&r r.Jm -\ :-.'( V A.. k* .- * ..*** lid I >V"» fty3 W-mM^ Ik; §rom f0e fei6rarg of (professor ^amuef (gtitfPer in (Jttemorg of 3ubge ^amuef (gttffer (grecftinrtbge (presenfeo 6p JJamuef (tttiffer QBrecfttnribge feon^ fo f^e £i6rar£ of (prtncefon £0eofo$icaf fijeminarg //7 1785, PREFACE. PREFACE. I OUNG gentlemen who have gone through a courfe of academical ftudies, and received the ufual honors of a Univerfity, are apt to contract a lingular ftiffnefs in their converfation. They read Lowth's Introduction, or fome other grammatical treat- ife, believe what they read, without examining the grounds of the writer's opinion, and attempt to fhape their language by his rules. Thus they enter the world with fuch phrafes as, a mean, averfe from, if he have, he has gotten, and others which they deem correft ; they pride themfelves, for fome time, in their fuperior learn- ing and peculiarities ; till further information, or the ridicule of the public, brings them to ufe the language of other people. Such has been my progrefs, and that of many of my cotemporaries. After being fome years in that excel- lent fchool, the world, I recommenced my ftudies, en- deavored, not merely to learn, but to underftand, the o, b, c, of the Englifh language, and in 1783 compiled and publifhed the Firfl Part of my Grammatical Infti- tute. The favorable reception of this, prompted me to extend my original plan, which led to a further in- vestigation of the principles of language. After all my reading and obfervation for the courfe of ten years, I have been able to unlearn a confiderable part of what I learnt in early life ; and at thirty years of age, can, with confidence, affirm, that our modern grammars have done much more hurt than good. The authors have labored to prove, what is obvioufly abfurd, viz. that our language is not made right ; and in purfuance of this idea, have tried to make it over again, and per- fuade the Englifh to fpeak by Latin rules, or by arbi- trary rules of their own. Hence they have rejected many phrafes of pure Englifh, and fubfrituted thole which are neither Englifh nor fenfe. Writers and Grammarians have attempted for centuries to in- troduce a fubjun&ive mode into Englifh, yet without eff&a j viii PREFACE, effect ; the language requires none, diftin& from the indicative ; and therefore a fubjunctive form ftands in books only as a Angularity, and people in practice pay no regard to it. The people are right, and a critical investigation of the fubject, warrants me in faying, that common practice, even among the unlearned, is gener- ally defenfible on the principles of analogy, and the ftructure of the language, and that very few of the al- terations recommended by Lowth and his followers, can be vindicated on any better principle than fome Latin rule, or his own private opinion. Some compilers have alfo attempted to introduce a potential mode, where they arrange thofe phrafes that Itave the auxiliary verbs, as they are called, can, may, Sec. But all the helping verbs are principal verbs, and the verb following them is generally in the infinitive. / c an go, be may write, we jhall jse, Sic. are only a cufto- mary ellipfis of I can to go, he may to write, we JJmll to fee ; and are no more a potential mode than / dare go> we (aw him rife. In the indeclinable parts of fpeech, all authors were miftaken, till Mr. Home Tooke explained them : Our conjuctions are moftly verbs in the imperative mode : Our adverbs and prepofitions are moftly verbs, nouns and adjectives, either feparate or combined ; and the proper definition of adverb and prepofition, is, " a word, or union of words, without the ordinary rules of gov- ernment." Becauje is a compound of the verb be, in the imperative, and the noun caufe ; otherwife is mere- ly a corruption of other ways ; wherefore is a corruption of the Roman qua-re, with the addition oi for y wifely is nothing more than the two adjectives wife like. So that in many cafes, the want of a fpace between two words, or of the ufual rules of government, is the only circum- ftance that diftinguifhes them from ordinary nouns and verbs ; that is, the only thing that makes them adverbs or prepofitions ; fuch as, becaufe, alivays, beyond, before, be- hind, forward, backward. In fhort, had the English, never been acquainted with Greek and Latin, they would, PREFACE. i* would never have thought of one half the diftin&ions and rules which make up our Englifh. grammars. The object of grammar, in a living language, is ufu- ally mifunderftood. Men often fuppole they mufl learn their native language by grammar ; whereas they learn the language firlt, and grammar afterwards. The principal bufinefs of a compiler of a grammar is, to fep- arate local or partial practice from the general cu/lom of fpeaking ; and reject what is local, whether it exifts a- mong the great or the fmall, the learned or ignorant, and recommend that which is univerfal, or general, or which conforms to the analogies of ftructure in a lan- guage. Whether the words means, pains, news, ought to have been ufed originally in the lingular form ; or 'heep, deer, hofe, in the plural ; or in other words, whether the language is well made, or might in fome inftances be mended, are queftions of little confequence now ; it as our bufinefs to rind what the Englilb language is, and :not, how it might have been made. 7 ne mod difficult tafk now to be performed by the advocates of pure Eng- lijh, is to reftrain the influence of men, learned in Greek and Latin, but ignorant of their own tongue ; who have laboured to reject much good Engliih, becaufe they have not underftood the original conftruction of the language. Should the following DifTertations produce, this effect, in the fmalleit degree, they may render ef- fential fervice to our native tongue. These Diflertations derive their origin from acci- dental circumftances, the hiitory of which is briefly this, The neceflity of fecuring the copy right of the Gram- matical Inftitute in the different flates, feconded by a defire of being acquainted with my own country, in- duced me to iufpend my profeffional purfuits, and viflt the Southern States. While I was waiting for the regular Seffions of the Legillatures, in thofe flares which had not pafTed laws for protecting literary prop- erty, I amufed myfelf in writing remarks on the Eng- ',ifh Language, without knowing to what purpofe they would be applied. They, were begun in Baltimore in the x PREFACE. the fummer of 1785 ; and at the perfuafion of a friend, and the confent of the Rev. Dr. Allifon, whofe politc- nefs deferves my grateful acknowlegements, they were read publicly to a fmall audience in the Prefby- terian Church. They were afterward read in about twenty of the large towns between Williamfburg in Virginia, and Portfmouth in New Hampshire. Thefe public readings were attended with various fuccefs ; the audiences were generally fmall, but always refpedl- able ; and the readings were probably more ufeful to myfelf than to my hearers. I every where availed my- felf of the libraries and converfation of learned men, to correct my ideas, and collect new materials for a treatife, which is now prefented to the public. There are few men who do not at times find themfelves at a lofs, reflecting the true pronunciation of certain words. Having no principles or rules, by which they can folve queftions of this kind, they imi- tate fome gentleman, whofe abilities and character enti- tle his opinions to refpect, but whofe pronunciation may be altogether accidental or capricious. With refpect to many words, I have been in the fame uncertainty ; and ufed formerly to change my pronunciation, in conformity to the practice of the laft man of fuperior learning whom 1 heard fpeak. My enquiries have been directed to inveftigate fome principles, which will remove all difficulties in pronun- ciation ; the remit of which is a full fatisfaction in my own mind as to almofl: every particular word. Whether the principles will prove equally fatisfactory to others, it is impomble now to determin. Moil of the varieties in pronunciation are mentioned in the fecond and third- DirTertations ; thole which are not, the reader will be enabled to adjufi: on the principles there unfolded. It will be obferved, that many of the remarks in this publication are not new. This wiil be no objection to the main defign ; as fome remarks which are found in oilier philological treatifes, arc ncceffary to the general plan PREFACE. xi plan of this. A great part however of my opinions are new, and many of them dire&ly oppofed to the rules laid down by former writers. In the Angularity of fpelling certain words, I am au- thorized by Sidney, Clarendon, Middleton, Blackftone, Am, or other eminent writers, whofe authority, being fupported by good principles and convenience, is deem- ed fuperior to that of Johnfon, whofe pedantry has cor- rupted the purity of our language, and whofe principles would in time deftroy all agreement between the fpell- ing and pronunciation of words. I once believed that a reformation of our othography would be unnecefl'ary and impracticable. This opinion was hafty ; being the refult of a flight examination of the fubjecl. I now believe with Dr. Franklin that fuch a reformation is practicable and highly ncceffary. It has been my aim to fupport my opinions by nu- merous and refpectable authorities. In fome cafes, an author is quoted, but not the chapter or page. This was owing to neglect in firft tranfcribing paffages, which was often done, without any defign to ufe the quotations as authorities in the prefent work ; and the paffages could not afterwards be found without great trouble, and fometimes the author could not be a fec- ond time procured. In a very few inlVances, a quota- tion has been taken at fecond hand on the credit of a faithful writer ; but never when I could obtain the original work. Many other ancient anthors would have been confulted, had it been practicable ; but the mod valuable of thefe are very fcarce, and many of them I have not heard of in America. It is to be lamented that old authors are negledted, and modern libraries compofed of abridgements, compilations, fhort eiTays, &c. which are calculated only for communicating fome general information and making fuperficial fcholars, to the prejudice of profound learning and true fcience.*' The * r— — *' a fungous growth of Novels and pamphlets, the meaner pro- ductions of the French and EngHfh p relies, in which it is to be feared (the reader) rarely rinds any rational pleafure, and more rarely ftill, any Jjliti improvement.'"— —Harris. Hermes. ep\. xu PREFACE. The American ftudent is often obliged, and too often difpofed, to drink at the dreams, inftcad of mounting to the fources of information. For the remarks on Englifh Verfe in the fifth Dif- fertation, I am much indebted to the celebrated author of M'Fingal, a gentleman who has "drank deep of the Pierian Spring," and who is equally diftinguifhed for wit, erudition, correct tafte, and profeffional knowlege. In explaining the principles of the language, I have aimed at perfpicuity, with a view to render the work ufeful to all daffes of readers. The Notes at the end are defigned to illustrate fome points by authorities or arguments that could not be properly arranged in the text ; and to throw fome light on ancient hiftory. To the curious enquirer, thefc may be as entertaining as the Diflertations themfelves. In two or three inftances, I have found occafion to change my opinion, fince ths publication of the Inftitute ; but a future edition of that work will be conformed to the criticifms in thefe Dif- fertations. To thofe who afk where a writer was born and edu- cated, before they can afcertain the value of his writings, 1 can only obferve, it is expected this publication will fare like all others. Men every where fuppofe that their own ftate or country has fome excellence that does not belong to their neighbors ; and it is well, if they do not arrogate a fuperiority in every refpect. They think their own colleges the beft ; their profeffional men the moft learned, and their citizens the moft liberal and polite. I have been witnefs to numberlefs remarks and infinuations of this kind in almoft every ftate in the union ; and after perfona! obfervation, can affirm that they generally proceed from grofs ignorance,, or unpar- donable prejudice. But it is very natural for men to think and fay all thefe things of home, when they have little or no knowlege of any thing abroad. Convinced that a writer is apt to overlook his own miftakes, when they are very obvious to a reader, I have fubmittcd thefe DilTertations to the criticifm of good judges PREFACE, Xiii judges of the fubjecl, with full liberty of altering, amend- ing and expunging any part of the work ; by which means feveral paifages have been omitted and others corrected. Still there may be faults in the book j and as truth is the object of my enquiries, whenever the friendly critic mall point out any errors, either in facl or opinion, it will be my pride and pleafure to acknow- lege and correct them. Many years experience has taught me that the public, when well informed, ufually form a very juft opinion of a man and his writings, and I am perfectly difpofed to acquiefce in their decilion. P. S. Several Effays, en more important fubjects, intended for an Appendix to this work, are neceflariJy referved for a future volume. CONTENTS. CONTENTS. DISSERTATION I. I: INTRODUCTION, Advantages of national uniformity in language, The Endifh language the parent of the American, Ablurdity of copying the changes of language in Great Britain, The only gocd principles on which any permanent uniformity can be eftablifhed, Englifh writers who are the beft models of flile, Writers who have corrupted flile, Hiftory of the Englifh Language, Of the ancient Celtic, Of the Armoric, Of the old Irifh, Of the Teutonic or Gothic^ Of the Norman French, Of the language in Chaucer's time, Remarks, Of the Saxon origin of the Englifh tongue, Of the poverty and copioufnefs of languages, Of the difference in the French and Englifh man- ner of fpeaking, Of the irregular orthography of the Englifh language, DISSERTATION II. Elements of the language unfolded, Rules of pronunciation, Of accent, Differences of pronunciation and controverted points examined, How the manner of fpeaking may be affefted by the laws of property, &c. DISSERTATION III. Examination of controverted points, continue*]. Of modern corruptions in the Englifh pronunciation, Page. 17 *9 21 2 4 27 3 1 3 2 4° 4* 48 49 S3 56 59 61 61 63-64 67 70 81 91 95 103 106 13^ 146 DISSERTATION Remarks on the formation of language, IV. 181 A fketch CONTENTS. *f A {ketch of Mr. Home Tooke's new and ingenious Page< explanation of the particles, 186 Examination of particular phrafes> 201 Noun, 201 Verb, 222 Mode, 231 Number and perfon, 23 a Auxiliaries, 2 34 Criticifms on the ufe of what is called the future tenfe, 236 — — — — On the ufe of what is called the Subjunc- tive Mode, 24a Of the participial noun, 279 Particles, 234 State of the language in America, 287 DISSERTATION V. Of the conftruftion of Englifh verle, 291 Paufes, 299 Expreflion, 305 Of reading verfe, 31° NOTES, HISTORICAL and CRITICAL. Etymological reafons for fuppofing the European languages to be defcended from one common ftock, - 31 3-350 Other arguments, 35°"353 The affinity between the ancient Irifh language and the Punic, 353 Reafons for fuppofing the Iriffi to be derived from the Phenician or Hebrew, 354 Specimen and ftate of the Englifh Language in the reign of Richard II. 357 Strictures on the ftile of Sir William Temple, 364 of Dr. Robertfon, 3 6 6 of Mr. Gibbon, 3 6 7 APPENDIX. An EUay on the neceffity, advantages and practica- bility of reforming the mode of fpelling, 391 Dr, Franklin's arguments on the lubjeft, 408 DIRECTIONS. D I R E C T 1 N S. THE founds of the vowels, marked or referred to in the 1'ccond and third Diflertatidns, are according to the Key in the Firft Part of the Inftitutc. Thus : Firft found, a late, e feet, 1 o night, note, u tune, y fky, Second hat, let, tin, tun, glory, Third, law, fraud Fourth, afk, father, Fifth, not, what, Sixth, prove, room, The capitals, included in brackets [ } in the text, are references to the Notes at the end* DISSERTATIONS ON T K E &{$£fSJ£ £AJfglUtg£ 3 fc DISSERTATION I. I. LitroduBion. — II. Hijlory of the Englijh Language. — III. Remarks* INTRODUCTION. REGULAR ftudy of lan- guage has, in all civilized countries, formed a part of a liberal education. The Greeks, Romans, Italians and French mcceflively im- proved their native tongues, taught them in Academies at home, and rendered them entertaining and ufeful to the foreign flu- dent, JB The IS DISSERTATION I. The Englifh tongue, tho later in its progrefs towards perfection, has attained to a confiderable degree of purity, ftrength and elegance, and been employed, by an active and fcientific nation, to record al- moft all the events and difcoveries of an- cient and modern times. This language is the inheritance which the Americans have received from their Britifh parents. To cultivate and adorn it, is a tafk referved for men who fhall un- derstand the connection between language and logic, and form an adequate idea of the influence which a uniformity of fpeech may have on national attachments. It will be readily admitted that the pleafures of reading and converfmg, the advantage of accuracy in bufinefs, the ne- ceffity of clearnefs and precifion in com- municating ideas, require us to be able to ipeak and write our own tongue with eafc and correctnefs. But there are more im- portant reafons, why the language of this country mould be reduced to ilich fixed principles, as may give its pronunciation and eonftruction all the certainty and uni- formity which any living tongue is capa- ble of receiving. The DISSERTATION t. 19 The United States were fettled by erni- grants from different parts of Europe. But their defcendants moftly fpeak the fame tongue ; and the intercourfe among the learned of the different States, which the revolution has begun, and an Ameri- can Court will perpetuate, muff, gradually deftroy the differences of dialect which our anceflors brought from their native coun- tries. This approximation of dialects will be certain ; but without the operation of other caufes than an intercourfe at Court, it will be flow and partial. The body of the people, governed by habit, will flill retain their refpective peculiarities of fpeaking ; and for want of fchools and proper books, fall into many inaccuracies , which, incorporating with the language of the ftate where they live, may impercepti- bly corrupt the national language. Noth- ing but the eftablifhment of fchools and fome uniformity in the ufe of books, can annihilate differences in fpeaking and pre- fer ve the purity of the American tongue. A famenefs of pronunciation is of confid- erable confequence in a political. view; for provincial accents are difagreeable to Gran- gers and fometimes have an unhappy ef- fect upon the focial affections. All men have local attachments, which lead them 13 2 to *o DISSERTATION. L to believe their own practice to be the leail exceptionable. Pride and prejudice incline men to treat the practice of their neigh- bors with fome degree of contempt. Thus fmall differences in pronunciation at firft excite ridicule — a habit of laughing at the fmgularities of ftrangers is followed by dif- refpech — and without refpecl: friendfhip is a name, and focial intercourfe a mere cer- emony. These remarks hold equally true, with refpecl to individuals, to fmall focieties and to large communities. Small caufes, fuch as a nick-name, or a vulgar tone in fpeak- ing, have actually created a dilfocial fpirit between the inhabitants of the different Hates, which is often difcoverable in pri- vate bufmefs and public deliberations. Our political harmony is therefore con- cerned in a uniformity of language. As an independent nation, our honor requires us to have a fyftem of our own, in language as well as government. Great Britain, whofe children we are, and whofe language we fpeak, ihould no longer be our ftandard -, for the tafte of her writers is already corrupted, and her language on the decline. JBut if it were not fo, fhe is at DISSERTATION I. 21 at too great a diftance to be our model, and to inftrucl: us in the principles of our own tongue. It muft be confidered further, that the Englifh is the common root or flock from which our national language will be de- rived. All others will gradually wafte a- way — and within a century and a half, North America will be peopled with a hundred millions of men, all /peaking the fame language. Place this idea in compar- ifon with the prefent and poffible future bounds of the language in Europe — con- fider the Eaftern Continent as inhabited by nations, whofe knowlege and inter- courfe are embarrafTed by differences of language j then anticipate the period when the people of one quarter of the world, will be able to afTociate and converfe to- gether like children of the fame family.* Compare this profpecl, which is not vifion- ary, with the ftate of the Englifh language in Europe, almoft confined to an Iiland and to a few millions of people ; then let reafon » * Even fuppofing that a number of republics,kingdoms or empires, fhould within a century arife and divide this vail territory ; Mill the fubjefts of all will fpeak the fame lan- guage, and the confequence of this uniformity will be an intimacy of locial intcrcourfe hitherto unknown, and a boundlefs diffufion of knowlege. 22 DISSERTATION ft reafon and reputation decide, how far A- merica mould be dependent on a tranfat- lantic nation, for her ftandard and im- provements in language. Let me add, that whatever predilection the Americans may have for their native European tongues, and particularly the Britim defendants for the Englifh, yet feveral circumftances render a future fepa- ration of the American tongue from the Englifh, necefiary and unavoidable. The vicinity of the European nations, with the uninterrupted communication in peace, and the changes of dominion in war, are gradually aflimilating their refpective lan- guages. The Englifh with others is fuf- fering continual alterations. America, placed at a diftance from thofe nations, will feel, in a much lefs degree, the influ- ence of the aflimilating caufes ; at the fame time, numerous local caufes, fuch as a new country, new aflbciations of people, new combinations of ideas in arts and fci- cnce, and fome intercourfe with tribes, wholly unknown in Europe, will introduce new words into the American tongue. Thefe caufes will produce, in a courie of time, a language in North America, as dif- ferent from the future language of Eng- land 4 DISSERTATION I. 23 land, as the modern Dutch, Danifn and Swedifh are from the German, or from one another : Like remote branches of a tree fpringing from the fame flock ; or rays of light, lhot from the fame center, and diverging from each other, in proportion to their diftance from the point of fepa- ration. Whether the inhabitants of America can be brought to a perfect uniformity in the pronunciation of words, it is not eafy to predict \ but it is certain that no attempt of the kind has been made, and an experi- ment, begun and purfued on the light principles, is the only way to decide the queflion. Schools in Great Britain have gone far towards demoliming local dia- alects — commerce has alfo had its influ- ence — and in America thefe caufes, ope- rating more generally, mufl have a pro- portional effect. In many parts of America, people at prefent attempt to copy the Engiifh phrales and pronunciation — an attempt that is favored by their habits, their prepofTef- fions and the intercourse between the two countries. This attempt has, within the period of a few years, produced a multi- tude 24 DISSERTATION I. tude of changes in tliefe particulars, ef- pecially among the leading clafTes of peo- ple. Thefe changes make a difference be- tween the language of the higher and com- mon ranks ; and indeed between the fame ranks in different dates j as the rage for copying the Englifh, does not prevail e- qually in every part of North America. But befides the reafons already afligned to prove this imitation abfurd, there is a difficulty attending it, which will defeat the end propofed by its advocates ; v/hich is, that the Englilh themfelves have no ilandard of pronunciation, nor can they ever have one on the plan they propofe. The Authors, who have attempted to give us a ftandard, make the practice of the court and ffage in London the fole criteri- on of propriety in fpeaking. An attempt to eitablim a ftandard on this foundation is both unjufi and idle. It is unjuft, be- caufe it is abridging the nation of its rights: The general praBice of a nation is the rule of propriety, and this practice mould at lean: be coniulted in fo important a matter, as that of making laws for fpeaking. While all men are upon a footing and no Angularities are accounted vulgar or ridic- ulous, every man enjoys perfect liberty. But DISSERTATION I. 25 But when a particular fet of men, in ex- alted ftations, undertake to fay, "we arc the ftandards of propriety and elegance, and if all men do not conform to our prac- - tice, they fhall be accounted vulgar and ignorant," they take a very great liberty with the rules of the language and the. rights of civility. But an attempt to fix a ftandard on the practice of any particular clafs of people is highly abfurd : As a friend of mine once obferved, it is like fixing a light houfe on a floating ifland. It is an attempt to ^- that which is in itfelf variable j at leafl it muft be variable fo long as it is fuppoied that a local practice has no ftandard but a local practice -, that is, no ftandard but it- felf. While this doctrine is believed, it will be impoflible for a nation to follow as faft as the ftandard changes — for if the gentlemen at court conftitute a ftandard, they are above it themfelves, and their practice muft fhift with their paflions and their whims. But this is not all. If the practice of a few men in the capital is to be the ftand- ard, a knowlege of this muft be commu- nicated to the whole nation. Who mall do fc'6 DISSERTATION I. do this ? An able compiler perhaps at- tempts to give this practice in a dictiona- ry ; but it is probable that the pronunci- ation, even at court, or on the ftage, is not uniform. The compiler therefore muft follow his particular friends and patrons ; in which cafe he is fure to be oppofed and the authority of his flandard called in queflion - y or he muft give two pronunci- ations as the flandard, which leaves the ftudent in the fame uncertainty as it found him. Both thefe events have actually tak- en place in England, with refpect to the moft approved ftandards - y and of courfe no one is univerfally followed. Besides, if language muft vary, like fafhions, at the caprice of a court, we muft have our flandard dictionaries republifhed, with the fafhionable pronunciation, at leaft once in five years $ otherwife a gentleman in the country will become intolerably vul- gar, by not being in a fituation to adopt the falhion of the day. The new editions of them will fuperfede the old, and we fhali have our pronunciation to re-learn, with the polite alterations, which are generally corruptions. Such are the confequences of attempt- ing to make a local practice the fiandard of language DISSERTATION L if language in a nation. The attempt muft keep the language in perpetual fluctuation, and the learner in uncertainty. If a ftandard therefore cannot be fixed on local and variable cuftom, on what mail it be fixed ? If the mofr eminent fpeakers are not to direct our practice, where mail we look for a guide ? The anfwer is ex- tremely eafy ; the rules of the language it- felf and the general praSfice of the nation, conftitute propriety in fpeaking. If we examine the ftructure of any language, we fhall find a certain principle of analogy running through the whole. We fhall find in Englifh that fimilar combinations of letters have ufually the fame pronuncia- tion , and that words, having the fame ter- minating fyllable, generally have the accent at the fame diftance from that termination. Thefe principles of analogy were not the remit of defign — they muft have been the effect of accident, or that tendency which all men feel towards uniformity.* But the * Th i s difpofition is taken notice of by Dr. Blair, Lett. 8. Where he obferves, "thattho the formation of abftracl: or general conceptions is fuppofed to be a difficult operation ©f the mind, yet fuch conceptions muft have entered into the firft formation of languages" — " this invention of ab- stract terms requires no great exertion of metaphyfical ca- * parity"— - 28 DISSERTATION I. the principles, when eflablimed, are pro- ductive of great convenience, and become an authority fuperior to the arbitrary deci- sions of any man or clafs of men. There is one exception only to this remark : When a deviation from analogy has become the univerfal practice of a nation, it then takes place of all rules and becomes the ftandard of propriety. The two points therefore, which I con- ceive to be the bans of a ftandard in fpeak- ing, are thefej univerjal undifputed practice, and the principle of analogy, Univerfal practice is generally, perhaps always, a rule of propriety ; and in difputed points, where people differ in opinion and prac- tice, analogy Ihould always decide the con- troverfy. These are authorities to which all men will fubmit — they are fuperior to the o- pinions parity" — « Men are naturally inclined to call all thofe ob- jects which refemble each other by one common name — We may daily obferve this praftifed by children, in their full attempts towards acquiring language." I cannot, with this great critic, call the procefs by which jimilar objects acquire the fame name, an aft of ahjlraclioriy or the name zngbftraEl term. Logical diitinftions may lead' us aftray. There is in the mind an injtinclive di/pq/ition, or ■principle of ajfociation , which will account for all common names and the analogies in language. DISSERTATION I, 29 pinions and caprices of the great, and to the negligence and ignorance of the mul- titude. The authority of individuals is always liable to be called in queftion — but the unanimous confent of a nation, and a fixed principle interwoven with the very conftruc~tion of a language, coeval and co- extenfive with it, are like the common laws of a land, or the immutable rules of mo- rality, the propriety of which every man, however refractory, is forced to acknowl- ege, and to which moft men will readily fubmit. Fafhion is ufually the child of caprice and the being of a day -, principles of propriety are founded in the very nature of things, and remain unmoved and un- changed, amidft all the fluctuations of hu- man affairs and the revolutions of time. It mull be confefled that languages are changing, from age to age, in proportion to improvements in fcience. Words, as Horace obferves, are like leaves of trees j the old ones are dropping off and new ones growing. Thefe changes are the necefTary confequence of changes in cuftoms, the in- troduction of new arts, and new ideas in the fciences. Still the body of a language and its general rules remain for ages the fame, and the new words ufually conform to ja DISSERTATION t to thefe rules -, otherwife they ftand as cx« ceptions, which are not to overthrow the principle of analogy already eftablifhed. But when a language has arrived at a certain ftage of improvement, it muft be Hationary or become retrograde ; for im- provements in fcience either ceaie, or be- come flow and too inconfiderable to affect materially the tone of a language. This ftage of improvement is the period when a nation abounds with writers of the firft clafs, both for abilities and tafte. This period in England commenced with the age of Queen Elizabeth and ended with the reign of George II. It would have been fortunate for the language, had the ftile of writing and the pronunciation of words been fixed, as they flood in the reign of Queen Ann and her fucceffor. Few improvements have been made fmce that time ; but innumerable corruptions in pronunciation have been introduced by Garrick, and in ftile, by Johnfon, Gibbon and their imitators.* The *The progrefs of corruption in language isdefcribed with precinon, and philofophical reafons afhgned Math great judgement.hy that celebrated French writei ,Condillac, in his Origin of Human Knowledge. Part 2. « It is nearly the fame here as in phyfics, where motion, the fo'urce of life, becomes the principle of deftruttioru When DISSERTATION I. jr. The great Sidney wrote in a.pure ftile 5 yet the beft models of purity and elegance, are the works of Sir William Temple, Dr. Middleton, When a language abounds with original writers in every kind, the more a perfon is endowed with abilities, the more difficult he thinks it will be to furpafs them. A mere" e- quality would not fatisfy his ambition ; like them he wants the pre-eminence. He therefore tries a new road. But as every ftile analagous to the character of the language and to his own, has been already ufed by preceding writers, he has nothing left but to deviate from analogy. Thus in. order to be an original, he is obliged to contribute to the ruin of a language, which, a century fooner, he would have helped to improve. " Tho fuch writers may be criticized, their fuperior abilities muft dill command fuccefs. The eafe theie is in copying their defefts, foon perfuades men of indifferent ca- pacities, that they fhall acquire the fame degree of reputa- tion. Then begins the reign of ftrained and fubtle con- ceits, of affe&ed antithefes, of fpecious paradoxes, of frivo- lous and far-fetched expreflions, of new-fangled words, and in fhort, of the jargon of perfons, whofe understand- ings have been debauched by bad metaphyfics. The pub- lic applauds ; foolifh and ridiculous writings, the beings of a day, are furprifingly multiplied ; a vicious tafle infefts the arts and fciences, which is followed by a vifible decreafc of men. of abilities." One would think that Condillac had defigned here to give a defcription of the prefcnt tafte of the Englifh writers, and a ftate of their literature. The foregoing fentiments feem to have been borrowed from Velleius Paterculus. Hifl. Rom. L. 1. Cap. }j. The famepaflage is copied by Sig. Carlo Denina,ProfefTor of Eloquence and belies Lettres in the Univerfity of Turin, $2 DISSERTATION 1. Middleton, Lord Bolingbroke, Mr. Addi- fon and Dean Swift. But a little inferior to thefe, are the writings of Mr. Pope, Sir Richard Steele, Dr. Arbuthnot, with fome of their cotemporaries . Sir William Black- ftone has given the law ftile all the ele- gance and precifion of which it is capable. Dr. Price and Dr. Prieftley write with pu- rity, and Sir William Jones feems to have copied the eafe, fimplicity and elegance of Middleton and Addifon. But how few of the modern writers have purfued the fame manner of writing ? Johnfon's ftile is a mixture of Latin and Englifh ; an intolerable composition of Latinity, affected fmoothnefs, fcholaftic ac- curacy and roundnefs of periods. The ben- efits derived from his morality and his eru- dition, will hardly counterbalance the mif- chief done by his manner of writing. The names of a Robertfon, a Hume, a Home and a Blair, almoft filence criticifm ; but I muft repeat what a very learned Scotch gentleman once acknowleged to me, " that in his " Revolutions of Literature," page 47 ; and if I mif- tike not, the fentiments are adopted by Lord Kaims, in his Sketches of the Hiftory of Man. Similar reafons may beafligned for the prevalence of an affected and vitious pronunciation. DISSERTATION I. j| *• that the Scotch writers are not models of the pure Englifh ftile." Their ftile is generally ftiff, fometimes very awkward, and not always correct.* Robertfon la- bors his ftile and fometimes introduces a word merely for the fake of rounding a period. Hume has borrowed French id- ioms without number ; in other refpecls he has given an excellent model of hiftori- cal ftile. Lord Kaims' manner is ftiff j, and Dr Blair, whofe ftile is lefs exception- able in thefe particulars, has however in- troduced, into his writings, feveral foreign idioms and ungrarnniatical phrafes. The Scotch writers now ftand almoft the firft for erudition ; but perhaps no man can write a foreign language with genuin pu- rity. Gibbon's harmony of profe is calculated to delight our ears ; but it is difficult to comprehend his meaning and the chain of his * D*. Witherfpoott is an exception. His ftile is eafy, fimple and elegant. I confider Dr. Franklin and Dr. Witherfpoon as the two beft writers in America. The Words they ule, and their arrangement, appear to flow fpon- taneoufly from their manner of thinking. The vaft fuperi- ority of their ftilcsover thofe of Gibbon and Gillies, is ow- ing to this circumftance, that the two American writers have bcftowed their labor upon ideas, and the Englifh his- torians upon words, c >4 DISSERTATION I. his ideas, as faft as we naturally read j and almoft impoflible to recollect them, at any fubfequent period. Perfpicuity, the firft requhite in ftile, is fometimes. facrificed to melody ; the mind of a reader is conftantly dazzled by a glare of ornament, or charmed from the fubjecl: by the mufic of the lan- guage. As he is one of \hsjirft y it is hop- ed he may be the lajl, to attempt the grati- fication of our ears, at the expenfe of our underjlanding. Such however is the tafte of the age ; fimplicity of ftile is neglected for orna- ment, and fenfe is facrificed to found.* Alt ho *The fame tafle prevailed in Rome, under the Empe- rors, when genius was proftituted to the mean purpofes of flattery. * It mull be acknowleged indeed, that after the dinolutionof the Roman republic, this art began to be pervert- ed by being too much admired. Men grew excefnvely fond of the numerous flile, and readily facrificed the ftrength and energy of their difcourfe to the harmony of their language. Pliny the younger often complains of this contemptible af- fectation : And Quintilian fpeaks of certain prole writers in his time, who boafted that their compofitions were fo ftrictly numerous, that their hearers might even beat time to their meafures. And it fhould feem that even in Tully'S time, this matter was earned to excefs ; fince even then the orators dealt fo much in numbers, that it was made a quef- tion, wherein they differed from the Poets.'"— — Malon's Eflay on the Power and Harmony of Profaic Numbers. 'Introduction, page 4. This was an abufe of the art. Melody fhould be ftudn cd ; but not principally. DISSERTATION I. 35 Alt.ho ftile, or the choice of words and manner of arranging them, may be neceflarily liable to change, yet it does not follow that pronunciation anil orthography cannot be rendered in a great meafure per- manent. An orthography, in which there would be a perfect correfpondence between the fpelling and pronunciation, would go very far towards effecting this defireable object. The Greek language fuffered little or no change in thefe particulars, for about a thoufand years ; and the Roman was in. a great degree fixed for feveral centuries. Rapid changes of language proceed from violent caufes ; but thefe caufes cannot be fuppofed to exift in North America. It is contrary to all rational calculation, that the United States will ever be conquered by any one nation, fpeaking a different lan- guage from that of the country. Remov- ed from the danger of corruption by con- quer!:, our language can change only with, the flow operation of the caufes before- mentioned and the progrefs of arts and fciences, unlefs the folly of imitating our parent country fhould continue to govern us, and lead us into endlefs, innovation. This folly however will lofe its influence gradually, as our particular habits of re- C 2 fpe& 36 DISSERTATION L fpecl: for that country mall wear away, and our amor patria acquire ftrength and in- fpire us with a fuitable refpect for our own national character. We have therefore the faireft. opportu- nity of eftablifhing a national language, and of giving it uniformity and perfpicui- ty, in North America, that ever preiented itfelf to mankind. Now is the time to be- gin the plan. The minds of the Ameri- cans are roufed by the events of a revolu- tion ; the neceflity of organizing the polit- ical body and of forming conftitutions of government that mail fecure freedom and property, has called all the faculties of the mind into exertion; and the danger of loling the benefits of independence, has difpofed every man to embrace any fcheme that fhall tend, in its future operation, to reconcile the people of America to each other, and weaken the prejudices which oppofe a cordial union. My defign,inthefedifrertations,is critical- ly to inveftigate the rules of pronunciation in our language -, to examin the paft 4 and prefent practice of the Englifh, both in the pronunciation of words and conftruction of fentenccs ; to exhibit the principal dif- ferences DISSERTATION I. 37 ferences between the practice in England and America, and the differences in the feveral parts of America, with a view to reconcile them on the principles of univer- fal practice and analogy. I have no fyftem of my own to offer j my fole defign is to explain what I fuppofe to be authorities, fuperior to all private opinions, and to ex- amin local dialects by thofe authorities. Most writers upon this fubject have fplit upon one rock : They lay down cer- tain rules, arbitrary perhaps or drawn from the principles of other languages, and then condemn all Englifh phraies which do not coincide with thofe rules. They feem not to confider that grammar is formed on language, and not language on grammar. Inftead of examining to find what the Eng- lifh language is 9 they endeavor to mow what it ought to be according to their rules. It is for this reafon that fome of the criti- cifms of the mofl celebrated philologers are fo far from being juft, that they tend to overthrow the rules, and corrupt the true idiom, of the Englifh tongue. Several ex- amples of this will appear in the courfe of thele DifTertations. To learn the Englifh language in its pu- rity, it is neceffary to examin and com- C 3 pare s $ DISSERTATION I. -pare the beft authors from Chaucer to the prefent time. In executing the following work, the moll: approved compilations have been consulted, and the opinions of the learned authors confidered as refpecl:- able, not as decifive, authorities. The lan- guage itfelf has been examined with great induftry, with a view to difcover and de- fend its principles on the beft grounds, analogies in jirn&nre^ and immemorial ufage. I have had recourfe to the works of au- thors who wrote prior to Chaucer, and have even borrowed fome light upon this fubjec~t, from the early ages of Gothic ig- norance. Believing, with the author of " Diverfions of Purley," that the peculiar ftructure of our language is Saxon, and that its principles can be difcovered only in its Teutonic original, it has been my bufinefs, as far as the materials in my poneflion would permit, to compare the Englifh with the other branches of the fame flock, particularly the German and the Danifh. Thefe refearches have thrown light upon the meaning and construction of particular phrafes, and enabled me to vindicate fome expreihons in the language which are often ufed, but generally con-* demned by grammarians. Mr DISSERTATION I. 39 My knowlege of the practice of fpeak- ing in different parts of America, is deriv- ed from perfonal obfervatioh. My knowl- ege of the part and prefent ftate of the lan- guage in England, is taken from the writ- ers who have treated exprefsly of the fub- ject.