county of Northumberland, although there,

is

wone native of that c

10

tentive to that, he will unwarily fall into

s called the bounty tree from his old habit: on which account, that he

is a defect By the bv, this, which the French call parler gras, is accounted a beauty at Paris, and as fuch affected by fome of their popular actors and pulpit-oraters. C.

in pronouncing the letter

may not be under any temptation of that fort, Mr Sheridan would have him, for fome time, read the words of a vocabulary, in the alphabetical order. In this way, he will foon find out, what letters and fyllables he is apt to found toe faintly, and flur over. Let him make a lift of thofe words; and be fure to pronounce them over diftinctly, every morning, before he proceeds to others. Let him accuftom himfelf allo, when alone, to fpeak his thoughts aloud, in the fame flow manner, and with the fame view. Otherwife, though he may get a habit of reading more flowly, he will fall into his ufual manner in difcourfe and this habit of fpeaking aloud, when alone, will not only bring him to a more distinct utterance, but produce a facility of expreffion, in which filent thinkers are generally defective.

Y

What Mr Sheridan deems the first and moft effential point in articulation, is diftinctness; and therefore we are told, its oppofite is the greateft fault. In diftinétnels, to a certain degree, renders the fpeaker unintelligible; or demands a, more than ordinary attention, which is always painful to the bearer. The chief, fource of indiftinétnets, is too great pre-, cipitancy of fpeech; and this takes its rite in England, chiefly from a bad me. thod of teaching to read." As the principal object of the mafter is, to make his fcholars perfectly acquainted with written words, to as to acknowledge them at fight, and give them a ready utterance; Mr Sheridan tells us, there is one cause the boy who at first is flow in know of indistinct articulation, which is almost ing the words, is flow in uttering them; univerfal, and which arifes from the very but as he advances in knowledge, he genius of our tongue; fo that unless great mends his pace; and not being taught care be taken, it is icarcely poffible, but the true beauty and propriety of read that every one fhould be affected by it, ing, he thinks all excellence lies in the in fome degree. Every word composed quickness and rapidity with which he is of more fyllables than, one in our lan able to do it.-This habit of reading is guage, has one fyllable accented, and often transferred into their difcourfe; peculiarly diftinguished from the reft; and is but too frequently confirmed at either by a inart percuflion of the voice, the Latin fchools, where the mafters, in or by dwelling longer upon it If this general, having no points in view, but accented fyllable be properly diftinguithto make their fcholars repeat their lefed, the word will often be sufficiently fons by heart, or conftrue them in fuch a known, even though the others are foundway as to fhew they understand them, ed very confufedly. This produces a ne- . care not bow haftily thele exercites are gligence with regard to the articulation done; or, rather, indeed, are obliged of the other fyllables; which, though it to urge them to a speedy manner of doing may not render the fente obfcure, yet them, otherwife it would be impollible deftroys all meafure and proportions and to get through the number of boys they confequently all harmony in delivery. have to teach.” This fault is to general, thats our author ftrongly recommends at first, the practice of pronouncing the unaccented fyllables more fully, and dwelling longer upon them" than is neceffary [our author's words], as the only means of bringing those whofe utterance is too rapid, to a due medium. The next article, which treats of is, Pronunciation. He obferves, our author that the difficulties to those who endea vour to cure themselves of a provincial or vicious pronunciation, are chiefly three: 1. The want of knowing exactly where the fault lies; 2. Want of method in removing it, and of due application; 3. Want of confcioufneis of their defects in

To cure any imperfections in fpeech, arifing originally from too quick an utterance, the, moit effectual method will be, Mr Sheridan lays, to fet apart an hour every morning to be employed in the practice of reading aloud, in a very flow manner. This fhould be done in the bearing of a friend, or fome perfon, whofe office it thould be, to remind the reader, if at any time he thould perceive, him mending his pace, and falling into his habit of a quick utterance. Let him found all his fyllables full, and have that point only in view, without reference to the fenfe of the words; for if he is at

7

Nov.1762.

Sheridan on elocution.

595

e vowel long: if on the confonant, it may be either tong or short, according to the nature of the confonant, or the time taken up in dwelling upon it. If the confonant be in its nature a fort one, the fyllable is neceffarily fhort; if it be a long one, that is, one whose found is capable of being lengthened, it may be long or thort at the will of the speaker.

his point. The way of furmounting it makes the
hele difficulties he endeavours to point
ut; and then goes on to treat of Accent
which is the fubject of his third lecture. ***
And here he fets out with fome juft ob
ervations on the meaning and ule of ac
ent amongst the ancients, that fuch as
ave early imbibed confufed notions of
ne term in the ancient languages, may
anith them from their minds, and only
e prepared to confider what the use of
is amongst us. The term, amongst
le ancients," fays he, "fignified cer
ain inflexions of the voice, or notes an-
exed to certain fyllables, in fuch propor-
ons as probably contributed to make
eir fpeech mufical. Of thefe they had
iefly three in general ufe, which were
enominated accents; and the term used in
he plural number.The term with us
as no reference to inflexions of the voice,
rmufical notes, but only means a pecu-
ar manner of diftinguithing one fyllable
fa word from the reit, denominated by
s accent; and the term for that reafon
fed by us in the fingular number.

