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the body habits of lust' and sensuality', malice' and revenge', and an aversion to every thing that is good', just', and laudable', are naturally seasoned and prepared for pain and misery'."

This scheme of Mr. Walker's for arranging and classifying the various series of words, and of applying to them a systematick set of rules, certainly displays no little ingenuity, and cannot but be productive of some utility; but it is by no means a cause of regret to ascertain, on an examination of it, that most parts of it have no better foundation than the vivid fancy and delicate taste of its inventor. Nature would have dealt out her favours with a parsimonious hand indeed, had she allowed the human voice no greater scope in inflecting the multifarious and insurpassable variety of forms of expression, and modes of intonation, which occur in our language, than that prescribed by Mr. Walker's rules.

But notwithstanding we may take great liberties with many of the foregoing rules which attempt to regulate the inflections proper to be given to a simple series of words, it must have been observed by the judicious reader of the preceding, general development of this intricate and delicate subject, that many of the rules given for the regulation of the inflections of the voice-such, for example, as those which appertain to the closing inflection of simple affirmative, negative, interrogative, and exclamatory sentences, as well as of declarative and conditional members of sentences, and so forth-have their foundation in the philosophy of vocal sounds and the principles of the language; and that, therefore, the laws which govern such inflections, are as unchangeable as the laws of the Medes and Persians. Some of these rules, it is true, have their exceptions; but even these exceptions are controlled by principles and circumstances that are easily revealed and explained. The amount of the matter is, then, that, in whatever light we view this subject, the leading rules, together with their exceptions, which tend to regulate the inflections of the voice, merit the particular attention of him who would excel in the science of elocution. But their great importance may be more strongly enforced by adducing a few examples in which it will appear, that a wrong inflection will totally pervert the sense.

Examples in which a wrong Inflection is capable of perverting the meaning.

The curfew tolls', the knell of parting day';

The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea';
The ploughman homeward plods his weary way',
And leaves the world to darkness and to me'.

The author has marked the inflections and pauses in this passage, agreeably to the elocution which he thinks ought to be given to it. But who has not observed, that it is commonly read with the rising inflection and the suspending pause applied to the word "tolls," in the first line? And who does not perceive, that such a reading would give the line a totally different meaning from the correct one? It would change the character of the verb "tolls" from an intransitive to a transitive, and make the word "knell" an objective case to it, and moreover, render the line tame, and unpoetical; whereas, nothing can be more obvious, than that the writer designed the word "knell" to be in apposition with "curfew:" for the last part of the line, is, literally, a mere repetition of the thought contained in the first part, but, figuratively, it is a new, and picturesque, and glowing image, altogether worthy the talents of the great poet who conceived it.

Some, again, by confounding the number of lines in this stanza, with the number of members in the sentence, would close the second line with the falling inflection, under the mistaken notion that the third line is the last member but one, at the close of which, according to the rule, the voice should take the rising inflection and the suspending pause. But, when justly considered, this sentence will be found to be composed of only three principal members. The first line is a compound member, the second, a simple, and the third and fourth lines, form another compound member. From this explanation, then, and by recollecting that the conjunction and is understood after the word "lea," it must appear obvious, that that word should take the rising inflection, and in strict accordance with Rule 7, page 89. And what chastened ear is there, that does not sanction this application of the rule?

From the foregoing observations, it is evident, moreover, that a misconception of the structure and character of sentences, would lead to a misapplication of the rules; and that an injudicious or erroneous use of the rules, would be far more detrimental to elocution than no use of them.

One or two more selections from the same beautiful poem, (Gray's Elegy,) will elicit a few remarks that may be useful to the unpractised student.

Th' applause of list'ning senates to command',
The threats of pain and ruin to despise',

To scatter plenty o'er a smiling land',

And read their hist'ry in a nation's eyes',

Their lot forbade'; nor circumscribed alone'
Their growing virtues', but their crimes confined';
Forbade to wade through slaughter to a throne',
And shut the gates of mercy on mankind'.

