Those governments which curb' not evils, cause'!
And a rich man's a libel on our laws.

DOUBLE EMPHASIS.

RULE. The falling inflection takes place on the first emphatic word, the rising on the second and third, and the falling on the fourth.

EXAMPLES.

Justice seems most agreeable to the name of God', and mercy, to that of man'.

The foulest stain and scandal of our nature

Became its boast. One murder makes a villain'
Millions' a hero. War its thousands' slays

Peace' its ten thousands.

TREBLE EMPHASIS.

RULE. The rising inflection takes place on the first and third, and the falling on the second of the first three emphatical words; the first and third of the other three have the falling, and the second has the rising inflection.

EXAMPLES.

The difference between a madman and a fool is, that the former reasons justly from false data, and the latter erroneously' from just data.

The generous fragrant spirit is a power

Which in the virtuous mind doth all things conquer,
It bears the hero' on to arduous' deeds,

It lifts the saint' to heaven.

CLIMAX.

Climax is that progressive force and exaltation of expression which more powerfully impresses each subject on the mind, and is not only of indispensable use but highly ornamental. In the execution of climax there is much nicety, as the rise in most cases should be gradual, always harmonious, and upon many occasions very forcible.

EXAMPLE.

If these,*

As I am sure they do, bear fire enough

To kindle cowards, and to steel with valour
The melting spirits of women; then, countrymen,
What need we any spur, but our own cause,

The speech of Brutus must be delivered with a smooth, philosophic weight and dignity.

To prick us to redress? What other bond
Than secret Romans who have spoke the word,
And will not falter? Or what other oath,
Than honesty to honesty engag'd,

That this shall be, or we will fall for it.

The great attraction in elocution consists in increasing the volume of the voice, and then permitting it to dissolve in softness.

And rapid urge the way,

Till, dying off—the distant-sounds decay.

It is not loudness that conveys sound the greatest distance; it is perfection in modulating the words. Garrick was an example in this particular; he was distinctly heard in the softest sound of his voice, when others were barely intelligible, though offensively loud. (See MODULATION.) This essential quality was chiefly owing to the speaker's dwelling with nearly uniform loudness on the whole length of every syllable, and confining the extent of the accents, acute and grave, within the compass of four or five tones; and also to adopting in general a deliberate, instead of a rapid measure of delivery. One more instance of Climax, of a fervid nature :

EXAMPLE.

Come, show me what thoul't do!

Woot weep, woot fast-woot fight? woot tear thyself---
Woot drink up Eisel,-eat a crocodile?

I'll do't! Dost thou come hither but to whine?

To outface me with leaping in her grave?

Be buried quick with her, and so will I!

And if thou prats't of mountains, let them heap
Millions of acres on us, till our ground

Singeing its pate against the burning zone,
Make Ossa like a wart.

MODULATION.

The art of harmonious expression is distinguished by the term Modulation; for a better comprehending of which, let us borrow a division from Music-counter-tenor, tenor, and base; or upper, medium, and lower notes.*

* HARMONY IN SPEECH. A graceful or musical cadence of the voice is, of all other qualities in the art of speaking, the least cultivated and the least understood. We have reason to believe that the ancients cultivated this species of harmony from principles as fixed and regular as those from which we learn to play upon an instrument. They considered the voice in three views, viz. in that of conversation, in that of singing, and in that of reciting or declaiming. The voice of conversation they distinguished by the term continued, that is, it was more even and uniform, and more confined in its gradations. The voice of song was variable and extensive; and the voice of oratorical declamation, or of pronouncing verses, was a medium between that of conversing and singing. The two former species of voice we use daily amongst us; but the latter is almost entirely unknown. rose and flourished in Athens, and perished in the ruins of Rome. Cicero

It

Every one of these, so far as reading and declamation extend, may be found or created, more or less perfectly, in every voice, according to the organs of utterance. We will then properly appropriate these divisions.

To all plaintive, amorous passages, humble insinuation, flattery, and frequently to exclamations of joy and distraction, the countertenor (upper) is most properly applied.

EXAMPLE.*

Oh, Belvidera, doubly I'm a beggar;
Undone by fortune, and in debt to thee;
Want, worldly want, that hungry, meagre fiend,
Is at my heels, and chases me in view.
Canst thou bear cold and hunger? Can these limbs,
Fram'd for the tender offices of love,
Endure the bitter gripes of smarting poverty?
When banish'd by our sudden iniseries abroad,
As suddenly we shall be, to seek out,

In some far climate where our names are strangers,
For charitable succour; wilt thou then,

When in a bed of straw we shrink together,

And the bleak winds shall whistle round our heads,
Wilt thou then talk thus to me? Wilt thou then
Hush my cares thus, and shelter me with love?

Venice Preserved.

