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Sinks on the frozen ground, weighed down with sleep, From which the hapless wretch shall never wake.”

4. "There was neither tree, nor shrub, nor field, nor house, nor living créatures, nor visible remnant of what human hands had reared.".

5. "And I, creature of clay, like those here cast around, I travel through life, as I do on this road, with the remains of past generations strewed along my trembling påth; and, whether my journey last a few hours more or less, must still, like those here deposited, shortly rejoin the silent tenants of some cluster of tómbs, and be stretched out by the side of some already sleeping corpse."

RULE V.-[No separate exercises on this rule are deemed necessary; as it is so fully illustrated in the examples to the rule.]

Both Inflections, in connexion.

RULE I.-Exercise 1. "It is not a parchment pédigree,-it is not a name derived from the ashes of dead men, that make the only charter of a kíng. Englishmen were but slàves, if, in giving crown and sceptre to a mortal like ourselves, we ask not, in return, the kingly vìrtues.”

2. "The true enjoyments of a reasonable being do not consist in unbounded indulgence, or luxurious éase, in the tumult of pássions, the languor of indolence, or the flutter of light amusements. Yielding to immóral pleasures corrupts the mind; living to animal and trifling ones, debàses it: both, in their degree, disqualify it for genuine good, and consign it over to wretchedness."

3.

"What constitutes a state?———

Not high raised båttlements, or labored mound,
Thick wall, or moated gáte;

Not cities proud, with spires and turrets crowned,
Not bays and broad-armed ports,

Where, laughing at the storm, proud návies ride;
Not starred and spangled cóurts,—

Where low-browed baseness wafts perfume to príde !
No!-mèn,-high-minded MÈN,-

Men who their dúties know,

But know their rights, and, knowing, dare maintain." Note. Concession and Unequal Antithesis.'

Ex. "The clouds of adversity may darken over the Christian's

The penultimate inflection falls, when a sentence ends with the rising slide

páth. But he can look up with filial trust to the guardian care of a beneficent Fàther."

2. "I admit that the Greeks excelled in acuteness and versatility of mind. But, in the firm and manly traits of the Roman character, I see something more nòble,-more worthy of admiration."

3. "We war against the leaders of evil,-not against the helpless tools: we war against our opprèssors,-not against our misguided brethren."

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Better, though each man's life blood were a river,
That it should flow, and overflow, than creep
Through thousand lazy channels in our véins,
Dammed, like the dull canal, with locks and chains,
And moving, as a sick man in his sleep,
Three paces, and then faltering: better be
Where the extinguished Spartans still are free,
In their proud charnel of Thermopylæ,
Than stagnate in our marsh."

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He shall not have a Scòt of them;

No, if a Scot would save his sòul, he shall not."

2. "Do not descend to your graves with the disgraceful censure, that you suffered the liberties of your country to be taken away, and that you were mùtes as well as cowards. Come forward, like mèn: protèst against this atrocious attèmpt."

3. "I am not sounding the trumpet of war. There is no man who more sincerely deprecates its calamities, than I do."

4. "Rest assured that, in any case, we shall not be willing to rank last in this generous contest. You may depend on us for whatever heart or hand can dò, in so noble a cause." I will cheerfully concede every reasonable demand, for the sake of peace. But I will not submit to dietation."

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RULE II. Question and Answer'.-Exercise 1. "Do you think these yells of hostility will be forgotten?-Do you suppose their echo will not reach the plains of my injured and insulted country, that they will not be whispered in her green valleys, and heard from her lofty hills?-Oh! they will be heard there:-yès, and they will not be forgotten."

2. "I will say, what have any classes of you, in Ireland, to hope from the French? Is it your property you wish to pre

serve?-Look to the example of Holland; and see how that nation has preserved its property by an alliance with the French! Is it independence you court?-Look to the example of unhappy Switzerland: see to what a state of servile abasement that once manly territory has fallen, under France! Is it to the establishment of Catholicity that your hopes are directed? The conduct of the First Consul, in subverting the power and authority of the Pòpe, and cultivating the friendship of the Mussulman in Egypt, under a bòast of that subversion, proves the fallacy of such a reliance.-Is it civil líberty* you require ?-Look to France itself, crouching under despotism, and groaning beneath a system of slavery, unparalleled by whatever has disgraced or insulted any nation." 3. "Shall I be left forgotten, in the dust,

When Fate, relenting, lets the flower revive?.
Shall Nature's voice,-to man alone unjust,-
Bid him, though doomed to perish, hope to live?
Is it for this fair Virtue oft must strive
With disappointment, pénury, and páin?

No Heaven's immortal spring shall yet arrive,
And man's majestic beauty bloom again,

Bright through the eternal year of Love's triumphant rèign." RULE III. 'Disjunctive "Or".-Exercise 1. "Will you rise like men, and firmly assert your rights, or will you tamely submit to be trampled on?"

2. "Did the Romans, in their boasted introduction of civilization, act from a principle of humane interest in the welfare of the world? Or did they not rather proceed on the greedy and selfish policy of aggrandizing their own nation, and extending its dominion?"

