_Words._--In _father-s_, _clear-er_, _four-th_, &c., there is the addition of a letter or a syllable, and it may be even of the part of a word. There is no addition, however, of a whole word. This distinguishes composition from derivation. _Treating the combination as a single term._--In determining, in certain cases, between derived words and compound words, there is an occasional perplexity; the perplexity, however, is far greater in determining between a compound word and _two words_. In the eyes of one grammarian the term _mountain height_ may be as truly a compound word as _sunbeam_. In the eyes of another grammarian it may be no compound word, but two words, just as _Alpine height_ is two words; _mountain_ being dealt with as an adjective. It is in the determination of this that the accent plays an important part. This fact was foreshadowed in the Chapter upon Accents. {358} s. 415. The attention of the reader is drawn to the following line, slightly altered, from Churchill:-- "Then r['e]st, my fri['e]nd, _and sp['a]re_ thy pr['e]cious br['e]ath." On each of the syllables _rest_, _friend_, _spare_, _prec-_, _breath_, there is an accent. Each of these syllables must be compared with the one that precedes it; _rest_ with _then_, _friend_ with _my_, and so on throughout the line. Compared with the word _and_, the word _spare_ is not only accented, but the accent is conspicuous and prominent. There is so little on _and_, and so much on _spare_, that the disparity of accent is very manifest. Now, if in the place of _and_, there was some other word, a word not so much accented as _spare_, but still more accented than _and_, this disparity would be diminished, and the accents of the two words might be said to be at _par_, or nearly so. As said before, the line was slightly altered from Churchill, the real reading being Then r['e]st, my fri['e]nd, _spare, spare_ thy pr['e]cious breath.-- In the true reading we actually find what had previously only been supposed. In the words _spare, spare_, the accents are nearly at _par_. Such the difference between accent at _par_ and disparity of accent. Good illustrations of the parity and disparity of accent may be drawn from certain names of places. Let there be such a sentence as the following: _the lime house near the bridge north of the new port._ Compare the parity of accent on the separate words _lime_ and _house_, _bridge_ and _north_, _new_ and _port_, with the disparity of accent in the compound words _L['i]mehouse_, _Br['i]dgenorth_, and _N['e]wport_. The separate words _beef steak_, where the accent is nearly at _par_, compared with the compound word _swe['e]pstakes_, where there is a great disparity of accent, are further illustrations of the same difference.