Part 26

**** I like your ballad, and think it well adapted for your purpose of discountenancing expensive foppery, and encouraging industry and frugality. If you can get it generally sung in your country, it may probably have a good deal of the effect you hope and expect from it. But as you aimed at making it general, I wonder you chose so uncommon a measure in poetry, that none of the tunes in common use will suit it. Had you fitted it to an old one, well known, it must have spread much faster than I doubt it will do from the best new tune we can get composed for it. I think too, that if you had given it to some country girl in the heart of the Massachusets, who has never heard any other than psalm tunes, or _Chevy Chace_, the _Children in the Wood_, the _Spanish Lady_, and such old simple ditties, but has naturally a good ear, she might more probably have made a pleasing popular tune for you, than any of our masters here, and more proper for your purpose, which would best be answered, if every word could as it is sung be understood by all that hear it, and if the emphasis you intend for particular words could be given by the singer as well as by the reader; much of the force and impression of the song depending on those circumstances. I will however get it as well done for you as I can.

Do not imagine that I mean to depreciate the skill of our composers of music here; they are admirable at pleasing _practised_ ears, and know how to delight _one another_; but, in composing for songs, the reigning taste seems to be quite out of nature, or rather the reverse of nature, and yet like a torrent, hurries them all away with it; one or two perhaps only excepted.

You, in the spirit of some ancient legislators, would influence the manners of your country by the united powers of poetry and music. By what I can learn of _their_ songs, the music was simple, conformed itself to the usual pronunciation of words, as to measure, cadence or emphasis, &c. never disguised and confounded the language by making a long syllable short, or a short one long when sung; their singing was only a more pleasing, because a melodious manner of speaking; it was capable of all the graces of prose oratory, while it added the pleasure of harmony. A modern song, on the contrary, neglects all the proprieties and beauties of common speech, and in their place introduces its _defects_ and _absurdities_ as so many graces. I am afraid you will hardly take my word for this, and therefore I must endeavour to support it by proof. Here is the first song I lay my hand on. It happens to be a composition of one of our greatest masters, the ever-famous Handel. It is not one of his juvenile performances, before his taste could be improved and formed: it appeared when his reputation was at the highest, is greatly admired by all his admirers, and is really excellent in its kind. It is called, "The additional favourite song in Judas Maccabeus." Now I reckon among the defects and improprieties of common speech, the following, viz.

1. _Wrong placing the accent or emphasis_, by laying it on words of no importance, or on wrong syllables.

2. _Drawling_; or extending the sound of words or syllables beyond their natural length.

3. _Stuttering_; or making many syllables of one.

4. _Unintelligibleness_; the result of the three foregoing united.

5. _Tautology_; and

6. _Screaming_, without cause.

For the _wrong placing of the accent, or emphasis_, see it on the word _their_ instead of being on the word _vain_.

And on the word _from_, and the wrong syllable _like_.

For the _drawling_, see the last syllable of the word _wounded_.

And in the syllable _wis_, and the word _from_, and syllable _bove_

For the _stuttering_, see the words _ne'er relieve_, in

Here are four syllables made of one, and eight of three; but this is moderate. I have seen in another song that I cannot now find, seventeen syllables made of three, and sixteen of one: the latter I remember was the word _charms_; viz. _cha, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, arms_. Stammering with a witness!

For the _unintelligibleness_; give this whole song to any taught singer, and let her sing it to any company that have never heard it; you shall find they will not understand three words in ten. It is therefore, that at the oratorios and operas one sees with books in their hands all those who desire to understand what they hear sung by even our best performers.

For the _tautology_; you have, _with their vain mysterious art_, twice repeated; _magic charms can ne'er relieve you_, three times. _Nor can heal the wounded heart_, three times. _Godlike wisdom from above_, twice; and, _this alone can deceive you_, two or three times. But this is reasonable when compared with _the Monster Polypheme, the Monster Polypheme_, a hundred times over and over, in his admired _Acis and Galatea_.

As to the _screaming_; perhaps I cannot find a fair instance in this song; but whoever has frequented our operas will remember many. And yet here methinks the words _no_ and _e'er_, when sung to these notes, have a little of the air of _screaming_, and would actually be screamed by some singers.

I send you inclosed the song with its music at length. Read the words without the repetitions. Observe how few they are, and what a shower of notes attend them: you will then perhaps be inclined to think with me, that though the words might be the principal part of an ancient song, they are of small importance in a modern one; they are in short only _a pretence for singing_.

I am, as ever,

Your affectionate brother,

B. FRANKLIN.

P. S. I might have mentioned _inarticulation_ among the defects in common speech that are assumed as beauties in modern singing. But as that seems more the fault of the singer than of the composer, I omitted it in what related merely to the composition. The fine singer in the present mode, stifles all the hard consonants, and polishes away all the rougher parts of words that serve to distinguish them one from another; so that you hear nothing but an admirable pipe, and understand no more of the song, than you would from its tune played on any other instrument. If ever it was the ambition of musicians to make instruments that should imitate the human voice, that ambition seems now reversed, the voice aiming to be like an instrument. Thus wigs were first made to imitate a good natural head of hair;--but when they became fashionable, though in unnatural forms, we have seen natural hair dressed to look like wigs.

