he was
yet in vigour.

[93] This old definition _John L. Parkhurst_ disputes:--says it "is
_ambiguous_;"--questions whether it means, "that the _name_ of such a
letter, or the _simple sound_," requires a vowel! "If the latter," says he,
"_the assertion is false._ The simple sounds, represented by the
consonants, can be uttered separately, distinctly, and perfectly. It can be
done with the _utmost ease_, even by a little child."--_Parkhurst's
Inductive Gram. for Beginners_, p. 164. He must be one of these modern
philosophers who delight to _make mouths_ of these voiceless elements, to
show how much may be done without sound from the larynx.

[94] This test of what is, or is not, a vowel sound or a consonant sound,
is often appealed to, and is generally admitted to be a just one. Errors in
the application of _an_ or _a_ are not unfrequent, but they do not affect
the argument. It cannot be denied, that it is proper to use _a_, and not
proper to use _an_, before the initial sound of _w_ or _y_ with a vowel
following. And this rule holds good, whether the sound be expressed by
these particular letters, or by others; as in the phrases, "_a wonder, a
one, a yew, a use, a ewer, a humour, a yielding temper_." But I have heard
it contended, that these are vowel sounds, notwithstanding they require
_a_; and that the _w_ and _y_ are always vowels, because even a vowel sound
(it was said) requires _a_ and not _an_, whenever an other vowel sound
immediately follows it. Of this notion, the following examples are a
sufficient refutation: _an aeronaut, an aerial tour, an oeiliad, an
eyewink, an eyas, an iambus, an oaesis, an o'ersight, an oil, an oyster, an
owl, an ounce_. The initial sound of _yielding_ requires _a_, and not _an_;
but those who call the _y_ a vowel, say, it is equivalent to the unaccented
long _e_. This does not seem to me to be exactly true; because the latter
sound requires _an_, and not _a_; as, "Athens, as well as Thebes, had _an
Eetion_."

[95] Dr. Rush, in his Philosophy of the Human Voice, has exhibited some
acuteness of observation, and has written with commendable originality. But
his accuracy is certainly not greater than his confidence. On page 57th, he
says, "The _m, n_, and _ng_, are _purely nasal_;" on page 401st, "Some of
the tonic elements, and one of the subtonics, are made _by the assistance
of the lips_; they are _o_-we, _oo_-ze, _ou_-r, and _m_." Of the intrinsic
value of his work, I am not prepar