ing. Brutus in making this assertion, did it under the impression that Cassius thought himself injured by some other person. Taking this, then, for the antithetic idea, and the one which Brutus wished to controvert, the emphasis is involuntarily thrown upon yourself, and this makes the sentence express its true meaning,-thus:

You wronged yourself to write in such a case.

The following short sentence may be the appropriate answer to either of five different questions; and consequently be made to express so many different ideas by the emphasis alone:

Thomas will walk to Geneva to-day.

If the question be, who will walk to Geneva to-day, it is determined by placing the emphasis in this sentence on Thomas. If it is doubtful whether any one go, it is decided by placing the emphasis on will. If the question be how will he go, it is answered by placing the emphasis on walk; and, in the same manner it will be seen that the emphasis, placed upon either of the remaining words of the sentence, makes it the appropriate answer to the question touching place or time.

This example will further illustrate the subject, by so transposing it as to make it interrogative. The character of the answer will depend wholly upon the emphasis.

Will Thomas walk to Geneva to-day?

Ansirer-No; he will not.

Will Thomas walk to Geneva to-day?
Ans. No; but John will.

Will Thomas walk to Geneva to-day?
Ans. No; he will ride.

Will Thomas walk to Geneva to-day?
Ans. No. He will go to Lyons.
Will Thomas walk to Geneva to-day?

Ans. No; but he will to-morrow.

Although the emphasis more commonly falls upon the more important words of a sentence, the following example is one, in which it is required upon a succession of small words. Bassanio, in Shakspeare's Merchant of Venice, had received a ring from his wife, which he had promised never to part with, but which, forgetting his promise, he gave to an officer as a reward for the preservation of his friend's life. The example is his apology to his wife; but without the proper emphasis it is hardly intelligible: :

"If yon did know to whom I gave the ring,
If you did know for whom I gave the ring,
And would conceive for what I gave the ring,
And how unwillingly I left the ring,
Wuen nought would be accepted but the ring,

You would abate the strength of your displeasure."

Thus far our remarks on emphasis have been confined to what may De called single emphasis; that is, where the emphasis is absolute, and arises from the importance of the word in itself considered; or, where the two words in antithesis are expressed; or, where but one is expressed and the other understood the most common case. There are also instances where two emphatic words are opposed to two others; and sometimes where three words are opposed to three others in the same sentence. We will give an example of cach of these cases.

1st. "Where and what art thou, execrable shape ?"

"Arm! warriors, arm for fight !"

"Wo unto you, Pharisees

"Angels, and ministers of grace, defend us!"

[In the above examples the emphasis is absolute, there being no antithesis expressed or necessarily iniplied.]

2d. "I that denied thee gold, will give my heart."

[In this sentence the antithesis is expressed; and we can hardly do otherwise than place the emphasis upon both gold and heart.]

3d. "Exercise and temperance strengthen even an indifferent constitution." [In this the antithetic idea is understood:-itis, that not a good constitution merely, is strengthened by exercise and temperance, but even an indifferent one.]

4th. "The pleasures of the imagination are not so gross as those of sense, nor so refined as those of the understanding.”

[Here are two antitheses; gross and refined forming one, and sense and un· derstanding the other.]

5th. "If his principles are false, no apology from himself can make them right; if founded in truth, no censure from others can make them wrong." [In this example, false stands opposed to truth, himself to others, and right to wrong.]

"In order to acquire the proper management of the emphasis," says Murray, "the great rule to be given is, that the reader study to attain a just conception of the force and spirit of the sentiments which he is to pronounce. For to lay the emphasis with exact propriety, requires a constant exercise of good sense and attention. It is one of the most decisive trials of a true and just taste, and must arise from feeling delicately ourselves, and from judging accurately of what is fittest to strike the feelings of others."

