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THE 
 
 ART OF READING: 
 
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 OR RULES FOR THE 
 
 ATTAINMENT OF A JUST AND CORRECT ENUNCIATION 
 
 WRITTEN LANGUAGE. 
 
 MOSTLY SELECTED 
 
 FROM WALKER'S ELEMENTS OF ELOCUTION, 
 
 AND ADAPTED 
 TO THE USE OF SCHOOLS. 
 
 b^ 
 
 
 BOSTON) 
 
 BY CUMMINGS, HILLIARD, AND COMPANY. 
 
 1826. 
 

 
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 Y 
 
 DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS, TO WIT : 
 
 District Clerk's Office. 
 BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the eleventh day of February, \. D 1826, 
 and in the fiftieth year of the Independence of the United States of America, 
 Cummings, Hittiar I a Co. of the s.ml district, have deposited in this office the title 
 of a book, the right whereof they claim as proprietors, in the words following, to 
 wit : 
 
 " The Art of Reading : or Rules fo< the Attainment of a just and corr- ct Enun- 
 ciation of Written Language. Mostly selected from Walker's Elements of Elocution, 
 and adapted to the use of schools." 
 
 In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States, entitled, " Ail 
 act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, 
 and books to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein 
 mentioned ;" and also ai act, entitled, " An act, supplementary to an act, entitled, 
 * An act for ihe encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, 
 and !>ooks to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein 
 mentioned,' and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, 
 and etching, historical and other prints." 
 
 JOHN W. DAVIS, 
 Clerk of the District of Massachusetts; 
 
 <** 
 
 'fir 
 
 CAMBRIDGE t 
 From the University Press— By HUliard & Metcalf. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The Elements of Elocution is a work, which has enjoy- 
 ed great reputation both in England and in this country. 
 The correctness of its principles is generally admitted, 
 and the rules it contains are allowed to be the most accu- 
 rate guide we possess on the subject of Reading. It is 
 not however, in its present form, well suited to the pur- 
 poses of a school book. The volume is rather too expen- 
 sive for general use, and contains much which can neither 
 be applied nor understood by the majority of pupils. It 
 occurred to the compiler, that an abridgment of this trea- 
 tise, divested of all minute disquisition, and rendered 
 strictly practical in its character, might be a useful manu- 
 al for schools. This idea has been confirmed by some 
 intelligent friends whom he has consulted, and hence this 
 little volume is now offered to the pubfic. 
 
 The alterations which have been attempted in the pre- 
 sent compendium, as will be noticed on comparing it with 
 the original work, are not numerous. They consist in 
 occasionally varying the order of the Rules, in simplifying 
 their "language, and in supplying a few additional exam- 
 ples for practice. Where these changes occur, it is hoped 
 their utility will appear sufficient to justify their intro- 
 duction. 
 
THE 
 
 ART OF READING, 
 
 The Art of Reading is that system of rules, which 
 teaches to pronounce written composition with justness, 
 energy, variety, and force. 
 
 The first object of every one who reads to others, 
 is to be perfectly heard by those whom he addresses. 
 For this purpose, three things are especially necessary. 
 First, a proper loudness of the voice. This must be 
 proportioned to the space which is to be filled, and the 
 number of persons present. Second, a due degree of 
 slowness. Third, perfect distinctness of articulation. 
 An attention to these three circumstances is the foun- 
 dation of all good reading. 
 
 PAUSES. 
 
 The next important object of attention in reading, is 
 the due arrangement of pauses. This will be the sub- 
 ject of the following rules. 
 
 Rule I. The principal pause in every sentence oc- 
 curs at the end, where it is always necessary to suspend 
 the voice, before beginning a new sentence. 
 
 This is the first and most obvious Rule for pausing. 
 As each sentence may be considered a complete pro- 
 position by itself, it is plain, that in order to distinguish 
 it perfectly from that which follows, a certain interval 
 must separate them. The place where this should 
 occur is, of course, denoted by the period. Its dura- 
 tion is varied in some measure by the length of the 
 1* 
 
ART OF READING. 
 
 sentence, and the number of inferior pauses it contains. 
 The lime of the final pause therefore does not admit of 
 any definite rule; but should always be such as to afford 
 relief to the voice, and enable the reader to commence 
 the ensuing sentence without undue or painful effort. 
 
 The principal pause being thus attended to, we come 
 next to consider the various subordinate pauses. 
 
 Rule II. When the subject in a sentence consists of 
 more than one word, it is necessary to pause after it. 
 
 When a nominative and a verb come in a sentence 
 unattended by adjuncts, no pause is necessary, either 
 for the ear or understanding ; thus in the following sen- 
 tence — Alexander wept : No pause intervenes between 
 these words, because they convey only two ideas, which 
 are apprehended the moment they are pronounced ; but 
 if these words are amplified by dependent words, as in 
 the following sentence — The great and invincible Alex- 
 ander, wept for the fate of Darius : Here a pause is 
 necessary between these words, not only that the organs 
 may pronounce the whole with more ease, but that the 
 complex nominative and verb may, by being separately 
 and distinctly exhibited, be more readily and distinctly 
 conceived. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 Sincerity and truth form the basis of every virtue. 
 The appearances of security are frequently deceitful. 
 
 This rule is so far from being unnecessary when we 
 are obliged to pause after the verb, that it then becomes 
 *nore essential. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 This account of party patches will, I am afraid, appear improbable 
 Ho those who live at a distance from the fashionable world. 
 
 ■Addison's Sped. No. 81. 
 
 If in this sentence we only pause at will, as marked 
 by the printer, we shall find the verb swallowed up, as 
 it were, by the nominative case, and confounded with 
 it ; but if we make a short pause both before and after 
 it, we shall find every .part of the sentence obvious an4 
 'Ijstmct. 
 
PAUSES. 7 
 
 That the nominative is more separable from the verb 
 than the verb from the objective case, is plain from the 
 propriety of pausing at self-love, and not at forsook, in 
 the following example : 
 
 Self-love forsook the path it first pursued, 
 And fouad the private in the public good. 
 
 Pope's Essay on Man. 
 
 The same may be observed of the last line of the fol- 
 lowing couplet: 
 
 Earth smiles around with boundless bounty blest, 
 And heaven beholds its image in his breast. Ibid. 
 
 Here though the melody invites to a pause at beholds, 
 propriety requires it at heaven. 
 
 Rule 111. Whatever member intervenes between the 
 nominative case and the verb, is of the nature of a paren- 
 thesis, and must be separated from both of them by a 
 short pause. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 When the Romans and the Sabines were at war, and just upon 
 the point of giving battle, the women, who were all ed to both of 
 them, interposed with so many tears and entreaties, that they pre- 
 vented the mutual slaughter which threatened both parties, and 
 united them together in a firm and lasting peace. Addison. 
 
 Here the member intervening between the nomina- 
 tive case women, and the verh interposed, must be sep- 
 arated from both by a short pause. 
 
 Rule IV. Whatever member intervenes between the 
 verb and the objective case, is of the nature of a pa- 
 renthesis, and must be separated from both by a short 
 pause. 
 
 EXAMPLE* 
 
 I knew a person who possessed the faculty of distinguishing flavors 
 in so great a perfection, that, after having tasted ten different kinds 
 ■of tea, he would distinguish, without seeing the colour of it, the par- 
 ticular sort which was offered him. Addison. 
 
 The member intervening between the verb distin- 
 guish and the accusative the particular sort, must be 
 separated from -them by a short pause* 
 
8 ART OF READING. 
 
 Rule V. When two verbs come together, and the 
 latter is in the infinitive mood, if any words come be- 
 tween, they must be separated from the latter verb by a 
 pause. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 No one ought, however low his station maybe, to consider himself 
 indifferent in the sight of his Creator. 
 
 In this example the phrases no one ought and to con- 
 sider himself have the words however low his station 
 may be interposed between them, which must therefore 
 he separated from the latter by a short pause. 
 
 Rule VI. When the substantive verb to be is followed 
 by a verb in the infinitive mood, which may serve as a 
 nominative case to it, and the phrases before and after 
 the verb may be transposed, a pause falls between the 
 verbs. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 The practice among the Turks is, to destroy, or imprison for life, 
 any presumptive heir to the throne. 
 
 Here the pause falls between is and to destroy. 
 
 Their first step was, to possess themselves of Caesar's papers and 
 money, and next to convene the Senate. 
 
 Goldsmith's Roman History. 
 
 Here we must pause between was and to possess. 
 
 Never had this august assembly been convened upon so delicate 
 an occasion, as it was, to determine whether Caesar had been a legal 
 magistrate or a tyrannical usurper. Ibid. 
 
 Here the pause comes between was and to determine. 
 
 Rule VJI. Several subjects belonging to one verb, 
 or several verbs belonging to one subject, should be sepa- 
 rated from one another by a short pause. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 Riches, pleasure, and health, become evils to those who do not 
 know how to use them. 
 
 Here the subjects riches, pleasure, and health, belong 
 each of them to the verb become ; as Riches become an 
 evil, pleasure becomes an evil, and health becomes an 
 
pauses. y 
 
 evil, he. Each of these, therefore, must be separated 
 by a short pause ; and all of them, forming only one 
 compound nominative case, must, according to Rule 11. 
 be separated by a short pause from the verb. A sim- 
 ilar pause occurs in the following sentence between the 
 portions separated by commas. 
 
 He went into the cavern, found the instruments, hewed down the 
 trees, and in one day put the vessels in a condition for sailing. 
 
 Telemachus. 
 
 Rule VIII. Several adjectives belonging to one sub- 
 stantive, must be separated from each other by a pause. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 A polite, active, and supple behaviour, is necessary to succeed in 
 life. 
 
 In case the substantive precede the adjectives, it 
 must be separated from them by another pause. 
 
 A behaviour, polite, active, and supple, is necessary to succeed in 
 life. 
 
 Rule IX. Several adverbs belonging to one verb, 
 or several verbs belonging in the same manner to one ad- 
 verb, are separated by a pause ; and in the first case, if 
 the verb precede the adverbs, another pause must inter- 
 vene between them. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 To love, wisely, rationally, and prudently is, in the opinion of lov- 
 ers, not to love at all. 
 
 To eat, drink, and sleep moderately, is greatly conducive to 
 health. 
 
 Rule X. Whatever words are put absolutely, form- 
 ing what may be called the ablative absolute, must be 
 separated from the rest by a short pause. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 If a man borrow ought of his neighbor, and it be hurt or die, the 
 owner thereof not being with it, he shall surely make it good. 
 
 Old Ttstamtnt. 
 
 Here the owner thereof not being with it, is the phrase 
 called the ablative absolute ; and this, like a parenthe- 
 sis, must be separated from the rest of the sentence by 
 a short pause on each side. 
 
10 ART OF READING. 
 
 God, from the mount of Sinai, whose gray top 
 Shall tremble, he descending, will himself 
 In thunder, ligntning. and loud trumpets' sound 
 Ordain them laws. Milton. 
 
 Here, he descending, neither governs nor is governed by 
 any other part of the sentence, and is said to be in the 
 ablative absolute ; and this independence must be mark- 
 ed by a short pause before and after the clause. 
 
 Rule XI. Tivo nouns in apposition, provided either 
 be accompanied by dependent words, must be separated 
 by a pause. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 When first thy sire, to send on earth 
 
 Virtue, his darling child, designed ; 
 
 To thee h j gave the heavenly birth 
 
 And bade thee form her infant mind. Gray. 
 
 Here the word Virtue, and the following member, 
 may be said to be in apposition, and must be divided 
 by a short pause. 
 
 Hence, where two titles are applied to the same per- 
 son, and the latter consists of several terms, a short 
 pause is necessary between them ; as, Paul, the apostle 
 of the Gentiles ; George, king oj Great Britain, France, 
 and Ireland, 
 
 Rule XII. Who and which, when in the nominative 
 case, and the pronoun that, when used for who or which, 
 require a short pause before them. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 A man can never be obliged to submit to any^ power, unless he Can 
 be satisfied, who is the person, who has a right to exercise it. 
 
 Locke. 
 
 You'll rue the time, 
 
 That clogs me with this answer. Shakspeare. 
 
 Nothing they but dust can show, 
 
 Or bones, that hasten to be so. Cowley. 
 
 Saints, that taught, and led the way to Heaven. Ticket. 
 
 Rule XIII. When that is used as a conjunction, it 
 ought always to be preceded by a short pause. 
 
PAUSES. 11 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 I must therefore desire the reader to remember, that by the plea- 
 sures of the imagination, I mean only such pleasures as arise origin- 
 ally from sight. Spectator. 
 
 Rule XIV. Prepositions and conjunctions are more 
 united with the words they precede than with those they 
 follow ; and consequently, if it be necessary to pause, 
 the preposition and conjunction ought to be classed with 
 the succeeding ivords, and not with the preceding, 
 
 examples. 
 
 I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. 
 
 Here the conjunction except, naturally associates itself 
 with the latter part of the sentence, and requires a short 
 pause before it. 
 
 This let him know, 
 Lest, wilfully transgressing, he pretend 
 Surprisal. Milton. 
 
 In this example, the conjunction lest is very properly 
 separated from the preceding words by a short pause at 
 know, and as the parenthetic words wiljully trangress- 
 ing come between the conjunction, and the pronoun to 
 which it belongs, the conjunction has very properly a 
 pause both before and after it. 
 
 People expect in a small essay, that a point of humour should be 
 worked up, in all its parts, and a subject touched upon, in its most 
 essential articles, without the repetitions, tautologies, and enlarge- 
 ments, that are indulged to longer labours. Sped. No. 124. 
 
 In this sentence the preposition up is separated from 
 in, because it enters into the composition of the verb 
 work, as to work up forms one complex verb ; the same 
 may be observed of the preposition upon, in the next 
 clause of the sentence. An exception to this rule will 
 be found in the following. 
 
 Rule XV. When words are placed either in oppo- 
 sition to, or in opposition with each other, the words so 
 placed require to be distinguished by a pause. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 The pleasures of the imagination, taken in their full extent, are 
 not so gross as tuose of sense, nor so refintd as those ot the under- 
 standing. 
 
12 ART OF READING. 
 
 In this example we shall find all writers and printers 
 agree in placing but one point between the four con- 
 trasted parts, and this point is at sense: here, it must be 
 owned, is the principal pause; but a short pause likewise 
 at gross, and another at refined, convey more forcibly 
 and distinctly every part of the sentence. 
 
 The necessity of distinguishing opposite or contrast- 
 ed parts in a sentence, will sometimes oblige us to sep- 
 aratt words that are the most intimately united. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 To suppose the zodiac and planets to be efficient of, and antece- 
 dent to, hcmselves, would be absurd. Btntley. 
 
 Here the prepositions of and to are in opposition to 
 each other, and both connected intimately with the 
 word themselves ; but this connexion does not preclude 
 the necessity of a pause after each, to show their dis- 
 tinct and specific relation to their governing words, and 
 their equal relation to the word themselves. Indeed, 
 the words of and to, in this sentence, are emphatical, 
 from that exactness and precision, which the argument 
 seems to require. 
 
 It is objected by readers of history, that the battles in those nar- 
 rations are scarce ever to be understood. This misfortune is to be 
 ascribed to the ignorance of historians, in the methods of drawing 
 up, changing the forms of a battalia, and the enemy retreating from, 
 as well as approaching to, the charge. Spectator, No. 428. 
 
 The pretexts were, his having invaded and overcome many states 
 that were in alliance with, and under the protection of Rome. 
 
 Goldsmith's Rom. Hist. 
 
