Second Citizen. Truly, sir, all that I live by is with the awl: I meddle with no tradesman's matters, nor women's matters, but with awl. I am indeed, sir, a surgeon to old shoes; when they are in great danger, I recover them. As proper men as ever trod upon neat's-leather have gone upon my handiwork.

Flavius. But wherefore art not in thy shop to-day?

Why dost thou lead these men about the streets?

Second Citizen. Truly, sir, to wear out their shoes, to get myself into more work. But, indeed, sir, we make holiday, to see Cæsar, and to rejoice in his triumph.

Marullus. Wherefore rejoice? What conquest brings he home?

What tributaries follow him to Rome,

To grace in captive bonds his chariot-wheels?

You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things!
O, you hard hearts, you cruel men of Rome,
Knew you not Pompey? Many a time and oft
Have you climb'd up to walls and battlements,
To towers and windows, yea, to chimney-tops,
Your infants in your arms, and there have sat
The livelong day, with patient expectation,
To see great Pompey pass the streets of Rome.
And when you saw his chariot but appear,
Have you not made an universal shout,
That Tiber trembled underneath her banks,
To hear the replication of your sounds
Made in her concave shores?

And do you now put on your best attire?
And do you now cull out a holiday?

And do you now strew flowers in his way
That comes in triumph over Pompey's blood?
Be gone!

Run to your houses, fall upon your knees,

Pray to the gods to intermit the plague

That needs must light on this ingratitude.

From "Julius Cæsar."

Problem LIII. Contrast simple and noble conversation with af fected and superficial colloquial speech.

228 Hamlet. Do you see yonder cloud, that's almost in shape of a

camel?

Polonius. By the mass, and 'tis like a camel, indeed.

Hamlet. Methinks, it is like a weasel.

Polonius. It is backed like a weasel.

Hamlet. Or like a whale?

Polonius. Very like a whale.

Hamlet. Then I will come to my mother by and by. They fool. me to the top of my bent.—I will come by and by,

Polonius. I will say so.

Hamlet. By and by is easily said.

'Tis now the very witching time of night,

[Exit Polonius.

When churchyards yawn, and hell itself breathes out
Contagion to this world: now could I drink hot blood,
And do such business as the bitter day

Would quake to look on. Soft: now to my mother.
O, heart, lose not thy nature; let not ever

The soul of Nero enter this firm bosom.

229 Falstaff. GOD save thy grace, King Hal! my royal Hal!

Pistol. The heavens thee guard and keep, most royal imp of fame!

Falstaff. God save thee, my sweet boy!

King. My Lord Chief Justice, speak to that vain man.

Chief Justice. Have you your wits? Know you what 'tis you speak?
Falstaff. My king! my Jove! I speak to thee, my heart!
King. I know thee not, old man. Fall to thy prayers.
How ill white hairs become a fool and jester!
I have long dream'd of such a kind of man,
So surfeit-swell'd, so old, and so profane;
But, being awake, I do despise my dream.
Make less thy body, hence, and more thy grace;
Leave gormandising: know, the grave doth gape
For thee thrice wider than for other men.
Reply not to me with a fool-born jest;
Presume not that I am the thing I was:

For Heaven doth know, so shall the world perceive,
That I have turn'd away my former self;

So will I those that kept me company.

When thou dost hear I am as I have been,
Approach me; and thou shalt be as thou wast,
The tutor and the feeder of my riots:

Till then, I banish thee, on pain of death,

As I have done the rest of my misleaders,

Not to come near our person by ten mile.
For competence of life, I will allow you,
That lack of means enforce you not to evil;
And, as we hear you do reform yourselves,
We will,

according to your strength and qualities, —
Give you advancement.

From "Henry IV.," Part II.

XXVIII FREEDOM OF INFLECTION.

230 THE sun, — his rise and set we know;
- we mark its ebb and flow;

"To the Winds."

IN

The sea,
The moon,
-man knows their courses well;

The stars,

The comet's vagrant paths can tell;

But you his search disdain.

