The Works of Samuel Johnson in Nine Volumes | Page 4

writers alike
eminent for judgment and accuracy.
The great orthographical contest has long subsisted between etymology
and pronunciation. It has been demanded, on one hand, that men should
write as they speak; but, as it has been shown that this conformity never
was attained in any language, and that it is not more easy to persuade
men to agree exactly in speaking than in writing, it may be asked, with
equal propriety, why men do not rather speak as they write. In France,
where this controversy was at its greatest height, neither party, however
ardent, durst adhere steadily to their own rule; the etymologist was
often forced to spell with the people; and the advocate for the authority
of pronunciation found it sometimes deviating so capriciously from the
received use of writing, that he was constrained to comply with the rule
of his adversaries, lest he should lose the end by the means, and be left
alone by following the crowd.
When a question of orthography is dubious, that practice has, in my
opinion, a claim to preference which preserves the greatest number of
radical letters, or seems most to comply with the general custom of our
language. But the chief rule which I propose to follow is, to make no
innovation without a reason sufficient to balance the inconvenience of
change; and such reasons I do not expect often to find. All change is of
itself an evil, which ought not to be hazarded but for evident advantage;
and as inconstancy is in every case a mark of weakness, it will add
nothing to the reputation of our tongue. There are, indeed, some who
despise the inconveniencies of confusion, who seem to take pleasure in
departing from custom, and to think alteration desirable for its own
sake; and the reformation of our orthography, which these writers have
attempted, should not pass without its due honours, but that I suppose
they hold singularity its own reward, or may dread the fascination of
lavish praise.
The present usage of spelling, where the present usage can be

distinguished, will, therefore, in this work, be generally followed; yet
there will be often occasion to observe, that it is in itself inaccurate, and
tolerated rather than chosen; particularly when, by the change of one
letter or more, the meaning of a word is obscured, as in farrier for
ferrier, as it was formerly written, from ferrum, or _fer_; in gibberish
for gebrish, the jargon of Geber, and his chymical followers,
understood by none but their own tribe. It will be likewise sometimes
proper to trace back the orthography of different ages, and show by
what gradations the word departed from its original.
Closely connected with orthography is pronunciation, the stability of
which is of great importance to the duration of a language, because the
first change will naturally begin by corruptions in the living speech.
The want of certain rules for the pronunciation of former ages, has
made us wholly ignorant of the metrical art of our ancient poets; and
since those who study their sentiments regret the loss of their numbers,
it is surely time to provide that the harmony of the moderns may be
more permanent.
A new pronunciation will make almost a new speech; and, therefore,
since one great end of this undertaking is to fix the English language,
care will be taken to determine the accentuation of all polysyllables by
proper authorities, as it is one of those capricious phaenomena which
cannot be easily reduced to rules. Thus there is no antecedent reason for
difference of accent in the two words dolorous and _sonorous_; yet of
the one Milton gives the sound in this line,
He pass'd o'er many a region _dolorous_;
and that of the other in this,
Sonorous metal blowing martial sounds.
It may be likewise proper to remark metrical licenses, such as
contractions, _generous, gen'rous; reverend, rev'rend_; and coalitions,
as _region, question_.
But still it is more necessary to fix the pronunciation of monosyllables,
by placing with them words of correspondent sound, that one may
guard the other against the danger of that variation, which, to some of
the most common, has already happened; so that the words wound and
wind, as they are now frequently pronounced, will not rhyme to sound

and mind. It is to be remarked, that many words written alike are
differently pronounced, as flow, and _brow_: which may be thus
registered, _flow, woe; brow, now_; or of which the exemplification
may be generally given by a distich: thus the words tear, or lacerate
and tear, the water of the eye, have the same letters, but may be
distinguished thus, _tear, dare; tear, peer_.
Some words have two sounds, which may be equally admitted, as being
equally defensible by authority. Thus great is differently used: