As Stenography, or the Art of Short-hand Writing, when well understood, and rendered familiar by practice, is attended with many valuable consequences, we shall, without attempting to enumerate the infinite variety of systems that have been published, furnish our readers with that system which appears to be the most easy, beautiful, and expeditious, and at the same time calculated for general use.

PART I.

The Alphabet being the foundation upon which the perfection of the art depends, great care must be taken to establish it in the best manner. All the simple sounds must be represented by the shortest marks possible. We must, therefore, not only reject the complex marks established by custom in our common alphabet, but also those letters themselves whose sounds may always be signified by others; and simple marks must be provided for such simple sounds as are by custom represented by two letters a-piece: for which reason, it is necessary to examine the alphabet, and to fix the number of characters, before we proceed to investigate the marks which are to represent them. First, then, let us consider what number of consonants may be requisite. We shall afterwards treat of the vowels, which are to be represented by points or dots.

The consonants, according to our usual reckoning, are, b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y, z. But custom differs from nature in inserting the letters e, q, w, x, y, and in omitting sh, zh, th, dh, ch; for c having always either the sound of k or s, q that of koo, w of oo, x of ks, and y of i; in an alphabet according to nature none of these could have found a place; and sh, zh, th, dh, ch, representing single consonantal sounds as much as ph does, whose power is that of f, ought all to have been denoted by single characters, as most of them are in the alphabets of other languages.

The natural alphabet, therefore, might have been taken for our short-hand one, rejecting the superfluous letters c, q, w, x, y, and inserting in their stead fh, zh, th, dh, ch; but having some marks that were not conveniently applicable to any other purpose, and it being a compendium to represent two letters by a single character, as in the q and x, and some ease to the reader to retain at the beginning of words the w and y, to which he has been long accustomed; we shall, totally rejecting the c, appropriate distinct marks to denote q, x, w, y, when they are initial letters; not scrupling however, in other situations, if it prove more convenient, to denote them by k, ks, oo and i, respectively.

Zh never had any particular mark to signify it by; and custom has, for a long period of time, ceased to make any distinction in writing between the th and dh; and as the adherence to nature in making nice distinctions, where custom has not, would be so far, in this case, from serving any valuable purpose of short-hand, that, it would rather, on the contrary, render the learning to write and read it more difficult, we have, in pursuance of our plan, complied with custom in dropping the zh, and marking the sounds both of th and dh by the same character.

S and z bear the same relation to each other, that the th and dh do; and the sound of z in our customary way of writing is very frequently expressed by s, except in cases when it occurs at the beginning of words, which happen but very seldom. These considerations induce us to secure the great convenience which arises from signifying both s and... and z by one mark. And, for a like reason, we shall make one mark representative both of f and v. The sense of the place will easily discover, to a man tolerably acquainted with English, which of the two it must there represent; and the reader will be taught, when the characters are appropriated to the consonants, how, in most cases, entirely to remove any little ambiguity that possibly might arise from it. Our alphabet will then consist of the following consonants, viz.: b, d, [f v] g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, [s z], t, w, x, y, ch, ßb, th.

The number of our consonants being thus settled, and the reasons for fixing upon that number being given; the next business must be, to invent as many simple marks, easy to be made and distinguished from each other, as are necessarily required to represent them. They must be simple, if brevity be consulted; and they must be easily distinguishable from each other, to avoid the confusion arising from mistaking one letter for another.

Nature affords us four straight lines; sufficiently distinguishable from each other, by their horizontal, perpendicular, and inclined position, to execute our design by; (see Plate CL. No. 1.) but it affords only these four. In this scarcity of straight lines, recourse must be had to curved ones for a further supply. The four straight lines bent in the following manner, that is to say, the horizontal upwards and downwards, the perpendicular and inclined ones to the right and left, will each of them furnish two more very good short-hand marks; ibid No. 2.

The number of marks thus increased still falls short of supplying our wants. The best expedient to remedy this defect, is the addition of a little twirl to the beginning of as many of the foregoing marks as there will be occasion for. It is easily and quickly made, when the marks are formed separately; and the twirled marks are joined to preceding ones in as little time as the plain ones. No. 3. 4.

A sufficient number of proper marks being thus obtained, it remains that each of them be appropriated to the particular consonant which it is to represent. Easy as this may seem, it is, however, a point of the greatest nicety; and demands, not only the most careful consideration, but also the most assiduous application to continual trials and alterations. A short-hand alphabet may have all its characters simple, easy, and distinguishingly, when separately formed; and yet not be a perfect one. To merit that title, it is further requisite, that they be so contrived and adjusted, that all the consonants occurring in any word may be easily, beautifully, and interlinely joined together, between two given parallel lines, without taking off the pen. Experience has taught quick writers even of long-hand, that the joining all the letters of a word together contributes much to dispatch, though they are obliged to make little additional strokes for that purpose.

Let us then consider, to what particular consonant each of our marks is to be appropriated; and begin with the four straight lines.

The first of these lines, viz., the horizontal, as it goes straight forwards, can never exceed the limits of the given parallels, whatever part it begins from; and therefore, in a short-hand formed for lineal beauty, it must be appropriated to that consonant, which, of all others, occurs the oftenest, and challenges, of right, the most commodious character for beauty and dispatch. Now the consonant that occurs the most frequently in our language (and perhaps in most others) is the s; which has a property, peculiar to itself, of mixing with other consonants before or after it, without the intervention of a vowel. The plural number of most of our substantives, and the third person singular of our verbs, are formed by it; so that, which most occasion the most frequent repetition of it; so that, being undoubtedly the commonest of all our consonants, it must of necessity be denoted by the horizontal straight line.

The second straight-line, or perpendicular, is also a very easy mark, and, separately made, even preferable to the other; but as, in union with others, it may endanger our descending below the line, it must therefore be allotted to a common consonant, and one also that will the least occasion us to run that hazard. Now the t has, in fact, these and other properties that entitle it to this perpendicular straight line.

The third straight line, by its peculiar inclination, is adapted to a very easy and convenient joining with other characters; because our customary method of inclining the letters, in common writing, teaches us to form it with equal readiness upwards or downwards, as the keeping the previous or following marks within the prescribed parallels shall require. The consonant, therefore, that claims this character, is the r, which makes so many of our double consonants (as we call them) and admits any other single one to follow it immediately. The straight line then which slopes downwards to the left, is r.

The last line of the four straight ones, by its direction or slope to the right, is awkward to make (and therefore never is made) upwards, like the foregoing, to which it unites the most readily. Its properties, upon trial, suit best with the occurrence of the consonants f or v.

The twirl being formed to the left hand in these four marks, (No. 5.) disqualifies them from an easy junction with any preceding consonant. They must then, for that reason, be assigned to such consonants as occur the seldomest in the middle or at the end of words, or to such as may be otherwise signified when they do occur in such situations. Now the h; or j, are rarely to be met with in the middle of words, unless immediately preceded by some preposition, as inhabit, reject, &c. in which case, the reader will be taught hereafter how to write them: and when x and y are not at the beginning of words, they may be expressed by ks, and the dot for the vowel i respectively. The properties of these four letters agreeing well with those of the four marks, luckily point out a use for four easy characters, which could not however have been conveniently allotted to any other consonants; and the following appropriation of them, upon trial, is found to be the most commodious, viz.: the first for h, the second for j, the third for x, and the fourth for y.

K is a very common consonant; and the frequency of its occurrence will be much increased by its being made to often representative of the rejected c, and ks of x: a character, therefore, which is not only easy to be made, but which will also join readily with all the rest, without running either above or below the line, must be appropriated to it. The horizontal straight line, with the additional twirl, will, for these reasons, be the most commodious. But as the distinguishing the k and q, at the beginning of words especially, will, in some degree, facilitate the reading; the horizontal straight line with the twirl above is made for k, with the twirl below for q, when they are initial letters. In all other cases, these two marks are used promiscuously for k or q, whenever a more easy, beautiful junction may by that means be obtained; the one joining evidently much better with the characters which are written upwards, the other with those downwards.

But to give a detail of all the reasons for the appropriation of each particular mark to each consonant, would prove tedious. Most of them cannot escape the observation of an attentive practitioner as he goes along. It will, therefore, be sufficient to assure the reader, that no pains was spared to adjust the alphabet to the utmost nicety, by such an exact attention to continual trials and amendments as was necessary to ascertain the preference of the disposition of the characters in it to any other that could possibly have been pitched upon amongst that almost infinite variety into which they might have been thrown; and that, if he has the curiosity to make the experiment, he will find, that no change can be made in the allotment of the marks, but what will be attended with considerable disadvantage.

