Serv.-Away'! Get you away! Cor.-Let me but stand; I will not hurt your hearth. Serv.-Where dwellest thou? Cor. Under the canopy. Serv.-Under the can'opy! Where's that? Cor. In the city of kites and crows. [daws too. Serv. In the city of kites and crows'! Then thou dwellest with 2. Gesler.-You look upon your boy, As though instinctively you guessed it. Tell.-Look upon my boy'! What mean you? Look upon my boy, as though I guess'ed it! Guessed the trial you'd have me make'! Guessed it instinct'ively! You do not mean-no-no— 3. Plant of celestial seed, if dropp'd below, Say in what mortal soil thou deign'st to grow. We ought to blame the culture, not the soil. RULE II. Indirect questions, or those which can not be answered by yes or no, usually take the falling inflection, and their answers the same. EXAMPLES. 1. Whose is this im`age and superscip`tion? They say unto him, Ce`sar's. 2. Who would be doomed to gaze upon A sky without a cloud or sun`? 3. Ah! why will kings' forget that they are men, In one soft bond of am`ity and love'? 4. Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth' ? Declare, if thou hast understanding. Who hath laid the meas`ures thereof, if thou know'est ? Or who hath stretched the line' upon it? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fast`ened? Or who laid the corner-stone thereof, NOTE I.-When the indirect question asks a repetition of what at first was not understood, it takes the rising inflection. EXAMPLES. 1. Where have you been? To New York. Where did you say'? To New York. 2. The President of the United States receives a yearly salary of $25,000? How much did you say'? Twenty-five Thousand Dollars. NOTE II.-Answers to questions, whether direct or indirect, when expressed in an indifferent manner, take the rising inflection, or the circumflex. EXAMPLES. 1. Will you accept my proposition? Well, I do not know 2. Where shall he go? Why', it is no matter where". NOTE III. In some instances, direct questions become indirect by a change of the inflection from the rising to the falling. EXAMPLES. 1. Will you surren'der or retreat'? No. Will you surren'der or retreat? 2. Ought we to fear God' er man'? Ought we to fear God' or man'? I will retreat Yes. To fear God. REMARK.—The first question of the first example, asks if the person addressed will do one of two acts, and it can be answered by yes or no; but the repetition of it asks which of the two he will do, and it can not be thus answered. RULE III. Antithetic terms or clauses usually take opposite inflections; generally, the former has the rising, and the latter the falling inflection: EXAMPLES. 1. Sink' or swim`, live' or die`, survive' or per`ish, I give my hand and heart to this vote. 2. There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial; but the glory of the celes'tial is one', and the glory of the terres trial is anoth`er. 3. If you seek to make one rich, study not to increase' his stores', but to diminish his desires'. When do indirect questions take the rising inflection? When do answers to questions take the rising inflection or circumflex? How does a direct question become indirect? What inflection do Antithetic terms take? 4. Negligence is the rust of the soul, that corrodes through all her best resolutions. Dil'igence alone is a good patrimony, but neglect` will waste the fairest fortune. One' preserves' and gath'ers; the oth`er, like death`, is the dissolution of all. 5. Labor not for the meat which per'isheth; but for that meat which endu`reth unto everlasting life. 6. The e'vil that men do, lives' after them, The good' is oft inter`red with their bones. 7. The moral'ity of peaceful ties', is directly opposite to the max'ims of war'. The fundamental rule of the for'mer, is to do good'; of the lat`ter to inflict in `juries. The former commands us to suc'cor the oppress'ed; the latter to overwhelm the defense less. The for'mer teaches men to love' their en'emies; the latter to make themselves terrible even to strangers. NOTE I. This Rule embraces the one commonly given in regard to words or clauses, connected by or; and also that which pertains to a NEGATION, Opposed to an AFFIRMATION. The negation generally requires the rising inflection; and the affirmation, the falling; though the reverse is sometimes true. EXAMPLES. 