IMAGE EVALUATION 
 TEST TARGET (MT-3) 
 
 
 1.0 
 
 I.I 
 
 w Itt 
 : la 12.0 
 
 ■ M 
 
 
 U 11.6 
 
 
 Vv 
 
 // 
 
 ^1 
 
 Sciences 
 Caporation 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 <^ 
 
 
 1) WMT MAM $TIMt 
 
 WIUTn.N.V. I4SM 
 
 (71*)t73^S03 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 '^J5* 
 
o 
 
 V 
 
 \ 
 
 N> 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 CIHM/ICMH 
 
 Microfiche 
 
 Series. 
 
 CIHJVi/iCIVlH 
 Collection de 
 microfiches. 
 
 Canadian Instituta for Historical Microraproductions / Inatitut Canadian da microraproductions iiiatoriquaa 
 
Technical and Bibliographic Notes/Notes techniques et biblioaraphiques 
 
 The Institute has attempted to obtain the best 
 original copy available for filming. Features of this 
 copy which may be bibliographically unique, 
 which may alter any of the images in the 
 reproduction, or which may significantly change 
 the usual method of filming, are checked below. 
 
 a 
 
 D 
 
 D 
 D 
 
 D 
 
 D 
 
 Coloured covers/ 
 Couverture de couleur 
 
 I I Covers damaged/ 
 
 Couverture endommagAe 
 
 Covers restored and/or laminated/ 
 Couverture restaur^ et/ou peiliculAe 
 
 [~~1 Cover title missing/ 
 
 Le titre de couverture manque 
 
 I I Coloured maps/ 
 
 Cartes giographiques en couleur 
 
 □ Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black)/ 
 Encre de couleur (i.e. autre que bleue ou noire) 
 
 r~| Coloured plates and/or illustrations/ 
 
 Planches et/ou illustrations en couleur 
 
 Bound with other material/ 
 RelM avec d'autree documents 
 
 Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion 
 along Interior margin/ 
 
 La re llure serrte peut causer de I'ombre ou de la 
 distortion le long de la marge intirieure 
 
 Blank leeves added during restoration may 
 appear within the text. Whenever possible, these 
 have been omitted from filming/ 
 II se peut que certainee pagee blanches aJout4es 
 lors d'une restauration apparaissent dans le texte, 
 mels, lorsque cela itait possible, ces pages n'ont 
 pas At4 fiimAes. 
 
 Additional comments:/ 
 Commentaires supplAmentaires; 
 
 L'Institut a microfilm* le meilleur exempiaire 
 qu'il lui a AtA possible de se procurer. Les details 
 de cet exempiaire qui sont peut-Atre uniques du 
 point de vue bibliographique, qui peuvent modifier 
 une image roproduite, ou qui peuvent exiger une 
 modification dans la mAthode normale de filmage 
 sont indiquAs ci-dessous. 
 
 n 
 n 
 
 D 
 
 n 
 
 Coloured pages/ 
 Pages de couleur 
 
 Pages damaged/ 
 Pages endommagies 
 
 Pages restored and/or laminated/ 
 Pages restaurtes et/ou pelllcukkes 
 
 Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ 
 Pages dAcoiorAes, tacheties ou piquAes 
 
 Pages detached/ 
 Pages dAtachtes 
 
 Showthrough/ 
 Transparence 
 
 Quality of print varies/ 
 QualltA inigale de Timpression 
 
 Includes supplementary material/ 
 Comprend du materiel suppl4mentalre 
 
 Only edition available/ 
 Seule Mition diaponlble 
 
 Pages wholly or partially obscured by errata 
 slips, tissuae, etc., have been refilmed to 
 ensure the best possible image/ 
 Les pages totalement ou partleliement 
 obscurcies par un feuillet d'errata, una pelure, 
 etc., ont 4ti filmiee i nouveau de fa^on A 
 obtenir la meilleure image possible. 
 
 This Item is filmed at the reduction ratio cheeked below/ 
 
 Ce document est film* au taux de reduction indiquA ci-deesous. 
 
 Th 
 to 
 
 Th 
 po 
 of 
 fill 
 
 Or 
 be 
 th( 
 sic 
 oti 
 fin 
 sic 
 or 
 
 Th 
 shi 
 Til 
 wl 
 
 Ml 
 
 dif 
 ent 
 bei 
 rig 
 rec 
 m« 
 
 10X 
 
 
 
 
 14X 
 
 
 
 
 18X 
 
 
 
 
 22X 
 
 
 
 
 MX 
 
 
 
 
 lOX 
 
 
 
 ] 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 12X 
 
 
 
 
 lex 
 
 
 
 
 20X 
 
 
 
 
 24X 
 
 
 
 
 2tX 
 
 
 
 
 32X 
 
 ! 
 
The copy filmed here ha* been reproduced thanks 
 to the generosity of: 
 
 National Library of Canada 
 
 L'exemplaire filmA fut reproduit grAce h la 
 g^niroaitA de: 
 
 Bibliothique nationale du Canada 
 
 The image* appearing here are the best quality 
 possible considering the condition and Scgibility 
 of the original copy and in keeping with the 
 filming contract specifications. 
 
 Les images suivantes ont At* reproduites avec le 
 plus grand soin, compte tenu de la condition at 
 de la nettet* de l'exemplaire film*, et en 
 conformity avec les conditions du contrat de 
 filmage. 
 
 Original copies in printed paper covers are filmed 
 beginning with the front cover and ending on 
 the last page with a printed or illustrated impres- 
 sion, or the back cover when appropriate. All 
 other original copies are filmed beginning on the 
 first page with a printed or illustrated impres- 
 sion, and ending on the last page with a printed 
 or illustrated impression. 
 
 Les exemplaires originaux dont la couverture en 
 papier est ImprimAe sont filmAs en commenpant 
 par le premier plat et en terminent soit par la 
 dernlAre page qui comporte une empreinte 
 d'impression ou d'illustration, soit par le second 
 plat, salon le cas. Tous les autres exemplaires 
 originaux sont filmte en commenpant par la 
 premiAre page qui comporte une empreinte 
 d'impression ou d'illustrstion et en terminent par 
 la derniAre page qui comporte une telle 
 empreinte. 
 
 The last recorded frame on each microfiche 
 shall contain the symbol — »> (meaning "CON- 
 TINUED"), or the symbol V (meaning "END"), 
 whichever applies. 
 
 Un des symboles suivants apparaltra sur la 
 derniAre image de chaque microfiche, selon la 
 cas: le symbols — »* signifie "A SUIVRE", le 
 symbols ▼ signifie "FIN". 
 