IV. Inflections.

INFLECTIONS are bendings or slides of the voice from one key to another. They may be divided into the rising inflection, the falling inflection, and the circumflex. In the use of the rising inflection, we strike the word to which it belongs, upon a note, on the scale of musical sounds, a little below the general key upon which we are speaking, and terminate upon a note about as much higher, turning the word with our voice in this direction, (). Tire falling inflection is the reverse of this, (\) striking the word upon a key a little above, and terminating a little below the general speaking key.-By the general key we mean that sound of the voice which preponderates, and which would be heard at a distance too great to distinguish one word from another. The circumflex is a bending of the voice downward, and returning with it in a curve, thus, () to the same key upon the same word.

Although the inflections are a distinct property of elocution, they are yet so intimately connected with emphasis, that in our remarks we shall consider them mostly as but a quality of it. The rising inflection is indeed often used without any emphasis; as at the suspending pause which occurs in compound sentences, to denote the sentence is unfinished ;--the falling is used at the close of sentences;--and both the rising and falling often occur where there should be but little or no emphasis, and contribute in no small degree to the beauty of delivery.

But we shall now consider only the more important-the significant inflections; those upon the correct use of which the meaning and force of composition depend;-leaving the learner, unincumbered by rules which perplex rather than instruct, to make a practical application of them to the less important parts of composition as his judgment may direct.

Falling Inflection.

The falling inflection is used where the language is bold and energe tic; where a positive assertion is made; or where an indirect question is asked.

EXAMPLES.

Who first seduced them to that foul revolt?

The infernal sèrpent.

Where is boasting then? It is excluded.

But Jesus said, why tempt ye me, ye Hypocrites!

I insist upon this point; I urge you to it; prèss it; require it; nay, demand it of you.

What, Tubero, did that naked sword of yours mean, at the battle of Pharsalia? At whose breast was it aimed? What was the meaning of your àrms? your spirit, your eyes, your hands, your ardor of soul?

Rising Inflection.

The rising inflection accompanies the weaker emphasis, where the enunciation of thought is tender, conditional, or incomplete.

EXAMPLES.

And he lifted up his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, his motner s són, and said, is this your younger brother of whom you spake to the?

If some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partake of the root and fatness of the olive tree; boast not against the branches.

The beauty of a plain, the greatness of a mountain, the ornaments of a building, the expression of a picture, the composition of a discourse, the conduct of a third person, the properties of different quantities and numbers.-all the general subjects of science and taste,-are what we and our companions regard. as having no peculiar relation to either of us.

This inflection is also used with the direct question, or that which admits of yes or no for the answer; as,-Are you going to Genéva? Do you go to-day?-But if the same question be repeated, as if at first not heard or understood, it takes in the repetition the more forci ble emphasis of the falling inflection; as--Are you going to Genéva? Are you going to Genèva?-Is this your book ?--" Sir?"--Is this your book?

When the disjunctive or connects words or phrases, it has the rising inflection before, and the falling after it.

EXAMPLES.

Did he act courageously, or cowardly?
Do you go to New York, or to Boston?
Would you be happy, or unhappy?

Is it lawful on the Sabbath day to do good, or to do evil?—to save life, or to destroy it ?

Has God forsaken the works of his own hands ?-or does he always graciously preserve and keep, and guide them.

But when or is used conjunctively, it has the same inflection after as before it; as,

Would a belief of divine revelation contribute to make rulers less tyrannical, or subjects less governable ?-He is a man of wisdom; or, at least, of great learning.

When affirmation and negation are opposed to each other, that which affirms has generally the falling, and that which denies the rising inflection.

EXAMPLES.

I spoke of his intègrity, not of his talent.

I am going to Rochester, not to Balo.

He was not esteemed for his wealth, but for his wisdom.

I have not been reading Milton, but Homer.

Think not that the influence of devotion is confined to the retirement of the closet, and the assembly of the saints: linagine not, that, unconnected with the duties of life, it is suited only to those enraptured souls, whose feelings perhaps you deride as romantic and visionary-It is the guardian of innocence-it is the instrument of virtue-it is a mean by which every good affection may be formed and improved.

The Circumflex.

The circumflex is used to express ideas ironically, hypothetically, or comparatively; or when something is rather insinuated than strongly expressed.

