who form the most important part of it, are without these advantages, and therefore want such a guide to direct them as is here offered. Even polite and literary people, who speak only from the ear, will find that this organ will, in a thousand instances, prove but a very uncertain guide, without a knowledge of those principles by which the ear itself is insensibly directed, and which, having their origin in the nature of language, operate with steadiness and regularity in the midst of the ficklest affectation and caprice. It can scarcely be supposed that the most experienced speaker has heard every word in the language, and the whole circle of sciences pronounced exactly as it ought to be: and if this be the case, he must sometimes have recourse to the principles of pronunciation when his ear is either uninformed or unfaithful. These principles are those general laws of articulation which determine the character, and fix the boundaries of every language; as in every system of speaking, however irregular, the organs must necessarily fall into some common mode of enunciation, or the purpose of Providence in the gift of speech would be absolutely defeated. These laws, like every other object of philosophical inquiry, are only to be traced by an attentive observation and enumeration of particulars; and when these particulars are sufficiently numerous to form a general rule, an axiom in pronunciation is acquired. By an accumulation of these axioms, and an analogical comparison of them with each other, we discover the deviations of language where custom has varied, and the only clew to guide us where custom is either indeterminate or obscure.

Thus, by a view of the words ending in ity or ety, I find the accent invariably placed on the prece ding syllable, as in diversity, congruity, &c. On a closer inspection, I find every vowel in this antepenultimate syllable, when no consonant intervenes, pronounced long, as de'itu, piety, &c.; a nearer observation shows me, that if a consonant intervene, every vowel in this syllable but u contracts itself, and is pronounced short, as severity, curiosity, impunity, &c. and therefore that chustity and obscenity ought to be pronounced with the penultimate vowel short, and not as in chaste and obscene, as we frequently hear them. I find too, that even u contracts itself before two consonants, as cur'vivy, taciturnity, &c. and that scarcity and rarity, (for whose irregularity good reasons may be given) are the only exceptions to this rule throughout the language. And thus we have a series of near seven hundred words, the accentuation of which, as well as the quantity of the accented vowel, are reduced to two or three simple rules.

The same uniformity of accentuation and quantity may be observed in the first syllable of those words which have the accent on the third, as dem-on-stra'tion, dim-i-nustion, lu-cu-bra'tion,* &c. where we evidently perceive a stress on the first syllable shortening every vowel but u, and this in every word throughout the language, except where two consonants follow the u, as in cur-vi-lin'e-ar; or where two vowels follow the consonant that succeeds any other vowel in the first syllable, as de-vi-otion; or, lastly, where the word is not evidently of our own composition, as re-con-vey': but as u in the first syllable of a word, having the accent on the third, has the same tendency to length and openness as was observable when it preceded the termination ity, I find it necessary to separate it from the consonant in bu-ty-ra'ceous, which I have never heard pronounced, as well as in lu-cu-bration, which I have, and this from no pretended agreement with the quantity of the Latin words these are derived from; for, in the former word, the is doubtful: but, from the general system of quantity I see adopted in English pronunciation, this only will direct an English ear with certainty; for, though we may sometimes place the accent on words we borrow from the Greek or Latin on the same syllable as in those languages, as acumen, elegiac, &c.; nay, though we sometimes adopt the accent of the original with every word of the same termination we derive from it, as assidu'ity, vidu'ity, &c. yet the quantity of the accented vowel is so often contrary to that of the Latin and Greek, that not a shadow of a rule can be drawn, in this point, from these languages to ours. Thus, in the letter in question, in the Latin accumulo, dubius, tumor, &c. the first u is every where short; but in the English words accumulate, dubious, tumour, every where long. Nuptialis, murmur, turbulentus, &c. where the in the first syllable in Latin is long, we as constantly pronounce it short in nuptial, murmur, turbulent, &c. Nor indeed can we wonder that a different economy of quantity is observable in the ancient and modern languages, as in the former, two consonants almost always lengthen the preceding vowel, and in the latter as constantly shorten it. Thus, without arguing in a vicious circle, we find, that as a division of the generality of words, as they are actually pronounced, gives us the general laws of syllabication, so these laws, once understood, direct us in the division of such words as we have never heard actually pronounced, and consequently to the true pronunciation of them. For these operations, like cause and effect, reflect mutually a light on each other, and prove, that by nicely observing the path which custom in language has once taken, we can more than guess at the line she must keep in a similar case, where her footsteps are not quite so discernible. So true is the observation of Scaliger: Ita omnibus in rebus certissima ratione sibi ipsa respondet natura. De causis Ling. Lat.

