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had written concerning others, yet they were fools for believing what they had written concerning the Savior.

Even in the most familiar sentences, illustrations of this may be found. The simple question, for example, "Do you ride to town to-day?" may, by varying the position of the emphasis, be made to suggest as many different meanings as it contains words. If we lay the emphasis on "you,” we wish to ascertain from the person addressed, whether it is he or some other person that is to ride to town to-day; if on "ride," we mean to ask him whether he purposes to ride or walk; if on town," our purpose is to inquire whether it is to the town or to the country he means to ride; and, finally, if we make "to-day" the emphatic word, we wish him to say whether it is to-day or to-morrow he intends to ride to town. Even the preposition "to," if made emphatic, would imply, though obscurely, that we wished the person addressed to say whether he intended to ride quite as far as the town, or only part of the way.

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Before passing from the subject of ACCENT, we shall show, by a few illustrations, the power which EMPHASIS has over it when the sense or meaning requires it :

He must increase, but I must decrease.

Neither justice nor injustice has any thing to do with the matter.
What is done cannot be undone.

Religion raises men above themselves, irreligion sinks them below the brutes.

This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

To me it was far from being an agreeable surprise: on the contrary, it was a disagreeable one.

Thought and language act and react upon each other.

What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?

I shall always make nature, truth, and reason the measures of praise and dispraise.

A gentleman who was pressed by his friends to forgive his daughter, who had married against his wishes, promised to do so, but added,

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that he would have them remember that there was a difference between giving and forgiving.

In the preceding, and in all similar cases, the position of the accent is completely changed by the emphasis. The reason is obvious: the speaker wishes to draw the special attention of the person addressed to the contrasted parts of the words; and hence he pronounces those parts or syllables emphatically, the effect of which is, in such cases, to change the seat of the

accent.

This transposition of the accent takes place also in words which have a sameness of termination, even though they may not be directly opposed in sense; as in the following examples:

Catiline was expert in all the arts of simulation and dissimulation; covetous of what belonged to others, lavish of his own.

In this species of composition, plausibility is more essential than probability.

From what has been said with regard to emphasis, we may draw the following general conclusion. Whenever a person wishes to bring an idea prominently or forcibly under the notice of the person or persons whom he addresses, he will naturally and instinctively pronounce the word which expresses it with a corresponding degree of emphatic force. The degree or intensity of the emphasis will, of course, depend upon the importance of the idea to be expressed, the nature of the subject, and the feelings or emotions of the speaker. In some cases it will be slight, in others strong, and in others vehement or energetic; and hence a good general division of emphasis, with regard to its intensity, might be into three degrees, namely SLIGHT, STRONG, and VEHEMENT. Of course, there must be a great diversity in the degrees of emphasis, from the slight to the vehement; but the general divisions which we have sugested will be quite sufficient for practical purposes.

it is usual to subdivide Antithetic Emphasis into Single,

Double, and Treble Emphasis; and to give rules for the proper pronunciation of the emphatic words in each case. But the simple principles we have adopted render all such rules superfluous; for in all cases of antithesis the antithetic terms must be either expressed or understood: if they are expressed, which is usually the case, there can be no difficulty with regard to emphasis; for when the words which are opposed to each other in the sentence are expressed in it, the mind instantly perceives the opposition between them, and the voice instinctively marks it in the pronunciation. The following are examples:

SINGLE EMPHASIS.

Study not so much to show knowledge as to acquire it.
He that cannot bear a jest should not make one.

We think less of the injuries we do, than of those we suffer.
It is not so easy to hide one's faults, as to mend them.

The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.

DOUBLE EMPHASIS.

To err is human; to forgive, divine.

Custom is the plague of wise men, and the idol of fools.

The prodigal robs his heir, the miser robs himself.

The pleasures of the imagination are not so gross as those of sense,

nor so refined as those of the understanding.

Grief is the counter passion of joy. The one arises from agreeable, and the other from disagreeable, events the one from pleasure, and the other from pain - the one from good, and the other from evil.

One sun by day - by night ten thousand shine.

The foulest stain and scandal of our nature

Became its boast -one murder makes a villain,
Millions a hero.

* Single emphasis is, when there is one pair of words opposed to each other in a sentence; Double emphasis, when there are two pairs; and Treble, when there are three,

TREBLE EMPHASIS.

He raised a mortal to the skies,

She drew an angel down.

A friend cannot be known in prosperity; and an enemy carLot Li hidden in adversity.

The difference between a madman and a fool is, that the former reasons justly from false data; and the latter erroneously from just data.

Flowers of rhetoric, in sermons or serious discourses, are like the blue and red flowers in corn, pleasing to those who come only for amusement, but prejudicial to him who would reap the profit.

Had you rather Cæsar were living, and die all slaves,
Than that Cæsar were dead, to live all freemen?

In such cases as the preceding, it is obvious that there can be no difficulty with regard to EMPHASIS; because the words which are opposed to each other in the sentence are expressed. But when only one of the contrasted terms is expressed, as in the following examples, the careless or injudicious reader is apt to overlook its antithetic import, and will consequently fail to give it the emphatic pronunciation which is necessary to bring out the full meaning of the sentence.

A child might understand it. [The antithesis implied or suggested in this sentence is, obviously not merely a man or a person of mature judgment, but even a child.]

Exercise and temperance will strengthen even an indifferent constitution. [That is, not merely an ordinary or good constitution, but even an indifferent one.]

He that runs may read. [That is, not merely a person who walks, and who has therefore leisure to observe, but even he that runs.]

We know the passions of men: we know how dangerous it is to trust the best of men with too much power. [That is, not merely bad or ordinary men, but even the best of men.]

Tubal. One of them showed me a ring, which he had of your daughter for a monkey.

Shylock. Out upon her! Thou torturest me, Tubal: it was my turquoise, — I would not have given it for a wilderness of monkeys. [That is, so far from giving it for one monkey, I would not have given it for a whole wilderness of monkeys.]

Can a Roman senate long debate

Which of the two to choose, slavery or death!

[That is, other senates may, but can a Roman one?]

Curse not the king, no, not in thy thought. [That is, not merely in words or audibly, but even in thy thought.]

And think not to say among yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. [That is, not merely from the seed or descendants of Abraham, but even from these stones.]

By the faculty of a lively and picturesque imagination, a man in a dungeon is capable of entertaining himself with scenes and landscapes more beautiful than any that can be found in the whole compass of nature. [That is, not only when he is absent from beautiful scenes, but even in a dungeon.]

A man of a polite imagination is let into a great many pleasures that the vulgar are not capable of receiving; he can converse with a picture, and find an agreeable companion in a statue. [That is, he can converse even with a picture, and find an agreeable companion even in a statue, which are pleasures unknown to the vulgar or uneducated.]

It is obvious, that in each of the preceding examples there is an antithesis implied or understood; and the only rule necessary in such cases is, to pronounce the words which imply it with such a degree of emphatic force as will best bring out the full meaning of the sentence. And this every reader will naturally do, if he keeps in mind, and puts into practice, the great and fundamental rule for GOOD READING, namely, Understand what you read, and read it as if you understood it. Sullivan's Class Book.

INFLECTIONS OF THE VOICE.

THE pauses which occur in reading are accompanied by certain inflections or slides of the voice, which are as necessary to the sense of the sentence as the pauses themselves.

The inflections of the voice consist in the slides which it takes in pronouncing a letter, a syllable, or a word.

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