seems to have considered it as no ordinary invention, and was so pleased
with it that he has most painfully printed the speeches of the lawyer in
this singular gibberish; and his reasons, as well as his discovery,
appear remarkable.

He says, that "Not any one old man more than another is mimiqued, by Mr.
Lee's way of speaking, which all comedians can witness, was my own
_invention_, and Mr. Lee was taught it by me. To prove this farther, I
have _printed_ Bartoline's part in that manner of spelling by which I
taught it Mr. Lee. They who have no teeth cannot pronounce many letters
plain, but perpetually lisp and break their words, and some words they
cannot bring out at all. As for instance _th_ is pronounced by thrusting
the tongue hard to the teeth, therefore that sound they cannot make, but
something like it. For that reason you will often find in Bartoline's
part, instead of _th_, _ya_, as _yat_ for that; _yish_ for this; _yosh_
for those; sometimes a _t_ is left out, as _housand_ for thousand;
_hirty_ for thirty. _S_ they pronounce like _sh_, as _sher_ for sir;
_musht_ for must; _t_ they speak like _ch_,--therefore you will find
_chrue_ for true; _chreason_ for treason; _cho_ for to; _choo_ for two;
_chen_ for ten; _chake_ for take. And this _ch_ is not to be pronounced
like _k_, as 'tis in Christian, but as in child, church, chest. I desire
the reader to observe these things, because otherwise he will hardly
understand much of the lawyer's part, which in the opinion of all is the
most divertising in the comedy; but when this ridiculous way of speaking
is familiar with him, it will render the part more pleasant."

One hardly expects so curious a piece of orthoëpy in the preface to a
comedy. It may have required great observation and ingenuity to have
discovered the cause of old toothless men mumbling their words. But as a
piece of comic humour, on which the author appears to have prided