LECTURE X.

Compound Inflections or Circumflexes-Theory of their Formation-Rising and Falling Circumflexes-Their uses in suggesting Antithesis-Illustrations-Principles of their Application where the Antithesis is expressed-Illustrations-Uses of the Circumflexes in regard to Emotional Expression—Principles that govern their Application-Illustrations-Analysis of the Range of the Inflections in the Musical Scale-Results.

HAVE now to bring before your notice the last group of the inflections; viz., the compound inflections or circumflexes, as they are now generally termed. It is to Joshua Steele that we are indebted for the first attempt at a scientific analysis of these peculiar vocal waves, and a philosophical investigation of the purposes which they serve in regard to the development of the logical meaning of certain forms of sentences, as well as in reference to emotional expression.

The extent and form of these compound inflections or circumflexes are, as Steele justly remarked, very various in our language; and two or three-quarter tones more or less make little difference in the sense of their application, though it will, of course, increase or diminish the effect in degree. They are divisible into two distinct classes. The first consists of a simple falling inflection, which, after descending to a note more or less low in the musical scale, then, as it were, turns and slides upward in the scale, and ends, in fact, with a rising inflection. The name given by Steele to this peculiar inflection was the grave-acute, and to exhibit different degrees of it he adopted this mode of notation.

Fig. 12. Grave-acute.

This is now called the rising circumflex. The other compound inflection consists first of a simple rise of the voice to a note more or less high in the musical scale, then turns and slides downward, ending with a falling inflection. Steele termed it the acuto-grave inflection, and represented its different degrees thus

LECT. X.]

KING'S COLLEGE LECTURES ON ELOCUTION.

137

Fig. 13. Acuto-grave.

This is now generally called the falling circumflex.

In the formation of both the rising and the falling circumflexes the following principle is to be observed. The voice reaches the middle or turning point in the pronunciation of a single syllable; but the termination may be prolonged through any number of subsequent unaccented syllables. As you will see by the diagrams, the termination of a circumflex inflection may extend to the same pitch as the commencement, or it may fall short of it, or extend beyond it; but the intensity of the expression will of course vary with the degree of range.

Now, then, let me endeavour, by the illustrations which I am about to give, to make you acquainted with the sound of these various degrees of rising and falling circumflexes, and the principles which govern their application. And the first use, and one of the most general uses, of a circumflex inflection is to suggest an antithesis to the mind, without openly expressing it in words. When we come to reflect upon it, is it not a wonderful thing that a mere peculiar inflection or turn of the voice should have the power of suggesting to the mind whole trains of ideas which are not embodied in language? And yet such is the unquestionable effect of a circumflex. For instance, when I pronounce this sentence with the circumflex inflections as here marked, and say—

"The labour of years is often insufficient for a complete reformation, and Divine help is needed to keep us in the path of virtue.”

Do I not, when I say "the labour of years" imply that it is not the labour of weeks or months? When I speak of "a complete reformation," do I not suggest-not a partial reformation? When I assert that

"Divine help is needed" do I not lead you to infer that the help of man is not sufficient? And lastly, when I speak of Divine help being needed to keep us in "the path of virtue" do I not imply that we can tread the path of vice readily enough by ourselves? Thus, then, you see, in this simple sentence we have had four distinct ideas suggested to our minds by these four circumflexes being used on the words marked with the sign of that peculiar inflection.

These circumflexes, like the other inflections, may, as regards their uses, be classified in two divisions, viz., (1) those which serve certain purposes in the logical expression of the meaning implied or expressed of certain forms of sentences, and (2) those which aid in emotional expression. Let us take these, then, in their due order; and, as regards the former division, I should give the following as

RULE I. When any word is introduced which suggests an antithesis, without openly expressing it, such word should have emphatic force, and be pronounced with a circumflex inflection.-An affirmative or positive

clause takes a falling, and a negative or contingent clause a rising circumflex on the words suggesting an antithesis.

Illustrations for Practice.

1. I am debating of my present store,
And by the near guess of my memory
I cannot instantly raise up the gross
Of full three thousand ducats.