 Though a pause seems admissible both after from and 
 to in this sentence, yet the opposition between these 
 propositions seems as much marked by emphasis as by 
 rest: and in examples of this kind it seems necessary 
 to pause a smaller time after the last preposition than 
 after the first. 
 
 Rule XVI. When a sentence consists of two parts, 
 connected by a conjunction, these parts must be separated 
 by a pause. 
 
INFLECTIONS OF THE TOICE. 13 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 innocence confers tranquillity on the mind, and leaves it open to 
 every pleasing sensation. 
 
 Sometimes the two parts commence with corres- 
 ponding conjunctions, as in the following sentence. 
 
 As we cannot discern the shadow moving along the dial-plate, so 
 the advances we make in knowledge are only perceivable by the 
 distance gone over. 
 
 A sentence of this sort, where the first part depends on 
 the latter for sense, is called a Direct Period. 
 Sometimes the latter conjunction is understood. 
 
 EXAMPLE* 
 
 As in my speculations I have endeavoured to extinguish passion 
 and prejudice, I am still desirous of doing some good in this par- 
 ticular. 
 
 Here the word so, answering to as, is implied by the 
 sensi*, and the pause of course falls at the comma. 
 
 Where the first part forms sense, but is modified by 
 the last, it is called an Inverted Period. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 Many things are believed, though they exceed the capacity of our 
 Wits. 
 
 Where the first part is independent of the second, 
 they constitute a Loose Sentence. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 Persons of good taste expect to be pleased, at the same time they 
 are informed ; and think that the best sense always deserves the best 
 language. 
 
 INFLECTIONS OF THE VOICE. 
 
 Besides the pauses which indicate a greater or less 
 separation of the parts of a sentence and its conclusion, 
 there are certain inflexions of voice accompanying these 
 pauses, which are equally necessary to the sense; these 
 
14 ART OF READING. 
 
 are called the rising and the falling Inflection. They 
 may be illustrated by the following Example. 
 
 Caesar does not deserve fame, but blame. 
 
 Here, in the most natural and obvious mode of reading 
 the sentence, the rising inflection accompanies the pause 
 at fame, and the falling occurs at blame : and we find all 
 sentences constructed in the same manner have, like 
 this, the rising inflection on the negative, and the falling 
 on the affirmative member. 
 
 The distinction of the inflections is still better shewn 
 by placing the same word in opposition to itself. 
 
 Does he say fame, or fame ? 
 He does not say fame, but fame. 
 
 Every reader, in pronouncing the above phrases, will 
 give the first fame the rising, and the last the falling in- 
 flection. 
 
 The rising inflection is marked with the acute ac- 
 cent ('); the falling with the grave accent ( v ). 
 
 FURTHER EXAMPLES. 
 
 Did he do it voluntarily, or involuntarily. 
 He did it voluntarily, not involuntarily. 
 
 Exercise and temperance strengthen the constitution. 
 Exercise and temperance strengthen the constitution, and sweeten 
 the enjoyments of life. 
 
 The variations of tone, which these passages require, 
 are more minutely shewn in the following plate, where 
 the rising and falling inflections are denoted by a cor- 
 responding direction of the words. 
 
 EXPLANATION OF THE PLATE. 
 
 The sentence, No. I. and any other sentence con- 
 structed in exactly the same manner, must necessarily 
 adopt the rising inflection on the first member, and the 
 falling on the last ; that is, the rising inflection on vol- 
 untarily, and the falling on involuntarily ; and ibis pro- 
 nunciation is so appropriated to this species of sentence, 
 that the dullest and most unpractised ear would, with- 
 out the least reflection, adopt it. The same may be 
 
INFLECTIONS OF THE VOICE. 15 
 
 said of the sentence, No. II. which every ear would 
 agree in pronouncing with the same inflections in a 
 contrary order; that is, the falling inflection on volun- 
 tarily, and the rising on involuntarily. 
 
 No. 111. and IV. shew, that the same words take dif- 
 ferent inflections in correspondence with the sense and 
 structure of the sentence ; for as the word constitution, 
 in No. IV". only ends a member of the sentence, and 
 leaves the sense unfinished, it necessarily adopts the 
 suspending or rising inflection ; and harmony requires 
 that the preceding words should be so arranged, as to 
 form the greatest harmony and variety, which is done 
 by giving every one of the words an inflection, different 
 from what it has in No. III. where constitution ends the 
 sentence. 
 
 The inflections being thus explained, we next pro- 
 ceed to the rules for their application. 
 
 COMPACT SENTENCE. 
 
 Rule XVII. Every direct period, so constructed as 
 to have its two principal constructive parts connected by 
 correspondent conjunctions, requires the long pause with 
 the rising inflection at the end of the first principal con- 
 structive member. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 As we cannot discern the shadow moving along the dial-plate, so 
 the advances Ave make in knowledge are only perceivable by the 
 distance gone over. 
 
 As we perceive the shadow to have moved, but did not perceive it 
 m6ving ; so our advances in learning, consisting of insensible steps, 
 are only perceivable by the distance. 
 
 As we perceive the shadow to have moved along the dial, but did 
 not perceive it moving; and it appears the grass has grown, though 
 nobody ever saw it grow : so the advances we make in knowledge, 
 as they consist of such minute steps, are only perceivable by the 
 distance. 
 
 | Each of these three sentences consists of two prin- 
 cipal correspondent parts ; the first commencing with 
 as, and the last with so ; as the first member of the 
 first sentence is simple, it is marked with a comma only 
 
16 ART OF READING. 
 
 at dial-plate; as the second is compounded, it is mark- 
 ed with a semicolon at moving ; and as the last is com- 
 pounded, it is marked with a colon at grow ; for it is 
 certainly proper that the time of the pause should in- 
 crease with the increase and complexity of the mem- 
 bers to which it is annexed, as more time is required 
 to comprehend a large and complicated member than a 
 short and simple one : but whatever may be the time 
 taken up in pausing at the different points, the inflec- 
 tion annexed to them must always be the same ; that 
 is, the comma, semicolon, and colon, must invariably 
 have the rising inflection. 
 
 The same may be observed of the following sen- 
 tences : 
 
 Although I fear it may be a shame to be dismayed at the entrance 
 of my discourse in defence of a most valiant man ; and that it no 
 ways becomes me, while Milo is more concerned for the safety of 
 the state than for himself, not to show the same greatness of mind 
 in behalf of him ; yet this new form of prosecution terrifies my 
 eyes, which, whatever way they turn, want the ancient custom of 
 the forum, and the former manner of trials. 
 
 Cicero's Oralion for Milo. 
 
 Although, son Marcus, as you have now been a hearer of Cratip- 
 pus for a year, and this at Athens, you ought to abound in the pre- 
 cepts and doctrines of philosophy, by reason of the great character 
 both of your instructer and the city, one of which can furnish you 
 with knowledge, and the other with examples; yet, as I alwavs to 
 my advantage joined the Latin tongue with the Greek, and I have 
 done it not only in oratory, but likewise in philosophy, I think you 
 ought to do the same that you may be equally conversant in both 
 languages. Cicero's Offices, book 1. chap. 1. 
 
 These sentences begin with the concessive conjunction 
 although, and have their correspondent conjunction yet ; 
 and these conjunctions form the two principal con- 
 structive members. The words him and examples, 
 therefore, at the end of the first members, must have 
 the rising inflection, and here must be the long pause. 
 
 Rule XVIll. Every direct period, consisting of 
 two principal constructive parts, and having only the 
 first part commence with a conjunction, requires the ris~> 
 ing inflection and long pause at the end of this part. 
 
INFLECTIONS OF THE VOICE. 17 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 As in my speculations I have endeavored to extinguish passion 
 and prejudice, I am still desirous of doing some good in this partic- 
 ular. Spectator. 
 
 Here the sentence divides itself into two correspon- 
 dent parts at prejudice ; and as the word so is under- 
 stood before the words / am, they must be preceded by 
 the long pause and rising inflection. 
 
 If impudence prevailed as much in the forum and courts of jus- 
 tice, as insolence does in the country and places of less res6rt ; Au- 
 lus Caecina would submit as much to the impudence of Sextus 
 iEbutius in this cause, as he did before to his insolence when as- 
 saulted by him. 
 
 If I have any genius, which I am sensible can be but very small ; 
 or any readiness in speaking, in which I do not deny but I have been 
 much conversant ; or any skill in oratory, from an acquaintance 
 with the best arts to which I confess I have been always inclined : 
 no one has a better right to demand of me the fruit of all these 
 things than this Aulus Licinius. Cicero's Oration for Archias. 
 
 If, after surveying the whole earth at once, and the several planets 
 ihat lie within its neighbourhood, we contemplate those wide fields 
 of ether^ that reach in height as far as from Saturn to the fixed stars, 
 and run abroad, almost to an infinitude ; our imagination finds its 
 capacity filled with so immense a prospect, and puts itself upon the 
 stretch to comprehend it. Addison's Spectator, No. 411. 
 
 In the first of these examples, the first part of the 
 sentence ends at resort, and the second begins at Aulus 
 Ccecina : in the second sentence, the fi i st part ends at 
 inclined, and the second begins at no one ; and in the 
 third the first part ends at infinitude, and the second be- 
 gins at our: between these words, therefore, in each 
 sentence, must be inserted the long pause and rising 
 inflection. 
 
 Ail these sentences commence with a conjunction, 
 and may be said to have a correspondent conjunction 
 commencing the second part of the sentence, not ex- 
 pressed, but understood. In the first sentence com- 
 mencing with if, then is understood at the beginning of 
 the second part ; the sense of this conjunctive adverb 
 then may be plainly perceived to exist by inserting it 
 in the sentence, and observing its suitableness when 
 expressed : 
 
 2* 
 
18 ART OF READING. 
 
 If impudence prevailed as much in the forum and courts of 
 j'istice, as insolence does in the country and places of less resort ; 
 then Aulus Caecina would submit as much to the impudence of Sex- 
 tus iFibutius in this cause, as he did before to his insolence when 
 assaulted by him. 
 
 The same insertion of the word then might be made 
 in the two last examples commencing with if, and the 
 same suitableness would appear ; for though correct and 
 animated language tends to suppress as much as possible 
 the words that are so implied in the sense as to make it 
 unnecessary to express them, yet if, when inserted, 
 they are suitable to the sense, it is a proof that the 
 structure of the sentence is perfectly the same, whether 
 these superfluous words are expressed or not. 
 
 Exception. The exception to this rule is, when 
 the emphatical word in the conditional part of the sen- 
 tence is in direct opposition to another word in the con- 
 clusion, and a concession is implied in the former, in 
 order to strengthen the argument in the latter ; for in 
 this case the middle of the sentence has the falling, and 
 the latter member the rising inflection. 
 
 If we have no regard for religion in youth, we ought to have some 
 regard for it in age. 
 
 If we have no regard for our own character, we ought to have 
 some regard for the character of others. 
 
 In these examples, we find the words youth, and own 
 character, have the falling inflection, and both periods 
 end with the rising inflection ; but if these sentences 
 had been formed so as to make the latter member a 
 mere inference from, or consequence of the former, the 
 general rule would have taken place, and the first em- 
 phatic word would have had the rising, and the last the 
 falling inflection. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 If we have no regard for religion in youth, we have seldom any 
 regard for it in age. 
 
 If we have no regard for our own character, it can scarcely be ex- 
 pected that we could have any regard for the characters of others; 
 
INFLECTIONS OF THE VOICE. 19 
 
 Rule XIX. Direct periods which commence with 
 participles of the present and past tense, consist of two 
 parts ; between which must be inserted the long pause and 
 rising inflection. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 Having already shown how the fancy is affected by the works of 
 nature, and afterwards considered in genera! both the works of na- 
 ture and art, how they mutually assist and complete each other, in 
 forming such scenes and prospects as are most apt to delight the 
 mind of the beholder; I shall in this paper throw together some re- 
 flections on that particular art, which has a more immediate tenden- 
 cy than any other, to produce those primary pleasures of the imag- 
 ination, which have hitherto been the subject of this discourse. 
 
 Sped. JYo. 415. 
 
 The sense is suspended in this sentence, till the word 
 beholder, and here is to be placed the Ion./ pause and 
 rising inflection ; in this place also, it is evident, the 
 word now might be inserted in perfect conformity to 
 the sense. 
 
 INVERTED PERIOD. 
 
 Rule XX. 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 inflection 
 
 and long pause between these parts as in the direct period. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 Gratian very often recommends the fine taste, as the utmost per- 
 fection of an accomplished man. 
 
 In this sentence, the first member, ending at taste, 
 forms perfect sense, but is qualified by the last : for 
 Gratiau 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 pleased, 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 gener- 
 al, but with reference to the time they are informed : 
 the words taste and pleased, mere fore, in these sen- 
 
20 ART OP READING. 
 
 tences, we must pronounce with the rising inflection, 
 and accompany this inflection with a pause. For the 
 same reasons, the same pause and inflection must pre- 
 cede the word though in the following example : 
 
 1 can desire to perceive those things that God has prepared for 
 those that 16ve him. though Ihey be such as eye hath not seen, ear 
 heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive. 
 
 Locke. 
 
 ANTITHESIS. 
 Rule XXI. When a sentence has two parts corres- 
 ponding with each other, so as to form an antithesis, the 
 first part must terminate with the rising inflection. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 We are always complaining our days are few, and acting as 
 though there should be no end of them. Spectator, No. 93. 
 
 I imagined that I was admitted into a long spacious gallery, which 
 had one side covered with pieces, of all the famous painters who are 
 now living ; and the other with the greatest masters who are dead. 
 
 Ibid, No. 83. 
 
 The wicked may indeed taste a malignant kind of pleasure, in 
 those actions to which they are accustomed whilst in this life ; but 
 when they are removed from all those objects which are here apt to 
 gratify them, they will naturally become their own tormentors. 
 
 Ibid. No. 447. 
 
 The pleasures of the imagination are not so gross as those of 
 sense, nor so refined as those of the understanding. Ibid. No. 411. 
 
 In all these examples, the relation between the for- 
 mer and latter part is so intimate, that though the first 
 forms perfect sense, it is incomplete without the last ; 
 and therefore the words few in the first example, sense 
 in the second, living in the third, and this life in the 
 fourth, must necessarily adopt the rising inflection. For 
 the same reason, the same inflection must take place 
 on the word succeed in the following example : 
 
 Cicero concludes his celebrated books de Oralore, with some pre- 
 cepts for pronunciation and action ; without which part, he affirms, 
 that the best orator in the wo^ld can never succeed, and an indiffer- 
 ent one, who is master of this, shall gain much greater applause. 
 
 LOOSE SENTENCE. 
 Rule XXII. Every member of a sentence forming 
 consistent sense % and followed by two other members 
 
INFLECTIONS OF THE VOICE. 21 
 
 which do not modify or restrain its signification, admits 
 of the falling inflection. 
 
 examples. 
 
 It is this that recommends variety, where the mind is every instant 
 sailed off to something new, and the attention not suffered to dwell 
 too long on any particular ohject. Spectator. 
 
 For this reason, there is nothing more enlivens a prospect than 
 rivers, jetteaus, and fails of water, where the scene is perpetually 
 shitting, and entertaining the sight every moment with something 
 that is new. Ibid. 
 
 At a little distance from my friend's house, among the ruins of an 
 old abbry, there is a long walk of aged elms ; which are shot up so 
 very high, that when one passes under them, the rooks and crows 
 that rest upon the tops of them seem to be cawing in another region. 
 
