of the Greek Language. S49 



1 



of names too, which would scarcely have less authority in our own 

 times, it will cease to appear extraordinary. And, as the ancient 

 Greek was not studied for the purposes of conversation, the learn- 

 ed were willing to spare themselves the labour of studying its 

 pronunciation. AYhen, therefore, the idea was once published 

 among Europeans of speaking Greek, as they did their own lan- 

 guages, and that method was defended too, as being uearer to the 



4 



ancient, the contagion spread, and the pronunciation of the mod- 

 ern Greeks was by degrees neglected. The '^new'- pronuncia- 



tion, however, was not received at first with much favour ; so 



far from it, that a warm controveTsy arose among the principal 

 scholars of that day, of which I shall incidentally give some ac- 

 count as I proceed ; for a controversy, conducted by such dis- 

 tinguished advocates, cannot fail of being interesting to us, even 

 after the lapse of several centuries. Whether, indeed, the anecdote 

 above related of Erasmus is true or not, is of little consequence as 

 to tbe merits of the present question. We can employ our- 

 selves more usefully in examining the arguments, which were 



d by him and his friends in support 



d 



the answers which were made by their adversaries ; and this I 

 shall now proceed to do, with as much conciseness as possible, 



p 



from the principal writers in the controvery ; adding such further 

 observations, as are furnished by the researches and discoveries 

 of our own times. In doing this, it will be most convenient to 

 follow the order of the Alphabet. 



