The litening Macedon by swordes, by gleaves, Speedes to Dary, but hym his merest kyn, Here grunts, here groans, eche where strong Shaking her bloudy hands, Bellone among Hym smytes the club, hym woundes farre And hym the sling, and him the shining He dyeth, he is all dead, he pantes, he restes. Of plenty storde, what signe forewarned 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, Of four begyns among themselves how great What grees one from another distance be, Or him more mylde what opposition makes, Within this heaven sphere, nor that small 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, He saw he could not fatall order chaunge, به And sayth, Nectanaks bastard shamefull stayne Of mothers bed, why losest thou thy strokes, The seven fold Sophie of Minerve contein, 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, At th' opening of his quishes wounded him, But of the Macedonian chieftaines knights, 1 Wherewith a whole rout came of souldiours sterne, And all in pieces hewed the scly seg, 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, Who wonne like praise for conquest of his Yre, As for stoute men in field that day subdued, As tender parent doth his daughters weale, Lamented, and for thankes, all that they can, Do cherish hym deceast, and sett him free, From dark oblivion of devouring death. Barclay wrote about 1550; his chief work is the Ship of Fooles, of which the following extract will show his style. Of Mockers and Scorners and false Accusers. HEARTLESS fooles, haste here to our Leaue off the wayes of your enormitie, Who that will followe the graces manyfolde Which are in vertue, shall finde auaunce ment: Wherfore ye fooles that in your sinne are bolde, Ensue ye wisdome, and leaue your lewde intent, Wisdome is the way of men most excellent : Therfore haue done, and shortly spede your pace, To quaynt your self and company with grace.. Learne what is vertue, therin is great solace, Learne what is truth, sadnes and prudence, doubtles, Whiche man endueth with honour speciall, But suche heartes as slepe in foolishnes Knoweth nothing, and will nought know at all: But in this little barge in principall All foolish mockers I purpose to repreue, Clawe he his backe that feeleth itch or greue. Mockers and scorners that are harde of beieue, With a rough comb here will I clawe and grate, To proue if they will from their vice remoue, And leave their folly, which causeth great debate: Suche caytiues spare neyther poore man nor estate, And where their selfe are most worthy derision, Other men to scorne is all their most condition. The Lenuoy of Barclay to the fooles. eth muche our deintie eares, with muché swete melodie, and causeth vs to allowe the matter rather for the reporters sake, Ye mocking fooles that in scorne set your then the reporter for the matters sake. joy, stocke. Demosthenes therfore, that famouse oratour, beyng asked what was the chiefest point in al oratorie, gaue the chiefe and onely praise to Pronunciation; being demaunded, what was the seconde, and the thirde he still made answere, Pronunciation, and would make none other So shall ye caytifs at the conclusion, mocke. About the year 1553 wrote Dr. Wilson, a man celebrated for the politeness of his style, and the extent of his knowledge: what was the state of our language in his time, the following may be of use to show. PRonunciation is an apte orderinge bothe of the voyce, countenaunce, and all the whole bodye, accordynge to the worthines of suche woordes and mater as by speache are declared. The vse hereof is suche for anye one that liketh to haue prayse for tellynge his tale in open assemblie, that hauing a good tongue, and a comelye countenaunce, he shal be thought to passe all other that haue the like vtteraunce: thoughe they haue muche better learning. The tongue geueth a certayne grace to euerye matter, and beautifieth the cause in like maner, as a swete soundynge lute muche setteth forthe a meane deuised ballade. Or as the sounde of a good instrumente styrreth the hearers, and moueth much delite, so a cleare soundyng voice comfort hereby that arte without vtteraunce can dooe nothyng, vtteraunce without arte can dooe right muche. And no doubte that man is in outwarde appearaunce halfe a good clarke, that hath a cleane tongue, and a comely gesture of his body. Æschines lykwyse beyng bannished his countrie through Demosthenes, when he had redde to the Rhodians his own oration, and Demosthenes aunswere there unto, by force whereof he was bannished, and all they marueiled muche at the excellencie of the same: then (qd Æschines) you would have marueiled muche more if you had heard hymselfe speak it. Thus beyng cast in miserie and bannished for euer, he could not but geue suche greate reporte of his deadly and mortal ennemy. Thus have I deduced the English language from the age of Alfred to that of Elisabeth; in some parts imperfectly for want of materials; but I hope, at least, in such a manner that its progress may be easily traced, and the gradations observed, by which it advanced from its first rudeness to its present elegance. 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- 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 |