The National Preceptor

SIMPLIFIED FROM THE WORKS OF

PORTER, WALKER, AND RUSH.

All who attentively observe the movements of the voice in reading or in speaking, will perceive that it rises and falls as in singing. Let any one count slowly, and he will easily discover these variations of the voice; as, onè, two, thrèe,—foùr, five, six ;—here it will be seen that the voice varies in its tones. Let these words drawl off the tongue and these slides of the voice will be still more apparent. In the question and answer,-Will you go to-day-any one will easily perceive that the voice is inclined up-wards on the word day, and downwards on no. These movements, or slides of the voice are called inflections, which include all those gradual waving variations which are heard in good reading, or in animated conversation.

The modifications of the voice are four-viz. The rising inflection, which turns the voice upwards, marked thus -the falling inflection, which turns the voice downwards, marked thus ()-the circumflex, which is a union of the falling and rising inflections, marked thus (~)-and the monotone which is a sameness of sound, marked thus (-) That the learner may acquire a practical knowedge of these inflections, it is important that he should be exercised on examples like the following, till he can easily distinguish one from the other.

Rule 1. When interrogative sentences, connected by the disjunctive or, succeed each other, the first ends with the rising inflection, the latter with the falling; as,

Did you say nó- -or yès ?
Did you rún- or walk?
Will you write-or reàd?

Rule 2. A direct question, or that which admits the answer of yes, or no, has the rising inflection, and the answer has the falling*; as,

as,

Did you say fáme? No. I said name.

Did you speák? I did.

Will you ride? I will walk.

Rule 3. The indirect question and its answer, has the following inflection;

Why are you idle? I have no book.

Why do you stúdy? That I may learn.
What is your name? A good scholar.

* Dr. Porter.

Rule 4. When a sentence is composed of a positive and negative part, which are opposed to each other, the positive must have the falling inflection and the negative the rising; as,

He did not say yours-but minè.
He did not say younger-

He will not go to-day

-but older.

-but to-morrow.

Study not for amusement-but for impròvement.

Rule 5. Commands, denunciation, reprehension, generally require the falling inflection; as,

Give me the book. Hènce! bègone! awày!

Stand! the ground's your own, my braves.

Wo unto you Pharisees! Why tempt ye me..

Rule 6. When two members consisting of single words commence a sentence, the first has the falling the second the rising inflection; as,

Idleness and ignorance are inseparable companions.

Rule 7. The final pause, or that which denotes the sense to be finished, requires the falling inflection; as,

Love, joy, peace; long-suffering, gentlenéss, goodnèss; faith', meekness', and témperánce, are the fruits of the Spirit.

Rule 8. Tender emotions require the rising inflection; as,

Jesus saith unto her, Máry.

You too, Brútus.

Rule 9. The circumflex is generally applied to phrases that are of a hy pothetical nature, and to negations contrasted with affirmations; as, If ye love mé, keep my commandments.

The kingdom of God is not in words, but in power.

PAUSES.

Pauses are distinguished into two kinds; viz. The Grammatical Pause, designated by points, and addressed to the eye; and the Rhetorical Puuse, dictated by the sense, and therefore addressed to the ear.

It is taken for granted that the learner is already acquainted with the first, which renders it unnecessary to give any explanation of it here.

The Rhetorical Pause is that cessation of the voice which the reader or speaker makes after some important word in a sentence, and upon which he wishes to fix the attention of the hearer

When a proper name, or a word which stands for the subject of a discourse, begins a sentence, it requires a pause after it, although the grammatical relation would allow no visible punctuation; as

Hypocrisy is a homage that vice pays to virtue.

Prosperity gains friends; adversity tries them.

Homer was the greater génius; Virgil the better artist.

Here although the grammatical relation would admit no visible pause after the words in Italic, yet the ear demands one, which no good reader would fail to make. The following examples are marked to show more fully the use of this pause.

Some place the bliss in action, some-in ease;

Those call it pleasure, and contentment-these.

Thou art the man.

The young-are slaves to novelty; the old to custom.
Memory-is the purveyor of reason.

Man-is the merriest species in the creation.

Virtue-is of intrinsic value.

The great pursuit of man-is after happiness.

The good reader will perceive the propriety of pausing after the first word, as the subject of the sentence. By this pause the mind is fixed upon the principal object of attention, and prepared to proceed with clearness and deliberation to the reception of what follows.

PITCH OF VOICE.

