Page:The Comic English Grammar.djvu/109

Rh The accent in dissyllables, formed by prefixing a syllable to the radical word, is commonly on the latter syllable: as, "I protést, I decláre, I entréat, I adóre, I expíre."



Protestations, declarations, entreaties, and adorations, proclaim a swain to be simply tender; but expiration (for love) proves him to be decidedly soft.

A man who turns lover becomes a protest-ant; and his conduct at the same time generally undergoes a reformation, especially if he has previously been a rake.

The zeal, however, of a reformed rake, like that of Jack in Dean Swift's "Tale of a Tub," is sometimes apt to outrun his discretion.

When the same word, being a dissyllable, is both a