this additional force becomes harfh, quaint, or affected, the ear claims her rights in favour of harmony; and good taste will always admit her claim, when the rights of the understanding are fufficiently fecured.

Thus, in that noble fentiment of Cato:

A day, an hour of virtuous liberty

Is worth a whole eternity in bondage:

To pronounce this paffage with the greatest force, we ought to lay the emphasis with the falling inflexion on eternity, as this would fuggeft a paraphrafe perfectly illuftrative of the fenfe, which is, that a day or an hour of virtuous liberty is not only worth more than the longest finite duration in bondage, but even a whole eternity. This pronunciation, however, would neceffarily give the rifing inflexion to bondage, which would conclude the paffage fo inharmoniously, that the ear finds itself obliged to neglect this fo forcible expreffion, and content itself with placing the rifing inflexion on eternity, for the fake of the harmony of the cadence: and as the plain import of the word eternity is fufficiently strong and emphatical, fense is no great lofer by the facrifice: If, however, the thought could have been fo difpofed as to have made a word, fo fufceptible of force as eternity, adopt the falling inflexion and conclude the line, the expreffion, it is prefumed, would have been ftill ftronger. Let us fuppofe, for inftance, the two laft lines had ftood thus:

A day, an hour, in virtuous liberty,
Outweighs, in bondage, an eternity.

I do not contend that this alteration is not greatly inferior to the original in point of com

pofition, from the neceffity of adopting words lefs fuitable; but, I think, I may appeal to the ear of every critical speaker for the fuperiority of the latter, with respect to the force and harmony of pronunciation. In the same manner it may be observed, that if the words in Milton were transposed, as in the following line,

Better in bell to reign, than férve in hèav'n,

the falling inflexion on bell, and the rifing on reign, would preferve both the force and harmony; but I am far from prefuming to judge whether the line would be better by this alteration. The fame may be obferved of the tranfpofition of the faying of Cæfar:

In that village I would rather be the first man than the sé

cond in Rome.

By this arrangement we see the strongly emphatic words, which require the falling inflexion, are in the beginning and end of the fentence, and the two emphatic words that require the rifing inflexion in the middle; and, confequently, the inflexions on the two firft and two laft emphatic words are in a different order.

But if a treble emphasis implied will often, for the fake of harmony, neglect fuch an emphasis as produces the greatest force, there is a much greater neceffity for this facrifice to found where every part of the treble emphafis is expreffed. Thus, in the following lines:

Hé raised a mortal to the skies,
She drew an ángel dòwn.

If, for the fake of fhowing that Timotheus did not only raise a mortal very high, but even to the kies; if, I fay, for the fake of intimating

this fenfe, we lay the emphafis with the falling inflexion on skies, we fhall ruin the harmony of the couplet: The fame may be observed if we lay the fame emphasis on angel, for though this would intimate that St. Cecilia did not draw down a common being, but even an angel, yet this intimation would make no amends for the quaintnefs and difcord this inflexion would occafion; but if thefe lines had been fo constructed as to admit of the emphafis with the falling inflexion on thefe words, perhaps we fhould not have found either fenfe or harmony the worfe for it.

He to the skies a mortal raised,
An angel fhé drew down.

Thus we perceive there are fome things clear and decided, others ambiguous and indeterminate: The best decifion in the latter cafe is, to obferve the pronunciation of the best readers and speakers, and to mark it by the inflexions which are here made ufe of. A notation of this kind, will enable us to collect examples of different modes of pronunciation, and to form an opinion from examples of the best authority by this means we shall be able to give some stability to those founds which have hitherto been thought too fleeting and evanefcent for retrospection.

General Emphasis.

Hitherto emphafis has been confidered as appropriated to a particular word in a fentence, the peculiar fenfe of which demanded an increase of force, and an inflexion correspondent

to that sense; we shall now endeavour to throw fome light upon that emphatic force, which, when the compofition is very animated, and approaches to a clofe, we often lay upon feveral words in fucceffion: This fucceffive emphatic force does not, like the former, fuggeft any particular meaning excluded by it, and therefore may not improperly be called a general emphafis. This emphasis is not fo much regulated by the sense of the author as by the taste and feelings of the reader, and therefore does not admit of any certain rule; but as it is very strong and energetic when it is happily applied, it may not be useless to endeavour to give fuch rules as will naturally arife from a few examples.

When Lucius in Cato feems to have exhausted every topic in favour of giving up a hopeless war and submitting to Cæfar, he concludes with this emphatic period:

What men could do,

Is done already: Heav'n and earth will witnefs,
I'ƒ Ròme mùft fáll, that we are innocent.

The common manner of pronouncing this laft line is, to lay an emphasis with the rifing inflexion on the word muft, which is certainly a very juft one, and may be called the particular emphafis; but if we were to place an emphasis on each of the four words, if Ròme mùft fáll; that is, the emphafis with the rifing inflexion on if, that with the falling on Rome and must, and the rifing on fall; if these emphases, I fay, are pronounced with a diftinct paufe after each, it is inconceivable the force that will be given to these few words.

In the fame manner, when Demofthenes is defcribing the former helpless state of Athens, he fays,

There was a time, then, my fellow-citizens, when the Lacedæmonians were fovereign mafters both by fea and land; when their troops and forts furrounded the entire circuit of Attica; when they poffeffed Euboea, Tanagra, the whole Baotian diftrict, Megara, Ægina, Cleone, and the other iflands; while this ftate had not one ship, not one wàll.

The general mode of pronouncing the last member of this fentence is, to lay an emphasis on the last word, wall: This is unquestionably proper; but if we lay an emphasis on the three laft words, that is, the falling on not, the rifing on one, and the falling on wall, and pause very diftinctly between each, we fhall be at no lofs to decide on the fuperiority of this general emphafis. We have another instance of the force of this general emphasis, in that beautiful climax of Zanga, in the tragedy of the Revenge:

That's truly great! what think you 'twas set up
The Greek and Roman name in such a lustre,
But doing right in ftern despite of nature,
Shutting their ears to all her little cries,
When great auguft and godlike juftice call'd.
At Aulis one pour'd out a daughter's life,
And gain'd more glory than by all his wars ;
Another flew a fister in just rage;

A third, the theme of all fucceeding times,
Gave to the cruel axe a darling fon :
Nay more, for justice fome devote themselves,
As he at Carthage, an immortal name!
Yet there is one ftèp left above them all,
Above their history, above their fable;
A wife, bride, mistress, unenjoyed,

Do that, and tread upon the Greek and Roman glory.
Activ. Scene laft.

In pronouncing this paffage, we shall find the