towards the promotion of an edifying reading of the Church-service, the following work has been composed. The author humbly aspires at exciting the attention of some among his juniors who may not hitherto have sufficiently considered, how very much the usefulness of their labours may be increased by the manner of officiating. He has, as before stated, spared no pains to render the work deserving of their attention. If, after all his care, it should be found, that rules cannot afford much assistance without the additional aid of a living Teacher, every one who duly feels the importance of the subject, will concur in hoping, that, before many years be elapsed, all the students in our Universities who are intended for the pastoral office, may enjoy the vivâ voce instructions of a" professor of pulpit eloquence *."

Further remarks on this subject will be found near the conclusion of the Preface.

THE INFLECTIONS.

3. It is of primary importance that the reader should acquire an accurate knowledge of the two Inflections, which were first described by Mr. Walker in his "Elements of Elocution." But before proceeding to give the requisite explanation of them, it may be necessary to notice some objections which may naturally arise against the use of the system. In doing so, let the original inventor be allowed to speak for himself." It may perhaps be objected that an attention to these inflections when marked upon paper, will be apt to embarrass the reader, whose mind ought to be entirely occupied by the sense of what he is reading. A similar objection might be made against punctuation, the utility of which is, however, generally admitted. The truth is, that every novelty of plan is apt to perplex; and if we have learned an art in an imperfect manner,

the means of facilitating a more perfect acquisition of it, will at first retard our progress. For those who already read well, this system of inflections is not intended. What help do they need who are sufficiently perfect? It is to him who is desirous of improving his delivery-to him who is in doubt as to the most effectual method of conveying the meaning of a passage, that this assistance is recommended: and it may with confidence be asserted, that if such a one will but bestow half the time to acquire a knowledge of these inflections which is usually spent in learning the gamut, he will have no reason to repent his labour."

If the student is gifted with a tolerably good ear, enabling him immediately to perceive, and readily to imitate, the difference of speaking sounds, he will find little difficulty in the system. At first his attempts to follow the notation may appear rather stiff and awkward; but a little practice will remove these defects, and give ease, smoothness, and harmony.

It is necessary to premise, that no clear judgment can be formed of the several examples respecting inflections except by pronouncing them aloud: silent reading will not answer the purpose.

4. The voice when in the act of speaking may be observed to be constantly moving up

ward or downward through a certain number of notes on the musical scale. These ascents and descents are by modern writers on Elocution, styled "the rising and falling inflections."

The rising inflection is denoted by the acute accent ('); and the falling inflection by the grave accent (').

The difference of the two inflections will be perceived in reading aloud the following sentence:

E'loquence ànimates.

In pronouncing these words, the voice appears to slide upwards on eloquence, and downwards on animates. This will become very apparent, if the words are uttered distinctly and deliberately, without any sudden jerk or violent effort. The trial does not require forcible utterance; for inflection is not emphasis: inflection means the upward or downward slide of the voice; whereas emphasis, according to the common meaning of the term, refers to the degree of force which accompanies the utterance of the inflection. Thus, in the above example, each of the words might be pronounced with more or less of emphasis, but still the inflection would continue the same, provided the same direct meaning were intended to be conveyed.

5. In order to acquire a facility in applying

the inflections so as to be able to read fluently according to the notation, the student should accustom himself to repeat a succession of detached words (the list of words in the Appendix to this work will answer his purpose) first pronouncing each word with the rising, then with the falling inflection; then with the falling and rising alternately, &c. This plan is suggested by Mr. Smart; and his remarks on the subject are so just, that I beg leave to present them to my readers; at the same time strongly recommending the ingenious publication from which they are borrowed, as a most useful manual *. "Let it be his (the student's) object to acquire the power of uttering one or other of the inflections at pleasure. This will at first be attended with no slight difficulty: though determined perhaps to use the downward inflection, the idea of continuation will prevail and cause him to use the other in spite of himself: being sensible of his failure, he will make a second trial, and probably imagine, because he has pronounced the word in a lower or softer tone, that he has altered the inflection: this however does not necessarily follow; for the same inflection may be pitched very high or very low, and it may be uttered very

Theory and Practice of Elocution.