accomplish it? How accomplish it! Certainly not by fearing to attempt it." 7] RULE III. When negation is opposed to affirmation, the former has the rising, and the latter the falling inflection. EXAMPLES. I did not say a better soldier,-but an èlder. He did not say pride, but prìde. Negation alone, not opposed to affirmation, does not by any means always take the rising inflection, as Mr. Knowles supposes. The simple particle no, when under the emphasis, with the intensive, falling slide, is one of the strongest monosyllables in the language. But when negative and affirmative clauses come into opposition, I think of no exception to the rule but that mentioned under emphatic succession, Rule IX. Note 2. 8] NOTE 1. This rule, like the two preceding, is founded on the influence which antithetic sense has on the voice. The same change of inflections we find in comparison; as, "He is more knàve than fool." "A countenance more in sorrow than in ánger." So in the following case of simple contrast, where, in each couplet of antithetic terms, the former word has the rising inflection. Here regard to virtue opposes insensibility to shàme; púrity, to pollution; intégrity, to injùstice; vírtue, to vìllany; resolution, to ràge; regulárity, to riòt. The struggle lies between wealth and want; the dignity, and degeneracy of reason; the force, and the phrenzy of the soul; between well grounded hópe, and widely extended despair. NOTE 2. The reader should be apprised here, that the falling slide, being often connected with strong emphasis, and beginning on a high and spirited note, is liable to be mistaken, by those little acquainted with the subject, for the rising slide. If one is in doubt which of the two he has employed, on a particular word, let him repeat both together, by forming a question according to Rule I. with the disjunctive or ;—thus, "Did I say gó,or gò ?" Or let him take each example under Rule I. and according to Rule II. from an answer echoing the first emphatic word, but changing the inflection; thus, "Will you go,—or stay? I shall gò." "Will you ride, or walk? I shall ride." This will give the contrary slides on the same word. But as some may be unable still to distinguish the falling slide, confounding it, as just mentioned, with the rising inflection, or, on the other hand, with the cadence ; I observe that the difficulty lies in two things. One is, that the slide is not begun so high, and the other, that it is not carried through so many notes, as it ought to be. I explain this by a diagram, thus: It is sufficiently exact to say, that in reading this properly, the syllables without slide may be spoken on one key or monotone. From this key go slides upwards to its highest note, and from the same high note stay slides downwards to the key; and go does the same, in the answer to the question. In the second example, the case is entirely similar. But the difficulty with the inexpert reader is, that he strikes the downward slide, not above the key, but on it, and then slides downward, just as in a cadence. The faulty manner may be represented thus: Will you go to-day, or to morrow? I shall go to-morrow. The other part of the difficulty in distinguishing the falling inflection from the opposite, arises from its want of sufficient extent. Sometimes indeed the voice is merely dropped to a low note, without any slide at all. The best remedy is, to take a sentence with some emphatic word, on which the intensive falling slide is proper, and protract that slide, in a drawling manner, from a high note to a low one. This will make its distinction from the rising slide very obvious. Harmony and emphasis make some exceptions to several of these rules, which the brevity of my plan compels me to pass by without notice. RISING INFLECTION. 9] RULE IV. The pause of suspension, denoting that the sense is unfinished, requires the rising inflection. This rule embraces several particulars, more especially applying to sentences of the periodic structure, which consist of several members, but form no complete sense before the close. It is a first principle of articulate language, that in such a case, the voice should be kept suspended, to denote continuation of sense. The following are some of the cases to which the rule applies. 1. Sentences beginning with a conditional particle or clause; as, "If some of the branches be broken óff, and thou, being a wild olive-trée, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive-trée; boast not against the branches." "As face answereth to face in wáter, so the heart of man to man." In what Walker calls the 'inverted period,' the last member, though not essential to give meaning to what precedes, yet follows so closely as not to allow the voice to fall till it is pronounced. 2. The case absolute; as, "His father dying, and no heir being left except himself, he succeeded to the estate." "The question having been fully discússed, and all objections completely refúted, the decision was unanimous." 3. The infinitive mood with its adjuncts, used as a nominative case; as, "To smile on those whom we should cénsure, and to countenance those who are guilty of bad áctions, is to be guilty ourselves." "To be pure in heart, to be pious and benévolent, constitutes human happiness." 4. The vocative* case without strong emphasis, when it is a respectful call to attention, expresses no sense com * I use this term as better suiting my purpose than that of our grammarians, nominative independent. pleted, and comes under the inflection of the suspending pause; as, Mén, brethren, and fáthers,-hearken." countrymen !-lend me your ears." "Friends, Rómans, 5. The parenthesis commonly requires the same inflection at its close, while the rest of it is often to be spoken in the monotone. As an interjected clause, it suspends the sense of the sentence, and for that reason only, is pronounced in a quicker and lower voice, the hearer being supposed to wait with some impatience for the main thought, while this interjected clause is uttered; as, Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?" The most common exceptions in this case, occur in rhetorical dialogue, where narrative and address are mingled, and represented by one voice, and where there is frequent change of emphasis. The same sort of exception may apply to the general principle of this rule, whenever one voice is to represent two persons, thus; If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and fillèd; notwithstanding ye give them not those thing which are needful to the body; what doth it pròfit? Here the sense is entirely suspended to the close, and yet the clause introduced as the language of another, requires the falling slide. Another exception, resting on still stronger ground, occurs where an antithetic clause requires the intensive falling slide on some chief word to denote the true meaning; as in the following example,-"The man who is in the daily use of ardent spirits, if he does not become a |