of the Greefc Language, S6j 



tometl to (lo^ and as is now the practice iu Europe. This pro- 

 nunciation, so dilFerent from the usual sound of the letter G in 

 European languages, was received from the Greek exiles them- 

 selves ; and as they could not have produced any other authority 

 for it, than they did for the pronunciation of many other letters of 

 the alphabet^ that is^ their own invariable usage^ it seems sur- 

 prisingj that the learned were willing to tolerate this^ any more 

 than the other peculiarities of the Modern Greek pronunciation. 

 It was, indeed, opposed with so much learning and ingenuity, by 



r 



Jieza and Henry Stephens^ that great doubt has been entertain- 

 ed, whether it was genuine. But, as we now bave evidence, 

 which, it is not saying too much, to call conclusive, (as will pre- 

 sently appear,) it will be a useful lesson to us, who are but for- 

 signers as to this question, to recur to the theoretical arguments, 

 which those eminent men and their followers have urged against 

 it. It will teach us to be cautious, in questions of this nature, 

 how we condemn the universal and very ancient usage of a whole 

 people, whenever it happens to be repugnant to our own ha?ijts or 



prejud 

 Be 



A> 



Theodore Gaza and 



5 



■ 



marians," asks, " why cannot the double y be pronounced by the 

 Greeks, as well as by the Latins in their words aggrego, agger," 

 &c. and he then goes on, in a decided tone, to assert, that '* neith- 

 er the double y is to be found among the Greeks, nor the 7 writ- 

 ten before » or v ; and that what Gaza adds in his rule about the 



idle^ 



be found before 



a 



Greeks ; but the grammarians have been de 



■4 



for they have not consideret 



, (as he remarks 



that the copyists of books, before the invention of printing, did 



