The litening Macedon by swordes, by gleaves,
By bandes and troupes of footemen, with his
garde,

Speedes to Dary, but hym his merest kyn,
Oxate praserves with horsemen on a plumpe
Before his carr, that none his charge should
give..

Here

grunts, here groans, eche where strong
youth is spent:

Shaking her bloudy hands, Bellone among
The Perses soweth all kind of cruel death:
With throte yrent he roares, he lyeth along
His entrailes with a launce through gryded
quyte,

Hym smytes the club, hym woundes farre
stryking bowe,

And hym the sling, and him the shining
sword;

He dyeth, he is all dead, he pantes, he restes.
Right over stoode in snow white armour brave,
The Memphite Zoroas, a cunnyng clarke,
To whom the heaven lay open as his booke;
And in celestiall bodies he could tell
The moving meeting light, aspect, eclips,
And influence, and constellations all;
What earthly chaunces would betyde, what
yere,

Of plenty storde, what signe forewarned
death,

How winter gendreth snow, what tempera

ture,

In the prime tyde doth season well the soyle, Why summer burnes, why autumne hath ripe grapes,

Whither the circle quadrate may become,
Whether our tunes heavens harmony, can
yelde

Of four begyns among themselves how great
Proportion is; what sway the erryng lightes
Doth send in course gayne that fyrst movyng
heaven;

What grees one from another distance be,
What starr doth lett the hurtfull fyre to
rage,

Or him more mylde what opposition makes,
What fyre doth qualifye Mavorses fyre,
What house eche one doth seeke, what plan-
nett raignes

Within this heaven sphere, nor that small
thynges

I speake, whole heaven he closeth in his brest.

This sage then in the starres hath spyed the fates

Threatned him death without delay, and,
sith,

He saw he could not fatall order chaunge,
Foreward he prest in battayle, that he might
Mete with the rulers of the Macedons,
Of his right hand desirous to be slain,

به

And sayth, Nectanaks bastard shamefull

stayne

Of mothers bed, why losest thou thy strokes,
Cowardes among, Turn thee to me, in case
Manhood there be so much left in thy heart,
Come fight with me, that on my helmet weare
Apollo's laurell both for learninges laude,
And eke for martiall praise, that in my
shielde

The seven fold Sophie of Minerve contein,
A match more mete, Syr King, then any
here,

The noble prince amoved takes ruth upon The wilfull wight, and with soft wordes ayen,

O monstrous man (quoth he) what so thou

reign said,
Alighted Zoroas with sword unsheathed,
The careless king there smoate above the
greve,

At th' opening of his quishes wounded him,
So that the blood down trailed on the ground:
The Macedon perceiving hurt, gan gnashe,
But yet his mynde he bent in any wise
Hym to forbeare, sett spurrs unto his stede,
And turnde away, lest anger of his smarte
Should cause revenger hand deale balefull
blowes.

But of the Macedonian chieftaines knights,
One Meleager could not bear this sight,
But ran upon the said Egyptian rude,
And cutt him in both knees: he fell to
ground,

1

Wherewith a whole rout came of souldiours

sterne,

And all in pieces hewed the scly seg,
But happely the soule fled to the starres,
Where, under him, he hath full sight of all,
Whereat he gazed here with reaching looke.
The Persians waild such sapience to forgoe,
The very fone the Macedonians wisht
He would have lived, king Alexander selfe

The bouldest borne, and worthiest in the Demde him a man unmete to dye at all;

feilde;

And as a wight, now wery of his lyfe,
And seking death, in fyrst front of his rage,
Comes desperately to Alexanders face,
At him with dartes one after other throwes,
With recklesse wordes and clamour him
provokes,

Who wonne like praise for conquest of his

Yre,

As for stoute men in field that day subdued,
Who princes taught how to discerne a man,
That in his head so rare a jewel beares,
But over all those same Camenes, those same,
Divine Camenes, whose honour he procurde,

Ye mocking fooles that in scorne set your then the reporter for the matters sake.

joy,
Proudly despising Gods punition:
Take ye example by Cham the sonne of Noy,
Which laughed his father vnto derision,
Which him after cursed for his transgression,
And made him seruaunt to all his lyne and

So shall ye caytifs at the conclusion,
Since ye are nought, and other scorne and aunswere, till they lefte askyng, declaryng

GR

OF THE

ENGLISH TONGU E.

RAMMAR, which is the art of using words properly, comprises four parts; Orthography, Etymology, Syntax, and Prosody.

To these may be added certain combinations of letters universally used in printing; as &t, t, A, fl, fb, sk, ff, I, fi, ih, fi, fi, ff, and &, or and per se, and; &, ft, fl. N, s, sk, .,, fi, fi, ffi, fi, & ; đ, &, A, 11, ¤, ¤,

In this division and order of the parts of grammar I follow the common grammarians, without, fi, fi, fi, t. inquiring whether a fitter distribution might not be found. Experience has long shown this method to be so distinet as to obviate confusion, and so com

Our letters are commonly reckoned twenty-four, because anciently i and j, as well as a and v, were expressed by the same character; but as those letters, which had always different powers, have now different forms, our alphabet may be pro

prehensive, as to prevent any inconvenient omis-
sions. I likewise use the terms already received,
and already understood, though perhaps others
more proper might sometimes be invented. Syl-perly said to consist of twenty-six letters.
burgius and other innovators, whose new terms
have sunk their learning into neglect, have left suf-

None of the sinall consonants have a double form, except, s; of which is used in the beginhcient warning against the trifling ambition of hng and middle, and s at the end. teaching arts in a new language.

