letters e and i, when k must be used, as, keen, kept, kernel, kite, kit, kirk.

§ 3. When the sound k precedes the sound w, the letters qu must invariably be used to represent them, as queen, quaint, pronounced kween, kwaint.

§ 4. Ch is used in many words derived from the Greek, to represent the sound k, as, christian, chorus, chronicle, &c. The French and Germans also use ch in these words, but the Italians and Spaniards entirely discard the h, and write c only, as, cristiano, coro, cronica, &c., and this latter appears the more reasonable mode, but the English scholar must of course write ch, as the present custom of our language requires.

§ 5. The sound k is represented by -que at the end of a few words derived from the French, as burlesque, casque, cinque, grotesque, oblique, pique, unique, antique, clique.

§ 6. In words of two or more syllables c only is now used at the end, which a century ago were written with ck; as, music, fabric, frantic, physic, rubric, almanac, dramatic, lunatic, formerly written musick, fabrick, &c.

§7. In adding syllables beginning with i, as, ing, ish, the k however is restored, as, frolicking, physicking; for if written frolicing, physicing, there would be an uncertainty about the sound of c.

§ 8. C and q are never silent letters, but a few words commencing with the sound n have a silent k prefixed, as, knee, knead, knight, know, knot, knife, knob, knuckle, knout, knave, derived respectively from the German knie, kneten, knecht, kennen, knote, kneif, (also French canif), knopf, knöchel, knute, knabe; in all which words the k is sounded, and there seems little doubt that it was once so sounded in English, and therefore that these now irregular words were formerly quite regular or phonic. In Piers Plowman, an alliterative poem, of the date 1362, the words knave, kneel, knight, know, knife, occur frequently in lines where it was necessary to sound the k in order to produce the alliterative rhyme.

§ 9. When this sound ends a one-syllable word, containing a short vowel, it is represented by ck, as in neck, lock; but if the vowel is long or compound, by k only, as oak, look, broke, pike, puke. If a consonant intervene between the vowel and the k sound, k only is to be written, as bank, bulk, bạrk.

THE REPRESENTATION OF THE SOUND G (HARD).

This is the vocal power of the preceding whispered consonant k, and is formed in exactly the same manner in the third position at the back of the mouth; the two other vocal explosive consonants being formed, b at the lips or first, and d at the fore part of the palate, or second position.

The letter g represents the two very different sounds heard in gag and ginger, but it has the first or hard sound at least six times where the soft sound occurs once.

The sound g hard is represented by no other letter, and consequently there are few difficulties in dealing with it in spelling. It is never doubled at the end of words, but is always so in words of two or more syllables, when immediately preceded by a short accented vowel, and followed by a vowel, as, dagger, laggard; if another consonant intervene it is not doubled, as finger, congo; and after long vowel sounds it is represented by -gue, as, rogue, league. In two or three syllable words -gue is also written after short and unaccented vowels, as catalogue, demagogue.

This letter before any of the sounds represented by the letters e or i, usually has its less common power, as in ginger, and when the normal or hard sound of g precedes these two vowel letters, there is generally a conventional arrangement to indicate it by the addition of a u or h, as in guess, guild, guilt, guide, gherkin; but some words have no such indication, and cause much trouble both in reading and spelling, as, gear, geese, get, give, giddy, gimlet, girth, gingham, gill (of a fish), in all which words the letter is hard.

Like the letter k, g is silent in a few words commencing with the sound n, as gnarl, gnash, gnat, gnaw, gnome, gneīss, gnomon, gnostic, but there is no evidence to prove that the g was ever sounded in these words.

RULE VII.

THE REPRESENTATION OF THE SOUND M.

There are three nasal consonant sounds in English, m, n, and ng. M is formed in the first position at the lips, where p, b, f, and v are likewise formed; n, in the second position at the fore-palate, where t, d, and 1 are formed; and ng in the third position, at the back of the mouth, where k, g (hard), and the German, Scotch, and Spanish gutturals are formed. They are all vocal continuous consonants, and the breath which produces them is entirely passed through the nose; though the lips, in two of them, n and ng, are open.

The nasal consonants, unlike nearly all the others, have no corresponding whispered sounds, the reason of which is, that the whispers are either inaudible, or too weak to be of any value in speech.

The sound m cannot be represented by any other letter; it is never silent, except in mnemonics; and like most of the other consonant letters, is generally doubled when immediately succeeding a short accented vowel, and followed by another vowel, as, simmer.

THE REPRESENTATION OF THE SOUND N.

There is no other letter than n to represent this sound. It is sometimes silent in such words as condemn, contemn, &c. It is never doubled at the end of words, one or two excepted, but is generally doubled when immediately succeeding an accented short vowel, and followed by another vowel, as dinner.