we
suppose the grave accent to be the opposite of this, and to belong to all
syllables which have no peculiar stress,--are not enforced, not acuted, not
circumflected, not emphasized; then shall we truly have an accent with
which our short quantity may fairly coincide. But I have said, "the mere
absence of stress, which produces short quantity, we do not call _accent_;"
and it may be observed, that the learned improver of Dr. Adam's Grammar, B.
A. Gould, has totally rejected all that his predecessor taught concerning
_accent_, and has given an entirely different definition of the thing. See
marginal notes on page 771, above. Dr. Johnson also cites from _Holder_ a
very different explanation of it, as follows: "_Accent_, as in the Greek
names and usage, seems to have regarded the tune of the voice; the acute
accent, raising the voice in some certain syllables, to a higher, (_i.e._
more acute) pitch or tone; and the grave, depressing it lower; [Fist] _and
both having some emphasis_, i.e. _more vigorous pronunciation_.
HOLDER."--_Johnson's Quarto Dict., w. Accent_.

[495] (1.) "Amongst them [the ancients,] we know that accents were marked
by certain _inflexions_ [inflections] of the voice like musical notes; and
the grammarians to this day, with great formality inform their pupils, that
the acute accent, is the raising [of] the voice on a certain syllable; the
grave, a depression of it; and the circumflex, a raising and depression
both, in one and the same syllable. _This jargon they constantly preserve_,
though they have no sort of ideas annexed to these words; for if they are
asked to shew how this is to be done, they cannot tell, and their practice
always belies their precept."--_Sheridan's Lectures on Eloc._, p. 54.

(2.) "It is by the accent chiefly that the quantity of our syllables is
regulated; but not according to the _mistaken rule_ laid down by _all who
have written_ on the subject, that the accent _always makes the syllable
long_; than which _there cannot be any thing more false_."--_Ib._, p. 57.

(3.) "And here I cannot help taking notice of a circumstance, which shews
in the strongest light, the _amazing deficiency_ of those, who have
hitherto employed their labours on that subject, [accent, or
pronunciation,] _in point of knowledge_ of the true genius and constitution
of our tongue. Several of the compilers of dictionaries, vocabularies, and
spelling books, have undertaken to mark the accents of our words; bu