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ECHO

Is here used to express that repetition of a word or thought, which immediately arises from a word or thought that preceded it.

RULE. The echoing word ought always to be pronounced with the rising inflection in a high tone of voice, and a long pause after it, when it implies any degree of passion.*

EXAMPLES.

1. Newton was a Christian! Newton'! whose mind burst forth from the fetters cast by nature on our finite conceptionsNewton'! whose science was truth, and the foundation of whose knowledge of it was philosophy; not those visionary and arrogant presumptions which too often usurp its name, but philosophy resting on the basis of mathematics, which, like figures, cannot lie-Newton'! who carried the line and rule to the utmost barrier of creation, and explored the principles by which, no doubt, all created matter is held together and exists.

2. With "mysterious reverence" I forbear to descant on those serious and interesting rites, for the more august and solemn celebration of which Fashion nightly convenes these splendid myriads to her more sumptuous temples. Rites'! which, when engaged in with due devotion, absorb the whole soul, and call every passion into exercise, except those indeed of love, and peace, and kindness, and gentleness. Inspiring' rites! which stimulate fear, rouse hope, kindle zeal, quicken dulness, sharpen discernment, exercise memory, inflame curiosity! Rites' !^ in short, in the due performance of which, all the energies and attentions, all the powers and abilities, all the abstractions and exertion, all the diligence and devotedness, all the sacrifice of time, all the contempt of ease, all the neglect of sleep, all the oblivion of care, all the risks of fortune (half of which, if directed to their true objects, would change the very face of the world), all these are concentrated to one point: a point' ! in which the wise and the weak, the learned and the ignorant, the fair and the frightful, the sprightly and the dull, the rich and the poor, the patrician and plebeian, meet in one common uniform equality: an equality! as religiously respected in these solemnities, in which all distinctions are levelled at a blow, and of which the very spirit is therefore democratical, as it is combated in all other instances.

HANNAH MORE on Female Education.

The echoing word is printed in italics, and marked with the rising inflection.

THE MONOTONE,

In certain solemn and sublime passages, has a wonderful force and dignity; and by the uncommonness of its use, it even adds greatly to that variety with which the ear is so much delighted.*

EXAMPLES.

1. High on a throne of royal state, which far
Outshone the wealth of Ormus or of Inde

Or where the gorgeous East, with richest hand,
Shōwers, on her kings barbaric, pearl' and gold',
Satan exalted sat.

2. Hence! loathed Melancholy,

Of Cerberus and blackest Midnight born, In Stygian cave forlorn,

'Mongst horrid shapes and shrieks, and sights unholy, Find out 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.

CIRCUMFLEXES.

The rising circumflex begins with the falling inflection, and ends with the rising upon the same syllable, and seems as it were to twist the voice upwards. This turn of the voice is marked in this manner (v).

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But it is foolish in us to compare Drusus Africanus and ourselves with Clodius; all our other calamities were tolerable; but no one can patiently bear the death of Clodius.

The falling circumflex begins with the rising inflection, and ends with the falling upon the same syllable, and seems to twist the voice downwards. This turn of the voice may be marked by the common circum. flex: thus (^).

This monotone may be defined to be a continuation or sameness of Sound upon certain syllables of a word, exactly like that produced by repeatedly striking a bell ;-such a stroke may be louder or softer, but continues exactly in the same pitch. To express this tone upon paper, à horizontal line may be adopted; such a one as is generally used to express a long syllable in verse: thus (-).

EXAMPLE.

Queen. Hamlet, you have your father much offended.
Hamlet. Madam, yoû have my father much offended.

Both these circumflex inflections may be exemplified in the word so, in a speech of the Clown in Shakspeare's As You Like it.

I knew when seven justices could not take up a quarrel; but when the parties were met themselves, one of them thought but of an If; as if you said so, then I said sô: O ho! did so? So they shook hands and were sworn brothers.

you

CLIMAX,

OR A GRADUAL INCREASE OF SIGNIFICATION,

Requires an increasing swell of the voice on every succeeding particular, and a degree of animation corresponding with the nature of the subject.

EXAMPLES.

