was tacked on as an appendage, rather than incorporated as an
element.

X in _power_, coincided with the Greek xi; in _place_, with the Greek
_khi_. Its _position_ seems to have determined its _form_, which is
certainly that of X rather than of [Xi]. The full investigation of this is
too lengthy for the present work.

s. 165. It should be observed, that, in the Latin, the letters have no
longer any _names_ (like _beth_, _baeta_), except such as are derived from
their powers (_be_, _ce_).

s. 166. The principles which determined the form of the Roman alphabet
were, upon the whole, correct; and, hence, the Roman alphabet, although not
originally meant to express an Italian tongue at all, expressed the
language to which it was applied tolerably.

On the other hand, there were both omissions and alterations which have had
a detrimental effect upon the orthography of those other numerous tongues
to which Latin has supplied the alphabet. Thus--

a. It is a matter of regret, that the differences which the Greeks drew
between the so-called _long_ and _short_ e and o, was neglected by the
Latins; in other words, that [omega] was omitted entirely, and [eta]
changed in power. Had this been the case, all the orthographical expedients
by which we have to express the difference between the o in _not_, and the
o in _note_, would have been prevented--_not_, _note_, _moat_--_bed_,
_bead_, _heel_, _glede_, &c.

b. It is a matter of regret, that such an unnecessary _compendium_ as q =
cu, or cw, should have been retained from the old Greek alphabet; and,
still more so, that the equally superfluous x = cs, or ks, should have been
re-admitted.

c. It is a matter of regret, that the Greek [theta] was not treated like
the Greek [zeta]. Neither were wanted at first; both afterwards. The
manner, however, of their subsequent introduction was different. _Zaeta_
came in as a simple single letter, significant of a simple single sound.
_Thaeta_, on the contrary, although expressive of an equally simple sound,
became th. This was a combination rather than a letter; and the error which
it engendered was great.

It suggested the idea, that a simple sound was a compound one--which was
wrong.

It further suggested the idea, that the sound of [theta] differed from that
of [tau], by the addition of h--which was wrong also.

s. 167. The Greek language had a system of sounds different from the
Phoenician; and the alphabet required modifying acco