custs, they have devoured the earth; the war has fallen like a water spout, and deluged the land with blood."

Rules on the Falling Inflection.

RULE I. The intensive, downward slide', or 'low', falling inflection, occurs in the emphasis of vehement emotion.-Example. "ON! ON! to the just and the glorious strife!"

RULE II. The 'full' falling inflection usually takes place at the cadence, or close, of a sentence.-Example. "No life is pleasing to God, but that which is useful to mankind."

Exception. When the meaning expressed at the close of one sentence, is modified by the sense of the next, the voice may rise, instead of falling.-Examples. "We are not here to discuss this question. We are come to àct upon it.""Gentlemen may cry 'peace, péace!' But there is no peace."

RULE III. The moderate' falling inflection occurs at the end of a clause which forms complete sense, independently of what follows it.-Example. "Law and order are forgotten: violence and rapine are abroad: the golden cords of society are loosed."

Exception. Plaintive expression, and poetic style, whether in the form of verse or of prose, take the 'slight' rising inflection, in its prolonged form.

Example 1. "Cold o'er his limbs the listless languor grew;
Paleness came o'er his eye of placid blue;

Pale mourned the lily where the rose had died;
And timid, trembling, came he to my side."

2. "The oaks of the mountains fall: the mountains themselves decay with years; the ocean shrinks and grows again; the moon herself is lost in heaven ;* but thou art for ever the same, rejoicing in the brightness of thy course."

·

RULE IV. The suspensive', or slight falling inflection, takes place in every member but one of the series', or successive words and clauses, connected by the same conjunctior., expressed or understood.

Note 1. A succession of words is termed a simple series', -a succession of clauses, a compound series.' A succession of words which leave sense incomplete, is termed a 'commencing series', that which leaves complete sense, a concluding series'.-A commencing series' is read with

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* Rising slide, for contrast to the following clause.

the 'suspensive', or slight falling inflection, on every member but the last; a concluding series, with the 'suspensive' slide on every member, except the penultimate, or last but one.

"

Examples. Simple Commencing Series': "The dir, the earth, the wáter, teem with delighted existence." Simple Concluding Series': "Delighted existence teems in the air, the earth, and the water."- Compound Commencing Series': "The fluid expanse of the air, the surface of the solid earth, the liquid element of water, teem with delighted existence."-Compound Concluding Series': "Delighted existence teems in the fluid expanse of the air, the surface of the solid éarth,* and the liquid element of water."+

Exception 1. Emphatic, abrupt, and disconnected series, may have the 'moderate' or the 'bold' downward slide, on every member, according to the intensity of expression.

Examples: 1. "His succèss, his fàme, his life, were all at stake."-2. "The roaring of the wind, the rushing of the water, the darkness of the night, all conspired to overwhelm his guilty spirit with dread."-3. "Eloquence is àction, nòble, sublime, godlike action."-4. "The shore, which, but a few moments before, lay so lovely in its calm serenity, gilded with the beams of the level sun, now resounded with the roar of cànnon, the shouts of battle, the clash of àrms, the curses of hatred, the shrieks of agony."

Exception 2. Light and humorous description, gives the 'moderate' upward slide to all the members of a series.

Example. "Her books, her músic, her pápers, her clothes, were all lying about the room, in most admired disorder.''

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Exception 3. The language of pathos, (pity,) tenderness, and beauty,—whether in verse or prose, takes the 'suspensive', or slight rising inflection, except in the last member of. the commencing', and the last but one of the concluding' 'series', which have the usual 'moderate' rising inflection. Ex.: 1. "No mournful flowers, by weeping fondness laid, Nor pink, nor róse, drooped, on his breast displayed." 2. "There rapt in gråtitude, and joy, and lóve,

The man of God will pass the Sabbath noon."

3. "There, (in the grave,) vile insects consume the hand of the artist, the brain of the philosopher, the eye which

* Penultimate' rising inflection, preparatory to the cadence, or closing fall of voice, at the end of a sentence.

'Full' falling inflection, for the cadence of a sentence.

sparkled with celestial fire, and the lip from which flowed. irresistible eloquence."

Note 2. All series, except the plaintive, as by their form of numbers and repetition, they partake of the nature of 'climax', or increase of signification, should be read with a growing intensity of voice, and a more prominent inflection on every member.

Example. "The splendor of the firmament, the verdure of the earth, the varied colors of the flowers which fill the air with their fràgrance, and the music of those artless voices which mingle on every trée; all conspire to captivate our hearts, and to swell them with the most rapturous delight."

This remark applies, sometimes, even to the rising inflection, but, with peculiar force, to cases in which the language is obviously meant to swell progressively in effect, from word to word, or from clause to clause, and which end with a downward slide, on every member, as in the following in

stance.

