Married women and widows are entitled to the same rank among each other as their husbands would have been entitled to among themselves; except fuch rank be merely profeffional, or official :—and unmarried women to the same rank as their eldest brothers would bear during the lives of their fathers.

SECT. IV.

THE ART OF STENOGRAPHY, OR SHORT HAND.

STENOGRAPHY, or Short Hand, is the art of writing in a more expeditious manner than by the common mode, for the purpose of taking down a fpeech, or difcourfe, as delivered by the speaker.

For this purpose, the writer of fhort hand is permitted to avail himself of several advantages which no other-writer is allowed. He has the liberty of inventing an alphabet of his ewn, confifting of certain arbitrary marks, or characters, which, for the fake of expedition, are of a lefs complex form than those of the other alphabets. He may reject any of the letters in the common alphabet, which are not absolutely neceffary for the writer to recollect the fense; or substitute one and the fame character to ferve for two diftin&t letters; as is done here in the fhort-hand alphabet, where ƒ and vare ufed indifcriminately the one for the other, and represented by the same character; as are alfo the k and hard c, the s and the foft c. He also omits the vowels, except where they are indifpenfably neceffary to discover the fenfe. Confequently, he is not to follow the customary mode of spelling; but is to infert no more letters in a word than are precisely neceffary to exprefs the found.

The

The short-hand writer, befides these advantages, fometimes makes ufe of fingle characters to exprefs whole words, and even whole sentences; but of this hereafter.

The firft and principal rule in fhort hand is, to make ufe of no more letters than are necessary to give the reader an idea of the found of the word. For if the writer ufe all the letters that are neceffary to exprefs the found itself, he will gain but little advantage by it; as he will be obliged to use too many letters to be very expeditious.

But it must be here obferved, that this rule must not be followed too ftrictly at firft, and during the learner's exercifes; left it render his writing too imperfect, and unintelligible to himself. He should, therefore, at firft, content himself with ufing every character for every confouant, till he be perfectly acquainted with them all, and can very readily form them; marking the points for the vowels, as is hereafter directed.

Of the Short-hand Aiphalet.

The fhort-hand alphabet confifts of the following confonants: b, d, f or v, g or j, k or hard c, l, m, n, p, q, r, s or foft c, and 2, t, w, x: each of which has its proper character, as feen in the plate. The characters ftanding for these letters are to be neatly joined together, to form words; and written in the most expeditious manner poffible, without taking the pen off the paper till the word be finished; and the vowels are to be noted afterwards (if neceffary) by points.

Though the omiffion of the vowels may at first somewhat puzzle the reader, to read even his own writing, yet a little practice will render it perfectly familiar to him; as the chief difficulty, both in writing and reading fhort hand, arifes from the novelty of the characters, and from the want of a familiar acquaintance with them.

In order to perfect the learner in the conftruction of all the characters in the fhort-hand alphabet, it is abfolutely neceffary that he frequently copy them. He fhould, daily,

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write a copy of the fhort-hand alphabet; ruling his lines according to the dotted lines in the first line of the first leffon in the plate; and writing the fignification of each character at the end of each line, and the letter it reprefents at the beginning of the line; ufing three or four lines of a quarto copy for each letter.

In the alphabet given, I doubt not but the characters will be found as convenient for practice as any extant. I have endeavoured to make it confift of the moft fimple, and, at the fame time, the most diftinct characters. I fhall only obferve, that by the help of this alphabet, and the abbreviations that follow, I have been able to follow the most rapid speakers.

This alphabet, though confifting of the characters for fifteen confonants only, will be found quite fufficient. The c being fupplied by either kors, according as it is pronounced, hard or foft. The h may very well be omitted in fhort hand, as it is only an afpiration of the breath; and the found of the word (which is all that is minded in this fpecies of writing) may be discovered without it. The j is fupplied by the g foft, which has the fame found. V is alfo fupplied by ƒ, being only a coarfer found than that letter. Y is represented, if neceffary, by the vowel i, having exactly the fame found; and z by s, from which it differs in found but a little, being of a coarfer nature.

The vowels are feldom used in short hand; but when it is neceffary to infert any of them, they are represented by points, as will be seen hereafter,

Three of the characters in this alphabet are horizontal figures; viz. d, k, and m; as are alfo the three characters which represent the double letters, cl, A, th. Seven of them are vertical or lineal, running directly from the top line to the bottom; viz. f, g, i, n, q, r, and x, The other five, b, l, f, t, s, and w, are inclined characters.

In forming the fhort-hand characters fingly, the learner may obferve (if he wishes to have his writing look exact),

that the horizontal characters are only half the height of the lineal, and inclined ones. For the two latter ones generally occupy the whole space between the two lines, as feen in the plate. But this direction is to be ftrictly adhered to only while the learner is forming the characters fingly: when he comes to join the characters together, to form words, it will be often neceffary to make them lefs or greater than their ufual fize; sometimes for convenience, and at other times from neceffity: as will be fhewn in its proper place.

Of the B.

This letter, in fhort hand, is formed by an inclined curve line, or finall fegment of a circle; it fhould always be formed from the top, which is on the left hand; and univerfally I would advise, that all iuclined and horizontal letters be formed from the left hand part, as it is the most natural, and will be found the most expeditious. This letter may also be used to exprefs the words, be, by, but, and black; and, with a fhort lateral ftroke joined to the fore part, it reprefents the word before; and the fame ftroke, when placed in the hinder part, fignifies the word behind *; as fhewn in the plate. This letter is alfo ufed to denote the infeparable prepofitions be, ob, and ab, when belonging to a word: as, be-have, ob-fcure, &c. It alfo forms the terminations ble, or able, both fingular and plural, and bly: as, remarkable, move-ables, and a-bly.

C.

This letter is not distinguished by a feparate character ; for its found (except before h, which is provided for) is either hard, like k; or foft, like s. It is, therefore, reprefented by the one or other of these characters, according to its found,

*When the ftroke is drawn through the character, it fignifies the words before and behind; and when the ftroke is fet at the left hand point, it stands for the word beginning.

1. D.

This letter is the fegment of a small circle, with its two points downwards; it is begun at the left hand point, as the laft. When used alone, it reprefents the word and, hand, and end. It alfo ftands for the prepofitions de, di, dis: as, de-bate, di-vide, difpute. And is used for the termination ed: as, turn-ed.

F, or V.

This letter is formed by a straight, downright or upright ftroke of the pen (for it may be made either upwards or downwards, as is found moft convenient to the writer). When it follows a letter that is finished at the bottom, it is formed upwards; but when it fucceeds a letter that is con cluded at the top, it is formed downwards, that the pen be taken off the paper as feldom as poflible. It also stands for the v, which is a letter of nearly the fame found, being only a little coarfer, and is, therefore, not diftinguished in short hand by a separate character: but if it be necessary to diftinguish it at any time from the f, it is only making the character a little blacker, or fuller. This letter alfo reprefents the words for, if, of, off, and few; and the infeparable prepofition for as, for-get. And the terminations fy, ify, ful, and fulness: as, de-fy, fanct-ify, forget ful, forget-fulness.

G, or J.

This letter confifts of a fegment of a circle, the fame fize as the d, but formed in a different direction from that letter; this being in a vertical direction, running from the top line to the bottom one. It is also used for the j, which has partly the fame found as the foft g. But, when used for the j, it fhould be written fainter, particularly towards the bottom. This letter may alfo be begun either at the top or the bottom, as is found moft convenient to make it join with the foregoing letter, When it stands alone, and as a g, it represents the words again, against, great; and as a j, it fignifies the words judge, juft, join. Joined to other characters, it repre VOL. I.

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