Villiers' is as mute as that in 'Parliament'
or that Bolingbroke's name began with Bull and ended with brook, but
when ignorance constructs a theory it is quite another matter. The
etymological theory of pronunciation is intolerable. Etymology was
a charming nymph even when men had but a distant acquaintance with
her, and a nearer view adds to her graces; but when she is dragged
reluctant from her element she flops like a stranded mermaid.
The curate says 'Deuteron['o]my', and on his theory ought to say
'econ['o]my' and 'etymol['o]gy'. When Robert Gomery--why not give
the reverend poetaster his real if less elegant name--published his
once popular work, every one called it 'The Omn['i]presence of the
De[:i]ty', and Shelley had already written

And, as I look'd, the bright omn['i]presence
Of morning through the orient cavern flowed.

It is true that Ken a century earlier had committed himself to

Thou while below wert yet on high
By Omnipr['e]sent Deity,

and later Coleridge, perhaps characteristically, had sinned with

There is one Mind, one omnipr['e]sent Mind,

but neither the bishop nor the poet would have said 'omnisc['i]ence',
or 'omnip['o]tence'.

Another word to show signs of etymological corruption is
'[)e]volution'. It seems to have been introduced as a technical term
of the art of war, and of course, like 'd[)e]volution', shortened
the _e_. The biologists first borrowed it and later seem desirous of
corrupting it. Perhaps they think of such words as '[=e]gress', but
the long vowel is right in the stressed penultimate.

One natural tendency in English runs strongly against etymology.
This is the tendency to throw the stress back, which about a century
ago turned 'cont['e]mplate' into 'c['o]ntemplate' and somewhat
later 'ill['u]strate' into '['i]llustrate'. Shakespeare and Milton
pronounced 'instinct' as we pronounce 'distinct' and 'aspect' as we
pronounce 'respect'. Thus Belarius is made to say

'Tis wonder
That an invisible inst['i]nct should frame them
To royalty unlearn'd,

and Milton has

By this new felt attraction and instinct,

and also

In battailous asp['e]ct and neerer view.

The retrogression of the stress is in these instances well
established, and we cannot quarrel with it; but against some very
recent instances a protest may be made. One seems to be a corruption
of the War. In 1884 the _N.E.D._ recognized no pronunciation of it
save 'all['y]', as