The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1896-03-29

citation Of says rhyming with days. ana
said welded to maid. and even have con-
sorting with slave and wave. all OF which,
though long since rejected by standard
English, sull survive In the speech Of the
rusGcs and among the Irish.
STORY OK THE OLD sCOTCHMAN.
The story is told Of an old scotchman,
who. Ike many others not Scotchmen. oc-
casionally drew his inspiration from an
Illicit source. that during q spell or ILL
ness he was visited by the good parson.
who pointed out 10 him his weakness ana
tried 10 persuade him 10 leave OF MS
bibul0us habit. When the parson tOii
him that I'm heaven there would be no
wine. the impulslye old Scotch brother
is said TO have exclaimed: Well ! 60
think IL would be but dscent decent 20
have IL on the table" Which story NOM
inc mutato would be- true both In spirit
and letter Of his brother over the sea, on
the Green Emerald Isle" and was eN-
actly the way Dryden and Pope would
have said II. even II they had condemned
the sentiment.
So when the Irisliman says OF his cur
that IL IS the natur' (nature) OF the paste
beast the poor cratur' lcreaturel 70
look out for itself. his pronunciation Is al
most Identical with that OF Dryden and
tire. and made Craggs exclsim In dia-
iogue:
Alas, II am such a creature
To grow the worse FOR growing greater
rhymes which were perfect TO the ear
though false to the eye. Both Of these
poets would have said that the deserving
deserving clark Clerk will always rem
der duo sarvice (service) 10 the mar
chant (merchant). Pope actually said, u
the spirit OF modern socialism, that ne
could wish
THAT all mankind might that just mean
observe.
In which none Ger could surteit, none
could starye.'
sentiment which comes perllousiy near
contravening the spirit Of the teaching
OF some OF our political economists. Even
the atmosphere Pope called aar air,
rhym.ng IL with star. and the verb are
and its past tense were he pronounced
occasionally air and ware, all Of which
san survive IN the lingua rUstica. and
arc sporadicslly heard from the lips or
educated men. whether as an affected
archaic pronunciation or from sheer
force Of habit. IL Is hard 20 say.
We venture one more illustration, even
al the risk OF traascendlng the space lint
imposed upon Us; because II Is now never
heard except from the uuicttefeu, Dbt
was in the seventeenth century the re-
eeived pronunciation. This is the obsolete
pronunciation of such words as obsige
and join. poison. and The Ike In his
Epistle to Arbuthnot. in which Pope has
pilloried SO many OF the contemporary
poetasters, and there left them 70 the
vulgar gaze OF all subsequent ages. among
others he damned with faint praise Al
olson,
"Dreadlnx ey'n fools, by fatterers De-
siegd.
And so obllgiug. that he ne'er obilgd
Many may not know II. but our JON.
poison, point. soil. spoil. and 50 on, would
have offended the ear OF Dryden and
pooe. who always said line. pison. pint.
etc because these words were then thus
oronounced Our servants. then, could,
IL they knew II. claim the authority OF
even q Pope for their pronunciation OF
these words. Can their "gwine" be thus
accounted for? In this particular. as well
as in others already pointed out our ser
wants seem to speak the tongue that Dry
den and Pope spoke though they d 80