Quin, and the actors of his day, used to give to the first vowel in
'Cato' the sound of the _a_ in 'father'. They probably thought that
they were Italianizing such names. In fact their use was neither Latin
nor English. They were like the men of to-day who speak of the town
opposite Dover as 'Cally', a name neither French nor English. A town
which once sent members to the English Parliament has a right to an
English name. Prior rhymed it with 'Alice' and Browning has
When Fortune's malice
Lost her Calais.
Shakespeare, of course, spelt it 'Callis', and this form, which was
first evicted by Pope, whom other editors servilely followed, ought
to be restored to Shakespeare's text. In the pronunciation of Cato the
stage regained the English diphthong in the mouth of Garrick, whose
good sense was often in evidence. It is recorded that his example
was not at once followed in Scotland or Ireland. If there was any
Highlander on the stage it may be hoped that he gave to the vowel the
true Latin sound as it appears in 'Mactavish'.
A once well-known schoolmaster, a correspondent of Conington's, had a
daughter born to him whom in his unregenerate days he christened
Rosa. At a later time he became a purist in quantities, and then he
shortened the _o_ and took the voice out of the _s_ and spoke of her
and to her as Rossa. The mother and the sisters refused to acknowledge
what they regarded as a touch of shamrock and clung persistently
to the English flower.
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