llable, _it is difficult to say_ to which syllable
the intervening Consonant belongs. For instance, _does_ the _v_ in _river_
and the _v_ in _fever_ belong to the first or to the second syllable? Are
the words to be divided thus, _ri-ver, fe-ver_? or thus, _riv-er_,
_fev-er_?"--_Fowler's E. Gram._, 1850, Sec.85; _Latham's Hand-Book_, p. 95.
Now I suppose it plain, that, by the rule given above, _fever_ is to be
divided in the former way, and _river_ in the latter; thus, _fe-ver_,
_riv-er_. But this paragraph of Latham's or Fowler's is written, not to
disembarrass the learner, but just as if it were a grammarian's business to
confound his readers with fictitious dilemmas--and those expressed
ungrammatically! Of the two Vees, so illogically associated in one
question, and so solecistically spoken of by the singular verb "_does_,"
one belongs to the former syllable, and the other, to the latter; nor do I
discover that "it is difficult to say" this, or to be well assured that it
is right. What an admirable passage for one great linguist to _steal_ from
an other!

[111] "The usual rules for dividing [words into] syllables, are not only
_arbitrary_ but false and absurd. They contradict the very definition of a
syllable given by the authors themselves. * * * * A syllable in
pronunciation is an _indivisible_ thing; and strange as it may appear, what
is _indivisible_ in utterance is _divided_ in writing: when the very
purpose of dividing words into syllables in writing, is to lead the learner
to a just pronunciation."--_Webster's Improved Gram._, p. 156;
_Philosophical Gram._, 221.

[112] This word, like _distich_ and _monostich_, is from the Greek
_stichos_, a verse; and is improperly spelled by Walker with a final _k_.
It should be _hemistich_, with the accent on the first syllable. See
_Webster, Scott, Perry, Worcester_, and others.

[113] According to Aristotle, the compounding of terms, or the writing of
them as separate words, must needs be a matter of great importance to the
sense. For he will have the parts of a compound noun, or of a compound
verb, to be, like other syllables, destitute of any distinct signification
in themselves, whatever may be their meaning when written separately. See
his definitions of the parts of speech, in his _Poetics_, Chapter 20th of
the Greek; or Goulston's Version in Latin, Chapter 12th.

[114] Whether _worshipper_ should follow this principle, or not, is
questionable. If Dr. Webster is