Your infants in your arms, and there have sat
The live-long day, with patient expectation,
To see great Pompey pass the streets of Rome :
And when you saw his chariot but appear,

Have

you not made a universal shout,

That Tiber trembled underneath her banks
To hear the replication of your sounds,
Made in her concave shores ? 1

And do you now put on your best attíre ?
And do you now cull out a hóliday?
And do you now strew flowers in his way,
That comes in triumph over Pompey's blood?"

This slide, it will be recollected, is used not for purposes of passion or emotion, but for suggestions connected with the understanding and judgment, that which may be termed intellectual, not impassioned, expression.

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The "downward distinctive slide" extends, usually, through the interval of a "third." It is used, first, for mere designation, as in announcing a subject or topic, in didactic style, in introducing a person or an event in narrative, or an object, in descriptive style; as in the following examples: The duties of the citizens of a repùblic formed the subject of the orator's address." 66 Among the eminent men of the period of the American Revolution, Benjamin Franklin held a conspicuous place." "From the date of the American Revolution, commenced a new era in the history of man." "The dazzling summits of the snow-capt mountains in the distance, threw an air of enchantment over the scene."

This slide is used also, for distinction in contrasts, as in the latter of two correspondent or antithetic words or phrases, in which the contrast is exactly balanced; thus, "I would neither be rích nor pòor," or when the antithesis is unequal, and one word or phrase is intentionally made more expressive

1 An interrogation of peculiar emphasis, or of great length, takes the downward slide; as, in such cases, the effect of interrogation is lost in that of

assertion.

than the other, in which case the more emphatic word or phrase takes the downward slide: thus, "I would rather be rìch than poor.”—The "distinctive upward slide" occurs in the word "rich," in the former of these examples; and it may be given also in the word "poor," in the latter, if pronounced with peculiar distinctive force, so as to authorize, in the sound of the word "poor," an upward slide, instead of a cadence, at the close of the sentence,—an effect which often takes place in the unstudied and natural use of the voice, and which corresponds somewhat to the rebound of the ball, when it is thrown against the wall with sufficient force to produce that effect.

"The progress of the Italian òpera, in this country, will form the subject of this essay."

"The downfall of the Roman empire was the next great theme chosen by that eminent historian."

"The origin of the distinctions of rànk in society, forms one of the most interesting topics of historical investigation."

2. Narrative Style.

"The conspiracy of Càtiline, as related by Sallust, was one of the most atrocious designs ever plotted by desperate and heartless villany.”

"From the time when the people enjoyed the right of electing their trìbunes, they fondly deemed their liberty secured against future encroachments."

"The usurpation, as it has been termed, of Oliver Cròmwell, rightly interpreted, is one of the most memorable of lessons to monarchy, ever taught in the great school of history."

3. Descriptive Style.

"A sudden shower puts an end. to the gaiety of the revel

lers, and sends them scampering in all directions for shel

ter."

"The spots on the disc of the sùn, which, in some instances, are larger than a continent or an ocean, with us, are, it is believed, openings in the luminous àtmosphere of that body, exhibiting the dark surface beneath."

"The first primrose of the spring, was peeping through the shrivelled herbage at the roots of the hedge, along the side of the lane."

II. Comparison and Antithesis, or Contrast.

1. Comparison of Single Objects.

"As is the beginning, so is the end."

2. Double Comparison.

"As we cannot discern the moving of the shadow over the 'díal-plate; so we cannot trace the progress of the mínd in knowledge."

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3. Contrast of Single Objects.

I mingled freely with all classes of society, and narrowly observed the life of the péasant, as well as that of the prince."

4. Double Contrast, or Antithesis.

"As it is the part of jùstice never to do víolence, it is that of modesty never to commit offènce."

III. THE "" MECHANICAL SLIDE."

This form of the "slide" was defined as either "upward" or "downward;" the former occurring at the close of the penultimate clause of a sentence, in preparation for its cadence; the latter, when the cadence, from the absence of accent on preceding syllables, descends in the form of a

1 In double contrasts, the full "distinctive slide of the third," falls only on the prominent parts of the contrast, the leading and determining words at the middle and the end of the sentence: the other pair of contrasted words are usually restricted to "falling" and "rising ditone," in their "radical pitch."

"concrete downward slide" on a single sound, which includes, within itself, the whole interval otherwise occupied by a “discrete triad." Another form of the " mechanical slide,” is used to indicate, as mentioned before, complete sense, or the finishing of an independent part of a sentence. Its effect, as a descent of voice, differs to the ear from that of the cadence, in the fact formerly stated, of its commencing and ceasing at a higher point of the scale, and from its not being preceded by the "penultimate slide," nor by a previous descent of voice which prepares the ear for the deliberate and full effect of cadence. It may be termed the "downward slide of complete sense" or "partial" cadence, as contrasted with its opposite, the "upward slide" of the " third," in incomplete sense, assumed, on purpose, in the middle of a sentence, to create expectation of farther expression, for the completion of a thought; or the "upward third" of unimpassioned interrogation, which also implies incomplete or undetermined sense. The “downward slide of complete sense," may be so denominated also, as contrasted with the mere effect of " concrete pitch," when a reader, as was formerly supposed, for the purpose of illustration, is suddenly interrupted in the act of reading, and breaks off at an incomplete phrase.

EXAMPLES.

1.-"Penultimate Slide."

"The signification of our sentiments, made by tones and gestures, has this advantage above that made by words, that it is the language of nature.”

"In epic poetry, the English have only to boast of Spenser and Milton, who neither of them wanted either genius or learning to have been perfect póets; and yet both of them are liable to many censures."

2.-"Partial Cadence," at the close of a clause which forms complete sense.

"Greatness confers no exemption from the cares and sorrows of life its share of them frequently bears a melancholy proportion to its exaltation."

:

"In man, we see a creature whose thoughts are not limited by any narrow bounds either of place or time, who carries his researches into the most distant regions of this globe, and beyond this globe, to the planets and heavenly bodies; looks backward to consider the first origin of the human ràce; casts his eyes forward to see the influence of his actions upon posterity, and the judgments which will be formed of his character a thousand years hènce: a creature who traces causes and effects to great lengths and intricacy; extracts general principles from particular appearances; improves upon his discoveries, corrects his mistákes,' and makes his very errors profitable."

3.-"Upward Slide of incomplete or suspended sense."

"Were men entirely free from více, all would be uniformity, harmony, and order."

"The idea of that Divine Being, whose benevolence and wisdom have, from all eternity, contrived and conducted the immense machine of the universe, so as at all times to produce the greatest possible quantity of 2 happiness, is certainly, of all objects of human contemplation, by far the most sublime."

If a man is deeply impressed with the habitual and thorough conviction, that a benevolent and all-wise Being can admit into the system of His government no partial evil which is not necessary for the universal good, he must consider all the misfortunes which may befall himself, his friends, his society, or his country, as necessary for the prosperity of the universe, and therefore as what he ought, not only to submit to with resignation, but as what he himself, if he had known all the connexions and dependences of things, ought sincerely and devoutly to have wished for."

4.-"Upward Slide" of "unimpassioned interrogation.” "Have you heard the news? Can we place any depén

1 "Penultimate upward slide."

2 A "rising tritone" is sometimes the equivalent of the " upward slide of the third."