ch demand any other answer, must be
uttered with the falling inflection. These slides of the voice are not
commonly marked in writing, or in our printed books; but, when there is
occasion to note them, we apply the acute accent to the former, and the
grave accent to the latter.[475]

A union of these two inflections upon the same syllable, is called a
_circumflex_, a _wave_, or a "_circumflex inflection_." When the slide is
first downward and then upward, it is called the _rising circumflex_, or
"the _gravo-acute circumflex_;" when first upward and then downward, it is
denominated the _falling circumflex_, or "the _acuto-grave circumflex_." Of
these complex inflections of the voice, the emphatic words in the following
sentences may be uttered as examples: "And it shall go _h~ard_ but I will
_use_ the information."--"_O_! but he _pa~used_ upon the brink."

When a passage is read without any inflection, the words are uttered in
what is called a _monotone_; the voice being commonly pitched at a grum
note, and made to move for the time, slowly and gravely, on a perfect
level.

"Rising inflections are far more numerous than falling inflections; the
former constitute the main body of oral language, while the latter are
employed for the purposes of emphasis, and in the formation of cadences.
Rising inflections are often emphatic; but their emphasis is weaker than
that of falling inflections."--_Comstock's Elocution_, p. 50.

"Writers on Elocution have given numerous rules for the regulation of
inflections; but most of these rules are better calculated to make _bad_
readers than good ones. Those founded on the construction of sentences
might, perhaps, do credit to a _mechanic_, but they certainly do none to an
_elocutionist_."--_Ib._, p. 51.

"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,[476] and by some is reprehended as a fault.
"Support your voice s