OBS. 3.—If we examine the structure of proper names, we shall find that most of them are compounds, the parts of which have, in very many instances, some general signification. Now a complete phrase commonly conveys some particular notion or conception of the mind; but, in this case, the signification of the general terms is restricted by the other words which are added to them. Thus smith is a more general term than goldsmith; and goldsmith is more general than a goldsmith; a goldsmith, than the goldsmith; the goldsmith, than one Goldsmith; one Goldsmith, than Mr. Goldsmith; Mr. Goldsmith, than Oliver Goldsmith. Thus we see that the simplest mode of designating particular persons or objects, is that of giving them proper names; but proper names must needs be so written, that they may be known as proper names, and not be mistaken for common terms. I have before observed, that we have some names which are both proper and common; and that these should be written with capitals, and should form the plural regularly. It is surprising that the Friends, who are in some respects particularly scrupulous about language, should so generally have overlooked the necessity there is, of compounding their numerical names of the months and days, and writing them uniformly with capitals, as proper names. For proper names they certainly are, in every thing but the form, whenever they are used without the article, and without those other terms which render their general idea particular. And the compound form with a capital, is as necessary for Firstday, Secondday, Thirdday, &c., as for Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, &c. "The first day of the week,"—"The seventh day of the month,"—"The second month of summer,"—"The second month in the year," &c., are good English phrases, in which any compounding of the terms, or any additional use of capitals, would be improper; but, for common use, these phrases are found too long and too artificial. We must have a less cumbersome mode of specifying the months of the year and the days of the week. What then? Shall we merely throw away the terms of particularity, and, without substituting in their place the form of proper names, apply general terms to particular thoughts, and insist on it that this is right? And is not this precisely what is done by those who reject as heathenish the ordinary names of the months and days, and write "first day," for Sunday, in stead of "the first day of the week;" or "second month," for February, in stead of "the second month in the year;" and so forth? This phraseology may perhaps be well understood by those to whom it is familiar, but still it is an abuse of language, because it is inconsistent with the common acceptation of the terms. Example: "The departure of a ship will take place every sixth day with punctuality."—Philadelphia Weekly Messenger. The writer of this did not mean, "every Friday;" and it is absurd for the Friends so to understand it, or so to write, when that is what they mean.

OBS. 4.—In the ordinary business of life, it is generally desirable to express our meaning as briefly as possible; but legal phraseology is always full to the letter, and often redundant. Hence a merchant will write, "Nov. 24, 1837," or, "11 mo. 24th, 1837;" but a conveyancer will have it, "On the twenty-fourth day of November, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven;"—or, perhaps, "On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven." Accordingly we find that, in common daily use, all the names of the months, except March, May, June, and July, are abbreviated; thus, Jan., Feb., Apr., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec. And sometimes even the Arabic number of the year is made yet shorter; as '37 for 1837; or 1835-6-7, for 1835, 1836, and 1837. In like manner, in constructing tables of time, we sometimes denote the days of the week by the simple initials of their names; as, S. for Sunday, M. for Monday, &c. But, for facility of abbreviation, the numerical names, whether of the months or of the days, are perhaps still more convenient. For, if we please, we may put the simple Arabic figures for them; though it is better to add d. for day, and mo. for month: as, 1 d., 2 d., 3 d., &c.;—1 mo., 2 mo., 3 mo., &c.:—or more compactly thus: 1d., 2d., 3d., &c.;—1mo., 2mo., 3mo., &c. But, take which mode of naming we will, our ordinary expression of these things should be in neither extreme, but should avoid alike too great brevity and too great prolixity; and, therefore, it is best to make it a general rule in our literary compositions, to use the full form of proper names for the months and days, and to denote the years by Arabic figures written in full.

OBS. 5.—In considering the nature of words, I was once a little puzzled with a curious speculation, if I may not term it an important inquiry, concerning the principle of their identity. We often speak of "the same words," and of "different words;" but wherein does the sameness or the difference of words consist? Not in their pronunciation; for the same word may be differently pronounced; as, p=at'ron or p=a'tron, m=at'ron or m=a'tron. Not in their orthography; for the same word may be differently spelled; as, favour or favor, music or musick, connexion or connection. Not in their form of presentation; for the same word may be either spoken or written; and speech and writing present what we call the same words, in two ways totally different. Not in their meaning; for the same word may have different meanings, and different words may signify precisely the same thing. This sameness of words, then, must consist in something which is to be reconciled with great diversity. Yet every word is itself, and not an other: and every word must necessarily have some property peculiar to itself, by which it may be easily distinguished from every other. Were it not so, language would be unintelligible. But it is so; and, therefore, to mistake one word for an other, is universally thought to betray great ignorance or great negligence, though such mistakes are by no means of uncommon occurrence. But that the question about the identity of words is not a very easy one, may appear from the fact, that the learned often disagree about it in practice; as when one grammarian will have an and a to be two words, and an other will affirm them to be only different forms of one and the same word.

OBS. 6.—Let us see, then, if amidst all this diversity we can find that principle of sameness, by which a dispute of this kind ought to be settled. Now, although different words do generally differ in orthography, in pronunciation, and in meaning, so that an entire sameness implies one orthography, one pronunciation, and one meaning; yet some diversity is allowed in each of these respects, so that a sign differing from an other only in one, is not therefore a different word, or a sign agreeing with an other only in one, is not therefore the same word. It follows thence, that the principle of verbal identity, the principle which distinguishes every word from every other, lies in neither extreme: it lies in a narrower compass than in all three, and yet not singly in any one, but jointly in any two. So that signs differing in any two of these characteristics of a word, are different words; and signs agreeing in any two, are the same word. Consequently, if to any difference either of spelling or of sound we add a difference of signification everybody will immediately say, that we speak or write different words, and not the same: thus dear, beloved, and deer, an animal, are two such words as no one would think to be the same; and, in like manner, use, advantage, and use, to employ, will readily be called different words. Upon this principle, an and a are different words; yet, in conformity to old usage, and because the latter is in fact but an abridgement of the former, I have always treated them as one and the same article, though I have nowhere expressly called them the same word. But, to establish the principle above named, which appears to me the only one on which any such question can be resolved, or the identity of words be fixed at all, we must assume that every word has one right pronunciation, and only one; one just orthography, and only one; and some proper signification, which, though perhaps not always the same, is always a part of its essence. For when two words of different meaning are spelled or pronounced alike, not to maintain the second point of difference, against the double orthography or the double pronunciation of either, is to confound their identity at once, and to prove by the rule that two different words are one and the same, by first absurdly making them so.

OBS. 7.—In no part of grammar is usage more unsettled and variable than in that which relates to the figure of words. It is a point of which modern writers have taken but very little notice. Lily, and other ancient Latin grammarians, reckoned both species and figure among the grammatical accidents of nearly all the different parts of speech; and accordingly noticed them, in their Etymology, as things worthy to be thus made distinct topics, like numbers, genders, cases, moods, tenses, &c. But the manner of compounding words in Latin, and also in Greek, is always by consolidation. No use appears to have been made of the hyphen, in joining the words of those languages, though the name of the mark is a Greek compound, meaning "under one." The compounding of words is one principal means of increasing their number; and the arbitrariness with which that is done or neglected in English, is sufficient of itself to make the number of our words a matter of great uncertainty. Such terms, however, having the advantage of explaining themselves in a much greater degree than others, have little need of definition; and when new things are formed, it is very natural and proper to give them new names of this sort: as, steamboat, railroad. The propriety or impropriety of these additions to the language, is not to be determined by dictionaries; for that must be settled by usage before any lexicographer will insert them. And so numerous, after all, are the discrepancies found in our best dictionaries, that many a word may have its day and grow obsolete, before a nation can learn from them the right way of spelling it; and many a fashionable thing may go entirely out of use, before a man can thus determine how to name it. Railroads are of so recent invention that I find the word in only one dictionary; and that one is wrong, in giving the word a hyphen, while half our printers are wrong, in keeping the words separate because Johnson did not compound them. But is it not more important, to know whether we ought to write railroad, or rail-road, or rail road, which we cannot learn from any of our dictionaries, than to find out whether we ought to write rocklo, or roquelo, or roquelaur, or roquelaure, which, in some form or other, is found in them all? The duke of Roquelaure is now forgotten, and his cloak is out of fashion.

