The English letters were originally reckoned at twentyfour, because, anciently, i and j, as well as u and v, were expressed by the same character. The order of the letters is called the Alphabet; because, in the Greek language, the names of the first two letters were alpha and beta respectively; that is, alpha was the name of the letter which we call a, and beta of b. Apparently this order is artificial—only, however, apparently. The extent to which it has a character of regularity will be seen hereafter. § 279. Remarks on the English Phonesis.-Sounds 1, 2, 3. The a in father. This sound, so common in French, Italian, Spanish, German, and most other languages, is compara tively rare in English-rare, at least, as a proper power of a. Hence, the ordinary power of this letter (i.e. the sound of the a in fate) is an English peculiarity. In nine languages out of ten, its sound is that of the a in father. For further remarks, see 34 (R). Neither is the true sound of the a in fat very common out of England. The ordinary continental vowel, is that of the a in father, pronounced short-not the a in fate so pronounced. 4. The sound which is to the e in bed as the a in father is to the a in fat and fate, and the aw in bawl to the o in note and not, is not found in English as a proper power of e. Like the a in father, however, it is found as an improper power of something else. See 34 (R). 5, 6. The spelling here disguises the real affinities. The ee in feet is to the i in tin, as the a in fat is to the a in fate, and the o in note to the o in not. Between the ee in feet and the a in fate, the Italian, and many other languages have an intermediate sound-the é fermé of the French. See Prel. Diss. II. Hence, there is a break in the English vowel system here. 7, 8. The real affinity is again disguised here-the u in full being to the oo in cool as the i in tin to the ee in feet. Between the ee in feet and the oo in cool, the Italian, and many other languages, have an intermediate sound. See Prel. Diss. II. 9, 10, 11. The spelling again disguises the affinity: the aw in bawl being to the o in note and not, as the a in father to the a in fat and fate. Between the oo in cool and the o in note, the Italian, and many other languages, have an intermediate sound. See Prel. Diss. II. 12. The u in but is somewhat rare beyond the pale of the English Language. It is commonest in the languages of India. It is a sound into which certain short vowels, when unaccented, have a tendency to pass. An extract from Walker may illustrate this: "If the accent be kept strongly on the first syllable of the word tolerable, as it always ought to be, we find scarcely any distinguishable difference to the ear if we substitute u or o instead of a in the penultimate syllable; thus-tolerable, toleroble, or toleruble, are exactly the same word to the ear, if pronounced without premeditation or transposing the accent. Thus, the word man, when not under the accent, might be written mun in nobleman, husbandman, woman, and tertian and quartan, as tertiun, quartun, &c. The same observation will hold good in almost every final syllable where a is not accented—as medal, dial, giant, bias, &c., defiance, temperance, &c. But when the final syllable ends in age, ate, or ace, the a goes into a somewhat different sound." This "somewhat different sound" is the i in pin (or nearly so), as in cabbage, &c., pronounced cabbidge, &c. 13. The true w, with its proper semi-vowel sound, is far from common. Foreigners sound it as v. 15, 16, 17, 18. The Quaternion here is complete-p, b, f, v. 19, 20, 21, 22. So it is here; though imperfectly expressed in spelling-t, d, þ, ð (th, dh). The last two are somewhat scarce sounds out of England. 23, 24. The Quaternion here is incomplete-k and g (see Prel. Diss. II.) being wanting. Both sounds are rare. 25, 26, 27, 28. Quaternion complete. 29. Ng. This is the only nasal we have. Common in the French, Portuguese, and several African Languages. § 280. 