New-York daily tribune., 1843-07-01
THE REI}UNE.
pronunciation of Names.

Of the name of the lamented LEGARE, you remark
that the name was pronounced by hlmseii ana
his friends Legrec though this Is no more IN ac'
cordance with French than English analogy.
MANY of the names of the descendants OF ola
Huguenot families at the South have Ike mex
plcablc pronunciation
VIII you permit me to remark lha'' III Aif'
Legare's case the pronunciation IS not SO very
ineyplicable as it NAV sound to a Northern ear f,
The name was originally written and pronounced
.LEgare,' whence, by elislon, the transition to
Legree was very easy and natural.
1t is curious study, and not uninteresting TO
phlologst, that of tracing the changes which
have been wrought in the stlrnames Of Foreign
families, and especially Of French ones, even
during the lapse of a few years, in consequence
Of attempts to accommodate them to our ver-
nacular
A descendant of the ancient and noble family
Of ST. Medard, whose ancestors immigrated about
the middle of the last century, now resides III a
neighboring city under the disguise of Mr.. Sim
mdar Another, whose original patronymic was
De LHoMNrDIEU, having dropped the arlstocratc
prefix, De, writes himself plain Mr.. Lu7adew.-
Mons l. EGA1 without color OF law is Transformed
into Mr. LegGi--and D'l.pEE INTO Depay, while
Dr. RocHEFoRT has been mctamorphosed into
Rusbtord. OF the descendants of collateral
branch of my own family. named PETIT, Il por
ton only continue Petty, at first; while
another shoot has shrunll into an object OF pity.
During the short period that has elapsed since
our Revolutionary struggle. my own surname has
tecn so modified, both in photography and pro
nunciation as to have lost nearly all affinity to
the original; and few would recognize IN the
un.' COuth-WGy' in which it is now presented to
eye and ear, the De CoUTtIs, whose ancestral
banners hoaed under the walls Of Acre and
Ptolcmais, by the side of those Of Philip Of
France and the Iion-IIearted Monarch Of Eng
land. So great has been the change in this ~
stance, that when, few years ago, upon the
direct line in France becoming extinct, and the
succession deyolving upon the branch in this
Country, it became necessary to establish the
descent although but three generations had
apsed from the time of migration, two of which
still surviyed--it was no easy matter to trace all
the variations TO their common sourcc. l Will
only add that the pronunciation Of Col. Hugers
name sYugee' is but slight deviation from the
correct French, and precisely the same IN nature
as Mr.. Legarc's. Some ten years ago, IN con-
versaton with this lamented Statesman, men
toned that llad during recent visit TO Mar
sellles. become acquainted with several persons
bearing the name of L'EgarG-when lie observed
that, in all probability they were descended from
a common stock with himself, that beng, as he
presumed, the original mode of spelling his name.
You WILL of course. do as you please with this
communication, which have penned for lack OF
better occupation during this hot weather. Per
haps it may interest some of your readers SINH
lar!y situated. If you think so, and wish 1t, you
may hear again. on this subject of nominal cor
ruptions, from the descendant of a HUGuENoT.
Works or Sn.KsrEARE.-Ihc edition Of the
writings of Shakespeare, in course olpublicaton
BY the Harpers, has now reached Its closc-thc
eighth number being Just issued. Everybody reads
Shakespeare now and to all we recommend this
edition of his works. 1t is cheap, yet complete,
and embraces nolcs, just enough and Of the right
sort to render clear the meaning of the poet. 1t
Is comprised in eight numbers at twenty five cents
each, and may be obtained at this office.
g Messrs Firth &. Hall and J. L. Hewitt &
Co. have commenced issuing a small musical pc
nodical, called the 'Orphcus Glee Book, each
number being neatly printed and filled with
careful selection of the most popular Glces from
the best composers
% We have received from Endcot a fine
Autograph of the Hamilton House, spacious
and elegant hotel on the South West extremity OF
Long Island, at the entrance of the Narrows. 1t
represents capital place for an excursion.
Is Burgess 4 Strnger, 222 Broadway, have
sent us the July number Of the Boys and Girls
Magazine
Il Part \. of the Encyclopedia Of Geography
one OF the most valuable publications of the day,
has just been published by Lea & Blanchard
TAE PoLrrlcu. BAr.-Thc National Intclli-
gencer has this excellent bt of natural history
applied 10 our times:
When ESop. or Babrius, or whoever the
boyles and Bentleys NAV settle it to have been.
composed his fable about that cquivoca animal
mat thought to reign king of both birds and
beasts, by beng made up of either, he certainly
must have had IN his thoughts some political bat
isc that which we now have, fitting between
night and day, and belonging to neither.
1t was discreet thought OF a creature of that
Sze to supplant the eagle that only scars by day.
and the wolf that prowls only IN the dark, by
tying TO be fowl and beast at once 1t flies but
not enough for 4 bird, and loves that doubtful
tine OF day which birds shun; ii has four lcgs,
out creeps very poorly, and to the eyes of bcas;
does not look Ike ono. They that have wings
dlsown and cuff il, if ii darcs come forth INTO the
ar whiie they are there; and those that go on all
iours viii hold no fellowship with II, because they
'hl1k il has once flown, however Ill. Nothing,
therefore, is left to the poor paradox of political