 IVIaps, plates, charts, etc.. may be filmed et 
 different reduction ratios. Those too large to be 
 entirely included in one exposure are filmed 
 beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to 
 right and top to bottom, as many frames as 
 required. The following diagrams illustrate the 
 method: 
 
 Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent Atre 
 filmAs A des taux de reduction diffArents. 
 Lorsque le document est trop grand pour Atre 
 reproduit on un seul clichA. il est filmA A pertir 
 de Tangle supArieur gauche, de gauche A droite, 
 et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre 
 d'images nAcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants 
 illustrent la mAthode. 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 S 
 
 6 
 
From the. Canadian Journal /or May, 186t. 
 
 ON 
 
 ERRATA RECEPTA, 
 
 WRITTEN AND SPOKEN. 
 
 \\\ TIIK RICV. Dtt. SCADDING, 
 
 MBRARIAN TO TIIK INSTITUTE. 
 
 (Head lip/ore ihe Canadian I nut i tut o, April 2nd, 18G1.) 
 
 In trcatinc; of Errata Jiecepfa, written nntl sj)()ken, I shall confine 
 mysi'lf princi])nlly to sjitcinions of such as nre (brnial, vcrljal, nnd 
 phrnscoloiiioal. ]\y formal, is meant those that an» involved in the 
 present forms of onr letters nml nnmericnl symbols, 
 
 lirrata Ileeepta, in notion nnJ opinion, wonlJ he too with* a iield, 
 allhonuh a Ici^itiniate one here, so I'ar as science is concerned, for it ii^ 
 no donl)t one of the fnnctions of this and similar Inslitntions to de- 
 tect and remove ( nt of the way, po far as shall he ))rartical)le, the 
 phatitasms, — the idofa, as Lord Uacon wo\dd say — the vnluiai- errors 
 as Sir Thomas IJrownc woidd phrase ii, — which still arc the jda^ues 
 of human knowledjic. 
 
 I ntJC the title Errata Rerrpta, however, with no feeling that u 
 crusaile should he proclaimed against the matters in (picstion, but 
 simply to express that while they can now no longer be said to be 
 wrong, they are nevertheless /)^r fe erroneous. 
 
2 ON ERRATA RECEFTA. 
 
 I might have said "established errors'* in English, but this would 
 have been saying too much ; — it would have implied that there were 
 things to be deplored and amended. All this we give up when we 
 adopt the designation Errata liecepta. We at once confess them to 
 be what they are. 
 
 ■Moreover I had the less scruple in venturing on this title, because 
 the two words Errata Rcceptn — besides cnnveyinc; briefly a particular 
 shade of meaning — are both of them almost as familiar to us as 
 English, the one being seen apju'iidcd, unfortunately, to most printed 
 books ; and the other being associated in the well-known phrase by 
 which the common edition of the Greek Testament is indicated, viz., 
 the Textiis licceptnu. 
 
 Some of thc.«e jicculiar usnges in our written and spoken English 
 are the astonishment of foreign scholars. They would puzzle many 
 natives, were they suddenly called upon for the rationale of them. 
 AVe have been taught them in our childhood, as so many dogmas, and 
 we use them without thought. We pass them al)Out like well known 
 coin, of which we have no need to reail the inscription ; we trace 
 them on our luxurious note-paper"* and in our account books, and 
 their familiar look is no more suggestive cf farther research than the 
 ancient but handy quill perhaps, with which we have written them 
 down. 
 
 Errata Recepta arrange themselves into numerous classes. (i) 
 There are those that have arisen from the moditications of form in 
 letters and numerical symbols. (2) There are some that appear in 
 the shape of contractions and abbreviations. (3) There are many 
 that have arisen from the Anglicising of foreign words, especially 
 French, Italian, and German. (4) There are some that spring from 
 the vemaeularising of unfamiliar expressions — forcing them to say 
 something that shall, at least, seem to convey an idea. (.")) Tiun we 
 have errata recepta which arise from wrong etymologies ami from 
 misprints. (G) There are some that spring from grammatical mis- 
 conceptions and confusion in logic, as where the general is put for the 
 special, and the special for the general. (7) Some are variations in 
 the significance of terms, through the lapse of time. (S) We have 
 errata recepta in the quantity or time of vowels in the syllables of 
 derived words. (9) We have errata recepta in the nomenclature of 
 persons, places, and things. (10) We have errata recepta in regard 
 to the drift of certain popular proverbs or sayings. 
 
 " 
 
 1 
 
 I 
 
 il 
 
I * 
 
 n 
 
 1 
 
 ON ERRATA RECEPTA. 3 
 
 I. Errata Recepta in letters and numerical symbols : 
 1. Letters. 
 
 To bc2;in at the very beginning — with the elements themselves of 
 words — the alphabet itself: what is this, in modern languages at least, 
 bnt a series oi errata — departures from original forms and intentions? 
 Errata Recepta now, which there is neither need nor desire to cor- 
 rect. 'J'he mind fond of analysis, is, nevertheless not disincliiu-d to 
 recover the original forms, where it is jiossiblo to do so ; and dwells 
 with some interest on the idea that A, for example, is the liead of an 
 ox, only inverted ; that Alj)ha, i.e. Aleph, is o.r, and survives in that 
 sense in Eleph-ax, i.e. Aleph-as, eh'f)lian(, that animal liciiig desig- 
 nated in early unscientific days as a bos, somewhat in the same way 
 us we call the great amphibiona creature of the Nile a horse. That 
 B, beta, is beth — a house — a hut — two wigwams, in fact, now, when 
 yon lay the Utter on its face. And let it be at once well understood, 
 that the attitudes and postures of letters have been almost infinitely 
 varied. The Easterns generally (the users of Sanskrit excepted) write 
 from right to left j the Westerns (the Etruscans excepted) from left 
 to right : each turning the character accordingly. Hence we must 
 often reverse letters before we can trace their identity. The scribes 
 of intermediate races or tastes, wrote sometimes one line one way, and 
 the next line the other way, — reversing perhaps the letters, as they 
 reversed the direction of the reed. Others, again, arranged their 
 words verticallv — column-wise — like the modern Chinese. 
 
