FZIs THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES ^L^ lamer DALLAS, 1JEXAS .'A,,,.?*,*/,/ ■ ^,^//,S: /y ■ /■ 7«,,~4b. [~7 ify/„A/. r. < y, ,/,/,/-. O, .„/■/,■ 'Cyy,! /C '.,y„,/„/^»,- 4->/'///4- ■ YyY.^/yyY-YY/ 'fa/,. \V,> /,-. £ii .^4,44/44,44.4. . ^4,444,4444.4. Y',,44/44 44/A ■„ 44., A V . \ x ' / ' ' H ^ // 1 I // //!;, ,.; „■,,., • //,;, „-'///, . & . ■4,,4A - *•$> ^ v ~ .// „_ — , *A . //-A J „,/ m . '/"■" "■"■> 4,„f .y/„-„ „,// „„4- A V ,./'/,.> , ; A, ,/ ,4„,A A,-/A „A,„ ,/ ; ~v — 4 — — ^ ; ,., .. / • f/r',1 //■'/'■ //<'/ m * f/V/Y //-,>/ ,/<■//* , >. ,,/,.', . A /.J,/.,4 ,4 4,<-> 4/, / A,,/ / , V. , - *\ " / C 3 ,£ .. //•/<■ ss/./y// /< ^ /A,:?, ,-s> ss /<■/,<■"{ /< •• .j/f>f*A/ A/,.,, 44,, ■ s;„ ,/. 14 A/, ■ 4/ *=*s~ — i/ - ./4V44444 .a'/, 44/Y 8£ , e& /■' ■*/*>//*./ ,/.! ,/,„ ,.l A,,,l A,,;,,,,,, /A„ „/,'■>,■ i — • ' S —t >v /,„ e- _■ y/// ,!„_.,/ /,',/„■,,_■ _ ~~ /4 ■„:» 4, //,„,,/ ^44/44 is, : /,/, . //,a-4a,4 : : . ■' .- : : . • - • 44, ,/ : ,1 44,/' ■ • • • ■, A/,,,,/ / A ' , 444, ■4/.>A4,4A4r/ ,y/„„„y 44,,.. ■■ •//,;, ,,/,„ .. /'/444Y- /..;>. ,/,„„/4,>4 < 1 ,„„.A / '> r ,,./ ' 1 ./4,y/4444y ^'. /44/,r,,y4 f A4, W ' ,/,/,,, £XAMPLE /fr As/,' ,/,'^f //>, .//; „a,„. „/ 4,4 44,/, ,4,, ,4/ .tA Yip/tj .,//./ ,„./,, „4. //„ ,.:■„,„■„.. ./ „„4,/< ,„,,v4 ,/n,/4 ,„, /,,■ //, SpcaArr. ',, A ' y-,4, ,4/ 44444/4, ,4 A ',-/,,/ 4„,A >.,. 4'4,:, //,, /4n44, 4 4./'//,, y,,,, 4 4, ,,-4,,,,,V4,.4, 4,-4// ,/„/.i44 ,.,„;, / ■,'■/,'., /.- ,,,,., 4.,/ f/,, 44,, ,,,,■> ,4 4 4, 44->4/,4,,4 r,//,) ,4 /'44,44/ .>//,■ 44 / 4 , . • STENOGRAPHY REMODELLED, A TREATISE DEVELOPING AN ENTIRELY NEW SYSTEM SHORT-HAND WRITING ON THE BASIS OF GRAMMAR AND THE ANALOGY OF LANGUAGE. BY J. FANCUTT. " System. A scheme by which many things are reduced to a regular dependance." — Johnson. " Pour bien savoir les choses il enfant savoir le detail." Honfcon : SHERWOOD, GILBERT, & PIPER, PATERNOSTER ROW T CALDWELL, PRINCES STREET, EDINBURGH, MDCCCXL, [Entered at Stationer's Halt."] London : Printed uy William Paul, Great Saffron Hill. PREFACE. Two years have been allowed to elapse since the following little treatise was ^ prepared for publication, in order to test it ^ by actual practice. The result has induced g me to present it in the exact form it 3 then was, having previously devoted for a considerable period the greater part of my tl time to the study and arrangement of its =§ several parts. The object I proposed at the commence- d ment was, to combine the utmost simplicity *- of the most trivial methods with the com- pleteness aimed at by the more scientific though impracticable suggestions which have A 2 4483v IV at various times been offered by ingenious writers on the philosophy of language. It has appeared to me that the interest which this art would otherwise excite in the general student is destroyed by the premature publication of works either possessing no claim to originality, or, if possessing it, being in general only a forced attempt to adapt a single idea to the exigencies of an elaborate art. I feel confident that the reader w T ill at least award to me the merit of a more earnest and careful attention to the means of forming a legitimate System of Short-hand than has yet been given to the subject. I have only to add that I have avoided increasing the bulk of the work by the ad- dition of lessons and illustrations which were not strictly necessary to its exemplification as a system ; and to hint to the casual reader that some of its apparently most ud important features are ^he result of very considerable labour, in the endeavour to preserve throughout that perfect analogy of construction which, it is hoped, will distinguish it from the irregular and un- connected methods in general use. July 1840. STENOGRAPHY REMODELLED. It is nearly two centuries since the invention of Stenography in England. It was regarded at first as a most important and extremely ingenious dis- covery, although confined to the suppression of redundant letters and the substitution of marks for those that remain ; it was however, soon apparent that these marks (though more simple in themselves than letters), when required to be made with great expedition, and joined together, were written with even less facility of hand. Subsequent writers in- troduced the practice of using short-hand letters for words (b for be, by, but, &c.) ; and various efforts have been made to improve the short-hand marks for the alphabet by transposing and altering them, each alteration being called " A System " of short- hand, which title is evidently inapplicable to the B very simple and inefficient means of abridgment here alluded to, and which is in fact the whole theory of the art as at present taught. Before I refer to the historical and critical re- marks which it is my purpose to make, I think it necessary to give a slight detail of some of my views of the proper theory of the art, which will serve as a kind of text to my subject. I consider Stenography as an art intimately con- nected with the very highest efforts of the mind in its practice, and the