yllables may be
said to be open," then it is not true, that "the long sounds" of _a_ in
_paper, father, water_, cannot be so "denominated;" or that to "call the
_a_ in _father_ the _open a_, may, indeed, distinguish it from the slender
_a_ in _paper_." Nor, on this principle, can it be said that "the broad _a_
in _water_ is still _more open_;" for this a no more "ends a syllable" than
the others. If any vowel sound is to be called the _open_ sound because the
letter ends a syllable, or is not shut by a consonant, it is, undoubtedly,
the _primal_ and _most usual_ sound, as found in the letter when accented,
and not some other of rare occurrence.

OBS. 4.--Dr. Perley says, "It is greatly to be regretted that the different
sounds of a vowel should be called by the names _long, short, slender_, and
_broad_, which convey no idea of the nature of the sound, for _mat_ and
_not_ are as long in poetry as _mate_ and _note_. The first sound of a
vowel[,] as [that of _a_ in] _fate_[,] may be called _open_, because it is
the sound which the vowel generally has when it ends a syllable; the second
sound as [that of _a_ in] _fat_, may be called _close_, because it is the
sound which the vowel generally has when it is joined with a consonant
following in the same syllable, as _fat-ten_; when there are more than two
sounds of any vowel[,] they may be numbered onward; as 3 _far_, 4
_fall_."--_Perley's Gram._, p. 73.

OBS. 5.--Walker thought a long or short vowel sound essential to a long or
short quantity in any syllable. By this, if he was wrong in it, (as, in the
chapter on Versification, I have argued that he was,) he probably disturbed
more the proper distinction of quantities, than that of vowel sounds. As
regards _long_ and _short_, therefore, Perley's regret seems to have cause;
but, in making the same objection to "_slender_ and _broad_," he reasons
illogically. So far as his view is right, however, it coincides with the
following earlier suggestion: "The terms _long_ and _short_, which are
often used to denote certain vowel sounds; being also used, with a
different import, to distinguish the quantity of syllables, are frequently
misunderstood; for which reason, we have substituted for them the terms
_open_ and _close_;--the former, to denote the sound usually given to a
vowel when it _forms_ or _ends_ an accented syllable; as, _ba, be, bi, bo,
bu, by_;--the latter, to denote the sound which the vowel commonly takes
when closed by