 • 
 
 From these and other like causes, it is not sufficient even to re- 
 verse the letters : we must, in certain instances, lay them on their face 
 — lay them on their back — sustain them at uncomfortable angles — 
 and humour th.em in other ways, discreetly and patiently, if we would 
 trace the connection between them and their reputed congeners or 
 originals. It is thus that we may, perhaps, at length detect that 
 not only does uhph betoken an ox, and heth a booth ; bnt that G {i.e, 
 hard c), is a camel's head and neck ; D, a triangular tent door-way ; 
 E, a hand in a certain dactylological posture ; F (ban), a liook or 
 tent-pin; II, a garth, perhaps a temenos, or sacred enclosure; I (J 
 and Y), again, a hand in proper position ; as is also K (C) ; L, an 
 ox-driver's goad or whip ; M, rippling water, the element of its neigh- 
 bour, N, which is a fish : O (connected with ayin), the human eye ; 
 P, the mouth seen in profile ; Q, the ear ; R, the head (also seen in 
 
 Li 
 
ON ERRATA RECRPTA. 
 
 profile), the occiput, as distinguished from the face ; S, the teeth seen 
 in front ; T, a kind of dancing cohra ; U (V), a hook or tent-pole, as 
 said for F ; X, a combination of K and S ; Y (as J), a hand in right 
 position ; Z, a barbed hook, for catching iish. 
 
 We cannot, of course, be sure that we thus track our letters to their 
 prototypes ; but human instincts everywhere developing themselves in 
 an analogous way, we can easily conceive that all alphabets are picto- 
 rial in their origin ; that they represented objects to convey an idea 
 either of the objects absolutely, or of the sounds which the objects 
 represented were supposed to symbolize. What is, in fact, the mean- 
 ing of litera / It is something delineated or drawn (lino) ; the idea 
 conveyed also by ypatfua, which is to pencil or draw — though allied 
 to y\d<lnti and y/\t'<^a), to hew or carve, as scribo, to write, is to scalpo 
 and scufpo ; and the English write is to writan, properly to cut or 
 engrave, and wrotan to plough or root up. 
 
 Symbols inscribed by sharp instruments, are strictly not letters 
 {literee) but characters, xapoKn/jpes — from ;;(opao-o-(u — which expresses 
 " scratching," by its very sound. So that in the rude symbols of our 
 Indians, in the canoes, wigwams, and school-boy-fashion figures of 
 men and animals, charcoaled with a burnt stick, or indented with a 
 flint-arrow point on a sheet of birch-bark, we have the veritable 
 literie and characteres — the elementa elemeutorum — the simplest 
 forms and originals into which all letters and characters are to be re- 
 solved. Examples of the same also, were those sketches on cotton 
 cloth, of the ships, horses, and artillery of Cortcz, made by the 
 Mexican Chiefs (1519), for the purpose of giving to Montezuma an 
 idea of the power of the fatal invader. 
 
 Interesting specimens of picture-records in transitu to letters, may 
 be seen in the beautiful inscription-tablets of Copan and Palenquc, 
 represented by Stephens, in his work on Central America. The Chi- 
 nese and Japanese characters still bear on the face of them the ap- 
 pearance of being sketches of object?, although now conventionally 
 rendered. And the Egyptian phonetic symbols and hieroglyphics, 
 with which we are all more or less familiar, are very slightly disguised. 
 Uf these, the enchorial or demotic characters are declared to be 
 modifications. 
 
 We can have little doubt, then, that the Chaldaic and Phoenician 
 characters, and with them, for the most part, the Greek and the 
 Latin,— and, through these, the European letters generally have their 
 origin in pictures and sculptures. 
 
 \ I • 
 
 tM 
 
ON ERRATA RECEPTA. 
 
 Wljcn now, in ndditicn to the deliberate drawing and engraving of 
 records on durable substances, there arose the practice of writing 
 with the reed on the ])npyrns-rind or skins, the celerity of execution 
 which the impetuosity of human thought demands — and demnnds 
 still in vain, in spite of the assistance of stenography — produced fur- 
 ther modifications in letters, until a cursive or script style wns formed, 
 which became j)articularly beautiful in the Greek. ^Vhat the cursive 
 or script Latin character was we have no means of knowing precisely. 
 We may be sure that Cicero had some convenient and ra]>id method 
 of 'securing thought as it wells up within the brain : tliat he did not 
 make his memoranda in capitals. Wc may conclude that the familiar 
 lloman script has liecn in some measure ]>reserved in th.e traditional 
 styles of the old ])rofessional traiisei tbers, who did not ahvnvs execute 
 their tasks in uncials, I ut produced MSS. like the Medlcean Virgil of 
 the fil'th century, in a kind of round hand, \\liieh, under the iiilluenee 
 of certain ])eculiar predilcctinn.s, converted itself, in some nations, into 
 the so-called llaek letter. This round hand of the Llhnirii was re- 
 produced in the early printed books, in what we call Ifalic, the next 
 remove from the scrij-t, in whith, in the time of Ahhis ?k^anutius, 
 (I.M()), for example, not jirefaccs merely, and dedications, but whole 
 volumes were printed. ();ir present so-cdled Roman characters, the 
 capitals excej)ted, are a}ipare::tly a cnmproniise betv.ccn tli's aneient 
 script or Italic, and the black letter or Gothic. 
 
 The moih'rn alj)habet, th.en, butli as written ami printed, is seen {<, 
 be the restdt of a series of departures ^.ivther and liatlier from its 
 primitive tyjx's — ^'/■/v//*', indt ed, but (H'.l.: ui;:eii we now willingly 
 describe as ?7T^/j/a and no longer corr'Kjviula : ft.r i\< our national 
 speech itself hns attained its acknowledged terseness anil jioiiit by a 
 succession of free clij)[)iugs in its pr;rts and lorn;-, — -o its niaible 
 servitors, fl;e letters, Iiy disencumliering themselves of mueli tliat 
 once seemed essential, and was essentird, have rittained to r.u (llieiency 
 whieh il' not com])kte is most convenient. 
 
 Tiiis simplielty of ibrm, involving distirirtness, is iiiuhly to be 
 esteemed and carefully guarded. Kuulish printers of lafe have been 
 bringing back the style of type, both I?onian and Italic, in vogue a 
 century and a half ago, but whieh h;;d nearly fallen out of ordinary 
 use. .V certain feeling of incou'^ruity is at first experienced at meet- 
 ing with the advanced ideas of the present day in a garb associated in 
 the mind with many obsolete notions of the reign of A\)ue and the 
 first Georges, and we are moved for a moment to imagine that the 
 
6 
 
 ON ERRATA RECEPTA. 
 
 art of printing is "regressing," — to coin a word at least as good as 
 its corrclntive and opposite — and \\c think it strange that any art at 
 this era should " regress." But we soon sec that the excpjisite legi- 
 bility secured hy the round openness of even the smallest sized 
 character in this style of ])rinting will account for its return to puhlic 
 favour. We have also here, perhaps, a visible sign of a begun re- 
 action against the loose un-Addisonian English, of which, as prevalent 
 in certain quarters, Trench and Alford have been for some time com- 
 plaining. A lately cstablislicd clever journal entitled " T/io Realm,'" 
 is wholly jjriuted in the style referred to : its advertisements, all in 
 beautiful clear brevier and diamond, have the air of j)aragraj)hs in the 
 " Gentleman s Ma<jazine " in Johnson's day. 
 
