of the Greek Lamriiasre.. 



S47 



4 



That he continued to follow the prevailing mode of pi 



h9 



pparent from his familiar Colloquies, particularly that which 



called Echo ; where, to the word eriiditioms, Echo makes a res- 

 ponse by ovoig ; to episcopi, by Koroi ; to anolari, by Xa^oi ; to as- 

 trologi, by Xoyoi ; to grammatm^ by lix^ j to fameVici, by xCkqi ; 

 every one of which corresponds with the common pronunciation of 

 Greek ; which, if he had known it to be erroneous, he would 

 doubtedly in his subsequent editions have taken pains to correct : 

 But so far from this, he not only adhered to it himself, but took 

 particular care, that it should be taught to those, who were entrust- 

 ed to his charge," 



un 



«/ 



Such then, it should seem from this narrative, was the oriirin 



of the 



formed'' pronunciation 



Greek lan- 



guage. The anecdote rests upon the authority of Coracopetrceus 

 and doubts have been entertained, by some persons, of its authen 



ticity 



But those doubts appear to be founded, rather upon th 



I 



fact 



4 



singularity of the occurrence, than upon any wantof credibili 

 the witness : for his character stands unimpeached, and the 



i 



does not appear to have been questioned by the writers who lived 

 nearest to that period. Gerard John Vossius, (who lived with- 

 in a century after CoracopetrceiiSfJ a staunch Erasmian and 

 suflBciently inclined to detect the falsehood of the story, if it 

 were false, does not call it in question ; but, on the contrary, 

 speaks of it as a circumstance not known to many persons, and 

 thinks it important to lay it before his readers, in order to make 

 them acquainted with the motives; which impelled Erasmus to 

 writfr on this subject 5* and he endeavours to account for Eras- 



jh^ 



" Erasmus, qua occasione atl scribendum de Recta Pronunciatione fuerit 

 Impulsas, paucis cogaitutn arbitror. Ifaque visum liac de re adjicere quod in 