1. After we have practised good actions a while, they become easy; and when they are easy, we begin to take pleasure in them; and when they please us, we do them frequently; and, by frequency of acts, a thing grows into a habit; and a confirmed habit is a second kind of nature; and, so far as any thing is natural, so far it is necessary, and we can hardly do otherwise; nay, we do it many times when we do not think of it.

2. 'Tis listening fear and dumb amazement all,
When to the startled eye the sudden glance
Appears far south, eruptive through the cloud;
And following slower in explosion vast,
The thunder raises his tremendous voice.
At first heard solemn o'er the verge of heaven,
The tempest growls; but, as it nearer comes,
And rolls its awful burden on the wind,
The lightnings flash a larger curve, and more
The noise astounds; till over-head a sheet
Of livid flame discloses wide; then shuts
And opens wider; shuts and opens still,
Expansive, wrapping ether in a blaze:
Follows the loosen'd aggravated roar,
Enlarging, deepening, mingling; peal on peal
Crushed horrible, convulsing heaven and earth.

ACCENT.

RULE.-Emphasis requires a transposition of accent, when two words which have a sameness in part of their formation, are opposed to each other in sense.

EXAMPLES.

1. What is done', cannot be un'done.*

2. There is a material difference between giv'ing and for'giving.

3. Thought and language act' and re'act upon each other. 4. He who is good before in'visible witnesses, is eminently so before the visible.

5. What fellowship hath right'eousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?

6. The riches of the prince must increase or decrease in proportion to the number and riches of his subjects.

7. Religion raises men above themselves; ir'religion sinks them beneath the brutes.

8. I shall always make reason, truth, and nature, the measures of praise and dis`praise.

9. Whatever convenience may be thought to be in falsehood and dissimulation, it is soon over; but the in'convenience of it is perpetual.

10. The sense of an author being the first object of reading, it will be necessary to inquire into those divisions and subdivisions of a sentence, which are employed to fix and ascertain its meaning.

11. This corruptible must put on in'corruption, and this mor'tal must put on immortality.

12. For a full collection of topics and epithets to be used in the praise' and dis praise of ministerial and un'ministerial persons, I refer to our rhetorical cabinet.

13. In the suit'ableness or unsuitableness, in the proportion

*The signs (' and ') besides denoting the inflections, mark also the accented syllables.

Whatever inflection be adopted, the accented syllable is always louder than the rest; but if the accent be pronounced with the rising inflection, the accented syllable is higher than the preceding, and lower than the succeeding syllable; and if the accent have the falling inflection, the accented syllable is pronounced higher than any other syllable, either preceding or succeeding.

or disproportion which the affection seems to bear to the cause or object which excites it, consists the propriety or im'propriety, the decency or ungracefulness of the consequent action.

14. He that compares what he has done with what he has left un'done, will feel the effect which must always follow the comparison of imagination with reality.

Note 1.-This transposition of the accent extends itself to all words which have a sameness of termination, though they may not be directly opposite in sense.

EXAMPLES.

1. In this species of composition, plau'sibility is much more essential than prob`ability.

2. Lucius Catiline was expert in all the arts of sim'ulation and dis`simulation; covetous of what belonged to others, lavish of his own.

Note 2.-When the accent is on the last syllable of a word which has no emphasis, it must be pronounced louder and a degree lower than the

rest.

EXAMPLE.

Sooner or later virtue must meet with a reward'.

EMPHASIS

Is that stress we lay on words which are in contradistinction to other words expressed or understood. And hence will follow this general rule; Wherever there is contradistinction in the sense of the words, there ought to be emphasis in the pronunciation of them.

All words are pronounced either with emphatic force, accented force, or unaccented force; this last kind of force may be called by the name of feebleness. When the words are in contradistinction to other words, or to some sense implied, they may be called emphatic; where they do not denote contradistinction, and yet are more important than the particles, they may be called accented, and the particles and lesser words may be called unaccented or feeble.

EXAMPLES.

1. Exercise and temperance strengthen the constitution. 2. Exercise and temperance strengthen even an INDIFFERENT constitution.

The word printed in Roman capitals is pronounced with emphatic force; those in small italics are pronounced with accented force; the rest with unaccented force.

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