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ELEMENTS OF ELOCUTION: 
 
 IN WHICH 
 
 THE PRINCIPLES OF READING AND SPEAKING ARE 
 INVESTIGATED ', 
 
 S Nn SUCH PAUSES, EMPHASIS, AND INFLECTIONS OF VOICE, 
 
 A3 ARE SUITABLE TO EVERY VARIETY OF SENTENCE, 
 
 ARE DISTINCTLY POINTED OUT 'AND EXPLAINED ; 
 
 With Directions for Strengthening and Modulating 
 THE VOICE, 
 
 So as to render it varied, forcible, and harmonious : 
 TO WHICH IS ADDED, 
 
 A COMPLETE SYSTEM OF THE PASSIONS; 
 
 SHOWING HOW THEY AFFECT THE 
 COUNTENANCE, TONE OE VOICE, AND GESTURE OF THE BODY, 
 
 EXEMPLIFIED BY 
 A COPIOUS SELECTION OF THE MOST STRIKING PASSAGES OF 
 
 SHAKSPEARE. 
 
 THE WHOLE ILLUSTRATED BY 
 
 COPPER-PLATES, 
 
 ' EXPLAINING THE NATURE OF 
 
 ACCENT, EMPHASIS, INFLECTION, AND CADENCE, 
 
 Copied from the Third London Edition, 
 
 BY JOHN WALKER, 
 
 Author of the " Critical Pronouncing Dictionary," &c 
 " Est quodam prodire tenus." — Hor. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA : 
 
 PUBLISHED BY BENNETT AND WALTON, NO. 31, 
 MARKET STREET. 
 
 1811. 
 

 s/6 ' 26/S~ 
 
 . 
 
TO 
 
 DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON, 
 
 IN ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF THE 
 
 ASSISTANCE 
 
 GAINED FROM HIS LABOURS, 
 
 THE PLEASURE AND IMPROVEMENT DERIVED 
 FROM HIS CONVERSATION, 
 
 THE OBLIGATION CONFERRED BY HIS FRIENDSHIP AND 
 ATTENTION, 
 
 THE FOLLOWING TREATISE 
 
 IS 
 
 MOST RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED 
 
 BV 
 
 THE AUTHOB. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 HAVING had the honour, a few years ago* 
 to give public lectures on English Pronuncia- 
 tion at the University of Oxford, I was some 
 time afterwards invited by several of the Heads 
 of Houses to give private lectures on the Art 
 of Reading, in their respective Colleges. 36 
 flattering an invitation made me extremely 
 anxious to preserve the favourable impression 
 I had made, and this put me upon throwing 
 the instruction I had to convey into some* 
 thing that had the appearance of a system^ 
 Those only who are thoroughly acquainted 
 with the subject, can conceive the labour aflfi 
 perplexity in which this task engaged me: It 
 was not a florid harangue on the advantages of 
 good Reading that was expected from me, 
 but some plain practical rules in a scholastic 
 and methodical form, that would convey real 
 and useful instruction c 
 
viii PREFACE. 
 
 This led me to a distinction of the voice, 
 which though often mentioned by musicians, 
 has been but little noticed by teachers of Read- 
 ing* ; which is that distinction of the voice 
 into the upward and downward slide, into 
 
 * In the first edition of this work I expressed myself with a 
 scrupulous caution, respecting- this distinction of voice ; be- 
 cause, in a grammar written a century ago by Charles Butler, 
 of Magdalen College, Oxford, I found a direction for reading 
 the question beginning with the verb, not only in a higher 
 tone, but with a different turn of the voice from the other ques- 
 tion ; and in a grammar by Mr. Perry, of Scotland, about thir- 
 ty years ago, I found the same distinction of voice in the same 
 case : and, except in these two authors, I never met with this 
 distinction in reading till the last edition of Enfield's Speaker ; 
 where, in Rule VII. of the Essay on Elocution, instead^ of the 
 old direction, Acquire a just variety of Pause and Cadence, I 
 found, Acquire a just variety of Pause and Infection ; and 
 though in the old Rule there was not a single word about in- 
 flection of the voice, in the new one I found the inflections of the 
 voice divided into two kinds ; the one conveying the idea of 
 Continuation, the other of rompletion ; the former of which is 
 called the suspending, the latter the closing pause : — though, 
 in a few lines after, we find what is called the closing pause, is 
 often applicable to members, when the sense is suspended. In 
 these new directions, too, I found the question distinguished 
 into two kinds, and the suspending and the closing pause ap- 
 plied respectively to each. I could not help congratulating my- 
 self, that a doctrine I had published so many years before, be- 
 gan to be adopted by so judicious a writer as Mr. Enfield. 
 But, when I found it had not only been adopted, but acknow- 
 ledged, by Mr. Murray, the Author of the best Grammar and 
 Selection of Lessons for Reading in the English Language, I 
 found myself fully compensated for the misfortune of not being 
 noticed by the Author of the Speaker. 
 
PREFACE. xi 
 
 which all speaking sounds may be resolved : 
 The moment I admitted this distinction, I 
 found I had possession of the quality of the 
 voice I wanted ; for though these slides or in- 
 flections were indefinite as to their quantity or 
 duration, they were still essentially distinct, 
 and were never convertible into each other ; 
 whereas all the other distinctions were relative; 
 and what was high and loud in one case, 
 might be soft and low in another. Accord- 
 ingly I found, upon pursuing this distinction, 
 that, provided the proper slide was preserved 
 on that word which the sense and harmony 
 required, the other distinctions of the voice 
 were more easily attained : and if they were 
 not, the pronunciation was infinitely less in- 
 jured, than if every other distinction of the 
 voice had been preserved, and this single 
 one neglected. Here then commenced my 
 system ; infinite were the difficulties and ob- 
 scurities that impeded my progress at first ; 
 but perseverance, and, perhaps, enthusiasm, 
 at last brought it to a period. 
 
 Without any breach of modesty, it may 
 be asserted, that the general idea is new, 
 
x PREFACE. 
 
 curious, and important : and without any- 
 false humility, I am ready to allow, that the 
 manner of treating it has too many faults and 
 imperfections. Besides those incorrectnesses 
 which are inseparable from the novelty and 
 difficulty of the subject, it partakes of that 
 haste, that interruption, and want of finish- 
 ing, which must necessarily arise from a 
 constant and laborious attendance on pupils ; 
 for, though nothing but long practice in ac- 
 tual teaching could have enabled me to con- 
 struct such a system, it required the leisure 
 and liberty of independence to produce it to 
 the best advantage. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 WHEN the first Edition of this Work was pub- 
 lished, I considered the human voice as divisible 
 into two inflections only. Some time after, upon re- 
 considering the subject more maturely, I found 
 there were certain turns of voice which I could not 
 distinctly class with either of these two inflections. 
 This discovery mortified me exceedingly. I feared 
 my whole labour was lost, and that I had been fa- 
 tiguing myself with a distinction which existed no 
 where but in my imagination. None but those who 
 have been system makers, can judge of the regret 
 and disappointment which this apprehension occa- 
 sioned. It did not, however, continue long. The 
 same trial of the voice which assured me of the two 
 opposite inflections, the rising and falling, soon con- 
 vinced me that those inflections which I could not 
 reduce to either of these two, were neither more nor 
 less than two combinations of them : and that they 
 were real circumflexes ; the one beginning with the 
 rising inflection, and ending with the falling upon the 
 same syllable : and the other beginning with the 
 falling, and ending with the rising on the same sylla- 
 ble. This relieved me from my anxiety ; and I con- 
 sidered the discovery of so much importance, thatl 
 immediately published a small Pamphlet, called 
 
( *'» ) 
 
 The Melody of Speaking Delineated ; in which I ex- 
 plained it as well as I was able by writing, but refer- 
 red the reader to some passages where he could 
 scarcely fail to adopt it upon certain words, and per- 
 ceive the justness of the distinction. I was confirm- 
 ed in my opinion by reflecting that a priori, and in- 
 dependently on actual practice, these modifications 
 of the human voice must necessarily exist. First, if 
 there was no turn or inflection of the voice, it must 
 continue in a monotone. Secondly, if the voice was 
 inflected, it must be either upwards or downwards, 
 and so produce either the rising or falling inflection. 
 Thirdly, if these two were united on the same sylla- 
 ble, it could only be by beginning with the rising, 
 and ending with the falling inflection, or vice versa ; 
 as any other mixture of these opposite inflections was 
 impossible. A thorough conviction of the truth of 
 thi^ distinction, gave me a confidence which nothing 
 could shake. I exemplified it, viva voce, to many 
 of my critical friends, who uniformly agreed with 
 ine : and this enabled me to conceive and demon- 
 strate the Greek and Latin circumflex, (so often 
 mentioned, and so totally unintelligible to the mo- 
 derns,) but occasioned not a little surprise (since it 
 is as easy to conceive that the voice may fall and 
 rise upon the same syllable, as that it may rise and 
 fall) why the ancients had the latter circumflex, and 
 not the former. Some probable conjectures respect- 
 ing this point, as well as the nature of accent, an- 
 cient and modern, may be seen at the end of a 
 Work lately published, called A Key to the Classical 
 Pronunciation of Greek and Latin Proper Names. 
 
{ xiii ) 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 FIRST PART. 
 
 Page. 
 Introduction, Elocution defined, - - 17 
 General Idea of the common Doctrine of Punctuation, 20 
 Introduction to the Theory of Rhetorical Punctuation, 25 
 Inconsistencies of the common doctrine of Punctua- 
 tion, 26, 27, 28 
 
 Theory of Rhetorical Punctuation, - - 34> 
 
 Practical Theory of Rhetorical Punctuation, , - 43 
 
 Introduction to the Theory of the Inflections of the 
 
 Voice, ----- 82 
 
 Method of explaining the Inflections of the Voice, 84 
 Another Method of explaining the Inflections of the 
 
 Voice, ----- 93 
 
 Utility of the Inflections of the Voice, - - 105 
 
 Practical System of the Inflections of the Voice 108 
 
 Pronunciation of a Compact Sentence, - . .- 110 
 
 Inverted Period - - - - 116 
 
 Pronunciation of a loose Sentence, - - 118 
 
 the Antithetic Member, - 126 
 
 the Penultimate Member, 127 
 
 the Series, - - - 133 
 
 the Compound Series, - 144 
 
 the Series of Serieses, s 154 
 
 the Final Pause, or Period, J62 
 
 the Interrogation, - - 167 
 
 the Exclamation, - - 194 
 
 the Parenthesis, - - "§00 
 
 B 
 
( xiv ) 
 
 SECOND PART. 
 
 Accent - 
 
 Accent defined and explained 
 English, Scotch, and Irish Accent, how they 
 Introduction to the Theory of Emphasis, 
 ^Theory of Emphatic Inflection, 
 Practical System of Emphasis, 
 Single Emphasis, 
 Double Emphasis, - 
 
 Treble Emphasis, - - - 
 
 General Emphasis, r 
 
 Intermediate, or Elliptical Member, 
 Harmonic Inflection, - 
 Harmony of Prose, - 
 
 Harmony of Prosaic Inflection, 
 Rules for reading Verse, - - 
 
 Modulation and Management of the Voice,, 
 Gesture, ----- _ 
 
 The Passions, - 
 
 Tranquillity, Chearfulness, 
 Mirth, - - 
 
 Raillery, - - - - 
 
 Sneer, - - -?-..-..-. 
 
 Joy, - 
 
 Delight, - - - 
 
 JLove, - - - 
 
 Pity, - 
 
 Hope, - - - 
 
 Hatred, Aversion-, - - 
 
 Anger, Rage, Fury, - - 
 
 Revenge* ".,"•:.-,.",.." 
 
 Reproach, - 
 
 Fear and Terror,, - - 
 
 Sorrow, 
 
 Page. 
 
 215 
 218 
 differ 222 
 223 
 240 
 253 
 254 
 266 
 268 
 276 
 281 
 . 290 
 298 
 304 
 313 
 342 
 361 
 38-1 
 
 lb. 
 
 38 2 
 
 383' 
 
 384 
 
 385 
 
 387 
 
 388 
 
 390 
 
 393 
 
 394 
 
 39G 
 
 398 
 
 S99 
 
 401 
 
 40B 
 
( xv ) 
 
 Remorse, - - - . - - - 407 
 
 Despair, - 409 
 
 Surprise, Wonder, Amazement, Admiration, 41 1 
 
 Pride, - - ' - - - - 413 
 
 Confidence, Courage, Boasting, - - - 414 
 
 Perplexity, Irresolution, Anxiety, , - - 417 
 
 Vexation, - - - - - 413 
 
 Peevishness, - - - - 419 
 
 Envy and Malice, - - - 420 
 
 Suspicion, Jealousy, - - 421 
 
 Modesty, Submission, - - -'-..- 424 
 
 Shame, - - 425 
 
 Gravity, - - - - 426 
 
 Inquiry and Attention, - - ' - - 427 
 
 Teaching or Instructing, - - - 428 
 
 Arguing, - - ' - ' - - - 429 
 
 Admonition, - - - - - 431 
 
 Authority, - - - --432 
 
 Commanding, - - - - - 433 
 
 Forbidding and Affirming, - 434 
 
 Denying and Differing, - 435 
 
 Agreeing, - 436 
 
 Judging, ----- 437 
 
 Reproving, Acquitting, and Condemning, - 438 
 
 Pardoning and Dismissing, - 440 
 
 Refusing, . - - - - - 441 
 
 Giving, Granting, - - - - 442 
 
 Gratitude and Curiosity, - - 443 
 
 Promising and Veneration, - - 444 
 
 Respect, Desire, - _ ' - " - - - 445 
 
 Commendation, - - z 446 
 
 Exhorting, ' - / - - - 447 
 
 Complaining and Fatigue, _ - 448 
 
 Sickness, - - . - 449 
 
PREMONITION 
 
 TO 
 
 THE RKADEB. 
 
 It may not, perhaps, be improper to inform 
 the reader, that if he wishes fully to understand 
 the following work, he must first apply himself 
 closely to the acquiring of a just idea of the two 
 radical distinctions of the voice into the rising 
 and falling inflection, as explained, Part I. p. 97 
 and 68; and Part II. p. 218. If, however, after 
 all his labour, the Author should not have been 
 able to convey an idea of these two distinctions 
 of voice upon paper, he flatters himself that those 
 parts of the work, which do not depend upon 
 these distinctions, are sufficiently new and useful 
 to reward the time and pains of a perusal. 
 
 
 k 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 JE LOCUTION, in the modern sense of the 
 word, seems to signify that pronunciation which 
 is given to words when they are arranged into 
 sentences and form discourse. 
 
 Pronunciation, in its largest sense, may signify 
 the utterance of words, either taken separately,, 
 or in connexion with each other ; but the pro- 
 
 - nunciation of words, connected into a sentence, 
 seems very properly specified by elocution. 
 
 Elocution, therefore, according to this defini- 
 tion of it, may have elements or principles dis- 
 tinct from those of pronunciation in its most lim- 
 ited sense ; and we may consider the elements 
 ©f elocution, not as those principles which con- 
 stitute the utterance of single words, but as those 
 which form the just enunciation of words in de- 
 pendence on each other for sense ; at this point 
 the present work commences. The delivery of 
 words formed into sentences, and these sentences 
 formed into discourse, is the object of it ; and as 
 reading is a correct and beautiful picture of speak- 
 ing; speaking, it is presumed, cannot be more 
 successfully taught, than by referring us to such 
 
 . rules as instruct us in the art of reading. 
 
 The art of reading is that system of rules* 
 which teaches us to pronounce written compo- 
 sition with justness, energy, variety, and ease. 
 Agreeably to this definition, reading may be coii? 
 
 B2 
 
18 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 sidered as that species of delivery, which not only 
 expresses the sense of an author, so as barely to 
 be understood, but which, at the same time, gives 
 it all that force, beauty, and variety, of which it 
 is susceptible : the first of these considerations 
 belongs to grammar, and the last to rhetoric. 
 
 The sense of an author being the first object 
 of reading, it will be necessary to inquire into 
 those divisions and subdivisions of a sentence 
 which are employed to fix and ascertain its mean- 
 ing : this leads to a consideration of the doctrine 
 of punctuation. 
 
 Punctuation may be considered in two differ- 
 ent lights ; first, as it clears and preserves the 
 sense of a sentence, by combining those words 
 together which are united in sense, and separating 
 those that are distinct ; and secondly, as it directs 
 to such pauses, elevations and depressions of the 
 voice, as not only mark the sense of the sentence 
 more precisely, but give it a variety and beauty 
 which recommend it to the ear ; for in speaking, 
 as in other arts, the useful and the agreeable are 
 almost always found to coincide ; and every real 
 embellishment promotes and perfects the princi- 
 pal design. 
 
 In order, therefore, to have as clear an idea of 
 punctuation as possible, it will be necessary to 
 consider it as related to grammar and rhetoric 
 distinctly. It will not be easy to say any thing 
 new on punctuation, as it relates to grammar ; 
 but it will not be difficult to show, what perplex- 
 ity it is involved in when reduced to enuncia- 
 
ELOCUTION. 19 
 
 tion ; and how necessary it is to understand dis- 
 tinctly the rhetorical as well as grammatical di- 
 vision of a sentence, if we would wish to arrive 
 at precision and accuracy in reading and speak- 
 ing : this will so evidently appear in the course 
 of this essay, as to make it needless to insist far- 
 ther on it here ; and as the basis of rhetoric and 
 oratory is grammar, it will be absolutely neces- 
 sary to consider punctuation as it relates precise- 
 ly to the sense, ! >e£ore it is viewed as it relates to 
 the force, beauty, and harmony of language. 
 
 But the business of this essay is not so much 
 to construct a new system of punctuation, as to 
 endeavour to make the best use of that which is 
 already established ; an attempt to reduce the 
 whole doctrine of rhetorical punctuation to a few 
 plain simple principles, which may enable the 
 reader, in some measure, to point for himself: 
 for this purpose, it will, in the first place, be ne- 
 cessary to exhibit a general idea of the punctua- 
 tion in use, that we may be better enabled to see- 
 how far it will assist us in the practice of pronun- 
 ciation, and where we must have recourse to prin- 
 ciples more permanent and systematical. 
 
20 ELEMENTS OP 
 
 A general Idea of the common Doctrine of Punc- 
 tuation. 
 
 Some grammarians define punctuation to be 
 the art of marking in writing the several pauses*, 
 ~@r rests, between sentences, and the parts of sen- 
 fences, according to their proper quantity or pro- 
 portion, as they are expressed in a just and ac- 
 curate pronunciation. Others, as Sir James Bur- 
 row and Doctor Bowles, besides considering the 
 joints as marks of rest and pauses, suppose them 
 t© be hints for a different modulation of voice, or 
 rules for- regulating the accent of the voice, in 
 reading; but whether this modulation of the voice 
 relates to all the points, or to the interrogation, 
 exclamation and parenthesis only, we are not in- 
 formed. Grammarians are pretty generally agreed 
 in distinguishing the pauses into 
 
 The period ~\ f. 
 
 The colon , , ., J : 
 
 rr,i • i > marked thus << 
 
 The semicolon j j ; 
 
 The comma j ^, 
 
 and those pauses which are accompanied with an 
 -alteration in the tone of the voice, into 
 
 The interrogation ^ C ? 
 
 The exclamation > marked thus < ! 
 
 The parenthesis ) ( () 
 
 The period is supposed to be a pause double tile 
 time of the colon : the colon, double the semico- 
 lon ; and the semicolon, double that of the com- 
 
 
ELOCUTION. 2 * 
 
 ma, or smallest pause: the interrogation and ex- 
 clamation points are said to be indefinite as to 
 their quantity of time, and to mark an elevation 
 of voice ; and the parenthesis, to mark a moder- 
 ate depression of the voice, with a pause greater 
 than a comma. 
 
 A simple sentence, that is, a sentence having 
 but one subject, or nominative, and one finite 
 verb, admits of no pause. Thus in the follow- 
 ing sentence : The passion for praise produces 
 excellent effects in women of sense. The passion 
 for praise is the subject or nominative case to the 
 verb produces ; and excellent effects in women of 
 sense, is the object or accusative case, witn its 
 concomitant circumstances or adjuncts of speci- 
 fication, as Dr. Lowth very properly terms them, 
 and this sentence, says the learned bishop, admits 
 of no pause between any of its parts ; but when 
 u new verb is added to the sentence, as" in the fol- 
 lowing: The passion for praise, which is so very 
 vehement in the fair sex, produces excellent ef- 
 fects in women of sense. Here a new verb is in- 
 troduced, accompanied with adjuncts of its own, 
 and the subject is repeated by the relative pro- 
 noun which : it now becomes a compounded sen- 
 tence, made up of two simple sentences, one of 
 which is inserted in the middle of the other ; it 
 must, therefore, be distinguished into its compo- 
 nent parts by a point placed on each side of the 
 additional sentence. 
 