* The authorities neceflary to prove particular points will be quoted, as occafion ihall require. The talk of examining words cannot be agreeable to a writer, nor can his criticifms be very entertaining to the reader. Yet this talk I have impofed upon myfelf ; for I believe it the only method to correct: common miflakes. A general rule may be fufficient for a claflical fcholar, who makes it his bufinefs to apply the rule to all cafes : But moft readers mult have their particular errors laid before their eyes, or they will not difcover them. To offer to correct the miflakes of others, is alfo a hazardous talk, and commonly ex- pofes a man to abufe and ill will. To avoid this I can only fay, that my motives for the undertaking were not local nor perfonal ; my enquiries are for truth, and my criticifms, it is hoped, will be marked with candor. But * Wallis, Johnfon, Kejirick, Sheridan;, with a multitude of inferior compilers. 40 DISSERTATION I. But before I proceed to explain the principles of pronunciation, it is neceflary to give a fketch of the hiftory of our lan- guage from the earlier! times, and endeavor to difcover from what fources it is derived. HISTORY of the ENGLISH LANGUAGE. THE firfr. correct accounts we have of Britain were given by Julius Cefar, who in- vaded and conquered the fouthern parts of the ifland, about fifty four years before the Chriftian era.* Tacitus, in his Life of "Julius Agricola, has defcribed the natives of the ifland, and given it as his opinion, that they came from Gaul (now France.) The inhabitants of Caledonia, now Scot- land, in the color of their hair and fize of their limbs, refembled the Germans. Some appearances in the people of the more fouthern * He found the inhabitants of the maritime towns fomc- •what civilized,* and in their manners refembling the Gauls, v.-ith whom they had lome commercial infercourfe. It is probable that the Britons came originally from the conti- nent, from Y<'hich their ifland is feparated by a ftrait of no great extent. * il E x his omnibus, long eft mt humaniflimi, qui Cantium incolunt : Quae regio eft maritima omnis ; ncqve mvltuw ?. Gallica diiferunt conluetudine."- Cefar De Bcllo Gal- lico, Lib. 5. DISSERTATION I, 4I fouthern parts of the ifland, and their po- fition with refpect. to Spain, indicated their defcent from the ancient Iberi. But thofe who inhabited the fhores, oppofite to France, refembled the Gauls, in their re- ligious ceremonies, their courage, and par- ticularly in their language : " Sermo haud multum diverfus."* It is an uncontroverted point, that the primitive language of Britain was the fame as that of Gaul.-f* This language was denominated the Celtic, from the Cel- tce, or Kelt a, a famous tribe of people that inhabited Gaul. Many writers fuppofe the Celtic to have been the primitive ele- mentary language, from which moil, or all the prefent languages of Europe, and fome of the languages of Alia and Africa, are derived. Some authors go fo far as to af- fert that the Greek and Roman may be traced to the fame fource. To prove this opinion well founded, they endeavor to difcover an affinity between thefe languages, by analizing words in each, and tracing them to the fame elements or monofylla- bic * Tacitus. Jul. Agric. Vit n. + " Er at autem prifca ifthaec Gallis et Britannis commu- nis lingua, ultra omnium hilloriarum memoriam antiqua:.'* — Wallis Gram. 4 2 DISSERTATION I. bic roots. In this they have fucceeded fo far as to difcover a great number of words, which, with fmall dialectical variations, are common to the Greek and Latin and to moil of the living languages of Europe. Perhaps thefe radicals, common to all languages of which we have any knowlege, were fufficient to form a am- ple language, adequate to the purpofes of fpeech among rude nations. [A] But as the firft inhabitants of the earth had, for many ages, no method of fixing founds, or very imperfect, methods, their language muft have been liable to confid- erable mutations, even when they lived and converfed together. But after they had feparated from each other, by extending their fettlements into diftant regions, and an intercourfe between the colonies had ceafed, their languages muft have in a great meafure loft their affinity to each other. The radical words, common to all, muft have afTumed dialectical distinctions, and new objects and inventions, peculiar to the different tribes, muft have originated new terms among each, to which the others were ftrangers. Different nations would advance, by very different degrees of ra- pidity, to a ftate of civilization, and as words DISSERTATION I. 43 words multiply with ideas, one language would become more copious than another, as well as more regular and polifhed. In the courfe of many centuries, thefe caufes. would obfcure the common radicals, and make fuch acceffions of new words to each dialect, as to form them all into diftin£t languages. An uncivilized people have occafion for few words ; perhaps five or fix hundred would anfwer all their pur- pofes. And if we fhould thoroughly ex- amin any of the prefent languages of the world, we fhould probably find that the roots of the moft copious do not amount to more than that number. The Greek, it is faid, may be traced to about three or four hundred radical words. Thefe roots or elementary words are ufually monofyl- lables, and moftly names of fenfible ob- jects. By applying thefe names figurative- ly, favages make them anfwer the purpofe of exprefling other ideas, and by combin- ing them in an almofl infinite variety of ways, civilized nations form copious and elegant languages. Thus it happens that in the exifting languages of Europe, there are many words evidently the fame ; the orthography and pronunciation do not exactly coincide in all the 44 DISSERTATION I. the countries where they are ufed ; yet the refemblance is obvious in thefe particulars ; and with refpect to their meaning, there is fuch an affinity, as to demonstrate that the nations, in whofe languages they are found, all fprung from the fame parents. The primitive language of Europe prob- ably retained its original form and purity in the Weft, much later than on the borders of Alia }* for the Gauls and Britons had made lefs advances in knowlege, than the eaft- ern nations, and had probably fuffered fewer mocks from war and conqueft. The Greeks firft formed an elegant language out of the barbarous dialects fpoken on the borders of the Egean Sea. The Ro- mans afterwards did the fame in Italy, and gradually changed the languages of the countries which they conquered, by intro- ducing their own. It was the policy of the Roman ftate to make fubjeBs, rather than Jlavesy of their conquered nations j and the introduction of their own tongue among them was confidered as a necefTary ftep towards removing prejudices, facilitat- ing an intercourfe with their provinces, and reconciling * Th i s is faid upon the hypothefis, that the ancient Cel- tic or Britifh had a common origin with the Hebrew, Pheni- clan and Greek. For proof* of this, fee the notes at the.cnd. DISSERTATION I. 4S reconciling diflant nations to the Roman government. Julius Cesar found the Gauls and Britons at peace, united by a nmilarity of manners and language, and by a famenefs of intereflr. His conquer!: of their coun- tries made fome inroads upon their lan- guage. But altho the Romans had pof- feflion of thefe countries more than four hundred years, during which time Roman garrifons were ftationed in Gaul and Brit- ain, the young men of both countries were drafted into the Roman fervice, and many Britifh youth went to Rome for an educa- tion,ftill the native Celtic language remained without material alteration. It is obvious indeed that many of the higher clafles of people were acquainted with Latin, and there are traces of that language ftill found among the Welfh, the descendants of the ancient Britons. But the body of the peo- ple, either for want of opportunity to learn the Latin, or thro an inveterate hatred of their conquerors, continued wedded to their native tongue. This would have ftill been the language of France and England, had it not fuffered more violent mocks, than by the Roman conquefls. But 46 DISSERTATION I. But m the fifth century, the fouthern parts of Europe began to be alarmed by the invafion of the Goths, Vandals, Huns and other fierce barbarians from the North. For three centuries, all the fertile prov- inces of the Roman empire were ravaged by thefe hardy invaders, the moil of whom fettled in the countries which they con- quered. These nations, mixing with the natives of the country where they fettled, changed or corrupted the primitive language. From the jargon of Celtic and Roman, blended with the language of the Franks, Nor- mans, Burgundians, &c. fprung the mod- ern French. From the mixture of Latin, with the language of the Huns, Lombards, &c. fprung the prefent Italian. From a fimilar compofition of Latin, with the lan- guage of the Vifigoths and other northern tribes, and fome remains of the Moorifh language, left in Spain by the Saracens, are formed the modern Spanifh and Por- tuguefe. In the general defolation, occafioned by thefe conquefts, the ifland of Britain did not efcape. The Saxons, a tribe of north- ern nations, which inhabited the coun- try DISSERTATION I. 47 try now called Denmark, or the fhores of the Baltic, now within the Empire of Germany, invaded Britain, foon after the Roman legions had been called home to defend the Empire againft other tribes of barbarians. It is faid the Saxons were at firft invited to aflift the Britons againft the inroads of the Picts or Scots, and that hav- ing defeated the invaders, they were tempt- ed, by the fertility of the foil, to remain in the ifland, and afterwards took poffeflion of it for themfelves. But whatever was the firft caufe of their leaving their native country, it is certain, that numerous bodies of adventurers, at different times, went over and feated them- felves in the ifland. They did not ceafe till they had poffefled: themfelves of all the fertile and cultivated parts of England. The univerfality of the conqueft is dem- onftrated by the total change of language ; there being no more affinity between the Saxon or Englifh, and the ancient Britifh, than between any two languages of Eu- rope. The Britifh however was not loft. The brave inhabitants, who furvived the liber- ty of their country, and could not brook 1 the 48 DISSERTATION I. the idea of living with their conquerors, retired to the countries within the moun- tains on the weft of the ifland, now called Wales and Cornwall^ where they maintain- ed their independence for many centuries, and where their language is Mill preferved. The Welfh and the Cornifh therefore are the pureft remains of the primitive Celtic language. To thefe we may add the ArmoriC, of language of the Bas Breton, on the coaft of France -, the inhabitants of which are genuin descendants of the old Britons. The time and occafion of this fettlement in France are not certain. Perhaps a body of Britons were driven thither by the Sax- on conqueft of England ; or what is more probable, as it is a tradition among the people, the Armoricans are the pofterity of fome Britiih foldiers, who had been in the Roman army when it was called to It- aly to defend the empire, and on their re- turn, being informed that the Saxons had taken pofTeflion of their native country, feated themfelves on the oppofite coaft of France.'* But * Tsmplk'* Irrtrod. to Hift. of England. DISSERTATION I 49 But whatever was the caufe of the fet- dement, the language of the people is the old Britifh or Celtic ; for altho they muft have been feparated from their country- men about twelve or fourteen hundred years, yet there is fuch an affinity flill be- tween the Welm and the Armoric, that the Welm foldiers, who parTed thro Brit- tany in a late war,* could converfe famil- iarly with the inhabitants. If any other proof than this were necefTary to convince the reader, we might mention the name of this province, Brittany, and produce a long catalogue of Armoric words, collated with the Welfh and Cornim. One would think that the Irifh,by reafon of their vicinity to England, would have fpoken the fame language •, yet it is found that the old Irifh tongue has very little af- finity with the Welfh. Sir William Tem- ple afferts-f that the Erfe, or Caledonian language, and the old Irifh, which are rad- ically the fame, and fpoken alfo on the Ifle of Man, have no affinity with any other language now fpoken. But the celebrated Lluyd * At the conqueft of Belifie. See the Preface to Mal- let's North. Antiq. page 23. + Works, Vol. 3. Introd, to Hi ft, Eng. D fp DISSERTATION I. Lluyd and others, who have been more critical in their inveftigations of this fub-r ject, maintain that the Irifh has a real af- finity with the Cambrian or Britifh. They further mow that many names of places inS. Britain, the meaning of which is loft in the Weifh, can be explained only by words now extant in the Irifh and Erfe. This is a fufficient proof of a common origin.* But on this point hiftorians are divided in opinion, Some fuppofe that the north of * Indeed a good reafon mav be given for the apparent difference in the fieveral branches of the old Celtic. In this language, words are declined by changing the initial letters, or by prefixing an article with an apeftrophe. By tfaefe means, words are fo altered, that a fuperficial obferver may confound the radical letters, with thofe which are added for the fake of expreffing different relations. Thus the Brit- ifh word pen fignifies, a head ; pen gvr, a man's head ; i ben, his head ; i pken, her head ; y'm mhen, my head. This by the wav is no contemptible evidence that the Britifh was derived from die Phenician or Hebrew, in the latter of which, words are declined by prefixes, as well as fuffixes. For the difference between the Irifh and Britifh, Lluyd aHTigns other rcaions. The anceftors of the Irifh and High- land Scots, whp were called Guydelians, might have been the original Celts, who firff inhabited Britain ; and the Cytori or Welfh, another race, or a branch rftlie Celtic Cimbri, might, either by colonization orconqueft, take pof- fefllbn of Britain, and introduce a very different dialeci of /he fame radical language. The Irifh language might be fomewhat changed by Cahtahrian words, imported by the Scots from Spain ; and the Cymraeg or Britifh might fuffer coniidcrable changes during 400 vcars fubjec~rion to the. Ro- mans. See Pre'f. to Mallet's North, Antic], page 42. DISSERTATION I. 5* of Ireland was firffc peopled by emigrations from Scotland, and the famenefs of their language renders this opinion probable. But whence do. the Scots derive their ori- gin ? The mod probable account of the Settlement of Scotland is, that it was peo- pled from Norway or fome other northern country, by a tribe of thofe nations that went under the general denomination of Scythians - y for Scot and Scythian are from the fame root. There are writers, however, who con- tend that Ireland muft have been fettled from Spain, for there are many Spanifh words found in the language of the coun- try. But the number of thefe is too in- confiderable to render the argument con- clufive. Within a few years, an attempt has been made to trace the origin of the Irifli nation, to the Carthaginians. The au- thor of a imall work, entitled " An Effay on the Antiquities of Ireland," has exam- ined, in a play of Plautus, the Punic fpeech which has the marks of being the genuin language of Carthage, and has collated it with the ancient Iriih. In this fpeech P z there 52 DISSERTATION I. there is a furprifing affinity between the languages. [B] But without running into a field of conjecture, it is fufricient for my purpofe to obferve, that the Irifh, the Erfe, and the language fpoken on the Ifle of Man, are indifputably the lame, and mull have been very ancient : That the Wellh, the Corn-, ifh, and the Armoric are now a diftincr. language, and unqueftionably the remains of the Celtic, or that language which was common to Gaul and Britain, when they were invaded by Julius Cefar. The Irifh and the Britifh may be as dirtinct. as the Hebrew and the Britifh, and yet a critical etymologift may difcover in both, common radicals enough to convince him that both are the offspring of the fame parent. Hitherto our refearches have thrown but little light upon the prefent Englifh language. For the fubftance of this we mull look to the Saxon branch of the Teu- tonic* The * " Erat autem ilia Anglo-Saxonum lingua antiquae Teu- tonic* propago, (nifi antiqua? Gothica; ieu Geticas potius dixeris, unde forfan ipfa Teutonica duxerit originem) ut et Francica ilia in Gallium advccta, et hodierna Germanica, Belgica, Danica, Suevica, Boruificaj aiixque affines liu-^ DISSERTATION I $3 The Teutones and Goths or Geta? were the nations that inhabited the north of Europe. They were in a rude ftate and had no hiftorical records by which their de- fcent could be afcertained. They however had a clafs of men under the denomina- tion of Scalds or Bards, whofe bufinefs it was to recount in verfe the illuftrious ac- tions of their heroes, and to preferve their traditions. Thefe Scalds all agree that their anceftors came from the eail $* and it is well known alfo that Herodotus men- tions the Germans as a Perfian people.^ It is probable that they extended their fet- tlements gradually^ or were driven from Alia by the Roman invafions under Pom- pey, during the reign of Mithridates, and under the conduct of Odin, their hero and lawgiver, eftablimed themfelves on the ihores of the Baltic. From thefe nations proceeded thofe fierce and numerous warriors, who, under dif- ferent leaders invaded and fubdued all the fouthern parts of Europe ; changed the government, the manners and the language of * Mallet's North. Antiq. cc AAAoi os Tiipcroii «z DISSERTATION I. guage, by which means very eminent writ- ers have been led into miftakes. 2. It has been remarked that the com- mon people, defcendants of the Saxons, life principally words derived from the na- tive language of their anceftors, with few derivatives from the foreign tongues, for which they have no occafion. This facl. fuggefts the impropriety of writing fer- mons, or other difcourfes defigned for gen- eral ufe, in the elevated Englifh ftile. To adapt a ftile to common capacities, the language mould confift, as much as pofli- ble, of Saxon words, or of Latin and French derivatives which are introduced into fa- miliar difcourfe. The modern tafte for in- troducing uncommon words into writings, for rounding periods, and rifmg in to'^ what is falfely called the elegant and fublime ftile, has had an unhappy effect in rendering language obfcure or unintelligible.* 3. The * A remarkable example of this kind of ftile, we have in Elphinftone's principles of the Englifh Language. The author has taken great pains to be obfcure, and has iucceeckd to admiration. Of this kind of ftile, the reader may fee afpecimen in the following paflage, taken from Young's fpirit of Athens. iPagc 6. "Surely, DISSERTATION I. 6* j 3. The number and perfection of the languages from which the Englifh is coU lecled, muft account for its copioufnefs and the multitude of fynonimous words with which it abounds. A primitive unmixed language rarely contains two words of the fame ngnifica-p tion. On the contrary, rude nations often life one word to exprefs feveral ideas, which have fome refemblance or analogy to each other, in the confHtution of things. From "Surely, in every mind, there is an emulation of virtuous fuperiority, which, however fortune or the meaner pafhons may hebitate its powers, Mill, at every example of fuccefs in the particular object, of its predilection, glows into a mo- mentary flame, which from frequent refufcitation may ac- quire a {lability and ftrength fufBcient to reach at the at- tainment of what, at firfl, was regarded folely as matter of admiration ; the idea of imitation which hath thus enraptur- ed the fancy? may in times of perilous crifis fomewhat ele- vate the mind and influence the conduct ; and if (uch ever may be the effect, what other lecture can ballance the utili- ty of that, which thus animates the man, and urges him to noble and diiinterefted fervices in a good, great and public paufe." The author could hardly have invented an arrangement, better calculated to oblcure hjs meaning. It is faid ofMoliere, that before he would fuffera new plav of his to be acted, he read it to an old woman, and judged, by | the effeft it had upon her, what reception it would meet with on the itage. It is a pitv, fome modem writer^ dp not copy the example. 64 DISSERTATION I From the poverty of a language pro- ceed repetitions of the fame word, to ex- prefs an idea with particular force, or in the fuperlative degree. Hence the Hebraifms, as they are called, of the Bible ; to rejoice with joy -, to fear with great fear. This mode of fpeaking is frequent among all nations whofe languages are imperfect.. But the Englifh, on the other hand, a- bounds with fynonimous terms, fo that a repetition of words is generally unnecefTary, even when there is a neceflity of repeat- ing the idea in the fame fentence. This copioufnefs, while it affords great advantages to a judicious writer, may alfo be abufed, and become the caufe of a pro- lix verbofe ftile. Inftances of this fault occur in almoft every author ; it is one of the greater!:, as well as moft frequent faults in writing, and yet has fcarcely been cenfured by critics.* There are indeed but few inftances in which two or three words exprefs prccifely the ' *Dr. Blair has made a few excellent remarks on this fault, under the article Precifwn, Le&ure 10. I do not re- member to have icen any other criticifms upon this fub- jcft. DISSERTATION I. 65 the fame idea; but there are many inflances of words conveying nearly the fame fenfe, which are thrown together by carelefs writers without the leaft occafion. Take for example a pafTage of Mr. Addifon's Cato: «* So the pure, limpid ftream, when foul with fains Of rufhing torrents and defcending rains, Works itfelf clear and as it runs refines, Till by degrees the floating mirror fhines." Pure and limpid are here too nearly fy~ nonimous to be applied to the fame object. The fame objection lies to the ufe of "foul with ftains" Between working clear and refining^ there is perhaps no difference in idea : And the arrangement in the fecond line is objectionable, for the confequence is placed before the caufe ; rujhing torrents being the confequence of defcending rains. Such an affemblage of fynonimous words clogs and enfeebles the expreffion, and fa- tigues the mind of the reader. Writers of an inferior clafs are particularly fond of crouding together epithets. If they would defcribe a man they hate, he is a low, vile, mean, defpicable, contemptible fellow. If they would defcribe a man of an amiable character, he is the mofl kind, humane, lov- ing, tender^ affectionate being imaginable. E Epithets, 66 DISSERTATION I. Epithets, fo liberally beftowed, confufe cur ideas and leave the mind without any dif- tincl knowlege of the character. [E ] To a copioufnefs of language, on the other hand, may be afcribed the decline of action in fpeaking, and the want of an- imation. When nations have but few words to exprefs their ideas, they have re- courfeto figures, to fignificant tones, looks and geftures, to fupply the defect. Hence the figurative language of the Orientals of antiquity j hence the imagery of the Cale- donian Bard ;* the bold metaphorical lan- guage of the American natives, and the expreflive tones and gefliculations that at- tend their fpeaking. To this caufe alfo muft we afcribe the mufic of the Greek language, and the ac- tion which accompanied the rehearfals on the flage. What was the effect of neceffi- ty at firft, became afterwards a matter of art. This was the origin of the panto- mime. Modern operas are alfo an imita- tion of the ancient mufical rehearfals of the theater. -f But * OssiAN. ■f See Blair, Lc&tire G, and Condiilac, in his Effay on the Origin of Human Know icge. The dancing of David, and others, DISSERTATION I. 67 !But as languages become rich and fur- *iifh words for communicating every idea, action muft naturally ceafe. Men will not give themfelves the pain of exerting their limbs and body to make themfelves under- ftood, when a bare opening of their lips will anfwer the purpofe. This may be afligned as one principal caufe of the de- cline of eloquence in modern ages, partic- ularly among the Ehgliih. To the fame caufe, in part, may We af- cribe the difference in the French and Eng- lifh manner of fpeaking. It is a common obfervation, that the French ufe more ac- tion and are more animated in converfa- tion, than the Englifh. The caufe ufually afligned, is, the natural vivacity of the French nation j which appears to me not fatisfaclorv ; for the Germans, who refem- ble others, mentioned in the Old Teftament, was a folemn ex- ercife, in which attion was joined with words to expreis 1- deas. It is faid to have been a difpute between Cicero and Rofcius, whether the former could exprefs an idea by a greater variety of words, or the latter by a greater variety of rcflure. " Satis conftat, contendere eum (Ciceronem> rum ipfo hillrione (Rofcio) folitum, utrum ille faepius ean- dem fententiam variisgeftibusefficeret, an ipfe per elnquen- riae copiam fermone diverfo pvonunciarec."- Macrob. Saturn- 2. 10. E 2 68 DISSERTATION I. ble the French, in fome degree, in their manner of fpeaking, are neverthelefs a more grave people than the Englifti. I suspect that the difference may in part be thus accounted for. The French, tho by no means a barren language, wants words to exprefs many ideas, for which the Englifti is provided. For example, the Englifti has two forms for the future tenfe of verbs ; Jhall and will j each of which has a diftinct meaning. Shall exprefles event in the firfl perfon, and promife, command or threatning in the fecond and third. Will, in the firft perfon, promifes -, in the fecond and third, foretells. The French has no fuch diftincliion. The phrafe je hi pay erai, the only form of the future, cannot convey fuch diftinct mean- ings, as promife and events unlefs accompa- nied with fome expreflive tone or gefture. A Frenchman therefore, to exprefs the force of the Englifh, / will pay, muft fupply the want of a diftincl: word by action, or have recourfe to a circumlocution. The fame remark holds with refpect to would and Jhould, which, in a variety of combinations, retain diflincl fignifications. The French has properly but one word, plume, for the three Englifti words, feather, pen DISSERTATION I. 69 pen and quill. Its verbs have not fuch a variety or combinations to exprefs the pre- cife time of an action as the Englifh. J V- cris is the only phrafe for the Englifh, / write and / am writing, which have diftincl: ufes j and I do not know whether there is any phrafe ufed in French which will ex- actly correfpond with the Englifh phrafes anfwering to the inceptive verb of the Ro- mans, jT am going to write, or, am about writing.* This folution of a difficulty, which has occurred to many people, in comparing the manners * I cannot think the French devenir prefixed to a verb anfwers exattly to both thefe Englifh forms. The defi- ciency of the French in this refpeft, may be obferved in the following paffage : " S'il eft vrai que vous aimiez la juftice, & que vous al- liez en Crete pour apprendre les loix du bon roi Minos, n'- endurcifTez point votre coeur contre mes foupirs & contre mes larmes."— — Telemaque, Liv. 4. If we tranllate the paffage thus : "If it is true that you love juftice and go to Crete," &c. we lofe the force of the verb alliez ; for the fenfe is evidently, are going, are now on your journey. " If it is true that you love juftice and are going to Crete," &c. In French the verbs aimiez and alliez are both in the fame tenfe, and have the fame form of conftruftion ; in Englifh the verbs mould be in; the fame tenfe, but have different forms of conftruftion. In French the force of alliez is collected from the fenfe of the paffage ; but in Englifh, it is expreffed by a particular conftruftion. E 2 7 o DISSERTATION I. manners of the Englifh and French, may not be the true one j but it appears ration- al. Other caufes alio have a material influence upon eloquence, particularly the form of government and the ftate of focie- ty. In thefe refpects England and France may not be fo favorable to the cultivation of oratory, as were the republics of Greece and Rome. But if a free government is the beft foil for the growth of eloquence, why fhould it flourifh in France rather than in England, which is faid to be the fact with refpect to pulpit eloquence ? The genius of the nation may have its effect ; but it is prefumed, the ftate of the lan- guage may be confidered as an auxiliary caufe, if not a principal. From the foregoing hiftory of the lan- guage, we learn the caufes of its incorrect orthography. The Saxon characters, fome of which were Roman, both in fliape and power, while others were peculiar to the language, continued in uie till the four- teenth century. Thefe were afterwards laic} afide for the Old Englifli characters, as they are ufually called ; which were introduced with the art of printing from Germany,* and ♦On the firfl invention of printing, letters were cut in wood and fixed. They were afterwards engraved upon metal, DISSERTATION I. ? i and continued in ufe, till within a century. But both the Saxon and German letters were much inferior to the Roman in the fimplicity and elegance of their form ; for which reafon moll of the European na- tions have rejected their primitive charac- ters and adopted the Roman.* In changing the characters of an alpha- bet, as well a^> in expreffing the founds of one language by letters of an other, fome difficulty will often arife from the want of a perfect correfpondence between the true founds of letters in both. Altho there is, and muff, be, a great Uniformity in the ar- ticulate founds of all men, yet there are al- fo differences peculiar to each nation, which others have not proper characters to ex- prefs. Thus the Romans, when they would exprefs the found of the Greek 9 and of P£, for want of fuitabie characters, wrote ih metal, (til! fixed. The third ftage of improvement was the calling of moveable types. It is probable that this was a. work of labor and expenfc ; and it muft have been a long time, before they call more than one kind of character. Hence ;hc German character was ufed in England, *Tme Germans ;md Dutch are exceptions: They ule their old characters in their own language ; but they ufe the Latin character and lanaiacre in works \& ieience. 7 z DISSERTATION L th and ch. We conclude from this cir- cumflance, that the Greek found of the former was that of / followed by an afpi- rate, and the latter, that of k with an af- pirate. Yet it is very probable that the (bunds were guttural in Greek, and not exactly reprefented by the Latin combina- tions th and ch. Thus two Saxon characters are repre- fented in modern Englifh, by the Latin combination th, as in think, thou. Thefe Saxon characters were fmgle letters and had diftinct powers. We preferve the dif- tinction of founds to this day, but are fub- ject to. the inconvenience of having no mark by which the eye can difcern that diftin&ion. On the other hand,yZ> was ufually writ- ten by the Saxons^?, as fceaft, fhaft ;fceam x fhame ; fceal, fhall. What was the pro- nunciation of fc cannot be determined ; but it is evident that each letter had a dif- tinct found. It is moft probable that be- fore a, o, and u,fc were pronounced^, or e might have had the force of ch in choofe. It is very clear that c had this found be-* fore.* and * - y for the Saxon words in which cb now precede e or /, were formerly fpelt with DISSERTATION I. n with c only j as child from the Saxon did; chill from cele -, chink from cinnon, to gape 5 c£/c£ from cicen. If therefore c before e and i had the force of ch, fieaft muft have been pro- nounced fcheaft y which would eafily be foft- ened down and contracted into Jhaft, But whatever was the found of fc in the Saxon, the found derived from it is now fimple, and has no fingle character to rep- refent it in our language ; for the proper founds of f and h combined, do not form the found which we invariably annex to Jh. By not retaining the primitive Saxon c after f y we have probably loft the pronun- ciation and introduced an irregularity. It is not certain however that a change of the alphabet was prior to the change of pronunciation -, for the latter might have produced the former. But the effect is certain ; we have a fimple found without a proper character, which is always an im- perfection.* We have therefore in Englifh the two founds of thy the afpirate in think, and the vocal in this, both of which are fimple con- fonant * This may be fupplied by uniting the two chara&ersy and h in one, and naming the combination EJk% 74 DISSERTATION I. fcnant founds, peculiar to the language, and derived from two Jingle characters. Each ought ftill to be reprefented by a dif- tinct. fingle letter. Sb, on the other hand, cxprefs a fimple found, derived from two feparate Saxon confonants, which muft have been originally pronounced as two letters. Thefe irregularities muft have been partly owing to a change of alpha- bet* Other irregularities have been occa- fioned by an injudicious application of the. letters of one alphabet to the founds of an- other language. The Roman c fome writers fuppofe was hard, like k, before all the vowels and diph- thongs. It certainly was fo before all except e and i j where, there is reafon to fuppofe, it had the found of ch or ts. It is very ev- ident that it had not the found ofy* which we now annex to it in civil, cellar. When the Roman alphabet, therefore, took place of the primitive English characters, the Greek k fhould have been always written before * The Germans, who invented printing, had not proper types for the two Saxon or Englifh characters ; they there- fore made ufe of th as a fubfhtute fur both, which doTeft wc have cot yet fapplkd. DISSERTATION I. 75 Lefore a, 0, #, as in <:#/, cord, cup ; and / before e and /'. Or c fhould have been called ke, limited to one found, and always ufed inftead of k. If our anceftors had re- tained the Roman pronunciation of c be- fore e and /, they would probably have fpelt cera, civilis, chera, chi r oilis* ch having its Englifh found of tfh, as in charm. But if they pronounced thefe words as we do, they mould have fubfritutedy^ fera,fi a cilis. In ihort, they mould have limited every character to one found ; in which cafe, one of the three letters, c, k, /, would have been entirely omitted as ufelefs. This would have delivered us from a large clafs of dif- ficulties. Whether the ph and ch, in Greek de- rivatives, were originally introduced into Englifh, becaufe our anceftors preferred the afpirate j or whether the h was retain- ed merely to fhow the etymology of words, if. is not eafy to decide. The probability is, that thefe letters were never afpirated in Engliih, but that ph has ever been pro- nounced /^ and ch generally k ; as in Phil- ip, chorus. It is probable however that the Romans, from whom the Englifh borrow- ed their characters, preferred the afpirate; for f Or tfera, tfivilia. 76 DISSERTATION I. for they very fcrupuloufly retained the b after p and c ; and they attempted to copy exactly the Greek pronunciation.* They borrowed all words in pb y ch and tb from the Greeks. We have preferved the char- acters, but have moftly loll the afpirate ; j>b has invariably the found of f ; cb, m Greek derivatives, generally that of k ; and th has become the reprefentative of two fimple confonants. With this change of pronunciation, the orthography fhould have changed ; philofophy mould now be written Jilofofy j and chorus, korus ; tb might become a fingle character and be called Eth. [F] But it was the fate of our language to be fhaken by violent revolutions, and aban- doned to accident or the caprice of un- lkillful heads. The operation of imper- ceptible * "Eundem olim (ph)tevMVci habuiffe ac/ infcriptiones veteres confirmant, in quibus alterum pro altero promifcue adhiberi cernimus : ut phiddis" (pro fidelis.)— — Middle- ton de Lat. Liter. Pron. Dif. Our letter/ has fome degree of afpiration in its found ; but had its orginal Roman found been precifely that of the Greek phi, it is probable that/ would have been whol- ly ufed in derivatives where the phi occurred. I fufpeft that ph in Latin mud have been originally more ftrongly afpirated than/; but the tranfition from the found of the one to that of the other was eafv,and the diftin&ion was 3 rad- ually loft. DISSERTATION I. 77 ceptible caufes, common to all languages, in all ages, has alfo been gradually chang- ing the fpelling and pronunciation. In Chaucer's time, the infinitive mode and plural number of verbs, in the prefent tenfe, ended often in en j as loven, for to love or they love. But loveth was fome- times ufed in the plural, and n began to be omitted in the infinitive. The French termination ejfe, as in Goddeffe, richeffe, was ufed, and the final e was often pronounced. The plural number of nouns ufually end- ed in es, as houndes j and in the fame man- ner terminated the genitive cafe. Nouns now ending in y, ended then in ie, asjlorie ; y was frill prefixed to participles, as ybent ; and y was often ufed where we now write gt as yeve for give. From that period the orthography was ftill varying, at leafl in fome particulars, till the beginning of the prefent centu- ry. The group of eminent writers who were cotemporary with Swift, gave great (lability to the fpelling -, yet fome good au- thorities differ from them in feveral points. Johnfon, who has been ufually followed by Succeeding compilers of dictionaries, pre- ferves the u in honour, favour ', and fimilar words ; 78 DISSEPvTATION I. words ; as alfo the final k in publick, Scci Am, followed by many writers, very prop- erly reflores thefe words to the Roman fpell- ing, by omitting the u and k. Excepting thefe particulars, the orthography of our language is nearly fixed. The pronunciation has been neglected till a few years ago ; when Sheridan and Kenrick, with feveral compilers of lefs note, attempted to give us a ftandard. Unluck- ily they have all made the attempt on falfe principles j and will, if followed, multiply the anomalies, which already deform the language and embarrafs the learner.* The language, is compofed of a va- riety of materials, and it requires fome labor to adjufl the parts and reduce them to order. To accomplifli this purpofe, we mufl fearch for fuch principles of analogy as {till exift in its conftruclion, and make them the pillars of a regular fyftem. Where fuch principles cannot be found, let us examin * We may except Kenrick, who has paid fome regard to principles, in marking the pronunciation. DISSERTATION I. 79 cxamin the opinions of the learned, and the practice of the nations which fpeak the pure Englifh, that we may determine by the weight of authority, the common law of language, thofe questions which do not come within any eftablifhed rules. DISSERTATION \ x DISSERTATION II. Of the Englijh Alphabet. — Rules of Pronun- ciation. — Differences of Pronunciation and controverted Points examined. *<>*>o<>QOQQQQ&W0Q9**><><~"~ Of the ENGLISH ALPHABET. ROM a general hiftory of the Englifh language, and fome remarks upon that fubjecl:, I proceed to exam- in its elements, or the pow- ers of the letters which compofe our alphabet. There are in Englifh, twenty five char- acters or letters which are the reprefenta- tives of certain founds, either iimple or combined ; a, b, c, d, e, f, g, i, j, k, 1, m, n, o, p, q, r, f, t, u, v, w, x, y, z. The Englifh have alfo the character />, which E marks 82 DISSERTATION II. marks an afpiration or flrong breathing, but has very little found of its own. [G] Letters, according to the founds they reprefent, or the purpofes they ferve, are very naturally divided into three kinds -, vowels , dip t ho figs ^ and confonants. In order to obtain clear ideas of our alphabet, let us attend to the following definitions : i. A vocal found, formed by opening the mouth, and by a fingle pofition of the organs of fpeech, is a fimple found or vow- el. Moil of the vowels in Englifh are ca- pable of being prolonged at pleafure, with- out varying the pofition of the organs. 