CHAPTER V.

PRONUNCIATION AND METRE.

TABLE of Vowel Pronunciation, extracted from Mr. A. J. Eilis's large work on the subject:

These conclusions are no doubt nearly accurate as to the normal pronunciation of Shakespeare's time. I have found, however, by an independent investigation, that great laxity prevailed from 1580 to 1630, and that scarcely any vowel sound was determinate in popular use. The statements given below embrace the varieties of sound allowed by the poets and dramatists of that period. I have not attempted to give them accurately; indeed, the nature of the case would not permit it; but I have given the nearest sounds now in use to those which formed the limiting pronunciations in each case. Mr. Ellis's table will supply some corrections necessary to those who desire more exact information.

I. I believe the short vowels were sounded nearly as in bill, dell, ran, doll, pull, at the present time; & occasionally taking the sound of ; ǎ that of ; ě that of a; and that of ě.

2. The long vowels were sounded nearly as in time, mare, father, Rome, pool.

î sometimes taking the sound of ee in feel.

So far I difter litt'e from Mr. Ellis; but in the diphthongal spellings I venture to assert that in many of them the pronunciation was not fixed, but varied from that of one of the component signs to that of the other. Thus:

ai varied between a in mare, and i in island.

ea

e in eve, and a in mare; ea was sometimes also shortened.

As to the sounds of au, eu, oo, ie medial, ie and y final, they were, I think, respectively those of aw in awn, eu in Europe, 00 in pool, e in eve, i in time (or y in easily), which are nearly the same as those given by Mr. Ellis. The reasons for these statements are too lengthy to be here given, even in a condensed form. I may say, however, that they depend partly on the nature of the rhymes (supposed generally to be imperfect) that were admitted by the Elizabethan writers, and partly on variations in the spelling of words that were of common recurrence.

There are some other laws of pronunciation which have been not at all or imperfectly recognised. At the risk of infringing on the office of the grammarian it may be well to give them here :—

1. Laws of Contraction.-S. Walker has noticed that where two syllables end in s with a short vowel between them, the latter syllable may be omitted; thus horses is often contracted into horse'; this is into this'. But he has not noticed that the law extends to all dentals thus let it may be contracted into let'; committed into commit; proceeded into proceed", &c. &c.

2. It has often been observed that heaven, even, and the like, are frequently one syllable; and that in some cases, as sennight for seven-night, the v is not pronounced; but it has not been noticed that any word containing v between two vowels may omit the v in pronunciation, so that driven becomes drien; love, lo'e; corsive, corsie, &c. The same omission takes place sometimes for other letters, as ta'en for taken.

3. Laws of Resolution.-The separation of final -tion, -sion, &c., into two syllables, ti-on, si-on, is well known: not so the following.

4. Any two consecutive consonants, whether initial or medial, may be separated by a slight sound corresponding to the Hebrew Shwa, and so give rise to an extra syllable. Thus we have Gratiano, kin'sman, lor'd, pronounced nearly as Geratiano, kinisman, lorud, &c.

5. Any syllable involving a w or y sound in it may be resolved into two; no matter whether the sound be diphthongal or the w or y be consonantal. Thus twelve becomes too-elve; ay becomes ah-ee; sweet becomes soo-cet; boy becomes baw-ee; &c. &c.

6. The pronunciation of vocal r, in fi-er (fire), su-er-ly (surely), is well known.

For other questions of contraction, accent, resolution, &c., see Abbott's Shakespearian Grammar.

METRE.

The following canons as to Shakespeare's metre are derived either from Sidney Walker's excellent criticisms or from my own personal observation :

1. Shakespeare admits, in addition to the regular 5-foot blank verse line, the Alexandrine, short lines of 1, 2, or 3 feet, and rhyming lines of 4 or 5 feet.

2. He does not admit blank lines of 4 feet (Walker).

3. Nor does he admit lines in blank verse deficient by an initial syllable (Walker).

4. Wherever there is an appearance of a 4-foot line, it is either made up of two shorter lines (3 + 1, 2+2), or it is corrupt. Thus :

"What I shall think is good.

The princess."

"Stands for my bounty.

But who comes here?"

are according to Shakespeare's usual manner.

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