wont, On Greek Accents? 
eafe: in the word privy, and fome others, 
the acute tone and long time are evidently 
parted ; and, in pronouncing them, the 
one may be eafily diftinguifhed from the 
other. Inthe Latin tongue, this coinci- 
dence of time and tone happens not fo oft ; 
and is ftill lefs frequent in the language of 
the Greeks. 
For obferving this divifion of the human 
voice, we have the authority of one of the 
mott celebrated writers upon language that 
antiquity has produced, who, living per- 
haps in the third or fourth century prior 
to the invention and introduction. of the 
‘Greek marks of accentuation, has main- 
tained the natural difference, and original 
diftin&tion, between accent and quantity : 
Tavera d2 diadéces ox huacl re TB ag rouaroc, net 
Tomes, udi SacdTyT, war LiAornre’ Kal penKely 
nar Beayirnrs’ Ere 98 wal obvrnri, xai Bagurnts, 
talte wiow. Ariftot. de Poet. cap.20. And. 
to tle fame purpofe might be adduced the 
opinion of Plutarch, of Cicero, and others. 
That accents, in their original and pri- 
mary {tate, had no connection with, or re- 
ference to, quantity, in the Greek lan- 
guage, is manifeftly apparent from the 
following paflage of Dionyfius of Halicar- 
naflus, in which, he cautions writers to 
avoid the too frequent repetition of words 
unvaried in their towe, and alike in guan- 
dity: ATE bAvyordAAua Grorarna E6Ag hawCaved" 
(xorlerar yao h dxedacis) pore mwoducuArabe 
arElo THY ixavey, nds 9) OMOLO’TONA wae’ 
Gpeo4orov046, (nde “OMOLO'XPONA moe of20td, 
weovets. ° Tegt cuvO: 6 
That this diftin€tion of time and tone 
formed one of the conftituent parts in thofe 
principles on which the Greeks founded 
their fyftem of accentuation, mutt be obvi- 
ous to all, who fhall attend to the wri- 
‘tings of Athenaus, Apollonius, Herodian, 
and other Greek grammarians. In the 
following paffage, Herodian defignates the 
acute by the word éyzigev, to elevate, 
without ever noticing its reference to quan- 
tity: é 02 dvravuprdy, dt ty “EVEYPOYZAL 
sriy b£eiay Tay med avTay, Byurweclinds radovvrar® 
ai Of ah EFEYPOYZAL, o¢Sdlovauevars Tegt 
zyua. Apollonius frequently ftyles the 
acute Seynyeentvoy tévoy, an elevated found. 
And Lipfius, who. profefiedly followed the 
ancient Greek grammarians, thus defines 
the acute tone; ‘* ze celert quadam fub- 
dattone vocis efferendus eft, fine infiitione 
wlla aut mora.” De pron. ling. Lat. cap. 
20. And fince we know that many words 
are at this time accented in exactly the 
fame manner, as they were formerly ufed 
and pronounced, there is every reafon to 
believe, that the prefent fyftem of accen - 
tuation is in perfect conformity with the 
ancient fyftem. of the Greeks. .- 
On the whole, muchas I refpect the 
learning and ingenuity of the Right Réve-~ 
rend Author, I have greater regard for 
the caufe of truth. And, from the nature. 
of the accent, and the teftimony of an- 
cient writers upon the fubject, I think 
myfelf warranted to conclude, that the 
firft principles, on which the Greek fyf- 
tem of accentual marks was founded, had, 
and could have, no reference whatever to 
quantity; that the rules formed by gram- 
marians were conformable to the nature 
and ufe of accent 5 and that thofe rules, 
though probably in fome meafure defec- 
tive, are neverthelefs liable to no excep- 
tions. - | 
It has been obferved by a late writer*, 
in treating upon accents, that it is diffi- 
cult to affign a reafon, why the pofition 
of the acute, in the Greek language, 
fhould ever be on a long fyllable, or the 
laft fyllable of a word ; and why the an- 
tepenult fhould never receive the circum- 
flex. But, in this'cafe, what occafion is 
there for adducing any reafon, except 
proofs and authorities that thefe things 
were fo? Reafon and rules for the regu- 
lation and compofition of language were 
not, we ought to confider, antecedent, but 
fubfequent, to the formation of language, 
and originated from the nature of it. 
Men of letters, however, frequently {peak 
of language, as if it had been originally 
formed by /iteratz. Whereas the truth is, 
it proceeded not from them, but from the 
inhabitants at large, and before learning 
and fcience had any exiltence among 
them. In teftimony of thefe affertions, 
I appeal to the opinion of Quinétilian ¢ 
“© Non, cium primum fingerentur homines, 
analogia demiffa caclo formanz loquendi de- 
dit, fed inventa eft poftquam loquebantur, - 
et notatum in fermone, quid quo modo cade- 
ret: \taque non ratione nititur, fed exem- 
plo: nec lex eft loquendi, fed obfervatio; 
ut ipfam analogiam nulla res alia fecerit, 
quam confuetudo.” De Inff. lib. x. 
Nor can thofe rules of language, there- 
fore, which in opinion approximate the 
neareft to reafon, be confidered on that ac- 
count as the moft perfect ; but thofe only 
that are moft agreeable to the practice and 
pronuncition of the countrywhere fuch Jan- 
guage is fpoken. When a German precipi- 
tates his voice over four or five confonants, 
without prolonging the fyllable, fhall we 
fay, becaufe we are unable todo the fame 
in our own language, that this pronuncia- 
tion is unreafonable and ablurd? The 
Italians, in fuch words as portandofolena 
* See Monthly Review, vol. xxv..N. S. 
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