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JE 
 

 f ^ • . 
 
 AN ESSAY 
 
 ON 7H1 
 
 ENGLISH ELExMENTS, 
 
 &c. &c. 
 
/J 
 
 / tc 
 
 f-i^e^nA'// 
 
 o,^ 
 
 ■^e/iA !/. ^J-JiC. 
 
 i=l 
 
/?. 
 
 '^ 
 
 ^y-*^ ^.,._^^ 
 
 -y^^^^-y^'^ ,y^^ Oct a. 
 
 AW 
 
 *> 
 
 ESSAY 
 
 ON THE 
 
 Elements, Accents, 8r Prosody, 
 
 OF THE 
 
 ENGLISH LANGUAGE; 
 
 Intended to have been printed as an Introduction to . 
 
 Mr. BOUCHER'S 
 Supplement to Johnsons Dictmiary, 
 
 By JONATHAN ODELL, M. A. 
 
 SECRETARY OF THE PROVINCE OF NEW BEU*N3WICK, 
 
 AND FORMERLY A MISSIONARY IN THE SERVICE 
 
 OF THE SOCIETY FOR THE PROPAGATION 
 
 OF THE GOSPEL IN FOREIGN PARTS. 
 
 Ne quis tanquam parva fastidiat Grammatices Elementa. 
 
 An cujuslibet auris est exigere literarum sonos ? Non hercule 
 magis quam nervorum. 
 
 PRINTED FOR J. BUDD,CROWN AND MITRE^PALL MALL} 
 By G. Sidney, Northumberland Street, Strand. 
 
 1805. 
 
f 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 « 
 
 The substance of the following 
 Essay had lain {inembranis intus 
 positis) unseen, but by the partial 
 ^jes of friendship, long before I 
 had any thought of sending it to 
 the press; and my motive to the' 
 publication now is very sincerely 
 stated in the conclusion; namely, 
 the hope that some persons, of more 
 leisure and ability, may be induced 
 to give every part of the subject 
 a thorough investigation. 
 
 A 3 
 
 R I 3 4» 3 
 
m^ 
 
 I.! 
 
 V 
 
 i 
 
 
 VI 
 
 So far as relates to the Elements 
 of our language, I am willing to 
 believe, that my system will meet 
 with general approbation. It is 
 simple, and I think inxjontestibly 
 true. It is also, r?iutatis mutandis, 
 universally applicable to every lan- 
 guage. 
 
 On the subject of accents, I 
 have done little more than com- 
 ment on the text of Mr. Steele ; 
 yet the reader may find, in the 
 comment, some ideas both new and 
 worthy of attention. 
 
 In the chapter of Prosody, I 
 have again been obliged to ex- 
 
Vll 
 
 plore my own path ;— with what 
 success, I must now submit to the 
 opinion of that tribunal before which 
 I have ventured to appear, and of 
 which the judgment, sooner or later, 
 will be right. 
 
 If the life of the late Mr. Boucher 
 had been a little longer spared, this 
 Essay would have been much more 
 advantageously presented to the notice 
 of my judges, and in a state more 
 worthy of their approbation. But, 
 alas, how unimportant is this, when 
 compared with the general loss which 
 Itarning and religion have sustained 
 in the premature death of tliat excel- 
 lent man ! 
 
I 
 
 i \ 
 
 ? t 
 
 f^tV 
 
 '.)i , 
 
 'i'f;)' 
 
 •1 .. I. 
 
 LOH! 
 
 iii 
 
( ' ) 
 
 ■EMGJLISH ELEMENTS. 
 
 "^BT 
 
 1. The vocal and nniculate sounds, of 
 " ,?" '''""='" speech is composed, are bv 
 
 ~''™f---"nnmbar/TonaLI 
 -.guage, therefore, and ascertain those eleven! 
 t-y sounds, which, by various cornbi Ltr„" 
 consftute the .hole of its vocab.Jary, w dd 
 
 em to be no very difficult undertaj; t 
 cer a„.. However, that we have yet no perfe 
 
 tect and irregular spelling. ' 
 
 • ^5^ '^'"''' ^'""mies /,//,ry are meant ,„,! 
 
 lo-t-mes the W. of which those Je::::;:- 
 
 B 
 
pecfvely the arbitrary signs. But.surely, things in 
 he,r nature so essentially different ought to have 
 d.stmct appellations. For the present, I beg leave 
 to use these names constantly i„ one sense, to 
 «pa,fy noT ktler.; but sounds only, which are the 
 r!cma,s of sp.,!, , and the principal reason of 
 , our present uncertainty respecting those elements, 
 m our own language, is,- that we have endea- 
 voured to ascertain then, by tracing the* various 
 powers of the letters «nich we read, instead of 
 comparing and classiiig the sounds which we 
 liear. ■ 
 
 } 1 
 
 3. The vowels, in English, are represented 
 sometimes by single letters, and often by two or 
 more letters, combined; and, whether single or 
 combmed,the same characters frequently represent 
 different vo^vels. But, however represented, every 
 vowel m our language, except one, is subject to 
 the distmction of long and short, independently of 
 the other accidents of torn and emphasis. Man, 
 for instance, is a short syllable, and ma^^e a long' 
 one ; and, hence the first has been considered as 
 an example of the short, and the second an ex- 
 ample of the long vowel a. So also men and 
 mene, /W/and mo/e, exemplify what have been 
 called the short and long voive/s e and o. Let the >f 
 
words, however, be compared, not as written cha- 
 racters, but as audible sounds; and if men and mane 
 be alternately pronounced with attention, they 
 will be found to differ in nothing but the length 
 of the vowel. So also moll, being only length- 
 ened in sound, becomes mawh, and by the same 
 process, the short syllable bam is drawn into 
 balm 5 bin into bean. Sec. 
 
 *• By this simple experiment we shall find, 
 .hat however clifFcrentljr represented, by single 
 letters, or otherwise, the v^e/s (always meaning 
 the vocal sounds) in every word or syllable of 
 the same class, in the following list, are constantly 
 the same, excepting only the diiTerence of .«a,>- 
 t'ty, which is marked in the usur! manner 
 
 - i 
 
r 
 
 11 > 
 
 m 
 
 : I'f 
 
 ; M / «« 
 
 List of Jiords classed according to 
 ^ their respective Foiveh. 
 
 i. B6t, b6aght; coll, call; don, diwn 5 not, 
 naught; &<:. 
 
 2. Pan, paim; Igp, JaQ^h; rat. rHft ; Sam, 
 psalm; papa, &c. 
 
 3. Wn, bane; dell, dale ; wren, nam ; &c. 
 
 4. Bin, berin ; dim, deem ; deceive ; redeem, re- 
 veal ; &c. 
 
 5. No, known ; jocose, morose ; &c. 
 
 // 6. Book, b55n; pull, p66l ; loose, 15se ; do, 
 doom ; &c. 
 T. But, bun, done, son, &c. always short. 
 
 Of thei^e vowels, the last has been thought 
 peculiar to the English tongue. It is, in one re- 
 ^ spect, an imperfect vowel, as it is incapable of 
 being prolonged, or forming a long syllable. It 
 is, however, very nearly the same with the Italian 
 chinsoy which is probably the same with the 
 ancient o///,<p:v ; nor does it differ sensibly from 
 the sound of e in the French monosyllables je, 
 me, te, se, que, le, &c. and in the final syllables 
 of the words gloire, victoire, &c. &c. when they 
 occur in poetical composition. See, on this sub- 
 
-^rding to 
 
 lawn ', not, 
 
 i; &c. 
 redeem, re- 
 
 lose; do, 
 Drt. 
 
 n thought 
 in one re- 
 capable of 
 liable. It 
 the Italian 
 with the 
 sibly from 
 llables je, 
 1 syllables 
 ^hen they 
 I this sub- 
 
 
 jcct, n leticr from Voltaire, subjoined to the 
 Abbe lyOl'wQt's Prosoc/ic Frangoisc. 
 
 h IS tins same short Imperfect vowel that wc 
 1-iear, though denoted by several clillerent letters, 
 in many of our fmal syllables, and others, whicli 
 have been sometiir-es ilistinguished by the epi- 
 tliet ofjhU-i such as over, under, better, liavoc, 
 )>!tot, atom, venom, jealous, mutinous, pillory, 
 coinmoner, thunderer, piUar, media-, &c. Lc, 
 
 Ck 
 
 For my own jiresent use, I must beg leave 
 to denote the seven vowels here specified by some 
 appropriate characters, for which purpose I shall 
 of course employ our present letters, with as little 
 deviation as possible from the respective uses to 
 which custom has already assigned them. 
 
 As our short syllables are more numerous than 
 the long ones, it will be convenient to make each 
 naked letter stand constantly for a short vowel, 
 and always to use the same letter, with the usual 
 mark of a long syllable, to represent the same 
 vowel when it is long. 
 
 Thus the second, third, fourth, and fifth vowels, 
 —I. «....., „ai bedcnoiea Dy the letters a, e, 
 
 B 3 
 
f 
 
 6 
 
 ». ; and the same vowels, when lon^, by a, c, 
 ^ o. For the sixth vowel I take w, which as I 
 shall presently have occasion to prove, is already, 
 whenever it is sounded at all, the representative 
 of the short vowel which is heard in the words 
 >//, pull, &c. ; and therefore I would beg leave 
 by this simple sound, to denominate that letter 
 which, notwithstanding its form, and the nanl 
 so long assigned to it, is no more a double u, than 
 the ancient digamma, the parent of our F, was a 
 douhk g* 
 
 For the seventh vowel there remains our short 
 u ; and for the first, the most convenient resource, 
 aftordedbyour present alphabet, is to take our 
 black letter a. And thus every vowel will Juve 
 its own appropriate character, as in the following 
 hst : in tvhich the name and sound of each letter 
 is expressed in the cc...mon spelling. 
 
 '9' I 
 
 I, 
 
 <-. 
 
IJst of English Vowels. 
 
 N») Name Sliort. Long, r.xamples. Sound as commonly «pelt 
 
 1. aw. a. a Snl.Sal. Sol. Saul.' 
 
 ban. bam. 
 pen. pen. 
 tin. tin. 
 no. non. 
 pwl. pwl. 
 
 3. 
 
 4. 
 
 6. 
 
 ah. 
 a. 
 e. 
 o. 
 
 00. 
 
 a. 
 e. 
 1. 
 o. 
 
 a. 
 e. 
 I. 
 6. 
 
 w. w. 
 
 ban. balm, 
 pen, pane, 
 tin. teen, 
 no. known, 
 pull. pool. 
 
 7. *ut. u. cul.cum.cuvur. cull, come, cover. 
 
 . 6. We have, in this list, examples of every 
 English vowel ; and of every vowel, indeed, that 
 cm be distinctly uttered by the human voice, ex- 
 cepting the french u, which I take to be the 
 same with the ancient -J^^n,, and which we have 
 not in our language. So £ir, therefore, as respects 
 the quality of sound, or the peculiar imdification 
 by which ihe organs of speech are so wonderfully 
 enabled to make one vowel constantly distinguish- 
 
 This seventh vowel can hardly be distinctly uttered by 
 tfelf. I therefore call it ut. But, in pronouncing this name, 
 the sound of t is not to be heard. It is only intended to cut 
 sliort the sound of the vowei denot^rl ;« »»,:, i:.. u., ,u . 
 letter u. ^ 
 
 B 4- 
 
8 
 
 ogc her are cloarJy tl.e same, and differ only i„ 
 .7--/V Cut every vowel is, in so.ne dogL 
 -fl-,ed by articulation with different consonants 
 
 Dicunsius, in Itls celebrated Treatise on the sub- 
 ct of con,posu.on, has given a description of 
 >e var.ous positions .nd „,ovemen,s by which 
 ')>e organs of speedx perform their office 
 
 His first observation, respecting the forn>ation 
 of the vowels is. « th=t they are all pronounced 
 
 by .neans of the larynx compressing thebre»,h. 
 „ '°g«her w,th a simple conformation of the 
 
 mouth, while the tongue contributes nothing, 
 
 but remains at rest."* ' 
 
 This is true, if it be understood as n,eanlng " 
 only, that neither the conformation of the mouth 
 IS cha„gcd, nor the tongue ,mv.d, during the utter 
 ancc of any one paticular vowel : but as every 
 vowel requu-es an apprcpri^t, conformation of the 
 
 n.^o..,r.,. ,„ r«„r,x „„„, „, «,^^,„^ ^„^ ^^ 
 
 •ns »,)„ 7rf^-,.«„ri:,,«.,o »«' «fv«™. Sect. XIV. 
 
mouth, so is there an appropriate position ^ and 
 even />;•/;/, both of tlie tongue and lips, neces- 
 sary to every such oral conformation. Differ- 
 ent vowels, therefore, uttered in succession, re- 
 quire, in the shape and position of these parti- 
 cular organs, certain changes, which, though con- 
 siderable, are yet effected with such facihty, that 
 they escape observation, unless they are watched 
 with minute attention. Now every consonant 
 requires an appropriate motion either of the tongue 
 or the lips. 'V\:;i.en, therefore, any consonant is ut- 
 tered after a vowel in the same syllabi e,the motion, 
 whether of the lips or tongue, which is necessary 
 to the formation of the consonant, must cause 
 some small variation in the distinctive modifica- 
 tion of the vowel.— This, though in general 
 scarcely perceptible, is remarkable in articulations 
 with a subsequent r j as in the words airy ear, ire, ' 
 ore, our, your, &c. But as this effect, in any par- 
 ticular combination, is uniform and constant, it 
 
 requires no alphabetical notation It is sufficient 
 
 that we know the elementary component sounds 
 denoted by their respective characters: for, in 
 combining these clemeius, the organs of speech 
 will naturally give to each particular articulation 
 Its proper utterance. 
 
 B 5 
 

 r 
 
 { 
 
 ^0 
 
 From this, however, there may seem to be 
 one exception. Our short second vowel, a, 
 IS a httle broader than the long one a, when 
 closed by this particular consonant ; as may be 
 observed in the words far, bar, „,,r, 8.c. 
 compared with/?/;-, l„ar, mare. See The differ- 
 ence between the several syllables here compared 
 IS so perceptible, that we seem to hear a vowel, 
 of intermediate aperture, between that of the 
 second and third above specified; but if we 
 try to pronounce this seemingly intermediate 
 vowel' by itself, we shall find it impossible. Is 
 It, then, the third vowel e, that we hear in 
 these long syllables ? All the English pronounce 
 ing dictionaries that I have seen tell us, indeed, 
 that it is. But this is certainly a mistake. Let 
 any one pronounce, in immediate succession, the 
 English word pair, for instance, and the French 
 word pere, and he will perceive them to differ, 
 in quality of sound, much more sensibly than the 
 English words par and pair ; yet there can be no 
 doubt that, in the French word, we distinctly 
 hear our long third vowel ; as in our English 
 monosyllable err, and in the first syllables of 
 merry, very, &c. we hear the short vowel of the 
 same class. In the words bear zndba/m, pair and 
 pa/m, therefore, we hear but one and the same 
 
 !■ 
 
 |i 
 
11 
 
 seni to be 
 vowel, a, 
 ? a, when 
 IS may be 
 T7mry 8^:c. 
 "he differ- 
 comparcd 
 r a vowel, 
 It of the 
 ut if we 
 ermediate 
 sible. Is 
 hear in 
 
 I indeed, 
 ke. Let 
 sion, the 
 ? French 
 
 differ, 
 th?.n the 
 m be no 
 listinctly 
 
 English 
 ables of 
 
 1 of the 
 pair and 
 ^e same 
 
 ■J 
 
 vowel, which, though not quite so brond as in 
 Ifar and/^r, is certainly not e but a. 
 
 It is of some importance to place this fact in a 
 clear light, because, if the dictionaries above 
 mentioned arc regarded as accurate guides, the 
 mistake here pointed out may lead to practical 
 error, and to a gradual innovation, injurious to 
 the melody of our speech ; exchanging a nobler 
 for a feebler sound in a numerous class of words, 
 including some in which the vowel, though fol- 
 lowed byr, is not in the same syllable ; as in the 
 word panvu, for instance, which we are directed, 
 by Sheridan and others, to pronounce petrnty ac- 
 cording to my notation of the vowels above speci- 
 fied. So :iUo daring,- g/arhig, &c. must be minced 
 and stjueezed into Jeri^g, glerifig^ &c. 
 
 Some of these dictionaries direct our second 
 vowel a to be sounded, instead of the ^v<p:o,olccro, 
 ro n, in the word ivrathy by which this word is 
 debased in sound, and confounded with the ad- 
 jective rath. 
 
 T. A diphthong is a sound compounded of two 
 vowels, which are so blended, in their utterance, 
 as to form but one syllable. .Sometimes the 
 
.» 
 
 12 
 
 couiponent vowels »,x. prono.mreJ so r.uMW 
 that they are hnrjly dlstinf.n.l.able ; but every 
 
 than usual, will be found to continue in a soun.l 
 
 J 'M-emfro,„ that in which it began, or from 
 Its diphthong sound." 
 
 By this test, Mr. Steele, the uutl.or of a very 
 -nge«;,.us work intitlej, P,w,W A'„/;Wu, has 
 l"-oved that the sound, connnonly consideretl as 
 a simpk^owcl. and denoted by the letter i, or y, 
 '" "^'-ords /, „,v, h, uUe,Ji,u, &c. is a real 
 d.phlhongi for if this sound be produced a little 
 beyond the usual time, it will constantly be per- 
 co.ved to run into the fourth vowel, i, in the list 
 above exhibited, as it is heard in the words /.., 
 
 '"n ^; ^^ '''° "'"' '''""'' ^^' ^^'' commonly 
 called the sound of our long u, he shows to be 
 
 evidently a complete diphthong, compounded of 
 our fourth and sixth vowels. 
 
 In both these he is undeniably right j but he 
 Also hnds a diphthong in the words ««,, ,„,,, &<- 
 ind „i hut, a,t, &c. ; in both which he is, by his 
 own test just now mentioned, as certainly mis- 
 taken. 
 
 It is always easy, by Mr. Steele's test, to ascer- 
 
13 
 
 tain the sound in which a diphthong terminates ; 
 but tlie two component sounds of the diphthong 
 /, in particular, are so /apidly blended and com- 
 pressed together, that it is very difficult to catch 
 and distinguish the first of them. Dr. Wallis, 
 who also had perceived that / was certainly no; 
 a simple vowel, took it to be compounded of 
 what has been called e feminine and y, meaning 
 the short sound of this last letter. This, in my 
 notation, would be «/', very rapidly pronounced ; 
 Avhich, indeed, is nearly the sound commonly 
 given to it by foreigners, who always find it 
 difficult to catch the true English pronunciation 
 of /, ;«;•, niifie, &c. Mr. Steele conceives this 
 diphthong to be compounded of our first and 
 fourth vowels a, and i ; but these are evidently the 
 component sounds of the diphthong which is 
 heard in the words joy, cuy, &c. The same may, 
 indeed, be also the components of /, and the 
 diftcrence of these two diphthongs may possibly 
 consist merely in this circumstance, that in the 
 one, the first vowel is pronounced with the 
 utmost rapidity, and, in the other, is much 
 more distinctly sounded. To me, however, the 
 diphthong / seems to consist of the short u very 
 rapidly melted into i, the seventh and fourth 
 vowels above specified. 
 
i':: 
 
 14 
 
 The diphchopRs. in o„r own and i„ „„„, 
 ^nS-ge, ,.e .nucl. .....e numerous than gran . 
 
 -runs have, con.n^only supposed. In En„,is . 
 
 Z: '"'= r '-^''^ "- -ghteen. of which'., 
 f"llow„,g l,s. contains a co.nplete exempliHcation ; 
 the component vowels being denoted by tl,e a,>- 
 P.opmte cl>arac,ers above n,en,.:one.l. an,l their 
 <i.Wvt ong sound expressed ,n the common 
 
 w 
 
15 
 
 8. Li at of English Diphthongs. 
 
 1. «i. win joy, a'loy, coy, boy. 
 
 '2. aw .... bough, Qf)W, now, thou. 
 
 ^- ai to be f iind now only I ■ the word aye.* 
 
 4. ui.....l, my, thy, fine, line 8i;;;n. 
 
 -'>■ iit ynwl, yawn, yacht, yoik. 
 
 (>• »a yard, yarn, yam, yarrow. 
 
 "■ if yffa, yell, yelp, yearn. 
 
 "•"^ u ye, yes, yean, year. -♦- it 
 
 9. io yoke, yeoman, yore. 
 
 10. iw.... use, muse, you, dew, pure, cure. 
 
 11. ■* iu ...yon, yonder, young. # t4X 
 
 12. wa....wad, war, wall, squall, squ.it. 
 
 1.3. wa....wag, wax, wear, swagger, twang. 
 
 14. we.. ..way, well, swell, quell, dwell, wed, went. 
 
 15. wi we, will, wee', wit, weet, quill, squeal, twist. 
 
 16. wo.. ..woe, vvoad, woke, worn, sworn. 
 
 17. WW... woo, wood, wool, wolf, woman. 
 
 IS. wu....won, one, wont, Avord, worthy, worship, 
 
 * This diphthong, ai, is supposed to have been anciently 
 'r v^uent in : i.giish. Mr. Nares, in his Elements of Orthoepy, 
 observes, that it %vas probably heard in all such words as^r^jr, 
 m 'V, day, jay, nay, fail, bail, mail, main, rain, &Cv He laments 
 the loss of it, as of " a rich and masculine sound, which 
 " could not fail to give strength and energy to our language." 
 He remarks, that, in some provincial dialects it is still 
 p-eserved. 
 
 I 
 
V: 
 fit' < 
 
 16 
 
 Tne first, third, .m,th, and sixteenth of those 
 
 ^Plui,„n,, are alway.,o„g,,,e second, eleven, 
 -d eighteenth always sltort, and the rest are 
 
 tae characters above selected, would require to be 
 occa.„na,,, distinguished., the .^^^^^^ 
 
 y^ b,e_; as ,n those words, i.t,irn;ie,,ie,f 
 "ed,wcdi wm,win; wwd, wrvdj &c. 
 
 9. Here a question presents itself, in the dis- 
 
 cuss,on of which gran.,n.rians seen, to have be, 
 -gey bewildered. The two ietcers w, and v 
 ;" ""' '"^«'™"'g "f ^ -liable, lK,ve been ta'Ken 
 for consonants. This w.is ,/.,r/.„/«/ bv IV T r 
 but he d,d not g,ve the question a thorough consi- ' 
 tieration. ° 
 
 I-ike Cher Engli,h letters, w is frenuentlv 
 -...where it is not W,... But every' 
 
 "r :"■ "'" '^"''' "-' -'-never it ,> sounded 
 -V .ether „, the beginning or end of a sv.labie, 
 
 -con,tant!y one and the sa,ne sound ; „an,ey, 
 t of our s.xth vowel rapidly pronounced. At! 
 he re., on of ,ts be.ng always thus pronounced U 
 
 th=t.t has Intherto been used as a letter pe,-fec-; 
 edumlant. denoting no sound whatever, exceptl 
 ■'.g the con,ponentpart of some diphthong; and 
 
custom luiving thus, by chr^ice. abstained from 
 using this letter otherwise than in combination 
 with some other, it has been supposed incapable 
 of being sounded by Itself, and therefore that it 
 must be a consonant, iiy sounding a letter^ it is ob- 
 vious that we can only mean the utterance of the 
 sound of wliich that letter is the sign ; and as w 
 IS the sign of a sound .vhich can be pronounced 
 by Itself, and prolonged ad libituniy it is the sign 
 not of a consonant ^ but of a voixjeh 
 
 Y is not exactly in the same predicament. We 
 are accustomed to use it, like any other sign of a 
 simple vowel, either singly, or in combination. 
 In short, it is merely .a substitute for the letter i, 
 whetljer as denoting a vowel or a diphthong. 
 '1 lius he and lis are representatives of the same 
 sound, and the first syllables of cynic and sinner 
 are perfectly similar. So also in the words 
 verily, merrily, &c. tiiese two letters, i and y, 
 are signs of one and the same vowel. And Ben 
 Johnson says, (as quoted by Mr. Nares, p. 41) 
 " We might write iouth, ies, ioke, ionder, iard, 
 *' lelk, as well as youth, yes, yoke, Sec; 
 ** but that we choose y for distinction's sake." 
 This remark Mr. Nares acknowledges to be true ; 
 but, instead of admitting the inference that v 
 
JS 
 
 1 i 
 
 .Lerefore cannnot be the sign of a consonant, he 
 
 ratherth,nks«thati, as well as y, assumes the 
 
 ^^ power of a consonant when united by rapidity 
 
 „ «^P'-onunciation to another vowel that follows 
 
 It. In a subsequent passage, however, (p. (J5) 
 
 ^e says « there is a diaculty ...ending such 
 syllables ,which I have never solved entirely to 
 ^_ my own satisfaction. This sound, which I 
 ^^ luve considered as that of y conspnant, differs, 
 I am sensible, so very little from the very 
 short sound of i. or y, as vowels, or even e. 
 ^' that I know not how to insist upon the dis- 
 tmction/' The true and satisfactory solution 
 of th.s dtfficulty is to be found only by admitting 
 the fact, th..t this y c.,s.„a„f. as it has been 
 called ,s a v.W, forming a part of a gt;„uine 
 d'phthong, the essence of which consists in the 
 " union of one vowel with another following it " 
 
 andblendedwithsurh«rapidityofpronunciatL." 
 as of the two vowels to form a sound differin? 
 more or less, from the separate and distinct 
 effect of etther , but especially of the first, which 
 .s always uttered more rapidly than the second : 
 exceptmg in ai and a:, the first and third of the 
 diphthongs above enumerated, in which the first 
 vowel IS most distinctly sounded." 
 
JO 
 
 Mr. Nares has himself observed (p. 79) of the 
 words you, and youth, « that though the full 
 " sound of our long u is heard in them, the 
 " completion of that sound is owing to the initial 
 " y i and that the words would be spoken ex- 
 " actly as they are, if they were written yoo, 
 " yooth, &c." This is a testimony in point, and 
 directly confirmatory of my doctrine, or rather 
 of bishop Lowth's doctnne,~so far as respects the 
 letter y. For the very same " full sound of our 
 long u," that is of our diphthong- u, compounded 
 of the short sound of y (i or e) and oo is heard in 
 the words uscy nenvsy meivs, &c. ; and the only 
 difference, for instance, between nezus and noose 
 is, that the former contains this compound, or 
 " complete full sound " of y and oo, so blended 
 as to form a perfect diphthong, and the latter 
 has only the simple vowel oo. 
 
 The converse of this diphthong u, or, accord- 
 ing to my notation, iw, is wi. Thus, in the 
 words commonly spelt lucy you; willy lieu ; 
 iviru ne^ i the same alternate diphthongs are 
 clearly perceived, and the same sound of w is 
 heard in the beginning of each antecedent, and 
 an the end of each subsequent example. Dr. 
 '•■"*"'^" J V/UOV-* vauuii, uicrcrure, mat " m wed and 
 
20 
 
 " d^iv, tlie two sounds of w have no resemblance 
 " to each other" is a mistake. i:>.'w, indeed, is not 
 the converse of 'wed. The difference, however, is 
 not in the sound of w but of e, which in nved 
 has the sound of our third ; and, in deiu, has that 
 of the fourth vowel. llie one denoted in my 
 manner, is wed, and the otiier is dkv ; and w has 
 exactly the same sound in both, excepting only, 
 tliat in this as in other instances, it is uttered more 
 rapidly in the beginning than in the close of a 
 diphthong. 
 
 This observation, respecting the sound of w 
 in the words wed and dew, was adduce4 by Dr. 
 Johnson, in support of what he had suggested 
 as the « chief argument by which w and 
 " y appeared to be always vowels; namely, 
 <* that the sounds which they are supposed to 
 " have, as consonants, cannot be uttered after a 
 " vowel, like that of all other consonants." But 
 liad he traced and ascertained the sounds which 
 those letters actually and constantly do represent 
 in all the cases in which they have been consi- 
 dered as consonants, he would, I am confident, 
 have anticipated my assertion — that they are, in 
 all those cases, component parts of real diph- 
 thongs. 
 
 !|t 
 
•21 . . ■ 
 
 Mr. Nares (p. 43) from this argument makes a 
 contrary inference, namely, « that these pre- 
 " tended vowel sounds cannot be uttered at all 
 ** without the assistance of some vowel ;'* and he 
 mentions dwell as an instance. « Dwell (he 
 says) « is a word ; but dwll cannot be pro- 
 « nounced. So 2\so^ cynsym syllables, which do <:yn,jjrm^ 
 " occur, must be given up as not to be spoken, f 
 " unless we give to the y in them the sound of 
 " i ; or some sound of a different nature from 
 " that which it has in youth, &c." At the' 
 same time, he says, in a note, " it must be owned, 
 " on the other hand, that this sound is very 
 
 nearly allied to a vowel sound, since several 
 " vowels take it when rapidly pronounced." 
 He proceeds, however, in the next page, to state 
 a second argument of similar import respecting 
 w. «« The effect of w (he says) is heard dis- 
 " tinctly enough in the use of the letter q ; 
 " but without some other vowel besides the, 
 " attendant u, which seems there to have the 
 " power of w, nothing vocal v/ould be formed : 
 " qurty qun, qullty, &c. are words which no one 
 " will attempt to utter ; so that qu may, perhaps, 
 " be properly considered as a double consonant." 
 But what is the sound of q ? Precisel)* that of 
 our guttural c, or k. It is true, that, in our cus- 
 
 ({ 
 
 C( 
 
 J 
 
22 
 
 III 
 
 tomary spelling, we never see this letter « with 
 "out its attendant u.» Yet, as this author justlv 
 observes, (p. 1 1 8) « we have many words in which, 
 in mutation of the French pronunciation, q« 
 ^^ l^as merely the sound of k j as antique, conquer, 
 coquette, hquor, harlequin, oblique, &c. &c " in 
 many of which he very judiciously proposes to 
 eaend the practice, already adopted in some of 
 them, of writing k instead of que. But whatever 
 may be the letters which we -tvrite, the elemen- 
 tary sounds, represented by our letters, will be the 
 same, so long as our pronunciation continues 
 unaltered. At present we hear, in the word /w- 
 leqmn, nothing but harlekin. Oblique is nothin^r 
 more than oblike, ^nd liquor might be spelt lihX 
 In the word conquer, also, qu is merely k ; that is 
 to say, in all these words the attendant u is per- 
 fectly silent. But, in obliquity, in liquid, and in 
 conquest, q does not, indeed, with its attendant u, 
 form a ^' double consonant,'' but it has the simple' 
 effect of k articulated with the diphthongs ui and 
 ue, equivalent to wi and we ; for u, in its office 
 of an attendant upon q, not only " seems to 
 ^'* have," but evidently/.^/, the sound and "power 
 " of w." 7 here can be no reason, therefore 
 to say, that du^ll '^ cannot be pronounced," but 
 only that we have been accustomed to see w 
 
'23 
 
 always mute, unless when it makes a part of a 
 diphthong ; and the only reason for saying that 
 qurty qim, &c. " are words which no one will 
 *' attempt to utter," is, that q being never used 
 without its attendant u, hs real separate power, as 
 the representative of a consonant, has been over- 
 looked. 
 
 From this passage an inference is obvious, 
 whicli fully confirms what I have advanced re- 
 specting the vocal power of w. Q, or k, like any 
 other of the mute consonants, can be sounded 
 only with a vowel or diphthongs that is, with 
 cither a simple or a compound voivel j by which 
 terms, consonant, vowel, and diphthong, I con- 
 stantly mean, not the letters, but the sounds 
 wJiich they represent. If q, then, that is, the 
 sound of which q is tlie sign, be prefixed to 
 the words wciil, %uill, ween, wit, they will be- 
 come quail, quill, queen, quit ; or, as they might, 
 with equal propriety, be spelt, qwail, qwill, &c. ; 
 and c or k, put instead of q, would be perfectly 
 equivalent. In like manner we have wall, squall-, 
 ivcll, dwell; will, twill- wain, twain, &c. ; wa, 
 ive, wi, &c. a:e therefore diphthongs : for they 
 give utterance to the consonants d, k, and t. 
 Apong modern languages the Spanish and 
 
I Jl 
 
 Italian are preeminent In point of orthographical 
 simplicity and uniformity ; and they furnish many 
 examples, which might here be pertinently cited, 
 of the same diphthongs giving utterance to 
 almost every consonant in the alphabet. 
 
