ng, That may me hele or don comfort in this. Chau. The Knightes Tale. NASALS AND LIQUIDS. The subjects of the present section are the nasals m, n, and the liquids and r. Of these letters two, namely, n and, occasionally form consonantal syllables; the remaining three cannot form a syllable without a vowel. The following are instances of the vowel having been dropt and the syllable lost. But always wept, and wailed night and day As blasted blosm | thro heat: doth lan guish and | decay]. Amongst them all grows not a fairer flower F. Q. 4. 8. 2. F. Q. 6. 4. The short vowel was sometimes elided before the m, even when the consonant was found in another syllable. Hewn out of ad amant rock with engines keen. : F. Q. 1. 7. 33. As if in adamant rock | it had | been pight|. F. Q. 1. 11. 25. Legitimate Edgar: I must have | your land]. L. 1. 2. Far be the thought of this from Henry's heart, They were a feare un to the en myes* eye.| : 3 H 6, 1. 1. Churchyard. Siege of Leith. -- I profess Myself an enemy: to | all other joy]. Lear, 4. 4. * This author always makes enemy a dissyllable, and spells it as in the text. So spake the enemy of mankind, enclos'd] In serpent. : And next to him malicious Envy rode Upon a rav'nous wolf, and still did chaw Between his cank|red teeth a venomous toad. These things did sting His mind so venomously Detains him. P. L. 9. F. Q. 1. 4. 30. And what have kings that privates have not too, : Henry 5, 4. 1. On the other hand we now always drop the penultimate e of French words in ment, which once formed an independent syllable. Thus by on assent We ben | accorded: to | his jug|ement|. Chau. Prol. And who that woll: my jugement | withsay, The wretched woman whom unhappy hour Hath now made thrall to your | command ement|. : F. Q. 1. 2. 22. The word regiment is now also generally made a dissyllable, though we occasionally hear it pronounced with three syllables, as in the verses, The regiment was willing and advanc'd]. Fletcher. oadicea, 2. 4. lies half a mile | at least] The regiment R 3, 5.3. M, we have said, cannot form a syllable without a vowel. This rule holds both as regards our spelling and our pronunciation; but one or two centuries ago the termination sm was often pronounced som, as it is among the vulgar to this day. Great Solomon sings in the English quire, And is become a new-found sonnetist, Singing his love, the holy spouse of Christ, Like as she were some light-skirts of the East, In mightiest ink hornis ms: he can thither wrest. All this by syllogism true In mood and figure he would do. Hall. Sat. 1. 8. Butler's Hudibras. Burns' Letter to John Goudie. These words should have been written as pronounced, inkhornisom, syllogisom, &c. N is one of the two letters, which form consonantal syllables. It is difficult to say when it first obtained this privilege, but it could hardly have been so early as the reign of Elizabeth. In that reign, Gabriel Harvey objected to Spenser's use of heaven, seven, &c. as dissyllables, the same not being "authorized by the ordinarie use and custom." He would have them written and spoken "as monosyllaba, thus, heavn, seavn, &c." I think therefore that heaven, seven, &c. were commonly pronounced then, as now, with only one vowel; and that when Spenser and his contemporaries made them dissyllables, they imitated an obsolete, or rather a provincial dialect, and pronounced them with two vowels. This latter mode of pronunciation has left traces behind it; even yet we may occasionally hear heav-en, sev-en, &c. among the vulgar. There are four terminations into which n enters, an, en, in, on; of these en is now merely consonantal,* as in even; an and on, sound like un, as in Roman, reason; and in retains its proper sound as in griffin. Our poets use en as a syllable whenever it suits their convenience; though, generally speaking, the only difference in the pronunciation is a lengthening of the n. The terminations an, on, and in, are now commonly used as syllables; although Milton and some of his contemporaries elide the vowel, and tack n to the preceding syllable, when their rhythm requires it. Heaven's | is the quar|rel: for | heaven's substitute] R 2, 1. 2. Edward's seven sons]: whereof | thyself | art one,| : Or seven | fair branches: spring|ing from one root]. And Palamon, this woful prisoner, R 2, 1.3. Was risen, and rom ed: in |a chambre | on high| . Seems another morn Chau. The Knightes Tale. Risen | on mid noon: some great | behest | from heaven In any case that migh|te fallen|, or hap|pe. P. L. 5. Chau. Prol. P. L. One of our leading reviews scanned the last verse thus, Fallen cherub, to be weak is miserable. : and Mitford almost laughs at the notion of heav'n and giv'n being pronounced as monosyllables! The following are examples of the termination on, * This is too unqualified; even educated men often pronounce risen, chosen, with two syllables, rizun, chozun, &c. Whom reason hath equall'd: force | hath made | supreme There is sometimes the same elision of the vowel, and the same loss of a syllable, in the middle of a word; And thereto had he ridden no man ferre, As wel in Cristen dom as | in Hethlenes se, Chau. Prol. Though of their names]: in heavenly records now | My curse upon your whinstane hearts, Ye Edinburgh gentry! A tithe o' what ye waste at carts, P. L. 1. Wad stow'd his pantry. Burns. It may be here observed, that the elision of the vowel is generally the first step towards corruption. Ed'nburg was merely introductory to E'enboro'. The short vowels were also very frequently elided before n, when that letter began the following syllable. Un to ourselves: it hap neth oft | among. Drayton. M. for M. Cromwell, 120. My council swaied all, For still the king]: would | for the card nall call]. Drayton. M. for M. Wolsey, 35. They are but blinde that wake when fortune sleeps, Destiny by death |: spoiled fee ble nature's frame. Hall. Elegy on Dr. Whitaker. * Our Editors will not believe that even Milton could write English; and "correct" his fardest, perfet, and other barbarisms of the like kind, without the least hint to the reader. |