OBS.—Walker observes, in his remarks on the nature of Accent and Quantity, "As to the tones of the passions, which are so many and various, these, in the opinion of one of the best judges in the kingdom, are qualities of sound, occasioned by certain vibrations of the organs of speech, independent on [say of] high, low, loud, soft, quick, slow, forcible, or feeble: which last may not improperly be called different quantities of sound."—Walker's Key, p. 305.



CHAPTER III.—FIGURES.

A Figure, in grammar, is an intentional deviation from the ordinary spelling, formation, construction, or application, of words. There are, accordingly, figures of Orthography, figures of Etymology, figures of Syntax, and figures of Rhetoric. When figures are judiciously employed, they both strengthen and adorn expression. They occur more frequently in poetry than in prose; and several of them are merely poetic licenses.

SECTION I.—FIGURES OF ORTHOGRAPHY.

A Figure of Orthography is an intentional deviation from the ordinary or true spelling of a word. The principal figures of Orthography are two; namely, Mi-me'-sis and Ar'-cha-ism.

EXPLANATIONS.

I. Mimesis is a ludicrous imitation of some mistake or mispronunciation of a word, in which the error is mimicked by a false spelling, or the taking of one word for another; as, "Maister, says he, have you any wery good weal in you vallet?"—Columbian Orator, p. 292. "Ay, he was porn at Monmouth, captain Gower."—Shak. "I will description the matter to you, if you be capacity of it."—Id.

"Perdigious! I can hardly stand." —LLOYD: Brit. Poets, Vol. viii, p. 184.

II. An Archaism is a word or phrase expressed according to ancient usage, and not according to our modern orthography; as, "Newe grene chese of smalle clammynes comfortethe a hotte stomake."—T. PAYNEL: Tooke's Diversions, ii, 132. "He hath holpen his servant Israel."—Luke, i, 54.

"With him was rev'rend Contemplation pight, Bow-bent with eld, his beard of snowy hue."—Beattie.

OBS.—Among the figures of this section, perhaps we might include the foreign words or phrases which individual authors now and then adopt in writing English; namely, the Scotticisms, the Gallicisms, the Latinisms, the Grecisms, and the like, with which they too often garnish their English style. But these, except they stand as foreign quotations, in which case they are exempt from our rules, are in general offences against the purity of our language; and it may therefore be sufficient, just to mention them here, without expressly putting any of them into the category of grammatical figures.

SECTION II.—FIGURES OF ETYMOLOGY.

A Figure of Etymology is an intentional deviation from the ordinary formation of a word. The principal figures of Etymology are eight; namely, A-phoer'-e-sis, Pros'-the-sis, Syn'-co-pe, A-poc'-o-pe, Par-a-go'-ge, Di-oer'-e-sis, Syn-oer'-e-sis, and Tme'-sis.

EXPLANATIONS.

I. Aphaeresis is the elision of some of the initial letters of a word: as, 'gainst, for against; 'gan, for began; 'neath, for beneath; 'thout, for without.

II. Prosthesis is the prefixing of an expletive syllable to a word: as, adown, for down; appaid, for paid; bestrown, for strown; evanished, for vanished; yclad, for clad.

III. Syn'cope is the elision of some of the middle letters of a word: as, med'cine, for medicine; e'en, for even; o'er, for over; conq'ring, for conquering; se'nnight, for sevennight.

IV. Apoc'ope is the elision of some of the final letters of a word: as, tho' for though; th', for the; t'other, for the other; thro', for through.

V. Parago'ge is the annexing of an expletive syllable to a word: as, Johnny, for John; deary, for dear; withouten, for without.

VI. Diaeresis is the separating of two vowels that might be supposed to form a diphthong: as, cooeperate, not cooperate; aeronaut, not aeronaut; or'thoepy, not orthoepy.

VII. Synaeresis is the sinking of two syllables into one: as, seest, for seest; tacked, for tack-ed; drowned, for drown-ed; spoks't, for spok-est; show'dst, for show-edst; 'tis, for it is; I'll, for I will.

VIII. Tmesis is the inserting of a word between the parts of a compound, or between two words which should be united if they stood together: as, "On which side soever."—Rolla. "To us ward;" "To God ward."—Bible. "The assembling of ourselves together."—Id. "With what charms soe'er she will."—Cowper. "So new a fashion'd robe."—Shak. "Lament the live day long."—Burns.

OBS.—In all our pronunciation, except that of the solemn style, such verbal or participial terminations as can be so uttered, are usually sunk by synaeresis into mere modifications of preceding syllables. The terminational consonants, if not uttered with one vowel, must be uttered with an other. When, therefore, a vowel is entirely suppressed in pronunciation, (whether retained in writing or not,) the consonants connected with it, necessarily fall into an other syllable: thus, tried, triest, sued, suest, loved, lovest, mov'd, mov'st, are monosyllables; and studied, studiest, studi'dst, argued, arguest, argu'dst, are dissyllables; except in solemn discourse, in which the e is generally retained and made vocal.

SECTION III.—FIGURES OF SYNTAX.

A Figure of Syntax is an intentional deviation from the ordinary construction of words. The principal figures of Syntax are five; namely, El-lip'-sis, Ple'-o-nasm, Syl-lep'-sis, En-al'-la-ge, and Hy-per'-ba-ton. EXPLANATIONS.

I. Ellipsis is the omission of some word or words which are necessary to complete the construction, but not necessary to convey the meaning. Such words are said, in technical phrase, to be understood;[477] because they are received as belonging to the sentence, though they are not uttered.

Of compound sentences, a vast many are more or less elliptical; and sometimes, for brevity's sake, even the most essential parts of a simple sentence, are suppressed;[478] as, "But more of this hereafter."—Harris's Hermes, p. 77. This means, "But I shall say more of this hereafter." "Prythee, peace."—Shak. That is, "I pray thee, hold thou thy peace."

There may be an omission of any of the parts of speech, or even of a whole clause, when this repeats what precedes; but the omission of mere articles or interjections can scarcely constitute a proper ellipsis, because these parts of speech, wherever they are really necessary to be recognized, ought to be expressed.

EXAMPLES OF ELLIPSIS SUPPLIED.

1. Of the ARTICLE:—"A man and [a] woman."—"The day, [the] month, and [the] year."—"She gave me an apple and [a] pear, for a fig and [an] orange."—Jaudon's Gram., p. 170.

2. Of the NOUN:—"The common [law] and the statute law."—"The twelve [apostles]."—"The same [man] is he."—"One [book] of my books."—"A dozen [bottles] of wine."—"Conscience, I say; not thine own [conscience], but [the conscience] of the other."—1 Cor., x, 29. "Every moment subtracts from [our lives] what it adds to our lives."—Dillwyn's Ref., p. 8. "Bad actions mostly lead to worse" [actions].—Ib., p. 5.

3. Of the ADJECTIVE:—"There are subjects proper for the one, and not [proper] for the other."—Kames. "A just weight and [a just] balance are the Lord's."—Prov., xvi, 11. True ellipses of the adjective alone, are but seldom met with.

4. Of the PRONOUN:—"Leave [thou] there thy gift before the altar, and go [thou] thy way; first be [thou] reconciled to thy brother, and then come [thou] and offer [thou] thy gift,"—Matt., v, 24. "Love [ye] your enemies, bless [ye] them that curse you, do [ye] good to them that hate you."—Ib., v. 44. "Chastisement does not always immediately follow error, but [it] sometimes comes when [it is] least expected."— Dillwyn, Ref., p. 31. "Men generally put a greater value upon the favours [which] they bestow, than upon those [which] they receive."—Art of Thinking, p. 48. "Wisdom and worth were all [that] he had."—Allen's Gram., p. 294.

5. Of the VERB:—"The world is crucified unto me, and I [am crucified] unto the world."—Gal., vi, 14. "Hearts should not [differ], though heads may, differ."—Dillwyn, p. 11. "Are ye not much better than they" [are]?—Matt., vi, 26. "Tribulation worketh patience; and patience [worketh] experience; and experience [worketh] hope."—Romans, v, 4. "Wrongs are engraved on marble; benefits [are engraved] on sand."—Art of Thinking, p. 41. "To whom thus Eve, yet sinless" [spoke].—Milton.

6. Of the PARTICIPLE:—"That [being] o'er, they part."—"Animals of various natures, some adapted to the wood, and some [adapted] to the wave."—Melmoth, on Scripture, p. 13.

"His knowledge [being] measured to his state and place, His time [being] a moment, and a point [being] his space."—Pope.

7. Of the ADVERB:—"He can do this independently of me, if not [independently] of you."

"She shows a body rather than a life; A statue, [rather] than a breather." —Shak., Ant. and Cleo., iii, 3.

8. Of the CONJUNCTION:—"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, [and] joy, [and] peace, [and] long suffering, [and] gentleness, [and] goodness, [and] faith, [and] meekness, [and] temperance."—Gal., v, 22. The repetition of the conjunction is called Polysyndeton; and the omission of it, Asyndeton.

