Exhortation: "Come on, then; be mèn." Earnest invitation: "Come forth, O ye children of gladness, còme!" Temperate command: "Now launch the boat upon the waves." Admiration: "How beautiful is night!" Adoration: "Great and màrvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty!" RULE II. The falling inflection is required in the expression of relative force of thought, as in the emphasis of contrast, when one part of an antithesis is made preponderant, whether by affirmation opposed to negation, or merely by comparative force or promi nence. Examples. They fought not for fame but frèedom.” "Are you an actor in this busy scene, or are you but an idle spectator?" "True politeness is not a mere compliance with arbitrary custom. It is the expression of a refined benèvolence."* "You were paid to fight against Alexander,-not to ráil at him.” "A countenance more in sorrow than in ánger." * Teachers must have felt thè difficulty of imparting a clear conception of the effect of the falling slide, in examples like the above, in which its character is wholly dependent on a preceding or a subsequent rising inflection. To the ear of the pupil, the rising note at the end of the negative or less forcible sentence, seems unnatural, from his habit of complying with the direction to 'let the voice uniformly fall at a period,'—a direction which, from not being duly qualified, is one of the chief causes of monotonous and unmeaning tones in reading. It is not till the learner's attention has been attracted to the circumstance of relative force, or preponderance, in the members of a comparison or a contrast, that his ear catches the true tone of meaning in such cases, and recognizes the falling inflection as its appropriate characteristic, and the rising as a necessary contrast, in whatever part of a sentence they occur. RULE III. The falling inflection terminates a forcible interrogation, or any form of question which does not admit of being answered by yes or no. Examples. "What conquests brings he home?" "Who's here so base that he would be a bondman ?" "When went there by an age since the great flood, But it was famed with more than with one man?" "Why should this worthless tègument endure, If its undying guèst be lost for ever?" "How shall we do for money for these wars?" "Where wilt thou find a cavern dàrk enough To mask thy monstrous vìsage?" Exception. Any question repeated or echoed in the tone of genuine or affected surprise. Such questions always end with the rising inflection, as in the following instances: "Where gróws!-where grows it not?" "What news! Can any thing be more new, than that a man of Macedonia should lord it over all Greece?" "How accomplish it?-certainly not by never attempting it!" Note. The examples which follow the preceding rule, are classed under the general head of 'forcible interrogation,' as it is their comparative force which seems to require the falling inflection; while the form of interrogation which is answered by yes or no, demands, on the principle of incompleteness or suspension of thought, the rising inflection; since the circuit of thought is not completed till the answer is given, as well as the question put. That there is a comparative rhetorical force in the former species of interrogation,-that which is not answered by yes or no,-will appear by changing, in one of the above examples, the form of the question; thus, "Is any here so base that he would be a bond man?”—a feeble and lifeless inquiry, compared to the original, "Who's here so base," &c. The echoing question of surprise, assumes the rising inflection, because in it an ellipsis takes place, which would be supplied by a question demanding an affirmative or a negative answer; thus, as before, "What néws!"-i. e. "What news! (did you say?)" RULE IV. Completeness of thought and expression, is indicated by the falling inflection, whether at the end of a sentence, or of a clause which forms perfect sense, independently of the remainder of a sentence.* Examples. "Human life is the journey of a dày." "I have seen, The dumb men throng to see him, and the blind As to Jove's stàtue; and the commons made Exceptions. Pathetic expression and poetic description, whether in the form of verse or of prose, require the rising inflection, even where the sense is complete, as in the following instances: "For them no more the blazing hearth shall burn, Or climb his knees the envied kiss to share." And the waters leap, and the fresh winds blow". "The most intimate friendship,-of what brief and scattered portions of time does it consist! We take * See Concluding Remarks on the Theory of Inflection. each other by the hand; and we exchange a few words and looks of kindness; and we rejoice together for a few short móments; and then days, months, years intervene, and we have no intercourse with each other.' Application of Rule IV. to series of words and clauses. The word series, in elocution, is used to designate a succession of words or clauses,-amounting to any number, from two upwards,-so connected in meaning, as to be comprehended under the same rule of syntax, by a conjunction expressed or understood. A series which is so formed that each of its members concludes, or completes, a distinct portion of the sense, so that the sentence might terminate at any of these members, without leaving the impression of an imperfect idea or an unfinished sentence, is called a concluding series. A series which consists of single words, connected as above, is called a simple series: one which comprises several words, or a clause, in each of its successive members, is called a compound series. The following sentence contains an example of a simple concluding series of five members: "The characteristics of chivalry, were vàlour, humanity, courtesy, jústice, and honour." Example of a compound concluding series: "The characteristics of chivalry were personal coùrage, humane feeling, courteous deportment, a strict regard to jústice, and a high sense of honour." Note 1. A concluding series is read, (as marked above,) with the falling inflection on every member except the penultimate, which rises in preparation for the cadence at the close of the sentence.* This rule holds in all cases, except those which contain extraordinary force of expression; and, in such instances, the falling inflection prevails throughout; thus, "Eloquence is àction-noble, sublimè, godlike action." * See Concluding Remarks on the Theory of Inflection. Note. 2. Pathetic and poetic series are excepted, throughout, from the application of Rule IV., and are read with the rising inflection on every member but the last, as in the subjoined examples. "not to me returns Dáy, or the sweet approach of even or mórn, Harps which the wandering bréezes tune, And the silvery wood-note of many a bird, Whose voice was ne'er in thy mountains heard." "When we have looked on the pleasures of life, and they have vanished away; when we have looked on the works of nature, and perceived that they were changing; on the monuments of art, and seen that they would not stánd; on our friends, and they have fled while we were gázing; on ourselves, and felt that we were as fleeting as théy; when we have looked on every object to which we could turn our anxious eyes, and they have all told us that they could give us no hope nor support, because they were so feeble thémselves; we can look to the throne of Gòd:* change and decay have never reached that; the revolution of ages has never mòved it; the waves of an eternity have been rushing past it, but it has remained unshaken; the waves of another eternity are rushing toward it, but it is fixed, and can never be distùrbed." Application of Rule IV. in the answer to a question: Whatever word contains the answer to a question preceding, is pronounced with the falling inflection; thus, "A'rm'd, say you?" "A`rm'd my lord." Application of Rule IV. in antithesis: The falling * The remainder of the sentence falls under the exception to Note 1, on the Concluding Series. See page 82. |