pably raised higher than on the preceding words, though ending with the falling inflection;* in the latter it falls gradually lower on several of the preceding words, and may properly be said to drop. An example will contribute greatly to the comprehending of this marking inflection, so necessary to the variety and harmony of a sentence.

We may observe, that any single circumstance of what we have formerly seen often raises up a whole scene of imagery, and awakens numberless ideas that before slept in the imagina tion; such a particular smell or colour is able to fill the mind on a sudden with a picture of the fields or gardens where we first met with it; and to bring up into view, al the variety of images that once attended it. Spectator, No. 417.

We may here observe, that the former part of this passage has a succession of similar pauses till it comes to the semicolon, (which from the complete sense it forms might as well have been marked by a colon), and that the succeeding part of the sentence runs exactly into the same succession of similar pauses: which, if pronounced exactly alike, would offend the ear by a monotony. A good reader, therefore, solicitous to avoid a sameness of sound, throws his voice into the rising inflection upon bring, and into the falling upon view, by which means a variety is introduced, and the period ends more harmoniously from the preparation made for it by the harmonick inflection.

Another instance where this inflection may be repeated successively, is, perhaps, better calculated to convey an idea of it:

We may learn from this observation which we have made on the mind of man, to take particular care, when we have once settled in a regular course of life, how we too frequently indulge ourselves in any of the most innocent diversions and entertainments; since the mind may insensibly fall off from

*See Part I. p. 90, 150.

the relish of virtuous actions, and by degrées exchange that pleasure, which it takes in the performance of its duty, for delights of a much more inferiour and unprofitable nature.

Spect. No. 447.

In this example, we have the same succession of similar pauses as in the last; and though the voice may very properly fix itself in the falling inflection on the word entertainments, and by that means occasion some variety, yet the subsequent part of the period proceeds by similar pauses as well as the former; and therefore, the harmonick inflection introduced upon the words degrees and exchange, and upon that and pleasure, that is, the rising inflection upon degrees and that, and the falling inflection upon exchange and pleasure; by this means, I say, the monotony will be broken, the thought enforced, and the period rendered much more musical.

One example more, where this inflection may be oftener repeated, will still better enable us to show the real nature and use of it:

I must confess I think it below reasonable creatures to be altogether conversant in such diversions as are merely innocent, and have nothing else to recommend them but that there is no hurt in them. Whether any kind of gaming has even this much to say for itself, I shall not determine; but I think it very wonderful to see persons of the best sènse pássing awày a dózen hours together in shuffling and dividing a pack of cards, with no other conversation but what is made up of a few game phrases, and no other ideas, but those of black and red spots ranged together in different figures. Spect. No. 93.

The necessity of introducing the harmonick inflection in the latter part of this sentence will better appear, by first reading it in the common manner, and afterwards with the inflection we have been describ ing this will show the diffiulty of avoiding a monotony without adopting this inflection, and the variety and force it gives to the language and sentiment when it is adopted. The words best and sense ;

passing and away; dozen and together; shuffling and dividing; other and conversation; what and made up; these words, I say, will be very apt to drag, and produce a sameness of sound if pronounced in the common way; but if the rising inflection is used on the first, and the falling on the last, of every pair, the monotony will be prevented, and a succession of sounds introduced, very descriptive of the repetition conveyed by the words.

But the great object of the harmonick inflection is forming the cadence: here it is, that harmony and variety are more peculiarly necessary, as the ear is more particularly affected by the close of a subject, or any branch of a subject, than by any other part of the composition. We have had frequent occasion to observe, that though a series of sentences may all require to be pronounced with the falling inflection; yet if they all belong to one subject, or one branch of a subject, usually called a paragraph, that the last of them only demands that depression of voice which marks a conclusion to which observation we may add this gen

eral rule.

Rule I. When a series of similar sentences, or members of sentences, form a branch of a subject or paragraph; the last sentence or member must fall gradually into a lower tone, and adopt the harmonick inflection, on such words as form the most agreeable cadence.

EXAMPLES.

One of the most eminent mathematicians of the age has assured me, that the greatest pleasure he took in reading Virgil was in examining Æneas's voyage by the map; as I question not but many a modern compiler of history would be delighted with little more in that divine aúthor than in the bare matters of fact. Spectator, No. 109.

Here we find placing the rising inflection upon the word little, and the falling upon more; and the fall

ing upon divine, and the rising upon author, gives both a distinctness and harmony to the cadence.

Gratian very often recommends the fine taste as the utmost perfection of an accomplished man. As this word arises very often in conversation, I shall endeavour to give some account of it; and to lay down rules how we may know whether we are possessed of it, and how we may acquire that fìne taste of writing, which is so much talked of among the polite world. Spect. No. 109.

Placing the rising inflection upon how, and the falling upon acquire; the falling inflection upon fine, and the rising upon writing, prevents a sameness which would otherwise arise from the similitude of the three members, and gives an agreeable close to the sentence.

Since I have mentioned this unaccountable zeal which ap pears in atheists and infidels, I must farther observe that they are likewise in a most particular manner possessed with the spirit of bigotry. They are wédded to opinions full of contradiction and impossibility, and at the same time look upon the smállest difficulty in an àrticle of fáith as a sufficient reason for rejecting it. Spect. No. 185.

As the rising inflection on the word wedded, and the falling on the word opinions, the falling on contradiction, and the rising on impossibility, prevents a sameness in the first member of the last sentence arising from its similitude to the closing member of the first; so the rising inflection upon the words same and smallest, and the falling upon time and dif ficulty, and the falling upon article, and the rising upon faith; this arrangement of inflections, I say, on the latter part of the sentence, gives a force, harmony, and variety, to the cadence.

We may be sure the metaphorical word taste would not have been so general in all tongues, had there not been a very great conformity between that mental taste, which is the sub

ject of this paper, and that sensitive taste which gives us a relish of every different flavour that affects the palate Accórd. ingly we find, there are as mány degrees of refinement in the intellectual faculty, as in the sense which is marked out by this common denomination. Spect. No. 409.

If we do but place the rising inflection on accordingly, and the falling on find, the rising on many, and the falling on refinement, in the last sentence, we shall perceive a great variety, as well as harmony added to the whole passage.

Harmony of Prose.

THE foregoing observations on the harmony of the cadence, have, undoubtedly, suggested to the reader that great object of ancient and modern composition, the harmony of prose: this is a subject so intimately connected with harmonious pronunciation, that it seems necessary to investigate the principles of that composition which is generally esteemed harmonious, in order, if possible, to throw some light upon the most accurate mode of delivering it.

The ancients thought harmonious prose to be only a looser kind of numbers, and resolved many passages of their most celebrated orations into such feet as composed verse. In modern languages, where accent seems to stand for the quantity of the ancients, we find harmonious prose resolvable into an arrangement of accented syllables, somewhat similar to that of versification. The return of the accented syllable, at certain intervals, seems the common definition of both.

In verse we find these intervals nearly equal; and it is this equality which forms the measure. Thus in the following couplet :