cultivation of it as capable of greatly invigorating the memory and the intellect. It has long been a matter of surprise to me that an art bearing so nice a relation to the delicacies of language, and the intricacies of thought, has not advanced beyond the mere arbitrary arrangement of marks for letters — that nothing has been at- tempted in the way of calling into action the principles of language itself in reference to its abridgment. The illustration and comparison which I shall presently go into will, I have no doubt, show that a great variety of dependent principles are necessary to the efficacious practice of this art, which have not yet been recognized by any publication, or formally acted on by the few persons who, from peculiar genius, have been able to excel in it. As a brief elucidation of some of the prin- ciples alluded to, I shall offer two or three defi- nitions. Stenography may be defined as the art of assisting memory in reference to elocution. As times and places are the machinery of cir- cumstances, and the best helps to the memory of facts, so grammatical dependency is the machinery of sentiment, and the best means of suggesting the thoughts, which are in a great measure formed by it. The art of Stenography is not the mechanical power of writing with the swiftness of speech (which could never be acquired), but the intellectual power of condensing the thoughts of a speaker, and indi- cating them with sufficient legibility on the paper ; and the acquirement of this power, independent of its direct usefulness, is calculated, in the most sur- prising degree, to initiate the student in the philo- sophy of language, and to induce a habit of close and accurate attention and investigation. The improvement that is necessary in the Steno- graphic Art in order to ensure these important results, and which I shall endeavour shortly to B 2 illustrate, consists in the introduction of a more extended and complete theory of connexion in the signs or characters employed, which are at the same time much simplified, and yet made to embrace many new objects in the method of their arrangement, the principal one being the performance of the office of grammatical division in the kind of icords they re- present, a pervading clue being thus obtained to all that is ambiguous in the orthography or defi- cient in the sense. The art of abbreviating manuscript for the pur- pose of expedition or secrecy has received at dif- ferent times various appellations, the most expres- sive of which seems to be that now generally adopted, — Stenography, a compound word from the Greek, signifying " contracted writing." It is said to have been practised in the classic ages of Greece and Rome, and that to it we owe the pre- servation of some of the finest efforts of the an. cient orators ; but at no time or place has this art produced such important results as in England during the last half century. The present is, indeed, a most important epoch in our political and social history, having recently obtained an amelioration of the restrictions which withheld in some measure the advantages of public reporting from the great body of the people ; and who can calculate the increasing importance and national benefit that must henceforth belong to the -influence of the newspaper press in England, and the consequent usefulness of every improve- ment in the art of reporting, by which that in- fluence is principally upheld ? In the printing of the fifteenth century a great number of abbreviations were in use similar to those now confined to manuscript, and which pro- bably led to the publication of the first short-hand book in England, which was a treatise by Mr. Rad- cliffe of Plymouth, 1588, recommending a method of swift writing by leaving out all the vowels, and some of the unpronounced consonants. This, as a first step, was an ingenious invention ; it was soon afterwards succeeded by a production by Timothy Bright, dedicated to Queen Elizabeth, and contain- ing directions for writing all words by different classes of arbitrary characters. Another book shortly after appeared, entitled "A New Year's Gift for England," but the first attempt at a short-hand alphabet was made by a Mr. J. Willis in 1623 : that was the first book b 3 which bore any resemblance to what is now called short-hand. The alphabet was a remarkably com. plicated affair, and shows that the author was so fascinated with the idea of the pen following a speaker, as to forget that describing every variety of angle and curve was not the most straight- forward way of keeping pace with the tongue. A man of some learning, named Nicholas, in 1692, proposed to simplify the construction of the common writing letters, so as to make them avail- able as short-hand characters, which was an inge- nious and perhaps not a very impracticable idea ; the difficulty of such a scheme is the awkwardness of joining the letters together so as to distinguish them, which would exist if they were so altered as to be very simple. When my mind was first directed to the subject it occurred to me that