OBS. 8.—No regular phrase, as I have taught in the second rule above, should be needlessly converted into a compound word, either by tacking its parts together with the hyphen, or by uniting them without a hyphen; for, in general, a phrase is one thing, and a word is an other: and they ought to be kept as distinct as possible.[113] But, when a whole phrase takes the relation of an adjective, the words must be compounded, and the hyphen becomes necessary; as, "An inexpressibly apt bottle-of-small-beer comparison."—Peter Pindar. The occasions for the compounding of words, are in general sufficiently plain, to any one who knows what is intended to be said; but, as we compound words, sometimes with the hyphen, and sometimes without, there is no small difficulty in ascertaining when to use this mark, and when to omit it. "Some settled rule for the use of the hyphen on these occasions, is much wanted. Modern printers have a strange predilection for it; using it on almost every possible occasion. Mr. L. Murray, who has only three lines on the subject, seems inclined to countenance this practice; which is, no doubt, convenient enough for those who do not like trouble. His words are: 'A Hyphen, marked thus - is employed in connecting compounded words: as, Lap-dog, tea-pot, pre-existence, self-love, to-morrow, mother-in-law.' Of his six examples, Johnson, our only acknowledged standard, gives the first and third without any separation between the syllables, lapdog, preexistence; his second and fifth as two distinct words each, tea pot, to morrow; and his sixth as three words, mother in law: so that only his fourth has the sanction of the lexicographer. There certainly can be no more reason for putting a hyphen after the common prefixes, than before the common affixes, ness, ly, and the rest."—Churchill's Gram., p. 374.

OBS. 9.—Again: "While it would be absurd, to sacrifice the established practice of all good authors to the ignorance of such readers [as could possibly mistake for a diphthong the two contiguous vowels in such words as preexistence, cooperate, and reenter]; it would unquestionably be advantageous, to have some principle to guide us in that labyrinth of words, in which the hyphen appears to have been admitted or rejected arbitrarily, or at hap-hazard. Thus, though we find in Johnson, alms-basket, alms-giver, with the hyphen; we have almsdeed, almshouse, almsman, without: and many similar examples of an unsettled practice might be adduced, sufficient to fill several pages. In this perplexity, is not the pronunciation of the words the best guide? In the English language, every word of more than one syllable is marked by an accent on some particular syllable. Some very long words indeed admit a secondary accent on another syllable; but still this is much inferior, and leaves one leading accent prominent: as in expos'tulatory. Accordingly, when a compound has but one accented syllable in pronunciation, as night'cap, bed'stead, broad'sword, the two words have coalesced completely into one, and no hyphen should be admitted. On the other hand, when each of the radical words has an accent, as Chris'tian-name', broad'-shoul'dered, I think the hyphen should be used. Good'-na'tured is a compound epithet with two accents, and therefore requires the hyphen: in good nature, good will, and similar expressions, good is used simply as an adjective, and of course should remain distinct from the noun. Thus, too, when a noun is used adjectively, it should remain separate from the noun it modifies; as, a gold ring, a silver buckle. When two numerals are employed to express a number, without a conjunction between them, it is usual to connect them by a hyphen; as, twenty-five, eighty-four: but when the conjunction is inserted, the hyphen is as improper as it would be between other words connected by the conjunction. This, however, is a common abuse; and we often meet with five-&-twenty, six-&-thirty, and the like."—Ib., p. 376. Thus far Churchill: who appears to me, however, too hasty about the hyphen in compound numerals. For we write one hundred, two hundred, three thousand, &c., without either hyphen or conjunction; and as five-and-twenty is equivalent to twenty-five, and virtually but one word, the hyphen, if not absolutely necessary to the sense, is certainly not so very improper as he alleges. "Christian name" is as often written without the hyphen as with it, and perhaps as accurately.

IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION.

ERRORS IN THE FIGURE, OR FORM, OF WORDS.

UNDER RULE I.—OF COMPOUNDS.

"Professing to imitate Timon, the man hater."—Goldsmith's Rome, p. 161.

[FORMULE.—Not proper, because the compound term manhater is here made two words. But, according to Rule 1st, "Words regularly or analogically united, and commonly known as forming a compound, should never be needlessly broken apart." Therefore, manhater should be written as one word.]

"Men load hay with a pitch fork."—Webster's New Spelling-Book, p. 40. "A pear tree grows from the seed of a pear."—Ib., p. 33. "A tooth brush is good to brush your teeth."—Ib., p. 85. "The mail is opened at the post office."—Ib., p. 151. "The error seems to me two fold."—Sanborn's Gram., p. 230. "To pre-engage means to engage before hand."—Webster's New Spelling-Book, p. 82. "It is a mean act to deface the figures on a mile stone."—Ib., p. 88. "A grange is a farm and farm house."—Ib., p. 118. "It is no more right to steal apples or water melons, than money."—Ib., p. 118. "The awl is a tool used by shoemakers, and harness makers."—Ib., p. 150. "Twenty five cents are equal to one quarter of a dollar."—Ib., p. 107. "The blowing up of the Fulton at New York was a terrible disaster."—Ib., p. 54. "The elders also, and the bringers up of the children, sent to Jehu."—SCOTT: 2 Kings, x, 5. "Not with eye service, as men pleasers."—Bickersteth, on Prayer, p. 64. "A good natured and equitable construction of cases."—Ash's Gram., p. 138. "And purify your hearts, ye double minded."—Gurney's Portable Evidences, p. 115. "It is a mean spirited action to steal; i. e. to steal is a mean spirited action."—Grammar of Alex. Murray, the schoolmaster, p. 124. "There is, indeed, one form of orthography which is a kin to the subjunctive mood of the Latin tongue."—Booth's Introd. to Dict., p. 71. "To bring him into nearer connexion with real and everyday life."—Philological Museum, Vol. i, p. 459. "The common place, stale declamation of its revilers would be silenced."—Ib., i, 494. "She formed a very singular and unheard of project."—Goldsmith's Rome, p. 160. "He had many vigilant, though feeble talented, and mean spirited enemies."—ROBERTS VAUX: The Friend, Vol. vii, p. 74. "These old fashioned people would level our psalmody," &c.—Music of Nature, p. 292. "This slow shifting scenery in the theatre of harmony."—Ib., p. 398. "So we are assured from Scripture it self."—Harris's Hermes, p. 300. "The mind, being disheartened, then betakes its self to trifling."—R. Johnson's Pref. to Gram. Com. "Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them."—Beacon, p. 115: SCOTT, ALGER, FRIENDS: John, xx, 23. "Tarry we our selves how we will."—Walker's English Particles, p. 161. "Manage your credit so, that you need neither swear your self, nor want a voucher."—Collier's Antoninus, p. 33. "Whereas song never conveys any of the above named sentiments."—Rush, on the Voice, p. 424. "I go on horse back."—Guy's Gram., p. 54. "This requires purity, in opposition to barbarous, obsolete, or new coined words."—Adam's Gram., p. 242; Gould's, 234. "May the Plough share shine."—White's Eng. Verb, p. 161. "Which way ever we consider it."—Locke, on Ed., p. 83.

"Where e'er the silent (e) a Place obtains, The Voice foregoing, Length and softness gains." —Brightland's Gr., p. 15.

UNDER RULE II.—OF SIMPLES.

"It qualifies any of the four parts of speech abovenamed."—Kirkham's Gram., p. 83.

[FORMULE.—Not proper, because abovenamed is here unnecessarily made a compound. But, according to Rule 2d, "When the simple words would only form a regular phrase, of the same meaning, the compounding of any of them ought to be avoided." Therefore, above and named should here have been written as two words.]

"After awhile they put us out among the rude multitude."—Fox's Journal. Vol. i, p. 169. "It would be ashame, if your mind should falter and give in."—Collier's Meditations of Antoninus, p. 94. "They stared awhile in silence one upon another."—Rasselas, p. 73. "After passion has for awhile exercised its tyrannical sway."—Murray's Gram., ii, 135 and 267. "Though set within the same general-frame of intonation."—Rush, on the Voice, p. 339. "Which do not carry any of the natural vocal-signs of expression."—Ib., p. 329. "The measurable constructive-powers of a few associable constituents."—Ib., p. 343. "Before each accented syllable or emphatic monosyllabic-word."—Ib., p. 364. "One should not think too favourably of oneself."—See Murray's Gram., Vol. i, p. 154. "Know ye not your ownselves, how that Jesus Christ is in you."—Barclay's Works, Vol. i, p. 355. "I judge not my ownself, for I know nothing of my ownself."— Wayland's Moral Science, p. 84. "Though they were in such a rage, I desired them to tarry awhile."—Josephus, Vol. v, p. 179. "A instead of an is now used before words beginning with a long."—Murray's Gram., p. 31. "John will have earned his wages the next new-year's day."—Murray's Gram., p. 82. "A new-year's-gift is a present made on the first day of the year."—See Johnson, Walker, Webster, et al. "When he sat on the throne, distributing new-year's-gifts."—STILLINGFLEET, in Johnson's Dict. "St. Paul admonishes Timothy to refuse old-wives'- fables."—Author. "The world, take it altogether, is but one."— Collier's Antoninus, B. vii, Sec. 9. "In writings of this stamp we must accept of sound instead of sense."—Murray's Gram., p. 298. "A male-child, A female-child, Male-descendants, Female-descendants."— Goldsbury's C. S. Gram., p. 13; Rev. T. Smith's Gram., p. 15. "Male-servants, Female-servants. Male-relations, Female-relations."— Felton's Gram., p. 15.

"Reserved and cautious, with no partial aim, My muse e'er sought to blast another's fame."—Lloyd, p. 162.

UNDER RULE III.—THE SENSE.

"Our discriminations of this matter have been but four footed instincts."—Rush, on the Voice, p. 291.