 In every sentence, therefore, as many subjects., 
 or as many finite verbs, as there are, either ex- 
 
22 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 pressed or implied, so many distinctions there 
 may be : as, My hopes, fears, joys, pains, all cen- 
 ter in you. The case is the same when several 
 adjuncts affect the subject of the verb : as, A 
 good, wise, learned man, is an ornament to the 
 commonwealth ; or, when several adverbs, or ad- 
 verbial circumstances, affect the verb : as, He 
 behaved himself modestly, prudently, virtuously. 
 For as many such adjuncts as there are, so many 
 several members does the sentence contain ; and 
 these are to be distinguished from each other, as 
 much as several subjects or finite verbs. The 
 reason of this is, that as many subjects, finite 
 verbs, or adjuncts as there are in a sentence, so 
 many distinct sentences are actually implied; as 
 the first example is equivalent to, My hopes all 
 center in you, my fears all center in you, &c. 
 The second exan pie is equivalent to, A good man 
 is an ornament to the commonwealth, a wise man is 
 a?i ornament to the commonwealth, &c. The 
 third example is equivalent to, He behaved him- 
 self modestly, he behaved himself prudently , &c. ; 
 and these implied sentences are all to be distin- 
 guished by a comma. 
 
 The exception to this rule is, where these sub- 
 jects or adjuncts are united by a conjunction ; as, 
 The imagination and the judgment do not always 
 agree ; and, A man never becomes learned with- 
 out studying constantly and methodically. In these 
 cases the comma between the subjects and ad- 
 juncts are omitted. 
 
 There are some other kinds of sentences, 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 23 
 
 which, though seemingly simple, are neverthe- 
 less of the compound kind, and really contain 
 several subjects, verbs, or adjuncts. Thus in the 
 sentences containing what is called the ablative 
 absolute : as, Physicians, the disease once disco- 
 vered, think the cure half wrought ; where the 
 words disease once discovered, are equivalent to, 
 when the cause of the disease is discovered. So 
 in those sentences where nouns are added by 
 apposition: as, The Scots, a hardy people, en. 
 dured it all. So also in those where vocative 
 cases occur : as, This, my friend, you must allow 
 me. The first of these examples is equivalent 
 to, The Scots endured it all, and The Scots, who 
 are a hardy people, endured it all: and the last to. 
 This you must allow me, and this my friend must 
 allow me. 
 
 When a sentence can be divided into two or 
 more members, which members are again divisi- 
 ble into members more simple, the former are to 
 be separated by a semicolon. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 But as this passion for admiration, when it worki according' to 
 reason, improves the beautiful part of our species in every thing* 
 that is laudable ; so nothing is more destructive to them, when it' 
 is governed by vanity and folly. 
 
 When a sentence can be divided into two parts, 
 each of which parts are again divisible by semr 
 colons, the former are to be separated by a coidti, 
 
 EXAMPLES-. 
 
 As we cannot discern the shadow moving" along the diaUplate, 
 so the advances we make in knowledge are only perceived by the 
 distance gone over. 
 
 
24 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 Here the two members, being both simple, 
 are only separated by a comma. 
 
 As we perceive the shadow to have moved, but did not perceive 
 it moving ; so our advances in learning-, as they consist of such 
 minute steps, are only perceivable by the distance. 
 
 Here the sentence being divided into two equal 
 parts, and those compounded, since they include 
 others, we separate the former by a semicolon, 
 and the latter by commas. 
 
 As we perceive the shadow to have moved along the dial, but 
 did not perceive it moving ; and it appears that the grass has 
 grown, though nobody ever saw it grow; so the advances we 
 make in knowledge, as they consist of such minute steps, are only 
 perceivable by the distance. 
 
 Here the advancement in knowledge is com- 
 pared to the motion of a shadow, and the growth 
 of grass; which comparison divides the sentence 
 into two principal parts: but since what is said 
 of the movement of the shadow, and of the growth 
 of grass, likewise contains two simple members, 
 they are to be separated by a semicolon ; conse- 
 quently, a higher pointing is required, to separate 
 them from the other part of the sentence, which 
 they are opposed to : and this is a colon. 
 
 When a member of a sentence forms complete 
 sense, and does not excite expectation of what 
 follows ; though it consist but of a simple mem- 
 ber, it may be marked with a colon. 
 
 EXAMPLES* 
 
 The discourse consisted of two parts : in the first was shown 
 the necessity of fighting ; in the seGond,the advantages that would 
 arise from it. 
 
 
1SL0CUTI0X. %> 
 
 Jin Introduction to the Theory of Rhetorical 
 Punctuation* 
 
 Dr. Lowth has, with great plainness and pre- 
 cision, drawn the line which bounds the use of 
 the comma upon paper, by telling us, that every 
 simple sentence, or that sentence which has but 
 one subject and one finite verb, cannot have any 
 of its adjuncts, or imperfect phrases, separated 
 by a point. This he illustrates by a sentence, 
 where the subject and verb are accompanied by 
 as many adjuncts as they commonly are, but no 
 provision is made for such phrases as extend to 
 twice the length, and yet continue perfectly sim- 
 ple. — The passion for praise produces excellent 
 effects in a woman of sense, — is a sentence of so 
 moderate a size, as . may be pronounced even 
 with solemnity and energy, by most people, 
 without once taking breath ; but if we amplify 
 these adjuncts that accompany the nominative 
 case and the verb in such a manner as is frequent- 
 ly to be met with, at least in incorrect composi- 
 tion, we shall find it impossible to pronounce the 
 sentence with force and ease, without some in- 
 terval for respiration; — for instance, if we had 
 the following sentence to read — A violent passion 
 for universal admiration produces the most ridicu- 
 lous circumstances in the general behaviour of 'wb- 
 ren of the most excellent understandings, — If, I 
 
2$ ELEMENTS OF 
 
 say, we, had this sentence to read, how could 
 we possibly pronounce it with force and ease, 
 without once fetching breath ? — and yet, accord- 
 ing to the strictest laws of grammar, no pause is 
 to be admitted; for this latter sentence, though 
 almost three times as long, is as perfectly sim- 
 ple as the former. 
 
 The necessity of taking breath, in some of 
 these longer simple sentences, has obliged the 
 most accurate .and metaphysical inquirers into 
 punctuation to admit of the most vague and in- 
 determinate rules. — The most subtile among the 
 French writers* on this subject, after giving a 
 thousand fine spun reasons for placing the points 
 with justness and precision, admits of placing a 
 comma in a simple sentence — " Quand lespropo. 
 " sitions sont longues pour etre enoncees de suite 
 u avec ahance" And one of our best English 
 critics tells us, that the difference between the co- 
 lon and the semicolon has a dependence on some- 
 thing that influences all the points, and sways the 
 whole doctrine of punctuation, which is the length 
 and shortness of the members and period ; for 
 when the phrases are long,"' he says, we point 
 higher than when they are short. 
 
 This confession is a sure proof, that the rules 
 of these grammarians did not reach all cases ; and 
 that, in speaking, they often found themselves 
 obliged to pause where they did not dare to in- 
 sert a pause in writing, for fear of breaking the 
 grammatical connexion of the words : a fear, as 
 
 * Beauzee, Grammaire Generate..- 
 
ELOCUTION. %7 
 
 will be seen hereafter, which arose from a super- 
 ficial knowledge of the principles of rhetorical 
 pronunciation. 
 
 But as a proof that the shortest sentences are 
 not always to be pronounced so as to preserve a 
 perfect equality of time between every word, and 
 consequently, that some words admit of longer 
 intervals than others ; we need only pronounce 
 a short simple sentence in the different ways we 
 did the long one. 
 
 Thus if we say — The passion for praise, pro* 
 duces excellent effects, in women of sense. — Here, 
 I say, if we make a short pause at praise, and 
 effects, we do not perceive the least impropriety : 
 but if we repeat the same sentence, and make 
 the same pauses at produces and in, we shall soon 
 discover an essential difference. — For example : 
 The passion for praise produces, excellent effects 
 in, women of sense. — Here, by using the same 
 pause between different words, the sense is ma- 
 terially affected ; which evidently shows how ne- 
 cessary it is to good reading and speaking, to 
 pause only between such words as admit of 
 being separated ; and that it is not so much the 
 number as the position of the pauses that affect 
 the sense of a sentence. 
 
 And here a question naturally arises, since 
 it is of so much consequence to the sense of a 
 sentence where we admit a pause, what are the 
 parts of speech which" allow a pause between 
 them, and what are those which do not ? To 
 which it may be answered, that the comma, or, 
 what is equivalent to it in reading, a short pause, 
 
£8 iSLE^fENTS tf 
 
 may be so frequently admitted between words in 
 a grammatical connexion, that it will be much 
 easier to say where it cannot intervene, than 
 where it can. — The only words which seem too 
 intimately connected to admit a pause, are — the 
 article and the substantive, the substantive and the 
 adjective in their natural order, and the preposi- 
 tion and the noun it governs ; every other com- 
 bination of words, when forming single sen- 
 fences of considerable length, seems divisible if 
 occasion require. — That a substantive in the no- 
 minative case may be separated from the verb it 
 .governs, will be readily admitted, if we consider 
 with how many adjuncts, or modifying words, 
 it may be connected ; and, consequently, how 
 difficult it will be to carry the voice on to the 
 "verb with force, and to continue this force till 
 the objective case with all its adjuncts and con- 
 xomittants are pronounced : this will appear evi- 
 dently from the amplified sentence already pro- 
 duced ; which, though not a very common, is- 
 <a very possible example ; and rules founded on 
 the reason of a thing, must either suit all cases 
 <^r none. 
 
 Whatever,, therefore, may be the integrity of 
 grammatical connexion to the eye, certain it is 
 that the ear perceives neither obstruction nor ob- 
 scurity in a pause between the nominative case 
 and the verb, when the nominative is composed 
 of such words as are less separable. Nay, we 
 find the substantive verb, by the most scrupu- 
 lous grammarians, constantly separated from its 
 preceding noun by a comma, whenever the noun 
 
ELOCUTION 
 
 20 
 
 is joined to any considerable number of les^ 
 separable words. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 One great use of prepositions in English, is to express those re- 
 lations, which, in some languages, are chiefly marked by cases, 
 Dr. Lowth's Grammar. 
 
 A colon, or member, is a chief constructive part, or greater- 
 division of a sentence. Ibid. 
 
 The very notion of any duration's being past, implies that it 
 was once present; for the idea of being once present, is actually 
 included in the idea of its being past. 
 
 Spectator, No. 590. 
 
 This punctuation of the substantive verb runs 
 through our whole typography and sufficiently 
 shews the division which the ear invariably 
 makes, when delivery requires a distinct and 
 forcible pronunciation ; for not the smallest rea- 
 son can be given, why this verb should be se- 
 parated from its noun, that will not be equally 
 applicable to every other verb in the language. 
 
 The general reluctance, however, at admitting 
 a pause to the eye, between the nominative case 
 and the verb, is not without a foundation in rea- 
 son. The pauses of distinction between the 
 parts of a complex nominative case, seem speci- 
 fically different from the pause between the nomi- 
 native case and the verb ; that the same pause, 
 therefore, to the eye should be used between both, 
 seems repugnant to a feeling of the different 
 kind of connexion tlmt subsists between parts 
 
30 ELEMENTS 01 
 
 which are only occasionally united, and those: 
 which arc necessarily united ; thus in the follow- 
 ing sentence : Riches, pleasure, and health be- 
 come evils to the generality of mankind. 
 
 There are few readers who would not make 
 longer pauses between the nominative health and 
 the verb become, than between riches and plea? 
 sure, or pleasure and health ; and yet there are 
 few writers, or printers, who would not. insert.- a 
 pause after the two first words, and omit it after 
 the third. This general practice can arise from 
 nothing but the perception of the difference there 
 is between those parts that compose the nomi- 
 native plural, and those parts which compose the 
 nominative and the verb; and rather than coi-u 
 found this difference, we choose to omit the 
 pause in writing, though we use it in speaking i 
 till, therefore, we have a point, which, like one 
 of the Hebrew points, at the same time that it 
 jnarks distinction between parts,, marks a neces- 
 sary connexion between them also, we must be 
 contented to let this useful and distinguishing 
 pause in reading and speaking go unmarked in 
 writing and printing. 
 
 If we inquire into the difference between the. 
 parts of the nominative, and the nominative it- 
 self as part of the sentence, we shall find that the 
 former are only parts of a part, and that the lat- 
 ter is a part of a who If ; or, in other words, the 
 former are parts of a superior part, and the latter 
 is the superior part itself; which part, as it con- 
 sists of several parts, must, in order to shew 
 that -these parts form only one part, be terming- 
 
ELOCUTION. 31 
 
 ted by a pause, longer than what is given to the 
 parts of which it is composed ; but as such pause 
 can only be marked by a semicolon, and as a se- 
 micolon is often a mark of disjunction, it would 
 be highly improper to place it between words so 
 intimately connected as the nominative and the 
 verb ; for as these words, except sometimes on 
 account of emphasis, admit of no separation by 
 a pause, when the nominative does not consist 
 of parts, so, unless we had a pause, which 
 would shew this union of each part with the oth- 
 er, without a disunion of the whole number of 
 parts from what follows, we had better, perhaps, 
 let this chasm in punctuation stand unfilled. 
 Where the parts are evidently distinct, as in sen- 
 tences constructed in conjunctions, however 
 short the parts may be, there seems no impro- 
 priety in placing a long pause : thus in the pro- 
 verbial sentence, As the day lengthens the cold 
 strengthens: we may place a comma, and even 
 a semicolon, at lengthens, without appearing to 
 injure the sense ; but if we were to place the 
 same points between the nominative and the verb 
 in the following sentence, The lengthening day is 
 followed by the strengthening cold ; we should feel 
 an impropriety at placing even a comma at day; 
 though we should not perceive the least atactually 
 pausing as long between the parts of this, as be- . 
 tween those of the former sentence. The only 
 method, therefore, of marking this necessary 
 pause to the ear, without hurting the connexion 
 between these parts of a sentence to the eye, 
 would, be to adopt the hyphen; this always 
 
32 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 shews a necessary connexion of sense, and at 
 the same time a clear distinction of ports different 
 from the distinction and connexion exhibited by 
 the comma ; and this seems the point wanting to 
 render our punctuation much more definite and 
 complete. 
 
 A want of this distinctive, and at the same 
 time connective mark, has made many writers, 
 particularly those who have expressed themselves 
 with more than common delicacy and precision, 
 adopt a dash between parts intimately connected, 
 to shew the sense is to be continued, and the 
 pause lengthened at the same time. Sterne is 
 the most remarkable for the use of this dash : and 
 it must be owned, that in him it conveys infinite 
 meaning : but where used too often, as in those 
 swarms of modern writers of novels, who affect 
 to write like Sterne ; or where used improperly, 
 and when the common points would give more 
 precision to the sense, as we sometimes find in 
 Sterne himself;, in this case, I say, it may be 
 reckoned among one of the greatest abuses of 
 modern orthography. 
 
 Sterne's dashing may be called a species of 
 rhetorical punctuation; but the dash may and 
 ought to be used grammatically, when there is 
 such an order of the words as to introduce the 
 reader to run the sense of one member into an- 
 other, from which it ought to be separated. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 After the Prince of Orange had got possession of the govern- 
 ment of England — Scotland and Ireland remained s till to be set 
 tied. Macpher son's History of England. 
 
ELOCUTION £3 
 
 The punctuation of the eye, and that of the* 
 ear, being thus at variance, and the latter being; 
 the principal object of this essay, it may not be 
 useless to attempt to give a general idea of the 
 principles of that punctuation which really exists 
 in correct and elegant speaking, but which has 
 hitherto been left entirely to the taste and judg- 
 ment of the reader.- 
 
34 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 Theory of Rhetorical Punctuation. 
 
 It may be observed, that pausing is regulated 
 by two circumstances ; one is, conveying ideas 
 distinctly, by separating such as are distinct, 
 and uniting such as are associated \ the other is, 
 forming the words that convey these ideas into 
 such classes, or portions, as may be forcibly and 
 easily pronounced; for this reason, when the 
 words, from their signification, require to be 
 distinctly pointed out, that is, to convey objects 
 distinguished from each other, however frequent 
 tind numerous the pauses may be, they are neces- 
 sary ; but if words connected in sense, continue 
 to a greater extent than can be easily pronoun- 
 ced together, and at the same time have no such 
 distinct part as immediately suggest where we 
 ought to pause, the only rule that can be given 
 is, not to separate such words as are more uni- 
 ted than those that we do not separate. 
 
 But it may be demanded, how shall we know 
 the several degrees of union between words, so 
 as to enable us to divide them properly ? — To 
 this it may be answered, that all words may be 
 distinguished into those that modify, and those 
 that are modified* : the words that are modified 
 are the nominative, and the verb it governs ; ev- 
 ery other word may be said to be a modifier of 
 these words : the noun and the verb being thus 
 
 * Buffier, Grammaire, p. 6(X 
 
 ed 
 as 
 
ELOCUTION. 35 
 
 distinguised from every other, may be one rea- 
 son, that, when modified, they so readily admit 
 a pause between them ; because words that are 
 separately modified may be presumed to be more 
 separable from each other than the words that 
 modify and the words modified. The modify- 
 ing words are themselves modified by other 
 words, and thus become divisible into superiour 
 and subordinate classes, each class being com- 
 posed of w T ords more united among themselves 
 than the several classes are with each other. 
 Thus in the sentence, The passion for praise pro- 
 duces excellent effects in -women of sense — the 
 noun passio?i, and the verb produces, with their 
 several adjuncts, form the two principal portions, 
 or classes of words in this sentence ; and between 
 these classes a pause is more readily admitted 
 than between any other words : if the latter class 
 may be thought too long to be pronounced with- 
 out a pause, we may more easily place one at 
 effects than between any other words ; because, 
 though produces is modified by every one of the 
 succeeding words, taken all together, yet it is 
 more immediately modified by excellent effects, 
 as this portion is also modified by in women of 
 sense ; all the words of which phrase are more 
 immediately modified by the succeeding words 
 than the preceding phrase, produces excellent ef- 
 fects, is by them. 
 
 But what, it may be said, is the principle of 
 unity among these classes ; and by what marks 
 are we to judge that words belong rather to one 
 class than another ? To this it may be answered. 
 
 
36 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 that the modifying and modified words form the 
 fifst or largest classes ; and the words that modi- 
 fy these modifying words, and the modifying 
 words themselves, which are necessarily more 
 united with each other than those they modify, 
 form the smaller classes of words. Upon these 
 principles we may divide the sentence last quo- 
 ted ; and upon the same principles we may ac- 
 count for the division of the following. — A vio- 
 lent and ungovernable passion for praise the most 
 universal and unlimited, produces often the most 
 ridiculous consequences in women of the most ex- 
 alted understandings. — When I say, a violent 
 and ungovernable passion, I may pause at violent 
 to distinguish it from ungovernable, but not at 
 ungovernable, because it immediately modifies 
 passion ; but when I say, for praise, the most 
 universal and unlimited, I must pause at passion, 
 to shew the greater connexion between the words 
 praise and universal and unlimited than between 
 these and passion; the latter class thus secured, 
 by a pause, irom mixing with the former, it is 
 subject to such divisions as its structure re- 
 quires; the subtantive praise, coming before 
 the modifying words, is separated from them by 
 a pause, not because such pause is necessary the 
 better to understand the connexion between 
 them ; for had the modifying words been single, 
 it would not have admitted a pause ; but because 
 the two modifying words, universal and unlimit- 
 ed, form a class by themselves, sufficiently united 
 to the word praise to detach it from passion, and 
 sufficiently distinct from it to-be separated by a 
 
ELOCUTION, <?4' 
 
 comma. But it may be asked, why does not 
 the same classification take place in the former 
 part of this sentence, with respect to the two ad- 
 jectives, violent and ungovernable, and the sub- 
 stantive passion ? It may be answered, that a 
 pause of distinction is admitted at violent ; but 
 if we were to pause at ungovernable, the two 
 modifying words would seem to form a class, 
 before the word modified by them is expressed 
 or understood ; whereas, in the succeeding part 
 of the sentence, the word praise is understood, 
 and the modifying words, universal and unlimi- 
 ted, are necessarily referred to it. 
 
