duties of the young. Here he gives to the words exercise, diligence and industry, where there is imperfect sense, the same inflections which he gives to constitution and young, where sense is fully formed: contrary to the established laws of utterance; which require in all similar cases, a suspension of the voice while the sense is suspended, or incomplete, and a falling slide, curve, or circumflex when the sense is formed and complete. Of course, exercise, diligence and industry should be read with rising slides; and temperance and time, with rising curves, as I have marked them in the previous examples. From the first promulgation of his system of inflections to the present time, his errors have been constantly copied, as the true principles. In a work but recently published, I find the following examples given to illustrate Walker's rules: Depèndence and obédience belong to youth. The yoùng, the healthy and the prósperous should not presume on their advantages. The same corrections are needed here as in the former case. The true mode would be: Depéndence and obédience belong to youth. The young, the healthy and the prósperous, should not presume on their advantages.

The mistakes of Walker and others, probably, arose from the fact that, in sentences of this construction, the sense and the ear demand a different inflection on the first member from that on the second, as in the first example; and a different inflection on the third member from that on the first and second, as in the second example; and having discovered no modification except the circumflex, they naturally fell into the error, as I have showed, of thus using the falling inflection; when they

themselves would, very likely, read the same passages as I have marked them. No wonder, truly, that so many respectable teachers have thrown aside all guides on this subject, as tending only to mislead and to confound!

As it regards rules for the employment of these inflections, it is exceedingly questionable whether any system would be attended with much benefit, even if it could be made perfectly clear; since it would necessarily be cumbered with numerous exceptions; and, after all, a judicious application of rules must mainly depend upon the quick perception, and good sense of the reader.

The great fault hitherto in works of this sort, has been the multiplicity of rules; and rules too, for the most part, based upon false principles. The best aid that can be afforded, it is believed, after leading the student to the knowledge of just principles, is to furnish him with various, well-selected examples for practice. And when he shall have been well exercised in these, it is presumed his taste and judgment will be so well improved for accurate discrimination, that little else will be needed to enable him to apply the annotations properly; or rather, to express properly what the annotations would plainly represent.

LESSON V.

EXAMPLES TO ILLUSTRATE PUNCTUATION.

A paragraph of several periods.-Truth is the basis of every virtue. It is the voice of reason.

Let its pre

Abhor a false-
Sincerity pos-

cepts be religiously obeyed. Never transgress its limits. Every deviation from truth is criminal. hood. Let your words be ingenuous. sesses the most powerful charm. It acquires the veneration of mankind. Its path is security and peace. It is acceptable to the Deity. Blessed are the pure in heart.

Paragraphs of one period.—Industry is the guardian of innocence.

It is a great accomplishment to be able to tell a story well.

There is as much to be gained by thinking as by reading.

It is a great misfortune to be tired of home.

Secrecy has been called the soul of all great designs. Express your sentiments with brevity.

A regular division of time prevents one hour from encroaching on another.

Paragraphs divided by a comma.-Never take a thing for granted, when it is in your power to reduce it to absolute certainty.

If the idle man knew the value of time, he would not be desirous of killing it.

If you would be revenged upon your enemies, let your life be blameless.

Be more ready to forgive, than to return an injury. Prosperity gains friends, and adversity tries them. He that would have good offices done to him, must do them to others.

own.

By the faults of others, wise men correct their

Paragraphs divided by several commas. Every person should obtain, if possible, a disposition to be pleased. As you value the approbation of Heaven, or the esteem of the world, cultivate the love of virtue.

Eat and drink with moderation, keep the body open, rise early, take moderate exercise, and you will have little occasion for the physician.

The best preparation for all the uncertainties of futurity, consists in a well-ordered mind, a good conscience, and a cheerful submission to the will of Heaven.

Human society requires distinctions of property, diversity of conditions, subordination of ranks, and a multiplicity of occupations, in order to advance the general good.

Oratory, says Johnson, is the power of beating down your adversary's arguments, and putting better in their places.

Grammar traces the operations of thought in known and received characters, and enables polished nations amply to confer on posterity the pleasures of intellect, the improvements of science, and the history of the world.

Logic converses with ideas, adjusts them with propriety and truth, and gives the whole an elevation in the mind consonant to the order of nature, or the flight of fancy.

Rhetoric, lending a spontaneous aid to the defects of language, applies her warm and glowing tints to the portrait, and exhibits the grandeur of the universe, the productions of genius, and all the works of art as copies of the fair original.

Paragraphs divided by semicolons.-Between grammar, logic, and rhetoric, there exists a close and happy connexion; which reigns through all science, and extends to all the powers of eloquence.

Men's evil manners live in brass; their virtues we write in water.

Pride goeth before destruction; and a haughty spirit before a fall.

Innocence confers ease and freedom on the mind; and leaves it open to every pleasing sensation.

Sport not with pain and distress; nor use the meanest insect with wanton cruelty.

Interrogations.-Is a definite question one which begins with a verb, and may be answered by yes or no? Do we use the rising slide to a definite question?

Is an indefinite question one which begins with an interrogative pronoun or adverb, and which cannot be answered by simple yes or no?

Do we use the falling slide in reading an indefinite question ?

Are who, which, what, interrogative pronouns ? and are why, when, whence, where, how, whither, and wherefore interrogative adverbs ?

Should we answer all these questions with yes? and, in reading, should we terminate each with the rising slide?

Should we, in the absence of emphasis, use the rising slide, curve, or circumflex, in every case, while the sense is not formed, and, of course, is suspended? and should we always use the falling slide, curve, or circumflex, when the sense is formed? And does this generally happen