er, sp=ir~it, g=ath~er," and the like, for regular
trochees, with "the first syllable long, and the second short," as does
this author? What more contradictory and confused, than to pretend that the
primal sound of a vowel lengthens an unaccented syllable, and accent on the
consonant shortens an accented one, as if in "_also_" the first syllable
must be short and the second long, and then be compelled, by the evidence
of one's senses to mark "ech~o" as a trochee, and "detract" as an iambus?
What less pardonable misnomer, than for a great critic to call the sign of
long quantity a "_hyphen_"?

OBS. 21.--The following suggestions found in two of Dr. Webster's grammars,
are not far from the truth: "Most prosodians who have treated particularly
of this subject, have been guilty of a fundamental error, in considering
the movement of English verse as depending on long and short syllables,
formed by long and short vowels. This hypothesis has led them into capital
mistakes. The truth is, many of those syllables which are considered as
_long_ in verse, are formed by the shortest vowels in the language; as,
_strength, health, grand_. The doctrine that long vowels are necessary to
form long syllables in poetry is at length exploded, and the principles
which regulate the movement of our verse, are explained; viz. _accent_ and
_emphasis_. Every emphatical word, and every accented syllable, will form
what is called in verse, a long syllable. The unaccented syllables, and
unemphatical monosyllabic words, are considered as short
syllables."--_Webster's Philosophical Gram._, p. 222; _Improved Gram._,
158. Is it not remarkable, that, on the same page with this passage, the
author should have given the first syllable of "_melon_" as an example of
_short_ quantity?

OBS. 22.--If the principle is true, which every body now takes for granted,
that the foundation of versifying is some distinction pertaining to
syllables; it is plain, that nothing can be done towards teaching the Art
of Measuring Verses, till it be known _upon what distinction_ in syllables
our scheme of versification is based, and by what rule or rules the
discrimination is, or ought to be, made. Errors here are central, radical,
fundamental. Hence the necessity of these present disquisitions. Without
some effectual criticism on their many false positions, prosodists may
continue to theorize, dogmatize, plagiarize, and blunder on, as they have
done, indefinitely, and knowledg