With these views we may appreciate in the English alphabet and orthography-- _Its convenience or inconvenience in respect to learning foreign tongues._--The sound given to the a in _fate_ is singular. Other nations sound it as a in _father_. The sound given to the e, long (or independent), is singular. Other nations sound it either as a in _fate_, or as _é fermé_. The sound given to the i in _bite_ is singular. Other nations sound it as ee in _feet_. The sound given to the oo in _fool_ is singular. Other nations sound it as the o in _note_, or as the _ó chiuso_. The sound given to the u in _duck_ is singular. Other nations sound it as the u in _bull_. The sound given to the ou in _house_ is singular. Other nations, more correctly, represent it by au or aw. The sound given to the w in _wet_ is somewhat singular, but is also correct and convenient. With many nations it is not found at all, whilst with those where it occurs it has the sound (there or thereabouts) of v. The sound given to y is somewhat singular. In Danish it has a vowel power. In German the semivowel sound is spelt with j. The sound given to z is not the sound which it has in German and Italian, but its power in English is convenient and correct. The sound given to ch in _chest_ is singular. In other languages it has generally a guttural sound; in French that of sh. The English usage is more correct than the French, but less correct than the German. The sound given to j (as said before) is singular. § 158. _The historical propriety or impropriety of certain letters._--The use of i with a diphthongal power is not only singular and inconvenient, but also _historically incorrect_. The Greek _iota_, from whence it originates, has the sound of i and ee, as in _pit_ and _feet_. The y, sounded as in _yet_, is historically incorrect. It grew out of the Greek υ, a vowel, and no semivowel. The Danes still use it as such, that is, with the power of the German ü. The use of j for dzh is historically incorrect. The use of c for k in words derived from the Greek as _mechanical_, _ascetic_, &c., is historically incorrect. The form c is the representative of γ and σ and not of the Greek _kappa_. § 159. _On certain conventional modes of spelling._--In the Greek language the sounds of o in _not_ and of o in _note_ (although allied) are expressed by the unlike signs (or letters) ο and ω, respectively. In most other languages the difference between the sounds is considered too slight to require for its expression signs so distinct and dissimilar. In some languages the difference is neglected altogether. In many, however, it is expressed, and that by some modification of the original letter.