llables 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,