THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES -^ RATIONAL SPELLING}: A CONSERVATIVE SCHEME FOR NATIONAL SPELLING REFORM. A LETTER ADDRESSED TO The Right Hon. The EARL OF BBACONSFIELD, PRIME MINISTER OF ENGLAND. BY Dr. GEORGE HARLEY, F.R.S., SOCIETY ; AND PROFESSOR IN UNIVERSITY COLLEGE. LONDON. LONDON: Printed and Piiblislied for the Author by C. F. HODGSON & SON, GOUGH SQUARE, FLEET STKEET, E.G. 1878. LONDON : PRINTED BY 0. P. IIODOSOK AND SON, GOUaH SQUAIIK, FLEET STREET. /ISO Hit Ay RATIONAL SPELLING. To the Right Honorable the Eaj'l of Beaconsficld. My Lord, — There is no truer fact in statecraft than that the social history of a nation invariably repeats itself; and there- fore it will not surprise, though it may interest you to learn, that the question to which. I am now about to call your at- tention, namely, one appertaining to the linguistic develop- ment of the nation, was already in the early part of the last century, in a precisely similar manner to that in which I am now doing, brought under the consideration of the then Ministry. Strange to say, the same philological drama as is now being acted, was already enacted in England 167 years ago. The cast of the piece, even to its details, being exactly the same. The names of the actors are alone changed. 1. In the naonth of February, 1711, as now in the month of February, 1878, a British subject, feeling the inestimable ad- vantages that would inevitably accrue to the mental develop- ment of the community by the simplification of its language, appealed to the Government for its aid in bringing about so desirable an end. 2. The appeal was then, as now, made during the time that a Queen, and a good Queen, occupied the throne. The name only of the Queen is changed — from that of Queen Anne to that of Queen Victoria. a2 3. The Prime 'Minister was then, as now, selected as the medium to which to apply the motive power ; but, instead of his name being, as in 1711, Robert Harley, it is at present Benjamin Disraeli. 4. Another point of resemblance in the respective positions of these two Ministers may probably suggest itself to the mind of the intelligent reader, and furnish it with additional proof that every important step in the public career of a great man has almost invariably had, in the career of another, an exactly corresponding antecedent. As will be recollected, both of the above-named Prime Ministers received from the hands of a Queen a national recognition of their services to the State in the shape of an Earldom. 5. Now, as then, it was in the capacity of a private citizen that the would-be reformer of the incongruities of the English language approached the Government ; and his name, instead of being, as in 1711, Jonathan Swift, is, in 1878, George Harley. 6. The appeal made 167 years ago was precisely the same as is made now ; namely, for the appointment of a Royal Com- mission. 7. The appeal, indeed, might be even now couched in the identical words as were employed on the previous occasion ; namely, for the " Ascertaining, Correcting, and Improving of the English Tongue."* 8. In the words of Dean Swift, the appeal then made was for the appointment of a committee of " such men as would be generally allowed to be the best qualified for such work, without any regard being paid to their quality, party, or pro- fession." It was further suggested by the acute Dean, that it would be advisable to place the Committee " under the pro- tection of a Prince, with the countenance and encouragement of the Ministry." To which he wisely added, that if the labors * Vide Sir Walter Scott's 1824 Edition of Dean Swift's Works, vol. ix., pp. 137—139. of sucli a Committee were brought to a successful issue, ** it would not only contribute to the bonor of her Majesty's reign, but deserve to be recorded in words more durable than brass," — a remark equally applicable to the reign of our worthy Queen, as it was to that of Queen Anne. 9. Another striking similarity in the two cases is, that now, as in those days, men learned in the organization of the English language stigmatize it, in almost the identical words of Dean Swift, as being " extremely imperfect, .... offending in many cases against every part of grammar," .... and " being less refined than the languages of either Italy, Spain, or France." These, the words of Swift, are indeed the very same as are now used by Spelling Reformers of the present day, notwithstanding that an interval of 167 years divides their application. This circumstance can create no surprise in the minds of the initiated, for it requires the possession of no superhuman amount of sagacity to be con- versant with the fact that the inconsistencies of English orthography are not only a stumbling block in the path of primary education, but a potent impediment in the way of the diffusion of knowledge. 10. By a very simple arithmetical calculation, it may be as- certained that the simplification of English Spelling would be a direct pecuniary saving to the British community of millions of pounds sterling per annum ; while to the national exchequer it would amount to little less than half a million per annum in educational matters alone. 11. But beyond all this there lies a still far greater problem to the solution of which the simplification of English Spelling will materially contribute. For there cannot be a shadow of doubt that, if the English language continues to spread itself over tbe surface of the globe at the same rate as it has done during the last hundred years, it only requires the sim- plification of its orthography to make it become in time the universally spoken language of civiliiied men. As a striking 6 proof of the cogency oP this remark, it may be mentioned that within the last few years an astute nationality in the Eastern Hemisphere — which in all probability is destined to play as important a part in the future civilization of the East as Great Britain has already played in the civilization of the "West — while reforming its social system, took into con- sideration the advantages likely to accrue to it from the adop- tion of English as its national language ; and it was chiefly from discovering the defects in its orthographical organization, and becoming conscious of the impediments which these defects throw in the way of the diffusion of knowledge, that the government of Japan abandoned the idea of adopting English as its national language, — a circumstance all the more to be regretted, seeing that the obstructive blemishes lie within the reach of easy removal. 12. It is by no means improbable that, were the English language rendered easy of acquirement by foreigners, by the removal of its most glaring orthographical inconsistencies, not only Japan but other nations — like the Chinese — in the posses- sion of defective and unwieldy languages, would soon, for their own sakes, be led to adopt it. This can scarcely be regarded as a mere chimerical fancy, seeing that, during the Middle Ages, a desire of a precisely similar kind existed in Europe, when the monks and other learned men made strenuous efforts to make the language of ancient Rome the universal written and spoken language of educated Europe. Had, indeed, t'le Latin of the Romans of 2000 years ago been a less imperfect language than it was, I should not now be writing this in English. For it is more than probable that the language of ancient Rome would be at this very moment the vernacular of every country in Europe, — and what might have been the career in modern Europe of the language of the con- quering legions of ancient Rome, had it but been simplified to meet the requirements of the times, I desire to foreshadow as the future career of the improved language of Great Britain over the entire civilized surface of the globe. This is no Utopian idea. A glance at our Colonies, a resume of the part now being played by the English language in the towns in North America, Australia, Now Zealand, on the coasts of South America, Africa, and Asia, plainly points to the future destiny of the English tongue, if it be only brought within the reach of easy acquirement by foreign races. On the contrary, however, if English orthography be allowed to remain in its present iaiperfect state, we venture to jjredict that its ultimate fate will not fail to be one whit less ignoble than that of ancient Roman Latin, which in consequence of its imperfections