Distinguishable in member, joint, or limb;

Or substance might be called that shadow seem'd, For each seem'd either), black it stood as Night, Fierce as ten furies, terrible as hell,

MILTON.

Wordsworth sometimes talks like a man inspired on subjects of poetry] (his own out of the question), Coleridge well on every subject, and Godwin

on none.

X. Generally before prepositions and conjunctions, There is an inseparable connexion between piety and virtue.

Honour and shame from no condition rise. We applaud virtue] even in enemies.

Observation. There should always be a pause near the close of a sentence; and the pauses in the conclusion of a discourse or impressive paragraph should be more numerous and longer than they would be if occurring elsewhere. If we would read and speak well, we must pause, on an average, at every fifth or sixth word, perhaps oftener; indeed, it is much easier to say where a pause can not intervene, than where it can.

A pause cannot occur between

1st. The adjective and its substantive, in natural order.

2nd. The adjective and its adverb, in natural order.

3rd. The adverb and the verb.

4th. The preposition and its object.'

5th. The verb and its object, if single, immediately following it.

INFLECTION.

In order to understand clearly what is meant by Inflection, it is necessary to attend to the distinction between musical and speaking sounds. Musical sounds continue for a given time on one precise point of the musical scale, and leap, as it were, from one note to another; while speaking sounds, instead of dwelling on the note they begin with, slide either upwards or downwards without resting on any. Inflection is independent of the pitch of the voice in which the word is pronounced, and of the loudness or softness which may accompany that pitch.

Inflection, then, denotes the turn or slide of the voice either upwards or downwards.

These slides are two in number, and are marked -thus:

The pronunciation of the following easy sentences, put in the form of question and answer, points out these two inflections.

Does Cæsar deserve fame, or blame?

He deserves blame, not fame.

Did he say

flute, or flute?

He said flute, not flute.

Am I to say drawl, or drawl?

You are to say drawl, not drawl.

A contented mind, and a good conscience, will make a man happy in all conditions.

In this sentence, if I would know the falling inflection which I am to lay on mind, I must form the word into a question, thus,

Is it mind, or mind?

and the pronunciation of the latter is the one I must adopt. Again, I may form the word into a sentence, consisting of an affirmation and negation. opposed to each other, as,

or

It is not mind, but mind.

It is mind, not mind.

The inflection on mind in the affirmative member of each, is the one I must adopt. So, also, if I want to know the rising inflection on conscience, I must say,

Is it conscience or conscience?

and the first pronunciation is that which I must adopt; so that the sentence will be read as follows:

A contented mind and a good conscience will make a man happy in all conditions.

N.B.-The falling inflection generally precedes the rising, and the rising the falling.

RULE I.

Every simply declarative sentence requires the falling inflection at the close.

Xenophon conducted the retreat of the ten thousand Greeks.

In countries which are situated beneath the line, the vernal nights are transcendantly beautiful.

Milton's description of Satan attests in various ways the power of his genius.

She is far from the land where her young hero sleeps.

RULE II.

In negative sentences, the negative particle generally receives the falling inflection, and the thing denied, the rising.

The quality of mercy is not strained.

It is not with finite beings like ourselves that we hold intercourse.

or

No broken hope is here,

No fortune's troubled wave;

No bitter worldly tear

Bedews the grave.

From the beginning it was not so

It was not so from the beginning.

RULE III.

*

Every direct period requires the rising inflection where the sense begins to form, that is, at the end of the first principal constructive member.

To be ever active in laudable pursuits is the distinguishing characteristic of a man of merit.

As we cannot discern the shadow moving along the dial-plate, so the advances we make in knowledge are only perceived by the distance gone over.

All that makes a figure on the great theatre of the world, the employments of the busy, the enterprises of the ambitious, and the exploits of the warlike; the virtues which form the happiness, and the crimes which occasion the misery, of mankind,

* The direct period or sentence is that, in which the former words or members depend for sense on the latter.