All of these specimens of the Anglo-Saxon vocabulary, and many of a kindred order, have been often made to tell exquisitely in our national poetry. The same averment may be made regarding hosts of other words, differently begun and formed; but we must so far content ourselves with having shown the principle, and go over what is to come more quickly. However, the aspirate _h_ must not be lightly overpassed, having a striking value in verse. Being pronounced with an _aspiration_, it gives a certain energy to almost all words which it begins, as _hack_, _harsh_, _hawl_, _haste_, _hit_, _hunt_, and the like. To some terms it imparts a sort of laboriously _elevative_ force. Pope composed the following line purposely to exemplify this property:—
Up the high hill, he heaves a huge round stone."
The merely expiratory force of the _h_ is felt equally in naming the "heights of heaven" and the "hollows of hell." Though but half a letter, it is thus potent in poetry, and is often beautifully turned to account by Milton, as in the passage, "Him the Almighty power _hurled headlong_," and so on.
The letter _j_ gives the initiative to many expressive words, though their expressiveness rests mainly on the terminations. Such is the case with _jar_, _jerk_, _jig_, _jilt_, _jog_, _jostle_, _jumble_, _jump_. Our comic writers have used the most of these to good purpose. It is worth while specially to notice _jeer_. It would seem as if the _eer_ was an ending peculiarly fitted to express the meaning which _jeer_ bears, since it gives a pretty similar force to _sneer_, _fleer_, _leer_, _peer_, _queer_, and some others. Sound and sense concur in all these terms. The _k_ merely gives to words the same power as the hard _c_. _L_ has no great force as the initial letter of words, though it yet possesses so far its own peculiar expressiveness. That the whole members of the alphabet do so, indeed, may be very simply proved. Of the following twelve monosyllables closing in _ash_, the different opening letters give a different force, in respect of sound, to each word, and such as perfectly accords with the actual and several meanings. The words are, _clash_, _crash_, _dash_, _flash_, _gnash_, _lash_, _mash_, _quash_, _plash_, _slash_, _smash_, and _thrash_. The distinction here may not be great in some instances, but it certainly is so in the grating _crash_, the rapid _flash_, and the ponderous _smash_! These points are well worthy the attention of the student of English Versification—in truth, of English literature generally.