pronunciation. Some of our English etymologists have adopted the same method in their dictionaries, by placing an accent over, or next to the vowel which governs the sound and pronunciation of a word; but as authors differ in this point, it will be difficult to accomplish their design, unless they can first agree to uniformity in accenting, and afterwards find out an expedient to establish their joint conclusion. The French have done this most effectually, by accenting the Latin in their massbooks, as the most proper vehicle to make the pronunciation of the Roman church-language more universal—an instance not unworthy of imitation in other nations. How essentially would such a plan of accenting enhance the beauty and sublimity of the church service, which is too frequently mangled and mutilated by inaccurate and injudicious readers. Among the acuted vowels, the é is the most considerable with the French, by whom it is used and abused according to the fancy of the writer, though it is confined to rules as well as other letters of which the following are the most general:

Where it sounds open and clear, at the end of words, as in bonté, santé, pieté.

Where it sounds sharp, and the voice is to be raised, as in prédecesseur, prédestinė.

In adjectives or participles of the feminine gender, which end in two e's, as une maison bien reglée. In preterits of the first conjugation, as, j' ai pensé, j'ai aimé, j'ai desiré.

Where it takes off the sound of the s after it, as in échevin, écaille, écarter, témoigner, instead of writing eschevin, escaille, escarter, tesmoigner; which is become obsolete.

Thus we find, that besides the e, acuted letters are of no use in French orthography; and none of

them in the English, save that the acuted í ó ú, may, upon occasion, serve in etymological dictionaries among small capitals, and save kerning them; which, however, cannot be done to A and E. Those must be kerned, or otherwise cut and cast, with an accent over them, on purpose, unless it is thought passable to place the accent at the side of a vowel; in which case the former ought to be very thin, especially if small capitals are cast to bear off each other.

VOWELS MARKED WITH A GRAVE.

THE a marked with a grave is used in several other languages besides the Latin and French, though we shall confine ourselves to these two, as being the principal languages which prove benefi cial to our English presses. The a with a grave is used, in Latin,

When it stands for a word by itself, as à patre, à matre.

In adverbs, to distinguish them from adjectives, or prepositions of the same termination, as infrà, suprà, adverbs-infra, supra, prepositions.

è has a grave when it stands for a word by itself, as redit è schola.

è, ò, ù, have a grave to distinguish adverbs and conjunctions from adjectives and prepositions of the same termination, as doctè, meritò, adversùs, secundùm, adverbs-docte, merito, adversus, secundus, secunda, secundum, adjectives-verò, conjunction; vero adjective.

In French,

a has a grave in là, when it is an adverb, as il est logè là. But la has no grave when it denotes the article of the feminine gender; as la femme, la sœur.

a has a grave when it is a particle before the dative case, as j' donné à lui, il a dit à lui.

Also, when it stands before the infinitive mood, as facile à faire, propre à manger.

Likewise, when it stands before the names of places, as il est allé à Paris, il s'en va à Lyons. a has a grave in the word voilà.

But a has no grave where it comes after a y, as il y a un Dieu, il y a des hommes sçavans.

Neither has a a grave when it makes a word of itself, but at the same time derives from the verb avoir, to have; as il a bon tems à se promener, where the first a is not accented, because it derives from avoir; whereas the other a has a grave, because it stands before the infinitive mood.

The e has a grave in words whose last syllable has an open and sharp sound, as in excès, procès, succès, exprès, and the preposition dès, to distinguish it from des, which denotes the genitive of the plural number. But some put an acute in the above words, instead of a grave, and allow either to be right.

u has a grave in the word ou, where it means where, as où étes vous?

But u has no grave when it stands for or, as souhaitez vous de boire du vin ou de la bière?

Neither has u a grave, when it stands for either, as je partira ou pour Paris ou pour Dieppe-I shall go either to Paris or to Dieppe.

In English, e is marked with a grave in poetry, to prevent its being taken for the e feminine, which, not being sounded, would shorten the measure of the verse, were the e not marked to be pronounced; as in these lines, viz.

Citharon, Dindyme, in ashes mourn,

And Mycale, and proud Olympus, shine.
Boeotia for her Dircè seeks in vain.

VOWELS MARKED WITH A CIRCUMFLEX. THE circumflexed vowels are used in the French more than in the Latin language.

In Latin,

á and û are chiefly made use of.

a is circumflexed where it distinguishes the ablative from the nominative case, of the first declension, as nominative musa, ablative musâ, unles a preposition stands before it; which shews the case without any other sign or distinction.

Also, where the preterperfect of the first conjugation is contracted, as amâsti for amavisti.

In French,

a is circumflexed where it retrenches the s after it, as château, châtiment, instead of formerly writing chasteau, chastiment.

e, i, o, u, are circumflexed where they have an s after them, which they shew to be cut off, by assuming a circumflex; as does

é in féte, Evêque, être, êtes, and many others.
i in maitre, epitre, connoître, &c.

ó in Apôtre, côte, vôtre, &c.

ú in brûler, coûtume, coûteau, soûtenir, &c.

But s maintains its place in pasteur, gestes, distribuer, posterité; and in all other words where the s after a vowel sounds clear and open; and where retrenching it would occasion a vitiated pronunciation.

VOWELS MARKED WITH A DIERESIS.

THE Vowels which are marked with two dots, or a diæresis, over them, are properly but three, ë, ï, ü, though ä and ö ought not to be omitted in casting. Their use is, to separate one vowel from another, and to prevent their being taken for diphthongs; but the rules for placing the diaresis being as unsettled as many others relating to accented letters, we will not

presume to fix upon any, but recommend it to authors to mark them in their copy, according to their own, or their favourite grammarian's fancy, since it is not required of a compositor to concern himself about matters that are in dispute among pedagogues. In the mean time, particular care ought to be taken in poetical works not to omit putting the diæresis where the dividing of two vowels makes two different syllables; otherwise, two vowels together may be taken for a diphthong, and make the verse fall short of its measure, as might have happened to the lines underneath, had no diæresis been used to prevent it, viz.

The swans that in Cayster's waters burn.
In flames Caïcus, Peneus, Alpheus, roll'd.
The Tanaïs smokes amid his boiling wave.

SHORTS AND LONGS.

SHORTS, as well as longs, are invented to shew the accent, sound, and quantity of syllables. They are chiefly used in classical dictionaries, and in scanning of Latin verses, after their syllables have been brought into feet, and marked with shorts and longs according to the measure of the verse. Thus, an adonic verse has two feet, an hexameter six, a pentameter five feet; which consist either of two or three syllables. Two syllables, both long, are called a spondee; a foot, whose first syllable is long and the last short, is a trochæus; and three syllables, viz. the first long and the other two short, is a dactyle.

THE FRENCH C, SPANISH ñ, AND WELSH W AND ŷ. THE c à la queue, or c with a tail, is a French sort, and sounds like ss, when it stands before a, o, u, as in ça, garçon; whereas a common c, before the same vowels, is pronounced like a k. To make a tail to a capital C, the figure 5, of a small size, with