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final mutes, fo as that they may be rendered perfectly distinct, in the manner before described; and they should be made to dwell fometime upon the founds of the femivowels. In uttering the fyllables there cannot be too much attention paid, to prevent their falling into any peculiar tone or cant, which they are always apt to do without fuch caution. The fyllabies should be pronounced in neither a higher nor lower pitch of voice than they use in common difcourse; only they should be delivered with more force, or a greater degree of loudnefs, which will help to ftrengthen the voice. And, in dwelling upon fyllables, care should be taken that it should only be the fame note prolonged, and not changed to any other. The reafon of which precautions will hereafter appear.

When they come to unite fyllables together, fo as to form words, they should not

be fuffered to do it according to the abfurd fantastic mode of fpelling hitherto laid down and practifed; but they should be taught to take in all the letters into the fame fyllable, which are kept together in utterance; which, furely, is the most obvious and rational method. Thus the words, habit, widow, rather, should not be divided in the ufual way, ha-bit, widow, ra-ther; but hab-it, wid-ow, rather. This rule of dividing fyllables, is fo plain and manifeftly proper, that nothing but a total neglect in this, as in almost all other articles, of preferving any analogy between writing and fpeech, could have prevented its taking place.

There is another very improper divifion of fyllables in general ufe in all fuch words where the letter i precedes a vowel in the fame fyllable, fuch as question, bestial,

region; or the vowel e, as in righteous,

cour

courteous. For, in all inftances of this fort, thefe vowels coalesce in English, and form diphthongs, so as to make but one fyllable. Whereas in the ufual mode of dividing them they seem to form two. Thus, inftead of quef-ti-on, bef-ti-al, righ-te-ous, they ought to be divided into two fyllables only, as, quef-tion, bef-tial, righ-teous, in the manner in which they are pronounced, and always used in metre. The French indeed in all words of this fpecies divide the vowels from each other in pronunciation, and make two fyllables instead of one, and therefore they are right to separate them in spelling.

LEC

LECTURE II.

AVING treated in my former Lec

Hture of letters and fyllables, I shall

now proceed to confider words.

As fyllables are compofed of letters, fo words are composed of fyllables; yet a fingle letter may form a fyllable, and a fingle fyllable, a word. Every articulate found is a fyllable, and every vowel is an articulate found; therefore every vowel can by itself form a fyllable: but no confonant can form a fyllable, unless in conjunction with fome vowel, from which property they have obtained their name. As the nature of fyllables depends upon the nature of the letters whereof they are compofed, fome coalescing

I

lefcing with ease, and others not mixing without difficulty; fo the nature of words depends upon the fame principle; and they are smooth or harsh to the ear, in proportion as each subsequent fyllable is with cafe or difficulty pronounced after each preceding one. Their ftrength or weaknefs alfo evidently depend upon those properties in their component fyllables.

Befide these properties in words, of fweetness or harshness, ftrength or weakness, there is another quality to be attended to, which is, expreffion; or the peculiar aptnefs of fome words to ftand as fymbols of certain ideas preferably to others. And this aptness arises from different causes: the first and most striking is that of imitation; from which proceed thofe that may be called mimical founds; fuch as the baa of sheep, the hifs of ferpents, the mew and purr of cats, the howl of the wolf, the

bray