sizes; and yet are always _the same_,
because their essential properties do not change, and their names, classes,
and powers, are mostly permanent.

The following are some of the different sorts of types, or styles of
letters, with which every reader should be early acquainted:--

1. The Roman: A a, B b, C c, D d, E e, F f, G g, H h, I i, J j, K k, L l, M
m, N n, o, P p, Q q, R r, S s, T t, U u, V v, W w, X x, Y y, Z z.

2. The Italic: _A a, B b, C c, D d, E e, F f, G g, H h, I i, J j, K k, L l,
M m, N n, o, P p, Q q, R r, S s, T t, U u, V v, W w, X x, Y y, Z z._

3. The Script: [Script: A a, B b, C c, D d, E e, F f, G g, H h, I i, J j, K
k, L l, M m, N n, o, P p, Q q, R r, S s, T t, U u, V v, W w, X x, Y y, Z
z.]

4. The Old English: [Old English: A a, B b, C c, D d, E e, F f, G g, H h, I
i, J j, K k, L l, M m, N n, o, P p, Q q, R r, S s, T t, U u, V v, W w, X x,
Y y, Z z.]

OBSERVATIONS.

OBS. 1.--A letter _consists_ not in the figure only, or in the power only,
but in the figure and power united; as an ambassador consists not in the
man only, or in the commission only, but in the man commissioned. The
figure and the power, therefore, are necessary to constitute the letter;
and a name is as necessary, to call it by, teach it, or tell what it is.
The _class_ of a letter is determined by the nature of its power, or sound;
as the ambassador is plenipotentiary or otherwise, according to the extent
of his commission. To all but the deaf and dumb, written language is the
representative of that which is spoken; so that, in the view of people in
general, the powers of the letters are habitually identified with their
sounds, and are conceived to be nothing else. Hence any given sound, or
modification of sound, which all men can produce at pleasure, when
arbitrarily associated with a written sign, or conventional character,
constitutes what is called _a letter_. Thus we may produce the sounds of
_a, e, o_, then, by a particular compression of the organs of utterance,
modify them all, into _ba, be, bo_, or _fa, fe, fo_; and we shall see that
_a, e_, and _o_, are letters of one sort, and _b_ and _f_ of an other. By
_elementary_ or _articulate_ sounds,[86] then, we mean not only the simple
tones of the voice itself, but the modifying stops and turns which are
given them in speech, and marked by letters: the real voices constituting
vowels; and their modifications, consonants.

OBS. 2.--A mere mark to which no sound or pow