TENNYSON'S " S's."
[To THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR"] SIR,—Mr. W. W. Ward should distinguish between the printed and the sounded or sibilant "s." When Tennyson said that he never put two " a's " together in any verse, and that his line was-
" And freedom slowly broadens down,"
not, as often quoted, "broadens slowly down," he meant the- " a " sibilant. One could hardly pronounce " broadens slowly " without taking breath between two hisses, a most unmusical effect. The instances of two " a's " together which Mr. Ward marshalls from Tennyson's poems are not of this kind. In "his song," " his sons," " his side," in "as she" and " was seen," the first " s " has the " z " sound, and phonetically the words would be written " hiz song," " az she," "wax seen." In the Highlands, indeed, the " s " in " was " is sibilant, and Mr. Black and others, to mark this, write the word " mum." Were this the English pronunciation, Tennyson, in accord with his rule, or rather his perfect ear. would certainly not have written-
" She in her poor attire wass seen ;" but by " was seen," as we pronounce the words, the rule is not violated. To take another of Mr. Ward's examples- " No more by thee my steps shall be."
Here the "sh" has not the hissing, but the hushing, sound; —make it, indeed, sibilant ; read it, " my steps s'all be," and one is reminded of the grinding of scissors! One quotation of Mr. Ward's remains which seems to prove (or test) the rule rather sharply-
" She seemed a part of joyous spring; "
but let any one read this line aloud, and he will find that he blends the two " s's " into one. Tennyson's verse is not for the eye but the ear.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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