Will Mr. White decide how the _ea_ was sounded? We think
the stronger case is made out for the [=a] than for the _ee_,--for
_swears_ as we now pronounce it, than for _sweers_; though we fear our
tired readers may be tempted to perform the ceremony implied by the verb
without much regard to its orthoepy.
Mr. White tells us that _on_ and _one_ were pronounced alike, because
Speed puns upon their assonance. He inclines to the opinion that _o_ had
commonly the long sound, as in _tone_, and supposes both words to have
been pronounced like _own_. But was absolute identity in sound ever
necessary to a pun, especially in those simpler and happier days?
Puttenham, in his "English Poesy," gives as a specimen of the art in
those days a play upon the words _lubber_ and _lover_, appreciable
now only by Ethiopian minstrels, but interesting as showing that the
tendency of _b_ and _v_ to run together was more sensible then than
now.[L] But Shakspeare unfortunately rhymes _on_ with _man_, in which
case we must either give the one word the Scotch pronunciation of _mon_,
or Hibernicize the other into _ahn_. So we find _son_, which according
to Mr. White would be pronounced _sone_, coquetting with _sun_; and Dr.
Donne, who ought to have called himself Doane, was ignorant enough to
remain all his life Dr. Dunn. But the fact is, that rhymes are no safe
guides, for they were not so perfect as Mr. White would have us believe.
Shakspeare rhymed _broken_ with _open_, _sentinel_ with _kill_, and
_downs_ with _hounds_,--to go no farther.
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