some means acquired it. Change from a to 'a':-æcern acorn (according to a rare pronunciation), æfter after, æsc ash, ælmesse alms, æx axe, bæð bath, dræg net drag-net, fæt fat or vat, fæder father, fæþm fathom, fæst fast, glæs glass, gærs grass, gnæt gnat, hæfde had, hlædder ladder, lætta lattice, mæddre madder, mæst mast, rædic radish, ræfter rafter, tæppere tapster.

Other words with a have acquired the character but not the sound of 'a' central:-æcern acorn (according to the common pronunciation), bæcere baker, blæd blade, hæsel hazel, hwæl whale, smæl small, wæter water, wæsp wasp.

There are many instances in which ea became ‘a' or a : as, beag badge, ceaf chaff, fealu fallow, fleax flax, gealla gall, geard yard, heall hall, heard hard, hearp harp, pearruc park, sealt salt, sceaft shaft, scearp sharp, steal stall, weal wall, wearp warp. This was for the most part a reversion to the older form.

Miscellaneous examples of the present use of 'a' where the Saxon had some inferior vowel are-breml bramble, steorra star, steort start, as in red-start and Start Point.

113. In the transition period the Saxon character a was dropped, and a was often written in its place. Sometimes this gives an appearance of the recovery of 'a,' which is not real; because under the guise of a it is the Saxon & that is heard. Thus the Mosogothic akr is the archaic Saxon acer, the classic Saxon acer, and the English acre: but the pronunciation of the two latter is substantially identical. There is, however, a considerable number of cases of the undoubted recovery in English of an 'a' that in classic Saxon had fallen into an inferior sound. The following are instances of words which had possessed this sound, in the earlier Saxon period, had lost it in the classic

stage, and recovered it again in the transition to modern

114. The same may be shewn of some other weakenings of 'a,' which occurred in the literary Saxon period, and were corrected in English:

If in one or two of these latter instances the sound of the English vowel is not 'a,' but rather au, it still indicates more or less a return towards the original and too often supplanted 'a.' As far then as regards the incidence of this chief of vowel-sounds, there was a great redistribution, and while some words lost it, others acquired or recovered the 'a' vowel.

If from the Saxon words we now turn to those of French and Latin origin, we soon perceive that the Romanesque contact was favourable to the restoration of this vowel to something like a proportionate place among the vowelsounds. It is not necessary to transcribe examples: the student can easily furnish himself with them by the help of the list at 75.

115. When we attribute to any word the possession of a true 'a,' we mean that if the word be adequately pronounced, that sound is heard. In average conversation or reading

this vowel is too often slurred or squeezed up between the consonants. Indeed, it is a great fault in our utterance that our vowels are so skipped, till our whole speech seems to the foreign ear what Welsh looks to the foreign eye- -a mass of consonants. Our language might be improved, if it were made an aim in education that boys should not only articulate the consonants, but also give due expression to the vowels. If men have not time to say their words any more fully than is absolutely necessary for the transaction of business, we may at least hope that boys have and as the importance of musical instruction is now appreciated, the moment seems favourable for winning attention to the culture of our vowel-pronunciation.

I.

116. The statement is advanced with some diffidence, and commended to further observation; but it seems to me that the vowels are not always most satisfactorily uttered by those who have had the benefit of a careful education. When I seek a standard of pronunciation for any particular vowel, it seems to present itself to me in some specimen of rustic diction. This is the case as regards the 'I.' While there are many words in cultured English that have the true 'i,' there are not many that strike the ear as models of that incisive sound. But if it ever happened to any reader to be standing by when two boys ran a race in Devonshire, he may have heard their several favourers encouraging them to 'rinn' in so clear a note that the vowel might thenceforward live in his ear as a sample of the true 'i.' 'Rinn, Jack! rinn, Joe! rinn, rinn, rinn!’

117. Words in which Saxon 'i' is fully retained :— -biddan bid, cicen chicken, cin chin, disc dish, fill, finc finch, finger, fifta fifth, fiftig fifty, flint, gift, begin, grist, hit it, hricg ridge,

hring ring, king, lifer liver, litel little, micg midge, mid, midl middle, mist, ribb rib, sicol sickle, scip ship, sið sith, smith, spin, spit, stirap stirrup, swift, pistl thistle, thing, wincian wink, wind, winter.

Words in which the character is retained but with the sound altered to igh or eye-blind, bridle, briht bright, cild child, dicere diker, fif five, grind, hid hide (skin), hind (cerva), hrind rind, ive ivy, lif life, liht light, lim lime, miht might, mil mile, min mine, niht night, riht right, ridan ride, scir shire, scric shrike, scrin shrine, swin swine, þin thine, wif wife, wiht wight, wild, wis wise (adj.), wise (subst.), win wine.

In is gicel icicle, the first i is altered, the second has remained true.

The Saxon 'i' has sometimes turned to ee or ie; as flis fleece, slife sleeve, scir sheer, sife sieve.

The instances in which we have acquired 'i' in the stead of some less characteristic vocalism are few:-seolc silk, weoce wick of candle, spreot sprit (bowsprit), meolc milk.

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U.

118. The 'U' is best pronounced in the rustic speech of the north of England. The northerners are weak in the 'i,' which is apt to run into a dull u, as hull for hill: and in the 'a' also―man is apt to sound in North Britain as mon or But their 'u' is often perfect; and when I travel northward, I consider myself to be then among people of the northern tongue, when I hear the frequent exhortation 'Cum, cum!' uttered with such a genuine 'u' that he who has once heard and heeded it, will not stand to ask what was the ancient pronunciation of the verb cuman.

This letter now represents the long 'u' sound in very few words: bull, bush, full, pull, push, puss. The word put has this vocalism in some mouths, and the word punish had

rather than has; for we may regard the pronunciation 'poonish' as now obsolete.

119. The following words have preserved the Saxon u short-bucca buck, butan but, dust, furh furrow, hunt, hundred, hunter, iung young, nut, must (in brewing), nunne nun, sunder, sunne sun, sumor summer, tunne tun, turf, tusk, þuma thumb, under, up.

In the following the u long has changed to ou, or ow:clut clout, cusloppe cowslip, cu cow, cuð couth, grundeswelge groundsel, hu how, hund hound, hus house, husel housel, lus louse, mus mouse, mud mouth, pund pound, scrûd shroud, tûn town, purh through, pusend thousand, ule owl, ut out.

Sometimes the Saxon 'u' became o, but the elder sound is still heard in many of the instances:-hunig honey, munuc monk, sum some, sunu son, tunge tongue, wulf wolf, wurm worm, wurd worth. It has been questioned what is the relation of this to the 'u':-I am disposed to think that these have the true 'u' sound though short. Where 'u' is now written oo the long vowel is well kept, as, wudu wood, wul wool.

The elongation of this vowel has in a few instances produced a disyllabic word out of an old monosyllable; as, bur bower, scur shower; to which we might add, if pronunciation only were considered, sur sour.

Of the instances in which we have acquired a u in place of some other vowel, the most noticeable is where it has taken the place of an old 'i':—irnan run, risc rush (juncus).

120. When in philology we call these three the elementary vowels, we do not imply that they are the 'original' vowels, or that languages which exhibit these three with the purest and best defined expression, are therefore in the most primitive condition. In like manner, when we bestow the name of 'primary' upon the three prismatic colours, the