In words of more than one syllable, let the pupils tel on what sylla bles primary and secondary accents fall, in the following EXAMPLES. 1. When the weary seaman, on the dreary deep, sees a beacon gleaming on the seashore, he is eager for the seaside. 2. If the marine force besiege the fort, we will march to its relief, when your friends can make a sortie and retrieve their loss. 3. The brigadier, cavalier, chevalier, grenadier, and volunteer were armed cap-a-pie. 4. On that momentous occasion, the majestic polemic made a pathetic speech for the prevention of oppression. 5. If you make an amicable arrangement with your adversary, he will be an admirable ac ́cessary to the felony. 6. The aristocratic ecclesiastic addressed the people of that municipality in enthusiastic strains. 7. Impenetrability and indestructibility are two essential properties of matter. 8. The incommunicability and incomprehensibility of the ways of Providence are no obstacles to the eye of faith. WORDS DISTINGUISHED BY ACCENT. Many words, or parts of speech, having the same form, are distinguished by accent alone. Nouns and adjectives are often thus distinguished from verbs. EXAMPLES. 1. Why does your ab'sent friend absent himself? 2. Did he abstract an ab'stract of your speech from the desk! 3 Note the mark of ac'cent, and accent' the right syllable. 4. Buy some cem'ent, and cement' the glass. 5. Desert' us not in the des'ert. 6. If that project fail, he will project' another. 7. My in'crease is taken to increase' your wealth. 8. Perfume' the room with rich perfume. ACCENT CHANGED BY CONTRAST. The ordinary accent of words is sometimes changed by a contrast in sense, or to express opposition of thought. EXAMPLES. 1. He must in'crease, but I must de'crease. 2. He did not say a new ad'dition, but a new e'dition. 3. Consider well what you have done, and what you have left un'done. 4. I said that she will suspect the truth of the story, not that she will ex'pect it. 5. He that de'scended is also the same that as'cended. 6. This corruptible must put on in'corruption; and this mortal must put on im'mortality. SECTION IV.-EMPHASIS. 1. EMPHASIS is the peculiar force given to one or more words of a sentence. 2. To give a word emphasis, means to pronounce it in a loud or forcible manner. Intense emphasis may often be expressed, even by a whisper. 3. Emphatic words are often printed in italics; those more emphatic, in small CAPITALS; and those that receive the greatest force, in large CAPITALS. 4. By the proper use of emphasis, we are enabled to impart animation and interest to conversation and reading. Its importance can not be over-estimated, as the meaning of a sentence often depends upon the proper placing of the emphasis. If readers have a desire to produce an impression on hearers, and read what they understand and FEEL, they will generally place emphasis on the right words. Pupils, however, should be required to observe carefully the following RULES FOR THE USE OF EMPHASIS. 1. Words and phrases peculiarly significant, or important in meaning, are emphatic; as, Whence and what art thou, execrable shape! My first reason for the adoption of this measure is, the people demand it; my second reason is, THE PEOPLE DEMAND IT. 2. Words and phrases that contrast, or point out a difference, are emphatic; as, I did not say a better soldier, but an elder Take courage! let your motto be, "Ever onward," not "Never" constant." 8. The repetition of an emphatic word usually requires an increased force of utterance; as, You injured my child, you, sir. 4. A succession of important words usually requires a gradual increase of emphatic force, though emphasis sometimes falls on the last word of a series only; as, His disappointment, his ANGUISH, bis DEATH, were caused by your carelessness. These misfortunes are the same to the poor, the ignorant, and the weak, as to the rich, the wise, and the powerful. Require pupils to tell which of the preceding rules is illustrated by each of the following EXAMPLES. 1. Speak little and well, if you wish to be considered as poɛ sessing mĕrit. 2. Boisterous in speech, in action prõmpt and bold. 3. He buys, he sells,-he STEALS, he KILLS for gold. 4. But here I stand for right, for ROMAN right. 5. I shall know but one country. I was born an Amĕrican; I live an American; I shall die an American. 6. I shall sing the praises of October, as the loveliest of months. 7. A good man loves HIMSELF too well to lose an estate by gaming, and his NEIGHBOR too well to win one. 8. The GOOD man is honored, but the EVIL man is despised. 