 Rule XXIII. The member of a sentence immedi- 
 ately preceding the last, requires the rising inflection, 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 Aristotle tells us, that the world is a copy or transcript of those 
 ideas which are in the mind of the first Being, and that those ideas 
 which are in the mind of man are a transcrip of the world : to this 
 we may add, that words are the transcript of those ideas which are 
 in the mind of man, and that writing or printing are the transcript of 
 words. Sped. No. 166. 
 
 In this example, if there were no connexion between 
 the two last members from the antithesis they contain, 
 the rising inflection would be necessary at the end of 
 the penultimate member, for the sake of sound. 
 
 In short, a modern Pindaric writer, compared with Pindar, is like 
 a sister among the Camisars, compared with Virgil's Sybil ; there is 
 the distortion, grimace, and outward figure, but nothing of that divine 
 impulse which raises the mind above itself, and makes the sounds 
 more than human Sped. No. 160. 
 
 The florist, the planter, the gardener, the husbandman, when they 
 are accomplishments to the man of fortune, are great reliefs to a 
 couutry life, and many ways useful to those who are possessed of 
 them. Jbid. No. 93. 
 
 In the first of these examples the sentence might 
 have finished at itself and in the last at life, for the 
 succeeding members do not modify them; but, as they 
 are penultimate members, they necessarily require the 
 rising inflection, 
 
22 ART OF READING. 
 
 Exception. Emphasis, which controls every other 
 rule in reading, forms an exception to this ; which is, 
 tint where an emphatic word is in the first memher 
 of a sentence, and the last has no emphatical word, this 
 penultimate member then terminates with the falling in- 
 flection. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 I must therefore desire the reader to remember, that by the pleas- 
 ures of the imagination, I mean only such pleasures as arise origin- 
 ally from sight ; and that I divide these pleasures into two kinds. 
 
 Sped. No. 411. 
 
 In this sentence the word sight is emphatical, and 
 therefore, though in the penultimate member, must not 
 have the rising, but the falling inflection, as this is the 
 inflection best suited to the sense of the emphatic 
 phrase. 
 
 FINAL PAUSE. 
 Rule XXIV. The final pause or period in a sen- 
 tence requires the falling inflection, and a descending 
 tone of voice on the concluding words, 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 Exercise and temperance strengthen the constitution. 
 Exercise and temperance strengthen the constitution, and sweeten 
 the enjoyments of life. 
 
 Here the words constitution and life, as they suc- 
 cessively terminate the sentence, naturally assume the 
 falling inflection. 
 
 Exception. An exception to this rule has been al- 
 ready referred to, under the head of Rule XIX. It 
 occurs where the first part of an antithetic sentence re- 
 quires the strong emphasis and falling inflection ; in 
 consequence of which the latter adopts the rising. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 If we have no regard for religion in youth, we ought to have some 
 regard for it in age. 
 
 If content cannot remove the disquietudes of mankind, it will at 
 Jeast alleviate them. 
 
INFLECTIONS OF THE VOICE. 23 
 
 Another exception is, where the last member of a 
 sentence is negative, i i opposition to an affirmative, 
 either expressed or understood. St-e Plate No. II. 
 This wiii be again considered, under the head of Em- 
 phasis. 
 
 SERfES. 
 
 A succession of similar members, succeeding each 
 other in the same sentence, is called a Series. 
 
 If these members consist of single words, they form 
 a Simple Series; if of several, a Compound Series. 
 
 SIMPLE SERIES. 
 Rule XXV. When two members, consisting of sin- 
 gle words, commence a sentence, the first must have the 
 falling and the last the rising inflection. 
 
 E'xercise and temperance strengthen the constitution. 
 
 The difference of tone which distinguishes the com- 
 mencing words of this sentence, will be much more 
 perceptible, by referring to the explanation of the Plate. 
 
 Rule XXVI. When two members, consisting of sin- 
 Je words i conclude a sentence, as the last must natural- 
 y have the falling inflection, the last but one assumes 
 the rising inflection. 
 
 The constitution is strengthened by exercise and temperance. 
 
 This rule is the converse of the former. It must, 
 however, be observed, that sentences of this kind, 
 which can scarcely be called a series of particulars, 
 may, when commencing, assume a different order of 
 inflections on the first w T ords, when the succeeding 
 clause does not conclude the sentence. This may be 
 illustrated by consulting the Plate No. III. and IV.; 
 where we see exercise and temperance, when the next 
 clause concludes the sentence, as in No, III. adopt one 
 order of inflections ; and the same words, when the 
 next clause does not conclude, as in No. IV. adopt a 
 quite opposite order. Not that this order in No. IV. 
 
24 ART OF READING. 
 
 is absolutely necessary, as that in No. III. ; but it may 
 always be adopted when we wish to be more harmoni- 
 ous and emphaticul. 
 
 Rule XXVII. When three members of a sentence) 
 consisting of single words, succeed each other in a com- 
 mencing series, the two last are to be pronounced as in 
 Rule XXV. and the first with the falling inflection, in 
 a somewhat lower tone than the second. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 Manufactures, trade, and agriculture, naturally employ more than 
 nineteen parts of the species in twenty. Sped. No. 115. 
 
 A man that has a taste of miisic, painting, or architecture, is like 
 one that has another sense, when compared with such as have no 
 relish for those arts. Ibid. Wo. 93. 
 
 Rule XXVIII. When three members of a sentence, 
 consisting of single words, succeed each other in a con- 
 cluding series, the two last are to be pronounced as in 
 Rule XXV. and the first with the rising inflection in 
 a little higher tone than the second. 
 
 EXAMPLE.^ 
 
 A modern Pindaric writer compared with Pindar, is like a sister 
 among the Camisars compared with Virgil's Sybil ; the one gives 
 that divine impulse which raises the mind above itself, and makes 
 the sounds more than human, while the other abounds with nothing 
 but distortion, grimace, and outward figure. 
 
 Exception. Sometimes, w T hen the subject demands 
 unusual force or solemnity, the first of three concluding 
 members requires the falling inflection. 
 
 Rule XXIX. When four members of a sentence, 
 consisting of single words, succeed each other in a com- 
 mencing series, they may be divided into two equal por- 
 tions : the first member of the first portion must be pro- 
 nounced with the rising, and the second with the foiling 
 inflection, as in Rule XXVI. ; and the two mem.ers of 
 the last portion exactly the reverse, that is, according to 
 Rule XXV. 
 
INFLECTIONS OF THE VOICE. 25 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 Metals, minerals, plants, and meteors, contain a thousand curious 
 properties which are as engaging to the fancy as to the reason. 
 
 Sped. No. 420. 
 
 Proofs of the immortality of the soul may justly be drawn from 
 the nature of the Suprem a Being, whose just.ce, goodness, wisdom, 
 and veracity, are all concerned in this great point. Sped. No. 111. 
 
 The florist, the planter, the gardener, the husbandman, when they 
 are only accomplishments to the man of fortune, are great reliefs to 
 a country life, and many ways useful to those who are possessed of 
 them. Ibid. No. 93. 
 
 Rule XXX, When four members of a sentence, 
 consisting of single words, succeed each other in a con- 
 cluding series, a pause may, as in the former rule, divide 
 them into two equal portions : but they are to be pro- 
 nounced with exactly contrary inflections ; that is, the 
 two first must be pronounced according to Rule XXV". 
 and the two last according to Rule XXVI. 
 
 example. 
 
 There is something very engaging to the fancy as well as to our 
 reason, in the treatises of metals, minerals, plants, and meteors. 
 
 Sped, No. 420. 
 
 An instance of the variety of inflection with which a 
 series of four particulars is pronounced, and of the di- 
 versity of inflection which the series requires, as it is 
 either commencing or concluding, will be illustrated by 
 the following example .* 
 
 He who resigns the world, has no temptation to envy, hatred, 
 malice, anger, but is in constant possession of a serene mind ; he 
 who follows the pleasures of it, which are in their very nature dis- 
 appointing, is in constant search of care, solicitude remorse, and 
 confusion. Spedator, No. 282. 
 
 The first series in this sentence, being a commenc- 
 ing series, is pronounced as in Rule XX.IX. ; and the 
 last, as a concluding series, according to Rule XXX. 
 
 These rules might be carried to a much greater 
 length; but too nice an atteoti >n to them, in a long se- 
 ries, might not only be very difficult, but give an air of 
 stiffness to the pronunciation, which would not be com- 
 pensated by the propriety* It mjy bv sufficient there- 
 fore, to observe, that in a long enumeration of particu- 
 3 
 
26 ART OF READING. 
 
 lars, it would not be improper to divide them into por- 
 tions of three ; and if we are not reading extempore, 
 as it may be called, this division of a series into portions 
 of three ought to commence from the end of the series; 
 that if it is a commencing, we may pronounce the last 
 portion as in Rule XXV1L ; and if it is a concluding 
 series, we may pronounce the last portion according 10 
 the Exception annexed to Rule XXVHI. 
 
 COMMENCING SERIES. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 Love, joy, peace ; long suffering, gentleness, goodness ; faith, 
 meekness, temperance, are the fruits of the Spirit, and against such 
 there is no law. 
 
 CONCLUDING SERIES. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace ; long suffering, gen- 
 tleness, goodness ; faith, meekness, temperance : — Against such there 
 is no law. Galatiuns, chap. v. 
 
 COMPOUND SERIES. 
 
 When the members of a series consist of several words, 
 or comprehend several distinct members of sentences, 
 they ate under somewhat different laws from those con- 
 sisting of single words. In a single series the ear is 
 chiefly consulted, and the inflections of voice are so 
 arranged as to produce the greatest variety ; but in a 
 compound series the understanding takes the lead : 
 For as a number of similar members of sentences in 
 succession form a sort of climax in the sense, this cli- 
 max can be no way pronounced so forcibly as by 
 adopting the same inflection which is used for the 
 strong emphasis ; for, by this means, the sense is not 
 only placed in a more distinct point of view, but the 
 voice enabled to rise gradually upon every particular, 
 and thus add to force an agreeable variety. 
 
 In pronouncing the compound series, therefore, it 
 must be carefully noted, that the second member ougM 
 to be pronounced a litile higher, and more forcibly than 
 the first, the third than the second, and so ou : and for 
 
INFLECTIONS OF THE VOICE. 27 
 
 this purpose, if the members are numerous, it is evi- 
 dently necessary to pronounce the first member in so 
 low a tone as to admit of rising gradually on the same 
 inflection to the last. 
 
 Rule XXXII. Where a compound series commences 
 a sentence, the falling inflection takes place on every 
 member but the last ; where it concludes a sentence, this 
 inflection is required on every member except the last 
 but one, 
 
 COMMENCING SERIES. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 Moderate exercise and habitual temperance, strengthen the con- 
 stitution. 
 
 In this example, we find the first member, ending at 
 exercise, pronounced with the falling, and the second 
 at temperance, with the rising inflection. 
 
 To advise the ignorant, relieve the needy, comfort the afflic'ted, 
 *re duties that fall in our way, almost every day of our lives. 
 
 Sped. No. 93. 
 
 Labour or exercise ferments the humours, casts them inte their 
 proper channel, throws of redundancies, and helps Nature in those 
 secret distributions, without which the body cannot subsist in its 
 vigour, nor the soul act with cheerfulness. Ibid. No. 113. 
 
 The descriptive part of this allegory is likewise very strong, and 
 full of sublime ideas. The figure of Death, the regal crown upon his 
 head, his menace of Satan, his advancing to the combat, the outcry 
 at his bir'th, are circumstances too noble to be passed over in si- 
 lence, and extremely suitable to this king of terrors. Ibid. No. 310. 
 
 CONCLUDING SERIES. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 Nothing tends more powerfully to strengthen the constitution, 
 than moderate exercise, and habitual temperance. 
 
 In this example the first member, at exercise, is pro- 
 nounced with the rising inflection ; the last at temper- 
 ance with the falling, and, since it concludes the sen- 
 tence, in a lower tone than the preceding words. See 
 Rule XXIV. 
 
 It was necessary for the world, that arts should be invented and 
 improved, books written and transmitted to posteritv, nations con- 
 quered and civilized, Sped. No, 255. 
 
28 
 
 ART OF READING. 
 
 Notwithstanding all the pains which Cicero took in the education 
 of his son, history imforms us that young Marcus proved a mere 
 blockhead ; and that Nature, who it seems was even with the son 
 for her prodigality to the father, rendered him incapable of improv- 
 ing by all the rules of eloquence, the precepts of philosophy, his own 
 endeavors, and the most refined conversation in Athens. 
 
 Ibid No. 307. 
 
 Though we seem grieved at the shortness of life in general, we 
 are wishing every period of it at an end. The minor longs to be at 
 age, then to be a man of business, then to make up an estate, then to 
 arrive at honours, then to retire. Ibid. No. 93. 
 
 EXERCISES ON THE SERIES. 
 
 A temperate spirit, and moderate expectations, are excellent safe- 
 guards of the mind, in this uncertain and changing world. 
 
 To be wise in our own eyes, to be wise in the opinion of the world, 
 and to be wise in the sight of our Creator, are three things so very 
 different, as rarely to coincide. 
 
 All other arts of perpetuating our ideas, except writing and print- 
 ing, continue but a short lime. Statues can last but a few thousands 
 of years, edifices fewer, and colours still fewer than edifices. 
 
 Sped. No. 166. 
 
 The book is well written, and I have perused it with pleasure and 
 profit. It shows, first, that true devotion is rational and well found- 
 ed ; next that it is of the highest importance to every other part o 
 religion and virtue ; and lastly, that it is most conducive to our hap- 
 piness. 
 
 There is no blessing of life comparable to the enjoyment of a dis- 
 creet and virtuous friend. It eases and unloads the mind, clears and 
 improves the understanding, engenders thoughts and knowledge, an- 
 imates virtue and good resolutions, and finds employment for the 
 most vacant hours of life. Spectator, No- 93. 
 
 The devout man does not believe but feels there is a Deity ; he 
 has actual sensations of him ; his experience concurs with his reason ; 
 he sees him more and more in all his intercourses with him, and 
 even in this life almost loses his faith in conviction. Ibid. No. 465. 
 
 Nature has laid out all her art in beautifying the face ; she has 
 touched it with vermilion ; planted in it a double row of ivory ; 
 made it the seat of smiles and blushes ; lighted it up and enlivened 
 it with the brightness of the eyes ; hung it on each side with curious 
 organs of sense ; given it airs and graces that cannot be described ; 
 and surrounded it with such a flowing shade of hair, as sets all its 
 beauties in the most agreeable light. Ibid. No. 98. 
 
 SERIES OF SERIES. 
 When the members of a series, either from their 
 similitude or contrariety to each other, fall into pairs or 
 triplets ; these pairs or triplets, considered as whole 
 
INFLECTIONS OF THE VOICE. 29 
 
 members, are pronounced according to the rules re- 
 specting those members of a series that consist of more 
 than a single word ; but the parts of which these mem- 
 bers are composed, if consisting of single words, are 
 pronounced according to those rules which relate to 
 those members that consist of single words, as far as 
 their subordination to the whole series of members will 
 permit. Hence arises, 
 
 Rule XXXII. When several members of a sentence 
 consisting of distinct portions of words in a series, fol- 
 low in succession, they must be pronounced singly, ac- 
 cording to the number of members in each portion ; and 
 together, according to the number of portions in the 
 tuhole sentence, that the whole may form one related com- 
 pound series, 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 The soul cojnsists of many faculties, as the understanding and the 
 will, with all the senses both inward and outward ; or, to speak more 
 philosophically, the soul can exert herself in many different ways of 
 action: she can understand, will imagine; see and hear; love and 
 discourse ; and apply herself to many other like exercises of differ- 
 ent kinds and natures. Spectator, No. 600. 
 