 In the conclusion of the passage above men- 
 tioned, the author says, « we may add a further 
 " argument, from Dr. Johnson himself, that w 
 " and y, as consonants, follow a vowel without 
 " any hiatus, as frosty winter, rosy youth." To 
 wliich I answer, that they follow, not as comomints, 
 but as other vowe/s and diphthongs often do, 
 which in like manner are capable of utterance in 
 succession without any hiatus. Of this the word 
 vowel is itself an example ; and similar examples 
 are numerous. Witness, for instance, the Druid's 
 hdy oak, his haughty air, fiery eye, bloody offerings^ 
 mistaken piety, absurd theology, &c. &c. to satiety, 
 
 10. It \?, part of the definition of a diph- 
 thong, that the coniponent vowels are sometimes 
 pronounced so rapidly as to be hardly distin- 
 guishable by the ear. -But as we can ascertain the 
 second by prolonging the sound, so may we 
 detect the first by slowly and repeatedly uttering 
 the whole diphthong. For, though 
 
 
 t t 
 
13 
 
 impossible to describe the relative position of 
 the jaws, lips, tongue and throat, in such manner 
 as to convey, in writing, a clear idea of any 
 particular vowel ; yet it is certain that, by the 
 same speaker at least, each vowel is comiantly 
 uttered with the same position of those 
 organs, and the same manner of compress- 
 ing and emitting the breath. If, then, in 
 slowly repeating a diphthong, we watch atten- 
 tively the manner in which we begin the sound, 
 we shall be able to compare it with what we 
 observe to take place in pronouncing any one of 
 the simple vowels ; and thus we may perceive 
 either their agreement or their difference. But 
 this is most perceptible, as I have already hinted, 
 m alternate diphthongs. Thus, in yot* and 'we, 
 or, according to my notation, inv and tt;/, slowly 
 and repeatedly pronounced in succession, as if 
 they were syllables of one word, the sameness 
 of the sound, which terminates the first and 
 commences the second diphthong, may be/.// 
 as well as heard. So also, when their order is 
 changed, the same observation is perfectly appli- 
 cable to what we /../ and har, in slowly and 
 repeatedly pronouncing^.., yow, nvin, new, &c. 
 
 21. 
 
 Iherc is yet one particular, respecting 
 
1^ 
 
 I 
 
 1 
 
 ii 
 
 ! Mi 
 
 26 
 
 the transition from the first to the second vowtl 
 of a diphthong, or the melting of the one into 
 the other, which remains to be considered. 
 
 Here I feel the want of terms to express my 
 meaning. The word articulate^ as a grammatical 
 term, seems to be used to denote only that 
 sound which is heard when a vowel or diphthong 
 is uttered in connection with a consonant in one 
 and the same syllable. But, in our scarcity of 
 words applicable to this subject, I beg leave to 
 make a more extensive use of articulation. 
 
 When two vowels constitute distinct syllables 
 of a word, without an intervening consonant, I 
 would consider them as sounds articulated, or, as 
 it were, jointed with each other, like parts of a 
 waving line divided but not separated. But in a 
 diphthong there is no such articulation. The 
 one component vowel is run into the other with 
 a sort of jerk in the organs of speech ; and I 
 presume it is this that has led Mr. Nares to think 
 the y, in youth, &c. has a different sound from 
 that which we give it in thesyllables cyn, sym, &c. 
 The somid is not different : it is only a rapid 
 transition from the one sound to the other that 
 
V 
 
 question is begun with exactly that position of 
 the organs of speech whidi takes place in pro- 
 nouncing the simple fourth vowel i. A diphthong 
 may therefore be compared to a line not divuhl 
 but bfnt into an angle, more or less acute, or 
 with an inflexion more or less rapid; and, 
 though compounded, the component sounds are 
 not articulated but blended together, in such 
 manner as to produce a sound still perfectly vocal, 
 yet different from that of either taken'separately, 
 or of both when uttered in succession, as vowels 
 foi^ming two syllables. Hence we can, and do, 
 form diphthongs by suddenly melting a simple 
 vowel Into its own repeated sound, as in the 
 words ye, yes : and ivoo, -wool, &c. of which the 
 one consists of the short vowel i, rapidly blended 
 with an i following it, and the other of w, in 
 like manner doubled and melted into one..,;//W^ 
 though compounded sound. 
 
 If it be said that this yV/-^, with which y is run 
 into the sound of oo, in you, youth, &c. is inca- 
 pable of being produced without the concurrence 
 of a vowel, and therefore that both y and w 
 when thus uttered, are consonants, I answer that! 
 by the same argument, fl must also be a conso- 
 nant, for it certainly is uttered in the same manner 
 
 c 2 
 
28 
 
 in the second diphthong aw, as we hear it in tli€ 
 words howf noiv, &c. 
 
 12. I have dwelt much longer on this head than 
 I should have done, but I thought it requisite to 
 bring full proofs of a point, on which I dissent 
 from such respectable auihority. But, after all, 
 the question will probably occur, cnI kotto ? What 
 real benefit can result from these minute investi- 
 gations ? I answer, — greater, perhaps, than we 
 are at present aware of. The various uses of 
 speechf that wonderful gift of heaven, are so im- 
 portant to the social, intellectual, moral, and religi- 
 ous concerns of mankind, that nothing can be of 
 little moment, which may in any degree contri- 
 bute to a more perfect knowledge of it. — Be- 
 sides, a living language must be always liable to 
 gradual changes. These may be either for the 
 better or the worse ; and a thorough knowledge 
 of its existing eltements and analogies, for the time 
 being, would always give to any language a ten- 
 dency to amelioration. For such a knowledge 
 must bring both its beauties and defects into con- 
 stant notice j and, in proportion as these were 
 generally felt and acknowledged, there would be 
 a general endeavor to imj)rove the one and cor- 
 rect the other. 
 
Lcar it in tli« 
 
 ^9 
 
 13. IViphthongs are sounds compounJetl of 
 three vowels blended in one syllable. Of these 
 we have three. The first compounded of our 
 sixth vowel ; and the fourth diphthong ui, as in 
 ^uincf ivild, luise, &c. The second of the same 
 ▼owel, and the diphthong aw, in ivoundy the pre- 
 terite of ivhid. The third is compounded of the 
 fourth vowel i, and the diphthong ui, but occurs 
 only when articulated with one or other of the 
 guttural mutes, k, or g, as in kindy guide, guile, 
 guise, and their derivatives, 'i^his last triphthong 
 is reprobiited as a corruption, \ Mr. Nares. It is, 
 however, a genuine English sound ; and it is 
 remarkable that the same consonants, k and g, 
 have a similar effect on oar pronunciation of a, 
 the second of our vowels, whenever it follows 
 either of them in the same syllable. Thus, in 
 the words cmi, calm; gap, gape; card, guard; 
 &c. we constantly hear the same short i, very ra- 
 pidly, yet very perceptibly sounded, and forming 
 with the vowel a, in this articulation, a real diph- 
 thong j namely, the sixth in the list above cxhi- 
 l>Ited. And this effect is- so universal, that, 
 without early and attentive practice, it is difficult 
 for English organs to catch the true sound of 
 such foreign words as include the snme articula- 
 tion, or to nronnnnr<» *V.^ T*„i:„., _ 
 
 uii.ui vvfjri 
 
 corxit 
 
 c 3 
 
=! II 
 
 30 
 
 */mr, for instance, so as to make It distinguishable 
 from chiaro, clear. 
 
 There is, in some provincial dialects, a triph- 
 
 tliong compounded of - and aw, by which the 
 
 words cow, council, gcivn, gout, &c. are strikingly 
 
 perverted. But this is, indeed, a very corrupt 
 
 pronunciation j and it has a companion, so like in 
 
 M.nmd as to be commonly mistP.ken for the same, 
 
 n tiie words how, now, our, pcwcr, &c. But this 
 
 KSin fact, a change of the diphthong aw, into one 
 
 compounded of the second and sixth vowels, aw, a 
 
 diphthong of which we have no example in any 
 
 word correctly pronounced. 
 
 14. Having shewn that y is always the sign 
 either of a simple vowel or of a diphthong, and 
 in both cases exactly equivalent to i, I cannot but 
 wish these two letters might, in our common 
 spelling, be appropriated to distinct uses ; i to 
 denote constantly and only the fourth vowel j 
 and y to be the constant and sole representative 
 of the fourth diphthong. As to the use of this 
 letter. In distinguishing words of Greek etymo* 
 logy> I think it has done more harm than good ; 
 especially when joined with k, to which, in the 
 form of c, wc so often, and so absurdly, give the 
 sound of s. By the use we make of these twa 
 
31 
 
 letters, in pronouncing words borrowed from a 
 language supposed to have been the most me-, 
 lodious that has ever been spoken, w^e have added 
 greatly to the native hissing of our own, and lo 
 the number of its syllables of like sound and 
 unlike meaning. 
 
 But this evil is, doubtless, In a gi eat measure;, 
 incurable. It is an inveterate malady, which has 
 become constitutional, and hath spread its infec- 
 tion through a numerous host of latin as well as 
 greek words, which custom has made to ivhistle 
 in our nviUing ears 5 but of which neither TuUy 
 nor Demosthenes, if they were living, would 
 be able to endure tue sound. It would now be 
 ridiculous in any one to attempt a discrimination 
 in pronouncing such words as ascent^ assent j cell, 
 sell J ccilwgy sealing ; scene^ seen ; scent ^ centy sent; 
 cere, sear ; cession, session ; cite, sight 5 cit, sit } 
 cygnet, signet-, cymbal, sy^nboh. Sec. &c. ; or to re- 
 call the original sound of cynic, cephalic, calestial, 
 cylinder, cycle, &c. But considering the indul- 
 gence which the sceptic has experienced, though 
 it is almost a solitary instance, 1 would faiii liop« 
 that the terms of art and science, at least, and 
 some few other words, of less vulgar use, might 
 
 «; 4? 
 
i 
 
 32 ■ • 
 
 be reclaimed ;^that Milton's « Tyrian Cynosure, 
 the star of ^rcady," and his brighter star. 
 That gikis the tower « where beauty lies, 
 " The cynosur, of neighbouring eyes?' 
 Hilght yet recover Its Arcadian appellation. I would 
 ^l.so/..A., or rather humbly r^'r.,«,«^W, that when 
 « cenotaph shall be consecrated to the memory of 
 tl^-e gallant chief, who, like another Wolf, has 
 . lately purchased immortality by a glorious death, 
 we shall not be compelled to utter a hiss in 
 pronouncing the name of his monument j but 
 may be alloim' j ivrite and to pronounce Keno- 
 taph, Kunosure, hudraulic, hugrometer, &c. 
 
 It is not our seventh vowel that I mean here 
 to use instead of y, but our diphthong u, the 
 nearest sound in our language to what we have 
 reason to suppose was the ancient sound of ,^,xon 
 
 1 5. According to Sheridan's account, we have 
 but nineteen simple consonants; for ch and j 
 are considered as compounded of tsh and dzk 
 \n this, however, he certainly is not so accurate 
 as m his descriptions of the formation of other 
 consonants. 
 
 Strictly speaking, our number of simph, or 
 
 ii 
 
33 
 
 rather original consonants, does not exceed nine. 
 It is evident, that b and d are but repetitions of 
 p and t, with a slight variation of utterance ; and 
 f and V, v^Ith the two sounds of th, though a 
 little further removed, are still the undoubted 
 offspring of p and t. The hard sound of g, 
 also, is only a modiiication of k. The aspirate 
 of this guttural, with the sound of the Greek x, 
 was once frequent in our language, but, though 
 its representative gh remains, its sound is heard 
 no more. But, as our alphabet now stands, p, 
 t, and k, are plainly the originals of seven otl^er 
 consonants. In like manner, s is the parent of sh 
 and ch, and also of z, which is not with us a 
 double letter, as it was in Greek, and is now in 
 Italian. In slowly pronouncing see^ she^ chee^ 
 we perceive that s is the sound of the breath 
 passing in a narrow stream over the tip of the 
 tongue ; sh is the sound of a broader stream 
 passing between the body of the tongue and the 
 palate; ^nd this is converted into ch, not by 
 interrupting the stream altogether, which would 
 be done by attempting to interpose a t, but 
 merely by bringing the tongue gently to touch 
 the palate, and passing the breath out betweeii 
 tk^m. 
 
8S 
 
 SSHB 
 
 it 
 
 ' i, 
 
 34 
 
 • Though s has been classed among the smi- 
 voive/s, there is nothing vcca/ in it ; that is to 
 say, it has no mixture of that sound which is 
 formed at the top of the larynx, and which is 
 properly the voice. But s, if uttered with the 
 concurrence of the voice, is converted hito z, and 
 from z, bya gradation, in the mannerof utterance, 
 similar to that above described respecting see, she, 
 chre, we have the sounds which are heard in the' 
 vcovds please, measure, and major. So that there 
 is neither a t in church, nor a d in Jerom ; for 
 both t and d are formed, not between the body 
 of the tongue and the palate, but between the 
 tip of the tongue and the gums of the upper 
 fore-teeth. And though the letter d'is seen, it 
 Is not, nor indeed can it be, actual ly>r.«.,,«^,^, 
 m the shorter syllables ed^e, ridge, judge, &c. 
 
 The grammarians have told us, that h is no 
 letter ; yet the aspiration which it denotes, when 
 it is uttered with a vowel, has an effect almost 
 as sensible as that of a consonant, and therefore 
 ought to have an appropriate representative in 
 every alphabet. 
 
 I know not whether it lias before been ob- 
 served, but it is an obvious fact, that h may 
 fairly be considered as the parent of s j for the 
 
 Isv, 
 
35 
 
 same simple aspiration, or emission of breath, 
 without any vocal mixture , which constitutes the 
 former, is converted into the latter, merely by 
 being compressed, as above-mentioned, into a 
 narrow steam, and passed, with a certain degree 
 of velocity, over the tip of the tongue. 
 
 The conversion of s into z, by blending the 
 voice in its utterance, is analogous to J I Iapi Ltakes 
 place in the mutes, p, t, k. By an l^lH^ix- oi^Jotn. 
 ture of the voice with each of these, jiMf orm 
 b, d, and the guttural g. When simply aspirated, 
 p is converted into f, and t into that sound 
 which is denoted by th in the word theme. And 
 these stmpk aspirates, when accompanieu by the 
 voices are changed, the one into v, and tli« 
 other into th, as sounded in thee and thou. 
 This vocal sound of th is therefore properly the 
 aspirate of d, as v is of b. 
 
 Our consonants, therefore, cannot be pro- 
 perly accounted fewer than twenty-one ; for 
 which it is to be lamented, that our alphabet 
 does not afford a sufficient number of simple 
 and appropriate characters. And of those which 
 we have our use is also, like our common nota- 
 tion of the vowels, full of equivocal perplexity. 
 

 
 i'l 
 
 26 
 
 in short, we are in want cf letters, ai,d at the 
 ^^ame tnne are pestered with several that are 
 superfluous. 
 
 In the following h'st I have exemplifi.j. ip 
 our common spelling, the effect of ■; ry 
 English consonant, and have endeavoured, as in 
 the list of vowels, to compile, for the whole, 
 the best system of appropriate characters that 
 our alphabet can supply. 
 
 For the aspirate sound of t, I have taken h 
 alone, with only a line drawn across the top, H 
 For the aspirate of d, a similar addition to the 
 letter (3^) might be made ; and in so doing, we 
 should only recall the use of a letter % which we 
 actually inherited from our Saxon ancestors, but 
 which we seem to have thought not worth keep- 
 ing ; though, for want of it, we are obliged to 
 use th to denote the aspirates both of t and d. 
 
 Instead of Sheridan's zh, I have made an easy 
 change in the form of the letter thus— 5, which I 
 think might be advantageously adopted in our 
 alphabet, togethei with 3t. 
 
37 
 
 h aj)d at the 
 Jral that are 
 
 English Consonants y denoted by 
 appropriate characters. 
 
 16 
 
 
 
 No. 
 
 character. 
 
 Sound exemplified in the common spelling, 
 
 1. 
 
 P- 
 
 paper. 
 
 3. 
 
 b. 
 
 babel. 
 
 3-. 
 
 f. 
 
 fearful, physic, laugh. 
 
 4. 
 
 V. 
 
 vocal, of. 
 
 5. 
 
 t. 
 
 total, thyme. 
 
 6. 
 
 d. 
 
 deed. 
 
 7. 
 
 n. 
 
 thaw, thin. 
 
 8. 
 
 th. 
 
 thou, then. 
 
 9. 
 
 8. 
 
 seesaw, civil, scene. 
 
 10. 
 
 '3 
 
 zone, please. 
 
 11. 
 
 sh. 
 
 shine, nation, ocean, passion, machiue. 
 
 12. 
 
 th. 
 
 cherry, question. 
 
 IS. 
 
 z. 
 
 razure, measure. 
 
 14. 
 
 j- 
 
 jejune, age, edge. 
 
 15. 
 
 k. 
 
 kill, call, chorus. 
 
 16. 
 
 g- 
 
 gargle, give, geese. 
 
 17. 
 
 m. 
 
 maim. 
 
 18. 
 
 1. 
 
 loyal. 
 
 19. 
 
 r. 
 
 rural, rare. 
 
 20. 
 
 n. 
 
 now, noon. 
 
 21, 
 
 nf. 
 
 ring, song, young. 
 
38 
 
 
 17. It has been supposed, and wlthseenung 
 probability, that letters, when first used to denote 
 the elementary sounds of speech, were selected 
 from among the characters which had been used 
 in the primitive hieroglyphic writing, which de- 
 noted not sounds but iih,^s. These characters, 
 which at first consisted of some faint sketches of 
 the things dcnoted,had,by degree9,been simplified 
 and abridged, in order to make them suscep •' ^e 
 of various combinations within a narrow compass. 
 But still theirnumber must have been prodigious 
 to render practicable even a very moderate extent 
 of intelligible communication. That mode of wri- 
 ting was, however, as our musical and arithme- 
 tical notations now are, alike intelligible to the 
 learned of different nations. But when the idea 
 was conceived of giving, to a small number of 
 alphabetical characters, powers of arbitrary signifi- 
 cance, as clear and extensive as those of speech 
 itself, it would be natural for the people, first 
 favoured by Heaven with this sublime idea, to give 
 each character, thus selected, the name by which, 
 in their own language, they expressed the t/jwg 
 of which the same character had been the hie- 
 roglyphic symbol. If so, every single letter, in 
 its original application, was the representative of 
 some word, whicli thus acijuired a new meaning j 
 
39 
 
 and so far, of course, the number of ambiguous 
 terms in that language was iiicreased. 
 
 Of this ambiguity, in the names of our English 
 letters, we have cccidently the following examples, 
 a, b, c, i, 1, o, p, q, r, t, u. The names 
 of h, k, m, and s, have narrowly escaped a co- 
 iiicidcnce with etchy keyy aim and ace. 
 
 If we had now to invent names for our letters, 
 it might be worth while to avoid, if possible, all 
 such ambiguity. But such a consideration can 
 furnish no reasonable motive for changing the 
 names which are already in use, and have been 
 long sanctioned by custom. It should be a maxim, 
 with respect to every proposed innovation what- 
 ever, in school y as well as in church uttd state ^ that 
 if there be not some goo<l and suiHcient reason 
 for it, that alone is always an unanswerable 
 reason against it. And surely no good reason 
 whatever can be given for the uncouth novelty 
 of Mr. Sheridan's names, ep, eb, er, et, ek, &c. 
 There is a natural distinction between those 
 consonants which can, and those which cannot 
 easily be articulated with a preceding vowel ; and 
 custom has very properly named the respective 
 c'assesaccordingly,pe, te, be, &c.and ef, el, em,&c. 
 The only letters, therefore, of which I can see 
 
40 
 
 m 
 
 i 
 
 mi 
 
 11 n I 
 
 , l! 
 ■I 
 
 aiiy reason for chanj/ing the present names, arc 
 
 g and w. With us the rule has evidently been, 
 
 to give each letter a name simply expressive of 
 
 its power, or of the sound of which it is the 
 
 Sign. The- sound of w, whenever it is somulcd 
 
 at all, is above specified in the sixth vowel ; and 
 
 that sound ought therefore to be its name ; for 
 
 the vowels and diphthongs in our language are 
 
 tuiMeJ by being simply prmounced. 
 
 To the letter g we have given two sounds, for one 
 of which we have at the same time an appropriate 
 character j. I would therefore give g a name 
 expressive only of its guttural sound, which 
 might be gay in conformity with the name of 
 its kindred mute ka. 
 
 The aspirates of t, d, and s, having each been 
 denoted by two letters, have hitherto had no 
 names, but, having now proposed an appropriate- 
 character for the first of these, I would beg leave 
 to call it e^, a sound which is heard in the word- 
 breath, and is of easy utterance, and analagous 
 to the name of a similar aspirate ef. 
 
 The reader, doubtless, will smile at my giving 
 a mme to what has hot yet, and probably never 
 
41 
 
 may have, any other local habitation than in these 
 fugitive pages. 
 
 18. As \uorils are distinguished by emphasis, so 
 are syllables susceptible of a similar distinction ; 
 to which I beg leave to give the name of syllabic 
 emphasis. This differs from the former, chiefly 
 in the circumstance of its constancy. Words 
 are emphatical only as occasion may require, to 
 denote their relative importance in the sentence, 
 to mark some contrast in their application, or to 
 give expression to some emotion of the mind ; 
 but the emphatic syllable is alivays emphatic in 
 the same ivordj unless that word be a mono- 
 syllable, in which case its emphasis depends on 
 the place it happens to occupy in the phrase or 
 sentence. 
 
 How it has happened that this emphasis, which 
 takes place only on certain syllables, has, by 
 modern grammarians, been so universally deno- 
 minated accent^ it is now useless to enquire. 
 Accent is a name significant of a thing essen- 
 tially different, and which is essential to every 
 syllable that we utter, as will be shown in its 
 proper place. At present I have only to observe, 
 that, as the right placing of the syllabic, em- 
 
I I ■ M 
 
 m 
 
 ,> ('> 
 
 
 ill 
 
 fttU* 
 
 41 
 
 phaMs is essential to a correct pronunc:atioh, ,„ 
 appropriate mark for denoting i, i, necessary to 
 
 " Mr Steele has pomted out a mor. natural use 
 tor the ancient accentural marks, I hope we 
 'hall, ere long, cmpfoy some other for dr-nn-ing 
 an emphatic syllable. This might be a simple 
 pomt, not «,,r But rather ,W,r the line, for the 
 sake of avoiding an occasional interference with 
 the titls of the letter i. 
 
 Mr Sheridan, in his third lecture on Elocution, 
 reprobates the ignorance and « amazing defi- 
 ciency of all such compilers of dictionaries, &c." 
 M had marked the accent (meaning the syllabic 
 emphasis.) over the ^./ only of the emphatic 
 syllab ei ,„d he assumes no small credit to 
 himself for discovering what he calls « , master 
 Jcey to the pronunciation of our whole toneue " 
 namely a rule for " placing the accent alwa; 
 over ^the ""T" '"^'"''" '^' "^''^ " "P"" 
 that. But whoever willattend to the forn,ation 
 of articulate soimds, will perceive that no con- 
 sonant can be susceptible of what Mr. Sheridan 
 cas accent; which, according to his definition. 
 " a smarter percussion of the w!» in utterance • » 
 that.is, smarter than is given in uttering L 
 
43 
 
 unemphatic syllable In the same word. Now 
 as this is a variety of vocal percussion, it can 
 have place only on vocal sounds. The force with 
 which a consonant is uttered, depends entirely on 
 the utterance of the vowel with which that con* 
 sonant is articulated. But my principal objection 
 to the use of this " master key," is on account 
 of its donhlet or rather equivocal reference to 
 things so essentially different as emphasis and 
 quaniity^ to say nothing of accent^ of which 
 Mr. Sheridan evidently knew nothing. 
 
 He justly condemns the rule which made 
 " every accented syllable long ;" but he declares 
 it to be an infallible rule in our tongue, " that no 
 " vowel ever has a long sound in an unaccented 
 " syllable," that is, to speak with precision, 
 that no unempliatic vowel is ever a long one. 
 Of this I will not say, in the language of Mr. 
 Sheridan, that it is " a palpable and a gross 
 mistake i" but it certainly is a mistake, — witness, 
 educate y emulate y edify y compromise y intervienv, 
 evergreeny and many others, in which the final 
 syllables are long and unemphatic. 
 
 ly. As diphthongs, though not j-//«/>/^ sounds, 
 do sensibly differ from the separate effect of 
 
44 
 
 Id 
 
 their component vowels, it may be doubted 
 whether they ought not to be reckoned among 
 our elementary sounds ; but this would be to 
 misapply the term, from the meaning of which 
 every thing is excluded that is not strictly 
 simple and indivisible. 
 
 The elementary sounds, therefore, which, by 
 various combinations, constitute our whole voca- 
 bulary, are twenty-nine j namely, seven vowels, 
 twenty-cne consonants, and the simple aspiration 
 denoted by the letter h ; nor can om- alphabet 
 be perfect with less than this number of letters, 
 nor indeed, strictly speaking, with less than 
 thirty-five ; for we yet want six to denote the 
 long vowels. But if these are marked in the 
 usual manner, I think that, with such an alpha- 
 bet as I have here compiled, it would not be 
 difBcult to denote every word and syllable in 
 our language, in such manner as to preclude all 
 doubt respecting the real sounds intended to be 
 expressed. But alas, though this were done, 
 what an uncouth appearance must it make to 
 the eye of every one, who has been so far 
 habituated to our ^iresent spelling, as barely to 
 be able to read it without stammering and 
 hesitation I Accustomed to. a certain pictui^e c£ 
 
 f \ 
 
45 
 
 €Tery word, any considerable change in that 
 
 picture appears Hke a blemish, which excites in 
 
 us a kind of involuntary ayertipn, not withstand- OLVtyjutu, 
 
 ing our conviction that the picture is, in many 
 
 respects, both clumsy and absurd. 
 
 Can we then have a hope of ever attaining to 
 a perfect orthography of our language ? I 
 know not j but I am persuaded, that the first 
 5)tep towards it is — clearly to ascertain the extent 
 of our wants, and exemplify the possibility of 
 that perfection, to which we may, r;t least, make 
 some slow and gradual approaches. The great- 
 est obstacle in our way has been, and will probably 
 continue to be, a circumstance in which we 
 seem to be altogether singular. While we are 
 careful, in our spellings to preserve the traces of 
 etymology, and make derivatives follow their 
 lean.srSi ^ve often practise the reverse in our 
 prcmmciatioti. Thus we ivrite, compose, com- 
 position ; orator, oration ; nature, natural ; con* 
 fide, coniident } reform, reformation ; relate, 
 relative ; also confines, produce, project, he. &c. 
 both as verbs and nouns, but we pronounce 
 kumpoz, k.mpozishun; ^retur, oreshunj netiwr, rxtiivf 
 natiw rul ; kunfyd, kanfidem ; rifarm, refurmc-* n(^Tucrti/ 
 
 shun: rilet. relotiv: knnfvrnf. k.inftrn^' rvr/^rlJi 
 . -, _ - ^ ^. — ^j ._,^,...^. 
 
 prtldiwsj projekt, prajekt; &c 
 
 
46 
 
 ■.nm 
 
 By our pronunciation we add to the variety 
 and improve the melody of our language ; but 
 we do this at the expence of increasing our 
 alphabetical ambiguities. The remedy is obvious ; 
 namely, to adopt the ancient rule, of changing 
 the Utter whenever we change the sou/td of 
 which that letter is the sign ; but the tyrant 
 custom is in our way. Yet why should we call 
 custom a tyrant P Tyranny is z ianvless, and, 
 therefore, Tijichle and capricious power. But our 
 speech and our spelling have both their several 
 usages and laws, and our present complaint is a 
 proof, that those laws are not liable to sudden 
 or licentious alterations. They stand in need 
 of amendments ; and the more cautiously and 
 gradually these are made and sanctioned, the 
 more durable will be the benefits resulting from 
 them. 
 
 K--' 
 
 20. It may not be amiss here to observe, 
 that, besides those numerous feeble syllables, 
 mentioned in the fourth section, and which are 
 uniformly such, we have many that are some- 
 times more distinctly pronounced, but to which 
 we often give the same indefinite sound. Instances 
 of this occur most frequently in the articles j, 
 ««, the\ the conjunctions, W, or, mr\ the 
 
47 
 
 prepositions of, to, from, at, for \ the particles «, 
 cum, con, in composition, as in anvahe, arise, 
 about, above, compare, conceal', the word there, in 
 such phrases as there is, there ivas, there came, &c. ; 
 and the possessive pronouns, your and their. In 
 the cases here pointed out, we commonly hear 
 only our sev^snth vowel ; unless where that would 
 produce hiatus, or where some occasional empha- 
 sis requires a more distinct pronunciation. Thus 
 we say u man, thu man, un apple, u glass ur iw 
 wine, thur is, thur vfzs, frum east tu west, this 
 ur that, he went uh^nvt, he sits ubuv, give me 
 iur hand, I take ;'//;- word, they went thur way, 
 und so forth. But we pronounce distinctly the 
 npple, the eye, the other, See. and the smallest 
 degree of emphasis will require us, in like manner, 
 to pronounce e glass, thi glass, frdim, ar, tzu, 
 fiXf"j «ar, iiur word, thar way, " a/:d there was 
 light-" cScc. 
 
 This is a point on which some sufficient rule 
 is much w.-^nted, especially for the sake of such 
 foreigners as desire to attain an accurate pro- 
 nunciation of our language. 
 
 Among the feeble syllables we may also here 
 mention the words my and by^ in wliich tlie 
 
II 
 
 BffU 
 
 II 
 
 JutK 
 
 If 
 
 
 I?'; 
 
 h^LOM.' 
 
 48 
 
 diphthong Is often changed into the fourth vowel, 
 and the words are pronounced mi and hiy as 
 in the following phrases, to ham by hearty to 
 speak by rote^ to march by nighty upon my nuordy it is 
 my oivfiy I tahe my leavcy &c. 
 
 2 1 . It is also here to be noted, that we have many 
 syllables consisting of consonants only, without the 
 intervention of any vowtel whatever. Of this 
 the word iyllahle itself affords an example, and the 
 word example exhibits another. These syllables 
 are formed by an immediate articulation of the 
 liquids, or semivowels 1 or n, with one or other of 
 the following consonants — namely p, b, f, v, 
 t, d, s, z, k, g, as in the words appky abky 
 stijley evily titky fiddky wkistlcy harely tickky 
 smugglcy and happe?iy eveuy kitteny hoyden, brazen^ 
 spoken, Sec. in all which, though e or i be writ- 
 ten, no vowel is heard in the final syllables. 
 
 From this class of huddled consonzntSy however, 
 there are many exceptions. The vowel is heard, 
 for instance, not in navely but in nava/y mortal, 
 model, chisel y morsel, &c. 
 
 22. To spell words aHke,which differ hoth.\r\SQund 
 and sense, and especially words of perpetual re« 
 
 i ..'1 
 
49 
 
 currence, is altogether inexcusable ; and yet of 
 this absurdity we have a familiar instance. Thj 
 relative pronoun that, differs constantly in pronun- 
 ciation from the demonstrative that, exactly as the 
 word hut differs from hat. The same difference 
 of spelling, therefore, in my humble opinion, 
 ought to be adopted in this instance, as one step 
 towards a gradual amendment of our very im- 
 perfect orthography. 
 
 23. Some critics have lately objected to tlie use 
 of that, as a relative, conceiving which to be in all 
 cases « the preferable word."* But this is cer- 
 tainly a hasty and erroneous opinion. We have 
 in English three relatives, that, nvho, and which: 
 and, in their respective and appropriate use, we 
 p -. '3SS an advantage, as we do also in the two 
 auxiliaries, will and shall, peculiar to our lan- 
 guage, and which I hope we shall not be tempted 
 to relinquish. 
 
 '* Who is he, with voice unblest, 
 
 " That calls me from tlit bed of r«8t ? 
 