 If it be demanded, why, in the former sen- 
 tence, A violent and ungovernable passion for 
 praise produces, &c. we cannot pause both at 
 passion and praise? it may be answered, that as 
 the words for praise modify passion, they have 
 the nature of an adjective, and therefore should 
 coalesce with the word passion, which they mo- 
 dify ; unless another word, more united to them 
 than they are to passion, could be added, to 
 make them form a distinct class ; for in this 
 case, they would be easily separable as two ad-' 
 jectives after a substantive. Thus in the phrase, 
 
 KA violent and ungovernable passion, for praise 
 and adulation, &c." here we find praise and adu- 
 lation form a class of words sufficiently united 
 to be pronounced separately from passion, if ei- 
 ther the necessity of taking breath, or a distinct- 
 ness of pronunciation require it; for as pausing* 
 ought to answer one of these purposes, where 
 neither of them are answered, the pause must be 
 
 D 
 
 
38 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 improper. Thus in the following sentence : A 
 violent and ungovernable passion for praise produ- 
 ces, &c. if we pause at passion, and then at 
 praise, we shall pause without any necessity; 
 for as we must pause at praise, and the words 
 for praise being neither associated with, nor dis- 
 tinguished from, any succeeding words, thev 
 ought to be united with those that precede, as 
 both of them form a member sufficiently short 
 to be pronounced with ease ; but if distinctness 
 had made it necessary to pause at praise, then, 
 notwithstanding the shortness of the phrase, it 
 would have formed a distinct member, and have 
 readily admitted a pause. Thus in the sentence, 
 A violent and ungovernable passion, for praise, 
 rather than improvement in virtue, produces oft- 
 en the most ridiculous circumstances, &c. : here 
 the word praise, being emphatically distinguished 
 frpm improvement in virtue, demands a pause 
 after it ; and as this word, and its oposite, form 
 a class more united together than both are with 
 the word passion, a pause is necessary, to shew 
 they belong to distinct classes; the pause between 
 the opposing words shewing their distinction, 
 and the pause before and after them shewing 
 their union. 
 
 But it may be asked, how can we suppose 
 words opposed to each other, and requiring a 
 pause to shew that opposition, can be more uni- 
 ted with each other than they are with the pre- 
 ceding w r ords they modify ? It may be answered, 
 that the modifying word, when unaccompanied 
 by adjuncts, and the word modified, form but 
 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 39 
 
 one class, and do not admit of a pause, either 
 when the modifying word precedes or succeeds 
 the word modified. — Thus in the phrases, It 
 xvas from a prepense malice that he conunitted 
 the action ; and, It xvas from a malice prepense 
 that he committed the action : In these phrases I 
 say, the substantive malice, and the adjective 
 prepense, are equally inseparable by a pause ; 
 but in the following phrases : 
 
 It xvas from a preconceived and prepense malice 
 that he committed the action; and It xvas from a raa- 
 lice preconceited and prepense, that he committed 
 the action. In the former of these phrases the mo - 
 difying words do not form a distinct class from 
 the word modified ; and in the latter they do, 
 and, therefore, admit of a pause afteijfche word 
 malice, which can arise from nothing else but 
 this : in one case, the modhy nig words, prece- 
 ding the word modified, can signify nothing w .th- 
 out being joined to it ; and the other word, the 
 modified word, preceding those that modify, 
 does signify something independent on them ; 
 and this independent signification admits those 
 words that equally depend on it, to form a dis- 
 tinct, though not an independent, class, by per- 
 mitting a pause. Hence arises this general rule 
 The word modified, and the words modifying, 
 form but one class with relation to the rest of the 
 xvords of the sentence ; but if the modifying xvords 
 precede the word modified^ the modifying xvords 
 are distinguished from each other by a pause, but 
 not from the xv or d modified ; and if the modifying 
 xvords succeed the xvords modi fed, they are not 
 
40 ELEMENTS 01' 
 
 only distinguished from each other, but from the 
 word which they modify ; that is, they form dis- 
 tinct classes respecting each other, and one whole 
 class respecting the rest of the words in the sen- 
 fence. 
 
 Thus we have endeavoured to trace out the rea- 
 son for pausing differently in phrases differently 
 constructed, though perfectly similar in meaning. 
 In the inquiry, the ingenious researches of Lord 
 Kaims upon the subject have been of great use. 
 His idea of the connexion between the adjective 
 and the substantive in their natural order, and 
 the separation they admit of when inverted, is the 
 principal clue to the difficulties that have been 
 proposed : his assertion, however, that the ad- 
 jective and the substantive in an inverted order 
 iidmit of a pause, is true only when the adjective 
 is single ; for thousands of instances might be 
 produced, where a pause is no more admissible 
 between a substantive and an adjective in their 
 inverted than in their natural order. For exam- 
 ple, in the following lines from the Rape of the 
 Lock. 
 
 Of these the chief the care of nations own, 
 And guard with arras divine the British throne. 
 
 Though the melody of the verse inclines us 
 strongly to pause at arms, yet the adjective di- 
 vine, immediately succeeding forbids it. Nay, 
 IT the line Lord Kaims produces to prove we 
 may pause between the adjective and the sub- 
 stantive in an inverted order— 
 
 Fer tkcs the fates, severely kind, ordain— 
 
ELOCUTION. 41 
 
 If this line, I say, had been constructed in this 
 manner, 
 
 For thee the fates severe, have this ordained, 
 
 it is evident no pause could be admitted between 
 the substantive fates and the adjective severe^ 
 though they are in their inverted order ; it is not 
 then merely the adjective being placed after the 
 substantive which makes it separable from it, 
 but the adjective being joined by other words, 
 which, when the substantive is understood, are 
 more immediately connected with each other 
 than with the substantive itself. 
 
 If these observations have any solidity, we 
 may perceive how few are the grammatical con- 
 nexions which absolutely refuse a suspension of 
 pronunciation, for the sake of breathing, wheie 
 precision or energy require it : it is certainly to 
 be presumed, that the breath of every person is 
 nearly proportioned to the forcible pronunciation 
 of so many words together as are necessary to 
 preserve the sense unbroken ; the contrary, how- 
 ever, would often be the case, if the integrity of 
 the sense depended on the common rules for pla- 
 cing the comma. Let those, however, who can 
 pronounce a long sentence esfsily and forcibly, 
 provided they preserve the pauses necessary to 
 the sense, take breath as seldom as they pit ase. 
 I have rather consulted the infirmities than the 
 perfections of my fellow creatures ; by endea- 
 vouring to point out those resources which are 
 necessary to the weak, without imposing them 
 as rules upon the strong j — Clausulas enim, says 
 D 2 
 
 1 
 
4^ ELEMENTS OF 
 
 Cicero, atque biterpuncta verborum animce inter- 
 clusio atque augustioe spirit <s adtulerunt, De 
 Orat. Lib. iii. 
 
 But from studying the human voice, and not 
 relying implicitly on the assertion of the an- 
 cients, we perceive the weakness of that com- 
 mon observation, that long sentences require a 
 greater quantity of breath, and a much more 
 forcible exertion in the lungs, than such sentences 
 as are short. The folly of this opinion must evi- 
 dently appear to those who have taken notice how 
 often we may pause in a long sentence ; and it 
 will be shown hereafter, that the sentence depends 
 much less on the pause than on the inflexion of 
 voice we adopt ; and that provided we pause in 
 the proper place, and preserve the proper tone 
 and inflexion of the voice, the sense runs no risk 
 on account of the multiplicity or duration of the 
 pauses, 
 
 To reduce what has been said into something 
 like a system, we shall endeavour to bring toge- 
 ther sentences in every variety of construction, 
 and mark, as carefully as possible, such pauses 
 as are necessary to pronounce them with clear-, 
 ness, force and variety* 
 
 \ 
 
ELOCUTION 
 
 43 
 
 A Practical System of Rhetorical Punctuation. 
 
 Before we give such directions for pausing, or 
 dividing a sentence, as will, in some measure, 
 enable us to avoid the errors of common punc- 
 tuation, and to point for ourselves, it will be ne- 
 cessary to inquire into the nature of a sentence, 
 and to distinguish it into its different kinds : for 
 this purpose, I shall make use of the words of a 
 very ingenious author*, who has lately written 
 on the Philosophy of Rhetoric : * Complex sen- 
 
 * tences,' says this author, ' are of two kinds : 
 
 * first, they are either periods, or sentences of a 
 ' looser composition, for which the language 
 < doth not furnish us with any particular name. 
 
 c A period is a complex sentence, wherein the 
 e meaning remains suspended, till the whole is* 
 ' finished : the connexion, consequently, is so 
 
 * close between the beginning and the end, as to 
 ' give rise to the name of period, which signifies 
 c circuit ; the following is such a sentence. ' 
 
 " Corruption could not spread with so much 
 " success, though reduced into system, and 
 " though some ministers, with equal impudence 
 " and folly, avowed it, by themselves and their 
 f* advocates, to be the principal expedient by 
 " which they governed, if a long and almost un- 
 " observed progression of causes and effects did 
 " not prepare the conjuncture." 
 
 Bolingbroke *s Spirit of Patriotism*. 
 
 
 Campbell's Philos: of Rhetoric, tol. p. 33& 
 
44 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 * The criterion of a period is this : if you stop 
 any where before the end, the preceding words 
 will not form a sentence, and therefore cannot 
 convey any determined sense. 
 4 This is plainly the case with the above ex- 
 ample : the first verb being could, and not can ; 
 the potential and not the indicative mood, shews 
 that the sentence is hypothetical, and requires 
 to its completion, some clause beginning with 
 if, unless, or some other conditional particle ; 
 and after you are come to the conjunction, you 
 find no part where you can stop before the end. 
 An example of a complex sentence that is not 
 a period, I shall produce from the same per- 
 formance :' 
 " One party had given their whole attention, 
 during several years,to the project of enriching 
 themselves, and impoverishing the rest of the 
 nation ; and by these and other means, of es- 
 tablishing their dominion under the govern- 
 ment, and with the favor of a family who 
 were foreigners ; and therefore might believe 
 that they were established on the throne, by 
 the good will and strength of this party 
 alone." 
 
 ' The criterion of such loose sentences is as 
 follows: there will always be found in them 
 one place at least before the end, at which if 
 you make a stop, the construction of the pre- 
 ceding part will render it a complete sentence ; 
 thus, in the example now given, whether you 
 stop at the word themselves, a$ nation, it domin- 
 ion, at government, or &X foreigners, all which 
 
ELOCUTION. 45 
 
 * words are marked in the quotation in Italics, 
 i you will find you have read a perfect sentence.' 
 
 This distinction of a sentence into a period 
 or compact sentence, and a loose sentence, does 
 not seem to satisfy this ingenious critic ; and he 
 produces an example of a sentence of an inter- 
 mediate sort, that is neither an entirely loose 
 sentence, nor a perfect period : this example, 
 too, is taken from Lord Bolingbroke, where, 
 speaking of the Eucharist, he says: "The 
 " other institution has been so disguised by or- 
 " nament, and so much directed in your church, 
 " at least, to a different purpose from com- 
 " memoration, that if the disciples were to as- 
 " semble at Easter in the chapel of his holiness, 
 " Peter would know his successor as little as 
 " Christ would acknowledge his vicar ; and the 
 " rest would be unable to guess what the cere- 
 " mony represented or intended." Though this 
 sentence forms perfect sense at vicar , the critic 
 affirms, that ' the succeeding members are so 
 ' closely connected with the preceding, that they 
 1 all together may be considered as a period, or 
 ' compact sentence. 5 
 
 Here we find the former distinction destroyed, 
 and we are again to seek for such a definition 
 of a sentence as will assure us what is a period 
 or compact sentence, and what is a loose sentence; 
 or, in other words, what members are necessari- 
 ly, and what members are not necessarily con- 
 nected. In the first place we may observe, that 
 it is not the perfect sense, formed by the prece- 
 ding members, that determines a sentence to be 
 
46 FXEMENTS OF 
 
 loose; because succeeding members may be 
 so necessarily connected with those that precede, 
 notwithstanding the preceding members form 
 perfect sense, that both together may form one 
 period. Mr. Addison affords us an instance of 
 this, in the Spectator, No. 86: " Every one that 
 " speaks and reasons, is a grammarian and a 
 " logician, though he may be utterly unac- 
 " qualated with the rules of grammar or logic 
 " as they are delivered in books and systems." 
 
 If we finish this sentence at logician, we shall 
 find the sense perfect ; and yet nothing can be 
 more evident than that both the member which 
 contains this word, and that which follows, are in- 
 separably connected. It is not, therefore, the 
 perfect sense which a member may form, that 
 necessarily detaches it from the rest ; if, upon 
 perusing the latter part of the sentence, we find 
 it evidently contained in the idea of the former, 
 they must both be inseparably connected : the 
 whole sentence, therefore, must be understood, 
 before we can pronounce upon the connexion 
 consisting between its parts. 
 
 But it may be demanded, what is the criterion 
 of this connexion; and how shall we know, 
 with certainty, whether the idea, of the latter 
 member is necessarily contained in the former ? 
 To this it may be answered, if the latter mem- 
 ber modifies the former, or places it in a point of 
 view different from what it appears in alone, we 
 may pronounce the members necessarily con- 
 nected, and the sentence to be compact and pe- 
 riodic. In the last instance, the first member >. 
 
 « 
 
ELOCUTIOX. 47 
 
 Every one that speaks and reasons, is a gramma- 
 rian and a logician ; does not intend to affirm a 
 fact which might be understood as descriptive of 
 the state of man, either with or without the at- 
 tainments of grammar and logic ; but it refers 
 precisely to that state which has no such attain- 
 ments, and thus is modified by the last member, 
 though he may be utterly unacquainted xvith the 
 rules of grammar, or logic, as they are deliver- 
 ed in books and systems. The modification, there- 
 fore, of the former member by the latter, is the 
 criterion of sucfuconnexion as forms a period 
 or compact sentence. 
 
 It is on this principle that all sentences found - 
 ed on an hypothesis, a condition, a concession, 
 or exception, may be esteemed compact senten- 
 ces or periods ; for in these sentences we shall 
 find one part of the sentence modified by the 
 other; and it may be affirmed of all other sen- 
 tences, that whenever the conjunctions that con- 
 nect their members together modify these mem- 
 bers, the sentences they compose are periodic ; 
 and that whenever the conjunctions only explain 
 or add to the meaning of the members to which 
 they are subjoined, the sentences which these 
 members compose are loose sentences. It will be 
 necessary to explain this observation by examples. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 A man should endeavour to make the sphere of his innocent 
 pleasures as wide as possible, that he may retire into them with 
 safety, and find in them such a satisfaction as a wise man would 
 not blush to take. Of this nature are those of the imagination,. 
 whichdo not require such a bent of thought as is necessary to our 
 more serious employments, nor at the same time, suffer the mind to 
 
48 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 sink into that negligence and remissness, -which are apt to accom- 
 pany our more sensual delights. — Spectator,^. 411. 
 
 In the first of these sentences we find the con- 
 junction that modifies or restrains the meaning 
 of the preceding member; for it is not asserted 
 in general and without limitation, that a man 
 should make the sphere of his innocent pleasures 
 as wide as possible, but that he should do so for 
 the purpose of retiring into himself: these two 
 members, therefore, are necessarily connected, 
 and might have formed a period or compact sen- 
 tence, had they not been followed by the last 
 member ; but as that only adds to the sense of 
 the preceding members, and does not qualify 
 them, the whole assemblage of members, taken 
 together, form but one loose sentence. 
 
 The last member of the last sentence is neces- 
 sarily connected with what precedes, because it 
 modifies or restrains the meaning of it ; for it is 
 not meant, that the pleasures of the imagination 
 do not suffer the mind to sink into negli- 
 gence and remissness in general, but into that 
 particular negligence and remissness which is 
 apt to accompany our most sensual delights. The 
 first member of this sentence affords an oppor- 
 tunity of explaining this by its opposite : for 
 here it is not meant, that those pleasures of the 
 imagination only are of this innocent nature 
 which do not require such a bent of thought as 
 is necessary to our more serious employments, 
 but that of this nature are the pleasures of the 
 imagination in general ; and it is by asking the 
 question whether a preceding member affirms 
 
FXOCUTJON. 49 
 
 any thing in general, or only affirms something 
 as limited or qualified by what follows, that we 
 shall discover whether these members are either 
 immediately or remotely connected, and, conse- 
 quently, whether they form a loose or a compact 
 sentence : as the former member, therefore, of 
 the last sentence, is not necessarily connected 
 with those that succeed, the sentence may be 
 pronounced to be a loose sentence. 
 
 If these observations have any solidity, we 
 have at last arrived at the true distinction be- 
 tween a period and a loose sentence ; which is, 
 that a period is an assemblage of such words, or 
 members, as do not form sence independent on each 
 other ; or if they do, the former modify the latter ', 
 or inversely ; and that a loose sentence is an as- 
 semblage of such words or members as do form 
 sense, independent on those that follow, and at the 
 $ame time are not modified by them : A period 
 or compact sentence, therefore, is divisible into 
 two kinds ; the first, where the former words 
 and members depend for sense on the latter, as in 
 the sentence, As we cannot discern the shadow 
 moving along the dial-plate, so the advances we 
 make in learning are only perceived by the dis- 
 tance gone over. Which for distinction's sake 
 we may call a direct period. The second kind of 
 period, or compact sentence, is that where, though 
 the first part forms sense without the latter, it is 
 nevertheless modified by it ; as in the sentence, 
 There are several arts which all men are in some 
 measure masters of, without being at the pains of 
 
 E 
 
50 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 learning them. Which we may call an inverted 
 period. The loose sentence has its first members 
 forming sense, without being modified by the lat- 
 ter ; as in the sentence, Persons of good taste ex* 
 pect to be pleased at the same time they are in- 
 formed ; and think that the best sense always de- 
 serves the best language. In which example, 
 we find the latter member adding something 
 to the former, but not modifying or altering it. 
 
 It will readily occur to the critical reader, that, 
 in this definition of a period, I have departed 
 widely from the doctrine of the ancients, who 
 consider it as an assemblage of members, and not 
 of words only ; but as such a reader will know 
 the difficulty of giving a precise idea of a period, 
 according to the opinion of the ancients, and what 
 diversity and uncertainty there is about it among 
 the moderns ; he will the more easily excuse my 
 hazarding a definition of my own. My princi- 
 pal objt ct has been, to give such a definition as 
 would be clear, precise and useful : such a one as 
 would best answer the purposes of pronunciation, 
 by exactly drawing the line between the connex- 
 ion and disjunctions of words, without making 
 use of such indefinite terms as the more or less 
 intimate connexion of the parts, or the con- 
 currents of the parts to the plentdude of a total 
 sense. 
 
 Sentences thus defined and distinguished into 
 their several kinds, we shall be better enabled to 
 give such rules for dividing them by pauses, as 
 will reduce punctuation to some rational and stea- 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 51 
 
 dy principles. Previously, however, to these 
 rules, it will be necessary to observe, that^as the 
 times of the pauses are exceedingly indefinite, the 
 fewer distinctions we make between them, the 
 less we shall embarrass the reader; the common 
 estimate of the times of the comma, the semico- 
 lon, the colon, and the period, in the geometrical 
 proportions of 1, 2, 4, 8, pleases us, from its anal- 
 ogy with the times of the semibrief, minim, 
 crotchet, and quaver in music ; but every one 
 will confess at first sight, that as these dis- 
 tinctions in reading are arbitrary, they are use- 
 less ; every one feels a difference between a grea- 
 ter and smaller pause, but few can conceive de- 
 grees of these ; I shall beg leave, therefore, to 
 reduce the number of pauses to three ; namely, 
 the smaller pause, answering to the comma ; the 
 greater pause answering to the semicolon and co- 
 lon ; and the greatest pause answering to the pe- 
 riod. The ancients knew nothing of the semico- 
 lon : and if we consider practice and real utility, 
 I believe it will be found, that the three distinc- 
 tions of the ancients answer every useful purpose 
 in writing and reading. 
 
 The smaller pause, the greater pause, and the 
 greatest pause, are the distinctions, therefore, I 
 shall* beg leave to adopt in the rules to be given 
 for dividing a sentence : and as the division of a 
 sentence depends necessarily on its structure, and 
 the greater or less connexion of its parts, it will 
 be proper to begin with the direct period ; that is, 
 
52 ELEMENTS OP 
 
 whe^e no sense is formed till the sentence is coi 
 dueled. 
 
 Rule I. Every direct period consists of two 
 principal constructive parts, between which parts 
 the greater pause must be inserted ; when these 
 parts commence with conjunctions that corres- 
 pond with each other, the}'' are sufficiently distin- 
 guishable ; as in the following sentence : 
 
 As we cannot discern the shadow moving along- the dial-plate, 
 so the advances we make in knowledge are only perceived by the 
 distance gone over. 
 
 Here we may observe, that the first construc- 
 tive part begins with as, and the second with so ; 
 the expectation is excited by the first, and an- 
 swered by the latter : at that point, therefore, 
 where the expectation begins to be answered, and 
 the sense begins to form, the principal pause is 
 to be used ; and, by these means, the two con- 
 trasted and correspondent parts are distinctly 
 viewed by the mind. 
 
 A period may be direct, and its parts as neces- 
 sarily connected, where only the first conjunction 
 is expressed. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 As in my speculations I have endeavoured to extinguish passion 
 and prejudice, I am still desirous of doing- some good in this par- 
 ticular. Spectator. 
 
 Here the word so is understood before / am, 
 and the long pause as much required as if so had 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 53 
 
 been expressed ; since it is here the sentence na- 
 turally divides into two correspondent and de- 
 pendent parts. 
 
 That point, therefore, where the expectation 
 begins to he answered, or where one part of the 
 sentence begins to modify the other, is the point 
 which we must be the most careful to mark ; as 
 it is here the sentence naturally divides into its 
 principal constructive parts. 
 
