of two Kays as of two days, of two Exes as of two foxes, of two Effs as of two skiffs; and there ought to be no more difficulty about the correct way of writing the word in the one case, than in the other.  In Dr. Sam.  Prat’s Latin Grammar, (an elaborate octavo, all Latin, published in London, 1722,) nine of the consonants are reckoned mutes; b, c, d, g, p, q, t, j, and v; and eight, semivowels; f, l, m, n, r, s, x, z.  “All the mutes,” says this author, “are named by placing e after them; as, be, ce, de, ge, except q, which ends in u.”  See p. 8.  “The semivowels, beginning with e, end in themselves; as, ef, ach, el, em, en, er, es, ex, (or, as Priscian will have it, ix,) eds.”  See p. 9.  This mostly accords with the names given in the preceding paragraph; and so far as it does not, I judge the author to be wrong.  The reader will observe that the Doctor’s explanation is neither very exact nor quite complete:  K is a mute which is not enumerated, and the rule would make the name of it Ke, and not Ka;—­H is not one of his eight semivowels, nor does the name Ach accord with his rule or seem like a Latin word;—­the name of Z, according to his principle, would be Ez and not “Eds,” although the latter may better indicate the sound which was then given to this letter.

OBS. 13.—­If the history of these names exhibits diversity, so does that of almost all other terms; and yet there is some way of writing every word with correctness, and correctness tends to permanence.  But Time, that establishes authority, destroys it also, when he fairly sanctions newer customs.  To all names worthy to be known, it is natural to wish a perpetual uniformity; but if any one thinks the variableness of these to be peculiar, let him open the English Bible of the fourteenth century, and read a few verses, observing the names.  For instance:  “Forsothe whanne Eroude was to bringynge forth hym, in that nigt Petir was slepynge bitwixe tweyno knytis.”—­Dedis, (i. e., Acts,) xii, 6. “Crist Ihesu that is to demynge the quyke and deed.”—­2 Tim., iv, 1.  Since this was written for English, our language has changed much, and at the same time acquired, by means of the press, some aids to stability.  I have recorded above the true names of the letters, as they are now used, with something of their history; and if there could be in human works any thing unchangeable, I should wish, (with due deference to all schemers and fault-finders,) that these names might remain the same forever.