1. I am come to save life, not to destroy' it. 2. We live in deeds', not years',-in thoughts', not breaths',— In feel'ings, not in fig'ures on a di'al. We should count time by heart-throbs. He most lives, Who thinks most,-feels the noblest,-acts the best. 3. I come to bury' Cesar, not to praise' him. 4. It is not the business of virtue to extir'pate the affections of the mind, but to reg`ulate them. REMARK.-The reason of the rising inflection on the word contrasted in the negative clause, is because the negative particle itself, as NOT in the foregoing examples, has an intense falling inflection. Hence, in order to present to the ear a pleasing variety, the rising inflection is given on the word or clause contrasted with the affirmative. Thus, "Not that I loved Ce'sar less', but that I loved Rome' more'." NOTE II.-Antithetic expressions connected by than, generally observe the same principle as those of negation, opposed What inflection does the negative clause of an antithesis generally require? Why? What is said of antithetic expressions connected by than? to an affirmation; since than may often be changed to not, and the sense remain the same. More honored in the breach', than the observ'ance. 2. Yet, it may be, more lofty courage dwells' In one weak heart' which braves an adverse fate, Than his', whose ardent soul indignant swells, Warmed by the fight, or cheered through high debate. 3. It is better to go to the house of mourn'ing, than to go to the house of feast'ing. 4. It is better to trust' in the Lord', than to put con'fidence in prin'ces. NOTE III.-It often happens that but one term of an antithesis is expressed, and the inflection of the voice, given to it, suggests, to some extent, the nature of the other. EXAMPLES. 1. No sens'ual pleasures can render us hap'py. (Implying that religious pleasures can.) 2. The region beyond the grave is not a sol'itary land'. (Implying that there are our friends.) 3. True politeness is not a mere compli'ance with arbitrary cus'tom. NOTE IV. The converse of the foregoing Rule, is likewise true, that terms or clauses used in APPOSITION with others in sense, require like inflections. EXAMPLES. 1. What is History—the mastery of the past-the spell which calls up buried generations—but the devel'opment of humanity? 2. John Quincy Ad'ams, Ex-Pres'ident of the United States, the states'man and scholar, the philanthropist and pa'triot, died Feb. 23, 1848. 3. Hail, Al'bion, hail, thou land' of freedom's birth! Pride' of the main, and Phoenix of the earth! Thou second Rome', where mercy, justice, dwell, NOTE V. In many instances of antithetic inflections, the CIRCUMFLEX may be used instead of the rising, and they are often used alternately, the one for the other; but in most instances, the rising inflection is to be preferred. What inflection do apposite clauses and terms require? What is sometimes used instead of the rising inflection ? RULE IV. The Pause of Suspension, denoting that the sense is incomplete, usually has the rising inflection. EXAMPLES. 1. Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, Neither shall fruit be in the vines'; I will joy' in the God of my salva`tion. 2. Did sweeter sounds adorn my flowing tongue', Those speeches would send up unheeding pray`er-- A cymbal sound were better than my voice', My faith were form', my eloquence were noise'. 3. When I beheld her* halls and chap'els, filled with the mon'uments, and stat'ues, and pic'tures of the illustrious men who had been educated in her several colleges; when I saw the walls covered with the portraits of those great scholars and eloquent divines', whose doctrines are taught', or whose works are daily consulted by the clergy of all sects throughout our republic, of the states'men, and judg'es, whose opinions and decisions are every day cited as authorities, at our bar and in our legislative bodies',-of the poets and or'ators whose works form the study of our youth', and the amuse'ment of our leisure,-I could not but confess that the young man who lived and studied in such a presence, must be dull and brutal indeed, if he was not sometimes roused into aspira'tions after excellence, if the countenances of the great men who looked down upon him', did not sometimes fill his soul with generous thoughts' and high contem`plations. What is Rule IV. ? * Referring to the University of Oxford. |