Page:The grammar of English grammars.djvu/821

This page needs to be proofread.

"The reader should bear in mind that a falling inflection gives more importance to a word than a rising inflection. Hence it should never be employed merely for the sake of variety; but for emphasis and cadences. Neither should a rising inflection be used for the sake of mere ‘harmony,’ where a falling inflection would better express the meaning of the author. The sense should, in all cases, determine the direction of inflections."—Ib.

Cadence is a fall of the voice, which has reference not so much to pitch as to force, though it may depress both; for it seems to be generally contrasted with emphasis,^[1] and by some is reprehended as a fault. "Support your voice steadily and firmly," says Rippingham, "and pronounce the concluding words of the sentence with force and vivacity, rather than with a languid cadence."—Art of Speaking, p. 17. The pauses which L. Murray denominates the suspending and the closing pause, he seems to have discriminated chiefly by the inflections preceding them, if he can be said to have distinguished them at all. For he not only teaches that the former may sometimes be used at the close of a sentence, and the latter sometimes where "the sense is not completed;" but, treating cadence merely as a defect, adds the following caution: "The closing pause must not be confounded with that fall of the voice, or cadence, with which many readers uniformly finish a sentence. Nothing is more destructive of propriety and energy than this habit. The tones and inflections of the voice at the close of a sentence, ought to be diversified, according to the general nature of the discourse, and the particular construction and meaning of the sentence."—Murray's Gram., 8vo, p. 250; 12mo, p. 200.

ARTICLE IV.—OF TONES.

Tones are those modulations of the voice which depend upon the feelings of the speaker. They are what Sheridan denominates "the language of emotions." And it is of the utmost importance, that they be natural, unaffected, and rightly adapted to the subject and to the occasion; for upon them, in a great measure, depends all that is pleasing or interesting in elocution.

"How much of the propriety, the force, and [the] grace of discourse, must depend on these, will appear from this single consideration; that to almost every sentiment we utter, more especially to every strong emotion, nature has adapted some peculiar tone of voice; insomuch, that he who should tell another that he was angry, or much grieved, in a tone that did not suit such emotions, instead of being believed, would be laughed at."—Blair's Rhet., p. 333.

"The different passions of the mind must be expressed by different tones of the voice. Love, by a soft, smooth, languishing voice; anger, by a strong, vehement, and elevated voice; joy, by a quick, sweet, and clear voice; sorrow, by a low, flexible, interrupted voice; fear, by a dejected, tremulous, hesitating voice; courage, by a full, bold, and loud voice; and perplexity, by a grave and earnest voice. In exordiums, the voice should be low, yet clear; in narrations, distinct; in reasoning, slow; in persuasions, strong: it should thunder in anger, soften in sorrow, tremble in fear, and melt in love."—Hiley's Gram., p. 121.

OBS.—Walker observes, in his remarks on the nature of Accent and Quantity, "As to the tones of the passions, which are so many and various, these, in the opinion of one of the best judges in the kingdom, are qualities of sound, occasioned by certain vibrations of the organs of speech, independent on [say of] high, low, loud, soft, quick, slow, forcible, or feeble: which last may not improperly be called different quantities of sound."—Walker's Key, p. 305.

Notes

↑ [476] In Humphrey's English Prosody, cadence is taken for the reverse of accent, and is obviously identified or confounded with short quantity, or what the author inclines to call "small quantity." He defines it as follows: "Cadence is the reverse or counterpart to accent; a falling or depression of voice on syllables unaccented: and by which the sound is shortened and depressed."—P. 3. This is not exactly what is generally understood by the word cadence. Lord Kames also contrasts cadence with accent; but, by the latter term, he seems to have meant something different from our ordinary accent. "Sometimes to humour the sense," says he, "and sometimes the melody, a particular syllable is sounded in a higher tone; and this is termed accenting a syllable, or gracing it with an accent. Opposed to the accent, is the cadence, which I have not mentioned as one of the requisites of verse, because it is entirely regulated by the sense, and hath no peculiar relation to verse."—Elements of Criticism, Vol. ii, p. 78.

[1] [476] In Humphrey's English Prosody, cadence is taken for the reverse of accent, and is obviously identified or confounded with short quantity, or what the author inclines to call "small quantity." He defines it as follows: "Cadence is the reverse or counterpart to accent; a falling or depression of voice on syllables unaccented: and by which the sound is shortened and depressed."—P. 3. This is not exactly what is generally understood by the word cadence. Lord Kames also contrasts cadence with accent; but, by the latter term, he seems to have meant something different from our ordinary accent. "Sometimes to humour the sense," says he, "and sometimes the melody, a particular syllable is sounded in a higher tone; and this is termed accenting a syllable, or gracing it with an accent. Opposed to the accent, is the cadence, which I have not mentioned as one of the requisites of verse, because it is entirely regulated by the sense, and hath no peculiar relation to verse."—Elements of Criticism, Vol. ii, p. 78.

[1]