As that sounds, therefore, which are the most generally received among the learned and polite, as well as the bulk of speakers are the most legitimate, we may conclude that a majority of two of these at 123 ght always to concur, in order to constitute what is called good usage. But though custom, when general, is commonly well understood, there are several states and degrees of it which are exceedingly obscure and equivocal; and the only method of knowing the extent of custom in these cases, seems to be an inspection of those Dictionaries which professedly treat of pronunciation. We have now so many works of this kind, that the general current of custom, with respect to the sound of words, may be collected from them with almost as much certainty as the general sense of words from Jolmson. An exhibition of the opinions of orthoepists about the sound of words always appeared to me a very rational method of determining what is called cus tom This method I have adopted in the following work; and if I have sometimes dissented from the majority, it has been, either from a persuasion of being better informed of what was the actual custom of speaking, or from a partiality to the evident analogies of the language. And here I must entreat the candid reader to make every reasonable allowance for the freedom with which I have criticised other writers on this subject, and particularly Mr. Sheridan. As a man, a gentleman, and a scholar, I knew Mr. Sheridan, and respected him; and think every lover of elocution owes him a tribute of thanks for his unwearied addresses to the Publick, to rouse them to the study of the delivery of their native tongue. But this tribute, however just, does not exempt him from examination. His credit with the world necessarily subjects him to animadversion, be cause the errors of such a writer are dangerous in proportion to his reputation: this has made me zealous to remark his inaccuracies, but not without giving my reasons; nor have I ever taken advantage of such faults as may be called inadvertencies. On the same principles I have ventured to criticise Dr. Johnson, whose friendship and advice I was honoured with, whose memory I love, and whose intellectual powers impress me with something like religious veneration and awe. I do not pretend to be exempt from faults myself. In a work like the present, it would be a miracle to escape them; nor have I the least idea of deciding as judge, in a case of so much delicacy and importance as the pronunciation of a whole people; I have only assumed the part of an advocate to plead the cause of consistency and analogy; and, where custoin is either silent or dubious, to tempt the lovers of their language to incline to the side of propriety: so that my design is principally to give a kind of history of pronunciation, and a register of its present state; and, where the authorities of Dictionaries or Speakers are found to differ, to give such a display of the analogies of the language as may enable every inspector to decide for himself. With respect to the explanation of words, except in very few instances, I have scrupulously fellowed Dr. Johnson. His Dictionary has been deemed lawful plunder by every subsequent Lexico. grapher; and so servilely has it been copied, that such words as he must have omitted merely by mis ake, as Predilection, Respectable, Descriptive, Sutky, Inimical, Interference, and many others, are neither in Mr. Sheridan's, Dr. Kenrick's, nor several other Dictionaries. ADVERTISEMENT TO THE THIRD ENGLISH EDITION. THE rapid sale of the Second Edition of this Dictionary called upon me for a Third, at a time of life, and in a state of health, little compatible with the drudgery and attention necessary for the execution of it; but as I expected such a call, I was not unmindful of whatever might tend to render it still more worthy of the acceptance of the Publick; and therefore collected many words, which, though not found in Dictionaries, were constantly to be met with in polite and literary conversation, and which were weli deserving of a place in the language, as soon as written authorities could be produced for them Some of these authorities I have produced, and have left others to the attention of those who have more leisure and better health. In the midst of the impression of the present work, I met with Ma son's Supplement to Johnson, and found several words worthy of insertion, but have carefully ac. knowledged the obligation; and take this opportunity of thanking that gentleman for the benefit have derived from his Supplement, which I think, if continued, admirably calculated for the im provement and stability of the language. But as the great object of the present Dictionary was pronunciation, I was very solicitous to be as Accurate as possible on this point, and therefore neglected no opportunity of informing myself where I was in the least doubtful, and of correcting myself where there was the least shadow of an error. These occasions, however, were not very numerous. To a man born, as I was, within a few miles of the Capital, living in the Capital almost my whole life, and exercising myself there in public speak ing for many years; to such a person, if to any one, the true pronunciation of the language must be very familiar: and to this familiarity I am indebted for the security I have felt in deciding upon the sounds of several syllables, which nothing but an infantine pronunciation could determine. If I may borrow an allusion from musick, I might observe, that there is a certain tune in every language to which the ear of a native is set, and which often decides on the preferable pronunciation, though entirely ignorant of the reasons for it. But this vernacular instinct, as it may be called, has been seconded by a careful investigation of the analogies of the language. Accent and Quantity, the great efficients of pronunciation, are seldom mistaken by people of education in the Capital; but the great bulk of the Nation, and those The inspector will be pleased to take notice, that my observations on Mr. Sheridan's Dictionary relate to the first edition, pullished in his fite-time, and the second, some time after his death: whatever alterations may have been made by his subsequent editors, I am totally unacquainted with. Sec Sceptik, Scwrhus Codie. Further, &c. on the vowel a; but in the