 Rule II. Every inverted period consists of two 
 principal constructive parts, between which parts 
 the greater pause must be inserted ; these parts 
 divide at that point, where the latter part of the 
 sentence begins to modify the former; in periods 
 of this kind, the latter conjunction only is ex- 
 pressed, as in the example : Every one that 
 speaks and reasons is a grammarian, and a logician, 
 though he may be utterly unacquainted with the 
 rules of grammar, or logic, as they are delivered 
 in books and systems. If we invert this period, 
 we shall find it susceptible of the two correspon- 
 dent conjunctions though and yet ; as, Though 
 utterly unacquainted with the rules of grammar or 
 logic, as delivered in books and systems, yet every 
 man who speaks and reasons is a grammarian and 
 logician. — This inversion of the order of a sen- 
 tence, is, perhaps, the best criterion of the con. 
 nexion of its parts ; and proves that the former, 
 though forming complete sense by itself, is mod- 
 ided-by the latter. — Thus in the phrases, Christ 
 died for him, because he died for all— Many 
 
 JE2 
 
3 * ELEMENTS 0* 
 
 things are believed, though they exceed the cat>a- 
 city of our wits* Hooker. 
 
 In these phrases, if we do but transpose the 
 noun and pronoun, and invert the order, the sen- 
 tences will be perfectly the same in sense, and 
 the connexion will be more apparent; as, Because 
 Christ died for all, he died for him — Though ma- 
 ny tilings exceed the capacity of our wits, they are 
 believed. 
 
 Rule III. Every loose sentence must consist 
 of a period, either direct or inverted, and an ad- 
 ditional member which does not modify it ; and, 
 consequently, this species of sentence requires a 
 pause between the principal constructive parts of 
 the period, and between the period and the addi- 
 tional member. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 Persons of g'ood taste expect to be pleased, at the same time they 
 are informed ; and think, that the best sense always deserves the 
 best language. 
 
 In this sentence an inverted period is construc- 
 ted at the word informed; which requires a pause 
 at pleased, because here the former part of the 
 sentence is modified by the latter ; and a pause is 
 required at informed, because here another mem- 
 ber commences. — Let us take another example : 
 
 The soul, considered abstractly from its passions, is of a remiss 
 sind sedentary nature ; slow in its resolves, and lang'uisliing in its 
 executions* Spectator, No. "255. 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 55 
 
 Here a direct period is formed at nature ; the 
 principal constructive parts of this period sepa- 
 rate at pass-ions ; and here must be the larger 
 pause : the succeeding members are only addi- 
 tional, and require a larger pause between them 
 and the period they belong to, and a smaller pause 
 between each other at resolves. 
 
 Having thus given an idea of the principal 
 pause in a sentence, it will be necessary to say 
 something of the subordinate pauses, which may 
 all be comprehended under what is called the 
 short pause. 
 
 And, first it may be observed, that by the long 
 pause, is not meant a pause of any determinate 
 length, but the longest pause in the sentence. 
 Thus the pause between the nominative and the 
 Verb in the following sentence : 
 
 The great and invincible Alexander, wept for the fate of Darius. 
 
 The pause here, I say, may be called the long 
 pause, though not half so long as the pause be- 
 tween the two principal constructive parts in the 
 following sentence : g| 
 
 If impudence prevailed, as much in the forum and the courts 
 of justice, as insolence does in the country and places of less re- 
 soit; Aulus Caecina would submit as much to ti>e impudence of 
 Sextus JEbutius in this cause, as he did before to his insolence 
 when assaulted by him. 
 
 Here the pause between the words resort, and 
 Aldus Carina, may be called the long pause, not 
 
56 
 
 ELEMENTS OP 
 
 so much from its duration, as from its being the 
 principal pause in the sentence : the long pause, 
 therefore, must always be understood relatively 
 to the smaller pauses : and it ma\ pass for a good 
 general rule, that the principal pause is longer, 
 or shorter, according to the simplicity or com- 
 plexity of the sentence : thus, in the three fol- 
 lowing sentences, we find the two principal con- 
 structive parts separated by a pause in exact pro- 
 portion to the simplicity or complexity of the 
 members : 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 As we cannot discern the shadow moving" along the dial-plate, 
 so the advances we make in knowledge are only perceivable by 
 the distance gone over. 
 
 As we perceive the shadow to have moved, but did not perceive 
 it moving ; so our advances in learning-, consisting of insensible 
 steps, are only perceivable by the distance. 
 
 As we perceive the shadow to have moved along the dial, but 
 did not perceive it moving ; and it appears the grass has grown, 
 though nobody ever saw it grow : so the advances we make in 
 knowledge, as they make such minute steps, are only perceivable 
 by the distance. 
 
 In the first sentence the two principal con- 
 structive parts are separated by a comma at dial- 
 plate ; in the second, by a semicolon at moving ; 
 and in the third, by a colon at grow : if, for the 
 purposes of force, variety, or ease, (each of which 
 causes will be sometimes sufficient reason for a 
 pause, where there is none in the sense) — if, for 
 any of these purposes, I say, it were necessary to 
 pause in the first member of the first sentence, 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 57 
 
 no words seem so readily to admit a pause be- 
 tween them as shadow and movi?ig, as here the 
 object is distinguished from the circumstance at- 
 tending it ; and if a pause were necessary in the 
 last member, the two principal parts here seem 
 to be the nominative phrase ending at knowledge, 
 and the verb with its adjuncts beginning at are. 
 The second sentence seems to have all the pauses 
 it will admit of ; but the third might, for some 
 of the above-mentioned reasons, have a pause at 
 shadow, and, for reasons that will be given here- 
 after, ought always to have a pause at grown : and 
 as the last member is intersected by an inci- 
 dental member between the nominative and the 
 verb, it ought to have two subordinate pauses, 
 one at knowledge and the other at steps, before 
 the final pause at distance. 
 
 Thus when the sentence is divided into its 
 principal parts by the long pause, these parts, if 
 complex, are again divisible into subordinate 
 parts by a short pause ; and these, if necessary, 
 are again divisible into more subordinate parts by 
 a still shorter pause, till at last we arrive at those 
 words which admit of no pause ; as the article 
 and the substantive, the substantive and adjective 
 in their natural order, or, if unattended by ad- 
 juncts, in any order; and the prepositions and 
 the words they govern. These words may be 
 considered as principles, in their nature not di- 
 visible : if, without necessity, we pause between 
 other words, the pronunciation will be only lan- 
 guid and embarrassed : but between these, a 
 
58 ELEMENTS OP 
 
 pause is not only embarrassing, but unsuitabi 
 and repugnant to the sense. 
 
 The subordinate parts of sentences are asily 
 distinguished in such sentences as consist of parts 
 corresponding to parts, as in the following exam- 
 ple : 
 . 
 
 if impudence prevailed as much in the forum and courts of jus- 
 tice, as insolence does in the country and places of less resort ; 
 Auius Csecina would submit as much to the impudence of Sextus 
 iEbutms in this cause, as he did before to his insolence when as- 
 saulted by him. 
 
 Here the whole sentence readily divides into 
 two principal constructive parts at resort ; the 
 first part as readily divides into two subordinate 
 parts at Justice; and the last, into two other sub- 
 ordinate parts at cause; and these are all the pauses 
 necessary : but if, either from the necessity of 
 drawing breath, or of more strongly enforcing 
 every part of this sentence, we were to admit of 
 more pauses than those, it cannot be denied, that 
 for this purpose, some places more readily admit 
 of a pause than others : if, for instance, the first 
 subordinate part were to admit of two pauses, 
 they could no where be so suitably placed as at 
 impudence and forum; if the next might be over- 
 pointed in the same manner, the points would be 
 less unsuitable at does and country than at any 
 other words ; in the same manner, a pause might 
 be more tolerable at Carina and JEoutius, and at 
 before and insolence, than in any other of the sub- 
 ordinate parts of the latter division of this sen- 
 tence. 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 59 
 
 The parts of loose sentences which admit of 
 the short pause, must be determined by the same 
 principles. If this sentence has been properly 
 defined, it is a sentence consisting of a clause 
 containing perfect sense, followed by an addition- 
 al clause which does not modify it. Thus in the 
 following example : 
 
 Foolish men are more apt to consider what they have lost, than 
 what they possess ; and to turn their eyes on those who are richer 
 than themselves, rather than on those who are under greater dif- 
 ficulties. 
 
 Here a perfect sentence is formed at possess, 
 and here must be the longest pause, as it inter- 
 venes between two parts nearly independent : the 
 principal pause in the first member of this sen- 
 tence, which may be called a subordinate pause 
 respecting the whole sentence, is at lost, and that 
 of the last member at themselves ; if, for the sake 
 of precision, other and shorter pauses were ad- 
 mitted, it should stem most suitable to admit 
 them at men and consider in the first member, at 
 eyes and those in the iirst part of the second mem- 
 ber, and at those in the last. In these observa- 
 tions, however, it must be carefully understood, 
 that this multiplicity of shorter pauses are not re- 
 commended as necessary or propei , but only as 
 possible, and to be admitted occasionally : and, 
 to draw the line as much as possible between what 
 is necessary and unnecessary, we sh til endeavour 
 to bring together such particular cases as demand 
 the short pause, and those where it cannot be 
 
60 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 omitted without hurting either the sense or the 
 delivery. 
 
 Rule IV. When a, nominative consists o 
 more than one word, it is necessary to pause af- 
 ter it. 
 
 When a nominative and a verb come in a sen- 
 tence unattended by adjuncts, no pause is neces- 
 sary, either for the ear or understanding ; thus in 
 the following sentence — Alexander wept : No 
 pause intervenes between these words, because 
 they convey only two ideas, which are apprehen- 
 ded the moment they are pronounced ; but if 
 these words are amplified by adjuncts of specifi- 
 cation, as in the following sentence — The great 
 and invincible Alexander ', wept for the fate of Da- 
 rius : Here a pause is necessary between these 
 w T ords, not only that the organs may pronounce 
 the whole with more ease, but that the complex 
 nominative and verb may, by being separately 
 and distinctly exhibited, be more readily and dis- 
 tinctly conceived. 
 
 This rule is so far from being unnecessary 
 when we are obliged to pause after the verb, that 
 it then becomes more essential. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 This account of party patches will, I am afraid, appear im- 
 probable to those who live at a distance from the fashionable 
 world. Addison's Sped. N° 81. 
 
 If in this sentence we only pause at will, as 
 marked by the printer, we shall find the verb 
 
 i 
 
ELOCUTION. 61 
 
 swallowed up, as it were, by the nominative case, 
 and confounded with it ; but if we make a short 
 pause both before and after it, we shall find every 
 part of the sentence obvions and distinct. 
 
 That the nominative is more separable from 
 the verb than the verb from the objective case, 
 is plain from the propriety of pausing at self-love, 
 and not at forsook, in the following example : 
 
 Self-love forsook the path it first pursu'd, 
 And found the private in the public good. 
 
 Pope's Essay on Jllqn. 
 
 The same may be observed of the first line of the 
 following couplet : 
 
 Earth smiles around with boundless bounty blest, 
 And heaven beholds its image in his breast. Ibid. 
 
 Here though the melody invites to a pause at be- 
 holds, propriety requires it at heaven. 
 
 Rule V. Whatever member intervenes between 
 the nominative case and the verb, is of the nature 
 of a parenthesis, and must be separated from both 
 of them by a short pause. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 I am told that many virtuous matrons, who formerly have been 
 taught to believe that this artificial spotting of a face was unlaw- 
 ful, are now reconciled, by a zeal for their cause, to what they 
 could not be prompted by a concern for their beauty. 
 
 Addison's Spect. No. 81 
 
62 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 The member intervening between the nomina- 
 tive matrons and the verb are, may be consider- 
 ed as incidental, and must therefore be separated 
 from both. 
 
 
 When the Romans and the Sabines were at war, and just upon 
 the point of giving- battle, the women, who were allied to both of 
 them, interposed with so many tears and entreaties, that they pre- 
 vented the mutual slaughter which threatened both parties, and 
 united them together in a firm and lasting- peace. 
 
 Addison, ibid. 
 
 Here the member intervening between the 
 nominative case women, and the verb interpo- 
 sed, must be separated from both by a short 
 pause. 
 
 Rule VI. Whatever member intervenes be- 
 tween the verb and the accusative case, is of the 
 nature of a parenthesis, and must be separated 
 from both by a short pause. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 I knew a person who possessed the faculty of distinguishing 
 Savors in so great a perfection, that, after having tasted ten differ- 
 ent kinds of tea, he would distinguish, without seeing the colour 
 ef it, the particular sort which was offered him. 
 
 Addison's Sped. No. 409. 
 
 The member intervening between the verb 
 distinguish and the accusative the particular sort, 
 must be separated trom them by a short pause. 
 
 A man of a fine taste in writing will discern, after the same 
 wanner, not only the general beauties and imperfections of an 
 
&L0OUTI0N. 
 
 63 
 
 author, bv.it discover the several ways of thinking" and expressing" 
 himself, which diversify him from all other authors, 
 
 Addison, ibid. 
 
 The member intervening between the verb 
 discern and the accusative not only the general 
 beauties, must be separated from bpth by a short 
 pause. 
 
 Rule VII. When two verbs come together, 
 and the latter is in the infinitive mood, if any 
 words come between* they must be separated 
 from the latter verb by a pause. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 Now, because our inward passions and inclinations can never 
 make themselves visible, it is impossible for a jealous man, to be 
 thoroughly cured of his suspicions. Spectator, No. 170. 
 
 In this example, the verbal phrases, it is impos- 
 sible and to be thoroughly cured, have the words - 
 for a jealous man coming between them, which 
 must therefore be separated from the latter by a 
 comma, or short pause. 
 
 Whether 'tis nobler in the mind, to suffer 
 The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune ; 
 Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, 
 And by opposing end them ? Shakspeare. 
 
 If it were necessary for breathing to pause any 
 where in this passage, we should find a pause 
 -much more admissible at mind than dn any other 
 part, as here a clause intervenes between the verbs 
 
64 
 
 ELEMENTS OP 
 
 is and suffer ; and two verbs seem more separa- 
 ble than a verb and its objective case. 
 
 But when the substantive verb to be is followed 
 by a verb in the infinite mood, which may serve 
 as a nominative case to it, and the phrases before 
 and after the verb may be transposed, then the 
 pause falls between the verbs. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 The practice among the Turks is, to destroy, or imprison for 
 life, any presumptive heir to the throne. 
 
 Here the pause falls between is and to destroy. 
 
 Their first step was, to possess themselves of Caesar's papers 
 and money, and next to convene the Senate. 
 
 Goldsmith's Roman History. 
 
 Here we must pause between was and possess. 
 
 Never had this august assembly been convened upon so delicate 
 an occasion; as it was, to determine 'whether Czesar had been a le- 
 gal magistrate or a tyrannical usurper. Ibid. 
 
 Here the pause comes between was and to de- 
 termine. 
 
 Rule VIII. If there are several subjects be- 
 longing in the same manner to one verb, or sever- 
 al verbs- belonging in the same manner to one 
 subject, the subjects and verbs are still to be ac- 
 counted equal in number ; for every verb must 
 have its subject, and every subject its verb ; and 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 65 
 
 every one of the subjects, or verbs, should have 
 its point of distinction and a short pause. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 Riches, pleasure, and health, become evils to those who do not 
 know how to use them. 
 
 Here the subjects riches, pleasure, and health, 
 belong each of them to the verb bevome ; as Mich- 
 es become an evil, pleasure becomes an evil, and 
 health becomes an evil, &x. Each of these, there- 
 fore, must be separated by a short pause ; and all 
 of them, forming only one compound nominative 
 case, must, according to Rule IV. be separated by 
 a short pause from the verb. This last pause 
 must be the more particularly attended to, as we 
 scarcely ever see it marked in printing. One of 
 the best French* grammarians, however, has de- 
 cided, that this pause is not only as necessary here 
 as between the other parts, but more so; because, 
 says he, if the pause be omitted between the last 
 nominative and the verb, it might appear that the 
 verb were more closely united to this than any of 
 the rest, contrary to the truth of the case. 
 
 I am perfectly of opinion with this ingenious 
 grammarian, with respect to the propriety of pla- 
 cing a pause in speaking, if not in writing, be- 
 tween the last noun and the verb, but for very dif- 
 ferent reasons : if we ought to insert a pause here, 
 to shew that the connexion between the last noun 
 
 * Beauzee Grammaire General©, tom.ii. p. 582. 
 F 2 
 
66* ELEMENTS OF 
 
 and the verb is no greater than between the verb 
 and the preceding nouns, no good reason can be 
 given why we should not place a pause between 
 the last adjective and the substantive in this sen- 
 tence : 
 
 A polite, an active, and a supple behaviour, is necessary to suc- 
 ceed in life. 
 
 The word behaviour, in this sentence, is not 
 more intimately connected in signification with 
 supple, than with polite and active ; and yet no 
 punctuist would insert a pause between the two 
 former, to shew that the three properties polite, 
 active, and supple, were equally connected with 
 the common word behaviour. Whence then ari- 
 ses the propriety of placing a pause between the 
 word health and become in the former instance ? 
 Evidently from hence : the nominative consists 
 of three particulars, which, though distinguished 
 from each other by pauses, form but one nomi- 
 native plural, and are more connected with each 
 other than with the verb they govern ; their con- 
 nexion, therefore, with each other, as forming one 
 distinct part, and not their belonging equally to 
 the verb, is the reason that a pause is proper. If 
 shewing the connexion of dependent words to be 
 equal, were the reason for placing a pause : we 
 ought to place a pause between the pronoun and 
 the first verb in the following example : 
 
 He went into the cavern, found the instruments, hewed down 
 fhe trees, and in one day put the vessels in a condition ftft- sail- 
 
 ■n.iT. I'elemnch::?, 
 
ELOCUTION. 67 
 
 Here every member depends equally on the 
 pronoun he, and yet it would be contrary to the 
 best practice to insert a pause between this word 
 and the verb went* But if the common nomina- 
 tive consisted of more than one word, a pause 
 would not only be allowable, but proper, as in the 
 following example. 
 
 The active and indefatigable Teiemachus, went into the cavern, 
 found the instruments, hewed down the trees, and in one day put 
 the vessels in a condition for sailing. 
 
 
 It is therefore, because the nominative forms 
 a class of words more intimately connected with 
 each other than all are with the verb, that makes 
 this part of speech separable by a pause in the 
 latter example, and not in the former.* 
 
 Rule IX. If there are several adjectives belong- 
 ing in the same manner to one substantive, or 
 several substantives, belonging in the same man- 
 ner to one adjective, the adjective and substan- 
 tives are still to be accounted equal in number ; 
 for every substantive must have its adjective, and 
 every adjective its substantive j and every adjec- 
 tive coming after its substantive, and every adjec- 
 
 * Why a pause may be used in speaking where a comma might 
 be improper in writing, see p. 30 : and why a pause may be admit- 
 ted, both in writing and speaking, between the substantive and 
 adjective, when several adjectives follow the substantive, and not 
 when the adjectives precede the substantive, may be seen at large, 
 y.40. 
 
66 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 tive coming before the substantive except the last, 
 must be separated by a short j^use. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 A polite, an active, and a supple behaviour, is necessary to suc- 
 ceed in life. 
 
 In this example, behaviour, as was observed in 
 the foregoing rule, is understood to belong equally 
 to polite and active, as to supple, and consequent- 
 ly, every adjective has its correspondent substan- 
 tive ; and as the adjectives come before the sub- 
 stantive, every one but that which immediately 
 precedes its substantive is separated by a pause. 
 The punetuation is different in the following sen- 
 tence : 
 
 A behaviour, active, supple, and polite, is necessary to succeed 
 in life. 
 
 In this example, as the substantive precedes 
 the adjectives, every adjective is separated from 
 the substantive by a pause : for the reason of this, 
 see p. 39. 
 
 Rule X. If there are several adverbs belonging 
 in the same manner to one verb, or several verbs 
 belonging in the same manner to one adverb, the 
 verbs and adverbs are still to be accounted equal 
 in number ; and if the adverbs come after the 
 verb, they are each of them to be separated by a 
 pause ; but if the adverbs come before the verb, 
 a pause must separate each of them from the verb 
 but the last. 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 69 
 
 To love, wisely, rationally, and prudently, is, in the opinion of 
 lovers, not to love at all. 
 
 Wisely, rationally, and prudently to love, is, in the opinion of 
 lovers, not to love at all. 
 
 In the first example, the verb and adverb are 
 sepatated by a pause, for the same reason that the 
 adjective was separated from its substantive in the 
 same situation in the preceding rule ; that is, the 
 verb to love excites an idea which the mind may 
 contemplate for a moment separately from the ad- 
 verb which modifies it ; and as this adverb is ac- 
 companied by others, they form a class more uni- 
 ted by similitude with each other than with the 
 verb they modify ; and distinguishing the word 
 to which they all relate by a pause, makes an 
 equal relation to each more distinct and apparent. 
 The reason why this separation does not take 
 place in the example, is, that though modifying 
 words may be distinguished from each other, they 
 cannot be separated, even in idea, from the words 
 they modify, because they give the mind no ob- 
 ject to rest on ; and so intimately are they always 
 connected, that though the modified word comes 
 firsi, and by this means affords the mind a mo- 
 mentary pause, yet no pause is admitted between 
 the modified and the modifying word, unless the 
 latter is accompanied by other modifying words, 
 which then form a class apart, and require sep- 
 aration both from each other, and the word they 
 modify, 
 
70 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 Thus in the following example : 
 
 To eat, drink, and sleep moderately is grently conducive \c 
 health. 
 
