The Grammar of English Grammars Part 188

Absurdity akin to this, and still more worthy to be criticised, has since been propagated by Sheridan, by Walker, and by Lindley Murray, with a host of followers, as Alger, D. Blair, Comly, Cooper, Cutler, Davenport, Felton, Fowler, Frost, Guy, Jaudon, Parker and Fox, Picket, Pond, Putnam, Russell, Smith, and others.

OBS. 8.--Sheridan was an able and practical teacher of _English p.r.o.nunciation_, and one who appears to have gained reputation by all he undertook, whether as an actor, as an elocutionist, or as a lexicographer.

His publications that refer to that subject, though now mostly superseded by others of later date, are still worthy to be consulted. The chief of them are, his Lectures on Elocution, his Lectures on the Art of Reading, his Rhetorical Grammar, his Elements of English, and his English Dictionary. His third lecture on Elocution, and many pages of the Rhetorical Grammar, are devoted to _accent_ and _quant.i.ty_--subjects which he conceived to have been greatly misrepresented by other writers up to his time.[495] To this author, as it would seem, we owe the invention of that absurd doctrine, since copied into a great mult.i.tude of our English grammars, that the accent on a syllable of two or more letters, belongs, _not to the whole of it, but only to some_ ONE LETTER; and that according to the character of this letter, as vowel or consonant, the same stress serves to lengthen or shorten the syllable's quant.i.ty! Of this matter, he speaks thus: "The _great distinction_ of our accent depends upon its _seat_; which may be either upon a vowel or a consonant. Upon a vowel, as in the words, glory, father, holy. Upon a consonant, as in the words, hab'it, bor'row, bat'tle. When the accent is on the vowel, the syllable is long; because the accent is _made by dwelling_ upon the vowel. When it is on the consonant, the _syllable is short_;[496] because the accent is _made by pa.s.sing rapidly_ over the vowel, and giving a smart stroke of the voice to the following consonant. _Obvious as this point is_, it _has wholly escaped the observation of all our grammarians and compilers of dictionaries_; who, instead of examining the peculiar genius of our tongue, implicitly and pedantically have followed the Greek method of always placing the accentual mark over a vowel."--_Sheridan's Rhetorical Gram._, p. 51. The author's reprehension of the old mode of accentuation, is not without reason; but his "great distinction" of short and long syllables is only fit to puzzle or mislead the reader. For it is plain, that the first syllables of _hab'it, bor'row_, and _bat'tle_, are twice as long as the last; and, in poetry, these words are trochees, as well as the other three, _glo'ry, fa'ther_, and _ho'ly_.

OBS. 9.--The only important distinction in our accent, is that of the _primary_ and the _secondary_, the latter species occurring when it is necessary to enforce more syllables of a word than one; but Sheridan, as we see above, after rejecting all the old distinctions of _rising_ and _falling, raising_ and _depressing, acute_ and _grave, sharp_ and _base, long_ and _short_, contrived a new one still more vain, which he founded on that of vowels and consonants, but "referred to _time_, or _quant.i.ty_." He recognized, in fact, a _vowel accent_ and a _consonant accent_; or, in reference to quant.i.ty, a _lengthening accent_ and a _shortening accent_.

The discrimination of these was with him "THE GREAT DISTINCTION of our accent." He has accordingly mentioned it in several different places of his works, and not always with that regard to consistency which becomes a precise theorist. It led him to new and variant ways of _defining_ accent; some of which seem to imply a division of consonants from their vowels in utterance, or to suggest that syllables are not the least parts of spoken words. And no sooner has he told us that our accent is but one single mode of distinguis.h.i.+ng a syllable, than he proceeds to declare it two. Compare the following citations: "As the p.r.o.nunciation of English words is chiefly regulated by _accent_, it will be necessary to have a _precise idea_ of that term. Accent with us means _no more_ than _a certain stress_ of the voice upon _one letter_ of a syllable, which distinguishes it from all the _other letters_ in a word."--_Sheridan's Rhetorical Gram._, p. 39. Again: "Accent, in the English language, means _a certain stress_ of the voice upon _a particular letter_ of a syllable which distinguishes it from the rest, and, at the same time, _distinguishes the syllable itself_ to which it belongs from the others which compose the word."--_Same work_, p. 50.