In this passage, a falling inflection of the voice is not allowable, until it sweeps through the whole of the first stanza, and reaches the word "forbade," in the second: according to Exception 2, to Rule 7, page 89. Although, without any great perversion of taste, the falling inflection might be made at the close of each of the first two lines, yet were the voice to fall at the close of the last line of the first verse, as many a reader is in the habit of allowing it, the whole passage would thereby be converted into nonsense.

Some might suppose, that the word "throne," at the close of the last line but one in the sentence, requires, agreeably to Rule 7, the rising inflection; but the inflection of that word is controlled by the emphasis that falls upon it; for which reason it should be inflected according to the 1st Exception to the Rule.

Approach and read' (for thou canst read') the lay/
'Graved on the stone beneath yon aged thorn'.

This example most strikingly illustrates the importance of the rising inflection and suspending pause where the sense is interrupted and suspended, (as is the case at the word "read,")

whilst the voice, in an under key, takes its flight through the parenthetical clause. To allow the voice to fall on the first "read," is to trample on the laws of common sense, and put the principles of elocution to the blush.

No farther seek his merits to disclose',

Or draw his frailties from their dread abode', (There they', alike', in trembling hope repose',) The bosom of his Father and his God'.

It seems to be the most natural to give the falling inflection to the word "abode," at the close of the second line, in this example; but, as the sense, though apparently closed at that word, is actually interrupted by the parenthetical clause which follows, the meaning of the last line, in which the word "bosom" is in apposition with "abode," might, possibly, be rendered more clearly, were we to give the rising inflection to the word "abode."

The parenthetical clauses in this and the example next preceding it, seem to call for a remark. In order to render the meaning, in any tolerable degree, perspicuous, in these two examples, it is absolutely necessary, that these parenthetical clauses should be read, not merely in a lower tone or key, but in an intonation distinctly different in kind from that employed in pronouncing the other portions of the respective sentences in which they occur.

The following passage from Addison's Cato, is presented with the punctuation in which it ordinarily appears in books, and with the inflections marked in conformity to that punctuation. It is an address of one of the sons of Cato to his brother.

Remember what our father oft has told us',
The ways of Heaven are dark and intricate',
Puzzled in mazes and perplexed with errours';
Our understanding traces them in vain',

Lost and bewildered in the fruitless search'.

The comma at "intricate," and the semicolon placed after "errours," very readily cause the reader to mistake the con

nexion between the members of this passage, and, by making the rising inflection at "intricate," to unite the meaning of the third line with that of the second. A little reflection, however, will enable him to discover his mistake; for no one would believe, for a moment, that the great and the just Cato ever inculcated into the minds of his sons so irreligious an idea as to tell them that "The ways of Heaven are puzzled in mazes and perplexed with errours." Although, to short-sighted mortals, they may appear "dark and intricate," yet, to say that they are "puzzled in mazes and perplexed with errours," is a profanity of which neither Mr. Addison nor Cato could have been guilty. But is not this the meaning of the passage? Agreeably to the punctuation, most certainly it is. How, then, shall we clear up the difficulty? Simply by reversing the inflections and the pauses at the end of the second and third line. The meaning of the third line will then be connected with that of the fourth, and show the meaning of the poet to be, that it is our “understanding," and not "Heaven," that is "Puzzled in mazes and perplexed with errours."

The sense and beauty of the passage are restored by punctu ating and inflecting it in the following manner:

Remember what our father oft has told us',
The ways of Heaven are dark and intricate';
Puzzled in mazes and perplexed with errours',
Our understanding traces them in vain',
Lost and bewildered in the fruitless search':
Nor sees with how much art the windings run',
Nor where the regular confusion ends'.

The following passage from Henry V. admits of a double meaning, according to the turn of the inflections:

For he to-day that sheds his blood with me',
Shall be my brother', be he e'er so vile':
This day shall gentle his condition'.

Agreeably to this reading, that is, by giving the rising inflection to the word "brother," and the falling to "vile," the conditional phrase, "be he e'er so vile," is connected in sense with

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