Page:The Comic English Grammar.djvu/110

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106
THE COMIC ENGLISH GRAMMAR.


noun and a verb, the verb has mostly the accent on the latter, and the noun on the former syllable: as,

"Molly, let Hymen's gentle hand
Cemént our hearts together,
With such a cément as shall stand
In spite of wind and weather.

"I do preságe—and oft a fact
A présage doth foretoken—
Our mutual love shall ne'er contráct,
Our cóntract ne'er be broken."

There are many exceptions to the rule just enunciated (so that, correctly as well as familiarly speaking, it is perhaps no rule;) for though verbs seldom have an accent on the former, yet nouns frequently have it on the latter syllable: as,

"Mary Anne is my delíght
Both by day and eke by night;
For by day her soft contról
Soothes my heart and calms my soul;
And her image while I doze
Comes to sweeten my repóse;
Fortune favoring my desígn.
Please the pigs she shall be mine!"

The former syllable of most dissyllables ending in y, our, ow, le, ish, ck, ter, age, en, et, is accented: as, "Gránny, noódle," &c.

Except allów, avów, endów, bestów, belów.

"Sir I cannot allów
You your flame to avów;
Endów yourself first with the rhino:
My hand to bestów
On a fellow below