1840

Rules to be observed in the Natives of IRELAND, in order to obtain a just Pronunciation of English. As Mr. Sheridan was a native of Ireland, and had the best opportunities of understanding those peculiarities of pronunciation which obtain there, I shall extract his observations on that subject as the best general direction, and add a few of my own, by way of supplement, which I hope will render this article of instruction still more complete.

The reader will be pleased to take notice, that as I have made a different arrangement of the vow els, and have adopted a notation different from Mr. Sheridan, I am obliged to make use of different figures to mark the vowels, but still such as perfectly correspond to his.

The chief mistakes made by the Irish in pronouncing English, lie for the most part in the sounds " of the two first vowels, a and e; the former being generally sounded å by the Irish, as in the word "bar, in most words where it is pronounced à, as in day, by the English. Thus the Irish say, patron, "matron, the vowel & having the same sound as in the word father; whilst the English pronounce then "as if written patron, maytron. The following rule, strictly attended to, will rectify this mistake "through the whole language.

"When the vowel a finishes a syllable, and has the accent on it, it is invariably pronounced à [day] "by the English. To this rule there are but three exceptions in the whole language, to be found "in the words father, papa, mamma. The Irish may think also the word rather an exception, as well "as father; and so it would appear to be in their manner of pronouncing it rather, laying the accent

* See Principles, No. 524, 527, 530.

iSee Principles, No. 544, 545.

on the vowel a; but in the English pronunciation the consonant th is taken into the first syllabic, as thus, rather, which makes the difference.

"Whenever a consonant follows the vowel a in the same syllable, and the accent is on the conso"nant, the vowel a has always its fourth sound, as håt, man; as also the same sound lengthened "when it precedes the letter r. as far, bår, though the accent be on the vowel; as likewise when it pre"cedes Im, as balm, psalm. The Irish, ignorant of this latter exception, pronounce all words of that structure as if they were written hawm, psawm, quawm, cawm, &c. In the third sound of a, marked by "different combinations of vowels or consonants, such as ou, in Paul; aw, in law; all, in call; all, "in bald; alk, in talk, &c, the Irish make no mistake, except in that of lm, as before mentioned.

"The second vowel, e, is for the most part sounded ee by the English, when the accent is upon it; "whilst the Irish in most words give it the sound of slender à, as in hate. This sound of è [ee] is "marked by different combinations of vowels, such as ca, ei, e final mute, ee, and ie. In the two last "combinations of ee and ie, the Irish never mistake; such as in meet, seem, field, believe, &c.; but in "all the others, they almost universally change the sound of è into à. Thus in the combination "ea, they pronounce the words tea, sea, please, as if they were spelt tay, say, plays; instead of tee, see, pleese. The English constantly give this sound to ea whenever the accent is on the vowel e, ex"cept in the following words, great, a pear, a bear, to bear, to forbear, to swear, to tear, to wear. In all "which the e has the sound of a in hate. For want of knowing these exceptions, the gentlemen of "Ireland, after some time of residence in London, are apt to fall into the general rule, and pro nounce these words as if spelt greet, beer, sweer, &c.

"Ei is also sounded ee by the English, and as å by the Irish; thus the word deceit, receive, are pro"nounced by them as if written desate, resave. Ei is always sounded ee, except when a g follows it "as in the words reign, feign, deign, &c.; as also in the words rein (of a bridle,) rein-deer, vein, drein, "veil, heir, which are pronounced like rain, vain, drain, vail, air.

