the p in happy, the t in pitted, &c., is a mere point of spelling.

The combinations of sounds which are adopted in the language were chosen chiefly in reference to ease of pronunciation, while such as are difficult of utterance and disagreeable to the ear are rejected. As certain combinations of Consonantal Sounds (see § 64) are unpronounceable, so certain Vowel Sounds will not unite with each other. Accordingly, there must be in a word as many Syllables as there are Vowel Sounds perceptible to the ear.

RULES FOR THE DIVISION OF WORDS INTO SYLLABLES.

§ 88. 1. Two Vowels coming together, and not forming a Diphthong, are divided into Separate Syllables; as, Li-on,

cru-el.

2. A single consonant between two vowels is joined to the latter; as, Pa-per, Ca-to. But the letter x is joined to the former vowel; as, Ex-ert. To this rule there are many exceptions; as, Ep-ic, pref-ace, up-on.

3. Two consonants between two vowels are separated; as, Fur-nace, bed-lam; except when the latter consonant should not begin a syllable alone; as, Fa-ble.

4. Three or more consonants between two vowels are not separated if the preceding vowel is pronounced long; as, Dethrone, de-stroy. But when the vowel of the preceding syllable is pronounced short, one of the consonants always belongs to that syllable.

5. When three or four consonants not proper to begin a syllable meet between two vowels, such of them as can begin a syllable belong to the latter, the rest to the former syllable; as, Ab-stain, trans-gress.

6. Grammatical terminations are generally separated; as, Teach-er, teach-est. Compound words must be traced into. the simple words; as, Over-power.

THE MONOSYLLABIC CHARACTER.

89. The English language is eminently MONOSYLLABIC, as may be seen by a comparison with the Latin of terms in

common use.

Here we have thirty-eight syllables in Latin to express what is expressed in English by sixteen.

The same monosyllabic principle is carried out in the construction of our verbs; as, To see, to hear, to taste, to touch, to smell, to walk, to run, to leap, to jump. Fire is said to burn, to glow, to scorch, to parch. Water is said to flow, to glide, to gush, to rush, to foam, to dash. In the sky we have the sun, moon, and stars. The earth yields grass, corn, hay, trees, wheat. Our ordinary food is bread, fowl, flesh, fish. Our fuel is wood, peat, coal, turf. To mourn, to sigh, to groan, to weep, to laugh, express affections of the mind. These, and words like these, form the staple of the English language.

"That is a step

On which I must fall down, or else o'erleap,
For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires;
Let not light see my black and deep desires.
The eye winks at the hand. Yet let that be
Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see."
SHAKSPEARE's Macbeth.

Here we have fifty-two words, and but two dissyllables.

"For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast,
And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed;
And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill,
And their hearts beat but once, and forever lay still.

And there lay the steed with his nostril all wide,

And through them there rolled not the breath of his pride;
And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf,

And cold as the spray on the rock-beating surf."

BYRON'S Destruction of Sennacherib.

Of these eighty-nine consecutive words, seventy-nine are monosyllables, and seventy-seven of these monosyllables are of Anglo-Saxon origin.

CHAPTER VII.

QUANTITY.

$90. THE Word Quantity is used in two senses: I. The Classic, when it has reference to the length of Syllables, or the time taken up in pronouncing them. II. The English, when it has reference to the length of Vowels, or the time taken up in pronouncing them.

1. The Quantity of Vowels.-By comparing the Sound of the letter a in fate with that of a in fat, we perceive two things, a Likeness and a Difference. The Likeness consists in both sounds having the character of a; the Difference consists in the unequal length of the two sounds. In fate the vowel is pronounced slowly, so that the time taken up in the utterance is, comparatively speaking, Long. In fat the vowel is pronounced less slowly, so that the time taken up in the utterance is, comparatively speaking, Short. Hence the a in fate, and the vowel sounds like it, are called Long Vowels; and the a in fat, and the vowel sounds like it, are called Short Vowels.