Again: "But as _our accent consists in stress only_, it can just as well be placed on a consonant as [on] a vowel."--_Same_, p. 51. Again: "By the word _accent_, is meant _the stress_ of the voice on _one letter_ in a syllable."--_Sheridan's Elements of English_, p. 55. Again: "The term [_accent_] with us has no reference to _inflexions_ of the voice, or musical notes, but only means _a peculiar manner of distinguis.h.i.+ng one syllable of a word from the rest_, denominated by us accent; and the term for that reason [is] used by us in the singular number.--This distinction is made by us in _two ways_; either by _dwelling longer upon one syllable_ than the rest; or by _giving it a smarter percussion_ of the voice in utterance. Of the first of these, we have instances in the words, _gl=ory, f=ather, h=oly_; of the last, in _bat'tle, hab'it, bor'row_. So that accent, with us, is not referred to tune, but to _time_; to _quant.i.ty_, not quality; to the more _equable_ or _precipitate_ motion of the voice, not to the variation of notes or _inflexions_."--_Sheridan's Lectures on Elocution_, p. 56; _Flint's Murray's Gram._, p. 85.

OBS. 10.--How "precise" was Sheridan's idea of accent, the reader may well judge from the foregoing quotations; in four of which, he describes it as "_a certain stress_," "_the stress_," and "_stress only_," which enforces some "_letter_;" while, in the other, it is whimsically made to consist in two different modes of p.r.o.nouncing "_syllables_"--namely, with _equability_, and with _precipitance_--with "_dwelling longer_," and with "_smarter percussion_"--which terms the author very improperly supposes to be _opposites_: saying, "For the two ways of distinguis.h.i.+ng syllables by accent, as mentioned before, are _directly opposite_, and produce _quite contrary effects_; the one, by _dwelling_ on the syllable, necessarily makes it long; the other, by the _smart percussion_--of the voice, as necessarily _makes it short_"--_Ib._, p. 57. Now it is all a mistake, however common, to suppose that our accent, consisting as it does, in stress, enforcement, or "percussion of voice," can ever _shorten_ the syllable on which it is laid; because what increases the quantum of a vocal sound, cannot diminish its length; and a syllable accented will always be found _longer_ as well as _louder_, than any unaccented one immediately before or after it. Though weak sounds may possibly be protracted, and shorter ones be exploded loudly, it is not the custom of our speech, so to deal with the sounds of syllables.

OBS. 11.--Sheridan admitted that some syllables are naturally and necessarily short, but denied that any are naturally and necessarily long.

In this, since syllabic length and shortness are relative to each other, and to the cause of each, he was, perhaps, hardly consistent. He might have done better, to have denied both, or neither. Bating his new division of accent to subject it sometimes to short quant.i.ty, he recognized very fully the dependence of quant.i.ty, long or short, whether in syllables or only in vowels, upon the presence or absence of accent or emphasis. In this he differed considerably from most of the grammarians of his day; and many since have continued to uphold other views. He says, "It is an _infallible rule_ in our tongue that no vowel ever has a long sound in an unaccented syllable."--_Lectures on Elocution_, p. 60. Again: "In treating of the simple elements or letters, I have shown that some, both vowels and consonants, are _naturally short_; that is, whose sounds _cannot possibly_ be prolonged; and these are the [short or shut] sounds of ~e, ~i, and ~u, of vocal sounds; and three pure mutes, k, p, t, of the consonant; as in the words _beck, lip, cut_. I have shown also, that the sounds of all the other vowels, and of the consonant semivowels, may be prolonged to what degree we please; but at the same time it is to be observed, that all these may also be reduced to a short quant.i.ty, and are capable of being uttered in as short a s.p.a.ce of time as those which are naturally short. So that they who speak of syllables as absolutely in their own nature long, _the common cant of prosodians_, speak of a nonent.i.ty: for though, as I have shown above, there are syllables absolutely short, which cannot possibly be prolonged by any effort of the speaker, yet it is in his power to shorten or prolong the others to what degree he pleases."--_Sheridan's Rhetorical Gram._, p. 52.

And again: "I have already mentioned that when the accent is on the vowel, it of course makes the syllable _long_; and when the accent is on the consonant, the syllable may be _either long or short_, according to the nature of the consonant, or _will of the speakers_. And as _all unaccented syllables are short_, the quant.i.ty of our syllables is adjusted by the easiest and simplest rule in the world, and in the exactest proportion."--_Lect. on Elocution_, p. 66.

OBS. 12.--This praise of our rule for the adjustment of quant.i.ty, would have been much more appropriate, had not the rule itself been greatly mistaken, perplexed, and misrepresented by the author. If it appear, on inspection, that "_beck, lip, cut_," and the like syllables, are twice as long when under the accent, as they are when not accented, so that, with a short syllable annexed or a long one prefixed, they may form _trochees_; then is it _not true_, that such syllables are either always necessarily and _inherently_ short, or always, "by the smart percussion of the voice, as necessarily _made_ short;" both of which inconsistent ideas are above affirmed of them. They may not be so long as some other long syllables; but, if they are twice as long as the accompanying short ones, they are not short. And, if not short, then that remarkable distinction in accent, which a.s.sumes that they are so, is as needless as it is absurd and perplexing.