9. Of the PREPOSITION:—"It shall be done [on] this very day."—"We shall set off [at] some time [in] next month."—"He departed [from] this life."—"He gave [to] me a book."—"We walked [through] a mile."—"He was banished [from] the kingdom."—W. Allen. "He lived like [to] a prince."—Wells.

10. Of the INTERJECTION:—"Oh! the frailty, [oh!] the wickedness of men."—"Alas for Mexico! and [alas] for many of her invaders!"

11. Of PHRASES or CLAUSES:—"The active commonly do more than they are bound to do; the indolent [commonly do] less" [than they are bound to do].—"Young men, angry, mean less than they say; old men, [angry, mean] more" [than they say].—"It is the duty of justice, not to injure men; [it is the duty] of modesty, not to offend them."—W. Allen.

OBSERVATIONS.

OBS. 1.—Grammarians in general treat of ellipsis without defining it; and exhibit such rules and examples as suppose our language to be a hundred-fold more elliptical than it really is.[479] This is a great error, and only paralleled by that of a certain writer elsewhere noticed, who denies the existence of all ellipsis whatever. (See Syntax, Obs. 24th on Rule 22d.) Some have defined this figure in a way that betrays a very inaccurate notion of what it is: as, "ELLIPSIS is when one or more words are wanting to complete the sense."—Adam's Lat. and Eng. Gram., p. 235; Gould's, 229. "ELLIPSIS is the omission of one or more words necessary to complete the sense."—Bullions, Lat. Gram., p. 265. These definitions are decidedly worse than none; because, if they have any effect, they can only mislead. They absurdly suggest that every elliptical sentence lacks a part of its own meaning! Ellipsis is, in fact, the mere omission or absence of certain suggested words; or of words that may be spared from utterance, without defect in the sense. There never can be an ellipsis of any thing which is either unnecessary to the construction or necessary to the sense; for to say what we mean and nothing more, never can constitute a deviation from the ordinary grammatical construction of words. As a figure of Syntax, therefore, the ellipsis can only be of such words as are so evidently suggested to the reader, that the writer is as fully answerable for them as if he had written them.

OBS. 2.—To suppose an ellipsis where there is none, or to overlook one where it really occurs, is to pervert or mutilate the text, in order to accommodate it to the parser's or reader's ignorance of the principles of syntax. There never can be either a general uniformity or a self-consistency in our methods of parsing, or in our notions of grammar, till the true nature of an ellipsis is clearly ascertained; so that the writer shall distinguish it from a blundering omission that impairs the sense, and the reader or parser be barred from an arbitrary insertion of what would be cumbrous and useless. By adopting loose and extravagant ideas of the nature of this figure, some pretenders to learning and philosophy have been led into the most whimsical and opposite notions concerning the grammatical construction of language. Thus, with equal absurdity, Cardell and Sherman, in their Philosophic Grammars, attempt to confute the doctrines of their predecessors, by supposing ellipses at pleasure. And while the former teaches, that prepositions do not govern the objective case, but that every verb is transitive, and governs at least two objects, expressed or understood, its own and that of a preposition: the latter, with just as good an argument, contends that no verb is transitive, but that every objective case is governed by a preposition expressed or understood. A world of nonsense for lack of a definition!

II. PLEONASM is the introduction of superfluous words; as, "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it."—Gen., ii, 17. This figure is allowable only, when, in animated discourse, it abruptly introduces an emphatic word, or repeats an idea to impress it more strongly; as, "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear."—Bible. "All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth."—Id. "There shall not be left one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down."—Id. "I know thee who thou art."—Id. A Pleonasm, as perhaps in these instances, is sometimes impressive and elegant; but an unemphatic repetition of the same idea, is one of the worst faults of bad writing.

OBS.—Strong passion is not always satisfied with saying a thing once, and in the fewest words possible; nor is it natural that it should be. Hence repetitions indicative of intense feeling may constitute a beauty of the highest kind, when, if the feeling were wanting, or supposed to be so, they would be reckoned intolerable tautologies. The following is an example, which the reader may appreciate the better, if he remembers the context: "At her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay down; at her feet he bowed, he fell; where he bowed, there he fell down dead."—Judges, v, 27.

III. SYLLEPSIS is agreement formed according to the figurative sense of a word, or the mental conception of the thing spoken of, and not according to the literal or common use of the term; it is therefore in general connected with some figure of rhetoric: as "The Word was made flesh, and dwelt amongst us, and we beheld his glory."—John, i, 14. "Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them."—Acts, viii, 5. "The city of London have expressed their sentiments with freedom and firmness."—Junius, p. 159. "And I said [to backsliding Israel,] after she had done all these things, Turn thou unto me; but she returned not: and her treacherous sister Judah saw it."—Jer., iii, 7. "And he surnamed them Boanerges, which is, The sons of thunder."—Mark, iii, 17.

"While Evening draws her crimson curtains round."—Thomson, p. 63.

"The Thunder raises his tremendous voice."—Id., p. 113.

OBSERVATIONS.

OBS. 1.—To the parser, some explanation of that agreement which is controlled by tropes, is often absolutely necessary; yet, of our modern grammarians, none appear to have noticed it; and, of the oldest writers, few, if any, have given it the rank which it deserves among the figures of syntax. The term Syllepsis literally signifies conception, comprehension, or taking-together. Under this name have been arranged, by the grammarians and rhetoricians, many different forms of unusual or irregular agreement; some of which are quite too unlike to be embraced in the same class, and not a few, perhaps, too unimportant or too ordinary to deserve any classification as figures. I therefore omit some forms of expression which others have treated as examples of Syllepsis, and define the term with reference to such as seem more worthy to be noticed as deviations from the ordinary construction of words. Dr. Webster, allowing the word two meanings, explains it thus: "SYLLEPSIS, n. [Gr. syllaepsis.] 1. In grammar, a figure by which we conceive the sense of words otherwise than the words import, and construe them according to the intention of the author; otherwise called substitution.[480] 2. The agreement of a verb or adjective, not with the word next to it, but with the most worthy in the sentence."—American Dict.

OBS. 2.—In short, Syllepsis is a conception of which grammarians have conceived so variously, that it has become doubtful, what definition or what application of the term is now the most appropriate. Dr. Prat, in defining it, cites one notion from Sanctius, and adds an other of his own, thus: "SYLLEPSIS, id est, Conceptio, est quoties Generibus, aut Numeris videntur voces discrepare. Sanct. l. 4. c. 10. Vel sit Comprehensio indignioris sub digniore."—Prat's Lat. Gram., Part ii, p. 164. John Grant ranks it as a mere form or species of Ellipsis, and expounds it thus: "Syllepsis is when the adjective or verb, joined to different substantives, agrees with the more worthy."—Institutes of Lat. Gram., p. 321. Dr. Littleton describes it thus: "SYLLLEPSIS [sic—KTH],—A Grammatical figure where two Nominative Cases singular of different persons are joined to a Verb plural."—Latin Dict., 4to. By Dr. Morell it is explained as follows: "SYLLEPSIS,—A grammatical figure, where one is put for many, and many for one, Lat. Conceptio."—Morell's Ainsworth's Dict., 4to, Index Vitand. IV. Enallage is the use of one part of speech, or of one modification, for an other. This figure borders closely upon solecism; and, for the stability of the language, it should be sparingly indulged. There are, however, several forms of it which can appeal to good authority: as,

1. "You know that you are Brutus, that say this."—Shak.

2. "They fall successive[ly], and successive[ly] rise."—Pope.

3. "Than whom [who] a fiend more fell is nowhere found."—Thomson.

4. "Sure some disaster has befell" [befallen].—Gay.

5. "So furious was that onset's shock, Destruction's gates at once unlock" [unlocked].—Hogg.

OBSERVATIONS.

OBS. 1.—Enallage is a Greek word, signifying commutation, change, or exchange. "Enallage, in a general sense, is the change of words, or of their accidents, one for another."—Grant's Latin Gram., p. 322. The word Antimeria, which literally expresses change of parts, was often used by the old grammarians as synonymous with Enallage; though, sometimes, the former was taken only for the substitution of one part of speech for an other, and the latter, only, or more particularly, for a change of modification—as of mood for mood, tense for tense, or number for number. The putting of one case for an other, has also been thought worthy of a particular name, and been called Antiptosis. But Enallage, the most comprehensive of these terms, having been often of old applied to all such changes, reducing them to one head, may well be now defined as above, and still applied, in this way, to all that we need recognize as figures. The word Enallaxis, preferred by some, is of the same import. "ENALLAXIS, so called by Longinus, or ENALLAGE, is an Exchange of Cases, Tenses, Persons, Numbers, or Genders."—Holmes's Rhet., Book i, p. 57.

"An ENALLAXIS changes, when it pleases, Tenses, or Persons, Genders, Numbers, Cases."—Ib., B. ii, p. 50.

