It iz not now new, dhat evvery Inglish vowel haz, not onely a longuer and
shorter, but even a different sound, az open or shut by a consonant; dho _A
braud_, open and shut, differ but in quantity. Nor iz it yet a secret, dhat
certain mutes, or silent letters, (espescially vocal quiescents,) ar named
_serviles_; rendering essencial az vizzibel service, boath to' vowels and
consonants. Hware such gards ar wanted, dhey doutles wil attend; and, hwen
dhey proov superfluous, az reddily widhdraw. Dhus dhe open vowel ov dhe
simpel shuts, and dhe serviles vannish, in dhe penultimate ov dhe compound:
_shake_, _Shakspear_; _chear_, _cherfool_; _vine_, _vinyard_, and dhe like.
So formatives: _stare_ and _stair_, _starling_; _steer_, _sterling_;
_shere_, _sherrif_; _child_, _children_; _kind_, _kindred_; _know_,
_knollege_; and dhe rest.
Evvery open ear must allow dhe aspiracion (_h_) to' articculate iniscially
dhe braud vocal licquid (_w_); nor longuer imadgine dhat _wh_, apparent,
can becom _hw_ real; or dhat _what_, _whale_, _wheels_, can rascionally
paint dhe power ov _hwat_, _hwale_, _hweels_. Dhe braud licquid (_w_) haz
no place in _hoal_, total; or in _hore_, prostitute; distinct alike, to'
dhe eye, from _hole_ and _hoar_. But _wh_, iniscial, may wel prommise _hw_;
if _le_ and _re_, boath final, may picture _el_ and _er_: az we admire, not
onely on dhe _little theatre_, but in dhe _centre_ ov dhe _battle_! Dho a
tutch ov Rezons wand wil restore dhe buty ov truith; at wonce to' dhe
_littel theater_, and to' dhe _center_ ov dhe _battel_; az such buty beamed
in dhe former century.
Dhe French _table_, _chambre_, _ancien_, _danger_, ar dhe unexcepcionabel
parents ov dhe Inglilh _tabel_, _chaimber_, _aincient_, _dainger_; hoo ar
too apt scollars, not to' lern from parental exampel, to' show dhemselvs
hwat dhey ar; widhout wondering, dhat won tung iz not anoddher, or dhat
each must hav her own essence and semblance; and dhat in ours, az in oddher
picturage, _an open vowel must not appear a shut won_. Indispensabel dhen
az dhe servile (_i_) in dhe three last exampels, iz it in _aingel_, dho
inadmissibel in _angellic_; in evvery _ainge_ and _ainger_, like _rainge_
and _rainger_; az wel az in _caimbric_ and _Caimbridge_; dho nedher in
_Cam_ nor _Cambray_.
If _a_ slender, open, must hav in such case its gardian; _a_ slender, even
shut, hwen protracted, requires its protracting aspiracion (_h_): az in
_ah! Mahlah_; so in _Pahtric_, _fahdher_, _pappah_, _mammah_, and _ahnt_;
so distinct (dho safe enuf ungarded) from _ant_ dhe emmet. But _gahp_,
herd, iz dhus no longuer seen _gape_. _Hant_, _hanch_, and dheir fellows,
admit not dhe braudener; hwich iz indispensabel to' _wrauth, wauter_, and
_vauz_; nor need dhe protracting aspirer, more dhan doo _chant_ and
_branch_.
_O_ must hav its own medial servant, to' ascertain its opennes; in _poark_,
_poart_, _spoart_, _foart_, _foard_, _goard_, _soard_, (wonce _sword_),
_foarth_, _foarce_, _foarge_; _boast_, _coast_, _goast_, _moast_, _poast_,
and _boath_; justly az in dhe annimal _boar_, in _board_, _boast_, and
dheir fellows; dho _slow_ gender _slowth_, reggularly, az _grow, growth_.
Widh _poart_ and _poast_, _poartal_, _poarter_; _poastage_, and dhe like.
Better no attendant, dhan a false won. _O_ direct (dhe common _o_) can
nedher assume _o_, dhe servile ov _o_ depressive (_oo_); nor _u_, hwich
wood seem its partner in a dipthong. _Doar_, _floar_, and _moar_, ar dhus
reggular and safe; _dore_, _flore_, and _more_, widh equivvalent servile,
leve _more_ coincident; yet compounds prefer dhe final servile: az
_batteldore_,[1] _Blacmore_, _Hwitmore_; and _Strathmore_, scottishly
strong on dhe latter syllabel.
