breath with the mouth compressed: being of very easy formation they are of frequent occurrence, notwithstanding their unpleasant hiss, like that of a S is fregoose and a serpent so much objected to. quently inserted merely for the purpose of softening harsh or difficult letters; as, Scoùr, (to run,) i. e. CURRO; Scourge, Scorreggia, (It.,) i. e. CORRIGIA ; Slabber, i. e. LABARI; Slip, i. e. LAPS-US; Slack, i. e. LAX-US; Slime, i. e. LIMUS; Square, i. e. QUADRA; Slight, i. e. Light; Skill, i. e. CALLEO; Scald, Scalido, (It.,) i. e. CALIDUS, &c.

S is frequently a contraction of Ex: Span, Spanna, (It.,) i. e. EXPANSA (stretched out); Spawn, i. e. EXPONO (to throw out); Speed, Spedio, (It.,) i. e. EXPEDIO; Spend, i. e. Expend, &c. &c. This contraction of Ex occurs much in all the modern languages, but especially in Italian.'

There is such an affinity, or mutual attraction, between d, t, and n, that the one frequently takes the other into union with it. Thus, Maund (Mande, Fr.) i. e. MAN-US, also corrupted into Hand; Wander, Andare (It.), Andar (Sp.), i. e. VADERE ; Render, i. e. REDDERE, &c. &c.

THE LINGUALS.

These letters, i. e. L and R, interchange so frequently, that there is hardly a single word containing either of them which does not supply an instance

when traced through the different languages of Greece, Italy, France, England, &c. We proceed at once, therefore, to other considerations.

1. Owing to the vibratory motion of the tongue in pronouncing and r, they are frequently (particularly the latter) tumbled out of their proper place, and (except when language is remarkably fixed by established principles and authoritative rules) they do not remain long in any one position, but shift about to every possible point of the same word; occupying, by turns, the beginning, the middle, and the termination. The fact in question is so obvious, and has been so frequently noticed by preceding writers, that we shall not stop to collect instances.

2. There are properly two kinds, i. e. pronunciations, of both L and R; the one exceedingly harsh and difficult, the other very smooth and easy. When preceded and followed by vowels, they are so easy to the mouth, and so musical to the ear, as to deserve, all the liquid encomiums of both the old and new grammarians; but when beginning a word, or when wedged in between hard consonants, or even when strongly uttered, (though not thus situated,) in the manner of the Irish and French, &c., nothing can be more harsh and difficult, and even unpronounceable, to some organs of speech. So that the doctrine of the liquid powers of L and R is, in one view, very true, in another, very false. There are individuals, and indeed, people of a whole district, that can never

master and manage the hard L. The peasants of Somersetshire, usually corrupt it into W: ludicrous instances of which are familiar to most persons-such as the following. A Somersetshire man exhorting his brethren, (in London as we have heard,) told them to go home and examine their wives, i. e. lives : and in reference to the Saviour, he thanked God for the wife that he wed and the doctrine which he taught so queerly, i. e. for the life which he led and the doctrine which he taught so clearly.

The old Saxons seem to have been put to their shifts in pronouncing L; hence, in the Saxon literature it is frequently preceded by H; as Hlaf, i. e. Loaf, &c.

It was evidently to distinguish between the soft and hard, or weak and strong L and R, that these letters were, at first, sometimes put singly, and sometimes doubly; for as we have rr and I at the end of many words, so the Spaniards and the Welsh, &c., have Ll at the beginning of words, some of which, indeed, are corruptions of Cl, Pl, Fl: as Llama, (Sp.) for FLAMMA, Flame, &c.

The facts contained in the following particulars naturally arise out of the double character of the linguals.

3. Owing to the difficulty of pronouncing R and L hard, (particularly the last,) they have been, in many instances, suppressed: as Moan, i. e. Mourn, (MEREO,) Haut, Haute, Fr. i. e. ALT-US, whence High, Height, Haughty, &c.; Sauce, i. e. Salsa, It.;

Save, i. e. SALVO. Where the L is yet retained in the spelling, it is often silent in pronunciation: as, Calm, Walk, Would, &c.

4. As the smooth pronunciation of L and R, (particularly the last,) is but a slight jar of the tongue in emitting sound from the mouth; they (particularly R) are often unintentionally presented to the ear, especially by indistinct speakers, as all illiterate persons are, such as those with whom language originated, or rather through whom it descended and hence, the linguals are found in many words in which they did not originally exist. Thus, CARMEN, i. e. CAMENA; Armoniack, i. e. Ammoniac; Bridegroom, i. e. Bruidegom, (Dutch,) Brantigam, (Ger.) compounded of Bride and GAMEO to marry; Brick, i. e. Backstein, Ger. &c. &c.

If the following words were spelled as they are vulgarly pronounced, (which would be the case if our orthography were not fixed,) they would be Idear, Lawr, Windowr, Drawr, for Draw, &c. &c. The fact is, it requires a very correct habit of utterance to avoid the insertion of R in these and similar cases, and especially in connexion with the broad A; because the percussion of air from the lungs acting on the rough surface of the larynx, naturally tends to produce the jarring sound of R, even if the tongue could be kept perfectly quiet; which, however, without an effort of resistance is thrown into a vibratory motion at the same time. Hence, persons who use the larynx much in speaking have what

is called the burr in the throat, like the people of Newcastle.

5. L frequently interchanges with N: hence Maninconia, It. for MELANCHOLIA; Bale, Baleful, Bane, Baneful. The physical reason of this interchange is, that the action of the mouth in forming 7 and n is nearly the same. N is sometimes changed into L, but the general process of transmutation is of L into N.

6. In Italian L is generally changed into I, when immediately preceded by B, F, P: as, Biasimo, i. e. BLASPHEMO; Fiamma, i. e. FLAMMA; Pianta, i. e. PLANTA; Piano, i. e. PLANO.

All the above remarks were framed with an immediate view to our own language, but being founded on physical principles they apply equally to all languages. They do not include every possible change among the letters of the alphabet, but they will serve as a general indication of alphabetic transmutations.