OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. 27 



" There are fourteen simple vowel-sounds,* and four diphthongs, 

 t, oi, ou, u ; in all eighteen, to be represented ; and there are only 

 six vowel-signs to represent them. They are distributed without any 

 apparent order, or rather in defiance of all order, method, or principle. 



" The representatives of the consonant-sounds are not so extrava- 

 gant ; there being only twenty-two or twenty-four consonant-sounds to 

 be represented, and twenty, or rather seventeen, letters to represent 

 them. The representation of these is, however, sufficiently fantastic ; 

 two of the perfectly simple consonants, c and t, being represented in 

 ten different modes each.t On the whole, the thirty-six simple, and 

 six or seven compound sounds, for which it is desirable to have char- 

 acters, are represented in our language by three hundred and sixty- 

 seven equivalents, an average of more than eight and one half to each 

 sound, amongst which the inexperienced writer has to choose ; — and 

 not a single sound of the English tongue has one uniform representa- 

 tive. The case is somewhat better for the reader. There are about 

 two hundred letters or equivalents for letters in use, to represent the 

 thirty-seven sounds of our language. Some of these have each a sin- 

 gle value ; but many of them have a considerable number. Among 

 those of most common occurrence are the combinations ei, eo, ze, and 

 ough^ which have respectively seven, nine, eleven, and nine values.| 



quay, ui in mosquito, y in carry; of i, by aise in aisle, ei in neither, as often pro- 

 nounced, eigh in height, ey in eying, eye in eije, i in bind, i-e in mine, ic in in- 

 dict, ie in lie, ig in sign, igh in hi^-A, is-e in isle, ui in beguiling, ui-e in heguiU, 

 uy in buy, y in fly, ye. in Aye ; of o, by au in hauteur, eau in beau, eo in yeoman, 

 ew in seic, o in go, o-e in cove, oa in coal, oe in doe, oh in oh! ol in yolk, oo in 

 brooch, ou in somI, ough in though, oio in knotc, owe in oioe, wo in s?cord ; of u, 

 by eau in bcawty, eo in feod, eu in fewd, eio in fezc, ewe in ewe, hu in Aumor, ieu 

 in licM, iew in \ie2D, iewe in viewjed, u in wsage, ue in use, we in ague, ug in im- 

 ptign, ugh in Hugh, ui in suit, yeic in yew, you in ijou; of y, by e in courteous, i 

 in onion, j in hallelujah, y in yard. — See Ellis's Plea, pp. 5-8. 



* Namely : i (ee), as in feet ; i, as in it ; z (a), as in mate ; e, as in met ; ae, as 

 in mare ; a, as in Sam ; a, as in psalm ; e, as in caught ; o, as in cot; u, as in 

 cur ; u, as in curry ; o, as in bone ; vu, as in fool ; and u, as in full. 



t Cin can, chasm, ache, hack, lough, kill, walk, </uack, quay, exception; tin 

 debt, indict, suckerf, sought, phthisical, ptarmigan, toe, Thomas, hatter, mezzotint. 

 — Ellis, p. 7. 



t The sounds of ei are different in every two of the words conceit, forfeit, veil, 

 heifer, their, Leipsig, reimburse; of eo, in people, leopard, dungeon, yeoman, gal- 

 leon, feod, Macleod, aureola, theology ; of ie, in grief, pitied, friend, soldier, lie, 

 medieval, conscientious, piety, crier, species, courier; of ough, in sought, though, 

 through, plough, cough, hough, trough, hiccough, and tough. 



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