Two marks are allotted to b; (see Table of the Alphabet, Plate CL.) The first of these marks is the best when separately formed, but does not join well with the l or r. For similar reasons, some other of the consonants have more than one mark allotted to them.

One or other of the two marks appointed for w is always to be used when it is an initial letter; in other situations we scruple not to express it by a dot in the o or ow place, writing pour for power; especially if it joins not well with the preceding consonant, or no great ambiguity arises thereby.

The marks being thus adjusted to the particular consonants which they are to represent, let us see how any precedent, subsequent, or intermediate vowel may be affixed to any of these consonants, as occasion shall require.

In separate letters there is no difficulty, there being five distinguishable places for any given vowel or point, either preceding or following the consonant; reckoning, therefore, the vowels a, e, i, o, u, according to the established number and sequence, a is to be placed at the beginning of the consonant, e at the end of the first quarter, i at the end of the second quarter, that is the middle, o at the end of the third quarter, and u at the end of the consonant itself.

In the perpendicular and inclined letters, the vowels which precede are placed upon the left hand; those which follow, upon the right; because we write from left to right; as for example, ai, et, it, ot, ut; ta, te, ti, to, tu. No 6.

In the horizontal letters, the vowels which precede are placed above; those which follow, below; because we write from top to bottom; as, ai, ei, is, os, us; fa, fe, fi, fo, fu. No 7.

In the semicircular letters, the vowels a, e, i, o, u, are placed upon the left hand, the i above when they precede, and the contrary when they follow, agreeably to the two foregoing remarks; as, am, em, im, om, um; ma, me, mi, mo, mu. No 8.

A vowel between two consonants may be referred to either, and therefore seems to have two places; but in letters which form an angle when joined, this is the case of i only; for a and e can only be placed immediately after the first consonant, o and u only before the last; lest a and e, if placed before the last, should, in the narrow part of the angle, be confounded with u and o after the first; as, rat, ret, rit, rot, rut. No 9.

This twofold place of i may be of use in distinguishing, when thought necessary, the short i from the long one, by making it short when placed immediately after the first consonant, long when before the second; as quit, quite, No 10.

The great difficulty of learning the true pronunciation of our language, occasioned chiefly by our perplexed, various, and confused way of spelling, has been always matter of much complaint with all foreigners who have attempted to learn it. But this absurd irregularity is by far the most remarkable, in the customary management, or rather mismanagement of the vowels. It is hardly possible to give a rule for them, against which the exceptions will not be almost as numerous as the agreeing instances. How frequently do we put two, nay sometimes three vowels, to express the sound of one only? What, for example, has the e and a to do in the word beauty? The shorthand writer, however, is not embarrassed with any of these difficulties. He, totally disregarding the common way of spelling, is to infer only such letters as are pronounced; and must consequently write the word beauty thus, buty. But the insertion of more vowels than are necessary to the sound is not the only instance of irregularity to be met with;—there being more than five vowel-sounds in our language; and custom, having allotted only five letters to signify them all by, often makes one vowel express two or three different ones, nay, even diphthongs or combinations of vowels. We therefore, taking the advantage which custom in this case affords us, shall extend the power of our dots or points to the same degree: The fairness and propriety of doing this will more fully appear upon a particular examination of all the vowels in their order.

And first, in common writing, the letter a has three powers, viz. that of a, of ai or ay, and of au or aw; as in the words father, stable, fall, or amen, able, altar; which are pronounced all one as if they had been written father, stable, fall, or amen, able, altar: so that we are fairly authorized to extend the power of our vowel or point to the same degree in all other instances.

The vowel e sometimes expresses singly the sound that two of them are often made for, as in, be, me, we; where its sound is the same as that of two e's, as in fee, tree, agree, &c. We are therefore free to use one e in this case, whenever it suits our purpose, as well as for ea, ey, ei, eo; for what use is the latter of these vowels in pea, prey, beifer, people, but to puzzle children and foreigners?

The same irregularity and confusion is observable in the customary management of the other vowels, i, o, and u; they each of them singly expressing several different sounds, which also are denoted at other times by several different combinations of them. The vowel i, for instance, when it is short, is founded in English as ee, agreeable to the pronunciation of it in most foreign languages; when long, it has always the sound of a diphthong, or combination of the two vowel-sounds, (which we might express by the open a or au, and the short i or ee;) which sound or diphthong is also sometimes expressed by oi, as fill, file, foil, fin, fine, foin.

In like manner, the vowel o has several different sounds; as in the words pol, pole, do: the sound of the o in pole, is sometimes expressed by ow, as to sow; sometimes by uo, as sword; sometimes by oa, as soal; its sound in do, by oo, uo, and ough, as too, two, through.

And lastly, the sound of u (which is always really a diphthong, thong, expressible by the combination of the two vowel sounds ee and oo) is denoted in a great variety of ways in our common spelling, viz. by u, ue, eu, ew, ieu, iew, ugh, eau, you; as in the words tune, due, few, adieu, view, Hugh, beauty, you. We are therefore certainly at liberty to represent all these by a point, in the place of the vowel u; and thus not only all the single vowels, but all the combinations of them, are expressible by the shortest and easiest of all marks, viz. a dot in the place of the vowel of nearest sound.

We will now proceed to examine what further use we can make of these marks or letters for the purposes of shorthand. And as numeral figures exhibit to us a kind of shorthand with which every one is acquainted, an allusion to them will perhaps explain what we have to say hereupon.

Observe, then, the figures by which the words or numbers, one, five, four, six, are expressed in the Roman characters, which are likewise some of those which we make use of: I, V, IV, VI. Here we see the figure I is considered in three different situations, as standing by itself, close before, and close after another figure: and has accordingly three different powers, of numeration, subtraction, and addition. When it stands by itself, its name and power is one; when it is close to, or belongs to another figure, it loses its name, yet retains something relative to its power, by lessening or increasing that other figure by one; and both together concur to signify but one word or number, vulgarly expressed by the single figure of 4 or 6.

To apply this to shorthand; let the same character |, being our letter r, have also its three distinct powers, viz.

First, When it stands by itself, let it express the commonest word or particle in our language the initial consonant of which is a t: let the name therefore of this character, for instance, be the; a word which we have such perpetual occasion to write.

Secondly, When it is placed close before any other characters, let it stand for the commonest preposition, or leading part of a word, that begins with the same consonant; which in this case will be trans.

And thirdly, When close at the end of other marks, let it signify the commonest ending or termination, of which the first (or only) consonant likewise is t, viz. ity

From this easy and regular assignment of a threefold power or signification to a consonant, a threefold advantage naturally follows. 1st, By allotting to every mark standing by itself, a name, viz. that of the commonest word or particle of which it is the first, we shall have a number of words, one or other of them perpetually occurring, dispatched by the single characters of the alphabet, which otherwise, when single, would stand for nothing.

2ndly, The prepositional part of a word being described by its leading consonant in close situation, and joined to the following part of it, secures alike the beauty and the brevity of the characters in many cases wherein it could not otherwise be maintained; and also renders arbitrary marks needless and superfluous; there being no sort of occasion for complicated crotchets, where the simple letter determines precisely enough the preposition wanted.

3rdly, As it does likewise the termination, by its near approach to the end of characters; when, by the mutual help of each other, they describe a word sufficiently to distinguish it from all others.

Thus, in the instance here alluded to, the same straight lines, and the same situation of them, by which four different numbers are expressed in numeral shorthand, are those by which we should, in literal shorthand, express occasionally four such words as the letters and similar use of them just hinted at would describe, viz. in the numeral I one, V five, IV four, VI six; in the literal I the, V fr, IV transf, VI frity.

For though the initial and final power of a consonant could not, indeed, be expressed in this manner by a bad alphabet, and a piecemeal huddling of its characters up and down, to denote the vowel's places; yet, in a well contrived one, where consonants of shorter words fall easily, by one continued stroke, into each other, a break in those of longer ones may be so descriptive of their initial or final syllables, as often to express the whole with a conciseness which many shorter words may not admit of. Every consonant, then, may denote, according to its single, previous, or final situation, a common word, preposition, or termination.

But the horizontal straight line may be made from the top, middle, or bottom of the said horizontal space, that is, from the place of a, i, or u: since, then, these vowels before an s make the three common words as, is, us, it may as well stand for them all, in their several places, after this manner, as, is, us. No 10.

Trans is the only common preposition beginning with t; but there are three common ones that begin with s, viz. super, circum, (or, as we should write it according to nature, circum) and sub, which the horizontal straight line may also stand for, at the top, middle, and bottom of the line: circum in the middle, because of its first vowel i: but if, for the like reason, super and sub were both written at the bottom, it might occasion an ambiguity; therefore we make super over circum, and sub under it, because (in Latin) they signify over and under.

