Page images
PDF
EPUB

"Dostou believe on the Son of God? He answered and said, Wno is he, Lord, that I might believe on him?”

I came not to baptize, but to preach the GOSPEL.”

"The queen of the south came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold! a greater than Solomon is here."

"It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body."

"If you seek to make one rich, study not to increase his stores, but to diminish his desires."

Alexander. "I could honor thy courage, but I detest and must punish thy crimes.

Robber. What have I done, of which you can complain?"

Gomez." Silence, or tremble!

Orozembo.-Beardless robber! I never yet have learned to tremble before man: why before thee, thou less than man?"

Rolla. "That soldier, mark me, is a man. All are not men that wear the human form."

Dionysius.-"What wonder's this?

Is he thy brother?

Pythias.-No, not quite my brother!
Not yes, he is-he is my brother!

Dion.-Damon, is this a quibble of thy school?
Damon.-No quibble, for he is not so in kin,
Not in the fashion that the world puts on,
But brother in the heart!"

Othello.-"What dost thou mean?

Iago-Good name in man, and woman, dear my lord, Is the immediate jewel of their souls;

Who steals my purse, steals trash; 'tis something, nothing;
'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands ·
But he that filches from me my good name,

Robs me of that which not enriches him,
And makes me poor indeed."

[ocr errors]

Brakenbury-"I am, in this, commanded to deliver The noble duke of Clarence to your hands.

I'll to the king; and signify to him,

That thus I have resigned to you my charge.

1st Murderer.-You may, sir.

2nd Murd.-What, shall we stab him as he sleeps ?

1st Murd.-No; he'll say 'twas done cowardly when he wakes.

2nd Murd. When he wakes! why, fool, he shall never wake until the great judgment day.

1st Murd.-Why, then he'll say we stabb'd him sleeping."

"The quality of mercy is not strained;

It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice bless'd;
It blesses him that gives, and him that takes."

"Thus am I doubly arm'd. My death and life,
My bane and antidote, are both before me."

"Though the rock of my last home is shiver'd,
And its fragments are sunk in the wave;
Though I feel that my soul is deliver'd
To pain-it shall not be its slave.
There is many a pang to pursue me;

They may crush, but they shall not contemn:
They may torture, but shall not subdue me,
'Tis of thee that I think-not of them."

Almost every sentence contains certain words which are more significant than others, and which ought to be distinguished by a natural and forcible emphasis. Without emphasis, sentences would be resolved into their original words, just as words would become mere syllables, without accent.

If a good piece be read or recited without presenting in a stronger light to the "mind's eye" of the hearer, words which have a greater share in conveying the author's meaning than the rest, it is uninteresting. It is like gold in the ingot. If, on the other hand, a poor piece be well read or recited, an interest is felt and manifested in hearing it.

Dionysius, who was entirely destitute of those natural and acquired abilities, without which no man can write poetry well, had the foolish vanity to suppose that he was a great poet. He wrote several poems, if, indeed, they can be called so, which, notwithstanding they were "full of sound and fury,

signifying nothing," were, in the hands of excellent readers, not only listened to with marked attention, at Olympia, but, for a time, received with applause.

Mr. Addison, of England, very justly observes: "If nonsense, when accompanied with proper emotions of voice and body, has a great influence on men's minds, what might we not expect from many of those admirable discourses which are printed in our tongue, were they delivered with a becoming fervor, and the most agreeable graces of voice and gesture."

IRONY.

The elocution of irony can be, and ought to be, such as to create the belief with the hearer, that the speaker does not mean what his language implies. We occasionally hear lawyers, ministers, and other public speakers, say: "I speak ironically." All ironical sentiments may be ironically expressed. The correctness of this position can be fully tested only by the voice. But although it cannot be completely done on paper, a few examples of irony will be given. It is a high rhetorical figure, which, if not used too frequently, produces a great effect upon an audience.

