Page images
PDF
EPUB

Note. A monotone is always on a lower pitch than the preceding part of a sentence; and, to give the greater effect to its deep solemn note,-which resembles the tolling of a heavy bell,-it sometimes destroys all comma pauses, and keeps up one continuous stream of overflowing sound. Exam. 1. "His form had not yet lost

All her original brightness, nor appeared

Less than archangel ruined, and the excess

Of glory obscured. As when the sun, nēw-risen,
Looks through the horizontal misty air,
Shorn of his béams, ōr from behind the moon,
In dim eclipse, disastrous twilight sheds

On half the nations, and with fear of change
Perplexes monarchs."

2. "And I saw a great white throne and Him that sat on it, from whose face the heavens and the earth flēd away; and there was fōund nō plāce for them."

3. "Upon my secure hōur thy uncle stole,
With juice of cursed hēbenon in a vial,
And in the porches of mine ears did pour
The leperous distilment: whose effect
Hōlds such an enmity with blood of man,
That swift as quicksilver it courses through
The natural gates and alleys of the body,
And, with a sudden vigor, it doth posset
And curd, like eager droppings into milk,
The thin and wholesome blood; sō did it mine;
And a most instant tētter barked about,
Most lazar-like, with vile and loathsome crust,
All my smooth body."

Rule on Harmonic' Inflections.

'Harmonic' inflections, or those which, in emphatic phrases, are intended to prevent the frequent occurrence of emphasis in the same phrase, from becoming monotonous to the ear, are applied in clauses of which every word is emphatic, and is marked by a distinct and separate inflection.

Example. "He has been guilty of one of the most shámeful acts that éver degraded | the NATURE or the NÁME | of MÀN.”

Note. In such cases the inflections usually alternate, in order to give the more vivid and pungent force to vehement emphasis.

Rule on Repeated Words, Phrases, and Sentences. Words, phrases, and sentences which are repeated for effect, rise higher, or fall lower in inflection, besides increasing in force, at every repetition.

Example 1. "From these walls a spirit shall go forth, that shall survive when this edifice, shall be 'like an unsubstantial pageant, faded.' It shall go fórth, exulting in, but not abusing, its strength. It shall go forth, remembering, in the days of its prosperity, the pledges it gave in the time of its depression. IT SHALL GO FÓRTH, uniting a disposition to correct abuses, to redress grievances. IT SHALL GO FÓRTH, uniting the disposition to improve, with the resolution to maintain and defend, by that spirit of unbought affection, which is the chief defence of nations."

2. "What was it, fellow-citizens, which gave to Lafayette his spotless fame ?—The love of liberty. What has consecrated his memory, in the hearts of good men ?—THE LOVE OF LIBERTY. What nerved his youthful arm with strength, and inspired him in the morning of his days, with sagacity and counsel ?—THE LIVING LOVE OF LIBERTY. To what did he sacrifice power, and rank, and country, and freedom itself?-TO THE LOVE OF LIBERTY PROTECTED BY LÀW."

EXERCISES ON INFLECTIONS.

RISING INFLECTION.

RULE I.*High Rising Inflection'.1. "Há! say you só?"

2. "Whát!-confer a crówn on the author of the public calamities?"

3. "Indéed!-acknowledge a tráitor for our sovereign ?"

[ocr errors]

RULE II. Moderate Rising Inflection.'-Exercise 1. “In every station which Washington was called to fill, he acquitted himself with honor."

2. "As the evening was now far advánced, the party broke up."

3 "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be ' also."

The pupil should repeat each rule from memory, before commenc ing the practice of the exercises adapted to it.

4. "Though we cannot discern the reasons which regulate the occurrence of events, we may rest assured that nothing can happen without the cognizance of Infinite Wisdom."

5. "Despairing of any way of escape from the perils which surrounded him, he abandoned his struggles, and gave himself up to what seemed his inevitable doom."

6. Had I suffered such enormities to pass unpúnished, I should have deemed myself recreant to every principle of justice and of duty."

[ocr errors]

Note and Exception. Words and phrases of address'.Exercise." Listen, Amèricans, to the lesson which seems oorne to us on the very air we breathe, while we perform these dutiful rights.-Ye winds, that wafted the pilgrims to the land of promise, fan, in their children's hearts, the love of freedom! Blood which our fathers shed, cry from the ground;-echoing arches of this renowned hall, whisper back the voices of other days;-glorious Washington! break the long silence of that votive canvass ;-spèak, speak, marble lips;-teach us THE LOVE OF LIBERTY PROTECTED BY LAW !"

RULE III. Note.- Poetic Series'.-Example 1. "Power, will, sensation, mémory, failed in turn."

2 "Oh! the dread mingling, in that awful hour,
Of all terrific sounds!-the savage tone

3.

Of the wild horn, the cannon's peal, the shower
Of hissing darts, the crash of walls o'erthrown,
The deep, dúll, tàmbour's beat!"