 Moderately to eat, drink, and sleep is greatly conducive to 
 health. 
 
 We find the adverb moderately, in the first ex^ 
 ample, coming after the verb sleep, and unaccom- 
 panied by any other words, is not separated from 
 the verb by a pause, any more than when it pre- 
 cedes the verb, as in the last example : but every 
 critical ear will admit of a pause between the verb 
 and adverb in the following lines of Othello in 
 Shakspeare : 
 
 Then must you speak 
 Of one, that loved, not wisely, but too well. Shakspeare. 
 
 Because in this passage the words, not wisely but 
 too well, form a distinct class, and cannot be dis- 
 tinctly apprehended but by being separated from 
 the verb they modify. 
 
 But when the adverb precedes the verb it is 
 then in the same case as the adjective before the 
 substantive ; it is impossible to divide it from the 
 verb by a pause. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 This ring- he holds, 
 in most rich choice, yet in his idle fire 
 To buy his will it would not seem too dear, 
 Howe'er repented of. Ibid. 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 71 
 
 In this example, the adverb however must ne- 
 cessarily be classed with the verb it precedes, 
 and, consequently, a pause must be placed at 
 dear. 
 
 To trace the ways 
 Of highest agents, deem'd however wise. J^ELtoiu 
 
 Here the word however modifies the adjective 
 wise, and therefore is more closely united with it 
 than with the verb deemed: and if this union be 
 not intimated by a short pause at deemed, the sense 
 will be a little ambiguous ; as we shall not know 
 whether these agents are extremely, or only mod- 
 erately wise. But when this word is used con^ 
 junctively, that is, when we may supply its place 
 by substituting nevertheless, notwithstanding, yet, 
 *r still, a pause ought always to follow it. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 In your excuse your love does little say, 
 
 You might howe'er, have took a fairer way. firyden. 
 
 Here the word however is used conjunctively, and 
 a pause after it is highly necessary. 
 
 I do not build my reasoning wholly on the case of persecution ; 
 however, 1 do not exclude it. Attcrbury. 
 
 A pause in this sentence at however, manifestly 
 fixes and regulates the sense of it. 
 
 Rule XL Whatever words are put into the case 
 absolutely, commonly called the ablative absolute, 
 must be separated from the rest by a short pause. 
 
72 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 If a man borrow ought of his neighbour, and it be hurt or die, 
 the owner thereof not being with it, he shall surely make it good. 
 Old Testament. 
 
 Here the owner thereof not being with it, is the 
 phrase called the ablative absolute ; and this, like 
 a parenthesis, must be separated from the rest of 
 the sentence by a short pause on each side. 
 
 God, from the mount of Sinai, whose gray top 
 Shall tremble, he descending, will himself 
 In thunder, lightning, and loud trumpets' sound 
 Ordain them laws. Milton. 
 
 Here, he descending, neither governs nor is go- 
 verned by any other part of the sentence ; and is 
 said to be in the ablative absolute, and this inde- 
 pendence must be marked by a short pause be- 
 fore and after the clause. 
 
 Rule XII. Nouns in apposition, or words in 
 the same case, where the latter is only explana- 
 tory of the former, have a short pause between 
 them, either if both these nouns consist of many 
 terms, or the latter only. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 When first thy sire, to send on earth 
 
 Virtue, his darling child, design'd; 
 
 To thee he gave the heav'nly birth 
 
 And bade thee form her infant mind. Gray. 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 73 
 
 Here the word Virtue ■, and the following mem- 
 ber, may be said to be in apposition, and must be 
 divided by a short pause. 
 
 If the two nouns are single, no pause is admit- 
 ted: as, Paul the Apostle; King George: but 
 if the latter consists of many terms, a short pause 
 is necessary ; as, Paul, the apostle of the Gen- 
 tiles ; George, king of Great Britain, France, 
 and Ireland, 
 
 The reason of this seems to be the same with 
 that which permits us to pause between a sub- 
 stantive and an adjective in an inverted order, when 
 the latter has adjuncts that form a class ; for when 
 nouns are in apposition, the latter, by qualifying 
 the former, has the nature of an adjective, and 
 is therefore subject to the same laws of punctu- 
 ation. 
 
 Rule XIII. Who, which, when in the nomi- 
 native case, and the pronoun that, when used for 
 who, or which, require a short pause before 
 them. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 A man can never be obliged to submit to any power, unless he 
 can be satisfied, who is the person, who has a right to exercise it, 
 Locke. 
 
 To which, their want of judging- abilities, add also their want; 
 of opportunity to apply such a serious consideration as may let 
 them into the true goodness and evil of things, -which are quali- 
 ties, which seldom display themselves to the first view. South. 
 
 You'll rue thePtime, 
 
 That clogs me with this answer. Shakspeare. 
 
 Nothing they but dust can show, 
 Or bones, that hasten to be so. Co-wley, 
 Saints, that taught, and led the way to Heav'n. Tick?}, 
 
 G 
 
74 
 
 ELEMENTS OP 
 
 Rule XIV. When that is used as a casual _ 
 junction, it ought always to be preceded by 
 short pause. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 It is not, that I love you less 
 
 Than when before your feet I lay, 
 
 But to prevent the sad increase 
 
 Of hopeless love, I keep away. Waller. 
 
 Forgive me, that I thus your patience wrong-. Covoley. 
 
 The custom and familiarity of these tongues do sometimes sc 
 far influence the expressions in these epistles, that one may ob- 
 serve the force of the Hebrew conjugations. Locke. 
 
 There is the greater necessity for attending to 
 this rule, as we so frequently find it neglected in 
 printing : for fear of crouding the iine with 
 points, and appearing to clog the sense to the eye, 
 the ear is often defrauded of her unquestionable 
 rights. I shall give two instances among a thou- 
 sand that might be brought to shew where this is 
 the case. 
 
 I must therefore desire the reader to remember that, by the 
 pleasures of the imagination. I mean only such pleasures as arise 
 originally from sight. Spectator, No. 411. 
 
 It is true, the higher nature still advances, and by that means, 
 preserves his distance and superiority in the scale of being ; but 
 he knows that, how high soever the station is of which he stands 
 possessed at present,, the inferior nature will at length mount up 
 to it, and shine forth in the same degree of glory. Spectator, 
 No. 111. 
 
 In these examples, we find the incidental mem- 
 ber succeeding the conjunction that is separated 
 
ELOCUTION. 75 
 
 from it by a panse ; but the pause which ought 
 to precede this conjunction is omitted : this punc- 
 tuation runs through our whole orthography, and 
 is the more culpable, as the insertion of the pause 
 after that, where it is less wanted than before, is 
 more apt to mislead the reader than if he saw no 
 pause at all. 
 
 Rule XV. Prepositions and conjunctions are 
 more united with the words they precede than 
 with those they folio w; and, consequently, if it 
 be necessary to pause, the preposition and con- 
 junction ought to be classed with the succeeding 
 words, and not with the preceding. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 A violent passion, for universal admiration, produces the mqst 
 ridiculous circumstances, in the general behaviour, of women of 
 the most excellent understandings. 
 
 As it has been formerly remarked, (p. 38.) we 
 may pause four times in this sentence, if neces- 
 sary, without in the least hurting the sense : that 
 is, at passion, admiration, circumstances, and be- 
 haviour ; but, if instead of pausing at these words, 
 we were to pause at the words for, produces, in, 
 and of, which are the words immediately suc- 
 ceeding, we shall soon perceive to which words 
 the prepositions naturally belong. 
 
 Homer and Hesiod intimate to us hew (.his art should bo applied, 
 when they represent the Muses as surrounding Jupiter, and warb- 
 ling hymns about his throne. 
 
76 
 
 ELEMENTS OP 
 
 In this example, the conjunction as, and the 
 copulative and, in the last clause, must neces- 
 sarily be classed with the succeeding, and not 
 the preceding words. 
 
 I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. 
 
 Old Testament. 
 
 Here the conjunction except, naturally associ- 
 ates with the latter part of the sentence* and re- 
 quires a short pause before it. 
 
 This let him know, 
 Ecst, wilfully transgressing, he pretend 
 Sarprizal. Milton. 
 
 In this example, the conjunction lest is very pro- 
 perly separated from the preceding words by a 
 short pause at know, and as the parenthetic words 
 wilfully transgressing come between the conjunc- 
 tion, and the pronoun to which it belongs, the 
 conjunction has very properly a pause both be- 
 fore and after it. 
 
 People expect in a small essay, that a point of humour should 
 be worked up, in all its parts, and a subject touched upon, in its 
 most essential articles, without the repetitions, tautologies, and 
 enlargements, that are indulged to longer labours. 
 
 Sped. No. 124. 
 
 In this sentence the preposition up is separated 
 from in, because it enters into the composition of 
 the verb work, as to work up forms one complex 
 verb ; the same may be observed of the prepo- 
 
ELOCUTION. 77 
 
 sition upon, in the next clause of the sentence. 
 An execution to this will be found in the follow- 
 ing rule. 
 
 Rule XVI. When words are placed either in 
 opposition to, or in opposition with each other, 
 the words so placed require to be distinguished 
 by a pause. 
 
 This is a rule of very great extent, and will be 
 more fully treated under the article Emphasis : 
 it will be proper, however, to give a general idea 
 of it in this place, as pause and force are very dif- 
 ferent things, and ought therefore to be treated 
 separately and distinctly. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 The pleasuses of the imagination, taken in their full extent, are 
 not so gross as those of sense, nor so refined as those of the un- 
 derstanding. Spectator, No. 411. 
 
 In this example we shall find all writers and 
 printers agree in placing but one pause between 
 the four contrasted parts, and this point is at 
 sense : here, it must be owned, is the principal 
 pause ; but it must likewise be acknowledged 
 by every judicious ear, that a short pause at grow, 
 and another at refined, convey more forcibly and 
 distinctly every part of the sentence. 
 
 Some place the bliss in action, some in ease ; 
 Those call it pleasure, and contentment these. 
 
 Pope's Essay on Moth 
 
 G 2 
 
ELEMENTS OF 
 
 In this couplet we never see a pause alter the 
 two words some in the first line, nor after the 
 words those and contentment in the second ; and 
 yet nothing can be more evident than that a short 
 pause after these words tends greatly to place the 
 sense in a clear and distinct point of view. 
 
 In the same manner, when one object is suc- 
 cessively contrasted with another, though these 
 objects form the nominative case to the verb, and 
 consist but of a single word, it is necessary to 
 pause after each, in order to show the contrast 
 more distinctly. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 At the same time that T think discretion the most useful talent 
 a nun can be m; ster of, I loolc upon cunning- to be the accomplish- 
 ment of littje, mean, ungenerous minds. Discretion points out 
 the noblest ends to us, and pursues the most proper and laudable 
 methods of attaining them : Cunning has only private selfish aims, 
 and sticks at nothing which may make them succeed. Discretion 
 ,md extended views, and, like a well-formed eye, com- 
 mands a whole horizon: Cunning is a kind of short-sightedness, 
 that discovers the minutest objects that are near at hand, but is 
 not able to discern tilings at a distance. Discretion, the more it 
 is discovered, gives a greater authority to the person who posses- 
 ses it : Cunning, when it is once detected, loses its force, and 
 makes a man incapable of bringing about even those events which 
 he might have done, had he passed only for a plain man. Discre- 
 tion is the perfection of reason, and a guide to us in all the duties 
 of life : Cunning is a kind of instinct, that only looks out after our 
 immediate interest and welfare. Discretion is only found in men 
 of strong sense and good understandings : Cunning is often to be 
 met with in brutes themselves, and in persons who are but the 
 fewest removes from them : in short, Cunning is only the mimic 
 of Discretion, and may pass uponfJ^eak men, in the same manner 
 as vivacity is often mistaken for wit, and gravity for wisdom 
 AiUUson's 'Spectator. No. 22 J. 
 
ELOCUTION 
 
 79 
 
 In this passage, much of the force and preci- 
 sion of the contrast between discretion and cun- 
 ning would be lost without a sensible pause after 
 each. 
 
 The necessity of distinguishing opposite or 
 contrasted parts in a sentence, will sometimes 
 oblige us to separate words that are the most in- 
 timately united. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 To suppose the zodiac and planets to be efficient of, and an 
 tecedent to themselves, would be absurd. Bentley. 
 
 Here the propositions of and to are in opposition 
 to each other, and both connected intimately 
 with the word themselves ; but this connexion 
 does not preclude the necessity of a pause after 
 each, to show their distinct and specific relation 
 to their governing words, and their equal relation 
 to the word themselves. Indeed, the words of 
 and to, in this sentence, are emphatical, from that 
 exactness and precision which the argument 
 seems to require. 
 
 It is objected by readers of history, that the battles in those 
 narrations are scarce ever to be understood. This misfortune is 
 to be ascribed to the ignorance of historians, in the methods of 
 drawing up, changing- the forms of battalia, and the enemy re- 
 treating from, as well as approaching to, the charge. 
 
 Spectator y No. 428. 
 
 The pretexts were, his having invaded and overcome many 
 states that were in alliance with, and under the protection of 
 Rome. Goldsmith* s Bom. Hist. 
 
80 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 Though a pause seems admissible both after 
 from and to in this sentence, yet the opposition 
 between these propositions seems as much mark- 
 ed by emphasis as by rest : and in examples of 
 this kind it seems necessary to pause a smaller 
 time after the last proposition than after the first. 
 To sum up the whole in a few words, as those 
 classes of words which admit of no separation 
 are very small and very few, if we do but take 
 the opportunity of pausing where the sense will 
 permit, we shall never be obliged to break in 
 upon the sense when we find ourselves under a 
 necessity of pausing ; but if we overshoot our- 
 selves by pronouncing more in a breath than is 
 necessary, and neglecting those intervals where 
 we may pause conveniently, we shall often find 
 ourselves obliged to pause where the sense is not 
 separable, and, consequently, to w r eaken and ob- 
 scure the composition. This observation, for the 
 sake of the memory may be conveniently com- 
 prized in the following verses : 
 
 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. 
 
 The interrogation, exclamation, and paren- 
 thesis, seem rather to be whole sentences than 
 members of a sentence; and as they are distin- 
 guished from others, more by a peculiar inflexion 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 81 
 
 of voice than by pausing, they naturally belong 
 to that part of this essay which treats of those in- 
 flexions of voice which are annexed to sentences, 
 and parts of sentences, according to their differ- 
 ent structure and signification. 
 
 Thus have I attempted, with a trembling hand, 
 to hint a few more rules for pausing than have 
 been hitherto generally adopted ; and though but 
 little is accomplished, I flatter myself enough is 
 done to show how much farther we might go in 
 this subject, if we would apply ourselves to it 
 systematically, and leave less to the taste and un- 
 derstanding of the reader. 
 
 I doubt not but many will be displeased at the 
 number of pauses I have added to those already 
 in use ; but I can with confidence affirm, that not 
 half the pauses are found in printing which are 
 heard in the pronunciation of a good reader or 
 speaker; and that, if we would read or speak 
 well, we must pause, upon an average, at every 
 fifth or sixth word. It must also be observed, 
 that public reading, or speaking, requires paus- 
 ing much oftener, than reading and conversing 
 in private ; as the parts of a picture which is to 
 he viewed .at a distance, must be more distinctly 
 and strongly marked, than those of an object 
 which are nearer to the eye, and understood at 
 the first inspection. 
 
82 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 Introduction to the Theory of the Inflexions of 
 the Voice. 
 
 Besides the pauses, which indicate a greater 
 or less separation of the parts of a sentence and a 
 conclusion of the whole, there are certain in- 
 flexions of voice, accompanying these pauses, 
 which are as necessary to the sense of the sen- 
 tence as the pauses themselves ; for, however ex- 
 actly we may pause between those parts which 
 are separable, if we do not pause with such an in- 
 flexion of voice as is suited to the sense, the com- 
 position we read will not only want its true mean- 
 ing, but will have a meaning very different from 
 that intended by the writer. How desirable, 
 therefore, must any method be, that can convey 
 to us that inflexion of voice which is best suited 
 to the sense of an author ! but this will at first 
 sight be pronounced impossible. What ! it will 
 be said, will any one pretend to convey to us, 
 upon paper, all that force, beauty, variety, and 
 harmony, which a good reader throws into com- 
 position, when he enters into the spirit of his 
 author, and displays every part of it to advan- 
 tage? No, it may be answered, this is not at- 
 tempted : but, because all this cannot be done, is 
 it impossible to do any part of it ? Because the 
 exact time of pausing is not always denoted by 
 the points in use, is it useless to have any marks 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 83 
 
 of pausing at all ? Because the precise degree of 
 emphatic force is not conveyed by printing some 
 words in a different character, cannot we some- 
 times assist the reader in apprehending the force 
 or feebleness of pronunciation, by printing the 
 emphatical words in Italics ? The practice of this 
 in books of instruction sufficiently shews it is not 
 entirely useless ; and, if executed with more 
 judgment, there is little doubt, of its being ren- 
 dered still more useful. 
 
 The truth is, something relative to the pro- 
 nunciation can be conveyed by written marks, 
 and something cannot. The pauses between sen- 
 tences, and members of sentences, may be con- 
 veyed ; the accent on any particular syllable of a 
 word may be conveyed; the emphasis on any 
 particular word in a sentence may be conveyed ; 
 and it is presumed it will be demonstrated in the 
 course of this work, that a certain inflexion of 
 voice, which shows the import of the pauses, 
 forms the harmony of a cadence, distinguishes 
 emphasis into its different kinds, and gives each 
 kind its specific and determinate meaning, may 
 be as clearly conveyed upon paper, as either the 
 pause, the accent, or the emphatic word : — Here 
 then is one step farther, in the art of reading, than 
 any author has hitherto ventured to go ; and that 
 this new step is not entirely visionary and imprac- 
 ticable, will more clearly appear by considering* 
 the nature of speaking sounds. 
 
84 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 Of the two simple Inflexions of the Voice, 
 
 All vocal sounds may be divided into two 
 kinds, namely, speaking sounds, and musical 
 sounds. Musical sounds are such as continue a 
 given time on one precise point of the musical 
 scale, and leap, as it were, from one note to 
 another ; while speaking sounds, instead of dwel- 
 ling on the note they begin with, slide* either 
 upwards, or downwards, to the neighbouring 
 notes, without any perceptible rest on any : so 
 that speaking and musical sounds are essentially 
 distinct ; the former being constantly in motion 
 from the moment they commence; the latter be- 
 ing at rest for some given time in one precise 
 note. 
 
 The continual motion of speaking sounds 
 makes it almost as impossible for the ear to mark 
 their several differences, as it would be for the 
 eye to define an object that is swiftly passing be- 
 fore it, and continually vanishing away : the dif- 
 ficulty of arresting speaking sounds for exami- 
 nation, has made almost all authors suppose it 
 impossible to give any such distinct account of 
 them, as to be of use in speaking and reading*; 
 and, indeed, the vast variety of tone which a 
 good reader or speaker throws into delivery, and 
 
 * Smith's Harmonics, p. 3. Note (c) 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 85 
 
 of which it is impossible to convey any idea but 
 by imitation, has led us easily to suppose that 
 nothing at all of this variety can be denned and 
 reduced to rule : but when we consider, that 
 whether words are pronounced in a high or low, 
 in a loud or a soft tone ; whether they are pro- 
 nounced swiftly or slowly, forcibly or feebly, 
 with the tone of the passion, or without it ; they 
 must necessarily be pronounced either sliding up- 
 wards or downwards, or else go into a monotone 
 or song ; when we consider this, I say, we shall 
 find, that the primary division of speaking 
 sounds is into the upward and the downward 
 slide of the voice ; and that whatever other diver- 
 sity of time, tone, or force, is added to speaking- 
 it must necessarily be conveyed by these two 
 slides. 
 
 These two slides, or inflections of voice, there- 
 fore, are the axis, as it were, on which the force, 
 variety, and harmony of speaking turns. They 
 may be considered as the great outlines of pro- 
 nunciation ; and if these outlines can be tolerably 
 conveyed to a reader, they must be of nearly the 
 same use to him, as the rough draught of a pic- 
 ture is to a pupil in painting. This then we 
 shall attempt to accomplish, by adducing some 
 of the most familiar phrases in the language, and 
 pointing out the inflections which every ear, how- 
 ever unpractised, will naturally adopt in pro- 
 ' nouncing them. These phrases, which are in 
 every body's mouth, will become a kind of data, 
 or principles^ to which the reader must constant- 
 
86 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 ly be referred, when he is at a loss for the precise 
 sound that is understood by these different in- 
 flections ; and these familiar sounds, it is presum- 
 ed, will sufficiently instruct him. 
 
