SPEAKE THE SPEECH I PRAY YOU, AS I PRONOUNC'D IT TO YOU. Shakspere, Tragedies, p. 266, fo. 1623. PRAETEREA, NAM, LICET LEGENDI SEMPER OCCASIO EST, AVDIENDI NON SEMPER. MVLTO MAGIS (VT VVLGO DICITUR) VIVA VOX AFFICIT. ACRIORA SINT, QVAE LEGAS, ALTIVS TAMEN IN ANIMO SEDENT, QVAE PRONVNTIATIO, VVLTVS, HABITVS, GESTVS ETIAM DICENTIS AFFIGIT: NISI VERO FALSVM PVTAMVS ILLVD AESCHINIS, QVI, CVM LEGISSET RHODIIS ORATIONEM DEMOSTHENIS, ADMIRANTIBVS CVNCTIS, ADIECISSE FERTVR, ΤΙ ΔΕ, ΕΙ ΑΥΤΟΥ ΤΟΥ ΘΗΡΙΟΥ ΑΚΗΚΟΕΙΤΕ; AESCHINES, SI DEMOSTHENI CREDIMVS, ΛΑΜΠΡΟΦΩΝΟΤΑΤΟΣ : FATEBATVR TAMEN, LONGE MELIVS EADEM ILLA PRONVNTIASSE IPSVM QVI PEPERERAT. 150613 ET ERAT C. Plinii Caecilii Secundi Epist. ii. 3. VERVM ORTHOGRAPHIA QVOQVE CONSVETVDINI SERVIT, IDEOQVE SAEPE MVTATA EST. NAM ILLA VETVSTISSIMA TRANSEO TEMPORA, QVIBVS ET PAVCIORES LITERAE, NEC SIMILES HIS NOSTRIS EARVM FORMAE FVERVNT, ET VIS QVOQVE DIVERSA FORTASSE SICVT SCRIBEBANT, ETIAM ITA LOQVEBANTVR .. EGO (NISI QVOD CONSVETVDO OBTINVERIT) SIC SCRIBENDVM QVIDQVE IVDICO, QVOMODO SONAT. HIC ENIM EST VSVS LITERARVM, VT CVSTODIANT VOCES, ET VELVT DEPOSITVM LEGENTIBVS; ITAQVE ID EXPRIMERE DEBENT, QVOD DICTVRI SVMVS. REDDANT M. Fab. Quinctiliani, Inst. Orator. i. 7. NOTICE. THE first portion of the Chaucer Society's publications being ready for delivery to its members, it has been thought advisable to issue at the same time the first four chapters of the present work, which contain an investigation of Chaucer's pronunciation and Prof. F. J. Child's Memoir upon his language. The MS. of the remainder of the work, which will be of about the same extent as the present part, is so far advanced, that it will possibly be ready for issue before the close of the present year; but as the revision at press and the construction of the indices will be very laborious, it may have to be delayed beyond that time. A brief summary of the contents of both parts, and an outline index, is here annexed. Complete Indices will be added to make reference to the great variety of matters treated upon, ready and convenient, as the work is intended to give in a small space the greatest possible amount of information upon a subject hitherto almost untreated. This treatise also replaces the paper on the Pronunciation of the Sixteenth Century, etc., which was read by the Author before the Philological Society, on 18 January and 1 February, 1867. KENSINGTON, A. J. E CORRIGENDA IN PART I. Readers observing any misprints in Part I. are respectfully requested to communicate with the author, 25, Argyll Road, Kensington, W. p. 5. under Grh, read A. ¿ p. 7. 1. 5, for sæs read væs. p. 53, 1. 6, for aukwk read aukwh. p. 57, line 9 from bottom, for oo'w read oo'w. 1 p. 60, 1. 17, for 1 read 2 p. 70, 1. 18 for ut it read ut in. p. 80, 1. 20, for inclined suspect read inclined to suspect. p. 85, l. 12, for that he read than he. p. 89, n. 1, 1. 2, for he a read he is a. p. 106, 1. 18, for refuse so say read refuse to say. p. 113, 1. 21, for does seem read does not seem. L ADDENDA. p. 12. After the paragraph commencing ** add: evanescent, made from [, before a single letter or combination, denotes that it is scarcely audible, although the speaker is conscious of placing his organs in the proper position for speaking it. 1 evanescents, made from [], enclose more than one evanescent element, or entire evanescent words, as ('n it keem [t' paahs,) and it came to pass. = p. 12. After the paragraph commencing add: (') prominent, the acute accent may be placed over any element of a diphthong or triphthong, when it is considered desirable, to shew that it has the chief stress of the inter-gliding vowels, but not necessarily the chief stress in the whole word, as, for example, to distinguish the pairs of diphthongs (íu iú, úi uí, éa cá). p. 273. Add to note 2. Compare also: whitlow, whitsour, whitster, whitsul; Whitacre, Whitbarrow, Whitburn, Whitchurch, Whitfield, Whitgift, Whithorn, Whitland, Whitley, Whitmore, Whitney, Whitstable, etc. etc. CONTENTS. PART I. (Now PUBLISHED). INTRODUCTION. PALAEOTYPE, OR THE SYSTEMATIC NOTATION OF ALL SPOKEN SOUNDS BY MEANS OF THE ORDINARY PRINTING TYPES, pp. 1–16. CHAPTER II. AUTHORITIES FOR THE PRONUNCIATION OF ENGLISH DURING THE SIXTEENTH, SEVENTEENTH, AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES, pp. 31-48. CHAPTER III. ON THE PRONUNCIATION OF ENGLISH IN THE SIXTEENTH CHAPTER IV. ON THE PRONUNCIATION OF ENGLISH DURING THE FOUR- TEENTH CENTURY, AS DEDUCED FROM AN EXAMINATION OF THE RHYMES IN CHAUCER AND GOWER, pp. 241-416. PART II. (UNPUBLISHED.) CHAPTER V. ON THE PRONUNCIATION OF ENGLISH DURING THE THIR- TEENTH AND PREVIOUS CENTURIES, AND OF THE TEUTONIC AND SCANDI- The Cuckoo Song (with the Music), circà A.D. 1240. The Prisoner's Prayer (with the Music), circà A.D. No. 3. Miscellanies of the XIII th Century, from the Reliquiæ No. 4. No. 6. The Story of Genesis and Exodus, circà A.D. 1290. King Horn, circà A.D. 1290. No. 7. Moral Ode, Pater Noster and Orison, xi th Century. No. 1. Only English Proclamation of Henry III, 18 Oct. 1258. No. 2. The Ancren Riwle, XIII th Century. No. 3. Old English Homilies, XII th Century. § 1. The Value of the Letters. § 2. The Expression of the Sounds. § 3. Historical Phonetic Spelling. CHAPTER VII. ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE PRONUNCIATION OF ENGLISH § 1. Chaucer (Prologue to the Canterbury Tales). § 2. Gower (Punishment of Nebuchadnezzar, and Message from Venus to Chaucer.) §3. Wycliffe (Parable of the Prodigal Son.) CHAPTER VIII. ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE PRONUNCIATION OF ENGLISH § 2. § 1. William Salesbury's Account of Welsh Pronunciation, 1567. 3. |