nounce the words justice and injuftice as fingle words, I naturally place the accent on the penultimate fyllable of both; but if I contrast them, and say, Neither justice nor injuftice have any thing to do with the prefent queftion; in this fentence I naturally place the accent on the first fyllable of injustice, in order the more forcibly and clearly to distinguish it from juftice. This tranfpofition of the accent, which is fo evidently dictated by the fenfe, extends itself to all words which have a fameness of termination, though they may not be directly oppofite in fenfe; thus, if I wanted more particularly to fhow that I meant one requifite of dramatic story rather than another, I fhould fay, In this Species of compofition, plaufibility is much more efJential than probability; and in the pronunciation of these words, I fhould infallibly tranfpose the accent of both, from the third to the firft fyllables; in order to contrast those parts of the words which are diftinguished from each other by the import of the fentence. As an inftance of the neceffity of attending to this emphatical accent, as it may be called, we need only give a paffage from the Spectator, N° 189:

In this cafe I may use the faying of an eminent wit, who upon fome great men's preffing him to forgive his daughter who had married against his confent, told them he could refuse nothing to their inftances, but that he would have them remember there was a difference between giving and forgiving.

In this example, we find the whole fenfe of the paffage depends on placing the accent on the first fyllable of forgiving, in order to contraft it more strongly with giving, to which it is oppofed; as, without this tranfpofition of ac

cent, the oppofition, on which the fentiment turns, would be loft.

Another inftance will more fully illuftrate the neceffity of attending to this emphatical

accent.

The prince for the public good has a fovereign property in every private perfon's eftate; and, confequently, his riches muft increase or decrease, in proportion to the number and riches of his fubjects. Spectator, No 200.

The words increase and decrease have, in this example, the accent on the firft fyllable of each, as it is there the contraft in the fenfe lies.

What has already been faid of accent, as it relates to the art of reading, is, perhaps, more than fufficient; but fo much has been faid about the nature of this accent, both in the ancient and modern languages, that it may not be improper to offer a few thoughts on the fubject here. Almost all authors, ancient and modern, affert, that the accented fyllable is pronounced in a higher tone than the reft; but Mr. Sheridan infifts that it is not pronounced higher, but louder only.* Whatever may have been the nature of accent in the learned languages, certain it is, that the accented fyllable in our own is always louder than the reft; and if we attend ever fo little to the two kinds of inflexion with which every accented word in a fentence is pronounced, we shall foon fee that the accented

* See this erroneous opinion of Mr. Sheridan clearly refuted in the Observations on the Greek and Latin Accent and Quantity, at the end of the Key to the Claffical Pronunciation of Greek and Latin Proper Names.

fyllable is either higher or lower than the reft, according to the inflexion which it adopts. Thus in this fentence, Plate III. N° İ. p. 186.

Sooner or later virtue must meet with a reward.

Here I say the last fyllable ward has the falling inflexion; and if we pronounce the word without emphafis, and merely as if we were concluding the fubject, this fyllable will be pronounced louder and lower than the fyllable immediately preceding; but if we give emphafis to this fyllable, by oppofing it to fomething elfe, we fhall find it pronounced both higher and louder than the preceding fyllables. Thus in the following fentence, Plate III. N° II.:

Moft certainly virtue will meet with a rewàrd, and not púnishment.

Here the word reward has the fame inflexion as in the former inftance, and the word punishment ends with the rifing inflexion; but the fyllable ward is perceptibly higher as well as louder than the fyllable that precedes it. Again, if we give this word the rifing inflexion, we fhall find, in this cafe, that without emphafis the accented fyllable ward is pronounced both louder and higher than the preceding fyllables. Thus N° III.

If virtue must have a reward, it is our intereft to be virtuous.

These observations compare the accented fyllable with the preceding fyllables only: it will in the next place be neceffary to compare it with those that follow: for which purpose, let us obferve the pronunciation of this fentence, No IV.

We ought to avoid blame, though we cannot be pèrfect. Here, I fay, if we give the word perfect the falling inflexion, and pronounce it with emphafis, we fhall find the firft fyllable very perceptibly higher and louder than the laft; on the contrary, if we give the word perfect the rifing inflexion, we shall find the accented fyllable louder than the laft, though not fo high; for the last fyllable perceptibly flides into a higher tone. Thus N° V.

If we wish to be perfect, we must imitate Christ.

These observations will, perhaps, be ftill better conceived, by watching our pronunciation of a word where the accent is nearly in the middle. Thus in this paffage of Shakespeare :

What earthly name to interrógatories,

Shall tafk the free breath of a facred king? King John. In this paffage, I fay, the fyllable rog has the rifing inflexion, and is pronounced perceptibly louder and higher than the two firft, and louder and lower than the three laft: but if we give this fyllable the falling inflexion, as in this sentence,

He is neither mov'd by intreaties nor interrogatories,

Here, I fay, the fyllable rog, if pronounced with the leaft degree of emphafis, is both louder and higher than either the preceding or fubfequent fyllables.

From these obfervations, this general conclufion may be drawn: Whatever inflexion be adopted, the accented fy'lable is always loud r than the reft; but if the accent be pronounced with the rifing inflexion, the accented fyllable is higher than

the preceding, and lower than the fucceeding Syllable; and if the accent have the falling inflexion, the accented fyllable is pronounced higher than any other fyllable, either preceding or fucceeding. The only exception to this is, the fentence, No I. where the accent is on the last fyllable of a word which has no emphafis, and is pronounced as forming a cadence at the conclufion of a difcourfe.

Sooner or later virtue must meet with a reward.

Here the last fyllable, though pronounced louder than the firft, is evidently pronounced a degree lower.

It may not, perhaps, be improper to take notice of a common ufage of the word accent, which, though feemingly inaccurate, will be found, upon examination, to be a just application of the word. It is the cuftom, not only of England, but of other parts of the world. which are feats of empire, to call thofe modes of pronunciation used in parts distant from the capital, by the name of accents. Thus we say, a native of Ireland fpeaks English with the Irish, and a native of Scotland with the Scotch accent; though both these speakers pronounce every word with the accent on the very fame fyllable as the English. Why then do we fay, they speak with a different accent? One real fon is, that fpeaking founds have never been fufficiently analyfed to enable us to difcover their component parts, which makes us take up with indefinite and unfpecific terms, instead of fuch as are precife and appropriated to their object. This has greatly obfcured the notion of accent, and led Mr. Sheridan to suppose, that accent in our language is no more than a