Irony should be read, recited, or delivered, so as to express, both by the countenance and voice, ideas or sentiments diametrically opposed to those which are implied or indicated by the words or the language used.

"Fair sir, you spit on me on Wednesday last;
You spurned me such a day; another time
You call'd me-DOG; and for these courtesies
I'll lend you thus much moneys!"—Shylock.

"What drugs, what charms, what conjuration, and what mighty magic "Othello.

"Charming house, and charming lady of the house, ha! ha! ha!"-Jealous Wife.

"O, excellent interpreter of the laws! master of antiquity! corrector and amender of our constitution!"-Cicero.

"They boast they come but to improve our state, enlarge our thoughts, and free us from the yoke of error ! Yes, they will give enlightened freedom to our minds, who are themselves the slaves of passion, avarice, and pride. They offer us their protection; yes, such protection as vultures give to lambs, covering and devouring them."-Rolla.

"Cry aloud; for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awakened."-Scripture.

In the tragedy of " Virginius," Icilius inquires of Virginius, if he intends to stay and see the homage that the Roman people are about to render to Appius Claudius, the Decemvir. The administration of Appius was characterised by the most odious features of despotism; and Virginius, whose mind was imbued with the love of liberty, was, therefore, decidedly opposed to it. He thus ironically answers the question of Icilius:

"Not I! stay you; and as you made him, hail him;
And shout, and wave your hand, and cry, long live
Our first and last Decemvir, Appius Claudius!
For he is first and last, and every one!

Rome owes you much, Icilius."

That is, "Rome owes you" [Icilius] nothing.

"Yet this is Rome,

That sat on her seven hills, and from her throne
Of beauty, ruled the world."-Rienzi.

Mark Antony, in his oration over Cæsar's body, with a design to excite odium against the murderers, repeatedly calls them, honorable men. The shrewdness of his speech consists in the art and power with which he portrays Cæsar's virtues, and in the studiousness with which he avoids describing in unequivocal language, the atrocious crime of the assassins. Antony, after having shown that Cæsar had always been faithful to his friends, of whom he was accustomed to consider Brutus one; that he had filled the coffers of Rome with ransoms from his own captives, and that he had treated the poor with great kindness, and even wept when they cried; tells his audience, that although Cæsar was thus worthy and philanthropic,

"Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honorable man.
You ati did see that on the Lupercal,
I thrice presented him a kingly crown,

Which he did thrice refuse. Was this ambition}
Yet Brutus says, he was ambitious;

And sure he is an honorable man."

In the spring of the year 1836, the author witnessed the following specimen of irony in the United States Senate:

"Really, Mr. President, I am delighted with the honorable gentleman's mode of speaking extempore. I like his speeches a good deal better without his notes, than with them. He has this day, thrown all ancient and modern orators into the shade. I cheerfully acknowledge my own inferiority to the honorable, learned, and surpassingly eloquent gentleman. Had he, in the plenitude of his wisdom, compared me to the Ephraim actually named in the Scriptures, I could have borne it tolerably well; but when he compared me to ether, which, if I understand it rightly, is lighter than thin air, it was really unendurable, and I sink under it."

EMPHATIC PAUSE.

An emphatic pause is made by suspending the voice, either immediately anterior or subsequently to the utterance of an important thought. The voice must be so managed as first to create an expectation with the hearers of something extraordinary, and then to gratify it. When the pause is made before a striking word, or part of a sentence, is uttered, the suspension of voice must be protracted to such an extent, and with such an elevation, as to leave the sense broken and incomplete, until the thought to which the speaker wishes to direct special attention, is expressed. This rhetorical pause belongs only to subjects of great magnitude. It is, in oratory, very effective. Every orator should have control over it. The great and unrivalled histrionic performer, Mr. Garrick, owes much of his celebrity to the power with which he used it.

The following examples may serve as a practical exemplifi cation of emphatic pauses-so far as it can be illustrated, unaided by the voice. It is represented by a dash.

« PreviousContinue »