the common italic b p d h &c. were characters so simple in themselves, and so much alike, that they might serve as a model for a stenographic alphabet taking the form of the looped character ; they could be made to repre- sent nearly the whole of the consonants, the posi- tion of the loop, and the angle at which the straight part or tail is placed, being susceptible of twelve distinct variations. The first attempt to simplify the usual short- hand characters may be seen in the Philosophical Transactions for 1748, where it is asserted that the exclusive use of the right line and curve is the only mode of acquiring expedition. Just previous to the present century there were several writers on Stenography, who have since obtained great notoriety, but whose views of the art varied little from each other, the most remarkable work being that of Byrom, who is entitled to con- siderable praise for his attempt to make the art conformable to a variety of ingenious rules, but who has not steered clear of introducing into his characters that complexity which is so fatal to the legibility of the writing. In adding the name of Lewis, who has devoted many years of successful attention to the improve- ment and practice of Stenography, I have, I think, mentioned all that is particularly interesting in a sketch of its history ; the numerous modern pub- lications being for the most part copies and muti- lations calculated to depreciate the art and to mis- lead as to its real nature. To sum up then in a few words the present state of the art : it consists principally in shortening the orthography of the words, and simplifying the b 4 8 shape of the letters, which are also made to signify as many whole words as their sound can possibly suggest, without any particular regard to their ar- rangement or connexion. Before I allude more particularly to the im- provements which it is my intention to introduce to the notice of the reader, it will be necessary to refer to some general facts and considerations which bear upon the subject. The first idea which suggests itself to the mind on entering into the study of Short-hand, is the extreme disproportion which exists between the time which is required for speaking and that which is required for ordinary writing. I have taken some pains to ascertain the amount of this disproportion, and I find that taking a fast writer and a moderate speaker, the difference is as six to one — six syllables may be pronounced by the speaker while only one of them can be written ; that while one sentence can be written complete the speaker has uttered six, and by the time six could be written thirty-six will have been uttered, the last of which would, in most cases, have no connexion with the last of the six written. It has, I believe, been correctly estimated that g three hundred syllables may be distinctly uttered in the space of one minute, and that if each syl- lable was expressed by a single stroke of the pen, with all the rapidity which practice could give, two hundred and fifty is the greatest number that could be written. It must be understood that it is neither possible nor necessary to form a system of Stenography ca- pable of following an orator verbatim. To write at all legiblv a great manv words must be omit- ted, and a great many more expressed with some ambiguity, but to do this on a systematic principle is still a desideratum. The ambiguity is in general of such an arbitrary nature, that the manuscript cannot be read at any interval of time from its first production. This is principally owing to the writer attempting to express words instead of ideas. If a simple stenographic character is made to signify an idea for which a dozen different words may be used in its abstract or detached sense, the context will certainly be a sufficient guide to the exact word intended, and the advantage much greater than by appointing one character to signify a number of words having no connexion but a similarity of sound. Since we find that in writing after a speaker a 10 great many words must be omitted in the most rapid short-hand, in order to express the remain- der with sufficient legibility, let us examine what kind of words are in general the most superfluous in a discourse, or the most easy to be contracted in the writing. A discourse or speech may be divided into two parts ; first, the words which are peculiar to the subject, and express by themselves some idea relative to it ; and, secondly, the abstract words, signifying nothing of themselves, but without which as a con- necting medium the sense could not be conveyed. To mark this division more distinctly I shall call the former class definitives, and the latter connec thes. As it is very important that this distinction be kept in mind, forming, as it will be seen to do, the basis of an improved system, it is necessary, perhaps, to add, that the stenographic character is also of a twofold description. For the first class of words, e definitives,' an improved stenographic alphabet is used ; but the second class, 6 con- nectives,' are signified by fixed and simple signs, indicative of their grammatical nature : the former may be called the material and the latter the ma- chinery which produces what has been termed, not inaptly, " the web of the discourse." 