[30] I cannot think the French _devenir_ prefixed to a verb answers exactly to both these English forms. The deficiency of the French in this respect, may be observed in the following passage: "S'il est vrai que vous _aimiez_ la justice, & que vous _alliez_ en Créte pour apprendre les loix du bon roi Minos, n'endurcissez point votre coeur contre mes soupirs & contre mes larmes."----Telemaque, Liv. 4. If we translate the passage thus: "If it is true that you _love_ justice and _go_ to Crete," &c. we lose the force of the verb _alliez_; for the sense is evidently, _are going_, _are now on your journey_. "If it is true that you _love_ justice and _are going_ to Crete," &c. In French the verbs _aimiez_ and _alliez_ are both in the same tense, and have the same form of construction; in English the verbs should be in the same tense, but have different forms of construction. In French the force of _alliez_ is collected from the sense of the passage; but in English, it is expressed by a particular construction. [31] On the first invention of printing, letters were cut in wood and fixed. They were afterwards engraved upon metal, still fixed. The third stage of improvement was the casting of moveable types. It is probable that this was a work of labor and expense; and it must have been a long time, before they cast more than one kind of character. Hence the German character was used in England. [32] The Germans and Dutch are exceptions: They use their old characters in their own language; but they use the Latin character and language in works of science. [33] This may be supplied by uniting the two characters _s_ and _h_ in one, and naming the combination _Esh_. [34] The Germans, who invented printing, had not proper types for the two Saxon or English characters; they therefore made use of _th_ as a substitute for both, which defect we have not yet supplied. [35] Or _tsera_, _tsvilis_. [36] "Eundem olim (_ph_) sonum habuisse ac _f_ inscriptiones veteres confirmant, in quibus alterum pro altero promiscue adhiberi cernimus: ut _phidelis_" (pro fidelis.)---- Middleton de Lat. Liter. Pron. Dis. Our letter _f_ has some degree of aspiration in its sound; but had its original Roman sound been precisely that of the Greek ~Ph~ _phi_, it is probable that _f_ would have been wholly used in derivatives where the _phi_ occurred. I suspect that _ph_ in Latin must have been originally more strongly aspirated than _f_; but the transition from the sound of the one to that of the other was easy, and the distinction was gradually lost. [37] We may except Kenrick, who has paid some regard to principles, in marking the pronunciation. [Illustration] DISSERTATION II. _Of the English Alphabet._--_Rules of Pronunciation._--_Differences of Pronunciation and controverted Points examined._ [Illustration] _Of the_ ENGLISH ALPHABET. [Illustration]