[FORMULE.—Not proper, because the term four footed is made two words, as if the instincts were four and footed. But, according to Rule 3d, "Words otherwise liable to be misunderstood, must be joined together, or written separately, as the sense and construction may happen to require." Therefore, four-footed, as it here means quadruped, or having four feet, should be one word.]

"He is in the right, (says Clytus,) not to bear free born men at his table."—Goldsmith's Greece, Vol. ii, p. 128. "To the short seeing eye of man, the progress may appear little."—The Friend, Vol. ix, p. 377. "Knowledge and virtue are, emphatically, the stepping stone to individual distinction."—Town's Analysis, p. 5. "A tin peddler will sell tin vessels as he travels."—Webster's New Spelling-Book, p. 44. "The beams of a wood-house are held up by the posts and joists."—Ib., p. 39. "What you mean by future tense adjective, I can easily understand."—Tooke's Diversions, Vol. ii, p. 450. "The town has been for several days very well behaved."—Spectator, No. 532. "A rounce is the handle of a printing press."—Webster's' Dict.; also El. Spelling-Book, p. 118. "The phraseology we call thee and thouing is not in so common use with us, as the tutoyant among the French."—Walker's Dict., w. Thy. "Hunting, and other out door sports, are generally pursued."—Balbi's Geog., p. 227. "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden."—SCOTT, ALGER, FRIENDS: Matt., xi, 28. "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son to save it."—Barclay's Works, i, p. 71. See SCOTT'S BIBLE: John, iii, 16. "Jehovah is a prayer hearing God: Nineveh repented, and was spared."—N. Y. Observer, Vol. x, p. 90. "These are well pleasing to God, in all ranks and relations."—Barclay's Works, Vol. i, p. 73. "Whosoever cometh any thing near unto the tabernacle."—Numb., xvii, 13. "The words coalesce, when they have a long established association."— Murray's Gram., p. 169. "Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go in to them."—OLD BIBLE: Ps., cxviii, 19. "He saw an angel of God coming into him."—See Acts, x, 3. "The consequences of any action are to be considered in a two fold light."—Wayland's Moral Science, p. 108. "We commonly write two fold, three fold, four fold, and so on up to ten fold, without a hyphen; and, after that, we use one."—Author. See Matt., xiii, 8. "When the first mark is going off, he cries turn! the glass holder answers done!"—Bowditch's Nav., p. 128. "It is a kind of familiar shaking hands with all the vices."—Maturin's Sermons, p. 170. "She is a good natured woman;" "James is self opinionated;" "He is broken hearted."—Wright's Gram., p. 147. "These three examples apply to the present tense construction only."—Ib., p. 65. "So that it was like a game of hide and go seek."—Edward's First Lessons in Grammar, p. 90.

"That lowliness is young ambition's ladder, Whereto the climber upward turns his face."—Bucke's Gram., p. 97.

UNDER RULE IV.—OF ELLIPSES.

"This building serves yet for a school and a meeting-house."

[FORMULE.—Not proper, because the compound word schoolhouse is here divided to avoid a repetition of the last half. But, according to Rule 4th, "When two or more compounds are connected in one sentence, none of them should be split to make an ellipsis of half a word." Therefore, "school" should be "schoolhouse;" thus, "This building serves yet for a schoolhouse and a meeting-house."]

"Schoolmasters and mistresses of honest friends [are] to be encouraged."—N. E. Discipline, p. xv. "We never assumed to ourselves a faith or worship-making-power."—Barclay's Works, Vol. i, p. 83. "Pot and pearl ashes are made from common ashes."—Webster's New Spelling-Book, p. 69. "Both the ten and eight syllable verses are iambics."—Blair's Gram., p. 121. "I say to myself, thou, he says to thy, to his self; &c."—Dr. Murray's Hist. of Europ. Lang., Vol. ii p. 121. "Or those who have esteemed themselves skilful, have tried for the mastery in two or four horse chariots."—Zenobia, Vol. i, p. 152. "I remember him barefooted and headed, running through the streets."—Castle Rackrent, p. 68. "Friends have the entire control of the school and dwelling-houses."—The Friend, Vol. vii, p. 231. "The meeting is held at the first mentioned place in the first month, at the last in the second, and so on."—Ib., p. 167. "Meetings for worship are held at the same hour on first and fourth days."—Ib., p. 230. "Every part of it, inside and out, is covered with gold leaf."—Ib., p. 404. "The Eastern Quarterly Meeting is held on the last seventh day in second, fifth, eighth, and eleventh month."—Ib., p. 87. "Trenton Preparative Meeting is held on the third fifth day in each month, at ten o'clock; meetings for worship at the same hour on first and fifth days."—Ib., p. 231. "Ketch, a vessel with two masts, a main and mizzen-mast."—Webster's Dict., "I only mean to suggest a doubt, whether nature has enlisted herself as a Cis or Trans-Atlantic partisan?"— Jefferson's Notes, p. 97. "By large hammers, like those used for paper and fullingmills, they beat their hemp."—MORTIMER: in Johnson's Dict. "Ant-hill, or Hillock, n. s. The small protuberances of earth, in which ants make their nests."—Ib. "It became necessary to substitute simple indicative terms called pro-names or nouns."—Enclytica, p. 16.

"Obscur'd, where highest woods, impenetrable To star or sun-light, spread their umbrage broad."—Milton.

UNDER RULE V.—THE HYPHEN.

"Evilthinking; a noun, compounded of the noun evil and the imperfect participle thinking; singular number;" &c.—Churchill's Gram., p. 180.

[FORMULE—Not proper, because the word evilthinking, which has more than one accented syllable, is here compounded without the hyphen. But, according to Rule 5th, "When the parts of a compound do not fully coalesce, or when each retains its original accent, so that the compound has more than one, or one that is movable, the hyphen should be inserted between them." Therefore, the hyphen should be used in this word; thus, evil-thinking.]

"Evilspeaking; a noun, compounded of the noun evil and the imperfect participle speaking."—Ib. "I am a tall, broadshouldered, impudent, black fellow."—SPECTATOR: in Johnson's Dict. "Ingratitude! thou marblehearted fiend."—SHAK.: ib. "A popular licence is indeed the manyheaded tyranny."—SIDNEY: ib. "He from the manypeopled city flies."—SANDYS: ib. "He manylanguaged nations has surveyed."—POPE: ib. "The horsecucumber is the large green cucumber, and the best for the table."—MORTIMER: ib. "The bird of night did sit, even at noonday, upon the market-place."—SHAK.: ib. "These make a general gaoldelivery of souls, not for punishment."—SOUTH: ib. "Thy air, thou other goldbound brow, is like the first."—SHAK.: ib. "His person was deformed to the highest degree; flatnosed, and blobberlipped."—L'ESTRANGE: ib. "He that defraudeth the labourer of his hire, is a bloodshedder."—ECCLUS., xxxiv, 22: ib. "Bloodyminded, adj. from bloody and mind. Cruel; inclined to blood-shed."—See Johnson's Dict. "Bluntwitted lord, ignoble in demeanour."—SHAK.: ib. "A young fellow with a bobwig and a black silken bag tied to it."—SPECTATOR: ib. "I have seen enough to confute all the boldfaced atheists of this age."—BRAMHALL: ib. "Before milkwhite, now purple with love's wound."—SHAK: ib. "For what else is a redhot iron than fire? and what else is a burning coal than redhot wood?"—NEWTON: ib. "Pollevil is a large swelling, inflammation, or imposthume in the horse's poll, or nape of the neck just between the ears."—FARRIER: ib.

"Quick-witted, brazenfac'd, with fluent tongues, Patient of labours, and dissembling wrongs."—DRYDEN: ib.

UNDER RULE VI.—NO HYPHEN.

"From his fond parent's eye a tear-drop fell."—Snelling's Gift for Scribblers, p. 43.

[FORMULE—Not proper, because the word tear-drop, which has never any other than a full accent on the first syllable, is here compounded with the hyphen. But, according to Rule 6th, "When a compound has but one accented syllable in pronunciation, and the parts are such as admit of a complete coalescence, no hyphen should be inserted between them." Therefore, teardrop should be made a close compound.]

