' NOTE ON Sl'ELLINfV. I47 



alphabetic symbols. The spelling would vary with peculiari- 

 ties of pronunciation, local and personal. Correct spelling 

 would not consist in remembering a set series of letters, only 

 partly suggestive of the sounds, but in discriminating the 

 sounds and selecting their corresponding symbols. Particular 

 spellings would no longer be learned : simply the art of spell- 

 ing would be acquired. 



On the other hand, Traditional Spelling makes the alpha- 

 bet a mere series of convenient forms out of which to construct 

 complex outlines of words which impress themselves upon the 

 mind through the eye. Once formed, the spelling is a matter 

 of memory. 



Neither of these ideas can wholly overcome the other. 

 The more or less good spelling of any particular period in the 

 life of a language is a compromise between the ear and the eye. 



Our so-called Spelling Reform is the expression of the 

 Phonetic Idea. In itself it can do little, if anything, to 

 advance the process we have outlined by which traditional 

 forms of spelling laggardh' give way as the sounds of lan- 

 guage change. And as literary education becomes more gen- 

 eral, any such reform becomes more difficult because of the 

 immense number of people subject to the influence of the tra- 

 ditional form. The remedy may come gradually, as it has in 

 the past, l)y a succession of isolated changes, each small in 

 itself and in the opposition which it excites. But any sweep- 

 ing change at one fell swoop seems beyond the power of any 

 man or class — literary or political. At present linglish 

 happens to be at a stage where the sounds and letters are 

 more at variance than ever before in it or any other European 

 language. But this condition is due to particular historic 

 causes beyond the scope of this note to examine. We may 

 expect a closer approximation of letter and sound from the 

 very pressure of present confusion, but, in the nature of things 

 human, there can never be more than approximate correspon- 

 dence between the word, which is ever changing, and the 

 written form, which resists change. 