OBS. 2.—Our most common form of Enallage is that by which a single person is addressed in the plural number. This is so fashionable in our civil intercourse, that some very polite grammarians improperly dispute its claims to be called a figure; and represent it as being more ordinary, and even more literal than the regular phraseology; which a few of them, as we have seen, would place among the archaisms. The next in frequency, (if indeed it can be called a different form,) is the practice of putting we for I, or the plural for the singular in the first person. This has never yet been claimed as literal and regular syntax, though the usages differ in nothing but commonness; both being honourably authorized, both still improper on some occasions, and, in both, the Enallage being alike obvious. Other varieties of this figure, not uncommon in English, are the putting of adjectives for adverbs, of adverbs for nouns, of the present tense for the preterit, and of the preterit for the perfect participle. But, in the use of such liberties, elegance and error sometimes approximate so nearly, there is scarcely an obvious line between them, and grammarians consequently disagree in making the distinction.

OBS. 3.—Deviations of this kind are, in general, to be considered solecisms; otherwise, the rules of grammar would be of no use or authority. Despauter, an ancient Latin grammarian, gave an improper latitude to this figure, or to a species of it, under the name of Antiptosis; and Behourt and others extended it still further. But Sanctius says, "Antiptosi grammaticorum nihil imperitius, quod figmentum si esset verum, frustra quaereretur, quem casum verba regerent." And the Messieurs De Port Royal reject the figure altogether. There are, however, some changes of this kind, which the grammarian is not competent to condemn, though they do not accord with the ordinary principles of construction.

V. Hyperbaton is the transposition of words; as, "He wanders earth around."—Cowper "Rings the world with the vain stir."—Id. "Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you."—Acts, xvii, 23. "'Happy', says Montesquieu, 'is that nation whose annals are tiresome.'"—Corwin, in Congress, 1847. This figure is much employed in poetry. A judicious use of it confers harmony, variety, strength, and vivacity upon composition. But care should be taken lest it produce ambiguity or obscurity, absurdity or solecism.

OBS.—A confused and intricate arrangement of words, received from some of the ancients the name of Syn'chysis, and was reckoned by them among the figures of grammar. By some authors, this has been improperly identified with Hyper'baton, or elegant inversion; as may be seen under the word Synchysis in Littleton's Dictionary, or in Holmes's Rhetoric, at page 58th. Synchysis literally means confusion, or commixtion; and, in grammar, is significant only of some poetical jumble of words, some verbal kink or snarl, which cannot be grammatically resolved or disentangled: as,

"Is piety thus and pure devotion paid?" —Milton, P. L., B. xi, l. 452.

"An ass will with his long ears fray The flies that tickle him away; But man delights to have his ears Blown maggots in by flatterers." —Butler's Poems, p. 161.



SECTION IV.—FIGURES OF RHETORIC.

A Figure of Rhetoric is an intentional deviation from the ordinary application of words. Several of this kind of figures are commonly called Tropes, i.e., turns; because certain words are turned from their original signification to an other.[481]

Numerous departures from perfect simplicity of diction, occur in almost every kind of composition. They are mostly founded on some similitude or relation of things, which, by the power of imagination, is rendered conducive to ornament or illustration.

The principal figures of Rhetoric are sixteen; namely, Sim'-i-le, Met'-a-phor, Al'-le-gor-y, Me-ton'-y-my, Syn-ec'-do-che, Hy-per'-bo-le, Vis'-ion, A-pos'-tro-phe, Per-son'-i-fi-ca'-tion, Er-o-te'-sis, Ec-pho-ne'-sis, An-tith'-e-sis, Cli'-max, I'-ro-ny, A-poph'-a-sis, and On-o-ma-to-poe'-ia.

EXPLANATIONS.

I. A Simile is a simple and express comparison; and is generally introduced by like, as, or so: as, "Such a passion is like falling in love with a sparrow flying over your head; you have but one glimpse of her, and she is out of sight."—Colliers Antoninus. "Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud, and as the early dew that passeth away; as the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney."—Hosea, xiii.

"At first, like thunder's distant tone, The rattling din came rolling on."—Hogg.

"Man, like the generous vine, supported lives; The strength he gains, is from th' embrace he gives."—Pope.

OBS.—Comparisons are sometimes made in a manner sufficiently intelligible, without any express term to point them out. In the following passage, we have a triple example of what seems the Simile, without the usual sign—without like, as, or so: "Away with all tampering with such a question! Away with all trifling with the man in fetters! Give a hungry man a stone, and tell what beautiful houses are made of it;—give ice to a freezing man, and tell him of its good properties in hot weather;—throw a drowning man a dollar, as a mark of your good will;—but do not mock the bondman in his misery, by giving him a Bible when he cannot read it."—FREDERICK DOUGLASS: Liberty Bell, 1848.

II. A Metaphor is a figure that expresses or suggests the resemblance of two objects by applying either the name, or some attribute, adjunct, or action, of the one, directly to the other; as,

1. "The LORD is my rock, and my fortress."—Psal., xviii 1.

2. "His eye was morning's brightest ray."—Hogg.

3. "An angler in the tides of fame."—Id., Q. W.

4. "Beside him sleeps the warrior's bow."—Langhorne.

5. "Wild fancies in his moody brain Gambol'd unbridled and unbound."—Hogg, Q. W.

6. "Speechless, and fix'd in all the death of wo."—Thomson.

OBS.—A Metaphor is commonly understoood [sic—KTH] to be only the tropical use of some single word, or short phrase; but there seem to be occasional instances of one sentence, or action, being used metaphorically to represent an other. The following extract from the London Examiner has several figurative expressions, which perhaps belong to this head: "In the present age, nearly all people are critics, even to the pen, and treat the gravest writers with a sort of taproom familiarity. If they are dissatisfied, they throw a short and spent cigar in the face of the offender; if they are pleased, they lift the candidate off his legs, and send him away with a hearty slap on the shoulder. Some of the shorter, when they are bent to mischief, dip a twig in the gutter, and drag it across our polished boots: on the contrary, when they are inclined to be gentle and generous, they leap boisterously upon our knees, and kiss us with bread-and-butter in their mouths."—WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR.

III. An Allegory is a continued narration of fictitious events, designed to represent and illustrate important realities. Thus the Psalmist represents the Jewish nation under the symbol of a vine: "Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it. Thou preparedst room before it, and didst cause it to take deep root; and it filled the land. The hills were covered with the shadow of it, and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars."—Psalms, lxxx, 8-10.

OBS.—The Allegory, agreeably to the foregoing definition of it, includes most of those similitudes which in the Scriptures are called parables; it includes also the better sort of fables. The term allegory is sometimes applied to a true history in which something else is intended, than is contained in the words literally taken. See an instance in Galatians, iv, 24. In the Scriptures, the term fable denotes an idle and groundless story: as, in 1 Timothy, iv, 7; and 2 Peter, i, 16. It is now commonly used in a better sense. "A fable may be defined to be an analogical narrative, intended to convey some moral lesson, in which irrational animals or objects are introduced as speaking."—Philological Museum, Vol. i, p. 280.

IV. A Metonymy is a change of names between things related. It is founded, not on resemblance, but on some such relation as that of cause and effect, of progenitor and posterity, of subject and adjunct, of place and inhabitant, of container and thing contained, or of sign and thing signified: as, (1.) "God is our salvation;" i.e., Saviour. (2.) "Hear, O Israel;" i.e. O ye descendants of Israel. (3.) "He was the sigh of her secret soul;" i.e., the youth she loved. (4.) "They smote the city;" i.e., the citizens. (5.) "My son, give me thy heart;" i.e., affection. (6.) "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah;" i.e., kingly power. (7.) "They have Moses and the prophets;" i.e., their writings. See Luke, xvi, 29.

V. Synecdoche, (that is, Comprehension,) is the naming of a part for the whole, or of the whole for a part; as, (1.) "This roof [i.e., house] protects you." (2.) "Now the year [i.e., summer] is beautiful." (3.) "A sail [i.e., a ship or vessel] passed at a distance." (4.) "Give us this day our daily bread;" i.e., food. (5.) "Because they have taken away my Lord, [i.e., the body of Jesus,] and I know not where they have laid him."—John. (6.) "The same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls;" i.e., persons.—Acts. (7.) "There went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world [i.e., the Roman empire] should be taxed."—Luke, ii, 1.

VI. Hyperbole is extravagant exaggeration, in which the imagination is indulged beyond the sobriety of truth; as, "My little finger shall be thicker than my father's loins."—2 Chron., x, 10. "When I washed my steps with butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of oil."—Job, xxix, 6.

"The sky shrunk upward with unusual dread, And trembling Tiber div'd beneath his bed."—Dryden.

VII. Vision, or Imagery, is a figure by which the speaker represents the objects of his imagination, as actually before his eyes, and present to his senses; as,

"I see the dagger-crest of Mar! I see the Moray's silver star Wave o'er the cloud of Saxon war, That up the lake comes winding far!"—Scott, L. L., vi, 15.

