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We never know the true value uv time 'till we are deprived ov it.

The same observations hold good with respect to the words from, by, for, and every word that in certain positions may admit of a less distinct and emphatical sound: for we may allowably pronounce from as if written frum in the sentence, I delivered him FROM the danger he was in; but we must always pronounce it nearly as if written fraum in such sentences as the following: I came FROM him; I delivered him FROM it.

The word by is liable also to a double sound in different situations; that is, sometimes like the verb be, and sometimes like buy. Thus we may say either, He died by (be) his own hands: or, He died by (buy) his own hands: but we must necessarily pronounce it (buy) when it comes before the word it, him, or any similar word at the end of a sentence; as whatever was the weapon, he died by (buy) it.

In the same manner we may say, I wrote to a friend for (fur) his advice: but we must invariably say, He would not give me his advice though I wrote for (faur) it. In these instances we plainly perceive that there is something left to taste, and something established by custom. But notwithstanding the little hold we have of these fleeting sounds, that convey to us these less important parts of a sentence, we have still sufficient perception of them for establishing this general rule. When these signs of cases, of, from, by, for, are in the middle of a sentence, they are sometimes liable to a double sound; but when at the end of a sentence, or members of a sentence, and succeeded by it, him, her, or them,

they are invariably pronounced as when heard singly of, from, by, for, &c.

How to pronounce the Possessive Pronoun THY.

FROM what has been already observed of the pronoun my, we are naturally led to suppose, that the word thy, when not emphatical, ought to follow the same analogy, and be pronounced like the, as we frequently hear it on the stage: but if we reflect that reading or reciting is a perfect picture of speaking, we shall be induced to think that in this particular the stage is sometimes wrong. The second personal pronoun thy is not like my, the common language of every subject; it is used only where the subject is either raised above common life, or sunk below it into the mean and familiar. When the subject is elevated above common life, it adopts a language suitable to such an elevation, and the pronunciation of this language ought to be as far removed from the familiar as the language itself. Thus, in prayer, pronouncing thy like the, even when unemphatical, would be intolerable while suffering thy, when unemphatical, to slide into the in the pronunciation of slight and familiar composition, seems to lower the sound to the language, and form a proper distinction between different subjects. If therefore it should be asked, why, in reciting epic or tragic composition, we ought always to pronounce thy rhyming with high, while my, when unemphatical, sinks into the sound of me, it may be answered, because my is the common language of every subject, while thy is confined to subjects either elevated above common life, or

sunk below it into the endearing and familiar. When, therefore, the language is elevated, the uncommonness of the word thy, and its full sound rhyming with high, is suitable to the dignity of the subject: but the slender sound like the gives it a familiarity, only suitable to the language of endearment or negligence, and for this very reason is unfit for the dignity of epic or tragic composition. Thus in the following pas sage from Milton:

Say first, for heav'n hides nothing from thy view,
Nor the deep tract of hell

Parad. Lost, b. 1.

O thou, that, with surpassing glory crown'd,
Look'st from thy sole dominion, like the God
Of this new world; at whose sight, all the stars
Hide their diminish'd heads; to thee I call,
But with no friendly voice, and add thy name,
O sun, to tell thee how I hate thy beams.

Parad. Lost, b. 4.

Here pronouncing the pronoun thy, like the word the, would familiarise and debase the language to prose. The same may be observed of the following passage from the Tragedy of Cato: Now, Cæsar, let thy troops beset our gates, And bar each avenue; thy gathering fleets O'erspread the sea, and stop up ev'ry port ; Cato shall open to himself a passage, And mock thy hopes.

Here the impropriety of pronouning thy like the is palpable: nor would it be much more excusable in the following speech of Portius, in the first scene of the same tragedy.

Thou seest not that thy brother is thy rival;
But I must hide it, for I know thy temper.
Now, Marcus, now thy virtue's on the proof;
D

Put forth thy utmost strength, work ev'ry nerve,

And call

up all thy father in thy soul.

As this pronoun is generally pronounced on the stage, it would be difficult for the ear to distinguish whether the words are

Thou know'st not that thy brother is thy rival-or
Thou know'st not that the brother is the rival, &c.

and this may be one reason why the slender pronunciation of thy should be avoided as much as possible.

Perhaps it will be urged, that though these passages require thy to be pronounced so as to rhyme with high, there are other instances in tragedy where the subject is low and familiar, which would be more suitably pronounced by sounding thy like the: to which it may be answered, when Tragedy lowers her voice, and descends into the mean and familiar, as is frequently the case in the tragedies of Shakspeare, the slender pronunciation of thy may be adopted, because, though the piece may have the name of a tragedy, the scene may be really comedy. The only rule, therefore, that can be given, is a very indefinite one; namely, that thy ought always to be pronounced so as to rhyme with high when the subject is raised and the personage dignified: but when the subject is familiar, and the person we address without dignity or importance, if thy be the personal pronoun made use of, it ought to be pronounced like the: Thus, if, in a familiar way, we say to a friend, Give me thy hand, we never hear the pronoun thy sounded so as rhyme with high: and it is always pronounced like the when speaking to a child; we say, Mind thy book,

Hold up thy head, or, Take off thy hat. The phraseology we call thee and thouing is not in so common use with us as the tutoyant among the French; but as the second personal pronoun thou, and its possessive thy is indispensable in composition, it seems of some importance to pronounce them properly.

How to pronounce the Adjective Possessive Pronoun MINE.

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I CALL this word an adjective possessive when it is used before a substantive, as it constantly is in Scripture when the substantive begins with a vowel; as, " Mine eyes have seen thy salvation:" and a substantive possessive when it stands alone, as, "This book is "mine." In reading the Scripture we are at no loss about the pronunciation of this word, as the dignity and solemnity of the composition invariably directs us to give the i its long sound, as in the substantive; but in Milton, and other composition, where there is no such dignity or solemnity, this pronunciation of the word has an intolerable stiffness, and ought not to be used. Thus, in the Spectator, No 195, Mr. Addison says, "Were I to prescribe a rule for drinking, it should be formed upon a saying quoted by Sir William Temple ;-The first glass for myself, the second for my friends, "the third for good humour, and the fourth for "mine enemies." In Milton too,

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Methought,

Close at mine ear, one call'd me forth to walk.

In Shakspeare also ;

Parad. Lost.

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