_Soll_, spirrit, avoids occular union widh _sole_, alike, and _soal_: by
adopting dhe servile ov _poll_, _boll_, _toll_, _roll_ (widh _controll_,)
_scroll_, and _droll_. Like dipthongal dainger precludes _u_ from dhe
servile funccion, duly undertaken by _a_ in _soar_, _moarn_, _boarn_,
distinct from _boren_ or _bor'n_, dhe compannion ov _woren_ or _wor'n_,
_sworen_ or _swor'n_, _toren_ or _tor'n_, _shoren_ or _shor'n_, and clear,
az open and shut, ov _born_; in _coart_, _goard_, _coarse_, and _soarce_.
_Coarce_, dhe ded _boddy_, dies no more in _corpse_; hwen dhus _boren_
decently to' interment. Dhis precaution suffers _o_ open, to' understand or
omit, dhe servile before _l_ and anny oddher consonant: az in _old colt_,
wonce seen and herd _ould coult_. If _old colt_ now suffice, _oald coalt_
iz understood. For dhis rezon, _goald_ must no longuer be robbed ov its
depressive servile, wonce legally seen in _gould_. _Au_, widh les plea,
suppresses its servile in like sittuacion; az _salt_ and _alder_; except in
dhe singuel _assault_! _saut_ and _vaut_ being, now, duly out ov dhe
question.
If _ou_ cannot now paint _o_ direct, much les can it picture _o_ depressive
(_oo_); in _you_, _youth_, _uncouth_; _should_, _would_, or _could_: for
_yoo_, _yooth_, _uncooth_; _shood_, _wood_, or _cood_. Hwen _ou_ Inglish
transferred its equivvalence from dhe French _ou_ to' dhe German _au_,
hwich compounds _a_ braud, widh _o_ depressive (_au_ widh _oo_); az itself
cood no more be frenchly interchaingeabel widh _oo_; nedher ov its parts
waz more likely to' becom so. _Do_ or _who_ can no more dhan _doe_ or
_hoe_, (boath better employed!) or dhan _shoe_, _canoe_, _lose_, _move_,
_prove_, _behove_; _Rome_, _Coke_, _Pole_, or simmilar; prezent dhe
prezzent _doo_, _hoo_, _shoo_, _canoo_, _looz_, _moov_, _proov_, _behoov_,
_Room_, _Cook_, _Pool_, or dhe like: for truith fears notthing from
coincidence ov sound, and falsehood always leads astray. _B_ may
distinctively open dhe vowel, in _climb_ and _comb_; but cannot render it
also depressive in _comb_, _tomb_, _bomb_, and _womb_; for _coomb_,
_toomb_, _boomb_, and _woomb_. Hwatevver _u_ may hav been in Lattin
vocallity, dhat figgure cannot guiv _oo_, even open, in Inglish; far les
_oo_ shut, in _pull_, _bull_, _full_; _butcher_, _put_, _pudding_, _puss_,
_push_, _bush_; _bushel_, _cushion_; for _pool_, _bool_, _fool_,
_bootcher_, _poot_, _poodding_, _poose_, _poosh_, _boosh_, _booshel_, and
_coossion_: in all ov hwich, dhe _oo_ iz doutles short az shut; and
distinct az _foolling_ and _fooling_. If _u_ cannot prommise _oo_ shut, no
more can _oo_ proxy _u_ shut, in dhe singuel _foot_ for _fut_. No servile
can attend a shut vowel; and _truith_ must hav her own, like _suit_ and
_fruit_: in dhe French _bruit_ it iz also distinctive. Alreddy hav we seen
_o_ direct disguized, no les dhan _o_ depressive; and can we longuer bair
dhe Gallic _beau_, for dhe Brittish _boe_; more dhan dhe dubble falsifier
_beauty_, for dhe Inglish _buty_, dhe sweet compannion ov _duty_?
_Sew_, _shew_, and _strew_, wer dhe preddecessors, so cannot be dhe
identities, ov _soe_, _show_, and _strow_: dhe first dhus occularly clear
ov _sow_, so different verb and noun! dhe latter, distinct to' dhe ear by
dhe dipthong, hwich also distinguishes _slough_, no more swallowing _sluf_:
_toe_ and _tow_ (no more jostling widh _tough_, now _tuf_), _doe_ and
_dough_, _floe_ and _flow_, being respective coincidents; clear indeed to'
dhe eye, boath ov boddy and mind. _Ow_ final iz dipthongal in _how_, _now_!
_bow_ bend; _cow_, noun or verb; _sow_, the noun; in _vow_, verb or noun;
and in _allow_, _endow_. Dhe dipthong distinguishes also _slough_,
_plough_, and _bough_ branch. _O_ remains merely simpel in _dough_, az if
_dow_. _Bo!_ or _boh!_ interjeccion, coincides widh _boe_ and _bow_, boath
nouns: dhe latter leving dhe dipthong to' dhe verb, or its accion, hwence
dhe ball derives it in _bowl_; dhe open vowel distinguishing dhe _bowl_ or
bason, coincident widh _boll_ and _bole_.
* * * * *