Particularly of the LETTER 2ITMA. 131 



comes Xe'/3;js, lebes, but r remains before in the genitive, Xi^rog' 

 Xoif^-ru^;, or Xapirat,^ by rejecting the £ before g, becomes Xa^- 

 eras, lampas, in the genitive xk^oihog- ogvtSg, or ogvi£, by rejecting 

 before ?, becomes ogvtg, avis, in the genitive ogvfoog *. Farther, 

 it may be inferred, that £ is equivalent at lead to <J?, from what 

 happens in the formation of the fecond future of fuch verbs as 

 ofyj. For as tvttoj hath in the fecond future rvra, by throwing 

 out the r, which is the latter of the two confonants, the former 

 being the characleriftic of the tenfe ; fo o£a (otio-ot) hath o&w, by 

 throwing out the <r, which is the latter of the two component 

 confonants in £, the h being properly the characleriftic of the 

 tenfe. In the fame manner, (pgafyj (jpgot,!><ru) hath (p^cclu, and 

 'i£a> (ed<ra>) hath e&y. But that £ was considered by the Greek 

 writers as a double confonant, may be clearly evinced from this, 

 that, like the other two, f and $, it obliges a vowel immedi- 

 ately preceding it, though naturally fhort, to be long by pofi- 

 tion, as is well known to all who have the fmalleft acquaintance 

 with Greek profody. It may be concluded then, that £ is not 

 only a double confonant f, but is equivalent either to rg, or Sg t 

 or §g, though the general practice of the Greek writers was to 

 reject r, $, S- immediately before <r, or to fet down or in mofl 

 cafes where the general analogy requires £, and this, it mould 

 feem, in order to produce a found more pleafing to the 



R 2 ear. 



* Sometimes t is thrown out betwixt x. and ?, after which the x? coming together muft 

 make |* thus, auaxr?, &>#*{, a.va.%, rex, Gen. a^ax-ros, where the | is refolved into x?, and 

 the t is reftored. See a mod ingenious Diflertation, afcribed to the late learned Mr 

 Jer. Markland, entitled, De Grcecorum Quintd Declinatione Imparifyllabicd , et indefor- 

 mata Lattnorum Tertia, ^ucejlio Grammatica. Extat cum Editione altera Euripidis Dra- 

 matis Supplictum Mulierum, quam Londini excudebat doctus typographus Gul. Bowser, 

 nuper defundtus, ejufque difcipulus J. Nichols. 1775. 



\ The other arguments adduced by Hulewicz. to prove that f is not a double confo- 

 nant, do not feem to have any weight. Fid. Injlitut. Gram. Gr, ubifupra. 