Again, the commonest termination in our language is fion or tion; in pronunciation, fion. There are a thousand words, all in general borrowed from the Latin, which end in this manner, the greatest part of them of common use. Now let the letter s be drawn near to the end of any of these words, from the place of the vowel preceding the fion or tion, and it will serve for any three final syllables whatever of the numerous words that afford this termination.

A few instances may suffice; as, oration, repletion, attrition, promotion, effusion, No 11. And also, when one or more consonants intervene between the vowel and termination tion or fion, they are, by the rule, to be expressed by the s, drawn from the vowel's place; as, attraction, attention, affliction, adoption, eruption, No 12.

All the rest of the consonants are to be considered in the same threefold light, viz. as standing by themselves, as placed close before, or close after other marks; and must, accordingly, have a power of denoting some common word, preposition, or termination, in which that consonant is found. This is the general rule; but in practice there are few prepositions and terminations necessary or useful besides those set down in the alphabetical table. This rule is very convenient in some cases; as where the consonants of which the word is composed join not well together, or cannot be kept within the parallels; for instance, in behold, inhabit, deposit, No 13., and affords a great contraction in others, as underwritten, distinction, direction, No 14. But here it is to be observed, that, in placing the termination, regard is to be had to the vowel's place with respect to the line, and not to its place after the last consonant, (except that happens to be one or other of the three horizontal characters s, k, or q,) as in the above word direction: the s is drawn from the e's place in the line, but it is in the o's place with respect to the last consonant r, which appears evidently to have begun at the bottom of the line. But when s, k, or q, immediately precede the termination, regard is then to be had to the vowel's place after the letter; as assumption of assertion, (N° 15. first and second examples.) The plural number of the termination is denoted by adding a little s; as verities, distinctions, (ibid. third and fourth examples.)

Before the learner begins to write by the preceding alphabet, it may not be improper to premise a few observations upon the form and respective proportion of the letters, and the ways of joining the curved ones with the most ease and elegance.

First, All the perpendicular and inclined letters (that is, all the letters except s, k, q, m, n, ch, and g,) are made to touch two parallel lines, the distance of which is measured by the perpendicular straight line r, as in N° 16.; but, however, these letters are sometimes, for greater convenience, made of half size, and two of them included between the parallels, as in the seventh and eighth examples, N° 16.

The letters m, n, ch, and g, are semicircles; the diameter of which is the r, and their radius or height is rather more than one third part of the t.

The letters formed from the three straight lines s, r, and f, are segments of larger circles, whose chords are the letters r, r, and f, respectively.

It must be observed, however, that it is not necessary, nor indeed scarce possible, that these proportions should be exactly kept, especially in quick writing; but they are given here, because the nearer they are kept to, the more beautiful the writing appears.

Secondly, When m and n are joined together, they are not each of them to be made complete; but a part is to be cut off from each of them; and in the same manner the inclined letters, when joined with m or n, are not made complete, but running into one another, lose each a part, as N° 17. So the rest of the curve line letters, when joined together, are made to run into one another smoothly; avoiding, by this means, that stopping of the pen which the making of any angle necessarily occasions; as for instance mp is not written, as in the first example N° 18. but as in the second, part of the curved line being in common both to the m and p.

Thirdly, The twirl is always made at the beginning, never at the end of any letter; whenever, therefore, the six last characters (N° 18.) occur, they must be supposed to have been begun from the bottom of the line.—The general rule is, That all perpendicular and inclined letters are to be begun from the top, and drawn downwards; but in all instances, in which the inclined letters (N° 19.) will join better with the preceding or following marks if drawn upwards, they must be drawn in that direction, as in these words, N° 20.

Fourthly, The initial or final vowels (the e mute excepted) are generally expressed, and the middle ones omitted, except in cases where there are many words consisting of the same consonants which might be liable to be taken for one another. But all words which have one consonant only (except those in the table of the alphabet, which are expressed by the letter alone) must always have the proper vowel point expressed, as by, to, &c., because these little words are, as it were, the keys of the sentences in which they are found.

Fifthly, Few monosyllables beginning with a vowel are immediately followed with either h or w; for which reason, these characters, having a point before them, denote ht and wt respectively, with the proper vowel between them, as hat, het, hit, hot, hut, and wat, wet, wit, wet, wat, N° 21.

Sixthly, As the horizontal letters s, k, q, and the curved ones m, n, ch, and g, may be written at the top, or bottom, or any part of the line, the vowel following them may be expressed by their situation between the parallels; as fan, fun, man, man N° 22.

Seventhly, The first mark for the th in the table, not joining well with the mark for r, which, however, is very frequently combined with it; and the other th, being, by reason of our customary method of leaving the letters the contrary way in common writing, not to readily made; t may be put for th, when the adjoining letter is of half size only, as thr, rth, thm, thn, ths, N° 23 In other cases, a letter of half size signifies that the adjoining one is to be resolved into two letters, as trr, in the first example N° 24; for here the r being twice as long in proportion to the t as it ought to have been had only one r been designed, shows, that in this case the r of double length denotes rr: but, in the second example, the last character does not signify ll; for it cannot be resolved into ll; but it may into lf; for if you divide the last character into two halves, the lower is our mark for f: in like manner, the third example is flt.—When there is no other consonant to be joined to the inclined letters f or r, the lengthening of them by a greater inclination than usual denotes that they are to be resolved into two letters rr, ff, or wr, fr, or uf; as in the three first examples, N° 25. error, five, coffee: but when two t's form a word, as for example the word taught, or, as we should spell it, taut, this expedient cannot be used, without going either above or below the line, which is not to be done upon any account whatsoever. In this case a little break must be made in the t, to show that there are two t's, N° 25. This must be confessed to be not altogether regular, and conformable to our rules of joining the letters; and, had many instances occurred, their frequency would have furnished a just objection against our alphabet; but on the contrary, the repetition of the t forming fewer words than that of the other consonants, was one reason of appropriating the perpendicular line to the t, the word taught being the only one that often occurs in practice.

Eighthly, In some few instances, where a letter joins not well with the preceding one, as the g with any drawn downwards, the ch with any upwards, and the j with neither; we scruple not to borrow the opposite one, or some other of nearly the same sound, in its stead; writing, instead of voyage, voyach; fixture, for figure; church, for church; machety, for majesty; N° 26. And when n happens to be at the bottom of the line, and is followed by d; for the sake of easy joining, we write p instead of the d, as in the first example N° 27. fpf for find; and few words in our language ending in nd, this can cause little ambiguity.

Ninthly, Cm and cn occurring very frequently, for the sake of dispatch we shorten the marks for k and q, when followed by m or n, as in the third and fifth examples, N° 27. No 27. These cannot be mistaken for ch and g, the twirl being on the contrary side.

Tenthly, The first mark, No 28, placed close after a word, denotes, that there is one syllable still wanting to complete the word, and ing being a very common final syllable, it is often so denoted, as being, writing, No. 28.

Eleventhly, A point standing by itself has a power, as well as the consonant marks, of representing a common word. At the top of the line, it signifies the particle a; as, a man; in the middle I, or eye; as, I will, his eye; in the o's place o; as, O Lord; at the bottom you; as, you will.

No 29.

Twelfthly, The common way of writing numbers being very compendious we generally use it when numbers occur. The comma, as it does not resemble any of our short-hand marks, may always be used; but when a full stop is thought necessary, the small circle after the examples, No. 29, may be used instead of the point.

To these rules it may be proper to add a few observations. In writing words (as before observed) we join all the consonants, that are wanted, together; to which, if they suffice to distinguish a word, it is needless to add any of its vowels. As for instance, to write the word strife, we join the four consonants of which it is composed into one continued mark or figure comprised within the due limits, as in No 30. First example: for if, without regarding the limits, we should make it as in example second, the letters would be the same indeed; but the direction in this, and all similar cases, is evidently more inconvenient. When, therefore, there are different ways of joining the same letters together, we must accustom ourselves to the best, or most inelegant. The sameness of the entire figure, as well as that of its composing letters, is worth the writer's while to maintain; and also facilitates mutual reading between the fellow-practitioners of the same method. There is a kind of mechanism in the case, by which the attention, being less fatigued with any deviations of unusual appearance, easily apprehends the meaning of that which is more conformable to a standard.

Though the letters srf are abundantly descriptive of the word strife; yet if any one pleases, he may add the point for the vowel i, (as in the example, No 30.) to suggest the word to him at first, until he can read it readily without that assistance.

