100 RULES IN VERSE. 



tcm of pronunciation as this : A=a in father ; E=e in ere or j)rcy, or 

 a in na7ne ; I=i in marine ; 0=o in no ; \J=u in rule ; Y=y in hasty, 

 or in the French u, or German u. All vowels being considered as sAori 

 by nature, when they are long, the same sound is merely continued for 

 double the time required to pronounce them when short. As regards the 

 diphthongs let ai=ay in hai/, witli a slight elevation of the y; (E=oy in 

 hoii, but as short as possible; au=:0M in pound ; ei and eu=i in pine ; 

 and the other diphthongs as a combination of the short sounds of the two 

 vowels of which they are composed, rapidly uttered, except when they 

 end in i, and are followed by a vowel, when i=i in union. It would ex- 

 tend these remarks too far to give the grounds of these positions, but we 

 hope tiiat Prof. Brooks, in his next edition, will take these things into 

 consideration. 



Another point to which we beg leave to direct the editor's attention, 

 is, the improvement of the versification of the English rules for gender, 

 declension, &c. We are decidedly favorable to this old-fashioned way 

 of learning rules — it is easy to acquire and easy to retain, and has also 

 the advantage of fixing the very words of the rule in the memory. We 

 are not in favor of committing every thing to memory, and carrying on 

 education altogether by its aid, but where it is employed (and we have 

 no hesitation in saying that it ought to be employed extensively,) it 

 should have every advantage, and be strengthened as much as possible. 

 On this account, also, we are favorable to the metrical rules and exam- 

 ples in Latin, believing that it will not only be easy to retain them when 

 they have once been committed, much easier at least than in an uncon- 

 nected order, but that it is highly desirable that the student should ac- 

 qiiire as large a fund of Latin words as possible. But we suggest to 

 Prof. Brooks, the remodeling of many of the English rules, being as- 

 sured that his poetical talents especially fit him for this work — though 

 it would require very little skill to improve such doggerel as the " first 

 general rule." Only correct the grammatical impropriety of " what 

 nouns denote,"" &.c., and we have a tolerable verse, histead of object- 

 ing to these rhyming rules, we could wish that there were more of 

 them, and that the rules of syntax, at least, were in this form, for then 

 we should not be afraid of hearing applicants for the degree of A. B., so 

 completely confound rules and exceptions, as they sometimes do. But 

 •we must defer the remainder of our remarks upon these toj)ics to an- 

 other otcauion. 



(To b(j culiUuui;d.) 