"I tell you though you, though all the wÒRLD, though an angel from HEAVEN, should declare the truth of it, I could not believe it."

RULE V. All questions which cannot be answered by Yes or No, end with the falling inflection.

Ex.: 1. "When will you cease to trìfle?"

2. "Where can his equal be found?"

3. "Who has the hardihood to maintain such an assèr tion ?"

4. "Why come not on these victors pròud ?"

5. "What was the object of his ambition?"
6. "How can such a purpose be accomplished?"

Exception. The tone of real or affected surprise, throws such questions, when repeated, into the form of the rising inflection.-Example. "How can such a purpose be accómplished! To the diligent àll things are possible.'

Both inflections, the Rising and the Falling,-in connexion. RULE I. When negation is opposed to affirmation, the former has the rising, the latter the falling inflection, in whatever order they occur, and whether in the same or in differen

sentences.

Examples: 1." He did not call mé, but you."

2. "He was esteemed not for wealth, but for wisdom." 3. "Study not for amusement, but for improvement."

5. "He was esteemed for wisdom, not for wealth." 6. "Study for improvement, not for amúsement."

7. "This proposal is not a mere idle cómpliment. It proceeds from the sincerest and deepest feelings of our hearts." 8. "Howard visited all Europe, not to survey the sumptuousness of palaces, or the stateliness of témples; not to make accurate measurements of the remains of ancient grandeur; not to form a scale of the curiosities of modern árt; not to collect medals or collate mánuscripts; but to dive into the depth of dùngeons; to plunge into the infection of hospitals; to survey the mansions of sorrow and pàin; to take the gauge and dimensions of misery, depréssion, and contempt; to remember the forgotten, to attend to the neglected, to visit the forsáken, and to compare and collate the distresses of all men in all countries."

Note. A similar principle applies to the reading of concessions and of unequal antitheses, or contrasts. In the latter, the less important member has the rising, and the preponderant one, the falling inflection, in whatever part of a sentence they occur, and even in separate sentences.

Example: 1. "Science may raise you to éminence. But virtue alone can guide you to happiness."

2.

"I rather choose

To wrong the dead, to wrong myself and you,
Than I will wrong such hónorable men."

Exception. When negation is emphatic or preponderant, it takes the falling inflection.-Example 1. He may yield to persuasion, but he will never submit to force."-2. “We are troubled on every síde, yet not distrèssed; perplexed, but not in despair; pérsecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed."

RULE II. In question and answer, the falling inflection ends as far below the average level of the sentence, as the rising ends above it. In this way, a certain exact correspondence of sound to sound, in the inflections, is produced, which gives to the full downward slide of the answer, a decisive and satisfactory intonation, as a reply to the rising slide of the question.

Examples: 1. "Are they Hébrews ?-So am I. Are they Ísraelites ?-So am ``I."

2. "What would content you, in a political leader?Tálent? Nò!--Enterprise? Nò!-Cóurage? Nò !—Repu

tátion? No!-* Virtue? No!-The man whom select, should possess not óne, but àll of these."

you would

RULE III. When a question consists of two contrasted parts, connected in syntax, by the conjunction Or, used in a disjunctive sense, the former has the rising, and the latter, the falling inflection.

Ex.: 1. "Does he mean you, or mè ?” 2. "Is this book yours, or mine?"

3. "Did you see him, or his brother?

4. "Are the people vírtuous, or vicious; intélligent, or ignorant; áffluent, or indigent?"

Note. When Or is used conjunctively, the second inflection does not fall, but rises higher than the first.-Example. "Would the influence of the Bible,-even if it were not the record of a divine revelation, be to render princes more tyránnical, or subjects more ungóvernable; the rich more ínsolent, or the poor more disorderly; would it make worse párents, or children, húsbands, or wíves,-másters, or sérvants,fríends, or néighbors ?—ort would it not make men more virtuous,f and, consequently, more happy, in èvery situation?

Rule on the Circumflex, or Wave.

The circumflex, or wave, applies to all expressions used in a peculiar sense, or with a double meaning, and to the tones of mockery, sarcasm, and irony.

Examples: 1. "You may avoid a quarrel with an îf.""Your îf is the only peacemaker: much virtue in an îf." 2. "From the very first night,-and to say it I'm bold,— I've been so very hot, that I'm sure I've caught côld!" 3. "Go hang a câlfskin on these recreant limbs !" 4. "What a beautiful piece of work you have made by your carelessness!"

5. "The weights had never been accused of light conduct."

Rule on the Monotone.

The tones of grand and sublime description, profound reverence, or awe, of amazement and horror, are marked by the monotone, or perfect level of voice.

** In successive questions, the rising inflection becomes higher a every stage, unless the last has, as in the above example, the falling ir flection of consummating emphasis.

†The last Or is used disjunctively, and forms an example to the Rule, and not to the Note.