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Twin'd with the wreaths | Parnássian laurels yield,
Or réap'd in iron hárvests of the field;
Fix'd to no spot | is happiness | sincére,
'Tis nowhere to be found, | or éverywhere.

If we wished to explain our sense of the manner in which this passage ought to be read, could we possibly take a better method than this of dividing it into such portions as are each of them pronounced like single words? In this mode of marking the lines, each word has its degree of force settled by the easiest method in the world, that of accented or unaccented syllables; and if to these accents are added the slide, or inflexion, with which every accent is necessarily pronounced, we have a notation of speaking sounds that gives us as infallibly the leading notes of speech as the notes of music convey to us the tune of a song; the graces and beauties of singing and speaking must be conveyed by the living voice to the ear, but this does not preclude in either the utility of marks to the eye.

But though I would by no means recommend this association of words as a common lesson for youth, I am well persuaded that, on some occasions, it may be very useful to explain the pronunciation of some difficult passages by it. A youth will have a much clearer idea of the force he is to give to the subordinate words of a sentence, by considering them as syllables of the other words, than by any other explanation we can make use of: and in order to impress this idea, it may not be improper to write or mark phrases, with the words thus associated.

Utility of understanding the different Slides, and different forces of Words.

IN the same manner I would recommend the

use of accents, to mark the different slides of the voice. Where the language is smooth, and the meaning clear, any kind of marks would do more hurt than good; but where the language is uncouth, and the meaning obscure, nothing can be more certain than the usefulness of some marks to direct the voice in the pronunciation. Let us illustrate this by some passages from Dr. Young. Speaking of the folly of those who delay an amendment of their lives, he says,

How excellent that life they ne'er will lead !
Time lodg'd in their own hands is folly's vales;
That lodg'd in fàte's, to wisdom they consign:
The things they can't but purpose they postpone.

This passage will lose much of its clearness, and all its beauty, if the word fate's, in the third line, is not pronounced with the falling inflexion: this inflexion will strongly mark the folly of consigning to wisdom, or using wisely, what is not in their own hands, but in the hands of fate.

The two following lines in this passage afford another opportunity of showing how important to the sense is a particular inflexion on a particular word.

'Tis not in fòlly not to scorn a fool;

And scarce in human wisdom to do more.

If we do not give folly the emphasis with the falling inflexion, the thought will be scarcely intelligible. The same may be observed of the word themselves in the second line of the following passage:

All men think all men mortal but themselves;

Themselves, when some alarming shock of fate
Strikes through their wounded hearts the sudden dread.

The following passage will afford an instance of

the necessity of adopting the other inflexion on a particular word, in order to elucidate and fix the meaning. The poet, speaking of the original grandeur of the passions, says,

What though our passions are run mad, and stoop
With low terrestrial appetite, to graze

On trash, on toys, dethron'd from high desire;
Yet still through their disgrace, no feeble ray
Of greatness shines, and tells us whence they fell.

If we do not give the word feeble the emphasis with the rising inflexion, we shall be led to suppose that not even a feeble ray of greatness shines a sense directly contrary to the scope of the author.

Milton, who, from his fondness for the ancients, frequently departs widely from the idiom of his own language, affords us frequent instances of the necessity of attending nicely to the inflexion of voice with which we read, in order to preserve his meaning. Thus, where he is describing the fallen angels as sensible of the misery of their state, while they are gathering round their leader, he says,

Nor did they not perceive the evil plight

In which they were, or the fierce pains nót feel.

The words not in this passage must necessarily have the emphasis with the rising inflexion, as this specific emphasis is the only way of rendering the sense of the passage intelligible.

As a further proof of the necessity of distinguishing emphasis into two kinds, and of having a distinct and different mark for each, we need only attend to the pronunciation of the following passage from the same author, where he describes Satan's surprise at the sight and approach of the figure of death.

Satan was now at hand, and from his seat
The monster moving, onward came as fast
With horrid strídes; Hell trembled as he strode.
Th' undaunted fiend what this might be admir'd;
Admir'd, not féar'd: God, and his son except,
Created thing nought valu'd he nor shunn'd;
And, with disdainful look, thus first began.

Par. Lost, b. ii. v. 674.

There are few readers, who in pronouncing this passage, would not give admir'd, in the fifth line, the rising slide, and fear'd the falling: but nothing can be more evident than that this does not bring out the sense of the passage with half the force of a contrary position of the slides. The falling slide on admir'd, and the rising on fear'd, is agreeable to the general rule the ear always follows, in pronouncing positive and negative members, when it is unembarrassed by the intricacies of poetic language. Thus we see it is of little consequence to tell us a word is emphatical, unless the kind of emphasis is specified, and when this is done we find the sense of a passage is determined.

I shall conclude these observations, on the utility of marks, by showing the very different sense of a sentence according to the different force and inflexion which is given to its several parts. When we take our leave of a person, we sometimes make use of the following sentence:

I wish you all the happiness this world can afford.

If we lay an equal stress upon the words wish, all, happiness, this, world, and afford, and pronounce the rest like unaccented syllables of these, we shall find a sense implying that this world can afford great happiness; but if we lay an emphasis with the falling inflexion on all, and one with the rising on this, and pronounce the rest of the words like unaccented

syllables of these, as if they were written in the following manner:

Iwishyouallthehappiness | thisworldcanafford:

Or thus,

I-wish-you-all-the-happiness | this-world-can-afford*. In this case, I say, we shall find a very different sense produced; for it will strongly intimate that this world has very little happiness to afford.

If these observations are just, we may perceive what great advantages we might reasonably expect from such a knowledge of the voice as would enable us to comprehend and practise the distinction of force, and the two-fold distinction of inflexions here laid down. We should then have a language in which we might converse intelligibly on different modes of pronunciation we could tell the reader plainly and simply, that such words require one species of force and inflexion, and such words another, without having recourse to such vague and indeterminate directions as saying, that "he must pronounce some words with emphasis, but not so as to deprive others of a certain degree of it." Whoever is curious to see the obscurity which a want of these distinctions occasions, may consult some of our best writers on this subject, where they dispute with each other about the pronunciation of certain passages. Here he may see how men may wrangle without end, and each seem to have the victory, when they neither understand each other, nor even themselves, for want of precise and definite terms.

* In the first method of pronouncing this sentence, it seems to the ear to contain as many words as there are accents; viz. six. In the last, the sentence seems to consist only of two very long words, because there are in reality no more than two accents in it.

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