1 fay battle-for ha-bit, hábit-and for borrow borrow. This is one of the chief fources of the difference between the Scotch and English Gentlemen in the pronunciation of Englifh; I mean, the laying the Accent on the vowel inftead of the confonant, by which means they make fyllables long, that are short with us. "And here I can not help taking notice of a circumstance which fhews, in the ftrongeft light, the amazing deficiency of those who have hitherto employed their labours on that fubject, in point of knowlege of the true genius and conítitution of our tongue. Several of the Compilers of Dictionaries, Vocabularies, and Spelling Books, have undertaken to mark the Accents of our words but fo little acquainted were they with the nature of our Accent, that they thought it neceflary only to mark the fyllable on which the ftrefs is to be laid, without marking the particular letter of the fyllable to which the Accent belongs. They have therefore marked them by one uniform rule, that of placing the Accent always over the vowel of the diftinguished fyllable. By which means they have done worse than if they had not pointed out fuch fyllables at all; for this rule, inftead of guiding Strangers to a true pronunciation, infallibly leads them to a wrong one, whenever the Accent fhould be placed on the confonant. Thus all foreigners and provincials muft for ever be mifled, by confulting fuch Dictionaries. For inftance, if they look for the word endeavour, finding the Accent upon the vowel e, they will of course found it endéa-vour. In the fame manner dedicate will be called dé-dicate, precipitate precí-pitate -hab ́it, há-bit-and so on. Now had they only attended to the plain rule of placing the Accent always over the confonant, whenever the ftrefs is upon that, they would have afforded the beft and moft general guide to juft pronunciation, that could be found with regard to our tongue. For it is an unerring rule throughout the whole, that whenever the Accent is on the confonant, the preceding vowel has a fhort found. As there is alfo another infallible rule in our tongue, that no vowel ever has a long found in an unaccented fyllable, if this article of Accent were properly adjusted, it would prove a master-key to the pronunciation of our whole tongue. "When we see fuch a palpable and grofs mistake as this in our Compilers of Dictionaries, we fhould be at a lofs to account for it, if we did not reflect, that they, as well as our Grammarians, have never examined the ftate of the living tongue, but wholly confined their labours to the dead written language; language; their chief object therefore has been to affift filent Readers, in comprehending the meaning of the words; not those who are to read aloud, in a proper delivery; to teach men how to write, not how to speak correctly. In this view, the marking the fyllable alone on which the Accent is laid, without attending to the particular letter, would anfwer their purpose, as it would enable Writers to arrange their words properly in metre, according to the 'rules of English verfification. Every word in our language of more fyllables than one has an accented fyllable. The longer polysyllables have frequently two Accents, but one is fo much ftronger than the other, as to fhew that it is but one word; and the inferior Accent is always lefs forcible than any Accent that is the fingle one in a word. Thus in the word expos tulator'y-the ftrongest Accent is on the fecond fyllable pos, but there is a fainter Accent on the last fyllable but one, founded tur', expostulatúr-ry, as a fucceffion of four unaccented fyllables would not be agreeable to the ear, and might prevent distinct articulation. All monofyllables in our language are also accented, the particles alone excepted, which are always without accent, when not emphatical; and they are long or fhort in the fame manner as before mentioned, according as the feat of the Accent is on the vowel or confonant. Thus ad'd, led, bid', rod, cub, are all fhort, the voice paffing quickly over the vowel to the confonant; but for the contrary reafon the words áll, láid, bíde, róad, cúbe, are long, the Accent being on the vowels, on which the voice dwells fome time before it founds the confonants." Mr. Sheridan now proceeds to lay before his Readers fome very ingenious remarks in regard to the different ways of dif-.. tinguishing words; and concludes this Lecture with a few practical rules for the ftrict obfervation of the laws of Ac cent. In the fourth Lecture, which treats of Emphafis, he fets out with remarking, that Emphafis difcharges, in fentences,-the fame kind of office that accent does in words. As accent. is the link which' joins fyllables together, and forms them. into words, fo Emphafis unites words, and forms them into fentences, or members of fentences. As accent dignifies the fyllable on which it is laid, and makes it more diftinguished by the ear than the reft, fo Emphafis ennobles the word to which it belongs, and prefents it in a ftronger light to the understanding. Accent is the mark which diftinguithes words from each other, as fimple types of our ideas, without refer ence to their agreement or difagreement: Emphafts is the mark which points out their feveral degrees of relationship, and the rank which they hold in the mind. Accent addreffes itself to the ear only; Emphafis, thro' the ear, to the underftanding. As there is no pointing out the meaning of words by reading, without a proper of fervation of Emphafis, it has been a great defect in the art of writing, Mr. Sheridan obferves, "that there have been no marks invented for fo neceffary a purpose; as it requires, at all times, a painful attention, in the Reader, to the context, in order to be able to do it at all; and in many cafes, the moft fevere attention will not answer the end; for the Emphasis is often to be regulated, not by the preceding part of the sentence, but by the fubfequent one; which frequently is fo long, that the motion of the eye cannot precede the voice with fufficient celerity, to take in the meaning in due time." The want of fuch marks, he observes, is no where fo ftrongly perceived as in the general manner of reading the Church fervice; which