[ OF THE GROUNDES OF ORTHOGRAPHIE.]
Cap. 1.
1. To wryte orthographicallie ther are to be considered the symbol, the thing symbolized, and their congruence. Geve me leave, gentle reader, in a new art, to borrow termes incident to the purpose, quhilk, being defyned, wil further understanding.
2. The symbol, then, I cal the written letter, quhilk representes to the eie the sound that the mouth sould utter.
3. The thing symbolized I cal the sound quhilk the mouth utteres quhen the eie sees the symbol.
4. The congruence between them I cal the instrument of the mouth, quhilk, when the eie sees the symbol, utteres the sound.
5. This is the ground of al orthographie, leading the wryter from the sound to the symbol, and the reader from the symbol to the sound. As, for exemple, if I wer to wryte God, the tuich of the midle of the tongue on the roofe of the mouth befoer the voual, and the top of the tongue on the teeth behind the voual, myndes me to wryte it g o d. The voual is judged be the sound, as shal be shaued hereafter. This is the hardest lesson in this treates, and may be called the key of orthographie.
[ OF THE LATINE VOUALES.]
Cap. 2.
1. We, as almaest al Europ, borrow our symboles from the Romanes. Quherforr, to rectefie our aun, first it behoves us to knaw their’s. Thei are in number 23: a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, s, t, u, x, y, and z.
2. To omit the needless questiones of their order and formes; of them, five be vouales, ane a noat of aspiration, and all the rest consonantes.