 The first portion of this series of series, she can un- 
 derstand, will, imagine, as it contains one complete por- 
 tion, may be considered as a concluding series ; and as 
 it forms but one portion of a great series, it may be 
 considered as a commencing one, and must be pro- 
 nounced in subserviency to it ; that is, the first and 
 second word must have the risi.ig, and the last the fall- 
 ing inflection, but without dropping the voice. The 
 next portion must be pronounced in a si uilar manner; 
 that is, the first word with the rising, and the last with 
 the falling inflection, with the voice a little higher and 
 more forcible on the word here than on the word im- 
 agine : the next portion, being the last but one, alters 
 its inflections; the firs' word having the (ailing and the 
 last the rising inflection, agreeably to the rule laid dowa 
 for the Compound Series. 
 3* 
 
30 ART OF READING, 
 
 On the other hand, those evil spirits, who, by long custom, have 
 contracted in the body habits of lust and sensuality ; malice and re- 
 venge ; an aversion to eveiy thing that is good, just, and laudable, 
 are naturally seasoned, and prepared for pain and misery. 
 
 Spectator, No. 447. 
 
 As this is a commencing series of series, the last 
 member of the second series may be pronounced with 
 the falling inflection at revenge : and as the last portion 
 has a series of three single words, they come under the 
 Simple Commencing Series, Rule XXVII. 
 
 The condition, speech, and behaviour of the dying parents ; with 
 the age, innocence, and distress of the children, are set forth in such 
 tender circumstances, that it is impossible for a reader of common 
 humanity not to be affected with them. Spectator, No. 85. 
 
 These two series, containing three members each, 
 and not concluding the sentence, may be considered as 
 a concluding and commencing series of three single 
 members each, and pronounced accordingly. 
 
 His (Satan's) pride, envy, revenge ; obstinacy, despair, and im- 
 penitence, are all of them very artfully interwoven. Spect. No. 303. 
 
 Here are two distinct series of three members, each 
 of which must be pronounced exactly like the last ex- 
 ample, that is, like the concluding and commencing se- 
 ries of three single members. 
 
 The man who lives under an habitual sense of the divine presence, 
 keeps up a perpetual cheerfulness of temper, and enjoys every mo- 
 ment the satisfaction of thinking himself in company with his dearest 
 and best of friends. He no sooner steps out of the world, but his 
 heart burns with devotion, swells with hope, and triumphs jn the 
 consciousness of that presence which every where surrounds him ; 
 or on the contrary pours out its fears, its sorrows, its apprehensions, 
 to the great Supporter of his existence. Spect. No. 93. 
 
 This sentence may be considered as a sentence con- 
 sisting of two commencing series, both of which may 
 be pronounced according to Rule XXXI. 
 
 38. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life ; nor angels, 
 nor principalities, nor powers; northings present, nor things to come ; 
 
 39. Nor height, nor depth ; nor any other creature, shall ie able 
 to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jea 
 Lord. Romans, ch. viii. ver. 38, 39. 
 
 Upon the first view of this passage, we find it natur- 
 ally falls into certain distinct portions. These portions 
 
 acome ; 
 
 Ie able 
 js our 
 S, 39. 
 
\ 
 
 INFLECTIONS OF THE VOICE. 31 
 
 seem to be five in number; the first containing two 
 members, death, life; the second containing three, an- 
 gels, principalities, pavers ; the third two, things pre- 
 sent, things to come ; the fourth two, height, depth ; the 
 fifth one, any other creature: these members, if pro- 
 nounced at random, and without relation to that order 
 in which they are placed by the sacred writer, lose half 
 their beauty and effect ; but if each member is pro- 
 nounced with an inflection of voice that corresponds to 
 its situation in the sentence, the whole series becomes 
 the most striking and beautiful climax imaginable. 
 
 In order, then, to pronounce this passage properly, 
 there ought to be a gradation of force from the first 
 portion to the last ; and that this force may have the 
 greater variety, each portion ought to be accompanied 
 with a gradation of voice from low to high ; that each 
 portion also may continue distinct, every portion but 
 the last should be pronounced as a simple concluding 
 series, with the falling inflection on the last member, 
 Enforcing, and not dropping the voice ; the last mem- 
 ber, according to the general rule, must have the rising 
 inflection ; and in this manner of pronouncing it, the 
 whole sentence has its greatest possible force, beauty, 
 and variety. 
 
 From the examples which have been adduced, we 
 ha«e seen in how many instances the force, variety and 
 harmony of a sentence have been improved by a pro- 
 perluse of the falling inflection. The series in partic- 
 ularlis indebted to this inflection for its greatest force 
 and} beauty. But it is necessary to observe, that this 
 inflection is not equally adapted to the pronunciation of 
 eve» r series : where force, precision, or distinction is 
 necessary, this inflection very happily expresses the 
 senste of the sentence, and forms an agreeable climax 
 of sound to the ear; but where the sense of the sen- 
 tence does not require this force, precision, or distinc- 
 lion^ which is the case where the sentence commences 
 with a conditional or suppositive conjunction, or where 
 the language is plaintive anil poetical, the falling inflec- 
 
32 ART OF READING. 
 
 tion seems less suitable than the rising : this will be 
 better perceived by a few examples. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 Seeing then that the soul has many diffierent faculties, or in other 
 words many different ways of deling ; that it can be intensely pleas- 
 ed or made happy by all these different faculties or ways of acting ; 
 that it may be endowed with several latent faculties, which it is not 
 at present in a condition to exert; that we cannot believe the soul 
 is endowed with any faculty which is of no use to it ; that whenever 
 any one of these facullies is transcendently pleased, the soul is in a 
 state of happiness ; and in the last place, considering lhat the happi- 
 ness of another world, is to be the happiness of the whole man ; who 
 can question but that there is an infinite variety in those pleasures 
 we are speaking of; and that this fullness of joy will be made up of 
 all those pleasures, which the nature of the soul is capable of receiv- 
 ing ? Spectator, No. 600. 
 
 As the fourth member of this sentence, from its very 
 nature, requires the rising inflection, and as the whole 
 series is constructed on the suppositive conjunction 
 seeing ; every particular member of it seems necessa- 
 rily to require the rising inflection : for it may be ob- 
 served as a pretty general rule, that where a condition- 
 al or a suppositive conjunction commences the series, if 
 there is nothing particularly emphatical in it, the rising 
 inflection on each particular of the series is preferable 
 to the falling, especially if the language be plaintive and 
 tender. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 When the gay and smiling aspect of things has begun to leave the 
 passages to a man's heart thus thoughtlessly unguarded; when kind 
 and caressing looks of eveiy object without, that can flatter his 
 senses, has conspired with the enemy within, to betray him and put 
 him off his defence ; when music likewise hath lent her aid, and 
 tried her power upon the passions ; when the voice of singing men, 
 and the voice of singing women, with the sound of the viol and lute, 
 have broke in upon his soul, and in some tender notes have touched 
 the secret springs of rapture, — that moment let us dissect and look 
 into his heart; — see how vain, how weak, how empty a thing it is! 
 Sterne's Sermon on the House of Mourning, fyc. 
 
 In this example, the plaintive tone whhh the whole 
 sentence requires, gives it an air of poetry, and makes 
 the falling inflection too harsh to terminate the several 
 particulars ; for it may be observed in passing, that & 
 
INFLECTIONS OF THE VOICE. 33 
 
 series of particulars are as seldom to be pronounced 
 with the falling inflection in poetry, as they are for the 
 most part to be so pronounced in pruse. The reason 
 of this, perhaps, may be, that, as poetry assumes so 
 often the ornamental and the plaintive, where a distinct 
 and emphatic enumeration is not so much the object as 
 a nohle or a tender one ; that expression which gives 
 the idea of force and familiarity is not so suitable to 
 poetry as to prose : as a confirmation of this we may 
 observe, that when poetry becomes either forceful or 
 familiar, the falling inflection is then properly adopted 
 in the pronunciation of the series. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 Love in these labyrinths his slaves detains, 
 And mighty hearts are held in slender chains. 
 With hairy springes we the birds betray, 
 Slight lines of hair surprise the finny prey ; 
 Fair tresses man's imperial race ensnare, 
 And beauty draws us with a single hair. 
 
 Rape of the Locke, Canto ii. ver. 23. 
 
 Here the emphasis on each particular requires the 
 first and second to be pronounced with the falling 
 inflection, as in the general Rule of the Compound 
 Series. 
 
 But rhyming poetry so seldom admits of this inflec- 
 tion in the series, that the general rule is for a contrary 
 pronunciation. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 So when the faithful pencil has design'd 
 Some bright idea of the master's mind, 
 Where a new world leaps out at his command, 
 And ready nature waits upon his hand; 
 When the ripe colours soften and unite, 
 And sweetly melt into just shade and light ; 
 When mellowing years their full perfection give, 
 And each bold ligure just begins to live ; 
 The treacherous colours the fair art betray, 
 And all the bright creation fades away. 
 
 Pope's Essay on Crit. ver. 404. 
 
 In this example we find every particular, except the 
 last, adopt the rising inflection, as more agreeable to 
 the pathetic tenor of the passage than the falling : and 
 
34 ART OF READTNS. 
 
 it may be observed, that there are few passages of this 
 sort in rhyming poetry, of the. pathetic or ornamental 
 kind, which do not necessarily require the same in- 
 flection. 
 
 INTERROGATION. 
 
 The most obvious distinction between interrogative 
 and other sentences is, that as, in other sentences, the 
 substantive or pronoun precedes the verb it governs, in 
 an interrogative sentence, the verb, either auxiliary or 
 principal, ought always to precede either the substan- 
 tive or pronoun. Thus, when I speak declaratively, I 
 say, / am going to college ; but when I speak interrog- 
 atively, I say, vire you going to college ? where we ob- 
 serve, that in the declarative and interrogative sentences, 
 the pronoun and the verb hold different places. 
 
 This inversion of the common order of the words in 
 composition, is accompanied by a similar inversion of 
 the inflection of voice in pronunciation ; for as the com- 
 mon order of inflections in a declarative sentence, is that 
 of placing the rising inflection towards the middle, and 
 the falling at the end, as in the first example ; the in- 
 terrogation inverts this order, and uses the falling inflec- 
 tion of voice in the midddle of the sentence, and the 
 rising on the last word, as in the last example. This 
 inflection of voice, however, which thus distinguishes 
 the interrogation, seems entirely confined to those 
 questions which are formed without the interrogative 
 pronouns or adverbs. When a question commences 
 with one of these, it has invariably the same inflection 
 as the declarative sentence, unless we have either not 
 heard, or mistaken an answer just given us : for in that 
 case, the emphasis is placed on the interrogative word ; 
 and the voice elevated by the rising inflection on the 
 end of the sentence. Thus, if we say simply, When 
 do you go to college ? the word college has the falling 
 inflection, and the voice is no more elevated than if, 
 being acquainted with the time, we should s >y, Jit that 
 time I find you go to college : but if we have mistaken 
 the answer that has been given us concerning the time. 
 
INFLECTIONS OF THE VOICE. 35 
 
 we say, When do you go to college ? we lay a consider- 
 ble stress upon the word when, and suspend the voice 
 with the rising inflection to tne end of the sentence. 
 
 A^ain ; if sve ask a question without previous con- 
 versation, or reference to any thing that has passed, if 
 we do not use the interrogative words, we infallibly use 
 the rising inflection, and elevate the voice on tiie end of 
 the question ; thus when we meet, and say — Are you go- 
 ing to college? if we have the least eagerness for informa* 
 tion. the voice is elevated and suspended with the rising 
 inflection on the last word : but if the person we speak 
 to, either does not hear, or else mistakes what we say, 
 so as to make it necessary to repeal the question, we 
 then adopt ihe failing inflection on the last word, and, 
 giving it some degree of emphasis, say, Are you going 
 to college ? with the same inflection of voice, and in 
 nearly the same tone, with which we should say simply, 
 You arc now going to college ; precisely reversing that 
 upward turn of voice which distinguishes the first 
 question. 
 
 Thus we find the immediate repetition of the same 
 question requires a different inflection of voice accord- 
 ing to its form. When we ask a question commencing 
 with an interrogative word, as — When do you go to 
 college ? and from a mistake of the answer about the 
 time, repeat this question, we use the rising inflection 
 of voice, and elevate it to the end, as — When do you 
 go to college ? On the contrary, when we first ask a 
 question without the interrogative word, we use the 
 rising inflection, and raise the voice on the last word, 
 as — Are you going to college? and when we repeat the 
 question, we use the falling inflection of voice on the 
 last word; and though we may pronounce the last word 
 louder than the rest, we do not use the rising inflection 
 as in the former case, but the falling, as — / say, are you 
 going to college? 
 
 From these observations it appears, that with respect 
 to pronunciation, all questions may he divided in!'.' two 
 classes ; namely, into such as are (homed by the inter- 
 rogative pronouns or adverbs, and into such as are 
 
36 ART OF READING. 
 
 formed only by an inversion of the common arrange- 
 ment of the words : that the first with respect to in- 
 flection of voice, except in the cises already mention- 
 ed, may be considered as purely declarative, and like 
 declarative sentences require the falling inflection at the 
 end : that the last, with some lew exceptions, require 
 the rising inflection of voice on tiie last word ; and that 
 it is this rising inflection at the end which distinguishes 
 them from almost every other species of sentence. Of 
 both these in their order. 
 
 THE QUESTION WITH THE INTERROGATIVE 
 WORDS. 
 Rule XX Kill. JVken an interrogative sentence com- 
 mences with any of the interrogative pronouns or ad- 
 verbs, with resyert to inflection, elevation, or depression 
 of voice, it is pronounced exactly like a declarative sen- 
 tence. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 How can he exalt his thoughts to any thing great and nohle, who 
 only believes that after a short turn on the stage of this world, he is 
 to sink into oblivion, and to lose his consciousness for ever? 
 
 Sped. No. 210. 
 
 As an illustration of the rule, we need only alter two 
 or three of the words in this example to reduce it to a 
 declarative sentence ; and we shall find the inflection, 
 elevation, and depression of voice on every part of it 
 thS same. 
 
 He cannot exalt his thoughts to any tiling great or noble, be- 
 cause he only believes that after a short turn on the stage of this 
 world, he is to sink into oblivion, and to lose his consciousness for 
 ever. 
 
 Here we perceive, that the two sentences, though one 
 is an interrogation, and the other a declaration, end 
 both witii the same inflection of voice, and that the 
 falling inflection ; hut if we convert these words into an 
 interrogation, by leaving out the interrogative word, we 
 shall soon perceive the difference. 
 
INFLECTIONS '-' 1"HE VOICE. Wi 
 
 Can he exalt his thoughts to anything great or noble, who only 
 believes that after a short tarn on the :: this world, he is to 
 
 sink into oblirk) i & to lose his coni doaso : :or ever ? 
 
 In pronounc _ this sentence with propriety, we find 
 the ■ \'- i ide upwards on the last words, contrary lo 
 the inflection if la kes :/. the two formei examples. 
 
 Rule XXXIV. Interrogative sentences commencing 
 tcith inter rogi uting of members in a 
 
 series depending necessarily \ each other for sense, 
 to he pronounced as a series of members of ike same kind 
 declarative :-.:.:-. xe. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 From whence can he produce such cogent exhortations to the 
 practice of every virtue, such ardent excitements to pi*-ty and devo- 
 tion, a-id snch assfc ince 1 a attain them, as those tvhich are to be met 
 .aout every page of these inimitable wiftngs ; 
 
 Jenynss View of the Internal Erid. p. 41. 
 
