1806.] 



On the improper Elision of Foroels, 



44; 



tial."* I might add, indeed, (if Dr, 

 Jolinfon did not ftai-e ine in the face,) 

 '* remembrance" for " reniemberance :" 

 for moft aHuredly every ele!i,ant fpeaker 

 would pronounce the vowel, whatever 

 tlie lexicographer may order us to write.f 

 This eliiion is, in reality, one of tlie 

 mod glaring defeats of modern typogi-a- 

 phy ; and when attended to, as it too 

 frequently is, by the reader, it will fome- 

 times reduce a verfe of the fweetell 

 euphony to a kind of cluttering caco- 

 phony, that would not be tolerated in 

 the raoft carelefs and unornauiented 

 prole. It has originated, moll undoubt- 

 edly, iu that fpirit of pedantic criticifni 

 which attempts to fcan the rythmus of 

 verfe upon the fmgers, becaufe it is in- 

 rompetent to appreciate it by the ear; 

 to that barbarous confuilon h) the lan- 

 guage and ideas of modern profodifts, 

 which confounding together the dillinc- 

 tions of hea\'y and light with thole of 

 long and lliort, andinfenlible to the happy 

 flexibility and almoil inlinite varieties iu 

 the quantity of Englilh fyllables, have 

 not had mathematics enough in their cars 

 to perceive that 2-j-|4-i are equal to 

 2-f-l. Such, however, were not the per- 

 ceptions of the great mailer of ryth- 

 mical harmony, our inmiortal Rlilton ; 

 an eflential part of the excellence of 

 whofe verfification appears to confill in 

 that admirable dexterity with which he 

 has fo ficquently enriched his lines v.ith 

 fupernumerary fyllables: — fyllables that, 

 in many inllanccs, let at defiance all the 

 mechanical expedients of eliiion, and fe- 

 cure a rich variety of mellifluous rythinus, 

 which no fuccefiion of lines uniformly 

 compofed of ten fyllables ever can pre- 

 tend to rival. In this refpect, weak 



* In the fecond line there is a more im- 

 portant innccuracy, " lowering near" for 

 '" hovering near." 



+ So, alfo, our bcft fpeakers in the Houfe 

 of Commons, &c. unit'ormly pronounce He- 

 tiery, not Hcny ; nor can there be any reafon 

 in common fenl'e or etymology why it iTiouli 

 iiot fo be written. 'Ihofc who appreciate the 

 euphony of the English language not by the 

 ear, but by mechanical calculations, would 

 do well to confider how many vowels we 

 pronounce which we do not write, as well as 

 hoiv many we write which we Ao not pro- 

 nounce. 1 oljfcrvt- alfo, with much fatisfac- 

 tion, that a few o"oiir parliamentary oratorv, 

 nf molt acknowledged tafte and eruJition, 

 pronour.ce the word iniia, &c. as three fyl- 

 lables, In iH a ; and leave Jn-jee to the na- 

 tives of Hibcrnia and their i.niititsrs, and 

 Jn-de to the country gentlemen. 



MoNiajLY M.iCi., No lOU. 



follower as I am, I have endeavoured, at 

 humble diflance, to tread in the footfteps 

 of my iUullrious mailer : and. believing a 

 due miT.ture of Ihort notes (provided tha 

 equal meafiire of the cadences be not in- 

 terrupted) to be as elfential a grace ia 

 the mulic of fpecch, as it is in the ordi- 

 nary muiic of inltrumer.ts and long, I 

 have feduloully interfperfed the few com- 

 jjolltions of my riper years with verfes 

 partly compofed of fucli words, and fuch 

 luccellions of words, (wherever the na- 

 ture of the fcntiment and the echo of 

 the fenfe would permit), as might prefent 

 this variety in the mod unequivocal form. 

 Accordingly, in the thrie (irft lines of 

 the Anacreontic in qucltion I have pre- 

 fumcd to introduce no let's than four of 

 thefe fujieriiumerary fyllables, and twelve 

 more will be found iu the nine enfuing 

 Itanzas : vet I ihould hope that no one 

 of the lines in which tiie I'uppofed re- 

 dundancies occur, when meafurcd by tlie 

 nice perceptions of an accurate ear, will 

 be found to trelpafs againil the ilrict 

 laws of cadential quantity and propor- 

 tion. And furely, if v»e may have 

 " An-ac-re-on"s flieli," and not '' An-ac- 

 r'on's Ihcll," — " In-eb-ri-_ate with the 

 wanton lay," and not " In-eb-r'ate," &c. ; 

 we may alfi) have " thc-au-tum-nal," and 

 not " th'au-tum-nal tire." If we may 

 read " low-er-iug (or hov-er-ing) near," 

 and not " low-'ring" of " hov-Ving ;" if, 

 without offence to the meafure, we may 

 prefcrve " rap-tu-roua Ihell," — '* The vi- 

 llous that in mem-6-ry roll," — " The 

 draft on mein-6-ry's tablet true," &c., 

 can there be any ueceftlty or reafon for 

 rejecting " wint-er-y fnows," — " cords of 

 fwect rem-emb-e-rance," &.C. ? I am 

 aware, however, tliat there are many 

 who would print, and not a few wha 

 would even read, in all thefe inftancps, 

 uinfry, hovering, rapt'rous, mern'r^^^ 

 tli'uutuiiinul, &c. : but fucli printing may 

 I fcldoni behold ; fuch reading of my 

 piior verfcs may I never be coudcinuefi 

 to hear ! 



Every obferver will prefently be con- 

 vinced, that in the fpontaneous flow of 

 elegant converfation fuch barbarous kli- 

 hoHS are never heard ; and I cannot 

 adinit that any combination of fyllables 

 ought to be regarded as an Englilh verfe, 

 that cannot be at once recognized as fud» 

 when pronounced, through every fyllable, 

 within the llritteil limits of conveifa- 

 tional propriety. Many of our fyllables 

 indeed will be found, even in ordinary 

 flelive'v, to be liable t ,i a conhdcrp'''-'" 

 degree of latitude, bolh iu ^j?"-'' 

 y L 



