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race? Will he exhibit the patriotic virtue of Washington, or the selfish craftiness of Benedict Arnold ?*

8. If he has genius, will he consecrate it, like Milton and Montgomery, to humanity and religion; or, like Moore and Byron, § to the polluted altars of passion? If he has mercantile skill, will he employ it, like Girard, to gratify his lust of wealth; or, like some of our living merchants, to elevate and bless mankind?

9. The struggle lies between wealth and want; the dignity and degeneracy of reason; the force and frenzy of the soul; between well-grounded hope and widely ex tended despair.

SECTION III.

RULE 3. When or is used conjunctively, it takes the rising slide after, as well as before it.

EXAMPLES.

1. Can wealth, or hónor, or pleasure, satisfy the soul? 2. Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that thou art righteous? or is it gain to him, that thou makest thy ways pérfect?

3. Hast thou given the horse strength? or hast thou clothed his neck with thunder?

QUESTION. What is the rule when or is used conjunctively? Give an example.

• Ar ́nold, (Benedict,) an American general during the first part of the Revolutionary war, but subsequently he became a traitor to his country.

Mont-gom ́er-y, (James,) an English poet, whose talents were consecrated to the cause of humanity and religion.

+ Moore, (Thomas,) an Irish poet of considerable reputation.

By'ron, (Lord,) an English peer and poet of elevated genius, but dissolute habits.

■ Gi-rard, (Stephen,) a very wealthy merchant, late of Philadelphia.

4. Can that which is unsavory be eaten without salt? or is there any taste in the white of an égg ?

EXERCISE.

1. Did I say, bring unto mé? or give a reward for me of your substance? or deliver me from the enemies' hand? or redeem me from the hand of the mighty?

2. Doth God pervert judgment? or doth the Almighty pervert jústice? Art thou the first man that was born? or wast thou made before the hills?

3. Hast thou entered into the springs of the séa? or hast thou walked in search of the dépths? Have the gates of death been opened unto thée ? or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death?

4. Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail? Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades,* or loose the bands of Orion?† Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus § with his sons?

5. Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow? or will he harrow the valleys after thee? Wilt thou trust him, because his strength is great? or wilt thou leave thy labor to him? Gavest thou the goodly wings unto the peacocks? or wings and feathers unto the ostrich?

6. Canst thou draw out leviathan | with a hook? or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down? Canst thou put a hook into his nose? or bore his jaw through with a thorn? Wilt thou play with him as with a bird? or wilt

* Plei ́a-des, an assemblage of seven stars in the constellation Taurus.

† O-ri ́on, a bright constellation of stars in the southern hemisphere. Mazʼza-roth, probably the constellation of stars around the north pole. Arc-tu'rus, a fixed star of the first magnitude in the constellation Bootes. Le-vi'athan, an aquatic animal, mentioned in Job. It is uncertain whether the crocodile, whale, or some huge aquatic serpent is intended.

thou bind him for thy maidens? Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons ? or his head with fish-spears?

7. Wilt thou hunt the prey for the lion? or fill the appetite of the young lions? Will the unicorn be willing to serve thee, or abide by thy crib? Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder like him?

SECTION IV.

RULE 4. When negation is opposed to affirmation, the former has the rising, and the latter, the falling inflection, in whatever order they occur.

EXAMPLES.

1. It is not my design to blame the army, but the gèneral.
2. I did not come to praise Cæsar, but to bùry him.
3. His plans were well devised, but not well éxecuted.

4. We may give advice, but we cannot give conduct.

5. We should not adopt a mechanical variety in reading, but a natural one.

6. Our heavenly Benefactor claims, not the homage of our lips, but of our hearts.

7. It is not the business of virtue to extirpate the affections of the mind, but to règulate them.

8. This is the main point; not univérsal progress, but hùman progress; not progress éverywhere, but progress somewhere.

EXCEPTION. When the negative clause is attended with strong emphasis, it usually requires the falling inflection, and the affirmative, the rising.

EXAMPLES.

1. You shall not depart; but your brother may.

2. Openly, you dare not reproach that man; but secretly, you slánder him.

QUESTIONS. What is the rule when negation is opposed to affirmation? Give an example. What is the exception to this rule? Give an example.

3. Such conduct would not be excusable in youth; much less, in old áge.

It is maintained by some elocutionists, and, perhaps, with a degree of plausibility, that when negation is opposed to affirmation, the negative clause takes the slight circumflex, instead of the rising inflection, as required by the rule; and also, in all examples in which comparison or condition is expressed, and the falling inflection is required on one of the clauses, that the slight circumflex, instead of the rising inflection, should be used on the contrasted word in the other, in whatever order the inflections may occur. Thus, It was not his business to teach mòral, but nàtural philosophy. The General was noted more for ràshness than for courage. If the population of this country were to remain stàtionary, a great effort would be necessary, to supply each family with the Bible.

It may be well for the pupil to practice reading examples like these, whenever they may occur in the following pages, first, with the rising inflection, and then with the slight circumflex, or vice versa, in order to train his ear to distinguish their difference, and to determine which reading will best express the meaning of the sentence; but great care will be necessary not to mistake one inflection for the other.

EXERCISE.

1. Be gràve, but not fórmal; be resèrved, but not sóur; be bòld, but not rásh; be hùmble, but not sérvile; be pàtient, but not insénsible; be cònstant, but not óbstinate; be cheerful, but not light; be familiar, but not too intimate; exercise great caution in the choice of your assòciates, but do not reject those who are worthy.

2. Think not the influence of devotion is confined to the retirement of the clóset, and the assemblies of the saints; imagine not, that, unconnected with the duties of life, it is suited only to those, whose feelings perhaps you deride as romantic and visionary; but rather consider it the guardian

QUESTION. What is said in the remark under the rule for negation and affirmation?

of innocence; the instrument of virtue; the means by which every good affection may be improved.

3. Virtue is of intrinsic value and good desert; not the creature of will, but necessary and immùtable; not lócal or témporary, but of equal extènt and antiquity with the divine. mind; not a mode of sensation, but everlasting trùth; not dependent on power, but the guide of all power.

4. These things I say now, not to insult one that is fállen, but to render more secure those who stand; not to irritate the hearts of the wounded, but to preserve those who are not wounded, in sound health; not to submerge him who is tossed on the billows, but to instruct those sailing before a propitious breèze, that they may not be plunged beneath the waves.

5. In the spring-time, your fields shall grow green, but they shall not gladden your eye; your flocks shall sport thereon, but it shall bring no delight to you; the brier and the thorn shall flourish around your hedge, because your hand is not there to prune; your children shall prattle around the lonely fireside, but it shall bring no joy to your bosom; the sun shall rise in its wonted splendor, and go down with all its gorgeous beauty, but the cold walls of a prison shall bound your vision, confine your hopes, and prolong your woes.

6. Xerxes,* in projecting the conquest of Greece, did not evince wisdom, but rashness. His army did not pass the Bosphorus † in boats, but on a bridge. His expedition did not fail for want of men, but the lack of discipline. The Greeks were not as numerous as the Persians, but they were braver. Xerxes did not anticipate the defeat of his army, but was compelled to witness their overthrow. He did not expect to be driven from the Grecian coast as a mere fugi

Xerx'es, king of Persia, 485, B. C., famous for his attempt to conquer Greece. He was murdered in his bed, in the twenty-first year of his reign.

+ Bospho-rus, the strait which leads from the Black Sea into the Sea of Marmora.

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