Io8 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS. 



a set of letters representing a certain sound in a particular word, to 

 produce the same sound in some other word in which a different 

 set of letters had been used to set forth the same sound. The satirist 

 desired to show the " infignit vareyeety " which English " or- 

 thoggerafey " sanctions. It was written in 1846 : 



"... eiveri wone nose thaibt woen grate boossed owve Ing- 

 glyshmean yss, thaght itt eez ymnposcible far faurenors theo lirn 

 ourr langwech. Theis, wieth owr seau-cauled aurthografi, ez, un- 

 forteanattli, noht choit troe. Buet iph migh meathoud wwer adop- 

 peded aour langgwege wood bei absoughleautli ignakscessible phthoo 

 mounsears ande aul souch stewpid peeple az calnot speek Inglisch. 

 Theye reseaved spaeling aunserz thuis pourpus thollarabli weall, 

 boot ite ise eavideant thabte ohn meigh plagn, phor ah fourenar 

 phtho speal Inglich weil bey, azz ute aught phthough bi, cwile owt 

 ouve theui ckwestiun." 



Every spelling in the above can be borne out by some received 

 orthography, and this specimen is given by me not in the spirit of 

 ridicule, for ridicule is a sign of weak argument, but as a very perti- 

 nent method of directing those among us who have not given that 

 attention to the question, that the importance of the matter calls for, 

 an opportunity to consider for one moment the almost insuperable 

 difficulties in the way of those who set out to master the spelling of 

 our noble English tongue. Let it be borne in mind that I am not 

 promoting a scheme to reform the English language — I have under 

 consideration here, merely the clothing of that language — and I be- 

 believe there will not be found many who will maintain that the 

 orthographical garb of a language is the language. Because the Ital- 

 ians write *' filosofo," and the English " philosopher," can it be 

 argued that the word^ the innermost meaning, is altered ? Can the 

 coat of the schoolmaster transform the dunce into a man of learning, 

 or, on the other hand, can the coat of the fool alter the mental 

 texture of the sage ? 



Rapp, the German philologist, in his "Philosophic der Sprache," 

 says : " Although the French has become the common language in 

 a diplomatic and social sense, it has never acquired a firm footing in 

 extensive regions out of Europe, and by its bold fusion, with the 

 consequent decomposition, of the forms of its Gothic and Roman 

 elements this idiom [English] has acquired incomparable fluency, 

 and appears especially destined by nature more than any one of the 