"The final mute e, makes the preceding e in the same syllable, when accented, have the sound of "ee, as in the words suprème, sincère, replète. This rule is almost universally broken through by "the Irish, who pronounce all such words as if written suprame, sinsåre, replate, &c. There are "but two exceptions to this rule in the English pronunciation, which are the words there, where. "In the way of marking this sound, by a double e, as thus ee, as the Irish never make any mistakes, "the best method for all who want to acquire the right pronunciation of these several coinbinations is, to suppose that ea, ei, and e, attended by a final mute e, are all spelt with a double e, or ce. "Ey is always sounded like a by the English when the accent is upon it; as in the words prey, conrey, pronounced, pray, convay. To this there are but two exceptions, in the words key and ley, "sounded kee, lee. The Irish, in attempting to pronounce like the English, often give the same sound "to ey as usually belongs to ei; thus for prey, convey, they say pree, convee.

"A strict observation of these few rules, with a due attention to the very few exceptions enume"rated above, will enable the well-educated natives of Ireland to pronounce their words exactly in "the same way as the more polished part of the inhabitants of England do, so far as the vowels ar "concerned. The diphthongs they commit no fault in, except in the sound of i, which has been already taken notice of in the Grammar: where, likewise, the only difference in pronouncing any "of the consonants has been pointed out; which is the thickening the sounds of d and t, in certain "situations; and an easy method proposed of correcting this habit.f

"In order to complete the whole, I shall now give a list of such detached words that do not come un"der any of the above rules, as are pronounced differently in Ireland from what they are in England:

*«Vide p. 11. where the true manner of pronouncing the diphthong i is pointed out; the Irish pronouncing it much "in the saine manner as the French."

"The letter d has always the same sound by those who pronounce English well; but the Provincials, particularly "the Irish, Scotch, and Welsh, in many words thicken the sound by a mixture of breath. Thus, though they sound the "d right in the positive loud and broad, in the comparative degree they thicken it by an aspiration, and sound it as if it "were written loudher, broadher. This vicious pronunciation is produced by pushing the tongue forward so as to touch "the teeth in forming that sound: and the way to cure it is easy; for as they can pronounce the d properly in the word loud, let them rest a little upon that syllable, keeping the tongue in the position of forming d, and then let them separate it from the upper gum without pushing it forward, and the sound der will be produced of course: for the organ being left in the position of sounding d at the end of the syllable loud, is necessarily in the position of forming the same "in uttering the last syllable, unless it makes a new movement, as in the case of protruding it so as to touch the teeth. "This letter is sometimes, though not often, quiescent, as in the words handkerchief, handsome, handsel.

"In pronouncing the letter t the Irish and other Provincials thicken the sound, as was before mentioned with regard "to the d; for better, they say betther; for utter, utther; and so on in all words of that structure. This faulty manner "arises from the same cause that was mentioned as affecting the sound of the d; 1 mean the protruding of the tongue so as to touch the teeth, and is curable only in the same way."

"These, after the closest attention, are all the words, not included in the rules before laid down, that I have been able to collect, in which the well-educated natives of Ireland differ from those of England."

I shall make no observations on the accuracy of this list, but desire my reader to observe, that the strongest characteristics of the pronunciation of Ireland is the rough jarring pronunciation of the letter R, and the aspiration or rough breathing before all the accented vowels. (For the true sound of R, see that letter in the Principles, No. 419.) And for the rough breathing or aspiration of the towels, the pupil should be told not to bring the voice suddenly from the breast, but to speak, as it were, from the mouth only.

It may be observed too, that the natives of Ireland pronounce rm at the end of a word so distinctly as to form two separate syllables. Thus storm and farm seem sounded by them as if written d-rum, fa-rum; while the English sound the r so soft and so close to them, that it seems pronounced nearly as if written stawm, faam.

Nearly the same observations are applicable to im. When these letters end a word, they are, in Ireland, pronounced at such a distance, that helm and realm sound as if written hel-um and real-um; but in England the land m are pronounced as close as possible, and so as to form but one syllable. To remedy this, it will be necessary for the pupil to make a collection of words terminating with these consonants, and to practise them over till a true pronunciation is acquired.

