Page:A letter to the Rev. Richard Farmer.djvu/38

( 32 ) he exhibits words of this kind at full length,—Engle-and, noble-er, wrangle-ing, wor-en, a-rums, bow-ers, &c. Had he been at all acquainted with our elder poets, he would have known that this pronunciation was o common, that, words formerly having been frequenly pelt by the ear, we often find thee words written as Shakpeare ued them; ower, bower, fier, &c.

The intances given above are but a few of thoe which Mr. Tyrwhitt has collected, to prove a poition which is incontrovertible. He might have produced many more. Thus, in the Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act. II. c. iv.

where the ignorant editor of the econd folio, not perceiving that dazzled was ued as a triyllable, (dazzle-ed) has departed from the original copy, and reads—

Again, in Coriolanus, Act. I. c. ix.

And had he not choen to confine himelf to words in which l, or r, is ubjoined to another cononant, the following intances of words extended for the ake of the metre, might have been added: In