Now let the words, _beck'on, lip'ping, cut'ter_, be properly p.r.o.nounced, and their syllables be compared with each other, or with those of _lim'beck, fil'lip, Dr=a'cut_; and it cannot but be perceived, that _beck, lip_, and _cut_, like other syllables in general, are _lengthened_ by the accent, and shortened only in its absence; so that all these words are manifestly trochees, as all similar words are found to be, in our versification. To suppose "as many words as we hear accents," or that "it is the laying of an accent on _one_ syllable, which _const.i.tutes a word_,"

and then say, that "no unaccented syllable or vowel is ever to be accounted long," as this enthusiastic author does in fact, is to make strange scansion of a very large portion of the trissyllables and polysyllables which occur in verse. An other great error in Sheridan's doctrine of quant.i.ty, is his notion that all monosyllables, except a few small particles, are _accented_; and that their quant.i.ty is determined to be long or short by the _seat_ or the _mode_ of the accent, as before stated. Now, as our poetry abounds with monosyllables, the relative time of which is adjusted by emphasis and cadence, according to the nature and importance of the terms, and according to the requirements of rhythm, with no reference to this fact.i.tious principle, no conformity thereto but what is accidental, it cannot but be a puzzling exercise, when these difficulties come to be summed up, to attempt the application of a doctrine so vainly conceived to be "the easiest and simplest rule in the world!"

OBS. 13.--Lindley Murray's principles of accent and quant.i.ty, which later grammarians have so extensively copied, were mostly extracted from Sheridan's; and, as the compiler appears to have been aware of but few, if any, of his predecessor's errors, he has adopted and greatly spread well-nigh all that have just been pointed out; while, in regard to some points, he has considerably increased the number. His scheme, as he at last fixed it, appears to consist essentially of propositions already refuted, or objected to, above; as any reader may see, who will turn to his definition of accent, and his rules for the determination of quant.i.ty. In opposition to Sheridan, who not very consistently says, that, "_All_ unaccented syllables are _short_," this author appears to have adopted the greater error of Fisher, who supposed that the _vowel sounds_ called long and short, are just the same as the long and short _syllabic quant.i.ties_.

By this rule, thousands of syllables will be called long, which are in fact short, being always so uttered in both prose and poetry; and, by the other, some will occasionally be called short, which are in fact long, being made so by the poet, under a slight secondary accent, or perhaps none. Again, in supposing our numerous monosyllables to be accented, and their quant.i.ty to be thereby fixed, without excepting "the _particles_, such as _a, the, to, in_, &c.," which were excepted by Sheridan, Murray has much augmented the mult.i.tude of errors which necessarily flow from the original rule. This principle, indeed, he adopted timidly; saying, as though he hardly believed the a.s.sertion true: "And _some writers a.s.sert_, that every monosyllable of two or more letters, has one of its letters thus distinguished."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 236; 12mo, 189. But still he _adopted_ it, and adopted it _fully_, in his section on Quant.i.ty; for, of his twelve words, exemplifying syllabic time so regulated, no fewer than nine are monosyllables. It is observable, however, that, in some instances, it is not _one_ letter, but _two_, that he marks; as in the words, "m=o=od, h=o=use."--_Ib._, p. 239; 12mo, 192. And again, it should be observed, that generally, wherever he marks accent, he follows the _old mode_, which Sheridan and Webster so justly condemn; so that, even when he is speaking of "the accent on the _consonant_," the sign of stress, as that of time, is set over a _vowel_: as, "Sadly, robber."--_Ib._, 8vo, 240; 12mo, 193. So in his Spelling-Book, where words are often falsely divided: as, "Ve nice," for Ven'-ice; "Ha no ver," for Han'o-ver; &c.--See p. 101.

OBS. 14.--In consideration of the great authority of this grammarian, now backed by a score or two of copyists and modifiers, it may be expedient to be yet more explicit. Of _accent_ Murray published about as many different definitions, as did Sheridan; which, as they show what notions he had at different times, it may not be amiss for some, who hold him always in the right, to compare. In one, he describes it thus: "Accent signifies _that stress_ of the voice, which is laid on _one syllable_, to distinguish it from the rest."--_Murray's Spelling-Book_, p. 138. He should here have said, (as by his examples it would appear that he meant,) "on one syllable _of a word_;" for, as the phrase now stands, it may include stress on a _monosyllable in a sentence_; and it is a matter of dispute, whether this can properly be called accent. Walker and Webster say, it is emphasis, and not accent. Again, in an other definition, which was written before he adopted the notion of accent on consonants, of accent on monosyllables, or of accent for quant.i.ty in the formation of verse, he used these words: "Accent is _the laying of_ a peculiar stress of the voice on a certain _vowel_ or syllable in a word, that it may be better heard than the rest, or distinguished from them; as, in the word _presume_, the stress of the voice must be on the second syllable, _sume_, which takes the accent."--_Murray's Gram., Second Edition_, 12mo, p. 161. In this edition, which was published at York, in 1796, his chief rules of quant.i.ty say nothing about accent, but are thus expressed: [1.] "A _vowel or syllable_ is long, when _the vowel or vowels contained in it_ are slowly joined in p.r.o.nunciation with the _following letters_; as, 'F=all, b=ale, m=o=od, h=o=use, f=eature.' [2.] A syllable is short, when the vowel is quickly joined to the succeeding _letter_; as, '~art, b~onn~et, h~ung~er.'"--_Ib._, p. 166. Besides the absurdity of representing "_a vowel_" as having "_vowels_ contained in it," these rules are _made up_ of great faults. They confound syllabic quant.i.ties with vowel sounds. They suppose quant.i.ty to be, not the time of a whole syllable, but the quick or slow junction of _some_ of its parts. They apply to no syllable that ends with a vowel sound. The former applies to none that ends with one consonant only; as, "_mood_" or the first of "_feat-ure_." In fact, it does not apply to _any_ of the examples given; the final letter in each of the other words being _silent_. The latter rule is worse yet: it misrepresents the examples; for "_bonnet_" and "_hunger_" are trochees, and "_art_," with any stress on it, is long.

OBS. 15.--In all late editions of L. Murray's Grammar, and many modifications of it, accent is defined thus: "Accent is _the laying of_ a peculiar stress of the voice, on a certain _letter_ OR _syllable_ in a word, that _it_ may be better heard than _the rest_, or distinguished from _them_; as, in the word _presume_, the stress of the voice must be on the _letter u_, AND [the] _second syllable, sume_, which takes the accent."--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 235; 12mo, 188; 18mo, 57; _Alger's_, 72; _Bacon's_, 52; _Comly's_, 168; _Cooper's_, 176; _Davenport's_, 121; _Felton's_, 134; _Frost's El._, 50; _Fisk's_, 32; _Merchant's_, 145; _Parker and Fox's_, iii, 44; _Pond's_, 197; _Putnam's_, 96; _Russell's_, 106; _R. O. Smith's_, 186. Here we see a curious jumble of the common idea of accent, as "stress laid on some particular _syllable_ of a _word_," with Sheridan's doctrine of accenting always "a particular _letter_ of a _syllable_,"--an idle doctrine, contrived solely for the accommodation of short quant.i.ty with long, _under the accent_. When this definition was adopted, Murray's scheme of quant.i.ty was also revised, and materially altered. The principles of his main text, to which his copiers all confine themselves, then took the following form:

"The quant.i.ty of a syllable, is _that_ time which is occupied in p.r.o.nouncing it. It is considered as LONG or SHORT.

"A _vowel or syllable_ is long, when the accent is on the vowel; _which_ occasions it to be slowly joined in p.r.o.nunciation with the following _letters_: as, 'F=all, b=ale, m=o=od, h=o=use, f=eature.'

"A _syllable_ is short, when the accent is on the consonant; _which_ occasions the vowel to be quickly joined to the succeeding _letter_: as, '~ant, b=onn~et, h=ung~er.'

"A long syllable generally requires double the time of a short one _in p.r.o.nouncing it_: thus, 'M=ate' and 'N=ote' should be p.r.o.nounced as slowly again as 'M~at' and 'N~ot.'"--_Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 239; 12mo, 192; 18mo, 57; _Alger's_, 72; _D. C. Allen's_, 86; _Bacon's_, 52; _Comly's_, 168; _Cooper's_, 176; _Cutler's_, 165; _Davenport's_, 121; _Felton's_, 134; _Frost's El._, 50; _Fisk's_, 32; _Maltby's_, 115; _Parker and Fox's_, iii, 47; _Pond's_, 198; _S. Putnam's_, 96; _R. C. Smith's_, 187; _Rev. T.

Smith's_, 68.

