binations, however the writer's taste or convenience may vary the modes of junction. As a general rule, consecutive letters are best written in opposite directions-p up before 1 down, f up before b down, &c. The plates in the "Popular Stenography" illustrate this rule, even in the writing of thick letters upwards. This, however, can only be done with a pencil-but it is never necessary. It will be convenient to add here the following

GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR THE JOINING OF LETTERS.

In writing with a pen, thick letters must always be written downwards: with a pencil they may be written either upwards or downwards, but the latter mode is the more natural and easy, and therefore to be preferred in reporting. The following directions show the various ways in which the letters may be joined, and the preferable modes in particular combinations.

b write always downwards.

ch (=tsh) may be written with the hook either to the right or left. The first mode will generally be the most convenient, except before m, r, s, and upward or f, when the second mode should be employed. The first mode should always be used at the end of a word, as the latter expresses "t tion."

d write always downwards.

f may be written either upwards or downwards,—but the former mode is generally preferable, except before m and s.

g write always downwards.

h may be written either way in most cases: it is best upwards before g, k, sh, th.

j may be written with the hook either to the right or left. The former mode is best before all letters except m, r, s, and upward p or f. The former mode must always be used at the end of a word, as the latter expresses "d tion."

k is generally written downwards; before n, r, and th, it may, however, be written upwards.

1 being a voice consonant is correctly a thick letter, and of course written downwards; but it may for convenience be written thin and upwards, since the breath correspondent of 1 (11 in Welsh, and 1 final after consonants, in French, as in siecle) does not occur in English. The upward 1 will generally be best after b and v; also when initial before k, g, t, d and th; it may be used otherwise as most convenient.

m being a voice consonant, is correctly a thick letter; but, as its breath correspondent does not occur in English, it may be written thin and backwards when convenient-as before n and s.

n being a voice consonant, is correctly a thick letter; but, as its breath correspondent does not occur in English, it may be written thin and backwards when convenient -as before m and s, and after k or g.

p may be written either upwards or downwards; the former mode will be best before downward 1.

r being a voice consonant, is a thick letter, and written downwards.

s may be advantageously written from right to left, before or after k, before r and th, and after downward 1; in other cases it should be written from left to right.

sh is generally written downwards; but, it will be best upwards before k, g, and r; and when final after r, as in "harsh."

t may be written either upwards or downwards, as convenient.

th (breath) may be written either upwards or downwards; the former mode will be best before t, d, 1, (downwards) and r.

th (voice) is correctly a thick letter, but it may be written thin and upwards, in cases where it will not be liable to confusion with its breath correspondent.

v write always downwards.

w being a voice consonant, is correctly a thick letter, but it may be written thin and upwards in cases where it will not be liable to confusion with its breath correspondent wh, as in the combinations qu (=kw,) dw, tw, &c.

wh may be written either upwards or downwards: the former mode will be best before p, and downward f and 1.

y-zh write always downwards.
z write always from left to right.

13. EXACT-VOWEL MARKS.

The following vowel symbols are written opposite the top or bottom of the consonant. They are only used in foreign words and proper names. The principle of writing stated in par. 3, renders the use of vowel marks quite unnecessary in all ordinary vernacular words. The symbols denote the vowel sounds in the illustrative words.

CURT SHORTHAND.

14. The general principle of the Curt Style consists in writing WITHOUT FULL SIZED CHARACTERS all subordinate SYLLABLES and WORDS, and in the use of CROSSING, and VOWEL-PLACE Prefixes and Terminations.

15. Full sized characters, which in the First Style (by implying preceding vowel) indicated syllables, are now limited to accents-only the accented syllables of English words being written in full size. Foreign words may still be written syllabically, and they will thus be distinguished to the eye, without vowel marks or any other indication ;-as in the words materiel and material the former of which would have three full sized characters, the latter one.

16. To carry out this accentual principle, which is a source of high abbreviation, consonants with vowels preceding are written in halfsize when unaccented. In the case of separable prefixes, a distinctive notation is obtained by indicating unaccented initial vowels by a dot, written in a vowel position close to the top of the next consonant. The following words are such as will be written with this initial-vowel dot:

VOWEL PLACE PREFIXES-Tick-Size.

17. A few initial syllables are represented by consonants in a vowel position. These will be found in their alphabetical places, in the Vocabulary of Logograms.

VOWEL PLACE TERMINATIONS.

18. Final vowels are, according to the general principle, (par 3.) indicated by a dot placed opposite the centre of the preceding consonant, exact vowel marks, when used, being written at the top or bottom of the consonant. Since the latter symbols are not required in ordinary notation, a new value may be given to these positions. The first position (the top) is used to denote terminations in ic, ice, ous; and the second position (the bottom) to denote terminations in te, nt, nce. Thus a dot in the first position indicates eous, ious; and a dot in the second position represents eate, iate, &c.

19. Each letter of the alphabet is used on this principle to denote the terminations of these classes OF WHICH IT IS THE INITIAL LETTER. Thus we have in the first position; b-bic, bous; d—dic, dice, dous; f―fic, fice; g—gous; j—gic, geous ; &c. ; and in the second position, b-bate, bent, bence; d-date, dent, dance,; g-gate, gant, gance; j―gent, gence; s—sent, cence, &c. These vowel place symbols are of course written in tick-size, or very minutely. A dot added to any of these symbols denotes the addition of y, as k dot—cancy, 1 dot— lity, lency; s dot-sity, cency, &c. A hook added denotes tion, as b hookbation, bution; s hook-sation, cension, &c.

CROSSING PREFIXES- Tick-size.

20. Each letter of the alphabet written in tick-size, across or close to the beginning of the next consonant, denotes a Prefix commencing with the representative letter, as d—dis, f—phil, k—cal, m—mal, &c.

CROSSING PREFIXES--Half size.

21. The letters of the alphabet written in half size across the beginning of the next consonant are used to indicate a variety of Prefixes containing the representative letter with preceding vowel, such as d-idio, k-equi, n-ante, p-epi, b-sub, s-sus, t-auto, &c.

CROSSING TERMINATIONS-Tick Size.

22. Each letter written in tick size across the end of the preceding consonant indicates a termination commencing with the representative letter and ending in al, ile, &c. as t―tal, tile, g―gal, k—cal, cule, &c. A dot added denotes the addition of ity; as t dot-tality, tility; b dot— bility, &c.

CROSSING TERMINATIONS-Half Size.

23. The alphabetic characters written in half size across the end of the preceding consonant denote syllables commencing with a vowel and ending in le; such as p-iple, b--ible, k-acle, &c. A few other varieties are indicated by this class of symbols, such as d―ded, 1―ology, j—dage, tage, &c. All DERIVATIVES are denoted by small alphabetic additions.

CROSSING TERMINATIONS-Full Size.

24. Full sized letters written across the end of the preceding consonant indicate terminations commencing with a vowel and ending in an, ean, ian, &c. such as D―edian, K―ican,J—egian, ogian, N―anean, SH-ician, &c.

-Act,―ect, &c.

25. Terminal syllables ending in ct, (act, ect, ict, oct, uct,) are represented by a short k written in connection with the preceding consonant. This forms a perfectly distinctive contraction for a very important and common class of terminations, as a short final k can never occur in ordinary notation except after the letters 1, r, and s; and there cannot therefore be the least possible ambiguity in the symbol after any other letter. Ted, ing, tion, &c., may be added in the usual way.

C