2. You are dull, Casca, and those sparks of life
That should be in a Roman, you do want,
Or else you use not.

3. Why so can I!

So every bondman in his own hand bears
The power to cancel his captivity.

4. Swear priests, and cowards, and men cautelous,
Old feeble carrions and such suffering souls
That welcome wrongs: unto bad causes swear
Such creatures as men
doubt.

5. Never fear that; if he be so resolved,

I can e'er sway him; for he loves to hear
That unicorns may be betrayed with trees,
Lions with tails, and men with flatterers;
But when I tell him he hates flatterers,
He says he does, being then most flattered.

6. But were I, Brutus,

And Brutus Antony, there were an Antony,
Would ruffle up your spirits, and put a tongue
In every wound of Cæsar that should move
The stones of Rome to rise and mutiny.

7. You say you are a better soldier;

Let it appear so: make your vaunting true
And it shall please me well. For mine own part

I shall be glad to learn of noble men.

8. Remember thee?

Ay! thou poor ghost, while memory holds a seat

In this distracted globe. Remember thee?
Yea, from the table of my memory,

I'll wipe away all trivial fond record,

All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past,

And thy commandment all alone shall live
Within the book and volume of my brain,
Unmixed with baser matter.

9. Gentlemen, the time has now arrived when you have to perform your part in this great trial. You are now to pronounce upon a publication, the truth of which is not controverted. The case is with you; it belongs to you exclusively to decide it. His Lordship cannot control your decision; and it belongs to you alone to say, whether or not, upon the entire matter, you conceive it evidence of guilt, or deserving of punishment.

10. Justice is not a halt and miserable object; it is not the ineffective bauble of an Indian Pagod: it is not the portentous phantom of despair; it is not like any fabled monster formed in the eclipse of reason and found in some unhallowed grove of superstitious darkness and political dismay. No, my Lords, Justice resembles none of these!

RULE II. When words or clauses are antithetic in meaning, and emphatic in character, the falling circumflex inflection should be used on the positive or absolute member, and the rising on the negative or relative.

Illustrations for Practice.

1. Seèms, Madam! nay, it is; I know not seems.

'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother,

Nor customary suits of solemn black,

Nor windy suspiration of forc'd breath,

No, nor the fruitful river in the eye,

Nor the dejected 'haviour of the visage,
Together with all forms, moods, shows of grief,

That can denote me truly. These, indeed, seem;
For they are actions that a man might play :
But I have that within which passeth show,
These but the trappings and the suits of woe.

2. It must be by his death, and for my part,

I knew no personal cause to spurn at him,

But for the general. He would be crown'd

How that might change his nature, there's the question:
It is the bright day that brings forth the adder

And that craves wary walking.

3. Our course will seem too bloody, Caius Cassius,
To cut the head off, and then hack the limbs,
Like wrath in death, and envy afterwards;
For Antony is but a limb of Cæsar.

Let us be sacrificers, but not butchers, Caius,
We all stand up against the spirit of Cæsar;
And in the spirit of man there is no blood :}
O that we then could come by Cæsar's spirit
And not dismember Cæsar; but alas !
Cæsar must bleed for it.—And gentle friends,
Let's kill him boldly-but not wrathfully;
Let's carve him as a dish fit for the Gods,
Not hew him as a carcase fit for hounds.

4. Cowards die many times before their death,
The valiant never taste of death but once:
Of all the wonders that I yet have heard,

It seems to me most strange that men should fear,
Seeing that death, a necessary end,

Will come, when it will come.

5. O, Father Cardinal, I have heard you say

That we shall see and know our friends in Heaven:

If this be true, I shall see my boy again,

For since the birth of Cain, the first male child,

To him that did but yesterday suspire,

There was not such a gracious creature born;

But now will canker sorrow eat my bud,

And chase the native beauty from his cheek,
And so he'll die: and, rising so again,
When I shall meet him in the Court of Heaven
I shall not know him; therefore, never, never,
Must I behold my pretty Arthur more.

6. Thou sayest that I have many years to live,

But not a minute, King, that thou canst give:
Shorten my days, thou canst with sullen sorrow,
And pluck nights from me, but not lend a morrow.
Thou canst help time to furrow me with age,
But stop no wrinkle in his pilgrimage: