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2. If content cannot remove the disquietudes of mankind, it will at least alleviate them.

NEGATIVE SENTENCE.

RULE II.-Negative sentences, or members of sentences, must end with the rising inflection.

EXAMPLES.

1. The region beyond the grave is not a solitary' land. There your fathers are, and thither every other friend shall follow you in due season.

2. True charity is not a meteor, which occasionally' glares; but a luminary, which, in its orderly and regular course, dispenses a benignant influence.

PENULTIMATE MEMBER.*

RULE III.-The penultimate member of a sentence requires the rising inflection.

EXAMPLES.

1. We were now treading that illustrious island which was once the luminary of the Caledonian regions, whence savage clans and roving barbarians derived the benefits of knowledge', and the blessings of religion.

2. Mahomet was a native of Mecca, a city of that division of Arabia, which, for the luxury of its soil and happy temperature of its climate, has ever been esteemed the loveliest and sweetest' region in the world, and distinguished by the epithet of happy.

DIRECT PERIOD.

RULE IV.-Every direct period, having its two principal constructive parts connected by corresponding conjunctions or adverbs, requires the long pause, with the rising inflection at the end of the first part.

EXAMPLES.

1. If, when we behold a well-made and well-regulated watch, we infer the operations of a skilful artificer'; then, none but a "fool" indeed can contemplate the universe, all whose parts are so admirably formed, and so harmoniously adjusted, and yet say, "there is no God.'

* Penultimate signifies the last but one.

2. Whenever you see a people making progress in vice; whenever you see them discovering a growing disregard to the divine law'; there you see proportional advances made to ruin and misery.*

3. When the mountains shall be dissolved; when the foundations of the earth and the world shall be destroyed; when all sensible objects shall vanish away', he will still be the "everlasting God;" he will be when they exist no more, as he was when they had no existence at all.

4. Perfection is not the lot of humanity, and the age of heroism had its foibles, as well as the modern. If we are effeminate', they were too often ferocious. If we less frequently produce those astonishing examples of heroism and generosity', we are not so cruel and revengeful. If we are not so famous for fidelity in friendship, and if we are less disinterested and warm', our resentments are also less inexorable.

Note. When the emphatical word in the conditional part of the sentence is in direct opposition to another word in the conclusion, and a concession is implied in the former, in order to strengthen the argument in the latter, the first member has the falling, and the last the rising inflection.

EXAMPLES.

1. If we have no regard for religion in youth', we ought to have some regard for it in age'.

2. If we have no regard for our own' character, we ought to have some regard for the character of others'.

If these sentences had been formed so as to make the latter member a mere inference from, or consequence of, the former, the general rule would have taken place: thus—

1. If we have no regard for religion in youth', we have seldom ary regard for it in age'.

2. If we have no regard for our own' character, it can scarcely be expected that we could have any regard for the character of others.

RULE V.-Direct periods, commencing with participles of the present and past tense, consist of two parts; between which must be inserted the long pause and rising inflection.

EXAMPLES.

1. Having existed from all eternity', God, through all eternity, must continue to exist.

* The rule is the same when the first part only commences with an adverb or a conjunction.

2. Placed by Providence on the palæstra of life, every human being is a wrestler, and happiness is that prize for which he is bound to contend.

Note. When the last word of the first part of these sentences requires the strong emphasis, the falling inflection must be used instead of the rising.

EXAMPLE.

Hannibal being frequently destitute of money and provisions, with no recruits of strength in case of ill fortune, and no encouragement, even when successful'; it is not to be wondered at that his affairs began at length to decline.

RULE VI.-Those parts of a sentence which depend on adjectives require the rising inflection.

EXAMPLES.

1. Destitute of the favour of God', you are in no better situation, with all your supposed abilities, than orphans left to wander in a trackless desert.

2. Full of spirit, and high in hope', we set out on the journey of life.

INVERTED PERIOD.*

RULE VII.-Every inverted period requires the rising inflection and long pause between its two principal constructive parts.

EXAMPLES.

1. Persons of good taste expect to be pleased', at the same time they are informed.

3. I can desire to perceive those things that God has prepared for those that love' him, though they be such as eye hath not seen, ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive.

Sentences constructed like the following also fall under this rule.

3. Poor were the expectations of the studious, the modest, and the good', if the reward of their labours were only to be expected from man.

* A period is said to be inverted, when the first part forms perfect sense by itself, but is modified or determined in its signification by the latter.

4. Virtue were a kind of misery', if fame only were all the garland that crowned her.

LOOSE SENTENCE.*

RULE VIII.-The member that forms perfect sense must be separated from those that follow by a long pause and the falling inflection.

EXAMPLES.

1. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God'; so that things which are seen were not made of things that do appear.

2. By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed'; and he went out, not knowing whither he

went.

Note. When a sentence consists of several loose members which neither modify nor are modified by one another, they may be considered as a compound series, and pronounced accordingly.

ANTITHETIC MEMBER.†

RULE IX.-The first member of an antithesis must end with the long pause of the rising inflection.

EXAMPLES.

1. The most frightful disorders arose from the state of feudal anarchy. Force decided all things. Europe was one great field of battle, where the weak struggled for freedom', and the strong for dominion. The king was without power', and the nobles without principle. They were tyrants at home', and robbers abroad. Nothing remained to be a check upon ferocity and violence.

2. Between fame and true honour a distinction is to be made. The former is a blind and noisy' applause; the latter a more silent and internal homage. Fame floats on the breath of the multitude': honour rests on the judgment of the thinking. Fame may give praise, while it withholds esteem': true honour implies esteem, mingled with respect

* A loose sentence is a member containing perfect sense by itself, followed by some other member or members, which do not restrain or qualify its signification.

† Antithesis opposes words to words, and thoughts to thoughts.

The one regards particular distinguished' talents; the other looks up to the whole character.

3. These two qualities, delicacy and correctness, mutually imply each other. No taste can be exquisitely delicate without being correct; nor can be thoroughly correct without being delicate. But still a predominancy of one or other quality, in the mixture is often visible. The power of delicacy is chiefly seen in discerning the true' merit of a work; the power of correctness, in rejecting false pretensions to merit. Delicacy leans more to feeling'; correctness more to reason and judgment. The former is more the gift of nature; the latter, more the product of culture and art. Among the ancient critics, Longinus possessed most delicacy'; Aristotle most correctness. Among the moderns, Mr. Addison is a high example of delicate' taste; Dean Swift, had he written on the subject of criticism, would perhaps have afforded the example of a correct

one.

CONCESSIVE MEMBER.

RULE X.-At the end of a concession the rising inflection takes place.

EXAMPLES.

1. Reason, eloquence, and every art which ever has been studied among mankind, may be abused, and may prove dangerous in the hands of bad' men; but it were perfectly childish to contend, that, upon this account, they ought to be abolished.

2. One may be a speaker, both of much reputation and much influence, in the calm argumentative' manner. Το attain the pathetic, and the sublime of oratory, requires those strong sensibilities of mind, and that high power of expression, which are given to few.

3. To Bourdaloue, the French critics attribute more solidity and close reasoning; to Massillon, a more pleasing and engaging manner. Bourdaloue is indeed a great reasoner, and inculcates his doctrines with much zeal, piety, and earnestness'; but his style is verbose, he is disagreeably full of quotations from the fathers, and he wants imagination.

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