Rules to be observed by the Natives of SCOTLAND, for attaining a just Pronunciation of English.

THAT pronunciation which distinguishes the inhabitants of Scotland is of a very different kind

from that of Ireland, and may be divided into the quantity, quality, and accentuation of the vowels. With respect to quantity, it may be observed, that the Scotch pronounce almost all their accented vowels long. Thus, if I am not mistaken, they would pronounce habit, hay-bit; tepid, tee-pid; sinner, see-mer; conscious, come-shus; and subject, soob-ject :* it is not pretended, however, that every accented Towel is so pronounced, but that such a pronunciation is very general, and particularly of the i. This vowel is short in English pronunciation, where the other vowels are long; thus, evasion, adhesion, emotion, confusion, have the a, e, o, and u, long; and in these instances the Scotch would pronounce them like the English; but in vision, decision, &c. where the English pronounce the i short, the Scotch lengthen this letter by pronouncing it like ee, as if the words were written vee-sion, dec-sion, &c. and this peculiarity is universal. The best way, therefore, to correct this, will be to make a collection of the most usual words which have the vowels short, and to pronounce them daily till a habit is formed. See Principles, No. 507.

With respect to the quality of the vowels, it may be observed, that the inhabitants of Scotland are apt to pronounce the a like aw, where the English give it the slender sound: thus Satan is pronounced Sautan, and fatal, fawtal. It may be remarked too, that the Scotch give this sound to the a preceded by w, according to the general rule, without attending to the exceptions, Principles, No. 88; and thus, instead of making wax, waft, and twang, rhyme with tax, shaft, and hang, they pronounce them so as to rhyme with box, soft, and song. The short e in bed, fed, red, &c. borders too much upon the English sound of a, in bad, lad, mad, &c. and the short i in bid, lid, rid, too much on the English sounds of e in bed, led, red. To correct this error, it would be useful to collect the long and short sound of these vowels, and to pronounce the long ones first, and to shorten them by degrees till they are perfectly short; at the same time preserving the radical sound of the vowel in both. Thus the correspondent long sounds to the e in bed, fed, red, are bade, fade, rade; and that of the short i in bid, lid, rid, are bead, lead, read; and the former of these classes will naturally lead the ear to the true sound of the latter, the only difference lying in the quantity. The short o in not, Lodge, got, &c. is apt to slide into the short u, as if the words were written nut, ludge, gut, &c. To rectify this, it should be remembered, that this o is the short sound of aw, and ought to have the radical sound of the deep a in ball. Thus the radical sound corresponding to the o in not, cot, sot, is found in naught, caught, sought, &c.; and these long sounds, like the former, should be abbreviated into the short ones. But what will tend greatly to clear the difficulty will be, to remember that only those words which are collected in the Principles, No. 165, have the o sounded like short u when the accent is upon it: and with respect to the u in bull, full, pull, &c. it may be observed, that the pronunciation peculiar to the English is only found in the words enumerated, Principles, No. 174.

In addition to what has been said, it may be observed, that oo in food, mood, moon, soon, &c. which ought always to have a long sound, is generally shortened in Scotland to that middle sound of the in ball and it must be remembered, that wool, wood, good, hood, stood, foot, are the only words where this sound of oo ought to take place.

The accentuation, both in Scotland and Ireland, (if by accentuation we mean the stress, and not the kind of stress,) is so much the same as that of England, that I cannot recollect many words in which they differ. Indeed, if it were not so, the versification of each country would be different:

That this is the general mode of pronouncing these words in Scotland is indisputable: and it is highly probable that the Scotch have preserved the old English pronunciation, from which the English themselves have insensibly departed. Dr. Hicks observed long ago, that the Scotch saxonised in their language much more than the English; and it is scarcely to be doubted that a situation nearer to the Continent, and a greater commercial intercourse with other nations, made the English admit of numberless changes which never extended to Scotland. About the reign of Queen Elizabeth, when the Greek and Latin languages were cultivated, and the pedantry of showing an acquaintance with them became fashionable, it is not improbable that an alteration in the quantity of many words took place; for as in Latin almost every vowel before a single consonant is short, so in English almost every vowel in the same situation was supposed to be long, or our ancestors would not have doubled the consonant in the participles of verbs, to prevent the preceding vowel from lengthening. But when once this affectation of Latinity was adopted, it is no wonder it should extend beyond its principles, and shorten several vowels in English, because they were short in the original Latin; and in this manner, perhaps, might the diversity between the quantity of the English and the Scotch pronunciation arise, 42) (543.) See Drama.