English pronunciation the consonant th is taken into the first syllable, as thus, rather, which makes the difference. "Whenever a consonant follows the vowel a in the same syllable, and the accent is on the consonant, the vowel a has always its fourth sound, as hât, mân; as also the same sound lengthened " when it precedes the letter r, as får, bår, though the accent be on the vowel; as likewise when it pre "cedes (m, as balm, psalm. The Irish, ignorant of Lis latter exception, pronounce all words of that structure as if they were written hawm, psawm, quawm, cawm, &c. In the third sound of a, marked by different combinations of vowels or consonants, such as au, in Paul; aw, in law; all, in call; ala, in bald; alk, in talk, &c. the Irish make no mistake, except in that of lm, as before mentioned. "The second vowel, e, is for the most part sounded ee by the English, when the accent is upon it; "whilst the Irish in most words give it the sound of slender à, as in hote. This sound of e[ee] is marked by different combinations of vowels, such as, final mute, ee, and ie. In the two last combinations of ee and ie, the Irish never mistake; sun as the meet, seem, field, believe, &c.; but in all the others, they almost universally change the sound of è into à. Thus in the combination ea, they pronounce the words ten, sea, please, as if they were spelt tay, say, plays; instead of tee, see, pleese, The English constantly give this sound to ea whenever the accent is on the vowel e, ex cept in the following words, great, a pear, a bear, to hear, to forhear, to swear, to tear, to wear. In all "which the has the sound of a in hate. For want of knowing these exceptions, the gentlemen of "Ireland, after some time of residence in London, are apt to fall into the general rule, and pro nounce these words as if spelt greet, beer, sweer, &c. ་ "Ei is also sounded ee by the English, and as & by the Irish; thus the word deceit, receive, are pro "nounced by them as if written desate, resare. is always sounded e, except when a g follows it as in the words reign, feign, deigu, &c.; as also in the words reiu (of a bridle,) rein-deer, vein, drein, veil, heir, which are pronounced like rain, vain, drain, vail, air. "The final mute e, makes the preceding e in the same syllable, when accented, have the sound of ee, as in the words suprême, sincère, replète. This rule is almost universally broken through by the Irish, who pronounce all such words as if written suprame, sinstre. replate, &c. There are but two exceptions to this rule in the English pronunciation, which are the words there, where. "In the way of marking this sound, by a double e, as thus ce, as the Irish never make any mistake; "the best method for all who want to acquire the right pronunciation of these several combinations "is, to suppose that ea, ei, and e, attended by a final inute e, are all spelt with a double e, or e. "Ey is always sounded like a by the English when the accent is upon it; as in the words prey, com rey, pronounced, pray, conray. To this there are but two exceptions, in the words key and ley, sounded kee, lee. The Irish, in attempting to pronounce like the English, often give the same sound "to ey as usually belongs to ei; thus for prey, conves, they say pree, convee. "A strict observation of these few rules, with a due attention to the very few exceptions enume"rated above, will enable the well-educated natives of Ireland to pronounce their words exactly in "the same way as the more polished part of the inhabitants of England do, so far as the vowels ar "concerned. The diphthongs they commit no fault in, except the sound of i, which hos heen already taken notice of in the Grammar:* where, likewise, the only difference in pronouncing of the consonants has been pointed out; which is the thickering the sounds of d and t, in certain situations; and an easy method proposed of correcting this habit ་ "In order to complete the whole, I shall now give a list of such detached words that do not come un "der any of the above rules, as are pronounced differently in Ireland from what they are in England • English pronunciation. lenkth English pronuncration, Irish pronunciation. strův (strove, tén'ure tên able wrath (wroth) strove Irish prominciation. che arful farwel ród push pål'pit pulpit shism (schism) sizm calf ketch (catch) catch therefore coarse (coarse) 'coarse breth (breadth) course (cunirse) course. cowld (cold) ther'fore bredth cold rode court male'cious pådding quosh (quash) lezh'ur (leisure} ca mour Mekil (Michael) court quash clâm'inur bowld (Sold) enda'avour fat (foot) in'ion (onion) påt cold co'fer endev'ur fåt mis'chivous ** Vide p. 11 wher, the true manner of pronouncing the diphthong i is pointed out; the Irish pronouncing it much in the sanie manner as the French," The letter has always the same sound by those who pronounce English well; but the Provincials, particularly the Iri:. Scotch, and Weisb. in many words thicken the sound by a mixture of breath. Thus, though they sound the "d right in the positive loud and broca, in the comparative degree they thicken it by an aspiration, and sound it as it is "were written loudher, broader. This vicious prorataciation is produced by pushing the tongue forward so as to louch "the teeth in forming that sound: and the way to cure it is easy; for as they can pronounce the properly in the word touch "let them rest a little upon that syllable, keeping the tongue in the position of forming d, and then let them separate it *from the upper gura without pushing it forward, ari the sound der will be produced of course; for the organ being *teft in the position of sounding d at the end of the syllable loud, is necessarily in the position of forming the sanie in uttering the last syllable, unless it makes a new movement, as in the case of protruding it so as to touch the teeth "This letter is somethites, though n: I often, quiescent, as in the words handkerchief, handsome, handsel. *an provvancing the letter the trish and other Provincials tlucken the sound, as was before mentioned with regand to the ; for hotter, they say boither; for utter, uttker; and so on in all words of that structure. This faulty innumer arises from the same cause that was mentioned as affecting the sound of the d; I mean the protruding of the song te Shuchise teesh, vëni is curable only in the same way." |