Here we see a revival and an abundant propagation of Sheridan's erroneous doctrine, that our accent produces both short quant.i.ty and long, according to its seat; and since none of all these grammars, but the first two of Murray's, give any _other_ rules for the discrimination of quant.i.ties, we must infer, that these were judged sufficient. Now, of all the principles on which any have ever pretended to determine the quant.i.ty of syllables, none, so far as I know, are more defective or fallacious than these. They are liable to more objections than it is worth while to specify. Suffice it to observe, that they divide certain accented syllables into long and short, and say nothing of the unaccented; whereas it is plain, and acknowledged even by Murray and Sheridan themselves, that in "_ant, bonnet, hunger_" and the like, the unaccented syllables are the _only short ones_: the rest can be, and here are, lengthened.[497]

OBS. 16.--The foregoing principles, differently expressed, and perchance in some instances more fitly, are found in many other grammars, and in some of the very latest; but they are everywhere a _mere dead letter_, a record which, if it is not always untrue, is seldom understood, and never applied in any way to practice. The following are examples:

(1.) "In a long syllable, the vowel is accented; in a short syllable [,]

the consonant; as [,] _r=oll, p=oll; t~op, c~ut_."--_Rev. W. Allen's Gram._, p. 222. (2.) "A syllable _or word_ is long, when the accent is on the vowel: as n=o, l=ine, l=a, m=e; and short, when on the consonant: as n~ot, l~in, L~atin, m~et."--_S. Barrett's Grammar, ("Principles of Language,")_ p. 112.

(3.) "A syllable is long when the accent is on the vowel, as, P=all, s=ale, m=o=use, cr=eature. A syllable is short when the accent is placed on the consonant; as great', let'ter, mas'ter."--_Rev. D. Blair's Practical Gram._, p. 117.

(4.) "When the stress is on the _vowel_, the measure of quant.i.ty is _long_: as, Mate, fate, complain, playful, un der mine. When the stress is on a _consonant_, the quant.i.ty is short: as, Mat', fat', com pel', prog'ress, dis man'tle."--_Pardon Davis's Practical Gram._, p. 125.

(5.) "The quant.i.ty of a syllable is considered _as long or short_. It is long when the accent is on the vowel; as, F=all, b=ale, m=ood, ho=use, f=eature. It is short when the accent is placed on the consonant; as, Mas'ter, let'ter."--_Guy's School Gram._, p. 118; _Picket's a.n.a.lytical School Gram._, 2d Ed., p. 224.

(6.) "A syllable is _long_ when the accent is on the vowel; and _short_, when the accent is on the consonant. A _long_ syllable requires twice the time in p.r.o.nouncing it that a _short_ one does. Long syllables are marked thus =; as, t=ube; short syllables, thus ~; as, m~an."--_Hiley's English Gram._, p. 120.

(7.) "When the accent is on a vowel, the syllable is generally long; as _=aleho=use, am=us.e.m.e.nt, f=eatures_. But when the accent is on a consonant, the syllable is mostly short; as, _h~ap'py, m~an'ner_. A long syllable requires twice as much time in the p.r.o.nunciation, as a short one; as, _h=ate, h~at; n=ote, n~ot; c=ane, c~an; f=ine, f~in_."--_Jaudon's Union Gram._, p. 173.

(8.) "If the syllable _be long_, the accent is on the vowel; as, in _b=ale, m=o=od, educ=ation; &c_. If _short_, the accent is on the consonant; as, in _~ant, b~onnet, h~unger_, &c."--_Merchant's American School Gram._, p. 145.

The quant.i.ty of our unaccented syllables, none of these authors, except Allen, thought it worth his while to notice. But among their accented syllables, they all include _words of one syllable_, though most of them thereby pointedly contradict their own definitions of accent. To find in our language no short syllables but such as are accented, is certainly a very strange and very great oversight. Frazee says, "The p.r.o.nunciation of an accented syllable _requires double the time_ of that of an unaccented one."--_Frazee's Improved Gram._, p. 180. If so, our poetical quant.i.ties are greatly misrepresented by the rules above cited. Allen truly says, "Unaccented syllables are generally short; as, _r~eturn, turn~er_."-- _Elements of E. Gram._, p. 222. But how it was ever found out, that in these words we accent only the vowel _u_, and in such as _hunter_ and _bluntly_, some one of the consonants only, he does not inform us.