"How great, poor jack-daw, would thy sufferings be!"—Ib., p. 29. "Placed like a scare-crow in a field of corn."—Ib., p. 39. "Soup for the alms-house at a cent a quart."—Ib., p. 23. "Up into the watch-tower get, and see all things despoiled of fallacies."—DONNE: Johnson's Dict., w. Lattice. "In the day-time she sitteth in a watchtower, and flieth most by night."—BACON: ib., w. Watchtower. "In the daytime Fame sitteth in a watch-tower, and flieth most by night."—ID.: ib., w. Daytime. "The moral is the first business of the poet, as being the ground-work of his instruction."—DRYDEN: ib., w. Moral. "Madam's own hand the mouse-trap baited."—PRIOR: ib., w. Mouse-trap. "By the sinking of the air-shaft the air hath liberty to circulate."—RAY: ib., w. Airshaft. "The multiform and amazing operations of the air-pump and the loadstone."—WATTS: ib., w. Multiform. "Many of the fire-arms are named from animals."—Ib., w. Musket. "You might have trussed him and all his apparel into an eel-skin."—SHAK.: ib., w. Truss. "They may serve as land-marks to shew what lies in the direct way of truth."—LOCKE: ib., w. Landmark. "A pack-horse is driven constantly in a narrow lane and dirty road."—Id. ib., w. Lane. "A mill-horse, still bound to go in one circle."—SIDNEY: ib., w. Mill-horse. "Of singing birds they have linnets, goldfinches, ruddocks, Canary-birds, black-birds, thrushes, and divers others."—CAREW: ib., w. Goldfinch. "Of singing birds, they have linnets, gold-finches, blackbirds, thrushes, and divers others."—ID.: ib., w. Blackbird. "Of singing birds, they have linnets, gold-finches, ruddocks, canary birds, blackbirds, thrushes, and divers other."—ID.: ib., w. Canary bird. "Cartrage, or Cartridge, a case of paper or parchment filled with gun-powder."—Johnson's Dict., 4to.

"Deep night, dark night, the silent of the night, The time of night when Troy was set on fire, The tune when screech-owls cry, and ban-dogs howl." SHAKSPEARE: ib., w. Silent.

"The time when screech-owls cry, and bandogs howl." IDEM.: ib., w. Bandog.

PROMISCUOUS ERRORS IN THE FIGURE OF WORDS.

LESSON I.—MIXED.

"They that live in glass-houses, should not throw stones."—Old Adage. "If a man profess Christianity in any manner or form soever."—Watts, p. 5. "For Cassius is a weary of the world."—SHAKSPEARE: in Kirkham's Elocution, p. 67. "By the coming together of more, the chains were fastened on."—Walker's Particles, p. 223. "Unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month."—Jer., i, 3. "And the goings forth of the border shall be to Zedad."—Numbers, xxxiv, 8. "And the goings out of it shall be at Hazar-enan."—Ib., ver. 9. "For the taking place of effects, in a certain particular series."—Dr. West, on Agency, p. 39. "The letting go of which was the occasion of all that corruption."—Dr. J. Owen. "A falling off at the end always hurts greatly."—Blair's Lect., p. 126. "A falling off at the end is always injurious."—Jamieson's Rhetoric, p. 127. "As all holdings forth were courteously supposed to be trains of reasoning."—Dr. Murray's Hist. of Europ. Lang., Vol. i, p. 333. "Whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting."— Micah, v, 2. "Some times the adjective becomes a substantive."— Bradley's Gram., p. 104. "It is very plain, I consider man as visited a new."—Barclay's Works, Vol. iii, p. 331. "Nor do I any where say, as he falsely insinuates."—Ib., p. 331. "Every where, any where, some where, no where."—Alex. Murray's Gram., p. 55. "The world hurries off a pace, and time is like a rapid river."—Collier's Antoninus, p. 58. "But to now model the paradoxes of ancient skepticism."—Brown's Estimate, Vol. i, p. 102. "The south east winds from the ocean invariably produce rain."—Webster's Essays, p. 369. "North west winds from the high lands produce cold clear weather."—Ib. "The greatest part of such tables would be of little use to English men."—Priestley's Gram., p. 155. "The ground floor of the east wing of Mulberry street meeting house was filled."—The Friend, vii, 232. "Prince Rupert's Drop. This singular production is made at the glass houses."—Red Book, p. 131.

"The lights and shades, whose well accorded strife Gives all the strength and colour of our life." —Murray's Gram., p. 54; Fisk's, 65.

LESSON II.—MIXED.

"In the twenty and seventh year of Asa king of Judah did Zimri reign seven days in Tirzah."—1 Kings, xvi, 15. "In the thirty and first year of Asa king of Judah, began Omri to reign over Israel."—Ib., xvi, 23. "He cannot so deceive himself as to fancy that he is able to do a rule of three sum."—Foreign Quarterly Review. "The best cod are those known under the name of Isle of Shoals dun fish."—Balbi's Geog., p. 26. "The soldiers, with down cast eyes, seemed to beg for mercy."—Goldsmith's Greece, Vol. ii, p. 142. "His head was covered with a coarse worn out piece of cloth."—Ib., p. 124. "Though they had lately received a reinforcement of a thousand heavy armed Spartans."—Ib., p. 38. "But he laid them by unopened; and, with a smile, said, 'Business to morrow.'"—Ib., p. 7. "Chester monthly meeting is held at Moore's town, the third day following the second second day."—The Friend, Vol. vii, p. 124. "Eggharbour monthly meeting is held the first second day."—Ib., p. 124. "Little Egg Harbour Monthly Meeting is held at Tuckerton on the second fifth day in each month."—Ib., p. 231. "At three o'clock, on first day morning the 24th of eleventh month, 1834," &c.—Ib., p. 64. "In less than one-fourth part of the time usually devoted."—Kirkham's Gram., p. 4. "The pupil will not have occasion to use it one-tenth part as much."—Ib., p. 11. "The painter dips his paint brush in paint, to paint the carriage."—Ib., p. 28. "In an ancient English version of the New-Testament."—Ib., p. 74. "The little boy was bare headed."—Red Book, p. 36. "The man, being a little short sighted, did not immediately know him."—Ib., p. 40. "Picture frames are gilt with gold."—Ib., p. 44. "The park keeper killed one of the deer."—Ib., p. 44. "The fox was killed near the brick kiln."—Ib., p. 46. "Here comes Esther, with her milk pail."—Ib., p. 50. "The cabinet maker would not tell us."—Ib., p. 60. "A fine thorn hedge extended along the edge of the hill."—Ib., p. 65. "If their private interests should be ever so little affected."—Ib., p. 73. "Unios are fresh water shells, vulgarly called fresh water clams."—Ib., p. 102.

"Did not each poet mourn his luckless doom, Jostled by pedants out of elbow room."—Lloyd, p. 163.

LESSON III.—MIXED.

"The captive hovers a-while upon the sad remains."—PRIOR: in Johnson's Dict., w. Hover. "Constantia saw that the hand writing agreed with the contents of the letter."—ADDISON: ib., w. Hand. "They have put me in a silk night-gown, and a gaudy fool's cap."—ID.: ib., w. Nightgown. "Have you no more manners than to rail at Hocus, that has saved that clod-pated, numskull'd ninnyhammer of yours from ruin, and all his family?"—ARBUTHNOT: ib., w. Ninnyhammer. "A noble, that is, six, shillings and eightpence, is, and usually hath been paid."—BACON: ib., w. Noble. "The king of birds thick feather'd and with full-summed wings, fastened his talons east and west."—HOWELL: ib., w. Full-summed. "To morrow. This is an idiom of the same kind, supposing morrow to mean originally morning: as, to night, to day."—Johnson's Dict., 4to. "To-day goes away and to-morrow comes."—Id., ib., w. Go, No. 70. "Young children, who are try'd in Go carts, to keep their steps from sliding."—PRIOR: ib., w. Go-cart. "Which, followed well, would demonstrate them but goers backward."—SHAK.: ib., w. Goer. "Heaven's golden winged herald late he saw, to a poor Galilean virgin sent."—CRASHAW: ib., w. Golden. "My penthouse eye-brows and my shaggy beard offend your sight."—DRYDEN: ib., w. Penthouse. "The hungry lion would fain have been dealing with good horse-flesh."— L'ESTRANGE: ib., w. Nag. "A broad brimmed hat ensconced each careful head."—Snelling's Gift, p. 63. "With harsh vibrations of his three stringed lute."—Ib., p. 42. "They magnify a hundred fold an author's merit."—Ib., p. 14. "I'll nail them fast to some oft opened door."—Ib., p. 10. "Glossed over only with a saint-like show, still thou art bound to vice."—DRYDEN: in Johnson's Dict., w. Gloss. "Take of aqua-fortis two ounces, of quick-silver two drachms."—BACON: ib., w. Charge. "This rainbow never appears but when it rains in the sun-shine."—NEWTON: ib., w. Rainbow.

"Not but there are, who merit other palms; Hopkins and Stern hold glad the heart with Psalms." British Poets, Lond., 1800, Vol. vi, p. 405.



CHAPTER IV.—OF SPELLING.

Spelling is the art of expressing words by their proper letters. This important art is to be acquired rather by means of the spelling-book or dictionary, and by observation in reading, than by the study of written rules; because what is proper or improper, depends chiefly upon usage.

The orthography of our language is attended with much uncertainty and perplexity: many words are variously spelled by the best scholars, and many others are not usually written according to the analogy of similar words. But to be ignorant of the orthography of such words as are spelled with uniformity, and frequently used, is justly considered disgraceful.

The following rules may prevent some embarrassment, and thus be of service to those who wish to be accurate.

RULES FOR SPELLING.

RULE I.—FINAL F, L, OR S.

Monosyllables ending in f, l, or s, preceded by a single vowel, double the final consonant; as staff, mill, pass—muff, knell, gloss—off, hiss, puss.

