Cap. 9.
1. Seing that we fynd not onelie the south and north to differ more in
accent then symbol, but alsoe one word with a sundrie accent to have a
diverse signification, I com_m_end this to him quho hes auctoritie, to
com_m_and al printeres and wryteres to noat the accented syllab in
everie word with noe lesse diligence then we see the grecianes to noat
their’s.
2. Cicero, in his buik de Oratore ad Brutum, makes it a natural harmonie
that everie word pronunced be the mouth of man have one acute syllab,
and that never farther from the end then the third syllab, quhilk the
grammareanes cales to the same end the antepenult. Quhilk observation of
so noble a wit is most true in tongues q_uhi_lk he understud, the greek
and latin. But if Cicero had understud our tongue, he sould have hard
the accent in the fourth syllab from the end; as in mátrimonie,
pátrimonie, vádimonie, intóllerable, intélligences, and whole garrisones
of lyke liverie. This anie eare may if he accent the antepenult
matrímonie, or the penult matrimónie, or the last as matrimoníe.
3. Then to the purpose we have the same accentes q_uhi_lk the latin and
the greek hath, acute, circu_m_flex, and grave.
4. The acute raiseth the syllab quheron it sittes; as profésse, prófit,
ímpudent.
5. It may possesse the last syllab: as supprést, preténce, sincére; the
penult: as súbject, cándle, cráftie; the antepenult: as diffícultie,
mínister, fínallie; and the fourth also from the end, as is said sect.
2; as spéciallie, insátiable, díligentlie. In al q_uhi_lk, if a man
change the acce_n_t, he sall spill the sound of the word.
6. The grave accent is never noated, but onelie understood in al
syllabes quherin the acute and circumflex is not. Onlie, for difference,
sum wordes ar marked with it, thus `, leaning contrarie to the acute.
7. The circumflex accent both liftes and felles the syllab that it
possesseth, and combynes the markes of other tuae, thus ˆ. Of this we,
as the latines, hes almost no use. But the south hath great use of it,
and in that their dialect differes more from our’s then in other soundes
or symboles.
8. The use of the accent wil be of good importance for the right
pronu_n_ciation of our tongue, quhilk now we doe forte, non arte, and
conforming of the dialectes, q_uhi_lk, as I have said, differes most in
this.