l6 ON THE ORTHOGRAPHY 



Se cerca, fe dice : 

 L'amico dov'c ? 

 L'amico infelice, 

 Rifpondi, raori ! 

 Ah ! no ; si gran duolo 

 Non darle per me. 

 Rifpondi, ma folo ; 

 Piangendo parti. 



It was once my practice toreprefent this long vowel by 

 two marks, as in the words Lebeid and Deiwdn, to de- 

 note the point in Arabick as well as the letter above it : 

 but my prefent opinion is, that Lebld and Diwdn are 

 more conformable to analogy, and to the Italian ortho- 

 graphy, which, of all European fyftems, approaches 

 neareit to perfection. 



This is our fifth vowel; for our fourth fhort one is, 

 like our fee ond, rejected from the pure pronunciation of 

 the Sanferit in the weft of India, andatBdndras*; though 

 the Bengalcfe retain it in the firft Ndgari letter, which 

 they call ocdr. To the notation of this found, our vowel 

 in full, and the Perfian in gul, mould be conftantly ap- 

 propriated, fince it is a fimple articulation, and cannot, 

 without impropriety, be reprefented by a double letter. 

 It anfwers to hu-pfilon, and, like that, is often con- 

 founded with iota. Thus mujhc has the found of miJJic 

 among the modern Perfians ; as Numpha was pronoun- 

 ced Nympha by the Romans. The damm of the Arabs 

 is, however, frequently founded, efpecially in Perfia, 

 like our fhort O in memory ; and the choice of two 

 marks for a variable found is not improper in itfelf, 

 and will fometimes be found very convenient. 



The 