This diftinction is made by us in two lays; either by dwelling longer upon ne fyllable than the reft, or by giving it (marter percullion of the voice in uterance. So that accent, with us, is not sferred to tone, but to time; to quanity, not quality; to the more equable r precipitate motion of the voice, not the variation of notes or inflexions. Thele have nothing to do with words fearately taken, and are only made ufe of o enforce or adorn them, when they are anged in fentences "

"It is by the accent chiefly," contimes Mr Sheridan," that the quantity f our fyllables is regulated but not acording to the mistaken rule laid down y all who have written on the fubject, hat the accent always makes the fyllable ong than which there cannot be any hing more falfe. For the two ways of ftinguishing fyllables by accent, as menoned before, are directly oppofite, and produce quite contrary effects; the one, y dwelling on the fyllable, neceffarily mikes it long; the other, by the fmart xrouttion of the voice, as neceflarily makes it fhort Thus, the first fyllables BGLORY, FATHER HOLY, are long; Whilft thofe in BATTLE HABIT, BORROW, are forty The quantity depends upon the feat of the accerft, whether it be on the vowel or confonant if on the vowel, the syllable ijs neceflarily long; as it

By a fhort confonant I mean, one whole found cannot be continued after a vowel, fuch as, cor k, p, t, as ac, ap, at; whilst that of long confonants can, as, el, em, en, er, ev, &c. If we change the feat of the accent in the inftances before mentioned, we thould change their quantity; were we, inftead of GLO-RY, to fay, GLOR'-Y,-instead of FATHER, FATHER,-initead of HOLY, HOLY,-the `first syllables would become thort;-as, on the other hand, were we to dwell on the vowels instead of the confonants in the laft inftances, they would change from fhort to long;-fhould we, for instance, inftead of BATTLE, fay BATTLE,-for HA-'BIT, HABIT,-and for BORROW, BÓ'RROW. This is one of the chief fources of the difference between the Scotch and English gentlemen in the pronunciation of English; I mean, the laying the accent on the vowel inftead of the confonant, by which means they make fyllables long that are fhort with us.

And here I cannot help taking notice of a circumftance which fhews, in the ftrongeft light, the amazing deficiency of those who have hitherto employed their labours on that fubject, in point of knowledge of the true genius and conftitution of our tongue. Several of the compilers of dictionaries, vocabularies, and fpelling-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 neceffary 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 diftinguifhed 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 ftrangers to a true pro- nuncration, infallibly leads them to a wrong one whenever the accent fhould be placed on the confonant. Thus all 4 I 2

foreigners

foreigners and provincials muft for even beo miled, by contulting fuch dictionaries For infance if they look for the word ENDEAVOURY finding the accent upon the towel E, they will of coure found it ÉNDE A VOUR. In the fame manner Phr'ICATE will be called DE'-DICATE, PRECIPITATE PRECIPITATE HABIT, Hand so on. Now, had they only attended to the plain rule of placing the ancentralways over the confonant when ever the refs is upon that, they would have afforded the best and most general guide to just 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 also 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 mafter key to the pronunciation of our whole tongue.}.

diftincts articulationc Allumonosyllables in our language are alfo accented, the particles alone excepted, I which are always without accent, when not emphati cals and they are long or fhort in the same manner as before mentioned, according as the feat of the accent is on the vowel or confonant. Thus ADT, LED', BID', ROD', cusare all' fhort, the voice palling quickly over the vowel to the confonant; but, for the contrary reafon," the words A's, LA'ID, BI'DE, ROAD, 'CU'BE, àre long, the accent being on the vowels, on which the voice dwells fome time before it founds the confonants.”jbitn

Mr Sheridan now proceeds to lay be. fore his readers fome very ingenious remarks in regard to the different ways of distinguishing words; and concludes this lecture with a few practical rules for the ftrict obfervation of the laws of accent. In the fourth lecture, which treats of Emphafis, he fets out with remarking, that emphafis dilcharges, 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 sentences, dom members of fentences.