In single words, the chief difficulty is, to unlearn the unnatural and perplexed method of spelling to which we have been long habituated. In this word practice, for example, the consonant c is pronounced as k in the first syllable, and as s in the second, and the vowel e has no pronunciation at all. But, being used to these difficulties, it is now become one to know the word by its true and genuine spelling according to our short-hand alphabet, viz. praktis.

It may highly perplex a careless writer of new characters, to decipher the true sense thereof; though it should be easy enough to know it, by a little application and practice. But what child would not sooner learn to read this same sentence, if, after being taught the use of his alphabet, he should have it thus written?—It ma bili perpleks a kirker riter of nu ka rakters, to desifer the tru sens thereof; tht shoule be efi ensuf to kno it, bi a liil aplikashon and praktis.

Instead, therefore, of scrupling to return from such customary rules as children are first initiated in, to a more just and alphabetical way of writing short-hand, men may easily be taught, when ripened into some acquaintance with their mother-tongue, to reverse the liberties perpetually taken in long-hand; that is, instead of employing more letters than are precisely necessary to express the sound of words, they may make use of fewer, not only dismissing such as are needless to the sound, but such also as may be omitted, and yet leave the sense of the words easily discoverable. If they can tell what is wanting, it is all one as if it was there; the less expression there is, so much the better for the purposes of brevity, which justifies the greatest omissions, provided what is left be intelligible.

And though the omission of the vowels in the middle of words may, for a while at the first, make it difficult for a learner to read even his own writing without hesitation; yet that difficulty will certainly vanish, in proportion as the short-hand marks become familiar to him, as it arises, not so much from that omission, as from the strange and unusual appearances which the characters make to his eye, and which, for that reason, do not suggest to him the consonants, for which they stand, so immediately, but that the attention of the mind is necessarily taken up in recollecting them one by one; whereas, did they appear so familiar and well known to him as all to be apprehended in one view, he would soon discover the word, though all the middle vowels were left out. If any one doubts this, he may soon convince himself, by writing in the common long-hand exactly the same letters which he had written before in the short-hand characters; and if he can read it with ease when so transcribed, he may be certain that a little custom will make the reading of short-hand every whit as easy to him.

And now, the way being sufficiently cleared before him, the learner, after he has, by repeated trials, acquired a facility of forming, with tolerable exactness, all the letters of the alphabet separately, and of remembering what particular consonant each of them represents, may proceed to join two or three of the marks together; writing at first only short words, and frequently trying different ways of joining the marks, in order to discover the best, and most elegant. Several of them being formed almost as easily upwards as downwards, he will find it convenient sometimes to begin from the top, sometimes from the bottom of the line, according to the nature of the mark which follows; and when two marks, which admit of being written downwards only, come together, the line must be divided between them, making each of them half the usual depth, as in examples first and second, No 31. and, in some very rare instances, he will be forced to make them three deep, as flupid, (example third;) except he chooses to make use of the expedient of borrowing the b, a letter not very different in sound, writing flubid for flupid, as in the fourth example.

That the learner may proceed with the greater ease and certainty, we have given specimens of writing according to the above rules. (Plates CLI, CLII,) for his imitation. He ought to make himself fully master of the first specimen, by reading and copying it over and over with great care, until it becomes quite natural and familiar to him, before he proceeds to the second; and he ought in the same manner to make himself thoroughly acquainted with the second, before he proceeds to the third. Thus moving with slow, but sure steps, he will in a very few days find, that every difficulty has disappeared, and that nothing remains but to practise till the habit is acquired. If he has the curiosity to compare the number of strokes and dots in his first speci- men in short-hand, which is the Lord's prayer, with those used when it is wrote in the common way, he will find, that the former contains only about 150, while the latter contains near six times that number; which shews how much time and labour may be saved, even by the few simple rules already given.

PART II.

An alphabet, formed upon the most just and natural plan, by which, with the help of a few general rules, all the words of the language to which it is particularly adapted, may be easily, neatly, and speedily written, will not be sufficient to satisfy the expectations of an inquisitive reader; who must be sensible, that however complete the alphabet may be, yet many compendious applications of it may be obtained by a proper inquiry into the nature of our language, and the abbreviations which it admits of. He will not be satisfied with being taught only how to express all the letters of a word by the shortest and easiest strokes, but will also require further instruction how to describe intelligibly words and sentences by as few of those strokes as possible. To investigate, from a few things given, many which are omitted, will be found no unpleasant nor unprofitable exercise of the learner's sagacity; and if the few be properly given, the sense of the passage, and a due attention to the idiom of our language, will render the discovery of the omissions more certain, and also less difficult, than the unexperienced can easily imagine.—Without some such rules of abbreviation, one end of short-hand, that of following a speaker, would scarcely be attainable.

Before the invention of the art of printing, the tediousness of writing all the words at full length put the copiers of books upon forming many ways of abbreviating them, as appears in all manuscripts. In those of the New Testament we find many principal words described by their initial and final letters only, with a dash over them. In Latin manuscripts, those terminations, by which the relations of words to one another are in that language usually expressed, were generally omitted; nor was there any need of writing them at length; for the principal word being given, of which the rest were governed in case, gender, and number, any reader who understood that language could easily supply those omissions. Our language, generally expressing those relations by little particles, does not indeed afford that particular mode of abbreviation. Upon a careful examination, however, it will be found capable of furnishing many others as useful and extensive.

But it will be proper, before we proceed further in this art of abbreviation, to advertise the learner, who is apt to be too eager to push forward, not to embarrass himself with it, till, by a competent practice of writing according to the rules laid down in the first part, he is become so well acquainted with the characters, as to be able to write and read them with as much ease as his own common hand. The best way to learn any art is to proceed by degrees, not venturing upon a second step before the first is perfectly mastered. And it is evident, that this method of proceeding is, on this occasion, particularly necessary; for though, in many sentences, the sense, and the particular construction of the words, may plainly enough point out such of them, as are described with unusual brevity; yet how shall an unpractised learner, unable to embrace in one view the words denoted by the preceding and following marks, determine what the intermediate contracted ones must needs be? But, if he will have patience to abstain from this second part, until he can write readily, and read without hesitation whatever is written, according to the rules of the first, he may rest assured that he will meet with little more difficulty in reading words contracted than he did in those written more at length, provided that the rules of abbreviation be duly attended to. But, if the reader expects that we are to give him every particular manner of abbreviation which can possibly be invented, he will be disappointed. The principal and most useful rules are given; and it is left to the sagacity of the practitioner, by observing the nature of these, and proceeding upon the same principles, to make such further advances as his occasions may require. It would be vain to pretend to have exhausted a subject which is as extensive as the language itself in which we write; and consequently may be carried further and further by everyone, in proportion to his skill in the language, and his knowledge of the subject treated upon.

The learner has been already taught how to write all the consonants of any word by one continued mark, those words only excepted which may be more briefly described by the help of prepositions and terminations. He may now advance a step further, and join together such short words as are either represented by the letters of the alphabet alone; or such as, by their frequent occurrence, are become so familiar, as to be readily known, though denoted by their first consonants only. This will be found a greater saving of time than can easily be imagined; and must therefore, when dispatch is required, be done in all instances in which they may be joined neatly and without ambiguity.

RULE I. The different times and modes of the verbs are generally expressed, in the English language, by the help of other verbs, for that reason called auxiliary; as, will, shall, have, had, can, could, may, must be, &c. These must, upon that account, occur very frequently; and, being signified by their first consonant, they may be joined to one another; as, can be, will be, have or has been, to be, ought to be, must be, Plate CLIII. No. 1. and when the negative particle not intervenes, it may be denoted by its first consonant, and be joined with them; as, cannot be, No. 2. will not be, have not been, not to be, ought not to be, No. 3. When these joinings are, by a little practice, become easy to the learner, he may proceed further, and join the preceding pronouns to these auxiliary verbs; as, he must be, he cannot be, No. 4. This can occasion no ambiguity: for though he was taught in his alphabet, that these two marks (No. 5.) denoted, the former have, and the latter had; yet, when placed immediately before must and can, their situation shows that they cannot, in that case, signify have and had, those auxiliaries never admitting of such an arrangement. And further, as w and b are often dropped in common speech and writing, as he'll for he will, we've for we have; so they may, for the sake of joining, be omitted in short-hand; as, he will, he will not be, they have been. No. 6.

