R. C. Harding. — On Vowel Sounds. 421 



branch of natural science is gradually becoming better appre- 

 ciated — says that consonants are the essentials of speech ; 

 and that vo\Yel-sounds — which are the only sounds the inferior 

 animals utter — have a reference or correspondence to the 

 affections. Much may be said in support of both these propo- 

 sitions. 



In the earlier historic ages the Semitic tongues were written 

 and read (as our own language is to-day, habitually, by short- 

 hand writers) without vowels. But it is a singular fact that 

 the subtler shades of meaning in the old Hebrew and kindred 

 dialects were indicated by the unwritten vowels, and that the 

 reader, according to his understanding of the text, would vary 

 even to occasionally reversing the meaning. 



It is to the vowel-sounds that language owes its beauty and 

 expression ; and in considering their mental effect we have first 

 to divide them into two classes, the long and the short — every 

 long and full vowel having its corresponding clipped and 

 shortened form. It is only upon the vowels that we can 

 dwell, either in speech or song, and, what is more important 

 still, only upon the long vowels. The short sounds are 

 always curt, brief, and abridged. And the first observation I 

 would make is, that — 



In dignified, stately, and solemn composition, the long 

 vowels predominate, especially in the accented syllables. 



In trivial, light, and burlesque composition, the short vowel- 

 sounds predominate, even in the accented syllables — some- 

 times to the almost entire exclusion of the long vowels. 



As a specimen of dignified composition, take the opening 

 lines of our great English epic : — 



Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit 

 Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste 

 Brought death into the workl, and all our woe- 



Here all the line-endings, and nearly all the accented syl- 

 lables, fall on long vowels. Let us now take a rhymed poem 

 by one of the masters of English verse : — 



The curfew tolls the knell of parting day ; 



The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea ; 

 Tlie ploughman homeward plods his weary way, 



And leaves the world to darkness and to me. 



And, again, — 



Hark how the sacred calm that breathes around 

 Bids every fierce tumultuous passion cease, 



In still small accents whispering from the ground 

 A grateful earnest of eternal peace. 



And so on throughout the composition. But observe the 

 selection of vowels in " A Long Story," a nonsensical poem 

 by the same author : — 



