290 PROFESSOR BLACKIE ON THE 



and true pronunciation, even in the case of the mother tongue, is not attainable 

 without a certain amount of trouble. Meetkerche accordingly finds that 

 his argument for accents, however just, is liable to be met with the objection 

 which nullified so many of Solon's well-conceived legislative reforms. The 

 laws were no doubt very good, but they were too good for the people. The 

 best for them was not the best absolutely, but the best which they could endure. 

 "At enim," he continues, " dices, ista (i.e., the right pronunciation both of quan- 

 tity and accent) esse perdifficilia, etfortassis etiam dSvvara, Us quidem qui diversce 

 pronuntiationi assueverunt. Id ego vero fateor, et in me ipso non invitus agnosco. 

 Sed nihil vetat rectam viam aliis ostendere, etiam ut illam ingredi non possis. 

 Certe Veritas mihi dissimulanda non fuit, ut paullatim meliora probare et sequi 

 condiscamus. Ergo, ut libere dicam quod sentio, vel tonos prorsus sublatos esse 

 velim, tantis per dum depravata ilia pronunciatio tonorum pro temporibus emen- 

 detur (quum prcesentim veteres constet istos apices in scribendo non usmpasse) vel 

 nullam eorum rationem haberi."* Which simply means that he is in favour of 

 suspending the operation of Greek accents till such time as schoolmasters — 

 proverbially not a very teachable race — shall have learned to distinguish 6s, a 

 bone, from 6s, a mouth, and that cctn'o is a possible combination of articulate 

 sounds, as much as caiv'no or caeno. 



The next important work which falls to be noticed indicates plainly by its 

 title — " De Poematum cantu et viribus Rhgthmi;" Oxon. 1673 — from what 

 quarter the attacks of a section of the learned world were now to be directed 

 against the traditional sway of Greek accents. The author of this tract was 

 the celebrated Isaac Vossius, " unquestionably," to use the words of Markland, 

 " a very learned man, but whose whimsicalness and love of paradox scarce 

 leaves room for him to be considered a reasonable one."t Vossius, like Meet- 

 kerche, had got his ear possessed with a genuine living appreciation of the 

 beauty of measures and rhythm in poetry, which justly resented the barbarism 

 of those scholars who read ancient verse by accents, just as if it was so 

 much German or English verse. In expressing his indignation strongly against 

 these systematic murderers of the regal majesty of Latin, and the luxu- 

 riant swell of Greek verse, Voss did well ; but, when he went farther, and 

 not content with the interim act of suspension passed by Meetkerche, 

 stood up in violent revolt against the whole .accredited system of accentua- 

 tion in the Greek language, and cast it, to save the ship, like a Jonah 

 overboard, he committed a great mistake, and kicked vehemently against 

 the pricks, where he could only wound his own legs. He declared roundly that 

 the whole system of Greek accents, as we now have them, was a modern 

 invention, or, at least, a corruption, or a monstrous compound of both ; 



* Havercamp's Sylloge. Ludg. Bat., 1836. Vol. i. p. 179. 



t Letter to Foster in the Essay on Accent and Quantity. 3d edit. London, 1820. P. 207. 