RULE II. The learner was taught in the first part, That | No | Names | Prepositions | Terminations | |----|-------------|--------------|--------------| | 1 | be but | be | ble or able | | 2 | d and | for or dis | | | 3 | of | for | if | | 4 | against | | | | 5 | have had | | | | 6 | Judge Just | | | | 7 | can | can or can | ied | | 8 | could | | | | 9 | all | | | | 10 | amongst | mis | ment | | 11 | an | ante or an | | | 12 | in | inter or in | ngs | | 13 | counter | under | | | 14 | open | prefer pre | | | 15 | question | | | | 16 | or | re | any | | 17 | super | | | | 18 | circum | | | | 19 | sub | | | | 20 | the | trans | ity | | 21 | will would | with | ward | | 22 | except | extra | | | 23 | yet | | | | 24 | which | | | | 25 | shall should| | ship | | 26 | that | | | | 27 | | | | | 28 | | | | | 29 | | | | | 30 | | | | | 31 | | | | The Lord's prayer. IV V.

The first Psalm. IV Z.

The first Collet. IV X.

Pythagoras in writing all the consonants of which any word was composed, the beginnings of the marks which follow must always be joined to the ends of those which precede them: Whenever, therefore, they are joined in any other manner, it is to denote, that each particular mark signifies a whole word, and not a single letter: as for example, the particular way of joining the letters in the first example, No. 7, is a sufficient indication that they were not intended to represent a word consisting of those two consonants, but two words; and the n in the middle of the line standing for in, and the t for the, in the may be written as in that example.

So again, the second example, No. 7, denotes two words; and the s being drawn from the place of the vowel i, shows the latter of them to be is: and though the straight perpendicular line usually represents the article the, yet, in that situation, it cannot possibly do so; for that article can never come immediately before a verb, but the pronouns very frequently do. It is may therefore be very commodiously written as in that second example; and it is not to be, as it is, since it is, may be written as in No. 8. and by dropping w, as before, we may write it as, for it was, it was not to be; it were to be, for it were to be; it seems to be; as in No. 9. for the s being drawn from the place of e, shows that it must be either it es—to be, or it se—to be; and it seems to be is so very common a phrase, that it will not give much trouble to the reader, though written in this concise manner.

Rule III. Points being the shortest of all marks, it would argue a great want of economy, as well as invention, not to make all the use of them that can be made consistently with the regularity of our system. The power of representing prepositions and terminations, which was allotted to the consonant marks, could not be given to the points: for, in that situation, they stand for the vowels; and all the distinguishable places, both before and after the consonant marks, are already taken up by the five vowels: but a point placed directly over or under the beginning or end of any of those marks, has as yet had no signification annexed to it. As for instance, in the second example, No. 10, the point being so placed, that if the t was produced, it would pass through it, is very distinguishable from all the vowels. All derivative substantives may therefore be very conveniently represented by making the point stand for the substantive derived from the word at the end of which it is placed; so the two examples, No. 10, signify forget, forgetfulness.—But as there are derivative adjectives and verbs as well as substantives, it will be a great compendium to represent them also by points, distinguishable, by their situation, both from the substantive and the vowel points; which may be done by placing them in a line, which, if produced, would pass through the substantive-point; and would also be perpendicular to the last consonant mark; and by making one placed before the substantive-point to signify the adjective, one after it to signify the adverb: As, forgetful, forgetfulness, forgetfully, No. 11.; reasonable, reasonableness, reasonably, No. 12.; sufficient, sufficiency, sufficiently, No. 13.

Rule IV. Although the above described mode of abbreviation is very extensive, there being in our language a great number of long words derived from short ones; yet it is far from being the only use which may be made of these adjective, substantive, and adverb points. In all discourses whatever, there must be some principal words, which, either by their more particular relation to the subject, or frequent occurrence, will be easily discoverable, however concisely written. If such words begin with a consonant, the first letter, if not the first vowel and consonant, with the adjective, substantive, or adverb point annexed, will suggest them immediately; and therefore will be, though a brief, yet a sufficient description of them. As for instance, if the following passage be transcribed out of a discourse upon the folly of worldly-mindedness, in common long-hand, after this manner, Our blessed Lord—, both by his preaching and example—, has fully shown us the vanity and folly of seeking for solid and lasting happiness in the possession of any of the goods of this present world—; every one must immediately see, that the words, described by their initial letters, are too plainly pointed out by the nature of the subject, and their accompanying epithets, to leave any room for doubt or mistake. In following a speaker, the same description of them in short-hand must therefore be allowed to be sufficient. But it may not be amiss to give another instance or two, with the short-hand characters for the abbreviated words; as, Life and immortality are brought to light by the gospel; or again, The resurrection of the dead, and a future state of rewards and punishments, are plainly and positively taught in the gospel. In these instances, immortality, gospel, resurrection, rewards, and punishments, may be wrote as in No. 14. So in writing after pleaders, who frequently use the expression with submission to your Lordship, the words submission and Lordship may be wrote as in the first and second examples, No. 15. and if the adjective humble be joined to submission, it may be denoted by its first consonant, and be joined to the substantive; and the words humble submission may be written as in the third example. This will be found a very useful compendium; for there are many substantives to which some particular adjectives are usually joined; as, human nature, Christian religion, natural philosophy, &c. Whenever, therefore, the subject treated of will lead to the discovery of the substantive, though denoted only by its first consonant, it will, at the same time, discover the adjoined adjective. This method may indeed appear, at first sight, to clash with the rule about derivative substantives; but it will seldom happen that the two consonants will compose any word from which another can be derived; or if it should, it would scarcely ever be such a one as would agree with the context.

It will appear evidently, upon a little consideration of the nature of this mode of abbreviation, that no limits can be set to it; but that it may be more or less frequently used, in proportion to the knowledge, skill, and readiness of the writer, which will enable him to judge in what instances such liberties may be taken without occasioning ambiguity. And every writer may accustom himself to mark such words as most frequently occur in his own particular profession, by the initial letters, with the substantive, adjective, and adverb points respectively, which, through custom, will easily suggest those words to him at first sight. But it must not be understood that these marks necessarily imply those words, and no other: They may stand for any other beginning with the same letters, which the sense of the passages requires. It cannot therefore be expected that a list of them should be given here; but the following are some of those which are most commonly used: as, God, happiness, heaven, Lord, always, No. 16.; altogether, occasion, accordingly, No. 17.; notwithstanding, opinion, perspicacity, religion. religion, No 18.; subject, together, world, No 19.

Rule V. An attention to that property of the English language, of expressing the different connections, and relations of one thing to another, for the most part, by prepositions, which the Greek and Latin, and some modern languages, do by varying the terminations of the substantives, will point out a further application of the dot to the purposes of abbreviation: for as, in the Latin manuscripts, the root or body of the word being given, there was no necessity of writing the various terminations of the cases, since any reader who understood that language could himself supply the particular termination which the case required; so, in English, if the two related substantives be such as may be readily known, even when represented by their first consonants only, they may be joined together, placing a dot at the point of their junction, to show that they are both substantives; and the preposition connecting them may be omitted, for it may as certainly and as readily be supplied by the reader as the cases in Latin before mentioned. This consideration will therefore dictate the following rule, viz. That a dot placed at the point of concurrence of two consonant marks, as in No 20., denotes two substantives, of which those marks are the first consonants; and also that the latter is governed of, or connected to, the former, by some preposition which is omitted.

As for example, in this sentence, The sum or substance of all the commandments is contained in the two following, viz. the love of God, and the love of our neighbour; the words love of God may be wrote as in the last example: for as the particular situation of the dot denotes that both L and G are substantives, the article the before the first points out plainly enough the omitted preposition of; and the least degree of attention to the words which precede and follow the contracted mark will discover that it must be the love of God.

Or again, The love of money is the root of all evil; or, Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness: these words love of money, and these other words kingdom of God, may be wrote as in No 21.

The articles a or the, in this and in many of the following ways of abbreviation, may, for the sake of joining, be omitted, as in the following sentence, Since the light of the gospel has shone upon the world, &c. the light of the gospel may be written as in No 20.

And further, though an adjective should precede either of the substantives, yet they may all three be represented by their first consonants joined together, with the dot always placed at the end of the first substantive. No difficulty can ever arise in distinguishing the adjective from the substantives. For, in the following sentence, The great goodness of God is manifest in all his dealings with his creatures; if these words, great goodness of God, be written as in No 22. the dot placed at the end of the second mark shows that it must be the first substantive, the third must therefore denote the latter substantive, and the first consequently the adjective. In like manner, in the following sentence, His Majesty the King of Great Britain, the words King of Great Britain may be wrote as in the first example; No 23. for the dot being placed at the end of the first mark, it is evident that the first must be a substantive; and a little attention to the usual arrangement of words in the English language suggests that the second must be an adjective, as adjectives generally precede the substantives to which they are related: there is therefore as much given as if it had been written in long-hand thus, His Majesty, the King of Great Britain; which, in a discourse concerning him, would be sufficient to discover that the contracted words must be King of Great Britain.

