[71] This sound of u, foreigners will nearly obtain, by attempting to pronounce the dipthong iu; that is, the narrow i before u or w; (as in the Spanish word ciudad, a city.) Yet the sound (of u) is not exactly the same, altho it approaches very near to it; for the sound of iu is compound; whereas the u of the English and French is a simple sound.
[72] Lowth condemns such a phrase as, "the introducing an e" and says it should be, "the introducing of an e." This is but one instance of a great number, in which he has rejected good English. In this situation, introducing is a participial noun; it may take an article before it, like any other noun, and yet govern an objective, like any transitive verb. This is the idiom of the language: but in most cases, the writer may use or omit of, at pleasure.
[73] I must except that reason, which is always an invincible argument with weak people, viz. "It is the practice of some great men." This common argument, which is unanswerable, will also prove the propriety of imitating all the polite and detestable vices of the great, which are now unknown to the little vulgar of this country.
[74] Ash observes, that "in unaccented, short and insignificant syllables, the sounds of the five vowels are nearly coincident. It must be a nice ear that can distinguish the difference of sound in the concluding syllable of the following words, altar, alter, manor, murmur, satyr."——Gram. Diff. pref. to Dic. p. 1.
[75] For my part I cannot discover the euphony; and tho the contrary mode be reprobated, as vulgar, by certain mighty fine speakers, I think it more conformable to the general scheme of English pronunciation; for tho in order to make the word but two syllables, ti and te may be required to be converted into ch, or the i and e into y, when the preceding syllable is marked with the accute accent as in question, minion, courteous, and the like; there seems to be little reason, when the grave accent precedes the t, as in nature, creature, for converting the t into ch; and not much more for joining the t to the first syllable and introducing the y before the second, as nat-yure. Why the t when followed by neither i nor e, is to take the form of ch, I cannot conceive: It is, in my opinion, a species of affectation that should be discountenanced.—— Kenrick Rhet. Gram. page 32. Dic.
[76] Well might Mr. Sheridan assert, that "Such indeed is the state of our written language, that the darkest hieroglyphics, or most difficult cyphers which the art of man has hitherto invented, were not better calculated to conceal the sentiments of those who used them, from all who had not the key, than the state of our spelling is to conceal the true pronunciation of our words, from all, except a few well educated natives." Rhet. Gram. p. 22. Dic. But if these well educated natives would pronounce words as they ought, one half the language at least would be regular. The Latin derivatives are mostly regular to the educated and uneducated of America; and it is to be hoped that the modern hieroglyphical obscurity will forever be confined to a few well educated natives in Great Britain.
[77] "Quem penes arbitrium est, et jus et norma loquendi." Horace.——"Nothing," says Kenrick, "has contributed more to the adulteration of living languages, than the too extensive acceptation of Horace's rule in favor of custom. Custom is undoubtedly the rule of present practice; but there would be no end in following the variations daily introduced by caprice. Alterations may sometimes be useful—may be necessary; but they should be made in a manner conformable to the genius and construction of the language. Modus est in rebus. Extremes in this, as in all other cases, are hurtful. We ought by no means to shut the door against the improvements of our language; but it were well that some criterion were established to distinguish between improvement and innovation."——Rhet. Gram. page 6, Dict.
[78] See a learned "Dissertation on the influence of opinions on language and of language on opinions, which gained the prize of the Prussian Royal Academy in 1759. By Mr. Michaelis, court councellor to his Britannic Majesty, and director of the Royal Society of Gottingen."
The vulgar thus by imitation err,
As oft the learn'd by being singular.
So much they scorn the croud, that if the throng,
By chance go right, they purposely go wrong.