Soon week came to end, and, from Hole's door set wide, "Life's sweet: shall I say ye wed Muckle-mouth Meg?" "Not Muckle-mouth Meg? Wow, the obstinate man! "Ay, would he- with just for a dowry your can!" From Margaret Minnikin-mou', by God's grace, Robert Browning. XXIII. DIRECTION OF INFLECTION. 178 Nor always fall of leaf, nor ever Spring; Thus with succeeding turns God tempereth all, Southwell. THE rising or the falling of the voice indicates the attitude of the speaker either toward the thought he utters, or toward the person addressed. For example, a rising inflection may show that the mind is looking forward; a falling inflection, that the mind is looking backward. If we give the statement of a truth in respect to something that is to come, we generally make a rising inflection; if we make a statement of truth complete in itself, we make a falling inflection. A rising inflection, therefore, indicates incompleteness; a falling inflection, completeness. The rising is prospective, the falling is retrospective. Again, if the mind is questioning another, or making an appeal to another as to the truth of a statement, or as to a simple question of fact, "Did you say this?" "This is John, did you say?" a rising inflection is made; but when the mind is asserting and expressing that of which it is certain in itself, it finds expression in a falling inflection. The rising inflection indicates doubt, and the falling inflection indicates certainty. Again, the rising inflection indicates confusion in the mind; the falling asserts or presents a definite conclusion of the mind. Thus, if I say, "I must have left my book on this table last night," when I am not certain at all of the statement, but am looking for the book, there is a rising inflection; but if I say, with a falling inflection, “I must have left my book on the table last night,” I have found the book, or I am perfectly sure of it. If I meet a man, but am not sure I know him, I may say, "This is Mr. Smith?" I look into his face, and indicate my doubt by a rising inflection; but when I introduce him to another man, and say, "This is Mr. Smith," stating a definite fact of which I am positive, a falling inflection is heard. Phraseology manifests simply the grammatical relation of words; inflection manifests more the logical relation of ideas. Hence, inflection has to do with the attitude of the mind, its degree of certainty, its relation to another mind, and has nothing to do with phraseology. The phraseology may sometimes express the same thing, but the inflection is more flexible, and is directly governed by the mental attitude of the man. Words show the product of thought, but inflections show the process; words express the opinions of the man, inflections show the man himself; words are symbols of ideas, inflections show the relation of the man to his thought, his conviction or doubt of its truth, or the relation of the mind of the speaker to the mind of the hearer, his attitude of interrogation or assertion. Again, the direction of inflection indicates the relation of the mind to several ideas in succession. I say, "I hold here a pencil, a knife, and a key." If I give each of these objects specific attention, or present one at a time, each will have a falling inflection, but if I group all of the three objects at once in my mind, the first two will have a rising, and the last one a falling inflection. This is another proof that the direction of inflection is indicated and regulated by the action of the mind. 179 THERE are three pleasures pure and lasting, and all derived from inanimate things-books, pictures, and the face of nature. Hazlitt. In reading this sentence, if the mind takes the three ideas at once, that is to say, if we group these ideas, we make a rising inflection upon 'books' and 'pictures' and a falling inflection on 'nature.' If, on the contrary, we detach each idea as an object of attention, or take each one by the mind individually, we give a falling inflection upon each of the three. The development of inflection, therefore, does not consist in the acquisition of rules of any kind. It must consist chiefly in developing flexibility of the voice and the logical instincts of the mind; the power to contrast and relate ideas to each other and to an underlying purpose must be trained. There must be secured such versatility in thinking and such responsiveness of voice that an act of the mind will cause an act of the voice. Thus the voice is inflected according to the process or attitude of the mind. If we take an idea for its own sake, we make a falling inflection upon the central idea or word which stands for it; if we take an idea in relation to another idea, it is apt to receive a rising inflection. Problem XXXVIII. Read some simple extract, accentuating certain ideas as questions, and others as answers. Realize as much as possible the attitude of the mind in a simple current of ideas, and allow every change of mental attitude to show itself in an inflection. 180 WE are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed. 181 IN peace, Love tunes the shepherd's reed; In halls, in gay attire is seen; In hamlets, dances on the green. Love rules the court, the camp, the grove, And men below, and saints above; For love is heaven, and heaven is love. Scott. 182 WHEN I look upon the tombs of the great, every emotion of envy dies in me; when I read the epitaphs of the beautiful, every inordinate desire goes out; when I meet with the grief of parents upon a tombstone, my heart melts with compassion; when I see the tomb of the parents themselves, I consider the vanity of grieving for those whom we must quickly follow. When I see kings lying by those who deposed them, when I consider rival wits placed side by side, or the holy men that divided the world with their contests and disputes, I reflect with sorrow and astonishment on the little competitions, factions, and debates of mankind. When I read the several dates of the tombs, of some that died yesterday, and some six hundred years ago, I consider that great day when we shall all of us be contemporaries, and make our appearance together. "The Spectator." 183 DID ye not hear it?—No; 'twas but the wind, No sleep till morn, when Youth and Pleasure meet And nearer, clearer, deadlier than before! Arm! arm! it is-it is the cannon's opening roar! Addison. Byron. 184 WHAT right have you, O passer by the way, to call any flower a weed? Do you know its merits? its virtues? its healing qualities? Because a thing is common, shall you despise it? If so, you might despise the sunshine for the same reason. 185 PERHAPS in this neglected spot is laid Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire; Gray. 186 Cassius. When Cæsar liv'd he durst not thus have mov'd me. Peace, peace! you durst not so have tempted him. Brutus. Cassius. I durst not? Brutus. No. Cassius. What! durst not tempt him? Brutus. For your life you durst not. Shakespeare. 187 No sound of joy or sorrow was heard from either bank, but friends and foes in dumb surprise, with parted lips and straining eyes, stood gazing where he sank; and when above the surges they saw his crest appear, all Rome sent forth a rapturous cry, and even the ranks of Tuscany could scarce forbear to cheer. 188. WANTING IS-WHAT? WANTING is - what? Summer redundant, Macaulay. Blueness abundant, Where is the blot? Beamy the world, yet a blank all the same, Rose-beauty above, And all that was death Grows life, grows love, Grows love! 189. UP-HILL. DOES the road wind up-hill all the way? Yes, to the very end. Will the day's journey take the whole long day? But is there for the night a resting-place? A roof for when the slow dark hours begin. Shall I meet other wayfarers at night? Those who have gone before. Browning. |