2. No more than one fimple found can be formed by one aperture of the mouth,, and one pofition of the organs of fpeech. The only difference that can be made with the fame pofition of the organs, is, to pro- long and fhorten the fame found. 3 . Two fimple founds, clofely united in pronunciation, or following each other {o rapidly that the diftinction is fcarcely per- ceptible, form a dipthong. In pronoun- ci:ig DISSERTATION II. 83 fcing a dipthong, two pofitions of the parts of the mouth are required* 4. Those letters which are not marks of articulate founds, but reprefent indiftincl: founds, formed by fome contact of the parts of the mouth, or by comprefTmg thofe parts, check all found, are denominated confonants» By the firft definition we afcertain the number of vowels in Englifh. In pro- 143110a nouncing each of the letters a, a, a, e, o, o, u, we obferve but one pofition or aperture of the mouth ; the founds are therefore fim- ple, and the letters are called vowels. The fix firft founds are capable of being pro- longed at pleafure. By the fecond definition, we determine which founds are the fame in quality, arid different only in the time of being pro- nounced. Thus / mfo has the fame qual- ity of found as ee hi feet , for both are pro- nounced with the fame difpofition of the organs 5 but the firft is the fhorteft artic- ulation of the found, and the laft, a long or grave articulation. The other vowels have talfo their fhort or abrupt founds ; a in late F 2 has 8 4 DISSERTATION II. has its fhort found in let -, a in cart has its fhort found in carry ; a in fall has its fhort found in folly -, oo in fool its fhort found in full. O is fometimes fhortened in common parlance, as in colt ; but the diftinction between o in coal and colt, feems to be accidental or caufed by the final con- fonant, and not fufhciently fettled or im- portant to require a feparate confideration. By the third definition we are enabled to afcertain the dipthongs in our lan- guage. The letters *, u and y are ufually clafTed among the vowels -, but the firft or long found of each requires, in pronuncia- tion, two pofitions of the organs of fpeech, or rather a tranfition from the pofition neceffary to form one fimple found, to the pofition neceffary to form another fim- ple found. We begin the found of i near- ly with the fame aperture of the glottis, as we do the broad a or aw : The aperture however is not quite fo great : We rapidly clofe the mouth to the pofition where we pronounce ee, and there flop the found. This letter is therefore a dipthong. T has no property but what belongs to /. U also is not flri&ly a vowel ; nor is it, as it is commonly represented, compofei of DISSERTATION II. S 5 of e and oo. We do not begin the found in the pofition neceffary to found ee, as is obvious in the words fa lute, falubrious, rev- olution 3 but with a greater aperture of the mouth and with a pofition perfectly eafy and natural. From that pofition we pals to the pofition with which we pronounce oo, and there dole the found. It muft however be obferved that when thefe letters, /, u, are followed by a confo- nant, the two founds of the dipthong are not clearly diftinguifnable. We do not, in fight, hear the found of ee -, nor the found of oo in cube. The confonant compreffes the organs and clofes the found of the word fo fuddenly, that the ear can diftin- guifh but a fimple vocal found : And not- withstanding thefe letters are dipthongs, when confidered by themfelves, yet in com- bination with confonants, they are often marks of fimple founds or vowels. The fhort found of i and y, is merely fhort* ee. The found of u in tun, is a fep- arate vowel, which has no affinity to any other found in the language. The found of oi or oy is dipthongal, compofed of the third or broad a, and ee. The 86 DISSERTATION IL The found of ou or ow is alfo dipthongal, compounded of third a and oo. The found however does not require quite fo great an aperture of the mouth as broad a ; the po- fition is more natural, and the articulation requires lefs exertion. The union of a and w in law, has been very erroneouily conhdered a dipthong. Whatever might have been the ancient pronunciation of thefe letters (and it is probable that good reafons operated to produce their union) they now exhibit but one fimple vocal found. The fame may be obfervcd of te r oo, au, at, ea, ei, ie, eo 9 oa t and perhaps fome other combinations, each of which actually exhibits the found of one letter only, which found is as fimple as that of a or 0.* Under the head of dipthongs we may perhaps range wa, we, wo, wi, &c. /Fhas nearly the fhort found of oo j for will, dwell are pronounced as if written ooill, dooell. It is a controverted point, whether w mould be clafled with the vowels or confonants. I (hall only obferve, that it is pronounced by opening the mouth, without a contact of * Dr. Sheridan has coined a word for thcTc combine, tions ; he «.- '" ! • rraphs, that is, double ^ ntten* DISSERTATION IE S 7 of the parts ; altho, in a rapid pronuncia- tion, it approaches to a confonant. [I] It is however very immaterial, whether we clafs it with the vowels or confonants ; as all grammarians agree that its found is that of 00 fhort. It ought to be named 00 or we j which would fave children much of the trouble they now experience, in learn- ing its proper found from that awkward name double u. The found of y in the beginning of words, is, by fome writers, called a vowel, but by moil of them a confonant. Lowth has alferted, that it has every property of a vowel and not one of a confonant. Sher- idan confiders^y in youth, year, &c. as the fhort ee. But if thefe writers would at- tend to the manner in which we pronounce yes, ye, they would acknowlege that y has fome property different from ee ; for it is very evident that they are not pronounced ee-es, ee-e. The fact is, that in the American pronunciation of y, the root of the tongue is prefied againft the upper part of the mouth, above the palate, more clofely than it is in pronouncing ee, and not fo clolely as in pronouncing g hard. The traniition however from y to ee or to g, is extremely eafy, and hence the miftake that y is fhort ee* SB DISSERTATION II. ee t as alfo the convertibility of y with g. [J} It appears to me that y in the beginning of words, is more clearly a confonant than w. In many words, i has the power of y confonant j particularly after / and n ; as Jilial, union* The vowels therefore in Englifh are all heard in the following words ; late, half, hall, feet, pool, note, tun, fight, truth. The five fxrft. have fhort founds or dupli- cates; which may be heard in let, hat, hot, fit, pull ; and the letters i and u are but accidentally vowek. The pure primitive vowels in Englifh are therefore feven. The dipthongs may be heard in the following words ; lie or defy, due, voice or joy, round or now. To thefe we may add ua in perfuade ; and perhaps the combina- tions of w and the vowels, in well, will, &c. The confonants in Englifh are nine-, teen ; but for want of proper characters, five of them are expreffed or marked by double letters. We annex two founds to th ; one tojh ; one to ng ; and one to Ji or fu } as may be heard in the following words $ think, DISSERTATION II. 89 think, this, fhall, bring, confufion or pleafure. Thde characters fhouid be call- ed, etb, efi, eng, ezh ; and th fhouid have two names, the afpirate as in think, and the vocal as in this - } the latter found might be diftinguifhed by a fmail mark drawn thro ih. This improvement is fo obvious and eafy, and would be fo con- venient for the learners of the language, that I muft . believe it will foon be intro- duced. The confonants may be divided into mutes and femivcwels. When a confonant compreffes the lips, or the tongue and roof of the mouth, fo clofely as to check all found, it is called a perfeB mute : Such are p, k, and /, as may be perceived by pronouncing the fyllables, ep y ek, et. When the com- preflion of the organs is more gentle and does not flop all found immediately, the letters are called mutes ; fuch are /?, d y and g, as may be perceived by pronouncing the fyllables, eb> ed-> eg. When a confonant has an imperfect found, or hifling, which may be continued, after a- contact of the organs, it is denominated a femivowel. Of this kind are ef, el, em, en, er, es, ev, ez, eth,* eth,* efh, ezh, ing. Of thefe, four are •Vocal and afpirate, 90 DISSERTATION II. are afpirates, ef, es, eth, and efh. The otli- ers are vocal, having an imperfect found. The whole may be thus arranged. Perfect mutes p, k, t. Mutes b, d, g. vocal, ~) 1, m, n, r, v, z, th, Semivowels — afpirate, — "i "> &• "J 1, m, n, r, \ > zh,ng, ;, J f, f, th, fh. They may alfo be clafTed according to the manner in which they are formed by the organs : Thus, thofe formed By the lips, are called labials — b, p, f, v. By the teeth, are called dentals — d, t, th, z, f, fh,zh. By the palate, are called palatine — g, k, 1, r. By the nofe, are called nafal — m, n, ng. On the fubjecl; of the alphabet, I have this remark further ; that for want of a proper knowlege of the powers of Jh and tb> fome material errors in printing have obtained in common practice. Sb are u^ fually united in printing, and generally with propriety, for the combination repre- fents a fimple confonant. But in feveral compound words/ and h have been im- properly united, where one is filent or where each retains its own power, as in dishonor, DISSERTATION II. 9 i dishonor, dishonefl, dishabille, hogs- head, houfehold, falfehood, and fome others. The union of Jh in thefe words, is embarrafling, efpecially to children, who are led to pronounce them dijh-onor, dijh- Gneji. This error frill prevails in printing, except in the laff. mentioned word, which is fometimes correctly printed x falfehood. *Fh, tho not united in character, have a tendency to produce, in fome words, a wrong pronunciation. For inftance, we are very apt to fay Wren-tham inftead of Wrent-ham. Hot ham is alfo ambiguous ; there is nothing in the orthography to di- rect us, whether to pronounce it Hot-ham or Ho-tham> altho cuitom decides in favor of the latter. These remarks mow the propriety of attending to our orthography, and of at- tempting to remove caufes of error, when it can be done without much trouble or danger of giving offence. RULES */ PRONUNCIATION, HAVING briefly explained the Englifli alphabet, I proceed to the rules of pronun- ciation. In gz DISSERTATION II. In pronunciation, two things demand our notice ; the proper founds of the vow- els and confonants, and the accent. In pronouncing both vowels and confo- nants, the general rule is, thatfimilar com- binations cf letters jloould be pronounced alike , except when general cujlom has decided other- wife. Thus if i in the words, bind,Jind, mind, has its firfr. found, it ought to have the fame found in other fimilar combina- tions, kind, blind, grind. This is the rule of analogy, the great leading principle that fhould regulate the conftruCtion of all lan- guages. But as languages are not formed at once by fyftem, and are ever expofed to changes, it muft neceffarily happen that there will be in all languages, fome ex- ceptions from any general rule ; fome de- partures from the principle of uniformity. The practice of a nation, when univer- fal or ancient, has, in moil cafes, the force and authority of law ; it implies mutual and general confent, and becomes a rule of propriety. On this ground, fome devia- tions from the analogy of conftruction and pronunciation mull be admitted in all languages. Thus from the analogy al- ready mentioned, wind is an exception ; for general DISSERTATION II. 93 general practice has determined that i mould, in this word, have its fecond or fhort found.* Whether this deviation was admitted at firfl to diftinguifh this word from the verb to wind, or whether there were other good reafons which cannot now be explored, or whether it was merely the work of ignorance or accident, it is un- neceffary to enquire 5 the common con- fent of a nation is fufficient to flamp it with propriety^ Another rule in Englifh, which admits of no exception, is, when the accent falls on a vowel, it is long, as in ho'-ly ; but when the accent falls on a confonant, the preceding vowel is fhort, as mflaf-ter. It is alfo a general rule, that when a confonant clofes a fyllable, the preceding vowel is fhort, as in fan-cy, habit ; altho this rule has its exceptions, as Cam-bridge, dan-ger, and perhaps man-ger. From this rule, the Englifh except alfo angel, ancient. In this all the flandard au- thors *On the ftage, It is fometJmes pronounced with t long, cither for the fake of rhime, or in order to be heard. Mr, Sheridan marks it both ways ; yet in common difcouife he pronounces it with i fhort, as do the nation in genera', 94_ DISSERTATION IL thors agree, except Kenrick and Burn; who mark a in ancient both long and fhort* The Englifh pronunciation is followed in the middle and fouthern ftates ; but the eaftern univerfities have reftored thefe words to the analogy of the language, and give a its fecond found. It is prefumed that no reafon can be given for making thefe words exceptions to the general rule, but prac- tice 3 and this is far from being univerfal, there being many of the beft fpeakers in America, who give a, in the words men- tioned, the fame found as in anguijh, annals, angelic ^ antiquity. The practice of the eaftern univerfities therefore mould be encouraged, rather than difcountenanced 5 as it diminifhes the num- ber of anomalies. I fhall only remark fur- ther, that a in thefe words mufl formerly have had its third or fourth found ; which is evident from the old orthography -, for angel, at leafl:, was fpelt YikQ grant, com- jna?id, &c. aimgely graunt, commaund. In giving a its firft found therefore, the mod- ern Englifh have not only infringed the rule of analogy, but have deviated from former practice. In the word chamber, a has its fourth found. It is neceflary to remark this -, as there DISSERTATION II. 9 $ there are many people in America, who give a its firft found, which is contrary to analogy and to all the Englifh authorities. With regard to accent, that particular flrefs of voice which mould diftinguifh fome fyllable of a word from others, three things are to be confidered ; the importance of the fyllable ; the derivation of the word ; and the terminating fyllable. The importance of a fyllable is difcov- ered by refolving a word into the parts which compofe it, or reducing it to its radicals. Thus fenfible is derived from fenfus in Latin or Jenje in Englifh. The firft fyllable therefore is that on which the meaning of the word principally depends ; the others being an acceflary termination. The firft fyllable then is the moft im- portant and requires the accent. For the fame reafon, admire, compare, de/Iroy, &c. have the accent on the fecond fyllable in preference to the firft -, the laft fyllables being all derived from verbs, and the firft being mere particles.* Another *The moft fignificant words, and confequently the moft important, are nouns and verbs ; then follow adjectives, pronouns, auxiliary verbs and participles. — Panicles are the ieaft important, 96 DISSERTATION II. Another rule for laying the accent of words arifes from derivation. Thus all words that take the terminations ing,ful, lefsj nefs, ed, eft, if, ly, retain the accent on the fyllable where it is laid in their primi- tives} as proceed, proceeding, wonder, wonder* Jul, 6cc. But the mod important article to be confidered in the accentuation of words, is the terminating fyllable. From the differ- ent terminations of words arife various a- nalogies, the moll of which are enumerat- ed in the firil part of my Inflitute. The principle which has operated to produce thefe analogies, is the eafe of fpeaking or the harmony of enunciation. Confequent- ly this principle muft take place of all oth- ers ; and we find that it frequently inter- feres with the two foregoing rules, and reg- ulates practice in oppofition to both. The general rule, grounded on this principle, is, that words, having the fame terminating fyllable, have the accent at the fame diftance from that termination. Thus all words ending in tion, flon, cion, cial f cian, have the accent on the laft fyllable but one j* and this without any regard to derivation *I consider thcfe terminations as Tingle fyllabl«s# DISSERTATION II. 9; derivation or to the number of fyllables in the word. Thus moil words in ty, if they confifi of more Syllables than two, have the ac- cent on the antepenult ; as probity, ubfurd^ ity, probability. I recollect but tv/o excep- tions, viz. commonalty, admiralty ; the accent of which is laid upon the firft fyllabie, as in their primitives.* But let us obferve the force of the larl rule, in oppofition to the others. Mortal has the accent on the firft fyllabie. Here the firn: rule takes place, for the nrft fylla- bie, having mors, death, for its root, is the mod important. But the derivative, mor- tality, conforms to the analogy of words ending in ty and has the accent on the laif fyllabie but two. That the eafe or har- mony of pronunciation, is the caufe of this change of accent, will be evident to any perfon who fhall attempt to pronounce words of this clafs, with the accent on anv other fyllabie than the antepenult. Most * Such is the tendency of people to uniformity, that the fcvimonatly, for the moft part, form the word regularly, and pronounce it commonality. Analogy requires that both thele words fhould end in ity ; but cuftom has eftablifhed them 3s exceptions. ■G 98 DISSERTATION II. Most of thefe rules admit a few excep- tions> which are to be learnt by practice. Cuftom has made fome inroads upon the rules of uniformity, and caprice is ever bufy in multiplying anomalies. Still, rules will be of great fervice in afcertaining and fixing our language -, for tho they may not root out old errors, they may prevent the introduction of others. But befides the principal accent, there is, in moft polyfyllables, an inferior accent laid on the third or fourth fyllable from the principal. Indeed in fome words, the two accents are fo nearly equal, as to be fcarcely diflinguifhable. It is denied by fome critics that there are more accents than one, in any word. But the compofition of words, and the eafe of fpeaking, both require a plurality of accent in a very great number of inltances ; and our ears inform us that fuch a plu- rality actually exifls in practice. If a man will alTert that in fuch words as defignation, exaltation, there is but one fyllable diftin- guifhed from the others by a fuperior ftrefs of voice, he rauft deny the evidence of fenfe, and would not liilen to argument. I MUST DISSERTATION II. 99 I must however remark that mod, if not all fyllables, derived from fome impor- tant word, have fome degree of accent z*. So that in compounds, there are ufually as many accents as radicals. Thus in fancJi*- fy, which is compofed of two radicals, janftus and jib, we obferve two accents ; the ftrongeft on the firft fyllable. The fame may be obferved in magnanimity, from magnus and animus ; in promogeniture, &c. except that in thefe the principal accent is on the third fyllable. Notwithstanding it is a general rule, that there are as many accents in a word, as radicals, yet one of them at leaft is fre- quently removed from the principal fylla- ble, by the analogy of termination, which prevails over all other reafons. Thus in mathematics, the two accents lie on the proper fyllables ; but in mathematician, the laft accent is removed to a lefs important place. In imperceptible, the principal ac- cent, *Fkom this remark we muff except Fome derivative."? from the Greek ; as geography, philology, antithelis, hy- pothecs, &c. which have but one accent. Etymology re- quires thefe words to be accented on the firft and third fylla- bles ; but the genius of the language, or the analogy of termi- nation has prevailed over etymological reafons. Etymology however refumes her rights in the derivative?, geographical, philological, &c. where each radical fyllable is diftinguiihed dv an accent, G2 ioo DISSERTATION 11 cent, with propriety, lies on the third fylla> ble, which being derived from a verb (ca~ pio) is the rnofr. important. The particle im> being the privative, or that fyllable which changes the meaning of the whole word from affirmative to negative, becomes important and has fome degree of accent. But in the derivative imperceptihility, while the firfl and third fyllables retain an accent, the analogy of termination carries the prin- cipal accent to the fifth fyllable, which is adventitious and lefs important than the others.* In many compounds, as, earth-quake t rain-bow, each fyllable is pronounced with the ftrefs that belongs to accented fyllables > and there is little or no diftindlion of ac- cent. The reafon is obvious : There is no difference in the importance of the fyl-* lables ; both are equally neceffary to con- vey the idea. By giving one fyllable the whole *To prove the utility of accent in marking the fignifica- fion of words, it is only neceffary to advert to the two Tvords omijjion and commijjion. Thele words have the ac- cent on the fecond fyllable ; but when weufe them by way of contra ft, we lay a ftrong accent on the firft fyllable of each, by which the oppolition of fenfe is diftinguiihed. * ; Sins of o' million and com' million." Thus when we ufe the word regain, we often lay an accent on re almoft equal to that on gain ; becaufe the fenfe of the word depends «H>ch, or rather wholly, on the particle. DISSERTATION II. ioi whole accent, fuch a word lofes its original meaning, or at leafl its force, as may be obferved in the word huffy > a corruption of houfe-wife ; which, from an affectation of a unity of accent, and a hafty pronunciation, has funk into a low word. From the fame ridiculous affectation, work-houfe is, by fome people, pronounced work-tts. On this head, I mail only obferve^ fur- ther, that fome words of many fyllables have three accents ; of which we have an example in val'etu dinar ian. It has been already remarked that the compofition of words, and the eafe of fpeaking, require a plurality of accent. The reafon why words of many fyllables have two or three accents, is plain to any man that attempts to pronounce them without an accent. We cannot pronounce more than two unaccented fyllables with perfect eafe -, but four or five can hardly be articulated with- out an intervening accent. We glide over the unaccented fyllables with fuch rapid- ity, that we have hardly time to place the organs in a pofition to articulate them. The difficulty is in proportion to the num- G; ber ; io2 DISSERTATION II. ber : So that after palling over two or three, the voice very naturally refts or falls forceably upon a particular fyllable. Hence the words moft difficult to be pronounced, are thofe of four fyllables, accented on the nrft j as figurative^ literature^ applicable* The difficulty is very great, when the middle fyllables abound with confonants 1 even in triffyllables, as ag'grandize j but is itfelf a fufficient reafon for not accenting the nrft fyllable of fuch words as accepta- ble and refraBory. When one of the words which have the accent on the firlt, and three fucceeding unaccented fyllables, is followed by two or three particles, the pafTage is weak and often occafions hefita-. tion in a fpeaker ; as " applicable to the af- fairs of common life." A remarkable inftance of this, we find in Prieftiey's Preface to Letters to a Philofophical Unbeliever j " Whether of a pleajureablc cr of a painful nature." In this example there are fix weak fyllables following each other without interruption, and fuch pailages are not reduceable to any kind of poetic feet. This aflemblage of unimportant fyllables makes a hiatus in language, which fhould, as far as poflible, be avoided by a writer -, for the melody of prof;* DISSERTATION II. 103 profe confifts in a proper mixture of im- portant and unimportant fyllables.*[K] DIFFERENCES of PRONUNCIATION W CONTROVERTED POINTS EX- AMINED. HAVING laid down fome general rules reflecting pronunciation, I proceed to ex- amin local differences, and the moil mate- rial points of controverfy on this fubjecl:. In the eaftern ftates, there is a practice prevailing among the body of the people, of prolonging the found of / in the termi- nation ive. In fuch words as motive, rela- tive, &c. the people, excepting the more polifhed part, give i its firfl found. This is a local practice, oppofed to the general pronunciation * In the following paflage, alliteration or the fimilarity of the weak fyllables, has a very bad effecL " We tread, as withi'w an enchanted circle, where nothing appears as it truly is." .Blair Serm. 9. A difficulty of pronunciation is obvious in the fol- lowing fentence, " This caution while it admirably protects the public liberty, can never bear hard upon individuals." Change the accent from the firft to the iecond iyllable of admirably, and the difficulty vanilhes. H And yet the labyrinth is more admirable, than the Py- ramids." Tranf. of Herodotus, Euterpe. 704 DISSERTATION IL pronunciation of the Englifh on both fide^ of the atlantic, fometimes to the rules of ac- cent, and always to derivation. In difTyl- lables, as motive, aftive, the genius of our language requires that the accent fhould be laid on one fyllable, and that the other fhould be fhort.* But by prolonging i in the lafc, the diftinction of accent is total- ly deitroyed. In polyfyllables, which often have two accents, this reafon has lefs force, but the derivation, which is from the French mo~ tij\ rclatify always requires that i in the termination ive fhould have the found of ee fhort, as in live, give. This is merely the fhort found of the French t, and the confequence of the Englifh accent on the firft fyllable. Thefe reafons, with the au- thority of the moft approved practice, fhould operate to difcountenance the fin- eular drawlinsr pronunciation of the eaft- cm people. -f* The * Except compounds, as earthquake, hokcafc. + The final e mull be confidered as the caufe of this vul- var dialect. It is vvifhed that fome bold genius would dare to be right, and ipell this clafs of words without e, motiv. 2jV reafon of an embarrafling orthography, one half the trouble of learning Englifh, is bellowed in acquiring enors, and correcting them after they are formed into habits. To prevent the continuance of this erroneous practice, I have. in the nrft part of the lnflitute, diftinguifhed the filcnt e, by an Italic chara&er, DISSERTATION I. 105 The fame reafons are oppofed to anoth- er local practice of a fimilar nature in the middle ftates ; where many people pro- nounce praffife, prejudice* with 9 long. I know of no authority for this beyond the limits of two or three ftates ; and it is clear that the practice is not warranted by any principle in the language. Another very common error, among the yeomanry of America, and particularly in New England, is the pronouncing of e before r, like a ; as marcy for mercy. This miftake muft have originated principally in the name of the letter r, which, in moil of our fchool books, is called ar. This fingle miftake has fpread a falfe pronunciation of feveral hundred words, among millions of people.* To avoid this difagreeable Angularity fome fine fpeakers have run into another extreme, by pronouncing e before r, like u, murcy. This is an error. The true found of the fhort e, as in let, is the correct and elegant pronunciation of this letter in all words of this clafs. There * To remedy the evil, in fome degree, this letter is named tr, in the Inftitute. In a few inftanccs this pronunciation is become general among polite fpeakers, as clerks, fer- geant, &c. 106 DISSERTATION II. There is a vulgar fingularity in the pronunciation of the eaflern people, which is very incorrect, and difagreeable to ftran- ger's ; that of prefixing the found of/ fhort or e, "before the dipthong ow ; as kiow, piower or peower. This fault ufually occurs after p, c hard, or thofe other confonants which are formed near the feat of ee in the mouth, or in palling from which to the fucceeding vowel, the organs naturally take the pofi- tion necefTary to pronounce ee. But the moil awkward countryman pronounces round, ground, &c. with tolerable propriety. This, with fome other peculiarities which prevail among the yeomanry of New Eng- land, fprings from caufes that do not exift, in the lame degree, in any other part of A- merica, perhaps not in the world. It may furprize thofe who have not turned their thoughts, to this fubjecT;, that I mould af- cribe the manner of fpeaking among a peo- ple, to the nature of their government and a diilribution of their property. Yet it is an undoubted fact that the drawling nafal manner of fpeaking in New England arifes almofl folely from thefe caufes. Peofle of large fortunes, who pride themfelves on family diftinctions, poflefs a certain DISSERTATION I. 107 certain boldnefs, dignity and independence in their manners, which give a correfpond- ent air to their mode of fpeaking. Thofe who are accuftomed to command flaves,form a habit of expreffing themfelves with the tone of authority and decifion. In New England, where there are few {laves and fervants, and lefs family diftinc- tions than in any other part of America, the people are accuftomed to addrefs each other with that diffidence, or attention to the opinion of others, which marks a ftate of equality. Inftead of commanding, they ad vile -, inftead of faying, with an air of de- cifion, you mufi ; they afk with an air of doubtfulnefs, is it not befl $ or give their opinions with an indecifive tone ; you bad better, I believe. Not poffefling that pride and confeioufnefs of fuperiority which at- tend birth and fortune, their intercourfe with each other is all conducted on the i- dea of equality, which gives a fingular tone to their language and complexion to their manners. These remarks do not apply to the com- mercial towns ; for people who are con- verfant with a variety of company lofe moft of their angularities, and hence well bred people io8 DISSERTATION II. people refemble each other in all countries* But the peculiar traits of national charac- ter are found in the internal parts of a country, among that clafs of people who do. not travel, nor are tempted by an inter- courfe with foreigners, to quit their own habits.* Such are the caufes of the local peculi- arities in pronunciation, which prevail a- mong the country people in New England, and which, to foreigners, are the objects of ridicule. The great error in their man- ner of fpeaking proceeds immediately from not opening the mouth fufhciently. Hence words are drawled out in a carelefs lazy manner, or the found finds a paflage thro the nofe. Nothing can be fo difagreeable as that drawling, whining cant that diftinguifh- es a certain clafs of people ; and too much pains cannot be taken to reform the prac- tice. * Hekce the furprifing fimilarity between the idioms of the New England people and thofe of Chaucer, Shake- fpear, Congrcve, &c. who wrote in the true Englifh flile. It is remarked by a certain author, that the inhabitants of i Hands bc'l preferve their native tongue. New England has- been in the fituation of an ill and ; during 1 60 years, the people except in a few commercial towns, have not been expofed to any of the caufes which effeft jjreat changes in language and manners. DISSERTATION II. 109 tice. Great efforts mould be made by- teachers of fchools, to make their pupils o- pen the teeth, and give a full clear found to every fyllable. The beauty of Jpeaking confifts in giving each letter and fyllable its due proportion of found, with a prompt articulation* Thus in order to pronounce cow, power, or gown with propriety, the pupil ihould be taught, after placing the organs in the pofition required by the firfc. confonant, to open his mouth wide, before he begins the found of ow : Otherwiie in pafling from that pofition to the aperture neceilary to pronounce ow, he will inevitably articulate ee, keow< A similar method is recommended to thofe polite fpeakers who are fo fond of imitating the Englifh ftage pronunciation as to embrace every Angularity, however difagreeable. I refer to the very modern pronunciation of kind, Jky, guide, &c. in which we hear the fliort e before i, keind, or kyind, Jkey, &c. This is the fame barba- rous dialect, as the keow and veow of the eaflern country people. Yet, ftrange as it may feem, it is the elegant pronunciation of the falhionable people both in England and no DISSERTATION It and America. Even Sheridan, who ha3 laid it down as a rule that i is a dipthong* compofed of aw and ee, has prefixed a y fhort to its found in feveral words ; as kyind^Jkyi, gyide, &C. We may with equal propriety prefix e to the dipthong ow t or to o in poll y or to oo in fool, or to any other vowel. It is prefumed that the bare men- tion of fuch barbarifms will be fufficient to reftrain their progrefs, both in New Eng- land and on the Britifh theater. Some of the fouthern people, particu- larly in Virginia) almoft omit the found of r as in ware, there. In the beft Englifh pronunciation, the found of r is much fofter than in fome of the neighboring languages, particularly the Irifh and Span- i(h ; and probably much fofter than in the ancient Greek. But there feems to be no good reafon for omitting the found alto- gether j nor can the omiffion be defended on the ground, either of good practice or of rules. It feems to be a habit contracted by careleffnefs. It is a cuflom very prevalent in the middle dates, even among fome well bred people, to pronounce off, fofi, drop, crop, with the found of a, aff } faff, drop, crap. This Dissertation ii. m This feems to be a foreign and local di- alecl j and cannot be advocated by any perfon who underftands correct Eng- lifh. [L] In the middle ftates alfo, many people pronounce a t at the end of once and twice \ oncet and twicet. This grofs impropriety would not be mentioned, but for its prev- alence among a clafs of very well educated people ; particularly in Philadelphia and Baltimore. . Fotch for fetch is very common, in fev- eral ftates, but not among the better claff- es of people. Cotched for caught is more frequent, and equally barbarous. Skroud and Jkrotige for croud, are fome- times heard among people that fhould be afhamed of the leaft vulgarifm. Mought for might is heard in moft of the ftates, but not frequently except in a few towns. [M] Holpe for help I have rarely heard ex- cept in Virginia. Tote is local in Virgin- ia and its neighborhood. In meaning it is nearly equivalent to carry. I have tak- en H2 DISSERTATION it en great pains to difcover the etymology of the local terms ufed in the feveral ftates -, but this word has yet eluded my diligence.* Chore, a corruption of char, is an Eng- 3ifh word, ftill ufed in many parts of England, as a char-man,, a char-woman, but in America, it is perhaps confined to New England. It fignifies fmall domef. tic jobs of work, and its place cannot be fupplied by any other fingle word in the language, These local words, and others of lefs note, are gradually growing into difufe,- and will probably be loft : Except iuch as are neceffary in fome particular occupa- tion. The pronunciation of w for v is a pre-= vailing practice in England and America : It is particularly prevalent in Bofton and Philadelphia. * I have once met with the word in Chaucer's Plow- ■frxan'sTale 2014. " The other fide ben pore and pale^ And peple yput out of prefe, And i'emin caitiffs fore a cale, And er in one without encreai'e j Jclepid Lollers and Londlefe ; Who toteih on 'hem the; ben unta!7$| They ben arayid all for pece, Sot falfhed r'oule mote it befall." DISSERTATION IL jij Philadelphia.* Many people fay weal, wef- fel, for veal, veffel. These letters are eafily miftaken for each other, and the name of the letter w now ufed, is a proof that the letter v was formerly called u or oo. The letter in the Roman language had the found we now give w in will. Via and vinum, pronoun- ced wia, winum, have fuffered but a fmall change of pronunciation in our way, wine. In old Englifh books, down to Shakefpear, v was written for the fhort u, as vp, vn+ der ; for up, under. On the other hand, u was written where we now write v, as uery, euery, for very, every. It feems therefore, that v had formerly the found of w or oo -, and that inftead of corrupting the language, the Cockneys in London, and their imita- tors in America, who fay weal, wery, have retained the primitive pronunciation. In confirmation of this opinion, it may be ob- ferved that the Danes, who fpeak a dialect of the Saxon, have no w in their language, but where we write w, they write v, and where * I am at a lofs to determine, why this praftice fhould prevail in Bofton and not in Connecticut. The firft and principal fettlers in Hartford came from the vicinity of Bofton. Vaft numbers of people in Bofton and the neighborhood ufe w for v ; yet I never once heard this pronunciation in Connecticut* ii 4 DISSERTATION IL where we write wh, they invariably write hv -, as vind, wind ; we , wol- len, vollen, will -, and v they pronounce as we do/ ; as verge/fen, fergejjen, which is the fame as the Engl'ifh/orgtf. The retaining the old found of v is a proof of the force of cuftom -, but fince the nation in general have annexed to it a pre- cife found, as well as to w, every perfon fhould refign his peculiarities for the fake of uniformity. But there are fome points in pronun- ciation, in which the beft informed people differ, both in opinion and practice. The words Jhall, quality, quantity, qualify, quandary, quadrant, are differently pronoun- ced by good fpeakers. Some give a a broad found, asjhol, quolity \ and others, its fecond found, as in hat. With refpecl to the four firft, almoft all the ftandard writers* agree to pronounce a fhort, as in hat : And this is the * By ftandard writers, I mean, Kenrick, Sheridan, Bum, Perry and Scott, DISSERTATION II. 214 the ftage pronunciation. It is correct, for it is more agreeable to the. analogy of the language ; that being the proper .found of the Englifh a which is heard in hat or bar. With refpecl to the two lafVauthors differ ; fome give the firft, fome the fecond, and Others the fifth found. They all pretend to give us the court pronunciation, and as they differ fo widely, we muff fuppofe that eminent fpeakers differ in practice. In fuch a cafe, we can hardly hefitate a mo- ment to call in analogy to decide the quef- tion, and give a in all thefe words, as alfo in quajh, its fecond found.* The words either ', neither, deceit, conceit^ receipt, are generally pronounced, by the eaflern people, ither, nither, defate, confate y re/ate. Thefe are errors ; all the ftandard authors agree to give ei, in thefe words, the found of ee. This is the practice in Eng- land, in the middle and fouthern ftates, and, what is higher authority, analogy warrants the practice. Indeed it is very abfurd to pronouce the verb conceive, ccn- ceevey and the noun conceit, conjate. Such an * The diftinttion in the pronunciation of a in quality, when it fignifies the property of fome body, and when it is ufed for high rank, appears to me without foundation in rule or practice, H 2 n6 DISSERTATION It an inconfiftency will hardly find advocates, 1 except among the prejudiced and unin- formed. Importance is, by a few people, pro- nounced importance -, with the firft found of o. The reafon alleged is, that it is a derivative of import ; , and o mould preferve the fame found it has in the original. It feems however to be affectation, for the ftandard writers and general practice are oppofed to it. Indeed it may be confider- ed as a mere imitation of the French pro- nunciation of the fame word. Decis-ife for deci-five is mere affecta- tion. Reesin for raifin is very prevalent in two or three principal towns in America. One of the ftandard authors gives us this pro- nunciation ' y and another gives us both raifin and reefin. But all the others pro- nounce the word raifin^ with a long ; and derivation, analogy and general cuftom, all decide in favor of the practice. Leisure is fometimes pronounced kefure, and fometimes lezbure : The latter is the moft DISSERTATION II. n 7 « moft general pronunciation in America. It is almofl Angular in its fpelling ; feizure being the only word in analogy with it ; and this is a derivative from Jeize. The true original orthography of leifure was leafure ; this was in analogy with pleafure, meafure, and its ancient pronunciation flill remains. Dictionary has been ufually pronoun- ced dicfonary ; But its derivation from dic- tion, the analogous pronunciation of tion in other cafes, and all the ftandard writers require diefhunary, or dicjhonary. One author of eminence pronounces de- file in three fyllables, def-i-k. In this he is fmgular -, neither general practice, nor rules warrant the pronunciation ; and all the other authorities are againfl him. With refpect to oblige, authorities dif- fer. The ftandard writers give us both oblige and obleege, and it is impoffible to de- termine on which fide the weight of au- thority lies. The direct, derivation of the word from the French would incline us to prefer obleege, in the analogy of fatigue, ma- chine, antique, pique, marine, oblique, which uniformly preierve the French i or Eng- lifh 1x8 DISSERTATION II. lifh ee. Yet Chefteriield called this affect- ation, and it might be fo in his age ; for the opinions of men are capricious. The Englifh analogy requires i long in oblige ; and perhaps this fhould incline all parties to meet each other on that bell: principle. Some people very erroneoufly pronounce chaife^Jha in the lingular, and ftaze in the plural. The lingular number is ftaze, and the plural, ft azes. Our modern fafhionable fpeakers ac- cent European on the lafl fy liable but one. This innovation has happened within a few years ; I fay innovation $ for it is a violation of an eltablifhed principle of the language, that words ending in ean have the accent on the lafl fyllable but two : Witnefs Mediterrafneafi, Pyr/nean> Her-ct/- Iean, fubterra'nean. I do not advert to an exception,-* and why European mould be made one, it is difficult to determine. The reafon given by fome, that e in the penul- tima reprefents the Latin dipthong^, which was long, is of little weight, oppofed to the general practice of a nation, and to an eftablifhed * HYMENEJN and hymeneal we, by fome writers, ac- cented on the lafl fyllable but one ; but erroneoufly. Other , authorities prclerve the analogy. DISSERTATION II. 119 eftablifhed principle. The ftandard au- thors, in this inftance, as in all others, where praclice is not uniform, very ab- furdly give both pronunciations, that we may take our choice. As this is a very eafy method of getting over difficulties, and pairing along without giving offence, fo it is a certain way to perpetuate differences in opinion and praclice, and to prevent the eftabliihment of any ftandard. Analogy requires European, and this is fupported by as good authorities as the other. Rome is very frequently pronounced Room, and that by people of every clafs. The authors I have confulted give no light upon this word, except Perry, who direcls to that pronunciation. The practice how- ever, is by no means general in America : There are many good fpeakers who give its firfr. found. It feems very abfurd to give its firfr. found in RomiJJj, Romans, and pronounce it 00 in Rome, the radical word. I know of no language in Europe, in which has not one uniform found, viz. the found we give it in rofe. It is perhaps the only vowel, in the found of which all nations agree. In Englifh it has other founds ; but the firfi is its proper one. A great proportion of people in America have reflored 130 DISSERTATION II, reftored the analogy of pronunciation in giving o its firft found in Rome ; and a de-t fire of uniformity would lead us to extend the practice.