is often fo ill performed, that not only the beauty and spirit of the service is loft, but the very meaning is obfcured, concealed, or wholly perverted. There is no compofition in the English tongue, he fays, which is at all attended to, fo little understood, in general, as the Church fervice. Accordingly he produces feveral striking inftances of impropriety in fome of the verfes from Scripture, that are read before the Exhortation, remarking, that had there been proper marks invented for Emphafis, fuch grofs errors could not have been committed. We readily agree with Mr. Sheridan, that most of the improprieties he has pointed out in the reading thefe verses, are really fuch: but we cannot altogether fubfcribe to his own manner of reading the fame paffages. Indeed, we were greatly furprized to find our Author fo deficient in the application of his own rules. The ufual manner of reading the following text, he says, is this. "Enter not into judgment with thy fervant, O Lord, for in thy sight, fhall no man living be justified. "Here the words not, fervant, sight, justified, between which it is impoffible to find out any connection, or depen-. dence of one on the other, are principally marked. By thefe falfe Emphases the mind is turned wholly from the main purREV. Oct. 1762. T Fort port and drift of the verfe. Upon hearing an Emphasis on the particle no't, it expects quite another conclufion to make the meaning confiftent; and inftead of the particle for, which begins the latter part of the fentence, it would expect a but; as, enter no't into judgment with thy fervant, O Lord, but regard me with an eye of mercy. When it hears the Emphafis on fervant, it expes another conclufion; as, enter not into judgment with thy fer'vant, O Lord, but enter into judgment with thofe who are not thy fervants. The fame alfo will be found in the Emphafis on the words fight, and juftified. So that the fentence will feem to point at feveral different meanings, and to have no confiftency. But if it be read in the following manner, the meaning and connection will be obvious. Enter not into judgement with thy fervant "O Lord" for in thy' fight, fhall no man living be juftified. Here we fee the whole meaning is obvious, and that there is a great deal more implied than the mere words could exprefs, without the aid of proper Emphafes. Enter not into judgment with thy fervant, O Lord-That is, enter not, O Lord, into the feverity of judgment with thy creature, -For in thy fight, which is all-piercing, and can spy the smallest blemish -fhall no man living be juftified-No man on earth, no not the beft fhall be found perfect, or fufficiently pure, to ftand the examination, of the eye of purity itself.-For in th`y fight fhall no man living be juftified." Now, to copy Mr. Sheridan's manner of criticifm, might we not afk him, if his laying the Emphasis on the word living in this paffage, does not feem to intimate that dead men may be juftified tho' the living fhall not. Yet this, furely, cannot be the fenfe of the paffage. The word living is here ufed as a phrafeological and unmeaning term; and had the verfe ran thus, For in thy fight shall no“ m'an be justified, the fense of it would have been the fame; and can Mr. Sheridan pretend that the Emphafis, which only, according to him, gives fenfe and meaning to the whole fentence, should be laid upon a word merely expletive? Our Author exemplifies alfo the following verfe, which, he fays, is generally pronounced in a manner equally faulty, thus ; If we we fay that we have no sin, we deceive ourfelvès, and the truth is not in us: but if we confefs our fin's, he is faithful and juft to forgive us our fin's, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Mr. Sheridan makes feveral remarks to to prove the abfurdity of reading this text as above accented: we could not forbear fmiling, however, at fome of them, as very uncommon inftances of critical fagacity. His obfervations on the word fay in particular, are very quaint and puerile; this word is here evidently enough confined to ourselves; as, if we fay to ourselves, or fiatter ourselves that we have no fin, &c. His removing the Emphasis from jay to if, therefore, in this fentence, is, in our opinion, wrong; and the reasons he gives for it far-fetched and groundlefs. Mr. Sheridan's manner of reading the whole verfe, is this-If we fay that we have nò sìn we deceive our felves, and the truth is not in us but", if we confèfs our fins, "His faithful and just to forgive us our fins, and to clean'fe us from all unrighteoufnefs.- -The critical Reader will not fail here to obferve, that, altho' our Author has made fome emendation on the whole, yet he hath fallen into fome blunders equally abfurd with thofe he cenfures. For instance, if we allow what he fuppofes, that, for the reasons he alledges, the Emphafis fhould be placed on the particle if, in the first member of the fentence, it fhould certainly, for fimilar reafons, be laid on the second if, in the fecond part of it. The motive for his laying the Emphasis on confefs in the fecond part, alfo, fhould have induced him to lay it on fay in the firft. Again, Mr. Sheridan omits laying any Emphafis on the word deceive, where it ought to lie, and where he had the fame reason for placing it, as for his laying it on truth; he only fhifts the falfely-placed Emphafis on felves to our; reading cur felves inftead of ourselves; an infignificant and ridiculous alteration. We would read this former part of the sentence thus-If we fày we have nò` sìn we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. Our Author proceeds next to give some instances of improper Emphafis in theatrical declamation, with remarks. thereon; in most of which we think him equally mistaken. There is a paffage, fays he, in Macbeth, which, as it has been generally spoken on the stage, and read by most people, is downright nonfenfe; which yet, in itfelf, is a very fine one, and conveys an idea truly fublime. This is the following expreffion of Macbeth's, after his having committed the murder. Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood Clean from my hands? No-these my hands will rather Making the green one, red. T 2 « Now |