mxP. 1;] PLAIJr WRifiNG Atfty CltHEH. 221 



trary to the stmcture of such languages.® And in these 

 cases, the judgment of the sense is to be preferred to the 

 precepts of art. Aa the poet says, 



— — " Coense Ferculse nostrse 

 Mallem convivis quam placuisse cocis."? 



Nor is this an art, but the abuse of art, as it does not perfect 

 nature, but corrupt her. As to poetry, both with regard to 

 its fable and its verse, it is like a luxuriant plant, sprouting 

 not from seed, but by the mere vigour of the soil ; whence 

 it eveiywhei^e creeps up, and spreads itself so wide, that it 

 were endless to be solicitous about its defects. And as to 

 the accents of words, there is no necessity for taking notice 

 of so trivial a thing ; only it may be proper to intimate, that 

 these are observed A^dth great exactness, whilst the accents of 

 sentences are neglected ; though it is nearly common to all 

 mankind to sink the voice at the end of a period, to raise it 

 in interrogation, and the like.^ And so much for that part 

 of gi-ammar which regards speaking. 



Writing is practised either by means of the common 

 alphabet, now vulgarly received, or of a secret and private 

 one, agreed upon betwixt particular persons, and called by 

 the name of cipher. But here a question arises about the 

 common orthography ; viz., whether words" should be wrote as 

 they are pronounced, or after the common manner 1 Cer- 

 tainly that reformed kind of writing, according to the pro- 

 nunciation, is but an uselefis speculation, because pronunciation 

 itself is continually changing, and the derivations of words, 

 especially from the foreign languages, are very obscure ; and 

 lastly, as writing in the received manner no way obstructs 

 the manner of pronunciation, but leaves it free, an innovation 

 in it is to no purpose. 



There are several kinds of ciphers, as the simple,^ those 

 mixed with non- significants,^ those consisting of two kinds 



« For some examples of this kind, see Southey's Epics. 



p Martial, Epig. ix. 82. 



1 The stage having cultivated the accentuation of sentences more than 

 the school, the rules of the art might, perhaps, to advantage, be bor- 

 rowed tiom thence, in order to form an early habit of graceful speaking. 

 Shaw. 



» In which each letter corresponds to a different letter of the alphabet. 

 Ed. 



* Thut is, joined ta other letten' and words, the juncture of wbicb 



