to what Extent, and how most readily attainable?” 35 
work I turned in expectation of materials. It is an easy matter 
in pronunciation,” says Mons. Lancellot, to elevate any sylla- 
ble we please, and, if requisite, to make it slide uimbler; and on 
the contrary, to depress another, and at the same time to give it, 
if necessary, a slower motion. Wherefore, although several have 
been of opinion that it would be advisable not to mark any ac- 
cents at all, yet I would not proceed to such an extremity; for, 
by giving a double sound to the diphthongs so as to let the two 
vowels be heard, though all in one breath, and uttering the long 
vowels more slowly and more in the hollow of the mouth than 
the short ones—and adding afterwards the difference of the ac- 
cents, which only consists in pushing the voice a little in order to 
give it its elevation, [the syllables maked grave in the series of a 
period should be merely sustained,| we shall easily fall into that 
proportion which is neither harsh nor difficult, but contains a 
sweetness acknowledged by all the ancients, and an udility which 
will be quickly perceived by those who will give themselves the 
trouble of a little application.” 
This is the learned declaration of Messrs. de Port Royal with 
regard to accent and quantity—particularly calculated, as the 
writer informs us, for the meridian of France. But as neither a 
foreign pronunciation, nor even the original sounds of the Greek 
and Roman letters are in any way auxiliary to the improvement 
of our language, for the more dignified delivery of which a rude 
approximation and no more towards accent, and a comparatively 
close approximation towards quantity are here intended—I 
could not by any means consent to Mons. Lancellot’s proposal. 
And particularly with respect to accent ; although I have no 
doubt that Mons. L. himself did really find the execution as fa- 
cile as he describes; yet, judging by my own experience, T must 
consider it altogether unattainable by the generality of even our 
musical countrymen. The very simple method, therefore, which 
I suggested to the Speaker, as a muscular rather than a musical 
exercise—and which, in the owdset of his practice, he perseve- 
ringly pursued *, was this. 
OF ACCENT. 
Ist. That every acuted syllable should be pushed up—and 
* After sufficient practice in this muscular exercise, the student must 
himself determine how far any occasional after-application may be useful ; 
and he may likewise, if desirous, converse rather frequently for some days 
in his native tongue, so as to obtain his ordinary facility of utterance—of 
which (if his pristine habits have been sufficiently broken) he may fancy 
himself almost deprived. The Speaker on whom this accentual experiment 
was tried, became actually alarmed. He imagined that he had lost his 
voice, or at least the usual power of connecting his words even in common 
colloquy. Ce ah 
ps wl 