has been gradually and quietly shunted from the path of progress, till at length it has, as a spoken language, become a houseless and homeless wanderer on the face of the earth. Even Rome itself, its birthplace and its nursery, has long since repudiated its services, and accepted in their stead those of its less defective and more manageable scion, Italian. As has been the fate of Latin in the past, so will be the fate of English in the future, if its house be not put in order and adapted to the requirements of the times. For education will not much longer submit to the fetters of its imperfections ; and, unless it speedily yields itself to the wants of the age, modern spoken English, like ancient spoken Latin, will in the course of time find that the place that once kuew it will know it no more. 12. Just as the rolling snow- ball increases in size, and in power, the further it proceeds from its point of departure ; so in like manner has the question of English Spelling Reform gained in actual bulk and intrinsic importance since the days wdien it was first rocked in its infantile cradle by the learned hands of Dr. Gil — the Tutor of Milton — no less than two hundred and fifty-nine years ago. Then it was but a feeble suckling, bound up in swaddling clothes ; now it is a full- grown stripling, ready to perform its appropriate part in the affairs of life ; and it only requires countenance and 8 encouragement to become a potent lever in universal social development. It may, indeed, with perfect justice be said, that it will not do for the Government of this country to continue much longer to ignore its claims to consideration ; for there is a destiny in language as in every thing else, which awaits not the beck and call of frail human mortals. Blind although many may yet be to the fact, it is nevertheless a discernible fact, that the time has gone by in the history of civilization when the governors of a nation can complacently fold their hands on their knees and say, " Let things be," " What did for our forefathers ought equally well to do for us." Railways, telegraphs, and telephones have changed, and are changing, the whole relations of civilized society ; and what was sufficient for the wants of our forefathers, two hundred, or even one hundred years ago, are insufficient for ours now, and will be still less sufficient for the requirements of our successors. Mechanical lansfuage — the languao'e which transmits from, man to man knowledge by means of pencil, pen, type, or tele- graph — requires simplification, and it is with the view of attain- ingtothisend that I have ventured to thus address you. Feeling, as I do, that the social well-being of millions upon millions of the yet unborn must be materially influenced by the apathy or activity with which the question of SpelHng Reform is handled in this the last quarter of the nineteenth century. 15. The social cry of the age is for knowledge — more know- ledge. The wail of the child is for the simplification of the means of acquiring education, and the duty of the government is to give heed to both. It is of little use to force poor chil- dren into national schools, if the means we employ to instruct them are beyond their mental capacity, unless their intellects be subjected to a pernicious amount of mental strain. 'Tis scandalous that so-called educated men Continue to perpetuate tortui'es on immature intellects by forcing them to acquire a knowledge of absurdities — a system of education alike deroga- tory to common sense and humanity. Let those who know 9 nothing, and undei'stand still less, of the organization and the requii'emeuts of language, listen to those who have given suffi- cient time to the mastering of its secrets. No one wishes that every scheme of Spelling Reform, emanating from the brains of sanguine enthusiasts, should be accepted and acted upon. All that sensible men ask, is that the Government of the nation should appoint a Commission of competent persons, as Dean Swift proposed, to investigate the organization of the language, and draw up a practical scheme by which might be removed from the path of growing education, and the general diffusion of know- ledge, the mass of unnecessary obstacles which now needlessly infest it. In the following pages I shall attempt to indicate one line at least of easy practical reform ; and if after its perusal you should consider, as I and many others do, that it is the bounden duty of the Government, in the interests of national and social well-being, to entertain the question of Spelling Reform by the appointment of a Royal Commission, I venture to prophesy that Liberals as well as Conservatives will, in the end, unite in giving thanks to the present Ministry for their efforts thus made in advancing the cause of civilization. You, my Lord, may rest assured, — 1st, That the fruit is ripe ; — 2nd, That there are already a sufficiency of able laborers in the field ; — 3rd, That the tree only requires to be shaken in order to make it yield the harvest ; — and 4th, That the Prime Minister of England, who grasps the golden oppor- tunity now within his reach, in this the last quarter of the nineteenth centuiy, to simplify the English language, will prove himself alike to be the champion of the nation's honor and the pioneer of advancing civilization. Faithfully yours, GEORGE HARLEY. 25, Hakley Stkeet. Cavendish Square, London. EEMARKS ON THE FEASIBILITY OF INTRODUC^ING A CONSERVATIVE NATIONAL SCHEME OF RATIONAL SPELLING REFORM. N.B. — In the following pages we shall give a practical exposi- tion of the mode of working of the first section of our scheme — which consists in the omission of duplicated consonants (doubled fe's, Vs, t's, &G.) from all words escejjt personal names — ^so that our readers will be able to judge for themselves, not onlj^ of its practicability, but of its more immediate merits, as regards its facilitating education, and thereby dii^ectly contributing to the intellectual development of the nation. We think it may with perfect justice be afirmed that, no mater how much the ideas of the educated portion of the British na.tion difer in questions of politics, jiroperly so caled, on al social ques- tions it is, as a body, eseutialy conservative. This fact may be gleaned from its inveterate adherence to old customs, as wel as its tenacious atachmeut to useles old things. Every suden atempt made to change, under the name of re- form, any of our national patriarchal maners or customs is invariably fruitles, — as fruitles almost as would be an atempt to place a pyramid on its apex instead of on its base. Yet, notwithstanding the truthfulnes of this asertion, it is an equaly undoubted fact, that public opinion is al the while as unstable as water — as changeable as a fluctuating quantity in mathematics — or, beter stil, as ceaseles in its movements as the minute hand of a clock (which it most closely resembles) ; for, while ever gyrating, and for ever returning to the same indi- vidual points on the face of the dial, it yet never fails to indicate an advanced stage in the march of time. 12 It is precisely fhe same with public opinion. Although ever and anon are revived among the novelties of the day the long since exploded opinions of the past, the revivals are not merely I'esuscitations of efete mater, but actual regenerations of old material in a new form — which as incontrovertibly point to a new phase in the intelectual development of a nation, as each suxeeding return of the clock's minute-hand to the varied hour- markings, points to a new epoch of time in its onward march towards eternity. In most things public opinion changes slowly, — so slowly, in- deed, that the transition movement is almost inapreciable to the mental eye ; but in some things, and at other times, it sudenly flies from one extreme to another, like the hands of a weather- cock, — so abrupt, so sharp, so decided being its pirouete, as not inaptly to merit the title of a mental revolution. Such apears to be now the case with public opinion as regards things educa- tional. After having listlesiy slumbered for centuries, the nation has sudenly woke up to a consciousnes of the necesity of reforming its educational system. The introduction of public examinations and school boards has produced the startling discovery that something is even radicaly wrong in the speling of its language. It apears rapidly becoming conscious of the fact that the anomalies of English orthography might with perfect truth, though with les politenes, be logicaly denominated absurdities — a humbling thought to national pride. Every man moving in literary society is cognizant of the fact that a marvelous change has, within the last few years, taken place in the mind of the intelectual clas regarding English ortho- graphy. For while scarcely more than five years ago, when an advanced thinker, by any chance, mooted the subject of speling reform in a mixed society during an after-diner conversation, he instantly had either a deaf ear turned on his remarks, or if he suxeeded in obtaining a few brief minutes' atention, was speedily mentaly sat upon, and mercilesly snubed for his temerity in daring to raise a voice of complaint against what his asociates considered the beautiful, logical, and perfect English language, — whose speling had, presumedly, been placed on an unalterable foundation by the labors of the great lexicographer Dr. Johnson, against whom to raiye a word of complaint was not only re- garded as a species of high treason, but philological blasphemy. 