“All the while,

A ceaseless murmur from the populous town,
Swells o'er these solitudes; a mingled sound
Of jarring wheels, and iron hoofs that clash
Upon the stony ways, and hammer cláng,
And creak of engines lifting ponderous búlks,
And calls and cries,* and tread of eager feet
Innumerable, hurrying to and frò."

4. "Onward still the remote Pawnee and Mandan will beckon, whither the deer are flying, and the wild horse roams, where the buffalo ranges, and the condor soars,-far towards the waves where the stars plunge at midnight, and amid which bloom those ideal scenes for the persecuted såv

* See foot note on next page.

age, where white men will murder no more for gold,* nor startle the game upon the sunshine hills."

[ocr errors]

RULE IV. Questions which may be answered by Yes or No'.-Exercise 1. "Has not the patronage of peers incréased? Is not the patronage of India now vested in the crown? Are

all these innovations to be made to increase the influence of the exécutive power; and is nothing to be done in favor of the pópular part of the constitution, to act as a counterpoise?' 2. Your steps were hasty ;-did you speed for nothing? Your breath is scanty;-was it spent for nóthing?

[ocr errors]

Your looks imply concern ;-concern for nóthing?" Exception. Emphasis'.-Exercise 1. "Tell me not of the honor of belonging to a free country.-I ask, does our liberty bear generous fruits?"

2. Was there a village or a hamlet on Massachusetts Bày, which did not gather its hardy seamen to man the gundecks of your ships of wàr? Did they not rally to the battle, as men flock to a feast?"

3. "Is there a man amòng you, so lost to his dignity and his duty, as to withhold his aid at a moment like this?"

RULE V. Penultimate Inflection'.-Exercise 1. "All is doubt, distrust,* and disgràce; and, in this instance, rely on it, that the certain and fatal result will be to make Ireland hate the connexion, contemn the councils of England, and despise her power."

2. "I am at a loss to reconcile the conduct of men, who, at this moment, rise up as champions of the East India Company's charter; although the incompetence of that company to an adequate discharge of the trust deposited in them, are themes of ridicule and contempt to all the world; and, although, in consequence of their mismanagement, connivance, and imbecílity, combined with the wickedness of their servants, the very name of an Englishman is detested, even to a proverb, through all Ásia; and the national character is become disgraced and dishonored.”

3. 66

It will be the duty of the historian and the sage, in all ages, to omit no occasion of commemorating that illustrious màn; and, till time shall be no mòre, will a test of the progress which our race made in wisdom and in virtue, be de

*The penultimate inflection of a concluding series, or of a clause that forms perfect sense, is the same in kind with that which precedes a period, except in verse and poetic prose, which, in long passages of great beauty, retain the suspensive slide.

rived from the veneration paid to the immortal name of Washington." Exception.

[ocr errors]

Emphasis'.-Exercise 1. "Let us bless and hallow our dwellings as the homes of freedom. Let us make them, too, the homes of a nòbler freedom,—of freedom from vice, from evil pàssion,-from every corrupting bondage of the soul!"

2. "If guilty, let us calmly abide the results, and peaceably submit to our sentence; but if we are traduced, and really be innocent, tell ministers the truth,―tell them they are tyrants; and strain every effort to avert their oppression.'

[ocr errors]

3. "Heaven has imprinted in the mother's face something beyond this world, something which claims kindred with the skies,—the angelic smile, the tender look, the wàking, watchful eye, which keeps its fond vigil over her slumbering bàbe. -In the heart of man lies this lovely picture; it lives in his sympathies; it reigns in his affèctions; his eye looks round, in vain, for such another object on earth.”

FALLING INFLECTION. RULE I. 'Intensive Downward Slide.' Exercise 1." UP! all who love me! BLOW on BLOW! And lay the outlawed felons Low!"

3. "

2. "MACGREGOR! MACGREGOR!' he bitterly cried." ON! countrymen, ON!—for the day,The proud day of glòry,-is come!"

4. "To ARMS! gallant Frenchmen, to ÀRMS?" 5. "Oh! SHAME on us, countrymen, shame on us If we cringe to so dastard a race!"

6. "TREMBLE, ye traitors! whose schemes Are alike by all parties abhorred,

ALL!

TREMBLE! for, roused from your parricide dreams,
Ye shall soon meet your fitting reward!"

RULE II. Full' Falling Inflection, in the cadence of a sentence.-Exercise 1. "The changes of the year impart a color and character to our thoughts and feelings."

2. "To a lover of nature and of wisdom, the vicissitude of seasons conveys a proof and exhibition of the wise and benevolent contrivance of the Author of all things."

3. "He who can approach the cradle of sleeping innocence without thinking that of such is the kingdom of heaven,' or see the fond parent hang over its beauties, and half retain her breath, lest she should break its slumbers,without a veneration beyond all common feeling,—is to be avoided in every intercourse of life, and is fit only for the shadow of darkness, and the solitude of the dèsert."

« PreviousContinue »