B

for as English verse is formed by accent or stress, if this accent or stress were upon different syllables in different countries, what is verse in England would not be verse in Scotland or Ireland; and this sufficiently shows how very indefinitely the word accent is generally used.

Mr. Elphinston, who must be allowed to be a competent judge in this case, tells us, that in Scotland they pronounce silence, biás, canváss, senténce, triumph, comfort, solace, construe, rescue, respite, govern, haráss, ransack, cancél, with the accent on the last syllable instead of the first. To this list may be added the word menace, which they pronounce as if written menáss; and though they place the accent on the last syllable of canal, like the English, they broaden the a in the last syllable, as if the word were spelt canawl. It may be farther observed, that they place an accent on the comparative adverb as, in the phrases as much, as little, as many, as great, &c. while the English, except in some very particular emphatical cases, lay no stress on this word, but pronounce these phrases like words of two or three syllables without any accent on the first.

But besides the mispronunciation of single words, there is a tone of voice with which these words are accompanied, that distinguishes a native of Ireland or Scotland, as much as an improper sound of the letters. This is vulgarly, and, if it does not mean stress only, but the kind of stress, I think, not improperly called the accent. For though there is an asperity in the Irish dialect, and a drawl in the Scotch, independent of the slides or inflections they make use of, yet it may with confidence be affirmed, that much of the peculiarity which distinguishes these dialects may be reduced to a predominant use of one of these slides. Let any one who has sufficiently studied the speaking voice to distinguish the slides, observe the pronunciation of an Irishman and a Scotchman, who have much of the dialect of their country, and he will find that the former abounds with the falling, and the latter with the rising inflection;t and if this is the case, a teacher, if he understands these slides, ought to direct his instruction so as to remedy the imperfection. But as avoiding the wrong, and seizing the right at the same instant, is, perhaps, too great a task for human powers, I would advise a native of Ireland, who has much of the accent, to pronounce almost all his words, and end all his sentences, with the rising slide; and a Scotchman in the same manner, to use the falling inflection: this will, in some measure, counteract the natural propensity, and bids fairer for bringing the pupil to that nearly equal mixture of both slides which distinguishes the English speaker, than endeavouring at first to catch the agreeable variety. For this purpose the teacher ought to pronounce all the single words in the lesson with the falling inflection to a Scotchman, and with the rising to an Irishman; and should frequently give the pauses in a sentence the same inflections to each of these pupils, where he would vary them to a native of England. But while the human voice remains unstudied, there is little expectation that this distinction of the slides should be applied to these useful purposes.

Besides a peculiarity of inflection, which I take to be a falling circumflex, directly opposite to that of the Scotch, the Welsh pronounce the sharp consonants and aspirations instead of the flat. (See Principles, No. 29, 41.) Thus for big they say pick; for blood, ploot; and for good, coot. Instead of virtue and rice, they say firtue and fice; instead of zeal and praise, they say seal and prace; instead of these and those, they say thece and thoce; and instead of azure and osier, they say aysher and osher; and for jail, chail. Thus there are nine distinct consonant sounds which, to the Welsh, are entirely useless. To speak with propriety, therefore, the Welsh ought for some time to pronounce the flat consonants and aspirations only; that is, they ought not only to pronounce them where the letters require the flat sound, but even where they require the sharp sound: this will be the best way to acquire a habit; and when this is once done, a distinction will be easily made, and a just pronunciation more readily acquired.