13 Things are changed ; and it is now found, that when an in- .telectual man indulges in learned criticisms on the philological inconsistencies of the mother tongue, he finds eager Hsteners, whose atention does not even abate when he ventures to pro- pound a remedy for the evil : facts suficieut to prove that, in the minds of the educated, the question of speling reform has emerged from the etherial regions of desirability into the tangible realms of practicability. It seems consequently to be no longer a doubtful question with the enlightened, if English orthograjjliy requires a thorough overhauling ; but merely, how its recognized defects can be most easily and most speedily got rid of. The most salient orthographical blemishes in the language re. cognized by the thinking part of the educated clas are : — I. That the present system of speling is a direct impediment to education in primary schools, by unecesarily prolonging the mechanical drudgery of learning to read and write. II. That it hampers the distribution of knowledge through the mechanical instrumentality of pen and pres. III. While from these two propositions it folows, as a natural corolary, that the defective system of English speling is deti'i- mental to the intelectual development of the nation. Presuming that the readers of these pages are al prepared to admit the corectnes of these statements, and that they are also alive to the desirability of speling reform, we shal at once pro- ceed to show what is in our opinion the easiest, and therefore the best, plan of jDrocedure for its atainment. First and foremost, as it is a wise mother-axiom which advises everyone who desires to obtain anything, to take the preliminary step of clearly ascertaining what he actualy wants before enter- ing upon its pursuit, we have taken the trouble of doing so, and the result of our enquiry may be given as folows. Our ultimate object being nothing more nor les than to facilitate the intelectual development of the people, we desire to fiiTd a ready means : — 1. Of axelerating the acquirement of a knowledge of reading and writing the English language by children and iliterate adults. 2. Of facilitating the distribution of knowledge among al grades of persons in the comunity. 3. Wei knowing that no absolutely perfect scheme of ortho- graphical reform is practicable in the present state of society, we desire to atempt only to remove from the language the most ob- 14 jectionable of its inconsistencies ; that is to say, those which are admited by educated men to be not only direct impediments in the way of primary education, but obstructive agents in the spread of knowledge, as wel as of its perpetuation through the instrumentality of physical agents, such as the pen and the pres. 4. We desire that, in the introduction of any system of literary reform, great care should be taken to avoid as much as posible giving personal inconvenience to any member of the comunity. 5. We are anxious that the reform should not alone be a per- sonal advantage to every man, woman, and child in the nation ; but likewise a pecuniary benefit, individualy and colectively, by diminishing time, labor, and material in the acquirement of edu- cation, in the spread of iufoi'mation, and in the perpetuation of knowledge. 6. We desire that the present system of literature should be changed as litle as posible; so that the new may be able to proceed side by side and hand in hand with the old system, at the option of the more conservative portion of society ; neither system interfering with the independent working of the other. 7. We wish the reform to be one which, although it might be universaly adopted by al suxeeding generations of Anglo-Saxon speaking people, would not render useles to them the priceles treasures of modern English literature, which have been acumu- lating on the shelves of our libraries during the last three cen- turies. 8. While being careful to facilitate the acquirement of educa- tion in primary schools, and to avoid causing inconvenience to the adult portion of the comunity, we desire that every word in the language, when posible, should be shortened ; so as to entail a minimum expenditure of vital power in its vocal uterance, as wel as of manual labor in its mechanical employment by pen and pres. For, although brevity in expresion is not always com- patible with lucidity in argument, brevity in speling invariably conduces to concisenes and exactitude, without being incom- patible with euphony ; while the greater the number of ideas that can be lucidly expresed in the smalest compas has the aditioual advantage of reducing the bulk of our books as wel as the size of our libraries. With these eight salient propositions kept clearly in view, we shal now atempt to sketch out a scheme of speling reform, which we trust wil make itself axeptable to the majority of educated men in the nation. 15 Not being, however, of that hapy clas of sanguine individuals who expect to find perfection in anything human, we do not pro- mise to propound a perfect scheme of reform. For that we believe to be nterly imposible. Al that we venture to promise is, that we shal advance, for the consideration of thinking men, a tho- roughly practicable scheme, which, without being detrimental to the interests of the present generation of adults, wil be of great educational value to al future generations engaged in acquiring a knowledge of reading and writing the English language. Be- yond that we do not pretend to go. As extreme views in al ques- tions apertaining to social life are objectionable, and often do actual harm by exciting oposition, we may at once show our true colors, by remarking that we think that the ultra-school of speling reformers are at present doing great injury to the cause they desire to advocate. For, from being over-convinced that their way is the right way, they fail in making suficient alowance for the prejudices of those who are not suficient ly super-acute- minded as to be able to perceive and apreciate the overwhelming advantages which are said to exist in the ultra-schemes of speling reform. Hence the ultra-reformers have already suxeeded in stiring up a great amount of oposition, — so great, indeed, that the boat of speling reform is already almost swamped between the strugles of its admirers and detractors. And as has hapened in the case of the question of the Decimal system, the angel of conciliation threatens to spread her wings, fly away, and leave the disputants in a help- les state of dead-lock. It is with this knowledge that we have entered the field of speling reform, and, as may be perceived from the tenor of these remarks, our object in writing this esay is to try and bring about a philosophic compromise, not only among the partizans of the reform movement themselves, but with the out-and-out oponents to al schemes of national speling reform. We enter upon the execution of our self-imposed duty with a certain degree of trepidation, from the consciousnes that, if we act justly to our readers, we shal require to give a fearles critique of the opinions of able and conscientious men, whose views on the subject of speling reform are diametricaly oposed to our own ; and oiir space being limited, we shal require to put ourselves in the