11 It will be found that more than half of any dis- course not strictly technical consists of words of the most ordinary and (in reference to themselves) un- important kind ; the following are a few of them : be, been, before, between, because, but, can, could, do, did, done, either, for, from, have, had, here, him, having, how, his, in, if, it, is, into, may, might, my, most, many, make, made, more, much, must, mine, no, now, not, neither, nor, never, of, or, only, out, own, on, our, after, often, other, so, such, since, shall, some, to, their, the, that, there, thus, than, those, thence, through, we, what, where, whose, which, why, whether, will, without, &c. The greater part of these are ( connectives,' and may be signified in Stenography without the aid of alphabetical characters ; and I propose, with respect to this kind of words, not only to dispense with the alphabetical characters, but also with what are called ' arbitrages' or ' hieroglyphics,' representing them all, with the aid of grammatical association, by the line and point. With respect to the first class of words, c defini- tives,' it may be observed that they include most of the long and compound words. Now in writing on the orthographical system these are much more 12 easily contracted than the short and simple ones ; in many instances a whole syllable may be omitted, and the speaker of course gained upon to that extent. The greatest difficulty appears to be the reading of short-hand when written, and this arises not entirely by the omission of so many letters (for in common hand the words could still be read with considerable ease), but by the want of order and simplicity in the formation of those which are retained. My principal object in these remarks is to show that in Stenography there are two kinds of ambi- guity, and that in reading the manuscript the one kind may, by a careful arrangement, be made to act as a key to decyphering the other. The two kinds are, that strictly orthographical, and that relating to syntax : the one relating to words, the other to sentences. The orthographical ambi- guity arises from the necessary omission of some of the letters, which sometimes leaves the writing in such a state that we have not the least idea of the word intended ; the grammatical ambiguity, which relates to sentences, is of quite a different charac- ter. The marks which "represent the words called 13 c connectives ' are, to a certain extent, vague un- til the sentence is gone through, but having this great advantage, — they always refer at least to some definite idea, by which, if the right word is not suggested to the mind immediately, it is indi- cated with sufficient accuracy to continue the sense in reading. After a few more general remarks I shall illustrate this more clearly. In almost all the] systems of Stenography that I have examined, various words are indicated by one common initial letter ; the ( th ' character, for instance, to signify ' the, there, this, though, them,' &c. Such a method may, without much indecorum, be called stupidly simple. Tt cannot be expected in reading that the right word should always present itself, and not only is the right word not suggested, but the ' th ' character does not express any relation to the following word which can give a clue to its meaning. It may sig- nify either ' the, this, then, though, there, them,' that is to say, it is either an article, pronoun, con- junction, or adverb ; that is ambiguity of the worst kind, because the continuity of the sense is entirely destroyed in trying to fit in successively such in- congruous words as those alluded to. 14 The grammatical principle that should supersede this unscientific method is as follows ; a short up- right mark, for instance, signifies what is called an indefinite pronoun, that is, it is used to repre- sent all such indefinite words as ' some, any, many, one, some one, anyone, each, several, all,' &c. A simple mark clearly indicating at least the nature of the word intended, and the chain of ideas being unbroken by the intrusion of incongruous words, the right one is gradually fixed in the mind while reading the remainder of the sen- tence. The truth is, in practice, that to preserve the sense of a speaker with any certainty, a mark ex- pressing definitely the general idea is much pre- ferable to a laborious and confused attempt to re- tain the exact words, which, after all, are the most likely ones to recur to the memory. The principle which is the foundation of a great part of the system which it is the object of this little Work to introduce, suggested itself to me from a consideration of some of the peculiarities belonging to the French language. The French use one pronoun, en, for t of it, of him, of them, of those,' and several other relative significations. 