shall only notice here what seems to be his fundamental position, that, on all the vocal elements of language, nature has stamped duplicity. To establish this extraordinary doctrine, he first attempts to prove, that "the letter a, as heard in the word day," combines two distinguishable yet inseparable sounds; that it is a compound of what he calls, with reference to vowels and syllables in general, "the radical and the vanishing movement of the voice,"--a single and indivisible element in which "two sounds are heard continuously successive," the sounds of a and e as in ale and eve. He does not know that some grammarians have contended that ay in day is a proper diphthong, in which both the vowels are heard; but, so pronouncing it himself, infers from the experiment, that there is no simpler sound of the vowel a. If this inference is not wrong, the word shape is to be pronounced sha-epe; and, in like manner, a multitude of other words will acquire a new element not commonly heard in them.
OBS. 14.--But the doctrine stops not here. The philosopher examines, in some similar way, the other simple vowel sounds, and finds a beginning and an end, a base and an apex, a radical and a vanishing movement, to them all; and imagines a sufficient warrant from nature to divide them all "into two parts," and to convert most of them into diphthongs, as well as to include all diphthongs with them, as being altogether as simple and elementary. Thus he begins with confounding all distinction between diphthongs and simple vowels; except that which he makes for himself when he admits "the radical and the vanish," the first half of a sound and the last, to have no difference in quality. This admission is made with respect to the vowels heard in ooze, eel, err, end, and in, which he calls, not diphthongs, but "monothongs." But in the a of ale, he hears =a'-ee; in that of an, ~a'-~e; (that is, the short a followed by something of the sound of e in err;) in that of art, ah'~-e; in that of all, awe'-~e; in the i of isle, =i'-ee; in the o of old, =o'-oo; in the proper diphthong ou, ou'-oo; in the oy of boy, he knows not what. After his explanation of these mysteries, he says, "The seven radical sounds with their vanishes, which have been described, include, as far as I can perceive, all the elementary diphthongs of the English language."--Ib., p. 60. But all the sounds of the vowel u, whether diphthongal or simple, are excluded from his list, unless he means to represent one of them by the e in err; and the complex vowel sound heard in voice and boy, is confessedly omitted on account of a doubt whether it consists of two sounds or of three! The elements which he enumerates are thirty-five; but if oi is not a triphthong, they are to be thirty-six. Twelve are called "Tonics; and are heard in the usual sound of the separated Italics, in the following words: A-ll, a-rt, a-n, a-le, ou-r, i-sle, o-ld, ee-l, oo-ze, e-rr, e-nd, i-n,"--Ib., p. 53. Fourteen are called "Subtonics; and are marked by the separated Italics, in the following words: B-ow, d-are, g-ive, v-ile, z-one, y-e, w-o, th-en, a-z-ure, si-ng, l-ove, m-ay, n-ot, r-oe."--Ib., p. 54. Nine are called "Atonics; they are heard in the words, U-p, ou-t, ar-k, i-f, ye-s, h-e, wh-eat, th-in, pu-sh."--Ib., p. 56. My opinion of this scheme of the alphabet the reader will have anticipated.
IV. FORMS OF THE LETTERS.
In printed books of the English language, the Roman characters are generally employed; sometimes, the Italic; and occasionally, the [Font change: Old English]: but in handwriting, [Font change: Script letters] are used, the forms of which are peculiarly adapted to the pen.
Characters of different sorts or sizes should never be needlessly mixed; because facility of reading, as well as the beauty of a book, depends much upon the regularity of its letters.
In the ordinary forms of the Roman letters, every thick stroke that slants, slants from the left to the right downwards, except the middle stroke in Z; and every thin stroke that slants, slants from the left to the right upwards.
Italics are chiefly used to distinguish emphatic or remarkable words: in the Bible, they show what words were supplied by the translators.
In manuscripts, a single line drawn under a word is meant for Italics; a double line, for small capitals; a triple line, for full capitals.
In every kind of type or character, the letters have severally two forms, by which they are distinguished as capitals and small letters. Small letters constitute the body of every work; and capitals are used for the sake of eminence and distinction. The titles of books, and the heads of their principal divisions, are printed wholly in capitals. Showbills, painted signs, and short inscriptions, commonly appear best in full capitals. Some of these are so copied in books; as, "I found an altar
