Obviously there can be no fixed limits to the number of degrees of intensity recognized in syllabic accent or stress. It is common to speak of three such degrees: syllables having accent (stressed), syllables having secondary accent, and syllables without accent (unstressed). Schipper makes four groups: Principal Accent (_Hauptaccent_ or _Hochton_), Secondary Accent (_Nebenaccent_ or _Tiefton_), No Accent (_Tonlosigkeit_), and Disappearance of Sound (_Stummheit_). In illustration he gives the word _ponderous_, where the first syllable has the chief accent, the last a secondary accent, the second no accent; while in the verse "Most ponderous and substantial things" the second syllable is suppressed or silent. Mr. A. J. Ellis, in like manner, recognized three principal classes of syllables: those stressed in the first degree, those stressed in the second degree, and those unstressed.[1] In the following lines from _Paradise Lost_ he indicated these three degrees, as he recognized them, by the figures 2, 1, 0, written underneath. Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit 0 2 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 2 Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste 0 1 0 2 0 1 0 2 0 2 Brought death into the world, and all our woe, 1 2 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 2 With loss of Eden, till one greater man 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 2 0 2 Restore us, and regain the blissful seat, 0 2 0 0 0 2 0 2 0 2 Sing, heavenly Muse, that, on the secret top 2 2 0 2 1 0 0 2 0 1 Of Horeb or of Sinai, didst inspire 0 2 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 2 That shepherd, who first taught the chosen seed 1 2 0 0 2 2 0 2 0 2 In the beginning, how the heavens and earth 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 2 0 2 Rose out of chaos.[2] 2 0 0 2 0 It is worthy of note that the secondary accent seems originally to have been a more important factor in English verse than it is commonly considered to be in modern periods. In Anglo-Saxon verse the combination of a primary stress, a secondary stress, and an unstressed syllable, is a recognized type. In modern verse the reader is likely to make an effort to reduce all syllables to the type of either stress or no-stress. In such a verse as the following, however (from Matthew Arnold's _Forsaken Merman_),-- "And I lose my poor soul, Merman, here with thee,"-- we may find such a combination as that just referred to as familiar in Anglo-Saxon rhythm. The syllables "_soul, Merman_" are respectively cases of primary stress, secondary stress, and no-stress. On this matter see further the remark of Luick, cited on p. 156, below.