ORT 
doxy ae hae every honeft man believes his own opinions 
to be, in contradiflin€tion to the opinions of others, which he 
rejects. In "England i it is vulgarly reftricted to fignify the 
opinions gaat ned in the thirty-nine articles; and in Scot- 
land, itis in like manner ufed to denote the doétrines con- 
tained in thei confeffion of faith. Itis, in general, applied 
to ea opinions that are maintained be anole called Cal- 
vinifts, 
Or pasa is ufed in oppofition to heterodoxy, or here/y. 
OrtTH Orthodoxy, denotes a folemn feaft 
emprefs Theodora ; 
un on memory of the re- 
ftoration of images in churches, wick had been taken down 
y the Iconoclafts. 
ORTHODROMICS, that part of navigation which 
teaches the art of failing in the arc o at circle 
e wor 
Ng and deouos, curfus, run, or diflance ; g.d. the ftraight 
rteft diftance ; and this can only be in the arc of a 
neers circle. 
ORTHOEPY, formed of ogdo:, right, and ero-, word, 
in Grammar, denotes the juit utterance of words. r pro- 
nunciation the beft rule 1s, fays Dr. Johnfon, to confider 
thofe as the moft elegant fpeakers, who iene leaft from the 
written words. ee FRONUNCIATION. 
ORTHOGONIAL, Ortnoconius, in Geometry, de- 
notes as fete as r eGtangular or right-angled. 
e term is referred to a plain figure, . fuppofes 
one lene or “fide to ftand perpendicular to the other: when 
{poken of folids, it a a their axis to be per ae 
to plane of the hor. 
RTHOGRAPHIC. Projettion of the Sphere. See Pro- 
pos 
ORTHOGR oe formed from og$oc, right, and 
mar, the art of fpelling; that is, 
proper and neceflary 
and Fitablesi nt words ; or, more i Seat it teaches the 
nature and powers of ene s, or the form and found of letters, 
and the juit athe of {pelling words. Accordingly ortho- 
graphy _ one . the four principal divifions or branches 
of grammar: the other three being Se fyntax, and 
profody ; ik i en. ography, confidered 
as the art of expreffing certain founds i proper characters, 
may be {uppofed to include orthoepy ; which fee 
That diverfity found in moft of the modern languages, 
es in acquiring them ; 
fource as the languages cae 
he Gauls, e. gr. forming a new language from the an- 
cient Latin, took the liberty to model the words to their 
: at firft, indeed, it is probable they wrote as the 
y degrees, finding that words pronounced 
with all their letters one harfh, they began to pronounce 
more {moothly. 
Thus, in caine they thought fit to foften that harfh- 
=  refulting f from the concurrence and clafhing of confo- 
3 but as the ortho aphy, or writing, did net offend 
the « oe it ftill continued pe its former footin 
Attempts have ae fincé saa to reduce the writing to 
that pronunciation, o write as we {peak; which 
Pelletier od Mans w was the 
ier ie however, occafioned a {chifm among writers, 
Vor. XXV. 
ORT 
which has done more harm than the evil they intended to re- 
orm, the French writers being’dince divided into two parties ; 
one = which adheres to the o/d, the other to the new or- 
tho The latter, F. Buffier obferves, is the moft 
eonideatle body ; yet are thefe divided among themfelves, 
— es for carrying the reformation much farther than 
ot 
uch change, 
alt ered, and we fhould 
e a middle courfe ‘coe the two ex- 
tremes, aa ing the letters where they are abfolutely 
ufelefs, es in a multitude of words; and yet ftudioufly 
retaining “all the letters on which the etymology has any de- 
pendence. 
In the Englifh, the orthography is more vague and unaf- 
certained jan in any other language with which we are ac- 
quainted. Every author, and almoft every printer, has his 
particular ee nay, it is fcarcely fo well with us as that: 
we not only differ from one another, but there is {carcely any 
one that is canahen with himfelf. The fame word hall free 
quently appear with two or aati om faces in the fame 
aa not to fayline. See Ene 
any {chemes have been pried for the emendation and 
fettlement of the oe Sn orthography, which, like that of 
other nations, being formed by chance, or according to the 
fancy of the earlieit ee in rude ages, was at firft very 
various and uncertain, and is yet fufficiently irregular. Of 
thefe reformers, fays Dr. Johnfon, fome have endeavoured to 
acc ate orthography better to the pronunciation, 
without erage: that this is to meafure b a % 
model or ftandard which is changing while 
t Others, lefs abfurdly indeed, but iSees 
snations to change their pra€tice, and make all their old 
books ufelefs ? Or what advantage would a new orthography 
procure equivalent to the confufion and perplexity of fuch an 
alteration ?. Some of thefe {chemes are exhibited by our 
learned lexicographer, which, he fays, may be ufed accord- 
ing to the diverfities of ae as a guide to reformers, or 
to innovators. of the firft who propofed a {cheme 
oe segulak oahoenah was fir Thomas Smith, fecretary of 
{tate to queen Elizabeth, a man of real learning, and much 
eas in grammatical san pa After him another 
Dr. Gill, the celebrated 
Dr. Gill 
oS 
» there w 
r books, 
ilton as were subi 
Of thefe reformers, every man had his own 
4K eme ; 
in 
by himfelf. 