* In the pronunciation of arch in many compound words, people are not uniform, The difputed words are archangel^ arche^ type, architecture^ architrave^ archives. There feems to be no fettled principle of analogy, by which the queftion can be determined. Etymology would require ch, in Greek and Hebrew derivatives, to have uniformly the found of k ; but before moft. confonants, fuch a pronunciation is harfh ; for which reafon it is generally foftened into the Engliih ch, as archbifiop. But before vow- els, as in the words juft enumerated, the beft practice has decided for the found of k ; and euphony, as well as derivation, fa-> vors the decifion. [N] The found of ch in chart is likewife dif- puted j and the ftandard authors are di- rectly oppofed to each other. There is as good * This is the found which the rhime requires in the fol- lowing vcrfes : " Give eare to me that tenyears fought for Rome, Yet reap: uifgrace at my returning home." Rel. An. Poet, p, 294* DISSERTATION II. 121 good foreign authority on one fide as the other ; but in America, ch has generally its foft or Englifh found. This mufl per- haps be preferred, contrary to etymology - y for we uniformly give ch that found in charter ■, which is from the fame original ; and this alfo diftinguifhes the word from cart ; a reafon which is not without its weight There are many people who omit the afpirate in moft words which begin with wh j as white, whip, Sec. which they pro- nounce wife, wip. To fuch it is neceffary only to obferve, that in the pure Englifh pronunciation, both in Great Britain and New England, for it is exactly the fame in both, h is not filent in a fingle word begin- ning with wh. In this point our ftandard authors differ ; two of them afpirating the whole of thefe words, and three, marking b in moft of them as mute. But the omif- iion of h feems to be a foreign corruption ; for in America, it is not known among the unmixed defcendants of the Englifh. Sher* Jdan has here given the true Englifh pro- nunciation. In this clafs of words, w is filent in four only, with their derivatives 3 viz, who, whole, whoop, whore. One 122 DISSERTATION II. One or two authors affect, to pronounce human, and about twenty other words be- ginning with h, as tho they were fpelt yu- man* This is a grofs error. The only word that begins with this found, is humor, with its derivatives . In the American pro- nunciation, h is filent in the following, honeft, honor, hour, humor, herb, heir, with their derivatives. To thefe the Englifh add hofpital, hofiler, humble ; but an imita- tion of thefe, which fome induflrioufly af- fect., cannot be recommended, as every o- miiTion of the afpirate ferves to mutilate and weaken the language. The ♦Particularly Perry. I am furprized that his pro- nunciation has found fo many advocates in this country, as there is none more erroneous. I would juft remark here that many writers ufe an be- fore h afpirate, inftead of a ; which practice feems not well founded. The rapid found of the article a is indiftinct, but opens the moulh to a proper pohtion to pronounce h ; whereas n places the end of the tongue under the upper teeth, and the mouth aflumes a new pofition, before the as- piration can be formed. A hundred, a houfe, &c. are therefore much more eafily articulated, than an hundred, an houfe. Thus a fhould always be ufed before y confonant, and couiequently before u when it has the fame found, as in union, univerfal, &c. Indeed I cannot account for the ute of an before^, on any other principle than this, that the perform ■who ufe it do not pronounce^ at all. If they make y the fame as ct, it is confiftent to write an before it ; but this is ai\ error. DISSERTATION II. 123 The word yelk is fometimes written yolk and pronounced yoke. But yelk is the moft correct orthography, from the Saxon gealk- we ; and in this country, it is the general pronunciation. Ewe is, by the Englifh, often pronoun- ced^; which is fometimes heard in A- menca. But analogy and the general cor- refponding practice in this country, with the authority of fome of the moil accurate writers, decide ion: yew. The Englifh fpeakers of eminence have fhortened the vowel in the firft fyllable of tyranny, zealous , facrifice, &c. altho in the primitive words, all agree to give the vow- el its firft found, This pronunciation has not fpread among the people of this coun- try ; but our learned men have adopted it ; and it feems in fome degree to be the gertius of our language. In child, clean, holy, &c. we uniformly give the firft vowel its long found ; but when a fyllable is add- ed, we always fhorten it 3 children, clenly, holyday. On the other hand, many people in A- merica fay pat-ron, mat-ronj whereas the Engliih fay either pa-tron ox pat-ron, ma- tron i2 4 DISSERTATION II. iron or mat-ron ; but all agree in faying, pat-ronage. In patriot, patriotifm, the Eng- lifh give a its long found ; but a great part of the Americans, its fhort found. In all thefe cafes, where people are not uniform, I fhould prefer the fhort found ; for it ap- pears to me the molt analogous. Wrath, the Englifh pronounce with the third found of a or aw - y but the Americans almoft univerfally preferve the analogous found, as in bath, path. This is the cor- rect pronunciation ; and why mould we rejecr. it for wroth , which is a corruption ? If the Englifh practice is erroneous, let it remain fo ; we have no concern with it : By adhering to our own practice, we pre- ferve a fuperiority over the Engliih, in thofe inftances, in which ours is guided by rules ; and fo far ought we to be from con- forming to their practice, that they ought rather to conform to ours. It is difputed whether g fhould have its hard or foft found, in homogeneous and hetero- geneous : On this queftion the ftandard au* thors are not agreed. The hard found, as in go, coincides with etymology ; but anal- ogy requires the other, as in genius. The fame remarks apply to g in phlogijlon. In DISSERTATION II. 225 In the middle and fouthern fates, fierce, pierce, tierce^ are pronounced jeerce, peerce, teerce. To convince the people of the im- propriety of this pronunciation, it might be luffic lent to inform them, that it is not fafhionable on the Englifh theater. For thofe who want better proofs, before they relinquish their practice, I would obferve, that thefe words are derived to us from the French ; fierce, tierce, from fiers, tiers, and pierce from percer. In the two former, the French pronounce both i and e ; but it is evident the Englifh originally pro- nounced e only ; for the i was omitted in the fpelling of fierce, and was not intro- duced into pierce till after Spenfer wrote. « — When he him knew and had his tale herd, As jtrs as a Ieori pulled out his fwerd." Chaucer, Knightes Tale 1600. ««Ths draught of March hath perced to the rote." Canterbury Tales. "For they this queen attended ; in whofe fteed, Oblivion laid him down on Laura's herfe : Hereat the hardehV ftones were feen to bleed, And grones of buried ghofts the heavens did perfe." Verfes to Edmond Spenfer* Pierce is alfo made to rhime with re~ hearfe. Pope makes it rhime with um- verje, ■<• Ilr. 126 DISSERTATION II; "He, who thro vafl iramenfity can pierce, See worlds on worlds compofe one univerfe." Eflay on Man, 23. The rhime in the laft quotation, is not unequivocal proof of the pronunciation in Pope's time ; but the orthography in Chau- cer's and Spenfer's writings, are to me fat- isfaclory evidence that e in thefe words was fhort. The ftandard Englilh pronuncia- tion now is ferce, perce, terce, and it is u- niverfal in New England. I have only to add, that the fharp abrupt found of e in the two firfr. words is mofl: happily adapted to exprefs the ideas. The Englifh pronounce leap, lep ; and that in the prefent tenfe as well as the pail. Some of our American horfemen have learnt the practice ; but among other peo- ple, it is almofl unknown. It is a breach of analogy, at leafl in the prefent tenfe j the American pronunciation, leep, is there- fore the mofl: correct and fhould not be re- linquished. In the fafhionable world, heard is pro- nounced herd or hurd. This was almofl unknown in America till the commence- ment of the late war, and how long it has been DISSERTATION II. 127 been the practice in England, I cannot de- termine. By Chaucer's orthography, one would imagine that it had been handed down from remote antiquity j for he writes herd, herde, and her den.* In reading more modern poets, I have rarely found any in- Hance of a verfe's clofing with this word ; fo that it is difficult to fay what has been the general practice among the learned. But for centuries, the word has been uni- formly fpelt heard -, the verb hear is in an- alogy withy^r, fear , and yet e in the pan: time and participle has been omitted, as heard, not beared. That herd was not form- erly the pronunciation, is probable from this circumftance j the Americans were ftrangers to it when they came from Eng- land, and the body of the people are fo to this day.-|- To mofl people in this coun- try, the Englifh pronunciation appears like affectation, * See Canterbury Tales and Prologue. L. 221, 955, 1 599» 1 53 82 - + To prove that the Americans have a corrupt pronun- ciation, we are often told that our anceftors came from the weflern counties of England. This is but partially true. The company that purchafed New England, was indeed called the Plymouth Company, being compoied principally of perfons belonging to the county of Devon. But many of the principal fettlers in thefe Mates came from London and its vicinity ; Jbme from the middle counties, the ancient kingdom 128 DISSERTATION If. affectation, and is adopted only in the cap-* ital towns, which are always the moft ready to diftinguilh themfelves by an implicit imitation of foreign cuftoms. Analogy requires that we mould retain our former practice ; for we may as well change fear- ed^fearedy into ferd } ferd, as to change heard into herd. Beard is fometimes, but erroneoufly, pronounced beerd. General practice, both in England and America, requires that e fhould be pronounced as in were, and I know of no rule oppofed to the practice. Deaf is generally pronounced deef It is the univerfal practice in the 'eaftern flates ; and it is general in the middle and fouthern ; tho fome have adopted the Eng- lifh pronunciation, def The latter is evi- dently a corruption ; for the word is in analogy with leaf z.nd.Jheaf and has been from time immemorial. So in Sir William Temple's works, Virg. Eel. -'•' We fing not to the deaf, An anfvver comes from every trembling leaf." Leap kingdom of Mercia ; and a few from the northern counties. To fhow the falfehood of the charge, with refpeci to the language, it may be afTerted with truth, that there is not the leafl affinity between the language of the New England people and the fpecimens of the Devonfhire dialeft, givcrt mthe Englifh Magazines. Dissertation if. 129 Leaf and deaf, with a different orthog- raphy, a^e repeatedly" made to rhime in Chaucer's works ; as in the Wife of Bath's Prologue, L. 6217, " For that I rent out of his book a lefe. That of the flroke myn ere wex al defe." So alfo line 6249. This was the orthography of his time> and an almofr. concluhve evidence that deaf was pronounced deef* This pronuncia- tion is generally retained in America, and analogy requires it. This differtation will be clofed with one obfervation, which the reader may have made upon the foregoing criticiflns : That in many inftances the Americans ftill ad- here to the analogies of the language, where the Englifh have infringed them. So far therefore as the regularity of conftruction is concerned, we ought to retain our own practice and be our own ilandards. The Englifh practice is an authority ; but con- fidering the force of cuftom and the caprice of fafhion, their practice mull be as liable to * The digraph ea fecms not to have been much ufed in that age ; {or f peak authors wrote fpzke; for dtar, dtrc ; fo^ I 130 DISSERTATION II- to changes and to errors, as the practice of a well educated yeomanry, who are gov- erned by habits and not eaiily led aftray by novelty. In the inftances where we have adhered to analogy, no confideration can warrant us in refigning our practice to the authority of a foreign court, which, thro mere affectation, may have embraced many obvious errors. In doubtful cafes, to pay a fuitable deference to the opinions of oth- ers, is wife and prudent ; but to renounce an obvious principle of propriety becaufe others have renounced it, is to carry our complaifance for the faults of the great, much farther than we can juflify, and in a nation^ it is an act of fervility that wants a name. DISSERTATION DISSERTATION III Examination of 'controverted Points, continu- ed. — Of modern Corruptions in the Ejiglijh Pronunciation. EXAMINATION of CONTP.OVERT- ED POINTS, continued. N the preceding difTertation I have endeavored to fettle a number of controverted points and local differences in pronunciation, on the moft fatisfaclory principles hitherto difcovered. I now proceed to fome other differences of confequence to the language, and particularly in America. Gold is differently pronounced by good fpeakers, and differently marked by the ftandard writers. Two of them give us I 2 goold ip DISSERTATION III. goold, as the ftandard, and three, gold or goold. But we may find better principles than the opinions or practice of individu- als, to direct our judgement in this particu- lar. The word indeed has the pronuncia- tion, goold, in fome of the collateral branch- es of the Teutonic, as in the Danifh, where it is fpelt guld. But in the Saxon, it was written gold, and- has been uniformly writ- ten fo in Englifh. Befides, we have good reafon to believe that it was, in early times, pronounced gold, with the firft found of o, for the poets invariably make it rhime with old, behold, and other words of fimilar found, Thus in Chaucer : li With nayles yelwe, and bright as any gold. He hadde a here's fkin, cole blake for old." Knight's Tales, L. 2143. In Pope : <« Now Europe's laurels orr their brows behold, But ftain'd with blood, or ill exchang'd for gold." Eflay on Man, Book 4. The rhime is here a prefumptive proof that the poets pronounced this word with the firft found of o, and it is a fubftantial veafon why that pronunciation mould be preferred. But analogy is a ftill ftronger ffeafon ; for bold, told, fold, and I prefume every DISSERTATION III. 133 every iimilar word in the language, has the firft found of o. Thefe are good reafons why gold iliould have that found ; reaibns which are permanent, and fuperior to any private opinions. Similar reafons, and equally forceable, are oppofed to the modern pronunciation ■of wound. I fay modem ; for in America -woond is a recent innovation. It was per- haps an ancient dialect j for the old Saxon and modern Danifli orthography warrant this conjecture. But in Englifh the fpelling has uni- formly correfponded with bound, founds and if we may judge from the rhimes of our poets, the pronunciation has alio been an- alogous. Thus in Skelton's Elegy on Hen- ry, Earl of Northumberland, 1489, we have the following lines : "Most noble erle ! O foul myfurd* ground Whereon he gat his finall deadly zvounde." Rel. An. Eng. Poet. vol. 1. page 113, So in a fong which feems to have been written in the reign of Henry Viil. ** Where Misused. 1 3 i 3 4 DISSERTATION III. "Where griping grcfes the hart would zvouna; And doleful dumps rhemynde opprcfle, There muficke with her iilver found, With fpeed is wont to fend redreffe." Ibm. page 165. Similar rhimes occur in almoit every page of modern poetry. "Warriors fhe fires with animated founds, Pours balm into the bleeding lover's wounds." Pope. The fafhionable pronunciation of wound deftroys the rhime and infringes the rule of analogy j two objections to it which can be removed only by univerfal prac- tice. Does this practice exifr. ? By no means. One good authority* at leafr, di- rects to the analogous pronunciation ; and another compiler directs to both — the reg- ular and the fafhionable. But were woond the univerfal practice in Great Britain, this mould not induce us to lay afide our own practice for a foreign one. There is but a fmall part, even of the well bred people in this country, who have yet adopted the Englifh mode j and the great body of the people uniformly purfue analogy. The authority * Kenricx, who was not guided folely by the fafhityiof the day, but paid fume regard to the regular conduction of" the language. DISSERTATION III. 133 authority of practice therefore, is, in this country, oppofed to the innovation. Shall we then relinquifh what every man muft acknowlege to be right, to embrace the corruptions of a foreign court and itage ? Will not the Atlantic ocean, the total iep- aration of America from Great Britain, the pride of an independent nation, the rules of the language, the melody of Englifh po- etry, reftrain our iage for imitating the er- rors of foreigners ? But it is faid that njD'oond is fofter than Jkepte?' ? If not, they fhould be fatisfied with analogy and former practice. It is remarkable howev-r er, that notwithstanding the authority of almoft all the modern dictionaries is in favor of fkeptic, no writer of reputation, whofe works I have feen, has followed the fpelling. The old orthography, fceptic^ frill maintains its ground. Sauce with the fourth found of a is ac- counted vulgar 5 yet this is the ancient, the correct, and the moft general pronun- ciation. The aw of the North Britons is much affected of late ; fawce, hawnt, vawnt; yet the true found is that of aunt^ jaimt> and a change can produce no poffible ad- vantage. The words advert ifement and chaflife?ne?it are differently accented by the flandard authors, and by people on both fides of the Atlantic. Let us find the analogy. The original words, advertife and cfaijlife, are verbs, accented uniformly on the lafl fyl- lable. Let us fearch thro the language for verbs of this defcription, and I prefume we ftiall not find another inflance, where, in nouns i 3 8 DISSERTATION III. nouns formed from fuch verbs, by the ad- dition of ment, the feat of the accent is changed. We find amufement, refinement, refreihment, reconcilement, and many, perhaps aii others, preferye the accent of their primitives ; and in this analogy we find the reafon why chaflifement and adver- tifement mould be accented on the laft Syl- lable but one. This analogy is a fubftan- tial and permanent rule, that will forever be fuperior to local cuftoms.* Similar remarks may be made refpect- ing accept able , admirable, di /put able, compar- able, which our polite fpeakers accent on the firfr fyllable. The firft is indeed ac- cented on the fecond fyllable, by molt au- thors, except Sheridan, who ftill retains the accent on the firft. It was an old rule of grammarians, that the genius of our language requires the ac- cent to be carried as far as poflible to- wards the beginning of the word. This is feldom or never true j on the contrary, the rule is directly oppofed to the melody, both of poetry and profe. Under the in- fluence, * GOVERNMENT, management, retain alfo the accent of tlieir primitives ; and the nouns tejlamcnt, compliment, &c, form another analogy. DISSERTATION III. i 39 fluence, however, of this rule, a long cat- alogue of words loft their true pronuncia- tion, and among the reft, a great number of adjectives derived from verbs by an ad- dition of the termination able. Some of thele are reftored to their analogy ; others retain the accent on the firft. fyllable. Notwithstanding the authority of Sheridan, I prefume few people will con- tend for the privilege of accenting accept- able on the firft fyllable. How the organs of any man can be brought to articulate fo many confonants in the weak fyllables, or how the ear can relifti fuch a* unnatu- ral pronunciation, is almoft inconceivea- ble. In fpite of the pedantry of fchol- ars, the eafe and melody of ipeaking, have almoft wholly banifhed the abfurd prac- tice, by reftoring the ac;ent to the fecond fyllable. But with refpecl; to admirable ', compara- ble and dif put able ) the authors who are deemed authorities are divided j fome are in favor of the accent on the firft fyllable, and others adhere to analogy. Setting afide cuftom, every reafon for accenting thefe words on the firft fyllable, will apply with equal force to advifeabk i inclineabU) 140 DISSERTATION Ilf. inclineable, requireable, and a hundred oth- ers. They are all formed from verbs ac- cented on the laft fyllable, by annexing the fame termination to the verb, and they are all of the fame part of fpeech. Let us exam- in them by the rules for accentuation, laid down in the preceding diflertation. The primitive verbs of this clafs of words are ufually compounded of a parti- cle and principal part of fpeech ; as ad-?ni- ro y corn-par o y re-qucero> &c. The laft fyl- lable, derived from a verb, is the molt, im- portant, and in the primitives, is invaria- bly accented. This is agreeable to the nrft rule. In nine tenths of the derivatives, the fame fyllable retains the accent ; as, perceiveabky available ', deploreable. In thefe therefore both rules are obferved. The third rule, or tjjfit which arifes from the terminating fyllable, is alfo preferved in moft of this clafs of words. It is there- fore much to be regretted, that a falfe rule mould have introduced an irregularity in- to the language, by excepting a few words from an analogy, which unites in itfelf ev- ery principle of propriety. But the practice, with refpecfc to the three words under confideration, is by no means general. I have taken particular notice DISSERTATION III. i 4 , notice of the pronunciation of people in every part of America, and can teftify that, in point of numbers, the practice is in fa- vor of analogy. The people at large fay admi'reable^ difpu'teable, compa'reable ; and it would be difficult to lead them from this eafy and natural pronunciation, to em- brace that forced one of ad'mirable> &c. The people are right, and, in this particu- lar, will ever have it to boaft of, that among ^ the unlearned is found the purity of Eng- liih pronunciation, Of this clafs of words, there are a few which feem to be corrupted in univerfal practice j as reputable. The reafon why the accent in this word is more generally con- firmed on the firft fy liable, may be this y there is but a fmgle confonant between the firfl and fecond fyllable, and another be- tween the fecond and third j fo that the pronunciation of the three weak fyllables is by no means difficult. This word therefore, in which all authors, and as far as I know,, all men, agree to lay the accent on the firffc fyllable, and the orthography of which ren- ders the pronunciation eafy, muft perhaps be admitted as an exception to the general rule.* Accessary * It is regretted that the acljeftives. indiffoluble, irrtp&rabk "■'crs derived immediately from the L;itin, vndiJfolubiHst if* rtparabili*i i 4 2 DISSERTATION III; Access art or acceffbry, are differently ac- cented by the beft writers and fpeakers. But the eafe of fpeaking requires that they mould follow the rule of derivation, and retain the accent of the primitive, accefs'ary. The fafhionable pronunciation of fuch words as immediate, minifterial, commodious, is liable to particular exceptions. That i has a liquid found, like y y in many words in our language, is not difputed j but the claffes of words which will admit this found, ought to be afcertained. It appears to me that common practice has determin- ed this point. If .we attend to the pronun- ciation of the body of people, who are led by their own eafe rather than by a nice regard to fafhion, we mall find that they make reparabilb, and not from the Englifh verbs, diffolve, repair. Yet dijfolvable, indijfolvable, repairable and ir repairable, are better words than indijblubk, reparable, irreparable. They not only prefcrve the analogy, but they are more purely Englifh words ; and I have been witnefs to a circumftance which alone ought to determine their excellence and give them currency : People of ordinary education have found difficulty in understanding fuch derivatives as irreparable. indiffblubU ; but the moment the words ir repairable, inJiJ- Jolv table are pronounced, they are led to the meaning by a previous acquaintance with the words repair and diffolve* Numbcrlcfs examples of this will occur to a perlon of ob- fervaticn, fufficicnt to make him abhor and reject the pe- dantry of authors, who have labored to ftrip their natsvc, tongue of its primitive Englifh drefs, and load it with fan- tailic ornaments. DISSERTATION III. 143 make /liquid, or give it the found of y con- fonant, after thofe confonants only, which admit that found without any change of their own powers. Thefe confonants are /, n, Vj and the double confonant x ; as valiant, companion, behavior, flexion. Here y might be fubftituted for 1, without any change, or any tendency to a change, of the preceding confonant ; except perhaps the change of Ji inflexion intojh, which is a general rule in the language, as it is to change ti and ci into the fame found.* But when i is preceded by d, change it intojy, and we cannot pronounce it with our ufual rapidity, without blending the two letters into the found of j, which is a compound of dzh ; at leaft it cannot be ef- fected without a violent exertion of the fpeaker. Immedyate is fo difficult, that ev- ery perfon who attempts to pronounce it in that manner, will fall into immejate. Thus commodious, comedian, tragedian, are very politely pronounced commojus, come- jan, trajejan. Such a pronunciation, chang- ing the true powers of the letters, and in- troducing a harm, union of confonants, dzh, * FLEXION refolvcd into its proper letters would be Jlekfion, that is Jlckflmn ; and jhks-yun would give the. fame, ibuad. / 144 DISSERTATION lit. dxh, in the place of the fmooth found of dia, muft be confidered as a palpable cor- ruption. With refpect to the terminations ial, tan, Sec. after r, I muft believe it impoffi- ble to blend thefe letters in one fyllable. In the word mini/lerial, for example, I can- not conceive how ial can be pronounced yal, without a paufe after the fyllables, minijler-. Sheridan's manner of pronoun* cing the letters ryan, ryal, in a fyllable, ap- pears to be a grofs ablurdity : Even allow- ing y to have the found of e, we muft of neceffity articulate two fyllables. But fuppofmg the modern pronuncia- tion of immediate to be liable to none of thefe exceptions, there is another objection to it, arifmg from the construction of our poetry. To the fhort fyllables of fuch words as every , glorious, different, bo^very, commodious, harmonious, happier, ethereal, immediate, experience, our poetry is in a great meaiure indebted for the Dactyl, the Amphibrach, and the Anapcejl, feet whicjx are neceffary to give variety to verification, and the laft of which is the moft flowing, melodious and forceable foot in the lan- guage. By blending the two fhort fylla- bles DISSERTATION III. 145 bles into one, we make the foot an Iambic ; and as our poetry confifts principally of iambics, we thus reduce our heroic verfe to a dull uniformity. Take for example the following line of Pope. •'That fees immediate good by prefent fenfe"— If we pronounce it thus : That fees [ imme |.jate good | by pref j ent fenfe ; the line will be Compofed entirely of Iam- bics. But read it thus : That fees | imme J di-ate good) by pref [ent fenfe ; and the third foot, becoming an anapasfl, gives variety to the verfe. In the following line : « Som£ happier ifland in the watery wade :" If we read happier and watry, as words of two fyllables, the feet will all be Iam- bics, except the third, which is a Pyrrhic. But if we read happier and watery * in three fyllables, as we ought, we introduce two anapaefts, and give variety and flowing melody to the verfe. These * To an ignorance of the laws of verification, we muft- afcribe the unwarrantable contra£tion of watery, wonderous, &c. intg watrj> 7 wondrous.- K i 4 6 DISSERTATION III. These remarks will be more fully con- firmed by attending to the laft verfe of the following diftich : "In martial pomp he clothes the angelic train, While warring myr | iads (hake | the ethe | rial plain." Philofophic Solitude. On Sheridan's principles, and by an elif- ion of e in the, the laft line is compofed of pure Iambics ; whereas in fact, the three laft feet are anapaefts j and to thefe the verfe is, in fome meafure, indebted for its melody and the fublimity of the defcrip- tion. These confiderations are directly oppos- ed to the fafhionable pronunciation of im- mediate, and that whole analogy of words. In addition to this, I may remark, that it is not the practice of people in general. What- ever may be the charcler and rank of its advocates, in this country they compofe but a fmall part, even of the literati. Of MODERN CORRUPTIONS in the ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION. I PROCEED now to examin a mode of pronouncing certain words, which pre- vails in England a-, .ome parts of Amer- ica, DISSERTATION III. i 4 y ica, and which, as it extends to a vaft nura^ ber of words, and creates a material differ- ence between the orthography and pro- nunciation, is a matter of ferious confe- quence. To attack eftablifhed cuftoms is always hazardous ; for mankind, even when they lee and acknowlege their errors, are felddm obliged to the man who expofes them. The danger is encreafed, when an opposi- tion is made to the favorite opinions of the great ; for men, whofe rank and abilities entitle them to particular refpect, will fooner difmifs their friends than their prej- udices. Under this conviction, my pref- ent Situation is delicate and embarraffing : But as fome facrifices mult often be made to truth ; and as I am confcious that a re* gard to truth only dictates what I write, I can fincerely declare, it is my wifh to inform the understanding of every man, without wounding the feelings of an indi- vidual, The practice to which I allude, is that of pronouncing d, t, and s preceding u f which letter, it is laid, contains the found of e or y and oo ; and that of courfe edu- cation mu(t be pronounced edyucation ; na- K 2 turi\ i 4 3 DISSERTATION III. ture , natyure ; andfuperior 9 Jyuperior : From the difficulty of pronouncing which, we naturally fall into the found of dzh, t/h, and JJj ; Thus education becomes edzhu- cation or ejucation j nature becomes natjhure or nachure -, and fuperior becomes Jhupe rior. How long this practice has prevailed in London, I cannot afcertain. There are a few words, in which it feems to have been univerfal from time immemorial; as,//, or the agreeablenefs of the pro- nunciation. But permit me to enquire, on what do the advocates of this practice ground their aflertion, that u had in Saxon the found of eu or yu ? Are there any teflimonies to fupport it, among old writers of authori- ty ? In the courfe of my reading I have difcovered none, nor have I ever feen one produced or referred to. Wii,l it be faid, that yu is the name of the letter ? But where did this name orig- inate ? Certainly not in the old Saxon practice, for the Saxons expreffed this found by ew y or eo : And I do not recollect a Cm^ gle word of Saxon origin, in which the warm eft fticklers for the practice, give u K 3 this 150 DISSERTATION III. this found, even in the prefent age. Ken- rick, who has inveftigated the powers of the Englifh letters with much more accu- racy than even Sheridan himfelf, obferves, that we might with equal propriety, name the other vowels in the fame manner, and fay, ya y ye 3 yi,yo, as well as yu.* U in union ) ufe, &c. has the found of yu j but thefe are all of Latin origin, and can be no proof that M had, in Saxon, the found of e%v or yu% The whole argument is founded on a mif- take. U in pure Englifh has not the found of e and of the Englifh keube, ackeufe, keind and geuide. There is juft the fame propriety in one practice as the other, and both are equally harmonious. For fimilar reafons, the labials, m and p, are followed by e : In New Eng- land, we hear it in meow, peower, and in Great Britain, in meute, peure. With this difference however, that in New Eng- land, this pronunciation is generally con- fined to the more illiterate part of the peo- ple, and in Great Britain it prevails among thofe of the firft rank. But after r we never hear the found of e : It has been be- fore obferved, that the moft awkward coun- tryman in New England pronounces round, ground, brown, as Correclly as men of the firft education -, and our fafhionable fpeak* ers pronounce u after r like off. The rea- fan 156 DISSERTATION III. fon is the fame in both cafes : In pronoun- cing r the mouth is necefTarily opened (or rather the glottis) to a position for articu- lating a broad fulL found. So that the vul- gar fingularities in this refpecl:, and the po- lite refinements of fpeaking, both proceed from the fame caufe ; both proceed from an accidental or carelefs narrow way of articulating certain combinations of letters; both are corruptions of pure Englifh ; e- qually difagreeable and indefenfible. Both may be eafily corrected by taking more pains to open the teeth, and form full bold founds. 2. But another inconliftency in the modern practice, is the introducing an e* before the fecond found of u as in tun -, or rather changing the preceding confonant ; for in nature, rapture, and hundreds of other words, / is changed into tfi -, and yet no perfon pretends that u, in thefe words, has a dipthongal found. On the other hand, Sheridan and his copier, Scott, have in *Lowth condemns fuch a phrafe as, " the introducing an e" and fays it fhould be, " the introducing of an e." This is but one inftance of a great number, in which he has re- jected good Englifh. In this fituation, introducing is a par- ticipial noun ; it may take an article before it, like any other noun, and yet govern an objc&ivc, like any tranfitive verb. This is the idiom of the language : but in moil cafes, the writer may ufc or omit of, at pleafure. DISSERTATION III. 157 in thefe and fimilar words marked u for its fhort found, which is univerfally acknowl- eged to be fimple. I believe no perfon ever pretended, that this found of u con- tains the found of e or y ; why then (hould we be directed to pronounce nature, nat- yur f Or what is equally abfurd, natjlmr ? On what principle is the t changed into a compound confonant ? If there is any thing in this found of u to warrant this change, does it not extend to all words where this found occurs ? Why do not our ftandard writers direct us to fay tjhun for tun, and tjhumble for tumble ? I can conceive no rea- fon which will warrant the pronunciation in one cafe, that will not apply with equal force in the other. And I challenge the advocates of the practice, to produce a reafon for pronouncing natjhur, raptjhur, captjhur, which will not extend to author- ize, not only tjhun, tjhurn, for tun, turn, but alfo fatjlml for fatal, and immortfial for im- mortal.* Nay, the latter pronunciation is actually heard among fome very refpecta- ble imitators of fafhion -, and is frequent among * I must except that reafon, which is always an invinc- ible argument with weak people, viz. " It is the practice of fome great men." This common argument, which is unan- fwerable, will alfo prove the propriety of imitating all the polite and dete liable vices of the great, which are now un- known to the littlt vulgar of this country, 158 DISSERTATION III. among the illiterate* in thofe ftates where the tjhus are moft fafhionable. How can it be otherwife ? People are led by imita- tion ; and when thofe in high life embrace a fingularity, the multitude, who are un- acquainted with its principles or extent, will attempt to imitate the novelty, and probably carry it much farther than was ever intended. When a man of littie education hears a refpeclable gentleman change / into tjh in nature, he will naturally be led to change the fame letter, not only in that word, but wherever it occurs. This is already done in a multitude of inflances, and the prac- tice if continued and extended, might e- ventually change t t in all cafes, into tfi. I am fenfible that fome writers of nov- els and plays have ridiculed the common pronunciation of creatur and nutur> by in- troducing thefe and fimilar words into low characters, fpelling them cr eater, nater : And the fupporters of the court pronunci- ation allege, that in the vulgar practice of fpeaking, the letter e is founded and not u 1 So extremely ignorant are they of the na- ture of founds and the true powers of the Englilh letters. The fact is, we are fo far from DISSERTATION III. 15$ from pronouncing e in the common pro- nunciation of natur, creatur, 6cc. that e is always founded like lhort u, in the unac- cented fyllables of over, fiber, banter, and other fimilar words. Nay, moft of the vowels, in fuch fyllables, found like i or u fhort.