9. The young are slaves to novelty: the old, to custom: the middle-aged, to both: the dead, to neither. 10. The wicked flee when no man pursueth; but the righteous are bold as a lion. 11. They come! to arms! TO ARMS! TO ARMS! 12. None but the brave, none but the BRAVE, none but the BRAVE deserve the fair. 13. A day, an HOUR, of virtuous liberty, is worth a whole ETERNITY in bondage. 14. It is my living sentiment, and, by the blessing of God, it shall be my dying sentiment; independer.ce Now, and independ ence FOREVER. 15. The thunders of heaven are sometimes heard to roll in the voice of a united people. 16. Let us fight for our country, OUR WHOLE COUNTRY, and NOTHING BUT OUR COUNTRY. 17. Son of night, RETIRE; call thy winds and fly. Wuy dost thou come to my presence with thy shadowy arms? Do I FEAR thy gloomy form, disinal spirit of Loda? WEAK is thy shield of clouds; FEEBLE is that meteor, thy sword. 18. Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounce it to you: trippingly on the tongue; but if you mouth it, as many of our players do, I had as lief the town-crier spake my lines. Nor do not saw the air too much with your hand thus, but use all gently; for in the very torrent, tempest, and (as I may say) WHIRLWIND of your passion, you must acquire and begět a temperance that will give it smoothness. 19. O, now you weep; and I perceive you feel the diut of PITY: these are gracious drops. Kind souls! What, weep you when you but behold our Cæsar's VESTURE wounded? Look ye here! Here is HIMSELF, MARRED, as you see, by TRAITORS. 20. As Caesar loved me, I weep for him: as he was fortunate, I rejoice at it as he was valiant, I honor him; but as he was AMBITIOUS, I slew him. There is tears for his love, joy for his fortune, honor for his valor, and DEATH for his ambition. SECTION V.-INFLECTIONS. 1. INFLECTIONS are the bends or slides of the voice, used in reading and speaking. ད There are three inflections or slides of the voice: the RISING INFLECTION, the FALLING INFLECTION, and the CIRCUMFLEX. A nark inclining to the right' is sometimes used to indicate the Rising Inflection; a mark inclining to the left, the Falling Inflection. When the Circumflex commences with a rising and ends with a falling slide of the voice, it is indicated thus, ^; but when it commences with a falling and ends with a rising slide, it is indicated thus, , which the pupil will perceive is the same mark inverted. A Though each of the above marks always indicates an inflection of the same kind, yet the slides differ greatly in the degree, or extent of their rise or fall. In some the voice has a very slight, and in others, a very marked upward or downward movement, depending on the nature of what is expressed. We do not give definite rules touching these shades of difference in the degree of inflection, as they would rather perplex than aid the learner. In a few examples, however, this difference is indicated by the use of italics and CAPITAL LETTERS. 2. THE RISING INFLECTION is the upward bend or slide of the voice; as, Do you love your home'? 3. THE FALLING INFLECTION is the downward bend or slide of the voice; as, When will you go home`? The rising inflection carries the voice upwards from the general pitch, and suspends it on the highest tone required; while the falling inflection commences above the general pitch, and At the end, or ball or fall? falls down to it; as, Did you say final close, of a declarative sentence, when the faliing slide commences on the general pitch, and falls below the key, it is sometimes called the Cadence, or falling slide of termination; as, God is Love. 4. THE CIRCUMFLEX is the union of the two inflections of the voice on the same syllable or word, either com mencing with the rising and ending with the falling, or commencing with the falling and ending with the rising, thus producing a slight wave of the voice; as, Mother, you have my father much offended. Inflection, or the slide, is one of the most important divisions of elocution, because all speech is made up of slides, and because the right or wrong formation of these gives a pervading character to the whole delivery. It is to the graceful formation of the slides that we are chiefly indebted for that easy and refined utterarce which prevails in polished society; while the coarse and rustic tones of the vulgar are commonly owing to some early and erroneous habit in this respect. Most of the schoolboy |