OBS. 17.--As might be expected, it is not well agreed among those who accent single consonants and vowels, _what particular letter_ should receive the stress and the mark. The word or syllable "_ant_," for example, is marked "an't" by Alger, Bacon, and others, to enforce the _n_; "ant'" by Frost, Putnam, and others, to enforce the _t_; "~ant" by Murray, Russell, and others, to show, as they say, "_the accent on the consonant_!" But, in "A'NTLER," Dr. Johnson accented the _a_; and, to mark the same p.r.o.nunciation, Worcester now writes, "~ANT'LER;" while almost any prosodist, in scanning, would mark this word "_~antl~er_" and call it a _trochee_.[498] Churchill, who is in general a judicious observer, writes thus: "The _leading feature_ in the English language, on which _it's_ melody both in prose and verse _chiefly depends_, is _it's accent_. Every word in it of _more than one syllable_ has one of _it's_ syllables distinguished by this from the rest; the accent being in some cases on the vowel, in others on the _consonant that closes the syllable_; on the vowel, when it has _it's_ long sound; on the consonant, when the vowel is short."--_Churchill's New Gram._, p. 181. But to this, as a rule of accentuation, no attention is in fact paid nowadays. Syllables that have long vowels not final, very properly take the sign of stress on or after a consonant or a mute vowel; as, =an'gel, ch=am'ber, sl=ay'er, b=ead'roll, sl=ea'zy, sl=e=ep'er, sl=e=eve'less, l=ive'ly, m=ind'ful, sl=ight'ly, sl=id'ing, b=old'ness, gr=oss'ly, wh=ol'ly, =use'less.--See _Worcester's Dict._

OBS. 18.--It has been seen, that Murray's principles of quant.i.ty were greatly altered by himself, after the first appearance of his grammar. To have a full and correct view of them, it is necessary to notice something more than his main text, as revised, with which all his amenders content themselves, and which he himself thought sufficient for his Abridgement.

The following positions, which, in some of his revisals, he added to the large grammar, are therefore cited:--

(1.) "Unaccented syllables are generally short: as, '~admire, boldn~ess, sinn~er.' But to this rule there are _many_ exceptions: as, 'als=o, ex=ile, gangr=ene, ump=ire, f=oretaste,' &c.

(2.) "When the accent is on the consonant, the syllable is often _more or less short_, as it ends with a _single consonant_, or with more than one: as, 'Sadly, robber; persist, matchless.'

(3.) "When the accent is on a semi-vowel, the time of the syllable may be protracted, by dwelling upon the _semi-vowel_: as, 'Cur', can', f~ulfil"

but when the accent falls on a mute, the syllable _cannot be lengthened in the same manner_: as, 'Bubble, captain, totter.'"--_L. Murray's Gram._, 8vo, p. 240; 12mo, 193.

(4.) "In this work, and in the author's Spelling-book, the vowels _e_ and _o_, in the first syllable of such words as, behave, prejudge, domain, propose; and in the second syllable of such as pulley, turkey, borrow, follow; are considered as _long vowels_. The second syllables in such words as, baby, spicy, holy, fury, are also considered as _long syllables_."--_Ib._, 8vo, p. 241.

(5.) "In the words _scarecrow, wherefore_, both the syllables are _unquestionably long_, but not of equal length. We presume _therefore_, that the syllables under consideration, [i.e., those which end with the sound of _e_ or _o_ without accent,] may also be properly styled _long syllables_, though their length is not equal to that of some others."--_Murray's Octavo Gram._, p. 241.

OBS. 19.--Sheridan's "_infallible rule_, that no vowel ever has a long sound in an unaccented syllable," is in striking contrast with three of these positions, and the exact truth of the matter is with neither author.

But, for the accuracy of his doctrine, Murray appeals to "the authority of the judicious Walker," which he thinks sufficient to prove any syllable long whose vowel is called so; while the important distinction suggested by Walker, in his Principles, No. 529, between "the length or shortness of the vowels," and "that quant.i.ty which const.i.tutes poetry," is entirely overlooked. It is safe to affirm, that all the accented syllables occurring in the examples above, are _long_; and all the unaccented ones, _short_: for Murray's long syllables vary in length, and his short ones in shortness, till not only the just proportion, but the actual relation, of long and short, is evidently lost with some of them. Does not _match_ in "_match'less_," _sad_ in "_sad'ly_," or _bub_ in "_bub'ble_," require more time, than _so_ in "_al'so_," _key_ in "_tur'key_," or _ly_ in "_ho'ly_"?

