On Short-hand Writing. 25 
Note. As it may appear rather strange to those who are un- 
acquainted with short-hand, why the two first characters of the 
first series are apparently similar; it may not be impertinent to 
observe, that almost all our stenographists have, by a very sim- 
ple contrivance, rendered them virtually distinct—the one be- 
ing an ascending stroke and connected with the following letter 
thus 7 , the other descending and connected thus rai ! 
Note also, that the first four characters of the third series, as 
well as the third and fourth characters of the fourth series, are 
ineligible for general purposes. If we add to this the necessity 
for junction, or at least the extreme convenience cf appropriat- 
ing two hooked characters (that is, our choice of either) to an 
individual letter; and the similar necessity uf appropriating two 
looped characters, in like manner, as indicated by the respective 
braces set over those characters in the table—we shall find the 
number of our truly alphabetical letters reduced to eighteen. 
Now with regard to the utility of this table, is it not obviously 
a material guidance for the construction of an alptioinet 2—and 
who, without a thorough knowledge of all the existing characters, 
together with a knowledge of the ease or difficulty ef their for- 
mation, their comparative swiftness, their eligibility for junction, 
their distinctness when swiftly written, or their tendency to pro- 
mote or injure lineality, shall pretend to lay down a rational 
scheme of shert-hand? But even this knowledge i is insufficient. 
The ratio of occurrence of all the consonandés of the language for 
which a short-hand alphabet is intended, must be . tolerably 
well ascertained; the incipient ones, or those whick first present 
themselves in every word, as the 2 in on, m0, never, being distin- 
uisbed from the subsequently. occurring consonants in every 
word [I shall call them sulsequents], as the v and r in the last- 
mentioned dissyllable never, or the grd in the word regard, 
Here I must request of the intelligent ‘reader already conversant 
in the principles of short-hand; that he will not censure my pro- 
lixity. This paper is intended inerely for the information of 
those gentlemen who may wish to obtain a mastery of this art— 
but whose valuable time may otherwise be sacrificed to the ig- 
norance or cunning of an empiric. Nor is this observation un- 
called for: more than one gentleman of my acquaintance has 
reason to regret his unprofitable labour, 
The difficulty, or rather the trouble, of forming such a “ ratio 
of occurreice” as that of which I have just spoken, is indeed so 
great, that were it not for the indefatigable exertions of a literary 
friend, I should in all probability have never obtained so valuable 
a document. Several weeks were devoted by him to the scrutiny. 
Parliamentary and forensic speeches, sermons, philosophical 
Vol, 59. No. 285. Jan. 1822. D lectures, 