 Where, amidst the dark floods of pagan philosophy, can he shew 
 ica a clear prospect of a future state, the immortality of the 
 the resin eetion e lead, and the general judgment, as in 
 
 St. Paul's first Epistle to the CoriEthie: is Rid. page 40. 
 
 Bat the Pan lise Lost only as it regards osr present 
 
 subject; what c^n be conceived sreater than the battle of anir ;. 
 the majesty of Messiah le stature and behaviour of Ss fan and his 
 piers! : i! than Pandasmoninm. Paradise. Beave 
 
 ■ _ re I what more stran»e than the creation of 
 the vorfd, the several metamorphoses of the fallen angels, and the 
 surprising adventures their leader meets with in his search after par- 
 la these sentences, we find the same pauses and in- 
 flections of voice take place ss in the different series :; 
 declarative sentences. The two Srst examples con- 
 taining the compound sei ?s may be referred to Ft 
 XXXI: and : le third, which forms i Series of Series. 
 to Rule XXXII. 
 
 B if the lestioa :h in reading and s leaking 
 duces the greatest force and variety, is that which is 
 ;d without the interrogative w. 
 
 4 
 
38 ART OF READING. 
 
 THE QUESTION WITHOUT THE INTERROGATIVE 
 WORDS. 
 
 Rule XXXV. When an interrogative sentence is 
 formed without the interrogative words, the last word must 
 have the rising inflection : and if there be an emphati- 
 cal word in the last member, followed by several words 
 depending on it, which conclude the sentence, both the em- 
 phatical word and the concluding words are to be pro- 
 nounced with the rising inflection. Thus the words 
 making one, and cause of the shipwreck, in the two fol- 
 lowing examples, have all the rising inflection. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 Would it not employ a beau prettily enough, if, instead of eternal- 
 ly playing with his snuff-box, he spent some part of his lime in mak- 
 ing one ? Spectator, No. 43. 
 
 If the owner of a vessel had fitted it out with every thing necessa- 
 ry, and provided to the utmost of his power against the dangers of 
 the sea, and a storm should afterwards arise and break the masts, 
 would any one in that case accuse him of being the cause of the 
 shipwreck? Dtmosthtn\es on the Crown. Rollin._ 
 
 In these examples we find, that however variously 
 the voice may employ itself on the rest of the sentence, 
 the concluding words in the last member must necessa- 
 rily be suspended with the rising inflection. 
 
 Rule XXXVI. When two interrogative sentences 
 connected by the disjunctive or, succeed each other, the 
 first ends.- with the rising, and the last with the falling 
 inflection. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 Shall we in your person crown the author of the public calami- 
 ties, or shall we destroy him ? JEschines on the Crown. Rollin. 
 
 Is the g6odness, or wisdom of the divine Being, more manifested 
 in this his proceeding? Sped. No. 519. 
 
 The necessity of attending to this rule, when two 
 things are distinguished and opposed to each other, 
 will appear clearly from the following passage. 
 
 See Falkland dies, the virtuous and the just, 
 See god-like Turenne prostrate on the dust; 
 See Sydney bleeds amid the martial strife ; 
 Was this their virtue or contempt of life ? 
 
 Essay on Man, Epist. iv. v. 99, 
 
 
INFLECTIONS OF THE VOICE. 39 
 
 If, in reading this passage, the voice were to adopt 
 the same inflection both on virtue and on contempt of 
 life, and to end the last branch of the question as well 
 as the first with the rising inflection, the distinction, so 
 strongly marked by the sense, would be utterly lost : 
 whereas, if we end virtue with the rising, and life with 
 the falling inflection, the distinction evidently appears. 
 But in the following passage from Shakspeate we have 
 an instance of the necessity of a contrary mode of pro- 
 nunciation, arising from the similitude of objects con- 
 nected by the conjunctive or : 
 
 Is this the nature, 
 Which passion could not shake ? whose solid virtue, 
 The shot of accident, or dart of chance 
 Could neither raze nor pierce ? Othello. 
 
 In this passage, the shot of accident and the dart of 
 chance, being only different words for the same thing, 
 the word or conjoins them ; and to avoid. any implica- 
 tion that they mean different things, the same inflection 
 of voice ought to be on them both, that is, the rising 
 inflection : but in the last member, where the opposi- 
 tion is evident, both from the sense of the words, and 
 the disjunctive nor, the falling inflection ought to be 
 laid on raze, and the rising on pierce. 
 
 For the same reason, in reading the following stanza 
 of Gray's Elegy in a Country Church-yard, it should 
 seem by much the most eligible method to suspend the 
 voice with the rising inflection on the word death: 
 
 Can story'd urn or animated bust, 
 Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath ? 
 Can honour's voice provoke the silent dust, 
 Or flattery sooth the dull cold ear of death ? 
 
 As the sense of the word or, that is, whether it 
 means conjunction or disjunction, is not always very 
 obvious, it may not be useless to propose the following 
 rule : if we are in doubt whether or is conjunctive or 
 disjunctive, let us make use of this paraphrase — if it is 
 not so, is it so ? and if the sense will bear this para- 
 phrase, the or is disjunctive, and the subsequent ques- 
 tion ought to have the falling inflection : if it will not 
 
40 ART OF READING. 
 
 bear it, the or is conjunctive, and the subsequent ques- 
 tion ought to have the rising inflection. Thus if we 
 paraphrase the stanza just quoted, we shall find the 
 or conjunctive. If storied urn cannot call hack the 
 fleeting breath, can animated bust call it back ? If hon- 
 our's voice cannot provoke the silent dust, can flattery 
 sooth the dull cold ear of death ? 
 
 If this paraphrase does not seem suitable to the gen- 
 eral import of the sentence, it is because the objects 
 are not put in opposition or contradistinction to each 
 other ; the or therefore is conjunctive, and consequent- 
 ly, the latter question requires the rising inflection as 
 well as the former : but where the or is disjunctive, we 
 find this paraphrase very suitable to the general import 
 of the sentence. Thus in the following sentence. 
 
 But should these credulous infidels after all be in the right, and this 
 pretended revelation be all a fable ; from believing it what harm 
 could ensue ? would it render princes more tyrannical, or subjects 
 more ungovernable, the rich more insolent or the poor more dis6r- 
 derly ? Would it make worse pareuts, or children, husbands, or 
 wives ; maters or servants, friends, or n6ighbours ? or would, it not 
 make men more virtuous, and, consequently, more happy. in every 
 situation ? Jenyns. 
 
 If we try the paraphrase upon the former parts of 
 this sentence, we shall find it as repugnant to the sense 
 as in the former example ; but if we apply it to the last 
 member, we shall find it perfectly accord with the 
 meaning of the author. Thus we may say — If it will 
 not make ivorse parents or children, husbands or wives, 
 ■masters or servants, friends or neighbours ; will it not 
 make men more virtuous, and, consequently, more happy 
 in every situation ? — from whence we may conclude, 
 that in the former part of this passage, the or is con- 
 junctive, and suspends the voice at the end of every 
 "member, and that the last or is disjunctive, and requires 
 the sentence to end with the falling inflection. 
 
 Rule XXXVII. Interrogative sentences, without in- 
 terrogative words, when consisting of a variety of mem- 
 bers necessarily depending on each other for sense, admit 
 of every tone, pause, and inflection of voice, common to 
 
INFLECTIONS OF THE VOICE. 41 
 
 other sentences, provided ike last member, on which the 
 whole question depends, has that peculiar elevation and 
 inflection of voice which distinguishes this species of in- 
 terrogation, 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 But can we believe a thinking being, that is in a perpetual pro- 
 gress of improvements, and travelling on from perfection to perfec- 
 tion, after having just looked abroad into the works of its Creator, 
 and made a few discoveries of his infinite goodness, wisdom, and 
 power, must perish at her first setting out, and in the very beginning 
 of her inquiries ? Sped. No. 111. 
 
 In reading this passage we shall find, that placing the 
 falling inflection without dropping the voice on the words 
 improvements and Creator, will not only prevent the 
 monotony which is apt to arise from too long a suspen- 
 sion of the voice, but enforce the sense by enumerating, 
 as it were, the several particulars of which the question 
 consists. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 Do you think that Themistocles, and the heroes who were killed 
 in the battles of Marathon and Plataea; do you think the very tombs 
 of your ancestors will not send forth groans, if you crown a man, 
 who, by his own confession, has been for ever conspiring with bar- 
 barians to ruin Greece ? JEschincs on the Crown. Rollin. 
 
 This passage will be rendered much more forcible 
 and harmonious, if, instead of suspending the voice 
 throughout, we make use of the falling inflection with- 
 out dropping the voice on the words Platcea and con- 
 
 fession. 
 
 Rule. XXXVIII. Interrogative sentences formed 
 without the interrogative words, and consisting of mem- 
 bers in a series, which form perfect sense as they proceed, 
 must have every member terminate with the inflection of 
 voice peculiar to this species of interrogation, 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 And with regard to the unhappy Lacedaemonians, what calamities 
 have not befallen them for taking only a s m a Si part of the spoils of 
 the temple? they who formerly assumed a superiority over Greece, 
 are they not now going to send ambassadors to Alexander's court, to 
 bear the name of hostages in his train, to become a spectacle of 
 
 4* 
 
42 ART OF READING. 
 
 misery, to "bow the knee before the monarch, submit themselves and 
 their country to his mercy, and receive such laws as a conqueror — a 
 conqueror they attacked first, shall think fit to prescribe them ? 
 
 JEschines on the Crown. Rollin. 
 
 It need scarcely be observed, that in order to pre- 
 vent the monotony to which this passage is very liable 
 in reading, we ought to begin the first question as soft 
 as possible, that the voice may pronounce them all with 
 an increasing force to the last. 
 
 But did you, (0 what title shall I give you !) did you betray the 
 least shadow of displeasure against me, when I broke the chords of 
 that harmony in your presence, and dispossessed the commonwealth 
 of the advantages of that confederacy, which you magnify so much 
 with the loudest strains of your theatrical voice? did you ascend the 
 rostrum? did you denounce, or once explain those crimes, with 
 which you are n6w pleased to charge me ? 
 
 Demoslhenes on the Crown. Rollin. 
 
 In this and the preceding sentence, we shall find the 
 ear relieved, and the sense greatly enforced, by placing 
 the falling inflection with emphasis in a high tone of 
 voice on the words conqueror, first , and explain, accord- 
 ing to Rule XXXVII. 
 
 Would an infinitely wise Being make such glorious beings for so 
 mean a purpose? can he delight in the production of such abortis'e 
 intelligence, such short-lived reasonable beings? would he give us 
 talents that are not to be exerted, capacities that are not to be grati- 
 fied? Sped. -^o. 111. 
 
 In the reading of every series here produced, it will 
 be necessary to increase the force at the same time that 
 we preserve the rising inflection on the last word or 
 member of every one. 
 
 This Rule and the last are well illustrated in the fol- 
 lowing passage of Shakspeare's Henry V. where that 
 monarch, after discovering the conspiracy against him, 
 thus upbraids Lord Scroop, who was concerned in it. 
 
 Oh how hast thou with jealousy infected 
 The sweetness of affiance ! show men dutiful? 
 Why so didst thou : or seem they grave and learned? 
 Why so didst thou : come they of a noble family ? 
 Why so didst thou : seem they religious ? 
 Why so didst thou : or are they spare in diet ; 
 Free from gross passion or of mirth or anger ; 
 Constant in spirit, not swerving with the blood ; 
 
INFLECTIONS OF THE VOICE. 43 
 
 Garnished and decked in modest complement, 
 Not working with the eye without the ear, 
 And but in purged judgment trusting neither? 
 Such and so finely boulted didst thou seem. 
 
 In pronouncing this passage, it should seem most el- 
 igible to use the rising inflection at the end of the sev- 
 eral questions : but after the four first, the falling inflec- 
 tion seems very properly adopted on the word diet, as 
 this is the first branch of the last series of questions ; 
 and as this series continues for several lines, provided 
 the voice be but inflected upwards on the last member 
 at neither, the rest of the parts may be pronounced as is 
 most suitable to the sense and harmony of the whole, 
 according to Rule XXXVII. 
 
 Exception. The exception to this rule is, when each 
 successive member in a series is contrasted or opposed 
 to the preceding ; for in this case though the first is ele- 
 vated as in other interrogations, not commencing with 
 interrogative words, the rest of the questions assume 
 the declarative tone, and fall gradually into a period. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 As for the particular occasion of these charity schools, there can- 
 not any offer more worthy a generous mind. Would you do a hand- 
 some thing without return? — do it for an infant that is not sensible 
 of the obligation. Would you do it for the public good ? — do it for 
 one who will be an honest artificer. Would you do it for the sake 
 of heaven ? — give it for one who shall be instructed in the worship 
 of Him for whose sake you gave it. Sped. No. 294. 
 
 In this example there is evidently an opposition in 
 the interrogations which is equivalent to the disjunctive 
 or ; and if the ellipsis were supplied, which this oppo- 
 sition suggests, the sentence would run thus : If you 
 will not do a handsome thing without return, would you 
 do it for the public good ? and if not for the public 
 good, would you do it for the sake of heaven : so that 
 this exception may be said to come under Rule 
 XXXVI. 
 
 The ground of this exception will be still more evi- 
 dent, if the last series of questions and answers be com- 
 pared with the following, where no opposition existing, 
 the rising inflection is retained. 
 
44 ART OE READING. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 My departure is objected to me, which charge I cannot answer 
 without commending myself For what must I say? That I fled 
 from the consciousness of guilt ? But what is charged upon me as a 
 crime, was so far from being a fault, that it is the most glorious ac- 
 tion since the memory of man. Thai 1 feared being called to an 
 account by the people? That was never talked of; and if it had 
 been done, I should have come off' with double honour. That I 
 wanted the support of good and honest men ? That is false. That 
 1 was afraid of death? That is a calumny. 1 must, therefore, say 
 what I would not, unless compelled to it, that I withdrew to preserve 
 the city. Cicero. 
 
 It may be remarked here that whenever questions 
 and answers thus succeed each other, it is necessary, in 
 order to distinguish them properly, to pronounce the 
 latter in a lower tone than the former, and to make a 
 long pause after each question 
 
 One more observation is necessary before we termi- 
 nate this subject; that as questions, which demand the 
 rising inflection at the end, especially when tney are 
 drawn out to any length, are apt to carry the voice into 
 a higher key than is either suitable or pleasant, too 
 much care cannot be taken to keep the voice down, 
 when we are pronouncing the former parts of a long ques- 
 tion, and the commencing questions of a long succes- 
 sion of questions ; for as the characteristic pronuncia- 
 tion of these questions is, to end with the rising inflec- 
 tion, provided we do but terminate with this, the voice 
 may creep on in a low and almost unvaried tone till the 
 end; and then if the voice is not agreeable in a high 
 key, which is the case with the generality of voices, 
 the last word of the whole may be pronounced with the 
 rising inflection, in nearly the same low key in which 
 the voice commences. 
 
 EXCLAMATION. 
 
 The note of exclamation is usually employed, to in- 
 dicate that some passion or emotion is contained in the 
 words to which it is annexed. 
 
 As almost all forms of expression admit, under cer- 
 tain circumstances, of this addition, no general rule can 
 be given for the inflection which should accompany it. 
 
INFLECTIONS OF THE VOICE. 45 
 
 This must be determined in each instance by the sense, 
 and by the application of the foregoing Rules. 
 
 PARENTHESIS. 
 
 The parenthesis is a member inserted in the body of 
 a sentence, which member is neither necessary to the 
 sense nor at all affects the construction. 
 