There is scarcely any part of England remote from the capital where a different system of pronunciation does not prevail. As in Wales they pronounce the sharp consonants for the flat, so in Somersetshire they pronounce many of the flat instead of the sharp: thus for Somersetshire, they say Zomersetshire; for futher, vather; for think, Tuink, and for shure, zhure.‡

There are dialects peculiar to Cornwall, Lancashire, Yorkshire, and every distant county in England; but as a consideration of these would lead to a detail too minute for the present occasion, I shall conclude these remarks with a few observations on the peculiarities of my countrymen, the Cockneys; who, as they are the models of pronunciation to the distant provinces, ought to be the more scrupulously correct.

FIRST FAULT OF THE LONDONERS.-Pronouncing s indistinctly after st.

The letter s after st, from the very difficulty of its pronunciation, is often sounded inarticulately. The inhabitants of London, of the lower order, cut the knot, and pronounce it in a distinct syllable, as if e were before it; but this is to be avoided as the greatest blemish in speaking; the three last letters in posts, fists, mists, &c. must all be distinctly heard in one syllable, and without permitting the letters to coalesce. For the acquiring of this sound, it will be proper to select nouns that end in st or ste; to form them into plurals, and pronounce them forcibly and distinctly every day. The same may be observed of the third person of verbs ending in sts or stes, as persists, wastes, hastes, &c.

SECOND FAULT.-Pronouncing w for v, and inversely.

The pronunciation of v for w, and more frequently of w for v, among the inhabitants of London, and those not always of the lower order, is a blemish of the first magnitude. The difficulty of remedying this defect is the greater, as the cure of one of these mistakes has a tendency to promote the other.

Thus, if you are very careful to make a pupil pronounce veal and vinegar, not as if written weal and winegar, you will find him very apt to pronounce wine and wind, as if written vine and vind. The only method of rectifying this habit seems to be this: Let the pupil select from a Dictionary, not only all the words that begin with e, but as many as he can of those that have this letter in any other part. Let him be told to bite his under lip while he is sounding the e in those words, and to practise this every day till he pronounces the v properly at first sight: then, and not till then, let him pursue the same method with the w; which he must be directed to pronounce by a pouting out of the lips without suffering them to touch the teeth. Thus by giving all the attention to only one of these letters at a time, and fixing by habit the true sound of that, we shall at last find both of them reduced to their proper pronunciation, in a shorter time than by endeavouring to rectify

them both at once.

* See this more fully exemplified in Elements of Elocution Vol. II. page 13.

Or rather the rising circumflex. For an explanation of this inflection, see Rhetorical Grammar. third edition,

e 79.
See the word Chunge.

THIRD FAULT.-Not sounding hafter w.

The aspirate his often sunk, particularly in the capital, where we do not find the least distinction of sound between while and wile, whet and wet, where and were, &c. The best method to rectify this, is to collect all the words of this description from a Dictionary, and write them down; and, instead of the wh, to begin them with hoo in a distinct syllable, and so to pronounce them. Thus, let while be written and sounded hoo-ile; whet, hoo-et; where, hoo-are; whip, hoo-ip, &c. This is no more, as Dr. Lowth observes, than placing the aspirate in its true position before the w, as it is in the Saxon, which the words come from; where we may observe, that though we have altered the orthography of our ancestors, we have still preserved their pronunciation.

FOURTH FAULT.—Not sounding h where it ought to be sounded, and inversely.

A still worse habit than the last prevails, chiefly among the people of London, that of sinking the h at the beginning of words where it ought to be sounded, and of sounding it, either where it is not seen, or where it ought to be sunk. This we not unfrequently hear, especially among children, heart pronounced art, and arm, harm. This is a vice perfectly similar to that of pronouncing the v for the , and the w for the e, and requires a similar method to correct it.

As there are so very few words in the language where the initial h is sunk, we may select these from the rest, and, without setting the pupil right when he mispronounces these, or when he prefixes & improperly to other words, we may make him pronounce all the words where his sounded, till he has almost forgot there are any words pronounced otherwise: then he may go over those words to which he improperly prefixes the h, and those where the h is seen, but not sounded, without any danger of an interchange. As these latter words are but few, I shall subjoin a catalogue of them for the use of the learner: heir, heiress, herb, herbage, honest, honesty, honestly, honour, honourable, honourably, hospital, hostler, hour, hourly, humble, humbly, humbles, humour, humorist, humorous, humorously, humorsome: where we may observe, that humour and its compounds not only sink the A, bat sound the u like the pronoun you, or the noun yew as if written yewmour, yewmorous, &c.

