[52] I am at a loss to determine, why this practice should prevail in Boston and not in Connecticut. The first and principal settlers in Hartford came from the vicinity of Boston. Vast numbers of people in Boston and the neighborhood use _w_ for _v_; yet I never once heard this pronunciation in Connecticut. [53] By standard writers, I mean, Kenrick, Sheridan, Burn, Perry and Scott. [54] The distinction in the pronunciation of _a_ in _quality_, when it signifies the property of some body, and when it is used for high rank, appears to me without foundation in rule or practice. [55] _Hymenean_ and _hymeneal_ are, by some writers, accented on the last syllable but one; but erroneously. Other authorities preserve the analogy. [56] This is the sound which the rhime requires in the following verses: "Give eare to me that ten years fought for Rome, Yet reapt all grace at my returning home." Rel. An. Poet. p. 204. [57] Particularly _Perry_. I am surprized that his pronunciation has found so many advocates in this country, as there is none more erroneous. I would just remark here that many writers use _an_ before _h_ aspirate, instead of _a_; which practice seems not well founded. The rapid sound of the article _a_ is indistinct, but opens the mouth to a proper position to pronounce _h_; whereas _n_ places the end of the tongue under the upper teeth, and the mouth assumes a new position, before the aspiration can be formed. _A_ hundred, _a_ house, &c. are therefore much more easily articulated, than _an_ hundred, _an_ house. Thus _a_ should always be used before _y_ consonant, and consequently before _u_ when it has the same sound, as in _union_, _universal_, &c. Indeed I cannot account for the use of _an_ before _y_, on any other principle than this, that the persons who use it do not pronounce _y_ at all. If they make _y_ the same as _ee_, it is consistent to write _an_ before it; but this is an error. [58] See Canterbury Tales and Prologue. L. 221, 955, 1599, 15382. [59] To prove that the Americans have a corrupt pronunciation, we are often told that our ancestors came from the western counties of England. This is but partially true. The company that purchased New England, was indeed called the _Plymouth Company_, being composed principally of persons belonging to the county of Devon. But many of the principal settlers in these states came from London and its vicinity; some from the middle counties, the ancient kingdom of Mercia; and a few from the northern counties. To show the falsehood of the charge, with respect to the language, it may be asserted with truth, that there is not the least affinity between the language of the New England people and the specimens of the Devonshire dialect, given in the English Magazines. [60] The digraph _ea_ seems not to have been much used in that age; for _speak_ authors wrote _speke_; for _dear_, _dere_; for _leaf_, _lefe_. [Illustration] DISSERTATION III.