If each of the substantives have an adjective joined to them, there can be no difficulty, for the first and third must be adjectives, except in some rare instances in which the common order is sometimes changed, and the last adjective is put after its substantive, as in this, the great goodness of God Almighty: in such cases, either the last adjective must be separated from the rest of the mark; or, if joined, it must have the adjective dot annexed; and the great goodness of God Almighty may be written as in the second example, No 23.

This relation of substantives, which is expressed in Latin by the genitive case, in English by the preposition of, is by far the most common: but the rule is more extensive, and serves to express two substantives connected by any proposition whatsoever, as for, in, with, after, &c. provided that the context, or any particular words of the sentence, easily indicate not only the two substantives which are denoted by their first consonants, but also the preposition which ought to be inferred. As, for example, in this sentence, Happy is it for us, if, convinced by experience of the vanity of putting our trust in man, we place all our confidence in God, the three last words may be expressed as in the first example, No 24. For the context plainly points out the two substantives; and the verb place marks evidently, that the omitted preposition cannot be of, but must be in.

In this sentence, Our holy religion absolutely forbids all instances of revenge, our Saviour expressly commanding his disciples to return good for evil;—good for evil may be written as in the second example; for the verb return shows plainly that it cannot be good of evil, but must be good for evil. It may, perhaps, be objected here, that v is not the first letter of the word evil; but it must be observed, that the words of the rule are, That the dot denotes two substantives, of which those marks are the first consonants, not the first letters; and a word may sometimes be so pointed out by others which accompany it, as to be easily discoverable, though the initial vowel be omitted.

It may not be improper to add another example or two for the better understanding of this rule; as thus, In this present state there is no such thing to be met with as pure unmixed pleasure or pain, good or evil; here below all things are mixed, pleasure with pain, good with evil. The latter part of the sentence, pleasure with pain, good with evil, may be wrote as in the two first marks No 25 for the word mixed requiring the preposition with after it, shows, that it cannot be p—— of p——, g—— of v——, but must be p—— with p——, g—— with v——.

Or, He is now become quite blind, he cannot even distinguish light from darkness. The last three words may be wrote as in the third mark, No 25.

Or again, If we consider, that without health we cannot enjoy any of those pleasures which riches can procure; what man that estimates things according to their reality, rather than their appearance, would not prefer health to riches? or thus, if he had it in his option, would not rather choose health than riches? or, would not choose health before riches. The three several expressions will be easily distinguished, though wrote all in the same manner, No 16.

Rule VI. The substantive point, placed before a single consonant consonant mark, denotes, that the substantive represented by it is to be repeated, with some intervening preposition, as after, to, by; as for example, day after day, time to time, No 27.

Rule VII. The substantive, adjective, or adverb point, placed before two or more consonant marks joined together, denotes two or more substantives, adjectives, or adverbs respectively, of which those marks are the first consonants, and also that they are connected by a conjunction.

As for example, Our blest Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, by his death and passion, made a sufficient satisfaction and atonement for the sins of the whole world;—Lord and Saviour, death and passion, satisfaction and atonement, being wrote as in No 28.

Or further, The precepts both of natural and revealed religion forbid us to do our neighbours any injury; example first, No 29. Here the point shows, that both n and r are adjectives; and the word religion, to which they are connected, will immediately suggest the words natural and revealed.

Or, to add one other instance, What doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world? example second, No 29. Here it appears, by the prefixed point, that s, r, and g, must all be adverbs, and consequently that there is nearly as much expressed as if the same sentence had been written in long-hand after this manner, viz. What doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to live f——ly, r——ly, and g——ly in this present world? which surely would give very little trouble to fill up with the words soberly, righteously, and godly.

Thus any series of substantives, adjectives, or adverbs, may be expressed by their first consonants joined together with the proper point prefixed, but we must not indulge ourselves in doing this at all adventures. It is only to be done in such instances, wherein the common nouns of the phrase, or the nature of the subject, points out the words signified by those letters; or when the words, so briefly described, are such, that no other can be inserted in their stead consistently with the sense of the passage.

When great dispatch is required, as in the case of following a speaker, all omissions are allowable, which can afterwards be supplied by a careful attention to the idiom of the language, and to the connection of the contracted words with those which precede or follow them. And it may not be improper to observe, that greater or less liberties of contracting may be taken, in proportion as the speaker is more or less accurate in his language. For it is certain, that any contractions, where the style is clear and regular, may be more easily deciphered, than where it is confused and embarrassed. It may happen, indeed, sometimes, that the words signified by such contractions will not occur at first sight; but a little thought will discover them; and the reader will find, that an attention of this sort will very agreeably and indefinably lead him into a more perfect knowledge of the idiom of his own language.

Rule VIII. Many long words may be, and frequently are, expressed in common writing by their first syllable only, with a mark to show that something is wanting, as mult——for multitude, cor——for correspondence. So in shorthand, long words, especially those in which the marks for the consonants will not join neatly, may be denoted by their first syllable, with as many points annexed as there are syllables wanting; as, multitude, correspondence*, No 30. And when great dispatch is required, the points may be omitted, especially if the words do not begin with prepositions; as, signification, difficulty, negligence, No 31.

Rule IX. The power given to the consonant marks of representing prepositions and terminations, will enable us to write great numbers of long words after a very expeditious manner: for words beginning with prepositions may be denoted by their respective prepositions, together with the next consonant and vowel; and oftentimes with the next consonant only, adding to it the substantive, adjective, or adverb point, when necessary. As for instance, the first example, No 32, expresses a word beginning with the two syllables de-li; and though there are many words which begin with those syllables, as deliberate, deliver, delicious, &c. yet if such a sentence as the following were to be written thus, He was not hasty in his resolution, but took time to deli——about it, the word deliberate would immediately occur to every one.

The trouble of inserting the vowel may, in many instances, be saved, by beginning the consonant from that point after the preposition in which that vowel should be placed; as in example second, No 32, the m beginning from the u's place after the t shows, that the next vowel after m is u; and the mark therefore is equivalent to transmu——, which is a sufficient description of the word transmutation.

A few examples more will sufficiently explain this rule: as, recommend, recommendation, recommendatory, No 33, resignation, resolution, consanguinity, No 34, conveniently, superficially, No 35.

The participles may be abbreviated after the same manner, by adding, instead of the points, the termination ing or ed to the latter consonant mark; as conf——ing for considering, conf——ed for considered, No 36.

Words beginning with double or treble prepositions may be written after the same manner; as, misinformation, representation, misrepresentation, No 37, incomprehensibility, example first, No 38. The prepositions must always be joined together; and, if two consonants begin the next syllable, the writing of them both will help to discover the remainder of the word; as misunderstanding, example second, No 38.

It must appear plainly to every one, upon the least consideration, that the words in the foregoing instances are abbreviated. There can therefore be no danger of mistaking, for example, the mark No 39, for some short word, such as daily, duly, &c. For, by our rule, the d disjoined always signifies the preposition de; nor can it be a word consisting of the preposition de and the syllable li or ly only; for, if such a word had occurred, it would have been sooner written by joining the marks together, as No 40. This way of writing therefore shows, that the word begins with the preposition de; that the next syllable is li; and that there are some other syllable, or syllables, wanting to complete it. Nor can the consonants in those examples in which the vowels were omitted, be mistaken for terminations; as in this example, No 41, the k cannot be supposed to represent the termination ical; since it would be absurd to think of describing any word by its preposition and termination only: for as the

* When one syllable only is wanting, a point cannot be used to express it; for a point so placed must denote a vowel. same preposition and termination are common to great numbers of words, they alone can never give a good description of any particular one.

This way of reasoning pursued will lead to the discovery of an easy and short method of denoting the words self and selves, which so frequently follow the pronouns. For, if a disjoined mark loses its power of representing a termination, by being placed close after a preposition, the — must certainly lose that of representing ion or ion, when placed close after any of the pronouns, since they never admit of such a termination. It must therefore, in that situation, denote only the consonant s followed by that vowel from whose place in the line it is drawn; and consequently the words self and selves may be very commodiously represented by drawing the s from the e's place, close after any of the pronouns; as, myself, itself, ourselves, themselves, &c. No. 42. And though the word own should intervene, yet self or selves may still be signified in the same manner; as, my own self, his own self, &c. No. 43.

The words what, who, whom, how, &c. have very often the word ever added to them, which may, for a reason similar to the foregoing, be very aptly expressed by the s drawn from the place of o; as whatever, however, whomsoever, &c., No. 44.

Rule X. In like manner, words ending in any of the terminations marked in the preceding table of the alphabet, may be denoted by their first consonant and vowel, together with the proper mark for its termination; as, for example, ar—ry for arbitrary, op—ity for opportunity, cu—ity for curiosity, lawfulness, No. 45.

