written whare, thare; and the auxiliary verb were, where the e has its short sound, as if written were, rhyming with the last syllable of pre-fer and ere, (before) which sounds like air. When there is in composition in the word therefore, the e is generally shortened, as in were, but in my opinion improperly.
95. The short sound of e is that heard in bed, fed, red, wed, etc. this sound before r is apt to slide into short u; and we sometimes hear mercy sounded as if written murcy: but this, though very near, is not the exact sound.
Irregular and unaccented Sounds.
96. The e at the end of the monosyllables be, he, me, we, is pronounced ee, as if written bee, hee, etc. It is silent at the end of words purely English, but is pronounced distinctly at the end of some words from the learned languages, as epitome, simile, catastrophe, apostrophe, etc.
97. The first e in the poetic contractions, e'er and ne'er, is pronounced like a, as if written air and nair.
98. The e in her is pronounced nearly like short u; and as we hear it in the unaccented terminations of writer, reader, etc. pronounced as if written writur, readur, where we may observe that the r being only a jar, and not a definite and distinct articulation like the other consonants, instead of stopping the vocal efflux of voice, lets it imperfectly pass, and so corrupts and alters the true sound of the vowel. The same may be observed of the final e after r in words ending in cre, gre, tre, where the e is sounded as if it were placed before the r, as in lucre, maugre, theatre, etc. pronounced lukur, maugur, theatur, etc. See No. 418. It may be remarked, that though we ought cautiously to avoid pronouncing the e like u when under the accent, it would be nimis Atticé, and border too much on affectation of accuracy to preserve this εound of e in unaccented syllables before r; and though terrible, where e has the accent, should never be pronounced as if written turrible, it is impossible without pedantry, to make any difference in the sound of the last syllable of splendour and tender, sulphur and suffer, or martyr and garter. But there is a small deviation from rule when this letter begins a word, and is followed by a double consonant with the accent on the second syllable: in this case we find the vowel lengthen as if the consonant were single. See Efface, Despatch, Embalm.
99. This vowel, in a final unaccented syllable, is apt to slide into the short i: thus faces, ranges, praises, are pronounced as if written faciz, rangiz, praiziz; poet, covet, linen, duel, etc. as if written poit, covit, linin, duil, etc. Where we may observe, that though the e goes into the short sound of i, it is exactly that sound which corresponds to the long sound of e. See Port Royal Grammaire, Latin, p. 142.
100. There is a remarkable exception to the common sound of this letter in the words clerk, serjeant, and a few others, where we find the e pronounced like the a in dark and margin. But this exception, I imagine, was, till within these few years, the general rule of sounding this letter before r, followed by another consonant. See Merchant. Thirty years ago every one pronounced the first syllable of merchant like the monosyllable march, and as it was anciently written marchant. Service and servant are still heard among the lower order of speakers, as if written sarvice and sarvant; and even among the better sort, we sometimes hear the salutation, Sir, your servant! though this pronunciation of the word singly would be looked upon as a mark of the lowest vulgarity. The proper names, Derby, and Berkeley, still retain the old sound, as if written Darby and Barkeley; but even these, in polite usage, are getting into the common sound, nearly as if written Durby and Burkeley. As this modern pronunciation of the e has a tendency to simplify the language by lessening the number of exceptions, it ought certainly to be indulged.
101. This letter falls into an irregular sound, but still a sound which is its nearest relation, in the words, England, yes, and pretty, where the e is heard like short i. Vulgar speakers are guilty of the same irregularity in engine, as if written ingine; but this cannot be too carefully avoided.
102. The vowel e before l and n in the final unaccented syllable, by its being sometimes suppressed and sometimes not, forms one of the most puzzling difficulties in pronunciation. When any of the liquids precede these letters, the e is heard distinctly, as woollen, flannel, women, syren; but when any of the other consonants come before these letters, the e is sometimes heard, as in novel, sudden; and sometimes not, as in swivel, raven, etc. As no other rule can be given for this variety of pronunciation, perhaps the best way will be to draw the line between those words where e is pronounced, and those where it is not; and this, by the help of the Rhyming Dictionary, I am luckily enabled to do. In the first place, then, it may be observed, the e before l, in a final unaccented syllable, must always be pronounced distinctly, except in the following words: Shekel, weasel, ousel, nousel, (better written nuzzle) navel, ravel, snivel, rivel, drivel, shrivel, shovel, grovel, hazel, drazel, nozel. The words are pronounced as if the e were omitted by an apostrophe, as shek'l, weas'l, ous'l, etc. or rather as if written sheckle, weasle, ousle, etc. but as these are the only words of this termination that are so pronounced, great care must be taken that we do not pronounce travel, gravel, rebel, (the substantive) parcel, chapel, and vessel, in the same manner; a fault to which many are very prone.
103. E before n in a final unaccented syllabic, and not preceded by a liquid, must always be suppressed in the verbal terminations in en, as to loosen, to hearken, and in other words, except the following: Sudden, mynchin, kitchen, hyphen, chicken, ticken, (better written ticking) jerken, aspen, platen, paten, marten, latten, patten, leaven or leven, sloven, mittens. In these words the e is heard distinctly, contrary
