LESSON LXV.

Exercises on Inflection:-PORTER'S ANALYSIS.

The disjunctive (or) has the rising.inflection before, and the falling after it.

Then said Jesus unto them, I will ask you one thing; Is it lawful on the sabbath days to do good, or to do èvil? to save life, or to destroy it?

Whether we are hurt by a mád or a blìnd man, the pain is still the same. And with regard to those who are undone, it avails little whether it be by a man who decéives them, or by one who is himself deceived.

The direct question has the rising inflection, and the answer has the falling. Is not this the carpenter's són ? is not his mother called Máry? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Júdas? and his sisters, are they not all with ús?

Are we intended for actors in the grand drama of etérnity? Are we candidates for the plaudit of the rátional creation? Are we formed to participate the supreme beatitude in communicating happiness? Are we destined to co-operate with God in advancing the order and perfection of his works? How sublime a creature then is man!

The following are examples of both question and answer.

What, then, what was Cæsar's object? Do we select extortioners, to enforce the laws of équity? Do we make choice of profligates, to guard the morals of society? Do we depute atheists, to preside over the rites of religion? I will not prèss the answer: I need not press the answer; the premises of my argument render it unnecessary. What would content you? Talent? Nò! Enterpríse? Nò! Coúrage? Nò! Reputation? Nò! Virtue? No! The men whom you would select, should possess, not one, but all of these.

There is not an evil incident to human nature for which the gospel doth not provide a remedy. Are you ignorant of many things which it highly concerns you to knów? The gospel offers you instruction. Have you deviated from the path of dúty? The gospel offers you forgiveness. Do temptations surround you? The gospel

offers you the aid of heaven. Are you exposed to mísery? It consòles you. Are you subject to death? It offers you immortality.

When (or) is used conjunctively, it has the same inflection before and after it.

Canst thou draw out leviathan with a hóok? or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down? Canst thou put a hook into his nóse? or bore his jaw through with a thorn? Wilt thou play with him as with a bird? or wilt thou bind him for thy máidens? Canst thou fill his skin with barbed írons? or his head with fish spéars ?

But should these credulous infidels after all be in the right, and this pretended revelation be all a fable; from believing it what harm could ensue? would it render princes more tyrannical, or subjects more ungovernable, the rich more insolent, or the poor more disorderly? Would it make worse párents or children, húsbands or wíves; másters, or sérvants, friends, or néighbors ? or would it not make men more virtuous, and, consequently, more happy in every situation ?*

Negation opposed to affirmation.

Think not, that the influence of devotion is confined 'to the retirement of the closet and the assemblies of the sáints. Imagine not, that, unconnected with the duties of life, it is suited only to those enraptured souls, whose feelings, perhaps, you deride as romantic and visionary. It is the guardian of ìnnocence-it is the instrument of vìrtue-it is a mean by which every good affection may be formed and improved.

But this is no time for a tribunal of jústice, but for showing mercy; not for accusation, but for philànthropy; not for trial but for pàrdon; not for sentence and execution, but for compassion and kindness.

Comparison and contrast.

By hónor and dishonor, by évil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true; as únknown, and yet well known; as dy'ing, and behold we lìve; as chástened, and not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rìch; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.

*The last or is disjunctive.

The most frightful disorders arose from the state of feudal anarchy. Force decided all things. Europe was one great field of battle, where the weak struggled for freedom, and the strong for domìnion. The king was without power, and the nobles without principle. They were tyrants at home, and robbers abroad. Nothing remained to be a check upon ferocity and violence.

Homer was the greater génius; Virgil the better àrtist in the one, we most admire the man; in the other, the work. Homer hurries us with a commanding impetuosity; Virgil leads us with an attractive majesty. Homer scatters with a generous profusion; Virgil bestows with a careful magnificence. Homer, like the Nile, pours out his riches with a sudden óverflow; Virgil, like a river in its banks, with a constant strèam.— And when we look upon their machines, Homer secms, like his own Jupiter in his terrors, shaking Olympus, scattering the lightnings, and firing the heavens; Virgil, like the same power in his benevolence, counselling with the gods, laying plans for èmpires, and ordering his whole creation.

