his pace, and falling into his habit, of a quick utterance. Let him found all his fyllables full, and have that point only in view, without reference to the sense of the words; for if he is attentive to that, he will unwarily fall into his old habit: on which account, that he may not be under any temptation of that fort, I would have him, for fome time, read the words of a vocabulary, in the alphabetical order. In this way, he will foon find out, what letters and fyllables, he is apt to found too faintly, and flur over. Let him make a list of those words; and be fure to pronounce them over diftinctly, every morning, before he proceeds to others. Let him accuftom himself alfo, when alone, to fpeak his thoughts aloud, in the fame flow manner, and with the fame view. Otherwise, tho' he may get a habit, of reading more flowly, he will fall into his usual manner, in discourse: and this habit of speaking aloud, when alone, will not only bring him to a more diftinct utterance, but produce a facility of expreffion, in which filent thinkers, are generally defective.

THERE is one cause of indiftinct articulation, which is almoft univerfal, and which arises from the very genius of our tongue; fo that unless great care be taken, it is scarcely poffible, but that every one fhould be affected by it, in fome degree. Every word, compofed. of more fyllables than one, in our language, has one fyllable accented, and peculiarly distinguished from the reft; either by a fmart. percuffion of the voice, or by dwelling longer upon it. If this accented fyllable be properly distinguished, the word will often be fufficiently known, even tho' the others are founded very confusedly. This produces a negligence, with regard to the articulation of the other fyllables; which tho' it may not render the sense obscure, yet destroys all measure and proportion, and confequently all harmony. in delivery. This fault is fo general, that I would strongly recom3

mend.

mend at first, the practice of pronouncing the unaccented fyllables more fully, and dwelling longer upon them, than is neceffary, as the only means, of bringing those, whofe utterance is too rapid, to a due medium. It is true there are fome, who thro' the misfortune of bad instruction, or prevalence of early bad example, have a tedious drawling utterance, dwelling almoft equally on all fyllables, (of which I shall speak more under the head of accent); but as this is neither confonant to the genius of the tongue, nor the customary manner of speech in this country, there is no great danger of erring on that fide.

PRONUNCIATION.

THE next article which I propofe to treat of, is, pronunciation.. This word which had fuch a comprehenfive meaning amongst the ancients, as to take in the whole compass of delivery, with its concomitants of look and gefture; is confined with us to very narrow bounds, and refers only to the manner of founding our words. This indeed is the only article relative to elocution, which claims any part of our attention. The reason of which feems to be this. In all other points of elocution, all ranks and orders of men, wherever born, or in whatever situation of life, are equally liable to the fame defects, and to fall into the fame errours. Amongst those bred at the univerfity, or at court, as well as amongst mechanics, or ruftics; amongst those who speak in the senate-house, pulpit, or at the bar, as well as amongst men in private life; we find stammerers, lifpers, a mumbling indiftin&t utterance; ill management of the voice, by pitching it in too high, or too low a key; fpeaking too loud, or fo foftly as not to be heard; and using difcordant tones, and falfe cadences. These being, I fay, common to all ranks and claffes of men, have not any marks of disgrace put upon them, but on the contrary meet with general indulgence, from a general corruption.

BUT

BUT it is not fo with regard to pronunciation; in which tho' there be as great a difference between men, as in any other article, yet this difference, is not fo much between individuals, as whole bodies of men; inhabitants of different countries, and speaking one common language, without agreeing in the manner of pronouncing it. Thus not only the Scotch, Irish, and Welsh, have each their own idioms, which uniformly prevail in those countries, but almost every county in England, has its peculiar dialect. Nay in the very metropolis two different modes of pronunciation prevail, by which the inhabitants of one part of the town, are distinguished from those of the other. One is current in the city, and is called the cockney; the other at the court-end, and is called the polite pronunciation. As amongst these various dialects, one must have the preference, and become fashionable, it will of courfe fall to the lot of that which prevails at court, the fource of fashions of all kinds. All other dialects, are fure marks, either of a provincial, ruftic, pedantic, or mechanic education; and therefore have fome degree of difgrace annexed to them. And as the court pronunciation is no where methodically taught, and can be acquired only by converfing with people in polite life, it is a fort of proof that a person has kept good company, and on that account is fought after by all, who wish to be confidered as fashionable people, or members of the beau monde. This is the true reason that the article of pronunciation has been the chief, or rather only object of attention, in the whole affair of delivery. Yet tho' this is a point, the attainment of which is ardently desired by an infinite number of individuals, there are few who fucceed in the attempt, thro' want of method, rules, and affistance of masters; without which old habits can not easily be removed.

THE difficulties to those who endeavour to cure themselves of a provincial or vicious pronunciation are chiefly three. 1ft, The want

of

of knowing exactly where the fault lies. 2dly, Want of method in removing it, and of due application. 3dly, Want. of consciousness of their defects in this point. The way of getting over these difficulties I shall endeavour to point out.

As to the first article, the want of knowing exactly where the fault lies; most persons who have a provincial dialect, finding that in every sentence they utter, there are many things to be reprehended, are apt to imagine that their whole fpeech is infected; and therefore look upon a total cure, against the strong power of early habit, as impracticable: whereas were they to examine into the fource of this irregularity, they would find it to arife perhaps, only from a different manner of founding fome of the vowels, which occurring generally in every sentence, seems to infect their whole discourse.

3

e.

2

2

THUS the gentlemen of Ireland for instance, differ from those of England, chiefly in two of the founds belonging to the vowels ä and ë, founded by them ā and ē, and even with regard to those also, not always, but only in certain words. In many of which they give the found a to the first vowel where it is pronounced å, and the found e to the second, where it is pronounced c. Thus the words patron, matron, are pronounced by them patron, matron, the a being founded as it is in father; fever fea please are pronounced like favour fay plays. They foon become conscious of this diversity of sound, and not knowing exactly in what words it is used, in order to imitate the English pronunciation, they adopt the found ee in all words without distinction; instead of great they fay greet, for occafion occeefion, days dees, &c.

Now this mistake is evidently owing to want of method; for were there a vocabulary made, containing all the words in alphabetical

order, in which the English pronunciation differs from the Irish with regard to these two founds, their number would not be very confiderable, and all might by moderate practice, in a short time, make themselves completely masters of the polite pronunciation; for they scarcely differ in any other points, or at least the exceptions are fo few, that they might be brought into a very narrow compass.

THIS brings me to the confideration of the second impediment in the way of fuch as would be defirous of getting rid of a provincial dialect, the want of method; often the fource of want of. due application.

As there is no method ready to his hands, each individual must form one to himself. Let him in the first place employ his attention in discovering the particular vowels in the founding of which the provincial manner differs from the polite pronunciation. Let him by the help of dictionaries and vocabularies, make out a list of the words, in which those vowels are to be found; and get fome friend to attend him whilst he reads those words over, and mark their particular founds, diftinguishing those which differ from the general rule. When by these means he is able to found them all right, let him practice them daily over by himself, and let him select fuch words as he finds moft difficult of pronunciation, and form them into sentences, verfes, or anagrams; which he may get by heart and frequently repeat. Tho' this may feem laborious at first, the task in the progrefs will be found easier than is imagined, and he who makes ufe of this method will be encouraged to proceed, from the certainty of fuccefs which will attend every step of his progrefs. Whereas they who attempt to alter their pronunciation without method, only plunge from one errour into another, and foon grow weary of fruitless pains.

BESIDES