t 370 ] 



our late revered and lamented Prefident, that we are much 

 miftaken in our idea of the fuppofed lofty found of 'nroXvcpxoia-Qow 

 ^^xKoura-iig ; that the Borderers on the coaft of the Archipelago take 

 their ideas from the gentle laving of the fliore by a fummer 

 wave, and not from the roaring of a winter ocean, and they 

 accordingly pronounced it Polyphlifveo Thalaffes. 



I OWN that the obfervations made by me on the pronunciation 

 of thefe modern Greeks brought a pcrfedly new train of ideas 

 into my mind. I propofe them, with humility, for the confidera- 

 tion of the learned, but they have made a ftrong impreffion 

 upon me, and approached, when compared with other admitted 

 fads, nearly to convidion. In fliort, I am ftrongly inclined to 

 believe, that what the famous treatife fo often mentioned on the 

 profodies of the Greek and Latin languages mentions as the pecu- 

 liarity of the Englifh, that we always prolong the found of che 

 fyllable on which the acute accent falls, is true, and has been 

 true of every nation upon earth. We know it is true" of the 

 modern Italians — they read Latin in that refpedt jufl as we 

 do, and fay, Arma virumqiie caao, and. In nova fert animus, as much 

 as we. And when we find the modern Greeks following the fame 

 pradice, furely we have fome caufe to fuppofe that the ancients 

 did the fame. In the Englifli language, indeed, quantity is. not af- 

 feded, becaufe accent and quantity always agree.* Bifhop Horfley 



endeavoured 



* The great refemblance between the Perfian and Englifh languages, in many 

 lefpefts, has been obferved by Sir W, Jones. — Here is another: 1 had the pleafure of 



hearing 