 Method of explaining the Inflections of the Voice. 
 
 It must first be premised, that by the rising 
 or falling inflection, is not meant the pitch of 
 voice in w T hich the whole word is pronounced, 
 or that loudness or softness which may accom- 
 pany any pitch ; but that upward or downward 
 slide which the voice makes when the pronunci- 
 ation of a word is finishing; and which may, 
 therefore, not improperly be called the rising 
 and falling inflection. 
 
 So important is a just mixture of these two in- 
 flections, that the moment they are neglected, our 
 pronunciation becomes forceless and monoto- 
 nous : if the sense of a sentence require the voice 
 to adopt the rising inflection, on any particular 
 word either in the middle, or at the end of a 
 phrase, variety and harmony demand the falling 
 inflexion on one of the preceding words ; and on 
 the other hand, if emphasis, harmony, or a com- 
 pletion of sense, require the falling inflection on 
 any word, the word immediately preceding, al- 
 most always, demands the rising inflection ; so 
 that these inflections of voice are in an order near- 
 ly alternate. 
 
ELOCUTION 
 
 87 
 
 This is very observable in reading a sentence, 
 when we have mistaken the connexion between 
 the members, either by supposing the sense is to 
 be continued when it finishes, or supposing it fi- 
 nished when it is really to be continued : for in 
 either of these cases, before we have pronounced 
 the last wqrd, we find it necessary to return pret- 
 ty far back to some of the preceding words, in 
 order to give them such inflections as are suitable 
 to those which the sense requires on the succeed- 
 vords. Thus, in pronouncing the speech of 
 Fortius in Cato, which is generally mis-pointed, 
 as in the following example : 
 
 Remember what our father oft has told us, 
 - The ways of beav , n are dark and intricate, 
 Puzzled in mazes andperplex'd in errors; 
 Our understanding' traces them in vain, 
 Lost and bewilder'd in the fruitless search : 
 Nor sees with how muchart the winding's run, 
 Nor where the regular confusion ends. 
 
 If, I say, from not having considered this pas- 
 sage, we run the second line into the third, by 
 suspending the voice at intricate in the rising in- 
 flection, and dropping it at errors in the falling, 
 we find a very improper meaning conveyed ; and 
 if, in recovering ourselves from this improper 
 pronunciation, we take notice of the different 
 manner in which we pronounce the second and 
 third lines, we shall find, that not only the last 
 word of these lines, but that every word alters its 
 inflection ; for, when we perceive, that by mis- 
 taking the pause, we have misconceived the 
 
88 
 
 ELEMENTS QF 
 
 sense, we find it necessary to begin the line again, 
 and pronounce every word differently, in order 
 to make it harmonious. 
 
 But though these two inflections of voice run 
 through almost eveiy word of which a sentence 
 is composed, they are no where so perceptible as 
 at a long pause, or where the sense of the words 
 requires an emphasis ; especially if the word 
 end with a long open vowel : in this case, if we 
 do but attend nicely to that turn of the voice 
 which finishes this emphatical word, or that 
 member of a sentence where we pause, we shall 
 ioon perceive the different inflection with which 
 these words are pronounced. 
 
 In order to make this different inflection of 
 voice more easily apprehended, it may not, per- 
 haps, be useless to attend to the following direc- 
 tions. Let us suppose we are to pronounce the 
 following sentence : 
 
 Does Csesar deserve fame or blame ? 
 
 This sentence, it is presumed, will, at first 
 sight, be pronounced with the proper inflections 
 of voice, by every one that can barely read ; and 
 if the reader will but narrowly watch the sounds 
 of the words fame and blame, he will have an ex- 
 ample of the two inflections here spoken ot : fame 
 will have the rising, and blame the falling in- 
 flection : But, to make this distinction still clear- 
 er, if, instead of pronouncing the word fame 
 slightly, he does but give it a strong emphatic 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 89 
 
 force, and let it drawl off the tongue for some 
 time before the sound finishes, he will find it 
 slide upwards, and end in a rising tone ; if he 
 makes the same experiment on the word blame } 
 he will find the sound slide downwards, and end 
 in a falling tone : and this drawling pronunciation, 
 though it lengthens the sounds beyond their pro- 
 per duration, does not alter them essentially ; the 
 same inflections are preserved as in the common 
 pronunciation; and the distinction is as real in 
 one mode of pronouncing as in the other, though 
 not so perceptible. 
 
 Every pause, of whatever kind, must necessa- 
 rily adopt one of these two inflections, or contin- 
 ue in a monotone : Thus, when we ask a ques- 
 tion without the interrogative words, we natur- 
 ally adopt the rising inflection on the last word; 
 as, 
 
 Can Caesar deserve blame ? Impossible ! 
 
 Here blame, the last word of the question, has the* 
 rising inflection, contrary to the inflection on that 
 word in the former instance ; and impossible, with 
 the note of admiration^ the falling : The comma, 
 or that suspension of Toice generally annexed to 
 it, which marks a continuation of the sense, is 
 most frequently accompanied by the rising inflec- 
 tion, as in the following sentence : 
 
 If Caesar deserves blame, he ought to have no fame. 
 
 Here we find the word blame, marked with a com- 
 ma, has exactly tfye same inflection of voice as 
 h 2 
 
90 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 the same word in the interrogative sentence imme- 
 diately preceding ; the only difference is, that the 
 rising inflection slides higher at the interrogation 
 than at the comma, especially if it be pronoun- 
 ced with emphasis. 
 
 The three other points, namely, the semicolon,, 
 colon, and period, adopt either the rising or fal- 
 ling inflection as the sense or harmony requires, 
 though in different degrees of elevation and de- 
 pression. But these different degrees of rising 
 ar falling on the slide which ends the word, are 
 by no means so essential as the kind of slide we 
 adopt. Thus in the following sentences : 
 
 As we cannot discern the shadow moving along- the dial-plate, 
 so the advances we make in knowledge are only perceived by the 
 distance gone over. 
 
 As we perceive the shadow to have moved, but did not perceive -x v , 
 "it moving ; so our advances in learning, consisting of insensible 
 steps, are only perceivable by the distance. 
 
 As we perceive the shadow to have moved along the dial, but 
 aid not perceive it moving ; and it appears that the grass has 
 grown, though nobody ever saw it grow : so the advances we 
 make in knowledge, as they consist of such minute steps, are on- 
 5y perceivable by the distance. 
 
 Here, I say, the words dial-plate, moving, and 
 grow, marked with the comma, semicolon, and 
 colon, must necessarily end with the upward slide ; 
 and provided this slide be adopted, it is not of any 
 very great consequence to the sense whether the 
 slide be raised much or little ; but if the down- 
 ward slide be given to any of these words, though 
 *« the smallest degree, the sense will be material- 
 ly affected* 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 91 
 
 The same points, when the sentence is differ- 
 ently constructed,, adopt the other inflection. 
 
 Thus the inflection of voice which is adopted 
 in a series of emphatic particulars, for the sake 
 of force and precision, though these particulars 
 are marked by commas only, is the falling inflec- 
 tion : we have an example of this in the true pro- 
 nunciation of the following sentence : 
 
 I tell you, though you, though all the world, though an angel 
 from heaven, were to affirm the truth of it, I could not believe it. 
 
 That this is the proper inflection on each of 
 these particulars, will more evidently appear 
 by repeating them with the opposite inflection of 
 voice, or that suspension usually given to the 
 comma : 
 
 I tell you though you, though all the world, though an angel 
 from heaven were to affirm the truth of it I could not believe it. 4 
 
 In pronouncing this sentence, therefore, in or- 
 der to give force and precision to every portion, 
 the falling inflection ought to be adopted on you, 
 world, and heaven ; and for the sake of conveying 
 what is meant by this inflection, we may call each 
 of these words emphatical, and print them in 
 Italics ; not that all emphasis necessarily adopts 
 the falling inflection, but because this inflexion is 
 generally annexed to emphasis, for want of a 
 just idea of the distinction of inflection here laid 
 down: 
 
 I tell you, though you, though all the world, though an angel 
 from heaven, were to affirm the truth of it, I could not believe it. 
 
92 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 The falling inflection annexed to members 
 of sentences generally marked with the semi- 
 colon and colon, may be seen in the following ex- 
 ample : 
 
 Persons of good taste expect to be pleased, at the same time 
 they are informed ; and think that the best sense always deserves' 
 the best language : but still the chief regard is to be had to per- 
 spicuity. ^ 
 
 In this example, the word informed is mar- 
 ked with the semicolon, and the word language 
 with the colon ; and from the sense and struc- 
 ture of the sentence, both require the falling in- 
 flection, contrary to that annexed to the same 
 points in the preceding sentences. The period 
 in each sentence has the falling inflection, and in 
 the last sentence is pronounced in a lower tone 
 of voice than the same inflection on the colon and 
 semicolon. 
 
 Thus we see, that whatever variety of another 
 kind, such as loudness or softness, highness or 
 lowness, swiftness or slowness, or whatever other 
 variety we may accompany the points with, they 
 must necessarily adobt either the rising or falling 
 inflection, or be pronounced in a monotone. Th&se 
 inflections, therefore, which are the most marking 
 differences in reading and speaking, perhaps, are 
 not improperly pitched upon to serve as guides to 
 to an accurate pronunciation ; but as so much 
 depends upon a just notion of this real though 
 delicate distinction, if the reader is not yet made 
 sufficiently acquainted with it he will not think it 
 superfluous to peruse the following attempt to 
 render it still clearer. 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 93 
 
 Another method of explaining the inflections of the 
 Voice, 
 
 Every sentence consisting of an affirmation and 
 negation directly opposed to each other, has 
 ^n appropriated pronunciation, which, in ear- 
 nest speaking, every ear adopts without any 
 premeditation. Thus in the following sentence : 
 
 Caesar does not deserve fame, but blame. 
 
 Here the word fame has the rising, and blame 
 the falling inflection ; and we find all sentences 
 constructed in the same manner have like this, 
 the rising inflection on the negative, and the 
 falling inflection on the affirmative member. 
 The word blame, therefore, in this sentence, 
 has not the falling inflection, on it because 
 it is the last word, but because affirmation, op- 
 posed to negation, naturally adopts this inflec- 
 tion. 
 
 Thus far choice has been made of words differ- 
 ent in sense, though similar in sound, that the 
 sentence might appear to carry some meaning 
 with it, and the reader be led to annex those in- 
 flections to the words which the sense seemed to 
 demand ; but, perhaps, the shortest method of 
 conveying the nature of these inflections, would 
 be to cake the same word, and place it in the in- 
 terrogative and declarative sentences, in opposi- 
 
94 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 tion to itself: Thus it is certain, that e very- 
 speaker, upon pronouncing the following phra- 
 ses, would give the first fame in each line the ri- 
 sing, and the last fame in each line the falling- 
 inflection : 
 
 Does he say fame, or fame ? 
 
 He does dot say fame, but fame. 
 
 But here an ear which cannot discern the true dif- 
 ference of sound in these words, will be apt to sup- 
 pose that what difference there is, arises from the 
 l'astfa??ie being pronounced in a lower tone than 
 the first ; but this, it maybe observed, makes no 
 essential difference : Let us pronounce the last 
 word in as high a key as we please, provided we 
 preserve the proper inflection, the contrast to the 
 former word will appear ; as a proof of this, let 
 us pronounce the last word of the last phrase 
 with a strong emphasis, and we shall find, 
 that though it is in a higher key than the first 
 word fame, the voice slides in a contrary direc- 
 tion. Accordingly w r e find, that if we lay the 
 strong emphasis upon the first fame in the fol- 
 lowing sentence, the last fame will take the rising 
 inflection : 
 
 He says fame, and not fame. 
 
 so that the inflections on the first and test fame, in 
 this sentence, are in an opposite order to the 
 same inflections on the same words in the two for- 
 mer phrases. 
 
ELOCUTION. 95 
 
 But, perhaps, by this time, the reader's ear is 
 puzzled with the sounds of single words, and it 
 may not be amiss to try it with the same inflec- 
 tions, terminating members of sentences : This, 
 perhaps, will not only convey the nature of these 
 two inflections better than by sounding them upon 
 single words, but give us, at the same time a bet- 
 ter idea of their importance and utility. And, first, 
 let the reader try over the following passage of 
 Mr. Addison in the Spectator, by reading it so 
 as to place the rising inflection, or that inflection 
 commonly marked by a comma, on every partic- 
 ular of the series : 
 
 The descriptive part of this allegory is likewise very strong-, arrd 
 full of sublime ideas : The figure of Death, the regal crown upon 
 his head, his menace of Satan, his advancing to the combat, the 
 outcry at his birth, arc circumstances too noble to be passed over 
 in silence, and extremely suitable to this king of terrors. 
 
 Then let him practice it over by reading it so as 
 to place the falling inflection, or that inflection 
 commonly marked by a colon, on every particu- 
 lar of the series but the last ; to which let him 
 give the rising reflection, marked by the comma; 
 
 The descriptive part of this allegory is likewise very strong, 
 and full of sublime ideas: The figure of Death, the regal crown 
 upon his head, his menace of Satan : his advancing to the combat : 
 the outcry at his birth, are circumstances too noble to be passed 
 over in silence, and extremely suitable to this king of terrors. 
 
 This last manner of reading this passage is un- 
 questionfely the true one, as it throws a kind of 
 emphasis on each member, which forms a beauti- 
 ful climax, entirely lost in the common mode of 
 
96 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 pronouncing them : and, to omit no metfrod that 
 may tend to convey an idea of this difference of 
 inflection, let us suppose these words to be all 
 emphatical, and, as such, according to the com- 
 mon method they may be printed in Italics ; this 
 is not an accurate idea of emphasis, as will be 
 shewn hereafter, but it is the common one, 
 and, as such, may serve to shew the difference 
 between pronouncing the first example and the 
 second. 
 
 The descriptive part of this allegory is likewise very strong, 
 and full df sublime ideas : The figure of Death ; the regal crown 
 upon his head : his menace of Satan : his advancing to the com- 
 bat : the outcry at his birth, are circumstances too noble to be pas- 
 sed over in silence, and extremely suitable to this king of terrors. 
 
 If the reader, from this description of the in- 
 flections of the voice, can so far understand them 
 as to be sensible of the great difference there is 
 between suspending the voice at every comma in 
 the first example, and giving it a forcible down- 
 ward direction at every colon in the two last ex- 
 amples, it is presumed, he will sufficiently con- 
 ceive, that this distinction of the two leading in- 
 flections of the voice may be applied to the most 
 useful purposes in the art of reading. But in or- 
 der to give a still clearer idea, if possible, of these 
 two different inflections, we shall subjoin a sort of 
 scale or diagram, with an explanation of each ex- 
 ample annexed. 
 

 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 Explanation of Plate I. 
 
 No. I- Did he do it voluntarily or involuntarily I 
 
 In the pronunciation of these words, we find 
 every syllable in the word voluntarily rises ex- 
 cept the first, vol; and every syllable in the word 
 involuntarily falls but the first, in. A slow draw- 
 ling pronunciation of these words will evidently 
 show that this is the case. These different slides 
 of the voice are named from the direction they 
 take in the conclusion of a word, as that is the 
 most apparent, especially if there are several syl- 
 lables after the accented syllable, or if the word 
 be but of one syllable, and terminate in a vowel 
 or a liquid : for, in this case, the sound lasts some 
 time after the word is articulated. Thus voluntarily 
 may be said to have the rising, and involuntarily 
 the falling inflection ; and wc must carefully guard 
 against mistaking the low tone at the beginning 
 of the rising inflection for the falling inflection, 
 and the high tone at the beginning of the falling 
 inflection for the rising inflection, as they are not 
 denominated rising or falling from the high or 
 low tone in which they are pronounced, but from 
 the upward or downward slide in which they 
 terminated, whether pronounced in a high or low 
 key. 
 
S8 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 In this representation we see something of that 
 wave-like rising and falling of the voice, which 
 constitutes the variety and harmoney of speech. 
 It will not be easy at first to conceive this cor- 
 respondence between the eye and the ear, especi- 
 ally if we do not dwell distinctly on the words 
 we repeat : but I flatter myself a little custom 
 will soon render it clear, at least with respect to 
 the words that are accented or emphatical ; for 
 it is to be observed, that in this scheme every 
 word, whether accented or not, is arranged un- 
 der that line of sound to which it belongs : though 
 the unaccented words are generally pronounced 
 so feebly, as to render it often very difficult to say 
 to which class they belong ; that is, whether to the 
 rising or failing inflection ; but when the accenled 
 or emphatic words have their proper inflection, 
 the subordinate words can scarcely be an impro- 
 per one ; and this makes the difficulty of ascer- 
 taining their true inflection of less consequence. 
 The accented or emphatic words, therefore, are 
 those only which we need at present attend to ; 
 and those in good speaking and reading, we shall 
 find constantly adopting such an inflection as 
 is suitable to the sense and harmony of the sen- 
 tence. 
 
 The sentence, N\ I. and any other sentence 
 constructed in exactly the same manner, must 
 necessarily adopt the rising inflection on the first 
 member, and the falling on the last ; that is, the 
 rising; inflection on voluntary, and the falling on 
 involuntary ; and this pronunciation is so appro- 
 
ELOCUTION, 
 
 99 
 
 priated to this species of sentence, that the dul- 
 lest and most unpractised ear would, without the 
 least reflection, adopt it. The same may be said 
 of the sentence, N°. II. which ever}- ear would 
 agree in pronouncing with the same inflections in 
 a contrary order ; that is, the felling inflection on 
 voluntarily ', and the rising on involuntarily, 
 
 N°. III. and IV. shew, that the same words 
 take different inflections in correspondence with 
 the sense and structure of the sentence ; for as the 
 word constitution, in N°. IV. only ends a member 
 of the sentence, and leaves the sense unfinished, 
 it necessarily adopts the suspending or rising in- 
 fl ct : n ; and harmony requires that the preceding 
 words should be so arranged, as to form the 
 greatest harmony and variety, which is done by 
 giving every one of the words an inflection, differ- 
 ent from what it has in N°. III. where constitu- 
 tion ends the sentence 
 
 But when we say a word is to have the rising 
 inflection, it is not meant that this word is to be 
 pronounced in a higher tone than other words, 
 but that the latter part of the word is to have a 
 higher tone than the former part ; the same may 
 be observed, mutatis mutandis, of the falling 
 inflection ; and this difference of tone between the 
 former and latter part of a ward (especially if the 
 word be a monosyllable,) is so difficult to ana- 
 lyse, that though we can perceive a difference 
 upon the whole, we cannot easily mark where ti 
 lies. 
 
 But if we form a series of words, beginning 
 
100 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 with long polysyllables, and proceeding to mono- 
 syllables, and carefully preserve the same inflec- 
 tion- on each sentence, we shall plainly perceive the 
 diversity of inflection in the short as well as in the 
 long words. This will appear by pronouncing the 
 different series in the plate annexed. 
 
 Explanation of Plate II. 
 
 In this table we find the rising and falling in- 
 flections very distinguishable in the long words, 
 and grow more and more imperceptible in the 
 short ones ; they are, however, no less real in one, 
 than in the other ; as a good ear will easily per- 
 ceive, by beginning at the long words, and repeat- 
 ing down to the short ones. From N°. I. to 
 N°. IX. the contrasted words are rising at the 
 comma, and falling at the note of intetrogation ; 
 zndfromN . X. to N°. XVIII. they are fal- 
 ling at the comma, and rising at the period. 
 
 Lest an inaccurate ear should be led to sup- 
 pose, that the different signification of the opos- 
 ing words is the reason of their sounding differ- 
 ently, we have given some phrases composed of 
 the same wx>rds, -'which are nevertheless pronounc- 
 ed with exactly the same difference of inflection as 
 the others. Thus the words conscience N°. IV- 
 are pronounced with the same difference of in- 
 
XIX Did he act Jus Sly ? 
 
 XX Z/tnow not whether he acted justly or unjustly, 
 
 hiot 7is& acted/ contrary to law. 
 
 XXI If h^c acted contrary to law, he could ru>t have 
 acted justly, hid/ unjustly. 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 101 
 
 flection as the preceding phrases ; that is, the first 
 conscience has the rising, and the last the falling 
 inflection : the following words, unjustly, pride 
 mind, all, and lad, have the same diversity of 
 pronunciation ; and the diversity in these, as in 
 the rest, is in an inverted order in the opposite 
 column. 
 
 If we consider these slides or inflections with 
 respect to quantity ; that is, how long the up- 
 ward inflection continues to rise from the point 
 where it begins, and how long the downward in- 
 flection fails from its commencing point ; we shall 
 find that as this difference is not easily ascertained, 
 so, ill an outline of this kind, it is of no great 
 consequence : the rising or falling of the slide, 
 ill a greater or a less degree, does not essentially 
 affect the sense or harmony of a sentence ; while 
 adopting one slide for the other, will often des- 
 troy both. See p. 89. 
 
