to determine the quantity of syllables, none, so far as I know, are more defective or fallacious than these.  They are liable to more objections than it is worth while to specify.  Suffice it to observe, that they divide certain accented syllables into long and short, and say nothing of the unaccented; whereas it is plain, and acknowledged even by Murray and Sheridan themselves, that in “ant, bonnet, hunger” and the like, the unaccented syllables are the only short ones:  the rest can be, and here are, lengthened.[497]

OBS. 16.—­The foregoing principles, differently expressed, and perchance in some instances more fitly, are found in many other grammars, and in some of the very latest; but they are everywhere a mere dead letter, a record which, if it is not always untrue, is seldom understood, and never applied in any way to practice.  The following are examples: 

(1.) “In a long syllable, the vowel is accented; in a short syllable [,] the consonant; as [,] r=oll, p=oll; t~op, c~ut.”—­Rev. W. Allen’s Gram., p. 222. (2.) “A syllable or word is long, when the accent is on the vowel:  as n=o, l=ine, l=a, m=e; and short, when on the consonant:  as n~ot, l~in, L~atin, m~et.”—­S.  Barrett’s Grammar, ("Principles of Language,") p. 112.

(3.) “A syllable is long when the accent is on the vowel, as, P=all, s=ale, m=o=use, cr=eature.  A syllable is short when the accent is placed on the consonant; as great, letter, master.”—­Rev. D. Blair’s Practical Gram., p. 117.

(4.) “When the stress is on the vowel, the measure of quantity is long:  as, Mate, fate, complain, playful, un der mine.  When the stress is on a consonant, the quantity is short:  as, Mat, fat, com pel, progress, dis mantle.”—­Pardon Davis’s Practical Gram., p. 125.

(5.) “The quantity of a syllable is considered as long or short.  It is long when the accent is on the vowel; as, F=all, b=ale, m=ood, ho=use, f=eature.  It is short when the accent is placed on the consonant; as, Master, letter.”—­Guy’s School Gram., p. 118; Picket’s Analytical School Gram., 2d Ed., p. 224.

(6.) “A syllable is long when the accent is on the vowel; and short, when the accent is on the consonant.  A long syllable requires twice the time in pronouncing it that a short one does.  Long syllables are marked thus =; as, t=ube; short syllables, thus ~; as, m~an.”—­Hiley’s English Gram., p. 120.

(7.) “When the accent is on a vowel, the syllable is generally long; as _=aleho=use, am=usement, f=eatures_.  But when the accent is on a consonant, the syllable is mostly short; as, h~ap’py, m~an’ner.  A long syllable requires twice as much time in the pronunciation, as a short one; as, h=ate, h~at; n=ote, n~ot; c=ane, c~an; f=ine, f~in.”—­Jaudon’s Union Gram., p. 173.

(8.) “If the syllable be long, the accent is on the vowel; as, in b=ale, m=o=od, educ=ation; &c.  If short, the accent is on the consonant; as, in _~ant, b~onnet, h~unger_, &c.”—­Merchant’s American School Gram., p. 145.