 The real nature of the parenthesis once understood, 
 we are at no loss for the true manner of delivering it. 
 The tone of voice ought to be interrupted, as it were, 
 by something unforeseen ; and, after a pause, the pa- 
 renthesis should be pronounced in a lower tone of 
 voice : at tire end of which, after another, pause, the 
 higher tone of voice, which was interrupted, should be 
 resumed, that the connexion between the former and 
 latter part of the interrupted sentence may be restored. 
 It may be observed, too, that in order to preserve the 
 integrity of the principal members, the parenthesis 
 ought not only to be pronounced in a lower tone, but a 
 degree swifter than the rest of the period, as this still 
 better preserves the broken sense, and distinguishes the 
 explanation from the text. For that this is always the 
 case in conversation, we can be under no doubt, when 
 we consider, that whatever is supposed to make our 
 auditors wait, gives an impulse to the tongue, in order 
 to relieve them as soon as possible from the suspense 
 of an occasional and unexpected interruption. 
 
 Rule XXXIX. A parenthesis must be pronounced 
 in a lower tone of voice, and conclude with the same 
 pause and inflection which terminate the member that im- 
 mediately precedes it. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 Notwithstanding all this care of Cicero, history informs us that 
 Marcus proved a mere blockhead; and that nature (who it seems 
 was even with the son for her prodigality to the father) rendered 
 him incapable of improving by all the rules of eloquence, the pre- 
 cepts of philosophy, his own endeavours, and the most refined con- 
 versation in Athens. Sped. No. 307. 
 
 Br. Clarke has observed, that Homer is more perspicuous than any 
 other^ author ; but if he is so (which yet may be questioned) the 
 perspicuity arises from his subject, and not from the language itself 
 in which he writes. Ward's Grammar, p. 292. 
 
46 ART OF READING. 
 
 The many letters which come to me from persons of the best 
 Sense in b6fh sexes (fori may pronounce their characters from their 
 way of writing) do not a little encourage me in the prosecution of 
 this my undertaking. Sped. No. 124. 
 
 It is this sense which furnishes the imagination with its ideas ; so 
 that by the pleasures of the imagination or fancy (which I shall use 
 promiscuously) I here mean such as arise from visible objects. 
 
 Ibid. No. 411. 
 
 In these examples, we find the parenthesis break in 
 upon the sense ; but as the interruption is short, and 
 is also distinguished from the body of the sentence by 
 a different tone of voice, as well as by pauses, it does 
 not in the least embarrass it. 
 
 But when parentheses are long, which is sometimes 
 the case in prose, and often in poetry, too much care 
 cannot be taken to read them in so different a tone of 
 voice from the rest of the sentence, as may keep them 
 perfectly separate and distinct : this is to be done, not 
 only by lowering the voice, but by pronouncing the pa- 
 renthesis more rapidly, and by giving a degree of same- 
 ness to the voice, which may distinguish the parenthe- 
 sis from the parts which inclose it : and we must never 
 forget, that when the parenthetic clause is pronounced, 
 the voice, after a short pause, must recover the higher 
 tone it fell from, in order to preserve the connexion in 
 the thought. Without these precautions it will often be 
 impossible to pronounce Milton so as to make him in- 
 telligible. That sublime and excursive genius is like 
 Homer, frequently, by the beauty of an intervening 
 thought, carried so far out of the direct line of his sub- 
 ject as to make it impossible for his reader to preserve 
 the direct line, but by distinguishing those thoughts that 
 vary from it by a different pronunciation. Let us ad- 
 duce a few examples for practice. 
 
 But what if he our c6nqueror (whom I now 
 Of force believe almighty, since no less 
 Than such could have o'er-powered such force as ours) 
 Have left us this our spirit and strength entire 
 Strongly to suffer and support our pains ? 
 
 Farad. Lost, b. i. v. 143, 
 
 His spear (to equal which the tallest pine 
 Hewn on Norwegian hills to be the mast 
 Of some great admiral were but a wand) 
 
INFLECTIONS OF THE VOICE. 
 
 4? 
 
 He walked with, to support uneasy steps 
 
 Over the burning marie. Ibid. v. 292. 
 
 Know then, that after Lucifer from heaven 
 (So call nirn brighter once amidst the host 
 Of angels than that star the stars among) 
 Fell with his flaming legions through the deep 
 Into his place, and the great Son returned 
 Victorious vviih his saints the omnipotent 
 Eternal Father from his throne beheld 
 Their multitude, and to his son thus spake. 
 
 Ibid, book vii. v. 131. 
 
 Round he surveys (and well might where he stood 
 So high above the circling canopy 
 Of night's extended shade) from eastern point 
 Of Libra, to the fleecy star that bears 
 Andromeda far off Atlantic seas 
 Beyond the horizon. Ibid, book iii. v. 555. 
 
 They anon 
 With hundreds and with thousands trooping came 
 Attended : all access was thronged ; the gates 
 And porches. wide, but chief the spacious hall 
 (Though like a covered field, where champions hold 
 Wont ride in armed, and at the soldan's chair 
 Defied the best of Panim chivalry 
 To mortal combat, or career with lance) 
 Thick swarmed both on the ground, and in the air 
 Brushed with the hiss of rustling wings. 
 
 Ibid. book. i. v. 752. 
 
 Under this article, perhaps, may be arranged aside 
 speeches in dramatic works, and all the intervening ex- 
 planatory members in narrative writing: for both these 
 species of members, like the parenthesis, require both a 
 lower tone of voice and a more rapid pronunciation, 
 than the rest of the composition. 
 
 Exception. An exception to this rule sometimes oc~ 
 curs ; when the parenthesis terminates with an emphati- 
 cal word ; for in this case, the parenthesis adopts that 
 inflection which the emphasis requires, whatever be the 
 inflection of the preceding member. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 Had I, when speaking in the assembly, heen absolute and indepen- 
 dent master of aflfairs, then your other speakers might call me to ac- 
 count. But if ye were ever present, if ye w-ere all in general invit- 
 ed to propose your sentiments, if ye were all agreed that the meas- 
 ures then suggested were really the best; if you, iEschines, in par- 
 ticular, were thus persuaded, (and it was no partial affection for me, 
 
48 ART OF READING. 
 
 that prompted you to give me up the hopes, the applause, the hon- 
 ours, which attended that course I then advised, but the superior 
 force of truth, and your utter inability to point out any more eligible 
 course ;) if this was ihe case, I say, is it not highly cruel and unjust 
 to arraign those measures now, when you could not then propose 
 any better ? LelaruVs Dtmost. on the Crown. 
 
 Here the parenthesis finishing with two parts in op- 
 position to each other, and the first of them being 
 negative, and the last positive, the sense necessarily 
 requires that advised should terminate with the rising, 
 and eligible course with the falling inflection. 
 
 Cicero, speaking of the duty of magistrates, says — 
 
 Care must be taken that it be not (as was often done by our an- 
 cestors through the smallness of the treasury and continuance of 
 the wars) necessary to raise 'axes; arid in order to prevent this, 
 provision should be made against it long beforehand : but if the ne- 
 cessity of this service shonld happen to any state (which I had rath- 
 er suppose of another than our own ; nor am I now discoursing of 
 our own but of every stale in general) methods must be used to con* 
 vince all persons (if they would be secure) that they ought to sub- 
 mit to necessity. Cicero's Gffi-es, book ii. c 21. 
 
 In this passage are no less than three parentheses ; 
 the first and last, according to the general rule, end with 
 the rising inflection ; bit the middle parenthetic mem- 
 ber ending with two emphatic objects, the last of which 
 requires the falling inflection, the general rule must be 
 dispensed with. The reason of this exception will be 
 particularly considered under the head of Emphasis. 
 
 ACCENT. 
 As Accent relates to the pronunciation of words taken 
 singly, it can have little to do in an essay on the pro- 
 nunciation of words in succession ; for as words justly 
 pronounced are merely the materials for delivery, these 
 must all be supposed to be in our own possession before 
 we can possibly begin to arrange and display them to 
 advantage. A person who pronounces every word 
 singly with the greatest purity, may not be able to read 
 well ; and another may convey the sense of an author 
 with great force and beauty, who does not always either 
 pronounce the words justly, or place the accent on the 
 proper syllable. The only point, therefore, in which it 
 
INFLECTIONS OF THE VOICE. 49 
 
 will be necessary to take notice of accent in reading, is 
 that where the emphasis requires a transposition of it : 
 this happens when two words which have a sameness 
 in part of their formation, are opposed to each other in 
 sense. Thus, if I pronounce the words justice and in- 
 justice as single words, I naturally place the accent on 
 the penultimate syllable of both; but if 1 contrast them, 
 and say, Neither justice nor injustice have any thing to 
 do with the present question; in this sentence i natural- 
 ly place the accent on the first syllable of injustice, in 
 order the more forcibly and clearly to distinguish it 
 from justice. This transposition of the accent, which 
 is so evidently dictated by the sense, extends itself to 
 all words which have a sameness of termination, though 
 they may not be directly opposite in sense; thus, if I 
 wanted race particularly to show that I meant one re- 
 quisite of dramatic story rather than another, I should 
 say, In this species of composition, plausibility is much 
 more essential than probability ; and in the pronuncia- 
 tion of these words, I should infallibly transpose the 
 accent of both, from the third to the first syllables; in 
 order to contrast those parts of the words which are 
 distinguished from each other by the import of the sen- 
 tence. Hence the following Rule. 
 
 Rule XL. When two words with similar termin- 
 ations are placed in opposition to each other, the ac- 
 cent on one or both is often varied, to express the contrast 
 more strongly, 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 In this case I may nse the saying of an eminent wit, who upon 
 some great men's pressing him to forgive his daughter who had mar- 
 ried against his consent, told them he could refuse nothing to their 
 instances, but that he would have them remember there was a differ- 
 ence between giving and for giving. 
 
 In this example, we find the whole sense of the pas- 
 sage depends on placing the accent on the first syllable 
 of J for giving, in order to contrast it more strongly with 
 giving, to which it is opposed ; as, without this transpo- 
 sition of accent, the opposition, on which the sentiment 
 turns, would be lost. 
 5 
 
50 ART OF READING. 
 
 Another instance will more fully illustrate the neces- 
 sity of attending to this emphatical accent. 
 
 Th° prince for the public good has a sovereign property in every 
 private person's estate ; and, consequently^ his riches must increase 
 or decrease, in proportion to the number and riches of his subjects. 
 
 Spectator, No. 200. 
 
 The words increase and decrease have, in this exam- 
 ple, the accent on the first syllable of each, as it is 
 there the contrast in the sense lies. 
 
 EMPHASIS. 
 
 Emphasis is that stress which is placed on certain 
 words in a sentence, to distinguish them from the rest. 
 Taken in this most general sense, Emphasis may be 
 divided into two kinds; that which arises from the pe- 
 culiar sense of one or two words in a sentence ; and 
 that which arises from the greater importance of nouns, 
 verbs, and other significant words, than of connectives 
 and particles. The last Emphasis takes place on al- 
 most every word in a sentence, except the articles^ 
 prepositions and smaller parts of speech ; and by pro- 
 nouncing these feebly, we give a force to the other 
 words, which may be, comparatively, called Emphasis. 
 Thus if we repeat the following sentence : 
 
 Exercise and temperance strengthen the constitution. 
 
 we find the particles and and the pronounced much 
 more feebly than the other words; hence these words 
 become relatively emphatical ; but if a word which 
 has Emphasis of Sense be thrown into the sentence, 
 we shall soon perceive the difference between these 
 words and the Emphatic one : thus if we were to say, 
 
 Exercise and temperance strengthen even an indifferent consti- 
 tution. 
 
 Here we shall find the word indifferent, pronounced 
 as much more forcibly than the words exercise, temper- 
 ance, and strengthen, as these words are more forcibly 
 pronounced than the particles and and the, and even 
 than the word constitution: for as this word comes im- 
 mediately after the emphatic word indifferent, it sinks 
 
INFLECTIONS OF THE VOICE. 
 
 51 
 
 into the same degree of obscurity with the particles, 
 and cannot be raised from this obscurity without dimin- 
 ishing the force of the emphatic word itself. 
 
 This brings us to a threefold distinction of words in 
 regard to the force with which they are pronounced ; 
 namely, the conjunctions, particles, and words already 
 understood, which are distinctly but feebly pronounced ; 
 the substantives, verbs and other significant words, 
 which are firmly and fully pronounced ; and the em- 
 phatical word, which is forcibly pronounced : it is the 
 last of these which is properly called Emphasis of 
 Sense ; and it is to the nature and application of this 
 Emphasis, that, our attention will now be directed. 
 
 The principal circumstance that distinguishes em- 
 phatical words from others, seems to be a meaning which 
 points out, or distinguishes something as distinct or oppo- 
 site to some other thing. When this opposition is ex- 
 pressed in words, it forms an antithesis, the opposite 
 parts of which are always emphalical. Thus in the 
 following couplet from Pope : 
 
 'Tis hard to say, if greater want of skill 
 Appear in writing or in judging ill. 
 
 The words writing and judging are opposed to each 
 other, and are therefore the emphatical words : where 
 we may likewise observe, that the disjunctive or. by 
 which the antithesis is connected, means one of the 
 things exclusively of the other. 
 
 The same may be observed in another couplet from 
 the same author; where one branch of the antithesis is 
 not expressed but understood : 
 
 Get wealth and place, if possible with grace, 
 If not by any means get wealth and place. 
 
 Here it appears evidently, that the words any means, 
 which are the most emphatical, are directly opposed to 
 the means understood by the word grace, and the last 
 line is perfectly equivalent to this : If not by these 
 means, by any other means, get wealth and 'place. 
 
 This more than ordinary meaning, or a meaning 
 opposed to some other meaning, seems to be the pria- 
 
52 ART OF READING. 
 
 cipal source of emphasis ; for if, as in the last instance, 
 we find the words will bear this opposition to their 
 common signification, we may be sure they are em- 
 phaticai ; this will be still more evident from another 
 example : 
 
 By the faculty of a lively and picturesque imagination, a man in a 
 dungeon is capable of entertaining himself with scenes and land- 
 scapes, more beautiful than any that can be found in the whole com- 
 pass of nature. Spectator, No. 411. 
 
 If we read this passage without that emphasis which 
 the word dungeon requires, we enervate the meaning, 
 and scarcely give the sense of the author ; for the im- 
 port plainly is that a lively imagination, not merely ah" 
 sent from beautiful scenes, but even in a dungeon, can 
 form scenes more beautiful than any in nature. 
 
 But if emphasis does not improve, it always vitiates 
 the sense ; and, therefore, should be always avoided 
 where the use of it is not evident: this will appear by 
 placing an emphasis on a word in a sentence which 
 does not require it : 
 
 I have several letters by me from people of good sense, who la- 
 ment the depravity or poverty of taste the town is fallen into with 
 relation to plays and public spectacles. Spectator, No. 208. 
 
 Now, if we lay a considerable degree of emphasis 
 upon the words good sense, it will strongly suggest that 
 the people here mentioned are not common or ordina- 
 ry people, which, though not opposite to the meaning 
 of the writer, does not seem necessary either to the 
 completion or embellishment of it ; for as particularly 
 marking these people out as persons of good sense, 
 seems to obviate an objection that they might possibly 
 be fools, and as it would not be very wise to suppose 
 this objection, it would show as little wisdom to endea- 
 vour to preclude it by a more than ordinary stress ; 
 the plain words of the author, therefote, without any 
 emphasis on them, sufficiently show his meaning. 
 
