and the sense be as satisfactorily obtained, as if all the words were employed. The young practitioner will find it a very useful exercise, to mark with his pen or pencil, such words as he thinks may be spared from the page of a book, or the column of a newspaper, and then read frequently what remains. This will teach him a kind of abbreviation entirely natural and easy; for it is the very plan that every individual is unavoidably driven into, when he first undertakes to follow a speaker, whose utterance is too rapid for his pen-if some words must be retained and others unavoidably lost, he will seize upon words most important to the sense, so far as he is able to determine at the time. To prepare for such emergencies, no earthly plan can be better adapted than the one which I have just recommended, and which is illustrated in the following pages. In a case of emergency, the following words in italics may be omitted. MATTHEW, CHAPTER 4. 1. Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted of the devil. 2. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterwards an hungered. 3. And when the tempter came to him he said, if thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. 4. But he answered and said, It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. 5. Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, 6. And saith unto him, if thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee; and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. 7. Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. 8. Again the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; 9. And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. 10. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. 11. Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him. T 12. Now, when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee ; 13. And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon, Nephthalim; 14. That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esais, the prophet, saying, 15. The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles: 16. The people which sat in darkness saw great light, and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death, light is sprung up. ¶ 17. From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 18. And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon, called Peter, and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fish ers. 19. And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. 20. And they straightway left their nets and followed him. 21. And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James, the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them. 22. And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him. ¶ 23. And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness, and all manner of disease, among the people. 24. And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people, that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy, and he healed them. 25. And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judea, and from beyond Jordan. Note.-Here it may be seen, that about one hundred and seventy words can be left out of this short chapter of 25 verses, without in the least degree obscuring the sense. I now come to the subject of arbitrary characters, in relation to which I have already expressed my opinion, by objecting to their introduction as a component, or necessary part of my regular short-hand. I trust it was satisfactorily shown in my introductory remarks, that hieroglyphics and arbitrary signs have proved the overthrow of many methods of short-hand, otherwise well adapted to the purpose of quick writing. I will upon this topic, however, present my young readers with some of the arbitrary signs most frequently employed in the sciences and arts; since their almost universal conventional sanction has made them a part of our written and printed language. From the "Encyclopædia Americana,” Vol. III. CHARACTER. This name is given to certain marks used to signify objects or ideas. The written language of the Chinese is a language of figures, every object or notion being expressed in it by a particular figure. We, also, for the sake of brevity and precision, use, in several sciences, certain signs: for instance,-Astronomical Signs: Sun; Moon; Earth; ☀ Mercury; Venus; Mars; Vesta; Juno; Pallas; Ceres; 2 Jupiter; h Saturn; Herschel. The twelve signs of the zodiac: Aries; 8 Taurus; Gemini; Cancer; & Leo; my Virgo; Libra; m Scorpio Sagittarius; v Capricornus; AquaPisces.-Mathematical and Arithmetical Signs, &c.: Roman cyphers; I, 1; II, 2; III, 3; IV, 4; V, 5; VI, 6; VII, 7; VIII, 8; IX, 9; X, 10; XX, 20; L, 50; C, 100; CC, 200; D, 500; M, 1000, &c. rius; * In Algebra, the first letters of the alphabet, a, b, c, commonly denote given magnitudes, while the last letters x, y, z, &c. stand for unknown magnitudes, which are to be found. Furthermore, + (plus) more, — (minus) less, signifying addition and subtraction; denotes multiplication, division, equality, ✔root (radix). Also: ° degree; 'minute; "second; ''' third; &c.-Chemical Signs: A air; earth ; ▼ water; A fire; D silver; O gold; copper; iron; h lead; 2/ tin; quicksilver; nitre; salt; sulphur; tartar.-Geometrical and Trigonometrical Signs: angle; ▲ triangle; square; O circle; similarity; or parallel; equality and similarity, or coincidence; A > B, A greater than B.Formerly there were more signs. and abbreviations used in scientific works than at present. In Prussia, the use of signs in medical prescriptions has been abolished, on account of the danger of their being confounded. The following are a few of the many signs used in music-mon^TEN W From the same work, page 553. The most important signs used by the Proof-reader and Printer for correcting errors of the Press. When a wrong word or letter occurs, a mark is made through it, and the proper word or letter written in the margin against the line in which the error occurs. If a word or letter is omitted, a caret (▲) is placed under the place where it should have stood, and the omission is written in the margin. If a superfluous letter occurs, it is crossed out, and the character 8 signifying dele, written in the margin. Where |