Dryden knew more of man in his general náture, and Pope in his local manners. The notions of Dryden were formed by comprehensive speculation, those of Pope by minute attention. There is more dignity in the knowl-edge of Dry'den, and more certainty in that of Pòpe.

Poetry was not the sole praise of either; for both excelled likewise in prose; but Pope did not borrow his prose from his predecessor. The style of Dryden is capricious and varied; that of Pope is cautious and uniform. Dryden obeys the motions of his own mind; Pope constrains his mind to his own rules of composition. Dryden is sometimes vehement and rápid; Pope is always smooth, uniform, and gentle. Dryden's page is a natural field, rising into inequalities, and diversified by the varied exuberance of abundant vegetation; Pope's is a velvet làwn, shaven by the scythe, and levelled by the roller.-Dryden's performances were always hasty; either excited by some external occasion, or extorted by domestic necessity: he composed without consideration, and published without correction. What his mind could supply at call, or gather in one

excursion, was all that he sought and all that he gave. The dilatory caution of Pope enabled him to condense his sentiments, to multiply his images, and to accumulate all that study might produce, or chance might supply. If the flights of Dryden, therefore, are higher, Pope continues longer on the wìng. If of Dryden's fire, the blaze is brighter; of Pope's the heat is more règular and constant. Dryden often surpasses expectátion, and Pope never falls belòw it. Dryden is read with frequent astónishment, and Pope with perpetual delight.

The pause of suspension requires the rising inflection.

A guilty or a discontented mind, a mind, ruffled by ill fortune, disconcerted by its own pássions, soured by néglect, or fretting at disappointments, hath not leisure to attend to the necessity or reasonableness of a kindness desired, nor a taste for those pleasures which wait on beneficence, which demand a calm and unpolluted heart to relish them.

The indirect question and its answer have the falling inflection.

Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you¿ They said, Baràbbas. Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus, which is called Christ; They all say unto him, Let him be crùcified. And the governor said, Why¡ what evil hath he done ¿ But they cried out the more saying, Let him be crucified.

Language of authority, surprise, denunciation and reprehension.

How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arìse out of thy sleep?-Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:-So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.

Emphatic succession of particulars.

Rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing:-in every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.-Quench not the Spirit :-Despise not prophesyings.-Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.

LESSON LXVI.

AMERICANISMS.-PICKering.

Americanism denotes a use of phrases or terms, or a construction of sentences, even among persons of rank and education, [in America] different from the use of the same terms and phrases, or the construction of similar sentences in Great Britain.

To Admire, to like very much, to be very fond of. This verb is much used in New England, in expressions like the following: I should admire to go to such a place; I should admire to have such and such a thing. It is never thus used by the English; and among us it is confined to the language of conversation.

To Arrive. It is remarked by Englishmen, that we in many cases employ the auxiliary verb to have with this and some other verbs of a similar nature, with which the English more commonly use the auxiliary to be; as, for instancee-we have now arrived at the end of a laborious task-while the English would say, we are now arrived, &c.

Awful. This word is often applied in New England, not to what creates surprise, but dislike or disgust, as of a disagreeable medicine, it is an awful medicine; of an ugly woman, an awful looking woman! of a cold wind, an awful wind.

To Calculate, to expect, suppose, think; as, I calculate to leave town to-morrow, I calculate he will do such a thing. An English traveller thus ridicules, the use of this and some other words, in the country towns of New England." The crops are progressing, says Nathan, though I calculate as how this is a prodigious weedy soil."

Clever. By clever, Americans generally mean, only goodness of disposition, worthiness, or integrity without the least regard to capacity; and it is sometimes applied where there is an acknowledged simplicity or mediocrity of character, as a clever man, a clever woman. In England, clever always means capacity, and may be joined either to a good or bad disposition. It is very common in England to say, He is a very clever fellow,