INTRODUCTION.

It is proposed, in this portion of our work, to set forth more fully some of the arguments alluded to in the preface, by which the propriety of our system of pronunciation is supported, as well as to explain the particular method in which this system has been carried out, in the dictionary before us.

I. It has already been intimated, that not only the present practice of the best speakers, but the usage of our more distinguished poets, is clearly in favour of the system which we have chosen. If any might be allowed to pronounce foreign names without regard to the peculiar sounds of the letters, or to the accents, which prevail in other countries, this privilege might surely be claimed by the poets, who, in the use even of English words, are considered to enjoy a special license. It is very evident, however,-as every one who will take the trouble to examine the works of the better class of them, must admit-that, as a body, they have neither claimed nor used this privilege. On the contrary, our more distinguished poets have usually exhibited a classical—we might almost say a punctilious-accuracy, in the employment of foreign names, whether of places or persons. To illustrate by examples,—GRANADA,* and GENOA,† are pronounced by all the great poets

"In Lithuania had he served and Russe;
No Christian man so oft of his degree.
At Algezi'ras, in GRANADA, he

Had joined the siege ;- "-CHAUCER.

"The Moorish king rides up and down
Through GRANADA's royal town"-

"And GRANADA must be won

And thyself with her undone."-BYRON.

"GRANADA caught it in her Moorish hall,

Galicia bade her children fight or fall."-SCOTT.

"There was crying in GRANADA when the sun was going down,”-
"Farewell, farewell, GRANADA, thou city without peer."-LOCKHART.

+"Signior Baptista may remember me

Near twenty years ago, in GENOA, where
We were lodgers at the Pegasus."—SHAKSPEARE.

who use these names, from CHAUCER and SHAKSPEARE down to the present time, with the native accentuation; that is, GRANADA has the accent on the penultima, and GENOA on the antepenultima, though the generality of English-or at least of American-speakers, who have not heard these names pronounced, but merely follow analogy, or their own notions of propriety, reverse the accentuation, making GRANADA rhyme with Canada, and GENOA with boa.

No poet, perhaps, employs foreign names so frequently as BYRON, and yet-though he often writes very carelessly—it would be difficult, in all the poetry he has written, to point out half a dozen instances where he has not conformed to the foreign accentuation, excepting, always, those few well known names which have acquired an established English pronunciation, and in these cases he appears invariably to adopt the pronunciation of the best English speakers. The same may be said of SCOTT; though he writes with great freedom, he rarely, if ever, violates the strictest rules of geographical pronunciation. In the poetry of ROGERS, SOUTHEY, MOORE, CAMPBELL, and MONTGOMERY, we have met with scarcely a solitary example of departure from the native accentuation of names, which does not properly come within the exception above stated. WORDSWORTH takes the liberty of changing the accent in a single instance— CHAMOUNY-but acknowledges the authority of the law by apologizing in a note for its violation, (see Descriptive Sketches of a Tour among the Alps.) What has already been said respecting the usage of the poets, refers principally to accentuation, which, for the most part, can be readily determined by the metre of the poetry. Their manner of pronouncing the letters of a foreign name, is far less easily ascertained, since it can only be known when the name ends a line in rhyme, and even then it is often extremely uncertain, as they appear to consider themselves entitled, in such cases, to much greater license than in the accentuation of words. Thus we often see associated in rhyme, words which correspond but very imperfectly in sound, as

"Were GENOA's galleys riding in the port,— "- BYRON.

"How quick they carved their victims and how well,

Let Saxony, let injured GENOA tell."-MOORE.

"That noble haven, where, when GENOA reigned,
A hundred galleys sheltered- "-ROGERS.

"My native GENOA, if with tearless eye

Prone in the dust thy beauteous form I see,"-MONTGOMERY.

enemy and lie, mourn and burn, &c. Nevertheless, by comparing a number of examples, and especially by observing the usage of those poets who are most remarkable for the correctness of their rhymes, we shall frequently be enabled to ascertain the true pronunciation of a word or name.

Now it will be found that the system which we have adopted, is supported by the practice of the poets in this respect also. In other words it will be found, that while foreign names that are in familiar use in our own language, have an English pronunciation, those not very well known are generally pronounced with the native sound of the letters, as will be seen from the following passages:

"Not now to while an hour away,
Gone to the falls in Valombre',"

""Tis Jacqueline! 'tis Jacqueline,"
Her little brother laughing cried,
"I know her by her kirtle green,

She comes along the mountain side."

"De Courcy, lord of Argentiere!

Thy thirst for vengeance sought the snare."-ROGERS

"Winding between Alpine trees; Spiry and dark around their house of prayer,

Below the icy bed of bright Argentiere."-WORDSWORTH.

