270 Ci A} DIM Ws. 
‘much more rational would it be, to ftudy the Englith twice 
as long, than to ftudy another language to obtain the 
Englith! There is fcarcely one man in fifty, even among 
the learned, that writes every word with whatis, mof er- 
roncoufly, called a corre&t orthography, without a lexicon, 
among the unlearned none, and few among well educated 
ladies. Thefe difficulties depend greatly upon falfe fpel- 
ling, becaufe they all pronounce much more alike than 
they write ; and that falfe {pelling, in its origin, depended 
as much upon a want of knowing the alphabet, as upon 
the change of language for the fake of euphony. People 
are more afhamed of expofing bad orthography than bad 
writing : the only difference, however, between what the 
world calls bad fpelling and good, is, that the firft contains 
the blunders of the writer only, the latter contains the 
blunders of every body elfe. 
Dr. Johnfon, in the grammar which is prefixed to his 
diGtionary (under letter Z,) fays “* For pronunciation the 
“bef rule is, to confider thofe as the moft elegant fpeakers 
* ewho deviate leaft fromthe written words.” lf the Door, 
with all his learning, had heard any page of his own 
works read correctly, (according to the orthography) he 
would with difficulty, if at all, have been able to conftrue 
it, and would have been even more at a lofs than foreign- 
ers are when the Englifh {peak Latin. Iam forry that the 
vague opinion of an eftablifhed character can impofe upon 
the generality of men, and I lament how much fooner 
the errors of the great are embraced than the truths of the 
little. The Doctor immediately after this allows “ our 
“ orthography tobe formed by chance, and is yet fufficiently 
« irregular.” I cannot conceive by whatrule the irregulari- 
ty can be determined, but by its non-conformity to the 
{peech, which would thus deny his previous affertion. 
& Some reformers” he adds, “ have endeavoured to accom- 
amodate 