position rather of a judge than of an advocate. However, by sacrificing perhaps a litle of lucidity in favor of brevity, we may be able to place impartialy before our readers the more salient points of the diferent schemes. And by adhering to a strict 16 impartiality, we hope to render our exposition, thongh brief, sufi- ciently explicit to enable them to form a corect estimate of the merits of the respective methods of speling reform, and thereby enable them to distinguish the one to which they ought to lend a helping hand, as philanthropists anxious to advance the in- telectual interests of future generations. As the schemes are too numerous to admit of our examining them individualy, we shal form them into groups, — which fortu- nately is very easy, as they naturaly divide themselves into three distinct and wel marked clases. (1.) Those which may apropriately be denominated "Alpha- betic" ; as their chief characteristic is, that they propose a change in the number of leters in the alphabet. (2.) The "Phonetic," with equal propriety so caled, as they are al founded upon the principle of speling every word in the lan- guage in exact conformity with its most general form of pronun- ciation, without however making any change in the alphabet. (3.) The last clas, consisting of eight separate schemes — Mac- arthur's, Sprague's, Jones's, Rundell's, Moon's, Fleay's, and our own — may be caled the " Eational," as it is esentialy founded on the philosophic principle of simplification ; neither meditating a change in the number of leters in the alphabet, nor making any atempt to render the speling of every word in the language absolutely phonetic, while it at the same time promises to be equaly efective as a means of axelerating mental development. There is yet another scheme, which although denominated the Yox or Yoice Alphabet, does not come exactly into this category; for, strictly speaking, it is not alphabetic, as it only meditates giving diferent values to the present alphabetical leters by a sys- tem of digraphs, while it at the same time spels the words in close conformity to the schemes in the third clas. If, therefore, its proposal to employ digraphs be abandoned, which we con- sider ought to be done, the scheme might be apropriately aded to those in the third, which we cal the Eational clas. The Vox alphabet is the design of Mr. H. Holt Butterfill. The advantages and disadvantages of each set of schemes wil now be considered; but only in a national point of view, and quite irespective of their philological atributes, with which for the present we have nothing to do, as our readers are capable of esti- mating them perfectly wel without our dilating upon them. As regard the first clas of schemes, much may be said in its favor". Its chief featm*e of novelty is an increase in the number 17 of leters in the alphabet, increasing them from 26 to about 40 ; on the grounds that at the present moment some of the leters of the alphabet have to do duty for four, and even five distinct sounds, and are conseqn.eiitly a falacious index to proiuinciation. With about forty leters it is believed that each individual letor wil be limited to the expresion o"^" one particular sound; so tliat there may be no ambiguity in tlie promiuciation of words spelt with the enlarged alphaljet. In theory, this scheme of reforming the language is unexep- tionable, and iu practice would come as near the verge of perfec- tion as any human scheme could posib'y do; yet, as far as we can ascertain, it has more opoueuts, among the intelectual clas, than al the other schemes put together; for the simple reason tliat from such a sweeping scheme of reform ordinarily educated men of niidle age shrink in dismay. They have no desire to begin and learn another and more co nplox form of alphabet than what they already know; they tremble at the very thought of having to begin a course of speling anew; while, to a certain extent, they dread the prospect of having their visual organs ofended by the aljuorraal apearance which words spelt in a new form of alpha- betic letei's are likely to present. Alas ! these are, however, but the least formidable of the obstacles in the way to the introduc- tion of a new form of alphabet. A vastly graver source of objec- tion yut remains; namely, that the introduction of such a scheme would inevitably render the priceles English literature of the last three hundred years of no avail to future generations. None, ex- e[)t the few who had inclination or time to devote special study to the efete language would be able to deciplier the writings of our Shakespears, Miltons, Walter Scotts, ISTewtons, Herschcls, Byrons, Dickenses, and Macauiays. For every book printed before the introduction of the new alphabet would aj^ear to them to be writen iu an unknown tongue. Who amongst us, with anticjuaiian ta-tes, but without a special education. in black leter, has not found cause to wince under tlie torture of having to decipher it, and raentaly resented the want of wisdom iu our forefathers in having altered their system of writing to such an extent, that the literature of the nation, dating antecedent to the introduction of the present form (close* upon four hundred years) is iiterly uninteligible to the ordinarily educated Englishman. For although we have ample reason to rejoice that the change was made, as the advantages of the reformed system far overbalance its literary inconveniences, B 18 one canot help rcgroUng that the reformation was so sweeping in its chaructor as to prevent the ordinarily educated luiioug us, at the present day, from reading, without infinite trouble, the liter- ature of olden times. Great as is the los which we feel, 'tis yet but a mere drop in the bucket in comparison to the los which al future generations of Englishmen, without a special education, would sustain by not being able to read works published before the introduction of the new form of alphabet. Our vast stores of English literature in the British Museum, University, and other national libraries would be rendered by it abo;it as useful to future generations as the records on Cleopatra's needle and the tombs of Thebes are to us at present. We know, to our cost, the disadvantages of em- ploying an expert in the deciphering of old English. His brain never seems to be able to suply the want of ours, i'lenty of material he suplies us with for the money, but his budget generaly con- tains a quantity of mater which is to us useles. His ideas and ours on the value of historic questions do not always acord ; and we are forced to begrudge the pounds, shilings, and pence which are consequently unecesarily paid away. Just as it is with us now, we fear that it would be with the majority of persons in the future anxious to consult works writen with our present alphabet, after they had learned only the other. Tlicse objections by themselves, puting entirely aside al the perplexing anoyances which the introduction of a new form of alphabet would inevit- ably cause to the present generation, are found to be suficient to stamp this mode of speling reform with the brand of disaproba- tion. For no one with any feelings of philanthropy -wishes to perpetuate upon his suxesors, misfortunes similar to those he him- self labors under, from the blunder comited by his ancestors in so completely changing the old black-leter system when intro- ducing the one now in every-day use. Let us now place, side by side with these misfortvmes, the an- ticipated advantages to be derived from the introduction of an extended alphabet. The Alphabetic schemes specialy aim, as already said, at obtain- ing a separate leter of the alphabet for every distinct vocal sound uterable by the human voice. And in adition to thi;^, they meditate the employment of similarly formed letcrs to indicate similar vocal sounds, in order to facilitate the acquirement of a coi'ect knowledge of them, as wel as to facilitate their retention in the memory, and consequently rapid aplication. 