These twenty-six characters, which were supposed to comprehend all the simple sounds in the English language, Franklin arranged in a new order, which he supposed more agreeable to nature than the common one. Ile began with the vowels which are chiefly sounded by the windpipe, with very little help from the tongue, teeth, or lips, in the following order, o, a, a, e, u, u; then followed the aspirate h ; then the consonants formed by the roof of the tongue next to the windpipe, viz. g, k, a, g ; then those formed more forward by the forepart of the tongue against the roof of the mouth, viz. n, r, t, d; then those formed still more forward in the mouth, by the tip of the tongue applied first to the roots of the upper teeth, viz. 1. s, z ; then those formed by the tip of the tongue applied to the ends or edges of the upper teeth, viz. t, d ; then those formed still more for ward, by the under lip applied to the upper teeth, viz. f, v; then those formed yet more forward, by the upper and under lip opening to let out the sounding breath, viz. b, p; and lastly, the shutting up of the mouth, or closing the lips, while any vowel is sounding, viz. m.
We give the two following specimens of writing, ac cording to Franklin's method, which, being well known passages of poetry, may be easily decyphcred by our readers.
So linen sum Eudsel bui divuin kamand Uid ruiziE tempests seeks e gilti land; (Suits as av leet or peel Brttania past) Kjm and shill) hi druivs di fuirius blast ; And pliiz'd d' arclitrs topurform, Ruids in di lliuirluind and duirekts di starm So di pair limpid striim huen foul nit steens ruisig tarents and disendig reens, Uurkrs itself kliir ; and az it runs rifuins ; Til bui digriis, de flotig minor suMs, Riflekts iits flans dat an its bardur groz, And e nu hevn in its fees busum suz.
See Franklin's Works, vol. ii. p. Other authors give a different estimate of the num ber of simple sounds in the English language. Accord to Mr Sheridan, the number of these sounds is 28. He nearly coincides with Franklin in his enumeration of the simple consonants; but reckons more vowels, and rejects from the number of real letters the aspiration h. See his Rhetorical Grammar, p. 9.
The following is his scheme of the English alphabet: Number of simple sounds in our tongue 28.
3 1 2 3 2 3 1 1 I 9 Vowels, a a a e o o e i u ball hat hate beer note noose bet fit bur y short oo short cc S eb (Al ef eg ek el em eu •p er es et 19 Consonoirt.s, ev cz eth eth esh ezh ing.
2 Superfluous, r, which has the power of ek or e.s.s; q, that of ek before a.
Compound, j, which stands for rd:h; for ks or gz.
1 Xo letter, h, merely a mark of aspiration. Cunsonants divided into Mutes and Semivo71'el8. eb NI cg ek up et.
3 Pure ck ep et.
3 Impure, c b cd eg.
Scaiivrpwris of el ern en cc ass ev ez eth eth esti ar liquids, 5 ezh 9 Vocal, cl cm en er ev ez eth ezh ing.
4 .Niirated, ef ess eth esh.
Divided again into 4 Labial, eb cp ep cf.
:3 Dental, cd et eth eth ez oss esh. 4 Palatine, eg ek el cr.
3 .Vasci, em en ing.
t'o make our alphabet complete, Mr Sheridan thinks v.ould require nine additional characters ; but, on the other hand, several of our superfluous letters might be thrown out.
Other schemes fur the reformation of the English alphabet have been proposed ; hut none of them seem tor equire particular notice. Custom, it is probable, will
ever be found too powerful an obstacle to their adoption, were their advantages unequivocally certain. One in convenience, it is pretty clear, would result from the substitution of any new formed alphabet in room of our present one ; the analogy of the language, and the deri vations of words, would often be entirely lost sight of, and thus the language might lose in one way as much as it gained in another.
Before concluding this article, it may he proper to make a very few observations on the forms of letters. Whence these were originally taken, it is impossible IIONV to ascertain. Some have supposed them to be ta ken from the outlines of figures in the picture writing which preceded them, or the contracted figures of some of the most familiar objects ; a conjecture thought to he supported by the significations of the names of the letters in the Hebrew or Samaritan alphabet, some fancied resemblances being traced between the form of the letter and the outlines of the object which its name expressed. Others have found the forms of the letters in the position of the organs of speech, or in their pronunciation. Of these opinions, the former appears the more probable, though neither can be regarded as ertain. M. Nelme, in his Essay on the Origin of Letters, has bestowed much pains in skewing that all elementary characters or letters derive their forms from the line and the circle. His alphabet consists of 13 radical letters, four diminished and four augmented ; and lie proves, that his characters are very similar to those of the ancient Etruscans. Mr Nehne, however, might have saved all his trouble ; for as all characters must of necessity be composed either of lines, circles, or parts of circles, his investigations only proved what was before evident at first sight. After all, however, the forms of alphabetic characters have been so much varied in different countries, that it is impossible to enter into any particular discussion of them ; nor indeed is this necessary for elucidating the subject. It is sufficient to observe, that for the perfection of an alpha bet, it would be desirable, in regard to the forms of the letters, that they should be perspicuous and distinct, so as to avoid the hazard of being confounded or mis taken ; that their conformation should be sufficiently simple and regular, so as to be formed with ease and expedition ; that the shape should be such as readily to unite into words without losing their distinctive figure ; and that, if possible, some degree of elegance and beauty should be attained, so far as this can be done without sacrificing perspicuity. In these different res pects, few alphabets surpass the Greek and the Roman; and though ingenious men have amused themselves with imagining characters which they suppose more simple or more convenient than those now in use, none of these appear to possess such advantages as are likely to bring them into use. To contrive a new set of charac ters is no difficult task, but to demonstrate their superior utility, would probably be found a more arduous underta king.