— 
“falls.” 
356  Profody and Pranunctation. 
‘ cure thofe few who yet perfiftt.”— 
But, to ufe his own elegant words, re- 
fpeciing the amiable Fortin he refts 
é from. his labours, and heareth not the 
<< yoice of the oppreffor, nor df the pe- 
«“‘ tulant fcorner. His works will fuf- 
&< ficiently {peak for him, while there 
#¢ are any remnants of piety, learning, 
« and good fenfe, among the fons of 
a Britain ; - and will follow him to thofe 
ce dab Gens, where neither envy, ma- 
% Jevolence, nor dogmati¢al arrogance 
& of jenorant fupercilious criticif{m, wil 
«< deprive him of his reward.” 
Dum juga montis aper, fluvios dum ‘piicis 
amabit. 
Dan aque thymio paicentur apes, dum yore 
cicadee, 
Semper honos nomenque tuum iauceique 
- manebunt. 
: ; Your’s, 
Nottingham, Feb. 12, 1797. . CLERICUS. 
eS 
To the Edisto 
SIR, 
ay OUR recommendation of an Effey on 
the Profodies of the Greek and La- 
tin Languages, ancuced me to purchafe 
it, and read it with great attention. It 
is a work which evi idently difcovers firit- 
rate abilities ond literature; and I fup- 
pote, ‘the public does not err in afcrib- 
Ing it to the pen of a Right Rev. Prelate, 
who formerly aferled, and has now frov- 
ed, himfeif to be at home ix Greek. 
‘The primary objects which the author 
feems to have in view, are, to afcertain 
the antiquity and ufe of the Greek ac- 
cents. -And I think he has decidedly 
proved, that the marks of the accents 
were, introduced un the writing of the 
Greek language , slg time before the 
commencement of the ea cera ; 
and <“ ue the true {pee ing tones of 
the language, fuch ab were sea by the 
Greeks themfelv ES) whe: it was a-liv- 
ing language, and eee in its purity. 
Sed nihil eff ah oma parte beatum. Though 
IT admire the work in general, I am, 
y of the Monthly Magazine. 
>) 
upon mature deliberation, forced to be 
difientient, in two points: Fvr/?, he 
maintains. that accent does not in the 
leaf increafe the quantity of the fyliable 
en which it falls—And, fecondly, that 
- the Englifa manner of ‘reading Latin 
verfe totally deftroys the rhythm, and 
melody of it. Baie 9, he fays, “ the 
natural tendency of the acute accent, 
contrary to the prejadice of the Nneglith 
ear, is to ihorten the fyllable on which it 
And, . p.0s8,.< 6% Neither the 
Greeks, or (nor) the Latins, entertained 
[ May, 
the notion which prevails among us, that 
the acute accent neceffarily lengthened 
the found of the fyllable upon which it 
was thrown.” This poiut appears to 
me’ to be utterly inde fen! nble.. ‘T-cannot 
pronounce fuch words as Oceanus, erué- 
vint, fucrini, &c. without lewgthening 
the vowel found of the antepenuir. 
Nor fuch words as animus, domnus, &c. 
without lengthening the firtt fy lable, 
almoft as much “as ir they were written 
with a double confonant, eemnmus, dom- 
minus, &e, P. 162, 0u0r aushor mientions 
the words wwréroxo;, a firft-born, and 
wewrorsusc, a woman delivered of her firft 
child ; and cenfures Mr. Primate, -for 
faying, © he defies any body to vary the 
accent in thefe two words. withon: af- 
fuéting the quantity at the fame time.” 
And, in anfwer to Mr. Primatt, eur au- 
thor fays, “we defy any one to atte&t the - 
quantity at all, by a variation in the ac- 
cent, fo long as he preferves the true 
quantity of the omecren in both fyllables,? 
and does not pronou nee them WpwTwTsnIss 
mpwrovexsc, which, he fays, “¢ isthe ge- 
neral way of fpeaking, arnong thote who 
pretend (to, pronounce by accent.” I 
have never heard them pronounced by 
any {cholar in this way (ts “) with the 
long power of the omega. ~My ears have 
always been accu themed bn ede und of 
pape nmezaby and WHwTsToxxs, OF, ak leatt, 
to a found almoft as long as the doubling 
of thefe confonants pees: Here, I 
think, I di if{eover the fource of the learn- 
ed ace or’s mifake. He fuppofes, that 
no fyllable can become long without 
lengehening the power of its vowel; 
forge etting, that a fyllable may,be long 
by. pofition, though the found of its 
vowel be fhore. P. 4; he. fays, in the 
words honey, money, cleverly, luckily, 
Wwe give the acute accent, without Jength- 
ening the fyltuble on which it falls. ie 
is true, we donot give a long found to 
the vowels, by pronouncing them hooney, 
mooney, cleeverly, lewkily ; 3; but we, 
in. effeét, double the confonants, and 
Pronounce the words as if they. were 
written hunny, munny, clevyerly, luk- 
kily 
The other point in which I diffent 
from the Jearned author, is, in his ex-— 
treme cenfure of _ the Enelith mede of 
2 
pronouncing Latin. I allow, there are a 
many imperfections in our mode of read- 
ing Latin 5 efpecially in the founds which 
we give to the vowels; and think -it 
probable, that the founds given to them 
by the literati, on the continent, may 
more nearly refemble. the ancient pro- 
nunciation. 
