misery, to bow the knee before the monarch, submit themselves and their country to his mércy, and receive such laws as a cònqueror-a conqueror they attacked first, shall think fit to prescribe them? Eschines on the Crown. Rollin. It need scarcely be observed, that in order to prevent 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, (O 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 róstrum? did you denounce, or once explain those crimes, with which you are now pleased to charge me? Demosthenes 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, according to Rule XXXVII. Would an infinitely wise Being make such glorious beings for so méan a purpose? can he delight in the production of such abortive intelligence, such short-lived reasonable beings? would he give us talents that are not to be exérted, capacities that are not to be grátified? Spect. No. 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 following 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 Why so didst thou: seem they religious? Why so didst thou: or are they spare in diet; Constant in spirit, not swerving with the blood ; Garnished and decked in modest complement, In pronouncing this passage, it should seem most eligible to use the rising inflection at the end of the several questions: but after the four first, the falling inflection 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 elevated 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 cannot any offer more worthy a generous mind. Would you do a handsome 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. Spect. 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 opposition 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 evident, if the last series of questions and answers be compared with the following, where no opposition existing, the rising inflection is retained. 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 action since the memory of màn. That I 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 mén? That is false. That 1 was afraid of death? That is a calumny. I 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 terminate this subject; that as questions, which demand the rising inflection at the end, especially when they 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 question, and the commencing questions of a long succes. sion of questions; for as the characteristic pronunciation of these questions is, to end with the rising inflection, 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 indicate that some passion or emotion is contained in the words to which it is annexed. As almost all forms of expression admit, under certain circumstances, of this addition, no general rule can be given for the inflection which should accompany it. 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 parenthesis should be pronounced in a lower tone of voice at the 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 immediately precedes it. EXAMPLES. Notwithstanding all this care of Cicero, history informs us that Marcus proved a mere blockhead; and that náture (who it seems was even with the son for her prodigality to the father) rendered him incapable of improving by all the rules of èloquence, the precepts of philosophy, his own endeavours, and the most refined conversation in Athens. Spect. No. 307. Dr. 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. The many letters which come to me from persons of the best sense in both sexes (for I may pronounce their characters from their way of writing) do not a little encourage me in the prosecution of this my undertaking. Spect. 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 parenthesis more rapidly, and by giving a degree of sameness to the voice, which may distinguish the parenthesis 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 intelligible. 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 subject 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 adduce a few examples for practice. But what if he our conqueror (whom I now Than such could have o'er-powered such force as ours) Strongly to suffer and support our pains? Parad. Lost, b. i. His spéar (to equal which the tallest pine v. 143. |