AUTHORITY IN ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION. 545 



The most conspicuous among the eighteenth century orthoepists 

 were Baily, Johnson, Buchanan, Sheridan and "Walker. Some of these 

 were Scotch, and some Irish, and some, of course, English. Quite 

 naturally it struck the fancy of an Englishman as somewhat humorous, 

 not to say absurd, for an Irishman or a Scotchman to pose as an au- 

 thority on English pronunciation. So the damaging taunt of foreign 

 nationality and consequent lack of acquaintance with English usage was 

 flaunted in the face of Buchanan and Sheridan, natives of Scotland 

 and Ireland, respectively. 



When Doctor Johnson was informed of Sheridan's plan of pro- 

 ducing an English dictionary that was designed to indicate the pro- 

 nunciation of each word, he ridiculed the idea of an Irishman's presum- 

 ing to teach Englishmen how to speak their native language as utterly 

 absurd. " Why, Sir," growled the autocrat of eighteenth century 

 literature, " my dictionary shows you the accent of words, if you can 

 but remember them." Then on being reminded that his dictionary 

 does not give the pronunciation of the vowels, " Why Sir," continued 

 he, in his characteristic surly manner, " consider how much easier it 

 is to learn a language by the ear than by any marks. Sheridan's dic- 

 tionary may do very well ; but you can not always carry it about with 

 you ; and when you want the word, you have not the dictionary. It is 

 like the man who has a sword that will not draw. It is an admirable 

 sword, to be sure; but while your enemy is cutting your throat, you are 

 unable to use it. Besides, Sir, what entitles Sheridan to fix the pro- 

 nunciation of English? He has, in the first place, the disadvantage 

 of being an Irishman ; and if he says he will fix it after the example of 

 the best company, why they differ among themselves. I remember an 

 instance: when I published the plan of my dictionary, Lord Chester- 

 field told me that the word great should be pronounced to rhyme to 

 state; and Sir William Yonge sent me word that it should be pro- 

 nounced so as to ri^ane to seat, and that none but Irishmen would 

 pronounce it grait. Xow, here were two men of the highest rank, the 

 one the best speaker in the House of Lords, the other the best speaker 

 in the House of Commons, differing entirely." 



As this quotation shows clearly and forcibly, even the usage of the 

 very best speakers in England in the eighteenth century was far from 

 uniform and harmonious, as has been intimated in the opening para- 

 graph. Moreover, it is evident from the striking illustration Johnson 

 uses that English pronunciation must have varied much more two 

 centuries ago than it does to-day; for no two speakers of national 

 reputation, such as the leaders of the two chambers of Parliament 

 presumably must have been, would differ so radically at the present 

 time in their pronunciation. The truth is, in those good old days men 

 paid but little attention either to pronunciation or to spelling. It is a 