Barton,

this extract the word 'sun' may have a rising or a falling inflection. That is to say, it may be presented as an object of attention, and after a pause the explanatory clause added as the result of thought; and so of 'sea,'‘moon,' and 'stars.' Or, on the other hand, we may have a rising inflection upon these words, presenting the idea as a question, while the clauses may be given as answers. Again, some of these words may have a rising and others a falling inflection. These differences depend upon the personality of the speaker, upon the current of thought or association of ideas at the time, upon the occasion or upon the person addressed. No rules can be laid down by authority whereby the passage must be read in any one special way.

It is helpful to realize the special function of these four most important modulations of inflection, — length, rapidity, direction, and straightness. But inflection is a free, spontaneous language. No two speakers ever inflect in exactly the same way. Such similarity as is often found is the result of mechanical teaching. Ever since inflections were discovered, in 1775, by Sir Joshua Steele, the endeavor to apply grammatical and mechanical rules

to them has caused one of the greatest evils in elocution, and has awakened great prejudices in artistic and observant minds. Inflectional modulations continually and infinitely vary in conversation; they vary with every sentence, every clause, and every word; they differ with every personality and with every mood; in fact, flexibility of inflection is one of the most fundamental characteristics of naturalness. Inflections directly manifest the simplest and most spontaneous actions of the human soul. They must, therefore, always be free.

Accordingly, inflections cannot be taught by mechanical rules; nor can they be taught by imitation. Whenever inflections have been taught by imitation, there has been a tendency to warp one personality to the peculiarities of another. Whenever they have been taught by rule, there has been a tendency to make them all alike. All true spontaneous variation of the direction, the length, and gradation of inflection has been eliminated.

The variation of inflection according to personality was well illustrated in Wendell Phillips and Emerson. Phillips, the orator who had the greatest power of dominating a popular audience, made many falling inflections, while Emerson, on the contrary, made a great many rising inflections. Things were given by him more in the attitude of wonder, more in the attitude of questioning. The one presented things with the attitude of domination, of positive certainty; Emerson, on the other hand, appealed to the intuition of men; he was ever in the attitude of discovery. He did not dominate attention and conviction, he endeavored to awaken spiritual insight and intuitive feeling.

The elder Russell said that a good, firm falling inflection was a speaker's best capital. It is this which is the means of showing the centre of the speaker's attention and winning the attention of others. He counted sixty successive falling inflections in a speech by Daniel Webster in Faneuil Hall.

The development of inflection is very important. A good inflection is dependent primarily upon proper action of the mind,

and also upon control of the breath, the free emission of the tone, and the right use of the voice. The ear also needs to be trained to recognize inflection. Of all faults, the worst is monotony, and this often results from a poor ear. The ear is a kind of vocal conscience; an animal that has no ear is dumb.

There must, however, be a direct practice of all attitudes of the mind, a careful observation of conversation in all its forms, and a study of human nature in all its aspects. The power of one mind to appreciate the attitude of another, the sympathetic instinct by which we can appreciate another's point of view must be developed. All forms of literature need to be practised. The student must develop his dramatic instinct, and must not disdain to act dialogues. He must read and recite and discuss those things in which he is especially interested. Compelling students to speak extracts from great orations to try to expand themselves into imaginary Websters, has tended to pervert the natural inflections of the voice. Declamation is an invaluable exercise, and also a very dangerous one. It must be devoted, at first at least, to simple passages such as will develop command of naturalness.

True inflection is only possible where there is sincerity and genuineness, simplicity and earnestness. Revealing as it does, the man's attitude toward truth and toward his fellow men, it must be developed by developing its cause. Whatever tends to enable men to show their convictions simply and directly, or to manifest their simple earnestness and desire to awaken an interest and to win the attention of their fellow men, will tend to develop inflection. Whatever tends to free the mind from artificial shackles, to lead it to trust its own instincts; whatever tends to make a man simple and natural, or to cause him to be himself; whatever brings him into sympathetic relationship with his fellow man, or causes him to give specific attention to another mind or to adapt thought and conviction to another; or whatever brings the mind into direct communion with the