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THE pronunciation of the learned languages is much more easily acquired than that of our own. Whatever might have been. the variety of the different dialeces among the Greeks, and the different provinces of the Romans, their languages now being dead, are generally pronounced according to the respective analogies of the several languages of Europe, where those languages are cultivated, without partaking of those anomalies to which the living languages are liable.

Whether one general uniform pronunciation of the ancient languages be an object of sufficient importance to induce the learned to depart from the analogy of their own language, and to study the ancient Latin and Greek pronunciation, as they do the etymology, syntax, and prosody of those languages, is a question not very easy to be decided. The question becomes still more difficult when we consider the uncertainty we are in respecting the ancient pronunciation of the Greeks and Romans, and how much the learned are divided among themselves abou it *. Till these points are settled, the English may well be al

* Middleton contends that the initial c before e and i ought to be pronounced as the Italians now pronounce it; and that Cicero is neither Sisero, as the French and English pronounce it; nor Kikero, as Dr. Bentley asserts; but Tchitchero, as the talians pronounce it at this day. This pronunciation, however, is derided by Lipsius, who affirms that the c among the Romans had always the sound of k. Lipsius says too, that of all the European nations, the British alone pronounce the i properly; but Middleton asserts, that of all nations they pronounce it the worst. Middleton De Lat. Liter. Pronun. Dissert,

Lipsius, speaking of the different pronunciation of the letter G in differen countries, says:

Nos hodiè (de literâ G loquente) quàm peccamus? Italorum enim plerique ut Z expriment, Galli et Belgiæ ut consonantem. Itaque illorum est Lezere, Fuzere: postrum, Leiere, Fuiere (Lejere, Fujere). Omnia imperitè, ineptè. Germanos saltem audite, quorum sonus hîc germanus, Legere, Tegere; ut in Lego, Tego, nec unquam variante at nos ante I. E. Æ. Y, semper dicimusque Jemmam, Jatulos, Jinjivam, Fyrum; pro istis, Gemmam, Gatulos, Gingivam, Gyrum. Matemus aut vapulemus.-Lipsius. De Rect. Pron. Ling. Lat. page 71.

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lowed to follow their own pronunciation of Greek and Latin, as well as other nations, even though it should be confessed that it seems to depart more from what we can gather of the ancient pronunciation than either the Italian, French, or German *. For why the English should pay a compliment to the learned

Hinc factum est ut tanta in pronunciando varietas exifteret ut pauci inter se in literarum sonis consentiant. Quod quidem mirum non esset, si indocti tantùm à doctis in eo, ac non ipsi etiam alioqui eruditi inter se magna contentione dissiderent. -Adolp. Meker. De Lin. Græc. vet. Pronun. cap. ii. page 15.

* Monsieur Launcelot, the learned author of the Port-Royal Greek Grammar, in order to convey the sound of the long Greek vowel, tells us, it is a sound be tween the e and the a, and that Eustathius, who lived towards the close of the twelfth century, says, that B, B, is a sound made in imitation of the bleating of a sheep; and quotes to this purpose this verse of an ancient writer called Cratinus: Ὁ δ' ηλίθιος ὥσπερ προβάτον, βῆ, βῆ, λέγων βαδίζει.

Is fatuus perinde ac ovis, bê, bê, dicens incedit.

He, like a silly sheep, goes crying baa.

Caninius has remarked the same, Hellen. p. 26. E longum, cujus sonus in ovium balatu sentitur, ut Cratinus et Varro tradiderunt. The sound of the e long may be perceived in the bleating of sheep, as Cratinus and Varro have handed down

to us.

Eustathius likewise remarks upon the 499 v. of Iliad. I. that the word Βλὸψ ἐστὶν ὁ τῆς κλεψύδρας ήχος μιμητικῶς κατὰ τὰς παλαίες βῆ έχει μίμησιν προβάτων φωνῆς. Κράτινος. Βλάψ est Clepsydra sonus, ex imitatione secundum veteres; et 6 imitatur vocum ovium. Blops, according to the ancients, is a sound in imitation of the Clepsydra, as baa is expressive of the voice of sheep. It were to be wished that the sound of every Greek vowel had been conveyed to us by as faithful a testimony as the yra; we should certainly have had a better idea of that harmony for which the Greek language was so famous, and in which respect Quintilian candidly yields it the preference to the Latin.

Aristophanes has handed down to us the pronunciation of the Greek diphthong að að, by making it expressive of the barking of a dog. This pronunciation is exactly like that preserved by nurses and children among us to this day in bow wow. This is the sound of the same letters in the Latin tongue; not only in proper names derived from Grçek, but in every other word where this diphthong occurs. Most nations in Europe, perhaps all but the English, pronounce audio and laudo, as if written oudio and lowdo; the diphthong sounding like ou in loud. Agreeable to this rule, it is presumed that we formerly pronounced the apostle Paul nearer the original than at present. In Henry the Eighth's time it was written St. Poules, and sermons were preached at Poule's Cross. The vulgar, generally the

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languages, which is not done by any other nation in Europe, it is not easy to conceive; and as the colloquial communication of learned individuals of different nations so seldom happens, and is an object of so small importance when it does happen, it is not much to be regretted that when they meet they are scarcely intelligible to each other *.