Of the tenor (or middle) of expression—such are all common narrations, dissertations, and those parts of declamation which do not touch upon the passions it would be superfluous to give examples. A brief one, however, will suffice :

Are

EXAMPLE.

Know that in thy soult

many better faculties, that serve

Reason as chief: Among these fancy next
Her office holds of all external things,
Which the five watchful senses represent,
She forms imaginations, airy shapes,
Which, reason joining or disjoining, frames
All what we affirm, or what deny, and call
Our knowledge or opinion; then retires
Into her private cell, where nature rests.

informs us, that Roscius, the celebrated actor, had a person behind him on the stage, to accompany with an instrument the tones of his speech; and that when by old age his voice became feeble and tremulous, the artist adapted the war bling of the pipe to the pitch and quality of his voice. This is an undeniable proof that there must have been a considerable degree of melody in their manner of pronouncing. Dionysius Hallicarnassus has even adapted a part of a verse in Euripedes to musical notes, and mentions the exact manner in which it should be uttered.

In a plaintive strain.

† Adam explaining to Eve the nature of dreams,

Oft in her absence, mimic fancy wakes
To imitate her; but misjoining shapes
Wild work produces oft, and most in dreams,
Ill matching words and deeds long past or late.

Paradise Lost.

The degree of expression termed base (lower), is particularly well applied to gloomy meditation, passages of horror, the invocation of fiends, roughness, vindictive rage, &c. If we wish to gain a good bottom voice, we ought to practise speeches which require exertion of this nature. The voice must be cast a little below the common pitch; when we can do this with ease, we may practise them on a little lower note, and so on till we are as low as we desire.

EXAMPLE.

I had a dream, where was not all a dream.
The bright sun was extinguish'd, and the stars
Did wander darkling in the eternal space,
Rayless and pathless, and the icy earth

Swung blind and blackening in the moonless air;
Morn came, and went—and came and brought no day,
And men forgot their passions in the dread

Of this their desolation; and all hearts
Were chill'd into a selfish prayer for light:
And they did live by watchfires--and the thrones
The palaces of crowned kings-the huts,
The habitations of all things which dwell,
Were burnt for beacons; cities were consumed,
And men were gather'd round their blazing homes,
To look once more into each other's face;
Happy were those who dwelt within the eye
Of the volcanos and their mountain torch:
A fearful hope was all the world contain'd;
Forests were set on fire-but hour by hour
They fell and faded-and the crackling trunks
Extinguish'd with a crash-and all was black,
The brows of men by the expiring light
Wore an unearthly aspect, as by fits

The flashes fell upon them; some lay down
And hid their eyes and wept and some did rest

Their chins upon their clenched hands and smiled;
And others hurried to and fro, and fed

Their funeral piles with fuel, and look'd up

With mad disquietude on the dull sky

The pall of a past world.

* * *

PAUSES AND BREAKS.

BYRON.

Pauses next present themselves for consideration, and chiefly occur in passages of meditation, doubt, and confusion. No exact time can

be fixed for them, they ought to be made longer or shorter according to the importance of the subject,-especially in passages of reflection: the voice should have a tone of continuance, which constitutes the difference between a pause and a break. The former is a gradual stop, the latter a sudden check of expression. Pauses of the first sort occur in the soliloquy by Hamlet, in the COLLECTION :—

To be or not to be-that is the question.

And as the subject is of great weight, should be of considerable duration, perhaps whilst one could count six, or a period and a half to each.

PAUSES OF CONFUSION are shorter than those of reflection, and are to be filled up with hesitative, panting breath, while every succeeding word or sentence varies in tone of expression from the former.

EXAMPLE.

Nay, good Lieutenant-alas, gentlemen-
Help, ho!-Lieutenant-Sir, Montano-

Help, Masters!-here's a goodly watch indeed!-
Who's that?—Who rings the bell?—Diablo!—Ho!
The town will rise.

BREAKS are only pauses of a different nature, more abrupt and sudden, as when a passion cuts short before the meaning is fully explained. These most frequently occur in violent grief and impetuous rage; and the tone of the voice alters as the passion rises or falls.

EXAMPLES.*

I prithee, daughter, do not make me mad!

...

I will not trouble thee, my child.. farewell-
We'll meet no more-no more see one another;
Let shame come when it will ;-I do not call it :-
I do not bid the thunder-bearer strike,
Nor tell tales of thee to avenging heaven :-
Mend when thou cans't-be better at thy leisure :-
I can be patient-I can stay with Regan,

King Lear.

We might lay down twenty rules on Rhetorical Punctuation, which not one pupil in twenty would attend to. Let the following be committed to memory, which comprises all that is of importance in this respect :

In pausing, ever let this rule take place,
Never to separate words in any case

That are less separable than those you join :
And, which imports the same, not to combine
Such words together, as do not relate
So closely as the words you separate.

* Breaks of grief,