"Sure there never was hero so civil-he
Saw us safe home to our door in Rue Rivoli.”—MOORE.

"And though to-morrow's tempest lower,

"Tis calmer than thy heart, young Giaour."

"This circumstance may serve to give a notion
Of the high talents of this new Vauban,*

But the town ditch below was deep as ocean,

The rampart higher than you'd wish to hang."-BYRON

"For many an age remembered long

Shall live the towers of Hougomont,*

And fields of Waterloo."-SCOTT.

It would be easy to cite a multitude of such examples: but these will perhaps be sufficient to illustrate our position.

In these names the letter n is similar in sound to ng. The t at the end of Hougomont is silent. The rhymes, however, are not quite perfect; the o in the last syllable of Hougomont should be sounded like o in won't. The latter syllable of Vauban sounds like bong.-Vauban was a noted French military engineer, who flourished in the reign of Louis XIV.

On the other hand we shall find the poets pronounce foreign names of some celebrity, such as NILE, Paris, Lyons, Cadiz, PoitieRS or POICTIERS, &c., with the English sound of the letters, as may be seen from these and similar examples:

"Deep in those solitary woods

Where oft the genii of the floods,
Dance round the cradle of their Nile

And hail the new-born Giant's smile."—MOORE.

"Oh never talk again to me

Of northern climes and British ladies;
It has not been your lot to see

Like me, the lovely girl of Cadiz."-BYRON.

"And Courtenay's pride and Percy's fame-
Blazed broader yet in after years

At Cressy red and fell Poitiers."-SCOTT.

"So the shaft

Of victory mounts high and blood is quaffed

In fields that rival Cressy and Poictiers

Pride to be washed away by bitter tears."-WORDSWORTH.

II. Instead of saying that the poets conform to the native accentuation of proper names, except in cases when these are well known, we might, perhaps, with more propriety say, that they merely follow the practice of the best speakers, of which their own may generally be regarded as the written representation. With this view of the subject, we have occasionally cited in the body of our work, passages from the poets in support of the pronunciation there given. These citations, for the most part, are not intended to be decisive of any doubtful question, but rather to illustrate and confirm what is believed, on other grounds, to be the correct pronunciation. The supreme tribunal to which we would on all occasions appeal, is the authority of the best speakers* in England and this country. To the former we generally give the preference when the question relates to names belonging to the old continent to the latter when it relates to those of America. But since it is impossible to produce oral evidence in a book, we have availed ourselves of the authority of the poets, as the only one at our

By this phrase, we do not mean those who, from their superior knowledge and judgment on general subjects, may be presumed to be qualified to decide questions of orthoepy. In order to deserve a place among the best speakers, it is not enough that one should have what is commonly termed a good education and good sense, he must have paid particular attention to the subject of pronunciation, unless he has been surrounded during the whole period of his education with none but correct speakers, which is seldom or never the case, at least in this country

command, to prove or illustrate what we have, in all cases, studiously endeavoured to learn by actual hearing, from those who are considered best qualified to determine questions of orthoepy.

III. It may be further observed, that all those works (so far as we are acquainted) which attempt to give the pronunciation of geographical names, show at least a tendency towards the system that we have adopted. The Penny Cyclopædia, which gives the accentuation of a considerable number of proper names, appears always to follow the native mode. In the list of geographical names appended to WORCESTER'S "Comprehensive Pronouncing and Explanatory DictionaryBoston, 1841"-which is certainly one of the most creditable and successful attempts towards supplying the deficiency in this important department of orthoepy that has ever been made—the native pronunciation of names not extensively and familiarly known, is almost invariably given. STEWART'S "Compendium of Modern Geography-seventh edition-Edinburgh, 1843," gives the pronunciation of the principal geographical names on the globe, and though the work contains many errors, it is evident that it aims generally to conform to the native accentuation of the names of other countries, and frequently to the native sound of the letters. Several other works, of less importance, exhibit the same general tendency.

IV. There is one difficulty in carrying out the system of geographical pronunciation adopted by us, which it may be proper to notice here, viz: that of drawing the line between foreign names which are, and those which are not, well known. With respect to the more obvious in each division there cannot be the slightest hesitation; but the two classes meet and pass into each other by imperceptible gradations, so that sometimes the question whether they should be pronounced according to the foreign, or the English mode, can only be settled by arbitrary decision. In these doubtful instances, we have spared no pains in order to ascertain the prevailing practice of the best speakers, as well as the usage of the poets: when these have been found unsatisfactory, nothing has remained for us but to decide according to the best of our ability. We have, in these cases, usually given both the pronunciations, placing that first, which, in our judgment, is to be preferred.

*This remark is intended to apply to the pronunciation only. In other respects, this "Compendium" appears to be an accurate and highly valuable little work.