245. Uvedale Price to EBB
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 2, 1–6.
Foxley
Janry 11th 1827
Dear Ba.
Dr Russel’s answer does not give me the idea of such a person, as, from the account Luxmoore had heard, I conceived him to be; as very open to conviction, & likely to give a candid consideration to opinions that differed from his own. Had he, indeed, been all that he was reported to be, he must naturally have felt some displeasure at so direct & unqualified an attack, & little disposed to admit the truth of any part of it: but he might have said & without committing himself, that the statements, tho’ they did not at all convince him, seemed not unworthy of attention; & that he should turn them in his mind, tho’ he had not leisure to enter into any discussion. Perhaps, if he had felt confident of being able to confute what I had advanced, & in no great compass, he might have been tempted to make one vigorous charge, in spite of his professional engagements: but if he felt that the contest would be at least doubtful, he might think “discretion the better part of valour.” [1] No one could have a better plea for declining the combat altogether: but in quitting his stronghold, & making a little sortie, of which your comment has so pointedly shewn the feebleness, he only betrayed the weakness of his cause, & his bigotted attachment to what he had once adopted
αλις δέ οι αλλα εκηλος
Ερρετω∙ εκ γαρ ῾οι φρενας ειλετο μητιετα Ζευς [2]
He probably has return’d my letter; which, indeed, he could have as little wish, as right to retain: I will beg you to keep it, as I possibly may introduce part of it in what I think of printing. I must now say a few words on Bro’s correction. I certainly did suppose that at the Charterhouse the first syllable of κυνε [3] & such words was pronounced like that of cunn′ing: I of course, stand corrected as far as the practice goes: I must say, however, that, in my mind, the practice is at variance with the principle: the principle is, that you (not Ba, but Bro, or rather Dr Russel) are to pass over the vowel to the consonant in iambi & pyrrhics wherever it can be done: it cannot in κυων, but may, & ought consistently to be done in κυνε rubus &cæ. The pretext (I can afford it no better name) for passing over the vowel to the consonant in pyrrhics, is, that our disyl[la]bles in which we do pass over it, as con′ey pun′ish &cæ, are true pyrrhics & standards for pronouncing that foot in the ancient languages: con′ey therefore (the first of which, tho’ spelt with an o has exactly the same sound as that of cun′ning pun′ish &cæ) is your true & proper model for pronouncing κυνε. It is true, indeed, that by so doing, the sound of the u—whether the english or the italian—is totally lost; & in lieu of it, something very like the french e muet is substituted: for que ni, first pronounced separately, & then joined in the same manner, would indicate to a Frenchman the pronunciation of con′ey as nearly as the difference in the tones & habits of the two languages would admit of: & the french que, has exactly the same sound as cu in cu-nn′ing before you touch upon the n. Such changes in the sounds of the vowels I considered as an additional charge, & one of no little weight, against the Charterhouse mode, & should have mentioned it in my letter, having, indeed written a good deal o[n] the subject; but I did not think of it till the copy was made, & ready to be sent off. In regard to the u Dr Russel seems to have been aware of the consequence if he followed his usual practice, & has avoided it; but by abandoning his principle, & pronouncing κυνε & rubus (this last with the italian u) as we pronounce them: for, by Bro’s account, he only lays stress upon them: now as we lay a much slighter stress on them than the Italians, there seems to be hardly room for such a further diminution as would form a distinction: I therefore suspect that “if there is any difference, it is much the same” or at least that the two pronounciations
nearly are allied,
And thin partitions do their bounds divide. [4]
In regard to this one vowel only—“majo′ris fu′giens oppro′b[r]ia cu′lpæ [5] —Dr Russel has condescended to do, what he has so justly condemned,—to pronounce iambi & pyrrhics as we do, & in cases where he might have followed his new mode: but a system founded in error, will perpetually lead into inconsistencies. As Bro has only noticed my misápprehension respect the u I imagine there is none in regard to the other vowels, & that he gives to the first of κορ′υν, the same sound that he gives to the english for or the latin cor, & pronounces the word as we should if written κορρ′υν, if so, then the true sound of the o is as completely lost as that of the u in κυνε & rubus: κο′ρυν,—as likewise κορυν′ when the pyrrhic—is rightly pronounced, has the true sound of the o, as in the english word cho′rus, or the italian co′ro: κορ′υν has nothing of it, but like morrow, has that of au: lengthen morr′ow, you have mau′ro; shorten mau′ro you have morr′ow: in the same manner lengthen κορ′υν, you have, in english characters, caur-youn, shorten this last, & you return to