 " A traveller, to thee unknown, 
 
 " Is he that calls,— a warriour's son." Grat. 
 
 bothinjww^ 
 
 * See Dr, Blair's Lectures on Rhetoric, Vol.11, p. 78; and 
 Anti-Jacobin RevieWjfor Mav, !800, 
 

 .'" I 
 
 ''i: 
 
 hi ■ 
 
 m 
 
 |ii9 H 
 
 »iii 
 
 % 
 
 m 
 
 rk^U 
 
 50 * 
 
 " Bid her be all thai cheer* or softens Hfc, 
 
 " The tender sister, daughter, friend and wife; 
 
 « Bid her be all tLt makes mankind adore, 
 
 " Then view this marble, and be vain no more, 
 
 •* No cheerful breeze this sullen rej^ion knowj, 
 " I'he dreaded East is all the V/ind that blows. 
 
 " A voice there is tiat whispers in my ear ; 
 
 " 'Tis reason's voice, tv/jUii sometimes we can hear." 
 
 " Sir Godfrey should decide the suit, 
 «* JVbo sent the thief, that stole the cash, away, 
 •' And punish'd him that put it in his way. — —Pope. 
 
 The appropriate use of each relative, iv^, thaty 
 and nvhkhy is here exemplified; and similar 
 instances are frequent. Thus Addison says, in^iiis 
 essay on the pleasures of the imagination (quoted 
 from the Spectator by Dr. Blair) "There is no- 
 ** thing that makes its way more directly to the 
 soul than beauty, which immediately diffuses a 
 secret satisfaction and complacency through 
 " the imagination, and gives a finishing to any 
 " thing that is great or uncommon." 
 
 In all such phrases as the following, that as 
 a relative (or that y rather, si sic volet ususj is exclu^ 
 
 (( 
 
 (( 
 
51 
 
 jive/y the proper word. viz. "-rd?// that can be said 
 or done — that we have seen or heard — that is or 
 was intended, &c. the same that was or is, that 
 we saw, that he pursued, 8cc. ; the firsts the last, 
 the bestf that has appeared ; the best or worst that 
 can happen." And, in general, all superlatives of 
 similar construction. So also — ** each one, every one, 
 no one, any one, that will or shall, that is or was, that 
 acts or speaks, he. \ something, nothing, anything, 
 everything that can or may, &c. ; Who that has or 
 does, that is or would be .'* Who is he that can or 
 will, that says or does ? &c. What is it that alarms 
 you } What is it that can compensate ? &c. It is 
 the moon that you see j the wind that we hear \ 
 the gout that has made him lame," &c. Sec. 
 
 " All that we can do," implies the utmost ex- 
 tent of our ability. " All which we can do" is 
 rather an assertion that our ability is, at least, 
 equal to the task. The latter is therefore, if used in 
 any other sense, at best an ambiguous phrase j 
 whereas the former is capable but of one mean- 
 ing : for the ivord, we must remember in these 
 phrases, is not that, but thut. In like manner 
 " the best writer that I am acquainted with," can 
 only mean the best in the circle of my acquain- 
 tance ; the best among those v/hose v/orks I am 
 
 D 2 
 
5'i 
 
 ml* 
 
 w» 
 
 m 
 
 li:: 
 
 acquainted with ; but, " the best writer with w^otn 
 I am acquainted," might be construed to im- 
 ply not only that he was an excellent writer, 
 but that he was also one with whom I had a per- 
 sonal acquaintance. 
 
 The choice between tiai and w^iS is often, 
 with respect to propriety, a matter of indifference ; 
 and then, doubtless, we should be governed by 
 regard to euphony of composition. On this ac- 
 count it is often necessary to use that rather than 
 -which, in order to avoid some of those harsh 
 collisions of sound, which, at the best, are too 
 frequent in our language. 
 
 *' The darksom. pines, that o'er yon rocks reclin'd, 
 *' Wave high, and murmur to the hollow wind; 
 " 'l"he wand'rinif streams that shine between the hills, 
 «' The grotts that echo to the tinckling rilk, 
 « I'he dying gales that pant upon the trees, 
 « The lakes that quiver to the curling breeze," &c. • 
 
 The relative that is here, in every instance, 
 " the preferable word ;" but in some instances, the 
 only word that could have been admitted. What 
 ear could have endured the third line, in this 
 beautiful passage, if Pope had written it thus, 
 or it were now to be thus spoken } 
 
 •* The wandering itrsami ivbkb shine between the hills." 
 
53 
 
 And how would the melody of tlie following 
 Hnes, from Pope and Gray, be destroyed by the 
 substitution of tuhkh for that I 
 
 " Colours that change whene'er they wave their wings.— 
 *• Behold the groves tLat shhu with silver frost.— 
 *' Thin trees arloc, that shun each others shades.- 
 
 '* Command old ivordtt that long have slept to wake, 
 " IVords that -uihe Bacon or brave Rawley spake." 
 
 " And many a holy text around she strews, 
 " That teach the rustic moralist to die.— 
 
 «' There, at the foot of yonder nodding heed, 
 *' That wreathes its id fantastic roots 80 high." 
 
 The same word, (thut) is also a conjunction \ 
 but its construction, in that sense, differs from 
 the construction of the relative so much, that it 
 never can occasion either confusion or ambiguity. 
 
 24. There are words, in every language, dif- 
 fering in setise but not in sound \ words, I mean, 
 which differ not only in a figurative, but in their 
 primitive and literal acceptation. "When these, 
 therefore, are differently spelt, a ivritten lan- 
 guage becomes more copious, and possesses more 
 precision than the same language spoken ; and if 
 
 d3 
 
54 
 
 a diflVrcnce of spelling in such cases could be 
 so regulated, as to answer the purpose intended, 
 without ever giving different powers to the same 
 letters, by doubling a consonant, for instance, 
 or adding some little mark of distinction to a 
 vowel, i: might be a very useful deviation from 
 tbat uniform orthographical simplicity, the Want 
 of which, in our langua^je, we have so much 
 reason to lament. 
 
 >i 
 
 
55 
 
 Eiiglish Accents, 
 
 1. From the precious rcmni'.is of ancient 
 literature it appears, that, in tlic CJrcck and 
 Latin languages, there was a sort of nioaulation 
 or melody of speech, consisting of certain in- 
 flections of the voice, which were denominated 
 iffoffJ^Ui^ or accents ; that in th^se inflections 
 the voice was raised to a sharper, or depressed to 
 a graver tone; that this effect took place on 
 single syllables, and often to an extent of no 
 less than a fifth, or three tones and a half of the 
 musical scale ; that the elevation of the voice 
 was called an acutey and its depression a grave 
 accent; and that sometimes both these were 
 combined in the utterance of one syllable, in 
 which case it was called mftts^aaixoi, a cir- 
 cuniflex accent * 
 
 Hence learned commentators, who could find 
 nothing in modern speech similar to what they 
 understood to be the meaning of these classical 
 authorities, have confidently inferred, that every 
 modern language differs totally, in this respect, 
 
 D 4. 
 
!l 
 
 * * 
 
 
 11 
 
 
 i 
 
 56 
 
 from the ancient Greek and Latin, which they 
 suppose to have been distinguished by a kind of 
 musical utterance, that no longer exists in the 
 world, and of which we now can form no just 
 conception. 
 
 But neither Greece nor Italy has ever been 
 depopulated, and such a change, as is here 
 supposed in the speech of successive generations 
 cannot have happened. It is morally impossible. 
 And even if there had been a total extirpation 
 both of Greeks and Romans, the single consi- 
 deration that the human organs are always awid 
 every where the same, would warrant us in 
 deeming it incredible that any essentia/ alteration 
 should ever take place in the n:ifura/ accidents of 
 human speed, 
 
 2. ITiat tliere was, however, in the ancient 
 Greek and Latin, a species of tne/ody, consisting 
 of accents, such as have been described, acute, 
 grave, and circmriflex i that these were real ;«- 
 fexions, in which the voice rose and fell on sinde 
 syllables, and sometimes even beyond the extent 
 of tones above mentioned } and, that these accents 
 contributed to give, to the Greek especially, an 
 utterance so various, so significant and expres- 
 
^1 
 
 sive, as to fill even strangers witli delight and 
 admiration, may be considered as facts, too 
 well attested to admit of any reasonable doubt. 
 
 It is at the same time a fact, of which we 
 have the attestation of our own ears, that, in 
 modern speech^ any thing like a musical tone is so 
 far from being either significant or pleasing, 
 that we turn from it with universal disgust : nor 
 can we endure the smallest mixture of speech and 
 song. Whether it be verse or prose, we require 
 the whole to be either said or sung. Even that 
 recitative, which is intended to approach as near 
 as may be to the modulation of speech, must 
 consist altogether of musical tones. 
 
 That which Is universally disgusting now, can 
 never have been pleasing to either Greeks or 
 Romans.* The tones of speech and the tones 
 of music must always have been different. Nor 
 did this difference escape the notice of the 
 Greek musicians and grammarians. 
 
 .ctli 
 
 u> 
 
 * Q»inctillan directs, that, in reading verse, " in primis 
 «* lectis sit virilis, et cum suavitate quadam gravis ; non 
 « quidem prosx similis, quia carmen est, et se poetae canere 
 " testantur; non tamen in canticum dissoluta, nee plasmate 
 " effMninata, de quo genere optime C. Csesarem accepimui 
 *• dilisse — Si (ontas, malt cantat ; u legis cantas" L. 1. C. viii. 
 
 D 5 
 
58 
 
 From those accurate observers we learn, that 
 an acute accent was indeed an elevation, and a 
 grave accent a depression of the voice ; but 
 that, in this elevation and depression, the tone 
 of the voice was varied, not as in singing, by 
 distinct intervals, but by a ccnt'mued motion, 
 gliding up and down, in a kind of undulation, 
 from a graver to a sharper, or from a sharper to 
 a graver tone.* 
 
 U.-jr, 
 
 * The wdrd tone, as a musical term, is used in sex^eral 
 senses. The tension (r«cr/r or rovor); of a musical string, 
 being the obvious cn.'se, gave a name to the eJWt of that 
 tension on the sound of the string. Thus tone became a 
 technical term, transferred from the string to the souad; 
 and a sharper sound was said to be of a sharper tone, and 
 vice versa. To the same effect, by whatever means pro- 
 duced, whether by altering the tension or the length of the 
 string, the same term is applied, and, in this sense of the 
 word, every K^usicui sound, vocal or instrumental is of som 
 tertain tone. 
 
 But every musical system consists of a series a sounds, 
 differing from each other in a certain proportional gradation 
 of tone, to which the same term is applied in another sense; 
 for the shp of this gradation are denominated tones and 
 umitcnes. Here the word tone is used in the same manner as 
 (A^r^ovf measure, is in prosody, where a verse receives its 
 denomination from the number of mc^mra or mitm which it 
 cout<iins. 
 
59 
 
 S. It is evident, that in such a movement, 
 whatever be the interval from tone to tone, 
 through which the voice may glide, it can never 
 dwell for an instant on any tone whatever. And 
 here is the latent ambiguity of terms, by which 
 commentators and others appear to have been 
 misled. The words olvT-ns and ^x^Crtis acute- 
 ness and gravity, when applied to the accents of 
 speech, denote indeed a change of tone, but a 
 change of a peculiar kind. An acute accent, for 
 Instance, began in a certain tone, (to be taken 
 ad libitum, any where within the compass of 
 the voice) and ended in a higher ; the voice 
 passing always rapidly, though not always with* 
 the same velocity, from the one tone to the 
 ether, not per saltuini but in one continued sounds 
 which might be compared to a waving line, 
 commensurr.te with the length of the syllable, 
 and generated by the flowing of a point. This 
 motion of the voice was accordingly designated 
 by a very expressive term, . 'fita-zs, as distin- 
 guished from lix ar-nij^x, the iniervaly by which 
 a sharper and a graver sound, in music, are 
 
 The word tone is also somctiiv.cs used to signify the 
 sound itself; as when wc say, of any particular voice or 
 lusirument, th.it the tcnes ait bwecl and smooth, rich or 
 rncUow, &c. 
 
6o 
 
 i 
 
 
 w 
 
 1-t.i 
 
 I J 
 
 i 
 
 always separated: for, In singing, the voice does 
 not g/ide but /f^/j" from tone to tone. 
 
 Boththese movements are thus defined by Euclid, 
 
 t€ 
 
 ** T« xai (xtXM^im — two kinds of motion^ one conti- 
 " nucd and peculiar to speech, the ether desul- 
 " tory, and appropriate to song." 
 
 There is, however, a passage in the celebrated 
 treatise wff^ crv^^sa-tus ovoi^xruv,* which, at first 
 sight, seems to contradict this doctrine. But, If 
 the contradiction were ever so manifest, no single 
 authority would be admitted in opposition to all 
 the other ancient testimonies on this point. The 
 passage in question, however, does really con- 
 tain no such contradiction. 
 
 
 The object of the section, in which this pas- 
 sage occurs, is to point out the means of giving 
 to speech the united advantages of sweetness and 
 ieauty; under which terms the author Includes 
 every thing requisite to the perfection of com- 
 position, whether in verse or prose. Those 
 means, he says, " are chiefly these four, namely. 
 
 ♦ Sec.xi. 
 
61 
 
 *< modulation^ rhythmusy variety y and Jltness;i/.t\os^ 
 x«< piOfjiOs, KXi (jLira^oXvj aact ro 'rrpttrov" He remarks, 
 
 that by each of these our sense of hearing is plea- 
 singly affected } in proof of which he appeals to 
 the testimony of experience, in the effects of 
 niusicf both vocal and instrumental, and of 
 dancing j and this appeal he justifies by observing, 
 that " in speech there is a certain musical art, 
 " differing from the common vocal and instru- 
 <* mental music, not in kind but in degree. 
 " For speech also is susceptible of modulation, 
 " and rhythmus, and variety, and fitness ; so 
 " that the ear is delighted with its melodies, 
 " feels the drift of its numbers, is awake to its 
 " transitions, and covets a fitness and propriety 
 " in every part j but the difference is that of 
 " .mre and /ess" 
 
 Is it true, then, or does this author mean to 
 'assert, that the music of speech differs from that 
 of song only in its harmonic proportions, or in 
 the measures of its elementary tones ? No, this 
 is not true, nor is it what the author means to 
 s^y. This difference of tnore and less, is ex™ 
 plained by what immediately follows, " that the 
 " modulation of speech is, for the most part, 
 *^ measured by one interval, namely, the fifth, or 
 ** dlapente, and is neither raised to a sharper nor 
 
62 
 
 
 \ 
 »! 
 
 f 
 
 li. 
 
 ||...s' 
 
 " lowered to a graver tone, through a space 
 ** greater than that of three tones and a half; 
 but" (after pointing out the different kinds of 
 accent, acute, grave, and circumflex, which are 
 to be thus measured, he says) the " the common 
 ** vocal and instrumental music enploys more 
 " intervals, and sounds distinctly the melodies, 
 " not only of the fifth and fourth, but of the octave 
 " and all its subdivisions, down to tones and 
 " semitones^ and, as some think, even to the 
 " diesis ;" that is, to the difference between 
 tones, major and minor. 
 
 Here then the fact is clearly asserted, that 
 in the modulation of speech, there was a real 
 change of tone, aiul the usual limit of that 
 change is expressed. But whether it were, in 
 ^ any instance, greater or less, it was to be mea- 
 sured by an interval, differing from any one of 
 the common musical scale, ru vrocro/, «x' '^*' 
 vQix'i not in kind but only in magnitude. Every 
 musical int<!jrval comprehended some certain pro- 
 portional subdivision of the octave, thci smallest 
 of which was the minor semitone ; but it is pro- 
 bable, that the intervals by which the accents of 
 speech were measured, though of various dimen- 
 sions, were never exactly commensurate with 
 any of those legitimate subdivisions. 
 
 
63 
 
 In the diastematic music, the intervals were 
 passed by a silent flight ; that is, the sound of 
 the voice or instrument was heard only at those 
 distinct points of tone, which were the bounda- 
 ries of those intervals; but in the music of 
 speech, the sound of the voice was heard only 
 in its passage, from one tone to another. 
 
 The tone of every musical sound is immutable ; 
 for whenever it becomes, in the smallest degree 
 sharper or flatter, that is to say, of a different 
 tone, the sound, as a musical element, is no 
 longer the same. But the essence of a Greek 
 accent consisted in a continual rapid variation of 
 ione» And this variation took place on every 
 syllable ; for otherwise the two genera of song 
 and speech must have been every instant run- 
 ning the one into the other, and producing that 
 discordant mixture which we have observed 
 to be universally disgusting. Every syllable, 
 therefore, must have been uttered, either with 
 an acute, a grave, or a circumflex accent. 
 
 5. Such, according to the Greek writers, 
 appear to have been the accents which consti- 
 tuted their melody of speech ; and Mr. Steele 
 has demonstrated, that we have now, in our 
 
\^\ 
 
 m ' 
 
 m 
 
 I . 
 
 64 
 
 own and other modern languages, a melody 
 consisting of accents in all respects of a similar 
 kind. 
 
 Lord Monboddo, in his elaborate work on 
 the origin and progress of language, had de- 
 clared his opinion, to this effect, " that there is 
 «' no accent, such as the Greek and Latin accents, 
 " in any modern language ; that in our English 
 " accents there is no change of the tone, the voice 
 " beirtg only louder upon one syllable than ano- 
 ** ther ; that there is no difference of tone be- 
 « tween the accented and unaccented syllable of any 
 « word, and therefore, that the music of our 
 « language is, in this respect, nothing better 
 « than the music of a drum, in which we per- 
 « ceive no difference, except that of louder or 
 
 a 
 
 so. 
 
 ofter:\ 
 
 It was this declaration that gave occasion to the 
 Prosodia Rationalts of Mr. Steele, who brought 
 the question of our accents to the test of an 
 experiment, which was acknowledged by lord 
 Monboddo himself to be conclusive. 
 
 With a finger on the fourth string of a vio- 
 loncello, and a corresponding niC»tion of the bow, 
 
63 
 
 he was able, by sliding the finger rapidly up and 
 down on the string, to imitate the tones of speech^ 
 in such manner as not only to prove the fact> 
 that wc have accents, grave, acute, and circum- 
 flex, but also to ascertain their perfect agreement, 
 in every particular, with the Greek definitions 
 and descriptions above referred to. 
 
 This experiment may with ease be repeated, 
 in such manner as to remove all doubt of th^* 
 fact, that the tone of the voice, in speaking, is. 
 varied by the rapid undulations here described 5 
 though, to do this with all the nice jMreci?^ion 
 necessary for rendering the imitation perfect, 
 would require not only a quick and accurate ear, 
 but also the hand of a skilful performer. 
 
 Our speech, then, is not monotonoos;. It has 
 a melody, of the same kind with that of the 
 ancient Latin and Greek ; a melody of which 
 we have, always felt the force, even while we 
 denied iis existence j 
 
66 
 
 (f 
 
 6 Go, fair Enthusiast, with thy mapc skxlf. 
 Mould the obedient passions to thy will. 
 The passions,, pliant to thy sorereign sway. 
 Alternate rise, blend, mix, and melt away. « 
 Show how Euphrasia, of affections mild, 
 Doats on her sire, her husband, and her child. 
 Sweet fall the accents.— Oh let stillness reign 
 While the soft warbler pours her plaintive strain. 
 Sweet fall the accent*, meek at every grace, 
 That deck* that form, and beams around the face. 
 Then riaing higher, urged by nature's law». 
 Brave every danger in a father's cause. 
 With pilgrim feet ascend the craggy steep ; 
 There might the night bird listen while you weep. 
 Thence to the tyrant wing thy rapid way, 
 And shake his soul with terror and dismay. 
 « Alarmed, distracted, wild with maddening fears, 
 « Amaae the faculties of eyes and ears." 
 
 These are among the lines which the author 
 of the Grecian Daughter addressed to Mrs. Barry. 
 What, then, was her magic skill P Or what the 
 more enchanting skill of the present Euphrasia ? 
 Correct pronunciation, exact emphasis, and all 
 the expressive charms of graceful action, might 
 all fail to please, whether on the stage or else- 
 
:«7 
 
 where, without that vocal modulation, to which 
 the poet, with a propriety, perhaps, unperceiveti 
 by himself, has given the name of accents. 
 
 We are, indeed, susceptible of strong and 
 lively impressions from silent action; but if the 
 most animated action were accompanied, either 
 with a monotonous or a discordant voice, it could 
 not be endured. 
 
 The following passage, in th^ play above 
 mentioned, is one of the many, which have so 
 often excited the admiration of thousands at the 
 wonderful power of Mrs.Siddons, to exalt the 
 force and meaning of what she utters, especially 
 when condensed in a few words. 
 
 To the usurper of her father's throne, who 
 had thought to induce her to prevail on her 
 husband to withdraw from the expected assault, 
 by threatening both her father and herself as 
 hostages in ' his power, she answers 
 
 " Think'st thou then 
 " So meanly of my Phoclon ? Dost thou deem him 
 " Poorly wound up to a mere fit of valour, 
 " To melt away in a weak woman's tear ? 
 *' Oh! thou dost little know him ; know'st but little 
 'f Of his exalted soul !" 
 
66 
 
 it! 
 
 
 Now these words might be pronounced, even 
 without a fault, and we might hear them without 
 emotion. But when uttered by Mrs. Siddons, 
 they struck through the ear to the heart, kind- 
 ling a portion of that spirit which prompted her 
 to repel such a threat with a mixture of calm 
 contempt and glowing exultation. And when 
 she said, " Oh ! thou dost little know him," it 
 was astonishing to perceive how her expression 
 
 *• Gave weight to word*, and energy to thouglit.* 
 
 7. But why do I mention a single passage, or 
 select a single name ? The powerful charm of 
 English accents has been felt from the dawn of 
 English literature to this hour ; felt not only in 
 the sublime or patheti'' strokes of public elo- 
 quence, but also in the unstudied expressions of 
 friendly or domestic endearment ; often attuning 
 the voice to every key of socbl attraction, and 
 exciting a thousand sympathies^ both of pain and 
 pleasure. And yet we have been gravely as- 
 sured, by men of the first eminence in literature, 
 that we have no accents ; that what we call by 
 that name is nothing more than such an ictus^ 
 such a " smarter percussion of the voice," as 
 may be perfectly expressed by the beating of a 
 drum ! 
 
6g 
 
 These learned men were sensible of our syl- 
 labic emphasis ; but in this they found nothing 
 more, and hastily concluded there ^Wi be nothing 
 more th^n the simple variety of " louder and 
 softer." They had no suspicion of the fact, that, 
 in speaking, there can be no such thing as em- 
 phasis without accent ; that every syllable, whe- 
 ther emphatic or not, is accented ; and that to 
 utter an unaccented syllable is not to sayt but to 
 sifig it. 
 
 Mr. Sheridan, of whom, by the way, I have 
 no suspicion, that " much learning had made 
 him mad," expresses a sovereign contempt of 
 those grammarians, who, " with great formality, 
 " continue to inform their pupils, that the acute 
 " accent is the raising of the voice on a certain 
 " syllable ; the grave a depression of it ; and 
 " the circumflex a raising and depression both 
 " in one and the same syllable : which Jargon^ 
 " (he says) they constantly preserve, without any 
 " sort of ideas annexed to these words."* He 
 rails at them for continuing to transmit to their 
 pupils the information, such as it was, which 
 they had received from their predecessors. That 
 
 * Third Lecture on Elocutron. 
 
v.\ 
 
 70 
 
 
 ^•1 
 
 I'i 
 
 11 
 
 'i" 
 
 information however, Is now known to have 
 been so far correct •, in the melody of speech, 
 the voice, we know, is continually either rising 
 or fallings or bothy on every syilable that we utter. 
 
 8. It is not here pretended that we can, at this 
 day, recover a thorough knowledge of the an- 
 cient modulation of speech, cr that we can give a 
 satisfactory account of every particular now to be 
 found in the writings of ancient grammarians. 
 
 It was with them a rule, that there must be 
 one, and but one, acute accent (or a circumpxy 
 which includes an acute) in the correct utter- 
 ance of every word. From this the inference 
 seems unavoidable, and such is the grammatical 
 tradition, that the other syllables must all be 
 grave. But can we believe that in any lan- 
 guage, and especially in a language like the 
 Greek, abounding in words of many syllables, 
 there has ever been such a want of variety, such 
 a sameness of accentual repetition, as this rule 
 supposes -, and such as is not now to be found in 
 the speech of any nation ! The Greeks were im- 
 patient of a continued sameness in anything, 
 however beautful or delicious — Kopv ^x^ s^" '**' '^* 
 
 ^ xaX« wayla, w^wtf nai ra. v^sx. (xsiovrx ev rr rocvTomn* 
 
 171^ 
 
 t crvvi 
 
 0: 19- 
 
 "«*»• 
 
71 
 
 'T^ 
 
 riiey considered a suitable change in every brar -:*! of 
 elocution, not only as one of the four chief r 
 sites, but as the one which contributed mo; e th. 
 all the rest to the sweetness and beauty of e'^* 
 
 composition; »'5/aT«»Ti x** xaAA/o-lt)* ly^oyo/r »»*^ir«fcoAii* 
 
 —and accordingly they speak of it as something 
 magnificent ^ft«CoW JA-eyxKotrpumW. Now here, for 
 instance, are two words, having each the mark of 
 a grave accent^ which it nmst be remembered, 
 was never placed on any but the last syllable of a 
 word ; and the use of it is said to have been to indi- 
 cate, that the syllable thus marked w:is grave, when 
 the word stood before any other in a sentence, 
 except an enclitic ; but that the same syllable was 
 xicutef when the word was uttered singly, or at the 
 end of a sentence. 
 
 Are we then to suppose that in the situation 
 here specified, every syllable of thesQ, and of 
 all other oxytons having the same mark, and, uni- 
 versally, every syllable but one of every word in 
 the language, was constantly uttered with one 
 uniform grave accent? I think it is utterly 
 incredible. 
 
 But how then are we to understand this ancient 
 
 * Tiifi a-vv9. 
 
pi'-" 
 
 
 
 7*2 
 
 rule? Is there yet any- unsuspected aiiibiguity 
 in the terms acuU and grave r* 
 
 So far as we have hitherto considered them, as 
 tonej of speech, as vocal inflexions, there certainly 
 is no ambiguity in the terms, nor any want of 
 precision in their ancient definitions, as above 
 explained, and which appear to be founded in 
 the nature of speech. 
 
 Every accent, acute, gra^e, or circumflex, is 
 susceptible of three distinctions •, namely, dimen- 
 sion, pitch, and force. The dimension of an ac- 
 cent is the extent of the interval through which 
 the voice glides in its utterance •, which varies 
 from about a fifth to less than a minor third, of 
 the common diatonic scale. The pitch of an ac- 
 cent is the place of that interval on the scale, 
 whether high or low. But whatever* be the pitch 
 or dimension of an accent, and whether it be 
 grave or acute, . it may be relatively forte or piano, 
 or in other words emphatic or tmemphatic. 
 
 Was it, then, an emphatic accent, which the 
 
 ancient grammarians meant by the one acute or 
 
 circumflex required in the correct pronunciation 
 
 of ev€ry word ? But if so, why mjst this emphatic 
 
 '' accent be exclusively na^/^ .^ And %vhy was every 
 
?-3 
 
 other acute accent denGininated grave f> as if 
 o^v^tu rrtf vvX-KxQyt^, to sharpen the tom^ in utterin'^ 
 a syllable, implied also the giving it an emphatic 
 utterance ! Accent and emphasis are, in their na- 
 ture, perfectly distinct.— A language f;w^, there- 
 fore, be so pronounced asHo exclude the grave 
 accent from every emphatic syllable ; but this 
 would deprive it of much variety and energy of 
 which it tnight otherwise be susceptible ;— fdr 
 though the emphatic syllal^e is in genefal acAite, 
 yet we know, from our own experience, that 
 great force, as well as variety of expression, may 
 often result from the emphatic utterance of grave 
 accents. 
 
 o'!:^vy£iV 
 
 In the continuation of the passage above cited 
 from Dionysius, it is said, that, in vocal music, as 
 distinguished from that ©f speech, « it was a 
 "rule to make the words conform to the melody, 
 " not the melody to the words." Of this he gives 
 an instance from the Orestes of Euripides, with 
 a contment, which has itself been the subject of 
 much learned discussion. 
 
 2;<ya (flyx hivm', \fQv'K%u x. t. A, 
 
 Here we are told, that Electra " chanted the 
 
 words cr/ya, o-^y^^ Aevxo,, j^' ooy ^^oyy*,, all in One 
 
 £ 
 
 iOlJL 
 
rKwf 
 
 74 
 
 I'll; 
 
 m 
 
 ** tone, though euch of the three has both a 
 " gra\ne and an acute accent •" that is to say, 
 that in the melody of speech, these words have 
 each two distinct tones, but, when set to music, 
 their Syllables may be monotonous, and that the 
 musician is at liberty to make them so or not, 
 just as it may best suit his purpose. Of the word 
 ap^vKfisy (when chaunted) he remarks " that the 
 " third syllable was in unison with the second, 
 " though no one word could (in speech) have two 
 " sharp tones.'* 
 
 B 
 
 From this passage one inference seems to be 
 plain and obvious, that the word acuie^ when ap- 
 plied to the melody of speech, had a reference 
 to the tone, independently of the emphasis of the 
 syllable ; for that emphasis is an accident com- 
 mon to every musical tone, acute or grave, can ad- 
 mit of no doubt •, and if it were not the same in the 
 tones of speech, there would be no sense in the 
 remark here quoted, that two syllables, an acute 
 and a grave, may be sung in unison. But why one 
 word in speech •'^ -^uld have no more than one 
 acute accent, in any other sense than that of an 
 emphatic accent, which cannot, I think, be the 
 sense here intended by Dio'^'"?ius, remains a 
 question, of which I have m vain sought for a 
 satisfactorv solution. 
 
75 
 
 An idea has prevailed, that the one acute syl- 
 lable was higher than any other in the word ; 
 probably from a mistaken notion of the nature of 
 accent, conceiving th?t an acute must be of a 
 higher pitch thana^ru;' v, and therefore, that where 
 there was but one acute it must be the highest. 
 Can the pitchy then, of this one accent in every 
 word, have been the distinction intended ? Was 
 u only V.XT t^ox>iv denominated t/je acutcy meaning 
 the accutest syllable of the word ? This, I suspect, 
 will ha. 'Uy be thought a very probable conjecture; 
 and yet, it is remarkable that an idea of our own 
 accentuation, not very dissimilar, seems to have 
 been entertained by the author of a valuable 
 treatise, entitled " Elements of Elocution," in 
 which he has pointed out what he calls the rising 
 and falling inflexions of the voice in common 
 speech, but has not thought it necessary to attend 
 to more than one inflexion in anyone word* 
 
 But even supposing that we were, in >>oint of 
 
 theory, at no loss respecting the true mei;'i.'r«g of 
 
 the rule in question, still our knowledge, Ui this 
 
 particular, could be of little or no pr? (.tical ac^van- 
 
 tage to us in our pronunciation oi Gr;*ek or' 
 
 Latin. To recover, correctly, either the n:centuai^ 
 
 or the emphatic utterance of a dead language 
 
 E 2 
 
t6 
 
 must be a hopeless endeavour, unless both ind 
 been preserved by an accurate rotation, of which, 
 the first idea is of recent date, and which has not 
 vet been brought into that fanhliar use which is 
 necessary to make it available to the purpose in- 
 tended. The Greek accentual marks, therefore, 
 can now be of no use in that language, but to 
 distinguish some words which differ, either in 
 meaning or in grammatical relation, though writ- 
 ten alike. But our ignorance, respecting the 
 ancient use of these marks, detracts nothing from 
 the certainty of what we do know respecting the 
 nature of accents in every language v and we are 
 warranted in this one comprehensive and impor- 
 taiit conclusion, — that the general principles, both 
 of accent and emphasis, are at all times and every' 
 where the same. ' ' 
 
 m 
 
 B 
 
 m 
 
 9. The learned author of a treatise " on the 
 ** Prosodies of the Greek and Latin languages," 
 has, on this subject, given an opinion, which I 
 believe is new. 
 
 -h 
 
 '*•• The Greek grammarians (he says) made use 
 *•* of three marks, to express, as it may seem at 
 ".'first sight, three different tones of the voice,'' 
 " jhe acute, or sharp: the grave, or flat j and 
 
n 
 
 " the circumflex. But upon a nearer con 
 
 ** deration of the subject, it appears, that the 
 
 " acute, which was a sharp stroke of the voice 
 
 ** upon some one syllable of the word, is in truth 
 
 " the only positive tone. The grave consists, 
 
 ** merely, in a negation of that acuteness."* Of 
 
 the circumflex, he says, " so far as it was accent, 
 
 " it was an acute accent. The circumflex was 
 
 " nothing more than a compound of the mark of 
 
 '* the acute, with the mark of the long quantity 
 
 " - - - denoting, that the syllable was to be 
 
 " pronounced both with a sharp stroke and a 
 
 " lengthened sound."f And this account is 
 
 " summed up in the following words : ** The 
 
 ** acute, therefore, appears, in truth, to be the only 
 
 ** accent, or tone^ properly so called, the grave 
 
 " being merely a negation of acuteness, and the 
 
 " circumflex being a compound mark of accent and 
 
 " quantity jointly ; an acute accent and a long 
 
 " quantity.":): 
 
 % 
 
 I*';. 
 
 ^ This author has expressed a wish to be con- 
 cealed. I am therefore not at liberty ♦^o pay to his 
 name my portion of that homage, to v/hich it has 
 been long entitled from every true friend of 
 Learning and Religion, On topics of science, 
 
 /• 
 
 » Pao-e f"- *■ Pao-#» Q 
 
 
 £ 3 
 
 

 m 
 
 78 
 
 both natural and revealed, he has laid the world 
 under great and lasting obligations ; but, on the 
 present subject, he will permit me without of- 
 fence, to remark — that it seems to have been the 
 fate of accents to be misunderstood by men of 
 the profoundest erudition. I will not say, as 
 Mr. vSteele did, respecting Dr. Pemberton and 
 Mr. Foster — " had I been half as studious, and 
 " a quarter part as learned, as either of those 
 « authors, I think I should have gone astray as 
 « they did." I do not think that men are often 
 misled by learning or diligence •, on the contrary, 
 I mention it as a matter of surprise, that so 
 long after the discovery made by Mr. Steele, 
 which he modestly attributes to a kind of in- 
 stinctive sagacity, there should have been left 
 any question till now unsettled, respecting En- 
 gliiih accents, or their probable sameness with 
 those of antiquity. 
 
 There is a want of precision in the use of 
 terms, which has, on this pan;cul'..r subject, been 
 remarkably productive of erroneous conclusions. 
 Almost every writer on accents has been deceived 
 by the ambiguity above-mentioned, of the 
 the word tone. The tones of music and the tones 
 of sneech differ, in fact, just as the points or 
 
 S..' 
 
79 
 
 lines of subdivision on a scale differ from thv 
 spaces of which those points or lines are th 
 boundaries. But here, to prevent a tedious cir- 
 cumlocution, I beg leave to avail myself of our 
 common terms of ^nusical notation, in which my 
 meaning may be dearly conveyed, and in a few 
 words. 
 
 Suppose a finger, as in Mr. Steele's experiment 
 above described, to slide up rapidly on the struig, 
 from a point sounding C, for instance, till the 
 tone rises to any height less than a sixth above C, 
 and the continued sound of the string, durmg 
 this motion of the finger, will exemplify an acute 
 accent, of a certain pitch and dimension. Then 
 let the finger slide rapidly back again, through the 
 same interval, and we shall hear a grave accent, of 
 the very same pitch and dimension. 
 
 This effect being produced by the motion of 
 the finger on the sounding string, it was natural 
 to transfer the name from the string to the sound, 
 and, when applied to speech, to call it a vocal 
 slide •, just as from the tension of the sirmg, 
 we have derived the appellation of a musical 
 tone* 
 
 E 4 
 
80 
 
 ii ' 
 
 pi ^ 
 I* I 
 
 Let these slides be denoted by sloping lines, ay 
 on the following score-^No. 1 and 2. 
 
 
 I 2 ' J 4 :tr tf 7- 
 
 Let other similar slides, of various pitch and 
 ermeiuioTi, be noted, as No. 8, 4, f<c. j and 
 they will suggest accurate ideas of all the com- 
 nion varieties of simple accents. No. 1, 3, 4, 5, 
 are acute ; No. 2, 6, 7, S, are grave. Any 
 one of these accents, compared with the rest, 
 will be emphatic, or not, according to the relative 
 force with which the string is made to vibrate. 
 
 Now it is evident that the word tone, in its 
 
 common acceptation, as a musical term, is 
 
 utterly inapplicable to the sounds here denoted, 
 
 of which the essence consists in a continual and 
 
 rapid change of the musical tone, And of this 
 
 diiFerence between the tones of speech and the 
 
 tones of music, the author, whose opinion I here 
 
 oppose, seems to have been thoroughly sensible ; 
 
 for, in his remarks on Mr. Primatt's tr-eatise, he 
 
 quotes a passage from Aristoxinus, and comments 
 
 very justly on that passage, in which this difference 
 
 is clearly stated. Yet it is evident that, in his 
 
81 
 
 observations above mentioned respecting the 
 accents, the word in question is used in that sense 
 which belongs to it only as a musical term. For 
 when it is said " that the acute is the only positive 
 « tone," and that the grave " consists merely 
 " in a negation of that acuteness," we unavoid- 
 ably suppose a reference to some key.-note, lower 
 than the acutey and in unison with the grave, tone. 
 And accordingly it is afterwards expressly said, 
 ** that this gravetonein commQnspeech,is nothing 
 " but the mean level of the voice, which is called 
 " grave in relation only to the acute, of which 
 " it is the meer negation." So also, in explaining 
 the words ^xpvms and o^vrrn, the one is said 
 " naturally to signify a depression of the voice 
 <« below," and the other, ** a rise of the voice above 
 " its general or ordinary level ;" whereas it is evi- 
 dent, from a bare ins^ction of the slides above 
 noted, that either an acute or a grave accent may 
 be of any assignable pitch or dimension, with- 
 out at all affecting its essential character as a 
 rising or a falling slide. 
 
 I must also object to the author's definition 
 of an acute accent, which he says is " a sharp 
 " stroke of the voice on some one syllable of a 
 " word." An acute accent is a rising ififlexlotiy 
 but implies nothing like a stroke of the vorce. » I 
 
62 
 
 Br 
 
 must beg leave to repeat the observation, that 
 accent and emphasis are essentially distinct. It 
 is true, that in speaking there can be no emphasii, 
 without accent ; but there may be, and, in every 
 word of more than one syllable, there constantly 
 iV, accent without emphasis ; and the uneinphatic 
 accents are often, in the same word, grave and 
 acute, or acute and grave, alternately. 
 
 The reality of two distinct inflexions, in our 
 own language, acute and grave, such as I have 
 described them, being clearly established, as a 
 fact attested by an experiment in which there can 
 be no deception, I need only add, that we have 
 the same incontestable proof of^circumflex, con- 
 sisting, not merely of an acute accent and a long 
 quantity, but of the two simple accents combined 
 in the utterance of one and the same syllable : 
 and the same varieties of accentuation, which are 
 now found in every living language, have doubt- 
 less at all times existed in human speech. 
 
 10. This is a presumption too strong and too 
 reasonable to be shaken by ancient authorities, 
 however expressly they might seem to contradict it. 
 But there are no such contradictory authorities. 
 
 A passage is cited from Lascaris, stating the 
 grave accent to be •' noi properly^ but syilalttcally 
 
83 
 
 •* only a tone," by which he is supposed to mean 
 ** that it expressed (or the mark of it expressed) 
 «* not any particular tone of the syllable upon 
 " which it was placed, but the equality of tone 
 « upon all the syllables of the word."* 
 
 If this was what he meant, he must have been 
 mistaken ; I cannot believe that such a kind of 
 cyut'KtaiA.oT has ever existed in human speech. I 
 am sure there is nothing like it in the French 
 language, which is mentioned by the author here 
 referred to, as resembling the Greek in this par- 
 ticular. But it is probable that Lascaris had no 
 such meaning, and that o/xatX<(r/xor, when applied 
 to cases of accentuation, meant not a level or 
 an equality, but the act of levelling, and was, in 
 that sense, equivalent to our own phrase, a falling 
 
 slide. ** Towof rvis ^apitxT ''f i5?a}y»«ra, KCit wac* ot 
 *' Xs^iT a.'-^Tr)v^ii^oiJitvrni»Q 0fA,»\i<r[ji.9* ottayitua-Khlai, tan ot 
 
 <« rovof (tv>jm^i>ujs, ksci « xv^imu The final syllable 
 « is the only seat of the grave (meaning the mark 
 of the grave) **accent, and every word which takes 
 " it has a levelling utterance, but it is syllabically 
 " and not constantly a tone." It is a common 
 figure, to speak of the power of a letter, mean- 
 
 
 * Prosodies of th« Gieek and I atiu Languages, p. 8. 
 
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 84 
 
 ing the sound of which it is the appropriate sign ; 
 and the word Kvpixs is here probably used in that 
 figurative sense. The meaning, therefore, seems 
 to be, that the mark in question is not exclusively 
 the constant or appropriate sign of any one ac- 
 cent ; but, consistently with what he had said be- 
 foY , it has a significance that varies with the si- 
 tuation of the syllable on which it is placed. For 
 every word (w^cr:* A£|^) bearing this mark, " xafl* 
 
 " taJiTjy o^vvilxt iv ^s rv) crvmrncx.^ avh rns o^stx£, 0upstoiv 
 
 " i'mosxtroit \ when spoken by ltself> has the final 
 " syllable acute, but, in connexion with other 
 ** words, takes the grave instead of the acute 
 " accent -j* which,' by the way, may suggest a 
 reason why this mark was placed only on a final 
 syllable, for no other could be liable to the variety 
 of bein^ uttered at one time xafe" EAjJ]>jy, so far as 
 related to any following syllable, and at another 
 tv r-n avnmia. In our own accentuation, however, 
 the practice is commonly the reverse of this. 
 Words, when spoken singly, or which close a sen- 
 tence or a member of a. sentence, have the final 
 syllable grave, which in other situations is acute, 
 'riie Greek accentuation, in this particular, seems 
 to have resembled that of the present Scotch 
 dialect. 
 
 \ 
 
 
 The remark respecting the circumflex, quoted 
 
85 
 
 from Sextus Emplrlcus,* simply amounts to an 
 assertion that the syllable which is so accented 
 
 must be a iong one. " aoj,v«Tov ws/xo-Trw^xEi-yjy ^focysixi 
 
 " T>!v sTTSKToccriv. xt ^ impossiblc that a syllable cir- 
 ** cumflexed should be short, because extension 
 " must be implied in circumflexion " Here he 
 argues merely from the import of the word 
 TrtpiOTrxa-ixoT) as if every technicalterm were of CQurse 
 to be considered as neither more nor less than an 
 exact definition ! It is certain, however, that in the 
 modern languages of Eumope, circumflex accents 
 are often very perceptibly heard in the utterance 
 of short syllables. 
 
 The authority from Dionysius, mpicrwQsctMr, Ic 
 full and express : " . ruv Si (acIewv) a/xf ote^os- rx^ 
 
 *' Tauet^ B^aaifJVj xi -(asv kxto. (juav i7yf<.'AaSriv ai'VESpGctpfjiBvov ^ 
 *' iy*i<Ti tm o|£i TO i3xp.v 'xs C'V nrifiarTTuixivxT kxXh(j.(v, 
 
 " 0£ such words as take both accents, some 
 ** have the grave blended with the acute in one 
 " syllable, and these we calj circumflexed.' 
 
 » 
 
 In explanation of this, it is sajdf ** that when 
 *' the sound of the aci*\'e syllable is prolonged to 
 
 
 Ibi'l p. 10- I Ibid. p. 11. 
 
 
 Ult4m.-> 
 
66 
 
 « the extr me length, the voice must of neces- 
 « sity sink to its ordinary level, at the end of 
 " the lengthened sound before it begins to 
 « sound the next syllable. This return of 
 " the voice to its level, this dying away 
 " of the acute tone, Dionysius describes as a 
 " mixture of it with the grave. But what can 
 be meant by the " sound of the acute syllable, 
 «< prolonged to the extreme length ?" A cir- 
 cumflex syllable, as such, was no longer than 
 any other long syllable, whether grave or acute. 
 Wiiy must xhe voice of necessity « sink to its 
 « ordinary level before it begins to sound the next 
 syllable ? And if this sinking must be " at the 
 end of the lengthened sound, how can it be a 
 return of the voice to its level, a dying away of the 
 acute tone ?" This return and dying away must of 
 course begin before the end of the circumflexed 
 syllable; and then it might be supposed to 
 mean the slide of the voice from the top of the 
 acute down again to the point of tone from which 
 the acute commenced •, but even then it would be 
 a very imperfect description. The voice is very far 
 from beginning the sound of every syllable in any 
 one key. There is indeed a tone (I mean a mu- 
 sical tone) to which as a key-note , all the ac- 
 cents of the same speaker, in any one sentence, 
 have a reference. But there is a great variety in 
 
 j acuU- 
 
 1 
 
I 
 
 1 
 
 %■ 
 
 §7 
 
 the modulation and relative distances of the dif- 
 ferent inflexions from that key-note. There is 
 also, in the circumflex, not only a combination 
 of the two simple accents, which has, in general 
 terms, been remarked by the ancient gram- 
 marians, but, in that combination, there is all the 
 variety that can result from blending two simple 
 slides of different or equal dimensions, and in a 
 different order. Thus one class of circumflexes is 
 dtuTo - q^'grave^ the other is grave-acute. These names 
 clearly indicate the distinction intended. The 
 first is an acute followed by a grave accent ; and 
 these, like two vowels in a diphthong, are so 
 blended in the utterance of one syllable, as often 
 to be mistaken for a simple accent, and often in- 
 deed for a monotonous sound. The grave-acute, 
 of course, is the same combination in all respects, 
 but reversed. Both these are again diversified by 
 a great variety of pitch and dimension. In either 
 class, the first component slide is either of larger, 
 of equal, or of smaller dimension, than the se- 
 cond. This is a relative variety of dimension, 
 when one component accent is compared with 
 the other, but the dimension of either is also 
 a source of variety when compared with the 
 general accentuation of the phrase or sentence. 
 Circumflexes also, as well as simple accents, are 
 susceptible of a great variety of force. Some- 
 
 I 
 
 J 
 
 «ir 
 
88 
 
 times the first part of a circumflex is more, at 
 other times less emphatic than the second. 
 The idea, therefore, of a " dying away of the 
 acute tone" is sometimes no otherwise incorrect, 
 than in supposing it to continue .acute after it has 
 begun to fall, from which moment it Is a grave 
 accent •, but at other times it is the reverse of 
 dying away, and closes with an increasing- 
 emphasis. 
 
 All the several diversities here enumerated 
 are very clearly perceptible to a good ear, and 
 have constantly their effect in conveying, even to 
 those by whom they are unperceived or unnoticed, 
 a great variety of powerful and significant ex- 
 pression of which, without these combined inflex- 
 ions, no language would be susceptible. I there- 
 fore have no doubt, that there was in Greek, 
 as there is in English, many a circumflex, as well 
 as many a simple, accent, which took its form, 
 place, and dimension, pro re nata^ from the par- 
 ticular expression which the case required, whe- 
 ther of menace or persuasion, endearment or 
 aversion, surprize or expectation, hope or fear, 
 joy or sorrow, despair or exultation. 
 
 Another definition of the circumflex is quoted* 
 
 * Ibid. p. 11. 
 
from *< a Compendium of the rules of Gram- 
 mar, ascribed by some, perliaps without sufficient 
 " evidence, to Dionysius Tlirax, but unques- 
 " tionably a work of high antiquity, and of 
 " great credit among the antients. This writer 
 " describes the circumiiex, as accompanied with 
 " a sfo/,;.age or suffocation of the sound. Under 
 " this image he expresses the dying away of the' 
 ^* acute tone, upon the end of the lengthened 
 " sound : and he borrows a term of art from the 
 « writers upon music, which they apply to a 
 " flute prepared, by a particular process, to give 
 " very low notes." 
 
 This same definition had been quoted by lord 
 Monboddo, and explairfed by Mr. Steele, who 
 observes* that « if the learned author of 
 ** the Origin and Progress of Language had con- 
 " ceived that the melody of speech was formed 
 " by slides, he would have found his quotation 
 ** from Dionysius Thrax to have been perfectly 
 " agreeable to our system." 
 
 Mr. Steele's explanation, I am persuaded, is 
 very just, as he himself understood it : but, in 
 this instance, he has not expressed himself with 
 
 ♦ Prosodiu Rationalis— Second edit. p. lo. 
 
 .PI 
 'If 
 
90 
 
 his usual accuracy. " The true sense of these 
 •' words of Dionysius (be says) is probably this— 
 •* Accent is the change of the enharmonic voice, 
 ** by an extent or stretch up to the acute, or by 
 *• levelling it to the grave, or by making a circuit 
 ** in the circumflex. In ofher words, sliding up 
 *' to the acute, sliding down to the grave, and 
 ** sliding up and down, without change of arti- 
 " culation in the circumflex.** ' 
 
 The essence of accent consists in the slide* A 
 riiiing slide is the acute, and the reverse is a grave 
 accent. Sliding up to the acute and down to the 
 grave, therefore, are incorrect expressions 5 and 
 they are equnlly incorrect when applied in expla- 
 nation of the Greek text, which is more exactly 
 agreeable to Mr. Steele's theory of accent than he 
 himself seems to have perceived. " tovoj- jo-t* (pwvjjr 
 
 " a7r>jv*)i7<f ttoifiA.o)niij v) Kxru oLtxratatv e» tjj o^itx, ■>» KXTot 
 ** *o(ji.x\tariJ<.ovtvrr)^»ptici,riKxra'rrsfi'7i>^a-tv tv rv)'7Ttpi(T'ffu(Aiv^, 
 ** Accent is a dissonance of the enharmonic voice, 
 ** either by a rising tone in the acute, or by a 
 levelling in the grave, or by a combination in the 
 circumflex. 
 
 In this translation the sense of the original is 
 expressed in terms as nearly literal and exact as 
 the idiom of our language will admit. TJie 
 Greeks, " feliciores fingendis nominibus," had. 
 
9' 
 
 in an eminent degree, the power of expressing 
 much in a single word, onrrtx^trtf implies here, 
 not a simple dissonance of two concurrent sounds, 
 but a departure of the one from the other *, and, 
 in the present case, this departure is from some 
 tone of the enharmonic voice ; so that in this part 
 of the definition, the very essence of accent, in 
 general, is clearly expressed ; nor are the species 
 of acute and grave less exactly defined : a»«Tac-/r, 
 extension^ is a further stretching of the string, 
 by which, of course, the r^cr/f or rewr is made 
 more intense, and the sound proportionably 
 raised) but it is raised by a contiftuitd increzse of 
 tension, of which the effect is precisely the 
 same with that of a continued shortening of the 
 string by a sliding finger 5 so that I am fully war- 
 ranted in calling it a rishig tone. '0/x«x<er/^or I have 
 already explained j and it is very aptly used here 
 to express a gradual remission of the tension, by 
 which the flowing tone slides down again, ap- 
 proaching that from which it had departed, or 
 coming to a unison with it, or sliding below it, as 
 the case may require. TrtpiTrXxa-tr, the term here 
 ** borrowed from the writers on music,'* signifies, 
 in its technical acceptation, not the stopping or 
 suffocation of the sound, but simply the variation 
 jf its tone, " by a particular process,'* probably 
 
93 
 
 •J»y a sliding tube, so adapted to the flute as to pro- 
 duce an effect exactly similar to that of a finger 
 «W.ng on a musical string, and the sound thus 
 r'an.J, but not diuonthmed, they denominated .„. 
 -™a..^.,„,> This term, therefore, („,,.,.,„-) 
 when transferred from the flute to the voice, 
 lor the purpose of describing a circumflex 
 accent, has an evident propriety and significance, 
 which could not have escaped the notice of the 
 earned author by whom it has here been quoted, 
 had not his mind been prepossessed by an errone- 
 ous theory. It is a term clearly expressive of a 
 sudden change in the tone of a continued sound ; 
 and th.s. when applied to the tones of speech, 
 can be no other than the giving of a contrary di- 
 recfon to a vocal slide, which is precisely what 
 takes place in every circumflex accent. It may 
 therefore, in English, be very properly called 
 ^ccmhrnauor, , for a vocal slide hut into a new 
 direction, is, in fact, equivalent to two slides or in- 
 flexions, of different denomination, blended to. 
 gether and cmii„ed in the utterance of one 
 syllable. 
 
 11. I have expressed my conviction, that the 
 ancient use of the Greek accentual marks is irre- 
 
 * Q'»ntilian— I. i.cxi. 
 
93 
 
 coverably lost. I urn therefore a convert, tliough 
 not without reluctance, to the opinion of those 
 who consider those marks as a mere incumbrance, 
 which may very well be discontinued. But I am 
 far from entertaining the same idea respecting the 
 elementary sounds either of Greek or Latin. 
 I should be an enthusiast in favor of a general re- 
 solution, if it could be formed and duly sanctioned 
 by the learned of our own country, with or with- 
 out the concurrence of foreigners, to recover 
 those ancient sounds, both vocal and articulate, 
 as far as possible, and to adopt them constantly 
 ^" ^Z, pronunciation of those languages. That 
 they^be, even now, so nearly ascertained, as fully 
 to justify such a resolution, will not be denied by 
 any classical scholar, who has given due attention 
 to the subject. But I must recollect, that it is not 
 the subject at present under consideration. 
 
 12. Mr. Steele constructed a system of nota- 
 tion for representing not only the various tones 
 of speech, but also their metrical proportions. 
 By this means a speech of any eminent orator or 
 actor may be set, with as much precision as any 
 piece of music is by the common notation. We 
 may now learn to spenk as well as to si^/g by note ; 
 and those accents, which otherwise could only have 
 
 !M 
 
9'i 
 
 a local and transitory existence, may be put upon 
 recon^^ and made permanent as the strains of 
 Handel. 
 
 A thorough knowledge, however, of this kind of 
 music cannot be acquired without some previous 
 knowledge of tlie common music, which ought 
 therefore to be considered as an indispensible part 
 of a liberal education, and a part^f* which ought 
 not to be delayed. It is well known, that our or- 
 gans of s£«se are susceptible of great improve- 
 ments, particularly the eye and the ear j and that 
 we do all, in fact, /earn both to ue and to hear, 
 though our progress in both, to a certain point, 
 is made so early that we rre unconscious of the 
 acquisition. But we do not know how much that 
 progress might be extended by the seasonable 
 instruction and assistance of skilful teachers. 
 
 Among the Greeks, especially at Athens, the 
 elements of music were taught with the elements 
 of Grammar, and a degree of skill in the art as 
 well as the science' of music, was deemed a lieces- 
 sary accomplishment for a scholar and a gentleman. 
 To this circumstance, in a great measure, .may 
 doubtless be attributed the perfection to which 
 their melody of speech was brought. Their ears 
 were so early trained to appreciate the gradations 
 
of musical tone, that every variation of tone be- 
 came an object of their quickened attention. 
 They felt that speech was not monotonous, and yet 
 that its tones were not reducible to any system of 
 gradual variation ; that Is, of a variation by sensible 
 degrees ; and this led them to perceive that }v<nr, 
 Xhzt flowing change of tone, by which the melody 
 of speech was distinguished from that of the 
 common music. 
 
 Having thus discovered how the tonci of 
 speech were varied, theV^ practised organs soon 
 enabled them to ascertain the measures of that 
 variation, which they found in general not to 
 exceed the extent of a musical fifth, upon any 
 one syllable. It was therefore natural for theni^ 
 to consider speech as, in this respect, a branch of 
 tnustc ; and having accurate ideas of the specific 
 difFerence by which the two branches were kept 
 distinct, they cultivated both without confusion, 
 and with success. That we greatly surpass them, 
 however, in that branch which we do under- 
 stand, is, I believe, the general opinion of the 
 best judges at this day ; and why may we not 
 hope ere long to surpass them also in the other, 
 if a knowledge of music should be made a part 
 of our grammatical instruction, and cultivated 
 expressly with a view to tliis purpose ? 
 
 I 
 

 
 i ■'} v.- 
 
 This was warmly recommended by Mr. Steele, 
 whose treatise was first published in the year 
 1775, but his advice has been, hitherto disre- 
 garded. Tlie idea of treating spe^^ch as a branch 
 of music, seems to have been considered as a visi- 
 ons./ speculation; and. it is certain that, prior 
 to his publication, the'; real difference between 
 speaking and singing was unknown to the gene- 
 rality of our modern professors of classical learn- 
 ing. Doctor Smith, in \v, treatise on Harnionics, 
 takes notice of this difference, and observes, that 
 it was well understood by the Greeks. But D/. 
 Smith, like the learned of antiquity, joined a 
 thorough knowledge of music to his other stores of 
 erudition. Had lord Monboddo been taught music 
 with his grammar, he too might probably have 
 made the same observation ; for, when once the 
 distinction was pointed out by Mr. Steele, his 
 lordship was at no loss for classical passages de- 
 scriptive of it, which he then recollected, but 
 which, till then, he acknowledges he had 
 misunderstood. ■ 
 
 
 It should, however, be remembered, that Mr. 
 Steele was not indebted for the discovery of this 
 distinction, to any other source of information 
 than his own ear, quickened by an intimate ac- 
 quaintance with the practice as well as the theorr . 
 
97 
 
 of music. « The system (he says) had been 
 " many years in his head before he put any thing 
 " on paper, and it was not till after he had made 
 " the first sketch of it, that he looked into the 
 " ancient Greek authors, where, finding he had 
 "fortunately wandered into the same paths with 
 " them, he was encouraged to hazard the pub- 
 lication," He discovered a fact which had been 
 for ages almost universally unobserved and unsus- 
 pected, and by which many ancient testimonies, 
 tdl then to modern readers of uncertain interpre- 
 tation, were rendered clear and intelligible. 
 Those testimonies, therefore, are now valuable, 
 not as evidences applicable to a present fact, ascer- 
 tained by experiment and attested by our own 
 ears, but as proofs of the general sameness of the 
 modern and ancient accid^ats of speech. 
 
 For a full e> planatior of Mr. Steele's method 
 of notation, above mentioned, I must beg leave 
 to refer to his book. 
 
 13. This ingenious author, whose ideas are in 
 general expressed with precision, has described 
 the inflexions of the voice, in speaking, as made 
 by minute gradations of tone. But no gradation, 
 however small we may conceive the degrees to be, 
 can ever constitute a continued dnwrnw i-nntro.^^K,| 
 
 •V T VJLXIVIIL* 
 
98 
 
 It is, therefore, not by gradations ; of avy dimen- 
 sion, that the accents of speech are formed, but 
 by movements of the voice, which the author has 
 more accurately denominated slides. 
 
 \fK 
 
 (( 
 
 (( 
 
 u 
 
 He tells us, (page 30) that *' though he had 
 " given a scale, in order to demonstrate, with ac- 
 ** curacy, the nature and extent of the slides we 
 " make in speech, yet with a little practice he 
 found, that drawing the slides on the common 
 " five black lines was suiEcient (at least for a 
 person who was already a musician and mas- 
 ter of the language) to direct the voice to 
 " the proper tones ; for (says he) there is a great 
 ** latitude which may be used without any seem- 
 ** ing blemish ; as whether the slide runs a 
 '* quarter of a tone or three quarters, up and 
 *' down more or less, seems of little consequence, 
 " provided the proprieties of qua?itity and cadence^ 
 ** or the rhythmus, are duly observed. And with 
 ** still more practice I found, that drawing the 
 ** accents simply over the syllables, without the 
 ** black lines, but with some regard to higher or 
 ** lower by position of the marks, was so certain 
 *^ a guide, that I could always read'the sentence, 
 " so marked, nearly in the same melody. And 
 ** I also found, that tlie marks of quantity, pausw^t 
 
 h 
 
 fT 
 
 i 
 
99 
 
 ** and emphasis alone, were so sufficient, tliat a 
 '* native needed scarce any further help to read 
 with surprising correctness of expression ; 
 though I must acknowledge the meaning of a 
 sentence may often be intirelyalteredjby changing 
 ** the accent from acute to grave, or vice versa." 
 
 « 
 
 cc 
 
 <c 
 
 To a musician, who is master of the language, 
 the proper tones may doubtless be indicated in 
 the manner here described. It is also true, that a 
 well educated native, without any accentual nota- 
 tion, may read or speak with great correctness of 
 expression. But no such native, though he were 
 also a musician, could make any use of his marks 
 of quantity, pausing, and emphasis, unless he had 
 previously learned, by ear or by note, the tones or 
 vocal slides in which the sentence ought to be ut- 
 tered. The native, who speaks correctly, is like 
 one who sings correctly, without the help of notes. 
 But, as every particular air, if its modulation be 
 regular, consists of a series of sounds, of which 
 the several intervals are all ascertained with ma- 
 thematical precision, so, in every sentence, if cor- 
 rectly uttered, there is a series of vocal slides, 
 all capable of being measured and noted as exactly 
 as any musical intervals whatever. There is, in- 
 deed as the author had hffnrp oHcervA-l « o ^,..»..* 
 
 F 2 
 
 r?*ifi 
 
 ■Pi 
 
 
J 00 
 
 V , 
 
 ■i i 
 
 !■) 
 
 " latitude in the slides, not only of different 
 *' speakers, but also of the same speaker at 
 ** different times." But there is, nevertheless, 
 in the utterance of every sentence (according to 
 time, place, and circumstance) some one accentual 
 melody more excellent than any other. Nor docs 
 the author mean to suggest any doubt of this, or of 
 its being a practicable thing to ascertain such 
 melody by an accurate notation Hitherto, it 
 must be acknowledged, his remark continues to 
 be just, " that our orators of pulpit, bar, and 
 " stage, are but as players of voluntaries, exlii- 
 *' biting by ear, and having no notes as a test or 
 " standard to prove their correctness, and to 
 ** measure the degrees of their excellence." But 
 it is to be hoped that this will not always be the 
 case. 
 
 ** We 1 ave heard (say he) of Betterton, Booth, 
 " and Wilks, and bome of us have seen 
 " Quin, The portraits of their persons are 
 " probably preserved ; but no models of their 
 " elocution remain ; nor any proofs, except 
 " vague assertions and arbitrary opinions, to decide 
 " on the comparative merits, in the way of their 
 " profession, between them and the moderns. 
 ** Had some of the celebrated speeches from 
 ** Shakespeare been noted and accented as they 
 
101 
 
 '* spoke them, we should be able now to judge, 
 ** whether the oratory of our stage is improved 
 " or debased." Then, looking forward to the 
 future, he savs — " if the method here essayed 
 ** can be brought into familiar ust'y the types of 
 ** modern elocution may l>e transmitted to pos- 
 ** teritv as accurately as we have received the 
 musical compositions of Corelli." 
 
 (( 
 
 He acknowledges that " perfection and accuracy 
 ** in this art can onlybe attained by experience and 
 *' a close attention, in estimating the pitch and ex- 
 '* tent of vocal slides by the ear, with the assistance 
 " of a proper instrument." He did not himself pre- 
 tend to that exact precision, which experience only 
 could attain in so delicate an art, even if it had not 
 been an art in its infancy; and I confess that 
 some of the examples of accentuation specified 
 in his book, seem to have been incorrectly noted. 
 But he has pointed out the means by which fu- 
 ture advances may be made ; and if skilful h?nds 
 were employed, with the assistance of good 
 speakers, in noting and comparing different ac- 
 centuations of the same passages, there can be 
 no doubt but the melody of speech would in time 
 be found, not only as legible as any other written 
 
 rnitCI^ hut" ^ir^O t^ I f» frT^"! ♦•no*- »t/»v«xt ftv^itf<nr-*--->i-\frk 
 
 f3 
 
102 
 
 of great improvement, and probably much 
 greater than we are at present aware of. 
 
 14. In the mean time, new as this doctrine 
 yet is, something may be done, and something 
 of no inconsiderable utility, in the way of prac- 
 tical observation and precept, even without the 
 aid of any exact notation. 
 
 It is a great point gained, to have at length 
 accurate ideas on the subject ; to know the 
 nature of that modulation which belongs to ' 
 speech, and what the essential difference is 
 between speech and song. 
 
 But without a concurrent accuracy in the use 
 of terms, we shall never be secure from occasi- 
 onal confusion even of those ideas which we 
 knew to be distinct, and of which we understand 
 the discrimination. 
 
