, 1880-01-10

whico formed tho body Of the elegant lItcra-
ture Of that ttme;. tho words Of the. writer's
who had obtained reputation in the half cen.
tnry previous TO tAe publication of his Die;
t'onnry: Instead Of establishing standard
met!lntn successors cnnformed,. ltstend Ut
"siaylsH actsrcnce,ss hc. with deiersnse to to
established FORMS tint may ba called def
"slnylslniy" recorded tlle orthografy OF Ills
contemporaries nNh OF his predecessors for
hnif \ century, I'LL ortfiografy which n pre-
ccdfng dictlonary.nlaker Ind In llku nlnttticr
aecepted mud recorded, Mid for the saino
Tlila hclng true. tho, truth Of My other
propositions follows lit the sln,plD course af
reason. For tho continuance antt cRrefHt
a5H o G5 asas a 'e]p%fy pfya5y sr eS 9w R
brings ,ls down to 1900 Of tic 9rtlloEraty
preserved for at least half II, century. previous
10 tho tlato nf That tremendous 1SxicnE1tnpl..
authority OF Samuel johnson. The sa,llo
power which established the nrthpgrafy In
yogue IN 1870 and III lIo, at.i nresetyeM! ~ II
ioT filty years before the 9ppsarAllcY OF DR..
served 1t inter ttlat Imposing manifestation:
That power was tho eonscntof, tho educated
classes, Of the English people expressed,
through their representatives, tho grgntt
"I1lEl3 lIM StikulklA VI lVt NNyt CuullSClEN
and assisted by Intelligent md cducntc.l
printers aud corrcctors IF the press. These
were tl'e men, and not Pr. lohnsGn, WHO
gave us OIL, present, way Of writing English.
two centuries, but coming rapidly 9 4 des-
tined result iNst before the reign OF Queen
Anne, TINT uniform md, despite MI TINT has
been sNitl, d tolernbly consistent standard of
orthnE1niy was attained In tho English
Il Is tin recognition t,y s,1ct, men of tia
general fitness mid tlle supreme convenience
y that standard That ilns preserved It essrl,-
Tally thus iar, and nut fl my wny the ut
speiltME neither liarm iior Eood. No lisri,l,
evrn II chunKe md progress toward fonetit
ftsm ts esil: For Johnson l|as 6sen " posSr.
Nnn6ie or unttcsirous 10 > beetn it.. Engiisl.
orthogrnfy Inns been less stable, less .lxetl,
since tf!e nppcarAncc Of his Dictionary t!lali
1t was befnre tl,at event. A volume 0f Mn
ffs'?5 fqa Gsysysh sff Sas s h SpsS
At!dison's1;for exarnpfe, bis . Freehotdcr !"
-..loes IN the sallle respect. Titus much for
England; md when we crnas to America
and cosIparc We.Yter''s Dictionary with
t!ons In. spelling It cannot b. compared With
Johnsons spelIing IS bit Dalley's,~llor can an
1t 30 compared viii, the authors Of the quarter
u u GoHtuIj VtCSt.tlIlEs llNllt:ts lul4 NHNlIts
JohMson's spelling, hkp Bailcy's, is but their
spclling' johnson, as he did nothing 70 form
English 0rthografy, has done nothing to
ilx It. =.
The matter Of fixed md uniform, orthog-
rafy was coming rapidly 10 Il head about
the end Of. the Seventeenth century, wholly
a WITHOUT h,s thc nd q frxic9grap1srs e1eat 9r
cation Of tho words above referred to Ii Wal
ton which dltTer from that standard which,
by silent and common consent Of tho best
writer's. Ind been nloptcd somewhat heforo
4; D. 100. OF tllose 20 words In lYalton's
81 Is tic mere addition Of supcrillous G;
'cec for tDc, butrc for bear, b,sl'.cxsc for
blsI,,c8s, anu SO forth. III II tho only
difference fS the use OF fe for H. 1nal-pltic
for Ply, tie for ~, antiI,tttic f9r nnthi!tlty,
iinai ! for Two, Is iii ior iii. III The dif. i'll
ference Is tho alsence Of a ilnul c, us parfrllg
for RaFtrtdNc' "a lna tho perfect parttyipln' \
tlnstead Of cd, rs Jgrt for jlnetl,
1t will DO seen thut III NIL tieso words tho
variations are merely terminal; they do not
toNch tho body, the real structure, Of tho