* Liar, elder, factor, are pronoun- ced liur, eldur, JaBur, and this is the true found of u in creatur, nature ', rapture, legif- lature, &c. I would juft obferve further, that this pretended dipthong iu was formerly ex- preffed by ew and eu, or perhaps by eo, and was confidered as different from the found of u. In modern times, we have, in many words, blended the found of u with that of ew, or rather ufe them promifcuoufiy. It is indifferent, as to the pronunciation, whether we write fuel or Jewel. And yet in this word, as alfo in new, brew, &c. we do not hear the found of e, except among the Virginians, who affect to pronounce it diftinctly, ne-ew, ne-oo, Je-oo. This af- fectation is not of modern date, for Wai- ns * Ash obferves, that " in unaccented, (norland infignifi- cant fyllables, the founds of the five vowels are nearly coin- cident. It mull be a nice ear that can diftinguifh the dif- ference of found in the concluding fyllable of the following words, altar, alter, manor, murmur, fatyr," -Gram, Dill, pref, to Die. p. 1. i6o DISSERTATION III. lis mentions it in his time and reprobates it. " Eu, ew, eau, fonanter per e clarum et w -, ut in neuter , few, beauty. Quidem ta- men accutius efferunt, acfl fcriberentur mew ter, jiew, bieuty. At prior pronunci- atio rectior eft." Gram. Ling. Ang. Here this author allows thefe combina- tions to have the found of yu or iu -, but difapproves of that refinement which fome afFec~l, in giving the e or i fhort its diflinc"l found. The true found of the Englifh u, is nei- ther ew, with the diftinct. founds of e and co -, nor is it co -, but it is that found which every unlettered perfon utters in pronoun- cing folitude, rude, threw, and which cannot eafily be miftaken. So difficult is it to a- void the true found of u, that I have never found a man, even among the ardent ad- mirers of the ftage pronunciation, who does not retain the vulgar found, in more than half the words of this clafs which he ufes. There is fuch a propenfity in men to be regular in the conflruclion and ufe of language, that they are often obliged, by the cufloms of the age, to druggie a- gainft their inclination, in order to be wrong, and ftill find it impoflible to be u- niform in their errors. The DISSERTATION III. i6i The other reafon given to vindicate the polite pronunciation, is euphony. But I muft fay with Kenrick,* I cannot difcover the euphony ; on the contrary, the pro- nunciation is to me both difagreeable and difficult. It is certainly more difficult to pronounce two confonants than one. Ch, or, which is the fame thing, t/h, is a more difficult found than t ; and dzh, or ;', more difficult than d. Any accurate ear may perceive the difference in a fmgle word, as in natur, nachur. But when two or three words meet, in which we have either of thefe compound founds, the difficulty be- comes very obvious ; as the nachural feci- churs of indhiijuahk The difficulty is in- creafed, when two of thefe churs zxi&jurs oc- cur in the fame word. Who can pro- nounce * For my part I cannot difcover the euphony ; and tho the contrary mode be reprobated, as vulgar, by certain mighty fine fpeakers, I think it more conformable to the general fcheme of Englifh pronunciation ; for tho in order to make the word but two fyllables, fo and tt may be requir- ed to be converted into ch, or the i and e into y$ when the preceding fyllable is marked with the accute accent as in queftion, minion, courteous, and the like ; there feems to be little reafoD) when the grave accent precedes the t, as in na- ture, creature, for converting the t into ch ; and not much more, for joining the t to the firfl fyllable and introducing the y before the fecond, as vat-yure. Why the t when followed by neither i nor e, is to take the form of ch, I cannot con- ceive : It is, in my opinion, a fpecies of affe&ation that fhould be difcountenanced. Kenrick Rhet. Gram, page 32. Die. L i6l DISSERTATION III, nounce thefe words, " at this junBJJmr it was con]e5lflmred"-*—ox " the a£l palled in a tf/nmmltjlmous legijlatfour" without a paufe, or an extreme exertion of the lungs ? If this is euphony to an Englifh ear, I know not what founds in language can be difa- greeable. To me it is barbaroufly hariTi and unharmonious. But fuppofing the pronunciation to be relifhed by ears accuflomed to it (for cuf- tom will familiarize any thing) will the pleafure which individuals experience, bal- ance the ill effects of creating a multitude of irregularities ? Is not the number of a- nomalies in our language already fufficient, without an arbitrary addition of many hun-*~ dreds ? Is not the difference between our written and fpoken language already fuffi- ciently wide, without changing the founds of a number of confonants ? If we attend to the irregularities which have been long eftablifhed in our language, we fliall find moft of them in the Saxon branch. The Roman tongue was almofl perfectly regular, and perhaps its orthog- raphy and pronunciation were perfectly correfpondent. But it is the peculiar mif- fortune of the fafliionable practice of pro- nouncing DISSERTATION in. 163 uouncing - dices, when they were found repugnant to obvious rules of propriety. But in his Dictionary he feems to have left his only defenlible ground, propriety, in purfuit of that phantom, fnfnion. He deferted his own principles, as the 'Reviewers obferve : and where he has done this, every rational man fhould defert hisftandard. DISSERTATION III. 177 But our detached fituation, local and political, gives us the power, while pride, policy, and a regard for propriety and uni- formity among ourfeives, fhould infpire us with a difpojition, to oppofe innovations, which have not utility for their object. We fhall find it difficult to convince Englifhmen that a corrupt tafte prevails in the Britifh nation. Foreigners view the Americans with a degree of contempt ; they laugh at our manners, pity our igno- rance, and as far as example and derifion can go, obtrude upon us the cufloms of their native countries. But in borrowing from other nations, we fhould be exceed- ingly cautious to feparate their virtues from their vices -, their ufeful improve- ments from their falfe refinements. Stile and tafte, in all nations, undergo the fame revolutions, the fame progrefs from purity to corruption, as manners and govern- ment ; and in England the pronunciation of the language has fhared the fame fate. The Auguftan era is paft, and whether the nation perceive and acknowlege the truth or not, the world, as impartial fpec- tators, obferve and lament the declenuon of tafte and fcience. M The 178 DISSERTATION III. The nation can do little more than read the works and admire the beauties of the original authors, who have adorned the preceding ages. A few, ambitious of fame, or driven by neceflity, croud their names into the catalogue of writers, by imitating fome celebrated model, or by compiling from the productions of genius. Nothing marks more ftrongly the declenfion of ge- nius in England, than the multitude of plays, farces, novels and other catchpenny pieces, which fwell the lift of modern pub- lications ; and that hoft of compilers, who, in the rage for felecting beauties and a- bridging the labor of reading, disfigure the works of the pureft writers in the na- tion. Cicero did not wafte his talents in barely reading and felecling the beauties of Demofthenes ; and in the days of Addifon, the beauties of Milton, Locke and Shake- fpear were to be found only in their works. But talle is corrupted by luxury ; utility is forgotten in pleafure ; genius is buried in diffipation, or proftituted to exalt and to damn contending factions, and to a- mufe the idle debauchees that furround a licentious ftage.* These * From this defcriptlon mufl be excepted fome arts which have for their object, the pleafuies of fenfe and im- agination j DISSERTATION III. 179 These are the reafons why we mould not adopt promifcuoufly their tafte, their opinions, their manners. Cuftoms, habits, and language, as well as government mould be national. America mould have her own diftincl: from all the world. Such is the policy of other nations, and fuch muft be our policy, before the Hates can be ei- ther independent or refpeclable. To copy foreign manners implicitly, is to reverfe the order of things, and begin our politi- cal exiflence with- the corruptions and vices which have marked the declining glories of other republics. agination ; as mufie and painting ; and fciences which depend on fixed principles, and not on opinion, as mathematics and philofophy. The former flourifh in the lad ftages of national refinement, and the latter are always proceeding towards perfection, by difcoveries and experiment. Criti- cifm alio flourifhes in Great Britain : Men read and judge accurately, when original writers ceafe to adorn the lei- ences. Correft writers precede juft criticifm. DISSERTATION M 2 Of the Formation of Language. Home I'ooke's theory of the Particles. Examine ation of particular Phrafes. FORMATION of LANGUAGE. fentences. AVING difcuffed the fub- je£t of pronunciation very largely in the two preced- ing Diflertations, I fhall now examin the ufe of words in the con/irucJion of Several writers of eminence have at- tempted to explain the origin, progrefs and ftru£ture of languages, and have han- dled the fubje£t with great ingenuity and profound learning j as Harris, Smith, Bea- tie, Blair, Condillac, and others. But the M 3 difcovery 182 DISSERTATION IV. difcovery of the true theory of the con- flruclion of language, feems to have been referved for Mr. Home Tooke, author of the " Diverfions of Purley." In this trea- tife, however exceptionable may be par- ticular inllances of the writer's fpirit and manner, the principles on which the form- ation of languages depends, are unfolded and demon flrated by an etymological an- alyfis of the Saxon or Gothic origin of the Englifh particles, From the proofs which this writer produces, and from va- rious other eircumllances, it appears prob- able, that the noun or fubilantive is the principal part of fpeech, and from which moll words are originally derived. The invention and progrefs of articulate founds mull have been extremely flow. Rude favages have originally no method of conveying ideas, but by looks, figns, and thofe inarticulate founds, called by gram- marians, InterjeBions. Thefe are proba- bly the firft beginnings of language. They are produced by the paflions, and are per- haps very little fuperior, in point of artic- ulation or fi gnificancy, to the founds which exprefs the wants of the brutes.* But * It isa | difpu(e among grammarians, whether the in- icrjeflion h a part of lpetch ; and the qucition, like many others DISSERTATION IV. 183 But the firft founds, which, by being often repeated, would become articulate, would be thofe which favages ufe to con- vey their ideas of certain vifible objects,' which firft employ their attention. Thefe founds, by conftant application to the fame things, would gradually become the names of thofe objects, and thus acquire a per- manent fignification. In this manner, rivers, mountains, trees, and fuch animals as afford food for favages, would firft ac- quire names ; and next to them, fuch oth- er objects as can be noticed or perceived by the fenfes. Thofe names which are given to ideas called abjlraB and complex^ or, to fpeak more correctly, thofe names which exprefs a combination of ideas, are invent- ed much later in the progrefs of language. Such are the words, faith, hope, virtue, genius, &c, It others upon fimilar fubjecls, has employed more learning than common i'enle. The iimple truth is this ; the invol- untary founds produced by a hidden pa in on, are the lan- guage of nature which is fubjecf only to nature's rules. They arc, in fome degree, fimilar among all nations. They do not belong to a grammatical trcatiie. any more than the looks of fear, furprife or any other pafuon. The words, ah me! oh me ! are mere exclamations, asareblefs me! riry gracious ! and numbcrlefs other founds, which are uttered without any precife meaning, and are not reduccable to any roles* i&4 DISSERTATION IV. It is unnecefTary, and perhaps impofii- ble, to defcribe the whole procefs of the formation of languages ; but we may rea- fon from the nature of things that the nee- efjary parts of fpeech would be the nrfl formed j and it is very evident from ety- mology that all the others are derived from thefe, either by abbreviation or combina- tion. The neceflary parts of fpeech are the noun and verb ; and perhaps we may add the article. Pronouns are not necel- fary, but from their utility, mufl be a very early invention. That the noun and verb are the only parts of fpeech, abfolutely necefTary for a communication of ideas among rude na-^ tions, will be obvious to any perfon who confiders their manner of life, and the fmall number of their neceflary ideas, Their employments are war and hunting -, and indeed fome tribes are fo iituated as to have no occupation but that of procuring fubhflence. How few mufl be the ideas of a people, whofe fole employment is to catch fim, and take wild beafls for food ! Such nations, and even fome much far- ther advanced towards civilization, ufe few or no prepofitions, adverbs and conjunc- tions, in their intercpurfe with each other, and DISSERTATION IV. 185 and very few adjectives. Some tribes of favages in America ufe no adjectives at all ; but exprefs qualities by a particular form of the verb ; or rather blend the affirm a~ tion and quality into one word.* They have, it is faid, fome connecting words in their own languages, fome of which have advanced towards copioufnefs and variety. But when they attempt to fpeak Englifh, they ufe nouns and verbs long before they obtain any knowlege of the particles . They fpeak in this manner, go, way fun, fhine -tree, fall give, Uncas, rum ; with great deliberation and a fliort paufe between the words. They omit the conr. neclives and the abbreviations, which may be called the " wings of Mercury." Thus it is evident, that, among fach nations, a few nouns and verbs will anfwer the pur- pofes of language. Many of this kind of expreffions re* main in the Englilh language to this day. Go away is the favage phrafe with the arti- cle a, derived perhaps from one, or what is more probable, added merely to exprefs the found, made in the tranfition from one word to the other -, for if we attend to the manner * See Dr. Edwards on the Mohegan tongue. New Ha- ven, 1 788, i86 DISSERTATION IV. manner in which we pronounce thefe or two fimilar words, we fhall obierve that we involuntarily form the found exprefTed by a or aw. In Tome fuch manner are formed ajlray, awhile, adown, aground, a- Jhore, above, abaft, among, and many oth- ers. They are ufually called adverbs and prepofitions ; but they are neither more nor lefs than nouns or verbs, with the pre- fix a,* That all the words called adverbs and prepofitions, are derived in like man- ner, from the principal parts of language, the noun and verb, is not demonftrable ; but that moji of them are fo derived, ety- mology clearly proves. HORNE TOOKE's THEORY of the PARTICLES. THIS theory derives great ftrength from analizing the words called conjunctions. It will perhaps furprize thofe who have not attended to this fubjecT:, to hear it afTerted, that the little conjunction if is a verb in the * WHILE is an old Saxon noun, fignifying time ', and it is ftill ufed in the fame fenfe, one while, ail this while. Adown is of uncertain origin. The Saxon aduna cannot eafily be explained. Above is from an old word, fignifying iitad. Among is from the Saxon gemengan to mix. The etymology of the others is obvious. DISSERTATION IV. 187 the Imperative Mode. That this is the fact can no more be controverted than any point of hiftory, or any truth that our fenfes prefent to the mind. If is radically the fame word as give ; it was in the Sax- on Infinitive, gif an, and in the Imperative, like other Saxon verbs, loft the an ; being written gif. This is the word in its puri- ty ; but in different dialects of the fame radical tongue, we find it written gife, gtjf, gi, yf y yef and yeve. Chaucer ufed y in ; ftead of gj* " Unto the devil rough and blake of hewe Yeve I thy body and my panne alfo." Freres Tale, 7204. But the true Imperative is gif, as in the Sad Shepherd. Act 2. Sc. 2. .«{ M Y largefle Hath lotted her to be your brother's miftrefs Gif fhe can be reclaimed ; gif not, his prey." This is the origin of the conjunction if ; and it anfwers, in fenfe, and derivation to the Latin f, which is but a contraction of Jit. Thus what we denominate the Sub- junctive * It has been remarked that y and g are gutturals which bear nearly the fame affinity to each other as b and p. Thus it happens that we find in old writings a y in many words where g is now ufed ; as ay en, ayenft. for again, againft v Thus bayonet is pronounced bagonei. i38 DISSERTATION IV*. junctive mode is refolvable into the Indic- ative. " If ye love me, ye will keep my commandments," is refolvable in this man- ner ; to give ; which is fometimes pronounced nan^ and fometimes anan* It is ufed for what, or what do you fay ; as when a perfon {peaks to another, the fecond perfon not hearing zdiftinctly, replies, nar^ or anan -, that is, give or repeat what you faid. This is rid- iculed as a grofs vulgarifm ; and it is in- deed obfolete except among common peo- ple ; but is jftric~tly correct, and if per- fons deride the ufe of the word, it proves at leaf! that they do not underftand its meaning. Unless, DISSERTATION IV. 189 Unless, left and elfe, are all derivatives of the old Saxon verb lefan, to difmifs, which we preferve in the word leafe, and its com- pounds. So far are thefe words from be- ing conjunctions, that they are, in fact, verbs in the Imperative mode ; and this explanation ferves further to lay open the curious itructure of our language. For example : ce Unless ye believe ye mail not under- ftand," may be thus refolved; " Ye believe ; difmifs (that fact) ye mail not understand." Or thus, "Difmifs ye believe, (that cir- cumftance being away) ye mail not under- ftand." Thus by analizing the fentence we find no Subjunctive mode 5 but merely the Indicative and Imperative. " Kiss the Son, left he be angry," h refolvable in the fame manner* " Kifs the Son, difmifs (that) he will be angry." Elfe is ufed nearly in the fame fenfe, as m Chaucer, Freres Tale, 7240 : « Axe him thyfelf, if thou not trowcft me, Or elks flint a while and thou fhalt fee." That is, cc If thou doft not believe mc, afk him thyfelf, or difmifjing (omitting that) wait and thou malt be convinced. Though* i 9 o DISSERTATION IV, Though, or tho> commonly called a con- junction, is alfo a verb in the Imperative Mode. It is from the verb thafian or tha- figan, which, in the Saxon, iignified to grant or allow. The word in its purity is thaf or thof -, and fo it is pronounced by many of the common people in England, and by fome in America. but cannot be well accounted for, without fup- pofing it to have two etymologies. Hap- pily the early writers furnifh us with the means " Sin thou art rightful jugc, how may it be, '! h.!t thou wo!t loffren innocence to J'pill, And wicked tblk to re^ne in profperitee i" Chaucer, Cant. Tales, «. 192 DISSERTATION IV. means of folving the difficulty. Gawett Douglais the poet, was cotemporary with Chaucer, or lived near his time, was Bifhop of Dunkeld in Scotland, and probably wrote the language in the purity of his age and country. As the Scots in the Low Lands, are defendants of the Saxons, in common with the Englifh, and from their local fituation, have been lefs expofed to revolutions, they have preferved more of the Saxon idiom and orthography than their fouthern brethren. In Douglafs we find two different words to exprefs the two different meanings, which we now annex to one ; viz. hot and but. The firft is ufed in the fenfe of more^ further or addition -, and the laft in the fenfe of except or take away. ** LOT rhy work fhall endure in laude and glorie, But fpot or fait condigne eterne memorie." The firft Mr. Home derives from botan, to booty to give more ; from which our Eng- lifh word booty which is now for the moft part confined to jockies, is alfo derived -, and the other from be utan,* to be out or away. That thefe etymologies are juft is * OUT wzs originally a verb. So in the firft. line of the celebrated Chevy Chace. DISSERTATION IV. 193 is probable, both from old writings and from the prefent diftincl ufes of the word but. This word therefore is the blending or corruption of bot and beut, the Impera- tives of two Saxon verbs, botan and be~ lit an.* And * The Perfe oivt of Northombarlande, And avow to God made he," &c. I have, in one or two inftances, obferved the ufe of it Hill among the lower clafles of people, in this country ; and I find ouied in ibme good writers, as late as Charles I. * Mr. Home remarks that the French word mats was formerly ufed in the fenfe of more, or bot. The Englifh word more was formerly often fpelt mo. " Telle me anon withouten wordes tno."" Chaucer, Prol. to Cant. Tales, 810. Is it not poffible that mo or more and the French mais may be radically the fame word ? The following paflage will confirm the foregoing ex- planation of beutan. It is taken from the Saxon verficn of the Gofpels. Luke, chap. *. v. 74. of the original. « JLet we butan ege of ure feonda handa alyfede, him theowrian." This verfion of the Gofpels was doubtlefs as early as the tenth or eleventh century. In WicklifFs verfion, made about three centuries later, the paflage ftands thus : " That we without drede, delyvered fro the hand of oure encmyes, ferve to him." Where we find butan and without are fy- nonimous. The word bot or bote is ftill retained in the law language, as fire-bote^ hou/e-boie ; where it is equivalent to enough or N i 9 4 DISSERTATION IV. And is probably a contraction of anan, to give, the verb before mentioned ; and ad, the root of the verb add, and fignifying feries or remainder. An ad, give the remain- der. The word with, commonly called a prepofition, is likewife a verb. It is from the Saxon wit ban, to join -, or more prob- ably from wyrth, to be, or the German werden, devenir, to be. The reafon for this latter conjecture, is that we have pre- ferved the Imperative of wyrth or werden, in this ancient phrafe, < The fame. But can an Englifh ear relifh this af- fected correclnefs ? Hear the language of Cowley and Shakefpear, who wrote as the nation fpoke : " A general joy at this glad newes appear'd." Cowley's Davideis, book i. " Now by St. Paul this news is bad indeed !" The fame. «* No news fo bad abroad as this at home." Rich. III. feene 1. Such DISSERTATION IV. 209 Such is the language at this day, and a man would efcpofe himfelf to ridicule, who mould fay, thefe news are good. Late writers feem to confider riches as plural ; but erroneoufly. It is merely a contraction of richeffe, the French fingu- lar, which was probably introduced into England under the Norman kings. Chau- cer ufes richeffe as the fmgular : « But for ye fpeken of fwiche gentilleffe, As is defcended out of old richeffe." Cant. Tales, 66gt. —"And he that ones to love doeth his homage Full oftentymes dere bought is the richeffe." La Belle Dame fans mercy, 323. The word richeffe here is no more plu- ral than gentilneffe, dijlreffe, doubleneffe, which the author ufes in the fame poem ; and riches now, in ftrictnefs of fpeech, is no more plural than gentlenefs, dlftrefs> or any other word of fimilar ending. When Chaucer had occafion for a plural, he wrote the word richeffes ; as in the Tale of Me- libeus : " Thou haft dronke fo muche hony of fwete temporal richeffes and delices and honors of this world," &c- Works, vol. 4. p. 170. Bell's edit. The Q 210 DISSERTATION IV. The word riches therefore is in the lin- gular number and merely an abbreviation of richejfe ; as dijirefs is of dijlreffe ; weak- 7iejs, of iveak?2ej/e, &c. and the reafon why the plural richejfes has been neglected, may be, that the idea it conveys does not admit of number any more than that of wealth, which is alfo destitute of a plural form. " Was ever riches gotten by your golden mediocrities ?" Cowley on Cromwell's Gov. "When love has taken all thou haft away, His ftrength by too much riches will decay." • Cowley* " The envy and jealoufy which great riches is always attended with."* Moyle's Eilay on Lacedem. Gov. 48. " In one hour is fo great riches come to nought." -Bible. Here riches is confidered in its true light. Notwithflanding this, the termi- nation of the word has led late writers into the opinion, that it is plural ; fo that we generally fee it followed by a plural verb : Should this become the unanimous opinion and a general correfpondent prac- tice enfue, riches will be eftablifhed as a plural, DISSERTATION IV. 211 plural, contrary to etymology and ancient ufage. Alms is alfo in the fingular number ; being a contraction of the old Norman French, almejje, the plural of which was almejfes. So in Chaucer : « Ye knowen wel that I am poure and olde, Kithe (fhow) your aimejft upon me poure wretche." Freres Tale, 7190. " 'This almejfe fhouldeft thou do of thy propre thinges," &c. Vol. 5. p. 217. Bell. " These ben generally the almejfes and werkes of charitie of hem that have tem- porel richerTes." The fame. Alms is ufed as a noun fingular in the Bible j " To afk an alms" " He gave much alms -" that is, almejfe, or chanty. The plural of this word is not ufed. Largess is a word of this clafs. It is from the old French largcjje ; but the idea admits of number, and accordingly we find the plural, largejfes, flill in ufe. in this form of fpeech, *The Editor of Chaucer's Works before mentioned, remarks, «« that a, in composition with words of Saxon o- riginal, is an abbreviation of af or oj, at, on or in ; and oft- en a corruption of the prepofitive particle ge orjy." Ac- cording to this writer, a is any thing and every thing ; it has fo many derivations and ufcs, that it has no certain derivation or meaning at all. In the phrafe a coming, a feems now to be a mere expletive ; but otherwife a-, ont, and an have the fame mearr.ing in all cafes, 222 DISSERTATION IV. ipeech, carries the full meaning of the Lat- in per, and the fubltitution of the latter, for want, as it is faid, of an Englifh word, in the phrafes, per day, per head, per pound, is a burlefque upon the Englifh to this day. We fee continually a wretched jar- gon of Latin and Englifh in every mer- chant's book, even to the exclufion of a pure Englifh phrafe, more concife, more correct, and more elegant. It is to be wifhed that a might be reftored to its true dignity; as it is ufed by fome of the purefl Englifh writers. tc He had read almoft conftantly, twelve or fourteen hours a day ;" that is, one day, Bollingbroke on Hiftory, letter 4. " To the fixteen fcholars twenty pounds a piece" Cowley. This is pure elegant Englifh, and the common people have the honor of preferr- ing it, unadulterated by foreign words. * VERB. THE moft difficult branch of this fub- je6l is the verb. Next to the noun, this is the moft important part of fpeech, and as it includes all the terms by which we exprefs DISSERTATION IV. 223 exprefs action and exiftence, in their num- berlefs varieties, it mutt, in all languages, be very comprehenfive. The Englifh verb fuffers very few in- flections or changes of termination, to ex- prefs the different circumftances of perfon, number, time and mode. Its inflections are confined to the three perfons of the Angular number, in the prefent tenfe, in- dicative mode, and the firfl and fecond per- fons of the paft tenfe ; unlefs we confider the irregular participles as a fpecies of in- flection belonging to the verb. All the other varieties of perfon, number, time and mode, are expreifed by prefixing other words, by various combinations of words, or by a particular manner of utterance. This fimplicity, as it is erroneoufly call- ed, is faid to render our language eafy of acquifition. The reverfe however of this is true -, for the ufe of auxiliaries or com- binations of words, conftitutes the mofl perplexing branch of grammar -, it being much eafier to learn to change the ter- mination of the verb, than to combine two, three or four words for the fame purpofe. Grammarians 224 DISSERTATION IV, Grammarians have ufually divided the Englifh verbs into a£live> pajive and neu- ter. "Attive verbs," fay they,* " exprefs action, and neceffarily imply an agent and an object acted upon." But is not a man pqffive in hearing § Yet bear is called an a£tive verb. "A verb neuter exprefTes being, or a flate or condition of being -, when the a- gent and object coincide, and the event is properly neither action nor paffion, but rather fomething between both." But is there neither aftion nor pajjion in walking, runni?7g, exifiing f One would think that running at leaf! might be called attion* The common definitions, copied, in fome meafure, from the Latin Grammars, are very inaccurate. The moll correct and general divifion of Englifh verbs, is, into tranfitive and intranfitive ; the former term comprehending all verbs that may be followed by any object receiving the ac- tion, or of which any thing is affirmed 5 the latter, all thofe verbs, the affirmation in which is limited to the agent. Thus hear is a tranfitive verb, for it affirms fomething of an object ; I hear the bell : Run •Lowth's Introduction. Tit. verb. DISSERTATION IV. 225 Run is an intranjitive verb, for the action mentioned is confined to the agent j he runs. Yet the laft is an a£live verb, and the firft, ftxictly fpeaking, is not j* fo that there is a diftinclion to be made between a verb active and tranjitive. In ftricl: propriety, we have in Englifh no paflive verb ; that is, we have no fingle word which conveys the idea of parlion or fuffering, in the manner of the Greek or Latin paflive verb. It may be ufeful, in teaching Englifh to youth or foreigners, to exhibit a fpecimen of the combinations of the verb be, with the participles of other verbs in all their varieties j but each word mould be paried as a diftincl: part of fpeech -, altho two or more may be necefiary to con- vey an idea which is exprefTed by a fmgle word in another language. TIME. TIME is naturally divided into paft, prefent and future. The Englifh verb has but two variations of ending to exprefs time ; the prefent, as love, write j and the pair, ■ ? RUN, like many other verbs, may be ufed either tranfi- tively or intranfttively. Simply to run-, is intr&nfitive ; to ran a horf".^ tranfitive. P 226 DISSERTATION IV. paft, as loved, wrote. The ufual divifion of tenfes, or combinations of words cor- refponding to the Latin tenfes, is not whol- ly accurate. The definition of the fecond tenfe, in the ordinary arrangement of them in Latin grammars, may be correct, as it relates to the Roman tongue •, but does not apply to the Englifh tenfe, which is com- monly called by the fame name, the Im- perfecl. The Latin words movebam, lege- bam, are tranflated / moved, I read. Now the Englifh words exprefs actions perfectly paft, and therefore the time or tenfe cannot be juftly denominated imperfeB. If the Latin words expreffed, in the Roman tongue, ac- tions imperfeBly paji, they mould be ren- dered by us, I was moving, was reading, which convey ideas of actions, as taking place at fome preceding period, but not then paft. In this fenfe, the name of the tenfe might have been ufed with propriety. But the Englifh form of expreffion, he moved, conveys the idea of an action com- pletely paft, and does not fall within the definition of the Latin ImperfeB. It is furprizing that the great Lowth mould rank this form of the verb, they moved, under the head of indefinite or unde- termined time ; and yet place, this form, have DISSERTATION IV. 227 have moved, or what is called the perfect: tenfe, under the head of definite or deter- mined time. The truth is, the firft is the moft definite. 1 have loved, or moved, ex- prefTes an action performed and complet- ed, generally within a period of time not far diflant j but leaves the particular point of time wholly indefinite or undetermined. On the other hand, / loved is necefTarily employed, when a particular period or point of time is fpecified. Thus it is correct to fay, / read a book yefierday, lafi week, ten years ago, &c. but it is not grammatical to fay, I have read a book yefier day, lafi week, &c. fo that, directly contrary to Lowth's rule, I moved, is the definite, and I have mov- ed, the indefinite time. Great inaccuracy is likewife indulged in the ufual defcription of the Englifh fu- ture tenfe. There is no variation of the verb to exprefs a future action j to remedy this defect, the Englifh ufejhall and will, before the verb in its radical form. But thefe words are both in the prefent time j being merely the Teutonic verbs follen and wollen, which formerly had, and in the German frill have, moft of the inflections of regular verbs. Thus : Jnd. P2 228 DISSERTATION IV. Ind. Pref. Ich foil, I ought or fhould. Ich iv ill, I will. Imp. Ich folk, I ought or fhould. Ich wollt, I would. Preter. Ich babe gefollt, I ought or fhould have. Ich habe gewollt, I would or would have, 6cc. &c* / will go is really nothing more than a prefent promife of a future action, \fhall go is a prefent prediction of a future action. In the fecond and third perfons, will ex- preffes the prediction j and as one cannot promife for a fecond or third perfon, y£#//, in thefe perfons, implies a promife of the firfr. perfon, that he will command or oblige the fecond or third perfon to do an action in fome future time. The whole may be thus explained : I will go, Is my own prefent promife to do a future action. Thou * Lowth obferves a diftin&ion between the verb to will, dnd the auxiliary, nnll ; the firft being regularly inflected, I will, tkou willejfi, ht wills, and the latter, I will, thou tur!r t he will. But altho this ddlinclion a£bually exiils in modern practice, yet the words are, in both cafes, the fame — derived from the fame root, and ftill retaining nearly the fame meaning. DISSERTATION IV. 229 "Thou wilt go — He will go, Are my (the fpeaker's) prefent predictions that the perfons mentioned will do a fu- ture aftion ; or perhaps more properly, a declaration of their inclination or intention. I frail go, Is my prefent prediction of a future action. Thou Jhalt go — He Jhall go, Are my (the fpeaker's) prefent promife that the fecond and third perfons will, do a fu- ture action. But as a man cannot compel a fuperior, he can promife only for him- felf or inferiors ; therefore thefe lail ex- preflions imply a promife in the fpeaker, and a right to command the fecond and third perfons to do the thing promifed ; for which reafon they are ufed only in addreff- ing or fpeaking of, inferiors or fubjecls. The fame remarks apply to the three per- fons in the plural number, Hence we obferve the inaccuracy of translating the future tenfe of the Greeks, Romans, and French, by Jhall or will in- differently. It is probable that the future tenfe in thofe languages, and perhaps in others, where the tenfe is formed by in- flections, was employed merely to foretell. 230 DISSERTATION IV. If fo, jhall only mould be ufed in the firft perfon of the Englifh tranflation, and will, in the fecond and third. Thus : Latin, French, Englijh, Habebo, J'aurai, I {hall have. Habebimus, nous aurons, we fhall have. Habebis, tu auras, thou wilt have. Habebit, il aura, he will have. Habebitis, vous aurez, you will have. Habebunt, ils auront, they will have. On the other hand, a promife in the firft perfon expreffed in Englifh by will, and a promife or command in the fecond and third, expreffed by Jhall, feem, in thefe lan- guages, to be communicated by other words or a circumlocution. In ftridlnefs of fpeech therefore, we have no future tenfe of the verb in Englifh ,- but we ufe auxiliaries, which, in the pref- ent tenfe, expref^ a prediction of an action, or a diipofition of mind to produce an ac- tion. Thefe auxiliaries, united with the verb or affirmation, anfwer the purpofes of the future tenfes of verbs in other lan- guages 5 and no inconvenience can arife from calling fuch a combination a tenfe, MOPE DISSERTATION IV. 231 MODE. MOST languages are fo contracted, that the verbs change their terminations for the purpofe of expreffing the manner of being or action. In this particular, the Englifh. is fmgular -, there being but one inflection of a fingle verb, which can be faid to be peculiar to the conditional or fubjunctive mode.* In all other refpecls, the verbs in the declaratory and condition- al modes are the fame ; and the condition is known only by fome other word prefix- ed to the verb. It is aftonifhing to fee how long and how ftupidly Englifh grammarians have followed the Latin grammars in their di- vifions of time and mode ; but in particu- lar the latter. By this means, we often find may, can, fhould and muji in a conditional mode, when they are pofitive declarations and belong to the indicative. All uncon- ditional declarations, whether of an action, or of a right, power or neceffity of doing an action, belong to the indicative ; and the diftinction between the indicative and po- tential is totally ufelefs. Should is com- monly * IF I were, thou zvert, he were, in the pt'efent hypothetical tenfe of the fubjun&ive mode, are not uicd in the indicative. 232 DISSERTATION IV. monly placed in the imperfect, time of the fubjunfrive ; yet is frequently ufed to ex- prefs an unconditional obligation, as he Jkould go -, and belongs to the prefent time of the indicative, as much as he ought, or the French ilfaut or il doit. Would is fometimes employed in a de- claratory fenfeto exprefs a prefent volition, and then belongs to the indicative. In the pafl time, fiould, vmdd, might, could, often exprefs unconditional ideas, and belong to the indicative. In fhort, the ufual ar- rangement of the Englifh verbs and auxil- iaries in our grammars is calculated to per- plex and miflead a learner j and I have never found a foreigner who could ufe. them with tolerable propriety. NUMEER and PERSON. UNDER this head, I fhall remark on a fingle article only, the ufe of you in the fmgular number, with a plural verb. The ufe of the plural nos and vas, for ego and tu in Latin -, of nous and vous foi'je and tu in French - 3 feems to have been very ancient, and to have been originally intended to foften the harfhnefs of cgotifm, or to make a refpectful diitinclion in favor of great perfonages, DISSERTATION IV. 233 perfonages. But the practice became gen- eral in the French nation, was introduced by them into England, and gradually imi* tated by the Englifh in their own tongue. You, in familiar difcourfe, is applied to an individual, except by a fingle kd: of christ- ians ; the practice is general and of long Handing ; it has become correct Englifh, and ought to be confidered, in grammar, as a pronoun in the fmgular number. It may be objected, that we unite with it a verb in the plural number, you are, you have ; this is true, but the verb, in thefe in- ftances, becomes fingular ; and both the pronoun and verb fhould be placed in the fingular number, In the union of you with a plural verb in the prefent time, we are all unanimous ; but in the paft time, there is a difference between books and common practice in a fingle inftance. In books, you is common^ ly ufed with the plural of the verb be, you vjere ; in conyeriation, it is generally fol- lowed by the fingular, you was. Notwith- standing the criticifms of grammarians, the antiquity and univerfality of this prac- tice mult give it the fanction of propriety; for what but practice forms a language ? This practice is not merely vulgar ; it is general 234 DISSERTATION IV. general among men of erudition who do not affect to be fettered by the rules of grammarians, and fome late writers have indulged it in their publications. I ihould therefore inflect the verb be in the paft time after this manner ; / was, thou waft, or ycu was, he was, &c. Whatever objections may be raifed to this inflection, it is the language of the Englijh, and rules can hard- ly change a general practice of fpeaking ; nor would there be any advantage in the change, if it could be effected. AUXILIARIES. THERE are feveral verbs in Engliih, which, from the neceffity of their union with other verbs, have obtained the name of auxiliaries. Originally they were principal verbs, with regular Saxon infinitives, and the ufual inflections ; as may be obferved by any perfon, who has the fmallefr. acquaint- ance with the modern German, which re- tains more of the ancient ftructure, than any other branch of the primitive language. The verbs, called auxiliaries or helpers, are do, be, have, Jhall, will, may, can, mujl. The three firfl: are often employed alone, and are therefore acknowleged to be fome- times principal verbs. That the others were DISSERTATION IV. 235 were fo, will be made obvious by a fpeci- rnen from the German, with the corref* ponding Englifh. German, Englifi, Inf. Wollen, to will. Ind.Pref. Ich will, I will. Wir wollen,* we will. Imper. Ich w r olte, I would. Preterit. Ich habe gewolt, I have would,or willed. Plup. Ich hatte gewolt, I had would. Fut. Ich werde wollen , I fhall will. Imp. Wolle du, will thou. Subj, Ich wolle, (if)Iwould,&c. Inf. Wollen, to will. Gewolte haben, to have would, or willed. Part. Wollend, willing. Gewollte, having would, or willed. Sollen, to fhall, is inflected in the fame manner. Koennen, to can, or be able, is inflected much in the fame manner. Ich kann, I can, &c. Imperfect, Ich konnte, I could. Preterit, Ich habe gehonnt, I have could (or been able.) Participle, Keen- vend, canning, being able. Thus mcegen, to may, * It has been before obferved, that the common people have not wholly loll this pronunciation, zvoll, to this day. 236 DISSERTATION IV. may, makes, in the paff. tenfes, Ich mochte, I might or mought, as the vulgar fome- times pronounce it ; Ich habe gemocbt, I have might. Mufl alio, which in Englifh has loft all inflection, is varied in the Ger- man ; mii/fen, to muff, or be obliged ; Im- perfect, Ich miifle> I muft, or was obliged. Bht whatever thefe verbs may have once "been, yet from their lofs of feveral inflec- tions and the, participles, with their Angu- lar ufe in combination with other verbs, they may very well be denominated auxili- ary 'verbs. Their true force in Englifh mould be afcertained and explained in grammars for the benefit of learners, and particularly for the afliftance of foreign- ers j* yet in refolving fentences, each fhould be confidered as a verb or diffinct part of ipeech. For want of a clear and accurate knowl- ege of the Englifh auxiliaries, foreigners are apt to fall into material errors in con- ftructing fentences. The moil numerous errors appear in the ufe of ivill and /hall, and their inflections. The Scots and I- rifh, even of the firft rank, generally ufe will * See the fecond part of the Grammatical Inftitute. Ap- pendix, DISSERTATION IV. i z y will for fiall in the firft perfon -, by which means, they fubftitute a promife for an in- tended prediction. Several errors of this kind have efcaped the notice of the moft celebrated writers. cc Without having attended to this, we will be at a lofs in undcrftanding feveral pafTages in the claffics, which relate to the public fpeaking, and the theatrical enter- tainments of the ancients." Blair's Lec- tures, p. 48. Philad. edit. cc In the Latin language, there are no two words, we would more readily take to be fynonimous, than amare and diligere", - The fame, p. 83. In thefe and feveral other inftances which occur in Blair's writings, the words will and would are ufed very improperly, for /hall and Jhould. The author means only to foretell certain events, and has em- ployed words which carry, to an Englifh ear, the full force of a promife. English writers have rarely fallen into this error ; yet a few inftances may be found in authors of reputation. " If I draw a catgut or any other cord to a great length between my fingers, I will 23S DISSERTATION Iv\ will make it fmaller than it was before," &c— Goldfmith's Survey of Experi- mental Philofophy, book 2. chap. 2. In the middle and fouthern ftates of A- merica, this error is frequent, both in writ- ing and converfation. " Let us fuppofe the charter repealed and the bank annihilated -, will we be bet- ter fituated ?" Argument againft re- ' pealing the charter of the Bank of North America. This is very incorrect ; there is hardly a poflible cafe, in which will can be prop- erly employed to aik a queftion in the firfr. perfon. " As foon as the diploma is made out, I will have the honor to tranfmit it to you." Letter to Count Rochambeau. Is not this promijing to have the honor of a communication, an engagement which delicacy forbids ? It is impoffible for a for- eigner to have a juft idea of the abfurdity of ufing will in this manner ; but a correct Englifli ear revolts at the practice. Dr. Prieftley obferves veryjuflly, that the form of the auxiliaries, foalh will, which DISSERTATION IV. &$$ which is generally conditional, viz. fhould and would, is elegantly ufed to exprefs a flight affertion, with modeft diffidence. tf The royal power, it Jhould feem y might be intrufted in their hands."