g, however, was retained; and we
can easily detect in mediaeval MSS. the spelling of literate and illiterate
writers, the hand of the learned cleric, the professional clerk, and the
layman.

[A style of spelling will now be introduced which has received the name of
Semiphonotypy. It requires no new letter: "[D] [p]" for the vowel in
_but_, _son_, are made from "D p" by a pen-knife. The short vowels,
diphthongs, and consonants are all written phonetically, except an
occasional "n" = "[n]" before _k_ and _g_, and "th" = both "[t]" and
"[dh]" leaving only the long vowels in the old spelling. Six syllables out
of seven are thus written as in full phonotypy. The italic and script
forms of "[P [italic form] ]" are "[p [italic form] ]" (a turned italic
"_a_") and [P p [script form] ].]

The great event hwich formz a deseisiv epok in the histori ov speling iz
the introd[p]kshon ov printing. With printed buks, and partikiularli with
printed Beibelz, skaterd over the k[p]ntri, the speling of w[p]rdz bekame
rijid, and universali beinding. S[p]m langwejez, s[p]ch az Italian, wer
more fortiunate than [p]therz in having a more rashonal sistem ov speling
tu start with. S[p]m, agen, leik Jerman, wer abel tu make teimli
konseshonz, hweil [p]therz, s[p]ch az Spanish, D[p]ch, and French, had
Akademiz tu help them at kritikal periodz ov their histori. The most
[p]nfortiunate in all theze respekts woz Inglish. It started with a Latin
alfabet, the pron[p]nsiashon ov hwich woz [p]nseteld, and hwich had tu be
apleid tu a Tiutonik langwej. After this ferst fonetik kompromeiz it had
tu pas through a konfiuzd sistem ov speling, half Sakson, half Norman;
half fonetik, half tradishonal. The histori ov the speling, and even ov
the pron[p]nsiashon, ov Inglish, in its pasej from Anglo-Sakson tu midel
and modern Inglish, haz lateli been st[p]did with great s[p]kses bei Mr.
Ellis and Mr. Sweet. Ei m[p]st refer tu their buks "On Erli Inglish
Pron[p]nsiashon," and "On the Histori ov Inglish Soundz," hwich kontain a
welth ov il[p]strashon, almost bewildering. And even after Inglish reachez
the period ov printing, the konfiuzhon iz bei no meanz terminated; on the
kontrari, for a teim it iz greater than ever. Hou this kame tu pas haz
been wel il[p]strated bei Mr. Marsh in hiz ekselent "Lektiurz on the
Inglish Langwej," p. 687, _seq_.(69) Hwot we nou kall the establisht
sistem ov Inglish orthografi may, in the main, be trast bak tu Jonson'z
Dikshonari, and t