 In connexion with movements apparently retrograde, we may refer 
 to the rather extravaiirant medievalism which threatened a few vears 
 ago to render monuments and inscrij)tions uninlelligilde to the mass. 
 It was especially enamoured of intricate initial letters, with wide- 
 gadding, low-trailing appurtenances, covering an undue proportion of 
 the page or legendal ril)and. This was a passing foible in a cirtain 
 class ; but it h.is left traces too durable in a number of works <jf art, 
 in glass, metal and stone, which, although in themselves, in many an 
 instance, exquisitely significant, yet fail to interj)ret themselves, as 
 such monuments ought to do, to the eye and mind of the general 
 public. 
 
 A collection of all the alphabets, serious and facetious, which 
 have been designed of late years for ornamental and quasi-ornamental 
 purposes, in magazines, advertisements, and books in general, would 
 be exceedingly curious. " The Builder " every week throws out an 
 ingenious and graceful initial idea. In some recent numliers of that 
 periodical there have been beautiful developments of such ideas in 
 representations of imaginary ornamental iron work. Over-intricate 
 illuminated capitals continue to be amusingly and very cleverly carica- 
 tured by " Punch:' 
 
 But to return from a digression. It is not many years since Lord 
 Palmerston considered the deterioration of form in English cursive 
 script to be an evil so great and so extended as to call for formal con- 
 demnation. Since his memorable dictum on this subject, a good deal 
 of attention has been given in ])ublic oliices and schools to t".e essen- 
 tial forms of the script letters ; and it is now not uulashionable for 
 signatures to be legil)le. Tiic plain unaffected autographs of the 
 Prince of Wales and Duke of Newcastle will be remembered. 
 
 V" 
 
ON KRUATA KECKPTA. 
 
 
 That tlicre inny be no exception to tlie general return of the letters 
 to a condition of ))roj)ricty nnJ trnthfulness, one erratnm in the deli- 
 neation of the CRj)itnl (i may, he worth j)ointini; out and marked rorri- 
 gendnm. It is seen sometimes as if it had taken n leap in the air, 
 and there been di tained, whereas its bulky form should rather he at 
 rest, down amoni; its lesser fellows, with its distinctive hut very subor- 
 dinate little eedilla (so to call it) droppin'j: below the p;eneral line. 
 Capital Y is also sometimes seen, in like manner, unduly exalted. 
 Its loop is simply a mark of diiferencc between it and the letter U, 
 and is not to he taken to rej)resent the stem of the jiriiited caj)ital. 
 Capital i\ in script has irrecoverably dej)arted from its essential ty|)e. 
 Its beautitiil circle is destroyed, and the very sub-ordinatc little mark, 
 which here a;^aiu was simply to he diacritical, is flourished out into 
 great conspicuousness. On the whole Q which used numerally to be 
 worth IH), has degenerated into a large 2. 
 
 One more erratum, also certainly to be marked cnrrUjcmhn.i. and I 
 close mv remarks on the modiHcations under<:one by the letters. 
 
 Since our adoption in money-matters of the decin:a! system, the 
 time-honoured but never-to-be-forgotten .C. s. d. have withdrawn a 
 good deal from the public view. About them there was little mistake. 
 It may be remarked as curious that whilst (hnarii were closely asso- 
 ciated with the idea of military pay, being the i^tips whieh formed the 
 stipend of the soldier, the term " soldier " itself sprung out of solidus, 
 an enduring trophy of success in some strike on a large scale, although 
 after all, again, it is to solidnx we owe our son i.e. sof. 
 
 But what means the symbol S ? It ought to be more self-inter- 
 preting than it is. An Egyptian or Chinese linguist might detect in 
 it *' honesty the best policy " — tlie ujiright man standing firm in the 
 midst of a serpentine tortuosity, and resolving so to earn his dollar. 
 Sometimes in script he is seen to incline — to be almost overthrown in 
 the coil. We have here, however, nothing of this sort, but another 
 of our errata recepta. The curve which looks like an S in this 
 character is properly no S. It should be made in the reverse way. 
 It will then be seen to constitute, with the vertical or verticals around 
 which it twines, a kind of double P — a character which reads P which- 
 ever way it stands This dual P is the initial of the Spanish name 
 of the coin which we call a dollar, viz., Peso, which is literally j?^//- 
 sum, all but identical with pondus, or pondo, i.e., our Pound: so that 
 strangely enough our £, which denotes the same thing, viz., Libra, a 
 
8 
 
 ON EKHATA RECEPTA. 
 
 pound weight, would have answered, nt least, as well as % to represent 
 "dollar." It is manifest that the most rational abbreviation would 
 have been a simple I). And this we occasionally sec at the head of 
 Canadian and United States figures in English papers, in the absence 
 ])robably of the nsuid symbol in the printing ollice. In sotue United 
 Slates papers tiiis character is seen tut in the riy;lit way. Would it 
 not be found universally so in the Mexican jiapers? 
 
 On the erratuiu ircepfinn in the word dullur itself, I shall remark 
 in the jiroper jilacc. 
 
 "Were D employed for Dulhir, it might receive, the usual mark of 
 contrnclion across its stem, as in X, lb, kc. Had the symbol .^ been 
 an abbreviation of Scndu, it would have borne this mark transversely. 
 Hut the silver coins, which we have named dollai's, were not Sciit/i — 
 were not associated in any way with Italians or their language, but 
 wholly with the Spaniards and tlieir language, in which they are 
 known only as J*ciio,s-. In llie symbol 1? rig'.itly formed, then, — which 
 in reality is PP ingeniou.sly nu)nographed into one character, denoting 
 the j)lural ol' peso, as ]\ISS. denotes the jjluial of ^IS. — we have an 
 interesting little hisiorical monument of the early relations of this con- 
 tincnt to the native land of its lirst possessors. 
 
 2. We next proceed to consider the Numerals from the point of 
 view selected in this j)aper. {a) And 1st of the lloman Numerals. 
 
 The lloman Numerals present some examples o( ouv erriilu rcccpta. 
 The syn;bol for ten (X), if not a pictorial representation of the ten 
 lingers outspread, is a conventional mark for ten separate tallies or 
 strokes witli a score drawn obii(piely across them ; wliilst V (five) is 
 the half of X, or else one haml expanded; or according to some it is 
 an Etruscan live iuverteJ. Tlie symbol for ///"///, L, is in reality Ji, 
 the Etruscan symbol for .')0 inverted. 1) for r>()0 is really no I), but 
 the half of C I ') written also as an ellipse with its minor axis drawn, 
 a symbol said to be also Etruscm, and denoting 1000, the iniiial pro- 
 bably, like M for inillc, of the Etruscan word for that sum. On the 
 principle that IV = o— 1, XL = 50—10, ike. 
 