—— Hume's Hiftory, vol. 3. p. 383. We fay alfo, " Y^would not choofe any. n In thefe cafes, the verbs are not condition- al ; they modeftly declare a fact, and there- fore properly belong to the indicative mode. But in the following paffage, JJiould is im- properly employed : " In judging only from the nature of things, and without the furer aid of di- vine revelation, one fiould be apt to em- brace the opinion of Diodorus Siculus," &c. Warburton's Divine Legation, vol, 2. p. 81. Should, in the fecond and third per- fons, exprefles duty, and the idea of the au- thor was, to exprefs an event, under a con- dition, or a modeft declaration -, he Jhould have ufed would. " There is not a girl in town, but let her have her will in going to a malk, and fhc yW/drefs as a fhepherdefs. — "Spec!:. No. 9. Shall, 24© DISSERTATION fV\ Shall, in this example, exprefTes com* tnand, an idea very different from the au- thor's meaning. xP vl> ^^ H Rom. xiy. 15. — Bat if thy brother be grieved with thy meat. E* y«^ &* f3p«/*a 6 tL&\- ioltzi zrpotpvilrir uvx\. 38. — If any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant ftill. e« ty t*t aSvottiw. In thefe inftances, the verbs exprefs con- ditional facts in the prefent time. In the original they are in the indicative prefent j and DISSERTATION IV. 25$ and on what authority did the tranllators introduce a different mode in Englifh ? Can they be juftified by the idioms of the language at the time when they lived ? Was the fubjunctive always ufed after a conjunction ? By no means : Their own tranflation of other paffages proves the contrary. 1 Cor. xv. 13. — And if their is no ref- urrection of the dead. E» h uvoiflounr vsxpw C'JJC Hl\ IV* Here is the prefent tenfe of the indica- tive ufed, where the fact mentioned is fup- pofed, by the argument, to be at leaft doubtful. In other places the prefent time of the fame mode is ufed, where the future would have been more accurate. Prov. ii. 3, 4. — " Yea if thou crieft after knowlege, and lift eft up thy voice for un~ derftanding j if thou feekejl for her as for hid treafures, then fhalt thou underftand," &c. What conclufion fhall we draw from this ftate of facls ? This at lead may be faid with fafety, either that the Englifh modes and tenfes have not been afcertain- ed and underflood, or that the belt of our writers have been extremely negligent. After 256 DISSERTATION IV. After an attentive and accurate examin- ation of this fubjecl, I believe I may venture to affert, that nine times out of ten, when the pretended fubjunc~tive form of the verb is ufed after a conjunction, either in the vul- gar tranflation of the Bible, or in our beft profane authors, the fenfe is actually fu- ture, and to render the fentences complete, it would be neceflary to infert/ZW/ or fiould.* This will be more obvious by attending to the Latin tranflation of the New Tefta- ment, where the future is almofl always employed to exprefs the Greek future and aorifts. Igitur fi munus tuum attuleris ad alt are — If thou bring thy gift to the altar j et illic memineris — arid there rememberefi 5 (what confufion of modes.) If his fon afk bread — Sijilius ejus petientpanem. And if the houfe be worthy — Etfi quidem fuerit domus digna j and fo throughout the whole New Teftament. Will any perfon pretend to fay that the verbs bring, ajk and be, in the foregoing paiTages, are prefent time ; or that remem- ber eft is not bad Englifh ? The elliptical future, If thou be, if he afk, &c. is correct Englifh, but mould by no means be con- founded * In fomc instances, the time is prefent, and the clliphs ;nay be fupplicd by may or fame other auxiliary. DISSERTATION IV. 257 founded with the prefent tenfe, which, in Engliih, has but one form. I do not deny that good authors have ufed this form, after conjunctions, in the prefent time ; but I deny that the genius of the language requires it, that it is agree- able to the ancient or modern elegant lan- guages, and that it has been or is now the general practice. With refpect to the ancient practice, examples fufficient have been already pro- duced, to (how that authors have confider- ed the prefent of the indicative, after con- junctions, denoting uncertainty or doubt, as at leaft correct ; and the prefent prac- tice in fpeaking is wholly on this fide of the argument. With refpect to the Roman and Greek languages, I believe examples enough may be brought to prove, that the fubjunctive mode after the conditional conjunctions or adverbs, was not generally ufed, except when the idea was fuch as we fhould ex- prefs by may, might, fiould, let, or fome oth- er auxiliary before the verb. " Quid eft autem, quod deos veneremur propter admi- rationem ejus naturae, in qua egregium ni- R hii 258 DISSERTATION IV. hil videmus ?'' " Ut, quos ratio non pof- fet, eos ad officium religio duceret? — Cic- ero, De nat Deorum, 1. 1. 42. To render veneremur and duceret into Englifh, Jhould may be prefixed to adore, and might to lead. At any rate, the conditional conjunc- tions do not all, nor generally require the fubjunctive mode : " Quae, ft mundus eft Deus, quoniam mundi partes funt, Dei membra parim ardentia, partim refrigera- tadicenda funt." — Ibm. 1. 1. 10. " Si Di fojfunt effe fine fenfu," &c. The indicative after this conjunction occurs frequently in the beft Roman authors. In Greek the cafe is nearly the fame. Several inftances of the indicative after the conditional conjunction » (if) have already been quoted from fcripture -, and fimilar inftances without number may be produc- ed from profane writers. tvpoi, v 'mu.'nuv £»r rispa-oc^y xa,i apex, /w-ei/ JjeJatrxsii/ ocvtov? OTl £* Ti 7rSHTCliT0a M?)Jot, li? YliPGU? TO SliVOV tlfcll, 0LU.O. Si amiv tvXhov rpocrivpa. -," Xenoph. de Cyn. Inft. 1. 2. p. 80. Lond. Ed. Here the verb jj^i is in theprefent tenfc of the indicative, after a conjunction de- noting DISSERTATION IV. 259 noting condition or doubt ; cc if the affair is fo — if fuch is the true Hate of affairs, Cyrus, what better method can be taken (supo») than to fend to the Perfians, and in- form them that if any accident happen to the Medes (fo we fhouid render ireia-oulxi, which is in the future) calamity will fall upon the Perfians alfo, and let us afk for a greater force." In French, the conditional conjunctions do not require the fubjunctive mode. " Si ma prediction eft faufle, vous ferez libre de nous immoler dans trois jours." — Telem- aque, liv. 1. and the Ger- man bifii and weorthan, to be or become, fieri ; from which probably , the Danes have their -oarer, ar.d the Engliflk then were. DISSERTATION IV. 271 time ; as, truth is great above all things ; the fcriptures are a rule of faith j the heav- ens difplay the glory of the Lord. The paft or the future, in fuch cafes, would be highly improper. Hence the abfurdity of the paffage juft quoted ; the fuppofition is that every art has (generally — at all times) a fyftem of principles. " If the taxes laid by government were the only ones we had to pay." The author's meaning is, "the only taxes we have to pay ;" and he was prob- ably led into the miftake by not under- Handing the preceding hypothetical verb, were , which actually fpeaks of the prefent time conditionally. The error will be more finking in the following paflages. f If an atheift would well confider the arguments in this book, he would confefs there was a God." There was a God ! And why not con- fefs that there is a God ? The writer did not confider that the firft part of the fentence is conditional, and that the hit ought to be declaratory of a fact always exifting. '-'Two 2}2 DISSERTATION IV. " Two young men have made a difcov- cry that there was a God." Swift's Arg. againft Abolifhing Chriftianity. A curious difcovery indeed ! Were the Dean frill alive, he might find there is a great inaccuracy in that parTage of his works. "Yet were we to ufe the fame word, where the figure was manifeft, we mould ufe the prepoiltion from." Prieftley, Gram. p. 158. Here is the fame error, and the author may live to correct it. But of all this clafs of miflakes, the fol- lowing is the mofl palpable. " I am determined to live, as if there was a future life." Hammon, quoted by Price and Prieftley. Hammon is an atheift, and it would ^require the fame abilities to reconcile the two words was future, as to reconcile his principles with the common fenfe of man- kind.* The * The great fource of thefe errors is this : Grammarians have confidcred that as a conjunction, and fuppofed that « : conjun£lions DISSERTATION IV. 273 The following paffage, from Gregory's Comparative View of the State and Faculties of Man ^ is remarkable for this error. " Men have been taught that they did (do) God acceptable fervice, by abftracling themfelves from all the duties they owed (owe) to fociety $ and by inflicting on thernfelves the fevereft tortures which na- ture can fupport. They have been taught that it was (is) their duty," &c. " And yet one would think that this was the principal ufe of the fludy of hiftory." Eolingbroke on Hift. letter 3. A similar fault occurs in one of Mrs. Thale's letters to Dr. Johnfon, Aug. 9, 1 775* "—Yet " conjunctions couple like cafes and modes ;" a Latin rule that does not always hold in Englifh. But Mr. Home Tooke has clearly proved the word that to be always a rel- ative pronoun : It always relates to a word or fentence ; and the reafon why grammarians have called it a conjunc- tion, may be this ; they could not find any word to govern it as a relative, and therefore did not know what to do with it. But it is in fa£r. a relative word, thus, " two men have made a difcovery ;" this is one affertion. What difcovery ? " that or this is the difcovery ;" the word that carrying the force of a complete affirmation ; " there was a God." Here we fee the abfurdity of Swift's declaration and the common notions of a fubjunftive mode. There is no fubjunftive ; in flriclnefs of fpeech, all fentences are refolvable into dif- tinft declaratory phrafes. " There is a God ;" " two young men have difcovercd that j" fo the fentence fhouid be writ- ten to fhow the true conftru&ion. s 274 DISSERTATION IV. " — Yet I have always found the beft fupplement for talk was writing*" So in Blackftone's Commentaries, book i. chap. 7. " It was obferved in a former chap- ter, that one of the principal bulwarks of civil liberty, or, in other words, of the Britifh conftitution, was the limitation of the king's prerogative." The obfervation had been made in time paft, but reflecting a fact that exifts now, and at all times while the Britifh conftitu- tion exifts. The fentence therefore fhould run thus ; " it was obferved that one prin- cipal bulwark of civil liberty, is the limit- ation of the king's prerogative." No fault is more common ; we every day hear fuch expreffions as thefe j " If I thought it was fo j" tc fuppofe I fhould fay Hie was handfome ;" " I did not think it was fo late," &c. JVas, in the firft and laft examples, fliould be the infinitive, to be j and in the fecond, the prefent time, is. Had proper attention been paid to our lan- guage, fo many palpable miftakes would not have crept into practice, and into the moft DISSERTATION IV. 275 in oft correct and elegant writings. Dr. Reid is perhaps the only writer who has generally avoided this error. The Greek and Roman writers were not guilty of fuch miftakes. Either the vari- eties of inflection in their languages, or fuperior care in the writers, made them attentive to the nice diftinclions- of time. In the following pafTage, the trariflators of the Bible, by adhering clofely to the orig- inal, have avoided the common error before mentioned. " I kneiv thee that thou art an hard man." — Matth. xxv. 24. " Efw* oil c-KXnpoc « a^puTros- •" literally, having known that thou art an hard man. So alio ver. 26, " Thou wicked and ilothful fervant, thou kneweji that I reap) where I fowed not ;" " jj&jt q\* &/»£«." Had thefe paflages been tranflated into the carelefs ftile of modern converfa- tion, and even of many excellent writings, they would have flood thus — " I knew thee that thou waft an hard man" — " thou kneweft that I reaped where I fow not." But the general character and conduct of the perfon mentioned in this parable, are fuppofed to^exift at all times while he is living; and this general nature of the fact S 2 requires 2j6 DISSERTATION IV. requires the verb to be in the prefent time. To confirm this remark let the fentences be inverted ; " thou art an hard man, I knew thee to be fuch, or I knew it." " I reap where I fowed not, thou kneweft that." This is an indubitable evidence of the ac- curacy of the tranflation.* An * A passage in Dr. Middleton's Life of Cicero, is re- markably accurate ; " The celebrated orator, L. Caffius, died of the fame difeafe (the pleurify,) which might proba- bly be then, as I was told in Rome it is now, the peculiar diftemper of the place." Was refers to time completely pajl j but is declares a raft that exifts generally, at all times ; the verb is therefore in the prefent tenfe, or as Harris terms it,+ the aor iff. of the prefent. So alfo in Dr. Reid's Eflays, vol. 1. p. 18. " Thofe philofophers held, that there are three firft principles of all things ;" which is correft Eng- lifh. « Ariftotle thought every objeft of human under- ftanding enters at firft. by the fenfes." — Page 110. The fol- lowing paffage is equally correft. <« There is a courage depending on nerves and blood, which was improved to the higheft pitch among the Greeks."— — Gillies, Hift. of Greece, vol. 1. p. 248. This courage is derived from the conltitution of the human body ; it exifls therefore at all times ; and had our author faid, " there was a courage de- pending on nerves and blood, which the Greeks improved to the higheft pitch," the fenfe would have been left im- perfeft. Here then we fee the indefinite ufe of this form of the prefent tenfe ; for were the verb is, in the foregoing example, limited to time now prefent, it would make the au- thor write nonfenfe ; it being abfurd to fay, M the Greeks 2000 years ago improved a courage which exifls only at the prefent time.'" So that verbs, in the prefent tenfe, exprefs fafts that have an uninterrupted existence in pafl, prefoxt, and future time. t Hermes, page 123. DISSERTATION IV. 277 An inverfion of the order of the fentence in the paflages firft quoted, will mow the common error in a moft linking light. " There was a God, two young men have made that difcovery." " Men did God acceptable fervice, by abftracting them- felves, &c. they have been taught this -, it was their duty, they have been taught this." " The taxes we had to pay to government, if thefe were the only ones." This will not make fenfe to a man who has taxes fiill to pay 5 the writer's had to pay will not dis- charge the public debt. But it is unne- cessary to multiply examples and arguments ; the reader muft be already convinced that thefe errors exifl, and that I ought not to have been the firft to notice them. Sometimes this hypothetical tenfe is ufed with an infinitive for the future. In the following paflage it feems to be correct. " I wish I were to go to the Elyfian fields, when I die, and then I mould not care if I were to leave the world tomor- row." Pope. But the following are hardly vindicable* " Suppose they marched np to our mines with a numerous army, how could they S 3 fobfift 27S DISSERTATION IV. fubfifl for want of provifion." Moyle, DifT. on the Rev. of Athens. " If they foraged in fmall parties." Same. The fenfe is future, and therefore fiould march i fiould forage, would have been more correct. is not the meaning of the writer. But it governs pleading, or refers immediately to that idea or union of ideas, expreffed by be- ing particularly pleaded. As thefe laft words reprefent a noun, which is immediately governed by the prepofition, without ; the word Jlatute mould have the fign of the pofTeflive, as much as any word in the gen- itive cafe, without the Jlatute 's being particu- larly pleaded j that is, without the particu- lar pleading of the jlatute by the parties 5 for in order to make grammar or fenfe, jlatute mult be in the pofTeflive. To confirm thefe remarks, I would juffc add, that when we fubftitute a pronoun in fuch cafes, we always ufe the pofTefTive cafe, Suppofe the word jlatute had been previ- oully ufed, in the fentence ; the writer then would have ufed the pronoun in the clofe of the fentence, thus ; " without its being particularly pleaded j" and I prefume that no perfon will contend for the propriety of, " without it being pleaded." So we mould fay, " a judge will not proceed to try a criminal, without his be- ing 282 DISSERTATION IV. ing prcfent." But would it be correct, to fay, without him being prefent ? This mode of fpeaking will not, I am confident, be advocated : But unlels I am miftak- en, this laft expreifion ftands on a foot- ing with the example cited, without the jlatute being pleaded. Numberlefs fimilar examples occur in thofe modern writers who aim at refinement of language. " If we can admit the doctrine of the fiomach having a general confent with the whole fyftem." — ct On account of the fyftem being too highly toned," &c. It is ftrange the writers of fuch language do not fee that there are in fact, two poifeffives in fuch phrafes — "on account o/the too high ton- ing of the fyftem," and that both mould be expreffed; thus," on account of 'the fyftem 's being too high toned." It may be queftioned whether the verb need may not with propriety be ufed in the third perfon lingular of the indicative, prefent, without the ufual termination of that perfon. Practice will at leaft war- rant it. " But tho the principle is to be ap- plauded, the error cannot, and, in this en- lightened age, happily need not be defend- ed." — — Erikine, Orat. Temp. vol. i. p. 95. " Now DISSERTATION IV, 283 " Now a perfon need but enter into him- ielf and reflect on the operations of his own mind." Nugent's Burlamaqui, 1 . 9. as Jlrength, health, grand. The doctrine, that long vowels are requifite to form long fyllables in poetry, is at length exploded, and the principles which regulate the movement of our verfe, are explained j viz. accent and emphafis. Every emphatical word, and ev- ery accented fyllable, will form what is called in verfe, a long fyllable, The un- accented fyllables, and unemphatical mon- ofyllabic words, are eonfidered as fhort fyl- lables. But there are two kinds of emphafis j a natural emphafis, which arifes from the importance of the idea conveyed by a word % and an accidental emphafis, which arifes from the importance of a word in a par- ticular fituation. The flrfr. or natural emphafis belongs to all nouns, verbs, participles and adjectives, and requires no elevation of voice ; as, " Not half [o fivift the trembling doves cznjly." The DISSERTATION V. 293 The laft or accidental emphafis is laid on a word when it has fome particular meaning, and when the force of a fentence depends on it ; this therefore requires an elevation of voice ; as, "Perdition catch my foul — but I do love thee." So far the profody of the Englifli lan- guage feems to be fettled ; but the rules laid down for the conflruction of verfe, feem to have been imperfect and difputed. Writers have generally fuppofed that our heroic verfe confifts of five feet, all pure Iambics, except the firft foot, which they allow may be a Trochee. In confe- quence of this opinion, they have expunged letters from words which were neceffary ; and curtailed feet in fuch a manner as to disfigure the beauty of printing, and in many inftances, deftroyed the harmony of our beft poetry. The truth is, fo far is our heroic verfe from being confined to the Iambic meafure, that it admits of eight feet, and in fome inftances of nine. I will not perplex my readers with a number of hard names, but proceed to explain the feveral feet, and T 3 mow 294 DISSERTATION V. fhow in what places of the line they are ad- mifiible. An Iambic foot, which is the ground of Englifh numbers, confifts of two fyllables, the firil fiort and the fecond long. This foot is admitted into every place of the line. Example, all Iambics. " Where flaves once more their native land behold, No fiends torment, no christians thirft for gold." Pope. The Trochee is a foot confuting of two fyllables, the firfl long and the fecond fiort. Example. " TVarms in the fun, refrefhes in the breeze, Glovjs hi the liars, and bloffoms in the trees." Pope. The Trochee is not admifiible into the fecond place of the line -, but in the third and fourth it may have beauty, when it creates a correfpondence between the found and fenfe. "Eve rightly call'd mother of all mankind." " And ftaggered by the ftroke, drops the large ox." The Spondee is a foot confifting of two long fyllables. This may be ufed in any place of the line. i. u G5 9 J DISSERTATION V. 295 1. " Good life be now my tafk, my doubts are done." Dryden. 2. "As fome lone mountain's monftsous growth he flood." Pope. But it has a greater. beauty, when preced- ed by a Trochee. " Load the tall bark and launch into the main." 3. " The mountain goats came bounding o'er the lawn." 4. " He fpoke, and fpeaking in proud triumph fpread, The long contended honors of her head." Pope. 5." Singed arehis brows,ihe fcorching Yidsgrow black" Pope. The Pyrrhic is a foot of two fhort fylla- bles ; it is graceful in the firft and fourth places, and is admiffible into the fecond and third. 1. "Nor m the helplefs orphan dread a foe." Pope. ■" On they move, Indifw/«bly firm." Milton. 3. " The two extremes appear like man and wife, Coupled together for the fake of ftrife." Churchill. But this foot is moft graceful in the fourth place. f The dying gales that pant upon the trees." "To 296 DISSERTATION V. " To fartheft mores the ambrofial fpirit flies, Sweet to the world and grate/w/ to the fkies." The Amphibrach is a foot of three fyl- lables, the firft and third fhort, and the fecond long. It is ufed in heroic verfe on- ly when we take the liberty to add a {horf fyllable to a line. " The piece you fay is incorrecT:, zvby take it, I'm all fubmiffion, what you'd have it, make it." This foot is hardly admiffible in the folemn or fublime ftile. Pope has indeed admitted -it into his EfTay on Man : "What can ennoble fots orflaves or cowards, Alas ! not all the blood of all the Howards." Again : " To figh for ribbands, if thou art f o filly, Mark, how they grace Lord Umbra or Sir Billy." But thefe lines are of the high burlefquc kind, and ill this llile the Amphibrach clofes lines with great beauty. The Tribrach is a foot of three fyllables s all fhort ; and it may be ufed in the third and fourth places. t£ And rolls impetuous to the fubjecr, plain." Or thus : " And thunders down impetiwitf to the plain." The DISSERTATION V. 297 The Dactyl, a foot of three fyllables, the firfl long and the two lair, fhort, is ufed principally in the hrit place in the line. " Furious he fpoke, the angry chief replied." "Murmuring, and with him fled the fhades of night." The Anapaeft, a foot confiding of three fyllables, the two firfl fhort and the lad long, is admiliible into every place of the line. u Can a bofom fo gentle remain, Unmoved when her Corydon lighs? Will a nymph that is fond of the plains^ Thefe plains and thefe valleys defpife ? Dear regions of filence and made, Soft fcenes of contentment and eafe, Where 1 could have pleafingly ftay'd. If ought in her abfence could pleafe." The trirTyllabic feet have fuffered moft by the general ignorance of critics j moft of them have been mutilated by apoftro- phes, in order to reduce them to the Iambic meafure. Thus in the line before repeated, "Murmuring, and with him fled the lhades of night/' we find the word in the copy reduced to two fyllables, murmring, and the beauty o„f the Dactyl is deftroyed. Thus 298 DISSERTATION V. Thus in the following : " On every fide with fhadowy fquadrons deep," by apoftrophizing every and fiadowy, the line lofes its harmony. The fame remark applies to the following : " And hofts infuriate make the fhudd'ring plain." "But fafhion fo directs, and moderns raife On fafhi on's mould' ringbak, their tranfient praife." Churchill. Poetic lines which abound with thefe trinyllabic feet, are the molt flowing and melodious of any in the language ; and yet the poets themfelves, or their printers, murder them with numberlefs unneceffary contractions. It requires but little judgement and an car indifferently accurate, to diflinguim the contractions which are neceflary, from thofe which are needlefs and injurious to the verification. In the following paflage we find examples of both. " She went from op'ra, park, affembly, play, To morning walks and pray'rs three times a day ; To part her time 'twixt reading and bohea, To mufe and fpiil her folitary tea ; Or o'er cold coffee trifle with the fpoon, Count the flow clock, and dine exact at noon ; Divert her eyes with pictures in the fire, Hui-n half a tune, tell (lories to the 'fquire : Up DISSERTATION V. 299 Up to her godly garret after fev'n, There ftarve and pray, for that's the way to heav'n." Pope's Epiftles, Here e in opera ought not to be apos- trophized, for fuch a contraction reduces an Amphibrachic foot to an Iambic. The words prayers^ /even and heaven need not the apoflrophe of e -, for it makes no dif- ference in the pronunciation. But the contraction of over and betwixt is nece na- ry ; for without it the meafure would be imperfect. PAUSES. HAVING explained the feveral kinds of feet, and mown in what places of a verfe they may be ufed, I proceed to another im- portant article, the paufes. Of thefe there are two kinds, the cefural paufe, which di- vides the line into two equal or unequal parts ■, and the final paufe which clofes the verfe. Thefe paufes are called mufical, be- caufe their fole end is the melody of verfe. The paufes which mark the fenfe, and for this reafon are denominated fentential, are the fame in verfe as in proie. They are marked by the ufual flops, a comma, a femicolon, a colon, or a period, as the fenfe 3 oo DISSERTATION V. fenfe requires, and need no particular ex- planation. The cefural paufe is not eflential to verfe, for the ihorter kinds of meafure are without it j but it improves both the mel- ody and the harmony. Melody in nrufic is derived from a fuc- eeflion of founds ; harmony from different founds in concord. A fingle voice can pro- duce melody ; a union of voices is neceifa- ry to form harmony. In this fenfe har- mony cannot be applied to verfe, becaufe poetry is recited by a fingle voice. But harmony may be ufed in a figurative fenfe, to exprefs the effect, produced by obferving the proportion which the members of verfe bear to each other. * The cefural paufe may be placed in any part of the verfe ; but has the fineft. effect upon the melody, when placed after the fecond or third foot, or in the middle of the third. After the fecond : " In what retreat, inglorious and unknown, Did genius lleep, when dulnefs feized the throne. M After the third : " O SAY *"Skertdak's Art of Reading, DISSERTATION V. got "O say what ftranger caufe, yet unexplored. Could make a gentle belle reject a lord V In the middle of the third : "Great are his perils, in this ftormy time, Who rafhly ventures, on a fea of rhime." In thefe examples we find a great degree of melody, but not in all the fame degree. In comparing the divifions of verfe, we ex- perience the moft pleafure in viewing thofe which are equal j hence thofe verfes which have the paufe in the middle of the third foot, which is the middle of the verfe, are the moft melodious. Such is the third ex- ample above. In lines where the paufe is placed after the fecond foot, we perceive a fmaller de- gree of melody, for the divifions are not e- qual ; one containing four fyllables, the other fix, as in the firft example. But the melody in this example, is much fuperior to that of the verfes which have the cefural paufe after the third foot ; for this obvious reafon : When the paufe bounds the fecond foot, the latter part of the verfe is the greater!:, and leaves the moil forcible impreffion upon the mind j but when the paufe is at the end of the third foot, 3 o2 DISSERTATION V. foot, the order is reverfed. We are fond of proceeding from fmall to great, and a climax in found, pleafes the ear in the fame manner as a climax in fenfe delights the mind. Such is the firft example. It muft be obferved further, that when the cefural paufe falls after the fecond and third feet, both the final and cefural paufes are on accented fyilables j whereas when the cefural paufe falls in the middle of the third foot, this is on a weak fyllable, and the final paufe, on an accented fyllable. This variety in the latter, is another caufe of the fuperior pleafure we derive from verfes divided into equal portions. The paufe may fall in the middle of the fourth foot j as, " Let favor fpeak for others, worth for me ;" ' but the melody, in this cafe, is almoft loft. At the clofe of the firft foot, the paufe has a more agreeable effect. "That's vile, mould we a parent's fault adore, And err, becaufe ourTathers err'd before ?" In the middle of the fecond foot, the paufe may be ufed, but produces little mel- ody. "And DISSERTATION V. 303 A waoM'OtGOQ^)9ii^CK3000a, et Samuel lioch-rcui in fua Ctographica lacra. ,> — — V/aUiSj Gran* and CRITICAL. ps primitive language of Europe, from which fprung the Gothic or German. Now the Franks, Normans and Saxons, who fubdued Gaul and Britain, fpoke dialects of the Gothic ; confequently there muft have been, up- on our author's own hypothecs, fome agreement be- tween the ancient Celtic and the more modern lan- guages of the Goths, Saxons, and other northern con- querors of the Celtic nations. This agreement will ap- pear, when I come to collate a number of words in the different languages. Many learned men have attempted to prove that the Northern Goths and Teutones, and the Celts who lived in Gaul and Britain, were originally the fame peo- ple. Monf. Mallet, the celebrated hiftorian, has com- pofed his " Introduction to the Hiftory of Denmark" upon this hypothecs. His translator is of a differ- ent opinion, and has generally fubitituted the Englilh word " Gothic" for the " Celtique" of the original. In a preface to his translation, he endeavors to confute the opinion of Monf. Mallet, Cluverius, Pellutier and oth- ers, and prove that the Gothic and Celtique nations were ab origine two diftincr. races of men. Great eru- dition is dilplayed on both fides of the queftion, and thofe who have a talte for enquiries of this kind, will receive much fatisfaclion and improvement, in reading what thefe authors have written upon the fubjeet. After a clofe examination, I freely declare myfelf an advocate for the opinion of Monf. Mallet, Lhuyd, and Pellutier, who fuppofe the Celts and Goths to be defcended from the fame original flock. The fepara- tion however mufl have been very early, and probably as early as the firft age after the flood. To fay that the Gothic and Celtique languages have no ajjiniiy^ would be to contradict the moft poiitive proofs ; yet the affinity is very fmall — difcoverable only in a few words. The modern Englifh, Danim, Svvedifh and German are all unqueftionably derived from the fame language j they 316 NOTES, HISTORICAL they have been fpoken by diftinift. tribe?, probably not two thoufand years, and almoft one half of that period, the founds have been in fome meafure fixed by written characters, yet the languages are become fo different as to be unintelligible, each to thofe who fpeak the oth- er. But, fuppofe two languages feparated from the pa- rent tongue, two thoufand years earlier, and to be fpok- en, thro the whole of that time, by rude nations, unac- quainted with writing, and perpetually roving in for- e!ls, changing their residence, and liable to petty con- quers, and it is natural to think their affinity muft be- . oqae extremely obfeure. This feems to have been the facl with refpeir. to the Gothic and Celtic tongues. The common parent of both was the Phenician or He- brew. This affertion is not made on the fole authori- ty of Mofes ; profane hiftory and etymology furnilh ilrong arguments to prove the truth of the fcripture ac- count of the manner in which the world was peopled from one flock or family. Of thefe two ancient lan- guages, the Celtic or Britilh comes the neareft to the Hebrew, for which perhaps fubilantial reafons will be affigned. The Gothic bears a greater affinity to the Greek and Roman, as being derived through the an- cient Ionic or Pelafgic, from the Phenician. Lhuyd, a celebrated and profound antiquary, re- marks, Arch. Brit, page 35. -'It is a common error in etymology to endeavor the deriving all the radical words of our weflern European languages from the Latin and Greek ; or indeed to derive conftantly the primitives of any one language from any particular tongue. When we do this, we feem to forget that all have been fubjec't to alterations ; and that the greater znd more poiite any nation is, the more fubjeit, (partly tor improvement, and partly out of a luxurious wan- tonnefs) to new model their language. We muft therefore neecflarily allow, that whatever nations were of the neighborhood and of one common origin with the Greeks and Latins, when they began to diltinguifh ifelves for bolitciiefS] they muft have preferved their languages and CRITICAL. 317 languages (which could differ from theirs only in dia- lers) much better than they; and confequently no ab- furdity to fuppofe a great many words of the language, fpoken by the old aborigines, the Ofci, the La£ftrigones s the Aufonians, iEnotrians, Umbrians and Sabines, out of which the Latin was compofed, to have been better preferved in the Celtic than in the Roman. "Lingua Hetrufca, Phrygia, Celtica (fays the learned Stiernhelm) affines funt omnes ; ex uno fonte derivata?. Nee Graeca longe difbt, Japheticae funt omnes ; ergo et ipfa Latina. Non igitur mirium eft innumera vocab- ula di&arum Linguarum communia effe cum Latinis." And that being granted, it mull alfo be allowed that the Celtic (as well as all other languages) has been beft. pre- ferved by fuch of their colonies, as, from the fituation of their country, have been the leaft fubjeft to foreign invallons. Whence it proceeds that we always rind the ancient languages are beft retained in mountains and iilands." The refult of this doftrine is, that the primitive Cel- tic was preferved, in greater! purity, in Britain, before the Roman and Saxon conquefts, and fince thofe peri- ods, in Wales and Cornwall. Hence the affinity be- tween the Hebrew and Britiih, which will afterward appear. « Wallis remarks that it is doubtful whether many words in the Englifh and German languages are de- rived from the Latin, or the Latin from the Teutonic, or whether all were derived from the fame flock. " Mul- tas autem voces, quae nobis cum Germanis fere funt communes, dubium eft an prifci olim Teutones a La- tinis, an hi ab illis, aut derrique urvique nb eodem com- mune fonte, acceperint." Gram. Cap. 14. But I prefume that hiftory, as well as etyi will go far in folving the doubr, and incline us to l v.- lieve that the Teutonic, Greek and Latin were all hi dren of the fame parent tongue. $iB NOTES, HISTORICAL We firft hear of men in the mild climate of Afia Minor, and about the head of the Mediterranean. Soon after the flood, the inhabitants began to migrate into dilfant countries. Some of them went northward and fettled in Bact.riania and Hyrcania, thence extend- ing weitward along the mores of the Cafpian fea into Armenia. From thefe Aliatic colonies, fprung the Scythians and the numerous tribes that afterwards cov- ered the territory of modern Ruflia, Sweden and Den- mark. The different tribes or hords of thefe people were called Cimbri, (perhaps from Gomer) Galli, Urn- bri, &c. and fettled the northern parts of Europe as far as the Rhine. The northern Greek countries, Thrace and Myfia, ^vere peopled by the defcendants of Tiras or Thiras, a ion of Japhet. The whole country from Thrace to Peloponneius was inhabited by the pofterity of Javan and Cittim ; indeed Ionia, the ancient name of Greece, feems to be derived from Javan, J or / being ancient- ly pronounced as liquid i, or y confonant, and as it is itill pronounced in the German/'^, yaw. Thefe fettle- ments were made long before the Pelafgic migrations into Greece, which happened at leaft 2000 years before Chrilr. The original language of Greece was called Ionics from Javan or Ion. The Pelafgi were probably Phenicians ; and ancient hiftorians relate that they car- ried letters into Greece ; but thefe muft have been in a very rude ftate, fo early after their invention ;* nor do we find that they were ever much ufed ; at lead no rec- ords or inferiptions, in thefe chara&ers, are mentioned by the Greek hiltorians. Cadmus introduced the Phenician letters into Greece 1494 years before Chrift. Thefe letters were introduced with fome difficulty, and both Cadmus and his followers were obliged to adopt the Ionic or original Japhetic * The invention of letters is aferibed to Taaut or Theuth, the fo.n of M.jraim, loon after :'ac fi^oi. and CRITICAL. 3 tg Japhetic language, which was afterwards written in his Phenician characters. The Greeks, at different periods, fent colonies into diftant parts of the country. Thefe fettled in Thrace, Macedon, on the banks of the Euxine, in Alia Minor, in Italy, Sicily and on the fouthern (liore of the Medi- terranean. This Ionic or Japhetic language was there- fore the root of the Greek and Latin. It was alfo the root of the Gothic language, fpoken in the north of Europe ; and from which, after the revolution of ages, the (hocks of war, and the improvements in fcience, no lefs than feven or eight different languages are derived.* Profane hiirory therefore warrants us in averting that the Greek, Roman, and all the modern languages of the north of Europe, and the Englifh, among the reft, had a common frock. But hiftory alone would not filence our objections to this theory, were it not in- conteftibly proved by a number of radical words, com- mon to all, which are not yet loft in the changes of time. Etymology therefore fumilTies a demonftration of what is related in hiftory. When one fees the words ytvutrxu and yvou in Greek, nofco, and anciently, gnojeo in Latin, and know in Englifh, conveying the fame idea, he is led to fufpecl that one nation borrowed the word from another. But when did the Englifn borrow this word ? The word was ufed by the Saxons, long before they could have had any knowlege of Greek or Ro- man authors. It fumifhes therefore a ftrong prefump- tion that all the fireams came from the fame fountain. But when we examin further, and find many, perhaps a hundred words or more, common to all thefe lan- guages, the evidence of their common origin becomes irreiiftible. This in fact is the cafe. The authors then who have labored to prove the Greek and Latin Languages to be derived from the Celtic, * I strongly f.ifpeifr th^t the primitive language of the north t>t Europe was the root of the Sclavonic, ftiil retained in Ruffia, Po) Hungary, &c. and th.3t the Givchic was introduced at a later perici- 320 NOTES, HISTORICAL Celtic^ mi/take the truth. The Celtic was not prior to the Greek, and Latin, but a branch of thejamejlock 5 that is, cotemporcry with thofe languages. This Japhetic language, I take to be coeval with the Phenichn or Hebrew ; and there are foma Hebrew words in the Englifh language, which muft have been derived thro the Saxon or Teutonic. But the old Britifh, as I before remarked, retained the greateft affin- ity to the Hebrew. The reafon which appears proba- ble, has been already alllgned ; the Celts and Britons in the weft of Europe, remained, till the times of Juli- us Cxfar, lefs difturbed by wars and revolutions, tharl the inhabitants of Afia, Egypt and Greece. But I am inclined to believe further, that the de- fcent of the' Britons from the nrft Japhetic tribes that fettled in Greece, was more dire£t, than thro the Go- merians or Cimbri, who travelled northward along the fhores of the Baltic. I fufpecl that very ancient colo- nies fettled on the Ihores of the Mediterranean, in Italy and Spain, and thence found their way to Gaul and Britain, before the northern tribes arrived thro Germa- ny and Belgium. This would account for the affinity between the Hebrew language and the Welfh. The opinion however is not well fupported by hiftorical facts, and the ancient name of the Britilh language, Cymraeg, denoting its defcent from the Cimbric is a weighty objection.