nd it is proper, thus to
relieve the voice at every stop, if needful. This we may do, slightly at a
comma, more leisurely at a semicolon, still more so at a colon, and
completely at a period.

Pauses, whether in reading or in public discourse, ought always to be
formed after the manner in which we naturally form them in ordinary,
sensible conversation; and not after the stiff, artificial manner which
many acquire at school, by a mere mechanical attention to the common
punctuation.

Forced, unintentional pauses, which accidentally divide words that ought to
be spoken in close connexion, are always disagreeable; and, whether they
arise from exhaustion of breath, from a habit of faltering, or from
unacquaintance with the text, they are errors of a kind utterly
incompatible with graceful elocution.

Emphatic or rhetorical pauses, the kind least frequently used, may be made
immediately before, or immediately after, something which the speaker
thinks particularly important, and on which he would fix the attention of
his audience. Their effect is similar to that of a strong emphasis; and,
like this, they must not be employed too often.

The harmonic pauses, or those which are peculiar to poetry, are of three
kinds: the _final pause_, which marks the end of each line; the _caesural_
or _divisional pause_, which commonly divides the line near the middle; and
the _minor rests_, or _demi-caesuras_, which often divide it still further.

In the reading of poetry, these pauses ought to be observed, as well as
those which have reference to the sense; for, to read verse exactly as if
it were prose, will often rob it of what chiefly distinguishes it from
prose. Yet, at the same time, all appearance of singsong, or affected tone,
ought to be carefully guarded against.

ARTICLE III.--OF INFLECTIONS.

INFLECTIONS are those peculiar variations of the human voice, by which a
continuous sound is made to pass from one note, key, or pitch, into an
other. The passage of the voice from a lower to a higher or shriller note,
is called the _rising_ or _upward_ inflection. The passage of the voice
from a higher to a lower or graver note, is called tbe _falling_ or
_downward_ inflection. These two opposite inflections may be heard in the
following examples: 1. The rising, "Do you mean to _go_?" 2. The falling,
"_When_ will you _go_?"

In general, questions that may be answered by _yes_ or _no_, require the
rising inflection; while those whi