 M^Ijily is a term which in its original ac- 
 ceptat'on signiiles the modulation peculiar .to 
 si^ghigy luid, tlierefore, tlie t}ielcdy of speech is 
 a phrase that implies a sort of contradiction. 
 If, therefore, I might presume to offer a small 
 contribution to the treasury of our language, 
 
K>3 
 
 I would propose a derivative from /x£?.oj r.nd f 'J'cr, 
 which, if warranted by the lords of this trea- 
 sury, would give us m^lepy, as a term expres- 
 sive of that modulation which is peculiar to 
 speech. And, with all due deference, 1 would 
 at the same time propose a small alteration in 
 a word already sanctioned by use, nan;eh', 
 orthot'px. This, however, being an adopted 
 word, and of classic dignity, it may, perhaps, 
 be thought umvarrantable to make any change 
 in its presejit form. But that differs vvidelv 
 fiom its ancicp.t form ; and though ^^oi-nvxy no 
 doubt, sounded well, when uttered by those, 
 quibus deilit ore rotundo musa loqui, I cannot 
 but think our English word would be mended 
 if it were contracted into crihcpy. 
 
 As the modern use of tlie word accent, for 
 syllabic emphasis, is a manifest source cf much 
 error' and confusion ; and as it is ahvavs of im- 
 portance to have distinct nam^es for difTeren: 
 things, I hope this name (accent) will in future 
 be assigned exclusively to those vocal inflexions, 
 of which it is so aptly significant ; and that its 
 use, In that sense, may be ratified by competent 
 authority, that is, " consensu enidltorunu^^ 
 
 F 4 
 
J 04 
 
 ^o. For . acce/ifuatlof/y then, in this sense of 
 the word, it now remains to point out some 
 rules, which may be of present use, in the hope 
 tliat future dihgence in the practice of notation, 
 with such improvements as it may be capable of, 
 will in time bring this i;ram/: of music to perfec 
 tion. 
 
 A laudable attempt has been made, v/ith this 
 view, by Mr. Walker, in his « Elements of Elo- 
 cution," the treatise above mentioned, and which 
 was published in the year 17«1 . 
 
 This, I believe, is the only treatise that has 
 appeared on the subject, since the publication 
 of Mr. Steele's book j nor is it intitled to regard 
 on that account only, as the/n-/ essay to bring 
 tais essential part of elocution under the direc- 
 tion of practical ru'es. It is executed in a 
 manner which does credit both to the zeal and 
 ability of the author, in that important branch 
 of public instruction which he professes. He 
 evidently wishes to promote a correct knowledge 
 of the subject j and he will i.ot be displeased 
 to see a brief sketch of jils plan, from tie 
 hand of one who is a s.n.ngcr to his person, 
 though it be given to the public expressly with 
 
105 
 
 a view to point out some particulars In which 
 that plan appears to be erroneous or defective. 
 
 In the formation of his plan he had to feel 
 
 his luay in an untrodden path. He had seen the 
 
 Prosodia Rationalise but complains that he did 
 
 not perfectly understand it. ** I never (says he) 
 
 " so much deplored my total want of know- 
 
 " ledge in music, as I did in the perusal of that 
 
 ** work ; for though I could conceive the truth 
 
 of the system in speculation, I had no means 
 
 of understanding how it could be reduced to 
 
 practice. I understood enough to find, that 
 
 the author was a very ingenious and philoso- 
 
 " phical grammarian, but could go no further. 
 
 " My ignorance of music made me incapable of 
 
 " entering into particulars, and deriving that 
 
 " benefit which so ingenious a performance 
 
 " might have afforded me." 
 
 I will venture, however, to assure Mr. Walker, 
 that a very moderate proficiency in the know- 
 ledge of music is sufficient to make every part 
 of Mr. Steele's treatise perfectly intelligible. Mr. 
 Walker also seems to ever-rate the difficulty of 
 arresting and estimating the sounds of the voice 
 in speaking. " Their continual motion (he says) 
 
 F 5 
 
 (( 
 
 u 
 
 (C 
 
 (( 
 
 f' 
 
 * 
 
 M 
 
io(i 
 
 
 •, I 
 
 « nukes It almost as impossible for the ear to 
 « mark their several differences, as It would 
 " be for the eye to define an object that Is 
 " s^viftly passing before it, and cpntinurilly va- 
 " nishing away." Jf so, it 'must be in vain to 
 attempt it. But though we are yet unskilled 
 and unpractised in this discrimination; though 
 we cannot yet pretend to be expert in analysing 
 cur accents; we are far from being insensible 
 of their effects. We are immediately, and 
 almost universally, struck with any uncommon " 
 excellence in their expressive and judicious 
 application. 
 
 It Is in this as in the common music. There 
 are very few whose ears are so dull as not in- 
 stantly to distinguish one tune from another; 
 few, indeed, who do not ftel the difference. An 
 untaught multitude will be struck at once with 
 delight by a sprightly animated air, or awakened 
 to corresponding sympathies by the various powers 
 of musical expression, tender, pathetic, solemn, 
 and sublime. But the same multitude is still 
 more susceptible of impression from the power- 
 ful charms of elocution. A good ear soon catches 
 and the memory retains, a tune ; and the exact 
 modulation of a well-uttered sentence is also 
 
107 
 
 often retained, bv persons acquainted with no 
 precepts of art. A skilful musician catches the 
 written tune at sight by his eye, or commits it to 
 writing the moment after he has heard it sung. 
 This perfection of his art is at this moment a 
 thing inconceivable to the uninitiated; and its 
 present facility may encourage us to hope, that an 
 equal skill in appreciating and noting the tones 
 of speech may not be unattainable. 
 
 Of these fugitive tones of speech, some are 
 much more significant and expressive than others, 
 as not only differing in tlieir relative pitch and 
 dimension, but also as deriving importance from 
 their place. These are necessarv to the sense and 
 meaning, as well as to the euphony of a sentence ; 
 and they are also easily distinguished. Every 
 simple interrogation, for instance, is terminated 
 by an acute accent, so marked as hardly to escape 
 the most inattentive observer. An acute accent, 
 though of smaller dimension and a k •^er pitch, 
 is also most commonly heard in the close of a 
 phrase, or member of a sentence, where the sense 
 remains suspended; and every distinct sentence 
 is closed either with a grave or a circumflex ac- 
 cent. 
 
 
108 
 
 V 
 
 ii 
 
 L> 
 
 In 
 
 
 1^. To the two simple accents, acute aiul 
 grave, under the appellations of « the rising and 
 faUmg inHexions," I\lr. W J ker professes to direct 
 Ills chief attention j conceiving, that if tliese arc 
 not misplaced or interchanged at the orinclpal 
 pauses of a sentence, or in certain emphatic ex- 
 pressions, h'ttle more will be neces.sarv to nuke 
 the ^vhc>le elocution correct and harmonious. 
 His object, theref-e, is to find some means of 
 making these inflexions distinguishable bv his 
 reader, and to investigate a svstem of practical 
 rules for their application. 
 
 " These t^o slides, or inflexions of the voice 
 *^ (he says)* are tlie axes, as it were, on which 
 " the force, variety, and harmony of speaking 
 1^* turns. They may be considered as the great 
 " outHnes of pronunciation j and if these out- 
 " lines can be tolerably conveyed to a reader 
 " they must be of nearly the same use to hiin 
 « as the rough draught of a picture to a pupil 
 « m painting. This, then, we shall attempt to 
 " accomplish, by adducing some of the most 
 " familiar phrases in the language, and pointing 
 « out the inflexions which every ear, however 
 
10() 
 
 " unpractised, will naturally adopt in pronounc- 
 " ing them. These phrases will become a kind 
 
 of datay to which the reader may be referred, 
 " when he is at a loss for the precise sound, 
 " that is understood by tiiese dilicrent niHexions ; 
 
 and those familiar sounds, it is presumed, will 
 ** suiliciently instruct him." 
 
 In pursuance of this idea Mr. Walker exempli- 
 fies what he takes to be the rising and falling inflex- 
 ions, by reference to the following sentences, 
 which he presumes " will at first sight be pro- 
 " nounced with the proper inflexions of voice 
 " by every one that can barely read. 
 
 " Doet Casar deserve fai.ie or blame ? 
 ** Can Cieiar deserve blame ? impossible ! 
 *' Caesar does not deserve fame, but blame. 
 *' Cssar therefore deserves blame, and not fame. 
 
 In the first of these, according to Mr. Walker, 
 fajue has the rising and /'A/w^ the fall ing inflexion. 
 In the second, blame rises and impossible falls. 
 In the third, fame and blame rise and fall as in the 
 first i but, in the fourth, blame, though in the 
 middle of the sentence, falls, and^ww^, at the 
 end of the sentence, r ses ; on which the author 
 takes occasion to state it, as a general rule, 
 
.no 
 
 " that all sentences, constructed in the same 
 " manner, have tlie rising inflexion on the 
 *' negative, and the falling inflexion on the aifirma- 
 " live member/' 
 
 %. 
 
 In these examples he made choice of words 
 *' different in sense though similar in Eounv], 
 ** that the sentence might appear to carry soiov 
 " meaning with it, and the reader be \vd to 
 " annex those inflexions to thewordr. vhich ti\e 
 " sense seemed to demand." But h-j aher .vatds 
 thought it better " to take the same word, :;nd 
 " place it with the disjunctive or, in c>ppo:-inon 
 •' to itself," as ihe readiest way to discover tl;e 
 requisite inflexion. Thus, in the folli;.> 11!^ sen- 
 tence, " A contented mind, and a good con- 
 ** science, will make a man happy in all con- 
 ** ditions/' he directs his reader ** 10 J iv the 
 falling inflexion on the word mind, ihe rising 
 on conscience^ and the falling on aii," and says, 
 that we may find those respective inikxions, by 
 §imply asking thequesiion " is it mind oi mind ? 
 " is it conscience or conscience ? is it all or all ?" 
 
 
 That this kind of double question will, in 
 similar cases, suggest the same inflexions of the 
 voice to every tolerable reader, ma} be fairly 
 
Ill 
 
 presumed. But the<!e are not simply rising and 
 falling inflexions ; i or do I indeed suppose that 
 Mr. Walker thought them so. He appears to 
 have been not insensible of that combination of 
 inflexions which we denominate a circumflex 
 accent ; for, in explaining the following example 
 " did he do it voluntarily or involuntarily ?" he' 
 says,* " that in the pronunciation of these words 
 « we find every syllable in the word voluntarily 
 « rises except the first, v:^U and every syllable in 
 " the word involuntarily falls, but the first in. 
 " These two syllables both fall and rise in 
 " the same articulation. In pronouncing vol. 
 *' the voice sinks at first and slides up again j and. 
 " in pronouncing in, the voice rises up and sinks 
 " down again. So that the two accented syllables 
 (meaning the emphatic syllables) " of these words, 
 " may be said ;o form a curve of sound, and 
 '* the rest of the syllables straight lines, the one 
 " rising, and the other failing." But he says, 
 " it will be sufllcient fjr every purpose of in- 
 " struction to consider both tliese inflexions as 
 " entirely rising or entirely fiilling, according to 
 " the slide in which they termifiate-,'' and he lays 
 
 • Ibid, p, 137. 
 
112 
 
 it down as a kind of rule,* that " the several 
 " inflexions which form the ess^^ncc of speaking 
 ** and reading, may be considered as two only? 
 " the rising and falling inflexions." 
 
 
 M; 
 
 '•h 
 
 But surely, to confound things so diiferent as 
 simple and compotuid accents, is to mislead instead 
 of instructing the learner. We have in modern^ 
 as doubtless they had in ancient languages, under 
 the general name of circumflex accer>ts, all the 
 varieties that can arise from tlie combination of 
 two opposite inflexions, in the utterance of 
 single svllables. Our circumflexes are not only 
 distinguishable as h^ixiggra'DC-acitte and acuto-grave^ 
 according to the order in which their elementary 
 slides are combined, but also as consisting of 
 elements which vary in their respective dimen- 
 sions. To indicate these, in Mr. Steele's simple 
 method above mentioned, by drawing the accen- 
 tual marks over the syllables, three marks at least 
 will be requisite for each class, viz. ^v^ v_-^ v^ 
 grave-acuteywndi-^ ^~^ ^ acutc-grave. Nor have we 
 yet specified all the varieties which are perceptible 
 in our tones of speech. We have two classes of 
 combined inflexions in a double circumflex, which 
 
 * P. M6. 
 
113 
 
 IS either aaito-grave^acute, or grave^ncuto-gra've. 
 All these varieties are not only very perceptible, 
 but very significant and expressive. For tliese 
 last, however, two marks will be sufficients and 
 ^^ i for, though there is great variety in the 
 general dimension as well as in the pitch of 
 . these double circumflexes, in the utterance of 
 dllferent speakers, and of the same speakers on 
 ditferent occasions, yet there is but little variety 
 of dimension in the elementary accents of which, 
 ^ in any particular instance, they are compounded. 
 
 17. Mr. Steele has observed, that « the dialectic 
 " tone of the court, and other polite circles, rit;es 
 " but little above a whisper, and may l)e com- 
 *' pared to the species of painting, called the 
 '' chiaro^oscin'o, which is de.iied the vivacity of 
 " expression by variety of colours. There the 
 " circumflex, though it cannot be left out of the 
 " language, is used >rithin very narrow limits, 
 " frequently not risiiig or falling above five 
 " quarters of a tone, and for the most part 
 ** hurried over witii great veloc" y, in the time 
 " of a quaver, or shortest note. But in the 
 " court language there is no nrgtiment. In tlie 
 '' senate, the extent of the slideii is enlarged to 
 
1T4 
 
 ■ ,1 . j 
 
 ** the extreme; though the circumflex is never 
 " there so apparent as in the provinces."* 
 
 In tliis observation a general rule, worthy of 
 particular attention, is implied, to wit, that the 
 extent or dimension of our accents should be 
 varied,, according to time, p/ace, and circumstance ; 
 but still their essential distinctions should never 
 be confounded. To this also should be added, 
 what appears to have escaped his notice, that, 
 althougii there is a great latitude in the relative 
 pitch as well as in the dimension of our accents, 
 on different occasions, yet there :s a certain 
 regular proportion of both, whicli limits them 
 respectively, and from which, a very small devi- 
 ation, in any particular case, i^ sufficient to 
 destroy the meaning as well as the melody of a 
 whole sentence. Any of those accents especially 
 which derive im.pcrtanee from their place in a 
 sentence, if begun in a tone ever so little too 
 high or too low, or extended ever so little either 
 way beyond a certain distance from the key in 
 which the sentence is uttered, will in some 
 measure produce thi^ effect 3 and the narrower 
 the limits are, within which the general accen- 
 
 * Prosoiiia Rationalir., p. 85. 
 
 ft 
 
115 
 
 tuatlon is confined, the more sensibly v/ill this 
 jarring dissonance be felt. 
 
 To the observation above mentioned Mr. Steele ■ 
 subjoins an example « of a familiar English inter- 
 " jection, used when a person is convinced by 
 *| the relation of some new circumstance not 
 " mentioned in the argument before, viz. ^, !" 
 This is one of our double circumflexes, a grave^ 
 acuto-grave ; of which, according to Mr. Steele, 
 the « xvhole extent between grave and acute 
 ** does not exceed seventeen quarter tones ; 
 " whereas, in some of our provincial dialects, 
 « the expression, on a similar occasion, would 
 " run to an extent of twenty-nine or thirty." 
 
 The converse of this inScx;oR, the a^ra^^grav,.. 
 acdc, occurs f^-eqiently in every circle of those 
 charming pratlers, whose emotions are too lively 
 to be expressed without a proportional variety of 
 modulation. " Is it good, mv dear ? oH ' 'tis 
 '* so sw^t I- But this inflexion is not confined 
 to the nursery. We hear it, though in a lower 
 pitch, and of smaller dimension, in various ex> 
 pressions, and such as are of frequent occurrence, 
 II You think it str^ge j yes, I think it str%e, 
 
 but not mare strange tlian true." &c. 
 
 //./^./^ /k ;u.s c..^ jtJ -'-^Z^---^. 
 
 5 ( 
 
lid 
 
 There is one of Mr. Steele's accentual mark?, 
 which is sometime^ useful, but has not vet been 
 mentioned. It is the mark of a s'lnipU accent, 
 whether grave or acute, a little bent into a curve, 
 thus ;; or thus "^ to denote that " the voice hanj^s 
 " longer on the first part of the slide than on the 
 last. In this case the motion of , the voice is not 
 accelerated in the close, but a little retarded in 
 the beginning of the slide. 
 
 (•■ 
 
 I 
 
 
 I ; 
 
 i 
 
 I have before observed, that the voice, in 
 speaking, always glides rnpidly^ but not always with 
 the same velocity 5 .md it may not be amiss here 
 to add, that, as every vocal slide must, in time, 
 be commensurate with the syllable, the real dif- 
 ference of velocity is often very considerable, 
 when nothing of the retardation here mentioned 
 takes place. The accent on any syllable, long 
 or short, may in one case be of more than 
 double the dimension, by which, on the same 
 syllable, it is limited in another, though the 
 sentence may, in both cases, be spoken nearly in 
 equal times ; and therefore, the velocity of the 
 slide must also be more than double. This 
 observation is of little importance, except it be 
 to such as may wish to imitate the vocal slides 
 on an instrument. For in speaking, if we give 
 
i\7 
 
 the requisite di,„cnsion to our accents, or limit 
 th^>t J.ir.-.n.siou properly, according to time 
 place, anJ crcmstmice, without spealcing either 
 t^io fast or too slow, the voice will of itself move 
 with the proper velocity. But he that would 
 make an instrument perform the same, must be 
 attentive to this also, in order at once to keep 
 the t,n>e, and give the requisite diu.cnsion to 
 the accent. 
 
 The curved mark of a simple accent r„»v 
 always be distinguislied from a circumijex ; f„r 
 though rounded a little, vet tl>e mark of the 
 acute never descends, nor does that of the 
 grave rise, from its point of beginning. 
 
 This mark xvill be wanted in the notation of 
 Mr. Walker's h,to;;gatories, to which it i, time 
 to return, and of which the following s^e the 
 principal accents. 
 
 ■*iLLS fime^ or blSme .? bl^me .' inSp6ssibfe t 
 
 4 ,!"*' "f f:'""' ''"' ^'•""^' '''» blfime, „6t fSme. 
 itxsiiiind .> or m/iid? conci.nce or coiiscience ? 
 all or all i 
 
 Tlie accentual illdes here marked have been so 
 mmutely explained, that their marh cannot fail 
 to md^ate the^ inflexions which they represent 
 
 V,ir 
 
 ti- 
 
 
 
 C o-fxjeu H 
 
 iC 
 
 4 
 
118 
 
 if I 
 
 
 m 
 
 ■j 1 
 
 A 
 
 I tin .1 
 
 more intelligibly than any verbal description 
 could do. 
 
 From this view of Mr. Walker's examples it is 
 evident that his rule, for finding the requisite 
 inflexion, while he considers them all as " wiin/y 
 *' riswgy or intin/y fa//hig, according to the 
 " slides in which they tcrminaU," is far from a 
 safe one. 
 
 But whoever finds fault with a rule, especially 
 in the infancy of an art, should either furnish a 
 better, or propose some amendment. In the 
 present state of the art of me/epyj we must refer 
 to some known inflexions, as guides to those 
 who tannot yet read by note. As a practical - 
 amendment, therefore, of Mr. Walker's disjunc- 
 tive question, I would propose the addition of a 
 definite answer. — Is it f^ie or fame ? 'tis fauie. 
 Is it all or all.? 'tis all. Here, I presume, 
 Mr. Walker's ear will perceive, in the second 
 fame, an aaiic-grave^ and, in the third, a simple 
 grave accent ; and the same in the word all^ as 
 indicated by the respective marks. 
 
 In the progress of this work, Mr. Walker has , 
 endeavoured to form a system of rules for di- 
 
 -f 
 
 i- 
 
 fVO 
 
 li 
 
"nf tf "' ''''""?°" °' "'^ '^^° -">''« -flex 
 ons to a vanety of sentences, which he classe, 
 
 7 :"\'° --- ->ogies of constructil 
 
 lerl, T' .'' ^^^-"""^^ """- "^e two 
 
 '»,fiaf,c words of a sentence. 
 
 Of the utility of this distribution, his own 
 
 2 r? " ^" '"^'^"«°^' ■"-' '^-e enabled 
 h.m to form a satisfactory judgment. The 
 prmcpal defect that I perceive in his svs,.m, i 
 the one above mentioned, respecting the circum- 
 ilex accents, which are of the utmost importance 
 to the force, variety, and harmony of speak- 
 >ng," but of which he takes no account. 
 
 Air. Walker has not ventured to call his /«- 
 {77 i "' ■""" •'J' 'heir proper name, accents ■ 
 but he has sometimes denoted them by the an' 
 cient accentual marks. 
 
 1 8. Some mistakes, in an undert.-.king so new 
 and on so delicate a subject, may be considered 
 as unavo.dable. But tWe is onef which I hl^ 
 t .^cessary to mention, as being irreconcilable to 
 hat_ essent,al distinction between speaking and 
 
 s'nging, on which the whnl„ ^o-t-i-T. - 
 
 „j>.c»me ui accents 
 
 • a 
 
120 
 
 is founded, and of which Mr. Walker appears, 
 from passages in this same treatise, to have been 
 fully sensible. 
 
 m 
 
 ' I 
 
 In the first volume, p. 117, he makes the 
 following remark — " that the more colloquial 
 ** and familiar the hmguage is, provided it be 
 ** earnest and emphatical, the more perceptible 
 ** the inflexions are ; and, the more elevated 
 ** and poetical, the less so. The plaintive ton^e, 
 " so essential to tlie delivery of elegiac composi- 
 *' tion, greatly diminishes the slides, and re- 
 " duces them almost to a monotone. Nay, a 
 ** perfect monotone, without any inflexion at 
 " all, is some limes very judiciously introduced 
 " in reading verse. Thus, in the sublime de- 
 ** scription of Satan's throne, in the 2nd book 
 ** of Paradise Lost, 
 
 " High on a throne of voyal state, which far 
 *-' Outshone the wealth of Orraus or of hide, 
 " Or where the gorgeous east, with richest hand, 
 ♦' Showers on her kings barbaric pearl and gold, 
 " S«\taB exalted sat." 
 
 ** In this passage (Mr. Walker says) every word 
 " of the third and fourth lines, but pfarl and 
 ** gold, may be pronounced in a monotone ; and 
 
121 
 
 " this monotone will greatly add to the digmtj 
 " and grandeur of the object described." 
 
 With respect to the latter part of this remark, 
 I have ah-eady hinted the insuperable objection, 
 that it is directly contradictory to the first prui- 
 ciple of that doctrine which Mr. Walker himself 
 has endeavored to confirm and explain. None 
 but tniuj'a,/ sounds (I mean sounds of the ciiaste^ 
 tnatic music) can, for a moment, be momtoncus. 
 Our speech, therefore, can never be so, not for 
 a single syllable, without producing an intolerable 
 dissonance. 
 
 , What Mr. Walker has here mistaken for mono^ 
 tone, is merely a succession of accents of small 
 dimension, and nearly of one uniform pitch, 
 uttered as in a sort of parenthesis, but still 
 comprising every variety of accentuation, except 
 the double circumflex. In proof of this let the 
 lines in question be put to the test of experi- 
 ment, and we shall find them to be thus 
 accented. 
 
 High ^ri a thi^e of jroyal state, whicli far 
 Outsh^^e tht' wQth of'^Ormus 6v of Ifde, 
 O^jvhere the gorgeous e^c, wilh ripest haiid 
 Showers oh hC-r kBgs b^rb^ric pari afid stAd., 
 atan exalted sat. 
 
 1 
 
 ^1 
 
 #4 I 
 
 » 'I 
 
 I 
 
122 
 
 |M 
 
 As to \\\t plaintive tone (which Is said so greatly 
 to diminish the shdes) it is -x phrase which, 
 though often used, has no definite meaning. 
 But, even in the vague sense in wliich this 
 phrase is commonly understood, the plaintive 
 tone is so far from having the eftect here impu- 
 ted to it, in the degree supposed by Mr. Walker, 
 that, on the contrary, its plaintiveness often 
 depends on occasional extensions of the vocal 
 slides. Nor is it in colloquial and flmiiliar lan- 
 guage, that the vocal inflexions are most strongly 
 marked. There are, indeed, some accentual 
 turns Avhich appear to be extended in familiar 
 colloquies ; but this is chiefly because the general 
 tenor of accentuation, in such familiar language, 
 is rather contracted, and, from the desultory nature, 
 especially of a sprightly dialogue, the inequalities 
 will be considerable. But whether it be plain 
 narrative, or didactic prose, or elevated and 
 poetical language, that we have to deliver, the 
 general proportion of dimension, in our accents, 
 will depend almost exclusively on the degree of 
 earnestness and emphasis of utterance, which 
 the occasion may require. 
 
 It is In consequence of such extended slides, 
 in the general tenor of delivery, on proper 
 
 V'*-ii 
 
123 
 
 occasions, that a sudden din.inution of them 
 ■s scnofmes, from the effect of contrast, so 
 very expressive. A contracted accentuation, like 
 a pause, may be in a high degree pathetic. 
 
 But, this is not a treatise; it is merely an ...^y, 
 
 -a .ts object, if my feeble voice may be heard 
 
 « to mv,te attention to the subject. I hope 
 
 Mr. ^^ alker may be induced, and, by public 
 
 regard, encouraged, to reVise his El.,„ems of 
 
 E ocufon , and, as it is yet the only system of 
 
 the kuKl, to make that syste.n as perfect as he 
 Ccin, 
 
 G S? 
 
124 
 
 
 1^1 
 
 *) 
 
 11 i 
 
 EngUsh Prosody, 
 
 1. The Latin grammarians from whom we 
 have received the word prosody, used it in a sense 
 different from its original meaning, referring it 
 not to the fnelcciy, but simply to the fneasure of 
 speech. The metrical system, however, was 
 nearly the same both in Greek and Latin. 
 
 In every language some syllables are uttered 
 5n less time than others -, and the relative time is 
 called the quantity of a syllable. This, ^n diffe- 
 rent syllables, is in various proportions ; but the 
 varieties are too numeroits and often too minute 
 for practical discrimination. Every syllable, 
 therefore, has been usually considered as either 
 long or short ; and these have been respectively 
 estimated as in the constant ratio of two to one. 
 
 On this general estimate were formed those 
 ancient artificial combinations of syllables, which 
 are denominated /^6'^ Every foot, strictly speak- 
 ing, consisted either of two syllables or of three ; 
 for ail other possible combinations must ue re- 
 solvable into one or other of these. 
 
123 
 
 (^f flie ilissyll.-ible feet there could he hat 
 four, and of the trisyllable only eight, making 
 m all twelve metrical elements, which were called 
 sifffp/t feet, and were sufRcient for measuring all 
 possible varieties of composition, whether in 
 verse or prose. These feet had each an appro- 
 priate DAme. By combinations of the four dis- 
 syllable feet sixteen doKb/e ones, (tto^cj cvyOiroi,) were 
 formed, to which also were given distinct ap- 
 pellations. 
 
 But can these aitiiicial divisions of speech find 
 a place in English prosody? Can we make uss 
 of Grcci.-jn feet in measuring E^iglifh verses ? No 
 one will sup|K)se that cither Milton, Dryden, or 
 Pope, paid any particular attention to the coti" 
 plesy or triads, or dou^Wc couples, of long and short 
 svlljibles which occurred in their versification ; 
 nor is it probable, that Homer ever heard of a 
 dactyl or spondee. Pope *' lisp'd in numbers, for 
 " the numbers came." Numbers of what ? not 
 merely of syllables, but of syllables in some 
 orderly succession, and according to some system 
 of harmofiiotts combination ; a system which has 
 never yet been fully investigated. Such an in- 
 vestigation I presume not to undertake ; but I 
 hone that the foUowirls- observations mav have a 
 
 G 3 
 
 * i%i 
 
 .* 
 
il6 
 
 M'> 
 
 
 %■ 
 
 ■!. 
 
 &,. 
 
 I; 
 
 chance of being useful, as unwrought materials 
 in the hand of some abler artist. 
 
 2. There are certain points in which all lan- 
 guages agree, and which have been called the 
 natural accidents of speech. Such is the organic, 
 formation of the vocal and articulate elements, 
 and such are all the varieties of emphasis and 
 accentuation. For though, in each of these 
 particulars, every language has some peculiari- 
 ties, n^orj or loss, yet they are few and 
 unessenti:^'. The difference is never in hiiuly nor 
 is it ever considerable in extent or degree* 
 
 It has been asserted, by some of our most 
 eminent winters, that in English, there is no 
 difference between accent (meaning syllabic em- 
 phasis J and quantity. But, in this respect also, I 
 am persuaded that all languages are alike. The 
 rules of quantity differ according to the different 
 structure of each language, but the distinction 
 of long and short syllables, in various propor- 
 tions of diversity, (practically in the general 
 rate of two to one) is as real in English as in 
 Greek or Latin. In those languages the differ- 
 ence of quantity often indicates to the ear the case 
 of a noun, or the mood and tense of a verb, &c. 
 and sometimes it constitutes the only difference 
 
1 2/ 
 
 between words which otherwise agree in sound, 
 but difter totally in meaning. This, however, 
 happens much, more frequently in English. We 
 have many words, as I have before observed, 
 under the head of English Elements, which, as 
 ai(dii>/e sounds^ differ in nothing but quantity. 
 
 It is also to be remarked, that the people of 
 every country, whether savage or civilized, have 
 an instinctive ieQling of that vital principle, 
 both of fpeech and song, to which the Greeks 
 gave the general name of '^v9ix.or, or number. 
 
 Now the essence of rhythmus, we are told, 
 consisted in u^ar and 6«<7<r, which, as technical 
 terms, were suggested by the Ijft'wg and putting 
 down of the foot, when either in a march or in a 
 dancey the steps were regulated by music, whether 
 vocal or instrumental. 
 
 Many of the inferior animals are susceptible of 
 delight from the variety, the speed, agility or 
 force, of their ov^n motions ; and most o^ them 
 find this pleasure greatly heightened by the ad- 
 dition of social participation ; but in their move- 
 ments we perceive no traces of regularity. Man 
 alone is sensible of a rythmus in his motions ; and 
 
 g4 
 
 
 m 
 
 ti 
 
 
 if 
 
 . ! 
 
 I' 
 
 ..I 
 
 .4 
 
r 
 
 ii 
 
 ,h > 
 
 iPl 
 
 ,m<i 
 
 K <>' 
 
 128 
 
 this sensibility, even if he were mute, would be an 
 impassible line or separation between him and all 
 the brute creation. But when his measured step 
 is accompanied with corresponding vocal or 
 instrumental modulations, this metrical union of 
 sound and motion becomes a source of impressions 
 so various and so powerful, that there are few 
 passions in human nature which it cannot by turns 
 excite or control. That this is more observable 
 in the ruder than in the more polished classes ot 
 mankind, is a proof that it proceeds from a «^- 
 iural and not from an arufic'ial propensity. Nor 
 is this propensity suppressed, it is only modified, 
 by the progressive refmeincnts of life. And 
 though the dance, with all its additional graces, 
 may dwindle from a passionate to an insipid 
 amusement •, yet rhythmus retains and extends its 
 power. It is transfused through every sentence 
 that we utter. It is felt in silence and in repose, 
 as well as in actual speech or motion. It regulates 
 the pau^ies both of motion and speech, and mea- 
 sures even the current of our thoughts. 
 
 What, then, is the nature of this rhythmus, 
 which every one feels and levv understand ? 
 
 I have already hinted the idea entertained of 
 
129 
 
 it by the Greeks. The authority aUucled to is 
 an observation of Aristides, quoted by Mr. 
 
 Steele*, rov (/.iv }vC'uot iv m^crti kxi Qeaet rriv ucnav ty^uv To 
 ?£ fjiiTpor tv cvXkaQoif xxi TV7 raruv av3fAO<oT*!T/, that 
 
 rhythmus has its essence in arsis and thesis, but 
 metre in syllables and in their difference. 
 
 If then the essence of rhythmus resides in the 
 pulsations of arsis and thesis, by what are these 
 pulsations regulated ? What is to direct us in 
 their application ? Not the mere varieties of quan- 
 tity, either in speech or music, that is, not sim- 
 ply the relative length either of notes or syllables : 
 for then the influence of rhythmus could not be 
 felt, as it certainly is, by unlettered savages, nor 
 even by the polished nations of modern Europe, 
 among whom the distinctions of quantity, however 
 constant in their respective languages, have never 
 yet been subjects of systematic arrangement, nor, 
 indeed, of general cognizance. And so far is 
 such a system from being necessary to any species 
 of composition, either in verse or prose, that it 
 can only have been formed by analysing the 
 structure of compositions previously existing. 
 Men universally sing and dance long before they 
 
 Mcibomiu»» Vol. II. p. 49. 
 G 
 
 5 
 
 .Hi 
 
 
 .'.I'. 
 
 m 
 
 ,-,t 
 
 t 
 
 
 
I'M 
 
 I 
 
 4)* 
 
 130 
 
 Ml 
 
 think of scanning their verses. Ante enim car- 
 men ortuin est, quam observatio carminis ; 
 indeque illud, Fauni Vatesque canebant.* Be- 
 sides in a sentence or. a verse, consisting of sylla- 
 bles all long or all short, it is obvious that there 
 can be nothing in the mere quam.:'!'/ to indicate 
 the rhythmus; yet, according to the rules of anci- 
 ent prosody, many such verses and spitences exist 
 both in Greek and Latin, and n-.iy exist in any 
 language. 
 
 Rhythmus is a general term, comprising two 
 distinct modes, which are called common time) and 
 triji/e time, or ccmmon and triple metre; and the"se 
 two modes, for in nature there are but these, 
 have at all times been the same, both in the 
 f.pcech and in the music of mankind. The first 
 is the rhytlimus of a march, and the second of a 
 mijiuet. These movements are, respectively, sus- 
 ceptible of great variety of quich or sloiv, and of 
 more or fe-wer steps in a rhythmical division \ but 
 all the possible varieties are reducible to these two 
 modes, -of which the difference is constantly so 
 sensible as hardly to escape the perception of the 
 dullest ear j and yet melodies, in either of these 
 
 w. 
 
 * '^uincti. !x. 4. 
 
131 
 
 modes may be composed of notes all of the same 
 length. Nay, the very same series of notes may 
 constitute either a minuet or a march.* 
 
 «•'■; 
 
 J 
 
 As the governing principle, therefore, of 
 rhythmus is not to be- fjiind in the length either 
 of notes or syHablcSy it can be only in their empha- 
 sis : in that accident or aftection, which is natu- 
 ral to all language and to every species of melody, 
 and to which modern grammarians and musicians 
 have bothj very improperly, given the name of 
 accetit. 
 
 It is therefore manifest, that what has been 
 hitherto commonly considered as a great defect 
 and a striking mark of inferiority, and even bar- 
 barism, in modern languages, has at all times 
 been alike inherent in every language, namely, 
 that, in our versification, the rhythmus depends 
 on emphatic impulse. 
 
 This universal principle did not escape the no- 
 tice of the Greek musicians. Aristides, before- 
 mentioned, has, in three words, with critical 
 propriety, given it a name, together with a very 
 
 * See Prosodia Rationalii, page 183. 
 
 "I 
 
 ^r 
 
 '.m 
 
 / 
 
w 
 
 -ftXe. 
 
 132 
 
 significant hint of its office* xy^yy, /t^^./^^f tij.:^xcriu;s^ 
 the giHdnnce (or as Mr. Steele translates it) the 
 drift of rhythmical emphasis, f 
 
 3. Voltaire, in a letter to the Abbe d'Olivet, 
 on the subject of French prosody says| " with 
 « regard to language, I consider the people of 
 ** every age and country as barbarians, in com- 
 " parison with the Greeks, and their disciples 
 " the Ronians, by whom alone true prosody was 
 *' ever understood. To the Gre , especially, 
 
 * Meibom, vo!. ii. page 4'i. 
 
 f vj.'^xati (from '.(/.pxtvu) was anciently used in a sense 
 similar to that of our English word Intimation. When a word 
 oi phrase was made, in its place, to convey some pointed 
 mcanin^r, beyond its ordinary signification, it was said to be 
 emphatic. This was a rhetorical anphash^ of which there is an 
 instance in the following line of Catullus, Vivamus, mea Lesbia, 
 atque amemus ; my Lesbia, let us live and love ; plainly inti- 
 natiiig that he considered love as essential to life. When I 
 say, //lairily intimating, I suppose him to have spoken as na- 
 ture, in such a case, would universally prompt every speaker 
 that is, that he gave to these words their adventitious mean- 
 ing by what we now call an imphatie utterance, the want of 
 which would even give the expression a contrary effect. 
 Hence we may fairly infer the propriety as well as the meaning 
 of the phrase, a rhythmical emphasis. 
 
 -f 
 
 \ " Ye tiensj en fall de langue, tous les peuples pour bar- 
 bares, &c. 
 
133 
 
 « nature must have given organs more happily 
 " disposed than those of other nations, for con- 
 " structing in a short time a language composed 
 " intirely of long and short syllables, and wilh 
 " such an harmonious mixture of consonants 
 " and vowels as to form a species of vocal music. 
 " You will, I trust, permit me, without censure 
 " to repeat, that Greek and Latin are, to all 
 «< other languages in the world, what the game 
 " of chess is to the game of draughts, and what 
 " a graceful dance is to ordinary walking.'' 
 
 In this same letter there are some observations 
 whichdo honor to the writer's taste and judgment, 
 in what related to his own language and to the 
 general proprieties of style. But when he talks of 
 a language composed all of long and short sylla- 
 bles, as an extraordinary thing, and of a species of 
 vocal music resulting from an harmonious mix- 
 ture of consonants and vowels, he becomes an 
 unmeaning declaimer. The whole passage, in- 
 deed, is either frivolous or absurd, excepting the 
 simile of a graceful dance, of which the idea, 
 though far from uncommon, has been suggested 
 by a mistaken notion both of ancient and of mo- 
 dern languages. 
 
 
 
 ■'4 'I 
 
 
' + 
 
 li 
 
 kt 
 
 !lHl',| 
 
 Ul 
 
 134 
 
 That one language may greatly surpass ano- 
 ther in the sweetness and facility of its articula- 
 tions, is a truth of daily and perpetual observa- 
 tion. The Greek was formerly acknowledged, 
 in this respect, to excel the Latin. At this day 
 the Italian is the sweetest language in Europe. 
 But allowing this, if you please, to he called a 
 species of vocal nmsic^ in which case we are all 
 singers, though some sing more sweetly than 
 others, yet singing and dancing are different 
 things. The dance must be referred to some 
 peculiarity of tneasurcy in which the Greek and 
 Latin are supposed to have been distinguished 
 from all other languages. 
 
 It is well known that, in Greek and Latin, 
 the long and short syllables were far from being 
 constantly, if ever, in the exact proportion as- 
 signed to them in theory. It is highly probable 
 that, in this respect, the speech of all nations is 
 at all times very much alike. But even were it 
 otherwise ;— if, in any language, the long and 
 short syllables were so proportioned, as to form 
 a metrical system no less accurate than that of 
 our modern musical notation, still the rhythnws, 
 by which the dance, in question, must be go- 
 verned, would have its essence, not in any artful 
 
 1 
 
135 
 
 arrangement of those syllables, hi regard to their 
 qua,iUtyy but in the pulsation of alternate em- 
 phasis and remission. Without this, the most 
 exact pronunciation of long and short syllables, 
 in any language and In any possible order, would 
 be 3 mere unanimated syllabication ; that is, a 
 series of syllables, but not of significant expres- 
 sions. 
 
 But so far were the metrical systems of anti- 
 quity from being strictly accurate; that any 
 short syllable, in position, as it is called, was 
 constantly, in all metrical computations, whe- 
 ther of verse or prose, considered as a long one. 
 Yet surely it were absurd to suppose that any 
 real augmentation was ever effected by the simple 
 collision of mute consonants. In the following 
 verse, for instance, A..v^ l^ x>.«7^ y^«r afyvft.i, 
 ^.0.0, could the syllable oz be converted into a 
 long one, merely by standing next before a word 
 beginning with two consonants ? It will be said 
 that, in that position, it was pronounced as a 
 syllable belonging to the word that follows it 
 i^^-KxT/y^. Be it so; but was the vowel « there- 
 fore changed in the pronunciation from a short 
 to a long one ? If so, the conjunction h was 
 converted in fact into the adverb ^^ 5 for words 
 
 
 i c 
 
 f f 
 
 m 
 
 ■'6.' 
 
 '9'i 
 
136 
 
 b ' 
 
 ; I 
 
 mi 
 i 
 
 
 JW 
 
 arc such as we Imr them, Independently ot any 
 regard to their spelling. The change of oi into 
 S», in the present instance, would not, indeed, 
 quite deprive the passage of a meaning, nor 
 involve any ungrammatica! construction, but it 
 would destroy the simplicity of a sublime expres- 
 sion, and render the meaning at least ambiguous. 
 This word ^r, is sometimes of an ironical or sar- 
 castic import •, an ixistance of which, quoted by 
 Scapula from Thucydides, I beg leave to offer as a 
 sultablemotto for the Great Republic,andallothtrs 
 who are blessed with French liberty and equality 
 rt'fA.us Si avrovr(XD4 or) cyrts j wey£'>'j'w//'areself-govei n- 
 ed I But the instances are innumerable, where 
 the effect of this position, if it did really lengthen 
 the syllable, would change or mar the meaning, 
 and violate every principle of grammar. The 
 following must be familiar to the recollection of 
 every school boy. 
 
 Toy jt^f-Tr/jey 'jtot Yfujrct xxkx xtyracrt ixiXtcrffct"-' 
 M^S' t^Gai(is ^<Xo» crov afxxpra^os tiytKot (xiKfrns-^ 
 
 'A^V ri TO •\'lQvfKT[XlX' - 
 
 <(,ivyt xaxoy to ^/Aa^jc, ra x^'Afa fafixxxonvr 
 
 HxE 06 tw A^ynoici x«x£» ^.\oi — — — 
 
 In pronouncing these lines, shall we say tak 
 
137 
 
 ^tkoi ? No ; and yet nothing but tluis levgthtntng 
 the vowel can possibly make the syllabU long. 
 
 In the word xaKov, thus protracted, there is a 
 remarkable ambiguity •, for xaxwv could not here be 
 the genitive plural of the adjective, as, both with 
 ^lUi and p^xfJLXi it would make a griimmatical 
 discord. It must then be the present participle 
 either of kxmm or xaxjtw. 
 
 iA 
 
 i'h^- 'bi 
 
 Instances of short syllables affected by occasional 
 position, occur in almost every sentence of Greek 
 or Latin j but a great proportion of the words in 
 those languages, taken shigfy, are in like manner 
 aflectedbya position that, of course, is constant. All 
 such words would be radically altered, if a short 
 vowel were really made long by jwsition. x^^7rV, 
 KtvTsuj t^Oxipv, ivTi, &c. &c. would be pronounced, 
 that is, as audible sjundsy would be changed into, 
 
 x.\>jT>^r,r, Mvrtv, v)X^ciipu, vn>ri, &C. ^iXicrcrJt WOUri' 
 
 also undergo a similar change by lengthening 
 the ,wrx, in which case it would anciently have 
 been pronounced as we now should pronounce 
 moleessa in our common spelling. 
 
 Many different words would then differ only to 
 
 I'""! 
 
 ' Jf'l 
 
 i 
 
tl 
 
 
 I* i 
 
 138 
 
 the eye. K>.s(ji!xci, furtum, for instance, would 
 not be distinguishable by the sound from xXr/xa, 
 sarmentum; nor/3X£/^/>ta vultus, from /3a*7/x«, vulnus*, 
 StHT^jr, mendicus, from Imr'nT, mordax j )ioiJ.(j.ix, 
 segmentum, from xw/a*, sopor; AswIos-, tenuis, 
 from Krtirio'r, captus ; mliT, tonsura, from irri^i?, 
 concretio ; miaa-u, coquo, from ttvo-o-u, figo ', 
 ciTflos, venerandus, from cr-mr^or, putridus ; rvnl'jvrxi, 
 verberantur, from rvrfiicvraci, verberentur — x. r. a. 
 
 n 
 
 If it be said that xAt/x/^a, ^Xtf^fxai, &c. would be 
 distinguished from xA*j^a, ^Xvifxx, &c. by distinctly 
 sounding both consonants, as in similar cases is 
 done at this day by the Italians, I answer, that 
 notwithstanding ihe distinctness of Italian pro- 
 nunciation, the first syllables are long in can^, 
 datna, ecoy gala, maloy pane, ^c, and short in canna, 
 damma, ecco, galla, mallo, panno, and a thousand 
 others ; and even if the consonants were so 
 distinctly sounded as to make two words of one, 
 it could have no effect whatever on the kngth of 
 the syllable. 
 
 4. But if a short s^^llable, in position, conti- 
 nued to be short, how came it, in that case, lo 
 be constantly accounted otherwise, and made to 
 
139 
 
 iill the placeof along one in every sort of metrical 
 composition. 
 
 This question, if I am not much mistaken, 
 leads to an explanation, which will shew that the 
 ancient prosody differed from our ftwn much less 
 than we have been taught to believe. 
 
 Rhythmus was felt before syllables were mea- 
 sured, and it was always governed by the empha- 
 tic pulsations j but in every language it is natural 
 to give an emphatic utterance to a long syllable 
 rather than a short one, when the place of the 
 syllabic emphasis is not otherwise determined. 
 None but an emphatic syllable, except in parti- 
 cular cases, can occupy an emphatic place in the 
 rhythmical pulsation. Along syllable, therefore, 
 would occupy that place, to the exclusion of any 
 utmnphatic short one. But short syllables, in 
 position, were, by that circumstance, rendered 
 emphatic, or susceptible of emphasis, and there- 
 fore qualified for the same place. I say emphaUe^ 
 or susceptible of emphasis ; because, though none 
 but an emphatic syllable :ould, in general, occupy 
 an emphatic place, yet, as every rhythmical 
 clause comprehended both emphasis and remission, 
 it must happen, that wH«n such a clausQ was filled, 
 
 m 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 ' [i 
 
^!i 
 
 t'^'i 
 
 
 140 
 
 for instnnce, by a spondee, one orly of the sylla- 
 bles in that foot would, in the common current of 
 versification, be actually emphatic ; yet the me- 
 trical system required both to be long, either by 
 the natural quantity of the vowel or by position, 
 that is, both to be alike susceptible of emphasis. 
 
 That metrical system was formed by analysing 
 songs already familiar to the public ear, in which 
 /?^/^ syllables and syllables in position were indiscri- 
 minately found in the emphatic places. It wns 
 therefore natural to assign to both similar places 
 in the construction of their feet j and thus every 
 syllable in position was accounted long, und was 
 probably thought to be really long. I'oi" why 
 should we suppose the ancient founders of such 
 a system to have been incapable of an oversight ? 
 I have pointed out some absurdities that must 
 have been involved in such an idea when strictly 
 applied to their language ; and I beg leave to 
 mention a very ridiculous instance in our own, 
 which occurs in Warton's Essay on the life and 
 writings of Pope, vol. I. p. 302. 
 
 «< Ye gentle gales ! beneath my body blo^y, 
 " And softly lay me en the waves below!" 
 
 Dr. Warton says, that these *' are perhaps the 
 '* most harmonious verses in our language," and 
 
 !fi 
 
141 
 
 he attributes the peculiar melody of the first 
 chiefly to its consisting intireiy of iambic feet ; 
 and he scans the line thus 
 
 Ye gent I Ic gales | beneath | my bo^ dy blow, 
 Now here it is evident, that, in order to make 
 this verse purely iambic, syllables are accounted 
 long ones, which we cannot pronounce long with- 
 out essentially altering the words. For if the 
 first syllable in the word gentle is made long, it 
 will hejantk', and by the same means the word 
 body will become unfit for utterance by any decent 
 company. It must, at the same time, be acknow- 
 ledged, that, according to the rules of ancient 
 prosody, this line does in fact consist of pure 
 iambics -, for though the first syllables of gentle 
 and bod%' are both shorty yet they are both emphatic^ 
 and, therefore, qualified each for the place it 
 holds in the line, when scanned in the manner 
 above specified. 
 
 In the ancient languages, a word pronounced 
 as body is in English, would have had the em- 
 phatic syllable denoted by doubling the letter d ; 
 and perhaps, if our own spelling was, in other res- 
 pects, intitled to the name of orthography^ it 
 might be worth while for us to adopt a similar 
 practice. But if we did, so far would that spel- 
 ling be from denoting any lengthening of the syl" 
 
 I'K 
 
 Iff 
 
 i 
 
 \'M% 
 
 m 
 
 Si 
 
 
 '^i. 
 
-t 1^ 
 
 H^ 
 
 142 
 
 iable, that, on the contrary, it would be a signal 
 for uttering the vowel, thus closed by a double 
 consonant, as rapidly as possible. Every syllable, 
 in such position, is both short and emphatkJ^ This 
 effect of position is not peculiar to English, but 
 is the same in every modern language; and was, 
 most assuredly, the very same in Greek and Latin. 
 
 5. It is therefore an error to suppose that the 
 ancient prosody was constructed solely on the dis- 
 tinction of long and short syllables. It is also an 
 error to suppose that distinction, of itself, suffi- 
 cient for ascertaining the metrical structure of 
 any verse or sentence ancient or modern. 
 
 What, for instance, are the feet of which the 
 following lines are composed ? 
 
 2. froiscv^nOopiJ.xa-uifrxvrxi n KStvxv) ntDfXvri rxvrav'. 
 
 3. ^^o(xii oofxro^-cpz sn'X>js, 7ro?\s/>(,r,x£Aao£. 
 
 4. n Z%vos Hxi Xri^us KxKKiarci aurri^is. 
 
 'II- 
 
 * If it be said that two consonants must require moie tinae 
 in utterance than one, I answer that the observation is equally 
 applicable to such consonants as precede the vowel ; and yet 
 it has never been pretended that any number of consonants 
 articulated with a following short vowel can make a long 
 jyllahle. ^ 
 
143 
 
 Every sylluble, In the first and third lines, u 
 short, and in the second and fourth, eveiy syl- 
 lable is either long or In position, and of course 
 to be accoimtcd long in sci;nning the lines. 
 
 It is to be remembered that the number of 
 syllables in a line can be no clew to the measure; 
 as either a redundant or a deficient syllable is fre- 
 quent in the ancient versification, and sometimes 
 makes a part of the measure intended. 
 
 V -j I 
 
 
 
 Without better authority, therefore, we might 
 have supposed the first of these to be a pentame- 
 ter line, consisting of five tribrachs, and to be 
 sung or said in triple time — thus 
 
 Kiyi OS [ (7V KXTx j TTo^x ve | cXvTx j f/.tXtx 
 
 But this line is given by Dionysius in the treatise 
 TTt^i at>9siTsx'i, to exemplify the dissyllable feet cal- 
 led /jr/'/^/Vj". It is therefore tetrameter catakctictiSy 
 each foot a double pyrrhic, the fourth wanting a 
 fv liable, and the rhvthmus in common time. 
 
 Ktyi h crv j Kxrx tto^x [ itoXv Tx j (/.tXtx 
 
 By the same authority we are to pronounce the 
 second line as an octometer acatalecticus, consist- 
 ing of eight complete spondees, in common time. 
 
 m 
 
 
 
 a 
 
14i 
 
 'M 
 
 The third and fourth are both In triple time, con- 
 sisting, the <?ne of six tribrachs, and the other of 
 four tnolouu But in each of these, and in every 
 similar case, of syllables either all long or all 
 short, it is plain that, without the control of a 
 rhythmical pulsation, these metrical arrangements 
 must be perfectly arbitrary •, and the same obser- 
 vation is, in some measure, applicable to every 
 ptiss'ble series of syllables. 
 
 The following, for instance, — -^ ^ 
 
 . v_^ __ v^ may be formed into a pentameter 
 
 hvpcrcataledkus, consisting of five dissyllable fee% 
 iramely, a trochey sp.ndcc, trochee, and two iambic 
 feet, with a syllable called xaTaAr,|«j. 
 
 The same series may be formed into feet of three 
 syllables J thus, - — - — 1 ^ j --^ ----- | ~ ^t 
 
 making a tetni meter catalcdicus. 
 
 In like manner, any series whatever of sylla- 
 bles may be formed either into dissyllable or tri- 
 syllable feet ', and nvay be still further diversified 
 by variously mixing the two. The present series, 
 for instance, may form a trochee, spondee, dactyl and 
 
 two trochees, — ^-^ | | — -^ ---' | — ^-^ } — ^-^r 
 
 which is the ancient Sapphic measure. 
 
IV 
 
 « 
 
 145 
 
 Tiius it is evident, that no metrical structure 
 o'i either verse or prose, can, in any hmguage, 
 he determined by merel/ ascertaining the syllabi- 
 cal Giianrity, and therefore, that the prosodial 
 feet are in fact rhythmical coaibinatioiis of sylla- 
 bles, and to be ascertained by the " drift of 
 rhythmical emphasis." Accordingly we find, that 
 Dionysius, in the treatise so oflc.i quoted, justi- 
 fies his application of tliC term to plain prose, by 
 observing, *' iltat every verb and odier part of 
 *' speech whatever is ULtercd in s-or.ie rhythmus, 
 " IV ^-Jy^ TiviXc'-jSTx,^''* and he, therefore, uses 
 the words j^>5/ and rhythmus as synonymous terms, 
 TO o' ocvro KxXuj ifoox nxi ^vOixov ■ that is to say, he con- 
 sidered fcut not merely as nn^trlc.'- but also as 
 rhythnikaL divisions of speech, ilcnce it is, that 
 in scanning a sentence from Plato, he gives a 
 reason for his arrangement. " In this sentence 
 *' (lie says) there are two members, and t]\e 
 " following are the rhythmi of which they are 
 ** composed. They/;-// a ba( chius ; for I cannot 
 " think this meiaber should be coiisidcred as 
 " of linnl'ic metri\ because melanciioly and 
 '* m.ournfal subjects require not brisk but slow 
 *' and protracted timcs."f These times, then, 
 
 m 
 I , 
 
 I' 
 
 
 » k \ 
 
 54* 
 
 ft 
 
 t'jfi 
 
 18 . 
 
 
 r 
 
 * Sect. 17. t Il>idl8. 
 H 
 
 ti 
 
I.l't, 
 
 m,> 
 
 140 
 
 depended 4iot solely on the leiij^th of the syllii- 
 bles, which, in either case were the same, but 
 on the fat, that is, on the rhyi.bnm-al coTubhrntioNS 
 into which those syllables were formed. In 
 every foot there is om- rhythmical emphasis, i^nd 
 the times are quick or slow in proportion to the 
 quick or slow succession of the emphatic pulses. 
 The sentence in question, being taken from 
 the exordium of a i\meral oration, was there- 
 fore to be pronounced in a rhythmus suitable 
 to the occasion, and not in dissyllable feet. 
 
 From the preceding observations, which have 
 been stated as they occurred, without aiming at 
 a strict methodical proof, it is, I think, clearly 
 manifest, that metre is always subordinate to 
 rhxtbnius •, * and that the governing principle of 
 rhyti.mus is universally ^//^ ««^/ ^/-'^ ''•'''^^'^> namely, 
 the pulsation of alternate emphasis and remis- 
 sion. 
 
 I hope I shall not be misunderstood, as mean- 
 ing, by this pulsation, anything like a certain 
 staccato utterance of the emphatic syllables, and 
 even of such as are unemphatic when they 
 
 • " Rhythmus, Hephaestione teste, metro potentior. 
 Bentley, de metris Terentianis, 
 
lotentior. 
 
 I'lr 
 
 happen to occur in emphatic phccs, wlilch is 
 alike unnatural and disgusting. I mean nothing 
 more than what is uni"';ersally perceptible in the 
 correct and unatFocted pronunciation of every 
 language. The french 'anguage nvay, perhaps, 
 be cited as an exception ; but I believe the 
 apparent defects of the French prosody, if tho- 
 roughly examined, would rather confirm than 
 weaken the inference above stated, of a metre 
 subordinate to rhythmical pulsation, as univer- 
 sally appHcable to every language. Of this, 
 liowevcr, so far as respects their own language, 
 the French themselves must be the best judges. 
 
 ^. We continue to use the ancient metrical 
 niimes, and distinguish our dltTereni kinds of 
 verse by the appellcitions of iambic, trochaic, 
 dactylian, and anapaestic •, but we have a new 
 mode of scanning our verses, by what Mr. 
 Steele calls cade/ices. 
 
 By a me:rical cadence is meant one intire 
 rhythmical pulsation, including both emphasis 
 and remission, or thesis and arsis, equivalent to 
 a musical bar, and making an aHquot part of 
 tlie verse to which it belongs. 
 
 A cadence may consist either of a sincrle or a 
 
 H 2 
 
 till 
 
 fe. 
 
 \\ 
 
 
 
 I 
 
, ■ 1 , 
 
 5 ». 
 
 » ■ 
 
 iff'...- 
 
 r'?, 
 
 f, 
 
 !'.■ 
 
 -^; '' 
 
 i'" • 
 
 
 !■■•! 
 
 M8 
 
 double foot, or It may contain dividends of two 
 contiguous feet ; but all the cadcnceii, in anyone 
 verse, must be commensurate. For tic pulsations 
 of alternate thesis and arsis, in which all rhyth- 
 )iius has its essence, are, with u:i at least, uni- 
 crm and equal as the vibrations of a pendulum ; 
 and they must have been the same in practice, 
 if not in theory, of the ancient prosody ; for, 
 without ^uch isochronism, there can be no re- 
 gular rhythmical modulation. 
 
 Occasional transitions, from a slower to a 
 quicker, or from a quicker to a slower pulsation, 
 as also from common to triple time, or vise 
 versa, are not only allowable, but requisite j both 
 for the sake of variety, and of a proper accom- 
 modation of movement to dllFcrent stiles of gay 
 and sprightly, plaintive and pathetic, solemn and 
 sublime. And these transitions may sometimes 
 be quick and frequent •, but still, during any one 
 movement, the rhythmical pulses should be 
 coincident with the vibrations of a pendulum of 
 a certain length •, and the pulses of a slower or 
 a quicker movement should, for the time, keep 
 pace with a longer or a shorter pendulum.* 
 
 * " lUi frhythmi) quo modo coeperaut currunt usque ad 
 <, y.5T«CrAy,v, id est, tiansitura in aliud genus rhythmi." 
 Quinct. l.ix. civ. 
 
110 
 
 T;>.e metrical fjv't, tlic'rcforc, nni«t often be 
 made to kco niicc witli the rlivthmiis hv occasi- 
 onnl modii'ications o!:* quantity ; and this lua t 
 liave been as iieceof.arv in the ancient versilk'n- 
 tion as it now is in nur own. In tl\e .eapphic 
 HKMSure, for in;:>tance, above describetl, trochees 
 must have been pronounced in equal times with 
 dactyls and spondees. 
 
 This will, doubLless, be thought nothing less 
 than grammatical heresy. What ! were the 
 elementary proportions of the Grecian feet, then, 
 indefinite and precarious ? Strictly speaking, 
 they certainly were. The Greek writers ex- 
 pressly testify, that* " there was a variety both 
 " of long and short syllables, and that neither 
 " the one nor the other had constantly the same 
 " powci'y either in prose or in any poetical com- 
 " position, whether lyric or heroic." This ob- 
 bcrvation, I confess, is no proof that any one 
 specific syllable was, at difierent times,, or in 
 different places, of different power ; but that 
 it must often have been so, is an unavoidable in- 
 ference from the principle just now stated, and 
 which no musician will dispute, — that without 
 
 
 
 il 
 
 I 
 
 '•f\, \ 
 
 i'1 ,1 1 
 
 
 •Dion. 77£p o-t.v9. 15. 
 ii 3 
 
1 50 
 
 \r\' 
 
 aiicK zn isochronlsm as I have here supposed, 
 no regular rhythmical motUilr.lion can in nature 
 
 As to the rmnner of equnlizlng the feet in 
 question, wlani the first syihible of the trochee 
 was really long, it was easily ^Piccted by a small 
 extension of that syllable ; but when that syllable 
 WIS long only by position, and, therefore, could 
 not be lengthened in the pronunciation, a pro- 
 portional pausie in the utterance must have been 
 somehow interposed, to prevent a violation of the 
 rhythmus, and preserve the reciuisitc equaliiy of 
 the cadences. 
 
 In this, I suppose, the Grcc!:s, lilce ourselves, 
 wore prompt/:J, as it were insLirxtively, by the 
 rhythmical iniluence, v/iiich has its ellect in 
 r^p-ulatli)cr cur speech, to a certain degree, in- 
 dependently of any attention of our own to the 
 circumstance, or even consciousness of the fact. 
 When Sappho pronounced the following lines, 
 
 <]xiu 1 '^1 l^-'" J ii-'^iv'jsi I (70S 9a j oia-iv 
 }f.'uv, I xr.p I 'ocrTi< IV I x-jTi I ca rot ; 
 
 it will not be doubted that, to the several 
 
 * " Tcmpus enim solum metitur, ut a. sMitiore a>\ />ojitiorifm 
 «« iisdeni sit spatiis pedum." Ibid. 
 
i:n 
 
 torrespomUng (Vot, at least, she allowed equal 
 rimes ; and yet she could not make the syllable 
 .u/x, as long as the syllabic ?^, without changing 
 ihe word !/.»» into ^/>/uavi in which case she must 
 have used the Doric instead of her own /llolic (ha- 
 lect. Ocn^ camiot be made equal in time with 
 «v's-, without making: two words of it, us r/r, 
 :.na destroying tbe sense. But I have already, 
 ixjrhaps, said more than enough on the subject 
 of sliort syllable> in position. iMv present object 
 is only to show that their metrical deficiencies 
 must of necessity be supplied in the manner 
 here suggested *, in which the ayMyn pv9i/.iM, hke 
 a steady uniform current, seems to carry us along 
 by an insensible communication of its own 
 motion. 
 
 hi' 
 
 
 ' I't. 
 
 w^ 
 
 Let any one, with some perseverance and 
 attention, make and repeat the following expe- 
 riment. Let him practise either a silent or an 
 audible recitation of any good English verses, 
 measuring the rhythmus by his own steps in 
 walking, and to the syllables which pass in his 
 mind, or ar.e uttered by his voice, from step to 
 step, or from pace to pace ; let him give the 
 name either of a cadence or a foot, whether 
 simple or compound, and the consequence, I am 
 
 u 4 
 
 1^ 
 
 
 -I' 
 
J 52 
 
 "'1;, 
 
 pcisir.'J.d, will soon be, his intire assent to the 
 triul; of tiie several particulars above stated. 
 
 As to the poets, indeed, they seem, of old, 
 to liave taker, a dislike to irall-i^/g. 'i hey wish to 
 scar, each mounted on a fiery pegasus. But 
 whoever wishes bis measures to be correct, 
 iiiUSl conform to the movements of human feet ; 
 and the march or the dance must be his gradus 
 .'id Pariiassum. Otherwise he must e.ipect to 
 have one, and most probably I ut one, of the 
 fine things whicli have been said of Pindar, ap- 
 plied to himself, /' 
 
 —— — riumerisquc fcrtur n--if.-ms>'>'^^'^^ > 
 
 liege solutis. ^^*''" --- 
 
 which Burke, in a sense equally ludicrous and 
 justj is said to have applied to Wilkes, when 
 borne on the shoulders of a mob in London. 
 