EXCEPTIONS.—The words clef, if, and of, are written with single f; and as, gas, has, was, yes, his, is, this, us, pus, and thus, with single s. So bul, for the flounder; nul, for no, in law; sol, for sou or sun; and sal, for salt, in chemistry, have but the single l.

OBS.—Because sal, salis, in Latin, doubles not the l, the chemists write salify, salifiable, salification, saliferous, saline, salinous, saliniform, salifying, &c., with single l, contrary to Rule 3d. But in gas they ought to double the s; for this is a word of their own inventing. Neither have they any plea for allowing it to form gases and gaseous with the s still single; for so they make it violate two general rules at once. If the singular cannot now be written gass, the plural should nevertheless be gasses, and the adjective should be gasseous, according to Rule 3d.

RULE II.—OTHER FINALS.

Words ending in any other consonant than f, l, or s, do not double the final letter; as, mob, nod, dog, sum, sun, cup, cur, cut, fix, whiz.

EXCEPTIONS.—We double the consonant in abb, ebb, add, odd, egg, jagg, ragg, inn, err, burr, purr, butt, buzz, fuzz, yarr, and some proper names. But we have also ab (from) and ad (to) for prefixes; and jag, rag, in, bur, and but, are other words that conform to the rule.

RULE III.—DOUBLING.

Monosyllables, and words accented on the last syllable, when they end with a single consonant preceded by a single vowel, or by a vowel after qu, double their final consonant before an additional syllable that begins with a vowel: as, rob, robbed, robber; fop, foppish, foppery; squat, squatter, squatting; thin, thinner, thinnest; swim, swimmer, swimming; commit, committeth, committing, committed, committer, committees; acquit, acquittal, acquittance, acquitted, acquitting, acquitteth.

EXCEPTIONS.—1. X final, being equivalent to ks, is never doubled: thus, from mix, we have mixed, mixing, and mixer. 2. When the derivative retains not the accent of the root, the final consonant is not always doubled: as, prefer', pref'erence, pref'erable; refer', ref'erence, ref'erable, or refer'rible; infer', in'ference, in'ferable, or infer'rible; transfer', a trans'fer, trans'ferable, or transfer'rible. 3. But letters doubled in Latin, are usually doubled in English, without regard to accent, or to any other principle: as, Britain, Britan'nic, Britannia; appeal, appel'lant; argil, argil'laus, argilla'ceous; cavil, cav'illous, cavilla'tion; excel', ex'cellent, ex'cellence; inflame', inflam'mable, inflamma'tion. See Observations 13 and 14, p. 199.

RULE IV.—NO DOUBLING.

A final consonant, when it is not preceded by a single vowel, or when the accent is not on the last syllable, should remain single before an additional syllable: as, toil, toiling; oil, oily; visit, visited; differ, differing; peril, perilous; viol, violist; real, realize, realist; dial, dialing, dialist; equal, equalize, equality; vitriol, vitriolic, vitriolate.

EXCEPTIONS.—1. The final l of words ending in el, must be doubled before an other vowel, lest the power of the e be mistaken, and a syllable be lost: as, travel, traveller; duel, duellist; revel, revelling; gravel, gravelly; marvel, marvellous. Yet the word parallel, having three Ells already, conforms to the rule in forming its derivatives; as, paralleling, paralleled, and unparalleled. 2. Contrary to the preceding rule, the preterits, participles, and derivative nouns, of the few verbs ending in al, il, or ol, unaccented,—namely, equal, rival, vial, marshal, victual, cavil, pencil, carol, gambol, and pistol,—are usually allowed to double the l, though some dissent from the practice: as, equalled, equalling; rivalled, rivalling; cavilled, cavilling, caviller; carolled, carolling, caroller. 3. When ly follows l, we have two Ells of course, but in fact no doubling: as, real, really; oral, orally; cruel, cruelly; civil, civilly; cool, coolly; wool, woolly. 4. Compounds, though they often remove the principal accent from the point of duplication, always retain the double letter: as, wit'snapper, kid'napper,[114] grass'hopper, duck'-legged, spur'galled, hot'spurred, broad'-brimmed, hare'-lipped, half-witted. So, compromitted and manumitted; but benefited is different.

RULE V.—FINAL CK.

Monosyllables and English verbs end not with c, but take ck for double c; as, rack, wreck, rock, attack: but, in general, words derived from the learned languages need not the k, and common use discards it; as, Italic, maniac, music, public.

EXCEPTIONS.—The words arc, part of a circle; orc, the name of a fish; lac, a gum or resin; and sac, or soc, a privilege, in old English law, are ended with c only. Zinc is, perhaps, better spelled zink; marc, mark; disc, disk; and talc, talck.

RULE VI.—RETAINING.

Words ending with any double letter, preserve it double before any additional termination, not beginning with the same letter;[115] as in the following derivatives: wooer, seeing, blissful, oddly, gruffly, equally, shelly, hilly, stiffness, illness, stillness, shrillness, fellness, smallness, drollness, freeness, grassless, passless, carelessness, recklessness, embarrassment, enfeoffment, agreement, agreeable.

EXCEPTIONS.—1. Certain irregular derivatives in d or t, from verbs ending in ee, ll, or ss, (as fled from flee, sold from sell, told from tell, dwelt from dwell, spelt from spell, spilt from spill, shalt from shall, wilt from will, blest from bless, past from pass,) are exceptions to the foregoing rule. 2. If the word pontiff is properly spelled with two Effs, its eight derivatives are also exceptions to this rule; for they are severally spelled with one; as, pontific, pontifical, pontificate, &c. 3. The words skillful, skillfully, willful, willfully, chillness, tallness, dullness, and fullness, have generally been allowed to drop the second l, though all of them might well be made to conform to the general rule, agreeably to the orthography of Webster.

RULE VII.—RETAINING.

Words ending with any double letter, preserve it double in all derivatives formed from them by means of prefixes: as, see, foresee; feoff, enfeoff; pass, repass; press, depress; miss, amiss; call, recall; stall, forestall; thrall, inthrall; spell, misspell; tell, foretell; sell, undersell; add, superadd; snuff, besnuff; swell, overswell.

OBSERVATION.—The words enroll, unroll, miscall, befall, befell, bethrall, reinstall, disinthrall, fulfill, and twibill, are very commonly written with one l, and made exceptions to this rule; but those authors are in the right who retain the double letter.

RULE VIII.—FINAL LL.

Final ll is peculiar to monosyllables and their compounds, with the few derivatives formed from such roots by prefixes; consequently, all other words that end in l, must be terminated with a single l: as, cabal, logical, appal, excel, rebel, refel, dispel, extol, control, mogul, jackal, rascal, damsel, handsel, tinsel, tendril, tranquil, gambol, consul.

OBSERVATION.—The words annul, until, distil, extil, and instil, are also properly spelled with one l; for the monosyllables null, till, and still are not really their roots, but rather derivatives, or contractions of later growth. Webster, however, prefers distill, extill, and instill with ll; and some have been disposed to add the other two.

RULE IX.—FINAL E.

The final e of a primitive word, when this letter is mute or obscure, is generally omitted before an additional termination beginning with a vowel: as, remove, removal; rate, ratable; force, forcible; true, truism; rave, raving; sue, suing; eye, eying; idle, idling; centre, centring.

EXCEPTIONS.—1. Words ending in ce or ge, retain the e before able or ous, to preserve the soft sounds of c and g: as, trace, traceable; change, changeable; outrage, outrageous. 2. So, from shoe, we write shoeing, to preserve the sound of the root; from hoe, hoeing, by apparent analogy; and, from singe, singeing; from swinge, swingeing; from tinge, tingeing; that they may not be confounded with singing, swinging, and tinging. 3. To compounds and prefixes, as firearms, forearm, anteact, viceagent, the rule does not apply; and final ee remains double, by Rule 6th, as in disagreeable, disagreeing.

RULE X.—FINAL E.

The final e of a primitive word is generally retained before an additional termination beginning with a consonant: as, pale, paleness; edge, edgeless; judge, judgeship; lodge, lodgement; change, changeful; infringe, infringement.

EXCEPTIONS.—1. When the e is preceded by a vowel, it is sometimes omitted; as in duly, truly, awful, argument; but much more frequently retained; as in dueness, trueness, blueness, bluely, rueful, dueful, shoeless, eyeless. 2. The word wholly is also an exception to the rule, for nobody writes it wholely. 3. Some will have judgment, abridgment, and acknowledgment, to be irreclaimable exceptions; but I write them with the e, upon the authority of Lowth, Beattie, Ainsworth, Walker, Cobb, Chalmers, and others: the French "jugement," judgement, always retains the e.

RULE XI—FINAL Y.

The final y of a primitive word, when preceded by a consonant, is generally changed into i before an additional termination: as, merry, merrier, merriest, merrily, merriment; pity, pitied, pities, pitiest, pitiless, pitiful, pitiable; contrary, contrariness, contrarily.