19 From this it is soen that the main benefit to be deriv^cd fi'oni the Alphabetic system cousists iu the fact that the iutroductiou of uevv leters would reduce to a miuimum the labor of acquiring an exact knowledge of English orthography, and thus save time in the acquirement of a knowledge of reading and writing. Aded to this, the new leters would aford the aditional advantage of inducing a slight abreviation in the length of woi'ds, and con- se((uently, to a certain extent, economise time in writing and printing, as wel as pens, ink, and paper. The new alphabet would, however, only do this to a very moderate extent. These are al the tangible advantages which this clas of scheme presents to our minds ; and it Alphabetic reformers have no more potent ones to advance in its favor, we can scarcely believe that they can be so oblivious of the drawbacks atached to the prac- tical introduction of this chis of scheme, as to try and ibrce its adoption on the nation ; the actual advantages arising fi'om its adoption being quite insignificant in comparison to the disad- vantages it would inevitably entail. One word more has yet to be aded, regarding the proposal of increasing the number of leters in the aljahabet, and it is one of no mean importance. ISTamely — that in oixlcr to im])rove English orthograpliy, it is not necesary that any adition whatever be made to the number of leters iu the alphabet ; but only that more, or at least a beter clas of brains be employed in the re-arangement of those we already poses. For we believe that every vocal sound, uterable by the human voice, may be corectly indicated by the present twenty-six leters, if they are only judiciously and in- teligibly uranged. At any rate, we shal atemjit to prove in the scheme of Rational speling which we propose to giv(; in the sequel, that the pronunciation of every word may be corectly interpreted, if the vowels in them be disposed acording to the principles of p^osophic law. In order to give our readers the oportunity of seeing a sample of words spelt and printed acording to the newly proposed form of extended alphabet, we subjoin a paragraph printed with the new form of type kindly lent to us by Mr. George Withers of Liverpool, and thereby our i-eaders will have the oportnnit}^ of judging for themselves of the probable advantages likely to arise from its national adoption : — " 3-ar iz in ds Enlqrjd Ljcflif Alfahet, hwot dar ot tui be iu e\ eri Alfubet, wun sj^n for eg distiijct Elementari Ssnd iu dc kujgwaj; b2 20 and if, in rjtir) and pi'intir), eq s^n or loter wer i\7.([ tm indicat onli its on wuu ssud, az in dis spesiineu, Core t Prouunsiajun %vuid bs fasilitated ; Lernir) tm S]iel and tui Eed wuid bs anuu) de- eziest ov atanmeuts, insted ov, oz at prczent, amnij ds most difionlt ; and Ejtig wud be restord tm bwot it woz Grijinali intended tin be — a fatfial roprezentajun ov de Ssndz ov spocen wurdz. tie i[,s ov suq an Alfubet and simp'l m(ji ov Speliij, wud be ecwal tin de adijun ov several j^erz tui de scuil period ov everi cjild; and no wun ued be widst de abiliti tui red. " As the paragraph speaks for itself we at once pas on to the consideration of the next clas of schemes. The second or Phonetic clas of schemes specialy aims, like the Alphabetic, at rendering the speling of every word in the language in exact conformity to its pronunciation, difering from it however in the means by which it proposes to ataiu this end. Phonetic schemes meditate no increase to the number of leters already existing in the alphabet, but merely a remodeling of the form of their employment so as to enable the speling to indicate the exact sound of the word. The Phonetic has thus a direct advantage over the Alphabetic schemes in necesitating no alphabetic or chirographic re-educa- tion whatever, and in entailing no fresh investment by printers of new leter-type. The idea of introducing such a system of speling is no novel one, for Mr. Major, of the British Museum, showed us a book on the subject actual}- published in Loudon in the year 1619, advo- cating the adoption of a system of phonetic English speling. The book is adresed to King James, and was writen by Alexander Gil, Head Master of St. Paul's School .(the Tutor of John Milton). And not alone was Gil, at that early period, disatisfied with the defective national orthography, but other educqifed men, about the same time, raised their voices against it, as apears from the inovations in the system of English speling proposed by Charles Butler in his English Gramar, published in 1634; in Foenimi's Monarchic (1634), and Principles of Music (1636), to which our atention has been directed by Mr. E,. Garnett. All these books are to be found in the Grenville Library of the British Mnseum. Befoi'e atempting to gauge the value of the Phonetic schemes, we must ask our readers to bear in mind the important fact that al language was originaly writen on phon<.'tie principles -that is to 21 say, in exact acordance with the aural capabilities of the writers. And stil further, words only ceased to be true phonetic re- presentatives of pronunciation when, in the course of time, the pro- nunciation became altered from what it was ori^inaly, while the original form of speling was adhered to. Yet further, it must be borne in mind, that at no time in history was the pronunciation of words the same in al the counties of England, nor did there ever at any time exist a universal single form of national phonetic speling, for the very simple rea«!on that such was imposible. For what was perfectly phonetic orthotrraphy in one count}^ wa^ absolutely non- phonetic to another. Moreover, as the pronunciation of English words at the present day is not uniform, even among educated people, who inha')it diferent parts of Great Britain, and stil more, as the pronunciation of words varies from generation to genera- tion, as wel as in locality to locality, phonetic speling can never posibly be stereotyped. It wil, and must, ever vary. Before preceding further, it is necesar}- for us to reduce this last proposition to axiomatic certainty, or it may excite cavil. We s^^al choose for our ilustration one single word, and in order that it may be devoid of al ambiguity, instead of selecting an ordinary word, we shal choose aphoneticaly s])elt family name ; and as our own poseses al the requirements necesary for a crucial exposition of the point, we shal ofer it for consideration, on the grounds that we are most familiar with its origin and historj', and consequently les likely to fal into eror in our exposition. Harley. being a name of only two sylables. and each posesing a distinct and wel marked vocal sound, might be suposed to jire- sent a dificulty to write non-phoneticaly. Not so, however — quite the contrary, — for in a parish register, which we have had ocasion personaly to consult, and which dates from 1G20, we find that during the 209 years that the baptisms of the members of the family have been recorded by a suxesion of diferent parish clerks, there ocurs a strange variation in the speliug of this simj^le name. As is welknowr,litleatentionwas in olden times paid toauniform- itv in tbe speling of family names, and each parish clerk was in the habit of registering the name as it apeared to him to be jJro- nounced — that is to say, phoneticaly. And what has been tlic re- sult with, the easily pronounced and easily spelt name of Harley.^ Nothing more nor les than that it has been writen as Harley, Harlei, Harlie, HarJa, Uarlai, TLn-hnj, nnd Harlaui. Every one of these forms of speling being the undoubted representative of a 22 member of tlie same family, which has dwelt in the same locality for generations, even before the register was begun. After such a crucial example as this, how is it posiblo for any- one to believe in the posibility of introducing a stereotyped form of phonetic speliug ? So long as pronunciation is a fluctuating quantity, the introduction of a stereotyped form of phonetic speling we regard to be about as chimerical an idea as that of expecting a uniform series of pictures to ocur in a kaleidoscope. This is not, however, the only form of objection which presents itself to our minds against the suxesfal introduction of purely phonetic schemes of speling reform. There is, to our way of thinking, another potent obstacle to the national introduction of corect phonetic speling ; which, originating as it does in an organic defect in the human cerebral organs themselves, is incura- ble, and consequently insurmountable. The physical cause which we now alude to, exists in the dif erent degrees of acutenes in detecting and recording the value of vocal tones posesed by diferent individuals. Phonetic speling being founded on the principles of euphony alone, in order to obtain uniformity in speling, it is esential that universal harmony should exist in the aural organs. For if that be wanting, even although the pronunciation of the words is per- fectly and clearly defined to every member of a comunitj- in any particular locality, the diference in pitch of the musical tones posesed by persons' ears wil produce an apreciable diference in the phonetic speling of their words, as is wel seen in the speling of children and iliterate adults. No two sets of ears are exactly alike, no more than two human faces are identical ; and we have ascertained by experiment that a diference in the quality of the musical ear is almost invariably asociated with a diferent capacity for phonetic speling. Anyone can readily put this to the test, by asking a mixed company of persons, of about the same mental calibre and education, to write phoneticaly any ordinary word of more than two distinct sylabic tones. Should there be in the company some persons with acute, and some with obtuse musical ears, we prophesy that a startling revelation wil be made on the side of phonetics. It was only the other day that we met with a gentleman who could not distinguish the diference in intonation of j9?