* It is certain however that Carthage was fettled by Phcnicians, about 900 years before Chrift. Greek colonies went thither in the following century, and not long after they fettled at Marfeilles in Gaul. The peo- ple therefore on both (hores of the Mediterranean were defcended from the fame itock as the northern nations. Accordingly * This --objecTion however may be obviated by Lluyd's fuppofition, mentioned in the note, page 50, that the primitive inhabitants ot Brit- ain were denominated Guydelians, and theCymri or Vv'ciih were anoth- er branch of the Celtic Cimbri, who came from the North, fettled in Britain and gave nrme to the language* And CRITICAL. 321 Accordingly we are not furprized to find fofrgg. radical words nearly the fame in all the exifting languages of Europe. See Jackfon's Chronological Antiquities, vol. 3, with Lhuyd, Geblin, and others. To illuftrate what I have advanced, refpe&ing the firft peopling of the world, and the derivation of mod European languages from one mother tongue, I will here infert fome remarks from Rowland's Mona Anti- qua Reftaurata, p. 261, with a table of words, evident- ly of Hebrew original. " A TABljEy Jbewing the Affinity and near Refemblance> both in Sound and Signification of many Words of the Ancient Languages of Europe with the Original Hebrew Tongue. " FOR the better understanding of the parallels of this following table, it is to be obferved, that letters of one and the fame organ are of common ufe in the pro- nunciation of words of different languages — as for ex- ample, My By Vy Fy P, a^ Wl\?\S \ Ty Dy Sy 2lXC feU- tals : Gy Chy H y Ky C, are gutturals — and therefore if the Hebrew word or found begins with, or is made of, any one of the labials, any of the reft of the fame or- gan will anfwer it in the derivative languages. The fame is to be obferved in ufing the dental and the gut- tural lettere. For in tracing out the origin of words, we are more to regard the found of them than their lit- eral form and compolition ; wherein we find words very often, by the humors and fancy of people, tranf- pofed and altered from their native founds, and yet in their fignincation they very well fit their original pat- terns. I (hall only exemplify in the letters My By and Vy which are of one organ, that is, are formed by one inftrument, the lip ; and therefore are promifcuoufly ufed the one for the other, in pronouncing words of one language in another. The Hebrew B is generally pro- nounced as a ^confonant. And the Iriih alfo, moil commonly in the middle of a word, pronounce M zs a W V; 322 NOTES, HISTORICAL V\ as was find the ancient Britons to have made ufe of V, or rather F, which they pronounce as V^ for M and B in many Latin words j as, Latin. Animal Turma Terminus Calamus Primes Amr.is Arma Firmus Monumentum Fir momentum Lamentor Elementum JMemofare Hyems Clamare British. Anifail Tyrfa Terfyn Calaf Prif Afon Arfau Ffyrf Mcnfent Ffurfafen Llefain Eifen Myfyrio Gauaf Llafaru Latin. British. Numefus Nifer Columna Colofrt Gemelli Gefeill Roma Rhufain Scribo Scrifemi tlyfr Liber Remus Rbwyf Domo Dofi Rebello Rhyfela Pluma Pluf Catamanus Cadfan Dimeta Dyfed Lima Llif Lamina Llafn, &c. " We are not to wonder at this analogy of founds in the primitive diftinction of languages. For before the ufe of writing, which has eftablifhed the correct form of words, people were only guided by the ear in taking the found of words, and they pronounced and uttered them again as the organs of their voice werefcbeft fitted for it ; and it happening that the aptitude and difpofi- tion of thofe organs, peculiar to fome people and coun- tries, were various (as we find to this day fome nations cannot fhape their voice to exprefs all the founds of an- other's tongue,) it accordingly affected and inclined fome parties of people to fpeak the fame confonants harder or fofter, to utter the fame vowels broader or narrower, longer or fhorter, as they found themfelves beft difpofed to do. And thereupon cuftom prevailing •with particular fets of people, to continue the ufe of fuch different pronunciation as they affected, the words fo varied came at length to take on them different forms, and and CRITICAL, 323 and to be efteemed and taken as parts of different lan- guages, tho in their origin they were one and the Tame.* Hebrew. Derivatives. Englifi. . " AUCH Awch Brit. The edge of a fword Even Maen A ftone Agam or Leagam Lagam Com. A pool or lake Ivah Deis-yfu Br. To defire Auor Awyr Lightned air Ano Yno Then Achei Achau Brethren or kindred Aedenei Gwadnau The foles of the feet Calal Cyllell To wound or pierce Domen Tomen Muck or dung Gehel Sal Coal Sal Br. \sKJaL Vile or of no account Kadal Gadael To forfake or defift Aggan Angeion Greek A vefTel or earthen pot Alaph 'Alpho To find Bama Bomos An altar Hag Agios Holy Hadar f Cadair I Katha Br. Irijh Honor or reverence Hia Yhi Br. She Goph Corph A body, corpfe Deraich t Braich I Raich An arm Dad * It is commonly obfervcJ, that dilTerent climates, airs and aliments, do very much diversify the tone of the parts and mufcles of human bod- ies ; on fome of which the modulation of the voice much depends. The peculiar moifture of one country, the drought of another (other caufe* from food, &c. concurring) extend or contract, iwell or attenuate, the organs of the voice, that the found made thertby is rendered either fhriJl or hoarfe, foft or hard, plain or lifping, in proportion to that contraction or extenlion. And hence it is, that the Chinefe and Tartars have fome founJs in their language, that Europeans can lcarcely imitate : And it is well known in Europe itfelf, that an Englishman is not able agreeably to converfe with a if ranger, even in one and the fame Latin ; hay, even in England, it is noted by Mr. Camden and Dr. Full- er, that the natives of Carieton Curlew in Lei ■ where we pronounce w> may feem ftrange ; yet fuch is the fac~t, and an anatomift will readily aflign the reafon. The French, in the fame manner, ufe g where we write and pronounce w% Englijb. War > Warrant Ward Wife Wile Wage Wicket William Wales French,, guerre garrant gard guife guile gage guicket Guillaum Gales, Gaul, Gallia.* A number at leaft of the words in the foregoing ta- bles, muft have exifted in the feveral languages from the earlieft times ; and therefore muft have been derived from the fame ftock. In the following words, we trace the common origin of the Greek and Gothic languages. Greek* Englijb, | Greek. EngUJh. Kardia 7 Kear J heart Pur fire Platus plate Kid hie Xeras fear Kale6 hail, call Mignuo mingle Koilas hollow Eileo heal, hail. Kedas heed, care Kairo cheer Kerdas hire Gonu knee Keras horn, herald Knix gnat Axine ax Zeted leek Ophrun frown The * In teaching English to a Spaniard, I found that In attempting t« pronounce words beginning with w, he invariably began with the founci of gu j well, be would pronounce guell. 336 NOTES, HISTORICAL The reader will find no difficulty in believing thef£ words to be from the fame root, when he is told that the Greeks and the northern nations of Europe pro- nounced with a ltrong guttural afpirate ; and that k a- mong the Greeks was often a mere afpirate, like h. Thus the Romans often pronounced c ; for which rea- fon that letter is often omitted, and h fubftituted in modern Englifh. Curro and hurry are the fame word; and fo are cornu and horn ; Carolus and Harold, Greek. Latiiti 'Oinos Damao vinum domo Zeugos Upper Gnoo Ginofko ! jugum fuper, nofco cognofco Eriglijh* wine tame yoke upper know. Some old people ftill pronounce the k in know. In the following, the Welfh differ from the Greek irf the prepofitives or initial mutes j but they are clearly from the fame root. Greek. Weljh. Englijh. Stoma fa man mouth Ikanos digon fufficient Arke d'erke beginning Airo d'uyrey arife Platun Ihydon broad Papyrun bruyn rufhes Treko rhedeg run Petalon dalen loaf.* In the following words, the Welfh are nearer the Greek than the Latin j yet all came from one flock. Greek. *Tr:s, word is found in moft of the branches of the Gothic. and CRITICAL. 337. Greek. mijb. Latin. Englijh, Helios heil fol fun Hypnos hyn, heppian fomnus fleep Ha Ion halen fal fait Hamolos hamal fimilis like Bounos ban mons mountain Kleas klad. Cornijh, klas laus praife Pepto pobo coquo cook Hyle hely fylva woods Krios kor aries ram. These words are incon terribly the fame, with mere dialectical variations. All are branches of the fame flock, yet neither can claim the honor of being that flock. But the molt curious etymological analyfis ever exhibited perhaps in any language, is that found in Gebelin's works. Take the following fpecimens. In the primitive language (of Europe) the monofyl- lablc tar, ter, tor or tro, for it appeared under thefe forms, fign'ified force. It was compofed of t and ar or (Var, roughnejs, rapidity. Hence tar exprefTed the idea of force, with the collateral ideas of violence, rigor, grandeur, Sic. From tar are derived, taurus, a bull ; torrent^ target, trunk, truncare, to cut off ; terror, trepan^ tare, detriment, trancher, to cut ; retrench ; tardus, tardy, retard, tergum^ becaufe things heavy, that require force, were carried upon the back ; intrigue, for it implies difficulties ; trop, too much, troop, ter, trois, which o- riginally fignified a multitude ; for many favage na- tions have names only for the three firft numbers ; tierce, tres, very ; trejfes, a braid or plait of hair in three divifions ; triangle, tribunal, tribe, attribute, contribute, Sec. trident, trillion, trio, trinity, entre, enter, taken from are« Iation of three objects, one between Hvo, makes a third ; hence internal, external, travers, acrofs ; traditio?z, pafT- ing from one to another ; traffic, trahir, to draw ; trai- tor, trepidation, intrepid. From tra, between, and es, it X is, 338 NOTES, HISTORICAI/ is, came the Celtic, treb, a narrow pafs, zjlrait, Jlritl, Fr. etroit, a/iringent, Detroit, ftrait ; di/lrefs, Jlrength. The compounds are numerous. Intrinsic, entrails, in- troduce, extraneous, extravagant, tranfcendent, transfer, transform, tranfgrejs, tranfacl, translate, tranfmit, tranjmi- grate, tranfmutatibn, &c. PALTROON is from pollex, a thumb, and truncare, to cut off ; for cowards ufe to cut their thumbs to a- void fefvice. T E M, TEM uglified river, water. Hence tempera in Lat- in fignified to plunge into water. We to this day fay to temper iron orjleel. To temper, is to moderate. From this root come temperance, temperature, and a numerous catalogue of other words. The river Thames derives its name from the fame root* V A, to go t radical. FROM iw, the Celtic root, we find a multitude of branches in Greek, Latin, Englifh and French. It is an onomatope, a word borrowed from the found of our feet in walking. Its derivatives are, wade, evade, eva- Jion^ invade, invafion, venio, Lat. and venir, Fr. to come > venia and venial,* adventure, avenue, convenio, conveni- ence, convention, covenant perhaps, contravene, intervene^ invent, prevent, province^ advance, via, zvay, voyage, con- voy, convey, obviate, vex, inveclive, vein, a way for the blood ; voiture, Fr. for a load to carry j evitare, Lat^ to lhun ; inevitable. To thefe derivatives, I will jufl: add a comparative view of the verbs have and be in feveral languages. Englijhi ♦Allusive to the ancient cuftom of pardoning by giving per- miflion to depart. ■y Frontier fettleracnt ; fo called, becaufc the Romans faffed tbrt this wrritory, in going to or from Rome. and CRITICAL. gJ3S HAVE. EngliJIi. Latin. French. Germ. SpaniJJi. Portugitefe. I have habeo ai* habe he ey Thou haft habeS a3 haft as has He has habet a hat as ha We have habemus avons haben avemos hamos, ave- raos You have habetis avez habet aveis eys, eveys They have habent dnt haben an ham The Subjlantive Verb B E. EngliJIi. Latin. French. Germ. Spanifa. Portugnefe* I am, be Fum fuis bin eftoy&foy fou, eftou Thou art,beeft es es. bift eftas, ereS es, eftas He is, be eft eft eft-es efta, es he, efta We are, be furhus fommesfmd eftamos,fo- fomos, efta- mos mos You are, be eftis etes feyd eftais, fois foys, eftoyS They are, be funt font find eftan, fon fam, eilam It Is indifputable that have % in all thefe languages, is from the fame root. But there feem to have been anciently two fubftantive verbs, or perhaps three, from which modern nations have borrowed ; viz, the Greek «i/a» or «/*», or the Latin ejfi, from which moft of the foregoing are derived ; the Teutonic beon, whence the Germans have their bin and bijl, and the Englifh their he and beeji ; and an old Gothic or Teutonic word, zueor- than^ whence the Danes have derived their varer^ and the Englifh and Germans their were and werden. In the old Englifli phrafe, " woe worth the day," we fee the fame verb; Having dated my reafons and authorities for be- lieving all the European languages defcended from one parent tongue, 1 will here fubjoin the Lord's Prayer in feveral * The French and Spanifti rarely or never afpirate an h \ ani in this word they have omitted it moltly in writing. X2 34© NOTES, HISTORICAL feveral languages of Celtic and Gothic origin. The affinity between all the branches of the Gothic is very vifible ; the affinity likewife between all the branches of the Celtic is very obvious, except the ancient Irifh. The Cantabrian and Lapland tongues have little re- femblance to either of the flocks or their branches. Very GOTHIC. i. Old Sax- 2. Francic, on, or An- or Franco- glo-SaxoNo Theotisc. 3. ClMBRIC, or Old Ice- landic. I I M JO OO -f*- m N> u> M JO U> a 5 -- s to C3 O O CO 3 »— < n 2 > 3 > > 50 3 z > > Z tn rr. c/> O O gs z t> O >•* s t" 1 O en O O H i O en > u >-< > > O O O H n = n § OQ a c CM O n T5 •1 O ►a and CRITICAL. 34* Very little affinity is difcoverable between the original Gothic and Celtic or their derivatives ; yet this is not a proof that they were ab origine diftincl languages ; for the words in this prayer are few, and it has been prov- ed that there are many words common to both thofe ancient tongues. CELTIC. J. The Ancient 2. The Ancient 3. The Ancient GAULISH. BRITISH. IRISH. s- (£ as s* **., .& Co • *» Specimens 342 NOTES, HISTORICAL Specimens of the Gothic Languages. The ancient Gothic of Vlphilas. ATTAunfarthuinhiirrrfiam. i. Veihnai namo thein. 2. Quimai thiudinailus theins. 3. Vairthai vilja theins, fue in himina,jah ana airthai. 4. Hlaif unfarana thana, fmteinan git' uns himmadaga. 5. Jah aflet uns thatei fculans fijaima fua fue jah veis afktam thaim fkulam unfaraim. 6. Jah ni bringais uns in fraiftubnjai. 7. Ak laufei uns af thamma ubilin. Amen. [From Chambeilayn's Giatio Dominica in d'fverfas omnium fire Gentium L;ng:tas -vcrja, &c.\ TJie Ancient Languages derived from the Gothic. 1. II. III. s 1 c zr cri ,-r Cambric, or old Anglo baxon. rranco Ibeotyc. j , , ; Uren Fader, thicarthin heof- nas. 1. Siege- halgud thin no- ma. 2. To cy- meth thin rye. 3. Sie thin wiila fue is in heofnas, and in eortho. 4. Uren hlaf of- erwiitlic lei us to daeg. 5. And forgefe us fcylda urna, fuewefor- gefan fcyldgum urum. 6. And no inlead ufig in cuftnung. 7. Ah gefriguiichfrom ftie. Amen. [FromChamherlayn, Fater unfer thu thar biit in himile. 1. Si ge- heilagot thin na- mo. 2. Queme thin rihhi. 3. Si thin willo, fo her in himile ift o fi her in erdu. 4. Unfarbrottagal- ihhazgibunshu- itu. 5-lnti furlaz unsnufara fculdi fouuirfurlazam- es unfaron fcul- digon. 6. Inti ni gikitefc unfih in ccftunga. 7. U- zouh arloii unfi fonubile.Amen. [From Cbamberlayn, ;.. Oi.] Fader uor, fom eft i him- lum. 1. Halgad warde thit nama. 2.Tilkommethitt rikie. 3. Skie thin vilie, fo fom i himmalam, fo och po iordanne. 4. Wort dachli- clia brodh gif os. i dagh, 5-Ogh for- lat os uora fkul- dar, fo fom ogh vi forlate them os fkildighe are. 6. Oghinledosikkie i ffetalfain. 7. U- tan frels os ifra, ondo. Amen. [From Chamberlayn, P.54.J Specimens and CRITICAL. 343 Specimens of the Celtic Languages. j3? I am not able to produce any fpecimen of the Cel- tic, at leaft any verfion of the Lord's Prayer, which tan be oppofed in point of antiquity to the Gothic fpecimen from Ulpbilas, who fiourifhed A. D. 365. — As the Celts were fettled in thefe countries long before the Goths, and were expofed to vari- ous revolutions before their arrival, their language has, as might be expected, undergone greater and earlier changes than the Gothic ; fo that no fpeci- men of the old original Celtic is I believe, now to be found. The Ancient Languages derived from the Celtic. 1. 11. m. Anc. Gaul- ijh. Of this language I cannot find any fpeci- men which can be de- pended on. Cambrian, or An- cient Brkifh. EVEN Taad rhuvn wytyn y neofo- edodd. 1. Santeiddier yr henvu tau. 2. Devedy dyrnas dau. 3. Guneler dy wollys ar ryddayar tnegis ag yn y nefi. 4. Eyn bur a bfunyddvul dyro inni bi'ddivu. 5« Aminad- dcu ynny eyn delediott, megis ag i maddevu in deledvvir ninaw. 6. Agna thowys v.i in hrofedigaeth. 7. Na- myn gvuared ni rhag drug. Amen. [From Chamberl. p. 47.] Ancient Irifh, or Gaedhlig. OUR Narmea- ta ar neamb. l. Bea- nie h a tainin . 1. Go dig a de riogda. 3. Go dent a du hoillair talm in marte ar ne- amb. 4. Tabair de- im aniugh ar na- ran limbali. 5. Au- gus mai duin ar f- ach amhadmaamhia ar fiacha. 6. Naleig Jin amaribh. J. Ach jaarfa fin oleh. Amen. [From Dr. Anth. Ray- mond's Introduction to the Hiftory oi Ireland, p. a, 3, &c.j 1 Sr'tCIMENS * The above fpecimen of* the ancient Iriflr is judged to be a thousand yea« old. See Conner's Difl'ertation ou the Hiftory o. Ireland. Lub- \\n, 1766, 8vo, 344 NOTES, HISTORICAL Specimens of the Gothic Languages. I, MODERN LANGUAGES derived from the OLD SAXON, i. EngUJh. Our Father, which art in heaven, i. Hallowed be thy name. 2. Thy kingdom come. 3. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. 4. Give us this day, our daily bread. 5. And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. 6. And lead us not into temptation. 7. But deliver us from evil. Amen. 11. Broad Scotch. Ure Fader,.whilk art in hevin. 1. Hallouitbe thy naim. 2. Thy kingdum cum. 3. Thy wull be dun in airth, as it is in hevin. 4-Gieufs this day ure daily breid. 5. And forgive ufs ure debts, ais we forgien ure debtouris. 6. And leia ufs na' into temptation. 7. Bot deliver ufs frae evil. Amen. [From the Englim Teftament.] [From a Scotch Gentleman.] III. Lczv Dutch, or Belgic. Onse Vader, die daer zijt in de hemelen. 1. U- wen naem worde ghehey- light. 2. U rijcke kome. 3. Uwen wille ghefchiede op der aerden, gelijck in den hemel. 4. Onfe da- gel ijck broodt gheeft ons heclcn. 5. Ende vcrgheeft ons onfe fchulden, ghelijck wy oock onfe fchuldenaren vergeven. 6. Ende en leyt ons niet in Verfoeckinge. 7. Maer verloft ons van- na meille meidan fyndim an- dexi nuncuin mekin andex annam meidan welwottijiem. 6. fa alajohdata meita kiu- fauxen. 7. Mutt a paajla meita pahafla'. Amen. II. The Lapland Tongue. ATKA mijamjuco lee al- menfifne. I. Ailis ziaddai tu nam. 2. Zweigubatta tit ryki. 3. Ziaddus iu willio* naukuchte almefne nau ei ed- na mannal. 4. Wadde mi- jai udni mijanfert pafwert laibebm. 5. J ah andagafo- ite mi jemijan fuddoid y nau- kuchte mije andagajloitebt ka- di mije welgogas lien. 6. J ah fiffalaidi mijabni. 7, Mle tocko kackzcellebma pa- hajl. Amen. [From Chamberlayn, p. 82.] [From Chamberlayn, p. 83. J A Specimen of the Cantaerian or Biscayan Language, fill preserved in Spain, The Bafque. GURE Ait a kerutean c arena, r. Erabilbedi fainduqui furejcena. 2. E- thorbedi fure erejjiima. 3. Eguinbedi $ure borondatea qeru an becala turre'an ore. 4. Emandie^agucu egun gure eg- unorozco oguia. 5. Eta barkhadietcaU gutfu gure ^orrac gucere gure coidunei barkhatcendiotfaguten becala. 6. Eta ezgait^atcu utc tentacionetan erortcerat. 7. Aitcitic beguiragaitcat^u gaitc guci- etaric. Halabiz. [From Chamberlayn, p. 44. "J Her: 35o NOTES, HISTORICAL Here we find many of the fame words, with fmill variations, in all the languages of Teutonic origin. It is however obfervable that the Englifh have foftened fome words, by omitting the gutturals. Thus gehal- gud in the Anglo-Saxon ; gebeiliget in the German ; gbeheylight in the Belgic j and geheyligt in the Swifs, are foftened into ballozved m'F.ng\\(h ; taeglich and dagelijcht becoajie daily. Similar omiffions run thro the language. Thus nagel, bagel have become in Englifh nail and bail. Theg/;in might, nigh: are ftill pronounced by the Scotch ; but the Englifh fay mite, nite.* The affinity between the ancient Britifh, the mod- ern Welfh, and the Armoric, is very obvious ; but in the latter, we find a few Latin or French words — par- don, peichdon^ dcliur, which we fhould naturally expeel from the vicinity of Britanny to the French language. I have been at the pains to examin a great number of radical words intheDanifh,and find the moft of them, amountingto more than four hundred,very little different from the Englifh. Where the Englifh write w, the Danes write v ; vind for wind* Where the Englifh write c hard, the Danes, with more judgement, write k ; Hover, kan, kommer, for cleave, can, come. Where the Englifh write wh, the Danes, with propriety, write hv, v having the found of w j as bvad, hvi hval ; what, why, whole. The words, common to the Danifh and Englifh, are moftly monofyllables. As a corroborating proof of the Eaftern origin of the Goths, authors produce the refemblance between their religious opinions and the notions of the Magi. The Scandinavian mythology is preferved in the EDDA, written by Snorro Sturlefon, an Icelander, a learned judge and firft magiftrate in the 12th century. In • " ! r uNc fonum (gh) Anglos in vocibm light, might, Sec. olim pro- tuliHe IVntio ; at nunc dicrurn, quamvis (cripturam retineant, fonun* tamen fcia pfinitus omittunt. Boreales tamen, prefcrtim Sceti, fere ad- huc rctincru feu potius ipfius loco fonum b fubftituunt."-— — Wallis. and CRITICAL, 35 1 In this there are many notions which feem to bear a great analogy to the doctrines revealed in the Bible. It is reprefented in the Edda, that before creation, " all was one vaft abyfs ;" an idea not unlike the fcrip- ture account of what we ufually call chaos. — " That Surtur, the black, (hall come at the end of the world, vanquim the gods and give up the univerfe to the flames" — a crude notion of the conflagration. — "That Tmer the firft man or great giant, flept and fell into a fweat, and from the pit of his left arm were born male and female ;" this has fome refemblance to the fcrip- ture account of the creation of the woman — " That the fons of Bore flew the giant Tmer, and all the giants of the froft were drowned, except Bengelmer, who was faved in his bark ;" in which notion we obferVe fome tradition of the deluge. The opinion that the world will be deflroyed by fire feems to have been univerfal among the Gothic na- tions. The defcriptions of that cataftrophe refemble thofe of the Stoics and of the ancient Magi and Zoro- after, from whom the idea was probably taken. Thefe defcriptions all agree with the fcripture reprefentation of that event in the material circumftances. The do&fine of a future flate, or of a renovation of the world, was part of the Gothic fyflem. It was taught by Zamolxis, the celebrated Druid of the Getze and Scythians. Herod. Lib. 4. § 95. In this fame Edda, we alfo find the origin of fome cuftoms ftill remaining among the defendants of the northern nations. The drinking of bumpers is not an invention of modern bacchanals ; it is mentioned, fable 25, of the Edda, where it is faid Thor challenged one to a drinking match. The cuftom of hanging up buflies on Chriftmaseve is derived probably from the fuperftitious veneration paid to the Miffeltoc by the Scandinavians. Indeed 352 NOTES, HISTORICAL Indeed the feftival of Chriftmas was grafted upon an ancient pagan feaft, celebrated at the winter folftice, in honour of the fun and to render the new year pro- pitious. It anfwered to the Roman Saturnalia, and was probably of as high an origin. The night on which it was obferved was called Alother Nighty as that which produced the reft j and the feaft itfelf was called by the Goths Iuul. — See Mallet's North. Antiq. vol. t. p. 130. Hence the old word yeul or yule for Chrift- mas j a word that is ftill ufed, or at leaft has been ufed till within a century in Scotland and the north of Eng- land. " Yule," fays that learned antiquary, Cowel, "in the north parts of England, is ufed by the country peo- ple as the name of the feaft of our Lord's nativity, u- fually termed Chrijlmas. The fports ufed at Chriftmas, called Chriftmas ©amboles, they ftile Yule Games. Yule is the proper Scotch word for Chriftmas." Cowel's Law Dictionary, tit. Yule. The Parliament pafled an a£l for difcharging the Yule Vacancc> which was repealed after the union by ftat. George I. cap. 8. The feaft was celebrated from time immemorial among the Romans and Goths ; the Chriftians changed its object and name ; tho fuch is the force of cuftom, that the Gothic name exifted in Scotland till lately, and perhaps ftill exifts among the lower ranks of people. From the northern nations a"lfo we have the names of the days of the week ; or at leaft of fome of them. The ancient Goths devoted particular days to particu- lar deities. TUESDAY was Tyrfdag, from Tyr the God of bravery. It is in the Danifh, Tyrjdag, and in the Swe- dflh Ttfdag. WEDNESDAYS WoderCfdag, from Wide* a cele- brated warrior deified. In Icelandic, it is Wonjdag ; in Swedim, Odin/dag j in Dutch, Woenjdsg ; in Anglo Saxon, fVodenldag. THURSDAY a n 6 CRITICAL. 353 THURSDAY is from Thor, god of the air. In Danhh it is Thorfdag ; in Swedhli Torfdag. FRIDAY is from Frea, the earth and goddefs of love) anfwering to the Venus of the Greeks. In fome languages it is called Freytag. -See Mallet's North. Antiquities. I will juft add, it is a weighty argument in favor of the truth of the Scripture hiftory, and of the opinion here advanced of the common origin of languages, that in all the ancient and modern European alphabets, tha letters are of a fimilar figure and power, and arranged nearly in the fame order.* The true Greek, letters were only the Cadmean letters reverfed : This reverfal took place early in Greece, when the ancient Phenician and Hebrew order of writing from right to left, was changed for the modern order, which is from left to right. The Hebrew or Phenician Alphabet was clear- ly the parent ef the Greek, Roman and Gothic. [B, page 52.] THE reader will pleafe to accept the following fpecimen, which will convey an idea of the whole. Punic. Ytm al o nim ua lon- uth ! ficora- thifTi me com fyth chimlach chunyth mum ys \yal mye- thi barii im fchi. Ir'tjb. Iath all -o nimh uath lon- naithe ! focru- idhfe me com fith chimi lach chuinigh ! mu- ini iftoil miocht beiridh iar mo fcith. Englijh. Omnipotent, much dreaded Deity of this country ! af- fwage my troubled mind ! Thou, the. fupport of feeble cap- tives ! being now ex- haufted with fatigue, of thy free will, guide me to my children. In * The Runic excepted. The Runic letters were fixteen in number, and introduced very early into the North 3 but they went nto dilute a- feout the tenth or eleventh century. 354 NOTES, HISTORICAL In this example the affinity between the Punic and Irifh is ftriking ; and the fame runs thro the whole fpeech. That Ireland received colonies from Spain or Car- thage is probable from other circumftances. The I- rifh hiftorians fay their anceftors received letters from the Phenicians ; and the Irifh language was called Beami Feni, the Phenician tongue. Cadiz in Spain was firft fettled by Phenicians ; and cadas in Irifh fig- lii'azsfriendfhip. The Irifh feems to be a compound of Celtic and Pu- nic ; and if Ireland was peopled originally from Car- thage, and received colonies from thence, the event mult have been fubfequent to the firft Punic war ; for this was the period when the Carthaginians adopted the Roman letters, and there is no infcription in Ire- land in the Phenician character. The Hebrew was the root of the Phenician and the Punic. The Maltefe is evidently a branch of the Punic ; for it approaches nearer to the Hebrew and Chaldaic, than to the Arabic. For this affertion we have the authority of M. Maius, prcfeffor of the Greek and o- riental languages in the Ludovician univerfity of Gief- fen, who had his accounts from Ribier, a miifionary Jefuit and native of Malta. This fait will account for the correfpondence between the Irifh and the Maltefe, in feveral particulars. In Maltefe, Alia fignifies Gsd ; in Irifh, All is mighty. Baol in Maltefe, and Belor Bat in Irifh, fignify Chief Deity or Sun. In Maltefe, ordu is end or fummit ; in Irifh, af-d, ardd y are hill? high. Thefe words are probably from the fame root as the Latin arduus, and the Engliflj hard, implying labor. Bind/a in Maltefe, is a cord ; in Irifh, hann is fufpen- fion. In Maltefe, gala is the fail of a fhip ; and in I- rifh, gal is a gale of wind. Thefe Maltefe words are taken from a Punica Maltefe Dictionary, annexed to a treatife, Delia lingua Punica prefentamente ufitate da Maltefe, by G. Pictro Francifco Agius de Solandas. There and CRITICAL. 35$ There is alfo a correfpondence. between the Irifli snd Punic, in the variation of their nouns, as may be bbferved in the following example. Punic. Irijh. Nom. A dar, the houfe ian dae, the houfe, &c, Gen. Mit a dar, of the houfe mend na dae Dat. La dar, with or to the houfe la dae Ace. A dar, the houfe an dae Voc. Ya dar, O houfe a dae Abl. Fa dar, with or by the houfe fa dae In feveral particulars the Irifh bears a clofe affinity to the Hebrew and Greek. It was the cuftom with the Hebrews, and it frill remains with them, to face the eaft in the act of devotion. From this practice it pro- ceeded, that the fame word which fignihed right hand % fignified zlfofoutb ; the fame with left hand and north ; before and eaji ; behind and weft. This is the cafe alfo in the Irifli language. Hebrew. Irijh. Jamin,* right hand, fouth deas, the fame Smol, left hand, north thuaidh, the fame Achor, behind, weft tar, the fame Cedem, before, eaft oir and oithear, the fame, or fifing fun. Latin, orient. That the Greeks had an intercourfe with the iflands of Britain and Ireland, or fent colonies thither, is not impoflible ; and Dr. Todd, not many years ago, difcov- ered, at Colchefter, in EfTex, an altar dedicated to the Tyrian Hercules, with an infeription in Greek capitals, HPAKAH2 TTPEO AEIO AOKA APXIEPIA. There is a place in Ireland called Airchil. And it is a remarkable fact, that fome fragments of old Iriih laws, * BENJAMIN it/on of the right bdndi 356 NOTES, HISTORICAL laws, which, for a long time, puzzled the antiquaries of the nation, are found to be written in a very ancient language, and in the manner which the Greeks called Boujirophedon ; that is, from right to left, and from left to right, in the manner that oxen plow. This was fuppofed to be an improvement on the Hebrew and Phenician order of writing all the lines from right to left, which Cadmus introduced into Greece. This manner of writing in Greece was prior to Homer, and if the Irifh copied from the Greeks, which is not im- poflible, the fact would prove a very early fettlement of Ireland by Greek colonies or their defcendants. See Leland's Hift. of Ireland, Prelim. Dif. All thefe circumftances corroborate the opinion that the Celts came originally from the eaft, and formed fet- tlements on the mores of the Mediterranean and At- lantic. The affinity between the Phenician, the Punic, the Maltefe, the Irifh and the Britifli languages, dif- coverable in a great number of words, makes it proba- ble, that after colonies were fettled at Carthage and at Cadiz, fome commercial intercourfe was carried on be- tween them and the nations at the head of the Medi- terranean, and that an emigration from Spain might people Ireland before any fettlements had been made there by the Gauls or Britons. It is however more probable that the Punic words in the Irifh language might have been introduced into that ifland by fubfe- quent colonization. At any rate, from the Hebrew, Chaldaic, or Phenician, or the common root of thefe languages, proceeded the Punic, the Maltefe, the Iberi- an or bpanilh, the Gaulilh, the Britifh, and the Irifh. The order 1 have mentioned is obvious and natural ; and hiftory furnifhes us with fome facts to ftrengthen the fuppoiuion. [C, page 58.] BISHOP Hickes, in his Saxon Grammar, which is a vaft treafure of valuable learning, has preserved a fpeci- men and CRITICAL. 357 men of the language and of the opinions of the Eng- lifh refpe&ing it, in an extract from a manufcript of one Ranulphus Higdenus, de Incolarum Unguis, tranflat- ed by John Trevifa in 1385, and the ninth of Richard II. Trevifa's ftile bears fome affinity to that of Chau- cer, with whom he was cotemporary. "As it is knowne how meny maner peple beeth in this land: There beeth alfo fo many dyvers longages and tongues. Nathlefs, Walfchemen and Scotts, that hath nought medled with other nations, holdeth wel nyh his firfte langage and fpeeche : But yif the Scottes that were fometime confiderat and woned with the Picts draw fomewhat after hir r fpeeche : But yif the Flemynges that woncth in the wefte fide of Wales haveth left her ftrange fpeeche and fpeketh Sexon like now. Alfo Englishmen, they had from the begynnynge thre maner fpeeche,north- erne, fowtherne, and middel fpeeche in the middle of the lande, as they come of the maner peple of Germania. Nathlefs by comyxtion and mellynge 2; firft with Danes and afterwards with Normans, in meny the contray lan- gage is apayred 3 and fom ufeth ftrong wlafFerynge,4 chit- erynge,4 hartynge4 and gartynge,4 griibayting 54 this apayryng5 of the burthe of the tunge is becaufe of tweie thinges : oon is for children in fcole, agenft the ufage and maner of all other nations, beeth compelled for to leve hire owne langage, and for to confture hir leiTons and here 6 thinges in Frenche and fo they hav- eth fethe 7 Normans came firfte into England. Alio gentilmen children beeth taught to fpeke Frenche from the tyme that they beeth rokked in hire cradle and con- neth8 fpeke and play with a childes brache and upland- iffche men 9 will likne hymfelf to gentilmen and fond- ethio with the greet befynefle for to fpeke Frenche for to I. Their. 2 Mixture ; an old French wori, now written yr.dangt. 3 corrupted. 4.Thefe words reprefent barbarity and roughnefs in fpealc- ing. 5 Corruption of the native tongue. 6 hear 7 fince 8 know. The Germans preierve the verb kanr.cn, to be able. The pronouns kpr a;id b\re for their, (till remain in the German ibr. 9 Country-people, fo caliec from their living on the mountains or high Unas 5 hence cutlandljfr. 10 at- teujpt 358 NOTES, HISTORICAL to be told of. [Trevifa, the tranflator remarks here— ■ *' This maner was moche ufed to, for firft deth,n and is fithei2 fum del 13 changed. For John Cornwaile, a maifter of grammer, changed the lore 14 in grammer fcole and construction of Frenche into Englifhe. And Richard Feneriche lemed the manere techynge of him as other men, of Penriche. So that now the yere of pur Lorde a thoufand thre hundred and four fcore and fyve and of the iecond king Richard after the conqueft, nyne ; and alle the grammar fcoles of England chil- dren lerneth Frenche and conftrueth and lerneth an Englifhe and haveth thereby advantage in oon fide, and difadvantage in another tide. Here 15 advantage is that they lerneth hir grammer in lafTe tyme, than chil- dren were wonned to doo. Difadvantage is, that now children of grammer fcole conneth na more Frenche than can hir lift heele^ib and that is harme for hem an they fchullei7 paffe the fee and travaille in ftrange londes and in many other places. Alfo gentilmen hav- eth now moche left for to teche here children Frenche."] Ranulpbus.— Hit feemeth a great wonder how Englifhe men and her 18 own longage and tongue is fo dyverfe of fown in this oon ilande, and the longage of Norman- die is comlynge 19 of another lande and hath oon maner foun among all men that fpeketh hit arigt in England. [Trevifa's remark — " Neverthelefs' there is as many diverfe maner Frenche in the reerhe2o of Frahce, as is dyvers maner Englifhe in the reeme of England. "J R. Alfo of the aforefaid Saxon fonge that is deled 21 athree and is abide fcarceliche22 with few uplandifhe men, is great wonder. For men of the eft with men of the welt is as it were under the fame partie of hevene accordeth more in fownynge of fpeeche than men of the north with men of the iouth. Therefore it is that Mercii, tempt with eagernefs. n time. 12 fit be is the origin of fince. 13 Del (ignifies apart or divifion ; it is from the verb daler to divide, and the loot or the Englifh word dial. Daler is preferved in the Daniih. *4 learning. 15 their. 16 In the original thefe words are obfeure. 17 This is from the verb Jo/lcn, implying obligation, duty. 18 their. 19 foreign j Lat. ad-m-a. 10 icalni. Zi divided. 22 Scarcely. 23 hardly. and CRITICAL. 359 Mercii, that beeth men of myddel England, as it were, parteners of the endes, underrtandeth bettrie the fide Ion- gages than northerne and foutherne underftandeth either Other. All the longage of the Northumbers and fpe- cialliche at York, is fo fcharp, flitting and frotynge and nnfchape that the foutherne men may that longage unnethe23 underftande. I trow that is becaufe that they beeth nyh to ftrange men and nations, that fpeketh ftrongliche, and alio becaufe the kinges of Englandc woneth.24 3,1 way fer25 from that contray, for they beeth more turned to the fouth contray, and yif they goeth to the northe contray, they goeth with great helpe and ftrengthe. The caufe why they beeth more in the fouthe contray than in the northe, for it may be better corn Ionde, more peple, more noble cities, and more profitable havenes."* On this pafTage we may make the following re- marks : 1. That the third perfon fingular of the verb is in- variably ufed with plural as well as fingular nouns ; they beeth, haveth. Whereas in Chaucer and Mandeville the fame perfon ends generally in en j they fey n for they fay. The fame third perfon was ufed for the imperative, by the belt Engliih writers, *' And foft take me in your armes twey, For love of God, and bearkenetb what I ley." Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 2783. "And at certyn houres, they feyn to certyn offices, maketh pees ;" that is, make peace. --Mandzville, p. 281. 2. That 23 hardly. 24 dwelleth. 25 far. * I fin d in an " Eflay on the language and ve.rfificatinn of Chaucer" prefixed to Bell's edition of his works, part of this extract copied from a Harlein manuscript, faid to be more correft than the manukript from whjch Dr. Hkkes copied it. But on comparing the extracts in both, I ^nd none but verbal differences j the fenfe of both is the fame. 360 NOTES, HISTORICAL 2. That yif\$ ufed for ifi a proof that if is a verb, a contraction of gif or yif (for they were ufed promif- cUoufly) the imperative of gifan t to give.* 3. That. the fubjunctive form of verbs was not ufed after if; and y if they goeth to the nor the contray. 4. That there were three principal dialects in the Englifh; the northern, which was corrupted by the Scots and Picls, and from which the prefent Yorkshire lan- guage is derived ; the middle, which came from Ger- many and retained its primitive purity, and is the true parent of modern Englifh ; and the Jouthern, by which is meant, either the language of the fouthern parts which was corrupted by an intercourfe with foreigners; or what is more probable, the language fpoken in Dev- onshire, and on the borders of Cornwal, which was mixed with the old Britifh, and is now almoft unintel- ligible. 5. That the conquefts of the Danes and Normans had corrupted the pure language of the Saxons. 6. That * In a charter of Edward III. dated 1348, yeven is ufed for given. Ya-ve lor gave is ufed by Chaucer. — Knight's Tale, line 2737. " And ya-ve hem giftes after his degree." In a charter of Edward the Confeffor, gifts ufed in its Saxon purity. In the fame charter, BiJJcp bis land, is ufed for a genitive. The Scotch wrote x for y j xit for yet j zeres for years. — Douglafs. I do not find, at this peried, the true Saxon genitive in ufe : The Biff op bis land, is deemed an error. This mode of fpeak- ing has however prevailed, till within a few years, and rtill has its advo- cates. But it is certain the Saxons had a proper termination for the genitive or poffefiive, which is preferved in the two firrc declenfions of the German. Example of the declenfion of nouns among the Saxons, A WORD. Sing. Plu. Norn. Word word Gen. Wordes word a Dat. Worde wordum Ace. Word word Voc. Eala thu word eala ge word Abl. Words Wordum Hickes Sax. Gram* and CRITICAL. 361 6. That this corruption proceeded principally from the teaching of French in fchools. 7. That country people, (uplandim men) imitated the practice of the polite, and learnt French, as many do now, to be told of. 8. That Cornwail and others, in Trevifa's time, had begun to reform this practice. 9. That French had almoft banifhed the native Saxon from the polite part of the nation, and that the uplandijh or weftern people alone retained it uncorrupted. 