Vowels are five, a, e, i, o, u,

Such is the number generally received; but for i it is the practice to write y in the end of words, as tby, boly; before i, as from die, dying; from beautify, beautifying; in the words says, days, eyes; and in words derived from the Greek, and written originally with v, as system, cúrnua, sympathy, ouμnaIun.

For we often write w after a vowel, to make a diphthong; as raw, grew, view, vow, flowing, lowness.

The sounds of all the letters are various.

In treating on the letters, I shall not, like some other grammarians, inquire into the original of their form, as an antiquarian; nor into their formation and prolation by the organs of speech, as a mechanick, anatomist, or physiologist; nor into the properties and gradation of sounds, or the clegance or harshness of particular combinations, as a writer of universal and transcendental grammar. I consider the English alphabet only as it is English; and even in this narrow disquisition I follow the example of former grammarians, perhaps with more reverence than judgment, because by writing in English I suppose my reader already acquainted with the English language, and consequently able to pronounce the letters of which I teach the pronunciation; and because of sounds in general it may be observed, that words are unable to describe them. An account therefore of the primitive and simple letters is uscless almost alike to those who know their sound, and those who know it not.

The a slender is the proper English a, called very justly by Erpenius, in his Arabick Grammar, a Anglicum cum e mistum, as having a middle sound between the open a and the e. The French have a similar sound in the word pais, and in their e masculine.

A open is the a of the Italian, or nearly resembles it; as father, rather, congratulate, fancy, glass.

A broad resembles the a of the German; as all, wall, call.

Many words pronounced with a broad were anciently written with au, as sault, mault; and we still say fault, vault. This was probably the Saxon sound, for it is yet retained in the northern dialects, and in the rustick pronunciation; as maun for man, haund for hand,

The short a approaches to the a open, as grass.

The long a, if prolonged by e at the end of the word, is always slender, as graze, fame,

A forms a diphthong only with i ory, and or w. Ai or ay, as in plain, wain, gay, clay, has only the sound of the long and slender a, and differs not in the pronuncia. tion from plane, qvane.

Au or at has the sound of the German a, a's raw, naughty.

Ae is sometimes found in Latin words not completely naturalized or assimilated, but is no English diphthong; and is more properly expressed by single e, as Cesar, Eneas.

E.

It has sometimes in the end of words a sound obscure, and scarcely perceptible, as open, shapen, sbotten, thistle, participle, lucre. This faintness of sound is found when e separates a mute from a liquid, as in rotten; or follows a mute and liquid, as in cattle.

with i, as deign, receive; and with a or zʊ, E forms a dipththong with a, as near;

as new, flew.

Eu sounds like e long, as mean; or like ee, as dear, clear, near.

Ei is sounded like e long, as seize, perceiving.

Eu sounds as a long and soft.

E, a, u, are combined in beauty and its de. rivatives, but have only the sound of z.

E may be said to form a diphthong by reduplication, as agree, sleeping.

Eo is found in yeomen, where it is sounded as o short; and in people, where it is pronounced like ee.

I.

I has a sound, long, as fine; and short, as fin.

That is eminently observable in i, which may be likewise remarked in other letters; that the short sound is not the long sound contracted, but a sound wholly different.

The long sound in monosyllables is always marked by the e final, as thin, thine.

Iis often sounded before r as a short w; as flirt, first, shirt.

It forms a diphthong only with e, as as field, shield, which is sounded as the double ee;

E is the letter that occurs most frequently in the except friend, which is sounded as frend. English language.

E is long, as in scene; or short, as in cěllar, separate, celebrate, měn, tken.

It is always short before a double consonant, or two consonants, as in ver, pěrplexity, relent, medlar, reptile, serpent, cellar, cessation, blessing, fell, felling, debt.

E is always mute at the end of a word, except in monosyllables that have no other vowel, as the: or proper names, as Penelope, Pbebe, Derbe: being used to modify the foregoing consonant, as since, once, bedge, oblige; or to lengthen the preceding vowel, as bắn, bane; căn, came; pin, pine; tăn, tune, rob, robe; păp, pūpc; fir, fire; cur, sure; tub, tube.

Almost all words which now terminate in conJonants ended anciently in e, as year, yeare; wildness, wildnesse; which e probably had the force of the French e feminine, and constituted a syllable with its associate consonant; for, in old editions, words are sometimes divided thus, clea-re, fel-ie, Anowled-ge. This e was perhaps for a time vocal or silent in poetry, as convenience required; but it has been long wholly mute. Camden in his Remains calls it the silent e.

It does not always lengthen the foregoing yowel, as glove, live, give.

I is joined with eu in lieu, and ew in view; which triphthongs are sounded as the open .

0.

O is long, as bōne, obedient, corrūding; or short, as block, knock, öblique, loll.

Women is pronounced wimen.

The short o has sometimes the sound of a close u, as son, come.

O coalesces into a diphthong with a, as moun, groan, approach; oa has the sound of o long.

O is united to e in some words derived from Greek, as economy; but or being not an English diphthong, they are better written as they are sounded, with only e, economy.

With i, as oil, seil, muil, noisome.

This coalition of letters seems to unite the sounds of the two letters as far as two sounds can

be united without being destroyed, and therefore approaches more nearly than any combination in our tongue to the notion of a diphthong.

With o, as boot, boot, cooler; oo has the sound of the Italian .

With u or tu, as our, power, flower; but this