quantities or times of syllables exhibit various and undistinguishable shades of difference, from the shortest, which end with the abrupt elements, such as pit, ap, to those that allow the greatest prolongation in oratorical expression, namely, those ending with a tonick or a subtonick element; such as pay, go, note, de-gree, com-pile.

Dignified and deliberate discourse, awe, reverence, doubt, and grief, require slow time: gayety, cheerfulness, anger, and eager argument, and, generally, parenthetical clauses, demand a quick time or utterance.

There is not a greater fault, nor one more prevalent, among readers and speakers, than a neglect to protract the sounds of the tonick elements. In the enunciation of dignified and deliberate discourse, especially, the importance of giving the long concrete to such elements as admit and require it, cannot be too strictly regarded by him who wishes to attain that commanding power over language which is calculated to please, to impress, and to excite the admiration of his hearers.

Hence, it may not be improper again to present this subject in the form of a

RULE.

The protracting or lengthening of all such tonick and subtonick elements as will admit of it, adds greatly to distinctness of articulation, and expression in delivery.

EXAMPLES.

Lochiel, Lochiel, beware of the day

When the Lowlands shall meet thee in battle array.
Along the banks where Babel's current flows,
Our captive bands in deep despondence strayed,
While Zion's fall in sad remembrance rose,
Her friends, her children, mingled with the dead.
Oh, Heaven! he cried, my bleeding country, save!
Is there no hand on high to shield the brave?
Hope, for a season, bade the world farewell,
And freedom shrieked as Kosciusko fell!

O, sailor bōy, sailor boy! never again

Shall home, love, or kindred, thy wishes repay;
Unblessed and unhonoured, down deep in the main.
Full many a score fathom, thy frame shall decay.
Cassius is a-weary of the world:-

Hated by one he loves; braved by his brother;
Checked like a bondman; all his faults observed,
Set in a note book, learned and conned by rōte,

To cast into my teeth. O, I could weep
The spirit from my eyes!

Remarks. In reading composition of a grave, solemn, or pathetick cast, in which slow time is required, as in the preceding examples, the application of the foregoing Rule, is highly important, especially in exploding the long vowels in emphatick words; but, in ordinary composition, the vowel sounds admit of less protraction, as in the following

EXAMPLES.

To the intelligent and virtuous, old age presents a scene of tranquil enjoyments, of obedient appetites, of well-regulated affections, of maturity in knowledge, and of calm preparation for immortality.

If the show of any thing, is good, the reality of it is better: it is often as troublesome to support the pretence of a good quality, as to possess it.

QUESTIONS.

Of what does chapter 5, treat?

By what terms are the varieties of movement in utterance, expressed? What is said of a moderate, a rapid, and of too slow, a movement? Pronounce the poetick examples which follow.

What is said of variety in movement ?-What, of the exercise of judgment and good taste in elocution?

Please to define and illustrate the term Quantity.

What is generally held to be the difference between a long and a short syllable?

How does Dr. Rush apply the terms long and short, quick and slow? Have syllables various degrees of length ?-Please to illustrate this by examples.

What kinds of discourse should we enunciate in slow, and what, in quick time?

What is said about protracting the long vowel or tonick elements ? Repeat the Rule, and read the Examples and Remarks which follow it.

RHETORICAL PAUSES.

A RHETORICAL PAUSE is one not dependant on the grammatical construction of a sentence, but a pause made merely to enable the speaker to pronounce a preceding, or a succeeding, word or phrase in a peculiar tone, or with uncommon force. The shortest Rhetorical Pause is indicated by two dots, thus (..); a longer pause, by

three dots, (...); and a pause still longer, by four, (....).

When justly made, rhetorical pauses tend greatly to heighten the effect of a passage. They may, in general, be better regulated by good taste, than by any set of rules.

Example.-" Alexander wept." "The great and invincible Alexander.. wept at the fate of Darius."

Remark.-No grammatical pause is allowable between a nominative and its verb, unless they are separated by an intervening adjunct of considerable length or importance. Hence, in the sentence, Alexander wept," no pause is required be tween the nominative and the verb; but,

66

RULE I.

When the nominative has an adjunct prefixed, and the verb, an adjunct affixed, a pause is necessary between them; as, "The great and invincible Alexander . . wept at the fate of Darius.”

