fuse it, and authoritatively to require that we should depart from the country. As no alternative was left us, we unhesitatingly prepared to obey this arbitrary mandate. 3.] Page 29. Tendency to slide over unaccented vowels The brief illustration of this at p. 30 is perhaps sufficient. EXERCISES ON INFLECTION. 4.] Page 47. The disjunctive (or) has the rising inflection before, and the falling after it. 1. Then said Jesus unto them, I will ask you one thing; Is it lawful on the sabbath-days to do good, or to do èvil? to save life, or to destroy it? 2. Whether we are hurt by a mad or a blind man, the pain is still the same. And with regard to those who are undone, it avails little whether it be by a man who decéives them, or by one who is himself deceived. 3. Has God forsaken the works of his own hands ? or does he always graciously presèrve, and keep and guide them ? 4. Therefore, O ye judges! you are now to consider, whether it is more probable that the deceased was murdered by the man who inherits his estáte, or by him, who inherits nothing but beggary by the same death. By the man who was raised from penury to plénty, or by him who was brought from happiness to misery. By him whom the lust of lucre has inflamed with the most invet erate hatred against his own relations; or by him whose life was such, that he never knew what gain was, but from the product of his own labours. By him, who of all dealers in the trade of blood, was the most audácious; or by him who was so little accustomed to the forum and trials, that he dreads not only the benches of a court, but the very town. In short, ye judges, what I think most to this point is, you are to consider whether it is most likely that an enemy, or a son, would be guilty of this murder. 5. 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. 5.] Page 47. The direct question has the rising inflection, and the answer has the falling. 1. Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more? Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore? Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mércies? 2. Is not this the carpenter's són? is not his mother called Máry? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Júdas? and his sisters, are they not all with us? 3. Are we intended for actors in the grand drama of * Disjunctive or is understood. 1 eternity? Are we candidates for the plaudit of the rátional creation? Are we formed to participate the supreme beatitude in communicating happiness? Are we destined to co-operate with God in advancing the order and perfection of his works? How sublime a creature then is man! 4. Can we believe a thinking being, that is in a perpetual progress of improvements, and travelling on from perfection to perfection, after having just looked abroad into the works of its creator, and made a few discoveries of his infinite goodness, wisdom, and power, must perish at her first setting out, and in the very beginning of her inquíries? The following are examples of both question and answer. 5. Who are the persons that are most apt to fall into peevishness and dejection-that are continually complaining of the world, and see nothing but wretchedness around them? Are they those whom want compels to toil for their daily bréad?-who have no treasure but the labor of their hands-who rise, with the rising sun, to expose themselves to all the rigors of the seasons, unsheltered from the winter's cold, and unshaded from the summer's héat? No. The labors of such are the very blessings of their condition. 6. What, then, what was Cæsar's object? Do we select extortioners, to enforce the laws of équity? Do we make choice of profligates, to guard the morals of socíety? Do we depute atheists, to preside over the rites of relígion? I will not press the answer: I need not press the answer; the premises of my argument render it un necessary. What would content you? Talent? No! Enterprise? No! Courage? No! Reputation? Nò! Vírtue? No! The men whom you would select, should possess, not one, but all, of these. 7. Can the truth be discovered when the slaves of the prosecutor are brought as witnesses against the person accused? Let us hear now what kind of an examination this was. Call in Ruscio; call in Casca. Did Clodius way-lay Mílo ? He did: Drag them instantly to execution. He did not: Let them have their liberty. What can be more satisfactory than this method of examination? 8. Are you desirous that your talents and abilities may procure you respect? Display them not ostentatiously to public view. Would you escape the envy which your ríches might excite? Let them not minister to pride, but adorn them with humility. There is not an evil incident to human nature for which the gospel doth not provide a remedy. Are you ignorant of many things which it highly concerns you to know? The gospel offers you instruction. Have you deviated from the path of duty? The gospel offers you forgiveness. Do temptations surround you? The gospel offers you the aid of heaven. Are you exposed to mísery ? It consoles you. Are you subject to death? It offers you immortality. 9. Oh how hast thou with jealousy infected 6.] Page 48. When (or) is used conjunctively, it has the same inflection before and after it. In some sentences the disjunctive and the conjunctive use of or are so intermingled as to require careful attention to distinguish them. 1. Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the fúrrow? or will he harrow the valleys after thee? Wilt thou trust him because his strength is great ? or wilt thou leave thy labour to hím? Gavest thou the goodly wings unto the peacocks? or wings and feathers unto the óstrich? Canst thou draw out leviathan with a hóok ? or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down? Canst thou put a hook into his nose? or bore his jaw through with a thorn? Wilt thou play with him as with a bírd? or wilt thou bind him for thy maidens? Canst thou fill his skin with barbed írons? or his head with fish spears? 2. But should these credulous infidels after all be in the right, and this pretended revelation be all a fable; from believing it what harm could ensue? would it render princes more tyrannical, or subjects more ungóvernable, the rich more insolent, or the poor more disorderly? Would it make worse parents or children, húsbands, or wíves; másters, or sérvants, fríends, or néighbours? or* would it not make men more virtuous, and, consequently, more happy, in every situation? 7.] Page 49. Negation opposed to affirmation. 1. True charity is not a meteor, which occasionally * The last or is disjunctive. |