EXCEPTIONS.—1. This rule applies to derivatives, but not to compounds: thus, we write merciful, and mercy-seat; penniless, and pennyworth; scurviness, and scurvy-grass; &c. But ladyship and goodyship, being unlike secretariship and suretiship; handicraft and handiwork,[116] unlike handygripe and handystroke; babyship and babyhood, unlike stateliness and likelihood; the distinction between derivatives and compounds, we see, is too nice a point to have been always accurately observed. 2. Before ing or ish, the y is retained to prevent the doubling of i: as, pity, pitying; baby, babyish. 3. Words ending in ie, dropping the e by Rule 9th, change the i into y, for the same reason: as, die, dying; vie, vying; lie, lying.

RULE XII—FINAL Y.

The final y of a primitive word, when preceded by a vowel, should not be changed into i before any additional termination: as, day, days; key, keys; guy, guys; valley, valleys; coy, coyly; cloy, cloys, cloyed; boy, boyish, boyhood; annoy, annoyer, annoyance; joy, joyless, joyful.

EXCEPTIONS.—1. From lay, pay, say, and stay, are formed laid, paid, said, and staid; but the regular words, layed, payed, stayed, are sometimes used. 2. Raiment, contracted from arrayment, is never written with the y. 3. Daily is more common than the regular form dayly; but gayly, gayety, and gayness, are justly superseding gaily and gaiety.

RULE XIII.—IZE AND ISE.

Words ending in ize or ise sounded alike, as in wise and size, generally take the z in all such as are essentially formed by means of the termination; and the s in monosyllables, and all such as are essentially formed by means of prefixes: as, gormandise, apologize, brutalize, canonize, pilgrimize, philosophize, cauterize, anathematize, sympathize, disorganize, with z;[117] rise, arise, disguise, advise, devise, supervise, circumcise, despise, surmise, surprise, comprise, compromise, enterprise, presurmise, with s.

EXCEPTIONS.—1. Advertise, catechise, chastise, criticise,[118] exercise, exorcise, and merchandise, are most commonly written with s and size, assize, capsize, analyze, overprize, detonize, and recognize, with z. How many of them are real exceptions to the rule, it is difficult to say. 2. Prise, a thing taken, and prize, to esteem; apprise, to inform, and apprize, to value, or appraise, are often written either way, without this distinction of meaning, which some wish to establish. 3. The want of the foregoing rule has also made many words variable, which ought, unquestionably, to conform to the general principle.

RULE XIV.—COMPOUNDS.

Compounds generally retain the orthography of the simple words which compose them: as, wherein, horseman, uphill, shellfish, knee-deep, kneedgrass, kneading-trough, innkeeper, skylight, plumtree, mandrill.

EXCEPTIONS.—1. In permanent compounds, or in any derivatives of which, they are not the roots, the words full and all drop one l; as, handful, careful, fulfil, always, although, withal; in temporary compounds, they retain both; as, full-eyed, chock-full,[119] all-wise, save-all. 2. So the prefix mis, (if from miss, to err,) drops one s; but it is wrong to drop them both, as in Johnson's "mispell" and "mispend," for misspell and misspend. 3. In the names of days, the word mass also drops one s; as, Christmas, Candlemas, Lammas. 4. The possessive case often drops the apostrophe; as in herdsman, kitesfoot. 5. One letter is dropped, if three of the same kind come together: as, Rosshire, chaffinch; or else a hyphen is used: as, Ross-shire, ill-looking, still-life. 6. Chilblain, welcome, and welfare, drop one l. 7. Pastime drops an s. 8. Shepherd, wherever, and whosever, drop an e; and wherefore and therefore assume one.

RULE XV.—USAGE.

Any word for the spelling of which we have no rule but usage, is written wrong if not spelled according to the usage which is most common among the learned: as, "The brewer grinds his malt before he brues his beer."—Red Book, p. 38.

OBSERVATIONS.

OBS. 1.—The foregoing rules aim at no wild and impracticable reformation of our orthography; but, if carefully applied, they will do much to obviate its chief difficulties. Being made variable by the ignorance of some writers and the caprice of others, our spelling is now, and always has been, exceedingly irregular and unsettled. Uniformity and consistency can be attained in no other way, than by the steady application of rules and principles; and these must be made as few and as general as the case will admit, that the memory of the learner may not be overmatched by their number or complexity. Rules founded on the analogy of similar words, and sanctioned by the usage of careful writers, must be taken as our guides; because common practice is often found to be capricious, contradictory, and uncertain. That errors and inconsistencies abound, even in the books which are proposed to the world as standards of English orthography, is a position which scarcely needs proof. It is true, to a greater or less extent, of all the spelling-books and dictionaries that I have seen, and probably of all that have ever been published. And as all authors are liable to mistakes, which others may copy, general rules should have more weight than particular examples to the contrary. "The right spelling of a word may be said to be that which agrees the best with its pronunciation, its etymology, and with the analogy of the particular class of words to which it belongs."—Philological Museum, Vol. i, p. 647.

OBS. 2.—I do not deny that great respect is due to the authority of our lexicographers, or that great improvement was made in the orthography of our language when Dr. Johnson put his hand to the work. But sometimes one man's authority may offset an other's; and he that is inconsistent with himself, destroys his own: for, surely, his example cannot be paramount to his principles. Much has been idly said, both for and against the adoption of Johnson's Dictionary, or Webster's, as the criterion of what is right or wrong in spelling; but it would seem that no one man's learning is sufficiently extensive, or his memory sufficiently accurate, to be solely relied on to furnish a standard by which we may in all cases be governed. Johnson was generally right; but, like other men, he was sometimes wrong. He erred sometimes in his principles, or in their application; as when he adopted the k in such words as rhetorick, and demoniack; or when he inserted the u in such words as governour, warriour, superiour. Neither of these modes of spelling was ever generally adopted, in any thing like the number of words to which he applied them; or ever will be; though some indiscreet compilers are still zealously endeavouring to impose them upon the public, as the true way of spelling. He also erred sometimes by accident, or oversight; as when he spelled thus: "recall and miscal, inthrall and bethral, windfall and downfal, laystall and thumbstal, waterfall and overfal, molehill and dunghil, windmill and twibil, uphill and downhil." This occasional excision of the letter l is reprehensible, because it is contrary to general analogy, and because both letters are necessary to preserve the sound, and show the derivation of the compound. Walker censures it as a "ridiculous irregularity," and lays the blame of it on the "printers," and yet does not venture to correct it! See Johnson's Dictionary, first American edition, quarto; Walker's Pronouncing Dictionary, under the word Dunghil; and his Rhyming Dictionary, Introd., p. xv.

OBS. 3.—"Dr. Johnson's Dictionary" has been represented by some as having "nearly fixed the external form of our language." But Murray, who quotes this from Dr. Nares, admits, at the same time, that, "The orthography of a great number of English words, is far from being uniform, even amongst writers of distinction."—Gram., p. 25. And, after commending this work of Johnson's, as A STANDARD, from which, "it is earnestly to be hoped, that no author will henceforth, on light grounds, be tempted to innovate," he adds, "This Dictionary, however, contains some orthographical inconsistencies which ought to be rectified: such as, immovable, moveable; chastely, chastness; fertileness, fertily; sliness, slyly; fearlessly, fearlesness; needlessness, needlesly."—Ib. In respect to the final ck and our, he also intentionally departs from THE STANDARD which he thus commends; preferring, in that, the authority of Walker's Rhyming Dictionary, from which he borrowed his rules for spelling. For, against the use of k at the end of words from the learned languages, and against the u in many words in which Johnson used it, we have the authority, not only of general usage now, but of many grammarians who were contemporary with Johnson, and of more than a dozen lexicographers, ancient or modern, among whom is Walker himself. In this, therefore, Murray's practice is right, and his commended standard dictionary, wrong.

OBS. 4.—Of words ending in or or our, we have about three hundred and twenty; of which not more than forty can now with any propriety be written with the latter termination. Aiming to write according to the best usage of the present day, I insert the u in so many of these words as now seem most familiar to the eye when so written; but I have no partiality for any letters that can well be spared; and if this book should ever, by any good fortune, happen to be reprinted, after honour, labour, favour, behaviour, and endeavour, shall have become as unfashionable as authour, errour, terrour, and emperour, are now, let the proof-reader strike out the useless letter not only from these words, but from all others which shall bear an equally antiquated appearance.

OBS. 5.—I have suggested the above-mentioned imperfections in Dr. Johnson's orthography, merely to justify the liberty which I take of spelling otherwise; and not with any view to give a preference to that of Dr. Webster, who is now contending for the honour of having furnished a more correct standard. For the latter author, though right in some things in which the former was wrong, is, on the whole, still more erroneous and inconsistent. In his various attempts at reformation in our orthography, he has spelled many hundreds of words in such a variety of ways, that he knows not at last which of them is right, and which are wrong. But in respect to definitions, he has done good service to our literature; nor have his critics been sufficiently just respecting what they call his "innovations." See Cobb's Critical Review of the Orthography of Webster. To omit the k from such words as publick, or the u from such as superiour, is certainly no innovation; it is but ignorance that censures the general practice, under that name. The advocates for Johnson and opponents of Webster, who are now so zealously stickling for the k and the u in these cases, ought to know that they are contending for what was obsolete, or obsolescent, when Dr. Johnson was a boy.

