Page images
PDF
EPUB

EXAMPLE.

Having already shown how the fancy is affected by the works of nature, and afterwards considered in general both the works of nature and of art how they mutually assist and complete each other, in forming such scenes and prospects as are apt to delight the mind of the beholder; I shall in this paper throw together some reflections on that particular art, which has a more immediate tendency than any other, to produce those primary pleasures of the imagination, which have hitherto been the subject of this discourse. Spect. No 415.

The sense is suspended in this sentence till the word beholder, and here is to be placed the long pause and rising inflexion; in this place also it is evident, the word now might be inserted in perfect conformity to the sense.

Inverted Period.

RULE I. Every period, where the first part forms perfect sense by itself, but is modified or determined in its signification by the latter, has the rising inflexion and long pause between these parts as in the direct period.

EXAMPLES.

Gratian very often recommends the fine taste, as the utmost perfection of an accomplished man.

In this sentence the first member ending at taste forms perfect sense, but is qualified by the last; for Gratian is not said simply to recommend the fine taste, but to recommend it in a certain way; that is, as the utmost perfection of an accomplished man. The same may be observed of the following sentence:

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

Here perfect sense is formed at pleased; but it is not meant that persons of good taste are

pleased in general, but with reference to the time when they are informed; the words taste and pleased, therefore in these sentences, we must pronounce with the rising inflexion, and accompany this inflexion with a pause; for the same reasons, the same pause and inflexion must precede the word though in the following example:

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

LOOSE SENTENCE.

Locke.

A loose sentence has been shown to consist of a period, either direct or inverted, and an additional member which does not modify it; or, in other words, 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. According to this definition, a loose sentence must have that member which forms perfect sense detached from those that follow, by a long pause and the falling inflexion.

As in speaking, the ear seizes every occasion of varying the tone of voice, which the sense will permit; so in reading, we ought as much as possible to imitate the variety of speaking, by taking every opportunity of altering the voice in correspondence with the sense the most general fault of printers*, is to mark those mem

The grand defect of the points is, that only two of them, the comma and period, necessarily mark a continuation and completion of sense: the semicolon and colon, by being sometimes placed after complete sense, and sometimes where the sense continues, are very fallacious guides, and often lead the reader to an improper turn of voice. If to the colon and semicolon were annexed a mark to determine whether the sense

bers of loose sentences, which form perfect sense, with a comma, instead of a semicolon, or colon: and a similar, as well as the most common fault of readers, is to suspend the voice at the end of these members, and so to run the sense of one member into another; by this means, the sense is obscure, and a monotony is produced, instead of that distinctness and variety which arises from pronouncing these members with such an inflexion of voice as marks a certain portion of perfect sense, not immediately connected with what follows; for as a member of this kind does not depend for its sense on the following member, it ought to be pronounced in such a manner, as to show its independence on the succeeding member, and its dependence on the period, as forming but a part of it.

In order to convey precisely the import of these members, it is necessary to pronounce them with the falling inflexion, without suffering the voice to fall gradually as at a period, by which means the pause becomes different from

were complete or not, it must certainly be of the greatest assistance to the reader, as he would naturally accompany it with a turn of voice, which would indicate the completeness or incompleteness of the sense, independent on the time; and such a mark seems one of the great desiderata of punctuation. I know it may be said that the completeness or incompleteness of the sense is of itself a sufficient guide, without any points at all: yes, it may be answered, but without the gift of prophecy we are not always able to determine at sight whether the sense is complete or not; and sometimes even when we have the whole sentence in view, it is the punctuation only that determines whether the member of a sentence belongs to what goes before, or to what follows. The intention of the points is, in the first place, to fix and determine the sense when it might otherwise be doubtful; and, in the next place, to apprise the reader of the sense of part of a sentence before he has seen the whole. A mark, therefore, which accomplishes this purpose, must unquestionably be of the utmost importance to the art of reading.

the mere comma, which suspends the voice, and marks immediate dependence on what follows; and from the period, which marks not only an independence on what follows, but an exclusion of whatever may follow, and therefore drops the voice as at a conclusion. An example will assist us in comprehending this important inflexion in reading:

All superiority and pre-eminence that one man can have over another, may be reduced to the notion of quality, which, considered at large, is either that of fortune, body, or mind. The first is that which consists in birth, title, or rìches and is the most foreign to our natures, and what we can the least call our own, of any of the three kinds of quality. Spect. No 219.

In the first part of this sentence the falling inflexion takes place on the word quality; for this member we find contains perfect sense, and the succeeding members are not necessarily connected with it; the same inflexion takes place in the next member on the word riches; which, with respect to the sense of the member it terminates, and its connexion with the following members is exactly under the same predicament as the former, though the one is marked with a comma, and the other with a semicolon, which is the common punctuation in almost all the editions of the Spectator. A little reflection, however, will show us the necessity of adopting the same pause and inflexion on both the above-mentioned words, as this inflexion not only marks more precisely the completeness of the sense in the members they terminate, but gives a variety to the period, by making the first and the succeeding members end in a different tone of voice. If we were to read all the members, as if marked with commas, that is, as if the sense of the members were absolutely dependent on each other, the necessity of attending to this inflexion

[ocr errors]

of voice in loose sentences would more evidently appear. This division of a sentence is sometimes, and ought almost always to be, marked with a semicolon, as in the following sentence at the word possess.

EXAMPLE.

Foolish men are more apt to consider what they have lost than what they possèss; and to fix their eyes upon those who are richer than themselves, rather than those who are under greater difficulties. Spect. N° 574.

The result of these examples is one almost invariable rule, namely, that however the inflexions may alter upon the pauses in every other part of the sentence, yet in that part of the sentence where the sense begins to form, we must constantly adopt the rising inflexion. This is abundantly exemplified in the sentences already produced, and is indeed one of the most general rules in reading. Those who wish to see a farther application of the inflexions, must consult Elements of Elocution, vol. i. p. 180.

Orthoëpial Figures;

OR,

Figures of Pronunciation.

As we call that a figure of speech which has a peculiarity of meaning, and differs from the most simple and ordinary sense of the words; so I call those figures Orthoëpial, where the peculiarity of the phrase requires a peculiarity of pronunciation. Under these figures of Orthoëpy, I class the Interrogation, the Exclamation, and the Parenthesis; which are generally said, by our grammarians, to require some peculiar modulation of the voice; and to these I shall add other figures, which may be called, The Com

« PreviousContinue »