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rugged—no flowers to allure—nothing to cheer but its utility. The defect lay in his adaptation of the letters, by having a consonant and a vowel attached to each figure; which circumscribed his choice of words, and caused that barbarism of sounds, which terrified the learner; although it is contended by many, that apparently or really difficult as the words may be, yet they are, for that very reason, more likely to be remembered; as they require great labour to impress them on the mind, which procures an indelible impression. But certainly this argument, if even true, cannot be admitted; for if so, the attention of the learned ought to be directed to make their various studies more difficult, instead of simplyfying them, as eventually they will be gainers by it. To push this mode of reasoning further, would be to limit, in a very considerable degree, the acquisitions we are desirous to possess.
The author admits that some minds have a singular faculty in retaining cramp and difficult words; but he cannot, for the honor of our nature, allow, generally speaking, that a word, to which we can affix no meaning, can be as easily remembered, as a correct or proper one; for he contends, that with half the pains that are employed in impressing the former, the latter may be as permanently fixed: the only inconvenience that can be apprehended from the improved method is, that the ease by which it may be acquired, tends to cause a laxity that would defeat its object; but this can be soon overcome by the intelligent student or teacher, feeling the necessity of more frequent repetitions, to fix his subjects in the mind.
As we have observed that the defect of Dr. Grey's system lay in using vowels, as well as consonants, to represent figures: we omit vowels, and merely use them
