of the Greek Language, $3<J 



Tills is the general jironunciation of the Modern Orecks, as 

 it is described by travellers, and as I learned it from (he Greeks 

 I have mentioned. The niceties, which distinguish the people 

 of different provinces from each other, need not be regarded by 

 foreigners. The purest Greek, it is admitted by all writers, is 

 that which is spoken by people of the first class in Constantino- 

 ple ; and this is confirmed to me by Mr. Ciclitira, who has spent 

 much of his life in that capital. 1 need not stop to remark, that 

 ancient Greek (which has been used in their Church-Service from 

 the first ages of Christianity to the present day) is pronounced by 

 them in the same manner as the modern. 



From this general view of the pronunciation it will be per- 

 ceived, that many of the vowels and diphthongs are pronounced 

 exactly alike ; and hence superficial observers will be ready to 



E 



ble to 



distinguish these different letters, and thus determine what words 

 are made use of by any one^ that should address us with this kind 

 of pronunciation. Instead of giving an answer of my own^ I shall 

 give that of a native Greek to the same question, proposed to him 

 by a well known English scholar two centuries ago, as it is re- 

 lated in the following anecdote ; which, as it is to be found only 

 in a work not very common in this country, I will give at large. 

 The anecdote is to be met with in the Observations subjoined to 

 the edition of the Foette Minores Grcuci, published by Ralph 

 Winterton, the well known professor in the University of Cam- 

 bridge. After making some observations upon the corruptions of 

 Greek Manuscripts, (occasioned by the confounding of letters 

 which had the same sounds,) "Winterton says 