 From these observations, the following definition of 
 emphasis seems naturally to arise : emphasis, when ap- 
 plied to particular words, is that stress we lay on words, 
 which arc in contradistinction to other words either e%~ 
 
INFLECTIONS OF THE VOICE. 53 
 
 pressed or understood. And hence will follow this gen- 
 eral rule : Wherever there is contradistinction in the 
 sense of the words, there ought to be emphasis in the pro- 
 nunciation of them ; the converse of this being equally 
 'true, Wherever we place emphasis, we suggest the idea 
 of contradistinction. 
 
 Having thus ascertained the nature of Emphasis, 
 we are next to consider the inflections it requires. 
 IMuch of this subject indeed has been anticipated in 
 speaking of Antithesis ; and in the exceptions to the 
 foregoing rules the peculiarities of emphatic sentences 
 are mostly explained. Some farther remarks however 
 on these topics have been reserved for this place. 
 
 EMPHATIC INFLECTION. 
 It was noticed under Rule XXIV. that where the 
 last member of a sentence was negative, in opposition 
 to a positive expression in the first, the usual order of 
 inflections w,as inverted, the last member taking the ris- 
 ing, and the first the falling inflection. An instance of 
 this occurs in the following sentence : 
 
 When a Persian soldier was reviling Alexander the Great, his offi- 
 cer reprimanded him by saying : Sir, you were paid to light Alexan-> 
 der, and not to rail at him. 
 
 Here we find fight and rail are the two emphatic 
 words which correspond to each other, and that the 
 positive member which affirms something, adopts the 
 falling inflection on fight, and the negative member 
 which excludes something, has the rising inflection on 
 rail. Something like this will be found to take place 
 where only one part of an Antithesis is expressed : 
 
 By the faculty of a lively and picturesque imagination, a man in a 
 dungeon is capable of entertaining himself with scenes and land- 
 scapes, more beautiful than any that can be found in the whole com- 
 pass of nature. 
 
 Here we find the emphatical word dungeon, requiring 
 the falling inflection ; and if we draw out the sentence 
 tit length, supplying the words suggested by the sense, 
 we shall find it consist of the same positive and nega- 
 tive parts as the former, and that the positive part as* 
 5* 
 
54 ART OF READING. 
 
 sumes the falling, and the negative the rising inflection 
 in both. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 When a Persian soldier was reviling Alexander the Great, his offi- 
 cer reprimanded him by saying; Sir, you were paid to fight Alex- 
 ander, and not (o rail at him. 
 
 By the faculty of a lively and picturesque imagination, a man in 
 a dungeon and not merely dbsent from beautiful scenes, is capable of 
 entertaining himself with scenes and landscapes, more beautiful than 
 any that can be found in the whole compass of nature. 
 
 Now, whatever be the reason why the positive mem- 
 ber of a sentence should adopt the emphasis with the 
 falling inflection, and the negative member the rising ; 
 it is certain, that this appropriation of emphatic inflec- 
 tion, to a positive or negative signification, runs through 
 the whole system of pronunciation. Agreeably to this 
 arrangement, we constantly find good readers finish 
 negative sentences with the rising inflection, where or- 
 dinary readers are sure to use the falling inflection, and 
 to drop the voice ; and, perhaps, this different pronun- 
 ciation forms one of the greatest differences between 
 good and bad readers: Thus, in the following sentence 
 from the Oration of Demosthenes on the Crown, trans- 
 lated by Dr. Leland : 
 
 Observe then, iEschines ; our ancestors acted thus in both these 
 instances ; not that they acted for their benefactors, not that they 
 saw no danger in these expeditions. Such considerations never 
 could induce them to abandon those who fled to their protection. 
 N6, from the nobler motives of glory and renown, they devoted 
 their services to the distressed. 
 
 There are few good readers who will not pronounce 
 the two first sentences of this passage so as to termin- 
 ate them with the rising inflection ; and this manner of 
 reading them we find agreeable to the paraphrase sug- 
 gested by the falling inflection adopted in the several 
 clauses of the last sentence ; by which all the sen- 
 tences of this passage form parts of one thought, and 
 are reduced to the definition of emphasis already giv- 
 en ; as, They acted from the nobler motives of glory, 
 and renown, and not inferior motives.. 
 
INFLECTIONS OF THE VOICE. 55 
 
 Wherever, therefore, a negative sentence, or member 
 of a sentence, is in opposition to a positive sentence, or 
 member of a sentence, we find it usually adopt the 
 rising inflection : And even where there is no corres- 
 pondent positive member or sentence expressed, if the 
 negative member or Sentence would admit of a positive, 
 and the sense of this positive is agreeable to the gen- 
 eral tenor of the composition ; in this case, likewise, 
 we find the negative member or sentence adopt the ris- 
 ing inflection. Thus, in the same oration, Demosthe- 
 nes, speaking of the public works he had erected, 
 says, 
 
 As to those public works, so much the object of your ridicule, 
 they undoubtedly demand a due share of honour and applause ; but 
 1 rate them far beneath the great merit of my administration. It is 
 not with stones nor bricks that I' have fortified the city. It is not 
 from works like these that I' derive my reputation. Would you 
 know my' methods of fortifying ? Examine, and you will find them 
 in the arms, the towns, the territories, the harbours I have secured ; 
 the navies, the troops, the armies I have raised. 
 
 The two middle negative sentences of this passage 
 have not any correspondent positive sentences preced- 
 ing or following them ; but the rising inflection on these 
 sentences suggests a meaning so compatible with the 
 mind of the speaker, that we cannot doubt of its being the 
 true one ; for it is equivalent to saying, It is not ivitk 
 works like these that 1' have fortified the city, hut with 
 something much better. This will receive a farther il- 
 lustration from another passage of the same orator. 
 
 For if you now pronounce, that, as my public conduct hath not 
 been right, Ctesiphon must stand condemned, it must be thought 
 that yourselves have acted wrong, not that you owe your present 
 state to the caprice of fortune. But it cannot be. No, my country- 
 men ! It cannot be you have acted wrong, in encountering danger 
 bravely, for the liberty and safety of all Greece. No ! by those gen- 
 erous souls of ancient times, who were exposed at Marathon ! By 
 those who stood arrayed at Plataea ! By those who encountered the 
 Persian fleet at Salamis ! who fought at Artemisium i By all those 
 illustrious sons of Athens, whose remains lie deposited in the public 
 monuments ! All of whom received the same honourable interment 
 from their country: Not those only who prevailed, not those only 
 who where victorious. And with reason. What was the part ot 
 gallant men they all performed; their success was such as the su- 
 preme director of the world dispensed to each. 
 
56 ART 0E READING. 
 
 The two last members of the first sentence we find 
 naturally adopt their specific inflections ; that is, the po- 
 sitive member, the falling on ivrong and the negative 
 the rising on fortune. The succeeding sentence has a 
 negation in it that suits the rising inflection much bet- 
 ter than the falling, and therefore Greece has very pro- 
 perly the rising inflection ; and the latter members, not 
 those only who prevailed, not those only who were victori- 
 ous, will not admit of the falling inflection without an 
 evident prejudice to the sense. 
 
 From these observations, we may derive the follow- 
 ing rule. 
 
 Rule XLT. Whenever a sentence is composed of a 
 positive and negative part, if this positive and negative 
 imports thai something is affirmed in one part and some- 
 thing denied in the other, the positive must have the fall- 
 ing, and the negative the rising inflection. 
 
 EXAMPLES FOR PRACTICE. 
 
 Virtue, to become either vigorous or useful, must be habitually 
 active ; not breaking forth occasionally with a transient lustre, like 
 the biaze of a comet ; but regular in its returns, like the light of day: 
 not like the aromatic gale, which sometimes feasts the sense ; but 
 like the ordinary breeze, which purifies the air, and renders it health- 
 ful. 
 
 True ease in writing comes from art, not chance : 
 As those move easiest, who have learned to dance* 
 One shall rise 
 Of proud ambitious heart, who, not content 
 With fair equality, fraternal state, 
 Will arrogate dominion undeserved 
 Over his brethren, and quite dispossess 
 Concord and law of Nature from the earth ; 
 Hunting (and men, not beasts shall be his game) 
 With war and hostile snare, such as refuse 
 Subjection to his empire tyrannous. Par. Lost, B. xii. 
 
 GENERAL EMPHASIS. 
 Hitherto emphasis has been considered as appropri* 
 ated to a particular word in a sentence, the peculiar 
 sense of which demanded an increase of force, and an 
 inflection correspondent to that sense ; but there is be- 
 side this, an emphatic force, which, when the composi- 
 tion is very animated, and approaches to a close, wfe 
 
INFLECTIONS OF THE VOICE. 
 
 57 
 
 often lay upon several words in succession. This suc- 
 cessive emphatic force does, not, like the former, suggest 
 any particular meaning excluded by it, and therefore 
 may not improperly be called a general emphasis. This 
 emphasis is not so much regulated by the sense of the 
 author as by the taste and feelings of the reader, and 
 therefore does not admit of any certain rule ; but as it 
 is very strong and energetic when it is happily applied, 
 it may not be useless to illustrate its nature by a few 
 examples. 
 
 When Lucius in Cato seems to have exhausted ev- 
 ery topic in favour of giving up a hopeless war and 
 submitting to Caesar, he concludes with this emphatic 
 period : 
 
 What men could do, 
 Is done already : Heaven and earth will witness, 
 Tf Rdme miist fall, that we are innocent. 
 
 The common manner of pronouncing this last line is 
 to lay an emphasis with the rising inflection on the word 
 must, which is certainly a very just one, and may be 
 called the particular emphasis; but if we place an em- 
 phasis on each of the four words, if Rome must fall ; 
 that is, the emphasis with the rising inflection on if 
 that with the falling on Rome, and must, and that with 
 the rising on fall ; if these emphases are pronounced 
 with a distinct pause after each, it is inconceivable what 
 force will be given to these few words. 
 
 In the same manner, when Demosthenes is describ- 
 ing the former helpless state of Athens, he says, 
 
 There was a time, then, my fellow-citizens, when the Lacedemo- 
 nians were sovereign masters bo'h by sea and land; when their 
 troops and forts surrounded the entire circuit of At'ica; when they 
 possessed Eubcea, Tanagra, the whole Boeotian district, Megara, iEgi- 
 na, Cieone, and the other islands; while this state had not one ship, 
 nbt one wall. 
 
 The general mode of pronouncing the last member 
 of this sentence is, to lay an emphasis on the last word, 
 wall. This is unquestionably proper ; but if we lay an 
 emphasis on the three last words, that is, the falling on 
 not, the rising on one, and the falling on wall, and pause 
 very distinctly between each, we shall be at no loss to 
 decide on the superiority of this general emphasis, 
 
58 
 
 ART OF HEADING. 
 
 From this view of emphasis, we may perceive the pro* 
 priety of laying a stress upon some of the most insigni- 
 ficant words when ftie language is impassioned, in order 
 to create a general force, which sufficiently justifies the 
 seeming impropriety. Thus, in the following sen- 
 tence — The very man whom he had loaded with favours 
 was the first to accuse him — a stress upon the word man 
 will give considerable force to the sentence — the very 
 man, &c. If to the stress on this word we add one on 
 the word very, the force will be considerably increased — 
 the very man, &c. But if to these words we unite a 
 stress on the word the, the emphasis will then attain its 
 utmost pitch and be emphatic, as it may be called, in 
 the superlative degree — the very man, he. And this 
 kind of general emphasis, it may be observed, has the 
 identity of a person or thing for its object, the antithe- 
 sis to which is appearance, similitude, or the least pos- 
 sible diversity. 
 
 RULES FOR READING VERSE. 
 
 Whatever difficulties we may find in reading prose, 
 they are greatly increased when the composition is in 
 verse ; and more particularly if the verse be rhyme. 
 The regularity of the feet, and the sameness of sound in 
 rhyming verse, strongly solicits the voice to a sameness 
 of tone; and tone, unless directed by a judicious ear, is 
 apt to degenerate into a song, and a song, of all others, the 
 most disgusting to a person of just taste. If, therefore, 
 there are few who read prose with propriety, there are 
 still fewer who succeed in verse ; they either want that 
 equable and harmonious flow of sound which distin- 
 guishes it from loose unmeasured composition, or they 
 have not a sufficient delicacy of ear to keep the harmo- 
 nious smoothness of verse from sliding into a whining 
 chant ; nay, so agreeable is this chant to many readers, 
 that a simple and natural delivery of verse seems tame 
 and insipid, and much too familiar for the dignity of 
 the language. So pernicious are bad habits in every 
 exercise of the faculties, that they not only lead us to 
 false objects of beauty and propriety, but at last deprive 
 
INFLECTIONS OF THE VOICE. 59 
 
 us of the very power of perceiving: the mistake. For 
 those, therefore, whose ears are not just, and who are 
 totally deficient in a true taste for the music of pi eiry, 
 the best method of avoiding this impropriety is to ;ead 
 verse exactly as if it were prose ; foi though tills may 
 be said to be an error, it is certainly an error on the 
 safer side. 
 
 To say, however, as some do, that the pronunciation 
 of verse is entirely destitute of song, and that it is no 
 more than a just pronunciation of prose, is as distant 
 from truth, as the whining chant we have been speaking 
 of, is from true poetic harmony. Poetry without song 
 is a body without a soul. The tune of this song is, in- 
 deed, difficult to hit ; but when once it is hit, it is sure 
 to give the most exquisite pleasure. It excites in the 
 hearer the most eager desire of imitation ; and if this 
 desire be not accompanied by a just taste or good in- 
 struction, it generally substitutes the sing song, as it is 
 called, for simple, elegant poetic harmony. 
 
 It has been already remarked, that the different in- 
 flections of voice upon particular words are less per- 
 ceptible in verse than in prose ; and that in the former, 
 the voice sometimes entirely sinks the inflection; and 
 slides into a monotone This approach to a mono- 
 tone, especially in plaintive poetry, makes it often diffi- 
 cult, and sometimes impossible to distinguish whether 
 the slides that accompany the pauses and emphasis ol 
 verse are rising or falling; and at those pauses where 
 we can easily distinguish the inflections, we sometimes 
 find them different from such as we should adopt in 
 reading the passage if it were prose ; that is, we often 
 find the rising inflection at a pause in verse, where, if it 
 were prose, we should use the falling. It may be ob- 
 served, indeed, that it is in the frequent use of the ris- 
 ing inflection, where prose would adopt the falling, that 
 the song of poetry consists: familiar, strong, argumenta- 
 tive subjects naturally enforce the language with the 
 falling inflection, as this is naturally expressive of aciiv- 
 ity, force and precision; but grand, beautiful, and plainV 
 tive subjects slide naturally into the rising inflection, as 
 
60 ART OF READING. 
 
 this is expressive of awe, admiration, and melancholy; 
 where the mind may be said to be passive : and it is 
 this general tendency of the plaintive tone to assume 
 the rising inflection, whi^h inclines injudicious readers 
 to adopt it at those pauses where the falling inflection is 
 absolutely necessary ; in consequence of which the 
 pronunciation degenerates into the whine, so much and 
 so justly disliked ; for it is very remarkable, that if, 
 where the sense concludes, we are careful to preserve 
 the falling inflection, and let the voice drop into the 
 natural talking tone, the voice may be suspended in the 
 rising inflection on any other part of the verse, with 
 very little danger of falling into the chant of bad read- 
 ers. Thus in the following passage which opens the 
 tragedy of Cato : 
 
 The dawn is overcast, the morning lowers, 
 And heavily in cloud* brings on the day ; 
 The great, the important day, 
 Big with the fate of Cato and of Rome. 
 