OBS. 6.—I have before observed that some of the grammarians who were contemporary with Johnson, did not adopt his practice respecting the k or the u, in publick, critick, errour, superiour, &c. And indeed I am not sure there were any who did. Dr. Johnson was born in 1709, and he died in 1784. But Brightland's Grammar, which was written during the reign of Queen Anne, who died in 1714, in treating of the letter C, says, "If in any Word the harder Sound precedes (e), (i), or (y), (k) is either added or put in its Place; as, Skill, Skin, Publick: And tho' the additional (k) in the foregoing Word be an old Way of Spelling, yet it is now very justly left off, as being a superfluous Letter; for (c) at the End is always hard."—Seventh Edition, Lond., 1746, p. 37.

OBS. 7.—The three grammars of Ash, Priestley, and Lowth, all appeared, in their first editions, about one time; all, if I mistake not, in the year 1763; and none of these learned doctors, it would seem, used the mode of spelling now in question. In Ash, of 1799, we have such orthography as this: "Italics, public, domestic, our traffic, music, quick; error, superior, warrior, authors, honour, humour, favour, behaviour." In Priestley, of 1772: "Iambics, dactyls, dactylic, anapaestic, monosyllabic, electric, public, critic; author, emperor's, superior; favour, labours, neighbours, laboured, vigour, endeavour; meagre, hillock, bailiwick, bishoprick, control, travelling." In Lowth, of 1799: "Comic, critic, characteristic, domestic; author, favor, favored, endeavored, alledging, foretells." Now all these are words in the spelling of which Johnson and Webster contradict each other; and if they are not all right, surely they would not, on the whole, be made more nearly right, by being conformed to either of these authorities exclusively. For THE BEST USAGE is the ultimate rule of grammar.

OBS. 8.—The old British Grammar, written before the American Revolution, and even before "the learned Mr. Samuel Johnson" was doctorated, though it thus respectfully quotes that great scholar, does not follow him in the spelling of which I am treating. On the contrary, it abounds with examples of words ending in ic and or, and not in ick and our, as he wrote them; and I am confident, that, from that time to this, the former orthography has continued to be more common than his. Walker, the orthoepist, who died in 1807, yielded the point respecting the k, and ended about four hundred and fifty words with c in his Rhyming Dictionary; but he thought it more of an innovation than it really was. In his Pronouncing Dictionary, he says, "It has been a custom, within these twenty years, to omit the k at the end of words, when preceded by c. This has introduced a novelty into the language, which is that of ending a word with an unusual letter," &c. "This omission of k is, however, too general to be counteracted, even by the authority of Johnson; but it is to be hoped it will be confined to words from the learned languages."— Walker's Principles of Pronunciation, No. 400. The tenth edition of Burn's Grammar, dated 1810, says, "It has become customary to omit k after c at the end of dissyllables and trisyllables, &c. as music, arithmetic, logic; but the k is retained in monosyllables; as, back, deck, rick, &c."—P. 25. James Buchanan, of whose English Syntax there had been five American editions in 1792, added no k to such words as didactic, critic, classic, of which he made frequent use; and though he wrote honour, labour, and the like, with u, as they are perhaps most generally written now, he inserted no u in error, author, or any of those words in which that letter would now be inconsistent with good taste.

OBS. 9.—Bicknell's Grammar, of 1790, treating of the letter k, says, "And for the same reason we have dropt it at the end of words after c, which is there always hard; as in publick, logick, &c. which are more elegantly written public, logic."—Part ii, p. 13. Again: "It has heretofore joined with c at the end of words; as publick, logick; but, as before observed, being there quite superfluous, it is now left out"—Ib., p. 16. Horne Tooke's orthography was also agreeable to the rule which I have given on this subject. So is the usage of David Booth: "Formerly a k was added, as, rustick, politick, Arithmetick, &c. but this is now in disuse."—Booth's Introd. to Dict., Lond., 1814, p. 80.

OBS. 10.—As the authors of many recent spelling-books—Cobb, Emerson, Burhans, Bolles, Sears, Marshall, Mott, and others—are now contending for this "superfluous letter," in spite of all the authority against it, it seems proper briefly to notice their argument, lest the student be misled by it. It is summed up by one of them in the following words: "In regard to k after c at the end of words, it may be sufficient to say, that its omission has never been attempted, except in a small portion of the cases where it occurs; and that it tends to an erroneous pronunciation of derivatives, as in mimick, mimicking, where, if the k were omitted, it would read mimicing; and as c before i is always sounded like s, it must be pronounced mimising. Now, since it is never omitted in monosyllables, where it most frequently occurs, as in block, clock, &c., and can be in a part only of polysyllables, it is thought better to preserve it in all cases, by which we have one general rule, in place of several irregularities and exceptions that must follow its partial omission."—Bolles's Spelling-Book, p. 2. I need not tell the reader that these two sentences evince great want of care or skill in the art of grammar. But it is proper to inform him, that we have in our language eighty-six monosyllables which end with ck, and from them about fifty compounds or derivatives, which of course keep the same termination. To these may be added a dozen or more which seem to be of doubtful formation, such as huckaback, pickapack, gimcrack, ticktack, picknick, barrack, knapsack, hollyhock, shamrock, hammock, hillock, hammock, bullock, roebuck. But the verbs on which this argument is founded are only six; attack, ransack, traffick, frolick, mimick, and physick; and these, unquestionably, must either be spelled with the k, or must assume it in their derivatives. Now that useful class of words which are generally and properly written with final c, are about four hundred and fifty in number, and are all of them either adjectives or nouns of regular derivation from the learned languages, being words of more than one syllable, which have come to us from Greek or Latin roots. But what has the doubling of c by k, in our native monosyllables and their derivatives, to do with all these words of foreign origin? For the reason of the matter, we might as well double the l, as our ancestors did, in naturall, temporall, spirituall, &c.

OBS. 11.—The learner should observe that some letters incline much to a duplication, while gome others are doubled but seldom, and some, never. Thus, among the vowels, ee and oo occur frequently; aa is used sometimes; ii, never—except in certain Latin words, (wherein the vowels are separately uttered,) such as Horatii, Veii, iidem, genii. Again, the doubling of u is precluded by the fact that we have a distinct letter called Double-u, which was made by joining two Vees, or two Ues, when the form for u was v. So, among the consonants, f, l, and s, incline more to duplication, than any others. These letters are double, not only at the end of those monosyllables which have but one vowel, as staff, mill, pass; but also under some other circumstances. According to general usage, final f is doubled after a single vowel, in almost all cases; as in bailiff, caitiff, plaintiff, midriff, sheriff, tariff, mastiff: yet not in calif, which is perhaps better written caliph. Final l, as may be seen by Rule 8th, admits not now of a duplication like this; but, by the exceptions to Rule 4th, it is frequently doubled when no other consonant would be; as in travelling, grovelling; unless, (contrary to the opinion of Lowth, Walker, and Webster,) we will have fillipping, gossipping, and worshipping, to be needful exceptions also.

OBS. 12.—Final s sometimes occurs single, as in alas, atlas, bias; and especially in Latin words, as virus, impetus; and when it is added to form plurals, as verse, verses: but this letter, too, is generally doubled at the end of primitive words of more than one syllable; as in carcass, compass, cuirass, harass, trespass, embarrass. On the contrary, the other consonants are seldom doubled, except when they come under Rule 3d. The letter p, however, is commonly doubled, in some words, even when it forms a needless exception to Rule 4th; as in the derivatives from fillip, gossip, and perhaps also worship. This letter, too, was very frequently doubled in Greek; whence we have, from the name of Philip of Macedon, the words Philippic and Philippize, which, if spelled according to our rule for such derivatives, would, like galloped and galloper, siruped and sirupy, have but one p. We find them so written in some late dictionaries. But if fillipped, gossipped, and worshipped, with the other derivatives from the same roots, are just and necessary exceptions to Rule 4th, (which I do not admit,) so are these; and for a much stronger reason, as the classical scholar will think. In our language, or in words purely English, the letters h, i, j, k, q, v, w, x, and y, are, properly speaking, never doubled. Yet, in the forming of compounds, it may possibly happen, that two Aitches, two Kays, or even two Double-ues or Wies, shall come together; as in withhold, brickkiln, slowwoorm, bayyarn.

