To be any thing like perfect, it must represent not only the words generally, but all their varied modulations, tones, and inflections, accent, and em-, phasis, and a great variety of rhetorical pauses which now are not desig-' nated at all. Some of these things, indeed, are not essential to a correct understanding of the meaning of printed language, however much they would exemplify its force and beauty; but I am of the opinion that it would be better if the inflections at least were inserted in all cases where their omission, as in the example of William's answer, renders the sense obscure. No valid objection could be made to so small, and, at the same time, so useful an innovation as this. More than this would, perhaps, be undesirable.

SECOND EVENING.

ANALYSIS. The pause of suspension, with the rising or the falling slide. A prolonged horizontal suspension of the voice. Rhetorical pauses, as distinguished from grammatical or sentential pauses. The rhetorical pause proper: when used, and its effect.

Exam

ples Patrick Henry's speech-the Earl of Chatham-Dr. Nott-Pope. Other cases of pause where none is allowed in the grammatical construction. The rhetorical pause used in cases of contrast. Example from Cicero-from Dr. Blair. A contrast in sentiment requires contrast in voice. Prolonged utterance of words in certain cases. Proper management of the voice.

Crito. Since our last conversation, I have been examining the Second Rule in connection with the Eighth, and I find it stated that in certair cases the pause of suspension takes the rising inflection, and in others the falling. It has occurred to me that there might be a pause of suspension that takes neither the rising nor the falling slide, but I have found no notice of such. Is not such a pause frequently used in reading or speaking? -a kind of prolonged horizontal suspension of the voice'?

Bernardo. There is, indeed, such a pause-a rhetorical pause proper it should be called; and a judicious use of it is, next to a correct use of the inflections, one of the greatest beauties in reading. The hyphen or dash (—) sometimes indicates it, but not always; and the dash, moreover, is used with both kinds of inflections.

Crito. Are not all the pauses-such as the comma, colon, semicolon, and the marks of interrogation and exclamation, rhetorical pauses'?

Bernardo. With the exception of the marks of interrogation and exclamation, I should say they are not, properly speaking, as their primary object is to mark the divisions of a sentence, and show its grammatical construction. I should call them grammatical or sentential pauses. Moreover, these pauses are so far from being sufficient or accurate guides to the reader, that an obsequious attention to them is one cause of the heavy, monotonous style of reading into which most persons fall, and which it is so difficult to correct. The marks of interrogation and exclamation, the parenthesis, and the hyphen or dash, however, are wholly rhetorical, as they denote no grammatical relation, and have no established length. The rhetorical pause proper, which is sometimes, but not always, denoted by the hyphen, is perhaps the only one of these that requires any special attention.

Crito. I would like to know more of the character of this rhetorical pause, and the principles on which it is based. Will you explain it, and give me some examples of its use'?

Bernardo. The rhetorical pause proper is used, first, where there is an abrupt suspension of the line of thought, for the purpose of giving place to some new suggestion; and, secondly, it is used either before or after something very striking or significant is uttered. In the latter case, the effect is, by holding the hearer momentarily in suspense, suddenly to arrest his at

tention, for the purpose of directing it with greater force to the emphatic word or clause.

Crito. I think, from your description, it is this pause, which I have heard appropriately used in the concluding sentence of Patrick Henry's famous speech:

I know not what course others may take', but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!

Bernardo. This is correct. Here this pause is used three times, but with the greatest force before the closing emphatic word-"death." Another fine example of it is found in the Earl of Chatham's speech on the repeal of the Stamp Act. He is reported to have spoken as follows, alluding to the ministry who had been opposed to the repeal:

Some of them have done me the honor to ask my poor opinion before they would engage to repeal the act. They will do me the justice to own I did advise them to engage to do it; but, notwithstanding, for I love to be explicit, I can not give them my confidence. Pardon me, gentlemen, confidence is a plant of slow growth.

Here this rhetorical pause is used several times, in some instances in connection with the grammatical pauses; but the one which is the most marked of all is used where no other pause is designated. The concluding words, after this pause, are to be spoken slowly, and with marked emphasis. Crito. I recollect a passage in Rev. Dr. Nott's discourse on the death of Hamilton which requires a similar rhetorical pause in reading. I allude to the following:

I would uncover the breathless corpse of Hamilton, I would lift from his gaping wound his bloody mantle, I would hold it up to heaven before them, and I would ask-in the name of God I would ask-whether at the sight of IT they felt no compunction.

Here, evidently, great force is given to the concluding words by a protracted rhetorical pause after the emphatic pronoun it.

Bernardo. Let me give one example more, which is from Pope's Essay on Man:

Know then thyself: presume not God to scan`:
The proper study of mankind is MAN'.

