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Mere men of learning, in attempting to make the etymology of words the rule of pronunciation, often pronounce words in a manner, which brings upon them the charge of affectation and pedantry. Mere men of the world, notwithstanding all their politeness, often retain so much of their provincial dialect, or commit fuch errors both in speaking and writing, as to exclude them from the honour of being the ftandard of accurate pronunciation. We fhould perhaps look for this standard only among thofe who unite these two charcters, and with the correctness and precision of true learning, combine the ease and elegance of genteel life. An attention to fuch models, and a free intercourfe with the polite world, are the best guards against the peculiarities and vulgarifms of provincial dialects. Those which refpect the pronunciation of words are innumerable. Some of the principal of them are: omitting the afpirate h where it ought to be ufed, and inferting it where there fhould be none; condfounding and interchanging the v and w; pronouncing the diphthong ou like au or like oo, and the vowel i like oi or e; and cluttering many confonants together without regarding the vowels. Thefe faults, and all others of the fame nature, must be corrected in the pronunciation of a gentleman who is fuppofed to have feen too much of the world, to retain the peculiarities of the diftrict in which he was born.

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RULE V.

Pronounce every word confifting of word confifting of more than one fyllable with its proper ACCENT..

THERE is a neceflity for this direction, because

many speakers have affected an unusual and pedanticmode of accenting words, laying it down as a rule, that the accent fhould be caft as far backwards as poffible; a rule which has no foundation in the conftruction of the English language, or in the laws of harmony. In accenting words, the general custom and a good ear are the best guides: only it may be obferved that accent fhould be regulated, not by any arbitrary rules of quantity, but by the number and nature of the fimple founds.

RULE VI.

In every fentence diftinguish the more fignificant words by a natural, forcible, and varied EMPHASIS.

EMPHASIS points out the precise meaning of

a fentence, fhews in what manner one idea is connected with, and rifes out of another, marks the feveral claufes of a sentence, gives to every part its proper found, and thus conveys to the mind of the reader the full import of the whole. It is in the

power

power of emphafis to make long and complex fen-tences appear intelligible and perfpicuous. But for this purpose it is neceffary, that the reader should be perfectly acquainted with the exact construction. and full meaning of every sentence which he recites. Without this it is impoffible to give those inflections and variations to the voice, which nature requires: and it is for want of this previous study, more perhaps than from any other caufe, that we so often hear perfons read with an improper emphasis, or with no emphafis at all, that is, with a ftupid monotony. Much study and pains are neceffary in acquiring the habit of just and forcible pronunciation; and it can only be the effect of close attention and long practice, to be able, with a mere glance of the eye, to read any piece with good emphasis and good difcretion.

Ir is another office of Emphafis to exprefs the op-pofition between the feveral parts of a fentence, where the ftyle is pointed and antithetical. Pope's Effay on Man, and his Moral Effays, and the Proverbs of Solomon, will furnish many proper exercifes in this fpecies of speaking. In fome fentences the antithefis is double, and even treble; these must be expreffed in reading, by a very distinct emphasis on each part of the oppofition. The following inftances are of this kind:

ANGER may glance into the breast of a wife man; but refts only in the bofom of fools.]

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An angry man who fuppreffes his paffion, thinks worse than he fpeaks and an angry man that will chide, fpeaks worse than he thinks.

BETTER to reign in Hell, than ferve in heaven.

He rais'd a mortal to the skies;
She brought an angel down.

EMPHASIS likewife ferves to exprefs fome particu lar meaning not immediately arifing from the words, but depending upon the intention of the speaker, or fome incidental circumftance. The following fhort fentence may have three different meanings, according to the different place of the Emphafis: Do you intend to go to London this Summer?

In order to acquire a habit of speaking with a just and forcible emphasis, nothing more is neceffary than previously to ftudy the conftruction, meaning, and spirit of every fentence, and to adhere as nearly as poffible to the manner in which we diftinguish one word from another in converfation; for in familiar difcourfe we scarcely ever fail to exprefs ourselves emphatically, and seldom place the emphasis improperly. With respect to artificial helps, fuch as distinguishing words and clauses of sentences by particular characters or marks; I believe it will always be found, upon trial, that they mislead inftead of afsist the reader, by not leaving him at full liberty to follow his own understanding and feelings.

THE

THE most common faults refpecting emphafis are, laying fo ftrong an emphasis on one word as to leave no power of giving a particular force to other words, which, though not equally, are in a certain degree emphatical; and placing the greatest ftrefs on conjunctive particles, and other words of fecondary importance. These faults are strongly characterised in Churchill's cenfure of Moffop.

With ftudied improprieties of fpeech

He foars beyond the hackney critic's reach,
To epithets allots emphatic state,

Whilft principals, ungrac'd, like lacquies writ;
In ways first trodden by himself excels,
And ftands alone in indeclinables;
Conjunction, prepofition, adverb, join

To ftamp new vigour on the nervous line:

In monofyllables his thunders roll,

HE, SHE, IT, AND, WE, YE, THEY, fright the foul.

EMPHASIS is often deftroyed by an injudicious attempt to read melodioufly. Agreeable inflexions and eafy variations of the voice, as far as they arise from, or are confiftent with just speaking, are deserving of attention. But to fubflitute one únmeaning tune, in the room of all the proprieties and graces of good elocution, and then to applaud this manner, under the appellation of mufical fpeaking, can only be the effect of great ignorance and inattention, or of a depraved tafte. If public fpeaking

muit

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