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sounde, and not to deutse any counterfaite fan
tasticall Accent of oure owne, as manye, other
wise not vnlearned haue corrnptely and
ridiculouslye done in the Greeke
Nowe for your Heauen, Seauen, Eleauen, or
the like, I am likewise of the same opinion
as generally in all words else we are not to goe
a little farthei, either for the Prosody, or the
Orthography, (and therefore your Imaginane
Diastole nothing worthe) then we are licenced
and authorized by the ordmane vse, and cus
tome, and propnetie, and Idiome, and, as it
were, Maiestie of our speach whiche I accounte
the only infallible, and soueraigne Rule of all
Rules And therefore hauing respecte there
vnto, and reputing it Petty Treason to reuolt
therefro dare hardly eyther in the Prosodie,
or in the Orthography either, allowe them two
sillables in steade of one, but woulde as well m
Writing, as in Speaking, haue them vsed, as
Monosyllaba, thus heavn, seavn, a leavn, as
Maister Ascham m his Toxophilus doth Yrne,
commonly written Yron
Vp to the pap his string did he pull, his shajte
to the harde vrne
Especially the difference so manifestly
appearing by the Pronunciation, betweene
these twoo, a leavn a clocke and a leaven of
Dowe, whyche lea ven admitteth the Diastole,
you speake of But see, what absurdities thys
yl fauoured Orihographye, or rather Pseudo
graphy, hathe ingendred and howe one errour
still breedeth and begetteth an other Haue
wee not, Mooneth, for Moonthe silhence, for
since whitest, for whtlste phanlasie, for
phansie euen, for evn Diuel, for Divl
Cod hys wrath, for Goddes wrath and a thou
sande of the same stampe wherein the cor
rupte Orthography m the moste, hathe beene
the sole, or pnncipall cause of corrupte Pro
sodve in ouer many ?
Marry, I confesse some wordes we haue
indeede, as for example,/ayer, either for beauti
full, or for a Marte oyer, bothe pro aere, and
pro hcerede, for we say not Heire, but plaine
Aire for him to, (or else Scoggms Aier were a
poore lest) whiche are commonly, and maye
indifferently be vsed eyther wayes For you
shal as well, and as ordinarily heare fayer, as
faire, and Ater, as Aire, and bothe alike not
onely of diuers and sundrye persons, but often
of the very same otherwhiles vsing the one,
ptherwhiles the other and so died, or dyde
spied, or spide tryed, or trtde fyer, or fyre
tnyer, or myre wyth an infinyte companye of
FAMILIAR LETTERS 631
the same sorte sometime Monosyllaba, sometime
Polysyllaba
To conclude both pointes in one, I dare
sweare prmately to your selfe, and will defende
pubhquely againste any, it is neither Heresie,
nor Paradox, to sette downe, and stande vppon
this assertion, (notwithstanding all the Pre
ludices and Presumptions to the contrarie, if
they were tenne times as manye moe) that it
is not, either Position, or Dipthong, or Dia
stole, or anye like Grammer Schoole Deuice,
that doeth, or can indeede, either make long or
short, or encrease, or diminish the number of
Sillables, but onely the common allowed, and
receiued Prosodye taken vp by an vniuersall
consent of all, and continued by a generall vse,
and Custome of all Wherein neuerthelesse
I grant, after long aduise, and diligent obserua
tion of particulars, a certain Uniform Analogie,
and Concordance, being m processe of time
espyed out Sometime this, sometime that,
hath been noted by good wits in their Analyses,
to fall out generally alyke? and as a man
woulde saye, regularly m all, or moste wordes
as Position, Dipthong, and the like not as
firste, and essentiall causes of this, or that
effecte, (here lyeth the point) but as Secun
darie and Accidentall Signes, of this, or that
Quahtie
It is the vulgare, and naturall Mother Prosodye,
that alone worketh the feate, as the
onely supreame Foundresse, and Reformer of
Position, Dipthong, Orthographie, or what
soeuer else whose Affirmatiues are nothing
worth, if she once conclude the Negatiue and
whose secundce mtentiones muste haue their
whole allowance and warrante from hir primce
And therefore in shorte, this is the vene shorte,
and the long Position neither maketh shorte,
nor long in oure Tongue, but so farre as we
can get hir good leaue Peraduenture, vppon
the diligent suruewe, and examination of
Particulars, some the like Analogie and Uni
formity, might be founde oute m some other
respecte, that shoulde as vniuersally and
Canonically holde amongst vs, as Position
doeth with the Latmes and Greekes I saye,
(peraduenture,) bycause, hauing not yet made
anye speciall Obseruation, I dare not precisely
affirme any generall certaintie albeit I presume,
so good and sensible a Tongue, as ours
is, beeyng wythall so like itselfe, as it is, cannot
but haue something equipollent, and
counteruaileable to the beste Tongues, in some
one such kmde of conformitie, or other And
this forsooth is all the Artificial Rules and Pre