to the general rule which suppresses the e in these syllables, when preceded by a mute, as harden, heathen, heaven, as if written hard'n, heath'n, heav'n, etc. nay, even when preceded by a liquid in the words fallen and stolen, where the e is suppressed, as if they were written fall'n and stoll'n: garden and burden, therefore, are very analogically pronounced gard'n and burd'n; and this pronunciation ought the rather to be indulged, as we always hear the e suppressed in gardener and burdensome, as if written gard'ner and burd'nsome. See No. 472.
104. This diversity in the pronunciation of these terminations ought the more carefully to be attended to, as nothing is so vulgar and childish as to hear swivel and heaven pronounced with the e distinctly, or novel and chicken with the e suppressed. But the most general suppression of this letter is in the preterits of verbs and in participles ending in ed: here, when the e is not preceded by d or t, the e is almost universally sunk, (362) and the two final consonants are pronounced in one syllable: thus loved, lived, barred, marred, are pronounced as if written lovd, livd, bard, mard. The same may be observed of this letter when silent in the singulars of nouns, or the first persons of verbs, as theme, make, etc. which form themes in the plural, and makes in the third person, etc. where the last e is silent, and the words are pronounced in one syllable. When the noun or first person of the verb ends in y, with the accent on it, the e is likewise suppressed, as a reply, two replies, he replies, etc. When words of this form have the accent on the preceding syllables, the e is suppressed, and the y pronounced like short i, as cherries, marries, carries, etc. pronounced cherriz, marriz, carriz, etc. In the same manner, carried, married, embodied, etc. are pronounced as if written carrid, marrid, embodid, etc. (282) But it must be carefully noted, that there is a remarkable exception to many of these contractions when we are pronouncing the language of scripture: here every participial ed ought to make a distinct Syllable, where it is not preceded by a vowel: thus, "Who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?" Here the participles are both pronounced in three syllables; but in the following passage, "Whom he did predestinate, them he also called; and whom he called, them he also justified; and whom he justified, them he also glorified." Called preserves the e, and is pronounced in two syllables; and justified and glorified suppress the e, and are pronounced in three.
I.
105. This letter is a perfect diphthong, composed of the sounds of a in father, and e in he, pronounced as closely together as possible. (37) When these sounds are openly pronounced, they produce the familiar assent ay; which by the old English dramatic writers, was often expressed by I: hence we may observe, that unless our ancestors pronounced the vowel I like the o in oil, the present pronunciation of the word ay in the House of Commons, in the phrase the Ayes have it, is contrary to ancient as well as to present usage: such a pronunciation of this word is now coarse and rustic. The sound of this letter is heard when it is lengthened by final e, as time, thine, or ending a syllable with the accent upon it, as ti-tle, di-al; in monosyllables ending with nd, as bind, find, mind, etc. in three words ending with ld, as child, mild, wild; and in one very irregularly ending with nt, as pint. (37)
106. There is one instance where this letter, though succeeded by final e, does not go into the broad English sound like the noun eye, but into the slender foreign sound like e. This is, in the word shire, pronounced as if written sheer, both when single, as a knight of the shire; or in composition, as in Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, etc. This is the sound Dr. Lowth gives it in his Grammar, page 4: and it is highly probable that the simple shire acquired this slender sound from its tendency to become slender in the compounds, where it is at a distance from the accent, and where all the vowels have a natural tendency to become short and obscure. See Shire.
107. The short sound of this letter is heard in him, thin, etc. and when ending an unaccented syllable, as van-i-ty, qual-i-ty, etc. where, though it cannot be properly said to be short, as it is not closed by a consonant, yet it has but half its diphthongal sound. This sound is the sound of e, the last letter of the diphthong that forms the long I; and it is not a little surprising that Dr. Johnson should say that the short i was a sound wholly different from the long one. (551)
108. When this letter is succeeded by r, and another consonant not in a final syllable, it has exactly the sound of e in vermin, vernal, etc. as virtue, virgin, etc. which approaches to the sound of short u; but when it comes before r, followed by another consonant in a final syllable, it acquires the sound of u exactly, as bird, dirt, shirt, squirt, etc. Mirth, birth, gird, girt, skirt, girl, whirl, and firm, are the only exceptions to this rule, where i is pronounced like e, and as if the words were written, merth, berth, and ferm.
109. The letter r, in this case, seems to have the same influence on this vowel, as it evidently has on a and o. When these vowels come before double r, or single r, followed by a vowel, as in arable, carry, marry, orator, horrid, forage, etc. they are considerably shorter than when the r is the final letter of the word, or when it is succeeded by another consonant, as in arbour, car, mar, or, nor, for. In the same manner, the i, coming before either double r, or single r, followed by a vowel, preserves its pure, short sound, as in irritate, spirit, conspiracy, etc. tut when r is followed by another consonant, or is the final letter of a word with the accent upon it, the i goes into a deeper and broader sound,
