[ 39 ° 1 
city might be able, by a long Familiarity with the 
Charade rs, to determine the Scnfe of what was 
written in them, yet it is evident, that, to common 
Learners, a Difficulty fo perpetually occurring muft 
appear infuperable. 
The Podulatum, likewife, which this Plan for 
Short- Hand is grounded on, is taken up too expe- 
ditioufly ; for, there being, in Nature, 4 rectilinear 
Strokes, the horizontal, the perpendicular, and the 
acute, and grave (if I may fo call them) ; it is mani- 
feft, by Infpedion, that from thefe 4 Directions 
there will arife, at lead, 8 curvilinear Characters, as 
each of the (trait ones admits didindly ol 2 oppo- 
flte Curves ) | ( J / f alld thete is 
no abfolute Neceflity that any of them fhould be al- 
ways femicircular ; a Shape that, for the mod com- 
modious Combination of fimple Characters, is in faCt 
much oftencr inconvenient than otherwife. 
The Alphabet then of Ample Charaders may be 
fairly enlarged by one third ; and Room be alfo 
left for the Fancy of an Inventor to extend it far- 
ther, if he fhould find it convenient upon the 
Whole. 
I fay, upon the Whole ; for the word Short-Hand 
may happen to exprefs a few particular Words bet- 
ter than the bed 5 and arbitrary Marks for Words or 
Sentences may be often fhortcr than regular ones : 
But this is no Inducement to write, in one Cafe, 
by a bad Method, and in the other, by none at all. 
Another Overfight, in this Plan, is the Neglcd 
of Beauty and Linearity s though the Simplicity of 
” ' - its 