//?, fool, and pule. No amount of explanation was capable of making hi3 ears draw a distinction between their sounds, yet, strange to say, this 23 same person pretended to be able to distinguish a diference in the vocal tone of raht, rein, and relrjn. This is, perhaps, an extreme case; but there exist plenty of anomalous cases to prove that out of every 100 men there are not to be found above 30 or 40 with anything like what might be caled a corect ear for phonetic speling. How, then, with such discordant aural elements, can it be reasonably expected to introduce, through the instrumentality of the ear alone, a uniform system of phonetic speling P "We have no objection to the phonetic system in the abstract ; but we deprecate the plan pursued by its advocates of parading its advantages before the eyes of the public, while they are careful to exclude from view its defects. We shal yet point out another of them, which the reformers themselves ought to have made known. We dare say few wil be found to deny that the great ob- ject of existence is to get a maximum of advantage at a mini- mum of cost. Every human contrivance is invented, and aplied for this especial end, — a shortening of time, a saving of labor, and an economising of material. What, we may ask, does the at present proposed form of phonetic speling, without an increase of leters in the alphabet^ involve ? Certainly, no economy ; but an actual waste of time and material. It entirely upsets the principles of human economic law ; inasmuch as the formation of phonetic words necesitates a greater expendi- ture of time, and an actual increase of labor, as wel as an aditional waste of materials. Of course, a chorus of voices exclaim. Oh no ! nothing of the kind; you entirely misrepresent its principles. Let us see. To begin with, let us compare a few of Profesor March's newly spelt words with oiir old ones, and see what they tel us. Instead of re^rwZar he writes reg{e)alar. „ denoting „ cleno{e)ting. „ making „ via{i)hing. „ tdiimately „ ultima{i)tely . „ changed „ clia{i)nged. ,, unusual „ un{e)uz{h)ual. Let us now turn to our own countryman the well-known reformer who proposes to write his name as Aleksami'der Jon Ells, and from his Ingglish 8i>eling Glosik extract (.from his first page) the 24 folowing words : — aurder, did, egzem'pllfei, aariihl, ahau'rdens dhoaz,dhai,proanunsiai's1iPn, oarifinal, dis'rigaa'rded, intoo, hee. Of course these words al look strange to the unaciistomed eye ; a litle reflection may posibiy reveal their signification. However, in case some of our readers may have a dificulty in recognizing their old friends in this new garb, we shal reintroduce them as : — order, the, exevi^Mfy. article, ar.nrdance, those, they, pronunciation, original, disregarded, into, and he. It apears to us strange that these words should be said to be the corect representatives of plionetic speling, as only the hist two of them in the least acord with onr ideas of the exact repres- entation of the vocal sounds. No doubt this arises from our not posesing an acute musical ear, and it is probably on this acount too, that we consider the original form of speling, in al except the last two examples, more phonetic than the so-caled phonetic rendering of the words. Here, then, is a striking example of two educated men not being able to spel similarly on phonetic principles, in consequence of posesing diferently constituted ears. On opening Mr. Ellis's pamphlet, our eyes axidentaly fel upon the sentence begining in the ninth line of page fourteen, and as its apearance somewhat startled us, we here give it exactly as it stands : — " Konsikwentli dhi unfamil'yer kombinai'shcnz aur unfamil'yer koloakai"shenz ov famil'^-er kombinai"shens at wuus point out diferensez too bee aten'ded too." Our minds muse, we fear, be very obtuse ; but, somehow or other, no amount of reflection has as yet been able to reveal to our darkened understanding what are the advantages which this mode of speling the language has over that in present use. !Por the life of us, we canot grasp the idea that the writing dhi, dliis, and dhat would in the slightest degree facilitate the acquire- ment of a knowledge of speling by children. We are aware that Germans sometimes pronounce the, this, that as d/i, dis, dat ; but we have no recolection of ever having heard anyone, native or foreigner, pronounce them as dhi, dhis, dhat. If such realy be the corect phonetic speling of these three litle words, we canot feel in the least degree surprised at the anomalous apearance presented to our uneducated eyes by the before quoted sentence ; and we must honestly admit, that we feel ourselves compelcd to object to the introduction of such a change, as the above specimen implies, in the orthography of our language. Instead of giving to it the title of linguistic reformation, we in 25 our ignorance, if not forewarned, should have unhesitatingly stigmatised it as a species of linguistic deterioration, and that on the folowing grounds : — 1. Its national introduction would necesitate a complete re- education in orthograpliy to al persons who have already left school. 2. It difers as much from our present form of English speling as that of the 13fch century does. 3. Its adoption by future generations would render our present libraries and literature as unreadable to them as the English writin:^ of 500 years ago is at the j^resent moment to us. 4. If it would simplify, and consequently tend to diminish the dificulty of acquiring education by children, it would certainly be neither to their future, nor to our present advantage, either in economising time, labor, or material in the mechanical trans- mision of thought by pen and pres. As a nation, like an individual, in making a change in its habits and customs, invariably demands to reap some tangible advantages from it, we canot help expresing some degree of surprise that the present clas of phonetic reformers, with their eyes open, to the before pointed out disadvantages in their respective schemes, would hesitate to modify them in such a maner as would diminish the personal inconvenience as wel as the pecuniary los which would be sustained, not only by the pre- sent, but by al future generations of English people, by the introduction of such sweeping alterations in the speling of the language as they at present advocate. In fact, we believe that, if either one or other of the unmodified phonetic schemes be atempted to be forced itpon the nation, it will be rejected in into. For the intelectual portion, of the comtxuity is quite alive to its own interests, as wel as to the interests of suxecding generations, whose noble English literary heritage would be seriously imperiled by the introduc- tion of such radical changes as would be induced in the language, by the at present proposed pure system of phonetic speling. On the other hand, we are prepared to afirm, from the opor- tunity we have had of feeling the national pulse since the ptibli- cation a few months ago of our litle book, with its proposed scheme for the simplification of English speling,* that, although * " Tliti yimplification of English Speling — specialy adapted fur the rising generation. An Easy Way of Saving Time in