 (b) And next of the Aral)ic Numerals. 
 
 Could we compare our Arabic numerals with their native prototypes 
 and these aurain with their orig-inals, we should see that here also we 
 have a group of our errata receplu — of symbols answering their pur- 
 pose as letters do, albeit they have departed far from their first con- 
 dition. The first condition of these numerals, however, I think, was 
 
ON EURATA KECEPTA. 
 
 9 
 
 not pictorial, hut nn arrangement of points shewing the numbers to he 
 named. Somewhat thus : 
 
 f 
 
 These groups of ])oiiits rapidly made, and caeh rospeetively con- 
 neotcd together by a tr.ieing of the calamus as it j)assed (piiikly from 
 one dot to the next, may he conceived of as developing at last into our 
 present Aral)ic numerals, the line eoniuetiiig tiu' points deiiotini; also 
 j)erhap.s the order which the eye of tiie enumerator would swiftly 
 follow. 
 
 This line itself may have been suggested by the accidental marks 
 left by readers in the act of calculation. The so-called nailed letters 
 in inserijjtions arc formed by light straight lines connecting bold punc- 
 tures which mark out the general fiu'm of each character. This pro- 
 cess of course produces a Svt of Utters that are angular. In an in- 
 teresting alphal)et of tlie time of the Seleueid;e (about JJ.C. 2.'»0) the 
 characters are marked out by an increased nundjer of dot?, v>ilh light 
 lines connecting them, forming the letters c:\\k'd jx'r J c'es by the French, 
 from their beaded appearance. In these the angles are converted into 
 curves in such letters as B and O. In a similar manner the numerals 
 formed from the dots of computation speedily bad tluir an-Us con- 
 verted into curves, apj)roxiu;ating thus to the flowing forms of our 
 present cyphers ; just as in ra]):d writing, the aiigular capitals also 
 become at length the so-called round hand or cursive script. 
 
 Th.e syndjol for seven, about whieli on this hypothesis a dinicnlty 
 may present itself, is either a corabination of the written G, with a 
 connected point l)elow for pins one ; or an adaptati-^n ot the Greek zctn 
 which, though standing sixth in the i)rcsent Greek alphabet, is in no- 
 tation the symbol for 7, one letter, iaa, i.e. the digamma or/, having 
 been disused as a letter, though retained as a symbol for G. It will, 
 be noticed also that the fnial cypher has the value of fcH, which mav 
 help to render rational the notation 10, 20, oO, <!tc. 
 
 I am aware of the theory that the original elements of the Arabic 
 numerals were strokes or tallies, corresj)onding in number with the 
 quantities indicated, productive also, in the first instance, of a set of 
 square or angular characters. As their origination in points was inde- 
 pendent V conceived, and is at least equally probable, the su})posed 
 process *ias been briefly detailed. It may here be added that al- 
 
10 
 
 ON ERRATA REC'KFTA. 
 
 though we call our numerals Arabic, they agree more closely in form 
 with the Sanskrit than they do with the present Arabic. 
 
 AVith the revival of the type of the reign of Queen Ann, there has 
 been a return also to the forms of the numerals then in vogue — forms 
 which in some Offices, for some purposes, had never been disused. 
 
 For the sake, aj)parently, of producing evenness and compac'ness of 
 line, — a praiseworthy o!)ject were we still in the habit of writing only 
 in capitals — great liberties had been taken with the relative magni- 
 tudes of numerals bv scriveners and tv|)e-fouuders — until the histor- 
 ical contour ihereof had been sadlv intcrfei\?d with. Fii'urcs hin-h 
 and low, long and shoi t, have been by those unphilosophic artists con- 
 founded, and made by a kind of Procrustean treatment to touch j)ar- 
 allcl limits at toj) and bottom. But clearly there is as much im}iro- 
 priety in making written figures all of a height, as there would be in 
 doing so with the written letters. 
 
 The numerals, then, as thev have been rendered of late in the Sa- 
 tiirdaji Ilevieto, and numerous other notable publications, simply reas- 
 sert the forms of which without authority they had been deprived ; 
 and although seniors will, as is their wont, not readily interrupt a cus- 
 tom learnt in childhood, young arithmeticians will prefer to adopt the 
 revived method, and construct figures as well as letters in accordance 
 with their rafionnle. Thus it will not be long before in schools it will 
 be the practice to make I's, 2's and -I's neither above nor below the 
 general line of a series oi words or figures (with the exception of 4 
 which extends a little way below) ; whilst in relation to the gener.al 
 line (i's and 8's will be written with the upper half above it, and 3's, 
 5's, 7's, D's, with tiie lower half below it. 
 
 In the Procrustean treatment of figures described above, the sym- 
 bol for " four *' lost its essential form. Whilst being unnaturally 
 stretched to reach the altitude of S, its main stem snapped, and was 
 ever afterwards simi)ly indicated by n mere to\ich of the pen across 
 what had been the base of a very perfect little triangle. 
 
 Symbols Algebraical and Geometrical are generally modern, and so 
 have not had time to vary mucii frouj their first intention. They too 
 are mildly jjictorial, taxing the imagination l)ut little. The ••••""t 
 sign is the track left by the part withdrawn ; the 73/"* is th^ oblitera- 
 tion of this, and so its opposite. In the symbol for division the severed 
 parts have shrunk up into two points. A square is a square, a 
 parabola is a parabola, and so on. But in the rapid execution neces- 
 
ON ERRATA RECEPTA. 
 
 II 
 
 sary at modern examinations we see the modification begin which shews 
 us how letters and fiiijures have arrived at their present forms. The 
 " rune" for root ( v/) aj)pears to be a written /• exaggerated and rent 
 asunder to gain room for tlie index of the qunntity souj;ht. The 
 symbol peculiar to the Integral Calculus (/) is a relic of the 
 Jliients of Newton. 
 
 The Zodiacal and Phinetarv signs hii\e become considerablv dis* 
 guised. Aries, Taurus, Gen.ini, Sagittarius, Aquarius, and Pisces still 
 speak, in some manner, for themselves. But it requires the aid of an 
 acute imagination to see a crab in Cancer, a lion in L'^o, a virgin 
 (qtiert/ Proserpine, the Kora) with the ears of wiieat in firf/o, the 
 scales in Libra, a scorpion in Scorpio, a jiiscicaudal goat in Capricorii. 
 