 ; 
 
 Jit 
 
 
 It is by these rhy<:hmlcal cadences, in regular 
 succession, tliat verse is distinguished from prose. 
 IMr.Stecle, indeed, is of opinion, that a discourse 
 in prose, as well as a verse or a tune, " will give 
 " some uneasiness, or at least not be satisfactory 
 " to nice ears, if its whole duration be not mea- 
 '* s.ired bv an even number of complete ca- 
 '* deuces, commensurable with and divisible by 
 
{'JtlJ: 
 Ml ii 
 
 153 
 
 " t\vo or three •," that is, oi* cadences either in 
 common or triple time. And when objection" lO 
 this doctrijie wc-q made by his learned corres- 
 pondcnf-, he argued in defence of it. But I con- 
 i"ess that, in >.hh p.>lnt, I must dissent from his 
 opinion, which clearly would destroy the ancient 
 and natural distincuon between prose and verse. 
 
 m 
 
 W 
 
 In his answer* to a remark on this subject, and 
 in otlier instances where he has set some sentences 
 or prose to his notes of quantity and emphasis, 
 the cadences appear indeed to the eye to be ec[ual, 
 2nd rhythmns correct. But this appearance is not 
 realised when the sentences are pronounced in an 
 (Msy natural manner, and as I think they would 
 be bv a correct speaker. Mr. Steele assumes eight 
 different subdivisions of quantity, corresponding 
 to the musical notes from a quaver to a dotted 
 semibreve. It therefore cannot be diiTicult, with 
 such a variety of notes, and equivalent pauses, or 
 even with the first six of them (which are all that 
 lie uses on this occasion) to give the semblance of 
 equal cadences to almost any subdivisions of a 
 sentence that chance might suggest: but no mea^ 
 surcs, whether of sound or silence, in prose or 
 
 i; 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 h5 
 
 w 
 
154 
 
 m 
 
 un\ 
 
 m li'i 
 
 la^lill 
 
 i£9 
 
 n 
 
 ¥■■ 
 
 BIIPB 
 
 fli 
 
 • 
 
 HSlBflj 
 
 si 
 
 w . 
 
 ^H^B 
 
 HI 
 
 i^' :ii 
 
 ^^H^Uj 
 
 WK 
 
 iji, 
 
 II 
 
 '1 
 
 1' ' Hi 
 
 HI 
 
 H 
 
 1^ 
 
 ^^H^B 
 
 ii'- ' >' 
 
 ^■H 
 
 li' "' 
 
 ^■1 
 
 H 
 
 ' 
 
 verse, can be regulated by arbitrary computa- 
 tions : nor can such diversities of measure, as 
 Mr. Steele assumes, be ever realised iu practice. 
 
 It is true that, in our current pronunciation, 
 bv the drift of which our versification must be 
 g(3verned, long syllables are occasionally ex- 
 tended beyond, and both long and short sylla- 
 bles respectively contracted within their usual 
 dimensions : but the longest, compared with the 
 shortest, is never in a proportion grea.v * than four 
 to one. There is a difference between the two 
 branches of music, melcpy and melody^ which I 
 have not till now had occasion to mention. It is 
 this — that in the latter, a much greater variety of 
 quantity is practicable than in the former. Noies 
 may be sounded in exact proportions of time, 
 both shorter and longer than any syllables can 
 be pronounced. In speaking, we know (and for 
 our knowledge are indebted to Mr. Steele him- 
 self) that the voic; is in continual motion, as- 
 cending or descending, not always indeed with 
 equal velocity, but always very rapidlyy through 
 intervals of Irmited extent. Nature, therefore, 
 puts a limit, beyond which a long syllable can- 
 not be protracted, unless it be either in a draivl 
 or a tnofwtcn^^ And on the o^her hand, the 
 
1 
 
 JD 
 
 shortest syllable must have the time reculsite for 
 distin-t articulation. This last, in singing, is 
 sometir/ico less regarded than it ought to be ; but 
 the only natural limit to the lengtli of any note 
 in vocal music, is the power of the lungs to fur- 
 nish breath. 
 
 8. From the physical necessity of taking 
 breath, there must be some pauses in all human 
 utterance, v/nether of speech or song. Pauses, 
 alio, are often necessary to the clear indication of 
 the sens^ and meaning of what is said; and they 
 sornttimeshave a fjrciblecra pathetic signif c.mce, 
 beyond tlie power of words to convey. Mr. 
 Steele is of opinion, that the requisite pauses 
 ought to be accounted as parts of the metre, 
 both in verse and prose; that our heroic verse, 
 for instance, consisting of five feet, is at least, 
 in rliythmical computation, he^cameter, and the 
 Greek heroic seldom less than octometer. The 
 prop<Ttion of pause, implied in this computation, 
 is indeed, as he justly observes, " as little as can 
 " be allowed for the reader or speaker to fetch 
 " his brea'di; and this in the plain narrative 
 " style. If there be requisite at any very pointed 
 " expression, more rests or pauses must be 
 '* thrown in." But still, no pauses can, with 
 
 f ,. 
 
156 
 
 la K,%> '■■ 
 
 I 
 
 !U 
 
 
 '*t 
 
 1,11 
 
 
 .rHi"' 
 
 propriety, be reckoned parts of the mctrCi except 
 those above mentioned, which accompany a short 
 syllable when it occupies the place of a long one, 
 aiid which I Vv^ould therefore distinguish by tlie 
 name of inetrtcal pauses. All other pauses should, 
 indeed J be made to conform to the rhythmical 
 pulsation, and their respective quantity or dura- 
 tion must therefore be proportioned accordingly. 
 Br.t though they must increase tlie number of 
 cadences in the recitation^ they have no effect what- 
 ever en the structure of the verse. 
 
 In a regular rhythmus, it is requisite, not that 
 verses of the same metrical denomination should 
 all be sung or said in the 5,ame time, but that 
 the several cadences, comprised in any verse, 
 should be respectively equal. It is at the same 
 time to be remembered, that this equality must 
 not be factitious ; that is, it must not depend on 
 anv artiiicial conforniitv of utterance in the 
 speaker, but must proceed, as I have more than 
 once observed, from the natural drifu of our cur- 
 rent pronunciation, in reading or speaking plain 
 prose. Here is no room for poetic license. No 
 poet must expect our proniuiciation to be crip- 
 pled in complaisance to his lame feet j and this is 
 
 li;^ 
 
157 
 
 one great excellence in onr versification com- 
 pared with that of the ficneh. 
 
 9. I have said /'sec. iv) that none hut an cm- 
 phatic syllidile, except hi pnrt Ocular cases ^ can oc- 
 cupy an emphatic pl?ce in the rhythmical pulsa- 
 tion. The emphatic place is that of the first syl- 
 lable in every cadence or metrical bar. It is 
 therefore plain, that every verse, which is com- 
 posed of such feet as begin with an unemphatic 
 syllable, whether short or long, mu:;t itself 
 begin, as we say, in the middle of a bar •, and 
 then the iirst syllable of a cndcncc is the last syl- 
 lable of a fjot ; as in the following examples 
 of iambic and anapxstic measure. 
 
 " "With ] ravish'd | cars 
 ** The I monarch | hears, 
 " As I sumes the | God, 
 « Af I fects to 1 nod, 
 " And 1 seems to [ shake the | spheres. 
 
 " See the j furies a | rise, 
 " See the | snakes that | tliey rear, 
 *♦ How they | hiss in their ] hair, 
 *' And the j sparkles that [ flash from their | eyes." 
 
 Eut when the vcrsi is composed of feet which 
 bee'n with emnhatic svllables, the feet and the 
 
 : it- 
 
 ' \ 
 
 -|: 
 
 
 if 
 
!*»•■' 
 
 f> t. 
 
 158 
 
 
 ¥ 4' 
 
 cadences are coincident ; as in all trochaic and 
 dactylian measures. 
 
 <* I Rich the | treasure | 
 " I Sweet the | pleasure | 
 " I Sweet is | pleasure | i'fter | pain." 
 " 1 If you can jcapor as [v/ell as you modulate,] "Sec. 
 
 But though the first syllable in every cadence 
 is always the seat or place of a rkpLmical em- 
 phasis, it is not always filled with an emphatic 
 syllable. The syllabic emphasis is, indeed, the 
 governing principle of rhythmus ; and its recur- 
 rence, at equal intervals^ must be so far constant, 
 as to determine clearly the drift of the rhyth- 
 mical pulsation ; but if that be done, a cadence, 
 of which the emphatic place is filled with a syl- 
 lable both short and unemphatic, is not unfre- 
 qucnt in the most polished versification — as the 
 word or, in the following line, - - " if greater 
 v/ant of skill* 
 " Appear iu | writing | or in | judging | ill." 
 
 the reverse of this sometimes contributes to the 
 variety and force of metrical expression, when the 
 rhythmical is followed by an oratorial emphasis in 
 
 ♦ Essav on Criticism. 
 
w 
 
 150 
 
 the same cadence. Both these cases are e':emplified 
 in the following line, where the word j/d is in the 
 emphutic place of a cadence, and sti// takes an 
 oratoriul emphasis, in a place unemphatic — 
 
 " Herlheart still dictates and her j hand o'be3/s."* 
 
 10. This mode of scanning ver'.es, by cadencesy 
 is more simple than tlie ancient method, and 
 more conformable to our musical notation. 
 But whether we scan our verses by cadences or 
 feet, we shall hnd the ancient rule, of marking 
 the end of every verse by a pause in the utter- 
 ance, is both natural and necessary *, as other- 
 wise itwouldbeimpossible, without rhyme^ (which, 
 in its present acceptation, has nothing to do either 
 with rhythmus or metre) to distinguish any two 
 or more of the shortest verses, recited in succession, 
 from one long verse. 
 
 This final pause was considered as absolutely 
 indispensable in the ancient prosody ; but the 
 rule seems to have been misunderstood by an 
 author of great eminence in classical erudition. 
 The learned Clarke (Iliad i. 51.) asserts, that 
 
 the last syllable of every verse, without ex- 
 
 f 
 
 f'i 
 
 1^ 
 
 lit, 
 
 w 
 
 {( 
 
 * Eluisa to Abela 
 
 UJIU. 
 

 i6a 
 
 sP:' 
 
 '* ceptlon, is universally, not cowtn^n, p.s il. 
 " grammarians pretend^ but always of iieccs>iiy 
 " /c/igj propter pausam istam, qua, in fine ve:su5, 
 " syliaboe ultima: pronuntiationoceGsaric produci- 
 tur.'* But surely, tbt'jVr;/r^aV J uitcrance of as/li.ib'c 
 tbirers from a pauscj just as sound diliers fi-oin 
 nh^m-e. The pause can hr.ve no ePiCCt Vv'batever 
 en tbc syllable j for quantity is no where liable to 
 modification from any power but tliat of rhythmus. 
 But the pause ilself must obey the same power, and, 
 therefore,\viHbeshorter, at the endof a verse which 
 terminates in a long syllable, than where the 
 final syllable is a short one. The universality, 
 hovvever, of the pause in question, as taking 
 place in the end of every verse of every kind, 
 is asserted by the grammarians in general ; and 
 fer such a rule, the reason must always and 
 every where be one aiid tlie same j namel'', 
 tliat the various dimensions of different versos 
 might be always distinctly perceptible. This, 
 in some of the ancient lyric measures, -may 
 seem to have been sufficiently ascertained by 
 the structure of the verse : but still the rule was 
 held to be without exception. 
 
 This rule, then, seems to imply anotlier, that 
 the grammatical construction should be such as 
 
i6i 
 
 1 
 
 to require a pause at the end of a line, inde- 
 pendently of any other consideration. At the 
 same time, it is certain, that ocaisioJiid dcviatioi->s 
 from such a construction are, in some degree, 
 necessary to that variety, without \vl\lch no 
 kind of composition can long be p^.eas'ng, and 
 for want of which, the uniforn\ity of our heroic 
 couplet^ as it is called, is often, to me, at least, 
 tiresome and disgusting. But still, the con- 
 struction should at least be such, as never to 
 preclude a short suspension of the voice at the 
 end of a verse ; nor should one verse be ever 
 so run into amther^ as not to be clearly distin- 
 guishable, in a natural and proper recitation. 
 
 The versification of Milton is, in this respect, 
 often faulty, but not by far so often as a cur- 
 sory reader would imagine. The final pause, 
 even in cases where, by the construction and 
 the usual mode of utterance, it seems to be 
 decidedly interdicted, may yet be frequently found 
 not only admissible, but very proper, and strikingly 
 expressive. 
 
 
 

 
 
 i6'i 
 
 ♦* Him the almlglity power 
 <♦ Hurl'd headlong, 'i.unaj^, 'Vcjm the ctliereal sky* 
 ** With hideous ruin and combustion, down 
 " To bottomless perdition, there to dwell 
 ** In adamantine chaii s and penal fire, 
 •* Who durst defy t»ie omnipotent to urms,"* 
 
 « Regions of sorrow, doleful bhades, where peace 
 " And rest— can never dwell, liope never comes, 
 " 'J'hat cumc8 h> iiU; but tortus c— without end— 
 " St' 11 urges, and a llcry dfluge, fed 
 •• With ever-burning uulphur unconaum'd !"f 
 
 In these and a thoiiKand other instances which 
 occur in this immortal poem, the pauses have 
 what may be called a focal propriety and signifi- 
 ance. When we are about to mention an act of 
 the al)n'ighty power, a momentary suspension of 
 the voice is a natural and a very impressive indi- 
 cation of that pious reverence, which it would 
 be stupidity not to feel on such an occasion. And, 
 universally, in solemn, sublime, or pathetic com- 
 positions, or even where the beautiful is brilli- 
 ant, without the sublime, there is a propriety in 
 pauses, which, in similar cases of grammatical 
 
 * P. L. I. 44, t Ibid. 6S. 
 
l63 
 
 construction, on lighter subjects, woukl have an 
 air of burlesque and mockery. The final pause, 
 though it seems to interrupt the construction, 
 will be allowed to be both graceful an-1 proper 
 in the following beautiful passage. 
 
 I .'■' 
 
 " As when, fi-om mountain tops, the dusky clonls— 
 ** Ascendinjj, while the north wind sleeps, i)'er9prc;id— 
 " Heaven's cheerful face, the lower ini* element— 
 <• HcouU o'er the dafUcnC'l landscape snow or nhowor, 
 " If cliance the radiant nun, with farewe! «wcet, 
 " Extend his evenitjg beam, the fields rejoice, 
 " The birds their notes renew, and bleating herd* 
 ** Attest their joy, that hill and valley rings."* 
 
 But it must bo confessed, that instances do 
 not unfrcquently occur of a construction by 
 which two or more verses are so blended as un- 
 avoidably to violate the rhythmus, and turn the 
 passage into limping prose. 
 
 •' Thus for these beyond 
 " Compare of mortal prowess, yet observM 
 «' Their dread commander. "f 
 
 / 
 
 ccn- 
 
 
 
 * P. L. H. 4S8. t Ibid I. /;87. 
 
 m 
 
l64 
 
 • BiiiU like a't'.'inpio, where pilasters /-»;■/,</ 
 " }Vfrcs,t, an<l iX;ric pillnib ovirUiid 
 " With gulden aiclutiavc."* 
 
 " With tljc^e, that never fade, the spirits elect 
 
 <' Bind tlieir resplendent lucks, imvjeath'd -with bcanisj 
 
 " Now, in loose garlani^s rh''( I: thrown oflF, the bright 
 
 " Pavement^ that like a sea of ja.per shone, 
 
 " Impurplcd widi celestial roses, smird."f 
 
 Perhaps tliis rule may admit of some modifi- 
 cation. As the drift of tlie rhythmical emphasis 
 is sufficiently determined without the ccnstnnt re- 
 currence of the syllabic emphasis : so also, it may 
 be sufficient for all the purposes of versification, 
 if the end of the line is //; general indicated bv a 
 natural and unforced recurrence of the final 
 pause. 
 
 Hence, in the passage just now quoted, the 
 omission of the pause at the end of the last 
 line but one— 
 
 The bids their notes renew, and lleathig herds 
 Attest their jny^ that hill and vaiiey rings — 
 
 * Ibid 713. t Ibid III. .%0 
 
iG: 
 
 1 1 
 
 But this omission c.- 
 the verse is reciteJ in 
 mediately preceJin;. 
 
 makes no break in the rhvthmusi and rather im- 
 proves the moduhit'T / adding to its variety. 
 
 ''■ ly be allowable, when 
 •lectioa with those itn- 
 
 -or when detached, as a 
 solitary couplet, tl:. i.ual pause again becomes 
 indispensable. As to ihe l^rig/:t pavi'utcnt, and 
 many other instances of similar infraction, they 
 must be given up as incurable. 
 
 11. Having thus provided for " the preser- 
 *' vaticn of every verse unmingled with another, 
 ** as a distinct svstem of sounds,"* I would now 
 gladly proceed to give a complete analysis of that 
 system, and trace our versification through all its 
 beauties and defects. — But I have already inti- 
 mated that this is more th.m I have ventured to 
 undertake. 
 
 <i III 
 
 
 fii 
 
 
 
 Yet I will here beg leave to add a few inci- 
 dental observations. 
 
 :^, 
 
 Instances of the metrical pause^ however un- 
 suspected, are very frequent in our own versifi- 
 cation, as I am confident they ever have been in 
 every other. 
 
 i i 
 
 
 ♦ Johnson's Life of Milton. 
 
r 
 
 *' That very law, wJiich moulds a tenr, 
 " And bids it t"ick!e from its source, 
 
 ** I'h'.a law pier-.-^ives the earth :■. sphere, 
 " Aiul r-'uidts thf .>h;nets in the'r course." 
 
 Is there ariv defect in the nrasure of tbese beau- 
 tiful lines ? No, — the deiicienccs are supplied, or 
 rather prevented, by amllier rrysiericus law, — 
 
 A law that !)id;j the tide of sj^eech 
 To flow, by force altenate swcll'd. 
 
 And, like the wave upon the beach, 
 To loil, iinpeUing- and impcTd. 
 
 In reciting the firft and third of the lines here 
 quoted from Mr. Rogers, we certainly, though 
 without design, and without observing it, do ut- 
 ter the words, " that very law," and " that law 
 ** preserveF/' in equal times ; and yet the corres- 
 ponding syllables are unequal. 'Ihis can be ef- 
 fected by nothing but a pause in the utterance ; 
 for no part of the word very can be lengthened 
 in the pronunciation, j'ut where then do we 
 place this insinuating metrical pause } If the de- 
 fective syllable is emphatic, the pause follows, 
 and is either in the viiddle or in the end i other"- 
 
iC; 
 
 who it precedes, and t:\kec the empliatic place ia 
 
 the b.''AHmH'/ of a ciidence. 
 
 To denote this, without repented circumlocu- 
 tions, let us use tb.e coninion mnrk of a quaver 
 rest 'I ; and I think we shall agree, that such a 
 pause as I have here endeavored to describe, does 
 really y though almost imperceptibly, perform the 
 ollice assigned to it by this hypothesis, in the 
 places pointed out by the insertion of that mark. 
 
 ikH 
 
 '111 ■ ' 
 
 ni 
 
 That j very i \ law, which ( moulds a { tear. 
 And I bi<is it i j trickle i | i from its | source, 
 That I hiw pre | serves the | earth a { sphere, 
 And [ guiJes the | pkiicts i | i in their j course. 
 
 It is observable that the mrtrlcal pause often 
 coincides with the cjisara, as here, at the words 
 lery^ trickley and flands; and both these pauses, 
 whether coincident or not, take their places na- 
 turally, under the influence of the rhythmical 
 movement, without our intending it, or even 
 adverting to the circunibtance. 
 
 I have before observed that, in scanning by 
 cadences, iambic verses begin in the middle of a 
 bar. It follows, of course, that the close of one 
 
 
i'f 
 
 If 
 
 'M 
 
 HtiSl 
 
 lG8 
 
 line Is, in tbis rc;;pert, connected with the be- 
 giiin'.ng of the li; e w'.'ich fj-lovv''^ it. That is to 
 say, the Ixst syllable of il'e fc irer makes a part 
 of ar cadence, of which the remainder is in the 
 beginning of t'e b:tler. Thns, in the stanp^a 
 above measured, t'ae cadences, counted with al- 
 lowance for none but metrical pauses, arc uniii- 
 ternipted from bcgiif.nng to end, as if the whole 
 starza were in one line. But if the same stanza 
 is measured with all the requisite pauses, it will 
 comprise the h^dowing cadences, in rfr/z^/A"^^.', in 
 \Nhich tl;e oratorhd pauses are denoted by tlie 
 common marks of a long or a sl;crt syllable, as 
 the case may require. 
 
 ( _ -WxAt 1 very 'i 1 Inw -- ] -- wl-K'ii j moulds a \ tear - | 
 I - Ami i bias it 1 1 tri.kle i | i from its | Bource ^ j 
 1 - That I law -^ I -- pre 1 serves the | earth a | sphere ^ \ 
 J - And I guides the | planets t j i in their j course. — [ 
 
 12. Our iambic verse is of various dimension, 
 from two to six cadences, in which not only tri- 
 brachs but ^ho?ukcs, dadyls, and double pyrrkics also, 
 ..:^ equalised with the leading Iambic feet ; and 
 sonv-times a single syllable is made to illl a whole 
 cadence. Hence, in our coi. mon. heroic mea- 
 iure, we havtf three different ' fcs, in Imes 
 
■\ 
 
 m 
 
 i6q 
 
 consisting of three, four, or five cadences, ex- 
 clusive of the occasional Alexandrine, which may 
 consist of either four, five, or six. This diver- 
 sity of metre is also accompanied with a variety 
 of rhythmus, passing from triple to common, and 
 fro?.^. common to triple time, but without affect- 
 ing the regular equality of the cadences; which 
 are varied only by transitions from one rate of 
 movement to another ; not by a change of the 
 numbers which measure a cadence, or divide it 
 into aliquot parts : for the cadences of a minuet 
 and a march may be perfectly commensurate. 
 
 « Turn, gentle hermit of the dale, 
 
 " And guide my lonely way, 
 « To where yon taper lights the vale 
 
 " With hospitable ray."* 
 
 The first of these lines may be measured thus— 
 
 Turn j gentle | hermit i j i of the [ dale; 
 
 but the word hospitable, in the fourtli line, cannot 
 be made to fill two cadences. We cannot say 
 hospUahle; and, in t.i- .jarrent drift of our ut- 
 terance we do pronounce this word in the very 
 same time th ic Hvre give to the word hostik in a 
 
 * Vic^T of Wakelitld. 
 J 
 
 ■Pi 
 
 U 
 
 iM, 
 
 itej 
 
 I 
 
 
m 
 
 170 
 • a' 
 
 similar situation. Hospitable^ therefore, is a dou-' 
 hie Pyrrhic ; and so are admirable, enviable, formi- 
 dable, governable, honorable, dignitary, voluntary, and 
 a thousand Others; for words, in respect to quan* 
 tity, as well as elementary sound, are such as we 
 speak them, independently of any alphabetical 
 notation ; and the following is the true measure 
 of the lines above quoted : 
 
 Turn I gentle | hermit -i j i of the { dale, 
 
 And I guide my | lonely | way, 
 To I where yon | taper ] lights the | vale 
 
 With I hospitable { ray. 
 
 So, also, in the following lines — * 
 
 <' Re 1 pcntant \ sighs and \ voluntary [ pains," 
 «' And ! Paradise vas j opcn'd | 1 in llic | wiM." 
 
 The following have each a dactyl and double pyrrhic, 
 
 « Led through a j sad va | riety of | uoc." . 
 " Lost in a \ convent's ] solitary j gloom," 
 
 If, in speaking the foUowing line, the words 
 vain and lost were pronounced in one cadence, it 
 would shock the ears of a whole audience, how- 
 
 * Eloisa to Abelavd, 18, 134, 36, 38, 15. 
 
371 
 
 -ever mixed, and however unconscious of the rea- 
 son •, and the line can, with propriety, be mea- 
 sured only thus — 
 
 *< In 1 vain J lost EIo j isa j weeps and i prays." 
 
 The most common varieties of the Alexandrine 
 are exemplified in the following lines — * 
 
 " The I terror of his | beak and | lightning of his | eye." 
 " The I loi^g re | sounding J march aud j energy di j vine." 
 « \^'ith j nc.ks in ) thunder ] cloaili'd and j long re | soand- 
 " ing- I pace." 
 
 Vi^lien a cadence is filled with a single syllable^ 
 though k h: a long one, and capab'. of an occa- 
 sional c:xtension, it wiil commonlv recuiie, fiom 
 the dr'ft; oF utterance, a metrical pause ; for 
 evQry sncli cadence has a particular emphasis of 
 expression. But this solitary syllable is some- 
 times a siiort one in poslUo?i^ and incapable of ex- 
 tension. Oi course it must require a more sen« 
 siblc pause: yet, being siill a real part of the 
 metre, and belonging to the structure of the 
 
 * Pope and Gr^-iy. 
 I 2 
 
Eh' 
 
 k'»^ 
 
 ' i: 
 
 If i , 
 
 17'2 
 
 verse, it can be considered only as a metrical 
 pause. 
 
 These monosyllabic cadences are not peculiar 
 to our versification. They were frequent in the 
 ancient lyric measures, and made a part of every 
 elegiac verse, admitting, also, syllables long only 
 by position, as well as others, of which the 
 quantity was really long and capable of extension. 
 
 I « Sic fra | res Hele | na i j lucida | sidcra." \ * 
 I " Tu ne I quaesie | ris t | scire ne ] fas i | quern mihi | 
 " quern tibi." | 
 
 «• Cuncta manus avidas fugient hxre<lis, amico" 
 I " Quae dede | ris ani | mo. i" | , ai 
 
 j " I am cani | tur to j to -i | nomen in | orbe me j um a" ( f 
 I « Non ara [ bo nos | ten j rore ca ] pillus o j let i" | 
 
 In our practice, however, there is this differ- 
 ence. These cadences are not a regular part, 
 but only an occasional variety, in the structure 
 of our verse : and it is a variety which often is 
 very expressiv^e. 
 
 • Herat. t Sappho Phaoni. 
 
173 
 
 I " Speed the | soft i \ intercourse from | soul to ( soul j 
 *' And I waft a | sigh from | Indus t | i to the | pole,"* 
 
 This last line might be pronounced in four ca- 
 dences, thus— 
 
 Aud j waft a I sigh from ] Indus to the [ pole. 
 
 In one way, the distance, in the other, the w- 
 kcify of the passage is expressed. 
 
 Our heroic verse, as an iambic measure, has 
 room only for five cadences, but, by the admis- 
 sion of such as take only single syllables, this 
 verse may sometimes become hexameter, and, 
 in actual time, equal to the fullest Alexandrine. 
 An instance of this occurs in the following divine 
 passage from Paradise Lost,f in which are exem- 
 plified the several varieties above-mentioned, in 
 lines of three, four, five, and even six cadences j 
 and these comprising from one to four syllables 
 respectively. 
 
 r 
 
 i . 
 
 It :' 
 
 * Eloiga to Abelard. f III. .372. 
 
 i$ 
 
 I 
 
 
174 
 
 
 m 
 
 j '« Thee,! ( fatlier, [ first they j sunjj.om | nipotf.nt, 
 Ira I nutabic, im j mortal, | infinite, 
 E j tcrnr.l klnc^ !'t | Thpc,T \ ai;lh:r of j all j being, | 
 I Fountf-in of | ligi'.t, thy | sc'f in | vlblblc, 
 A I midst the | glc.ic^s | biightnt-ss [ wlicrc thou I -iitt'sM j 
 Thron'd, | inac | cci^.iblc, but | v.h. \ thou | she I'st 
 The I full 1 j blancof th.y j bca-ns.-ind, througVi a ] cIcuJ/t | 
 j Drawin 1 round a | bouttliee-i | like a j radiani | shrine/i j 
 \ D:v:k with ex | ces&ive | bii^jh'., thy | pkiits up \ pear; 
 Yv-t ; aazzle t | heaven, that j brightest 1 Seraphhn 
 Ap j proachnot, 1 bav;.vith 1 b-.thwings | veil their ] eycili | 
 j Tnce, 1 I next they j sung, of | ai; ere | ation first 
 Be I gotten j son, 7 di | vine si ] militude, 
 111 I v/iiosc con I snicuous ] countenance, 'i ] without ] c'oud, 
 Made j visible, the al \ migiity I fatlier j .hliics, 
 Whom { else no \ crcaaire 'i \ can be | hold ; on | tlice 
 Im 1 p:esb'd, the cf | fulgence [ -i of his | glory a I bides; 
 Trans | fusM on | thee his j ample | spirit j rests. 
 
 H' 
 
 { Thee, 1 1 son of | God !'r | saviour of | men ! thy | name 
 Shall I be t the | copious [ matter a ] i of wjjsong 
 Hence | forth ; and [ never a ] a sliall my | Iiarn thy 1 praise 
 For 1 get,! nor | fioiu thy \ fatherV'praiscTjrd'.b | join." 
 
 ii 
 
 13. My principal aim, on this occiision, ha« 
 been to show that, in general, both accent and 
 
175 
 
 metre, with whatever belongs to the melody and 
 measure of spccchj ancient and modern, are 
 alike founded on principles common to every 
 langu'cige 5 and this, 1 hope, rui.-> hi bome measure 
 been put beyond the rcMch of reason-Jjle Joubt. 
 
 But why then (it niay be asked) are tlie an- 
 cient modes of vcrshication impr;iccicable in 
 * modern languages ? I answer, that they are not 
 impracticablc'y nor would they be drfpcult, if we 
 had that freedom of transposition, which was so 
 natural to the Greek and Latin, and from which 
 we are precluded by nothing but the want of 
 declensions •, under which term I mean to com- 
 prise all the changes, whether initial or final, 
 that serve to indicate the various relations of 
 words, independently of their respective ar- 
 rangement. 
 
 The first requisite, in every mode of versifi- 
 cation, is, that the rhythmus be clearly Indicated 
 by simply pronouncing the words, just as we 
 should do in reading or speaking plain prose. 
 If, in a line thus pronounced, the regular and 
 appropriate rhythmical pulsation is distinctly per- 
 ceived; we may alfirm, that the structure of the 
 
 verse is rei^ular. 
 
 1 4. 
 
 ; !' , 
 
 
J J 
 
 I 
 u ^ ^ ' -^ u u -^ 
 
 
 
 - y 
 
 
 
 ,C-Af«.< Aji (>, 
 
 Uj* 
 
 
 176 
 
 I \/UJ. 
 
 The sapphic ode was attempted many years ago 
 by Dr. Watts ; but it Is evident that either he 
 mistook the measure, or did not mean nn exict 
 imitation of It. His ode begins with the fol- 
 lowing stanza. 
 
 " When the fierce north wind, with liis airy forces, 
 " Rears up the Baltic to a foaming fury, 
 « And the red lightning, with a stonn of hail| comci 
 *• Rushing amain down." 
 
 The sapphic stanza consisted of three sapphic 
 lines and one adonic. The measure of the former 
 has been above described, each line being com- 
 posed of a trochee, a spondee, a dactyl, and two 
 trochees. The only -variation from this metrical 
 order was, that, instead of a spondee, the second 
 foot was sometimes a trochee ; and to this me- 
 trical order it is essential, that the first, third, 
 fifth, eighth, and tenth syllables be emphatic. 
 The fouitii line ahvavs consisted of a dactvl and 
 spondee. iHit as the last syllable of a line, in 
 th? ancient versification, excepting in anapestic 
 verses, was alw'iy.9 accounted either long or short, 
 as the measurj might require, independently of 
 it3 real quantity > the last foot of every line, in 
 the sapphic star- za, may, in fact, be either a tro^. 
 chee, or a spondee •, and, in either case, tho 
 lust syllable is constantly unemphatic. 
 
177 
 
 From this minute account of the measure in 
 question, it is pLin that, in the stanza here 
 quoted from Dr. Watts, there are the following 
 defects, viz. In the first Une, the first syllable, 
 nvhefji is both short and unemphatic. In the 
 same line, the fourth syllable, uorthy is emphatic, 
 and the fifth, luind, unempJiatic ; both in viola- 
 tion of the rhythmus. In the second line, the 
 third and fifth syllables, which ought to be 
 decidedly emphatic, ire short and feeble. Ii> 
 the third line, the fifth syllable, which is the 
 second of the word lightnings is short, and not 
 susceptible of that emphasis which is indispen- 
 sable in this place. The rest of the stanza is 
 without fault. 
 
 The following seem to have been written (I 
 know not by whom) in imitation of Dr. Watts. 
 
 " Place me in regions of eternal winter, 
 «< Where not a brossom to the breeze can open, but 
 ** Darkening tempests, closing all around me, 
 
 «' Chill the creation." 
 