Writing, Printing, and Reading." Triibner and Co., Ludgate Hil, E.G. 26 there does not yet apear to exist a perfect unanimity of opinion regarding tlie means to be adopted of improving English ortho- graphy, al apear to be so convinced of its urgent necesity, that we believe that, if any realy useful, and at the same time prac- ticable scheme of national speling reform was judiciously laid before them, its apearance would be actualy hailed with delight. The objection raised by educated men against speling reform arises, we find, in by far the majority of cases, not from their having the slightest objection to speling reform in the abstract ; but solely from what they consider to be preposterous demands made on public convenience by u Itra- reformers ; who, moreover, are not even agreed among themselves as to which of the rival schemes, which they hustle in a heterogeneous mas before the public gaze, is the most likely to be eficient in facilitating primary education, and axelerating the spread of knowledge among the people. Reformers must therefore at once begin and set their house in order, for, until they have decided upon giving their united suport to one definite plan of reform, no useful practical step can be made. They canot be so l;lind as to expect a nation to lend a wiling ear to the claims of a multitude of discordant schemes forced upon its atention al at once ? Such, however, is their pre- sent atempt, and it is almost imposiblc that it can be otherwise, seeing that in the list of reformers there exists an ultra-clas who not only believe that each of their own pet schemes is the best ; but that they only require to cry long enough and loud enough to con- vince everyone else that it is so ; forgeting altogether that human minds are not al constituted alike, and that what apears to them but moderate demands, are regarded by others as per- fei'tly exorbitant. No doubt, as every hen is thought to imagine its own eg the whitest, every reformer naturaly thinks his own scheme the nicest ; but, as al canot win, it would be wel for them at once to begin by spliting their diferences, and unite in the suport of one good, simple, and practicable scheme, which they might lay before the nation with a fair chance of its being axepted. It may pei'haps be advisable for us to throw out the hint, that as far as we have been able to gauge the state of the public mind, it apears to us that, in order to be able to secure the suxes of any scheme of speling reform, it is far more esen- tial for it to be one of easy inti'oduction, than of perfect construc- tion. The introduction of a perfect scheme at the present moment we regard as an unalainable Utopian idea, and we would advise 27 Bpeling reformers to take timely warning by the fate of tlie decimal system reform scheme which, as is wel known to those behind the scenes, the nation would at this very moment be reap- ing the practical advantages of, had it not been for the stuborn persistence made in extravagant demands by its ultra-advocates, to whom nothing short of " perfect perfection " was axeptable ; and the result is, that this valuable system of reform now lies, if not moribund, at least in a helples state of dead-lock. Among those whom we consider to merit the title of ultra-speling reformers are Pitman, Ellis, Withers, and March. Consequently it is more particularly to them we make this urgent apeal for moderation and unanimity in action. We shal now proceed to consider the last group of schemes, which consist of Sprague's,Macarthur's, Jones's, Rundell's, Moon's, rieay's, and our own. To which, as we said before, were it not for the system of digraphic leters, might be aded Mr. Butterfill's, for, in its system of speling, it is almost identical with the schemes in- cluded in this group. They al closely resemble each other in not ad- vocating any adition to the leters of the alphabet, nor the adoption of any ideal system of phonetic speling. Indeed, Sprague has admirably suxeeded in proving that nearly every word in the language can be spelt phoneticaly not only with the ordinary twenty-six leters, but with the same arangement of them, while Macarthurhas been equaly suxesful, with the fractional diference, that he modifies to some extent the ordinary mode of aplyiug the vowels. Although in general principle these schemes agree perfectly with ours, yet there exists between us and them some points of esential diference, arising from the fact that our scheme is solely founded on the basis of natural linguistic evolution and philo- sophic simplification. Hence, while the other schemes but par- tialy afect duplicated consonants, ours insists on their total abo- lition from every word in the English language, exept personal names. Before proceeding to give our scheme in detail, we may remark, that the whole eight schemes are so moderate in constitution, and so simple in aplication, that either one of them might be adopted by the strongest linguistic conservative without the slightest arriere pensee. We may further remark that, although our scheme was developed long before we even so much as heard of the existence of the other seven, al of them have proved exeed- ingly useful to ub in pointing out improvements in our details as wel 28 as in confirming in our minds the great value of entirely framing a "National scheme of Reform on philosophical linguistic principles. As literature has but one solitary object in view — a noble one, the propagation of knowledge— all that it requires of its words is, that they should be the exact symbols of the idea they are in- tended to represent. Hence, the shorter the word is in which the idea can be with exactitude expresed, the les vocal and manual power is required in its employment ; and consequently the more advantageous is it as a symbol of thought to the recipients as wol as to the distributors of knowledge. As a natural corolary to the foregoing, it folows that every extra leter in a word beyond what is absolutely necesary to make it an exact symbol of the idea it is intended to represent, is a disadvantage to the writer, printer, and reader, by imposing on each in turn an unecesary expenditure of vital power. Therefore, al words should be spelt with the smalest posible number of leters compatible with their corect pronunciation. Being linguist reformers, not revokitionists, — being liberal- conservatives, not ultra-radicals, — we do not desire to see the oi'ganisation of the English language overturned, either by the introduction of an extended alphabet, or of a chimerical system of phonetic speling. Al we desire to do is, to pui'ify the language of its most glaring inconsistencies, and so to simplify its ortho- graphy as to confer a personal as wel as a pecuniary advantage upon every man, woman, and child writing and reading the Anglo-Saxon language. Like the feat of making an eg stand upon its end, so skilfuly performed by Columbus, we hope to be able to do something nearly as wonderful, by suxesfuly propounding a useful, prac- tical scheme of English Speling Reform, which wil not nocesitate the slightest change in the fundamental organisation of the lan- guage, a feat which only apears (like that of the eg) to be incredible until its modus operandi is revealed. For the sake of public convenience, the scheme which we are about to propose is divided into three distinct parts, which, at the option of each individual member of the coauunity, may either be adopted and worked separately, or conjointly. Neither part interferes, either with the independent working of the other, or with the present system of orthogra]ihy. So that al three may with perfect impunity be mnde to pi-oceed side by side, or even hand in hand, acording to the views of the majority of the nation. 