As and fies

the fyllable on which it is makes it more diftinguifhed by the car than the reft; fo emphafis ennobles the word to which it belongs, and prefentsitiin a ftronger light to the understanding Accent is the mark which diflinguishes words from each other, as fimple types of our ideas, without reference to their agreement or disagreement: emphalis is the mark which points out their feveral degrees of relationship, and the rank which they hold in the mind. Accentuaddrefles itlelf to the ear only; emphafis, through the ear, to the understandingos diod

When we fee fuch a palpable and grofs mistake as this in our compilers of dietionaries, we fhould be at a loss to account for it, if we did not reflect, that they, as well as our grammarians, have never examined the fate of the living tongue, but wholly confined their labours to the dead written language: their chief objeft therefore has been, to allift fent readers, in comprehending the meaning of the words; not thofe who are to read aloud, in a proper delivery; to teach men how to write, not how to fpeak, correctly. In this view, the marking the fyllable alone on which the accent is laid, without attending to the particular letter, would andwer their purpole, as it would enable writers to arrange their words properly in metre, according to the rules of Englifh verfifica. The neceflity of obferving propriety of tion Every word in our language of emphafiais fo great, that the true meanmore fyllables than one has an accented ring of words cannot be conveyed without fyllable. The longer polyfyllables have it. For the fame individual words,uranfrequently two accents; but one is fo much ged in the fame order, may have feveral fronger than the other, as to thew that duferent meanings, according to the pla it is but one word, and the inferior ac- cing of the emphafis. Thus, to ule a cent is always clefs forcible than any actrite inftance, the following fentence may cent that is the fingle one in a word. have as many different meanings, as there Thus in the word EXPOSTULATORY are words in it, by varying the emphasis. the strongest accent is on the fecondstyl-Shaill you ride to town to-morrow?” Jable, Bos"; but there is a fainter accent If the emphasis is on ball,pas, ** Sh'all on the last syllable but one, founded nur', you ride to town to morrow?" it implies, EXOTULATU'R-RY, as a fuccefiion of that the perfon spoken to had expreffed four, unaccented fyllables, would not be before but an intention, but that there agreeable to the ear, and might prevent, is lome doubt in the questioner, whether

he

he be determined on it or not, and the
anfwersmay bells Certainly, or,
am not sure." If it be on you, as, Shall
yo'u ridesto town to-morrow the que
stion implies that fome one is to go, and
do you mean to go yourself, or fend fome
one in your ftead? and the answers may
be, No, but my fervant fhall. If on
ride, as, Shall you ride," Go the an-
fwer may be, No, I fhall walk, or go
in a coach." If on tow,nas, “Shall you
ride to tow'n to-morrow?" the aufwer
may be, No, but I fhall ride to the
foreft. If on to-morrow, as, Shall
you ride to town to-morrow?" the an-
fwer may be, No, not to-morrow, but
the next day,”

As there is no pointing out the meaning of words by reading, without a proper obfervation of emphafis, it has been a great defect in the art of writing," Mr Sheridan observes, "that there have been no marks invented for fo neceflary a purposes 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 most fevere attention will not answer the end; for the emphasis is often to be regulated, not by the preceding part of the fentence, 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."

597.

own rules. The ufual manner of reading the following text, henfays, as this

Enter no't into judgment with thy fer'yant, O Lord, for in thy sight, thall no man living be justified." Here the words not, fervant, fight, justified," fays he, “between which it is impoflible to find out any connection, or dependence of one on the other, are principally marked. By thefe falle emphales the mind is turned wholly from the main purport and drift of the verfe. Upon hearing an em phasis on the particle not, it expects quite another conclusion 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 em phafis on fervant, it expects another con clufion; as, “Enter not into judgment with thy fer'vant, O Lord, but enter in to judgment with thole who are not thy fervants." The fame will also be found in the emphasis on the words fight, and juftified. So that the fentence will feem to point at feveral different meanings, and to have no confitency. But if it be read in the following manner, the meaning and connection will be obvious."

"En

ter 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 fy the finalleft
blemish)-hall no man living be justi-
fied (no man on earth, no not the best
fhall be found perfect, or fufficiently pure,
to ftand the examination of the eye of
purity itself). For in thy fight fhall no
man liv'ing be justified

Enter not into judgement with thy fervant, "O Lord", for in thy' fight, thait no man living be juftified." Here we fee the whole meaning is obvious, and The want of fuch marks, ke obferves, that there is a great deal more implied is no where fo firongly perceived as in than the mere words could exprefs withthe general manner of reading the church-out the aid of proper emphates. fervice; which is often fo ill performed, that not only the beauty and spirit of the fervice is loft, but the very meaning is obfcured, concealed, or wholly per verted. There is no compofition in the English tongue, he lays, which is at all attended to, fo little understood, in general, as the church ervice. Accordingly be produces feveral striking inftances of impropriety in fome of the verfes from feripture, that are read before the exhortation geremarking, 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 these verfese are really fuch: but we cannot altogether fübfcribe to his own manner of reading the fame paflages. Indeed, were greatly furprifed to find our au thor so deficient in the application of his

Now, to copy Mr Sheridan's manner of criticiim, night we not ask him, if his laying the emphasis on the word living in this pallage, does not feem to intimate that dead men may be justified thought the living fhall not. Yet this, furely, cannot be the fente of the paffage. The word living is here used as a phrafeological and unmeaning term; and had the verfe ran thus, For in thy fight fall noTM man be justified, the fenfe of it would