that are never fulfilled, explanations that are only meant to mystify. I wallow in words. Britannia, that unfortunate female, is always before me like a trussed fowl: skewered through and through with office pens, and bound hand and foot with red tape. I am sufficiently behind the scenes to know the worth of political life. I am quite an infidel about it and shall never be converted.":

1 David Copperfield, 385, 443.

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.

THE chief object of stenography is expedition. This is effected by the substitution of simple signs for the ordinary letters, by the omission of unnecessary consonants and vowels, and by the use of contractions and abbreviations.

There are but nine simple signs. In our system they represent the letters c, d, l, m, n, p, r, s, t. The character for r is ingeniously contrived to represent two other letters. It is obvious that the rest of the alphabet must be formed of compound signs.

Some authors have employed strokes of three degrees of inclination, at 70, 45 and 20 degrees respectively. It may be safely asserted that such characters, however distinct they may appear on an engraved plate, could never be denoted in practice with any tolerable precision.

Others multiply signs by varying their thickness and length, a contrivance not introduced into this system.

THE ALPHABET.

THE student should first of all make himself perfectly familiar with the characters representing the letters of the alphabet, and also with the words which they denote when written singly. (See Plate I.)

In forming words, the letters are joined to each other without removing the pen from the paper, unless it is requisite to denote a vowel. Numerous instances will be found in the examples and plates.

Some of the letters require special observations

THE VOWELS.

THE characters representing the vowels (a e i o u y) are never used except when they begin a word. Vowels at the end of a word are denoted by dots placed in different positions on the right-hand side of the preceding consonant. A point at the top stands for a or e; in the middle for i or y; at the bottom for o or u, as may be seen by the following examples :

ta or te; ti or ty; 1. to or tu;

Medial vowels are for the most part omitted. But it is evident that if this were always the case legibility and perspicuity would be sacrificed. Any vowel therefore may be expressed in the middle of a word by writing the following consonant in the vowel's place. Thus 1' bas or bes; 11 bis or bys; 1, bos or bus ;/ sal or sel;

Yvror; war or wer.

that are never fulfilled, explanations that are only meant to mystify. I wallow in words. Britannia, that unfortunate female, is always before me like a trussed fowl: skewered through and through with office pens, and bound hand and foot with red tape. I am sufficiently behind the scenes to know the worth of political life. I am quite an infidel about it and shall never be converted."

1 David Copperfield, 385, 443.