Works of the late Doctor Benjamin Franklin/On modern Innovations in the Engliſh Language, and in Printing
ON MODERN INNOVATIONS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND IN PRINTING.
to Noah Webster, jun. esq. at Hartford.
DEAR SIR,
I RECEIVED, ſome time ſince, your Diſſertations on the Engliſh Language. It is an excellent work, and will be greatly uſeful in turning the thoughts of our countrymen to correct writing. Pleaſe to accept my thanks for it, as well as for the great honour you have done me in its dedication. I ought to have made this acknowledgement ſooner, but much indiſpoſition prevented me.
I cannot but applaud your zeal for preſerving the purity of our language both in its expreſſion and pronunciation, and in correcting the popular errors ſeveral of our ſtates are continually falling into with reſpect to both. Give me leave to mention ſome of them, though poſſibly they may already have occurred to you. I wiſh, however, that in ſome future publication of yours, you would ſet a diſcountenancing mark upon them. The firſt I remember, is the word improved. When I left New-England in the year 1723, this word had never been uſed among us, as far as I know, but in the ſenſe of ameliorated, or made better, except once in a very old book of Dr. Mather's, entitled Remarkable Providences. As that man wrote a very obſcure hand, I remember that when I read that word in his book, uſed inſtead of the word employed, I conjectured that it was an error of the printer, who had miſtaken a ſhort l in the writing for an r, and a y with too ſhort a tail for a v, whereby employed was converted into improved: but when I returned to Boſton in 1733, I found this change had obtained favour, and was then become common; for I met with it often in peruſing the newſpapers, where it frequently made an appearance rather ridiculous. Such, for inſtance, as the advertiſement of a country houſe to be ſold, which had been many years improved as a tavern; and in the character of a deceaſed country gentleman, that he had been, for more than thirty years, improved as a juſtice of the peace. This uſe of the word improve is peculiar to New-England, and not to be met with among any other ſpeakers of Engliſh, either on this or the other ſide of the water.
During my late abſence in France, I find that ſeveral other new words have been introduced into our parliamentary language. For example, I find a verb formed from the ſubſtantive notice. I ſhould not have noticed this, were it not that the gentleman, &c. Alſo another verb, from the ſubſtantive advocate; The gentleman who advocates, or who has advocated that motion, &c. Another from the ſubſtantive progreſs, the moſt aukward and abominable of the three: The committee having progreſſed, reſolved to adjourn. The word oppoſed, though not a new word, I find uſed in a new manner, as, The gentlemen who are oppoſed to this meaſure, to which I have alſo myſelf always been oppoſed. If you ſhould happen to be of my opinion with reſpect to theſe innovations, you will uſe your authority in reprobating them.
The Latin language, long the vehicle uſed in diſtributing knowledge among the different nations of Europe, is daily more and more neglected; and one of the modern tongues, viz. French, ſeems, in point of univerſality, to have ſupplied its place. It is ſpoken in all the courts of Europe; and moſt of the literati, thoſe even who do not ſpeak it, have acquired knowledge of it, to enable them eaſily to read the books that are written in it. This gives a conſiderable advantage to that nation. It enables its authors to inculcate and ſpread through other nations, ſuch ſentiments and opinions, on important points, as are moſt conducive to its intereſts, or which may contribute to its reputation, by promoting the common intereſts of mankind. It is, perhaps, owing to its being written in French, that Voltaire's Treatiſe on Toleration has had ſo ſudden and ſo great an effect on the bigotry of Europe, as almoſt entirely to diſarm it. The general uſe of the French language has likewiſe a very advantageous effect on the profits of the bookſelling branch of commerce, it being well known, that the more copies can be ſold that are ſtruck off from one compoſition of types, the profits increaſe in a much greater proportion than they do in making a greater number of pieces in any other kind of manufacture. And at preſent there is no capital town in Europe without a French bookſeller's ſhop correſponding with Paris. Our Engliſh bids fair to obtain the ſecond place. The great body of excellent printed ſermons in our language, and the freedom of our writings on political ſubjects, have induced a great number of divines of different ſects and nations, as well as gentlemen concerned in public affairs, to ſtudy it, ſo far at leaſt as to read it. And if we were to endeavour the facilitating its progreſs, the ſtudy of our tongue might become much more general. Thoſe who have employed ſome part of their time in learning a new language, muſt have frequently obſerved, that while their acquaintance with it was imperfect, difficulties, ſmall in themſelves, operated as great ones in obſtructing their progreſs. A book, for example, ill printed, or a pronunciation in ſpeaking not well articulated, would render a ſentence unintelligible, which from a clear print, or a diſtinct ſpeaker, would have been immediately comprehended. If, therefore, we would have the benefit of ſeeing our language more generally known among mankind, we ſhould endeavour to remove all the difficulties, however ſmall, that diſcourage the learning of it. But I am ſorry to obſerve that, of late years, thoſe difficulties, inſtead of being diminiſhed, have been augmented.