But the English are accused not only of departing from the genuine sound of the Greek and Latin vowels, but of violating the quantity of these languages more than the people of any other nation in Europe. The author of the Essay upon the Harmony of Language gives us a detail of the particulars by which this accusation is proved: and this is so true a picture of the English pronunciation of Latin, that I shall quote it at length, as it may be of use to those who are obliged to learn this language without the aid of a teacher.

last to alter, either for the better or worse, still have a jingling proverb with this pronunciation, when they say As old as Poules.

The sound of the letter z is no less sincerely preserved in Plautus, in Menæch page 622, edit. Lambin, in making use of it to imitate the cry of an owl

"'MEN. Egon' dedi? PEN. Tu, Tu, istic, inquam, vin' afferri noctuam, Quæ tu, tu, usque dicat tibi ? nam nos jam nos defessi sumus."

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It appears here, says Mr. Forster, in his defence of the Greek accents, page 129, 4that an owl's cry was tu, tu, to a Roman ear, as it is too, too, to an English." Lambin, who was a Frenchman, observes on the passage, "Alludit ad noctuæ vo

cem seu cantum, tu, tu, seu tou, tou." He here alludes to the voice or noise of an owl. It may be farther observed, that the English have totally departed from this sound of the u in their own language, as well as in their pronunciation of Latin,

* Erasmus se adfuisse olim commemorat cum die quodam solenni complures principam legati ad Maximilianum Imperatorem salutandi causâ advenissent; Singulosque Gallum, Germanum, Danum, Scotum, &c. orationem Latinam, ita barbarè ac vastè pronunciâsse, ut Italis quibusdam, nihil nisi risum moverint, qui eos non Latinè sed suâ quemque linguâ, locutos jurâssent.-Middleton, De Lat. Lit. Pronun.

The love of the marvellous prevails over truth: and I question if the greatest diversity in the pronunciation of Latin exceeds that of English at the capital and in some of the counties of Scotland, and yet the inhabitants of both have no great difficulty in understanding each other.

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'The falsification of the harmony by English scholars their pronunciation of Latin, with regard to essential points, arises from two causes only: first, from a total inattention to 66 the length of vowel-sounds, making them long or short 66 merely as chance directs; and secondly, from sounding 66 double consonants as only one letter. The remedy of this last fault is obvious. With regard to the first, we have already observed, that each of our vowels hath its general long sound, and its general short sound totally different. Thus the short 66 sound of e lengthened is expressed by the letter a, and the short sound of lengthened is expressed by the lettere: and with all these anomalies usual in the application of vowel(6 characters to the vowel-sounds of our own language, we pro66 ceed to the application of vowel-sounds to the vowel-characters of the Latin. Thus in the first syllable of sidus and no• men, which ought to be long; and of miser and onus, which ought to be short; we equally use the common long sound of the vowels; but in the oblique cases, sideris, nominis, miseri, oneris, &c. we use quite another sound, and that a short one. 56 These strange anomalies are not in common to us with our "C southern neighbours the French, Spaniards, and Italians. They pronounce sidus according to our orthography, seedus, and in the oblique cases preserve the same long sound of the : nomen they pronounce as we do, and preserve in the oblique 66 cases the same long sound of the .. The Italians also, in their 66 own language, pronounce doubled consonants as distinctly as 68 the two most discordant mutes of their alphabet. Whatever, therefore, they may want of expressing the true harmony of the Latin language, they certainly avoid the most glaring and absurd faults in our manner of pronouncing it.

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It is a matter of curiosity to observe with what regularity 66 we use these solecisms in the pronunciation of Latin. When 66 the penultimate is accented, its vowel, if followed but by a single consonant, is always long, as in Dr. Forster's examples. When the antepenultimate is accented, its vowel is, without any regard to the requisite quantity, pronounced short, as in

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mirábile, frigidus; except the vowel of the penultimate be $6 followed by a vowel, and theh the vowel of the antepenultimate is with as little regard to true quantity pronounced long, as in manco, redeat, odium, imperium. Quantity is however vitiated to make i short even in this case, as in oblivio, vinea, virium. The only difference we make in pronunciation between vinea and venia is, that to the vowel of the first syllable of the former, which ought to be long, we give a short sound; to that of the latter, which ought to be short, we give the same sound, but lengthened. U accented is always before a single "S consonant pronounced long, as in humerus, fugiens. Before two consonants no yowel sound is ever made long, except that of the diphthong au; so that whenever a doubled consonant 66 occurs, the preceding syllable is short *. Unaccented vowels we treat with no more ceremony in Latin than in our own lan guage. Essay upon the Harmony of Language, page 224. Printed for Robson, 1774.

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This, it must be owned, is a very just state of the case; but though the Latin quantity is thus violated, it is not, as this writer observes in the first part of the quotation, merely as chance directs, but, as he afterwards observes, regularly, and he might have added, according to the analogy of English pronunciation : which, it may be observed, has a genius of its own; and which, if not so well adapted to the pronunciation of Greek and Latin as some other modern languages, has as fixed and settled rules for pronouncing them as any other.

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The learned and ingenious author next proceeds to show the advantages of pronouncing our vowels so as to express the Latin quantity. "We have reason to suppose," says he, that our usual accentuation of Latin, however it may want of many ele66 gancies in the pronunciation of the Augustan age, is yet sufficiently just to give with tolerable accuracy that part of the

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* This corruption of the true quantity is not, however, peculiar to the English; for Beza complains in his country: Hinc enim fit ut in Græca oratione vel nullum, yel prorsus corruptam numerum intelligas, dum multæ breves producuntur, et contrâ plurimæ longæ corripiuntur: Beza de Germ. Pron. Græcæ Linguæ, p. 5%.

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