κορ′υν. You are also perpetually changing the sound; of a & e tho’ much less offensively, as it is to another sound of the same vowel; we say a′ret a′ger, & ought to say,—the last being an iambus,—a′ret age′r, giving to the a in both cases, the sound we give it in a′ble: you pronounce a′ret as we do, but say ag′er, giving, I imagine, to the vowel, & to the whole word, the sound you give to badger. We say fugere fe′ræ & ought to say feræ′; you say fer′æ just as we pronounce ferr′e, giving to the i sound of the a in fa′iry, but abrupt & shorten’d, yet without shortening the syllable. It is a good deal the same in regard to the e & the y; you change—& so far I am with you—the diphthongal for a vowel sound; & instead of “Ferte ci′ti flammas,” & Hy′la Hy′la, say “Ferte cit′i” & Hyl′a Hyl′a, but, as in fer′æ, the vowel only, not the syllable, is shorten’d. I heartily wish the diphthongal sound of the e & y, were universally abandon’d in pronouncing the ancient languages, & both of them pronounced (tho’ there might be doubts respecting the y) as they are in Italian: we then—observing, of course, the right quantities—should say “Ferte cete′e,” the short & the long syllable having equally the true sound of the italian, & probably of the ancient i. I could wish also—what I have been told is practised at some schools, I rather think at Winchester—that the more open sound of the a, as of padre in Italian, were uniformly employed in the ancient languages: we should then say with much more effect than with y diphthong, & the close a, Helá Helá, & the distance, before very great, between such a pronunciation & that of Hy′la Hy′la, or Hyl′a Hyl′a would be immense. In other respects too the open a would be extremely desirable, as we now pronounce
Quῐd dīgnŭm tāntŏ fērĕt hīc prŏmīssŏr hῐātŭ [6]
The hiatus is completely lost with the close a. In a line of Juvenals, what with that, & the false quantity, a very impressive image is lost
Illĕ ăd cŏnspēctŭm cænæ dῐdücĕrĕ rīctum
Sūētŭs, hiăt tāntŭm cĕu pūllŭs, hῐrūndῐnῐs, ad quem
Ore vōlăt plēnŏ māter jejuna: [7]
Bro’s correction respecting κυνε, rubus &cæ has led me into this long tirade, but on a point of some consequence; it may serve as a supplement, almost a necessary one, to my letter, & I will make the same request to you about keeping it. I might have had some regret for the loss of κυν′ε having so few dishes, but as I am deprived of sup′er altogether, there is an end of that part of my waggery. I have had a good deal of correspondence with Commeline on the subject in general, & particularly on these points: tho’ an Etonian, he is, in all that relates to iambi & pyrrhics an ultra Charterhouse: he is a very acute & ingenious disputant; but, beyond any man I ever knew, propositi tenax. [8] At the time of our correspondence, however, I was much less master of [the] subject than I fancy myself to be at present, & had not made the grand discovery of the number of english pyrrhics in compounds, tho’ there is not [a] single dissyllabic pyrrhic in the language; the most important part of this famous ευρηκα [9] —as it proves the lengthening power of accent is, the process by which one of these imperfect trochees is converted into a perfect pyrrhic,—that of taking away their accent, & laying it, where length is required, on the first of the compound; & thus the trochee bod′y in some′body becomes bod′y—berr′y in straw′berry, berr′y. To most men, I really think, this would carry conviction; but as to my friend Commeline, I should as soon, nay sooner expect to make a proselyte of Dr Russel. The rest of your letter does not require any particular remarks; but it does require my thanks for the pleasure it has given me in various ways: I am much pleased with the quotations that so well illustrate the grand accompaniment to the attack of St Sebastian, & grateful for the provision of sulphur that you have added to my scanty stock. I will add to our joint stock a striking passage from Measure for Measure
Thou rather with thy sharp & sulphurous bolt
Split’st the unwedgable & gnarled oak
Than the soft myrtle. [10]
gnarled is still in use in the county, & in the same sense. The only passage in which I recollect having seen the smell of sulphur mentioned, & as inciting terrific ideas, is in the simile I quoted from the Iliad—δεινη δε θεειου γιγνεται οδμη. [11] The mere smell of sulphur, is simply disagreable, & can only be connected with the sublime from association. The passage is an excellent illustration of Burke’s general principle, & likewise of the particular part of his Enquiry where he treats of Smells. In the very short chapter he has given to them, he very guardedly says “They have some share in ideas of greatness; but it is a small one, weak in it’s nature & confined in its operations:” he afterwards adds, as the opinion of some friends of his “that if the sentiment stood nakedly by itself it would be subject at first sight to burlesque & ridicule:” but this, says Burke, [“]would I imagine principally arise from considering the stench in company with mean & contemptible ideas, with which it must be owned it is often united: such a union degrades the sublime in all instances as well as in these. But it is one of the tests by which the sublimity of an image is to be tried, not whether it becomes mean when associated with mean ideas, but whether, when united with images of an allowed grandeur, the whole composition is supported with dignity.