And hath man the power, with his pride and skill,
To arouse all nature with storms at will?
Hath he power to color the summer cloud,—
To allay the tempest, when hills are bowed?
Can he waken the spring with her festal wreath?
Can the sun grow dim by his latest breath?

Will he come again when death's vale is tród?

Who then shall dare murmur,-"There is no God?"

REMARK.-The same degree of inflection is not, at all times. used, or indicated by the notation. The due degree to be employed, depends on the nature of what is to be expressed. For example; if a person, under great excitement, asks

another: Are

you

in

earnest ?

the degree of inflection would be

earrest?

much greater, than if he playfully asks: Are you in The former inflection may be called intensive, the latter,

common.

RULES FOR THE USE OF INFLECTIONS.

RULE I.

Direct questions, or those which may be answered by yes or no, usually take the rising inflection; but their answers, the falling.

EXAMPLES.

1. Will you send me those flowers? Yès; or, I will.

2. Did you give me séven? 3. Are we better than they?

4. Is he the God of the Jews

Yès; of the Gentiles also.

No; I gave you six.
No; in nò wise.

only? is he not also of the Gentiles 1

QUESTIONS.-Is the same degree of inflection to be used at all times Repeat Rule I. Give examples.

5. Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: we establish the law.

Bible.

6. Will he plead against me with his great power? Nò; but he will fut strength in me.

Id.

7. Was it ambition that induced Regulus to return to Cárthage? No. but a love of country and respect for trùth-an act of moral sublimity, arising out of the firmest intègrity.

8

Hark! comes there from the pyramids

And from Siberian wastes of snow

And Europe's hills; a voice that bids

The world be awed to mourn him? Nò. Pierpont.

NOTE I.-When the direct question becomes an appeal, and the reply to it is anticipated, it takes the intense falling inflection.

EXAMPLES.

1. William, did we not recite our lessons còrrectly?

2. Can a more inconsistent argument be urged in its favor?

3. Did he not perform his part most admirably?

4. Was the Crystal Palace in New York, equal in size to that in Lòndon?

RULE II.

Indirect questions, or those which can not be answered by yes or no, usually take the falling inflection, and their answers the same.

EXAMPLES.

1. How many lessons have you learned? Three.
2. Which has the most credit marks to-day? Julia.
3. Where did your father go, last week? To Boston.
4. When do you expect him to return? Next week.

5. Who first discovered Amèrica? Christopher Columbus.

NOTE I.-When the indirect question is one asking a repe tition of what was not, at first, understood, it takes the rising inflection.

QUESTIONS.-Does the direct question over require the falling inflection? Give examples. Repeat Rule II. Give examples. Does the direct question ever require the rising inflection?

EXAMPLES.

1. Where did you find those flowers? In the lawn,

Where did you say? In the lawn.

2. When did you say congress adjourned? Last week.

NOTE II.-Answers to questions, whether direct or indirect, when expressive of indifference, take the rising inflection, or the circuniflex.

EXAMPLES.

1 Where shall we go? I am not partícular. 2. Shall William go with us? If he choses. 3. Which do you prefer? I have no choice.

4. Did you care for his friendship? Not múch.

NOTE III.-In some instances, direct questions become indirect by a change of the inflection from the rising to the falling.

EXAMPLES.

1. Will you come to-morrow or next day? Yes.

2. Will you come to-morrow, or next day? I will come to-morrow.

REMARK.-The first question asks if the person addressed will come within the two days, and may be answered by yes or no; but the second asks on which of the two days he will come, and it can not be thus answered.

RULE III.

When questions are connected by the conjunction or, the first requires the rising, and the second, the falling inflection.

EXAMPLES.

1. Does Napoleon merit práise, or cènsure?

2. Was it an act of moral coúrage, or còwardice, for Cato to fall on his sword?

Repeat Note II. How do direct questions become indirect? What is Rule III. Give examples.

3. Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath days, or to do èvil? to save life, or to kill? Bible.

4. Art thou he that should cóme, or do we look for another?

RULE IV.

Antithetic terms or clauses usually take opposite inflections; generally, the former has the rising, and the latter the falling inflection.

EXAMPLES.

1. It appears more like a dream than real life; more like a rómance than a dreadful reality.

2. By hónor and dishonor, by evil repórt and good repòrt; as decéiv. ers, and yet true; as únknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as chástened, and not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejòicing; as póor, yet making many rìch; as having nóthing, yet possessing all things. Bible.

NOTE I.-When one of the antithetic clauses is a negative, and the other an affirmative, generally the negative has the rising, and the affirmative the falling inflection.

EXAMPLES.

1. Aim not to shów knowledge, but to acquire it.

2. Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips.

3. You should not say goverment, but government.

4. Show your courage by your deèds, not by your wórds.

RULE V.

The Pause of Suspension, denoting that the sense is incomplete, usually has the rising inflection.

EXAMPLES.

1. Sír, I implore gentlemen, I adjure them by all they hold dear in this world, by all their love of liberty, by all their veneration for their

Repeat Rule IV. Give examples. Repeat Note I., and examples. Repeat Rule V., and examples.

áncesto 's, by all their regard for postérity, by all their gratitude to Him who has bestowed on them such unnumbered and countless blessings, by all the duties which they owe to mankind, and by all the duties which they owe to themselves, to pause, solemnly pause at the edge of the precipice, before the fearful and dangerous leap is taken into the yawning abyss below, from which none who ever take it, shall return in safety

NOTE I.-The ordinary direct address, not accompanied with strong emphasis, takes the rising inflection, on the principle of the pause of suspension.

EXAMPLES.

1. Ye men of Judea, and all ye that dwell in Jerúsalem, be this known utto you, and hearken to my words. Bible.

2.

Fight, gentlemen of E'ngland! fight, bold yeóman!

Draw, archers, draw your arrows to the head.

NOTE II.-In some instances of a pause of suspension, the sense requires an intense falling inflection.

EXAMPLES.

1. The prodigal, if he does not become a pauper, will, at least, have but Little to bestow on others.

REMARK.-If the rising inflection is given on pauper, the sense would be perverted, and the passage made to mean, that, in order to be able to bestow on others, it is necessary that he should become a pauper.

RULE VI.

Expressions of tenderness, as of grief, or kindness, commonly incline the voice to the rising inflection.

EXAMPLES.

1. O my son Ab'salom! my són, my son Ab'salom! Would God I had died for thée, Ab'salom, my són, my són!

Bible.

Note I., and examples. Repeat Note II., and example. Rule VL, and example.