A. Such as are derivatives from previous compounds, or crowded with consonants, the sounds of which do not readily coalesce; as, shamefacedness, chroniclers, conventiclers. Q. Are there any others that are remarkably harsh?

A. Yes; such as contain either many short syllables following the seat of the accent, or a number of syllables nearly similar in sound; as, primarily, cursorily, lovelily, farriery.

Q. If the words be separately harmonious, will the whole sentence be so?

A. The one does not necessarily follow from the other; for the words may be separately both well chosen and agreeable in sound, and yet, if they are badly arranged, the sentence may be destitute of harmony.

Q. Can you illustrate this by example?

A. "Office or rank may be the recompense of intrigue, versatility, or flattery," is a sentence composed of words individually melodious, and yet, in consequence of bad arrangement, it is not harmonious.

Q. What would you consider an improvement upon the arrangement?

A. "Rank or office may

be the recompense

of flattery, versatility, or intrigue."

Q. Can you give any general directions on this subject?

A. Too many words either uniform as to length, or the position of the accent, should never, if possible, be placed together.

Q. Can you illustrate this by example?

A. "No species of joy can long please us," "James was needy, feeble, and fearful," are less harmonious than "no species of joy can long delight us," "James was weak, timid, and destitute."

Q, What have you further to observe on this head?

A. Words resembling each other in the sound of any of their letters or syllables, as well as such as are difficult to pronounce in succession, should never stand in immediate connexion.

Q. Can you give any illustration of this?

A. A true union, an indulgent parent, a cruel destroyer, are far less harmonious than, a true friendship, a kind parent, a cruel foe. Q. Have you any thing further to remark?

A. That a sentence may not be harsh, and, consequently, of difficult pronunciation, the several members of which it is composed should neither be too long nor disproportionate to each other.

Q. In what sort of composition ought harmony to be most carefully studied?

A. In the composition of verse, one of the chief excellencies of which consists in its being musical.

Q. What part of a sentence should we be the most careful to make harmonious?

A. The close; for it is to this part that the attention of the reader or hearer is generally most attracted.

Q. What name is commonly given to a graceful conclusion of a sentence?

A. It is commonly styled a cadence; and was by the ancients considered an essential requisite in every well constructed sentence.

Q. What is faulty in point of harmony in the following sentence:-" And an enormous serpent lay dead on the floor ?"

A. It is the circumstance of the three syllables, and, an, en, which are so much alike in sound, following each other, without any other word intervening.

Q. How might it be corrected?

A. Thus, “And a serpent of enormous size lay dead on the floor."

CHAPTER XX.

Of Sound as suited to the Sense.

Q. What is considered the highest species of ornament arising from harmony in composition?

A. That which consists in an adaptation of the sound to the sense.

Q. By whom is this quality of style chiefly exhibited?

A. By all our principal poets; though our best prose writers also abound in beauties of a similar kind; as there is generally some correspondence between the flow and modulation of the language, and the nature and character of the thoughts and sentiments expressed.

Q. When can the sound most readily be made an echo to the sense?

A. In cases in which sound or motion come to be described; though calm and gentle emotions may be always expressed to most advantage by smooth and gentle language; while harsh feelings and rugged sentiments, naturally give rise to harsh and rugged diction.

Q. Can you give an example of the sound being an echo to the sense?

A. The following may all be considered examples of this:

"A needless Alexandrine ends, the song,

That, like a wounded snake, drags its slow length along." "The waves behind impel the waves before,

Wide-rolling, foaming high, and tumbling on the shore.” "With many a weary step, and many a groan,

Up the high hill he heaves a huge round stone;