Remark. If the unpractised student be made to understand, that, in this last example, the phrases in Italicks, constitute the adjuncts, he will readily perceive the importance and the plication of the Rule.

EXERCISES.

ap

Masterly excellence.. is the fruit of genius. . combined with great industry.

But small the bliss.. that sense alone bestows,
And sensual bliss. . is all that nation knows.
Whilst some affect the sun, and some, the shade,
Some.. flee the city, some, the hermitage,
I paint the gloomy horrours of the tomb,
The appointed place of rendezvous, where all
These travellers.. meet.

The design and application of the ordinary points or stops, are too well known to require, in this place, any particular notice or discussion.* It may be proper to remark, however, that no one who applies these points with discrimination and judgment, ever considers any one of them as a sign for pausing through a given or determinate length of time; but they are

For a brief, and, at the same time, comprehensive and practical, system of Punc tuation, the reader is respectfully referred to the author's "English Grammar in famil iar Lectures," page 209, and onward.

regarded as relative symbols for pausing, or, in other words, as signs employed to denote, not only the place for pausing, but, also, the relative time between one pause and another. Hence, the proper length of every pause, depends entirely on the structure of the passage, and the nature of the sentiments, enunciated. Wherever the composition and the sentiments admit of a rapid or an accelerated movement of the voice, the pauses, in general, should be shorter than in those instances in which a slower movement is required.

Example. The lawyer, the stranger, and the lady, all became friendly, social, and witty over their wine.

Remark. It must be obvious to every one, that the appropriate pauses in this example, are much shorter than would be allowable in the following

Examples.-Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken the God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia.

Romans, countrymen, and lovers! hear me for my cause; and be silent, that you may hear.

A good, a great, a brilliant man, may fall a victim to power; but truth, and reason, and liberty, must fall with him.

She sobbed, and sighed, and turned her weeping eye
To th' lorn, lost, lonely object of her love.

It should, therefore, be borne in mind, that the arbitrary marks or signs called points, are not to be considered as indicative of the precise nature and length of the respective pauses which a good elocution demands; but these, as has been already remarked, are to be regulated by the nature and character of the sentiments uttered.

Grammatical pauses have respect to the utterance of language in such a manner as merely to make the meaning intelligible; but rhetorical pauses contemplate something more: when happily and skilfully applied, their effect is to heighten the beauty and meaning, and increase the force, of the sentiments delivered.

Rhetorical pauses may be still farther indicated by

RULE II.

A nominative noun, when unaccompanied by an adjunct, generally requires a slight pause between it and its verb; as, "Religion.. claims the first place in our hearts: reason.. has an equal demand on our heads."

EXAMPLES.

Industry.. is the guardian of innocence.

Prosperity.. gains friends, and adversity. . tries them.

America.. is full of youthful promise; Europe. . is rich in the accumulated treasures of age: her very ruins. . tell the history of times gone by, and every mouldering stone. . is a chronicle.

Secrecy.. has been well termed .. the soul of all great designs.

Courage.. is incompatible with the fear of death; but every
villain.. fears death: therefore, no villain . . can be brave.
Some.. place the bliss in action, some, in ease;
Those..call it pleasure, and contentment, these.
Beauty, thou pretty plaything! dear deceit !

The grave.. discredits thee: thy charms.. expunged,
Thy roses.. faded, and thy lilies.. soiled,

What hast thou more to boast of?

Remarks. In those places distinguished by the dots, in the foregoing examples, it would be improper to insert any one of the points of punctuation; yet nothing can be more evident to a chaste ear, than that a short pause in each of these places, tends to present the meaning in a clearer and more striking point of view than it would be without such rhetorical pause.

In the following sentence from Pope, it will be perceived that no grammatical pause is required immediately after the word "is," yet, in order to bring out the meaning at the close with full energy and effect, a good reader would not fail to take advantage of the rhetorical pause, by throwing it in between the words "is," and "his."

Example. On whatever side we contemplate Homer, what principally strikes us, is . . . his wonderful in-VEN-tion.

The pause here described, as well as those indicated by the dots in the following examples, are usually denominated EмPHATICK PAUSES.

EMPHATICK PAUSE.

An EMPHATICK PAUSE is a rhetorical pause, occurring either immediately before, or after, some striking thought is uttered, to which thought the speaker wishes to direct the special attention of his hearers.

EXAMPLES.

But in Rome, the same vices, the same loss of learning, vir