10. That the kings of England refided principally in the fouthern parts of the kingdom, where the land was mod fertile, beft cultivated, moft populous, and moil advantageous for commerce, [D, page 59.] CHAUCER's particular patron was John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancafter. He married Philippa, the fitter of Lady Swinford, who before her marriage and after her hufband's death, was one of the Duke's family. "Crete well Chaucer when you mete— • Of dittees and of fonges glade, The which he made The londe fulfilled is over all." Gower. Gower is faid to have been Chaucer's preceptor. (( My maifter Chaucer — chiefe poet of Bretayne Whom all this lond mould of right preferre, Sith of our language he was the lodejlarre, That made firft to dyftylle and rayne The goid dew dropys of fpeche and eloquence Into our tungue through his excellence." Lydgate. Chaucer's merit in improving the Engliili lan- guage is celebrated by other poets of his time — Occleve- Douglas 362 NOTES, HISTORICAL Douglas and Dunbar. They call him thzjiourt of elo- quence, the fader infeience, and the firjie fynder of our fayre langage,. He died in 1400. It muft however be remarked that Chaucer did not import foreign words, To much as introduce them into, books and give them currency in writing. It muft fur- ther be obferved that when I fpeak of the incorporation of Latin words with the Englifh, I would not be under- stood to mean that words were taken directly from the Roman tongue and anglicifed. On the other hand, they moftly came thro the channel of the Norman or Provencal French ; and perhaps we may call them with propriety French words ; for they had loft much of their Roman form among the Gauls, Franks and, Normans. The molt correct account I have feen of the ftate of the language in the nth, 12th, 13th and 14th centu- ries, is in the firft volume of Bell's edition of Chaucer. We have the authority of Ingulphus, a hiftorian of credit, for alleging that the French began to be fashion- able in England, before the conqueft. Edward the ConfeiTor redded many years in Normandy, and im- bibed a predilection for the French manners and lan- guage. On his acceftiou to the throne of England, in 1043, he promoted many of his Norman favorites^ to the firft dignities in the kingdom ; under the influence of the king and his friends, the Englifh began to imi- tate the French fashions. But the conqueft in 1066, completed the change. The court of William conlifted principally of foreigners who could fpeak no language but French. Mod of the high offices and rich livings in the kingdom were filled with Normans, and the caftles which, by order of the conqueror, were built in different parts of the counrry, were and CRITICAL. 3 &3 Were garrifoned by foreign foldiers, in whom the king might moft lately confide.* Public bufinefs was tranf- afted in the French, and it became dishonorable or a mark of low breeding, not to underftand that language. Indeed under the firft reigns after the conqueft, it was a difgrace to be called an Englijhman. In this depreffed ftate of the Englifh, their language could not fail to be negledled by the polite part of the nation. But as the body of the nation did not underftand French, there muft have been a conftant effort to root it out and eftablifh the Englifh. The latter however gained ground flowly during the two nrll centuries of the revolution. But in the reign of king John, Nor- mandy, which had been united with England under the Norman princes, was taken by the French, 1205, and thus feparated from the Britifh dominions. In the next reign (Henry III.) fome regulations were made between the two kingdoms, by which the fubjects of ei- ther were rendered incapable of holding lands in the other. Thefe events muft have reftrained, in fome degree, the inrercourfe between the two kingdoms, and given the Englifh an opportunity to aflume their own native character and importance. In this reign the Englifh began to value themfelves upon their birth, and a knowlege of the Englifh language was a recommend- ation, tho not a requiiite, in a candidate for a benefice. It appears alfo t?y the paflage of Higden before quot- ed, that the practice of conftruing Latin into French, in the fchools, had clofed before his time. This, with the other caufes before afligned, contributed to root out the French, and make the Englifh reputable ; and in the reign of Edward III. produced the act, mentioned in the text, in favor of the Englifh. This a£t did not produce a total change of practice at once ; for we rind the proceedings in parliament were publifhed in French for f Custodes in caftellis ftrenuos viros ex Gallis collocavit, et opu- Jenta benericia, pro guibus labores et pericula libenccr tolera rent, diili^ buit.< OrUcnc. Vital, lib. 4. 364 NOTES, HISTORICAL for fixty years after the pleas in courts were ordered tf be in Englifh, and the ftatutes continued in French a- bout 120 years after the a&, till the firft. of Richard III. It may be obferved that the royal aflent to bills was in fome inftances given in Englifh during the reign of Henry VI. Be it ordained as it is ajked : Be it as it is fixed.* But the royal affent is now declared in French. [E, page 66 and 34.] SIR William Temple's ftile, tho eafy and flowing, is to@ diffufe : Every page of his abounds with tautol- ogies. Take the following fpecimen from the firft page that prefents itfelf on opening his third volume. "Upon the furvey of thefe difpofiticns in mankind and thefe conditions of government, it feems much more reafonable to pity than to envy the fortunes and dignities of princes or great minifters ofjtate j and to leffen and excufe their venial faults, or at leaft their mif- fortunes, rather than to encreafe and make them worfe by ill colors and reprejentations."— —-Of Pop. Dif. FORTUNES and dignities might have been better expreffed by elevated rank or high jlations ; great is fu- perfluous, and fo are lejfen and make them worfe, and ei- ther colors or reprefentations might have been omitted. "The firft fafety of princes zndflates lies in avoiding all councils or dejigns of innovation, in ancient and eftab- lijhed forms and laws, especially thofe concerning liberty, property and religion (which are the pofTefuons men will ever have molt at heart ;) and thereby leaving the channel of known and common juflice clear and undif- turbed." Several words might here be retrenched, and yet leave the author's meaning more precife and in- telligible. This is the principal fault in Temple's ftile. "But * The word ax for ajk is not a modern corruption. It was an ancient dialect, ar.J not vulvar. and CRITICAL, 365 "But men, accuftomed to the free and vagrant life of hunters, are incapable of regular application to la- bor j and confider agriculture as afecondary and inferior occupation." Robertfon's Hift. Amer. book 4. Supposing Jecondary and inferior not to be exactly fynonimous, in this fentence One would have anfwered the purpofe. « AGRICULTURE, even when the ftrength of man is feconded by that of the animals which he has fubjecled to the yoke, and his power augmented by the ufe of the various infiruments with which the difcovery of metals has furniihed him, is ftill a work of great labor." The fame. This fentence is very exceptionable. Is agriculture, a work ? Can fo definite a term be applied to fuch a general idea ? But what a group of ufelefs words follow ! It was not fufficient to fay, the firength of man feconded by that of animals, but the kinds of animals mud be fpe- cified ; viz. fuch as he has Jubjecled to the yoke ; when every perfon knows that other animals are never ufed ; and confequently the author's idea would have been fufficiently explicit without that fpecification. In the fubfequent claufe, the words, his power augmented by the ufe of the various injlruments of metal, would have been explicit 3 for the difcovery of metals muft have been im- plied. Such expletive words load the mind with a chain of particular ideas which are not effential to the difcourfe. " — And if any one of thefe prognoftics is deemed unfavorable, they inftantly abandon the purfuit of thofe meafures, on which they are tnojl eagerly bent." The fame. Here is an awkward conclusion of the period, and afcribeable to a too nice regard for grammatical rules. They are mojl eagerly bent on, would perhaps have been better ibb NOTES, HISTORICAL better ; but a different conftruition would have been frill lefs exceptionable. There is however a greater fault in the conftruclion. By employing tbofe and mo/l eagerly, the idea is, that favages, on the appearance of unfavorable omens, would abandon thoje meafures only, on which they are mojl eagerly bent, and not others that they might be purfuing with lefs earnefthefs. Why could not the author have faid in plain Englifh'-— " they inftantly abandon any meafure they are purfu- ing." This writer's ftile likewife abounds with fynonims ; ?&J}rengthen and confirm, quicken and animate ; when one term would fully exprefs the meaning. " Strong liquors awake a favage from his torpid Jiatc — give a brifker motion to his fpirits, and enliven him more thor- oughly than either dancing or gaming." Book 4. What a needlefs repetition of the fame idea ! The au- thor is alfo very liberal in the ufe of all — " all the transports and frenzy of intoxication. " — " War, which between extenfive kingdoms, is carried on with little an- imofity, is profecuted by fmall tribes, with all the ran- cor of a private quarrel ;" In fhdrt, the ftile of Dr. Robertfon, the great, the philofophic hfftorian, is too labored. The mind of the reader is kept conftantly engaged in attending to the ftru£ture of the periods ; it is fatigued with words and drawn from the chain of events. The ftile of Kaims, tho not eafy and flowing, is precife, and generally accurate. The ftile of Blair's Lectures is lefs correct than that of his Sermons ; but dt the fame time, lefs formal in the ftrufture of the pe- riods. These remarks, the reader will obferve, refpect ftile ; only ; for the merit of Robertfon, as a judicious and faithful hiflorian ; and of Kaims and Blair, as critics, is above praife or cenftfre. In and CRITICAL 36? In no particular is the falfe tafte of the Englim. more obvious, than in the promifcuous encomiums they have beftowed on Gibbon, as a hiftorian. His work is not properly a " Hijiory of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire ;" but a "Poetico-Hiftorical Defcrip- tion of certain Perfons and Events, embelliihed with fuitable imagery and epifodes, defigned to (how the au- thor's talent in felectiny; words, as well as to delight the ears of his readers." In fhort, his hiflory fhould be entitled, " A Difplay of Words ;" except fome chapters which are excellent commentaries on the hiftory of the Roman Empire. The general fault of this author is, he takes more pains to form his fmtences, than to colleft, arrange and exprefs the facls in an eafy and perfpicuous manner. In confequence of attending to ornament, he feems to forget that he is writing for the information of his read- er, and when he ought to injiruft the mind, he is only pleafing the ear. Fully pofTeffed of his fubjecl, he de- (cribes things and events in general terms or figurative language, which leave upon the mind a faint evanefcent impreiiion of fome indeterminate idea ; fo that the reader, not obtaining a clear precife knowlege of the fadls, finds it difficult to underftand, and impoflible to recollect, the author's meaning. Let a man read his volumes with the molt laborious attention, and he will find at the clofe that he can give very little account of the " Roman Empire ;" but he will remember per- fectly that Gibbon is a moft elegant writer. History is capable of very little embellifhment ; tropes and figures are the proper inftruments of eloquence and declamation ; facls only are the fubjefts of hi/lory. ReHeftions of the author are admitted ; but thefe mould rot be frequent ; for the reader claims a right to his own opinions. The juftnefs of the hiftorian's remarks may be called in queftion — fafts only are incOriteftible. The plain narative of the Scripture hiuorians, and of Herodotus,' with their dialogues and digreffions, is as far 3 63 NOTES, HISTORICAL far fuperior, confidered as pure hiftory, to the affected glaring brilliancy of ftile and manner, which runs thro Gibbon's writings, as truth is to fiction ; or the Ver- million blufh of nature and innocence, to the artificial daubings of fafhion. The firft never fails to affect the heart — the laft can only dazzle the fenfes. Another fault in Gibbon's manner of writing, is, the ufe of epithets or titles inftead of names. " The Caefar, the conqueror of the eaft, the protector of the church, the country of the Caefars, the fon of Leda," and innu- merable fimilar appellations are employed, inftead of the real names of the perfons and places j and frequently at fuch a diftance from any mention of the name, that the reader is obliged to turn over a leaf and look for an explanation. Many of the epithets are new ; cuftom has not made us familiar with them ; they have never been fubftituted,by common confent, for the true names; the reader is therefore furprized with unexpected ap- pellations, and conftantly interrupted to find the perfons or things to which they belong. I am not about to write a lengthy criticifm on this author's hiftory ; a few paffages only will be fele&ed as proofs of what I have advanced. "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," vol. 3, oft. chap, if: In explaining the motives of the Emperors for removing the feat of government from Rome to the Eaft, the author f a y S — " Rome was infenfibly confounded with the de- pendent kingdoms which had once acknowleged her fupremacy ; and the country of the Cafars was viewed with cold indifference by a martial prince, born in the neighborhood of the Danube, educated in the courts and armies of Afia, and inverted with the purple by the legions of Britain." By the author's beginning one part of the fentence with Rome, and the other with the country of the Cafars, the reader is led to think two dif- ferent places are intended, for he has not a fufpicion of a tautology •, or at leaft he fuppofes the author ufes the country of the Cafars in a more extenfrve fenfe thaa Romt. and CRITICAL. 369 Rome, He therefore looks back and reads perhaps half a page with a clofer attention, and rinds that the writer is fpeaking oiiht feat of empire , and therefore can mean the city of Rome only. After this trouble he is difpieaf- ed that the author has employed five words to fwell and adorn his period. . This however is not the only diffi- culty in understanding the author. Who is the martial prince ? In the preceding fentence, Diocletian is men- tioned, as withdrawing from Rome ; and in the fentence following, Conftantine is faid to vifit Rome but kldom. The reader then is left to collect the author's meaning, by the circumftances of the birth, education and elec- tion of this martial prince. If he is poffefTed of thefe fads already, he may go on without much trouble. The author's affectation of ufing the purple for the crown or imperial dignity, is fo obvious by numberlefs repetitions of the word, as to be perfectly ridiculous. " In the choice of an advantageous fituation, he pre- ferred the confines of Europe and Afia ; to curb, with a powerful arm, the barbarians who dwelt between the Danube and Tanais ; to watch, with an eye ofjealoujy, the conduct of the Perfian monarch." Here the mem- bers of the fentence in Italics, are altogether fuperflu- ous ; the author wanted to inform his reader, that Dio- cletian defigned to curb the barbarians and watch the Perfian monarch ; for which purpofe he chofe a favor- able fituation ; but it was wholly immaterial to the fubje£t to relate in what manner or degree, the empe- ror meant to exert his arm or his jealoufy. Nay more, thefe are circumftances which are not reduceable to any certainty, and of which the writer and the reader can have no precife idea. "With thefe views, Dioclefian had felecled and embellifhed the rcfulence of Nicomedia. " — Is Nicomedia a princcfs, whofe refidence the empercr felcckd and cmbelliihed ? This is the moft obvious meaning of the fentence. But Nicomedia, we learn from other pafla- Z ges, 370 NOTES, HISTORICAL ges, was a city, the refulence itfelf of the emperor. Yet the author could not tell us this in a few plain words, without fpoiling the harmony of the phrafe ; he chofc therefore to leave it obfcure and ungrammatical. " — But the memory of Dioclefian was juftly abhor- red by the Proteclor of the Church ; and Confiantine was not infenfible to the ambition of founding a city, which might perpetuate the glory of his own name." Who is the proteclor of the church ? By Conftantine's being mentioned immediately after, one would think he can- not be the perfon intended ; yet on examination, this is found to be the cafe. But why this feparate appel- lation ? It feems the author meant by it to convey this idea ; That Dioclefian was a perfecutor of the church, therefore his memory was abhorred by Confiantine who was its proteclor ; the caufe of Coiiftantine's abhorrence is implied, and meant to be unfolded to the reader, in a lingle epithet. Is thi3 hiftory ? I mufl have the lib- erty to think that fuch terfenejs of Mile, notwithftanding the authorities of Tacitus and Gibbon, is a grofs cor- ruption and a capital fault. In defcription, our author often indulges a figurative poetical manner, highly improper. f Leila to the combat of the Ceftus." The author takes it for granted that his reader is acquainted with all the ancient fables of Greece and Rome. Such allufiom to facts or fables make a wretched iigure in fober kij'~ tory* The author, after the manner of the poets, admits epifodes, into his defcriptions, , by way of variety and embelliihmcnt. He begins a description of Comlanti- nople ; to do juftice to the city, he mud defaibe its fi- liation ; he therefore gives an account of the Thraciaij Boiphorus, the Propontus and Hellefpont, interfperfed with ancient fables, and adorned with poetical imagery. When he arrives at the mouth of the Hellefpont, his fancy leads him to the feat of ancient Troy, and he cannot pafs it, without telling us from Homer, where the Grecian armies were encamped ; where the flanks of the army were guarded by Agamemnon's brav- eh 1 Chiefs ; where Achilles and his myrmidons oc- cupied a /promontory ; where Ajax pitched his tent j aud where his tomb was erected alter his death. After indulging his fancy on this memorable field of heroic actions, he is qualified to defcribe Conftantinople. But it is needlefs to multiply examples ; for fimiiar faults occur in almoft every page. Moft men, who have read this hillory, perceive a difficulty in under- (landing it ; yet few have attempted to find the reafon ; and hardly a man has dared to cenfure the ftile and manner. To what caufe then lhall we aferibe the almoft u- nanimous confent of the Engliih and Americans, hi lavilhing praifes upon Gibbon's hiftory ? In ib'me meaf- urc * So Gillie?, In hJs Hift. of Greece, chap. II.' talk's about the death: of the "friend of Achilles j" but leaves, the. re.aderto difcqver the pei - fon— not having once mentionea the name of Patroch-.s. I would obicrvs further that foch appellations as the Jc.i cf Leda are borrowed from ths Greek ; but wholly improper in cur language. The Greets had a dif- tintt ending of the name of the father to fignify Ion or defcendants ; a9 Hcracii&a* This form of the noun was known and had a definite mean- ing in Greece 5 but in Engliih the idiom is a-.vk-ward and embairaffing. 3j2 NOTES, HISTORICAL ure doubtlefs to the greatnefs of the attempt, and the want of an Englifh hiftory which fhould unfold the fe- ries of events which connects ancient and modern times. The man who mould light a lamp, to illuminate the dark period of time from the 5th to the 15th century, would deferve immortal honors. The attempt is great; it is noble ; it is meritorious. Gibbon appears to have been faithful, laborious, and perhaps impartial. It is his ftile and manner only I am cenfuring ; for thefe are exceedingly faulty. For proof of this I appeal to a firigle fact, which I have never heard contradicted ; that a man who would comprehend Gibbon, muft read with painful attention, and after all receive little im- provement. The encomiums of his countrymen proceed from' falfe tafte ; a tafte for fuperfluous ornament. Men are difpofed to leflen the trouble of reading, and to fpare the labor of examining into the caufes and confequences of events. They choofe to pleafe their eyes and ears, rather than feed the mind. Hence the rage for a- hr\dgemenU\ and a difplay of rhetorical embellishments,, Hence the eclat with which " Millet's Elements of General Hiftory," is received in the world. This work is no more than an Index to General Hiftory ; or a recapitulation of the principal events. It is ealculat- e : for two clafTes of people ; for thofe who, having read hiftory in the original writers, want to revife their ftudies, without a repetition of their firft labors ; and for thofe who have but little time to employ in read- ing, and expert only a general and fuperficial knowlege of hiftory.* But a man who would know the mi- nute fprings of action ; the remote and collateral, as well as the direct caufes and confequences of events ; and the nice fhades of character which diftinguifh emi- nent men, with a view to draw rules from living ex- amples ; fuch a man muft pafs by abridgements as tram ; he muft have recourfe to the original writers, or to collections of authentic papers. Indeed a collection* of * Rraders of the laft defcriptlon are- the rao& numerous. and CRITICAL; 373 all the material official papers, arranged in the order of time, however dry and unentertaining to moft readers, is really the Zv/?, and the only authentic hiftory of a coun- try. The philofopher and ftatefman, who wifh to fub- ftitute fail for opinion, will generally fufpecT: human teftimony ; but repofe full confidence in the evidence of papers, which have been the original inftruments of public tranfaftions, and recorded by public authority. These ftricr.ures are contrary to the opinions of moil: men, efpecially as they regard the (tile of the au- thors mentioned. Yet they are written with a full convidtion of their being well founded. They pro- ceed from an earneft defire of arrefting the progrefs of falfe tafte in writing, and of feeing my countrymen called back to nature and truth. POSTSCRIPT. THE foregoing remarks were written before I had feen the opinions of that judicious and elegant writer, Eaft Apthorp, m. a. vicar of Croydon, on the fame hiftory. The following paffage is too directly in point to be omitted. It is in his "Second Letter on the Study of Hiftory." "I was difappointed in my expectations of inftruc- tion from this book (Gibbon's Hiftory) when I dif- cerned that the anthor had adopted that entertaining but fuperfkial manner of writing hiftory, which was firft introduced by the Abbe de Vertot, whofe Hiftory of the Revolutions in the Government of the Roman Republic, is one of thofe agreeable and feducing mod- els which never fail of producing a multitude of imita- tions. There is, in this way of writing, merit enough to recommend it to fuch readers, and fuch writers, as propofe to themlelves no higher aim, than an elegant literary amufement : It piques their curiofity, while it gratifies their indolence. The hiftorian has the advan- tage, in thjs way, of palling over fuch events and infti- Z 3 tutions. 374 NOTES, HISTORICAL iutions as, however effential to the fcience of hiftory, ?,re lefs adapted to ihine in the recital. By iupprefling faffs and violating chronology ; by felecling the moft pleating incidents and placing them in a ftriking point of view, by the coloring and drapery of ftile and com- petition, the imagination is gratified with a gaudy fpeclacle of triumphs and revolutions paffmg in review before it ; while the rapid fucceffion of great events. affords a tranfietlt delight, without leaving ufeful and Jailing impreflions either on the memory or judge- ment ; or fixing thole principles which ought to be the refult of hiftoric information. " Nor is it the wcrft confequence of this (light and modifh way of compiling hiftory, that it affords to fu- pine and unreflecting readers a barren entertainment, to rill up the vacant hours of indolence and diflipation. The hiftorian who gives himfelf the privilege of muti- lating and felecling, and arranging at difcretion the rec- ords of pa ft agas, has full fcope to obtrude on his care- lefs readers any fyftem that fuits with his preconceived opinions or particular views in writing." — " The onJy legitimate ftudy of hiftory is in original hi/ioria?is." The fame writer complains of a decline of literature, in Great Britain, fixing the " fettlement that followed the revolution," as the era of true fcience and great- nefs. He remarks that the "aim of modern writers feems to be to fumifh their readers with fugitive amufe- ment, and that ancient literature is become rather the ornament of our libraries, than the accomplifhment of pur minds ; being fupplanted by the modilh produc T tions which are daily read and forgotten." a [F, page 76.] FOR proof of what I have advanced refpefting the found of c in Rome, 1 would obferve, that the genitive cafe of the firfl declenfion in Latin anciently ended in 1 hich was probably copied from the Greeks j tor it a n*d CRITICAL. 375 it Is very evident the Latin a in later writers, was the true reprefentative of the Greek oi. Thus Moufai in Greek was tranflated into the Roman tongue, mufte. Now r before al had the found of k ; for where the Romans wrote cf t i o n oi C.jjar* Ji is pronounced in the RuiFian, cl .n or tfrar. -j Jjc ancient i:.;cr'n>tion:, and the carl\ Roman authoi .. -- v a writ- Unj 37 NOTES, HISTORICAL reliquas e et i, diphthongofque a, ce, ev habuerit, hau4 ita convenit. Angli illam Gallique etiam, haud ab s diftinguunt, in Ccena, Caefar, Ceres, cinis, &c. at in iifdem Itali, quod Romanos etiam feciffe olim exiftimo, euin huic lilerae fonum tribuunt, quo nos ch efferimus, in vocibus noftris, cheeky cherry, cheap, Sec. itaque pro- nunciant Cicero, uti nos Chichefter, chicheley, &c. ita tamen ac n ante c, cum in medio vocis fequatur voca- km, Jitera t leviter admodum et fubobfeure fonanda interponeretur j ut Citeero, Chitchefter, quam pronun- tiandi rationem expremfle plane fculptor quidam vide- tur, qui in inferiptione veteri contra orthcgraphiae reg- ulas, / ante c interpofuit in nomine Vrbitcius" He obferves however that Lipfius ridicules this o- pinion, and contends that c had in all cafes the force of k. This the Doctor afcribes to his partiality for the pronunciation of his countryrrfen, the Germans, which, he fays, has often led him into errors. For altho k before a, o^ u ufed frequently to be written for c, as Karcsr for Career, yet it never took the place of c before e and i j we never find Karker for Career. But that e had the found of our ch, is probable from, another fa«5r : In c!d inferiptions it is found that c wa§ often ufed for t before i \ conditio for conditio, palacium for palatiurh, ten u, and pronounced co or to. The following extracts from the laws of Romuius, &c. will give the reader an idea of the early orthography of the Latin tongue : — i Dr.os patrios colunto : externas fuperftitiones aut fabulas ne admis cento. 3N0CTURNA facriflcia peruigiliaque amouentor. ? Vxok farreatione viro iuncla, in facra et bona eius venito— ius deu-» ortendi ne e(to. 13 Si pater filiom ter venumduit, filius a patre liber efto. A hiu of Numa. 5 Qui terminum exarafit, ipfus et boues facrei funto. A law of Tallin HcJiilHut. 1 Nati trlgemini, donicum puberes efant, de publico aluctor. and CRITICAL, 377 falatium. Now ch in Englifh have a compound found, which begins with that of ?,and hence ti and ti in Englifh have taken the found of cb or Jh. It is evident there- fore that c before i had a great affinity to ti ; an affinity which is (fill preferved in the Italian language. Thefe circumftances give us reafon to believe that ci and ti in conditio and palatium, were both pronounced chi, condi- chio, palachium. This found of ti agrees perfectly well with the Saxon found in did, pronounced child ; cele^ now pronounced chilly as I have remarked above ; texr ? page 72. [G, page 82.] I SHALL not enter into a particular difcuffion of the queftion, whether /; is a mark of found or not. By its convertibility with k and c in the ancient languages, we have reafon to conclude that it once had a guttural found, and the pronunciation of fome northern nations of Europe confirms the opinion. But it appears in modern Englifh to have no found by itfelf ; it however affecls, in fome degree, the found of the vowel to which it is prefixed, by previoufly opening the mouth wider than is neceffary to articulate the vowel. Thus in hand we hear no found but of and ; yet in pronouncing hand we open the throat wider, and emit the breath with violence before we begin the found, which makes an obvious difference in pronouncing the words and and hand -, and perhaps this difiinclion is perceiveabie as far as the words can be heard. The fame may be faid of th in think. The inftance of a man who loft a dinner by telling his fervant to eat it, when he meant to tell him to heat it, affords a ufefui leflbn to thole who are difpofcd tc treat the letter h with too much neglecl. [H, page 85.] THAT i fhort is the fame found as cc we have the authority of one of the firft and beft Englifh grammari- ans. 378 NOTES, HISTORICAL ans. " Hunc fonum, (ee) quoties correptus eft, Angli per/' breve, exprimunt ; quum vero producitur, fcribunt ut plurimum per ee, non raro tamen per ie ; vel etiam per ea ; ut, fit, fit, feel, fill, fiend, near," &c. Wallis, Gram. Sect. 2. Ash confirms the opinion. " Ee has one found, as mfee, thee, and coincides with the narrow /'." — Gram. Difi*. pref. to his Die. Kenrick's arrangement of the long and Jhort vow- els is exactly fimilar to mine. Sheridan entertains a different opinion reflecting the fhort i and e. He confiders them as diftinct vow- els, incapable of prolongation. Rhet. Gram. pref. to his Diet, page 16. In this he differs from moll other writers upon the fubject, who have attended to the philofophical diftinctions of founds. This appears to be an inaccuracy in his diftribution of the vowels ; al- tho it cannot affect the practice of fpeaking. The found of the Roman;', it is agreed on all hands > was that of the Englilh ee. It retains that found ftill in the Italian, French and Spanifh, which are immedi- ately derived from the Latin. It had its long and fhort founds in Latin ; as in vidi, homini ; the firlt pronoun- ced vcedee, and the laft komini, as we now pronounce i infill. The French preferve the long found, and lay it down as a general rule, that i is pronounced like the Fnglith ee : Yet in difcourfe they actually fhotten the found, and in fentimens, rejjentimeni, &c. pronounce ; as we do in civil. In the French motif, i is long like ee j in this and all fimilar terminations, we fhorten the found, motiv. Mr. Sheridan, in this particular, is evi-« dently fingular and probably wrong. That e in let is but the fliort abrupt found of a in late, is not fo clear ; but to me is evident. There is Jiule or no difference in the pofnion of the organs with which and CRITICAL. 379 which we pronounce both vowels. The Roman, Ital- ian, Spanilh and French e is confidered as the repre- fentative of the Englifh a in late, made ; and yet in common difcourfe, it is fhortened into the found of e in fa*, men ; Witnefs, legere, avec, emmene, bueno, enten dido : We obferve the fame in Englifh ; for /aid, any, many, which are pronounced /ed, enny, menny, exhibit the fame vowel or fhort a ; the e being the abrupt found of ai in jaid. I muft therefore differ from Mr. Sheridan, and ftill believe that e in let, and i in fit, are capable of prolongation. Children, when, inftead of a comparifon, they would exprefs the fuperlative by an emphafis, fay leetle inftead of little ; which is a mere prolongation of i fhort. Mr. Sheridan, in my opinion, is guilty of an error of greater confequence, in marking the two qualities of found in bard and bad with the fame figure. He dif- tinguifhes the different qualities of found in pool and /nil, and in not and naught ; and why he fhould omit the diftinclion of found in bard and bad, a/k and man, is to me inconceiveable. The laft diftinclion is as ob- vious as the others which he has marked ; and the de- feci: of his feheme muft lead a foreigner into miftakes. His feheme is fingular ; Kenrick, Perry and Burn all make a diftinction in the time of pronouncing a in a/k and at ; and even Scott, who copies Sheridan's pro- nunciation almoft implicitly, ftill makes the fame dif- ti notion. [I, page 87.] " NON multum dfffert hie fonus (w) ab Anglcrum 00, Gallorum ou, Germanorum u pingui, rapidifTime pronuneiatis ; adeoque a quibufdam pro vocali fuit ha- bita, cum tamen rcvera conjona fit, quanquam ipfi vocalr admodum fit affinis." Wallis. iC Lt is indeed on the celerity of utterance, that all the difference, in many cafes, between confonants ami- vowel s SSo NOTES, HISTORICAL vowels depends ; as in w and y, in Engliih ; which, being difcharged quickly, perform the office of confo- nants, in giving form only to the fucceeding vowel ; but when protracted or drawled out, acquire a tone and become the vocal oo and ee." ^-Kenrick, Rhet, Gram. p. 4. Perry has adopted this opinion and contends warm- ly that if is a confonant. If w is a vowel, fays he, then wool, wolf, will be pronounced oo-ool, oo-olf, or col, olf. I am fenfible that in the beginning of words, w has not precifely the power of 00 ; but it is not clear from this faft that it has the properties of a confonant. Place a vowel before w, as, w, and there is no compreflion of the lips or other parts of the mouth, to obfrrucT: the found, as there is produced by b or m, in eb and cm. In opposition to the authorities mentioned, Sheridan ranks iv among the vowels, and fuppofes it to form dipthongs with the other vowels, as in well, will, &c. It appears to me to be a letter rather of an ambiguous nature, of which we have others in the language. [J, page 88.] IT has been remarked that by old authors y was oft- en ufed for g ; yeve for give ; foryete for forget. > > Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 1884. I have obferved that fome foreigners pronounce year, in the fame manner nearly as they do ear ; and ycafl is commonly pronounced cafl. This pronuncia- tion would eafily lead a man into the fuppofition that y is merely ee fhort. But the pronunciation is vicious. „ I observe alfo that Mr. Sheridan fays, u ye has the found of e long in ye ; of a long in yea ; of e long in year, yean ; and of e fhort in yearn, yell, &c. This con- firms my opinion, and is a proof that he does not pro- nounce^ at all. If and CRITICAL. 381 If y has the found of e in year, then e has no founc^ or there are in the word, two founds of e y which no perfon will undertake to affert. The difpute however is eafily fettled. I have learnt by attending to the con- verfation of well bred Lnglifhmen, that they do not pronounce y at all in year and many other words. They fay ear, t, for year, ye ; and the found of e, they erro- neoufly fuppofe to be that of y. In America, y has in thefe words, the confonant found it has in young ; and the Englifh pronunciation mull in this inftance be faulty. [K, page 103.] "NOW the harmony of profe arifes from the fame principle with that which conftitutes the harmony of verfe ; viz. numbers ; or fuch a difpofition of the words as throws them into juft metrical feet, but very differ- ent from thofe which conftitute any fpecies of verfe." — Eflay on the Power of Numbers, &c. page 4. Introd. "A good ftile is both expreflive and harmonious. The former depends on the happy choice of the words to convey our ideas ; the other on the happy choice qf numbers in the difpofition of the words. The lan- guage of fome is expreflive, but unharmonious ; that is, the writer's words firongly convey his fentiments, but the order in which they are placed creates a found unpleafant to the ear. The ftile of others is harmoni- ous but not expreflive ; where the periods are well turned and the numbers well adapted, but the fenfe obfeure. The former fatisfies the mind, but offends the : tzv ; the latter gratifies the ear, but difgufts the mind. A good ftile entertains and pleaies both," &c Ibro. 2d. Part, page 17. The author proceeds to illuftrate his doclrines by fhowing In what the harmony of profe confifts. He remarks that the words lhould in fome degree be an echo to the fenfe, in profe a* well as verfe. Hi notes, historical He proceeds — tc Every fcntence may be conceived as divifible into diftin£t and feparate claufes ; every claufe, where there is an apparent ceffation of the voice, (ho u lei always end with a generous toot ; and all the preced- ing numbers be lb intermixt, that the (hort ones be du- ly qualified by the fucceeding long ones j referving the belt and molt harmonious number tor the cadence." To (how how much depends on the proper arrange- ment of words, he quotes the following inltance — " A divine, fpeaking of the Trinity, hath this expreflion-^- It is a myitery which we firmly believe the truth of, and humbly adore the depth of;" Here the language is expreftlve, but not harmonious ; not merely becaufe the claufes end with the particle of but becaufe they a- bound with feeble numbers, Pyrrhics and Trochees* Let us change the difpofition of the feet — " It is a myf- tcry, the truth of which we firmly believe, and the depths of which we humbly adore." The difference in the melody is very perceiveable. The force and mulic of the Iaft difpofition is increafed by the Iambics and Anapaeds. The mod forceable feet, and thofe beft adapted to fublime and ferious fubjedts, are thofe which contain the mod long fyllables, or end in a long fyllable ; as the Iambic, the Spondee, the Anapaeft. The weak feet are thofe which have the mod (hort fyllables or end in a (hort fyllable ; as the Pyrrhic, the Trochee, the Tribrach. The want of proper meafures, or a mixture of weak and (trong fyllables, is very remarkable in a paffage of the Declaration of independence. " We muit there- fore acquiefce in the necelfity, which denounces our feparation, and hold them, as we hold the reft of man- kind, enemies in war, in peace, friends." The three Iaft fyllables form, if any thing, a Bacchic ; the firft fylla- ble, (hort, and the two others, long. But in a juft pro- nunciation, the foot is neceflariJy broken by a paufe af- ter and CRITICAL 3 &3 tcr peace. This interruption, and the two long fylla- bles, render the clofe of the fentence extremely heavy. The period is concife and expreffive, as it (lands ; but the arrangement might be much more harmonious — * Our enemies In war ; in peace, our friends." Here the meafure and melody are perfect ; the period clofing with three Iambics, preceded by a Pyrrhic. [L, page in.] IN a Scotch Ballad, called Edom o Gordon^ we find the word dreips for drops. "—And clear, clear was hir zeJlow hair Whereon the reid bluid dreips." But it was often fpelt drap, agreeable to the pronuncia- tion. See Edward. Rel. An. Poet. 53. Thf dialed in America is peculiar to the defend- ants of the Scotch Irifh. [M, page in.] MOUGHT is the paft time or participle of an old Saxon verb mowe or movuen^ to be able. It anfwered to the pojje of the Romans, and the pouvoir of the French. This verb occurs frequently in Chaucer. " But that fcience is fo fer us beforne, We monvcn not, altho we had it fworne, It overtake, it flit away fo faft, It %uol us maken beggers at the laft." Cant. Tales, 1. i6, 148, Bell's edit. roi'c fpclt almoft correctly* tmove and prosi/e. APPENDIX. 401 from laf or hhf. But this difcovery will anfvver no other purpofe, than to (how, that within a few hundred years, the fpelling of tome words has been a little chang- ed : We (hould (till be at a vaft diitance from the primitive roots. In many inftances indeed etymology will afM the learned in underftanding the composition and true fenfe of a word; and it throws much light upon the progrefs of language. But the true fenfe of a complex term is not always, nor generally, to be learnt from the fenfe of the primitives or elementary words. The current meaning of a word depends on its ufe in a nation. This true fenfe is to be obtained by attending to good au- thors, to dictionaries and to practice, rather than to de- rivation. The former mujl be right ; the latter may lead us into error. But to prove of how little cdrifeqUence a knowlege of etymology is to moft people, let me mention a few words. The word Jincere is derived from the Latin, fne cera, without wax ; and thus it came to denote purity of mind. I am confident that not a man in a thoufand ever fufpecled this to be the origin of the word ; yet all men, that have any knowlege of our lan- guage, ufe the word in its true fenfe, and understand its cuftomary meaning, as well as Junius did, or any other etymologift. YEA ox yes is derived from the imperative of a verb, avoir to have, as the word is now fpelt. It Signifies therefore have, or pojfefe, or take what you aflc. But does this explication affift us in tiling the word ? And does not every countryman who labors in the field, un- derftand and ufe the word with as much preciiion as the profoundeft philofophers ? The word temper is derived from an old root, tern, which Signified water. It was borrowed from the act of cooling, or moderating heat. Hence the meaning of B b temperate, 4 o2 A P P E N D I X. temperate, temperance, and all the ramifications of the o- riginal flock. But does this help us to the modern current fenfe of thefe words ? By no means. It leads us to underftand the .formation of languages, and in 'What manner an idea of a vifibie action gives rife to a correfpendent abftra'glt> as the. word oug Ll to be fpeic ; and wc iaugh at Jiim or.iy becauie kvc aie ao cultuiacu lo be ivrtxg. •j- This is a rati of vaft conference. APPENDIX. 409 Now as to the inconveniences you mention : The Jirft is, " that all our etymologies would be loft ; con- sequently we could not afcertain the meaning of many words." Etymologies are at prefent very uncertain ; but fuch as they are, the old books ftill preferve them, and etymoiogifts would there find them. Words in the courfe of time, change their meaning, as well as {heir fpelling and pronunciation ; and we do not look to etymologies for their prefent meanings. If I mould call a man a knave and a villain^ he would hardly be Satisfied with my telling him, that one of the words o- riginally Signified a lad or fervant^ and the other an un- der plowman^ or the inhabitant of a village. It is from prefent ufage only, the meaning of words is to be de- termined. Your fecond inconvenience is, "the diftin