mise of very long standing. Ever since the
publication of the Second Volume of my "Lectures on the Science of
Language," in 1863, where I had expressed my sincere admiration for the
courage and perseverance with which Mr. Isaac Pitman and some of his
friends (particularly Mr. A. J. Ellis, for six years his most active
associate) had fought the battle of a reform in English spelling, Mr.
Pitman had been requesting me to state more explicitly than I had done in
my "Lectures" my general approval of his life-long endeavors. He wished
more particularly that I should explain why I, though by profession an
etymologist, was not frightened by the specter of phonetic spelling, while
such high authorities as Archbishop Trench and Dean Alford had declared
that phonetic spelling would necessarily destroy the historical and
etymological character of the English language.

If I ask myself why I put off the fulfillment of my promise from year to
year, the principal reason I find is, that really I had nothing more to
say than what, though in few words, I had said before. Every thing that
can be said on this subject has been said, and well said, not only by Mr.
Pitman, but by a host of writers and lecturers, among whom I might mention
Mr. Alexander J. Ellis, Dr. Latham, Professors Haldeman, Whitney, and
Hadley, Mr. Withers, Mr. E. Jones, Dr. J. H. Gladstone, and many others.
The whole matter is no longer a matter for argument; and the older I grow,
the more I feel convinced that nothing vexes people so much, and hardens
them in their unbelief and in their dogged resistance to reforms, as
undeniable facts and unanswerable arguments. Reforms are carried by Time,
and what generally prevails in the end, are not logical deductions, but
some haphazard and frequently irrational motives. I do not say, therefore,
with Dean Swift, that "there is a degree of corruption wherein some
nations, as bad as the world is, will proceed to an amendment; till which
time particular men should be quiet." On the contrary, I feel convinced
that practical reformers, like Mr. Pitman, should never slumber nor sleep.
They should keep their grievances before the public in season and out of
season. They should have their lamps burning, to be ready whenever the
right time comes. They should repeat the same thing over and over again,
undismayed by indifference, ridicule, contempt, and all the other weapons
which the lazy world knows so well how to employ against those who