and Milton, we should return to those forms in spelling the preterites which express their sounds in pronunciation; as, stept for stepped; cald for called; exprest for expressed. Thus Spenser uses the orthography which makes the letters conform to the sound, lookt,

pluckt, nurst, kist; so did Milton; as, hurld, worshipt, confest. In confirmation he quotes the authority of Grimm: "In case the e is omitted in the preterite, the d becomes t after l, m, n, p, k, f (from v), gh (from k and ch), and s; as, dealt, dreamt, learnt, crept, crackt, reft, sought, kist." Whether these proposed changes would be improvements or not, there is in the nature of the case no reason why changes should not be urged, or withstood, on correct principles.

§ 122. Complaints have often been made that our language is harsh and coarse in its phonology, owing to the accumulation of consonant, and the deficiency of vowel sounds, especially in the termination of words. Thus, Lord Byron compliments the Italian in comparison with our own:

"I love the language, that soft bastard Latin,
Which melts like kisses from a female mouth,

And sounds as if it should be writ on satin
With syllables that breathe of the sweet South,

And gentle liquids gliding all so pat in

That not a single accent seems uncouth,

Like our harsh Northern, whistling, grunting guttural,
Which we are obliged to hiss, and spit, and sputter all."
Beppo, stanza xliv.

To remedy this alleged defect, Pinkerton, under the assumed name of Robert Heron, declares that our language wants 8000 vowel terminations in comparison with the Greek. Here is a specimen of the manner in which he would supply them: "When I waz ato Grand Cairo, I picked up several Orientala manuscripta, whica I have still by me. Among othera, I met with one' intitulen Thea Viziona of Mirza, whica I have read ove' with great pleasure'. I intend to give ito to the publico, when I have no other entertainmenta fo them, ando shall begin with the first, whica I have' translaten wordo fo wordo az followeth.” The final s in all plurals is turned into a. E is to be given to all substantives in y; as, beaute', bounte', and to be pronounced in finals; as, fame', grace'. I is to be given to all adjectives in y; as, healthi, weari. O is given to all substantives ending in harsh consonants; as, eggo, capo, facto. For a more full account of this absurd and impracticable scheme, see Cambridge Philological Museum, page 649, vol. i. While

changes like these are impossible, and are to be deprecated if they were possible, still, changes are to be expected in the orthographical forms of the language of a nation, just as there are in the ideas which are expressed by that language. These changes should not be left to be settled by chance or by caprice, but by the judicious application of the principles of Orthography.

CHAPTER VI.

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE ENGLISH ALPHABET.

§ 123. THE first Chapter exhibited the Theory of a full and perfect Alphabet; the second showed how far the English Alphabet falls short of such a standard; the third exhibited the various conventional modes of spelling which the insufficiency of Alphabets has engendered. The present Chapter gives a history of our Alphabet, whereby many of its defects are accounted for. These defects, it may be said, once for all, the English Alphabet shares with those of the rest of the world, although, with the doubtful exception of the French, it possesses them in a higher degree than any.

With few, if any, exceptions, all the modes of writing in the world originate, directly or indirectly, from the Phoeni cian, Hebrew, or Shemitic alphabet. This is easily accounted for, when we call to mind, 1. The fact that the Greek, the Latin, and the Arabian alphabets are all founded upon this; and, 2. The great influence of the nations speaking those three languages. The present sketch, however, is given only for the sake of accounting for defects. "Literas semper ar

bitror Assyrios fuisse; sed alii Ægyptios, alii apud Syros repertas volunt. Utique in Græciam intulisse è Phoenice Cadmum."-Pliny, vii., 56. The sixteen letters which Cadmus carried into Greece were not his own, but Eastern characters. Instead of inventing Alphabetic writing, he deserves no more credit than does the mariner or the missionary who carries our letters to a distant shore.

The stages of progress appear to have been, I. Speech, or