VIII. Apostrophe is a turning from the regular course of the subject, into an animated address; as, "Death is swallowed up in victory. O Death! where is thy sting? O Grave! where is thy victory?"—1 Cor., xv, 55.

IX. Personification is a figure by which, in imagination, we ascribe intelligence and personality to unintelligent beings or abstract qualities; as,

1. "The Worm, aware of his intent, Harangued him thus, right eloquent."—Cowper.

2. "Lo, steel-clad War his gorgeous standard rears!"—Rogers.

3. "Hark! Truth proclaims, thy triumphs cease!"—Idem.

X. Erotesis is a figure in which the speaker adopts the form of interrogation, not to express a doubt, but, in general, confidently to assert the reverse of what is asked; as, "Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like him?"—Job, xl, 9. "He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see?"—Psalms, xciv, 9.

XI. Ecphonesis is a pathetic exclamation, denoting some violent emotion of the mind; as, "O liberty!—O sound once delightful to every Roman ear!—O sacred privilege of Roman citizenship!—once sacred—now trampled upon."—Cicero. "And I said, O that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest."—Psalms, lv, 6.

XII. Antithesis is a placing of things in opposition, to heighten their effect by contrast; as, "I will talk of things heavenly, or things earthly; things moral, or things evangelical; things sacred, or things profane; things past, or things to come; things foreign, or things at home; things more essential, or things circumstantial; provided that all be done to our profit."—Bunyan, P. P., p. 90.

"Contrasted faults through all his manners reign; Though poor, luxurious; though submissive, vain; Though grave, yet trifling; zealous, yet untrue; And e'en in penance, planning sins anew."—Goldsmith.

XIII. Climax is a figure in which the sense is made to advance by successive steps, to rise gradually to what is more and more important and interesting, or to descend to what is more and more minute and particular; as, "And besides this, giving all diligence, add to your faith, virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance, patience; and to patience, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, charity."—2 Peter, i, 5.

XIV. Irony is a figure in which the speaker sneeringly utters the direct reverse of what he intends shall be understood; as, "We have, to be sure, great reason to believe the modest man would not ask him for a debt, when he pursues his life."—Cicero. "No doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you."—Job, xii, 2. "They must esteem learning very much, when they see its professors used with such little ceremony!"—Goldsmith's Essays, p. 150.

XV. Apophasis, or Paralipsis,[482] is a figure in which the speaker or writer pretends to omit what at the same time he really mentions; as, "I Paul have written it with mine own hand, I will repay it; albeit I do not say to thee, how thou owest unto me even thine own self besides."—Philemon, 19.

XVI. Onomatopoeia is the use of a word, phrase, or sentence, the sound of which resembles, or intentionally imitates, the sound of the thing signified or spoken of: as, "Of a knocking at the door, Rat a tat tat."—J. W. GIBBS: in Fowler's Gram., p. 334. "Ding-dong! ding-dong! Merry, merry, go the bells, Ding-dong! ding-dong!"—H. K. White. "Bow'wow n. The loud bark of a dog. Booth."—Worcester's Dict. This is often written separately; as, "Bow wow."—Fowler's Gram., p. 334. The imitation is better with three sounds: "Bow wow wow." The following verses have been said to exhibit this figure:

"But when loud surges lash the sounding shore, The hoarse rough verse should like the torrent roar." —Pope, on Crit., l. 369.

OBS.—The whole number of figures, which I have thought it needful to define and illustrate in this work, is only about thirty. These are the chief of what have sometimes been made a very long and minute catalogue. In the hands of some authors, Rhetoric is scarcely anything else than a detail of figures; the number of which, being made to include almost every possible form of expression, is, according to these authors, not less than two hundred and forty. Of their names, John Holmes gives, in his index, two hundred and fifty-three; and he has not all that might be quoted, though he has more than there are of the forms named, or the figures themselves. To find a learned name for every particular mode of expression, is not necessarily conducive to the right use of language. It is easy to see the inutility of such pedantry; and Butler has made it sufficiently ridiculous by this caricature:

"For all a rhetorician's rules Teach nothing but to name his tools."—Hudibras, P. i, C. i, l. 90.

SECTION V.—EXAMPLES FOR PARSING.

PRAXIS XIV.—PROSODICAL.

In the Fourteenth Praxis, are exemplified the several Figures of Orthography, of Etymology, of Syntax, and of Rhetoric, which the parser may name and define; and by it the pupil may also be exercised in relation to the principles of Punctuation, Utterance, Analysis, or whatever else of Grammar, the examples contain.

LESSON I.—FIGURES OF ORTHOGRAPHY.

MIMESIS AND ARCHAISM.

"I ax'd you what you had to sell. I am fitting out a wessel for Wenice, loading her with warious keinds of prowisions, and wittualling her for a long woyage; and I want several undred weight of weal, wenison, &c., with plenty of inyons and winegar, for the preserwation of ealth."—Columbian Orator, p. 292.

"God bless you, and lie still quiet (says I) a bit longer, for my shister's afraid of ghosts, and would die on the spot with the fright, was she to see you come to life all on a sudden this way without the least preparation."—Edgeworth's Castle Rackrent, p. 143.

"None [else are] so desperately evill, as they that may bee good and will not: or have beene good and are not."—Rev. John Rogers, 1620. "A Carpenter finds his work as hee left it, but a Minister shall find his sett back. You need preach continually."—Id.

"Here whilom ligg'd th' Esopus of his age, But call'd by Fame, in soul ypricked deep."—Thomson.

"It was a fountain of Nepenthe rare, Whence, as Dan Homer sings, huge pleasaunce grew."—Id.

LESSON II.—FIGURES OF ETYMOLOGY.

APHAERESIS, PROSTHESIS, SYNCOPE, APOCOPE, PARAGOGE, DIAERESIS, SYNAERESIS, AND TMESIS.

"Bend 'gainst the steepy hill thy breast, Burst down like torrent from its crest."—Scott.

"'Tis mine to teach th' inactive hand to reap Kind nature's bounties, o'er the globe diffus'd."—Dyer.

"Alas! alas! how impotently true Th' aerial pencil forms the scene anew."—Cawthorne.

"Here a deformed monster joy'd to won, Which on fell rancour ever was ybent."—Lloyd.

"Withouten trump was proclamation made."—Thomson.

"The gentle knight, who saw their rueful case, Let fall adown his silver beard some tears. 'Certes,' quoth he, 'it is not e'en in grace, T' undo the past and eke your broken years."—Id.

"Vain tamp'ring has but foster'd his disease; 'Tis desp'rate, and he sleeps the sleep of death."—Cowper.

"'I have a pain upon my forehead here'— 'Why that's with watching; 'twill away again.'"—Shakspeare.

"I'll to the woods, among the happier brutes; Come, let's away; hark! the shrill horn resounds."—Smith.

"What prayer and supplication soever be made."—Bible. "By the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you ward."—Ib.

LESSON III.—FIGURES OF SYNTAX.

FIGURE I.—ELLIPSIS.

"And now he faintly kens the bounding fawn, And [—] villager [—] abroad at early toil."—Beattie.

"The cottage curs at [—] early pilgrim bark."—Id.

"'Tis granted, and no plainer truth appears, Our most important [—] are our earliest years."—Cowper.

"To earn her aid, with fix'd and anxious eye, He looks on nature's [—] and on fortune's course."—Akenside.

"For longer in that paradise to dwell, The law [—] I gave to nature him forbids."—Milton.

"So little mercy shows [—] who needs so much."—Cowper.

"Bliss is the same [—] in subject, as [—] in king; In [—] who obtain defence, and [—] who defend."—Pope.

"Man made for kings! those optics are but dim That tell you so—say rather, they [—] for him."—Cowper.

"Man may dismiss compassion from his heart, But God will never [———-]."—Id.

"Vigour [—] from toil, from trouble patience grows."—Beattie.

"Where now the rill melodious, [—] pure, and cool, And meads, with life, and mirth, and beauty crown'd?"—Id.

"How dead the vegetable kingdom lies! How dumb the tuneful [——————]!"—Thomson.

"Self-love and Reason to one end aspire, Pain [—] their aversion, pleasure [—] their desire; But greedy that its object would devour, This [—] taste the honey, and not wound the flower."—Pope.

LESSON IV.—FIGURES OF SYNTAX.

FIGURE II.—PLEONASM.

"According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompense."—Isaiah, lix, 18. "Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night."—Song of Sol., v, 2. "Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the Lord my God."—Jer., xxxi, 18. "Consider the lilies of the field how they grow."—Matt., vi, 28. "He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord."—2 Cor., x, 17.

"He too is witness, noblest of the train That wait on man, the flight-performing horse."—Cowper.

FIGURE III.—SYLLEPSIS.

