Sheridan entertains a different opinion respecting the short _i_ and _e_. He considers them as distinct vowels, incapable of prolongation. Rhet. Gram. pref. to his Dict. page 16. In this he differs from most other writers upon the subject, who have attended to the philosophical distinctions of sounds. This appears to be an inaccuracy in his distribution of the vowels; altho it cannot affect the practice of speaking. The sound of the Roman _i_, it is agreed on all hands, was that of the English _ee_. It retains that sound still in the Italian, French and Spanish, which are immediately derived from the Latin. It had its long and short sounds in Latin; as in _vidi_, _homini_; the first pronounced _veedee_, and the last _homini_, as we now pronounce _i_ in _fill_. The French preserve the long sound, and lay it down as a general rule, that _i_ is pronounced like the English _ee_: Yet in discourse they actually shorten the sound, and in _sentimens_, _ressentiment_, &c. pronounce _i_ as we do in _civil_. In the French _motif_, _i_ is long like _ee_; in this and all similar terminations, we shorten the sound, _motiv_. Mr. Sheridan, in this particular, is evidently singular and probably wrong. That _e_ in _let_ is but the short abrupt sound of _a_ in _late_, is not so clear; but to me is evident. There is little or no difference in the position of the organs with which we pronounce both vowels. The Roman, Italian, Spanish and French _e_ is considered as the representative of the English _a_ in _late_, _made_; and yet in common discourse, it is shortened into the sound of _e_ in _let_, _men_: Witness, _legere_, _avec_, _emmené_, _bueno_, _entendido_: We observe the same in English; for _said_, _any_, _many_, which are pronounced _sed_, _enny_, _menny_, exhibit the same vowel or short _a_; the _e_ being the abrupt sound of _ai_ in _said_. I must therefore differ from Mr. Sheridan, and still believe that _e_ in _let_, and _i_ in _fit_, are capable of prolongation. Children, when, instead of a comparison, they would express the superlative by an emphasis, say _leetle_ instead of _little_; which is a mere prolongation of _i_ short. Mr. Sheridan, in my opinion, is guilty of an error of greater consequence, in marking the two qualities of sound in _bard_ and _bad_ with the same figure. He distinguishes the different qualities of sound in _pool_ and _full_, and in _not_ and _naught_; and why he should omit the distinction of sound in _bard_ and _bad_, _ask_ and _man_, is to me inconceiveable. The last distinction is as obvious as the others which he has marked; and the defect of his scheme must lead a foreigner into mistakes. His scheme is singular; Kenrick, Perry and Burn all make a distinction in the time of pronouncing _a_ in _ask_ and _at_; and even Scott, who copies Sheridan's pronunciation almost implicitly, still makes the same distinction. [I], page 87.