15 The singlt letter y in their language signifies, 1 there, in that respect, to him, to her, to them ; ' their conjunction que is used for ' that, but, than/ &c. ; and their pronoun le for ' him, it, so, or such.' These little words have an extensive signification, which, though diffusive, is always sufficiently under- stood by the parts of the sentence with which they are connected in the French language ; but as many of my readers will be better able than myself to draw the analogy I have here merely referred to, I shall pass on to the next introductory consi- deration. One of the most important auxiliaries connected with the practice of Short-hand is, the employ, ment of a line to write on, which may also serve to vary the meaning of the characters by a triple position ; but this very natural mode of gaining power without the expenditure of force (if I may so speak) is one which has been greatly overlooked or misappropriated, having been only made avail- able by writers for the purpose of employing a shorter alphabet, by writing the letters either upon, over, or above the line, whilst it must be evident that a letter formed above the line cannot be joined to one that is under the line in any simple 16 or expeditious manner; and if it could, it would still be the most unimportant purpose to which the power of the line could be applied, it being obviously capable of expressing, by a proper ar- rangement of signs, the various modifications of the most ordinary thoughts, phrases, and gram- matical idioms, by its affording three different si. tuations for any character or combination of cha- racters ; for instance, this very simple mark I may assume nine different positions or meanings, by being placed on, under, and above the line of writ- ing, thus, r t \ A f ^ ' f ^ This variation it will be seen, is sufficient to enable us to express all the most ordinary prepositions with as much accuracy as can be required for stenographic purposes. The principal feature in the -proposed system is the division of all words into two classes, as before described, which are called definitives, and connectives, the former being represented by orthographical contraction, and the latter by gram- matical signs. It is expedient to confine our atten- tion at present to the latter division. The con- nectives include, it will be seen by the plate, all the minor parts of speech, the prepositions, pronouns, conjunctions, auxiliary verbs, and some adverbs, 17 To commence with the pronouns : they are all represented by a straight mark, the various kinds being distinguished by the situation and position of this mark with respect to the line of writing ; for 1 I, he, you, they, it, them,' &c. the mark is made horizontally, on a level with the writing, thus — for the possessive, 'mine, yours, theirs, its,' a mark in the same direction placed above the line " " for the relative pronouns, < who, which, whom, whose,' the same mark placed below the line The sim- ple straight mark in its triple position signifying being, relation, and possession. To anticipate any objection that may arise, it is as well to state that I consider it quite within the scope of an ordinary capacity and a common acquaintance with gram- mar, to infer correctly from the nature of the subject or sentence, whether it has reference to the singular or the plural number, and whether to the first or second person, &c. ; with the aid of memory and connection it must be quite sufficient that the short mark in the writing means a person or persons, and the same observation will apply to it any other position. The demonstrative pronouns, * this, that, these, those,' are expressed by a straight mark diverging or pointing from the line / which I consider so significant and simple as to require no !8 further remark ; the indefinite pronoun I have al- ready alluded to as an upright mark I standing for the name of any thing or number of things which are usually spoken of in an indefinite man. ner : * some, any, each, many, several, all, one, some one, any one, people, many people,' &c. These are words that are incessantly used, and by these means indicated with great rapidity, and with sufficient accuracy to suggest the exact word when the subject or sense of the manuscript is in any de- gree present to the mind. The next branch of the connectives is the auxiliary verbs, to be, to have, to do. From the peculiar idiom of our language it is of the utmost importance that theseverbs be represented in their various moods and tenses in a manner at once both brief and accurate, mixed up as they are with every phrase and turn of speech. It is, I believe, principally from the compound manner of using such words as ' have ' and c do' that our language is considered the most explicit and copious of mo- dern tongues. To be being actually the most simple of all states, is signified in our system by the simplest of 19 all written signs, the point or dot . By this sign the verb is expressed in its infinitive mood ; and it will be found that the oft recurring words is and being are the same in an abstract sense, although belonging technically