As to consonants, there is a great variety in the Slavic languages.  There is however no f to be found in any genuine Slavic word; and even in words adopted from foreign languages, this letter has frequently changed its sound.  So the Bohemian has made barwa from the German farbe, color.  In respect to the connection of the Slavic with the Latin, it is interesting to compare bob with feba, bodu with fodio, vru with ferveo, peru with ferio, plamen, with flamma, pishozala with fistula, etc.

The greatest variety among the Slavic letters exists in the sibilants.  Of these there are seven, perfectly distinct from each other; some of which it would be difficult to denote by English characters[23].  They are the favourite sounds of the language.  Not only the guttural sounds, g, ch, and k, but also d and t, are changed in many cases into analogous sibilants, according to fixed and very simple rules.  On the other hand, the Slavic nations have a way of softening the harshness of the consonants, peculiar in that extent to them alone.  The Frenchman has his l mouille, the Spaniard his elle doblado and n. the Portuguese his lh and nh; the Slavic nations possess the same softening sound for almost all their consonants.  Such is the usual termination of the Russian verb in at’ or it’, etc. where other Slavic nations say ati or iti or those of the western branch acz or ecz.  In the same manner it occurs after initial consonants; thus mjaso, meat; bjel, white; ljbov, love, etc.

The letters l and r have in all Slavic languages the value of vowels; words like twrdy, wjtr, which judging from their appearance a foreigner would despair of ever being able to pronounce, are always in metre used as words of two syllables.  Thus Wlk, Srp, are not harsher than Wolk and Serp.  We feel however that these examples cannot serve to refute the existing prejudices against the euphony of the Slavic languages.  Instead of ourselves, let one of their most eloquent and warmest advocates defend them against the reproach of roughness and harshness.[24] “Euphony and feminine softness of a language are two very different things.  It is true that in most of the Slavic dialects, with the exception of the Servian, the consonants are predominant; but if we consider a language in a philosophical point of view, the consonants, as being the signs of ideas, and the vowels, as being mere bearers in the service of the consonants, appear in a quite different light.  The more consonants, the richer is a language in ideas. Exempla sunt in promtu.  The euphony of single syllables is only partial and relative; but the harmony of a whole language depends on the euphonic sound of periods, words, syllables, and single letters.  What language