If so, four of the preceding positions are very faulty. And so, indeed, is the remaining one; for where is the sense of saying, that "when the accent falls _on a mute_, the syllable cannot be lengthened by _dwelling upon the semi-vowel_"? This is an apparent truism, and yet not true. For a semivowel in the middle or at the beginning of a syllable, may lengthen it as much as if it stood at the end. "_Cur_" and "_can_," here given as protracted syllables, are certainly no longer by usage, and no more susceptible of protraction, than "_mat_" and "_not_," "_art_" and "_ant_," which are among the author's examples of short quant.i.ty. And if a semivowel accented will make the syllable long, was it not both an error and a self-contradiction, to give "_b~onnet_" and "_h~unger_" as examples of quant.i.ty _shortened_ by the accent? The syllable _man_ has two semivowels; and the letter _l_, as in "_ful fil'_," is the most sonorous of consonants; yet, as we see above, among their false examples of short syllables accented, different authors have given the words "_man_" and "_man'ner_," "_disman'tle_" and "_com pel'_," "_mas'ter_" and "_let'ter_," with sundry other sounds which may easily be lengthened. Sanborn says, "The _breve_ distinguishes a short syllable; as, _m~anner_."--_a.n.a.lytical Gram._, p. 273. Parker and Fox say, "The Breve (thus ~) is placed over a vowel to indicate _its short sound_; as, St. H~elena."--_English Gram._, Part iii, p. 31. Both explanations of this sign are defective; and neither has a suitable example. The name "_St.

H~l=e'n~a_," as p.r.o.nounced by Worcester, and as commonly heard, is two trochees; but "_Hel'ena_," for _Helen_, having the penult short, takes the accent on the first syllable, which is thereby _made long_, though the vowel sound is _called short_. Even Dr. Webster, who expressly notes the difference between "long and short _vowels_" and "long and short _syllables_," allows himself, on the very same page, to confound them: so that, of his three examples of a _short syllable,--"th~at, not, m~elon,"_--all are erroneous; two being monosyllables, which any emphasis must lengthen; and the third,--the word "_m~el'on_,"--with the first syllable marked short, and not the last! See _Webster's Improved Gram._, p.

157.

OBS. 20.--Among the latest of our English Grammars, is Chandler's new one of 1847. The Prosody of this work is fresh from the mint; the author's old grammar of 1821, which is the nucleus of this, being "confined to Etymology and Syantax." [sic--KTH] If from anybody the public have a right to expect correctness in the details of grammar, it is from one who has had the subject so long and so habitually before him. "_Accent_" says this author, "is _the_ stress on a syllable, _or letter_."--_Chandler's Common School Gram._, p. 188. Now, if our less prominent words and syllables require any force at all, a definition so loose as this, may give accent to some words, or to all; to some syllables, or to all; to some letters, or to all--except those which are _silent_! And, indeed, whether the stress which distinguishes some monosyllables from others, is supposed by the writer to be accent, or emphasis, or both, it is scarcely possible to ascertain from his elucidations. "The term _emphasis_," says he, "is used to denote a fuller sound of voice _after_ certain words that come in _ant.i.thesis_; that is, contrast. 'He can _write_, but he cannot _read_.' Here, _read_ and _write_ are _ant.i.thetical_ (that is, in contrast), and are _accented_, or _emphasized_."--P. 189. The word "_after_" here may be a misprint for the word _upon_; but no preposition really suits the connexion: the participle _impressing_ or _affecting_ would be better. Of _quant.i.ty_, this work gives the following account: "The _quant.i.ty_ of a _syllable_ is that time which is required to p.r.o.nounce it. A syllable may be _long_ or _short_. _Hate_ is long, as the vowel _a_ is elongated by the final _e_; _hat_ is short, and requires about half the time for p.r.o.nunciation which is used for p.r.o.nouncing _hate_. So of _ate, at; bate, bat; cure, cur_. Though unaccented syllables are usually short, yet _many_ of those which are accented are short also. The following are short: _ad_vent, _sin'_ner, _sup'_per. In the following, the unaccented syllables are long: al_so_, ex_ile_, gan_grene_, um_pire_. It maybe remarked, that the quant.i.ty of a syllable is short when the accent is on a consonant; as, art', bon'net, hun'ger. The _hyphen_ (-), placed over a syllable, denotes that it is long: n=ature. The breve (~) over a syllable, denotes that it is short; as, d~etr=act."--_Chandler's Common School Gram._, p. 189. This scheme of quant.i.ty is truly remarkable for its absurdity and confusion. What becomes of the elongating power of e, without accent or emphasis, as in _jun'cate, pal'ate, prel'ate_? Who does not know that such syllables as "_at, bat_, and _cur_" are often long in poetry? What more absurd, than to suppose both syllables short in such words as, "_~advent, sin'ner, sup'per_," and then give "serm~on, f=ilt~er, sp=ir~it, g=ath~er," and the like, for regular trochees, with "the first syllable long, and the second short," as does this author? What more contradictory and confused, than to pretend that the primal sound of a vowel lengthens an unaccented syllable, and accent on the consonant shortens an accented one, as if in "_al'so_" the first syllable must be short and the second long, and then be compelled, by the evidence of one's senses to mark "ech~o" as a trochee, and "detract" as an iambus?