[”] [12] I have been induced to make this long extract, partly to shew in how just & proper a light Burke has placed this ticklish part of his subject & partly because my friend Knight, from a sort of antipathy he had taken to the Enquiry & the author, has most uncandidly chosen to do precisely what Burke has shewn the injustice & the folly of doing; he has attempted to turn the whole into burlesque & ridicule, by associating smells with mean & contemptible ideas; &, in Voltaire’s worst & most common-place style of sneering, has substituted a meaner word for stench, & talks sneeringly of a sublime stink. [13] It was unworthy of him, & I pressed him to omit it, in a second edition, but in vain. I have hardly left room to tell you how much I am pleased & flattered by all that you say of my Charterhouse paper, &, what is a stronger case, by Bro’s approbation: I am particularly glad that you are so much pleased with vale′ val′e; it has struck others on whose opinions I set a value, & besides the peculiar & pleasing expression in that line, would, if the principle were generally adopted, be of very extensive service in recitation, from the number of iambi & pyrrhics in the same situation. I mentioned to you in a former letter that I had a great deal to say in answer to your reply; so much indeed, that having a quantity of work on my hands I believe I must defer the discussion till we can talk it over: in the meantime you may have quite enough of my writing. You may perhaps remember a promise or threat of mine to send you a MS. much longer than any you had read: one main object of it, is to shew, (the contrary being so strenuously maintained—) that by our mode the rhythm of ancient versification is no less injured than the metre. This MS. I could send to you whenever I had a safe conveyance & should very much wish for your remarks, it being a principal part of what I perhaps may print tho’ not publish; at least in the first instance: but really in spite of your assurance, which I cannot find in my heart to doubt, that you have received great benefit from my letters & manuscripts, I wish I may not over-whelm you with them, & have to say to you, as Augustus says to Cinna,
Je t’ai comblé de biens, je veux t’en accabler [14]
With our best regards to all at Hope End, believe me
Most truly yours
U. Price.
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: Armstrong Browning Library.
1. 1 Henry IV, V, 4, 119–120. In this and subsequent Shakespearean quotations, the line numbers correspond to those used in The Riverside Shakespeare (Boston, 1974).
2. “He’s gone far enough! To hell with him! For all-wise Zeus has taken away his wits” (Iliad, IX, 376–377).
3. See letter 241, note 1.
4. Dryden’s “Absalom and Achitophel” (1681), lines 163–164.
5. “Fleeing the reproaches of greater guilt” (Horace, Epistles, I, ix, 10).
6. “What worthy thing will this promise bring from such boasting” (Horace, De Arte Poetica, line 138). To explain the significance of Price’s markings, we quote from pp. 39–41 of his Essay on the … Greek and Latin Languages: “Above the line then I shall place the accentual mark immediately after the syllables upon which we lay our accent in recitation, and shall also place over those same accented syllables (whether really long or short) the ancient mark of long; and over all the unaccented syllables (whatever may be their real quantity) the mark of short. ... below [the line] I shall constantly place a stroke (the same as the mark of long) under every syllable that receives the ictus; and likewise occasionally, the little mark by which I have indicated the right pronunciation of the pyrrhic: this I shall also place under the syllable, and below the line, not to interfere with the marks above it. The arrangement will enable the reader at one view to compare the two modes of recitation, and the position of the different marks, and to observe where they vary from, or coincide with, one another.”
7. “That one, whose jaws used to fly open at the sight of dinner, now only gapes like the young of the swallow, whose fasting mother flies to him with well-filled mouth” (Satires, IV, x, 230–232).
8. “Firm of purpose” (Horace, Odes, III, iii, 1).
9. “Discovery” (lit. “I have found it”).
10. Measure for Measure, II, 2, 115–117.
11. See letter 243, note 7.
12. This passage occurs in section XXI of A Philosophical Enquiry into … the Sublime and Beautiful (1756) by Edmund Burke (1729–97).
13. An Analytical Inquiry Into the Principles of Taste (1805), p. 27, by Richard Payne Knight (1751–1824).
14. “I have loaded you with goods, I want to overwhelm you with them.” Perhaps quoting from memory, Price has joined phrases from two separate scenes of Cinna (1640) by Pierre Corneille (1606–84): V, 1, 1447 and V, 3, 1708.
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