It were much to be wished that one set of characters be ufed inftead of capitals and fmall letters, for they only: increase the difficulty of finding a fufficient number of eafy forms, for an univerfal, or even a copious alphabet. The fame letters made larger at the beginning of an emphatic word, or the whole made a larger fize, or in Italics, would be fufficiently characteristic. The printing letters, as in the third line of characters, above, neither ascending nor defcending out of the line, would render books, printed in this type, the most beautiful that ever yet appeared, and the lines would be more diftin&t.

The written characters may be accommodated to the others by degrees; at prefent I fhall make little innovation in them.

→ Pronounced

*

Rules for pronouncing these letters, † fhewing the formation of each diftinct found, in the English language, to which it is thought neceffary to appropriate a character; having a true knowledge of which, it will be impoffible to write incorrectly whatever is heard in any language, containing only thefe letters; and as impoffible to read incorrectly any language written in thefe characters; for, by this method, the orthography and orthoepy determine each other; and, if the orthography of language were to be corrected, the pronunciation of the fcholar, would, by reading alone, be perfectly attained by the peasant and the foreigner; destroying thus, in the most effectual manner, all vulgar and local dialects, and fitting even for oratory, every man of good capacity and utterance.

The reader is now to reject all prejudices respecting NAMES of letters, and is to ftudy only their POWERS, which in all cafes may be prolonged, except in the stopt vocals and their afpirates; and a good mode of obtaining precifely the true power of each, is, to tranfpofe the letter to the end of any word which that letter begins, then, by repeating the word rapidly, the letter will take its proper place, and the ear will determine if it poffeffes the true found.

Pronounciation

* Though it is faid Pronunciation is fuch quæ nec feribitur, nec pingitur, nec haurire eam fas eft, nifi viva voce.

It will be obferved in the line which I fo particularly recommend, that fome of the letters have been a little altered to render them more fimple, and that fome of the Characters are merely common letters reverfed. The middle line of the A of the E and F have been omitted which will render them more eafy for the type-founder, and lefs liable to blot in printing. The V and fare the A and J inverted, the I is the E reverfed. The long S (f) should be totally omitted, it has fo much the appearance of [. The D is the fame as the Saxon, but rather more diftinct: the of the Greeks is alfo a little altered in the printing letters. The O, of the Goths, may be fomewhat altered in writing for the fake of expedition. UWMN are made like the fmall letters, u being the inverfe only of n, and us of m, filling the line with great beauty, and avoiding difagreeable angles.

Is made by opening the mouth a very little, juft sufficient to fhew the edges of the upper teeth, producing a vocal found low down in the throat, and fuffering the tongue and lips to remain at reft, the epiglottis only being raised by the breath, which by a contraction of the glottis, by the furrounding mufcles, occafions a tremulous motion and found called voice, that can be felt by applying the fingers to the throat; but this tremulous motion can only be felt when vocals are founded, fo that those who are born deaf, may be made fenfible of the difference, by feeling only, and can thus difcover, when they are learning the elements of fpeech, whether or not they pronounce properly. The English bis the aspirate of this vocal: it is a vowel much used in that language, taking the place of o very often when short, but it was not represented by a characer.-Its power may be found in the first perpendicular column of the fucceeding table in fun, san; ruff, RIF; &c.

To pronounce the fecond common vowel, the mouth must be more open than for I, but the lower lip muft not difcover the lower teeth: the found is made in the threat, more easily continued, and is fuller than in pronouncing 1, and the tongue is drawn back, the tip of it refting on the bottom of the mouth. It is alfo a very common vowel in the English language, though there was no character

affigned

affigned to it. The power of may be found in the fecond perpendicular column of the table of founds, in yawn, YOON;-saw, so;-raw, RED; &c.

The third common vowel: the mouth must be ftill more open than for the lower lip defcends a little below the tips of the under teeth; and the tongue muft lie flat. Its power may be found in the third perpendicular column. in the words, YARN;-ZAG ;--SAT;-RAT &c.

e

The fourth common vowel-The mouth a little more fhut than for a, but the lower lip expofing ftill more the lower teeth, and the tip of the tongue gently preffing the under teeth. Its power may be found in the fourth perpendicular column of the table, in, yell, YEL ;-zephyr, ZEFIR; SET;---RED, &c.

i

Fifth common vowel-the mouth rather more contracted than for e, but the under lip fo low as to shew the infertion of the lower teeth; the corners of the mouth a little extended; the tongue preffing gently upon the edges of the lower teeth. Its power may be found in the fifth perpendicular column, in, ye, YI ;-zeal, ZIIL;-SIT;— RIP,&c.

Sixth common vowel the mouth is nearly in a natural ftate, the lips brought rather clofer together-the tongue drawn back a little, and the found resembles the ¤, but VOL. III.

Na

the