98 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS. 



When to such a hst of famous men as the foregoing we are 

 enabled to add the names of the most eminent philologists and ety- 

 mologists of our own times, Muller, Sayce, Dr. Murray, Whitney, 

 Skeat, Dr. Ellis, Sweet, March, and such noted men as Tennyson^ 

 Darwin, Spencer and Isaac Pitman, I feel that no apologies are 

 necessary in choosing this as a fit subject on which to address the 

 Hamilton Association. 



For one hundred years previous to the Norman conquest there 

 had been a fixed spelling in England, almost as much so as ours 

 after four hundred years of the printing press. The author of the 

 Ormulum (12 15), prayed that in transcripts from his work respect 

 might be had for his orthography ; and the " Father of English 

 Verse " begged that no one should alter the spelling of his little 

 book " Troilus and Cressida." English spelling has, however, seen 

 many changes since the time Chaucer expressed his wish, and it may 

 be added that the changes, especially since the fifteenth century, have 

 not all been for the better. Owing to the conservatism exercised by 

 the press our orthography may be considered as fixed, but a little 

 research will show that not a few changes have taken place within 

 the past century. I have in my possession volume 1. of the 

 " Spectator," edition of 1797, in which I noted the following spell- 

 ings: Aukward, ribband, teint (taint), sculked, irreconcileable, bredes 

 (braids), bason, bull-rush, thorough-base, dropt, smoak, befal, ile 

 (aisle), story'd, cloysters, ribbaldry, inchanted, motely, negociations, 

 malecontents, flead (flayed), cearments, expence, choaked, alledge, 

 corps (corpse), stopt, janty, phraise, CQntroul, merchandize. 



English spellmg; however, has not kept pace with English pro- 

 nunciation, which is ever on the move ; and owing to the conserving 

 influence of the press the distance between them is rapidly increasing. 

 True it is that in a few instances changes in speech have been 

 accompanied by changed spellings, but the fact remains that the eye 

 is being educated at the almost total expense of the ear. Voltaire 

 said: "Writing is the painting of the voice. The nearer it resembles 

 it the better.'' The definition given by Dr. Hayward before the 

 Liverpool Literary and Scientific Society is worth repeating : " Lan- 

 guage is what is spoken, not what is written ; writing is merely an 

 endeavor to convey language to the eye, as speaking is an endeavor 

 to convey it to the ear.'' 



In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the English language 