to the indicative mood and the participle : these words are expressed by the dot or point. In founding a system of Stenography on gram- mar we must keep in view" its first principles, as we cannot afford to throw away the few simple signs that the pen is capable of forming on minor and insignificant divisions. The dot then is placed on the line to signify ' being ' in a general sense in reference to the present time ; for the past time it is placed below the line ; and for the future above the line. In using this verb negatively it will be seen by the plate that a second point or dot is used to show the negation distinguishing the present, past, and fu- ture tense, the second point being in each case below the line. In the interrogative form, is it 1 was it \ will it be! the second point is in each case above the line, without at all disturbing the signification of the single point in its affirmative or negative form: this 20 may not at first be apparent to the reader, but a little attention will be sufficient to show that no- thing can be more distinct than the various forms of this universal verb ( to be' as expressed by these points. The last arrangement of them, being the conditional mood, ' can be, may be, might, could, would, or should be,' has the points placed in a horizontal position, and being affirmative, negative, or interrogative according as they are on, above, or below the line.* In this explanation I have used the impersonal form c there is, there was, it will be,' &c. but the arrangement is the same if the pronoun ' I, you, they,' &c. is used. 1 The auxiliary verb c to have ' is expressed by the comma taking the same positions to show its tenses, but instead of a second one the point only is used to mark the negative form. The comma reversed is employed in the same manner to represent the auxiliary verb ' to do ;' and the short or half line signifies in a similar man. ner every variation of the verbs ' to will, to owe, * It is requested of the reader not to omit a careful reference to the plate while perusing the above explanation. 21 to be able/ comprising in the various reflections the oft recurring words e can, will, may, must, ought, could, would, should, shall,' &c. The table of them which I have given will, I think, suffi- ciently illustrate this (which in connexion with the pronouns I consider the most unique) part of Stenography Remodelled. The most important thing to be understood in reference to this part of the subject is the gramma, tical power of the line in its general application of the three positions (see plate), whereby it is made to express, first, the affirmative, negative, and in- terrogative ; second, the present, past, and future ; third, the nominative, objective, and' possessive ; fourth, the conjunctive, transitive, and relative (which are explained in the next section) ; and fifth, in reference to special subjects, the noun, verb, and adjective. One class of connectives remains yet to be no- ticed, and which consists of a variety of words which (though technically comprising some other sorts) we call in Stenography conjunctions ; there are five divisions of them, all represented by the horizontal curve, or brace, which in itself exempli, 22 fies their office and purpose, being to tie or link together phrases and sentences: first, words denot- ing unity, as ' and, both, also/ shown by a curve ^ on the line of writing ; second, restriction, as ( nor, not, yet, but,' by a curve on the line with its points upwards ^ thirdly, transition, by the curve above the line ^ including all such words as i because, therefore, whereas, nevertheless, notwithstanding,' &c. &c. To the fourth and fifth division belong all words relating, first, to tune, placed below the line w second, to place, as < here, there, where,' &c, also placed below the line in an inverted position ^ and lastly, a curve raised above the writing, and point- ing upwards w expressive of enquiry or exclama- tion, as * how ! what ! can it be ! ' It must depend on the skill and discretion of the writer as to the number of words that may be brought under each division. I have described the kind of words which belong to each, and the gene- ral meaning of these characters cannot be mistaken in reading, whether the exact word is suggested or net, because they are simple and definite words, not bearing the least resemblance to the characters used for other purposes ; for it will be seen, in 23 treating of the orthographical part, that the marks signifying letters never stand by themselves as letters, and that the grammatical signs cannot at all interfere with them. This part of the system is quite distinct, and may be used always according to the extent of the writer's experience or acquaintance with gram- matical idiom. I have endeavoured, with respect to this part of the system, by the most careful attention, to pre- serve a perfect analogy throughout every branch of the ( connectives ' in the employment of the point, line, and curve in its various positions for the se- veral classes of words. I have contrived, that