34. R at the beginning of a syllable is sounded over the whole area of the English Language; and that distinctly -run, right, &c. So it is when medial, or divided between two syllables (see Prel. Diss. II.), so as to be initial as well as final. At the end, however, of a syllable, this distinctness and universality of the sound of r is by no means the case. At the end of a syllable r never follows a consonant, inasmuch as such combinations as abr, apr, afr, avr, atr, &c., are unpronounceable. A vowel, however, it may easily follow. What takes place when it does? I doubt whether, in the ordinary English pronunciation, the r is sounded at all. It ought to be; and, perhaps, it is sometimes. At the same time (and this may serve to illustrate the fact under notice), there is a large percentage of educated speakers who make no difference between the sound of the a in father, and the a in farther; who, if you tell them to pronounce such a word as cago after the manner of a Frenchman or an Italian, will utter it just as they do their own English word cargo; or (rather) they pronounce their own English word cargo just as they would cago of French or Italian. The same make no distinction between aw (as in bawl) and or; indeed, such a name as Borlase they pronounce Bawlace. In the case of ar and or, and their assimilation to ah and oh (a French, and aw), the question may be settled by the reader appealing to his own pronunciation. If he do not confuse the sounds himself, he will assuredly know some one who does. With e (as in fer-ment) the examination is somewhat more difficult—the reason being as follows: The sound which is to the e in fen, as the a of the Italians is to the a in fate, and the aw in bawl to the o in note, is not expressed by any separate combination of letters, nor yet indicated in the ordinary works on pronunciation. Still it exists. Indeed it is the sound in question, i. e. the sound of e, u, and i when short and followed by r-the r not being sounded. The rule then stands thus-that when a vowel is followed by r, the r is often dropped altogether, and the vowel made open (see Prel. Diss. II.). With the a in fat, the o in not, and the e in fen, this is easy, as all those vowels have an open as well as a close sound. But the a in fate, the o in note, the ee in feet, the oo in cool, have no open sounds at all. What then is the sound of such words as fare, ore, here, in the mouth of one who thus slurs over his final r's? A very short sound of the open e is added --a sound which we may, perhaps, spell thus-fach, oěh, heěh. So much for the independent sounds. The dependent ones of the i in fin, the u in but, and u in full, all become that of the e in ferment. Thus, Walker writes that "fir, a tree, is perfectly similar to the first syllable of ferment. Sir and stir are exactly pronounced as if written sur and stur." The etymological history of the word near illustrates this phenomenon rather curiously. At the present moment the word ends in r—to the eye if not to the ear also. It is also an adjective in the positive degree. Originally, however, it was only the comparative which ended in -r; the positive being neah (i. e. nigh). So that the r is one of two things-either non-existent in the spoken language, being a mere matter of spelling, or (if pronounced) non-radical. Sometimes this slurring of the r goes to a still greater length; and words wherein it is both final and initial at once, are pronounced as if it were non-existent. When a speaker pronounces correct as caw-ect he gives us an instance of this mispronunciation. Again-in claret the e is often elided; so that the word becomes clart. Carry (as many do) the change further still; sink the r and open the a, and you get claht-the a as in father and the r nowhere. In the notices of a, e, and o, it has been stated that the proper powers of the a in father, &c., are rare. The meaning of the qualifying adjective is now seen. The sounds that we get at by the slurring of the r are improper ones. Hirrient is a convenient term for the investigation and illustration of the points connected with r. When it is truly and properly sounded with the tongue vibrating against the palate (though not in the exaggerated way which fine speakers often indulge in), we may say that the sound is hirrient. When slurred over (as in farther pronounced father) we may call it otiose. Hirrient is a term used in certain grammars, and means vibrating or vibrational. 35. The proper elements of the ou in house are not o+u but a+w. The German orthography gives this the nearest where haus-house. 36. The proper elements of the ew in new are not e+w but i+w. 37. The proper elements of the i in pine are the a in father pronounced very short,+y. 38. The proper form of expression for the oi in voice is not o+i but o+y. § 281. 39, 40. The two compound sibilants may serve as text to a comment on one of the most important of our unstable combinations-important in most languages and doubly so in the English. Wherever we have the sound of y, preceded by either s or z, by k or g, by t or d, we may look out for |