1. All long vowels are independent, but all independent vowels are not long.
2. All dependent vowels are short, but all short vowels are not dependent.
Clear notions upon these matters are necessary for determining the structure of the English and classical metres.
[§ 234]. The qualified manner in which it was stated that the vowel in the word seeing was long, and the attention directed to the word vowels in the preceding section, arose from a distinction, that is now about to be drawn, between the length of vowels and the length of syllables.
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 see-ing.
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.
Now, if we determine the character of the 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 one. Measured by the quantity of the vowel the word sits is short, and the syllable see- in seeing is long.
But it is well known that this view is not the view commonly taken of the syllables see (in seeing) and sits. It is well known, that, in the eyes of a classical scholar, the see (in seeing) is short, and that in the word sits the i is long. The classic differs from the Englishman thus,—He measures his
quantity, not by the length of the vowel but, by the length of the syllable taken altogether. The perception of this distinction enables us to comprehend the following statements.
I. That vowels long by nature may appear to become short by position, and vice versâ.