in no case should the curve in any particular position fail in some degree to harmonize with the line in the same position, although each can suggest but the special kind of words of which it is the represen- tative ; for instance, the curve below the line signi- fies time and place, which are entirely relative terms, and the line in the same position signifies the relative pronouns * who, what, which,' &c. This sort of completeness it has been my con- stant endeavour to attain, but it would require a more familiar acquaintance with the system in my 24 readers to enable me to point out the various ways in which this similitude is kept up. The last branch or class of words belonging to the 6 connectives ' is the prepositions or words ex- clusively denoting situation. They are all expressed in the most rapid manner, without any ambiguity, by a mere touch of the pen. (For the dash or accent / in its various positions with respect to the line of writing see the plate.) A dash made on the line at right angles signifies c to, at, against;' made obliquely with the writing signifies * on, in, by, with;' which in refe- rence to situation are nearly synonymous terms. The dash obliquely to the left from the writing, signifies e of, for, from.' These are the three posi- tions incident to the line of writing. There are three more above the line, and three below ; those above signify at a right angle, ( over, up, above ; ' inclined to the right hand, ' before, beyond'; and to the left, * after, behind.' Those below the line at a right angle, ' under, beneath, below ; ' inclined to the right/within, among;' to the left, 'out, without.' Thus the whole of the prepositions may be ex- pressed by a mark the most simple that can possi- bly be made, and in a manner at once rapid, legi- ble, and systematic. 25 It is recommended to the learner, after having well studied the design and construction of the foregoing plan for writing by grammatical signs or ' connectives/ to defer the full practice of it until considerable proficiency is acquired in the ortho- graphical part. PART II. All words that have a full and independent meaning, as nouns, adjectives, and verbs (except the auxiliaries) are written by alphabetical charac- ters, and are, for the sake of distinction, called Definitives. It is impossible that any number of simple cha- racters could be arranged with sufficient regularity and accuracy to represent the various things, ac- tions, and modes of being which are recognized by modern language. This compels us to have recourse to an alphabet, but we are not at all compelled to have an awkward or complicated one, at least in stenography, and I shall devote this division of our subject to the con- sideration of short-hand alphabets and an attempt to establish an improved one. Most of the alphabets that have been published are destitute of the qualities necessary to ensure 27 legibility and expedition. This has arisen princi- pally from not having considered each letter in all its bearings as to its frequency of occurrence, fa- cility of junction, &c. It is obvious that a short-hand alphabet should be formed of characters which can be joined with such readiness and expedition that in writing no awkwardness or hesitation could possibly occur, and in reading no letter could ever be mistaken for another. These two qualities should also have in combination another : the alphabet should be com- posed of uniform characters, and of a kind quite distinct from those employed in any other depart- ment of the system. Many of the old alphabets were destitute of each of these requisites, and few of the modern ones comply with them to any extent. The most modern writers have used a mixed al. phabet consisting of strokes, curves, and loops in various combinations; it having been asserted that the addition of a small loop at the end of a simple mark comes so natural to the hand that it does not add to the time required in writing, and even pre- sents greater facility in joining the letters. This facility might exist to some extent if the letters were all looped, which is not the case ; and it is c 2 28 found that with only a mixture of looped characters the difficulty of reading them is insurmountable : for instance, there are some alphabets with the following characters for letters -o b cr p which it must be perceived cannot be read when joined, it being impossible to distinguish to which letter the loop belongs, and the confusion is still greater when simple marks intervene. In addition to these difficulties and inconve- niences there is the important consideration that by using loops we throw away all the power which that formation would otherwise possess, when added to the simple character, for extra purposes. Some authors seem to have been aware of these disadvantages, and in order to do without the loop, and confine themselves to simple marks, have added a double length to the line and an additional sweep to the curve to distinguish the different letters \\ / / ^ ^ the imprac- ticability of which, in swift writing, is so apparent