"'Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas:' which is, by interpretation a stone."—John, i, 42. "Thus saith the Lord of hosts, 'Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the chief of their might.'"—Jer., xlix, 35. "Behold, I lay in Sion a stumbling-stone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed."—Rom., ix, 33.

"Thus Conscience pleads her cause within the breast, Though long rebell'd against, not yet suppressed."—Cowper.

"Knowledge is proud that he has learn'd so much; Wisdom is humble that he knows no more."—Id.

"For those the race of Israel oft forsook Their living strength, and unfrequented left His righteous altar, bowing lowly down To bestial gods."—Milton, Paradise Lost, B. i, l. 432.

LESSON V.—FIGURES OF SYNTAX.

FIGURE IV.—ENALLAGE.

"Let me tell you, Cassius, you yourself Are much condemned to have an itching palm, To sell and mart your offices for gold."—Shakspeare.

"Come, Philomelus; let us instant go, O'erturn his bow'rs, and lay his castle low."—Thomson.

"Then palaces shall rise; the joyful son Shall finish what the short-liv'd sire begun"—Pope.

"Such was that temple built by Solomon, Than whom none richer reign'd o'er Israel."—Author.

"He spoke: with fatal eagerness we burn, And quit the shores, undestin'd to return."—Day.

"Still as he pass'd, the nations he sublimes."—Thomson.

"Sometimes, with early morn, he mounted gay."—Id.

"'I've lost a day'—the prince who nobly cried, Had been an emperor without his crown."—Young.

FIGURE V.—HYPERBATON.

"Such resting found the sole of unblest feet."—Milton.

"Yet, though successless, will the toil delight."—Thomson.

"Where, 'midst the changeful scen'ry ever new, Fancy a thousand wondrous forms descries."—Beattie.

"Yet so much bounty is in God, such grace, That who advance his glory, not their own, Them he himself to glory will advance."—Milton.

"No quick reply to dubious questions make; Suspense and caution still prevent mistake."—Denham.

LESSON VI.—FIGURES OF RHETORIC.

FIGURE I.—SIMILE.

"Human greatness is short and transitory, as the odour of incense in the fire."—Dr. Johnson. "Terrestrial happiness is of short continuance: the brightness of the flame is wasting its fuel, the fragrant flower is passing away in its own odours."—Id. "Thy nod is as the earthquake that shakes the mountains; and thy smile, as the dawn of the vernal day."—Id.

"Plants rais'd with tenderness are seldom strong; Man's coltish disposition asks the thong; And, without discipline, the fav'rite child, Like a neglected forester, runs wild."—Cowper.

"As turns a flock of geese, and, on the green, Poke out their foolish necks in awkward spleen, (Ridiculous in rage!) to hiss, not bite, So war their quills, when sons of dullness write."—Young.

"Who can unpitying see the flowery race, Shed by the morn, their new-flush'd bloom resign, Before th' unbating beam? So fade the fair, When fevers revel through their azure veins."—Thomson.

FIGURE II.—METAPHOR.

"Cathmon, thy name is a pleasant gale."—Ossian. "Rolled into himself he flew, wide on the bosom of winds. The old oak felt his departure, and shook its whistling head."—Id. "Carazan gradually lost the inclination to do good, as he acquired the power; as the hand of time scattered snow upon his head, the freeziny influence [sic—KTH] extended to his bosom."—Hawkesworth. "The sun grew weary of gilding the palaces of Morad; the clouds of sorrow gathered round his head; and the tempest of hatred roared about his dwelling."—Dr. Johnson.

LESSON VII.—FIGURES OF RHETORIC.

FIGURE III.—ALLEGORY.

"But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, 'Son, go work to-day in my vineyard.' He answered and said, 'I will not;' but afterward he repented, and went. And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, 'I go, sir;' and went not. Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, 'The first.'"—Matt., xxi, 28-31.

FIGURE IV.—METONYMY.

"Swifter than a whirlwind, flies the leaden death."—Hervey. "'Be all the dead forgot,' said Foldath's bursting wrath. 'Did not I fail in the field?'"—Ossian.

"Their furrow oft the stubborn glebe has broke."—Gray.

"Firm in his love, resistless in his hate, His arm is conquest, and his frown is fate."—Day.

"At length the world, renew'd by calm repose, Was strong for toil; the dappled morn arose."—Parnell.

"What modes of sight betwixt each wide extreme, The mole's dim curtain and the lynx's beam! Of hearing, from the life that fills the flood, To that which warbles through the vernal wood!"—Pope.

FIGURE V.—SYNECDOCHE.

"'Twas then his threshold first receiv'd a guest."—Parnell.

"For yet by swains alone the world he knew, Whose feet came wand'ring o'er the nightly dew."—Id.

"Flush'd by the spirit of the genial year, Now from the virgin's cheek a fresher bloom Shoots, less and less, the live carnation round."—Thomson.

LESSON VIII.—FIGURES OF RHETORIC.

FIGURE VI.—HYPERBOLE.

"I saw their chief, tall as a rock of ice; his spear, the blasted fir; his shield the rising moon; he sat on the shore, like a cloud of mist on the hill."—Ossian.

"At which the universal host up sent A shout, that tore Hell's concave, and beyond Frighted the reign of Chaos and old Night."—Milton.

"Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood Clean from my hand? No; this my hand will rather The multitudinous seas incarnadine, Making the green one red!"—Shakspeare.

FIGURE VII.—VISION.

"How mighty is their defence who reverently trust in the arm of God! How powerfully do they contend who fight with lawful weapons! Hark! 'Tis the voice of eloquence, pouring forth the living energies of the soul; pleading, with generous indignation and holy emotion, the cause of injured humanity against lawless might, and reading the awful destiny that awaits the oppressor!—I see the stern countenance of despotism overawed! I see the eye fallen, that kindled the elements of war! I see the brow relaxed, that scowled defiance at hostile thousands! I see the knees tremble, that trod with firmness the embattled field! Fear has entered that heart which ambition had betrayed into violence! The tyrant feels himself a man, and subject to the weakness of humanity!—Behold! and tell me, is that power contemptible which can thus find access to the sternest hearts?"—Author.

FIGURE VIII.—APOSTROPHE.

"Yet still they breathe destruction, still go on, Inhumanly ingenious to find out New pains for life, new terrors for the grave; Artificers of death! Still monarchs dream Of universal empire growing up From universal ruin. Blast the design, Great God of Hosts! nor let thy creatures fall Unpitied victims at Ambition's shrine."—Porteus.

LESSON IX.—FIGURES OF RHETORIC.

FIGURE IX.—PERSONIFICATION.

"Hail, sacred Polity, by Freedom rear'd! Hail, sacred Freedom, when by Law restrain'd! Without you, what were man? A grov'ling herd, In darkness, wretchedness, and want, enchain'd."—Beattie.

"Let cheerful Mem'ry, from her purest cells, Lead forth a godly train of Virtues fair, Cherish'd in early youth, now paying back With tenfold usury the pious care."—Porteus.

FIGURE X.—EROTESIS.

"He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? He that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know?"—Psalms, xciv, 10. "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil."—Jeremiah, xiii, 23.

FIGURE XI.—ECPHONESIS. "O that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! O that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of way-faring men, that I might leave my people, and go from them!"—Jeremiah, ix, 1.

FIGURE XII.—ANTITHESIS.

"On this side, modesty is engaged; on that, impudence: on this, chastity; on that, lewdness: on this, integrity; on that, fraud: on this, piety; on that, profaneness: on this, constancy; on that, fickleness: on this, honour; on that, baseness: on this, moderation; on that, unbridled passion."—Cicero.

"She, from the rending earth, and bursting skies, Saw gods descend, and fiends infernal rise; Here fix'd the dreadful, there the blest abodes; Fear made her devils, and weak hope her gods."—Pope.

LESSON X.—FIGURES OF RHETORIC.

FIGURE XIII.—CLIMAX.

"Virtuous actions are necessarily approved by the awakened conscience; and when they are approved, they are commended to practice; and when they are practised, they become easy; and when they become easy, they afford pleasure; and when they afford pleasure, they are done frequently; and when they are done frequently, they are confirmed by habit: and confirmed habit is a kind of second nature."—Inst., p. 246.

"Weep all of every name: begin the wo, Ye woods, and tell it to the doleful winds; And doleful winds, wail to the howling hills; And howling hills, mourn to the dismal vales; And dismal vales, sigh to the sorrowing brooks; And sorrwing brooks, weep to the weeping stream; And weeping stream, awake the groaning deep; And let the instrument take up the song, Responsive to the voice—harmonious wo!"—Pollok, B. vi, l. 115.

FIGURE XIV.—IRONY.

"And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, 'Cry aloud; for he is a god: either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in [on] a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked!' "—1 Kings, xviii, 27.

"After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years; and ye shall know my breach of promise."—Numbers, xiv, 34.

"Some lead a life unblamable and just, Their own dear virtue their unshaken trust; They never sin—or if (as all offend) Some trivial slips their daily walk attend, The poor are near at hand, the charge is small, A slight gratuity atones for all."—Cowper.

