BOTH INFLECTIONS TOGETHER.

4] RULE I. When the disjunctive or connects words or clauses, it has the rising inflection before, and the 'falling after it.

EXAMPLES.

Shall I come to you with a ród-or in lòve?

Art thou he that should cóme,

-or look we for another?

The baptism of John, was it from heaven,-or of mèn ?

5] RULE II. The direct question, or that which admits the answer of yes or no, has the rising inflection, and the answer has the falling.

6] NOTE 1. This sort of question ends with the rising slide, whether the answer follows it or not. But it is not true, as Mr. Walker has seemed to suppose, that every question beginning with a verb is of this sort. If I wish to know whether my friend will go on a journey within two days, I say perhaps, "Will you go today or tomórrow?" He may answer, "yes, "--because my rising inflection on both words implies that I used the or between them conjunctively. But if I had used it disjunctively, it must have had the rising slide before it, and the falling after; and then the question is, not whether he will go within two days, but on which of the two ;-thus, "Will you go today or tomorrow?" The whole question, in this case, though it begins with a verb, cannot admit the answer yes or no, and of course cannot end with the rising slide.

The very general habit of elocution which gives this slide to a question beginning with a verb, is superseded by the stronger principle of emphatic contrast in Rule 1st. Thus the disciples said to Christ, "Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not? give?" Pilate said to the you Barábbas, or Jesus ?" Let the rising slide be given on both names, in this latter case, and the answer might indeed be yes or no, but the sense is perverted, by making these, two names for the same person; just as in the following, "Was this becoming in Zoroaster, or the Philosopher of the Magí ?" Such an example may help to satisfy those who doubt the significance of inflection.

Shall we give or shall we not
Jews, "Shall I release unto

NOTE 2. When Exclamation becomes a question, it demands the rising slide; as, "How, you say, are we to

accomplish it? How accomplish it! Certainly not by fearing to attempt it."

7] RULE III. When negation is opposed to affirmation, the former has the rising, and the latter the falling inflection.

EXAMPLES.

Í did not say a better soldier,—but an èlder.
Study not for amusement,—but for improvement.
Aim not to show knowledge, but to acquire it.
He was esteemed, not for wealth,-but for wisdom.
He will not come today,-but tomorrow.

He did not act wisely, but unwisely.

He did not call mé,-but you.

He did not say pride, but pride.

Negation alone, not opposed to affirmation, does not by any means, always take the rising inflection, as Mr. Knowles supposes. The simple particle no, when under the emphasis, with the intensive, falling slide, is one of the strongest monosyllables in the language. But when negative and affirmative clauses come into opposition, I think of no exception to the rule but that mentioned under emphatic succession, Rule IX. Note 2.

8] NOTE 1. This rule, like the two preceding, is founded on the influence which antithetic sense has on the voice. The same change of inflections we find in comparison; as,

"He is more knàve than fool."

"A countenance more in sòrrow than in anger."

So in the following case of simple contrast, where, in each couplet of antithetic terms, the former word has the rising inflection.

Here regard to virtue opposes insensibility to shame; púrity, to pollution; intégrity to injùstice; virtue to villany; resolution, to ràge; regulárity, to riòt. The struggle lies between wealth and want; the dignity, and degeneracy of reason; the force, and the phrenzy of the soul; between well grounded hópe, and widely extended despair.

NOTE 2. The reader should be apprised here, that the falling slide, being often connected with strong emphasis, and beginning on a high and spirited note, is liable to be mistaken, by those little acquainted with the subject, for the rising slide. If one is in doubt which of the two he has employed, on a particular word, let him repeat both together, by forming a question according to Rule I. with the disjunctive or ;—thus, “Did I say gó,— or gò?" Or let him take each example under Rule I. and according to Rule II. from an answer echoing the first emphatic word, but changing the inflection; thus, "Will you go,—or stay? I shall gò.” "Will you ride, or walk? I shall ride."

slides on the same word.

This will give the contrary

But as some may be unable still to distinguish the falling slide, confounding it, as just mentioned, with the rising inflection, or, on the other hand, with the cadence; I observe that the difficulty lies in two things. One is, that the slide is not begun so high, and the other, that it is not carried through so many notes, as it ought to be. I explain this by a diagram, thus:

It is sufficiently exact to say, that in reading this properly, the syllables without slide may be spoken on one key or monotone. From this key go slides upwards to its highest note, and from the same high note stay slides downwards to the key; and go does the same, in the answer to the question. In the second example, the case is entirely similar. But the difficulty with the inexpert reader is, that he strikes the downward slide, not above the key, but on it, and then slides downward, just as in a cadence. The faulty manner may be represented thus: Will you go to-day,

or to

morrow?

I shall go to-morrow.

The other part of the difficulty in distinguishing the falling inflection from the opposite, arises from its want of sufficient extent. Sometimes indeed the voice is merely dropped to a low note, without any slide at all. The best remedy is, to take a sentence with some emphatic word, on which the intensive falling slide is proper, and protract that slide, in a drawling manner, from a high note to a low one. This will make its distinction from

the rising slide very obvious.

Harmony and emphasis make some exceptions to several of these rules, which the brevity of my plan compels me to pass by without notice.

RISING INFLECTION.

9] RULE IV. The pause of suspension, denoting that the sense is unfinished, requires the rising inflection. This rule embraces several particulars, more especially applying to sentences of the periodic structure,