 Thus in the interrogative sentence, N°. XIX. 
 Did he act justly ? the voice ought to adopt the 
 rising inflection, and continue the upward slide on 
 the word justly, somewhat longer and higher 
 than if it had been a mere comma ; and yet, if we 
 mark the rising inflexion on the word justly in 
 the sentence, N°. XX. the difference of the slides 
 on these two words in these different sentences is 
 not very considerable. 
 
 If we consider the sentence, No. XXI. as 
 
 concluding a subject or a considerable branch of 
 
 it, the voice will gradually slide into a lower tone 
 
 towards the end, and the word unjustly will be 
 
 i 2 
 
.102 
 
 ELEMENTS Ol 
 
 pronounced in a lower tone of voice than in the 
 bentence, N°. V. ; but the downward slide in 
 soth will be nearly of the same duration and ex- 
 tent ; for, as w r e have before observed, as the 
 different key in which we sing or play a tune, 
 makes no difference in the length or shortness of 
 the notes ; so the different pitch of voice in 
 which we speak or read, has no relation to the 
 height or lowness of the slide or inflection w^ith 
 which we terminate our words. 
 
 It will be necessary for the pupil to practise 
 over these series of words, and to form sentences 
 of his own, for the purpose of using the ear to dis- 
 tinguish the inflections. In order to this, he must 
 dwell longer on the words at which he pauses, and 
 on those which have emphasis, than is proper when 
 lie is reading or speaking in common, that the 
 ear may be better enabled to catch the inflection : 
 it may be remarked too, that the more colloquial 
 and familiar the language, provided it isearnestand 
 empaticaljthe more perceptible the inflectionsare: 
 and the more elevated and poetical, the less so. 
 The plaintive tone, so essential to^the delivery of 
 elegiac composition, greatly diminishes; the slides, 
 and reduces them almost to monotones ; nay, a 
 perfect monotone without any inflection at all, is 
 sometimes very judiciously introduced in read- 
 ing verse. Thus in the sublime description of 
 the richness of Satan's throne, in the beginning of 
 the second book of Paradise Lost ; 
 
io: 
 
 ELOCUTION. 
 
 High o-n a throne of royal state which far 
 Outshone the wealth of Ormus or of Inde, 
 Or where the gorgeous East with richest hand 
 Show'rs on her kings barbaric pearl and gold, 
 Satan exalted sat. 
 
 In this passage, I say, every word of the third 
 and fourth line, but pearl and gold, may be pro- 
 nounced in a monotone ; and this monotone, will 
 greatly add to the dignity and grandeur of the ob- 
 ject described. 
 
 As poetry, therefore, when properly read, will 
 often greatly diminish, and sometimes even en- 
 tirelyjsink the inflections into a monotone ; empha- 
 tic sentences in prose will be the best for the learn- 
 er to practise upon, in order to acquire an idea 
 of the difference of inflection : constantly observ- 
 ing to prolong and drawl out the pronunciation of 
 the word, the inflection of which he wants to dis- 
 cover. 
 
 Perhaps the best method of knowing whether 
 we make use of the inflection we intend, is to form 
 it into a question with the disjunctive or, and to 
 repeat it in the same manner as the interrogative 
 sentences, Plate II. 
 
 Thus in the following sentence: 
 
 A contented mind, and a good conscience, will make a man 
 happy in all conditions. 
 
 In order to pronounce this sentence to the best 
 advantage, it will be necessary to lay the falling 
 inflection on the word mind, the rising on con- 
 science, and the falling on all; if I would know 
 
104 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 the falling inflection I am to lay on mind, let me 
 form the word into this question, Is it mind or 
 mind? and the pronunciation of the last mind, as 
 in N°. VII. will be that which I must adopt in 
 the sentence ; if I want to know the rising re- 
 flection on conscience, I must say, Is it conscience, 
 or conscience ? and the first pronunciation of the 
 word, as in N°. IV. is that which I must adopt : 
 the falling inflection on all will be determined by 
 saying, Is it all, or all? as the last all has the in- 
 flection sought for. 
 
 In the same manner, if, in the following cou- 
 plet of Pope. 
 
 What the weak head with strong-est bias rules 
 Is pride; the never failing- vice of fools. 
 
 If in this couplet, I say, we are directed to lay the 
 falling inflection on pride, we need only form the 
 word into this question — Is it pride, or pride ? 
 and the last being the falling inflexion, is that 
 which we ought to adopt in reading the couplet. 
 It may not, perhaps, be altogether useless to 
 observe, that these angular lines may be consider- 
 ed as a kind of bars in the music of speaking : 
 each of them contain a certain portion of either 
 the rising or falling inflection ; but though every 
 word in each line is pronounced with the same 
 inflection, they are not ail pronounced with the 
 same force ; no line can have more than one ac- 
 cented or emphatic syllable in it, and the rest, 
 though preserving the same inflection, abate of 
 the force of sound. 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 105 
 
 With respect to the relative force of these un- 
 emphatic words, see Introduction to the Theory 
 of Emphasis. 
 
 Utility of a Knowledge of the Inflections of the 
 Voice. 
 
 But it will be demanded : suppose we could 
 conceive the nature of these inflections ever so 
 clearly, of what use will it be? I answer that as 
 the sense and harmony of a sentence depend so 
 much on the proper application of these inflec- 
 tions, it will be of infinite use to an indhTerent 
 reader to know how a good reader applies them. 
 
 It will, perhaps, be objected, that an attention 
 to these inflections, marked upon paper, will be 
 apt to embarrass the mind of the reader, which 
 should be wholly employed on the sense of the 
 writer. To this objection it may be answered, 
 that the very same argument will lie against the 
 use of pauses in printing ; and the ancient Greek 
 method of writing without any intervals between 
 words, will, according to this reasoning, be by 
 far the most eligible. The truth is, every thing 
 new embarrasses ; and if we have already ac- 
 quired an art in an imperfect way, the means of 
 facilitating a more perfect acquisition of it, will 
 at first retard our progress : if a child has once 
 learned to read tolerably, without having the 
 words divided into syllables, such a division will 
 
106 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 appear new and embarrassing to him ; and though 
 s} ikibication is so coniessediy useful to learners, 
 those who can once read without it, would be ra- 
 ther puzzled than assisted by it. To those, there- 
 fore, who already read well, this system of inflec- 
 tions is not addressed. What help do they stand 
 in need^of who are sufficiently perfect ? It is to 
 the learner only, and he who is in doubt about the 
 best method of reading a passage, that this assis- 
 tance is recommended ; and it may be with con- 
 fidence asserted, that if such a one will but bes- 
 tow half the time to acquire a knowledge of these 
 inflections that is usually spent in learning the 
 garnet, he will have no reason to repent his la- 
 bour. 
 
 A want of instructing youth early in the know- 
 ledge of inflections, is the great occasion of em- 
 barrassment in teaching them to read. We can tell 
 them they are too high or too low, too loud ortoo soft, 
 tooforcible, or too feeble, and that they eitherpause, 
 or continue the voice in the wrong place : but 
 we have no way of conveying to them their error, 
 if they make use of a wrong inflection ; though 
 tnis may actually be the case, where they are with- 
 out fault in every other particular : that is, there 
 may be a wrong slide of the voice upon a parti- 
 cular word, though it is neither pronounced too 
 high nor too low, too loud nor too soft, too forci- 
 bly nor too feebly, nor with any improper pause 
 or continuation of voice. Let us suppose, for 
 example, a youth little instructed in reading were 
 to pronounce the following sentence : 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 107 
 
 If we have no regard to our own character, we ought to have 
 some regard to the characters of others. 
 
 There is the greatest probability, I say, that such 
 a reader would pronounce the first emphatic word 
 own with the rising, and the last emphatic word 
 others with the falling inflection, which by no 
 means brings out the sense of the sentence to the 
 best advantages. To tell him he must lay more 
 stress upon the word own, will by no means set 
 him right, unless the kind of stress is conveyed ; 
 for he may increase the stress upon both the em- 
 phatic words, without removing the impropriety, 
 In the same manner, if in reading the following 
 passage. 
 
 Enter not into judgment with thy servant, O Lord ! for in 
 thy sight shall no man living be justified. 
 
 If, in pronouncing this passage, I say, the rea- 
 der neglects placing an emphasis on the last thy, 
 it will be in vain to tell him he ought to fay a 
 stress on that word, unless we direct him to the 
 kind Of stress ; for though, in the former instance 
 the emphasis with the failing inflection was the 
 true emphasis on own, the same emphasis on thy, 
 in the latter instance, would utterly destroy the 
 meaning : it is evident, therefore, if once a youth 
 were taught to distinguish accurately the rising 
 and falling inflection, how easily and methodical- 
 ly instruction in reading might be conveyed. 
 
 At this point the present treatise might finish ; 
 and, it is presumed, not without having added 
 
108 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 something to the art of reading. A method which 
 conveys to us some of the essential turns of voice 
 in a good reader or speaker, cannot be without its 
 advantages. But something farther is proposed. 
 An attempt will be made to point out several of 
 those varieties in the sense and structure of a sen- 
 tence which severally demand a particular appli- 
 cation of these inflexions ; from a variety of these 
 examples, general rules will be drawn, and the 
 whole doctrine of inflections will be reduced into 
 something like a system. A first essay on an un- 
 treated subject can scarcely be exempt from a 
 multitude of inaccuracies ; and obscurity is the 
 natural attendant on novelty ; but if any advan- 
 tages, however small, are the result of this novel- 
 ty, the candid and judicious reader, who under- 
 stands the difficulty of the undertaking, will not 
 think even these small advantages entirely unwor- 
 thy of his attention. 
 
 Practical System of the Inflections of the Voice. 
 
 Words adopt particular inflections either accord- 
 ing to the particular signification they bear, or as 
 they are either differently arranged or connected 
 with other words. The first application of inflec- 
 tion relates to emphasis, which will be consi- 
 dered at large in its proper place : the last relates 
 to that application of inflection, which arises from 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 109 
 
 the division of a sentence into its component 
 parts ; and this is the object of punctuation. 
 Punctuation, or the division of a sentence, has 
 been already treated in the former part of this 
 work : we now proceed to apply the doctrine of 
 inflection to that of punctuation, by shewing what 
 turns or slides of voice are most suitable to the 
 several distinctions, rests, and pauses of a sen- 
 tence. But before any rules for applying the in- 
 flections are laid down, perhaps it will be neces- 
 say again to take notice, that though there are but 
 two simple or radically different inflections, the 
 rising and falling, yet the latter is divisible into 
 two kinds of very different and even opposite im- 
 port. The falling inflection without a fail of the 
 voice, or, in other words, that inflection of voice 
 which consists with a downward slide, in a high 
 and forcible tone, may either be applied to that 
 part of a sentence where a portion of sense is 
 formed, as at the word unjustly, Plate II. No. 
 XX. or to that part where no sense is formed, as 
 at the word temperance, Plate I. No. VI. ; but 
 when this downward slide is pronounced in a 
 lower and less forcible tone than the preceding 
 words, it indicates not only that the sense, but 
 the sentence is concluded. 
 
 It must be carefully noted, therefore, that when- 
 ever the falling inflection is said to be on a word, it 
 it is not meant that this inflection is to be pro- 
 nounced in a low and feeble tone, unless the sen- 
 tence is concluded ; and that even a perfect sen- 
 tence is not always to be pronounced with this 
 
 K 
 
1 10 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 inflection in a low tone, will be shewn hereafter 
 under the article Final Pause, or Period. 
 
 See a farther explanation of this definition, 
 Plate III. N°. I. and IV. 
 
 The rising inflection is denoted by the acute 
 accent, thus (') 
 
 The fallen inflection is denoted by the grave 
 accent, thus ( v ) 
 
 COMPACT SENTENCE. 
 
 Direct Period, 
 
 Rule I. Every direct period, so constructed 
 as to have its two principal constructive parts 
 connected by correspondent conjunctions, re- 
 quires the long pause with the rising inflection at 
 the end of the first principal constructive mem- 
 ber. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 As we cannot discern the shadow moving along the dial-plate, 
 so the advances we make in knowledge are only perceivable by 
 the distance gone over. 
 
 As we perceive the shadow to have moved, but did not perceive 
 it moving ; so our advances in learning, consisting of insensible 
 steps, are only perceivable by the distance. 
 
 As we perceive the shadow to have moved along the dial, but 
 did not perceive it moving ; and it appears the grass has grown, 
 though nobody ever saw it grow: so the advances we make in 
 knowledge, as they consist of such minute steps, are only percei- 
 vable by the distance. 
 
ELOCUTION. HI 
 
 Each of these three sentences consists of two 
 principal correspondent parts; the first commenc- 
 ing with as, and the last with so; as the first mem- 
 ber of the first sentence is simple, it is marked 
 with a comma only at dial-plate ; as the second 
 is compounded, it is marked with a semicolon at 
 moving ; and as the last is compounded, it is 
 marked with a colon at grow ; this punctuation is 
 according to the general rules of pausing, and 
 agreeable to good sense ; for it is certainly pro 
 per that the time of the pause should increase 
 with the increase and complexity of the members 
 to which it is annexed, as more time is required 
 to comprehend a large and complicated member 
 than a short and simple one : but whatever may 
 be the time taken up in pausing at the different 
 points, the inflection annexed to them must al- 
 ways be the same ; that is, the comma, semico- 
 lon, and colon, must invariably have the rising 
 inflection. See p. 90. 
 
 The same may be observed of the following 
 sentences: Seep. 53. 
 
 Although I fear it may be a shame to be dismayed at the en- 
 trance of my discourse in defence of a most valiant man ; and 
 that it no ways becomes me, while Milo is more concerned for the 
 safety of the state than for himself, not to show the same greatness 
 of mind in behalf of him ; yet this new form of prosecution terri- 
 fies my eyes, which, whatever way they turn, want the ancient cus- 
 tom of the forum, and the former manner of trials. 
 
 Cicero's Oration for Milo. 
 
 Although son Marcus, as you have now been a hearer of Cratip- 
 puggfor a year, and this at Athens, you ought to abound in the pre- 
 cepts and doctrines of philosophy, by reason of the great charac- 
 ter both of your instructor and the city, one of which can furnish 
 
112 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 you with knowledge, and the other with examples ; yet, as I al- 
 ways to my advantage joined the Latin tongue with the Greek, 
 and I have done it not onlv in oratory, but likewise in rjhilosophy, 
 J think you ougnt to ao the same that you may be equally conver- 
 sant in both languages. Cicero's Offices, book h chap. 1. 
 
 These sentences begin with the concessive 
 conjunction although, and have their correspon- 
 dent conjunction yet ; and these conjunctions 
 form the two principal constructive members. 
 The words huh, and examples? therefore, at the 
 end of the first members, must have the rising in- 
 flection, and here must be the long pause. 
 
 Rule II. Every direct period, consisting of two 
 principal constructive parts, and having only the 
 iirst part commence with a conjunction, requires 
 the rising inflection and long pause at the end of 
 this part. See p. 54. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 As in my speculations I have endeavoured to extinguish passion 
 and prejudice, I am still desirous of doing some good in this par- 
 \icular. Spectator. 
 
 Here the sentence divides itself into two cor- 
 respondent parts at prejudice ; and as the word 
 so is understood before the words / am, they 
 must be preceded by the long pause and rising 
 inflection. 
 
 If hr.puder.ee prevailed as much in the forum and courts of jus- 
 tice, as insoler.ee does in the country and places of less resort ; 
 Aulus Caeeina would submit as much to the impudence of Septus 
 ^Ebutius in this cause, as he did before to his insolence whei 
 Faulted by him. . $± 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 113 
 
 If I have any genius, which I am sensible can be but very small ; 
 or any readiness in speaking, in which I do not deny but I have 
 been much conversant ; or any skill in oratory, from an acquain- 
 tance with the best arts to which I confess I have been always in- 
 clined : no one has a better right to demand of me the fruit of alj 
 these things than this Aulus Licinius. Cicero's Oration for Archias 
 
 If, after surveying- the whole earth at once, and the several plan- 
 ets that lie within its neighbourhood, we contemplate those wide 
 fields of ether, that reach in height as far as from Saturn to the 
 fixed stars, and run abroad, almost to an infinitude ; our imagin- 
 ation finds its capacity filled with so immense a prospect, and puts 
 itself upon the stretch to comprehend it. 
 
 Addison's Spectator, No. 411. 
 
 In the first of these examples, the first part of 
 the sentence ends at resort, and the second begins 
 at Aulus Carina : in the second sentence, the 
 first part ends at inclined, and the second begins 
 at no one ; and in the third, the first part ends at 
 infinitude, and the second begins at our: be- 
 tween these words, therefore, in each sentence, 
 must be inserted the long pause and rising in- 
 flection. 
 
 All these sentences commence with a conjunc- 
 tion, and may be said to have a correspondent 
 conjunction commencing the second part of the 
 sentence, not expressed, but understood. In the 
 first sentence commencing with if, then is under- 
 stood at the beginning of the second part; the 
 sense of this conjunctive adverb then may be 
 plainly perceived to exist by inserting it in the 
 sentence, and observing its suitableness when ex- 
 pressed : 
 
 If impudence prevailed, as much in the forum and the courts 
 *f justice, as insolence does in the country and places of less re 
 
 K 2 
 
ji4< tiLEMtNiS 01 
 
 sort ; then Aulus Caecina would submitas much to the impudence of 
 Sextus iEbutius in this cause, as he did before to his insolence 
 when assaulted by him. 
 
 The same insertion of the word then might be 
 made in the two last examples commencing with 
 if, and the same suitableness would appear ; for 
 though correct and animated language tends to 
 suppress as much as possible the words that are 
 so implied in the sense as to make it unnecessa- 
 ry to express them, yet if, when inserted, they 
 are suitable to the sense, it is a proof that the 
 structure of the sentence is perfectly the same, 
 whether these superfluous words are expressed 
 or not. 
 
 The exception to this rule is, when the em- 
 phatical word in the conditional part of the sen- 
 tence is in direct opposition to another word in 
 the conclusion, and a concession is implied in the 
 former, in order to strengthen the argument in 
 the latter ; for in this case the middle of the sen- 
 tence has the falling, and the latter member the 
 rising inflection. 
 
 If we have no regard for religion in youth, we ought to have 
 some regard for it in age. 
 
 If we have no regard for our own -character, we ought to have 
 some regard for the character of others. 
 
 In these examples, we find the words youth, 
 and own character, have the falling inflection, and 
 both periods end with the rising inflection ; but 
 if these sentences had been formed so as to make 
 
ELOCUTION 
 
 115 
 
 the latter member a mere inference from, or con- 
 sequence of the former, the general rule would 
 have taken place, and the first emphatic word 
 would have had the rising, and the last the falling- 
 inflection. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 If we have no regard for religion in youth, we have seldom any 
 regard for it in age. 
 
 If we have no regard for our own character, it can scarcely 
 be expected that we could have any regard for the characters of 
 
 others. 
 
 Rule III. Direct poriods which commence 
 with particles of the present and past tense, con- 
 sist of two parts ; between which must be inser- 
 ted the long pause and rising inflection. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 Having already shown how the fancy is affected by the works 
 of nature, and afterwards considered in general both the works 
 of nature and of art, how .they mutually assist and complete each 
 other, in forming such scenes and prospects as are most apt to de- 
 light the mind of the beholder ; 1 shall in this paper throw togeth- 
 er some reflections on that particular art, which has a moreimme- 
 diate tendency than any other, to produce those primary pleasures 
 of the imagination, which have hitherto been the subject of this 
 discourse. Sped. No. 415. 
 
 The sense is suspended in this sentence, till 
 the word beholder, and here is to be placed the 
 long pause and rising inflection ; in this place also, 
 it is evident, the word now might be inserted in 
 perfect conformity to the sense. 
 
116 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 Exception. 
 
 When the last word of the first part of these 
 sentences requires the strong emphasis, the fal- 
 ling inflection must be used instead of the rising. 
 
 Hannibal being- frequently destitute of money and provisions, 
 with no recruits of strength in case of ill fortune, and no encour- 
 agement even when successful ; it is not to be wondered at that 
 his affairs began at length to decline. 
 
 Goldsmith's Rom. Hist. Vol. i. p. 278. 
 
 In this sentence, the phrase even when success- 
 ful, demands the strong emphasis, and must there- 
 fore be pronounced with the falling inflection ; it 
 mav be observed likewise, that these sentences 
 are of the nature of those constructed on conjunc- 
 tions ; as the last member of this would easily 
 admit of then at the beginning, to show a kind 
 of condition in the former, which corresponds 
 with and modifies the latter. 
 
 Inverted Period. 
 
 Rule I. Every period, where the first part 
 forms perfect sense by itself, but is modified or 
 determined in its signification by the latter, has 
 the rising inflection and long pause between these 
 parts as in the direct period. See p. 53. 
 
ELOCUTION 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 117 
 
 
 Gratian very often recommends the fine taste, as the utmost 
 perfection of an accomplished man. 
 
 In this sentence, the first member ending at 
 taste forms perfect sense, but is qualified by the 
 last: for Gratian is not said simply to recommend 
 the fine taste, but to recommend it in a certain 
 way ; that is, as the utmost perfection of an ac- 
 complished man. The same may be observed 
 of the following sentence : 
 
 Persons of good taste expect to be pleased, at the same time 
 they are informed. 
 
