~ to forgo is to go without. 
$ 
2801.) 
fupines, fuch as to promife, to revife, to 
manumife, fitly end in ze. 
To verbs of French origin neither of 
thefe rules apply, fuch as to advertize, to 
recognize, to affranchife: in thefe cafes it 
is ufual to fpell by the ear; employing 
the x, or foft confonant, when the laft fyl- 
lable is accented, or long; and thes, or 
hard confonant, when the laft fyllable is 
unaccented, or fhort: for foft confonants, 
fuch as b, d,g, %, v, &c. more eafily unite 
with long vowels: and hard confonants, 
fuch as p, t, &, s, f, 8c. more eafily unite 
with fhort vowels. i 
5. Forego for forgo, &c. Thetwo in- 
feparable prepofitions fore and for differ 
in etymology as in meaning: the firft has 
an anticipative, the fecond a privative fig- 
nification: to forego is to go before; and 
Thefe two dif- 
tinét fyllables, which are prefixed to a great 
number of Englifh verbs, have as ftudi- 
oufly been confounded by your journey- 
man-printer, as they have been difcrimi- 
nated by me, fo as in one place to have 
occafioned apparent nonfenfe. 
This lift of grievances could be extended 
* further ; but I forgo'the invidious tafk. 
Content that your type-fetters thould ef- 
face mere peculiarity (it is in them a 
natural influence of habit), and fhould 
every where fubftitute vulgar ufage to re- 
condite propriety-—I only wifh that un- 
difputed error and notorious incorrectnefs 
may not by them be woven into the text of 
A FHILOLOGICAL CORRESPONDENT. 
a 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
ACCOUNT of PORTSMOUTH. 
(Continued from page 115. of Vol. 12.) 
HAT the manners of a {ea-port town 
“Le have any ftri& relation to elegance 
¥ fhall not attempt to prove ; nor is it ne- 
ceflary to puff off our fcanty fare of pub- 
lic amufements as compofing * all the 
wumerous agremens of polifhed fociety.” 
Yet, Mr. Editor, as I would not have it 
confidered that literature is at quite fo 
Jow an ebb that a Latin infcription would 
be as inappropriate on a naval pillar at 
Portfmouth, as a boatswain’s call in the 
hands of a regius profeffor at Oxford ;+ 
* Retail for retale. A vulgarifm borrowed 
from the painters of fhop-boards : it is derived 
from re and tale, a felling out again. Owing 
for owen; the prefent participle active, for 
the paft participle paffive, an error very 
common in Englifh writers. Scarce for 
fcarfe from the Italian fcarfo, &c. 
- + Vide Gentleman’s Magazine. I had 
pearly forgotten to mention that notwith- 
Account of Portfinsuth. 
Q15 
fo neither would I have it fuppofed that 
all relating tous is jcoarfene(s, vulgarity 
and dullnefs ; nor that Portfmouth is one 
of the kind of towns alluded to in the 
Sketch of a Journey from Copenhagen to 
Hamburg contained in your laft number. 
To affert that it is a place ** Where dirt 
and fquallid wretchednefs appear in every 
corner, and where the lower clafs of peo- 
ple are as debauched as they are in any 
part of the world,” however fuch a de=_ 
{eription may agree with the ftate of other 
fea-port towns, is to betray a perfect de- 
ficiency of knowledge as to Portfmouths 
We neither abound in wealth, nor are we 
furrounded by indigence or mifery ; and 
it may be certainly faid of thofe, who 
compofe the grand proportion of the in- 
habitants, and who rank as the inferior 
order, that they are generally induftrious 
and hardworking people, and in a far bet- 
ter condition than the fame clafs in towns 
and cities that difplay all the appendages 
of opulence and exceftive luxury ; and the 
appearance they make even in their work- 
ing days-garb is very different from de- 
bauchery and wretchednefs. How far 
the defcription alluded to may fuit the 
ftate of fome of our inland and manufac- 
turing towns, it is not my bufinefs here 
to enquire. It is worthy of remark that 
in our dock-yard the artizans in general 
are a fine healthy-looking body of young 
men, and that many of them with large 
families, acquire property, and live in 
fome credit. Portfmouth has certainly 
its objects of wretchednefs and infamy in 
common with other places, and fome that 
zre to be found in fea-ports enly ; yet 
there number is not fo great as may have 
been imagined. ‘Theirabodes are moftly 
confined to particular diftriéts, where, 
though our foldiers, by late regulations 
of our Lieutenant Governor, are debarred 
open communication, our jolly tars ftill 
feek recreation and amufement. As to 
our Laifes,and Thaifes, and Phrynes, with 
whom we can more than fill the upper 
boxes of our theatre, they are of courfe 
ladies of fafhion, as well as of virtue and 
fentiment, and in thefe days of tafte and 
refinement will not, I fancy, be imputed 
to us asa very extraordinary di{parage- 
ment. With refpeét to cleanlinefs Portf- 
mouth may vie with moft towns. That, 
in fpite of the moft ftric&t and regular 
meafures reforted to, under the advice 
ftanding we have fchools and academies at 
home as well for claffic lore, as the elegant 
and polite arts of drawing, fencing, &c. &c. 
we are the chief contributors to the boarding 
{chools, both ordinary and extraordinary for 
many miles round, 
and 
\ 
