284 On the Adaptation of the Roman Alphabet [June, 



ed letter <s$r which Mr. Halhed wrote 8 was written a by Sir William 

 Jones and u by Dr. Gilchrist; the ee andee of Halhed, i,\ of Sir W. 

 Jones, were rendered i and ee by Gilchrist ; the oo, o'a, of Halhed, u, u of 

 Jones, were expressed by oo ; and the 1, ai, of the two former systems by 

 y, corrected but not improved to ne ; and lastly, the o%c of Halhed and 

 au of Jones by ou corrected to uo. 



The more taking and popular part of this system lies evidently in 

 the use of the short u instead of a, for the silent unexpressed inherent 

 letter of the languages of India : people could not be brought to write 

 bat for the sound of but, tab for tub, and patee for putee. Having the choice 

 therefore, they discarded the letter which never in any of the words of 

 any of the languages within their knowledge had the sound it was pro- 

 posed to give to it. The adoption of oo, instead of Sir W. Jones' u, fol- 

 lowed as a necessary consequence of the appropriation of u to the short 

 sound; and au for the sound of ow in how was so unnatural, that it was 

 gladly discarded for ou. 



It does not appear that the Government took any part, until very 

 recently, in promoting the use of one or other of these systems : they 

 had each therefore a fair field and no favor for thirty years at least. 

 During the whole of that period the knowledge of the languages 

 was extending, and the old jargon was disappearing from all the public 

 departments, finding only a sanctuary and stronghold that bade defi- 

 ance to all reform within the precincts of the supreme Court. The 

 issue was in a decided leaning from the first to the system of Gilchrist. 

 This has now been that of all official correspondence for fifteen or twenty 

 years at least, whereas it will not be found that the orthography of Sir 

 William Jones has taken root in any single department, pertinaciously 

 as certain learned individuals of high authority have adhered to it. 



In 1822, the design was conceived of forming an accurate record 

 in the English language and character of all the land tenures of the 

 country. It was felt to be necessary to determine upon some al- 

 phabet or system, for the conversion of names correctly, prior to the 

 formation of these registers, and then first did the Government 

 officers indicate any system under authority for preference. The 

 merits of each method were fully weighed and considered, prior 

 to the determination, and the scheme of Gilchrist was adopted, 

 simplified by the rejection of some of his quaint methods of expressing 

 the nicer distinctions of sound. This alphabet was circulated, and great 

 progress was made all over the country in producing registers, in which 

 the names of persons, and places, and properties were so written that 

 no one could hereafter find difficulty in writing them back, into any 

 given character, upon bare inspection. 



