ils of grammar, it is from one who has had the
subject so long and so habitually before him. "_Accent_" says this author,
"is _the_ stress on a syllable, _or letter_."--_Chandler's Common School
Gram._, p. 188. Now, if our less prominent words and syllables require any
force at all, a definition so loose as this, may give accent to some words,
or to all; to some syllables, or to all; to some letters, or to all--except
those which are _silent_! And, indeed, whether the stress which
distinguishes some monosyllables from others, is supposed by the writer to
be accent, or emphasis, or both, it is scarcely possible to ascertain from
his elucidations. "The term _emphasis_," says he, "is used to denote a
fuller sound of voice _after_ certain words that come in _antithesis_; that
is, contrast. 'He can _write_, but he cannot _read_.' Here, _read_ and
_write_ are _antithetical_ (that is, in contrast), and are _accented_, or
_emphasized_."--P. 189. The word "_after_" here may be a misprint for the
word _upon_; but no preposition really suits the connexion: the participle
_impressing_ or _affecting_ would be better. Of _quantity_, this work gives
the following account: "The _quantity_ of a _syllable_ is that time which
is required to pronounce it. A syllable may be _long_ or _short_. _Hate_ is
long, as the vowel _a_ is elongated by the final _e_; _hat_ is short, and
requires about half the time for pronunciation which is used for
pronouncing _hate_. So of _ate, at; bate, bat; cure, cur_. Though
unaccented syllables are usually short, yet _many_ of those which are
accented are short also. The following are short: _ad_vent, _sin_ner,
_sup_per. In the following, the unaccented syllables are long: al_so_,
ex_ile_, gan_grene_, um_pire_. It maybe remarked, that the quantity of a
syllable is short when the accent is on a consonant; as, art, bonnet,
hunger. The _hyphen_ (-), placed over a syllable, denotes that it is long:
n=ature. The breve (~) over a syllable, denotes that it is short; as,
d~etr=act."--_Chandler's Common School Gram._, p. 189. This scheme of
quantity is truly remarkable for its absurdity and confusion. What becomes
of the elongating power of e, without accent or emphasis, as in _juncate,
palate, prelate_? Who does not know that such syllables as "_at, bat_,
and _cur_" are often long in poetry? What more absurd, than to suppose both
syllables short in such words as, "_~advent, sinner, supper_," and then
give "serm~on, f=ilt~