By Pitch of Voice is meant those high and low tones which prevail in speaking. Every person has three pitches of voice, which are easily distinguished; viz.-the natural or middle pitch, the high pitch,-and the low pitch. The natural or middle pitch is that which is heard in common conversation. The high pitch is used in calling to one at & distance. The low pitch is employed when we speak to one quite near, and who, though surrounded by many, is the only one supposed to hear.

The learner must be informed here, that high and loud, and low and soft, have not the least affinity. To render the different pitches of the voice clear and intelligible to the learner, the following diagram is inserted, exhibiting to the eye a scale of speaking tones, similar to that used in music.

Let the learner commence in as low a bass-key as possible, and count up the diagram, rising a tone* each number, the same as sounding the eight notes in music, and he will easily discover that the degrees of pitch in speaking, are the same as those in singing. This scale of speaking tones, may seem difficult at first, but a very little practice will render it easy. Let the learner speak one in as low a bass-key as possible-then two, &c. and he will find that he can speak these with as much ease and correctness as he can sing them. When he has acquired a knowledge of these different pitches and tones-let him take a sentence and read it on the lowest note-then read it on a note higher, and so on till he has reached the highest note of his voice. Take the following line.

"On,-on,-to the just and glorious strife."

A little practice, it is believed, will give the reader a perfect command of his voice in all the degrees of tone from the lowest to the highest notes to which the voice can be raised.

ACCENT.

Accent is a stress of voice given to a particular syllable to distinguish it from others in the same word; as in the word u-tone-ment, the stress is laid on the second syllable. Accent is, in a measure, dependent on emphasis, and is transposed where the claims of emphasis require it; as when words occur, which have a partial sameness in form, but are contrasted in sense; as, Neither justice nor injustice. Neither honor nor dishonor.

He must increase but I must decrease.

He that ascended is the same as he that dèscended.

* The Semitone between the 3 and 4 is not noticed here, being unnecessary in the present

case.

Neither lawful nor unlawful.

Neither worthy nor unworthy.

EMPHASIS.

Emphasis is a stress of voice laid on particular words in a sentence, to distinguish them from others, and convey their meaning in the best manner; as, "You were not sent here to play, but to study." The learner will perceive that the words play and study are pronounced with more force than the rest of the sentence, and are therefore termed the emphatical words. [A word, on which the meaning of a sentence is suspended, or placed in contrast, or in opposition to other words, is always emphatical.] As to the degree or intensity of force that the reader or speaker should give to important words in a sentence, no particular rules can be given. He must enter into the spirit of what he reads-feel the sentiment expressed, and he will seldom fail in giving each word its proper force, or emphatic stress. Emphasis is ever associated with thought and motion; and he who would become eminent as a reader, or speaker, must remember that the "soul of eloquence is feeling."

EXAMPLES FOR EXERCISE.

I do not request your attention, but demand it.
It is not so difficult to talk well, as to live well.
Prosperity gains friends, adversity tries them.
'Tis hard to say, if greater want of skill
Appear in writing or in judging ill.
Angels and ministers of grace,-defend us.
1 come to bury Cæsar, not to praise him.

A METHOD OF MARKING THE DIFFERENT FORCES OF WORDS. Various methods have been devised to mark the different forces of words in sentences, in such a manner as to convey a clear idea of the pronunciation. The most simple and practical method is to unite the unaccented words to those that are accented, as if they were syllables of them. This classification naturally divides a sentence into just so many portions, as it contains accents; as in the following sentence:

Prosperity gains friends and adversity | tries them.

When there is no uncommon emphasis in a sentence, we can pronounce it with more or fewer accents, without materially affecting the sense. The following sentence may be pronounced in four portions, or in ten, without any injury to the sense of it.

Pitchuponthatcourseoflife | whichisthemostéxcellent | andcústom willmake itthemostdelightful.

Some place the bliss | in action | some in ease. Those call it pleasure | and contentment these. The following extract from the poems of Ossian is inserted as scored by

Dr. Rush.

And is the son of Semo fallen? | Mournful are Tura's walls. | Sorrow dwells at Dunscai. | Thy spouse is left alone in her youth. | The son of thy love is alone! He shall come to Bragela, and ask why she weeps? | He shall lift his eyes to the wall, J and see his father's sword. Whose sword is that? | he will say. | The soul of his mother is sad. Who is that, I like the hart of the desert, in the murmur of his course? His eyes look wildly round in search of his friend. | Conal | son of Colgar, where hast thou been when the mighty fell? Did the seas of Cogorma roll round thee?! Was the wind of the south in thy sails? The mighty have fallen in battle, [ and thou wast not there. | Let none tell it in Selma, | nor in Morven's woody land. Fingal will be sad, and the sons of the desert | mourn.