_Description of the Process to be observed in making large Sheets of Paper in the Chinese Manner, with one smooth surface._[65]

In Europe to have a large surface of paper connected together and smooth on one side, the following operations are performed.

1. A number of small sheets are to be made separately.

2. These are to be couched, one by one, between blankets.

3. When a heap is formed it must be put under a strong press, to force out the water.

4. Then the blankets are to be taken away, one by one, and the sheets hung up to dry.

5. When dry they are to be again pressed, or if to be sized, they must be dipped into size made of warm water, in which glue and alum are dissolved.

6. They must then be pressed again to force out the superfluous size.

7. They must then be hung up a second time to dry, which, if the air happens to be damp, requires some days.

8. They must then be taken down, laid together, and again pressed.

9. They must be pasted together at their edges.

10. The whole must be glazed by labour, with a flint.

In China, if they would make sheets, suppose of four and a half ells long and one and a half ells wide, they have two large vats, each five ells long and two ells wide, made of brick, lined with a plaster that holds water. In these the stuff is mixed ready to work.

Between these vats is built a kiln or stove, with two inclining sides; each side something larger than the sheet of paper; they are covered with a fine stucco that takes a polish, and are so contrived as to be well heated by a small fire circulating in the walls.

The mould is made with thin but deep sides, that it may be both light and stiff: it is suspended at each end with cords that pass over pullies fastened to the cieling, their ends connected with a counterpoise nearly equal the weight of the mould.

Two men, one at each end of the mould, lifting it out of the water by the help of the counterpoise, turn it and apply it with the stuff to the smooth surface of the stove, against which they press it, to force out great part of the water through the wires. The heat of the wall soon evaporates the rest, and a boy takes off the dried sheet by rolling it up. The side next the stove receives the even polish of the stucco, and is thereby better fitted to receive the impression of fine prints. If a degree of sizing is required, a decoction of rice is mixed with the stuff in the vat.

Thus the great sheet is obtained, smooth and sized, and a number of the European operations saved.

As the stove has two polished sides, and there are two vats, the same operation is at the same time performed by two other men at the other vat; and one fire serves.

FOOTNOTE:

[65] Communicated by Dr. Franklin to the American Philosophical Society, in which it was read, June 20, 1788. _Editor._

TO NOAH WEBSTER, JUN. ESQ. AT HARTFORD[66].

_On Modern Innovations in the English Language and in Printing._

_Philadelphia, Dec_.26, 1789.

DEAR SIR,

I received, some time since, your _Dissertations on the English Language_. It is an excellent work, and will be greatly useful in turning the thoughts of our countrymen to correct writing. Please to accept my thanks for it, as well as for the great honour you have done me in its dedication. I ought to have made this acknowledgment sooner, but much indisposition prevented me.

I cannot but applaud your zeal for preserving the purity of our language both in its expression and pronunciation, and in correcting the popular errors several of our states are continually falling into with respect to both. Give me leave to mention some of them, though possibly they may already have occurred to you. I wish, however, that in some future publication of yours, you would set a discountenancing mark upon them. The first I remember, is the word _improved_. When I left New England in the year 1723, this word had never been used among us, as far as I know, but in the sense of _ameliorated_, or _made better_, except once in a very old book of Dr. Mather's, entitled _Remarkable Providences_. As that man wrote a very obscure hand, I remember that when I read that word in his book used instead of the word _employed_, I conjectured that it was an error of the printer, who had mistaken a short _l_ in the writing for an _r_, and a _y_ with too short a tail for a _v_, whereby _employed_ was converted into _improved_: but when I returned to Boston in 1733, I found this change had obtained favour, and was then become common; for I met with it often in perusing the newspapers, where it frequently made an appearance rather ridiculous. Such, for instance, as the advertisement of a country house to be sold, which had been many years _improved_ as a tavern; and in the character of a deceased country gentleman, that he had been, for more than thirty years, _improved_ as a justice of the peace. This use of the word _improve_ is peculiar to New England, and not to be met with among any other speakers of English, either on this or the other side of the water.

During my late absence in France, I find that several other new words have been introduced into our parliamentary language. For example, I find a verb from the substantive _notice_. _I should not have_ noticed _this, were it not that the gentleman_, &c. Also another verb, from the substantive _advocate_; _The gentleman who_ advocates, _or who has_ advocated _that motion_,&c. Another from the substantive _progress_, the most awkward and abominable of the three: _the committee having_ progressed, _resolved to adjourn_. The word _opposed_, though not a new word, I find used in a new manner, as, _the gentlemen who are_ opposed _to this measure, to which I have also myself always been_ opposed. If you should happen to be of my opinion with respect to these innovations, you will use your authority in reprobating them.

