lic elocution must in a great measure be affected by it, it would be apt to astonish one to think that there has been fo little progress made in it.

When we confider too that the world. has always been clamorous in their complaints upon this head, having too generally. occafion to regret the low ftate of this art, in their attendance on the most important duty, that of public worship; and that there are multitudes whofe interest and inclination it would be to improve themselves in it, had they the means in their power, and could they obtain regular inftruction; it would furprise one at first that no one has as yet ftruck out fuch a method, which

would certainly be

emoluments to him.

attended with great

And indeed the pro

spect was fo inviting, that

many have been

the attempts which have been made in that way from time to time; but they all failed

from

from the fame caufe; which was, that they who attempted it were men fkilled in letters, but not in founds; and they were blind enough to imagine that the knowledge of the one neceffarily included that of the other. Whereas the very reverfe is true; as it would be impoffible to treat juftly of founds, until the man of letters fhall have firft divested himself of all the prejudices and errors which he had imbibed with regard to that article, from the time of his first learning the alphabet; for in that lies the fource of all our mistakes. They took the alphabet as they found it, and thought it perfect; whereas this alphabet, on the revival of the learned languages, was borrowed from the Roman, though it by no means squared with our tongue. As a proof of which it is certain that we have 28 fimple founds in our tongue, and have in reality but 20 characters to mark them, though more letters

f

B 4

;

letters appear in the alphabet, as will prefently be fhewn. This reduced men in the beginning to a thousand clumfy contrivances, in those unenlightened days, to make fuch an alphabet answer the end at all but it was done at fuch an expence as to make the learning to read and spell properly a tedious and difficult task, which required the labour of many years to accomplish. These contrivances of theirs in spelling, to make a defective alphabet answer the end of representing words, have fo confounded our ideas with regard to the powers of feveral letters, applied to a variety of different uses, that all the systems hitherto produced upon that point have been a perfect chaos. Nothing can be a stronger proof of the grofs errours into which literary men fell, in their several grammars and treatises upon this fubject, than that the best of them have mistaken diphthongs for

fimple founds, and fimple founds for diphthongs; compound confonants for fingle, and fingle for compound. Nay, what is still more extraordinary, that they have even mistaken vowels for confonants, all which I shall presently make appear. What superftructure built on fuch fundamental errours could ftand?

The first neceffary step towards establishing rules for this art upon any folid foundation, is, as in all others, to ascertain the number, and explain the nature of its first fimple elements; for any errour, there must carry an incorrigible taint throughout. This is the point with which I fhall begin, and I believe you will foon be convinced that it never was executed before.

Here I think it neceffary to bespeak your attention in a more particular manner to this part of the courfe. For in this art, as in all others, the treating of the elements

is

is a dry task, and can have nothing in it very captivating to the mind; therefore the hearers will be under a neceflity of exerting more vigorously their own attention, or they may lofe much not only of the fundamentals but of what is deduced from them. Yet to encourage you to this exertion I will venture to fay, that if you will be at the pains of commanding your attention, you will have one paffion of the mind, and that none of the weakeft, highly gratified; I mean curiofity. For, as in viewing objects through microscopes, we are highly entertained with making difcoveries which wholly escaped the naked eye; fo when we apply the microfcopic eye of the mind to at clofer inspection into the nature and properties of the fimple elements of speech, we shall make many discoveries equally new and curious, which had efcaped fuperficial observation; with this additional advantage, that