ed: the o
in _note_ being long, the o in _not_ being short. And the longness or
shortness of a vowel or syllable is said to be its _quantity_.

s. 137. Attention is directed to the word _vowel_. The longness or
shortness of a _vowel_ is one thing. The longness or shortness of a
_syllable_ another. This difference is important in prosody; especially in
comparing the English with the classical metres.

The vowel in the syllable _see_ is long; and long it remains, whether it
stand as it is, or be followed by a consonant, as in _see-n_, or by a
vowel, as in _see-ing_.

The vowel in the word _sit_ is short. If followed by a vowel it becomes
unpronounceable, except as the ea in _seat_ or the i in _sight_. By a
consonant, however, it _may_ be followed. Such is the case in the word
quoted--_sit_. Followed by a _second_ consonant, it still retains its
shortness, e.g., _sits_. Whatever the comparative length of the
_syllables_, _see_ and _seen_, _sit_ and _sits_, may be, the length of
their respective _vowels_ is the same.

Now, if we determine the character of the syllable by the character of the
vowel, all syllables are short wherein there is a short vowel, and all are
long wherein there is a long one. Hence, measured by the quantity of the
vowel, the word _sits_ is short, and the syllable _see-_ in _seeing_ is
long.

s. 138. But it is well known that this view is not the view commonly taken
of the syllables _see_ (in _seeing_) and _sits_. It is well known, that, in
the eyes of a classical scholar, the _see_ (in _seeing_) is short, and that
in the word _sits_ the i is long.

The classic differs from the Englishman thus,--_He measures his quantity,
not by the length of the vowel, but by the length of the syllable taken
altogether._ The perception of this distinction enables us to comprehend
the following statements.

a. That vowels long by nature may _appear_ to become short by position, and
_vice vers[^a]_.

b. That, by a laxity of language, the _vowel_ may be said to have changed
its quantity, whilst it is the _syllable_ alone that has been altered.

c. That if one person measures his quantities by the vowels, and another by
the syllables, what is short to the one, shall be long to the other, and
_vice vers[^a]_. The same is the case with nations.

d. That one of the most essential differences between the English and the
classical languages is that the quantities (as far as they go) of the first
are measured by the