The Latin language, long the vehicle used in distributing knowledge among the different nations of Europe, is daily more and more neglected; and one of the modern tongues, viz. French, seems, in point of universality, to have supplied its place. It is spoken in all the courts of Europe; and most of the literati, those even who do not speak it, have acquired enough knowledge of it, to enable them easily to read the books, that are written in it. This gives a considerable advantage to that nation. It enables its authors to inculcate and spread through other nations, such sentiments and opinions, on important points, as are most conducive to its interests, or which may contribute to its reputation, by promoting the common interests of mankind. It is, perhaps, owing to its being written in French, that Voltaire's Treatise on Toleration has had so sudden and so great an effect on the bigotry of Europe, as almost entirely to disarm it. The general use of the French language has likewise a very advantageous effect on the profits of the bookselling branch of commerce, it being well known, that the more copies can be sold, that are struck off from one composition of types, the profits increase in a much greater proportion, than they do in making a greater number of pieces in any other kind of manufacture. And at present there is no capital town in Europe without a French bookseller's shop corresponding with Paris. Our English bids fair to obtain the second place. The great body of excellent printed sermons in our language, and the freedom of our writings on political subjects, have induced a great dumber of divines of different sects and nations, as well as gentlemen concerned in public affairs, to study it, so far at least as to read it. And if we were to endeavour the facilitating its progress, the study of our tongue might become much more general. Those, who have employed some part of their time in learning a new language, must have frequently observed, that while their acquaintance with it was imperfect, difficulties, small in themselves, operated as great ones in obstructing their progress. A book, for example, ill printed, or a pronunciation in speaking, not well articulated, would render a sentence unintelligible, which, from a clear print, or a distinct speaker, would have been immediately comprehended. If, therefore, we would have the benefit of seeing our language more generally known among mankind, we should endeavour to remove all the difficulties, however small, that discourage the learning of it. But I am sorry to observe, that, of late years, those difficulties, instead of being diminished, have been augmented.

In examining the English books, that were printed between the restoration and the accession of George the Second, we may observe, that all the substantives were begun with a capital, in which we imitated our mother tongue, the German. This was more particularly useful to those, who were not well acquainted with the English, there being such a prodigious number of our words, that are both verbs and substantives, and spelt in the same manner, though often accented differently in pronunciation. This method has, by the fancy of printers, of late years been entirely laid aside; from an idea, that suppressing the capitals shows the character to greater advantage; those letters prominent above the line, disturbing its even, regular appearance. The effect of this change is so considerable, that a learned man of France, who used to read our books, though not perfectly acquainted with our language, in conversation with me on the subject of our authors, attributed the greater obscurity he found in our modern books, compared with those of the period above mentioned, to a change of style for the worse in our writers: of which mistake I convinced him, by marking for him each substantive with a capital, in a paragraph, which he then easily understood, though before he could not comprehend it. This shows the inconvenience of that pretended improvement.

From the same fondness for an uniform and even appearance of characters in the line, the printers have of late banished also the Italic types, in which words, of importance to be attended to in the sense of the sentence, and words, on which an emphasis should be put in reading, used to be printed. And lately, another fancy has induced other printers to use the round _s_ instead of the long one, which formerly served well to distinguish a word readily by its varied appearance. Certainly the omitting this prominent letter makes a line appear more even, but renders it less immediately legible; as the paring of all men's noses might smooth and level their faces, but would render their physiognomies less distinguishable. Add to all these improvements backwards, another modern fancy, that _grey_ printing is more beautiful than black. Hence the English new books are printed in so dim a character, as to be read with difficulty by old eyes; unless in a very strong light and with good glasses. Whoever compares a volume of the Gentleman's Magazine, printed between the years 1731 and 1740, with one of those printed in the last ten years, will be convinced of the much greater degree of perspicuity given by black than by the grey. Lord Chesterfield pleasantly remarked this difference to Faulkener, the printer of the Dublin Journal, who was vainly making encomiums on his own paper, as the most complete of any in the world. "But Mr. Faulkener," says my lord, "don't you think it might be still farther improved, by using paper and ink not quite so near of a colour?"--For all 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 _ʃ_'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 six together, to form little busy parties, where each is employed in some useful work, while one reads to them, is so commendable in itself, that it deserves the attention of authors and printers to make it as pleasing as possible, both to the reader and hearers.

My best wishes attend you, being, with sincere esteem,

Sir,

Your most obedient and very humble servant,

B. FRANKLIN.

FOOTNOTE:

[66] This letter is taken from an American periodical publication entitled the Columbian Magazine. _Editor._

_A Scheme for a New Alphabet and reformed Mode of Spelling; with Remarks and Examples concerning the same; and an Enquiry into its Uses, in a Correspondence between Miss S----[67] and Dr. Franklin, written in the Characters of the Alphabet[68]._

TABLE OF THE REFORMED ALPHABET

To face page 357, Vol. II.