3799+] 
jections again our regarding quantity and 
negleéting accentuation. Deus 
Every word, in whatever language it 
be written or {poken, muft be allowed to 
contain both accent and quantity; that 
is, it comprifes, in its pronunciation, a 
certain quality of elevation and degree of 
continuance. This is as equally true of 
the harth, difagreeable, articulation of the 
Hottentots and Iroquois, as of the more 
mufical and harmonious languages of the 
ancient Greeks and Romans. For, al- 
though there is fo great and obfervyable a 
difference between the roughnefs and in- 
elegancy of the former, and the {mooth- 
neis and majeity of the latter, they are 
each dictated by nature, and, wherever 
there is found, there muft unavoidably be 
accent as well as quantity. shea 
If, therefore, any perfon fhould pro- 
nounce a word with ever fo ftrict an atten-- 
tion to the /emgth each fyHable requires, 
and, at the fame time, omit the proper 
height, or depreffion, of the voice, fuch 
pronunciation cannot but be deemed ex- 
tremely defective. But, befides this, as 
it is a part of the nature of the acute ac- 
cent to fhorten every fyllable on which it 
falls (for it implies quicknefs as well as 
height, infomsach that an acuted long 
vowel fhould be read as a fhort one, and 
an acuted fhort one more fhort; which 
might be proved at large from the ancient 
Greek grammarians upon the fubject) it is 
impoffible to obferve quantity and neglect 
the accents. 
The frequency and repetition of vowels 
conduce much, I am well aware, to tHe 
beauty and elegance of any language; 
but, if we will give credit to the great 
Roman critic, Quin€tilian, the accents 
had no fmall fhare in the harmony of the 
Latin and Greek tongues. ‘ Sed accen-- 
tus qtioque ‘cum rigore quodam, tum fi- 
militudine ipfa; mints fuaves habemus, 
quia ultima fyllaba nec acuta unquam 
excitatur, nec inflexa circumducitur, fed 
in gravem vel duas graves cadit femper. 
Itaque tanto eft fermo Gracus Latino ju- 
cundior, ut noltri Poete, quotits’ dulce 
carmen efle voluerunt, i/orum id nomini- 
bus exornent.’ Lib. xit. cap. 10. 
_ Should any one be inclined to difpute 
the poflibility of reading Latin and Greek 
verfe according to its proper accent and 
quantity, the words of the learned Sir 
John Cheke, Greek profef>r at Cam- 
bridge, to the great Dr. Gardiner, will 
furely obviate every obje€tion of this kind. 
« Affeverare poflum, illos,” fcilicet multos 
linguze Greece ttudiofos, © omnem hance 
_ pronuntiationis formam ita tenere, ut ve- 
Sketch of Two Brothers. 681 
> 
rum literarum fonum, guantzatemm, accen- 
tum, fumma cum facilitate ac fuavitate 
eloqui pofint.” Epift. ad Epifc. Vinton. ° 
Lo object againit that ‘pronunciation of 
ancient verfe as it regards not accentua- 
tion, may poflibly appear te fome perfons 
frivolous and infignificant ; yet ler then 
confider, that to adopt arly method as a 
genuine flandard of pronunciation, which 
includes not a due regard to thefe accen- 
tual wirgule, not -only militates again 
quantity itfelf, but is fubverfive of that 
harmony and melodioufnefs, which Quinc- 
tilian affirms, and our own’ experience: 
teaches us, the accents confer upon the 
language of the Greeks. 
Ravenflonedale. Joun RoBINson. 
ear a 
SKETCH OF TWO BROTHERS. 
‘ ADDRESSED TO THE QUIDNUNCS. 
RIOR and Posrerior are two bro- 
thers who came to London fometime 
ago to feek their fortunes. ‘Their pa- 
rentage has not been clearly explained. 
They are both defcended from Informa- 
tion; but fome ‘think they are natural 
children begotten. by one CuRiosiTy 
upon a goffiping female called News, 
who has made a great noife in the world. 
Be this as it may, they are of very oppo- 
fite difpofitions, and yet engaged in the 
fame way of bufinels, being editors te 
news-papers. t 
Prior, who notwithftanding his name, 
is by much the youngeft of the two, is re~ 
markable for the fertility of his fancy. 
PosTeRxior is a plain matter of-faQ— 
man, 
formation that he wifl make news rather 
than feem barren. “The latter never ad- 
vances any thing but upon fure grounds, 
and therefore has very improperly been 
confidered as of a referved  difpofition. 
PRIOR, it is frequently proved, will ftick 
at nothing: o make out a good ftory. 
POSTERIOR, more cautious and leifurely, 
is perpetualiy waiting for facts and proofs. 
For this reafon, the judicious part of the 
public allow, that although Prior is the 
clevere(t fellow of the two, the other is 
moft to be depended upon. 
This opinion of Prior’s clevernefs 
arifes from his now and then being actu- 
ally in-the right without knowing it; for 
having always a cargo of conjectures and 
inventions of imagination on hand, it fo 
happens that he ftumbles upon truth. 
without the fmallef intention, or any 
thing to affift him, except his wifhes. 
His brother, on the contrary, confining 
himilelf only to what he is certain of, and 
can be proved, has none of that commu- 
nicative 
The former is fo eager to give in-_ 