29 The first part of the scheme simply proposes the adoption, in an extended form, of tlie natural \iiw of English linguistic evolu- tion — the total abolition of al the unecesary duplicated con- sonants — Vs, c's, (Vs, /'s, Vs, 7ns, j/s, s's, ^'s, &c. &c., from every word in the language, except personal names, as we are ilustra- tiiig by our present form of writing. The second part of the scheme proposes, in like manor, a stil further extension of the natural law of linguistic development, by the total abolition of al mute leters, be they vowels or be they consonants ; which wil induce a stil further improvement in the shape of shortening, and thereby simplify the speling of words. The third and last part of our scheme proposes the adoption of a system of Ratlonal-sijeling. By which we mean the speling of words with the fewest posible number of leters capable of furnish- ing a corect index to the pronunciation of the word — the speling of al similar vocal souTids with exactly the same leters of the alphabet, — and the total disuse of the employment of similar leters of the alphabet to denote unlike vocal sounds ; which of iiecesity makes the speling a false index to the pronunciation of the word. With these objects in view, the first part of our scheme insists on the total abolition of doubled 6's, c's, fZ's,/'s, r/'s, lis, &c., from every word in the language excejjt personal names, and we make an exception in their fav'or solely on the ground that, as every Bi'itish subject has a legal right to cal himself by what name he wil, he has an equal right to spel his name in whatever mauer suits his fancy. From al ordinary words in the language, however, we would without mercy abolish them as useles incumbrances. Few persons have the slightest conception of the enormous number of duplicated consonants which infest English words. Perhaps it wil surprise some of our readers to learn— 1. That tlilrtii thouaand of duplicated 6's, c's, cZ's,/'s, g''s, lis,, Vs, m's, &c., apear in every ful-sized copy of the daily Times; exactly one half (15,000) of which are totaly useles, and, consequently, not only consume a quantity of valuable space, which might be more profitably ocupied, but entail a heavy ]iecuniary los, by wasting time in the writing, jDrinting, and reading. 2. By a calculation made by means of the post-ofice statistics, we have ascertained that the coresponding part of the British pul)lic, through the instrumentality of leters alone, auualy send through the post-ofice over iwvnft/ t]ij dig lug. marriage >5 mariage. happy )) hapg. getting >) gding. address J) adi'ess. running )J rmiiiig. ojtpuriauity )» oport unity. 'pcrsonallg J) personaly. beginning )» hegining. Strange to say, these woi^ds, with the exeption of omitiug tho duplicated cousouants, are actualy, iu the above instances, spelt corectly. AVe therefore opine that the employment of duplicated consonants in English words must have another source than that of the unwriten laws of instiuct-speling. This opinion is strength- ened by the fact that the pronunciation of many words in the lan- guage entirely precludes the idea that their orthography was dictated hj natural speUng. Thus, who could posibly imagine that instinct thrust unecesarily a mas of duplicated consonants into words sucli as — (wag-on) (dog-rel) (skit-ish) (rif-raf) (lul-hl) (o-pres) (a-dres) (po-ses-es) fctubbornness (stu-bor-nes) = stubornes. accommodate (a-com-o-date) = acomodate. restiifness (res-tif-nes) = restifnes. suppresses (su-pres-es) = supresea Mississippi (Mi-si-si-pi) = Misisipi. It may be here remarked that there is only one clas of words which ofers an impediment to the plan of omiting duplicated consonants. It -is that, posesing duplicated c's, such as accident and succeed, which, when robed of the doubled c, no longer acord with the pronunciation. This dificulty, however, is easily got over, by substituting an x for the doubled c, and writing them as axident and snxced, which has the aditional advantage of bringing them into exact conformity with phonetic law. The whole nation could, without the slightest inconvenience to waggon doggrel skittish riff-raff fulltill oppress address possesses = dogrel. = skitish. = rif-raf. = fulhl. = opres. = adres. = poseses. 32 itself, jret a?us'^nmecl to omit al duplicated consonants in the space of a few weeks, as the proces is more mechanical than mental, and from personal experience we know that it only requires three days to habituate one to the habit. At first the doubles would slip from our pen whenever our atention was taken away from them; but when they did, we took no note of the circumstance, feeling that it would soon come right of itself, and that the axi- dental leaving behind of one or two unecesary doubles was, at first, in a mater of this kind, of so trifling consequence as not to be worthy of a moment's consideration. Our expectations were more than realised ; for, to our surprise, by the third day the wilful doubles ceased to anoy us. Strange to say, it was the litle word ^ocl that troubled us most — we had no dificulty in writing ivil, l)ut whenever we atemptcd to write tvcl the doubled I would slip from our pen. Probably this had something to do with the sound of w-e-l. However, the dificulty being one of a mere mechanical nature soon altogether ceased. Having found the omision of duplicated consonants easy of practice, and the advantages acruing from it very considerable, we at once adopted it in our corcspondence ; and, in order to pre- vent strangers marveling at our curious form of speling, we have had al our note paper with an N".B. neatly printed in smal leters in the left-hand uper corner stating — Reformed Speling ! 1^0 duplicated consonants Except in personal names.* With duplicated vowels we do not pro])ose to interfere, as they are an esential index to pronunciation. If they were omited, the signification of words would be in most cases entirely changed. Thus good would become god. been „ „ hoi. boot „ ,, hot. poop „ „ pop. beet „ „ het. soon „ ,, con. After the abolition of duplicated consonants has been snxesfuly achieved, the next step we pro})ose, stil folowing in the cai'ecr of natural linguistic evolution, is to get rid of al mute leters, vowels * Papor with this headine,- is kept for sale, ready in stock, hy Donell & Co., Stationers, 15, Charing Cros, iS.W. k 33 as wel as consonants, of whicli there are an Imense mimber in the English lansjuaoje. From a calculation we have made of the unecesary duplicated consonants, and mute leters, we have ascer- tained that on an average the actual saving wil be about one leter in every three words. A smal proportion, perhaps, it may be thought, when looked at individualy, but it is an enormous one when regarded colectively, for, as every one knows, many a litle makes a mickle. No one, after reading the first part of this paper, wil, we think, dare to say that there is not already in the field a dangerous clas of Bpeling reformers,— a clas of literary revolutionists ; and, as we sincerely deprecate a revolutionary species of speling reform, we earnestly apeal to conservative philologists to join us and act ia time, like true philosojDhers, and by axepting the laser of two evils agree to make such an amount of orthogi'aphical reform as wil bring the language into conformity with the wants of the period, and make it a more handy, as wel as a more potent agent in the march of intelectual development. And as we believe that the apointment of a Royal Comision, on the plan sugested one hun- dred and sixty seven years ago by Dean Swift, would be the simijlest way of bringing about the much needed national ortho- graphical reform, we urgently apeal to the Government to take the question into its imediate consideration. If the scheme we propose for the consideration of intelectual men does not meet with their aproval, they have only to cal our atention to its shortcomings, and we shal readily take them into consideration, and modify, or remodel, the scheme as need be; for we are not in any way tied to any particular clas of views, and wil wiliugly change our plans as we become more enlightened. As al that we desire, for the present, is the introduction of the simple part of the scheme, the abolition of duplicated consonants, — while that portion of it is going forward, — tliere is plenty of time for the matm-e consideration of the most efectual way of working the second as wel as the more dificult thu-d part of the scheme. We therefore earnestly invite criticism thereon, as out of a multitude of counselors cometh wisdom. Here endeth the exposition of the first part of our scheme, and with the second as wel as with the third parts we are prepared to folow so soon as it apears to be advisable to do so. C. F. KoDGaOX i Sos, Pi-iuters. Gou^Ii Sqiure, Fleet Street, H.G. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. Form L9-Series4939 Inivprsitv Of California, Los Angeles L 007 626 231 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY AA 000 353"987 i' !Ui;;'i;:'.:.i'J:'.ii;>l m\ ^^^ mm i