1^ ON THE ORTHOGRAPHY 



fhort vowel ; and in the weft of India like our frjl. 

 In all the dialects properly Indian, it is confidered as 

 inherent in every confonant; and is placed laft in the 

 fy Item of the Tibetians, becaufe the letters which include 

 it are firft explained in their fchools. If our double 

 confonants were invariably connected, as in Sanfcrit, it 

 would certainly be the better way to omit the iimple 

 element, except when it begins a word. This letter 

 anfwers to the fal-hhah, or open found of the Arabs, 

 and, in fome few words, to the Zeber of the Perfians, 

 or an acute placed above the letters : but this 

 Arabian mark, which was fupplied in the Pahlavi by a 

 diftinct character, is more frequently pronounced at 

 Isfahan, either like our jirjl or our Jecond fhort vowel, 

 as in chajlim and ferz end ; and the diftinction feems to 

 depend, in general, on the nature of the confonant 

 which follows it. Two of our letters, therefore, are 

 neceffary for the complete notation of the acdr and 

 zeber ; and thus we may be able occafionaliy to avoid 

 ridiculous or offenlive equivocations in writing orien- 

 tal words, and to preferve the true pronunciation of 

 the Perjians, which differs as widely from that of the 

 Miiflimans in India, as the language of our court at 

 St. James's differs from that of the rufticks in the 

 Gentle Shepherd. 



3Tl 



When the firjl vowel, as the Perfians pronounce it in 

 the word bakht, is doubled, or prolonged, as in bdkht, 

 it has the found of the fecond Ndgari vowel, and of the 

 firft Arabick letter, that is, of our long vowel in cajl ; 

 but the Arabs deride the Perfians for their broad pro- 

 nunciation of this letter, which in Iran has always the 

 found of our vowel in call, and is often fo prolated, as 

 to refemble the fourth, and even the fifth, of our long 

 vowels. Its natural mark would be the fhort A doubled : 

 but an a(U f e accent in the middle of words, or a grave 

 at the end of them, will be equally clear, and conform- 

 1 able 