FIGURE XV.—APOPHASIS, OR PARALIPSIS.

I say nothing of the notorious profligacy of his character; nothing of the reckless extravagance with which he has wasted an ample fortune; nothing of the disgusting intemperance which has sometimes caused him to reel in our streets;—but I aver that he has not been faithful to our interests,—has not exhibited either probity or ability in the important office which he holds.

FIGURE XVI.—ONOMATOPOEIA.

[Fist][The following lines, from Swift's Poems, satirically mimick the imitative music of a violin.]

"Now slowly move your fiddle-stick; Now, tantan, tantantivi, quick; Now trembling, shivering, quivering, quaking, Set hoping hearts of Lovers aching."

"Now sweep, sweep the deep. See Celia, Celia dies, While true Lovers' eyes Weeping sleep, Sleeping weep, Weeping sleep, Bo-peep, bo-peep."



CHAPTER IV.—VERSIFICATION.

Versification is the forming of that species of literary composition which is called verse; that is, poetry, or poetic numbers.

SECTION I.—OF VERSE.

Verse, in opposition to prose, is language arranged into metrical lines of some determinate length and rhythm—language so ordered as to produce harmony, by a due succession of poetic feet, or of syllables differing in quantity or stress.

DEFINITIONS AND PRINCIPLES.

The rhythm of verse is its relation of quantities; the modulation of its numbers; or, the kind of metre, measure, or movement, of which it consists, or by which it is particularly distinguished.

The quantity of a syllable, as commonly explained, is the relative portion of time occupied in uttering it. In poetry, every syllable is considered to be either long or short. A long syllable is usually reckoned to be equal to two short ones.

In the construction of English verse, long quantity coincides always with the primary accent, generally also with the secondary, as well as with emphasis; and short quantity, as reckoned by the poets, is found only in unaccented syllables, and unemphatical monosyllabic words.[483]

The quantity of a syllable, whether long or short, does not depend on what is called the long or the short sound of a vowel or diphthong, or on a supposed distinction of accent as affecting vowels in some cases and consonants in others, but principally on the degree of energy or loudness with which the syllable is uttered, whereby a greater or less portion of time is employed.

The open vowel sounds, which are commonly but not very accurately termed long, are those which are the most easily protracted, yet they often occur in the shortest and feeblest syllables; while, on the other hand, no vowel sound, that occurs under the usual stress of accent or of emphasis, is either so short in its own nature, or is so "quickly joined to the succeeding letter," that the syllable is not one of long quantity.

Most monosyllables, in English, are variable in quantity, and may be made either long or short, as strong or weak sounds suit the sense and rhythm; but words of greater length are, for the most part, fixed, their accented syllables being always long, and a syllable immediately before or after the accent almost always short.

One of the most obvious distinctions in poetry, is that of rhyme and blank verse. Rhyme is a similarity of sound, combined with a difference: occurring usually between the last syllables of different lines, but sometimes at other intervals; and so ordered that the rhyming syllables begin differently and end alike. Blank verse is verse without rhyme.

The principal rhyming syllables are almost always long. Double rhyme adds one short syllable; triple rhyme, two. Such syllables are redundant in iambic and anapestic verses; in lines of any other sort, they are generally, if not always, included in the measure.

A Stanza is a combination of several verses, or lines, which, taken together, make a regular division of a poem. It is the common practice of good versifiers, to form all stanzas of the same poem after one model. The possible variety of stanzas is infinite; and the actual variety met with in print is far too great for detail.

OBSERVATIONS.

OBS. 1.—Verse, in the broadest acceptation of the term, is poetry, or metrical language, in general. This, to the eye, is usually distinguished from prose by the manner in which it is written and printed. For, in very many instances, if this were not the case, the reader would be puzzled to discern the difference. The division of poetry into its peculiar lines, is therefore not a mere accident. The word verse, from the Latin versus, literally signifies a turning. Each full line of metre is accordingly called a verse; because, when its measure is complete, the writer turns to place another under it. A verse, then, in the primary sense of the word with us, is, "A line consisting of a certain succession of sounds, and number of syllables."—Johnson, Walker, Todd, Bottes, and others. Or, according to Webster, it is, "A poetic line, consisting of a certain number of long and short syllables, disposed according to the rules of the species of poetry which the author intends to compose."—See American Dict., 8vo.

OBS. 2.—If to settle the theory of English verse on true and consistent principles, is as difficult a matter, as the manifold contrarieties of doctrine among our prosodists would indicate, there can be no great hope of any scheme entirely satisfactory to the intelligent examiner. The very elements of the subject are much perplexed by the incompatible dogmas of authors deemed skillful to elucidate it. It will scarcely be thought a hard matter to distinguish true verse from prose, yet is it not well agreed, wherein the difference consists: what the generality regard as the most essential elements or characteristics of the former, some respectable authors dismiss entirely from their definitions of both verse and versification. The existence of quantity in our language; the dependence of our rhythms on the division of syllables into long and short; the concurrence of our accent, (except in some rare and questionable instances,) with long quantity only; the constant effect of emphasis to lengthen quantity; the limitation of quantity to mere duration of sound; the doctrine that quantity pertains to all syllables as such, and not merely to vowel sounds; the recognition of the same general principles of syllabication in poetry as in prose; the supposition that accent pertains not to certain letters in particular, but to certain syllables as such; the limitation of accent to stress, or percussion, only; the conversion of short syllables into long, and long into short, by a change of accent; our frequent formation of long syllables with what are called short vowels; our more frequent formation of short syllables with what are called long or open vowels; the necessity of some order in the succession of feet or syllables to form a rhythm; the need of framing each line to correspond with some other line or lines in length; the propriety of always making each line susceptible of scansion by itself: all these points, so essential to a true explanation of the nature of English verse, though, for the most part, well maintained by some prosodists, are nevertheless denied by some, so that opposite opinions may be cited concerning them all. I would not suggest that all or any of these points are thereby made doubtful; for there may be opposite judgements in a dozen cases, and yet concurrence enough (if concurrence can do it) to establish them every one.

OBS. 3.—An ingenious poet and prosodist now living,[484] Edgar Allan Poe, (to whom I owe a word or two of reply,) in his "Notes upon English Verse," with great self-complacency, represents, that, "While much has been written upon the structure of the Greek and Latin rhythms, comparatively nothing has been done as regards the English;" that, "It may be said, indeed, we are without a treatise upon our own versification;" that "The very best" definition of versification[485] to be found in any of "our ordinary treatises on the topic," has "not a single point which does not involve an error;" that, "A leading deft in each of these treatises is the confining of the subject to mere versification, while metre, or rhythm, in general, is the real question at issue;" that, "Versification is not the art, but the act'—of making verses;" that, "A correspondence in the length of lines is by no means essential;" that "Harmony" produced "by the regular alternation of syllables differing in quantity," does not include "melody;" that "A regular alternation, as described, forms no part of the principle of metre:" that "There is no necessity of any regularity in the succession of feet;" that, "By consequence," he ventures to "dispute the essentiality of any alternation, regular or irregular, of syllables long and short:" that, "For anything more intelligible or more satisfactory than this definition [i. e., G. Brown's former definition of versification,] we shall look in vain in any published treatise upon the subject;" that, "So general and so total a failure can be referred only to some radical misconception;" that, "The word verse is derived (through versus from the Latin verto, I turn,) and * * * * it can be nothing but this derivation, which has led to the error of our writers upon prosody;" that, "It is this which has seduced them into regarding the line itself—the versus, or turning—as an essential, or principle of metre;" that, "Hence the term versification has been employed as sufficiently general, or inclusive, for treatises upon rhythm in general;" that, "Hence, also, [comes] the precise catalogue of a few varieties of English lines, when these varieties are, in fact, almost without limit;" that, "I," the aforesaid Edgar Allan Poe, "shall dismiss entirely, from the consideration of the principle of rhythm, the idea of versification, or the construction of verse;" that, "In so doing, we shall avoid a world of confusion;" that, "Verse is, indeed, an afterthought, or an embellishment, or an improvement, rather than an element of rhythm;" that, "This fact has induced the easy admission, into the realms of Poesy, of such works as the 'Telemaque' of Fenelon;" because, forsooth, "In the elaborate modulation of their sentences, THEY FULFIL THE IDEA OF METRE."—The Pioneer, a Literary and Critical Magazine (Boston, March, 1843,) Vol. I, p. 102 to 105.