OBS. 13.—There are some words—as those which come from metal, medal, coral, crystal, argil, axil, cavil, tranquil, pupil, papil—in which the classical scholar is apt to violate the analogy of English derivation, by doubling the letter l, because he remembers the ll of their foreign roots, or their foreign correspondents. But let him also remember, that, if a knowledge of etymology may be shown by spelling metallic, metalliferous, metallography, metallurgic, metallurgist, metallurgy, medallic, medallion, crystallize, crystalline, argillous, argillaceous, axillar, axillary, cavillous, cavillation, papillate, papillous, papillary, tranquillity, and pupillary, with double l, ignorance of it must needs be implied in spelling metaline, metalist, metaloid, metaloidal, medalist, coralaceous, coraline, coralite, coralinite, coraloid, coraloidal, crystalite, argilite, argilitic, tranquilize, and pupilage, in like manner. But we cannot well double the l in the former, and not in the latter words. Here is a choice of difficulties. Etymology must govern orthography. But what etymology? our own, or that which is foreign? If we say, both, they disagree; and the mere English scholar cannot know when, or how far, to be guided by the latter. If a Latin diminutive, as papilla from papula or papa, pupillus from pupus, or tranquillus from trans and quietus, happen to double an l, must we forever cling to the reduplication, and that, in spite of our own rules to the contrary? Why is it more objectionable to change pupillaris to pupilary, than pupillus to pupil? or, to change tranquillitas to tranquility, than tranquillus to tranquil? And since papilous, pupilage, and tranquilize are formed from the English words, and not directly from the Latin, why is it not as improper to write them with double l, as to write perilous, vassalage, and civilize, in the same manner?

OBS. 14.—If the practice of the learned would allow us to follow the English rule here, I should incline to the opinion, that all the words which I have mentioned above, ought to be written with single l. Ainsworth exhibits the Latin word for coral in four forms, and the Greek word in three. Two of the Latin and two of the Greek have the l single; the others double it. He also spells "coraliticus" with one l, and defines it "A sort of white marble, called coraline." [120] The Spaniards, from whose medalla, we have medal; whose argil[121] is arcilla, from the Latin argilla; and to whose cavilar, Webster traces cavil; in all their derivatives from these Latin roots, metallum, metal—coralium, corallium, curalium, or corallum, coral—crystallus or crystallum, crystal—pupillus, pupil—and tranquillus, tranquil—follow their own rules, and write mostly with single l: as, pupilero, a teacher; metalico, metalic; corolina (fem.) coraline; cristalino, crystaline; crystalizar, crystalize; traquilizar, tranquilize; and tranquilidad, tranquility. And if we follow not ours, when or how shall the English scholar ever know why we spell as we do? For example, what can he make of the orthography of the following words, which I copy from our best dictionaries: equip', eq'uipage; wor'ship, wor'shipper;—peril, perilous; cavil, cavillous;[122]—libel, libellous; quarrel, quarrelous;—opal, opaline; metal, metalline;[123]—coral, coralliform; crystal, crystalform;—dial, dialist; medal, medallist;—rascal, rascalion; medal, medallion;—moral, moralist, morality; metal, metallist, metallurgy;—civil, civilize, civility; tranquil, tranquillize, tranquillity;—novel, novelism, novelist, novelize; grovel, grovelling, grovelled, groveller?

OBS. 15.—The second clause of Murray's or Walker's 5th Rule for spelling, gives only a single l to each of the derivatives above named.[124] But it also treats in like manner many hundreds of words in which the l must certainly be doubled. And, as neither "the Compiler," nor any of his copiers, have paid any regard to their own principle, neither their doctrine nor their practice can be of much weight either way. Yet it is important to know to what words the rule is, or is not, applicable. In considering this vexatious question about the duplication of l, I was at first inclined to admit that, whenever final l has become single in English by dropping the second l of a foreign root, the word shall resume the ll in all derivatives formed from it by adding a termination beginning with a vowel; as, beryllus, beryl, berylline. This would, of course, double the l in nearly all the derivatives from metal, medal, &c. But what says Custom? She constantly doubles the l in most of them; but wavers in respect to some, and in a few will have it single. Hence the difficulty of drawing a line by which we may abide without censure. Pu'pillage and pu'pillary, with ll, are according to Walker's Rhyming Dictionary; but Johnson spells them pu'pilage and pu'pilary, with single l; and Walker, in his Pronouncing Dictionary, has pupilage with one l, and pupillary with two. Again: both Johnson's and the Pronouncing Dictionary, give us medallist and metallist with ll, and are sustained by Webster and others; but Walker, in his Rhyming Dictionary, writes them medalist and metalist, with single l, like dialist, formalist, cabalist, herbalist, and twenty other such words. Further: Webster doubles the l in all the derivatives of metal, medal, coral, axil, argil, and papil; but writes it single in all those of crystal, cavil, pupil, and tranquil—except tranquillity.

OBS. 16.—Dr. Webster also attempts, or pretends, to put in practice the hasty proposition of Walker, to spell with single l all derivatives from words ending in l not under the accent. "No letter," says Walker, "seems to be more frequently doubled improperly than l. Why we should write libelling, levelling, revelling, and yet offering, suffering, reasoning, I am totally at a loss to determine; and, unless l can give a better plea than any other letter in the alphabet, for being doubled in this situation, I must, in the style of Lucian, in his trial of the letter T, declare for an expulsion."—Rhyming Dict., p. x. This rash conception, being adopted by some men of still less caution, has wrought great mischief in our orthography. With respect to words ending in el, it is a good and sufficient reason for doubling the l, that the e may otherwise be supposed servile and silent. I have therefore made this termination a general exception to the rule against doubling. Besides, a large number of these words, being derived from foreign words in which the l was doubled, have a second reason for the duplication, as strong as that which has often induced these same authors to double that letter, as noticed above. Such are bordel, chapel, duel, fardel, gabel, gospel, gravel, lamel, label, libel, marvel, model, novel, parcel, quarrel, and spinel. Accordingly we find, that, in his work of expulsion, Dr. Webster has not unfrequently contradicted himself, and conformed to usage, by doubling the l where he probably intended to write it single. Thus, in the words bordeller, chapellany, chapelling, gospellary, gospeller, gravelly, lamellate, lamellar, lamellarly, lamelliform, and spinellane, he has written the l double, while he has grossly corrupted many other similar words by forbearing the reduplication; as, traveler, groveling, duelist, marvelous, and the like. In cases of such difficulty, we can never arrive at uniformity and consistency of practice, unless we resort to principles, and such principles as can be made intelligible to the English scholar. If any one is dissatisfied with the rules and exceptions which I have laid down, let him study the subject till he can furnish the schools with better.

OBS. 17.—We have in our language a very numerous class of adjectives ending in able or ible, as affable, arable, tolerable, admissible, credible, infallible, to the number of nine hundred or more. In respect to the proper form and signification of some of these, there occurs no small difficulty. Able is a common English word, the meaning of which is much better understood than its origin. Horne Tooke supposes it to have come from the Gothic noun abal, signifying strength; and consequently avers, that it "has nothing to do with the Latin adjective habilis, fit, or able, from which our etymologists erroneously derive it."—Diversions of Purley, Vol. ii, p. 450. This I suppose the etymologists will dispute with him. But whatever may be its true derivation, no one can well deny that able, as a suffix, belongs most properly, if not exclusively, to verbs; for most of the words formed by it, are plainly a sort of verbal adjectives. And it is evident that this author is right in supposing that English words of this termination, like the Latin verbals in bilis, have, or ought to have, such a signification as may justify the name which he gives them, of "potential passive adjectives;" a signification in which the English and the Latin derivatives exactly correspond. Thus dis'soluble or dissolv'able does not mean able to dissolve, but capable of being dissolved; and divisible or dividable does not mean able to divide, but capable of being divided.

OBS. 18.—As to the application of this suffix to nouns, when we consider the signification of the words thus formed, its propriety may well be doubted. It is true, however, that nouns do sometimes assume something of the nature of verbs, so as to give rise to adjectives that are of a participial character; such, for instance, as sainted, bigoted, conceited, gifted, tufted. Again, of such as hard-hearted, good-natured, cold-blooded, we have an indefinite number. And perhaps, upon the same principle, the formation of such words as actionable, companionable, exceptionable, marketable, merchantable, pasturable, treasonable, and so forth, may be justified, if care be taken to use them in a sense analogous to that of the real verbals. But, surely, the meaning which is commonly attached to the words amicable, changeable, fashionable, favourable, peaceable, reasonable, pleasurable, seasonable, suitable, and some others, would never be guessed from their formation. Thus, suitable means fitting or suiting, and not able to suit, or capable of being suited.

OBS. 19.—Though all words that terminate in able, used as a suffix, are properly reckoned derivatives, rather than compounds, and in the former class the separate meaning of the parts united is much less regarded than in the latter; yet, in the use of words of this formation, it would be well to have some respect to the general analogy of their signification as stated above; and not to make derivatives of the same fashion convey meanings so very different as do some of these. Perhaps it is from some general notion of their impropriety, that several words of this doubtful character have already become obsolete, or are gradually falling into disuse: as, accustomable, chanceable, concordable, conusable, customable, behoovable, leisurable, medicinable, personable, powerable, razorable, shapable, semblable, vengeable, veritable. Still, there are several others, yet currently employed, which might better perhaps, for the same reason, give place to more regular terms: as, amicable, for friendly or kind; charitable, for benevolent or liberal; colourable, for apparent or specious; peaceable, for peaceful or unhostile; pleasurable, for pleasing or delightful; profitable, for gainful or lucrative; sociable, for social or affable; reasonable, for rational or just.