Thus I have endeavoured to correct some of the more glaring errors of my countrymen, who, with all their faults, are still upon the whole the best pronouncers of the English language: for though the pronunciation of London is certainly erroneous in many words, yet, upon being compared with that of any other place, it is undoubtedly the best; that is, not only the best by courtesy, and because it happens to be the pronunciation of the capital, but the best by a better title, that of being more generally received: or, in other words, though the people of London are erroneous in the pronunciation of many words, the inhabitants of every other place are erroneous in many more. Nay, harsh as the sentence may seem, those at a considerable distance from the capital do not only mispronounce many words taken separately, but they scarcely pronounce with purity a single word, syllable, or letter. Thus, if the short sound of the letter u in trunk, sunk, c. differ from the sound of that letter in the northern parts of England, where they sound it like the in bel, and nearly as if the words were written troonk, soonk, &c. it necessarily follows, that every word where the second sound of that letter occurs, must by those provincials be mispronounced. But though the inhabitants of London have this manifest advantage over all the other inhabitants of the island, they have the disadvantage of being more disgraced by their peculiarities than any other people. The grand difference between the metropolis and the provinces is, that people of education in London are generally free from the vices of the vulgar; but the best educated people in the provinces, if constantly resident there, are sure to be strongly tinctured with the dialect of the country in which they live. Hence it is, that the vulgar pronunciation of London, though not half so erroneous as that of Scotland, Ireland, or any of the provinces, is, to a person of correct taste, a thousand times more offensive and disgusting.

DIRECTIONS to FOREIGNERS,

In order to attain a Knowledge of the Marks in this Dictionary, and to acquire a right Pronunciation of every Word in the English Language.

As the sounds of the vowels are different in different languages, it would be endless to bring parallel sounds from the various languages of Europe; but, as the French is so generally understood upon the Continent, if we can reduce the sounds of the English letters to those of the French, we shall render the pronunciation of our language very generally attainable; and this, it is presumed, will be pretty accurately accomplished by observing the following directions:

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z a bici di i ef dgi etch ai djé qué ell em en o pi kiou arr ess ti iou vi dobliou ex ouai zedd The French have all our vowel sounds, and will therefore find the pronunciation of them very easy. The only difficulty they will meet with seems to be i, which, though demonstrably composed of two successive sounds, has passed for a simple vowel with a very competent judge of English pronunciatou. The reason is, these two sounds are pronounced so closely together as to require some attention to discover their component parts: this attention Mr. Sheridant never gave, or he would not have told us that this diphthong is a compound of our fullest and slenderest sounds & and è; the first made by the largest, and the last by the smallest aperture of the mouth. Now nothing is more cer tain than the inaccuracy of this definition. The third sound of a, which is perfectly equivalent to the third sound of o, when combined with the first sound of e, must inevitably form the diphthong in boy, jay, &c. and not the diphthongal sound of the vowel i in idle, and the personal pronoun I; this double sound will, upon a close examination, be found to be composed of the Italian a in the last syllable of pape, and the first sound of e, pronounced as closely together as possible; and for the exactness of this definition, I appeal to every just English ear in the kingdom.

• Nares' Elements of Orthoepy, page 2.

See Section III. of his Prosodial Grammar prefixed to his Dictionary.

*Holder, the most philosophical and accurate investigator of the formation and powers of the letters, says: "Our vulgar i, as in stile, seems to be such a diphthong (or rather syllable, or part of a syllable,) composed of a, i, or e, i, and Lot a simple original vowel." Elements of Speech, page 95.

Dr. Wallis, speaking of the long English i, says it is sounded ❝ eodem ferè modo quo Gallorum ai in vocibus main, mans; pain, panis, &c. Nempe sonum habet compositum ex Gallorum è foeminino et i vel 3" Grammatica Linguay Anglicane, page 48.