OBS. 4.—"Holding these things in view," continues this sharp connoisseur, "the prosodist who rightly examines that which constitutes the external, or most immediately recognisable, form of Poetry, will commence with the definition of Rhythm. Now rhythm, from the Greek [Greek: arithmos], number, is a term which, in its present application, very nearly conveys its own idea. No more proper word could be employed to present the conception intended; for rhythm, in prosody, is, in its last analysis, identical with time in music. For this reason," says he, "I have used, throughout this article, as synonymous with rhythm, the word metre from [Greek: metron], measure. Either the one or the other may be defined as the arrangement of words into two or more consecutive, equal, pulsations of time. These pulsations are feet. Two feet, at least, are requisite to constitute a rhythm; just as, in mathematics, two units are necessary to form [a] number.[486] The syllables of which the foot consists, when the foot is not a syllable in itself, are subdivisions of the pulsations. No equality is demanded in these subdivisions. It is only required that, so far as regards two consecutive feet at least, the sum of the times of the syllables in one, shall be equal to the sum of the times of the syllables in the other. Beyond two pulsations there is no necessity for equality of time. All beyond is arbitrary or conventional. A third or fourth pulsation may embody half, or double, or any proportion of the time occupied in the two first. Rhythm being thus understood, the prosodist should proceed to define versification as the making of verses, and verse as the arbitrary or conventional isolation of rhythm into masses of greater or less extent."—Ib., p. 105.

OBS. 5.—No marvel that all usual conceptions and definitions of rhythm, of versification, and of verse, should be found dissatisfactory to the critic whose idea of metre is fulfilled by the pompous prose of Fenelon's Telemaque. No right or real examination of this matter can ever make the most immediately recognizable form of poetry to be any thing else than the form of verse—the form of writing in specific lines, ordered by number and chime of syllables, and not squared by gage of the composing-stick. And as to the derivation and primitive signification of rhythm, it is plain that in the extract above, both are misrepresented. The etymology there given is a gross error; for, "the Greek [Greek: arithmos], number," would make, in English, not rhythm, but arithm, as in arithmetic. Between the two combinations, there is the palpable difference of three or four letters in either six; for neither of these forms can be varied to the other, but by dropping one letter, and adding an other, and changing a third, and moving a fourth. Rhythm is derived, not thence, but from the Greek [Greek: rhythmos]; which, according to the lexicons, is a primitive word, and means, rhythmus, rhythm, concinnity, modulation, measured tune, or regular flow, and not "number."

OBS. 6.—Rhythm, of course, like every other word not misapplied, "conveys its own idea;" and that, not qualifiedly, or "very nearly," but exactly. That this idea, however, was originally that of arithmetical number, or is nearly so now, is about as fanciful a notion, as the happy suggestion added above, that rhythm in lieu of arithm or number, is the fittest of words, because "rhythm in prosody is time in music!" Without dispute, it is important to the prosodist, and also to the poet or versifier, to have as accurate an idea as possible of the import of this common term, though it is observable that many of our grammarians make little or no use of it. That it has some relation to numbers, is undeniable. But what is it? Poetic numbers, and numbers in arithmetic, and numbers in grammar, are three totally different sorts of things. Rhythm is related only to the first. Of the signification of this word, a recent expositor gives the following brief explanation: "RHYTHM, n. Metre; verse; numbers. Proportion applied to any motion whatever."—Bolles's Dictionary, 8vo. To this definition, Worcester prefixes the following: "The consonance of measure and time in poetry, prose composition, and music;—also in dancing."—Universal and Critical Dict. In verse, the proportion which forms rhythm—that is, the chime of quantities—is applied to the sounds of syllables. Sounds, however, may be considered as a species of motion, especially those which are rhythmical or musical.[487] It seems more strictly correct, to regard rhythm as a property of poetic numbers, than to identify it with them. It is their proportion or modulation, rather than the numbers themselves. According to Dr. Webster, "RHYTHM, or RHYTHMUS, in music [is] variety in the movement as to quickness or slowness, or length and shortness of the notes; or rather the proportion which the parts of the motion have to each other."—American Dict. The "last analysis" of rhythm can be nothing else than the reduction of it to its least parts. And if, in this reduction, it is "identical with time," then it is here the same thing as quantity, whether prosodical or musical; for, "The time of a note, or syllable, is called quantity. The time of a rest is also called quantity; because rests, as well as notes are a constituent of rhythm."—Comstock's Elocution, p. 64. But rhythm is, in fact, neither time nor quantity; for the analysis which would make it such, destroys the relation in which the thing consists.



SECTION II.—OF ACCENT AND QUANTITY.

Accent and Quantity have already been briefly explained in the second chapter of Prosody, as items coming under the head of Pronunciation. What we have to say of them here, will be thrown into the form of critical observations; in the progress of which, many quotations from other writers on these subjects, will be presented, showing what has been most popularly taught.

OBSERVATIONS.

OBS. 1.—Accent and quantity are distinct things;[488] the former being the stress, force, loudness, or percussion of voice, that distinguishes certain syllables from others; and the latter, the time, distinguished as long or short, in which a syllable is uttered. But, as the great sounds which we utter, naturally take more time than the small ones, there is a necessary connexion between quantity and accent in English,—a connexion which is sometimes expounded as being the mere relation of cause and effect; nor is it in fact much different from that. "As no utterance can be agreeable to the ear, which is void of proportion; and as all quantity, or proportion of time in utterance, depends upon a due observation of the accent; it is a matter of absolute necessity to all, who would arrive at a good and graceful delivery, to be master of that point. Nor is the use of accent in our language confined to quantity alone; but it is also the chief mark by which words are distinguished from mere syllables. Or rather I may say, it is the very essence of words, which without that, would be only so many collections of syllables."—Sheridan's Lectures on Elocution, p. 61. "As no utterance which is void of proportion, can be agreeable to the ear; and as quantity, or proportion of time in utterance, greatly depends on a due attention to the accent; it is absolutely necessary for every person, who would attain a just and pleasing delivery, to be master of that point."—Murray's Gram., 8vo, p. 241; 12mo, 194.

OBS. 2.—In the first observation on Prosody, at page 770, and in its marginal notes, was reference made to the fact, that the nature and principles of accent and quantity are involved in difficulty, by reason of the different views of authors concerning them. To this source of embarrassment, it seems necessary here again to advert; because it is upon the distinction of syllables in respect to quantity, or accent, or both, that every system of versification, except his who merely counts, is based. And further, it is not only requisite that the principle of distinction which we adopt should be clearly made known, but also proper to consider which of these three modes is the best or most popular foundation for a theory of versification. Whether or wherein the accent and quantity of the ancient languages, Latin and Greek, differed from those of our present English, we need not now inquire. From the definitions which the learned lexicographers Littleton and Ainsworth give to prosodia, prosody, it would seem that, with them, "the art of accenting" was nothing else than the art of giving to syllables their right quantity, "whether long or short." And some have charged it as a glaring error, long prevalent among English grammarians, and still a fruitful source of disputes, to confound accent with quantity in our language.[489] This charge, however, there is reason to believe, is sometimes, if not in most cases, made on grounds rather fanciful than real; for some have evidently mistaken the notion of concurrence or coincidence for that of identity. But, to affirm that the stress which we call accent, coincides always and only with long quantity, does not necessarily make accent and quantity to be one and the same thing. The greater force or loudness which causes the accented syllable to occupy more time than any other, is in itself something different from time. Besides, quantity is divisible,—being either long or short: these two species of it are acknowledged on all sides, and some few prosodists will have a third, which they call "common." [490] But, of our English accent, the word being taken in its usual acceptation, no such division is ever, with any propriety, made; for even the stress which we call secondary accent, pertains to long syllables rather than to short ones; and the mere absence of stress, which produces short quantity, we do not call accent.[491]

OBS. 3.—The impropriety of affirming quantity to be the same as accent, when its most frequent species occurs only in the absence of accent, must be obvious to every body; and those writers who anywhere suggest this identity, must either have written absurdly, or have taken accent in some sense which includes the sounds of our unaccented syllables. The word sometimes means, "The modulation of the voice in speaking."—Worcester's Dict., w. Accent. In this sense, the lighter as well as the more impressive sounds are included; but still, whether both together, considered as accents, can be reckoned the same as long and short quantities, is questionable. Some say, they cannot; and insist that they are yet as different, as the variable tones of a trumpet, which swell and fall, are different from the merely loud and soft notes of the monotonous drum. This illustration of the "easy Distinction betwixt Quantity and Accent" is cited with commendation, in Brightland's Grammar, on page 157th;[492] the author of which grammar, seems to have understood Accent, or Accents, to be the same as Inflections—though these are still unlike to quantities, if he did so. (See an explanation of Inflections in Chap. II, Sec. iii, Art. 3, above.) His exposition is this: "Accent is the rising and falling of the Voice, above or under its usual Tone. There are three Sorts of Accents, an Acute, a Grave, and an Inflex, which is also call'd a Circumflex. The Acute, or Sharp, naturally raises the Voice; and the Grave, or Base, as naturally falls it. The Circumflex is a kind of Undulation, or Waving of the Voice."—Brightland's Gram., Seventh Ed., Lond., 1746, p. 156.