 In S.iturn we dimly discern i\\Q fdLv of Chronos ; in Jupiter Jove 
 seated witli the engle at his feet ; in Mars the shield and sjiear ; in 
 Venus her mirror ; in Mercury his caduceus ; in Ceres her sickle ; in 
 Pallas the gilded spear-head of Athene; in Juno her peacock in its 
 pride ; E-irth, Uranus, Sun, and Moon are sell'-iuterpretin^j;. Vesta is 
 a picture confessed, of her liTrla with the eternal ^wc thereon. 
 
 If planet? arc still to be represented by symbols, the invention of 
 man is threatened with exhaustion, for asteroids are discovered in al- 
 most every year. They now amount to scventv-two. — The ascendinir 
 and descendiiig Node {9,, es) is a dragon, having apparently the 
 geometric caterpillar's liabit of progression. 
 
 There is nothing of the j)ictures(pie about the notation in Music. 
 Sounds and sentiments are interpreted to the eye Ijy bold points at 
 various altitudes in respect to a system of horizontal lines, by spa- 
 cings and slurs, and a number of arbitrary marks. 
 
 II. I arrive at Errata Reccpta that a])pear in the shape of contrac- 
 tions and abbreviations. 
 
 I. And (first) of contractions. 
 
 There are conventional contractions which in themselves are rational 
 enough ; but in some instances we have l)een taught to use them eg 
 early, that we live for many years wilhotit detecting that they are any- 
 thing more than nu-re symbols. 
 
 It has been perhaps not an uncommon experience to use for some 
 years cir/, dtvt, for hundredweight, pennyweight, without realizing 
 their intrinsic composition. 
 
12 
 
 ON ERRATA RECEPTA. 
 
 The character denoting "and" — by how many of us was per se, 
 as associated with this, the first Latin unconsciously learnt? — cm- 
 ployL'd especially in the contraction for et cetera, has in modern 
 manuscript and typography lost its organic form. This is rcajjpcaring 
 now in the revived tyj)? hefbre referred to. In Macmillan's Treasury 
 Scries, and in CasscH's new edition of Sliaksjieare, we see it again 
 printed Et (Etc.) Although in rapid writing we do not expect this 
 ibrm to be restored, it is quite j)ropcr that we should know what it is 
 that we write down when we execute the sjtiritcd flourish which oc- 
 casionally at the end of a sentence symholi/cs the indcfinitenc.ss con- 
 veniently concealed by it. 
 
 • « 
 
 On old Eiiglish coins the "et" has converted itself into a eliarac- 
 tcr like a " /." Thus on a coin in the cabinet of tlie Canadian Insti- 
 tute is read, KinVAKD. 1). G. KKX. ANCL. Z. FKANC. 1). IIYB. 
 
 This j)retcnded z is one of the favorite si(/fff of the scribes. AVe 
 iiave it in vie. for vidi'lioet, in oc. for ounces, and in the symbols for 
 draelnns and serujilcs — where what arc aj)])arcntly c's are simply 
 flourishes of confraetiou. In V for versiclr, 11 for response, and U 
 again, for Recipe, a slight fitroke across a portion of the letter gives 
 the hint of abbri'vlation. 
 
 Domes-Day Book is full of such clerical abridgments. Tiiese so- 
 called si(jl(t became at an early [)criod sueii a source of misunderstand- 
 ing in ^I8S. that Justinian forbade their use in letral docu lents.* A 
 very common note of contraction, lung retained in Mnglish books, 
 was a circumflex lor the omission of m or n ; as cuiiiuiucatid for roiu- 
 munication. Ilencc has arisen our Co. for Couipanj/. No. for nvmher, 
 is the French, nitinrro. Do. f//7/o, is Italian for <//c////>< " aforesaid." 
 Titular initials are somctiu)es wrongly written and ])oiutcd. Tiie LL. 
 for the jiiural Lcjiuin will be thus seen divided l>y a ])eriod. In 
 INIacniillan's Maga/inc, not long since, L. L. O. (). P. lor Liferanim 
 Orient all' Kill VrttJ'essor was given without connncnt, the error bting 
 
 • Viilc .Tiistinian. ri/f/r.r. /.'■''. r Tit. .v>\ i>i-ii. Taiiil(Mii niiloni pnMiam fMUitnii"* cdiisH- 
 tiiiiiiiis el adM iMis (OS (|ui in I'tiitt'iiim li vcs i,(istras p( r ^'frlnsMiu (lll^r iii itiUcs iiiisi I'licriiit 
 TOnscribcrc. Oiimia niim, id rst.ct nomiiia iiriiili-ntimn.rt liliilns ct liliroiiim niinicni", pur 
 coiiscqni'iiliiis iitcrnruin voliinnis, iioii per sii-ln iiianitV'staii: ita ut qui falnm lil>riim sibl 
 paiiivi'iit. ill (|ii(> ^iL'la |ii)Mta Mini, in (|n:ili'im nn(|uc Iik lun iilni vci vohiiuiiiis, ^i^iat iimtllis 
 so esse ('(idicis (Uiiiaiiuni : w (|ii(' cniiii licciiliaiii ni ci inins ( x tail CDtlii r in jiidicinin aliiiiiid 
 ri'cilnrc, (|iii in (|na('uii(ini> sua imito KiKlornin iialn't nnlitins. Ipso antcin lilirarin«, (|ui cni 
 insoribi'if nnsiis luci'il, iKiii solinii criiiiinnli )iii>nn, KcrunJiini qnod diituni itst, pii'ctntiiri 
 8<'il ctiaiii liliii astiii aUoncin in dn|i1nni doininns rcddat, k1 <! ip'«> doniinns iirnorans Inli-in 
 llbniiu vcl coinpnrnvcrit, vfl cnnCci (•iirftv<'iit, (piod it nntoa ft, noliis di^positiun ottt, I't iu 
 LaliiiA constitutioiic ct in (iricc^ quaiii nd loxiim prorut>8oroi« diinisiniuii. 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 i 
 
ON KRRATA RECKPTA. 
 
 l.i 
 
 1 
 
 \ 
 
 i 
 
 considered perhaps too manifest to require remark. There is a ten- 
 dency of late years — natural enough — to convert into plain English, 
 the Academic titles, which were once supposed to adhere for life only 
 in Latin, having been conferred in that learned dialect. Hence, we 
 have now M.A., B.A., the English forms of A.M., A.l^ — D.M. for 
 M.D., has not yet appeared. Why not ? 
 
 Divinity for Theology, (as Diviuitas for Tlipolofjia) is an English 
 solecism without any continental or classical authority. Hence have 
 arisen our D.D, and B.D , as representing the Academic designa- 
 tions, common to all the old historic Universities, S.T.P., S.T.B. 
 (Sacrae Theologiae Professor Baccalaurens.) 
 
