graphs. The following examples will show what a pleasing variety can be thrown into cadence, in a way to gratify the ear, and give life to utterance; and how constant must be the exercise of good taste and judgment in order to make it properly.

I have been young and now I am old; yet have I never seen the righteous forsaken, nor his

séed

bégging

bread.

It was meet that we should make merry and be glad for this thy brother was dead, and is alìve again ;

and was lost and

ís

found.

I could not have slept this night upon my bed, nor even reposed my head upon my pillow, without giving vent to my steadfast abhorrence of such enormous and prepòs prin

com

Blessed are they that moùrn: for they shall be

fórt

èd.

Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall sée

God.

LESSON VII.

EXAMINATION OF A CLASS ON INFLECTIONS AND EMPHASIS.

TEACHER What inflections are called the rising, and what the falling slides; and what marks would you use to show them?

A. The rising slide carries the voice upward in a straight line, as if up an inclined plane; and the falling slide downward, as if down an inclined plane. The rising is heard in asking a definite question; the falling, in answering it; as, Do you love pláy ? Yès; I dò:or the rising is heard in the first, and the falling, in the last member of a sentence disjunctively connected by or; as, Will you gó, or stay? The rising slide is designated by the acute accent; the falling, by the grave

accent.

or

T. What are circumflexes, and how are they designated ?

B. The rising circumflex is a union of the falling and rising slides on the same syllable, and is shown by the grave and acute accents, joined at the bottom; as on Mike in this ironical passage: If Mike has affirmed it, who can doubt it ?-the falling circumflex is a union of the rising and falling slides on the same syllable, and is shown by the acute and grave accents, joined at the top; as, on the word all, in this ironical passage: If Mike says so, then âll | must believe it of course.

C. I think, sir, both of the circumflexes are brought out clearly on is and be, in the second line of this couplet from Pope:

Hope springs eternal in the human breast:
Man never ĭs, but always to bê | blest.

T. What inflections are those which are named curves; and how may they be designated?

D. The rising curve begins with some of the falling, and ends with the rising slide, approaching somewhat to the rising circumflex; as is generally heard in the last of several particulars in the beginning of a sentence; as, Exercíse and témperance | strengthen the constitution. It may be designated by the acute accent turned at the bottom. The falling curve begins with some of the rising and ends with the falling slide; as on the last of three or more particulars, disjunctively connected, approaching to the falling circumflex; as, Neither Jóhn nor James | nor Joseph | was in fault ;—and it may be designated by the grave accent turned at the top.

T. The next, give an example of the falling slide. E. There is a divinity | that shapes our ends. This is a declarative sentence, forming complete sense, and ends with the falling slide.

F. Through the thick gloom of the présent | I see I the brightness of the future. This is also a declarative sentence, and ends with the falling slide; but, as the sense is suspended on the last word of the first division, I have given it the rising slide.

T. Do sentences always end with the falling slide, falling curve, or circumflex, when the sense is complete ?

G. No, sir, not of necessity: negatives generally have the rising; because they are naturally emphatic; and emphasis in most cases requires a different inflection

from the simple form; or rather, it is, for the most part, a change of the inflection that makes the emphasis; e. g., The quality of mercy is not strained.

H. It is your place to obey | not to command.

I. It is nót' grief | that bids me moan; it is that I am all alone.

J. You were paid to fight | against Alexander, not to rail at hím.

K. He showed a countenance more in sorròw than in ánger.

L. The man who is in daily use of ardent spirits, if he does not become a drunkard, is in danger of losing his health and character. That is, he is in danger of losing his health and character, is he nót?

A. The apprehension of evil | is many times worse than the evil itself: and the ills a man fears he shall

suffer, he suffers in the very fear

of them.

B. We should take a prudent care for the future, but so as to enjoy the prèsent. It is no part of wisI dom to be miserable to-day, because we may happen to be so to-morrow.

C. A wise man, says Seneca, is provided for occurrences of any kind: the good | he manages, the bád' he vanquishes in prospérity | he betrays no presúmption, in advérsity | he feels no despondency.

are

ad

D. It is not the height to which men vánced that makes them giddy; it is the looking down with contempt upon those below them.

E. Which is the greater man, he who simply strikes when the iron is hót, or he who makes the iron hót by striking?

T. What is the nature of emphasis in determining the sense of a passage?

F. Emphasis is the pivot on which the whole sense of reading turns.

T. What is emphasis ?

G. Emphasis is the power which marks out in a sentence, some significant word or words on which the meaning depends, by just such stress, inflection, pause, quantity, and occasional depression, as best serve to explain and enforce that meaning.

T. Very well

proceed with your examples. H. Whatever púrifies, fortifies also the heart. The two words in this sentence are made emphatic by opposite curves.

I. Patience, by preserving composure within, resists the impression which trouble mákes from without. Here patience is opposed to trouble; and within to without ; each couple rendered emphatic by opposite curves.

J. Sincerity and trúth | form the basis of every

virtue.

K. Virtuous youth | gradually brings forward accómplished and flourishing mànhood.

L. He who would act like a wise man and build his house on the rock, and not on the sand, should contemplate human life not only in the sunshine, but in the shade.

A. When Aristotle was asked what a man could gain by telling a falsehood, he replied, "Not to be crédited when he speaks the truth.”

B. Agesilaus, king of Sparta, being asked what things he thought most proper for boys to learn, án