3. "Do virtuous hábits, a high standard of morálity, proficiency in the arts and embellishments of life, depend upon physical formátion, or the látitude in which we are pláced? -Do they not depend upon the civil and religious institùtions which distinguish the country?"

[The remaining rules on inflection,' as they are of less frequent application, are thought to be sufficiently illustrated by the examples appended to each rule. A repetition of these, however, may be useful, as an exercise in review.]

* In paragraphs constructed like the above, the successive questions rise one above another, in inflection, so as at last to reach a very high

note.

†The above rule applies to cases in which the conjunction Or is, or may be, understood.

IX.-JUST STRESS.

A

The next characteristic of good reading and speaking, is just 'stress'. This word,-as used by Dr. Rush, in his Philosophy of the voice,is meant to designate a peculiar modification of force, which distinguishes speech from music. long drawn musical sound has its most forcible part,-in consequence of 'swell' and 'diminish',-at the middle portion of the note. The tones of speech on the contrary, although, in a few cases, they approach to this mode of voice,-usually have the chief force of each sound at the opening or the closing part. In music, the increase of force is, comparatively, gradual; in speech and reading, it is frequently abrupt. To these distinctive modes of voice the term 'stress' is applied.

To understand the application of this term, in detail, it becomes necessary to advert to the mode of creating vocal sounds. In vocal music, the result is obtained by full 'inspiration', (inhaling or drawing in the breath,) and, comparatively slight expiration', (giving forth the breath.) In this mode, much breath is drawn in, much retained, or withheld, and little given out at a time; and thus are produced those smooth, pure, and gradually increasing tones, which are appropriate to music,-all the breath that is given forth, being converted into sound, and none escaping, that is not vocalized. In notes of very short duration, singing and speech are, it is true, brought nearer to a resemblance. But this resemblance is more apparent than real; as may be observed in the execution of every good singer, which, in the most rapid passages, still produces the genuine effect of song, as differing from speech. The resemblance is owing solely to the brevity of sound, in such cases, which does not afford time for broad and marked distinctions to be drawn by the ear.

The modes of voice which constitute speech, or are exem plified in reading, are the following:

I. RADICAL STRESS. This form of force includes two modes, -'explosion' and 'expulsion'.

1. Explosion' is an abrupt and instantaneous burst of voice, as, for example, in violent anger.

This, being an instinctive, unconscious, involuntary, impulsive emotion, does not allow time or disposition for any intentional or deliberate effect, but makes the creation of vocal sound seem an irrepressible, spontaneous, electric production of nature, lying equally out of the reach of the understanding and the will. This tone has its contrast in the deep, calm, and regular swell of the tone of reverence, or the ample volume, and deliberate force, of conscious authority and command, in which the speaker is self-possessed and self-directed, and controls his vocal effects for purposes understood or felt.

Contrast, for instance, the following angry shout of Douglas, when enraged by the defiance of Marmion, with the examples of reverential invocation and authoritative command, which occur in subsequent paragraphs.

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Example of 'Explosion'.

'UP DRAWBRIDGE! GROOM! What, WArder,

Let the PORTCULLIS FALL!"

HÒ!

The sounds of all the accented vowels, in this style, fall upon the ear with an instantaneous, clear, sharp, abrupt, and cutting force, at the initial or 'radical' part of each.

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2. Expulsion',-a conscious, intentional, and deliberate force, coming upon the ear with great power; as, for example, in the language of authoritative command.

Example of 'Expulsion'.

"Vanguard to right and left the front unfold!"

In this style, bold and forcible as it is, and even sudden as is its commencement, the accented vowels do not startle the ear with the abrupt shock of the tone of anger, exemplified above. There is a partial, though very brief, swell, perceptible, in the 'radical', or initial part, of each sound.-Both of the preceding examples are classed under the head of 'radical' stress; as their chief force lies in the 'radical', or first part of each sound.

II. MEDIAN STRESS. This mode of force is exhibited in, 1. 'Effusion',—a moderate, gentle, and gradual swelling of tone, as, for example, in the calm and tranquil utterance of reverential feeling, in which no disturbing impulse agitates or forces out the breath, but the voice, somewhat as in music, glides out, with a smooth effusive stream of sound, enlarging as it flows, but never bursting out into irregular violence.

Example of Effusion'.

"But chiefly Thou, O Spirit! that dost prefer,
Before all temples, the upright heart and pure,
Instruct me, for Thou know'st."

The 'effusive' style avoids every thing abrupt or sudden in the formation of sound, and swells gradually to its 'acmé', (chief point,) at the middle of each sound,-in the manner of music; and from this point diminishes', or decreases, to the close. This species of 'stress' is accordingly denominated ‘median',—from the word medium, or middle.

2. Suppression',-a powerful force of 'explosion' or ‘expulsion', kept down, in the very act of giving forth the voice, and converted into the median' form, as in the case of a person communicating, in great earnestness of feeling, with an

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