 The three initial U's are notorious : the four P's arc not so well 
 known, Tn John Iley wood's drama (temp. Hen. VIII ) so entitled 
 ("The Four P's") they seriously denote Palmer, Pardoner, Potticary, 
 and Pedlar. 
 
 The y in the humorously-revived Pepysian "ye " for " the," is no 
 y, but the Anglo-Saxon character for th. This make-shift for a dis- 
 used letter appears passim in the early printed books, and old copies 
 of the English Bible It is admitted in the modern Polyglots of 
 Bagster for the ])urpose of gaining sj)ace, so as to make the matter in 
 the pages of the several versions respectively correspond. \r, yt, ym, 
 ifec, are also common contnu-tioiis of f/irir, that, thnn, kc. ; the e, r, 
 t, Sic, ought to be placed over the y. 
 
 2. W{.' come now (sceondlv) to abl)reviations, I mean abridged 
 words, ns errata rrcepta. 
 
 We ell know how unallowable the abbreviation of worils is, in letters 
 and finished cf)n)positions, although in rcforonces, foot-notes, indices, 
 busine.ss-rejHU'ts, medical prescriptions, and a few other similar memo- 
 randa, the practice for convenieiu;e sake is permitted. 
 
 There is a tendency, in some degree, to employ these abridgments 
 as complete words. We hear of consols. In the familiar language of 
 Al<:el)raists and Goometricans such abbreviations are not uiu'onimon. 
 Among booksellers we hear such barbarisms as I'Jmo's, 3'Jmo's. 
 Lawyers will tell you oi f. fa.\. Musicians speak of sol -fa -in y* 
 
 * Oiiiilo Arctino (A.l). 1020) obsfTVcd, tliaf in a rortaiii rljant for a li.vnm in lionniir of 
 
 John llio ^nI)ti^.t, the voici! asccmk'd in n-Kiilar (rrndatioii npnn tlin (Irst K.vllablo of orpIi 
 
 lialf Iiiif>. 'I'lt ri|irrs(Mit the SDiiiids at !)ioso points, ho ailoptrd tln' first N.vllahlns of tho 
 Jialf-HiHS in Uii! f()l!o\vin»{ stanza: 
 
 f/^qui-nnt laxis roioiiare (ibris .V/ra Kcstornm/auiull tucnuni .SWvo polinti /ahli r<>aturn,i 
 
 Sauclc Johannes' 
 For ut, do was aftcrwanJii hubstitutcd ; and«( was aiMod 
 
14 
 
 ON ERRATA RECEPTA. 
 
 All crafts, I suppose, have similar technical shortenings. In the poli- 
 tical arena we see, if we do not hear, Hep. by pop. ^ There is a ten- 
 dency in such abridged terms to become at length actual words. Our 
 language exhibits a few examples of terms which, originating in abbre- 
 viations, have in the course of time become legitimised, although in 
 most cases they have not divested themselves of a certain taint of vul- 
 garity. A Inuidrcd years ago, «?o4//e (excitable, fickle) was a cant 
 term for the populace. The complete jdirase, cither founded on some 
 such exj)rcssion as that of Cocsar, in regard to the Gauls (B. G. 4. 5.) 
 " Galli sunt in caj)iendis cousiliis mobiles," — or obliquely glaneii^g 
 at the much sought for, but never found, " perpetuum mobile " — 
 was "mobile vulgus." This mohile was curtailed at hngth into our 
 familiar word viob, followed at first by the period of contraction, but 
 afterwards written without any such distinction, and so it has passed 
 into the language. Again ; Rhubarb is now a very respectable word, 
 — rcj)resenting an equally respectable thing — whether drug or escu- 
 lent. It is properly, however Rlia. Barb, manifestly an apothecary's 
 abbreviation of either Rha Barbaricxim, or Rheum Barbarian. Incog. 
 and infra dig., have almost lost, in familiar language, their actual 
 character. Nem. con. and crim. con. are not very ambiguous. We 
 might venture to write philomath without a mark of abbreviation. By 
 a kind of synecdoche of the first syllable for the whole term we have 
 made out of cubriolet. Hackney, and Hochheimer, cab, hack, and 
 hock. From Grogram (grossa grana, a coarsely woven material) and 
 Qenievre (the French corruption of Juniperus — further anglicised by 
 us into Geneva) — have come the names of two unmentionable liquids. 
 Cit. once passed for citizen ; but the modern Geni. has not yet suc- 
 ceeded in being recognized as Gentleman ; nor his pants as panta- 
 loons ; nor his nobs as nobiles. Fib. for Fahula is one more Abbre- 
 viation from the Latin. Pi or pie, denoting certain old Ecclesiastical 
 rules, is the first syllable of -rri-va^, the Table or Index, which detailed 
 them. Type m pie, is type that must be re-arranged — put back into 
 the iri-va^ or case. Pica is litera pica-ta — letter pitch-black. Mag- 
 pie is properly, as given in Shakspeare, maggot-pie, i.e. pica morosa^ 
 the whimsical Pie. Sub. for subaltern in the army and elsewhere ; 
 Spec, for speculation at the Exchange ; phiz, for physiognomy, in the 
 
 I ;t To the " foreiitn" reader it may bo neressary to say that a certain dariKcroiis reef run- 
 ning right across tliu lakeot Canadian politics is thna named. Tho full form of tliu appol 
 lation is ";Repreientation by Population."^ 
 
ON ERRATA RECEPTA. 
 
 15 
 
 t 
 
 photographic studios ; pos. for positive, and mem. for memorandum, 
 in the office of the Militarr Secretary, would be all taken as pretty 
 intelligible English. The Germans seem to have adopted the preno- 
 men Max for Maximilian. Caiv has been seriously derived from cur- 
 tail — a hound supposed to be disqualified for the noble chase by 
 caudal abbreviation. Cheap is Cheapside. Is not chap the chapman 
 with whom we are transacting business ? 
 
 At the University, the hoi pol/oi are the po// ; optimes are ops ; so- 
 phisters are sophs ; the doitiitii — the heads of houses and other mag- 
 nates — are the dons, i.e , the doms ; a vice-chancellor or vice-presi- 
 dent is occasionally the vice, a term which would have been grievously 
 misunderstood by frequenters of Mysteries and Moralities — and which 
 ought, if anything, to be vi-ce ; but that, although the correct thing, 
 would sound nearly as bad. At Oxford, Demies are (h^uii, i.e., semi- 
 cojnmnnani, a sort of inferior fellow-commoners. The writers in 
 "Blackwood," by an affectionate and not inelegant prosopopeia some- 
 times speak of their organ or magazine as Magu. 
 
