you' ?" "When did you arrive' ?" "How long will you remain here' ?" "Where do you lodge'?" "Whither are you going?" EXCEPTION. In colloquial style, when a remark or statement is not clearly understood by the person addressed, if a question be put by him, beginning with an interrogative pronoun or adverb, it is generally closed with the rising inflection; as, What did you say'?" Whose name did you mention'?" 66 "When will he return'?" 66 RULE IV. Interrogative sentences commencing with a verb, (that is, all that do not begin with a pronoun or adverb,) generally close with the rising inflection; as, "Is he dutiful' ?" "Am I, then, to live beyond the grave'?" "Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation' ?" 66 EXCEPTION. When a question beginning with a verb, is repeated with increased emphasis, it forms an exception to Rule 4; as, Are you going?"—"Are you GOING?" "Did you find the letter you were in search of ?"- Did you find the LETTER you were in search of?' EXERCISES-Rules 3 and 4. Who can fathom the depths of misery into which intemperance plunges its victims'? What infidel ever passed the bourn of mortality', without casting a trembling eye upon the scene that lay before him`? Art thou not from everlasting,' O Lord my God', my Holy One'? Wast thou displeased with the rivers'? was thine anger against the rivers'? was thy wrath against the sea', that thou didst ride upon thy horses and thy chariots of salvation'? Do we select extortioners to enforce the laws of equity'? Do we make choice of profligates to guard the morals of society'? Do we depute atheists to preside over the rights of religion'? Will the Lord cast us off for ever'? and will he be favourable no more'? Is his mercy clean gone for ever'? Hath God forgotten to be gracious'? Hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies'? Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand'? and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure', and weighed the mountains in scales', and the hills in a balance`? What if this guilty hand Were thicker than itself with brother's blood'? Is there not rain enough in the sweet heavens Has God', thou fool', worked solely for thy good"? For him as kindly spreads the flow'ry lawn'? Remark. The inflection at lawn, in this last example, should not be the falling, because the last two lines of it, are not a separate member or question, but merely an adjunct, or intervening phrase, of the main question, which, expressed literally, would run thus: "Thou fool'! has God', who feeds the wanton fawn for thy table', and who as kindly spreads the flowery lawn for him', worked solely for thy good'? for thy joy', thy pastime', thy attire', thy food' ? RULE V. When two questions are connected by the conjunction or, the first commonly takes the rising, and the second, the falling, inflection; as, "Does he speak rationally', or irrationally'?" "Should we say man', or man'?" "Does his conduct support discipline', or destroy it'?" EXERCISES. Will the trials of this life continue for ever', or will time finally dissipate them? Shall we crown the author of all these publick calamities with garlands', or shall we wrest from him his ill-deserved authority'? To the foregoing rule, there are some exceptions. 66 EXCEPTION 1. When two questions united by or, begin with an interrogative pronoun or adverb, we frequently give the falling inflection to both; as, How can a blind man see', or one of no understanding', comprehend' ?" "How shall the weak man wrest the spoil from the strong', or an honest man deceive his neighbour' ?" "To whom', then', will ye liken God', or what likeness will ye compare unto him`?" EXCEPTION 2. When two questions connected by or, commence with a verb, we sometimes close each of them with the rising inflection; as, "Canst thou draw out leviathan with a hook', or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down' ?" "Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons', or his head with spears' ?" EXCEPTION 3. When two questions united by or, commence, the one with an adverb or pronoun, and the other with a verb, each requires the inflection it would take when not thus connected; as, "Hath the rain a father'? or who hath begotten the drops of dew' ?” EXERCISES-Exceptions 1 and 2. Who can open the doors of his face', or come to leviathan with his double bridle'? Who can number the clouds in wisdom', or stay the bottles of heaven`? Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades', or loosc the bands of Orion'? Canst thou make the horse afraid', like a grasshopper', or make him turn back from the sword' ? sense. Can storied urn', or animated bust', Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath'? The source of the disease that nature feels', Remarks.-A little attention will convince any one, that, to close the last member of these examples with an inflection opDosite to that which comes before or, would totally pervert the He will also observe, that, in these examples which form exceptions to Rule 5, the antithesis in the two members connected by or, is not preserved as in those examples which come under the rule; and that, moreover, most of them would admit of being expressed in two, separate questions. RULE VI. Exclamatory sentences generally close with the falling inflection; as, "How truly are we the dupes of show and circumstance' !" "O', how hast thou', with jealousy', infected the sweetness of affiance'!" EXERCISES. What a piece of work is man'! How noble in reason'! How infinite in faculties'! In form and moving', how express and admirable! In action', how like an angel! In apprehension', how like a god`! O that my head were waters', and my eyes a fountain of tears', that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people'! Joy-loving', love-inspiring, holy bower, Ye amaranths'! ye roses, like the morn`! More hideous when thou show'st thee in a child 'Tis done! dread winter spreads his latest gloomsʼ, How dumb the tuneful! Horrour wide extends RULE VII. When a sentence consists of two or more affirmative members, the last member but one, takes the rising, and all the rest, the falling, inflection; as, "He fought the Scythian in his cave', and the unconquered Arab fled before him." "He won', divided', and ruled nearly all of modern Europe'." "The minor longs to be of age'; then to be a man of business'; then to make up an estate'; then to arrive at honours'; then to retire'." EXERCISES. The first ingredient in conversation', is truth'; the next', good sense'; the third', good-humour'; the last', wit'. Nature rendered him incapable of improving by all the rules of eloquence', the precepts of philosophy', his father's endeavours', and the most refined society of Athens'. Nature has laid out all her art in beautifying the face. She has touched it with vermilion'; planted in it a double row of The son of Cicero. vory'; made it the seat of smiles and blushes'; lighted it up and enlivened it with the brightness of the eyes'; hung it on each side with curious organs of sense'; given it airs and graces that cannot be described'; and surrounded it with such a flowing shade of hair as sets all its beauties in the most agreeable light'. Many of the tyrants that opposed the christian religion', have long since gone to their own place'; their names have descended upon the roll of infamy; their empires have passed', like shadows', over the rock'; they have successively disappeared', and left not a trace behind'. But they that fight for freedom', undertake The noblest cause mankind can have at stake': Remarks. In enunciating the foregoing examples, the reader has a fine opportunity to display his skill in modulation. In the first place, let him enter deeply into the meaning and spirit of his author; and, secondly, let him remember, that, whenever several successive members are inflected alike, it would be monotonous and insipid to modulate any two of them in the same manner. In reading such sentences, the voice should gradually increase in energy and fulness as it advances from one member to another, and continually vary in its intonation, so as to produce a sort of climax. 66 At the words "minor," "then," "improving," "touched it," "in it," enlivened it," and "shade of hair," a slight pause (called a Rhetorical Pause) is absolutely necessary to a happy and forcible elocution. The same kind of pause also occurs after the words "His part," "land," 71 66 ocean," power," "fame,” "riches," "itself," "Conquerors," "Belief," "reason," and "Or," "Or," "Or," in the following exercises. See page 138.- -For an explanation of the Final Pause at "undertake" and "call," in the example immediately preceding these Remarks, see page 144. EXCEPTION 1. When a sentence consists of only two affirmative members, the first generally takes the falling inflection if it end with an emphatick word; as, "His part was invented by himself, and was terribly unique" "He would have enslaved the land to make the ocean free; and he wanted only power to enslave both`." "The idol of to-day', pushes the hero of yesterday out of recollection'; and will', in turn', be supplanted by his successors of to-morrow'." EXCEPTION 2. When the sense of any member or members |