but cannot fecure their poffeffor from difgrace or penury.

Thefe are fome of the principal fources, from which may be derived a proper knowledge of the purity, the ftrength, and the copioufnefs of the English language. Such are the examples, by which our ftyle ought to be regulated. In them may be remarked the idiomatic ftructure of fentences, and the proper arrangements of their parts.. They prefent fpecimens of purity without stiffness, and elegance without affectation; they are free both from pompous and vulgar diction, and their authors have the happy art of pleafing our tafte, while they improve our understandings, and confirm our principles of morality and religion.

In the courfe of this perufal it will be found that in proportion as the great controverfies upon religion and politics began to fubfide fince the time of the Revolution, a greater attention has been paid to the niceties of grammar and criticism; and coarfe and barbarous phrafeology has been gradually polished into propriety and elegance..

As the practice of writing for public infpection has been much improved fince the period abovementioned, a remarkable change has taken place..

See the Rev. W. Jones's excellent Advice to a Young Man.

The

The long parenthefis, which fo frequently occurs in the older writers, to the great cmbarrassment and perplexity of their meaning, has fallen much into difufe. It has been obferved, that it is no where to be found in the writings of Johnfon. Authors have fhortened their fentences, which, in fome of the beft writers of the feventeenth, and the beginning of the eighteenth century, were extended to an exceffive length: and they have ftated their thoughts to much more advantage by feparating them from each other, and expreffing them with greater diftin&tnefs. The cuftom of writing in short fentences muft be allowed to detract from roundnefs of period, and dignity of composition: but it certainly contributes fo materially to perfpicuity, which is the prime excellence of style, that it cannot fail to make every reader fatisfied with the change.

Many who write only as they are prompted by fome tranfient fubject of the day, endeavour to catch public attention by affected and modifh language. A popular speaker, and particularly a member of the House of Commons, enjoys a kind of privilege

h See the first fentence of Clarendon's History of the Rebellion. The fecond sentence of Milton's "Reformation" in England runs to 29 folio lines, divided into nearly as many members; the first sentence of his fecond Book against Prelacy is 18 lines folio in length. There is a fentence in Bolingbroke's Philofophy, Effay i. fect. 2. which is 22 lines octavo in length; and there is another in Swift's Letter to the Lord Treafurer nearly as long.

to coin as many words as he pleases; and they nơ fooner receive the fanction of his authority than they intrude upon us from every quarter in letters, plays, and periodical publications. But fuch words refemble the flies that are feen fporting in the fun only for a day, and afterwards appear no more. The people of fashion, ever fickle and fond of novelty, are as prompt to reject as they were to adopt them; and they feldom long furvive the occafion. that gave them birth..

But a correct writer neither countenances by his approbation, nor authorifes by his practice, fuch words as have only novelty to recommend them; whether they are introduced by the noble or the vulgar, the learned or the ignorant. Upon thefe occafions a good tafte will prove the fureft guide. He conforms to idiom and analogy; and at the fame time that he confeffes his obligations to those Grammarians, who have attempted to reduce his native language to a claffical ftandard, he forgets not what it is of great importance for an Englishmanto recollect, that the "pure wells of English undefiled" are fupplied by a Saxon fource; and that the genius of the British language, like the fpirit of the British people, difdains to be too much encroached upon by arbitrary and foreign innovations.

In words, as fafhions, the fame rule will hold,

Alike fantastic, if too new or old.

Be not the first by whom the new are try'd,

Nor yet the last to lay the old afide i.

i Pope on Criticism..

1. Pro

I. Pronunciation.

Our remarks have been generally applied to the English, confidered as a written language: but books have a much more extenfive use, than merely to regulate the practice of writers; for they are calculated to make converfation both accurate and pure. There will always be lefs variation of fpeech prevailing among the natives of different provinces, and lefs vulgarity of dialect, in proportion as well-written books are circulated and perufed.

Difficult as it may be to fix the pronunciation of a language, it is evident that without fome permanent ftandard, it is as liable to change as any fashion whatever. Two of the moft obvious rules feem to be, that every articulate found to be expreffed fhould have its proper letter or letters to reprefent it: and that the letters appropriated to one found fhould never be used to exprefs another. Thefe laws for the correct pronunciation of language fhould he practifed and recommended by perfons of liberal education, and their example fhould furnish a rule to the public at large; for it is well remarked by Quintilian, that the confent of the learned, and not the practice of the popuace, ought to give the law to converfation. Much depends upon the rank and refpectability of thofe who fanction any practice whatever: numerous anomalies, it is true, may have become fo deeply rooted,

that it is too late to extirpate them: If however they cannot be removed, at leaft vigilance may expofe their number, and care may prevent their increase. To point out errors is the firft ftep to correction, and this talk has been ably executed by the acute and diligent author of "the Elements of Orthoepy," whofe work has fuggested some of thefe obfervations, and furnished others. Foreigners complain, that our pronunciation is fo much at variance with our mode of fpelling, that it is long before they can converfe in English without running the risk of being guilty of fome impropriety. We have too much reafon to concur with them in this complaint, as we muft in fome inftances be as fenfible of its reafonableness as themfelves. Our pronunciation is often governed by fuch caprice, that we have founds fometimes expreffed by one character, and fometimes by another: many letters in our alphabet ferve to exprefs many founds very differently from thofe to which they are regularly appropriated, and many combinations of letters are ftill more vague and unfettled. From whatever quarter thefe irregu larities firft arofe, whether from the Court or the Stage, they foon became established by common ufage. There are many words which, if pro

k The proofs of this laft obfervation are too remarkable to be omitted. The combination -ough has nine different powers, as in 1. hiccough; 2. bough; 3. dough; 4. cough; 5. lough; 6. tough; 7. through; 8. thorough; 9. thought. They are pronounced like 1. up; 2. ou; 3. o long; 4. auf; 5. ock; 6. uff'; 7. oo long; 8. o fhort; 9. aut. Nares, p. 14.

nounced