 My specimens of words formed in a reverse way, by taking termina- 
 tions instead of initial syllables, are not so numerous. Drawing-, for 
 withilrawing-T com, story for history, are not very striking ; and it 
 may be doubted that brick is ini-hrec. For the rest, take cates from 
 deli-cates ; wig from periicig, an anglicism for perruque ; bus from 
 omnibus; bill from li-bell ; and finally, copus, from episcopus, a 
 beverage in certain colleges at Cambridge.* 
 
 The few words said to be due to the initials of other words are all 
 doubtful. 
 
 Macrabcens, the surname of the Jewish hero, n.c. 168, is attributed 
 to the initials of the Hebrew words which signify " Who among the 
 gods is like unto thee, Jehovah !" AF4R.\ has been said to denote 
 " Annus crat, regnaute Augusto," although, more probably, it was 
 originally " Tlie Bronzes;" as we sometimes say "The Marbles," 
 meaning the Arundel or other marbles in citing authorities for dates. 
 
 •Better knownpiThaps an Risliop; nut peculiar, however, to CamViridge "r England. 
 When Hieroiiynius .lobs, .1 Gcrinau Student, was asked by his examiner in Tbeolojry, 
 Quid cat episcopus"*. he replied, "an airrccnblo mixture of husar, pomc>:ranate juice, and 
 red wine." S' e Mr. Brooks' late Translation of the Jobsiad.aGerm. poem, temp. 1781. Tho 
 Kame younir Kentleman dufiiicd "Apo8t!us" to be. "TalljugM in which winu and beer aro 
 kept in villages." 
 
16 
 
 ON ERRATA RECEITA. 
 
 Hip, the thrice-repeated exclamation which precedes the cliecr of 
 onset or victory, is Ilierosolyma est perdita ! and should on this 
 supposition be Hep ! It was the cry heard in German cities when 
 the unfortunate Jewish quarter was to be assailed. News has been 
 derived, scarcely in earnest, it is to be imagined, from the initials of 
 the four " airts," N, E, W, S. Like Abecedarian, or the Abcdarium 
 Natures of Lord Bacon, Elementa Itas been said to be composed of 
 L, M, N, the letters whose sounds seem to be heard in the word. 
 The cabinet of (^/harles IL (IG/O) was, in no amiable mood, branded 
 as the Cabal, from the initials of its five members, Clifford, Ashley, 
 Buckingham, Arlington, and Lauderdale. Cabaler, in French, sip;- 
 nifyiog to intrigue, existed long before, and doubtless suggested the 
 mot. This party-term of 1070 has rendered the Hebrew word for 
 occult science familiar to English ears. The absurd expression 
 " Teetotalism," is, I think, connected with the well known little toy, 
 in which the letter T denoted totum, and signified " Take-all." By 
 a process the reverse of that indicated above, the abbreviation IH2, 
 has been, in an age unfamiliar with Greek, resolved into initials, and 
 interpreted accordingly. 
 
 Abbreviated, however, though many of our words are, the English 
 language abhors outward signs of curtailment. We repudiate to the 
 greatest possible extent the apostrophe and the circumflex. We like 
 to have our lines look staid and unbroken. In this respect a page of 
 English resembles a page of Latin. There is a solid, sensible air 
 about them both. A page of Frencli or of Greek will exhibit a suc- 
 cession of elisions duly notified, and the words generally, besifles, 
 appear to be in a state of flurry and effervescence with accents and 
 other little diacritical touches — 
 
 " As thick and nunihcrless 
 As the Ray raotcs that people the sunbeam." 
 
 We dot our i's and cross our t's, simply to distinguish them from 
 similar parts of other letters. This is the only weakness in wliich we 
 indulge. We dismiss even from poetry elisions and contractions which 
 Shakspeare and Drydcn considered not at all ungraceful. We tolerate 
 "t'other" for " the other," "on't" for "on it," '"em" for "them," 
 only in Humorous Verse. How compact and unfrivolous the pages 
 of Tennyson look ! Even the unpronounced -ed is left to be discovered 
 by the ear of the reader. Notes of exclamation are suppressed. 
 
 "Doeth" has become "doth;" "do on," "don;" "do off," 
 
ON EUHATA RECEl'TA. 
 
 17 
 
 "dotV;" "do out," "douf;" " d' huit," "doit;" and " natheless " 
 y;iv('s no siirn of its btine: " ne'er the less." " Seveiinij'ht " is now 
 "si'iiniirlit;" "nioncfli," "month;" "sithence," "since." "Prithee" 
 and " i;ooil hve " we write as we utter, althoui:;h the first, of course, 
 is " I pray thee;" and the latter, " Deus vobiscum," "God be with 
 vou." 
 
 Proper names which, as beinj; forei|j[;n in their origin, exhibited a 
 few years since, au apostrophe, are now printed without it ; and the 
 capital whicli followed it is reduced to the ranks. Were it the plea- 
 sure of Mr. Disraeli to take one more liberty with his ])atronymic, 
 and terminate it with a y instead of an i, the next jicneration would 
 scarcely notice in it any trace of Hebrew origin. 
 
 On observing a review lately of the Life of a certain Capodistrias, 
 I by no means recognized in a moment an old ac{|uaintaince, Capo- 
 d' Istrias, whose name was familiar in mens' mouths at the time of 
 the Greek Revolution. 
 
 In like manner, Dorsay, Uarcy, Doily, Dacier, arc now common 
 forms. This Anglicising process in regard to proper names of foreign 
 origin, is, however, nothing new. Dalton, Dexter, Denroche, Danger- 
 field, and many another family apj)ellation in D, were once written 
 with an apostrophe. Dexter and Dangerfield suffer two violations ; 
 the one being properly D'Exter, i.e., of Exeter, and the other 
 D'Aungerville, not involving "field" at all. Diaper from (V Iprh, 
 and Dindon from (VInde are examples well known. 
 
 In another set of names which originally began with a vowel, a dis- 
 guise is j)roduced by the elision of the article ; as in Langley, Larcher, 
 iltc. In others, again, it is the Anglicised sound only that causes us 
 to forget that they arc properly rrcnch, as Mallet, Calmet. 
 
 In this connexion it may be added that although the pronunciation 
 Pree-do may be cidtivated in some families, plain Cornishmen, among 
 whom the name is common, persist in making it Ffi-deatw, with an w, 
 just as the rest ot England will say Vaua: and Jacques. And so I re- 
 member at Cambridge, Professor Prime's name continued as it was, 
 notwithstanding an elVort at one time to improve it into de la Prime, 
 So to recal Seymour and Sinclair to Saint Maur and St. Clair is us 
 bootless an undertaking as it would be to resolve back into Hugh de 
 Bras, the immortal Uudibras. 
 
 {To be continued.)