OBS. 4.—Dr. Johnson, whose great authority could not fail to carry some others with him, too evidently identifies accent with quantity, at the commencement of his Prosody. "PRONUNCIATION is just," says he, "when every letter has its proper sound, and when every syllable has its proper accent, or which in English versification is the same, its proper quantity."— Johnson's Gram., before Dict., 4to, p. 13; John Burn's Gram., p. 240; Jones's Prosodial Gram., before Dict., p. 10. Now our most common notion of accent—the sole notion with many—and that which the accentuation of Johnson himself everywhere inculcates—is, that it belongs not to "every syllable," but only to some particular syllables, being either "a stress of voice on a certain syllable," or a small mark to denote such stress.—See Scott's Dict., or Worcester's. But Dr. Johnson, in the passage above, must have understood the word accent agreeably to his own imperfect definition of it; to wit, as "the sound given to the syllable pronounced."—Joh. Dict. An unaccented syllable must have been to him a syllable unpronounced. In short he does not appear to have recognized any syllables as being unaccented. The word unaccented had no place in his lexicography, nor could have any without inconsistencey. [sic—KTH] It was unaptly added to his text, after sixty years, by one of his amenders, Todd or Chalmers; who still blindly neglected to amend his definition of accent. In these particulars, Walker's dictionaries exhibit the same deficiencies as Johnson's; and yet no author has more frequently used the words accent and unaccented, than did Walker.[493] Mason's Supplement, first published in 1801, must have suggested to the revisers of Johnson the addition of the latter term, as appears by the authority cited for it: "UNA'CCENTED, adj. Not accented. 'It being enough to make a syllable long, if it be accented, and short, if it be unaccented.' Harris's Philological Inquiries."—Mason's Sup.

OBS. 5—This doctrine of Harris's, that long quantity accompanies the accent, and unaccented syllables are short, is far from confounding or identifying accent with quantity, as has already been shown; and, though it plainly contradicts some of the elementary teaching of Johnson, Sheridan, Walker, Murray, Webster, Latham, Fowler, and others, in regard to the length or shortness of certain syllables, it has been clearly maintained by many excellent authors, so that no opposite theory is better supported by authority. On this point, our language stands not alone; for the accent controls quantity in some others.[494] G H. Noehden, a writer of uncommon ability, in his German Grammar for Englishmen, defines accent to be, as we see it is in English, "that stress which marks a particular syllable in speaking;" and recognizing, as we do, both a full accent and a partial one, or "demi-accent," presents the syllables of his language as being of three conditions: the "accented," which "cannot be used otherwise than as long;" the "half-accented" which "must be regarded as ambiguous, or common;" and the "accentless," which "are in their nature short."—See Noehden's Gram., p. 87. His middle class, however, our prosodists in general very properly dispense with. In Fiske's History of Greek Literature, which is among the additions to the Manual of Classical Literature from the German of Eschenburg, are the following passages: "The tone [i.e. accent] in Greek is placed upon short syllables as well as long; in German, it accompanies regularly only long syllables."—"In giving an accent to a syllable in an English word we thereby render it a long syllable, whatever may be the sound given to its vowel, and in whatever way the syllable may be composed; so that as above stated in relation to the German, an English accent, or stress in pronunciation, accompanies only a long syllable."—Manual of Class. Lit., p. 437. With these extracts, accords the doctrine of some of the ablest of our English grammarians. "In the English Pronunciation," says William Ward, "there is a certain Stress of the Voice laid on some one syllable at least, of every Word of two or more Syllables; and that Syllable on which the Stress is laid may be considered long. Our Grammarians have agreed to consider this Stress of the Voice as the Accent in English; and therefore the Accent and long Quantity coincide in our Language."—Ward's Practical Gram., p. 155. As to the vowel sounds, with the quantity of which many prosodists have greatly puzzled both themselves and their readers, this writer says, "they may be made as long, or as short, as the Speaker pleases."—Ib., p. 4.

OBS. 6.—From the absurd and contradictory nature of many of the principles usually laid down by our grammarians, for the discrimination of long quantity and short, it is quite apparent, that but very few of them have well understood either the distinction itself or their own rules concerning it. Take Fisher for an example. In Fisher's Practical Grammar, first published in London in 1753,—a work not unsuccessful, since Wells quotes the "28th edition" as appearing in 1795, and this was not the last—we find, in the first place, the vowel sounds distinguished as long or short thus: "Q. How many Sounds has a Vowel? A. Two in general, viz. 1. A LONG SOUND, When the Syllable ends with a Vowel, either in Monosyllables, or in Words of more Syllables; as, t=ake, w=e, =I, g=o, n=il; or, as, N=ature, N=ero, N=itre, N=ovice, N=uisance. 2. A SHORT SOUND, When the Syllable ends with a Consonant, either in Monosyllables, or others; as H~at, h~er, b~it, r~ob, T~un; or, as B~arber, b~itten, B~utton."—See p. 5. To this rule, the author makes needless exceptions of all such words as balance and banish, wherein a single consonant between two vowels goes to the former; because, like Johnson, Murray, and most of our old grammarians, he divides on the vowel; falsely calls the accented syllable short; and imagines the consonant to be heard twice, or to have "a double Accent." On page 35th, he tells us that, "Long and short Vowels, and long and short Syllables, are synonimous [—synonymous, from [Greek: synonymos]—] Terms;" and so indeed have they been most erroneously considered by sundry subsequent writers; and the consequence is, that all who judge by their criteria, mistake the poetic quantity, or prosodical value, of perhaps one half the syllables in the language. Let each syllable be reckoned long that "ends with a Vowel," and each short that "ends with a Consonant," and the decision will probably be oftener wrong than right; for more syllables end with consonants than with vowels, and of the latter class a majority are without stress and therefore short. Thus the foregoing principle, contrary to the universal practice of the poets, determines many accented syllables to be "short;" as the first in "barber, bitten, button, balance, banish;—" and many unaccented ones to be "long;" as the last in sofa, specie, noble, metre, sorrow, daisy, valley, nature, native; or the first in around, before, delay, divide, remove, seclude, obey, cocoon, presume, propose, and other words innumerable.

OBS. 7.—Fisher's conceptions of accent and quantity, as constituting prosody, were much truer to the original and etymological sense of the words, than to any just or useful view of English versification: in short, this latter subject was not even mentioned by him; for prosody, in his scheme, was nothing but the right pronunciation of words, or what we now call orthoepy. This part of his Grammar commences with the following questions and answers:

"Q. What is the Meaning of the Word PROSODY? A. It is a Word borrowed from the Greek; which, in Latin, is rendered Accentus, and in English Accent. "Q. What do you mean by Accent? A. Accent originally signified a Modulation of the Voice, or chanting to a musical Instrument; but is now generally used to signify Due Pronunciatian, i.e. the pronouncing [of] a syllable according to its Quantity, (whether it be long or short,) with a stronger Force or Stress of Voice than the other Syllables in the same Word; as, a in able, o in above, &c. "Q. What is Quantity? A. Quantity is the different Measure of Time in pronouncing Syllables, from whence they are called long or short. "Q. What is the Proportion between a long and a short Syllable? A. Two to one; that is, a long Syllable is twice as long in pronouncing as a short one; as, Hate, Hat. This mark (=) set over a Syllable, shows that it is long, and this (~) that it is short; as, r=ecord, r~ecord. "Q. How do you know long and short Syllables? A. A Syllable is long or short according to the Situation of the Vowel, i.e. it is generally long when it ends with a Vowel, and short when with a Consonant; as, F=a- in Favour, and M~an- in Manner."—Fisher's Practical Gram., p. 34.

Now one grand mistake of this is, that it supposes syllabication to fix the quantity, and quantity to determine the accent; whereas it is plain, that accent controls quantity, so far at least that, in the construction of verse, a syllable fully accented cannot be reckoned short. And this mistake is practical; for we see, that, in three of his examples, out of the four above, the author himself misstates the quantity, because he disregards the accent: the verb re-cord', being accented on the second syllable, is an iambus; and the nouns rec'-ord and man'-ner, being accented on the first, are trochees; and just as plainly so, as is the word f=av~our. But a still greater blunder here observable is, that, as a "due pronunciation" necessarily includes the utterance of every syllable, the explanation above stolidly supposes all our syllables to be accented, each "according to its Quantity, (whether it be long or short,)" and each "with a stronger Force or Stress of Voice, than the other Syllables!" 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 pronunciation, 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 quantity—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 multitude 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 quantity! 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 passing 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 quantity." He recognized, in fact, a vowel accent and a consonant accent; or, in reference to quantity, 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 distinguishing a syllable, than he proceeds to declare it two. Compare the following citations: "As the pronunciation 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 distinguishing 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 quantity, 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 pronouncing "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 distinguishing 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 quantity, he recognized very fully the dependence of quantity, 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 quantity, and are capable of being uttered in as short a space 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 nonentity: 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 quantity of our syllables is adjusted by the easiest and simplest rule in the world, and in the exactest proportion."—Lect. on Elocution, p. 66.