What less pardonable misnomer, than for a great critic to call the sign of long quant.i.ty a "_hyphen_"?

OBS. 21.--The following suggestions found in two of Dr. Webster's grammars, are not far from the truth: "Most prosodians who have treated particularly of this subject, have been guilty of a fundamental error, in considering the movement of English verse as depending on long and short syllables, formed by long and short vowels. This hypothesis has led them into capital mistakes. The truth is, many of those syllables which are considered as _long_ in verse, are formed by the shortest vowels in the language; as, _strength, health, grand_. The doctrine that long vowels are necessary to form long syllables in poetry is at length exploded, and the principles which regulate the movement of our verse, are explained; viz. _accent_ and _emphasis_. Every emphatical word, and every accented syllable, will form what is called in verse, a long syllable. The unaccented syllables, and unemphatical monosyllabic words, are considered as short syllables."--_Webster's Philosophical Gram._, p. 222; _Improved Gram._, 158. Is it not remarkable, that, on the same page with this pa.s.sage, the author should have given the first syllable of "_melon_" as an example of _short_ quant.i.ty?

OBS. 22.--If the principle is true, which every body now takes for granted, that the foundation of versifying is some distinction pertaining to syllables; it is plain, that nothing can be done towards teaching the Art of Measuring Verses, till it be known _upon what distinction_ in syllables our scheme of versification is based, and by what rule or rules the discrimination is, or ought to be, made. Errors here are central, radical, fundamental. Hence the necessity of these present disquisitions. Without some effectual criticism on their many false positions, prosodists may continue to theorize, dogmatize, plagiarize, and blunder on, as they have done, indefinitely, and knowledge of the rhythmic art be in no degree advanced by their productions, new or old. For the supposition is, that in general the consulters of these various oracles are persons more fallible still, and therefore likely to be misled by any errors that are not expressly pointed out to them. In this work, it is a.s.sumed, that _quant.i.ty_, not laboriously ascertained by "a great variety of rules applied from the Greek and Latin Prosody," but discriminated on principles of our own--_quant.i.ty_, dependent in some degree on the nature and number of the letters in a syllable, but still more on the presence or absence of stress--is the true foundation of our metre. It has already been stated, and perhaps proved, that this theory is as well supported by authority as any; but, since Lindley Murray, persuaded wrong by the positiveness of Sheridan, exchanged his scheme of feet formed by quant.i.ties, for a new one of "feet formed by accents"--or, rather, for an impracticable mixture of both, a scheme of supposed "_duplicates_ of each foot"--it has been becoming more and more common for grammarians to represent the basis of English versification to be, not the distinction of long and short quant.i.ties, but the recurrence of _accent_ at certain intervals. Such is the doctrine of Butler, Felton, Fowler, S. S. Greene, Hart, Hiley, R. C.

Smith, Weld, Wells, and perhaps others. But, in this, all these writers contradict themselves; disregard their own definitions of accent; count monosyllables to be accented or unaccented; displace emphasis from the rank which Murray and others give it, as "the great regulator of quant.i.ty;" and suppose the length or shortness of syllables not to depend on the presence or absence of either accent or emphasis; and not to be of much account in the construction of English verse. As these strictures are running to a great length, it may be well now to introduce the poetic feet, and to reserve, for notes under that head, any further examination of opinions as to what const.i.tutes the _foundation_ of verse.

SECTION III.--OF POETIC FEET.

A verse, or line of poetry., consists of successive combinations of syllables, called _feet_. A poetic _foot_, in English, consists either of two or of three syllables, as in the following examples:

1. "C=an t=y | -r~ants b=ut | b~y t=y | -r~ants c=on | -qu~ered b=e?"--_Byron_.

2. "H=ol~y, | h=ol~y, | h=ol~y! | =all th~e | s=aints ~a | -d=ore th~ee."--_Heber_.

3. "And th~e br=eath | ~of th~e D=e | -~it~y c=ir | -cl~ed th~e ro=om."--_Hunt_.

4. "H=ail t~o th~e | chi=ef wh~o ~in | tr=i~umph ~ad |-v=anc~es!"--_Scott_.