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CHRONONHOTONTHOLOGUS.

Thou that thus thinkest to enthral
With thousand throngings round my throne,
Thy thrust to throttle at my throat-
The throbs that threaten, and the thunder-
Thwart but thyself; and thus thy thought,
Thrice venom'd, hath no thorn to kill.

EXERCISE ON THE ASPIRATE H.

At the beginning of words, h is always sounded, except in heir, honest, honor, herb, hospital, hostler, hour, humble, humour, and the words derived from them.

H is always silent after r, as rhetoric, rhapsody, rheum, rheumatism, rhinoceros, rhomb, rhubarb, myrrh, catarrh, and their compounds.

H final, preceded by a vowel, is always silent, as ah, hah, oh, foh, sirrah, hallelujah, messiah.

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The student will pronounce the silents and aspirates as the

following.

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With many a weary step, and many a groan,
Up a high hill he heaved a huge round stone.

Be honest, humble, and humane; - hate not even your enemies.

SECTION III.

INFLECTION.

AFTER distinct articulation has been thus acquired, and the sounds of the vowels and consonants thoroughly known, what is called the

inflection of the voice comes next under the student's notice. In common conversation, we may easily notice, that sometimes the voice rises and sometimes falls, according to the passions of the mind under excitement. These inflections, therefore, are the axis on which the variety of speaking turns, and may be termed the outlines of pronunciation; they have a most intimate connection with sense, and the author's meaning may be absolutely perverted by the application of a wrong inflection.

The inflections are rising marked thus, suspension of the voice, or incompletion; the slide falling,, completion; while the monotone (absence of inflection altogether.

which signifies

downwards, or -) denotes the

TABLE OF THE INFLECTIONS OF THE VOICE.

(The rising followed by the falling.)

1. You must not say elocutión, but elocution.

2. You must not say incomprehensiblé, but incomprehensiblè. 3. You must not say dictatoriál, but dictatorial.

4. Did he say hallelujah, or hallelujàh?

5. Was he rationál, or irrational ?

6. Was he pertinént, or impertinent?

(The falling followed by the rising.)

You must say elocutiòn, not elocutión.

You must say incomprehensiblè, not incomprehensiblé.
You must say dictatorial, not dictatoriál.

Did he say hallelujah, or hallelujah ?

Was he rational, or irrationál?

Was he impertinènt, or impertinént?

EXERCISES TO BE READ ALOUD.

Religion raises men above themselves; irreligiòn sinks them into brùtes.

This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

He that compares what he has done with what he has left úndone, will feel the effect which must always follow the comparison of imagination with reality.

Grief is the counter passion of joy ;-the dne arises from agreéable, the other from disagreeable events; the òne from pléasure, the other from pain; the dne from good, the other from évil.

RULES FOR THE INFLECTING OF SENTENCES.

RULE I.

Questions commencing with VERBS adopt the RISING inflection.

EXERCISE AND LESSON.

HATH not a Jew eyes? hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, powers?-fed with the same food, hurt with the same means, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?

What was the part of a faithful citizen; of a prudent, an active, and honest minister? Was he not to secure Euboea as our defence against all attacks by sea? Was he not to make Boeotia our barrier on the midland side? the cities bordering upon the Peloponnesus our bulwark on thát quarter? Was he not to attend, with due precaution, to the importation of corn,-that this trade might be protected, throughout all its progress, up to our own hárbours? Was he not to cover those districts which we commanded, by seasonable detachments, as the Preconesus, the Chersonesus, and Ténedos;-to exert himself in the assembly for this purpose?— While, with equal zeal, he laboured to gain others to our interest and alliance, as Byzantium, Abydos, and Euboea, was he not to cut off the best and most important resources of our enemies, and supply those in which our country was defective? And all this you gained by my counsel and my administration.

RULE II.

Questions commencing with PRONOUNS and ADVERBS adopt the FALLING inflection.

EXERCISE AND LESSON.

Why is it possible to be surrounded with the intelligent reality which exists wherever we aré, with attributes that are infinite, and not feel respecting all other things which may be attempting to press on our minds and affect their character, as if they retained with difficulty their shadows of existence, and were continually on the point of vanishing into nòthing?

Why is this stupendous intelligence so retired and silent, while

present over all the scenes of the earth, and all the paths and abodes of mèn?

Why does not this latent glory sometimes beam forth with such a manifestation as could never be forgotten, nor ever be remembered without an emotion of religious fear?

Why is it possible for feeble creatures to maintain their little dependent beings, fortified and invincible in sin, amidst the presence of Divine Purity?

RULE III.

When QUESTIONS are followed by ANSWERS, the question should be pronounced in a high tone of voice; and, after a suitable pause, the answer returned in a LOW AND FIRM TONE.

Art thou wíse? let wisdom bring forth virtue. Art thou happy? let thy joy diffuse itself to others. Art thou rich? be willing and glad to distribute. Art thou a servant of Christ? dò thy Lord's bidding. Art thou a child of gráce? be gracious and kindly compassionate to thy fellows.

Shall not our minds be given to Gód? yes! because he is our Creator. Shall not our affections be fixed upon him, yes, because he is the fountain of Love. Shall not our désires spring towards him? yes! because he is the Source of all desire. Shall not our bodies be given to his sérvice? even so, for they are the temples of the Holy Ghost.

RULE IV.

The opposition of words or sentences requires opposite inflections. Shall we, in your person, crówn the author of the public calamities; or shall we dèstroy him?

Had you rather that Cæsar were living, and die all slaves? or that Cæsar were dead, and live all freemen?

The style of Dryden is capricious and varied; that of Pope is cautious and unifórm. Dryden obeys the motions of his own mind; Pope constrains his mind to the rules of compositiòn. Dryden is sometimes vehement and rapíd; Pope is always smooth, uniform, and gentle. Dryden's page is a natural field, rising into inequalities, and diversified by the varied exuberance of abundant vegetatión; Pope's is a velvet lawn, shorn by the scythe, and levelled by the rollèr.

RULE V.

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

All is magnificent in the objects of religion. All her views comport with the highest faculties of our natúre; her features awaken our

most lively sensibility. Delicious sentiments mingle themselves with the grand thoughts she inspires. She displays her celestial origin, her celestial destinátion. It is not to small portions of time -a few years, a few generations, a few ages, that our speculations are hére limited: they embrace etérnity. They are not finite beings, like ourselves, with whom we hold intercourse: it is with a being who has for attributes, absolute perfèction; for limits, immensity itself. It is no longer the assemblage of a few objects, frivolous, uncertain, and of dubious quality, that we seék. It is happiness, compléte, sòlid, pèrfect in its nature, and infinite in its duration; like God himself.

RULE VI.

The first principal division of a direct period, or compact sentence, should end with the rising inflection, and a smart percussion of the voice.

As in speaking we generally use that tone of voice which is most expressive of our passion and emotion, so, in reading, we ought as much as possible to imitate the voice of speaking, by taking every opportunity of altering the voice according to the sense.

When the mountains shall be dissolved, when the foundation of the earth 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.

RULE VII.

A concession should end with the rising inflection.

Were there no bad men in the world to vex and distress the good, the good might appear in the light of harmless innocence; but they could have no opportunity of displaying fidelity, management, patience, and fortitude.

One may be a speaker, both of much reputation and much influence, in the calm and argumentative manner: to 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.

RULE IX.

Members forming one perfect sense within themselves, generally adopt the falling inflection.

The scenes which present themselves at our entering upon the world, are commonly flattering. Whatever they be in themselves,

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