with those of the learned professions, or that of those who, from their elevated birth and station, give laws to the refinements and elegancies of a court? To confine propriety to the latter, which is too often the case, seems an injury to the former, who, from their very profession, appear to have a natural right to a share, at least, in the legislation of language, if not to an absolute sovereignty."-WALKER'S Preface to his Dictionary, p. 5. Usage is not uniform. There is ancient usage and present usage, general usage and local usage. Custom or usage, therefore, in given cases of doubtful orthography, must be an uncertain guide, because it is divided; and, even if it were undivided, it might be contrary to other important considerations.

THE NORMAL USE OF THE LETTERS.

§ 230. The normal use of the letters in representing the elementary sounds in the language, and also the anomalous use in representing the same sounds. What the normal use of the letters is may be seen from the Table of Elementary Sounds, § 183. What is the anomalous use may be seen from § 209, on equivalent letters. The sound of a in ap is normal; it is the second elementary sound, represented by the letter a in its normal use. The sound of a in any is anomalous; it is the seventh elementary sound in the table, normally represented by e, and anomalously represented by a. Other things being equal, the normal use of the letters should, in orthography, be preferred to their anomalous use, as authorize in preference to authorise. The consonantal sound in the last is normally represented by z, but anomalously by s.

§ 231. In honour and favour, u is a silent, and therefore a useless letter so far as sound is concerned. But it has an etymological value. The u signifies that the words came to us through the French. Without the u, the words stand just as they were originally spelled in the Latin. So that the question is, whether we shall be at the trouble of retaining a letter that is useless as to sound, for the sake of the historical association, when the real origin of the words is to be sought in the Latin. The tendency of the language is to omit the u in words of this class.

ETYMOLOGICAL

FACTS AND REASONS.

§ 232. The question may arise whether rane-deer or reindeer is the true spelling. In favor of the first, it can be said that rane is the normal representative of the sound in the spoken language, whereas rein is an anomalous representative of that sound, and the ei might, by a foreigner, be confounded or identified with the ei in deceit and in either. The word is derived from the Saxon hrana or hranas. Its etymology thus settles its true spelling.

The primary object of writing and spelling is to express the sounds of the language. But beyond this primary object there is, with the orthographical systems of many languages, a sec. ondary one, namely, to combine with the representation of the sound 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, the orthography is bent to a secondary end by the etymology. On the same ground, lodestone and lode-star are preferable to load-stone and load-star. Lode was the ancient form, and distinguished literati in England and America seem disposed to employ this form.

THE

ANALOGIES OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.

§ 233. The question may arise whether, upon the addition of the formative er to the word travel, the I 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 orthography 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.

Between the two forms highth and height 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. So to clothe (not cloath) is in analogy with cloth; loathe is in analogy with loth; cloke (rather than cloak) is in analogy with a large class of words, and is the ancient, form.

§ 234. 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 cither with i ory 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.

The word commandment was formerly pronounced in four

J

ง

syllables, and was then spelled commandement. That pronunciation has ceased, and, in harmony with this, the penult syllable e has been dropped.

TENDENCY OF THE LANGUAGE.

§ 235. It is the tendency of the language to lay aside as useless silent letters in certain classes of words. There are those, indeed, who strongly object to this mutilation of words, to which they have long been accustomed, as marring their beauty, just as they would object to the mutilation of ancestral trees, under whose shade they had often reposed. Still, there are certain tendencies of the language which can not be withstood by this conservative spirit, however praiseworthy. Between the two forms public and publick, use has been divided. The argument 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; that it is in analogy with its derivatives, publicly, publication, which have no k. The argument in favor of the k is, that c has no determinate sound, being equivalent at one time to s and at another to k, and should therefore never end a word, since the next word may begin either with a broad vowel, a, o, or u, when it would have the sound of k, or with a small vowel, e or i, when it would have the sound of s. Now the tendency of the language, the weighty authority of Johnson to the contrary notwithstanding, is to lay aside the k in words like this.

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.

GRAMMA R.

§ 236. GRAMMAR-French grammaire, Greek ypáμμa, a letter-as a science, is a system of principles common to all languages. These principles relate to Articulate Sounds; to Letters; to Syllables; to Words; to Sentences.

Grammar, as an art, is a system of rules for the practical application of these principles to language.

These principles are deduced from the analysis of language,

and are applied in its synthesis. A principle in science is a rule in art; the two should not be confounded. "The two ideas of science and art differ from one another as the understanding differs from the will, and as the indicative mode in Grammar differs from the imperative. The one deals in facts, and the other in precepts. Science is a collection of truths; art is a body of rules, or directions for the conduct. The language of science is, This is, or This is not; This does or does not happen. The language of art is, Do this; Avoid that."-MILL'S Essays on some. Unsettled Questions in Political Economy, p. 124.

ENGLISH GRAMMAR.

$237. ENGLISH GRAMMAR, as a science, is a system of principles and a collection of facts peculiar to the English language, together with those which are common, also, to other languages. English Grammar, as an art, is a system of rules for the practical application of these principles to the English language.

In the study of English Grammar, the end aimed at is, I. An acquaintance with those facts and principles which pertain to the science; II. A familiarity with the application of those principles to practice. He who, in his practice in writing and speaking, applies these principles, thus making science the minister of art, speaks and writes the English language correctly.

QUESTIONS UNDER CHAPTER VI.

1. In what does orthography or right spelling consist?

2. To what facts can the diversities in English orthography be referred as their causes?

3. Can you mention any facts which exhibit the inconsistencies of English orthography?

4. Mention certain plans for reforming English orthography.

5. Mention opposite views on the subject of reforming the orthography.

6. Mention the number of words in the language differently spelled in different dictionaries.

7. What is the value of usage for settling any cases of doubtful orthography? 8. What is said of the normal use of letters in orthography?

9. What is said of the value of silent letters in relation to orthography?

10. What is said of etymological facts and reasons?

11. What is said of the analogies of the English language in relation to orthography?