EXAMPLES.

They tell us to be moderate; but they, they are to revel in profusion. If men see our faults they will talk among themselves, though we refuse to let them talk to us.

He has more art than science.

You were paid to fight against Alexander, not to rail at him.

It may teach us prudence, if we derive from it no other benefit.

Were we to ask a physician concerning a sick person, and receive in reply-" He is better"--we might suppose him to be yet dangerously sick,--the circumflex giving us an idea only of a sight, or comparative amendment,--but were he to say--He is better--our anxiety for his safety would be at once removed.

The following example will more clearly show the controlling influ ence which the inflection has upon the sense, without changing the seat of the emphasis :

In church I am unable to suppress evil thoughts.

The idea, which this sentence is intended to convey, is, that the person making the assertion is subject to evil thoughts, which, not only most places of resort, but even the sacredness of a church does not enable him to suppress. Hence it should be read with the strong emphasis and the falling inflection upon church; thus-"In chùrch I am unable to suppress evil thoughts."-But if the circumflex be used with the emphasis, a different idea will be conveyed-it will be, that the person, although in most places not subject to evil thoughts, is in church peculiarly afflicted by, and unable to suppress them; thus--In church I am unable to suppress evil thoughts.-We will take another example. Horatio in the Fair Penitent says:

"I will not turn aside from my loose pleasure, though all thy force be armed to bar my way."

The circumflex upon thy implies that Horatio looked upon the oppo sing force with contempt; and is equivalent to saying, "I might turn aside for a respectable opposition, but thy force is not worth regarding." But place the falling inflection upon thy, and it makes it a matter of great moment :-while it compliments the opposing force, it declares a determination to resist it, great as it is.

In examining the principles of vocal inflection, the ingenious scholar will find both amusement and instruction. Without being understood, they are practiced by all, intuitively, when the stronger emotions are excited; and if persons could strictly pursue the dictates of nature in these respects, they would never err.* But the force of habit is almost irresistible; and when this is formed on the side of error, nothing but the strongly excited emotions can disengage its bonds. It will be in vain, therefore, to depend upon the dictation of these emotions; for they will be found unerring only in the expressions of original thought, -and then only under circumstances as above described. It becomes necessary, then, that the doctrine of inflections be studied, that they may be applied in unimpassioned discourse, and to the composition of others-studied, not under the impression that the principles of nature are to be subverted, but discovered, and strictly followed.

Porter, in speaking of the importance of a knowledge of the principles of inflection, says: "Analysis of vocal inflections bears the same relation to oratory, that the tuning of an instrument does to music. The rudest performer in this latter art knows, that his first business is to regulate the instrument he uses, when it is so deranged as to produce no perfect notes, or to produce others than those which he intends. The voice is the speaker's instrument, which, by neglect or mismanagement, is often so out of tune as not to obey the will of him who uses it. To cure bad habits is the first and hardest task in elocution. Among instructors of children, scarcely one in fifty thinks of carrying his precepts beyond correctness in uttering words, and a mechanical attention to pauses; so that the child who speaks the words of a sentence distinctly and fluently, and "minds the stops," as it is called, is without scruple pronounced a good reader. Hence, among the multitude who consider themselves good readers, there are so few that give by their voice that just expression of sentiment, which constitutes the spirit and soul of delivery."

V. Monotone.

MONOTONE is a sameness of sound upon a succession of syllables, like the repeated strokes upon a bell. It has the peculiar property of rendering composition either subline or ridiculous, according as it may be judiciously or injudiciously used. Nothing is more disgusting than a dull repetition of sounds upon the same pitch of the voice, resulting from a dullness in the reader or speaker, and applied in common discourse. It is notwithstanding used with the most happy effect, in grave delivery, in the expression of sublime and reverential emotions, and in elevated description. The following examples will illustrate it as used with propriety:

• If a man should discover his own house on fire, he would not, like a distant and disinterested observer, cry fire'! fire'! fire'!-but we should hear his more expressive exclamation of fire! fire! fire!