Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

RULE IX.

The concluding word of that portion of a sentence in which is contained a series of concessions, uniformly requires the emphatic rising inflexion.

EXAMPLES.

"You may sw'ell every expe'nse, acc'umulate every assi`stance, and extend your traffic/ to the sham'bles-of every German des'pot; your attempts will be for ever va'in and im`potent.'

"Painting, poetry, el'oquence, and every other art/ on which the gen'ius of man has exercised it'self, may be abu'sed and prove dangerous/ in the hands of bad" men; but it were ridiculous to conten'd/ tha't, on thi's-account, they ought to be ab'olished."

RULE X.

Negative sentences, or negative members of sentences, almost always require the emphatic rising inflexion, agreeably to the examples of interrogatories as contained in the outline. EXAMPLES.

"The religion of the Gospel/ is not a gloom"y-religion." "I cannot, I will not/ join in congratulation on misfortune and disgrace"."

"Greatness/ confers no exemption from the ca'res and so`rrows of human"ity."

It seems proper under this rule to remark, that the adverb "not" ought never to be emphatic but when it is obviously antithetic.

EXAMPLE.

"'Tis immateral in what way good is done.-No, 'tis n'ot immaterial."

RULE XI.

Every period consisting of two principal parts, and having the first part to commence with a verb in the imperative mood, requires a long pause and the rising inflection at the end of this part.

* In the pronunciation of this adjective too much care cannot be employed to preserve the long open sound of the "o."

EXAMPLES.

"Love your parents and your friends as you ought" to do, and you may safely calculate/ upon a return-of-their love." "Let my difficulties and misfortunes in life/ be confined to myself, de'ath (the common friend of the wret'ched) will soon put a period/ to them a'll.”

RULE XII.

Declarative sentences, or members of sentences where antithesis is either implied or expressed, uniformly require the rising inflexion.

EXAMPLES.

"I have always preferred cheer'fulness to mirth"." "He is as good" a man."

[ocr errors]

"He is as faith"ful a preacher."

"There is the language of emotions and pas'sions, as we'll as of ide"as."

A part of the admirable speech of Cassius against Cæsar affords a happy illustration of this useful rule.

"Brutus and Cæsar ! What should be in'-that-Cæsar ?

Why should that nam ́e/ be sounded mo're/ than you'rs?
Write them together:- You'rs is as fai'r-a-name.
Sound them:-it doth become the mouth as well".
Weigh them :—it is as hea"vy. Con'jure with them:
Brûtus will start a spirit/ as soon as Cæsar."

RULE XIII.

*

Sentences that commence with adjectives, are generally divided into two parts; the last word of the first part requires the rising inflexion.

EXAMPLES.

"Sensible of the ju'stness of his cau'se, and the purity of his motives, he manfully oppo'sed, and/ ultimately surmounted every difficulty."

*A peculiar significance of manner should accompany the delivery of this paragraph.

"Conscious of the inferi'ority of his numbers, and the undisciplined state of many of his troops", he resolved to withdraw his legions/ from before the city."

* For Rules for the Elocutionary punctuation contained in these and the following introductory Examples, see appropriate "foot notes" interspersed among the first 160 pages of "The Reader." Had the idea of making the intermediate pauses occurred to him before he appended the "Notes," the Editor should have given the most of them here, in preference to the pages they now occupy.

INTRODUCTION.

THE word series, according to Mr. Walker, signifies an enumeration of nouns, either when consisting of individual words, or when they have qualities or properties annexed to them.

An enumeration of particular nouns consisting of single words is called a simple* series; when consisting of more than single words, a compound series.

The series is further divided into commencing and concluding.

A series which begins a sentence, and does not end it, is entitled a commencing series; and where it finishes a sentence, it is denominated a concluding series.

This highly important, but difficult branch of elocution, is introduced for the purpose of pointing out the most harmonious and emphatic variety; and to reduce it to such rules as may help to guide us in the most frequent and obvious cases where the series occurs.

COMMENCING SIMPLE SERIES.

RULE.

When two members commence a sentence, the first must have the falling, and the last the rising inflexion. When three members commence a sentence, the first two have the falling, and the last the rising inflexion; and when four members commence a sentence, the first has the rising, the two middle the falling, and the last the rising inflexion.

EXAMPLES.

"Exercise and temperance/ strengthen the constitution."

* "Obs.-This series is not rendered compound by the introduction of particles, such as articles, conjunctions, &c. &c.

"Manufactures, tra"de, and a"griculture, naturally employ more than nineteen parts of the spe'cies/ in twenty."

"In short, a modern Pindaric wr'iter (compared with Pindar) is like a sister among the Ca'misars/ compared with Virgil's sy bil; there is the distortion, grimace", and out"wardfigure, but nothing of that divine im'pulse which raises the mind above itself, and makes the soun'ds/ more than hu`man.”

"Metals, minerals, plants", and meteors, contain a thousand curious pr'operties, whic'h/ are as engaging to the fan'cy/

as to the reason."

"Proofs of the immortality of the soul/ may justly be drawn from the nature of the SUPREME-BEING, whose justice, goodness, wisdom, and vera"city, are all conce'rned/ in this gre'at-point."

CONCLUDING SIMPLE SERIES

RULE.

When two members conclude a sentence, the last has the falling, and the last but one the rising inflexion. When three members conclude a sentence, the first two have the rising, and the last the falling inflexion ;† and when four members succeed each other and conclude a sentence, the first has the falling, the two middle the rising, and the last the falling.

EXAMPLES.

"The constitution is strengthened/ by exercise and tem"perance."

"A modern Pindaric wr'iter (compared with Pin'dar) is like a sister among the Ca'misars/ compared with Virgil's sy'bil; the on'e/ gives that divine im'pulse/ which raises the mind above itself, and makes the sounds/ more than human, while the other/ abounds with nothing/ but distortion, grimac'e, and out"ward-figure."

"There is something very engaging to the fa'ncy, as we'll/

* When two inflexions of the same kind thus consecutively occur, the latter requires superior accentual force.

† Where solemnity is required in a concluding series of three, the first word must be pronounced with the falling, the middle with the rising, and the last with the falling inflexion.

« ZurückWeiter »