But it must be carefully observed, that the vowel, whether it precedes or follows the consonant, must never be omitted; otherwise the consonant might be taken for a preposition, and then this rule would interfere with the foregoing; whereas its power of representing a preposition is destroyed by the addition of the vowel, whilst the single disjoined mark, at the end, retains its power of representing a termination. The word is therefore described by its beginning and termination, a vacancy being left in the middle to be supplied by the sagacity of the reader.

Rule XI. It cannot have escaped the observation of anyone who has considered the English language with any degree of attention, that words of different significations govern, or require different prepositions; that words, for example, signifying desire, knowledge, ignorance, &c. require the preposition of; that other words, importing mercy, compassion, dependence, &c. require the preposition upon, &c. Care therefore being taken to write the prepositions plainly, the first consonant only will in many instances be found to be sufficiently descriptive of the words which require those particular prepositions. For although there may be many words which begin with the same consonant; yet all those which do not require that particular preposition, are upon that account immediately excluded; and the remainder is by that means reduced to so few, that it will be easy to select the proper one. In every one of the following sentences (and many more of the like kind might be given) the letter d denotes a different word, viz., in He was very d— of being thought rich; You may d— upon my promise; I d— from him in opinion; He d— long about the choice of a patron, but at last resolved to d— his work to, &c. &c. and yet, by the help of the discriminating prepositions, the particular word proper to each place is easily discoverable.

A few instances will be sufficient to give the learner a right notion of this method of abbreviation.

For example, in the following sentences; This belongs to me; He made some good observations upon it; I want to dispose of my house; He agreed with me in opinion; —the words belongs, observations, dispose, agreed, may be written as in No. 46. And in these sentences, There was not the least difference between us; We must take particular care to guard against such passions as we find ourselves most liable to; As for his personal estate, he divided it amongst all his children in equal shares; —the words difference, guard, liable, and divided, may be wrote as in No. 47.

And it may be further observed, that as few English words end with the syllable to, the proposition to may for that reason be joined to the preceding word, which was directed to be signified by its first consonant only. For the unfamiliarness of the ending will be a sufficient hint, that the mark represents not one, but two words; and, therefore, This belongs to me, may be written as in example first, No. 48, and liable to, satisfactory to, and subject to, may be wrote as in the second, third, and fourth examples, the — in this last instance being made at the bottom of the line, to show that the vowel following it is u. But, if any one finds it difficult to write the upwards, he may, whenever it is necessary, distinguish the two last instances from one another, by inserting the u, and write subject to as in No. 49.

Other prepositions, which are denoted in the table of the alphabet by a single consonant, may, in like manner, be joined to the preceding word; as in the example, He made some good observations upon it.—observations upon may be written as in No. 50. Nor will there be any great danger of the reader's being puzzled by mistaking such like marks for single words; for it will not often happen that the two consonants of which they are composed will form any word, scarcely ever that they will form such a word as will suit the place and agree with the context. A little custom will therefore soon suggest to the learner, that the two marks must denote two words; the latter of which, being represented in his short-hand alphabet by the latter consonant mark, must for that reason immediately occur to him.

Rule XII. Prepositions generally require after them either a noun, or a pronoun. The pronouns being few in number, and in all languages used as substitutes for nouns, must occur very frequently, and by that means soon become familiar to the learner; the pronoun, for that reason, may be joined to the preposition, without danger of creating any difficulty to the reader.

As for example, in these sentences, He gave it to me, He left it to my, to us, to you, to our, to your, the words to me, to my, to us, to you, to our, to your, may be wrote as in No. 51. The b, th, or wh, may, for the sake of joining, be dropped in the pronouns; which begin with those letters, as his, this, whom, &c. and we may write to his as in example first, No. 52, and to this as in example second; distinguishing, if it ever should be thought necessary, his from this, by the different situation of the point; to her and to their, as in example third: for a distinction between them can not be made, as was done in the instance before, by the different placing of the point; but the sense of the passage will easily show which it must be. To whom, to those, or to whose, to which, to each, may be wrote as in the first four examples, No. 53. It was not in my power; in my, as in the the fifth example. It was thrown under my feet, He came and dwelt amongst us, You may be depend upon me; the words under my, amongst us, upon me, as in No 54.

This rule is not to be restrained to those prepositions only which are denoted in the table of the alphabet by a single consonant, as among, under, upon, &c. but may be extended to others, which must, in that case be represented by their first consonant, and be joined to the pronoun; as, he did it with my consent, writing with my as in No 55. This will occasion no ambiguity, since w cannot in this place signify the word will; for such a sentence as, he did it will my consent, would be neither sense nor grammar. Its situation in the sentence, and connection with the pronominal adjective my, plainly mark that it must be some preposition which begins with w.

And though several prepositions should begin with the same consonant, yet they may be written in this manner, provided that the preceding or following words be such as will serve to distinguish them, and shew which of them must needs there be meant; as in the following examples: He came privately and took it away without my knowledge; To stop so mean an action was much beneath his dignity; It is beyond my reach. Without my may be written as with my, No 55. and the words beneath his, beyond my, as in No 56. Above may be distinguished from beyond, by prefixing the initial vowel. Thus, in the following sentence, it is above my comprehension, above my may be wrote as in example first, No 57. and between them, before my, behind my, in these sentences, They divided it equally between them, He had the impudence to do it before my face, He did it flyly behind my back, may be wrote as in the three last examples, No 57.

But it is to be noted here, that when the propositions themselves are abbreviated, as in these instances above, they cannot help to explain other words, as they did in those mentioned in the beginning of the 11th Rule, in which they were directed to be written plainly; for it would be very puzzling indeed, if that word, which was to assist in explaining others, wanted explanation itself.

Rule XIII. After the learner has, by a little practice, made the last method of abbreviation familiar to himself, he may venture to combine it with the foregoing, and join the preceding word, the preposition, and pronoun all together; and as he had learned before to write belongs te, as in example first, No 58. and as the last rule taught him to write to me as in example second, he may now join them all together, and write belongs to me, extends to us, agreed with me, depend upon me, as in No 59.; observations upon this, as in example first, No 60.; and rebellion against his, dissensions amongst his, as in the two following sentences, He was a notorious traitor and caught in actual rebellion against his Majesty, He was an ill natured man, and always endeavouring to sow dissensions amongst his neighbours, may be wrote as in No 60.

When a pronoun, or a preposition and pronoun, follow the verb, and are themselves followed by a preposition and pronominal adjective, they may all be joined together; as, I congratulated him upon his, &c. I condoled with him upon his, No 61.

The words same, any, none, which, each, both, &c.

* As a substantive must necessarily follow the adjective my, there was no occasion to place the point at the end of the w to show that it was one. Rule XVII. The contractions which may be made when it is or it was are followed by an adjective, and to or that, are so numerous, that we must content ourselves with giving a few of the most usual; as, it is impossible to, it was unnecessary to, it is contrary to, No. 75; it is according to, it is observable that, it is evident that, it is not to be supposed that, &c. No. 76.

The above methods of abbreviation are such as are of most common use and practice; and though they are not many in number, yet they are very extensive in their application; for a sentence can scarcely occur in which some one or other of them will not find a place. But yet we are far from pretending to have exhausted the subject. An accurate and assiduous attention to the nature and idiom of our language may suggest others as useful and extensive as these. Proper care being taken to lay a right foundation, the legible ways of contracting will increase, in proportion to the writer's want of them. The more he writes, the more confidently he may venture to write, and yet be able to read his contractions with ease; provided that he builds them upon some known particularity of our language: for which reason we have been more solicitous to explain the grounds of our rules, than curious in the choice, or copious in the number of examples. But that the learner may have all the assistance necessary, we have furnished him with specimens, (Plates CLIII. CLIV. CLV.) where he will find his rules exemplified; and as the last specimen is taken from a book not in every person's possession, we have given the passage in a note.*

But it may not be amiss, before we conclude, to make a remark or two upon abbreviations in general.—First, that in all the various ways that can be taken of contracting, (that is of describing words by some shorter method than that of writing all the consonants of which they consist,) care must be taken, when the contraction consists of two or more words joined together, that no one word of it be represented by more than one character; and secondly, that the whole mark, by some means or other, if possible, be shown to be a contraction, as it has been generally done in the foregoing pages, either by the insertion of points in the middle of the marks, as No. 77. (Plate CLIII.) for some of them; (which, when dispatch is required, is never practised to denote vowels in the middle of words;) or by the unusual ending of the mark, as No. 78. for liable to, appears that; for few words (since the termination eth, so frequent in Scripture-language, is now almost grown obsolete) end in th; or by the unusual joining of the marks, as, in the, it is, &c. No. 7. Otherwise the reader might be puzzled in hunting for some one word consisting of the letters which are written: whereas, if he knows it to be a contraction, he is not bewildered in his researches, but is at first directed the right road, and has nothing to do but to search after some word for every character, which will suit the description, and agree with the context.

