Such is the commentary upon the words, "_treating the combination as a single term_;" in other words, such the difference between a compound word and two words. The rule, being repeated, stands (subject to the four classes of exceptions) thus: _There is no true composition without either a change of form or a change of accent._ As I wish to be clear upon this point, I shall illustrate the statement by its application. The word _tr['e]e-rose_ is often pronounced _tr['e]e r['o]se_; that is, with the accent at _par_. It is compound in the one case; it is two words in the other. The words _mountain ash_ and _mountain height_ are generally (perhaps always) pronounced with an equal accent on the syllables _mount-_ and _ash_, _mount-_ and _height_, respectively. In this case the word _mountain_ must be dealt with as an adjective, and the words considered as two. The word _mo['u]ntain wave_ is often pronounced with a visible diminution of accent on the last syllable. In this case there is a disparity of accent, and the word is compound. s. 417. The following quotation indicates a further cause of perplexity in determining between compound words and two words:-- 1. A wet sheet and a blowing gale, A breeze that follows fast; That fills the white and swelling sail, And bends the _gallant mast_. ALLAN CUNNINGHAM. 2. Britannia needs no bulwarks, No towers along the steep; Her march is o'er the _mountain-wave_, Her home is on the deep. THOMAS CAMPBELL. To speak first of the word (or words) _gallant mast_. If _gallant_ mean _brave_, there are _two words_. If the words be two, there {361} is a stronger accent on _mast_. If the accent on _mast_ be stronger, the rhyme with _fast_ is more complete; in other words, the metre favours the notion of the words being considered as _two_. _Gallant-mast_, however, is a compound word, with an especial nautical meaning. In this case the accent is stronger on _gal-_ and weaker on _-mast_. This, however, is not the state of things that the metre favours. The same applies to _mountain wave_. The same person who in prose would throw a stronger accent on _mount-_ and a weaker one on _wave_ (so dealing with the word as a compound), might, in poetry, make the words _two_, by giving to the last syllable a parity of accent. The following quotation from Ben Jonson may be read in two ways; and the accent may vary with the reading. 1. Lay thy bow of pearl apart, And thy _silver shining_ quiver. 2. Lay thy bow of pearl apart, And thy _silver-shining_ quiver. _Cynthia's Revels._