'_- REVIEWERS. 
442 
‘Js, inthe critic’s opinion, a pathetic re- 
fle&tion of the Greek fentence, in the 
motto; which reprefents the mifery of the 
patient, and juftifies the condolence of the 
poet. 
© 25 yae emexrAdoayre Seoi derrotos Bporoics 
© Zwew ayvurevous.”” Iliad B. 24. v. 525. 
«¢ Man is born to bear.” Pope. 
I need not fay, that Mr. Wakefield’s 
notes are pregnant with entertainment ; 
-and calculated to diffufe the principles of 
poetic and critical tafte. Readers, who 
fathom not the depths of erudition and 
genius, in which the gems of Gray are 
_depofed, may admire them in the light in 
which they are exhibited by Wakefield. 
‘The eye, that dares not gaze at the regent 
of day, may be delighted with his beauty, 
‘ veflected from the face of the moon, or the 
bofom of an evening cloud. 
Taviftock. Ww. Evans. 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
Oz the GREEK ACCENTS; iz REPLY 10 
BISHOP HORSLEY, and the MONTHLY 
In tenuilabor. Vire. - 
Slight is the fubje@. Drypbzn. 
N a late treatife on the profodies of the 
Greek and Latin languages, written 
by a very learned and ingenious prelate, 
with the profeffed defign of proving the 
antiquity and effentiality of accents in the 
pronunciation of language, the Right Re- 
verend author tells us, that ‘* the firft 
principles of accentuation, on which the 
whole fyftem of the Greek writers was 
founded, regarded quantity, and nothing 
elfe ;”’ that, from the different proceffes in 
the derivation and compofition of words, 
grammarians formed ‘* a great number of 
fecondary rules, which had little connec- 
tion with firft principles, having no refe- 
rence to quantity, but to the figures and 
fpecies of words, and to the manner of 
their formation ;°? and that thofe rules, 
as they refer to no proper caufe or prin- 
ciple in the practice which prevails at 
prefent, *‘ are therefore liable to many ex- 
ceptions.” 
Thefe fentiments, and the confequences 
deduced from them, conftitute a part of 
the eflay apparently inconfiftent with the 
eneral tenor and defign of the work ; and 
deem intended for the fole purpofe of in- 
troducing an additional number of (what 
ZI confider as fecondary and. fubordinate) 
Tules relative to accent in conjunétion with 
quantity. I mean not to infinuate, that 
thofe additional rules are either improper 
er unneceflary: I view them in a difftrent 
ms A) = 
On Greek Accents. 
{June 4, 
licht, and give the author the fulleft cres 
dit for the learning’ and abilities’ which he 
has difplayed upon the fubjeét. But I 
cannot attach to the rules that impor- 
tance to which the author imagines them 
entitled : and the doétrine contained in the 
fentiments, mentioned above, appears to 
me greatly, if not exa€tly, fimilar to that, 
in its nature and conlequences, which 
Voffius maintained towards the latter end 
of the feventeenth century; who always af- 
ferted, that accents in their original and 
primary fignification related to quantity 
only ; and admitted their ancient and 
proper ufage to have prevailed until the 
times of the Emperors Antoninus and 
Commodus*. mae 
Fully fenfible that human judement is 
at all times liable to error, I feelno in- 
clination implicitly to acquiefce in, and 
rely upon, the decifions of others, howe- 
ver great and refpectable the autherity 
may be from whence fuch decifions pro- 
ceed ; and fhall therefore offer a few ob- 
fervations upon the fubje&, in oppofition 
to the opinions advanced by the learned 
author. 
In the adjuné&ts of the human voice, 
there are three particulars eafily and clear- 
ly perceptible ; the tone, the duration of 
the tone, and the articulation of the letter 
or fyllable. The height or pitch of the 
voice is firft taken, and the continuance 
of it obferved afterwards. Accent, there- 
fore, may be confidered as a proper mo- 
dulation of the voice relative to the ex- 
tent, variety, and combination of high and 
low founds in the pronunciation of Jan- 
guage; whilft quantity, on the contrary, 
confilts of the due proportion of time ap- 
propriated to the enunciation of vowels 
and fyllables. When ufed conjointly, 
they conititute what is denominated the 
rhythm of profe, and the melody of verfe. 
But thefe two (accent and quantity}5 
though of different natures, and adapted to 
different purpofes, are, in the pronumciax 
tion of our language, feldom feparate and 
diftant from each other; and the one is, 
in fome meafure, fubordinate to, and de= 
pendent upon, the other. In pronouncing 
the words, méekly, kingdom, ténderne(s, 
we do not difcriminate accent from quan- 
tity ; becaufe the times and tones afe, in 
thefe words, perfestly coincident. And, 
in fa&t, on whatever vowel or fyllable we 
meet with along time, on the fame vowel 
or fyllable does the acute tone generally 
fall. This, however, is not always the 
ET 
* Vide his tract de Cantu Poematum et 
Viribus Rhythmi. ; 
calez 
