The learner may exercise himself, in joining all the alphabetical characters together, without taking off the pen.

In the practice of Short-Hand, make the characters SMALL and neat; which will materially add to the beauty of the writing.

RULES FOR WRITING.

1. WHEN there is occasion to express a vowel, before or after any word, place the mark for such vowel close to the word to which it belongs, that it may not be taken for a single vowel. A vowel may occasionally be inserted in the middle of a word.

2. The article A, or AN, may be expressed by a point; AND and THE, by a mark thus': the former above the line, and the latter below.

3. Write the words oF THE, thus,"

4. To separate sentences, strike a fine stroke upwards, or thus ; a wider space may be left for separation of sentences in quick writing.

5. As the character for TH does not join well with some perpendicular letters, it may be made thus for TEETH; or when the word воTH оccurs, strike it in a similar manner for тH. See plate 2.

6. For the termination-ING, make a small loop at the end of the letter, and a comma may be used for the plural-INGS.

7. The termination-LY, may be denoted by a point, directly under the last consonant.

B 3

8. It will facilitate the progress of the learner, if, when he casts his eye upon a word, or hears it spoken in company, he accustom himself to consider how it should be expressed in Short-Hand.

9. When a word or sentence is repeated, draw a line under those particular words.

10. Some compound words may be written singly, as, never-the-less.

11. The first vowel after the consonant may be distinguished by striking the consonant from the vowel's place: A may be considered above the line; EI, on the line; ou, below the line: but in the hurry of following a speaker, it cannot possibly be attended to. Some of these Rules are only given for beginners. The principal difficulty which young persons experience is, the omission of the vowels.

As to the prefixes and terminations, it may be observed, that they may often be joined to the other part of the word, by inserting a point above the word when the former joins, and a comma under the word when the latter is joined. By writing the alphabetical words, prefixes, and terminations smaller than usual, much time is saved in their formation, and they are more readily and effectually distinguished from the adjoining characters, than if written the full size. Affect not, especially at first, to write fast, so much as true. Ruled paper will be fonnd to be useful; and, as to the pen, it must be of a fine point and strong barrel. If blacklead pencils are used, the H. or HH. will be found to be the most suitable for the purpose.

Places at the TOP, MIDDLE, and BOTTOM of characters, which make three distinct positions, are easily distinguished, and take no more time than dotting in common writing. When the pronoun I occurs, make the point a little larger than for a, and a little lower.

The words AS IT IS, may be joined together thus 7

The word self, may be expressed by the character for S, under the word; the same may be used for SOEVER. See plate 3.

Some Rules and Directions for abbreviating words and sentences will now be pointed out; but, after all, much depends upon the skill and ingenuity of the pupil.

The words "WITH WHICH WE," may bejoined together with the greatest facility. It has been stated, that the sound of the word is principally to be attended to; the word laugh or cough, must be written laf, kof,-and buti for beauty.

These two lines may be spelt thus :

Ts grtly wis to tlk with our pst hrs,

And ask thm wat reprt they bor to heaven. 'Tis greatly wise to talk with our past hours, And ask them what report they bore to heaven.

No more than one vowel ought to be written in any word, except such words as IDEA, EASY.

*

The vowels EU, EW, IU, IEW, may be written u. The word мOCKS, may be written мox. †

* The initial vowel of a monosyllable must be expressed, as in ADD.~ For PAY, write PA. When the negative preposition IN, UN, IM, is prefixed to words that begin with the same consonant with which they respectively end, the initial vowel must be expressed. When the word FOLLIES OF RALLIES Occur, make use of the termination character for -IOUS. See plate 1.

For the prefix RE, as in REASSUME, strike a small fine stroke upwards.

+ To point out all the various ways in which words may be abbreviated, would only be rendering it tiresome to the learner: much depends upon the capacity. TheShort-Hand Writer cannot fail having a general knowledge of the subject he has written upon.

To represent words of opposite import, make a fine stroke close to the word. To shew that words are very much abbreviated, attach a mark, thus A, directly under the word; but in quick writing it may be omitted The letters H and N, and H and L, with the abbreviating mark, will signify HUMAN nature, HUMAN life.

Characters for the points can easily be made choice of. We have no arbitrary similar to the semicolon; it must be made use of.

It would be highly unreasonable to expect that a person who had made little more progress in learning the English language than a superficial knowledge of the alphabet, should be capable of reading a sentence with correctness and fluency. It would be equally preposterous, in the present case, that he should read Short-Hand (which, perhaps he has only practised a few weeks) with that freedom and ease he can Long-Hand. It is nothing but the want of a familiar knowledge of the characters which proves a difficulty: perseverance will soon overcome all obstacles.

When the learner first begins to read what he has written, he must proceed letter by letter, giving each its full and distinct sound. Let him be particular in attending to the sounds of the different letters as they rise, and also to the form of the COMBINED characters. This will lead him to the art of spelling, writing, reading, and joining.

To those who wish for Short-Hand figures, the most easy of the alphabetical characters may be adopted.

INCREASED ABBREVIATION.

Such words as are usually abbreviated in LongHand, may be abbreviated in Short-Hand. Many poetic contractions may be used; as MORN for MORNING. It has already been directed, that the first consonant of words may stand for the whole word; and if the pupil inserts a word in Long-Hand, it will add much to the ease of reading the notes.

1. The terminations of the second and third persons of verbs may always be omitted; as speak, for speakest.

2. Many words may be expressed by their first vowel and consonant. Exp. may stand for expences.

3. The beginnings and endings of some words will be sufficient to express them: the first and last consonant may serve for the whole word.

4. The prepositions, conjunctions, and articles may be omitted. The first part of the word may easily suggest, with the aid of the connection, the whole of the word; as rep. for reputation: or the termination-ation may be added.

6. The adverbal termination LY, the Y, TY, and-ITY, belonging to substantives, and also the Ize belonging to verbs, may be omitted. The preposition of, or a, of an, of the, may be omitted. Not only all quiescent or mute letters are to be excluded, but even some sounding consonants may be dropped; and oftentimes one letter may be substituted for another. Generally, one or two syllables may be dropped before the termination-TION. A number of small words may be omitted in every sentence. But, after all, the great disparity of genius renders it impossible to establish rules for abbreviation without exception.As soon as possible, after the speaker has finished