the rules that ever have been laid down, or can be de vised, much must remain for the suggestions of practice alone. There is no doubt that much time and labour may be saved, to those who wish to acquire a very great degree of facility, by representing words, where the sense is clear, by their initials or prominent consonants, and by the omission of unimportant words in sentences. This, however, is seldom necessary, and would not answer at all, when the writing is intended for the perusal of others-it should, therefore, be resorted to only for personal convenience in extreme

cases.

Instead of giving any fixed rules for abbreviation, I shall for the present, content myself by giving some extracts from the Edinburgh Encyclopædia, Reese's Cyclopædia, and the Encyclopædia Brittanica-embracing the rules laid down by Byrom and Mavor.

Dr. Reese, after a brief history of short-hand, in which he enumerates the most distinguished writers upon the subject, says" The next system, as to beauty and practical utility, is doubtless that of Dr. Mavor's invention, who, however, candidly admits, that in the construction of his own work, he has proceeded upon Mr. Byrom's general principles, which, he owns, ' must ever form the basis of every future rational system.'

"Byrom's method of short-hand, as improved by Molineux, being now generally esteemed the best and most practical systems extant, we shall give a brief yet comprehensive analysis of the whole.

"Mr. Byrom, the inventor, was well qualified for such an arduous undertaking, by a very extensive

knowledge of the nature of language in general, and a thorough acquaintance with the properties and peculiarities of his own in particular; and it was by an indefatigable perseverance in making, through the course of many years, continual trials, alterations and amendments, that he at last succeeded, to the satisfaction of himself and a few learned and judicious friends, to whom he first communicated the particulars of his invention. To remove any doubt which the public might entertain of its merit, these gentlemen, his scholars, drew up and signed a recommendatory description of his short-hand, which testimonial was prefixed, by way of preface, to the original publication.

"Mr. Byrom's method of short-hand, is there stated to be the art of expressing all the words and phrases of the English language by a character which is perfectly regular and beautiful, and at the same time the shortest possible.

"In fine, his method is no fanciful theory; but, on the contrary, is founded upon rational and philosophical principles: it proposes nothing impracticable; it is not a mere jumble of awkward marks thrown together without order, and consequently unintelligible to the writer himself after the lapse of a few months or years.

"It was a principal object with the inventor, to expunge every thing arbitrary, both from the short-hand characters and the rules of abbreviation; and in this truly essential point he has succeeded so happily, that his system seems to claim pre-eminence over every other."

Having explained the previous theory of this sys

tem, the writer adds" so far appears to be every thing that is absolutely necessary to lay down, by way of instruction to learners wishing to acquire so much knowledge of stenography, as will enable them to use it for the convenience of epistolary correspondence, for the purpose of literature and study, in the writing of common places, making extracts, private memoranda, &c."

Upon the subject of abbreviations he again adds: "It may be proper to advise the learner, not to embarrass himself with short-hand abbreviations, till, by a competent practice of writing, according to the rules already laid down, he is become so well acquainted with the characters, as to be able to write and read them with nearly as much ease as common long hand. He will then meet with little more difficulty in reading words contracted, than he formerly did in those written more at length, provided that the rules of abbrevi. ation be duly attended to. A summary of the principal rules and most practical methods of abbreviation is here given, and it is left to the skill and discretion of the writer, by observing their nature, and proceeding upon the same principles, to make such further advances and improvements as his occasion may require."

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Before I proceed to the rules, I will subjoin another extract. "Lambinet, [a French writer,] in his Researches upon Printing,' observes, that modern stenography, which, like the telegraph, dates in France from the foundation of the republic, has neither the inconvenience, nor the obscurity, nor the danger of the ancients. The old characters varied under the hand

of the copiers, and the sense changed according to the genius of the interpreters; so that their contractions are become so many enigmas, because we can refer to no other copies to ascertain the true reading, and because the authors are no longer in existence. But," continues the writer, "by the present system of stenography, the writers follow the words of the public orators, take down their speeches, the motions, the debates of the tribune, or the lectures of the professors of the Lyceum, and produce a literal translation at last, in the usual characters and in print."

A brief Summary of Byrom's Rules of Abbreviation, from the Encyclopædia Brittanica.

Rule 1.-To join the auxiliary verbs, the particle not, and the pronouns together; as can be, have been, must be, cannot be, he must be, ought not to be, &c.

Rule 2.-To join the marks in an unusual manner, in order to show that each particular mark denotes a word, and not a single letter; as in the, it is, as it is, since it is, it was, it was not to be, &c.

Rule 3.-Derivative substantives may be very conveniently represented, by placing a point at the end of the words from which they are derived. Derivative adjectives and adverbs may be represented also by points, distinguishable by their situation, both from the substantive and the vowel points; which may be done by placing them in a line, which, if produced, would pass through the substantive point, and would also be perpendicular to the last consonant mark; one placed before the substantive point, signifying the adjective, one

after it, the adverb; as, forgetful, forgetfulness, forgetfully; reasonable, reasonableness, reasonably; sufficient, sufficiency, sufficiently.

No great accuracy is necessary with respect to the adjective and adverb points, provided they be placed so as to be clearly distinguished from the vowel and substantive points.

Rule 4.-Such words as, either by their particular relation to the subject, or frequent occurrence, are easily discoverable, however concisely written, may be denoted by the first letter, if they begin with a consonant, if not, by the first vowel and consonant, with the adjective, substantive, or adverb point annexed; as "life and immortality are brought to light by the gospel;" the "resurrection of the dead, and a future state of rewards and punishments, are plainly and positively taught in the gospel." The adjectives which usually accompany such substantives may also be denoted by their first consonant, joined to the substantive; as, "with humble submission to your lordship."

Most writers of short-hand accustom themselves to mark such words as most frequently occur in their own particular professions, by the initial letters only, with the substantive, adjective, and adverb points, which, through custom, easily suggest those words to them at first sight. But it must not be understood, that those marks imply those words exclusively, and no other. They may stand for any other beginning with the same letters, which the sense of the passages necessarily requires.

Rule 5-A dot placed at the point of concurrence of two consonant marks, denotes two substantives, of