 The grandeur of the objects and swell of language 
 in this description, naturally throw the voice into those 
 tones that express the awe and dignity which those ob- 
 jects excite in the mind ; and these tones being inclined 
 to the plaintive, naturally slide into the rising inflection 
 on the pauses ; and this is apt to draw the voice into a 
 chant : but let the word Rome have the falling inflec- 
 tion and sink into a lower key, in the natural talking 
 tone, and the imperfections in pronouncing the former 
 part will be in a great measure covered ; on the contra- 
 ry, though the former part he pronounced ever so ac- 
 curately, if the word Rome has the rising inflection, the 
 whole will appear to be unfinished, and have a disa- 
 greeable whining tone. 
 
 From these observations, this general rule will na- 
 turally arise ; that though, in verse, we frequently sus- 
 pend the voice, by the rising inflection, where, if the 
 composition were prose, we should adopt the falimg ; 
 yet, wherever, in prose, the member or sentence would 
 necessarily require the rising inflection ; this inflection 
 must necessarily be adopted in verse. An instance of 
 
INFLECTIONS OP THE VOICE. 61 
 
 all these cases may be found in the following example 
 from Pope : 
 
 He who through vast immensity can pierce, 
 See worlds on worlds compose one universe ; 
 Observe how system into system runs, 
 What other planets circle other suns ; 
 What varied being peoples every star, 
 May tell why heaven has made us as we are. 
 But of this frame, the bearings and the ties, 
 The strong connexions, nice dependencies, 
 Gradations just, has thy pervading soul 
 Looked through ? or can a part contain the whole ? 
 
 Is the great chain that draws all to agree, 
 And drawn supports, upheld by God, or thee ? 
 
 If this passage were prose, every line but the fifth 
 might end with the falling inflection, like a commencing 
 series of five members ; but the fifth being that where 
 the two principal constructive parts unite, and the sense 
 begins to form, here, both in prose and verse, must be 
 the principal pause, and the rising inflection. 
 
 Having premised these observations, we proceed to 
 give some particular rules for the proper pronunciation 
 of verse. 
 
 Rule XLII. As the exact tone of the passions, or 
 emotions, which verse excites, is not at first easy to hit, it 
 will be proper always to begin a poem in a simple and 
 almost prosaic style, and so proceed till we are warmed 
 with the subject, and feel the emotion we wish to express. 
 
 Thus in Gray's Elegy in a Country Church-yard, if 
 we cannot immediately strike into the solemn style with 
 which that poem begins, it will be better to commence 
 with an easier and less marked tone, and somewhat like 
 the style of reading prose, till the subject becomes a 
 little familiar. There are few poems which will not 
 allow of this prosaic commencement; and where they 
 do not, it is a much less fault in reading to begin with 
 too little emphasis, than either to strike into a wrong one. 
 or to execute the right emphasis awkwardly. Gray's 
 Elegy on the Extirpation of the Bards, is almost the 
 6 
 
62 ART OF READING. 
 
 only one that does not admit of commencing mod- 
 erately. 
 
 Ruin seize thee, ruthless king ! 
 Confusion on thy banners wait ! fyc. 
 
 Rule XLHI. In verse every syllable is to have the 
 same accent, and every word the same emphasis as in prose. 
 
 Though the rhythmical arrangement of the accent 
 and emphasis is the very definition of poetry, yet, if 
 this arrangement tends to give an emphasis to words 
 which would have none in prose, or an accent to such 
 syllables as have properly no accent, the rhythmus, or 
 music of the verse, must be entirely neglected. Thus 
 the article the ought never to have a stress, though 
 placed in that part of the verse where the ear expects 
 an accent. 
 
 Of all the causes which conspire to blind 
 Man's erring judgment, and misguide the mind, 
 What the weak head with strongest bias rules, 
 Is pride ; the never failing vice of fools. Pope. 
 
 An injudicious reader of verse would be very apt to lay 
 stress upon the article the in the third line, but a good 
 reader would infallibly neglect the stress on this, and 
 transfer it to the words what and weak. Thus also in 
 the following example, no stress must be laid on the 
 word of, because we should not give it any in prosaic 
 pronunciation : 
 
 Ask of thy mother earth why oaks are made 
 Taller and stronger than the weeds they shade. Ibid. 
 
 For the same reason the word as, either in the first 
 or second line of the following couplet, ought to have no 
 stress : 
 
 Eye nature's walks, shoot folly as it flies, 
 And catch the manners living as they rise. Ibid. 
 
 The last syllable of the word excellent, in the following 
 couplet, being the place of the stress, is very apt to 
 draw the organs to a wrong pronunciation of the word, 
 in compliance with the rhythmus of the verse : 
 
 Their praise is still the style is excellent : 
 The sense they humbly take upon content. Ibid. 
 
INFLECTIONS OF THE VOICE. 63 
 
 But a stress upon the last syllable of this word must be 
 avoided upon pain of the greatest possible reproach to 
 a good reader ; which is that of altering the accent of 
 a word, to indulge the ear in a childish jingle of sylla- 
 bles. The same may be observed of the w r ord eloquence 
 and the particle the in the following couplet : 
 
 False eloquence like the prismatic glass 
 Its gaudy colours spreads on every place. Ibid. 
 
 If in compliance with the rhythmus, or tune of the 
 verse, we were to lay a stress on the last syllable of 
 eloquence, and on the particle the in the first of these 
 verses, scarcely any thing can be conceived more dis- 
 gusting to a good judge of reading. 
 
 A bad fault opposite to this is very common among 
 bad readers ; and that is, hurrying over the two last syl- 
 lables of such words so as to reduce the pronunciation 
 to prose : for it must be carefully noted, that the beauty 
 of reading verse depends exceedingly upon the tone in 
 which we pronounce it. The unaccented syllables, 
 though less forcible, ought to have the same time as 
 those that are accented ; a regular march, an agreeable 
 movement, ought to reign through the whole. 
 
 This rule, however, with respect to the place of the 
 accent, admits of some few exceptions. Milton has 
 sometimes placed words so unfavourably for pronuncia- 
 tion in the common way, that the ear would be more 
 disgusted with the harshness of the verse, if the right 
 accent were preserved, than with a wrong accent which 
 preserves the harmony of the verse : for it is not mere- 
 ly reducing a line to prose if the sense requires it, which 
 is a capital fault in reading poetry, but reducing it to 
 very harsh and disagreeable prose. Thus the Angel, 
 in Milton, reasoning with Adam about the planets, 
 says, 
 
 For such vast room in nature unpossessed 
 By living souls, desert and desolate, 
 Only to shine yet scarce to contribute 
 Each orb a glimpse of light, conveyed so far 
 Down to this habitable, which returns 
 Light back to them, is obvious to dispute. 
 
 Parad. Lost, B. viii. v. 153. 
 
64 
 
 ART OP READING. 
 
 The word contribute has properly the accent on the 
 second syllable ; but the verse would be so harsh with 
 this accent, that a good reader will, for the sake of 
 sound, lay the principal accent on the first syllable, and 
 a subordinate stress on the third. The same may be 
 observed of the word attribute, in the following passage 
 from the same author : 
 
 The swiftness of those circles attribute, 
 Though numberless, to his omnipotence, 
 That to corporeal substances could add 
 Speed almost spiritual. Ibid. B. viii. v. 197. 
 
 But when the poet has with great judgment contriv- 
 ed that his numbers shall be harsh and grating, in order 
 to correspond to the ideas they suggest, the common 
 accentuation must be preserved. 
 
 On a sudden open fly 
 With impetuous recoil and jarring sound 
 The infernal doors, and on their hinges grate 
 Harsh thunder. Ibid. B. ii. v. 879. 
 
 Here the harshness arising from the accent on the . 
 second syllable of the word impetuous, finely expresses 
 the recoil and jarring sound of the gates of hell. 
 
 Rule XLIV. The vowel e, which is often cut off by 
 an apostrophe in the word the, and in syllables before r, 
 as dang'rous, gen'rous, fyc. ought to be preserved in the 
 pronunciation, because the syllable it forms is so short, 
 as to admit of being sounded with the preceding sylla- 
 ble, so as not to increase the number of syllables to the 
 ear, or at all hurt the harmony. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 'Tis hard to say, if greater want of skill 
 
 Appear in writing or in judging ill ; 
 
 But of the two less dang'rous is th' offence, 
 
 To tire our patience, than mislead our sense. Pope. 
 
 Him the Almighty power 
 Hurled headlong flaming from th' etherial sky 
 With hideous ruin and combustion, down 
 To bottomless perdition, there to dwell 
 In adamantine chains, and penal fire, 
 Who durst defy th' Omnipotent to arms. Milton. 
 
INFLECTIONS OF THE VOICE. 65 
 
 In the example from Milton, we have an instance that 
 the particle the may either form a distinct syllable in 
 poetry or not ; in the first line it must necessarily form 
 a distinct syllable ; in the second and last it may be so 
 blended with the succeeding word as to be pronounced 
 without elision, and yet form no distinct syllable. 
 
 Rule XLV. Almost every verse admits of a pause 
 in or near the middle of the line, which is called the ccz- 
 sura ; this must be carefully observed in reading verse, 
 or much of the distinctness, and almost all the harmony 
 will be lost. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 IVature to all things fix'd the limits fit, 
 And wisely curbed proud man's pretending wit; 
 As on the land, while here the ocean gains, 
 In other parts it leaves wide sandy plains ; 
 Thus is the soul, while memory prevails, 
 The solid power of understanding fails; 
 Where beams of warm imagination play 
 The memory's soft figures melt away. Pope. 
 
 These lines have seldom any points inserted in the 
 middle, even by the most scrupulous punctuists; and 
 yet nothing can be more palpable to the ear, than that 
 a pause in the first at things, in the second at curbed, in 
 the third at land, in the fourth at parts, and in the fifth 
 at soul, is absolutely necessary to the harmony of these 
 lines ; and that the sixth, by admitting no pause but at 
 understanding, and the seventh, none but at imagination, 
 border very nearly upon prose. It is proper to ob- 
 serve, in this place, that though the most harmonious 
 place for the capital pause is after the fourth syllable, it 
 may, for the salce of expressing the sense strongly and 
 suitably, and sometimes even for the sake of variety, be 
 placed at several other intervals. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 'Tis hard to say — if greater want of skill. 
 So when an. angel — by divine command, 
 With rising tempest — shakes a guilty land. 
 Then from his closing eyes — thy form shall part, 
 And the last pang — shall tear thee from his heart 
 
66 ART OF READING. 
 
 Inspired repulsed battalions — to engage,' 
 And taught the doubtful battle — where to rage. 
 Know, then, thyself— presume not God to scan ; 
 The proper study of mankind — is man. 
 
 Rule XLVI. At the end of every line in poetry 
 must be a pause proportioned to the intimate or remote 
 connexion between it and the following line. 
 
 There is a natural tendency in reading poetry to 
 pause at the termination of each line ; and provided 
 such pause is consistent with the sense of the passage, 
 this propensity may safely be indulged. Hence a pause 
 is often proper in poetry, where it would be omitted in 
 prose as unnecessary : 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 'Tis with our judgments as our watches; none 
 Go just alike, yet each believes his own. 
 
 Here a slight pause is admissible at none, since such a 
 pause does not interfere with the sense. Where, how- 
 ever, the sense is such as would render two words in- 
 separable in prose, they are equally so in poetry. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 Which, without passing through the judgment, gains 
 The heart, and all its end at once attains. 
 
 Here the verb gains is so intimately connected with its 
 object, that a pause between them would be injurious : 
 such a pause is therefore inadmissible. See remark 
 under Rule II. 
 
 Rule XI All. In order to form a cadence in a pe- 
 riod in rhyming verse, we must adopt the falling inflec- 
 tion with considerable force, in the, ccesura of the last 
 line but one. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 One science only will one genius fit, 
 So vast is art, so narrow human wit; 
 Not only bounded to peculiar arts, 
 But oft in those confined to single parts ; 
 Like kings we lose the conquests gained before, 
 By vain ambition still to make them more ; 
 Eaoh might his several province || well command, 
 Would all but stoop to what they understand. 
 
INFLECTIONS OF THE VOICEi 67 
 
 In repeating these lines, we shall find it necessary to 
 form the cadence, by giving the falling inflection with a 
 little more force than common to the word province. 
 The same may be observed of the word prospect, in 
 the last line but one of the following passage : 
 
 So pleased at first the towering Alps we try, 
 Mount o'er the vales, and seem to tread the sky ; 
 Th' eternal snows appear already past, 
 And the first clouds and mountains seem the last; 
 But those attained, we tremble to survey 
 The growing labours of the lengthened way ; 
 The increasing prospect || tires our wandering eyes, 
 Hills peep o'er hills, and Alps on Alps arise. 
 
 Rule XLVI1I. A simile in poetry ought always to 
 be read in a lower tone of voice than that part of the 
 passage which precedes it. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 'Twas then great Marlborough's mighty soul was proved, 
 That in the shock of charging hosts unmoved, 
 Amidst confusion, horror, and despair, 
 Examined all the dreadful scenes of war. 
 In peaceful thought the field of death surveyed, 
 To fainting squadrons sent the timely aid ; 
 Inspired repulsed battalions to engage, 
 And taught the douhtful battle where to rage. 
 So when an angel, by divine command 
 With rising tempests shakes a guilty land, 
 (Such as of late o'er pale Britannia past,) 
 Calm and serene he drives the furious blast; 
 And, pleased th' Almighty's orders to perform, 
 Rides on the whirlwind, and directs the storm. Addison. 
 
 Rule XLIX, Where there is no pause in the sense 
 at the end of the verse, the last word must have exactly 
 the same inflection it would have in prose. 
 
 At his command th' uprooted hills retired 
 Each to his place ; they heard his voice and went 
 Obsequious ; heaven his wonted face renewed, 
 And with fresh flowerets hill and valley smiled. 
 
 In this example, the words retired and went require 
 the rising inflection ; since this is the inflection they 
 would have were the sentence pronounced prosaically. 
 
 _ Rule L. Sublime, grand, and magnificent descrip- 
 tion in poetry, frequently requires a lower tone of voice. 
 
68 ART OF READING. 
 
 and a sameness nearly approaching to a monotone, to 
 give it variety. 
 
 This rule will surprise many who have always been 
 taught to look upon a monotone or sameness of voice 
 as a deformity in reading. A deformity it certainly is, 
 when it arises either from a want of power to alter the 
 voice, or a want of judgment to introduce it properly; 
 but when it is introduced with propriety, it is one of 
 the greatest embellishments of poetic pronunciation. 
 Nay, a monotone connected with preceding and suc- 
 ceeding inflections, is a real variety, and is exactly sim- 
 ilar to a succession of the same identical notes in mu- 
 sic ; which, considered apart, is perfectly monotonous, 
 but taken with what goes before and follows, is among 
 the finest beauties of composition. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 Hence ! loathed Melancholy, 
 
 Of Cerberus, and blackest Midnight born, 
 In Stygian cava forlorn, 
 
 'Mongst borrid sbapes and shrieks, and sights unholy. 
 Find oat some uncouth cell, 
 
 Where brooding darkness spreads his jealous wings, 
 And the night raven sings ; 
 
 There, under ebon shades and low-browed rocks, 
 As ragged as thy locks, 
 
 In dark Cimmerian desert ever dwell. Milton. 
 
 In repeating this passage, we shall find the darkness 
 and horror of the cell wonderfully augmented, by pro- 
 nouncing the eighth line, 
 
 " There, under ebon shades, and low-browed rocks," 
 
 in a low monotone ; which monotone may not be im- 
 properly signified, by the horizontal line generally used 
 to mark long quantity ; as this line is perfectly descrip- 
 tive of a sameness of tone, as the acute and grave ac- 
 cent are of variety. 
 
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