application of the arbitrary rules to which these objections have been made.

“Mr. Locke's definition of wit comprehends métaphors, enigmas, móttoes, pàrables, fàbles, dreams, vísions, dramátic writings, burlésque, and all the methods of allusion."

Studied variety, and artificial beauty, are no part of true refinement: they spring from the pedantry of taste.

Dr. Porter, in his Analysis, very justly observes : "All Walker's rules of inflection, as to a series of single words, when unemphatic, are worse than useless. No rule of harmonic inflection that is independent of sentiment, can be established without too much risk of an artificial habit; unless it be this one, that the voice should rise at the last pause before the cadence, and even this may be superseded by emphasis.”

The following passage from Mr. Walker, furnishes a striking instance of the inconsistencies into which the mind is sometimes betrayed by an overweening attachment to system. “These rules” (on inflection) "might be carried to a much greater length; but too nice an attention to them, in a long series, might not only be very difficult, but give an air of stiffness to the pronunciation, which would not be compensated by the propriety.' But in the very next sentence “It may be necessary, however, to observe that, in a long enumeration of particulars, it would not be improper to divide them into portions of three," "and this division ought to commence from the end of the series ! ”

EXERCISES ON INFLECTION.

TABLE OF INFLECTIONS USED IN CONTRAST. 1. Does he mean honestly, or dishonestly? 2. Did he say húmour, or humour ?

* The above table is designed to facilitate the acquisition of the two principal slides. The exercise should be practised till the

3. Was he to say amber, or amber? 4. Ought he to say ocean, or ocean? 5. Did you say eel, or eel? 6. He does not mean dishonestly, but honestly. 7. He did not say húmour, but humour, 8. He was not to say amber, but amber. 9. We ought not to say ocean, but ocean. 10. You did not say eel, but eel.

11. He means honestly, not dishonestly.* 12. He said hùmour, not húmour. 13. He was to say amber, not amber. 14. We ought to say ocean, not ocean. 15. You said eel, not eel. 16. You are not wood, you are not stones, but mèn. 17. Not that I loved Caesar léss, but Róme more. 18. You shall not in your funeral speech blame us,

But speak all good you can devise of Cæsar. 19. Mark Antony shall not love Cæsar dead

So well as Brutus living. 20. I know no personal cause to spurn at him,

But for the general. 21. It was an enemy, not a friend, who did this. 22. This is the argument of the opponents, and not of the friends, of such a measure. 23. Lady, you utter madness and not sorrow. 24. I am glad rather than sorry that it is so. 25. I come to bury Cæsar, not to praise him, 26.

I rather choose
To wrong the dead, to wrong myself and you,
Than I will wrong such honourable men.

student can discriminate and apply them with perfect exactness. Young learners will be aided by the practice of marking, with a pencil, those of the examples which are left unaccented, -previous to which exercise it may be useful to review Rule II. on the falling, and Rule I. on the rising inflection.

* Some learners, in practising this class of examples, may need to be guarded against the fault of turning the last inflection of these sentences into a circumflex, in the mode of New-England accent.

EXERCISES ON THE FALLING INFLECTION.

RULE I.

Calling, shouting, exclamation, energetic command : 1. Up drawbridge, groom! What, warder, hò!

Let the portcullis fall! 2. Liberty! freedom! Tyranny is dèad !

Run hence! proclàim, cry it about the streets. 3. Follow your spirit; and upon this charge,

Cry-God for Harry!* England! and St. George! 4. Rejoice! you men of Angiers, ring your bells : King John, your king and England's, doth ap

proach,-Open your gates, and give the victors way! 5. Arm, arm!t it is, it is the cannon's opening roar! 6. War! war! no peace! peace is to me a war. 7. The combat deepens :-On, ye brave

Who rush to glory or the grave!
Wave, Munich, all thy banners wave,

And charge with all thy chivalry. 8. On them, hussars ! in thunder on them wheel ! 9. To horse, you gallant princes! straight to horse ! 10.

- Then let the trumpet sound
The tucket-sonance, and the note to mount.

Indignant or reproachful address: 1. Thou slàve, thou wretch, thou coward,

Thou little vàliant, great in villany!
Thou ever strong upon the stronger side!

* The examples not accented in type, are meant to be marked by the learner.

† The inflection on the repeated word, is on a lower note than the first; the first has a more moderate fall; and the pause between the exclamatory words, is very slight, as the tone is that of agitation, hurry, and alarm.

Thou fòrtune's champion, that dost never fight
But when her humorous ladyship is by

To teach thee safety. 2.

-But oh!
What shall I say to thee, Lord Scroop, thou cruel,
Ungrateful, savage, and inhuman creature !
Thou that didst bear the keys of all my counsels,
That knew'st the very bottom of my soul,
That almost mightst have coin’d me into gold,
Wouldst thou have practis'd on me for thy use?

Challenge and defiance : 1.

-Who says this? Who'll prove it, at his pèril, on my head? 2. Pale, trembling coward, there I throw my gage,

By that and all the rights of knighthood else,
Will I make good against thee, arm to arm,

What I have spoke, or thou canst worse devise. 3. Then, Bolingbroke, as low as to thy heart,

Through the false passage of thy throat, thou liest.

Swearing, adjuration, imprecation: 1. Now, by my life, this day grows wondrous hot. 2. Seven, by these hilts, or I'm a villain else. 3.

By the elements,
If e'er again I meet him beard to beard,

He is mine or I am his. 4. You know that you are Brutus that speak this,

Or, by the gods, this speech were else your last. 5.

When night
Closes round the ghastly fight,
If the vanquish'd warrior bow,
Spåre him by our holy vòw,
By our prayers and many tears,
By the mercy that endéars
Spåre him :-he our love hath shar'd :-
Spare him, as thou wouldst be spared !

6. I conjure you by that which you profess,

(Howe'er you come to know it,) answer me:
Though you untie the winds, and let them fight
Against the churches; though the yesty waves
Confound and swallow navigation up;
Though bladed corn be lodg'd, and trees blown

down;
Though castles topple on their warders' heads;
Though palaces and pyramids do slope
Their heads to their foundations; though the

treasure
Of nature's germins tumble all together,
Even till destruction sicken,-answer me

To what I ask you.
7. Ruin seize thee, ruthless king!

Confusion on thy banners wait! 8. Accùrsed be the faggots that blaze at his feet, Where his heart shall be thrown, ere it ceases to

beat! 9.

-Beshrew thy very heart!
I did not think to be so sad to-night,
As this hath made me.

10. Perish the man whose mind is backward now !

11. And when I mount, alive may I not light,

If I be a traitor or unjustly fight! 12.

Heaven bear witness;
And if I have a conscience, let it sink me,
Even as the axe falls, if I be not faithful!

Accusation : 1. Look, what I speak, my life shall prove it true:

That Mowbray hath receiv'd eight thousand

nobles,
In name of lendings for your highness' soldiers;
The which he hath detain'd for base employments,
Like a false tràitor and injurious villain;
That all the treasons, for these eighteen years,
Complotted and concocted in this land,