The following are rules for the application of inflection to the emphasis of sense.

I. The falling inflection is used,

1st. When something is affirmed in the emphasis, and that which is opposed to it in the antithesis is denied.

EXAMPLES OF SINGLE EMPHASIS.

It was Cæsar who won the battle.

That is, it was not Pompey, or any one else, who won it.

I want justice, and shall demand it.

That is, I want not compromise or indulgence, but justice; and I shall not wait till it is given me, but I shall demand it.

The following is an example of inverted con struction:

Among the ancient philosophers, Socrates presents the strongest claims to our admiration.

That is, not Plato, Xenophon, or any other. The reason of the rising inflection towards the close of this sentence will be apparent, when the words are arranged in direct construction. Thus:—

He who presents the strongest claims to our admiration is Socrates.

The next example is similar:

In the present day, he only who has travelled

on the sandy plains of Asia, or of Africa, can fully appreciate the blessing of an abundant supply of water. (Indirect.)

He that would fully appreciate the blessing of an abundant supply of water, must have travelled on the sandy plains of Asia or of Africa. (Direct.)

2ndly. When something is either affirmed or denied in the emphasis, which may be affirmed or denied in a much greater degree of the antithesis. This rule applies whenever even is either expressed, or may be supplied, before the emphatic word; as, He cannot write good books even for children. that is, much less can he write them for men. When people are determimed to quarrel, a straw will furnish the occasion.

Of all the discoveries of modern ages, the art of printing has certainly done most for the improvement of mankind.

Oh, there be players that I have seen play, and heard others praise, and that highly, that neither having the accent of Christian, Pagan, or man, have so strutted and bellowed, that I have thought

some of Nature's journeymen had made men.

That is, not Nature herself, but her journeymen.

Tubal. One of them showed me a ring which he had of your daughter for a monkey.

Shylock. Out upon her! Thou torturest me, Tubal; it was my turquoise. I would not have given it for a wilderness of monkeys.

That is, not for one monkey merely, but even a wilderness of monkeys.

II. The rising inflection is used,

When something is affirmed or denied in the emphasis, and a concession is implied, or an insinuation conveyed that the affirmation or negation does not extend to the antithesis. Thus :

I hope your Grace knows how to bear with him.

You are my husband's friend, the friend of Altamont.

That is, it does not follow that you are mine.
He can write good books for children.

I see thou hast learnt to rail.

If we have no regard for religion in youth, we ought to have some regard for it in old age.

The principal sources of activity are taken away, when they for whom we labour are cut off from us,

they who animated, and they who sweetened all the toils of life.

When there are several unemphatic words folfowing one which is emphatic, they must be pronounced in the same manner as a parenthesis, and take their inflection from the emphatic word. As, But Rebecca put another interpretation on the words extorted as it were from Bois Guilbert.

EXAMPLES OF DOUBLE EMPHASIS.

The pleasures of the imagination, taken in their full extent, are not so gross as those of sense, nor so refined as those of the understanding.

We make provision for this life as though it were never to have an end, and for the other life as though it were never to have a beginning.

And Heaven soon granted what my sire denied. One sun by day-by night ten-thousand shine.

EXAMPLES OF TREBLE EMPHASIS.

Passions are winds to urge us o'er the wave,

Reason the rudder to direct and save.

He raised a mortal to the skies,

She drew an angel down.

These are examples of the treble emphasis expressed, but sometimes the double emphasis has two of its parts so emphatic, as to imply two antithetic objects not expressed, and thus to form a treble emphasis implied. As,

To reign is worth ambition though in hell;

Better to reign in hell, than serve in heaven.

Here, Satan thinks it so desirable to reign, that it would be better for him to reign, not merely where it is attended with its usual cares, but even in hell, where it is accompanied with torments; and on the other hand, that servitude is so base and disagreeable, not only where it has its usual inconveniences, but even in heaven, where it is attended with pleasures. Now, since all words before which even is either expressed or understood, require the falling inflection, in this passage, both hell and heaven must have the falling, though the contrast might suggest opposite, inflections.

The following is a similar example of treble emphasis :—

I would rather be the first man in that village, than the second in Rome.

N.B. The power of emphasis is so great that it may be said to control every other rule.

EMPHASIS OF FORCE.

Emphasis of force is that additional emphasis