EXAMPLES.

As in my speculations I have endeavored to extinguish passion and préjudice, I am still desirous of doing some good in this particular. Spectator.

Here the sentence divides itself into two correspondent parts at prejudice; and as the word so is understood before the words I am, they must be preceded by the long pause and rising inflection.

If impudence prevailed as much in the forum and courts of justice, as insolence does in the country and places of less resort; Aulus Cæcina would submit as much to the impudence of Sextus Æbutius in this cause, as he did before to his insolence when assaulted 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 that 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 Cacina in the second sentence, the first part ends at inclined, and the second begins at no one; and in the third the first part ends at infinitude, and the second begins at our between these words, therefore, in each sentence, must be inserted the long pause and rising inflection.

All these sentences commence with a conjunction, and may be said to have a correspondent conjunction commencing the second part of the sentence, not expressed, but understood. In the first sentence commencing 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:

If impudence prevailed as much in the forum and courts of justice, as insolence does in the country and places of less resort; then Aulus Cæcina would submit as much to the impudence of Sextus butius 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 sentence is in direct opposition to another word in the conclusion, 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 emphatic 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 àge.

If we have no regard for our own character, it can scarcely he expected that we could have any regard for the characters of others.

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 general both the works of nature 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 reflections on that particular art, which has a more immediate tendency than any other, to produce those primary pleasures of the imagination, which have hitherto been the subject of this discourse.

Spect. No. 415.

The sense is suspended in this sentence, till the word beholder, and here is to be placed the long pause and rising 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 perfection of an accomplished man.

:

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

Persons of good taste expect to be 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 general, but with reference to the time they are informed: the words taste and pleased, therefore, in these sen

tences, we must pronounce with the rising inflection, and accompany this infection with a pause. For the same reasons, the same pause and inflection must precede the word though in the following example:

I can desire to perceive those things that God has prepared for those that love him. though they be such as eye 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 corresponding 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 former 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 precepts for pronunciation and àction; without which part, he affirms, that the best orator in the world can never succéed, and an indifferent 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

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 called off to something new, and the attention not suffered to dwell too long on any particular object. Spectator.

For this reason, there is nothing more enlivens a prospect than rivers, jetteaus, and falls of water, where the scene is perpetually shifting, 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 abbey, there is a long walk of aged èlms; 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 immediately 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 mán, and that writing or printing are the transcript of words. Spect. 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. Spect. No. 160.

The florist, the planter, the gardener, the husbandman, when they are 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.

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.