In examining the Engliſh books that were print- ed between the reſtoration and the acceſſion of George the Second, we may obſerve, that all ſubſtantives were begun with a capital, in which we imitated our mother tongue, the German. This was more particularly uſeful to thoſe who were not well acquainted with the Engliſh, there being ſuch a prodigious number of our words that are both verbs and ſubſtantives, and ſpelt in the ſame manner, though often accented differently in pronunciation. This method has, by the fancy of printers, of late years been entirely laid aſide; from an idea, that ſuppreſſing the capitals ſhews the character to greater advantage; thoſe letters, prominent above the line, diſturbing its even, regular appearance. The effect of this change is ſo conſiderable, that a learned man of France, who uſed to read our books, though not perfectly acquainted with our language, in converſation with me on the ſubject of our authors, attributed the greater obſcurity he found in our modern books, compared with thoſe of the period above mentioned, to a change of ſtyle for the worſe in our writers; of which miſtake I convinced him, by marking for him each ſubſtantive with a capital, in a paragraph, which he then eaſily underſtood, though before he could not comprehend it. This ſhews the inconvenience of that pretended improvement.
From the ſame fondneſs for an uniform and even appearance of characters in the line, the printers have of late baniſhed alſo the Italic types, in which words of importance to be attended to in the ſenſe of the ſentence, and words on which an emphaſis ſhould be put in reading, uſed to be printed. And lately another fancy has induced other printers to uſe the round s inſtead of the long one, which formerly ſerved well to diſtinguiſh a word readily by its varied appearance. Certainly the omitting this prominent letter makes a line appear more even, but renders it leſs immediately legible; as the paring of all men's noſes might ſmooth and level their faces, would render their phyſiognomies leſs diſtinguiſhable. Add to all theſe improvements backwards, another modern fancy, that grey printing is more beautiful than black. Hence the Engliſh new books are printed in ſo dim a character as to be read with difficulty by old eyes, unleſs in a very ſtrong light and with good glaſſes. Whoever compares a volume of the Gentleman's Magazine, printed between the years 1731 and 1740, with one of thoſe printed in the laſt ten years, will be convinced of the much greater degree of perſpicuity given by black than by the grey. Lord Cheſterfield pleaſantly remarked this difference to Faulkner, the printer of the Dublin Journal, who was vainly making encomiums on his own paper, as the moſt complete of any in the world. "But Mr. Faulkner," ſays my lord, "don't you think it might be ſtill farther improved, by uſing paper and ink not quite of near of a colour ?"—For all theſe reaſons I cannot but wiſh that our American printers would, in their editions, avoid theſe fancied improvements, and thereby render their works more agreeable to foreigners in Europe, to the great advantage of our bookſelling commerce.
Farther, to be more ſenſible of the advantage of clear and diſtinct printing, let us conſider the aſſiſtance it affords in reading well aloud to an auditory. In ſo doing the eye generally ſlides forward three or four words before the voice. If the ſight clearly diſtinguiſhes what the coming words are, it gives time to order the modulation of the voice to expreſs them properly. But if they are obſcurely printed, or diſguiſed by omitting the capitals and long ſ's, or otherwiſe, the reader is apt to modulate wrong; and finding he has done ſo, he is obliged to go back and begin the ſentence again; which leſſens the pleaſure of the hearers. This leads me to mention an old error in our mode of printing. We are ſenſible that when a queſtion is met with in the reading, there is a proper variation to be uſed in the management of the voice. We have, therefore, a point, called an interrogation, affixed to the queſtion, in order to diſtinguiſh it. But this is abſurdly placed at its end, ſo that the reader does not diſcover it till he finds that he has wrongly modulated his voice, and is therefore obliged to begin again the ſentence. To prevent this, the Spaniſh printers, more ſenſibly, place an interrogation at the beginning as well as at the end of the queſtion. We have another error of the ſame kind in printing plays, where ſomething often occurs that is marked as ſpoken aſide. But the word aſide is placed at the end of the ſpeech, when it ought to precede it, as a direction to the reader, that he may govern his voice accordingly. The practice of our ladies in meeting five or fix together, to form little buſy parties, where each is employed in ſome uſeful work, while one reads to them, is ſo commendable in itſelf, that it deſerves the attention of authors and printers to make it as pleaſing as poſſible, both to the reader and hearers.
My beſt wiſhes attend you, being with ſincere eſteem,
Sir,
Your moſt obedient and
very humble ſervant,