tion, to which' it gives law's: and, a's to orthom'etry or

the law of versification, I leave it to po'ets.

tion of word's, their endings, cha'nges and likeness to

one another; and this' laft' is called analogy.

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N. B. The'fe four parts a're, he're, compri'fed in

two'; because, in treat'ing of orthog'raphy, I occasion.

ally give profo'dìal or pronoûnc'ing rules; and, in

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treat'ing of etymology, I, in like man'ner, give fyntac'

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tical ru’les; which' may be fufficient in an effay.

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distinct foû'nd, which' can'not be divided into oth'er

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sim'ple foû'nds; and the complet'e set of let"ters, in a

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la'ng-ûage, is called the alphabet; which', in the E'ng

lish tongue, contain's twenty-fix' letters; of which' the

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S TU V W X Y Z

a b c d efghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

sonants. A voŵ'el is a letter which', by itself, ma'kes à

full' and perfect foû'nd or fyllable: There a're fev'en,

viz. a, e, i, o, u, w, y; of which' the two' last' are con'

of word's; as, ya'rd, ye', you', was, we', will': The

oth'er nineteen' (to which' add' the w and

Two' vow'els, bo'th foû'nded in one fyll'able, are

called a diphthong; as a're three, of which' o'nly two'

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three

a're founded: And, the affe'mblage of two or

vowels, in one fyll'able, of which' o'nly one is foû'nded,

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2 2 2.

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is called a di'graph or diphthong improper. See the

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four rules and N. B. p. 23, 24. See the keys.

He're follow, the char'acters of oû'r al'phabet, with

their different mark's, or drefs'es, as they' a're seen' in

Besides the 4th clafs', we have as man'y un'accented as ac'cent'ed vow'els.

b, b; c, c, c, c, c; d, d; f, F; g, g; h; j; k; l, ļ;

m, m; n,n; P, P ; q; r; s, s, s, s ; t, t, t, t or t ; v;

There are many oth'er doub'le con'fonants, too' pla'in to

requi're a key. See the diphthongs, &c.

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I now ent'er on a moft' a'rduous tafk': Fo'r, it must

ever remain a ver'y difficult, if not impofs'ible one, to

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32

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giv'e precis'e rules to oûr pronunciation, until' it be fub

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mit'ted to the unit'ed law's of accent, êuph'ony, etymol

ogy and analogy. The law's of the first, tho’ugh fa'tal

ed; and therefore a're he're adop'ted: Yet', as tho'fe

of the other three' a're but part'ìally agree'd upon'; and,

a's I would' not be thought a dogmatic innova'tor; I

shall give but fuch' approved rules as, I think moft'

polit'e scholars. And, after all, I know' not, wheth'er

good' fpell'ing books and dictionaries might not be the

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beft' mean's of teach'ing pronunciation: People, in

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gen'eral, prefe'r exam'ple to pre'cept: Efpec'ially when

the latter is liable to fo' man'y exceptions. But, fu're

I am' that' fuch' good' book's, for beginners, must be

compo'fed on fom'e nêw' plan', perhap's lik'e mi'ne.

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O'ur standard accent-ru'les may be called the Mag'

RULE 1. Accent is, the lay'ing a certain ftrefs' of the

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voice on the single or double character, of a fyllable,

upon' which' it is laid; and must be put, either on a

2. When' the vowel is accented, the syllable is long';

2

and when' the con'fonant is accented, the fyllable is bort'.

N. B. See exceptions to this rule, p. 32, rule 5.

4. A long fyll'able is twice as long as a fhort' one.

5. The time which' is taken up' in the pronuncia

tion of a fyllable, wheth'er fhort or long', is called quan'

tity and the found of a fyll'able is called quality.

6. Oû'r ac'cent denot'es the quantity, not' the quality

of fyll'ables, and is always governed by euph'ony. See

fu'le7.p.32. Hence we must explo'de the epithets short' and