ed, and
generally must be, especially in reciting poetry.

Our long syllables are chiefly those which, having sounds naturally capable
of being lengthened at pleasure, are made long by falling under some stress
either of accent or of emphasis. Our short syllables are the weaker sounds,
which, being the less significant words, or parts of words, are uttered
without peculiar stress.

OBS.--As quantity is chiefly to be regarded in the utterance of poetical
compositions, this subject will be farther considered under the head of
Versification.

ARTICLE III.--OF ACCENT.

ACCENT, as commonly understood, is the peculiar stress which we lay upon
some particular syllable of a word, whereby that syllable is distinguished
from and above the rest; as, _gram'-mar, gram-ma'-ri-an_.

Every word of more than one syllable, has one of its syllables accented;
and sometimes a compound word has two accents, nearly equal in force; as,
_e'ven-hand'ed, home'-depart'ment_.[472]

Besides the _chief_ or _primary_ accent, when the word is long, for the
sake of harmony or distinctness, we often give a _secondary_ or less
forcible accent to an other syllable; as, to the last of
_tem'-per-a-ture'_, and to the second of _in dem'-ni-fi-ca'-tion_.

"Accent seems to be regulated, in a great measure, by etymology. In words
from the Saxon, the accent is generally on the root; in words from the
learned languages, it is generally on the termination; and if to these we
add the different accent we lay on some words, to distinguish them from
others, we seem to have the three great principles of accentuation; namely,
the radical, the terminational, and the distinctive."--_Walker's
Principles_, No. 491; _L. Murray's Grammar_, 8vo, p. 236.

A full and open pronunciation of the long vowel sounds, a clear
articulation of the consonants, a forcible and well-placed accent, and a
distinct utterance of the unaccented syllables, distinguish the elegant
speaker.

OBSERVATIONS.

OBS. 1.--The pronunciation of the English language is confessedly very
difficult to be mastered. Its rules and their exceptions are so numerous,
that few become thoroughly acquainted with any general system of them. Nor,
among the different systems which have been published, is there any which
is worthy in all respects to be accounted a STANDARD. And, if we appeal to
custom, the custom even of the best speakers is far from an entire
uniformity. Perhaps the most popular directory on t