As intimately connected with this subject, I would remark that good readers often give a slight rhetorical pause, or rest, in some other cases also, where no pause is designated, and where none is allowed in the grammatical construction. Especially does this occur where the speaker would fix attention on a single word that stands as immediate nominative to a verb, and also in antithetic or contrasted clauses. Thus, as an example of the first:

Some
place the bliss in action, some in ease;
Those call it pleasure, and contentment these.

Every good reader will suspend the voice briefly, after each of these emphatic words, although no punctuation mark is found there.

Crito. You mentioned antithetic or contrasted clauses also. I observe that in some of the examples of "Comparison and Contrast," under the Sixth Rule, the same kind of pause is made, even where none is required in the grammatical construction. Thus I observe it after the words "Ho

mer,

," "Virgil," "the one," "the other," etc. Bernardo. I find a still better example in one of Cicero's orations, in which the orator is speaking of Pompey. In order to show the contrasted parts distinctly, it is desirable to make a longer pause between them than if there were no opposition in the sense.

Thus:

He waged more wars than others had read'; conquered more provinces than others

had governed; and had been trained up from his youth to the art of war; not by the precepts of others', but by his own commands; not by miscarriages in the field', but by victories; not by campaigns', but by triumphs'.

Here a pause of some length is required after wars, provinces, others, etc. I am tempted to give one more example, which I select, not only for its appropriateness in illustrating the principle under consideration, but also for the beauty of the sentiment. It is from Blair's sermon on Gentleness:

As there is a worldly happiness which God perceives to be no more than disguised misery'; as there are worldly honors which in his estimation are reproach', so there is a worldly wisdom which in his sight is foolishness. Of this worldly wisdom the characters are given in the Scriptures, and placed in contrast with those of the wisdom which is from above. The one is the wisdom of the crafty', the other that of the upright'; the one terminates in selfishness', the other in charity'; the one is full of strife and bitter envyings', the other of mercy and of good fruits.

Here the first two clauses should be pronounced in a somewhat elevated tone of voice; then, after a somewhat protracted pause at reproach, the voice should drop into a lower tone, with a slower pronunciation. The first members of the contrasted parts should be pronounced in a higher tone than the latter members. It may be well to recollect that this rule should be observed in all antithetic or contrasted clauses. A contrast in sentiments' requires contrast in voice'.

Crito. Very nearly allied to the kind of pause which we have been considering seems to be that prolonged pronunciation which good readers sometimes give to a word, without actually pausing after it. I have noticed this especially in the following beautiful extract from Pope, where the poet is speaking of the soul of God as seen throughout all nature.

Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze,

Glows in the stars, and blossoms" in the trees,
Lives through all life, extends through all extent,
Spreads undivided, operates unspent.-POPE.

Bernardo. You have selected a fine illustration of an important principle. If we will notice our own conversation, or listen to any extempore speaking in which nature is followed, we shall find that while some words and clauses, apparently used as mere connectives, are quickly passed over, others, of more importance, are prolonged in the pronunciation. The proper management of the voice in this respect, so as to give to every word just the degree of importance to which it is entitled, is another of the beauties of good reading. The ways in which the voice manages to express every possible variety of thought are almost numberless. We can represent but few of them to the eye.

THIRD EVENING.

ANALYSIS.-Indirect questions that take the rising inflection. First example-not a completed sentence. Deceptive examples, which have the falling inflection, although they appear to have the rising. The questions completed in these examples. The rising inflection at the close of sentences: explained on the principle of the ordinary pause of suspension. The pause of suspension in inverted sentences. The rising inflection in cases of gentle entreaty or expostulation. Negation and affirmation. On what the inflections depend. They are natural signs of thought.

Bernardo. If you have met with any more points of difficulty', Crito', which relate to the Rules laid down in the "Elements," if you will bring them forward, we will consider them this evening; for there are some new principles to which I wish to call your attention in our subsequent conversations.

Crito. I shall be very glad, indeed, to have a few difficulties removed,

if it can be done. To begin, then: I have found several examples of indirect questions which I can not reconcile with Rule Third. Thus, in the following:

Question. Will he go?

Ans. I think it doubtful'.

Question. Why not'?

The last question here is indirect; that is, it can not be answered by yes or no, and yet it is evident to me that it takes the rising inflection. I do not see that either the Rule', or the Note', provides for a case of this kind Can you explain it'?

Bernardo. I think you yourself will discover, by a little reflection, that the example does not, in reality, violate the Rule. You will observe that the answer, "Why not' ?" is not a completed sentence. What would the

answer be if completed'?