that it deserves no further remark. These observations refer, it will be seen, to gross errors in the usual method of constructing an al- phabet, some of which may be found in almost any book to which we may happen to refer ; errors which are quite fatal to the successful practice of 29 Stenography as a certain, uniform, and consistent art, and I may add, also, errors the whole of which may be avoided by a diligent study of the prin- ciples on which it is proper Stenography should be founded, and a careful management of the means we possess in conformity with those principles. In illustration of the fact that the most obvious of these principles have been in general overlooked, I may add that in many instances we find that the most simple and easily formed character in the whole alphabet is made to represent a letter the recurrence of which is considerably less frequent than some other letter to which is appropriated a character of much more difficult formation. It is true that much time may be gained by the introduction of characters for syllables, but with respect to this contrivance very little indeed seems to have been done ; for instance, the absurd idea expressed in some modern books of writing the commencing and terminating syllables a little de- tached from the body of the word, thus occupying the time of three words. In many cases also when these syllables are joined, it is impossible to distin- guish the characters, from the alphabetical ones hav- ing no uniformity in themselves as a separate class of marks ; they are continually mistaken for a letter c 3 30 or parts of two letters joined, to the entire de- struction of legibility. The Stenographic alphabet should consist of cha- racters extremely simple and uniform ; they should be simple by being made with one stroke of the pen in one direction ; they should be uniform by avoid. ing to include the angular and curved character in one alphabet, much less in one letter. The letters should present exactly the same ap- pearance when joined together as when standing alone. The characters most rapidly formed and most easy of junction should be appropriated to the letters most frequently recurring. The following table is the result of a careful comparison in this respect : COMPARATIVE RECURRENCE OF THE CONSONANTS. B 1000 C 2000 D 2000 F 2000 G 1000 H 1000 J 300 K 500 L 2500 M 2000 N 4000 P 1000 Q 300 R 3000 S 5000 T 4500 V 500 W 1000 X 200 Y 1000 Z 100 In addition to the more or less frequent recur- rence of the letters there are some minor consider. 31 ations which require to be taken into account, which will be apparent to the student after a little practice. With respect to the vowels it is proposed wholly to exclude them as a general rule ; when absolutely necessary to the pronunciation they may be sig- nified by the dash or accent in any position near to the consonant preceding or following it. The stu- dent will find that this is sufficient to indicate either of the vowels, the distinction of them even in or- dinary writing being regarded by etymologists as continually fluctuating at different times and among different classes, without much interfering with the meaning of the respective words. In England 'o* was formerly used where we now have ■ a ' : ( hond ' and * lond ' being written for ( hand ' and ■ land ' ; band and bond are both still retained, and are evidently the same word with a different vowel ; and the verbs ' to bind ' and c find ' have their past tenses * bound ' and ' found.' The adjective f old ' is the Scotch ■ auld ' and the German * alt,' and appears again in Eng- lish, with a different vowel, in ' elder.' * The reader is now directed to the improved al- * See the Preface to Booth's Dictionary. C 4 32 phabet in the illustrative plate, to which the ob- servations that follow refer. In order to confine the alphabet exclusively to simple characters it is necessary that some of them signify two letters, which under the restrictions imposed will be shown to be perfectly compatible with legibility and even conducive to it ; so that what seems at first sight to be a difficulty and a disadvantage may, in this as in most cases, by sufficient patience and determination, be turned to an advantage. It is not intended to divide the alphabet into labials, dentals, gutterals, &c. ; it is sufficient to observe that there are several letters which, with respect to their pronunciation (singly or in words), are but the counterpart to other letters, with the addition of a stronger accent: thus, * b* is unques- tionably the same sound as ' p ' but more forcibly uttered ; ' c ' soft and * s ' differ in a similar man- ner ; and there is a further variation or increase of gravity in the sound of « z ' ; ' d ' and ' t ' are but one sound, with the accent so slightly varied that in rapid speaking the ear could not possibly dis- tinguish them but for the well-known orthography of the word forming itself to the mind by the visible distinction of these two letters. 33 The same remarks apply to e P and 'v'; 'k 1 may also be identified in the 'q'; and