And when contractions are judiciously made, the learner, provided he will observe the caution already given, (and which cannot be too often repeated,) of beginning with the easiest, and of not proceeding to a second, until the first is become familiar, will certainly find the difficulty of deciphering them lessen every day.

But, supposing that there was more difficulty in the reading

*PROCEEDINGS ON AN HABEAS CORPUS UPON THE COMMITMENT (by Sir William Turnbul Secretary of State) OF KENDALE AND ROE FOR HIGH TRENTON, 31 OCTOBER 1665.—Sir Bartholomew Shower, for the prisoners, spoke as follows.

Sir Bartholomew Shower. I am of counsel for these two prisoners: and what we desire at present is only that they may be bailed; though perhaps we might prefer to have them discharged, and upon that good reason.

To induce your Lordship to bail them, I shall beg your lordship's pardon, and I have no doubt it has been acceded, if I make a question, whether the person committing hath any authority for such a purpose. It is for my clients, who think themselves aggrieved by this imprisonment: and in truth they say, that they are not only not charged with any offence, but that they are innocent; and that they are only for being prisoners, in this case, for the sake of the principles which were privy to Sir James Montgomery's escape. But this is fact of which the court will not take notice; and therefore I shall confine myself to the return, as it appears before your Lordship.

With submission, I must insist upon it, that a secretary of state, quaestus secretarius, cannot commit for treason or felony: he is not an officer for such a purpose in common parlance. The word secretarius imports only a writer of letters, or a secretary of state, as it is used in Spain, which limits the meaning of the term of it, with the addition of fidelity of privacy: and so is his gloryary upon that word. He is not a privy-counsellor, quaestus secretarius; nor is he a justice; and though perhaps, in fact, he may be in the commission, yet, unless he has a warrant for it, he cannot commit for treason or felony, as he does. I have heard five or six privy-counsellors at a time appearing at a petition of the peace for this county, in the case of the Duke of Bedford's power, as cufos secretarius, to remove the threat of the peace; and when petitioners came to send to the justices with whom they had been taken into custody, to see their discretion how they drew. Here Sir William Turnbul cannot be presumed or intended to be a justice of the peace; because the commitment by him is a secretariat, and not as justice; and the return is made upon the oath of the authorising officer; he ought to appear otherwise, the return is void; and here both appear none but that of a secretary. Now, if the office of secretary doth not imply and carry in it a power of committing, then this commitment is erroneous.

Our Lordship hath established the courts of justice, both in criminal and civil causes, both several courts, and hath appointed several officers for several purposes; some for civil, some for criminal matters; and in criminal cases are examiners and justices, ordered to obey and carry others to receive and keep, for the true and entire delivery of the cause, which hath been committed, produced, and of those your Lordship will take notice, as also of their several duties and powers; and do our law-books. But a secretary is a court-officer of state, not relating to the administration of justice.

You take notice, as do our books, of head-boroughs, constables, sheriffs, coroners, escheaters, and the like: But neither Coke, Cromwell, Fitzherbert, Smith, or any book which treats of the jurisdiction of courts, the pleas of the crown, or the nature of justice, doth mention any office or title, which relates to foreign negotiations than domestics; and if any home-affairs fall under his cognizance, it is rather as an intelligence than with any relation to criminals, pawns, or gaolers, &c. In all the debates about the liberty of the subjects, and wrongful commitments, which were in parliament in 4 Car. I. or 1625; and amongst all the precedents mentioned thereupon each side, which are multitudes; there is none by a secretary. It is true, there are divers for mandatum Dom. Regis, by warrant from the Lords of the council. I have perused Dr. Franklin's Annals of King James the 1st. fol. 261, and Rubenow's, Vol. I. 438; and can find none by a warrant from the council. There are cases, rubrics, and instructions, which are upon that subject, but for nothing else than for writs of commitment. And it seems very strange, if such a power were lodged in this state-officer, that there should be no precedents for it in those times, when extrajudicial and general warrants were fo rmed, and that there should henceance to the people, and such a one as laid the foundation for the petition of right.

I shall not controvert the power of the council at present, because it doth not concern the present question; but that I can oblige in the case, is that it first began by the Lord Jermyn's, and then by the Earl of Essex, who, while the Popish plot had increased the number of prisoners to a wonderful degree, it is notoriously known, that the chief justice Scroggs was frequently and often sent for to warrant to examine, and to grant commissions. And when the earl of Essex, the secretary of state, had thrown that burden off from themselves upon their secretaries under them, who have been sworn justices of the peace; and Mr. Bridgeman hath accordingly executed the office of a justice of peace at Whitehall, which is contrary to the laws. When a warrant is issued, it keeps out of the legal, can commit; and the better commission hath been, that it cannot; And it seems to be agreed by Gravell's and also in Moly's Reports, 839. &c. that his commission is illegal, unless for a cause within his jurisdiction; and that he cannot, and the more especially, if I may say, that any man may apprehend another for felony or treason; but there is a vast difference between an arresting of a traitor or felon upon suspicion or knowledge, and a formal commitment to prison with charge of treason. And that the Attorney-General's opinion is not disapproved, for the same consequence will be, that any man may commit, as well as a secretary: And I suppose that doctrine will scarce be allowed; though I think that any man living to these may any one recompense, or returned into any hands, that are taken by a justice, either for the appearance of a witness, or for the protection of a cause. Also the practice is always otherwise; for they have often taken bonds to the king with condition to appear here. And your Lordship, and the court, hath often had much trouble in recovering the persons, who have appeared here, the court hath refused to record, that the appearance might be no recognition, returned or taken whereupon to found such an appearance.

Now it seems strange, nay absurd, that our commission, which we admire for its excellency, should be so weak, so ill founded, and yet cannot give an oath wherein to found a commitment, that cannot bail, that cannot take any recognition to prosecute: This is to make the liberty of the subject very precarious, notwithstanding the many laws and sayings of judges in favour of it, &c.

STATE TRIALS, Vol. V. page 605. | | | | |---|---|---| | 1 | V V V | 34 | /-L = | | 2 | V V V | 35 | R. T. | | 3 | V V V | 36 | R. T. | | 4 | V V V | 37 | R. T. | | 5 | V V V | 38 | R. T. | | 6 | V V V | 39 | R. T. | | 7 | V V V | 40 | R. T. | | 8 | V V V | 41 | R. T. | | 9 | V V V | 42 | R. T. | | 10| V V V | 43 | R. T. | | 11| V V V | 44 | R. T. | | 12| V V V | 45 | R. T. | | 13| V V V | 46 | R. T. | | 14| V V V | 47 | R. T. | | 15| V V V | 48 | R. T. | | 16| V V V | 49 | R. T. | | 17| V V V | 50 | R. T. | | 18| V V V | 51 | R. T. | | 19| V V V | 52 | R. T. | | 20| V V V | 53 | R. T. | | 21| V V V | 54 | R. T. | | 22| V V V | 55 | R. T. | | 23| V V V | 56 | R. T. | | 24| V V V | 57 | R. T. | | 25| V V V | 58 | R. T. | | 26| V V V | 59 | R. T. | | 27| V V V | 60 | R. T. | | 28| V V V | 61 | R. T. | | 29| V V V | 62 | R. T. | | 30| V V V | 63 | R. T. | | 31| V V V | 64 | R. T. | | 32| V V V | 65 | R. T. | | 33| V V V | 66 | R. T. |

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**Part of Dr. Sherlock's Sermon with a few of the most common Contractions.**

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*Plate CLIII.* STATE TRIALS. Vol.V. Page 605.

Proceedings on an Habeas Corpus upon the Commitment by Mr. Trumbull of the prisoner, Mr. Kendall and Rowe for high treason.

[Handwritten text not legible] ing of them; yet, provided that they may be certainly made out by due attention to the subject treated upon, and the idiom of the language, it will be sufficient: for the learner must be advertised, that these contractions are not designed to be taught as the common standard method of writing short-hand upon all occasions.—That method which was taught in the first part, and which will be as easily read, upon a little practice, as common long-hand, will be found sufficiently short for all common purposes; and it should therefore be kept to when very great dispatch is not required.

Inventors of short-hand have generally introduced into their systems a multitude of arbitrary marks, to signify particular words and phrases, which are often chosen rather upon account of their length than their frequent occurrence. The injudicious application of these arbitrary marks is not

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