Crito. Indeed, I did not think of that; but I can explain it now. The complete answer is, "Why will he not' go'?" which has the falling inflection. Bernardo. Yes, you have given the correct explanation-partially so, at least. In nearly all cases the falling inflection begins at a point higher than the key-note; and in this case it strikes the word "not" on a high key, preparatory to its downward slide. As soon as the voice strikes it, however, it begins to fall; and, if I were to be critically correct, I should perhaps say this very word "not" is pronounced with the falling inflection. I admit that it appears to have the rising slide. In the word "doubtful',” in the same example, we find a parallel case, for the first syllable of it is struck on a high key, and might, with the same propriety as in the case of the word "not," have received the rising inflection.

Crito. But I have still another kind of indirect question, which I think can not be explained in this way. It is the following, which I recently heard an eloquent divine read, giving the rising inflection to all the questions:

How, then, shall they call on him in whom they have not believed'? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard'? and how shall they hear without a preacher'? and how shall they preach except they be sent'?

Now, although these questions may be read with the falling slide, yet it seems very evident that they may also be read with the rising, with equal propriety.

Bernardo. And yet I think it may be maintained, with very good reason, that all these questions, even as you have read them, take the falling slide in the closing syllable, the voice merely striking the closing words at a high pitch, and then immediately falling. The word "preacher" is pronounced, in the example given, in a manner very different from what it is in the following example, "Is he a preacher' ?" As the latter is plainly the rising inflection, it may well be doubted if the former is.

Crito. I perceive a difference; and yet I think most persons would consider that the examples given have the rising inflection. The voice certainly rises very high to strike the closing words; and its downward slide, if there be any, is scarcely perceptible.

Bernardo. If we should admit that these questions may be pronounced with the rising inflection as well as with the falling, then I should say that the precise meaning, or the force of the expression, can not be the same in both cases; and this brings us back to one of the principles which we established in our first evening's conversation-that, "if two persons have the same understanding of a passage, both ought to read it in the same manner."

Crito. But I do not see that this principle furnishes any reason for a de

parture from the Rule, that an indirect question requires the falling inflection. Are not the examples which I gave indirect questions'?

Bernardo. They are, assuredly; but they can scarcely be said to be complete questions any more than the other examples which puzzled you. Let me change the form a little, and complete the question in each case, and I think you will admit that each still takes the falling inflection at the close, even if you think it does not now.

How shall they call on him if they have not believed' what is said concerning him? and how shall they believe in him if they have not heard of him? and how shall they hear without a preacher' be sent to them? and how shall they preach except they be sent' for that purpose'?

Crito. The words "believe," "heard," "preacher," and "sent," which ended the several questions in the first form of expression, you have made emphatic'.'

Bernardo. They were also made emphatic before; and that is the principal reason why the divine, whom you heard read them, struck them on so high a key as to give them the appearance of taking the rising inflection. He supposed that the Apostle Paul, in these remarks, wished to give the greatest force and prominence to the ideas embraced in these particular words; and as these words were contained in the class of indirect questions, which naturally end with the falling inflection, it was only by striking them on a very high key that the object could be accomplished. Having in mind this view of the apostle's meaning, nature directed him how to express it. Another divine, not taking the same view of the passage, would read these questions, as I have usually heard them read, with the falling inflection very apparent. You will please remember that the Third Rule says, "Indirect questions generally require the falling inflection."

Crito. And, as you have explained the examples which I produced, I sec that even they, the strongest cases which I could find, can scarcely be called exceptions to the Rule.

Bernardo. And, what is of still greater interest and importance, these examples are additional testimony in confirmation of the principle that, when different readings are given to a passage, and both are considered correct, they always arise from somewhat different views in the minds of the readers. Are there any other points which you would like to take up at this time'?

Crito. Since our last conversation I have found several cases in which the rising inflection is found at the close of a sentence not a question, and I find nothing by which to explain this apparent opposition to Rule Fourth. I will read the examples:

1. Then said Agrippa unto Festus', This man might have been set at liberty' if he had not appealed unto Cæsar'.

2. Ingratitude is, therefore, a species of injustice', said Socrates. I should think so', answered Leander'.

3. Whence arises the misery of this present world'? It is not owing to our cloudy atmosphere', our changing seasons', our inclement skies'. It is not owing to the debility of our bodies, or to the unequal distribution of the gifts of fortune'. It is owing to our corrupt hearts', our sinful natures'.

4. If we have no regard for religion in youth', we ought to have some regard for it in age'.

5. If we have no regard for our own character', we ought to have some regard for the character of others.'

1 Here the rising slide is given to the closing word, in accordance with the Note to Rule IV. So, also, if Crito had said, "You have made emphatic'; but I did not'." Probably the true principle which controls the inflection here is that embraced in Rule IX. B