a change, and must continue to figure with the other sins of the Restoration.

Before dealing with the words as classified by their formation, we may make short lists of typical words to show that for the pronunciation of English derivatives it is idle to refer to the classical quantities.

From ǣ: ĕdifice, ĕmulate, cĕrulean, quĕstion.

From œ̄: ĕconomy, ĕcumenical, confĕderate.

From ā,: donătive, nătural, clămour, ăverse.

From ă: ālien, stātion, stāble, āmiable.

From ē: ĕvident, Quadragĕsima, plĕnitude, sĕgregate.

From ĕ: sēries, sēnile, gēnus, gēnius.

From ī: lascĭvious, eradĭcate, dĭvidend, fĭlial, suspĭcion.

From ĭ: lībel, mītre, sīlex.

From ō: ŏrator, prŏminent, prŏmontory, sŏlitude.

From ŏ: bōvine, lōcal, fōrum, collōquial.

From ū: figŭrative, scriptŭral, solŭble.

From ŭ: nūmerous, Cūpid, allūvial, cerūlean.

The N.E.D. prefers the spelling 'œcumenical'; but Newman wrote naturally 'ecumenical', and so does Dr. J.B. Bury. Dublin scholarship has in this matter been markedly correct.

Classification of words according to their Latin stems.

In classification it seems simplest to take the words according to their Latin stems. We must, however, first deal with a class of adjectives borrowed bodily from the Latin nominative masculine with the insertion of a meaningless o before the final -us.¹ These of course follow the rules given above. In words of more than two syllables the antepenultimate and stressed vowel is shortened, as 'ĕmulous' from æmulus and in 'frĭvolous' from frīvolus, except where by the 'alias' rule it is long, as in 'egrēgious' from egrĕgius. Words coined on this analogy also follow the rules. Thus 'glabrous' and 'fibrous' have the vowels long, as in the traditional pronunciation of glabrum and fibrum, where the vowels in classical Latin were short. The stressed u being always long we have 'lugūbrious' and 'salūbrious', the length being independent of the 'alias' rule. Some words ending in -ous are not of this class. Thus 'odorous' and 'clamorous' appear in Italian as odoroso and clamoroso. Milton has

The Italian is sonoro, and our word was simply the Latin sonorus borrowed bodily at a somewhat late period. Hence the stress remains on the penultima. Skeat thought that the word would at last become 'sónorous'. It maybe hoped that Milton's line will save it from the effect of a false analogy.

In classifying by stems it will be well to add, where possible, words of Greek origin. Except in some late introductions Greek words, except when introduced bodily, have been treated as if they came through Latin, and some of the bodily introductions are in the same case. Thus 'anæsthetic' is spelt with the Latin diphthong and the Latin c. Even 'skeleton' had a c to start with, while the modern and wholly abominable 'kaleidoscope' is unprincipled on the face of it.

Stems ending in -ant and -ent. These are participles or words formed as such. Our words have shed a syllable, thus regentem has become 'regent'. Disyllables follow the 'apex' rule and lengthen the first vowel, as 'agent', 'decent', 'potent'. Exceptions are 'clement' and 'present', perhaps under French influence. Words of more than two syllables with a single consonant before the termination throw the stress back and shorten a long penultima, as 'ignorant', 'president', 'confident', 'adjutant'. Where there are two heavy consonants, the stress remains on the penultima, as 'consultant', 'triumphant', even when one of the consonants is not pronounced, as 'reminiscent'. In some cases the Latinists seem to have deliberately altered the natural pronunciation. Thus Gower has 'ápparaúnt', but the word became 'appárent' before Shakespeare's time, and later introductions such as 'adherent' followed it. What right 'adjacent' has to its long vowel and penultimate stress I do not know, but it cannot be altered now.

Stems ending in -ato and -uto. These are mostly past participles, but many of them are used in English as verbs. It must be admitted that the disyllabic words are not wholly constant to a principle. Those verbs that come from -latum consistently stress the last vowel, as 'dilate', 'relate', 'collate'. So does 'create', because of one vowel following another. Of the rest all the words of any rank have the stress on the penultima, as 'vibrate', 'frustrate', 'mígrate', 'cástrate', 'púlsate', 'vácate'. Thus Pope has

and Shelley

There are, however, verbs of no literary account which in usage either vary in the stress or take it on the latter syllable. Such are 'locate', 'orate', 'negate', 'placate', and perhaps 'rotate'. With most of these we could well dispense. 'Equate' is mainly a technical word. Dictionaries seem to prefer the stress on the ultima, but some at least of the early Victorian mathematicians said 'équate', and the pronunciation is to be supported. Trisyllabic verbs throw the stress back and shorten the penultima, as 'désŏlate', 'súffŏcate', 'scíntĭllate'. Even words with heavy double consonants have adopted this habit. Thus where Browning has (like Milton and Cowper)

it is now usual to say 'íllustrate'.

Adjectives of this class take as early a stress as they can, as 'órnate', 'pínnate', 'délicate', 'fórtunate'. Nouns from all these words throw the accent back and shorten or obscure all but the penultimate vowel, as 'ignorance', 'evaporation'.

Stems in -ia. Here even disyllables shorten the penultima, as 'copy', 'province', while longer words throw the stress back as well as shorten the penultima, as 'injury', 'colony', while 'ignominy' almost lost its penultimate vowel, and therefore threw back the stress to the first syllable. Shakespeare frankly writes the word as a trisyllable,

Milton restored the lost syllable, often eliding the final vowel, as in

Even with heavy consonants we have the early stress, as in 'industry'. Greek words follow the same rules, as 'agony', 'melody'. Some words of this class have under French influence been further abbreviated, as 'concord'.

Corresponding stems in -io keep the same rules. Perhaps the only disyllable is 'study'; the shortening of a stressed u shows its immediate derivation from the old French estudie. Trisyllabic examples are 'colloquy', 'ministry', 'perjury'. Many words of this class have been further abbreviated in their passage through French. Such are 'benefice', 'divorce', 'office', 'presage', 'suffrage', 'vestige', 'adverb', 'homicide', 'proverb'. The stress in 'divórce' is due to the long vowel and the