All the Diphthongs are long. But, besides the extremes, there are degrees in the length and the shortness of vowels, See 3, p. 134.

2. The Quantity of Syllables.-If we determine the quantity of the Syllable by the quantity of the Vowel, all Syllables are short in which there is a Short Vowel, and all long

wherein there is a Long one. According to this mode, the syllable see- in seeing is long, and sits is short; but this is not the view commonly taken of these syllables by the Classical scholar. He measures his Quantity, not by the Length of the Vowel, but by the length of the syllable taken altogether. He is disposed to regard see- in seeing, being followed by another Vowel, as short, and sits he regards as long, the syllable being closed by two Consonants.

3. The Syllable men and the Syllable mend are of different lengths. The latter is longer than the former by the sound expressed by the letter d. In both syllables, however, the Vowel is the same, and, consequently, of the same quantity. Thus we see that, so far as the vowel taken by itself is concerned, the two syllables men and mend are of the same length, while they are of different lengths if the vowel be considered along with the consonants that follow it.

Hence we see, first, that if one person measures his Quantity by the Vowels, and another by the Syllables, what is Short to the one shall be Long to the other. Secondly, that one of the most essential differences between the English and the Classical Languages is, that the Quantities of the first are measured by the Vowel, and those of the latter by the Syllable. To a Roman the word monument consists of two short syllables and one long one; to an Englishman it contains three short syllables. In the English language, the quantity of the vowel determines the quantity of the syllable.

§ 91. Professor Latham proposes for the words Long and Short, to substitute Independent and Dependent. He says, "If from the word fate I separate the final consonantal sound, the syllable fa remains. In this syllable the a has precisely the sound which it had before. It remains unaltered. The removal of the consonant has in no wise modified its sound or power. It is not so with the vowel in the word fat. If from this I remove the consonant following, and so leave the a at the end of the syllable, instead of in the middle, I must do one of two things: I must sound it either as a in fate, or else as the a in father. Its (so-called) short sound it can not retain, unless it is supported by a Consonant following. For this reason it is Dependent. The same is the case with all

the so-called short sounds, viz.: the e in bed, i in fit, u in bull, o in not, u in but. The words Independent and Dependent correspond with the terms Perfect and Imperfect of the Hebrew Grammarians."

This is especially the case
The a in father is ca-

1. The division of Vowels into Long and Short coincides nearly with the division of them into Independent and Dependent. Mark the word, nearly. In the length and shortness of vowels there are Degrees. with the broad vowels, a, o, and u. pable of being pronounced very quickly or very slowly. It may be uttered most rapidly, and yet preserve its broad character; i. e., become neither the a in fat, nor the a in fate. In the Independence and Dependence of vowels there are no degrees. The Vowel ee in seeing is Long, and it is certainly Independent. Whether the syllable see be Long, is another question. The u in monument is short. It is not, however, Dependent.

(a) All Dependent Vowels are Short, but all short Vowels are not Dependent. (b) All Long Vowels are Independent, but all Independent Vowels are not long.

2. The Independent Vowel in the Syllable see- is Long; and Long it remains, whether it stand as it is, or be followed by a Consonant, as in seen, or by a Vowel, as in seeing.

3. The Dependent Vowel in the word sit is short. If followed by a vowel, it becomes unpronounceable, except as the ea in seat, or the i in sight. By a consonant, however, it may be followed, and still retain its Dependent character, and also its shortness. Such is the power it has in the word quoted, sit. Followed by a second consonant it still retains its Shortness, e. g., sits. Whatever the comparative length of the Syllables see and seen, sit and sits, may be, the length of their respective Vowels is the same.

4. Now if we determine the character of a syllable by the character of the vowel, all syllables are short wherein there is a Short Vowel, and all are long wherein there is a Long Measured by the Quantity of the Vowel, the word sits is Short, and the Syllable see- in seeing is Long.

one.

§ 92. From the preceding views, the statement in Murray's Grammar can be the better appreciated.