ght of saying _gl['a]diolus_ than we should now think
of saying 'labo['u]r' except when we are reading Chaucer.

We need not here discuss the dubious exceptions to this rule, such
as words with an enclitic attached, e.g. _prim[)a]que_ in which some
authorities put the stress on the vowel which precedes the enclitic,
or such clipt words as 'illuc', where the stress may at one time have
fallen on the last vowel. In any case no English word is concerned.

In very long words the due alternation of stressed and unstressed
vowels was not easy to maintain. There was no difficulty in
such a combination as _h['o]nor['i]fic['a]bil['i]_ or as
_tud['i]nit['a]tib['u]s_, but with the halves put together there
would be a tendency to say _h['o]nor['i]ficabilit['u]dinit['a]tibus_.
Thus there ought not to be much difficulty in saying
_C['o]nstant['i]nop['o]lit['a]ni_, whether you keep the long
antepenultima or shorten it after the English way; but he
who forced the reluctant word to end an hexameter must have
had 'Constantin['o]ple' in his mind, and therefore said
_Const['a]ntin['o]polit['a]ni_ with two false stresses. The result
was an illicit lengthening of the second _o_. His other false
quantity, the shortening of the second _i_, was due to the English
pronunciation, the influence of such words as 'metropol[)i]tan', and,
as old schoolmasters used to put it, a neglect of the Gradus. Even
when the stress falls on this antepenultimate _i_, it is short in
English speech. Doubtless Milton shortened it in 'Areopagitica', just
as English usage made him lengthen the initial vowel of the word.

Probably very few of the Englishmen who used the traditional
pronunciation of Latin knew that they gave many different sounds to
each of the symbols or letters. Words which have been transported
bodily into English will provide examples under each head. It will be
understood that in the traditional pronunciation of Latin these words
were spoken exactly as they are spoken in the English of the present
day. For the sake of simplicity it may be allowed us to ignore some
distinctions rightly made by phoneticians. Thus the long initial vowel
of _alias_ is not really the same as the long initial vowel of _area_,
but the two will be treated as identical. It will thus be possible to
write of only three kinds of vowels, long, short, and obscure.

The letter or symbol _a_ stood for two long sounds, heard in the first
syllables of _alias_ and of _larva_, for