Page:Works of the Late Doctor Benjamin Franklin (1793).djvu/216

206 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