"Brevity and Expedition are the very Soul of Professional and Com- BOSTON: PUBLISHED BY SAXTON AND PEIRCE, No. 133 Washington Street. NEW YORK: SAXTON AND MILES, 205 Broadway. 1842. Entered according to the Act of Congress in the year 1842, BY CHARLES SAXTON, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. SAMUEL N. DICKINSON, PRINTER, 52 Washington Street, Boston. INTRODUCTION. ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF THE ART OF STENOGRAPHY. He who takes a comparative view of the state of the arts in ancient and modern times, will be struck with the vast progress which has been made within two or three centuries. Innovation after innovation has been made, till the whole circle of sciences and arts have assumed a new complexion. Yet every new theory, as it arose, has met with the most virulent opposition from those who were educated in different forms, and who consequently have held in contempt every new system, as if deeming it impossible that any generation could be wiser than its predecessor. Every innovator has for the time met with the sneers of an incredulous world, ever on the look-out to find mate |