cause, continued to fight the good fight of liberty, until it finally triumphed? Who, sir, were those men? Why, northern laborers! yes, sir, northern laborers! 6. Who, sir, were Roger Shermana and but it is idle to enumerate. To name the northern laborers who have distinguished themselves, and illustrated the history of their country, would require days of the time of this house. Nor is it necessary. Posterity will do them justice. Their deeds have been recorded in characters of fire! SECTION IX. KULE 9. Language of authority, denunciation, reprehension, exclamation, and terror, generally require the falling inflection. EXAMPLES. Authority. 1. Hàste! pass the seas. Fly hènce! begone! 4. To arms to àrms! ye bràve! Th' avenging sword unsheath; March òn, march òn, all hearts resolved Denunciation and Reprehension. 1. Wòe unto you, ye blind guides,-ye fools, and blìnd! 2. Wòe unto thee, Choràzin! wòe unto thee, Bethsaida! Roger Sherman, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. QUESTION. What is the rule for language of authority, reprehension, &c.? 3. O, foòls! and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have written concerning mè! 4. Hènce! home, you idle creatures, get you hòme; you blocks, you stones! you worse than senseless things! Exclamation. 1. O, cruel king! hard-hearted Pharaoh! that every male, of Hebrew mother born, must dìe! his 2. O, how weak is mortal màn! How trifling-how confined scope of vision! 3. Amazing change! A shroud! a còffin! a narrow càbin! This is all that remains of Hamilton! Terror. What's that: 't is he himself! Mèrcy on me! he has locked the door! What is to becòme of me! EXCEPTION. When exclamatory sentences become questions, or are expressive of tender emotions, they usually require the rising slide. EXAMPLES. Exclamatory Questions. 1. What! shear a wólf! the prowling wólf! 2. What! no man stírs! not one! 3. What! not a word! No réply! Nóne! Tender Emotion. 1. O that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat ! 2. O that my head were wáters! and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! QUESTION. What is the exception to this rule? Give an example. NOTE 1. When the direct address is attended with strong emphasis and emotion, the falling inflection is used; but when a speaker deliberately arises, and addresses the chairman or president of a meeting, and the audience, the former takes the rising, and the latter, the falling inflection. EXAMPLES. 1. Mr. Président, Ladies, and Gentlemen. 2. Mr. Cháirman, and Fellow-Cìtizens. 3. May it please your Honor, and Gentlemen of the Jùry. NOTE 2. The language of surprise, wonder, astonishment, admiration, amazement, alarm, fear, horror, remorse, despair, anger, revenge, and strong, dignified expressions of scorn and contempt, also, usually require a falling inflection, proportioned in intensity to the degree of emotion. EXERCISE I. 1. Sláve, do thy òffice. Strike, as I struck the fòe! Strike, as I would have struck the tyrants! 2. Strike deep as my cùrse! Strike, and but once! Come on! Come on! I'll bring you to the fòe. And when you meet him, Strike hard! Strike home! Strike while a dying Blow is in an àrm! Strike till you're free or fall! 3. Òn, òn, to Rome we come! The gladiators come! Let opulence tremble in all his palaces! Let oppression shudder to think the oppressed may have their turn! Let cruelty turn pàle at the thought of redder hands than his! Begone! Prepåre the Eternal city for our games! 4. If you are men· follow me! Strike down yon guàrd,— gain the mountain passes,— and there do bloody work, as did Eternal city, the city of Rome. QUESTIONS. What is the note in regard to the direct address? What other kinds of language usually require the falling inflection ? your sires at old Thermopyla! Is Sparta b dead? Is the old Grecian spirit frozen in your veins, that you do crouch like a belabored hound beneath his master's lash? O, comrades! warriors! Thracians! If we must fight, let us fight for ourselves! If we must slaughter, let us slaughter our opprèssors! If we must die, let it be under the clear sky, by the bright waters, in noble, honorable battle! 5. Haste, brave men! Collect your friends to join us on the instant; 6. Freedom calls you! quick, be ready, Think of what your sires have done,— On, and let the watchword be, 7. Grasp the sword! its edge is keen,——— Sweep your land from tyrants clean; Haste, and scour it through and through! Onward, onward! freedom cries; Rush to arms! the tyrant flies. Thermopyla, a narrow defile in ancient Greece, where Leonidas and his 300 Spartans, who met Xerxes' army, fell. b Sparta, an ancient city of Greece. • Thracians, inhabitants of Thrace, one of the Grecian states, east of Macedonia. EXERCISE II. Denunciation and Reprehension. 1. Avaunt! and quit my sight! let the earth hide thee! Thy bones are marrowless; thou hast no speculation in thine eyes which thou dost glàre with! 2. Thou slàve, thou wrètch, thou còward! To teach thee safety! thou art perjured, too, 3. What a fool art thou, A ramping fool; to brag, to stamp, and swear, 4. Thou art a traitor to the realm! Lord of a lawless band! The bold in speech, the fierce in broil, The troubler of our land! Thy castles and thy rebel towers Are forfeit to the crown; And thou, beneath the Norman ax,a Shalt end thy base renown! Beneath the Norman ax, implies beheading him. |