 * Place me where sun-shine ever more me scorche* ; 
 " Climes where no mortal builds his habitation; 
 *• Yet with my charmer, fondly will I wander, 
 ♦* Fondly c onversing." 
 i5 
 
 
 \%'t 
 
IMAGE EVALUATION 
 TEST TARGET (MT-3) 
 
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 '>i'/^ 'm 
 
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 Phot(^raphic 
 
 Sciences 
 
 Corporation 
 
 23 WEST MAIN STREET 
 
 WEBSTER, N.Y. 145S0 
 
 (716) 872-4503 
 

 •^o 
 
 (A 
 
 
 \ 
 
 m 
 
 ^N 
 
 ^ 
 
 
178 
 
 It IS nc-dlcss to point out the particulars In 
 which these lines differ from the rhythmus of 
 the Sapphic ode, which they pretend to imitate ; 
 bat, after what I have asserted of its practicahility, 
 I am bound; at lenst, to attempt a more perfect 
 imitation. I, therefore, submit to candid criti- 
 cism, the following transhuion of that ode of 
 Sappho, v/hich has been preserved by Longinus, 
 and of which an English paraplirase, by Phillips, 
 has been honored v/ith the praise of Addison. 
 
 Gods above might envy the fond adorer, 
 Him nho near thee sits, in a silent lapturff, 
 Thus to Jiear chae tenderly speak, and see thee 
 
 Tende.Iy :>niiiing. 
 Ah ! to m^ how fatal a sight ! J feel it 
 J*trike my tortur'd oiil with a wild amazement ; 
 fear distracts my heart, and alas ! my voice no 
 
 Longer obeys me. 
 But my tongue, too, lies 3:» a torpid silence; 
 Through my fra:nc diilusM h agiowintj fever; 
 Dimness clouds my sight, an 1 a hollow murmur 
 
 Rings In my hearing, 
 All my limbs, o'erspread with a cold effusion, 
 Trembling all ; and pale as the laded herbage, 
 Scarce alive I seem, and the hand of death i% 
 
 Surely upon me. 
 
179 *' 
 
 The statin which has been honored with the 
 name of CarDien Horaiiafuun, consists of four 
 verses. The two first are each of the following 
 
 measure, — | — ^^ | | _» ^^ ^^ | „ v^ s^^ 
 
 a syllable, either long or short, a trochee, a 
 spondee, and two dactyls ; that is, in plain Eng- 
 lish, and in the terms of modern music, the line- 
 begins in the middle of a bar: the 2d, 4th, 6th, 
 and 9th syllables are emphatic j and the final 
 pause completes the measure of that cadence in 
 .the middle of which the line begins — 
 
 Vi I des ut I aha | stet nive | candidum | r 
 The third verse also, begins in the middle of a 
 bar, with a syllable that may be either long or 
 short, and is followed by four trochees, with 
 only this variety, that the third foot may be ei- 
 ther a trochee or spondee. 3 | — v^ I ^Z "^1 
 - ^ I - ._ I I Of course the 2d, 4 th, 6th, ar.d 
 8th syllables are emphatic. 
 
 Syl I voe la | boran | tes go [ luque ( r 
 
 The fourth verse always consists of two dactyls 
 and two trochees, ~ ^— ->- I — x_^ ^^ I __ v^ I 
 ~ -- I the 1st, 4th, 7th, and 9th syllables 
 are therefore emphatic. 
 
 I Flumiua | constite | rint a | cuto ] 
 
 % 
 
 u 
 
 r\ 
 
 'f'i^ fL p^^U.Uof^ '•^ /^. 
 
180 
 
 t. 
 
 
 This measure may be thus expressed in English, 
 « Instum et tenacem propositi virum, &c."* 
 
 No civic ardor, madly tumultuous, 
 No frowning Tyrant, fierce and implacable, 
 Can shake the just man's righteous purpose. 
 Firmly to hold an approving conscience. 
 
 Nor all the WhirUvind's rage on the Adria, 
 Nor Jove's d. 'd thunder, rending the firmament, 
 Though Heaven itself seems falling round him, 
 Fearless, he waits the impending ruin. 
 
 The fifth Ode of the first Book has been 
 translated by Milton, almost verbatim, and (it is 
 said) " according to the latin measure, as near 
 *' as the language will permit." How this came 
 to be said, or by whom, I know not, but surely 
 not by Milton himself ; for he was an exquisite 
 master of latin versification, and every reader 
 must perceive that, in his translation of this Ode, 
 there is not the sm.allest resemblance of the latin, 
 measure. 
 
 The Stanza consists of four verses. The two 
 
 • Kterat^4,i|2^III. Ode'3. 
 
181 
 
 first are commonly scanned thus — the 3d, foot 
 
 wantmg a syllable | -_ •_- s>^ | — i | — s^ /^u. 
 
 >^ I — ^^ ^ I but it wants nothing. The feet f*^*^ 
 here, beginning with long syllables, are coinci- .^f 
 dent with our cadences •, and the third is one of 
 those fnonosyllabks above-mentioned, as frequently 
 occurring in the ancient lyric m'easures, and 
 making a regular part in the structure of the 
 verse. 
 
 I Quis mul I ta graci | lis T | te puer [ iu rosa | 
 
 Where, by the way, it may be noted, that the 
 syllab i. in question is a short one in positicft^ of 
 rvhich there are two other instances in the same 
 Ode. 
 
 ;.!'".' 
 
 
 ii 
 
 The third verse of this Stanza is measured thus— 
 I . I — v_^ w I I and the 4th thus — 
 
 
 To translate all the hauty of this Ode into 
 English is more than I pretend to, nor do I un- 
 dertake a literal translation ; but I venture to 
 say, that the meaning shall not be misrepresented 
 and the measure shall be truly and perfectly ex- 
 pressed. The curiosa felicitas, so strikingly re- 
 markable in many of Horace's Odes is, perhaps^ 
 
 I iji 
 
 \^ 
 
182 
 
 the greatest rarity iii the poetical world. Genius 
 .. IS too apt to disclaim care ; and care, witliout po- 
 .. nius, must look for happiness in other pursuks 
 And we have rc.ison to be than!:ful, that happi- 
 ness, m this sublimer sense, is phiced witinn the 
 reach of every one. The rar^,/ christian mora- 
 list, who « loves the brotherhood, who fears 
 " God and honors the Kino- 
 
 o 
 
 " Though he inherit* 
 " Nor the pride, nor ample viaion 
 " That the Theban Eagle hear, 
 ♦• Saih'ng with supreme dominion 
 " Through the azure deep of airj 
 « Yet shah' he nunmt,, and keep his distant WAy, 
 " Beyond tl-e limits of a vu'gar fate," 
 A Pe^r among the Good, the Wise, and truly Great. 
 
 Nor let this be thought an unseasonable chgresslon. 
 Horace, with all bis '' :entiousness of character, 
 (the prominent f lult of his own and of the pre- 
 sent age) is often an exqlli^ite moral preceptor; 
 and tlie Ode now oki^otq us, is one of the pieces 
 which, in this view, deserve to be remembered. 
 
 ** ■■■ V ■ wmmmnmmmm^0^ 
 
 • Gray. 
 
183 
 
 What unfortunate* youth, sprinkled with essencet, 
 Calls thee now to the Grot? Whom to infatuate 
 Art thou, PyriJia, so neatly 
 Dress'd with negligent elegance? 
 Oh, how oft shall he weep! how, with astonishment, f 
 See this treacl-.erous calm turn to a hurricane ; 
 Tliough « full surely" he thinks thee 
 Now pure Gold, incorruptible. 
 Hopes thee still to remain lovely and alTable, 
 Coiistant on?y to him! Credulous mariner, 
 
 Thus n;isled by a Zephyr ■ 
 
 Hapless a// who are smitten by 
 Tl^ee untrled.^For myself, savM by a miracle,' 
 i^rateful vows have I paid-dripping habiliment., 
 And yon picture, to Neptune 
 PlacVl in pious acknowledgement. 
 
 * Res gestae Regumque Ducumque et tristia bella 
 •• Quo scribi posscnt numero, monstravit Homerus. 
 
 
 it 
 
 f I 
 1 1\ 
 
 • Gracilis Puer~a youth of .W.r i.tel/at, easUy duped br 
 romale art. This idea has a propriety, in reference to what 
 follows; but whether ia person the wretched victim were 
 tltnJer or itotU is notiiing to the purpose. ^ 
 
184 
 
 Of this measure Bentley says^, patria lingua non 
 recipit. But he was far more learned in Greek 
 and Latin than in his motlier-tongue ; and I hope 
 it will not be thought an unpardonable presump- 
 tion, if, in this instance, I c.ppeal from his au- 
 thority, and venture to refer to the following 
 lines as a proof that the Homeric rhythmus is 
 not inexpressible in English. 
 
 Sing, O muse, t!ie destructive wrath of Pelead Achilles; 
 Source of abundant toil and grief to the host of Achaians • 
 Wasted by frequent deatJ's of heroes liurl'd, prematurely, 
 l^own totjieshades, whose limbs were lefr, unburied, a prey to 
 Dogs and^birds <>£> py< >y ; (as Jove's high will predetermin'd.) 
 From that time, when a f^tal contention first disunited 
 Great Atriles, prince of the league, and godlike Achilles r . 
 Say, too, -vhich of the gods had excited the quarrel betv/een 
 them ? 
 
 Jove's and Leto's son, provok'd by the king, he infected 
 All their camp with a deadly disease and perisJiing thousands i 
 Fell for the scorn which Chrysf bore from the haughty Atrides: 
 When, to redeem his captive daughter, the priest, as a suitor, 
 Came to the fleet, presenting a ransom rich'y abundant : 
 Holding, in outstretch'd hands, the crown of beaming Apollo, 
 Joii^'d with the sceptre of gold, he solicited all the AchaiauB, 
 But the 4^ri<m firat, their two «onfed«r?*te leaden. 
 
185 
 
 * SoM of Atreus, hear ! and all ye war-clad Achaians I 
 Soon may the gods, who inhabit Olympus, grant you to level 
 Priam's walls, and safely return to your country in triumph. 
 But— restore my child—and deign to accept of the ranaom, 
 Duly revfjring a son of Jove.— far-beaming Apollo. 
 
 Well dispos'd to consent were all the assembled Achaians, 
 Duly the priest to respect, and take his generous ransom ; 
 But not 80 was the mind appeau'd of proud Agamemnon. 
 He, to a harsh repulse, superadded a menacing answer: 
 
 " Here, old dotard, let me no more, in our naval encamp- 
 ment, 
 Find thee, either lingering now, or hereafter returning; 
 When that oceptre and crown divine should little avail thee. 
 Her, be assur'd, I ne'er shall release, till age overtake her; 
 Still my domestic, adaptive in Argos, far from her country, 
 Daily emploj, d at the loom, and sharing the bed of her master. 
 Make no reply, but go, while safely to go is permitted." 
 
 Thus he spake, and Chryses. alarm'd, cbey'd his injunction. 
 Silent, he pac'd the rebounding shore of the boisterous ocean-; 
 There, when alone, in fervent prayer to his patron, Apollo, 
 Thus exclaim'd the grief-worn senior, venting his anguish: 
 
 « Hear me, God of the Silver Bow, protector of Chry8a» ' 
 Mighty defence ol Tenedoft, guardian of heavealy Kilrn* ' ■ ^ 
 
// 
 
 is6 
 
 Sminthcua! If I have duly adorn 'cl thy beautiful tcinplc, 
 Duly to thee burnt thighs presented of wcll-fattcd victims, 
 Bulls and goats, O dei;^n to receive an ! g.-int mv petition ; 
 Let thine airo\/s quickly avenj^e my tc .r. on the Grecian'.!" 
 
 Thus he prayed, and I>.is prayer \\a,j icccIvM by Plui-bus 
 
 Apollo. 
 Down noiu ihc Ijei,'^hltf of Olympuu !ic coince, ind'gnjnt 
 
 avenger, 
 Bearing his bow and well-s.orcd (iulvcr shmg from his 
 
 shoulders. • 
 Thus as, In anger, ho pass'd unseen, v.'ith darkness encircled,* 
 Shrill, from the sh.oullers pending, clash the celestial arrnour. 
 
 Seated apart from the ships, lie now gives flipht to an arrow ; 
 Awful and loud resounds the twang of the tremulous bow- 
 
 string^. 
 First their mules and liounds wCiC alone the sport cf hl» 
 
 vengeance; 
 Now at the Greeks themselves he dra^ a shaft of destruction. 
 Shoots — and piles funereal fill the gleaming Horizon. 
 
 
 • " The pestilence that walketh in darkness;" Psalm 91. 
 
187 
 
 14. I am far from expcctinpj that, by these 
 little specimens, I shall provoke emulation, or 
 that cither the lyric or the heroic measures of anti- 
 quity can ever become popular in any modern 
 language ; but, to correct a miotaken idea, to 
 point ouL an error in the received opinions, on 
 any subject^ whether of art or science, can never 
 be altogether useless, and may lead to unexpected 
 improvements. As to the preceding observa- 
 tions, if they arc, in general, well founded, it 
 will be acknowledged that, however imperfectly 
 stated, they merit some attention ; and my hope, 
 in hazarding this publication, is, that some 
 person, of more leisure and ability, may be 
 induced to give every part of the subject a 
 thorough investigation. I am persuaded that a 
 prevailing notion of something mysteri us and 
 peculiar w the ancient languages, especially in 
 what relates to the melody and measure of 
 speech, has contributed to prevent us from at- 
 taining a perfect knowledge of our own. We 
 have been taught to believe that our language is 
 not susceptible either of a regular rhythmus or 
 of genuine accents. No wonder, tlien, that, 
 in these respects, It has not received all the 
 cultivation and improvement of wliich it is 
 capable, 
 
188 
 
 k 
 
 Johnson says of Drydeii, that, " from ,tl^ 
 '* prose he derived only his accidental and se- 
 " condary praise," and that " the veneration 
 ** with which his name is pronounced by 
 " every cultivator of English literature, is 
 " paid to him as he refined the language, im- 
 " proved the sentiments, and turned the numbers 
 " of English poetry."* Pope had before paid a 
 siniUar tribute of praise to his illustrious prede- 
 cessor } and is himself dese xdly honored, as 
 having surpassed even that great master, in the 
 refinement and harmony cf his versification. 
 Yet much as we have gained on one hand^ we 
 certainly, on the other, have been great losers.' 
 It cannot be denied that, in the diction of 
 Dryden and Pope, and of every English author 
 m modern times, there are frequent instances of 
 a harshness and constraint which did not ori- 
 ginally belong to our language.f 
 
 • Life of Dryden. 
 
 t " LengthenM notes-rais'd his straln-unjheath'd the 
 •♦ Shining blade—tortur'd ghosts— Sisyphus stands still." 
 
 Ode for St. Ctcilia\- day. 
 *' Sooth'd with the sound-soon he soothM his soul ; 
 « The vanquished victor.-Bellows Jearn'd to blow." 
 
 Alexander s feast. 
 
 And many other passages in the works of these eminent poeta. 
 
IS 
 
 189 
 
 This adventitious ronghness is chiefly produced 
 by the suppression of our an;ient verbal termi- 
 nations, est, eth, and ed, and especially by the 
 conversion of ethmio that hissing sound which has 
 become so familiar to oiu- ears. To this it is 
 owing that many words, as we endeavour to pro- 
 nounce them, are IncapaMe of distinct articula- 
 tion, even when taken singly, and, in composi- 
 tion, are sometimes absolutely urutterable. For 
 instancv. , persists, boast s, bursts ; and persists still, 
 boasts stoutly, casts stones. Sec. Nor Is the other 
 abbreviation much better, barb'd, brib'd, curVd, 
 stamped, imp'd, jumped-, and staked, look'd, talked, 
 &c. Nor does the change of the final conso- 
 nant in the six last, and other similar examples, 
 (which we pronounce"}/rtw/!>W, stah't, Sec.) contri-^utA»>'/ 
 bute much to the amelioration of the sound. It 
 only serves, indeed, to show the impossibility of 
 compressing the sound of p or k with that of 
 d into one syllable. 
 
 But for what purpose, it may be ashed, (ecce 
 iterum !) do I offer these observations .? Do I 
 dream of recalling modes of speech long since 
 universally disused .? No ; I consider that as 
 hopeless ; but I may be permitted to say, that, 
 if it could be done, and especially If the practice 
 
/ 
 
 were established of mixing the old and the 
 present- ir )des occasionally and ad lihUiim^ it 
 would very much improve the melody, and en- 
 large the variety of our composition, both in 
 verse and prose. 
 
 The effect of such a renovation as I lulsh^ 
 but dare not hope ibr, I have, in the following 
 lines attempted, in some degree, to exemplify. 
 
 ■i^- w 
 
/ 
 
 IQl 
 
 Of the old E?iglish Language 
 
 To him who hath but « ears to hear/' 
 Eer voice is mcliovr, full, and dear. 
 In verse or proce, wli:;te'cr her aim, 
 To soothe our passions cr inflame : 
 To melt in many a winding bout 
 *' Of linked s\rcetness !ong drawn out 5" 
 Or flow, in accents deep and strong ; 
 Bearing the captive mind along, 
 With force and energy divine, 
 To bow at truth's eternal s.^.rine. 
 Whether in thunder sl:e recount, 
 71ie terrors of the burning mount ; 
 Or, fiU'd with holy rapture, trace 
 The milder miracles of grace ; 
 Alike in all, she beareth still 
 The ponucr to charm without the shilf. 
 Of, had her bards but known, in time. 
 How best « to build the lofty rhyme," 
 Her ancient phrase had still remained, 
 lii honour'd usage unrestrained. 
 
1p^ 
 
 From barbarous compulsion free, 
 She then had left the choice to thee, 
 Sweet Euphony ; at thy good pleasure, 
 With flowing or contracted measure. 
 To swell the expression, or condense, 
 And make the sound to suit the sense. 
 
 y^^A^ 
 
 y^^' 
 
 With ** ivy-crowned Bacchus,"* then, 
 ** Heart-easing mirth'* again, again, 
 Had come " with cranks and wanton wiles, 
 " Nods and becks and wreathed smiles." 
 To sport and dance, and live with me, 
 " In unieproved pleasures free." 
 And pensive comtemplation, too, 
 Sweet saint ! array'd in sable hue. 
 Had come, in turn, with me to rove^ 
 TLi :>ugh " arched walks of twilight grove j"f 
 Or, " if the air should not permit. 
 In some " removed place" to sit^ 
 And feast my soul with change of pleasure, 
 Rich harvest of " retired leisure-," 
 And every bard, sublime or gay. 
 In choral air or lyric lay ; , 
 
 * II Allegro, t ^I Penseroso. 
 
."4. 
 > t 
 
 In comic mask, or epic song, 
 
 Who gain'd the palm, had borne it long; 
 
 Secure from that untimely death 
 
 Which lurketh in the baneful breath, 
 
 Of innovation^ fiend accurs'd ! 
 
 The last seducer, and the fast. 
 
 Then we should ne'er have felt the rule, 
 The curbing-rein of modern school ; 
 (Modern ! Alas, two ages past, 
 Have bound the galling bridle fast) 
 Forbidding, as it were, a pest. 
 To use a vcw el uncompress' d 
 And forcing us, in spite of lips, 
 Tongue, teeth, and throat, to mutter snips 
 Of jumbled sounds, which are, in truth, 
 Unspeaicable and most uncouth ! 
 
 But is it not *n vain to cast 
 This " li. gering look" upon t!^e pc^'^t ? 
 Where, now, can Englind'i anacfii phrase. 
 Her eloquence of belter davs, 
 However worthily renown'd. 
 Where can this m; trm nov/ be found ? 
 
 I 1; 
 
 < ::-: 
 
194 
 
 Although, long since, exiled far 
 From court, the senate, and the bar. 
 And all the " busy haunts of men,'* 
 By every mouth and every pen ; 
 Yet doth she live — in many a page, 
 Bequeathed, to the lastest age. 
 By genius, and the pious lore 
 Of Hooker^ and his peers of yore. 
 But still, her chief, her chosen seat. 
 And; which will be her last retreat, 
 Is in the sacred house of prayer. 
 And angels listen to her there. 
 
 ' J'lMi'J V: 
 
105 
 
 POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 This Essay had been wntten some time before 
 ' I had seen or heard of Mr. Walker's " Observa- 
 " tions on the Greek and Latin accent and 
 " quantity,"* In which he has, in some mea- 
 sure, anticipated my opinion respecting vowels 
 in. position. 
 
 Convinced that no natural retardation of the 
 voice on the consonants, without a change " in 
 " the sound of the vowel," could make a long 
 syllable, he is led to suppose, with regard 
 to the ancient languages, " that double conso- 
 " nants were the signs only, and not the efficients 
 " of long quantity ; and that the same long 
 quantity was not simply a duration of sound 
 upon the consonants, but exactly what we 
 ** call long quantity — a lengthening of the sound 
 by pronouncing the vowel open; as if we^ 
 were to pronounce the a long in mater by 
 
 (( 
 
 (C 
 
 
 ♦ Published with his « key to the classical pronunciation 
 ** of Greek and Latin proper names, &c." 
 
 K 2 
 
'* sounding it as if written mayfery and the same 
 " letter slicrt in pater as if it were writteli 
 ** patter" 
 
 That double consonants were not the efficients 
 of lon*r quantity, I tliink a most indubitable 
 truth; and I think it equally true thai they 
 were not shmijicant of any such thing j but that 
 every sylh^ble consisting of a short vowel in 
 position, was as truly and sensibly short in Greek 
 and Latin as it is in English and Italian. And 
 I think Mr. "Walker has himself sufficiently dis- 
 proved the supposition in question, by his re- 
 marks on the perpetual variation, which it im- 
 plies, in half the words of a language, according 
 as they are spoken singly or in composition. 
 
 Mr. Walker, in this and in other places, uses 
 the word v',ivel in that vague sense against which 
 I have protested. The letter a is indeed the 
 same in mater and patter \ but the vowels in 
 these two words are very diiTerent. He very 
 justly observes that ** in English, we have no 
 ** conception of quantity arising from any thing 
 '* but the nature of the vowels as they are 
 " pronounced long or short-," but when he tells 
 us that the a is short in banish^ banner^ and banter \ 
 
1 
 
 197 
 
 and long in paper, taper, and vapour -, he does but 
 say, in fact, that ofie vowel is short in some 
 words, and that a different vowel is long in some 
 others. Had he compared only the long and 
 short pronunciation of the same vonvels, he would, 
 I think, have perceived and corrected the mis- 
 take into \^hich he has been led by this ambi- 
 guity of terms. Deceived by the tacit supposition 
 that is the same vowel in such words, for 
 instance, as mt and notey he says that " the o m 
 Cicero is long," and also « in the name of our 
 English poet, Lillo." The vowel is, indeed, 
 what Mr. Walker calls opeti, in both these words ; 
 that is to say, the letter o has not here the 
 sound which it has in conclave, confine, &c. 
 where it is the sign of a different vowel ; but 
 (?, in Cicero and Lillo, is just as short as in the 
 first syllables of Polybius and Carinna, It.is long 
 in Comus, and both short and long in jocose, 
 morose, propose, sonorous, notorious, &c. 
 
 Respecting accent, Mr. Walker appears to 
 have overlooked a distinction, which I think is 
 worth noting, between a real monotone, which 
 we very seldom hear on so many as three syl- 
 lables together, and a certain uniformity of ut^ 
 terancs^ which frequently runs through whole 
 
 '■■'* i 
 
198 
 
 sentences. The canting orator^ though he may 
 really sing every word that he utters, takes 
 pains to vary his tones abundantly -, but when 
 •* the bellman repeats his verses, the crier pro- 
 " nounces his advertisement, or the clerk of a 
 ** church gives out the psalm," we most com- 
 monly hear, not only an ictus^ or stnss of voice, 
 distinguishing the emphatic syllables, but also 
 a real and a very considerable accent, or vocal 
 slide, in the utterance of every syllable; and the 
 seeming monotony consists merely in this, that 
 every syllable, except the last in a line or sen- 
 tence, is uttered with the same accent, which 
 is always acute, and nearly of one uniform pitch 
 and dimension. On the last syllable, indeed, 
 the clerk is apt to run into a real monotone ; 
 but the bellman and the crier close in an accent, 
 which both |s grave and emphatic. 
 
 In a note on Mr. Foster's strange idea of 
 proving the consistency of an acute accent, and a 
 short -quantity, by tones of the flute, or of an 
 organ, (a consistency, by the way, . of which no 
 proof was wanted, for accent and quantity are 
 things in nature essentially different) Mr. Walker 
 very properly remarks, that " it is not about 
 . ** musical but speaking tones that we enquire j'* 
 
199 
 
 and he says, « though the authority of DionysiuS, 
 " of Halicarnassus, is cited for the nature of 
 " the speaking voice as distinct in degree only, 
 " and not in kind, from singing, 1 boldly 
 " answer, that this is not matter of authority, 
 " but of experiment; and that singhig ana 
 " speaking are as distinct as motion and rest." 
 
 I think the passage cited from Dionysius, on 
 this occasion, has been misunderstood ; but if 
 my explanation of it is not found to be satisfac- 
 tory, much as I respect this elegant Greek 
 writer, I shall join with Mr. Walker in a deter- 
 mined appeal from his authority to the constant 
 testimony of my own ears. 
 
 Having cited two verses from the beginning 
 of Virgil's first Eclogue, and two from the be- 
 ginning of the Iliad, Mr. Walker says, « there 
 " are but four possible ways of pronouncing 
 " these verses, without going into a perfect 
 " song ; one is to pronounce the accented syl- 
 " lable with the falling inflexion ; and the unac- 
 " cented syllables with the same inflexion in a 
 " lower tone ; which is the way we pronounce 
 " our own words when we give them the 
 " accent with the falling inflexion j the second 
 
200 
 
 ** is, to pronounce the accented syllable with 
 ** the rising inflexion, and the unaccented syl- 
 ** lable with the same inflexion in a lower tone, 
 " which we never hear in our own language ; 
 ** the third is, to pronounce the accented syl- 
 " lable with the falling inflexion, and the un- 
 " accented syllables with the rising in a lower 
 " tone; and the fourth, to pronounce the ac- 
 " cented syllable with the rising inflexion, and 
 " the unaccented with a falling, in a lower 
 '* tone. None of these modes, but the first and 
 " last, do we ever hear in our own language ; 
 " the second and third seem too difficult to 
 '* permit us to suppose that they could be the 
 '* natural current of the human voice in any 
 ** language. . The flrst leaves us no possible 
 '* means of explaining the circumflex ; but the 
 •* last, by doing this, gives us the strongest 
 <* reason to suppose, that the Greek and Latin 
 " accute accent was the rising inflexion, and 
 ^* the grave the falling inflexion, in a lower 
 " tone," 
 
 That something more than mere accentuation 
 was anciently denoted by the accentual marks is 
 highly probible, though it is now impossible to 
 ascertain what it was ; but that the acute accent^ 
 
201 
 
 which most assuredly was often pronounced 
 wlierd it was not marked, was a rising inflexion, 
 and the grave a falling inflexion of the voice, 
 is, what I Iiad never supposed could be/ a sub- 
 ject of doubt with Mr. Walker, or with any 
 oue who understood the nature of vocal inlle:}tions, 
 ana had attended to the ancient definitions of 
 accent. But why must the grave be in a /ower 
 tone than the acute ? And, in the four Wu/s 
 here said to oe the only possible ones of pro- 
 nouncing the verses in question, without singing, 
 why must the accented^ meaning the emphatic syl- 
 lable, whether acute or grave, be constantly in 
 a higher tone than the rest ? 
 
 The posstbL' varieties of accentuation, in words 
 of three syllables and upwards, are more than I 
 shall at present unvlertake to compute. Every 
 accent, grave, acute, or circumflex, whether 
 emphatic or unemphatic, tnay be of any pitch 
 within the compass of the voice, and of any 
 dimension that does not run into a drawl, or ex- 
 ceed the time allotted to the syllable. 
 
 Of those varieties many would, doubtless be 
 " too dilTicult, or (what amounts to tlfe same 
 thing, too widely different from any in use") to 
 
202 
 
 permit us lo suppose they could be the ** natural 
 jurrent of the voice in any language-," but still 
 my objection will not be thought either captious 
 or frivolous ; for a thorough knowledge of any 
 subject may be obstructed by hastily confounding 
 what is difficulty or even what perhaps may never 
 happen, with what is impossible and never can 
 happen. But in the present instance, Mr. 
 "Walker supposes that to be impossible, which 
 does, in fact, very frequently happen j for what- 
 ever be the accent of the emphatic syllable, there 
 is most commonly, in words of more than two, 
 a variety in the accentuation of the other sylla- 
 bles. Thus, for instance, in the word medita- 
 tion, the first syllable is acute, the second grave, 
 the third acute and emphatic, and the fourth is 
 grave. The word meditaris, when spoken singly, 
 was most probably uttered by Virgil himself, 
 with the same accents, and in the same order ; 
 the first three accents very nearly of one pitchy 
 and the fourth considerably lower, but all nearly 
 of one dimension, 'ii.^, in the Hne here cited, 
 the same word liiiu me third and fourth syllables 
 both acute, and the fourth, though unemphatic, 
 of a higher instead of a lower pitch than tha 
 third ; mcditaris ^rentl. 
 
 
203 
 
 By the remark, that " the first (mode of pro- 
 nouncing the lines) leaves us no possible means 
 of explaining the circumflex/' Mr. Walker pro* 
 bably means only, that in the first mode there 
 Was nothing that could 1 .ad to any such expla- 
 nation. In a subsequent observation he speaks of 
 the acute accent of the ancients as being " alwayt 
 " higher than either the preceding or succeeding 
 « syllables i" but this, I am fully persuaded, it 
 an erroneous idea ; and I think the same of ano- 
 ther thing, which seems to be taken for granted^ 
 that the Greeks and Romans had but one cir- 
 cumflex. They probably had every variety of 
 accentuation that is now familiar to the languages 
 of Europe, among which no one has an accent 
 unknown to the rest, though each may have 
 some minute peculiarities in their respective ap- 
 plication. 
 
 The use of the terms accented and unaccented^ 
 in their vulgar acceptation, renders the style, in 
 several of these observations, ambiguous and 
 perplexed. It is surely time to discard, for ever, 
 so absurd a misnomer as that of an accented for 
 an emphatic syllable. 
 
 Mr. Walker thinks it wonderful, " that Mr. 
 
204 
 
 ** Sheridan, who was so good an actor, and 
 " who had spent so much time in studying and 
 " writing on elocution, should say that accent 
 " was only a louder pronunciation of the ac- 
 " cented syllable and not a higher." 
 
 Here an idea seems to be intimated, which 
 Mr. Walker certainly cannot entertain, that our 
 emphatic syllables are always higher than the 
 unemphatic ; for he has, in another of these 
 observations, very justly remarked, that, when 
 we say " he made a voluntary resignation, the 
 " accented (that is, the emphatic) syllable is 
 ** louder and lower than the rest." 
 
 Mr. Walker expresses his astonishment, " that 
 ** among so many of the ancients who have 
 ** written on the causes of eloquence, we should 
 ** not find a single author who has taken notice 
 " of the importance of emphasis upon a single 
 ** word ! Our modern books of elocution (he 
 *' observes) abound with instances of the change 
 " produced in the sense of a sentence by, changing 
 " the place of the emphasis ; but no such in- 
 ** stance appears among the ancients." 
 
 Whether the effect here pointed out has been 
 
 
205 
 
 expressly mentioned, by any ancient writer, Is 
 more than either my extent of reading or strength 
 of memory warrant me at present to afErm or - 
 deny ; but it Is clearly Implied in several remarks 
 of Oulnctillan, in which lie explains the use 
 and importance of emphasis, and particularly 
 where he says,* " est in vulgaribiis quoque verbis . 
 " emphasis, v^rum esse opportet, et, Homo est IfUT^i^rtv 
 " II le, et vivendum est ; — you must be a man, 
 " he is human i we must live j" for these sen- 
 tences, if uttered without emphasis, or with an 
 emphasis misplaced, would either convey no 
 definite meaning, or a meaning very different 
 from the one intended 
 
 I may be permitted, In my turn, to express 
 my surprise, that, to this day,f the true nature of 
 accent, explained nearly thirty years ago by Mr. 
 Steele, appears to have been misunderstood or 
 overlooked by all our writers, Mr. Walker him- 
 self only excepted. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
 * Lib. vlii, cap. 3. 
 
 25tli Novembci, 1802, 
 
Printed by Giotci SiDNir, Northumberland Street, Strand. 
 
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