which he reckoned but a lengthening of the a in hat; 2.  The short o, as in hot, which he supposed to be but a shortening of the a in hall; 3.  The diphthongal i, as in isle, which he thought but a quicker union of the sounds of the diphthong oi, but which, in my opinion, is rather a very quick union of the sounds ah and ee into ay, I;[101] 4.  The long u, which is acknowledged to be equal to yu or yew, though perhaps a little different from you or yoo,[102] the sound given it by Walker; 5.  The u heard in pull, which he considered but a shortening of oo; 6.  The consonant w, which he conceived to be always a vowel, and equivalent to oo; 7.  The consonant y, which he made equal to a short ee; 8.  The consonant h, which he declared to be no letter, but a mere breathing, In all other respects, his scheme of the alphabetic elements agrees with that which is adopted in this work, and which is now most commonly taught.

OBS. 9.—­The effect of Quantity in the prolation of the vowels, is a matter with which every reader ought to be experimentally acquainted. Quantity is simply the time of utterance, whether long or short.  It is commonly spoken of with reference to syllables, because it belongs severally to all the distinct or numerable impulses of the voice, and to these only; but, as vowels or diphthongs may be uttered alone, the notion of quantity is of course as applicable to them, as to any of the more complex sounds in which consonants are joined with them.  All sounds imply time; because they are the transient effects of certain percussions which temporarily agitate the air, an element that tends to silence.  When mighty winds have swept over sea and land, and the voice of the Ocean is raised, he speaks to the towering cliffs in the deep tones of a long quantity; the rolling billows, as they meet the shore, pronounce the long-drawn syllables of his majestic elocution.  But see him again in gentler mood; stand upon the beach and listen to the rippling of his more frequent waves:  he will teach you short quantity, as well as long.  In common parlance, to avoid tediousness, to save time, and to adapt language to circumstances, we usually utter words with great rapidity, and in comparatively short quantity.  But in oratory, and sometimes in ordinary reading, those sounds which are best fitted to fill and gratify the ear, should be sensibly protracted, especially in emphatic words; and even the shortest syllable, must be so lengthened as to be uttered with perfect clearness:  otherwise the performance will be judged defective.