CHAPTER I.

GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF STENOGRAPHY.

SHORT-HAND, as its name imports, is a substitution for, and abbreviation of, the ordinary description of writing.* Its chief excellencies are increased speed and perfect secrecy; and expedition and distinctness being the primary objects to be attained, that plan is the best in which the greatest facility of writing, and the utmost ease in deciphering, are combined.

The most marked peculiarity in modern systems of shorthand, is the rejection of all intermediate vowels and quiescent consonants, and the substitution of one letter for another, or others, when either greater expedition or legibility is thereby promoted. It is admitted by all learned grammarians, that the English language is both defective and redundant in expressing the various modifications of sound. Stenographers reject all these dormant and superfluous letters, and concur in opinion that every word should be written as close to its pronunciation as brevity will admit. Thus night is expressed by nt, light by lt; cough, by kf; politics, poltx; foreign, forn; philosopher, flsfr; knowledge, by nlg; and although this mode of spelling may seem strange and difficult at first, it will, in a short time, become perfectly familiar, both in the writing and transcribing. We have said the intermediate vowels are all omitted-more, perhaps, ought to be stated; all vowels not absolutely necessary

"La stenographie va comme le cerf ou le cheval, mais l'ecriture ordinaire comme le bœuf."-MASSIEU.

to the sound should be discarded. We do not agree either with those writers who recommend the indiscriminate use or disuse of vowels before or after words-it would be impossible to determine the word easy by the letter s alone, whilst on the other hand it is unnecessary to affix the final vowels to the words machine or indulge. Some discretion must be left to the student in this matter, and after a little practise, he will experience no difficulty in ascertaining when the vowels ought to be used. In all doubtful cases; we would recommend him to employ them, on the ground that it is better to lose in swiftness, than to leave any portion of the writing in obscurity. When the pupil is so far advanced that he can dispense almost altogether with them, he should read his notes over as soon as possible after they are written, and add the vowels, while the discourse is fresh in his recollection, especially if some time will elapse before they are transcribed, or if they are to be preserved for subsequent reference. This will be found of great advantage, both in strengthening the memory, and facilitating the acquirement of the art. We would only further observe en passant, that the vowels, when written, should be placed close to the words of which they form part, and that strict attention to their relative positions should be taken, in order that the legibility of the writing may be secured.

Another peculiarity in short-hand is, that punctuation is not observed. Some writers have invented signs, far more difficult than those ordinarily used, to be introduced with the stenographic characters; but these can only be adopted when the short-hand is a copy either of MS. or typography-in such cases the ordinary comma, interrogation, exclamation, &c. may be employed. We recommend the pupil, however, to discard their use entirely, and by no means to write stenography from sight, after he can do so accurately, unless driven to it by stern necessity. Let him obtain a person to read to him whilst he

practises the art, the reader and writer keeping pace as near as possible with each other; and afterwards transcribe his notes, or read them to his friend, whilst he compares and corrects them by the original. This course will not only stimulate him to practise the most difficult portion of the art, but it will also accustom his ear to a speaker, and enable him to write in public with less difficulty and confusion than he will otherwise experience.

We append an exact specimen of the mode of spelling to be adopted, and we do not expect the reader will have much difficulty in perusing it. The words in full are those for which alphabetical or other signs are used:

"He who md us mst be grt nd omniptnt. It is our dty as rtnl bings to srv lv nd obe hm A mn that wd avd blm should be circumspkt in all his aktions nd ndvr with all his mt to pls every bdy I would nt frm ni knxns with a mn who hd no rgrd for himself nthr wld I blv a mn who hd wnc tld me a li Hnr is of all things the mst dfelt to prsrv ntrnshd nd whn wnc mpchd lk the chstty of a wmn nvr shns with its wntd Istr With good mnrs kmplshments nd an ese plt address mni mk a fgr in the world whs mntl ablts wd skrcly have rsd thm to the rnk of a ftmn Idlness is the prnt of a thsnd msfrtns which are nvr flt by the ndstrs it is a pn nd pnshment of itslf nd brngs wnt and bggry in ts trn Virtu is the frst thing that shd be regrdd it is a rwrd of tslf mks a mn respktable hr nd will mk hm hppy hrftr Prd is a mst prncious pssn which yet was plntd by hvn in our ntr to rs our emlshn to imtt grt nd wrthi krktrs nd actions to xct in us a zl for what is rt nd just nd a ldble ndgntion against ppressrs nd wrkrs of ni knd of nqti in shrt to mk us st a prpr vlu upon ourselves nd dsps a wrthless flw however xltd This prd is a vrtu nd ma jstli be kld a grtness of sl But prd lk othr pshns gnrli fxs upon rng objects or is pld in rong prprtions How kmn is it to se a rtch whm every

vc has rndrd msrbl nd every flli kntmptible prding himself on his high brth nd bsting of ths llstrs nsstrs of whm he wnts nsstrs who if they nu him wd dswn But all prd of this srt is fili nd evr

nothing but the nm or ttl their dsndnt with kntmt. to be avdd."

If the learner can now read this uncouth orthography, he will easily perceive that there is no reason why he should not in a short period be enabled to decipher stenographic notes with equal accuracy, and if written by himself, with even greater ease.

CHAPTER II.

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.

THE value of any system of short-hand consists in its simplicity and perspicuity—or in other words, in the brevity of the characters employed as the symbols of words, the facility with which they may be written, and the readiness and ease with which they may be deciphered. We have therefore appropriated to the various letters and words, marks easily made and joined; and the simplest of these marks to letters most frequent of occurrence, and words most difficult of formation; whilst every mode of contraction, consistent with perspicuity, has also been adopted.

In order that the requisite speed and legibility may be secured, care must be taken that the characters are not written so large as to diminish the rapidity of their formation, nor so small as to prevent their appearing in due proportions; and each character should be written so distinctly, that by a single glance it may be known. A common error in beginners is to make the writing too small: the engravings should be taken as an example in this matter.

THE ALPHABET. (See Plate I.)

As the alphabetical characters are the foundation of the system, it is necessary they should be as simple as possible. Most of the systems now practised have the same geometrical signs in the alphabet-viz. the line, with various inclinations