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 EMPHATICK 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

tue, and love of country, succeeded as in Greece: her generals and soldiers fought, her senators and magistrates made and enacted laws, for . . SOR-did considerations; and Rome, from a republick, became an empire, relinquished her literary eminence, her virtue, and her liberty, declined. . . and FELL. And, where the future mars or makes, The soul shall glance o'er all to be, While sun is quenched, or system breaks, FIXED... in its own eternity.

Remarks. In this last example, the effect will be increased by dropping the voice after the word "fixed" to an under-key. The effect is, also, sometimes wonderfully heightened by changing the key-note on the emphatick word itself, and, more especially, by protracting the sounds of the tonick elements.

The happy application of rhetorical pauses, requires the exercise of no small degree of judgment and good taste; and when thus applied, they prove faithful and powerful auxiliaries in good delivery. No one of common discrimination, can but perceive, for example, the happy effect of the rhetorical pauses, as indicated by the dots, in the following examples, although an ordinary reader would pronounce them without any such pauses. Examples.

No useless coffin.. enclosed his breast,

Nor in sheet, nor in shroud, we bound him;
But he lay... like a warriour taking his rest
With his martial cloak around him.

We carved not a line, we raised not a stone,
But.. left him alone... with his glory.

The foregoing illustrations are designed merely to awaken `an interest in the mind of the learner, and to direct his attention to this important subject—a subject in which he may find ample scope for the advantageous exercise of his oratorical powers

POETRY AND VERSIFICATION.

POETRY is the language of passion, or of enlivened imagination.

VERSIFICATION, in English, is the harmonious arrangement of a particular number and variety of accented and unaccented syllables, according to particular laws.

RHYME is the correspondence of the sound of

the last syllable in one line, to the sound of the last syllable in another: as.

There sea-born gales their gelid wings expand
To winnow fragrance round the smiling land.

BLANK VERSE consists in poetical thoughts expressed in regular numbers, but without the correspondence of sound at the end of the lines which constitutes rhyme; as,

The waters slept: night's silvery veil hung low
On Jordan's bosom, and the eddies curled
Their glassy rings beneath it, like the still,
Unbroken beating of the sleeper's pulse.

POETICAL FEET consist in a particular arrangeinent and connexion of a number of accented and unaccented syllables. They are called feet, because it is by their aid that the voice, as it were, steps along through the verse in a measured pace.

All poetick feet consist either of two, or of three, syllables; and are reducible to eight kinds; four of two syllables each, and four of three, as follows:

A Trochee has the first syllable accented, and the last unaccented; as, Hateful, pélting:

An Iambus has the first syllable unaccented, and the last accented; as, Betray, consíst:

The seas shall waste, the skies in smoke decay,
Rocks fall to dust, and mountains melt away;
But fix'd his word, his saving power remains;

Thy realm for evěr lasts, thy own Messiah reigns.

A Dactyle has the first syllable accented, and the last two unaccented; as, Labourer, póssible:

From the low pleasures of this făllen nātŭre.

An Anapast has the first two syllables unaccented, and the last accented; as, Contrăvēne, acquiésce:

At the close of the day when the hamlet is still,
And mortals the sweets of forgetfulness prōve,

When naught but the torrent is heard on the hill,

And naught but the nightingale's sōng in the grōve.

The Spondee; as, amen: a Pyrrhick; as, on thě-tall tree: an Amphibrach; as, Delightful: a Tribrach; as, Nu-měrăblě.

In English versification, some of these feet are much more common than others; but not unfrequently we meet with several kinds introduced into the same piece of composition. This development of poetick numbers, also evinces the copious stock of materials at the command of the English versifier: for we are not only allowed the use of all the ancient, poetick feet, in our heroick measure, but we have duplicates of each kind, agreeing in movement, though differing in sound, and which make different impressions on the ear-an opulence peculiar to our language, and one that may be the source of a boundless variety.

By looking again at the foregoing definitions, the young reader will perceive, that the essential qualities or characteris ticks of poetry, consist not, as is too often supposed, in harmon ick numbers, or feet, or rhymes, but in a peculiar kind of sentiment and conception, called poetick thought. The peculiar nature of poetick thought, however, is not to be learned from definition or description, any more than countenance is, but by observation by attention to the conceptions, thoughts, sentiments, and language of the best poets. Hence, unless the thought is poetick, all the ornaments of poetick dress-the paraphernalia of numbers, arrangement, and rhythm, cannot elevate it to the dignity of true poetry. We, therefore, much more frequently meet with verses than with poetry. At present, however, it is not the author's purpose to discuss the qualities and merits of poetry, but merely to make a few remarks on the

MANNER OF READING POETRY.

The foregoing directions for acquiring a just and a happy elocution, have been chiefly applied to the enunciation of prose: and, although most of them are equally applicable to the reading of poetry, yet, in the reading of verse, and particularly rhyming verse, some peculiarities arise out of the nature of the composition itself, which seem to require a brief notice.

OF POETICAL PAUSES.

There are three kinds of pauses brought into requisition in the elegant enunciation of poetry : first, Sentential or Grammatical Pauses, or those

which merely mark the sense; secondly, Rhetorical Pauses, or those employed for the purpose of producing oratorical effect; and, thirdly, Harmonick Pauses, or such as are demanded by the melody and harmony of the numbers, and the peculiarity of the rhythm.

Harmonick pauses are sometimes divided into the Final pause, and the Casural pause. These sometimes coincide with the sentential and the rhetorical pauses, and sometimes they are independent of them.

In rhyme, the FINAL PAUSE takes place at the end of the line, marks the measure, and shows the correspondence of sound between the rhyming syllables.

EXAMPLES.

But where to find the happiest spot below,
Who can direct, when all pretend to know?
Such is the patriot's boast, where'er we roam,
His first best country ever is at home.
Though patriots flatter, still shall wisdom find
An equal portion dealt to all mankind.

The

Remarks. In reading these examples, it will be noticed, that the final pause, at "below" and "roam," coincides with the sentential, but that, at the word "find," it does not. final pause is so important in rhyme, even when it does not coincide with the sentential, as to merit another example

Save, that from yonder ivy-mantled tower,

The moping owl does to the moon complain
Of such as, wandering near her secret bower,
Molest her ancient, solitary reign.

Remarks.-The final pause at "complain," takes (as it always does when not in alliance with, the sentential pause) the rising inflection, and, in order to produce its proper effect, must be very slight. This pause also occurs at the words "then," "bright," and "when," on page 130.

In regard to the application of the final pause in reading blank verse, nothing can betray a greater want of rhetorical taste and philosophical acumen, than the directions of Mr. Murray, and others,* who recommend its adoption at the close of

Among those who recommend the adoption of the final pause in blank verse, are Lowth, Johnson, Sheridan, Kames, Blair, and others equally distinguished for learning and talents.