 Here perfect sense is formed at pleased; but is is 
 not meant that persons of good taste are pleased 
 in general, but with reference to the time they are 
 informed : the words taste and pleased, therefore, 
 in these sentences, we must pronounce with the 
 rising inflection, and accompany this inflection, 
 with a pause. For the same reasons, the same 
 pause and inflection must precede the word though 
 in the following examples : 
 
 I can desire to perceive those things that God has prepared for 
 those that love him, though they be such as eye hath not seen, ear 
 heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive. 
 
 Lockz. 
 
 The sound of love makes your soft heart afraid, 
 
 And guard itself, though but a child invade. Waller. 
 
118 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 Loose Sentence. 
 
 A loose sentence has been shown to consist of 
 a period, either direct or inverted, and an addi- 
 tional member which does not modify it ; or, in 
 other words, a loose sentence is a member con- 
 taining perfect sense by itself, followed by some 
 other member or members, which do not restrain 
 or qualify its signification. According to this 
 definition, a loose sentence must have that mem- 
 ber which forms perfect sense detached from those 
 that follow, by a long pause and the falling inflec- 
 tion. See p. 54. 
 
 As, in speaking, the ear seizes every occasion 
 of varying the tone of voice which the sense will 
 permit ; so, in reading, we ought as much as pos- 
 sible to imitate the variety of speaking, by taking 
 every opportunity of altering the voice in corres- 
 pondence with the sense : the most general fault 
 of printing, is to mark those members of loose 
 sentences, which form perfect sense, with a com- 
 ma, instead of a semicolon, or colon ; and a sim- 
 ilar, as well as the most common fault of readers, 
 is to suspend the voice at the end of these mem- 
 bers, and so to run the sense of one member into 
 another \ by this means, the sense is obscured, 
 and a monotony is produced, instead of that dis- 
 tinctness and variety which arises from pronoun- 
 cing these members with such an inflection of 
 
ELOCUTION. 119 
 
 voice as marks a certain portion of perfect sense, 
 not immediately connected with what follows ; 
 for as a member of this kind does not depend tor 
 its sense on the following member,* it ought to be 
 pronounced in such a manner, as to show its inde- 
 pendence on the succeeding member, and its 
 dependence on the period, as forming but a part 
 of it. 
 
 In order to convey precisely the import of these 
 members, it is necessary to pronounce them with 
 the falling inflection, without suffering the voice to 
 fall gradually as at a period ; by which means 
 the pause becomes different from the mere com- 
 ma, which suspends the voice, and marks imme- 
 diate dependence on what follows ; and from the 
 period, which marks not only an independence on 
 what follows, but an exclusion of whatever may 
 follow, and therefore drops the voice as at a con- 
 clusion. As this inflection is produced by a cer- 
 tain portion of perfect sense, which, in some de- 
 gree, separates the member it fails on, from those 
 that follow, it may not improperly be called the 
 disjunctive inflection. An example will assist us 
 in comprehending tiiis important inflection in rea- 
 ding: 
 
 All superiority and pre-eminence that one man can have over 
 another, may be reduced to the notion of quality ; which, consid- 
 ered at large, is either that of fortune, body or mind ; the first 
 is thai which consists in birth, title, or riches ; and is the most 
 foreign to our natures, and what we can the least call our own, of 
 any of the three kinds of quality. 
 
 Sped. No. 219. 
 
120 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 In the first part of this sentence, the falling in- 
 flection takes place on the word quality ; for this 
 member, we find, contains perfect sense, and the 
 succeeding members are not necessarily con- 
 nected with it : the same inflection takes place in 
 the next member on the word riches; which, with 
 respect to the sense of the member it terminates, 
 and its connexion with the following members, is 
 exactly under the same predicament as the for- 
 mer, though the one is marked with a comma, 
 and the other with a semicolon, which is the 
 common punctuation in all the editions of the 
 Spectator : a very little reflection, however, will 
 shew us the necessity of adopting the same pause 
 and inflection on both the above-mentioned words, 
 as this inflection not only marks more precisely 
 the completeness of sense in the members they 
 terminate, but gives a variety to the period, by 
 making the first, and the succeeding members, 
 end in a different tone of voice ; if we were to 
 read all the members as if marked with commas, 
 that is, as if the sense of the members were abso- 
 lutely dependent on each other, the necessity of 
 attending to this inflection of voice in loose sen- 
 tences would more evidently appear. This divi- 
 sion of a sentence is sometimes, and ought al- 
 ways to be marked with a semicolon, as in the 
 following sentence at the word possess : 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 Foolish men are more apt to consider what they have lost than 
 what they possess ; and to fix their eyes upon those who are richer 
 than themselves, rather those who are under greater difficulties. 
 
 Spectator^ No. 574. 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 121 
 
 
 But though we sometimes find these indepen- 
 dent members of sentences pointed properly by 
 the semicolon, we much oftener see them marked 
 only by a comma ; and thus are they necessarily 
 confounded with those members which are de- 
 pendent on the succeeding member, where a com- 
 ma is the proper punctuation. An and, a which, 
 a where, or any of the connective words, com- 
 mencing the succeeding member, is a sufficient 
 reason with most printers for pointing the prece- 
 ding member with a comma, even where these 
 connective words do not qualify the preceding 
 member, and consequently do not join members 
 together, as they are parts of each other, but as 
 they are parts of the period ; which is the case in 
 the examples already produced. 
 
 The following examples afford a proof of the 
 necessity of adopting the falling inflection, in or- 
 der to separate the first member which contains 
 perfect sense, from those which follow, let the 
 punctuation be what it will. 
 
 The soul, considered abstractedly from its passions, is of a remiss 
 and sedentary nature, slow in its resolves, and languishing in its 
 executions. ' Spectator, No. 255. 
 
 The faculty (taste,) must in some degree be bdm with us, and 
 it very often happens/that those who have other qualities in per- 
 fection are wholly void of this. Ibid No. 409. 
 
 This therefore is a good office (the planting of trees) which is 
 suited to the meanest capacities, and which may be performed by 
 multitudes, who have not abilities to deserve well of their country, 
 and recommend themselves to their posterity by any other method. 
 
 Ibid. No. 583. 
 
 In these last examples we may observe, that 
 the first member, which is distinguished by a 
 
122 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 comma in most editions of the Spectator, 
 is exactly under the same predicament with 
 the member of the two former examples, 
 which is marked with a semicolon ; and which 
 is unquestionably the true method of pointing 
 them : for though, in the compact sentence, 
 where the sense is suspended till the whole is fin- 
 ished, the semicolon and colon have the rising in- 
 flection, as in examples, p. 90 ; yet, in the loose 
 sentence, these points are generally accompanied 
 by the falling inflection, as in the last examples : 
 and it must be insisted on, that unless the line 
 be drawn between such members as contain per- 
 feet, and such as contain imperfect sense, the 
 parts of a sentence cannot be pronounced to the 
 best advantage ; if by continuing .the voice ex- 
 actly in the same suspense, one thought is run 
 into another which does not really belong to it, 
 the sense must be injured ; and though the mind 
 is often too well informed of the subject to be 
 much at a loss for the sense, let the punctuation 
 be what it will, yet it is impossible the sense of 
 an author can be readily perceived in its full beau- 
 ty, when it is obscured by an erroneous pronun- 
 ciation of the sentence which conveys it. 
 
 But though sense is often, harmony is much 
 more frequenrly concerned in a proper use of this 
 disjunctive inflection. The comma, occurs so 
 much oftener than any other pause, that it is high- 
 ly important to harmonious delivery that it should 
 not be introduced oftener than is necessary; every 
 good reader, therefore, will take frequent oppor- 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 123 
 
 tunities of changing the comma into the semico- 
 lon, as it is chiefly from not attending to this 
 distinction that the common punctuation is so 
 unfavourable to variety. And if the correctors 
 of the press, who are generally very intelligent 
 men, would adopt this distinction of a period in- 
 to a compact and loose sentence, and in the latter 
 always place a semicolon, or colon, where the 
 former part of the sentence forms perfect sense, 
 and is not modified by the latter, it is inconcei- 
 vable how many errors in reading might be avoi- 
 ded : it must be owned, indeed, that the difficul- 
 ty of always precisely distinguishing between a 
 member, which, by modifying the preceding 
 member, is necessarily" connected with it, and 
 another, which only adds to what precedes, with- 
 out modifying the sense, is no small extenuation 
 of this common error of printers; but it is presume 
 ed, that our not being able to do it in difficult ca- 
 ses is no reason we should neglect it in obvious 
 ones, and these are sufficiently numerous to be of 
 the utmost importance to our pronunciation. 
 This will more evidently appear by the following 
 rules, on the use of the falling inflection in the 
 loose sentence. 
 
 Rule I. Every member of a sentence forming 
 consistent sense, and followed by two other 
 members which do not modify or restrain its sig- 
 nification, admits of the falling inflection. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 In short, to cut off all cavilling- against the ancients, and particu. 
 larly those of the warmer climates, who have most heat and life 
 
124 
 
 ELEMENTS ©F 
 
 in their imaginations, we are to consider that the rule of observing 
 what the French call the bienseance in an allusion, has been found 
 out of later years, and in the cdidcr regions of the world j where 
 we would make some amends for our want of* force, and spirit, by 
 a scrupulous nicety and exactness in our compositons. 
 
 Spectator, No. 160. 
 
 In this example we see the falling inflection at 
 world very properly marked with a semicolon, 
 though followed by the word where, which seems 
 so intimately to connect them ; and which might 
 be shown in a thousand similar passages, to in- 
 duce our printers to mark these members with 
 a comma only. 
 
 It is this that recommends variety, where the mind is every in- 
 stant called off to something- new, and the attention not suffered to 
 dwell too long on any particular object. Spectator, No. 412. 
 
 For this reason, there is nothing more enlivens a prospect than 
 rivers, jetteaus, and falls of water, where the scene is perpetually 
 shifting and entertaining the sight even' moment with something 
 that is new. Ibid. No. 412. 
 
 In these instances, though the word water in 
 the last sentence, and the word variety in the pre- 
 ceding example, are marked with a comma only, 
 precision, as well as harmony, require the failing 
 inflection ; the first member is a kind of text to 
 the whole sentence, and is not so closely connect- 
 ed with the succeeding members as these last are 
 with each other ; an occasional sense of the pro- 
 priety of this distinction makes our printers some- 
 times point the first member of a similar sentence 
 with the semicolon. 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 At a little* distance from my friend's house, among the ruins 
 of an old abbey, there is along walk of aged elms ; which are shot 
 up so very high, that when one passes under them, the rooks and 
 crows that rest upon the tops of them seem to be cawing in anoth- 
 er region. Spectator, No. 110. 
 
 Here the first member is very properly pointed 
 with a semicolon at elms, and the emphatic pause 
 on this word gives a precision and variety to the 
 whole sentence ; but as an instance how little 
 the generality of our punctuists are guided by the 
 sense of the sentence, we need only produce the 
 period which immediately follows : 
 
 I am very much delighted with this sort of noise, which I con- 
 sider as a kind of natural prayer to that Being who supplies the 
 wants of his whole creation, and who, in the beautiful language of 
 the Psalms, feedeth the young ravens that call upon him. Ibid. 
 
 In these two last instances, the first part of each 
 sentence is connected with the succeeding mem- 
 ber by the relative which ; but as this word does 
 not restrain, but only explain and extend the 
 meaning of the preceding member, the latter, like 
 the former, ought to be marked with the semico- 
 lon, and pronounced with the falling inflection. 
 
 Cicero concludes his celebrated books de Oratore with some pre- 
 cepts for pronunciation and action ; without which part he affirms, 
 that the best orator in the world can never succeed, and an indif- 
 ferent one who is master of this shall gain much greater applause. 
 
 Sped. No. 541. 
 
 l2 
 
126 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 In this instance we find the word action often 
 pointed with a comma only, though it is certain 
 that it ought to be pronounced with .the falling 
 inflection; for as the succeeding word without 
 does not modify it, and as the next member ne- 
 cessarily requires the rising inflection at succeed, 
 the failing inflection on the word action adds 
 greatly to the precision and variety of the whole 
 sentence. 
 
 Antithetic Member. 
 
 When sentences have two parts corresponding 
 with each other, so as to form an antithesis, the 
 first part must always terminate with the rising 
 inflection. 
 
 EXAMPLES- 
 
 We are always complaining- our clays are few, and acting as 
 though there should be no end of them. Spectator, No. 93. 
 
 I imagined that I was admitted into a long spacious gallery, 
 which had one side covered with pieces, of all the famous paint- 
 ers who are now living; and the other with the greatest masters 
 who are dead. Ibid. No. 83 # 
 
 The wicked may indeed taste a malignant kind of pleasure, in 
 those actions to which they are accustomed whilst in this life; 
 but when they are removed from all those objects which are here 
 apt to gratify them, they will naturally become their own tor- 
 mentors. Ibid. No. 447. 
 
 The pleasures of the imagination are not so gross as those of 
 s6nse, nor so refined as those of the understanding. Ibid. No. 411 
 
 In all these examples,- the first part of every 
 antithesis might form a perfect sentence by itself; 
 
ELOCUTION. 127 
 
 but the mutual relation between the former and 
 latter part, forms as necessary a connexion be- 
 tween them as if the former part formed no sense 
 by itself, and the latter part modified and re- 
 stained the sense of the former; and therefore 
 the word Jew, in the first example, the word 
 sense in the second, the word living in the third, 
 and the words this life in the fourth, must ne- 
 cessarily adopt the rising inflection. For the 
 same reason, the same inflection must take place 
 on the word succeed in the following example : 
 
 Cicero concludes his celebrated books de Oralore, with some 
 precepts for pronunciation and action ; without which part, he 
 affirms, that the best orator in the world can never succeed, and 
 an indifferent one, who is master of this shall gain much greater 
 applause. Spectator, No. 541. 
 
 Penultimate Member. 
 
 An exception to the foregoing rules forms 
 another rule, which forbids us, without absolute 
 necessity, to adopt the falling inflection on the last 
 member but one. This rule is founded on the 
 natural perception of harmony in the ear, which 
 has as much dislike to a too great similitude of 
 consecutive sounds as the understanding has to a 
 want of sufficient distinction between members 
 differently connected. When this distinction, 
 therefore, is sufficiently obvious, and no improper 
 connexion is formed by using the right inflection, 
 the ear always requires this inflection on the pen- 
 ultimate member : for as the last member must 
 
128 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 almost always be terminated by the falling in- 
 flection at the period, a falling inflection imme- 
 diately preceding it in the penultimate member, 
 would be too sudden a repetition of nearly simi- 
 lar sounds : hence arises the propriety of the 
 following rules. 
 
 Rule L Every member of a sentence em- 
 mediately preceding the last, requires the rising 
 inflection. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 Aristotle tells us, that the world is a copy or transcaipt of those 
 ideas which are in the mind of the first Being 1 ; and that those 
 ideas which are in the mind of man are a transcript of the world : 
 to this we may add, that words are the transcript of those ideas 
 which are in the mind of m&n, and that writing- or printing- are 
 the transcript of words. Sped. No. 166. 
 
 In this example, if there were no connexion 
 between the two last members from the antithesis 
 they contain, the rising inflection would be ne- 
 cessary at the end of the penultimate member, 
 for the sake of sound. 
 
 In short, a modern Pindaric writer, compared with Pindar, is 
 like a sister among the Camisars, compared with Virgil's Sybil ; 
 there is the distortion, grimace, and outward figure, but nothing 
 of that divine impulse which raises the mind above itself, and 
 makes the sounds more than human. Sped. No. 160. 
 
 The florist, the planter, the gardener, the husbandman, when 
 they are accomplishments to the man of fortune, are great reliefs 
 to a country life, and many ways useful to those who are possessed 
 of them. ' Ibid. No. 93. 
 
 In the first of these examples the sentence 
 might have finished at itself, and in the last at 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 129 
 
 Rfe; for the succeeding members do not modify 
 them, but, as they are penultimate members, 
 they necessarily require the rising inflection. 
 
 He has annexed a secret pleasure to the idea of any thing that 
 is new or uncommon, that he might encourage us in the pursuit 
 after kn6wledge, and engage us to search into the wonders of his 
 creation; for every new idea brings such a pleasure along with it 
 as rewards any pains we have taken in the acquisition, and con- 
 sequently serves as a motive to put us upon fresh discoveries. 
 
 Ibid. No. 413. 
 
 i 
 
 In this example, we see that it is not the per- 
 ct sense of a member which alone qualifies it 
 br the falling inflection ; it must be followed by 
 one member at least, which does not admit this 
 pause; otherwise it is transferred from the first 
 to the succeeding member, which is the case in 
 this example. The first compound member 
 forms perfect sense at the word knowledge, and 
 the succeeding member is not necessarily con- 
 nected with it; but as this member forms per- 
 fect sense likewise, and is followed by one, which 
 cannot be united with it by the comma or rising 
 inflection ; therefore, to avoid the ill effect of two 
 successive pauses exactly the same, the falling 
 inflection must be placed on the word creation. 
 
 Rule II. As a farther illustration of this, we 
 may observe, that when the first member forms 
 perfect sense, and is followed by two members 
 necessarily connected, the failing inflection must 
 be placed on the first. 
 
 It shall ever he my study to make discoveries of this nature in 
 human life, and to settle proper distinctions between the virtues 
 and perfections of mankind, and those false colours and resem- 
 blances of them that shine alike in the eyes of the vulgar. 
 
 JlddisQU. 
 
130 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 
 In this example, we may observe that the fal- 
 ling inflection might have been placed on the 
 second member, if the second and third me .li- 
 bers had not been necessarily connected by an 
 antithesis j which shows that the falling inflection 
 requires the member it is placed on, not only to 
 have perfect sense independent on the succeeding 
 member, but at the same time requires the suc- 
 ceeding member to be dependent on a third. 
 
 Exceptions* 
 
 Emphasis, which controls every other rule in 
 reading, forms an exception to f&iv; which is, 
 that where an emphatic word is in the first mem- 
 ber of a sentence, and the last has no emphaticai 
 word, this penultimate member then terminates 
 with the falling inflection. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 I must therefore desire the reader to remember, that by the 
 pleasures of the imagination, I meant only such pleasures as 
 arise originally from sight; and that 1 divide these pleasures in 
 two kinds. Sped. No. 411. 
 
 In this sentence the word sight is emphaticai, 
 and therefore, though in the penultimate member, 
 must not have the rising, but the falling inflection, 
 as this is the inflection best suited to the sense of 
 the emphatic phrase. See article Emphasis* 
 
 The person he chanced to see was, to appearance, an old sor 
 did blind man ; but upon his following 1 him from place to place, 
 he at last found, by his own confession, that he was Plutus, the 
 God of Itich.es; and that he was just come out of the house of a 
 miser. Spectator, No. 464 
 
ELOCUTION. 131 
 
 In this sentence the words God of Riches, as 
 opposed to the words old sordid blind man, are 
 emphatical, and, therefore, though in the penulti- 
 mate member, require the falling inflection. The 
 same may be observed of the word most in the 
 following sentence: 
 
 - If they do not acquiesce in his judgment, which, I think, never 
 happened above once or twice at most, they appeal to me. 
 
 In this sentence we find the connexion inter- 
 rupted, and the cadence injured, by giving the 
 falling inflection to the word most; but if we 
 were to give this word the rising inflection for the 
 sake of preserving the cadence and connexion., 
 we should lose so much force as would render 
 this pronunciation less eligible upon the whole. 
 The author, therefore, is answerable for this in- 
 compatibility of the strongest sense with the 
 best sound, and the reader is reduced to choose 
 the lesser evil. 
 
 The same variance between emphasis and con- 
 nexion may be observed in the following sen- 
 tence : 
 
 Religious hope does not only bear up the mind under her suffer- 
 ings, but makes her rejoice in them, as they may be the means of 
 procuring her the great and ultimate end of all her hope. 
 
 Spectator, No. 471. 
 
 Here we see the word rejoice, in opposition, 
 bear up the mind, require, from its being em- 
 phatical, the falling inflection; and yet, from its 
 being modified by what follows, it ought to have 
 the rising. 
 
132 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 As a corollary to the former rules, it follows, 
 that if a loose sentence, having one member 
 forming perfect sense, and not modified by what 
 follows, is succeeded by another member, which 
 forms perfect sense likewise, unmodified by suc- 
 ceeding members; that as often as members of 
 this kind occur, without finishing the sentence, 
 they ought to be marked with semicolons, or co- 
 lons, and pronounced, like a series, with the fal- 
 ling inflection. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 This persuasion of the truth of the gospel, without the evidence 
 which accompanies it, would not have been so firm and so durable; 
 it wouWl not have acquired new force with age: It would not 
 have resisted the torrent of time } and have passed from age to 
 age to our own days. 
 
 In this example a perfect sentence might be 
 formed at durable; and as it is not modified by 
 what follows, it ought to have the falling inflection : 
 A perfect sentence might also be formed at age ; 
 which, being under the same predicament as the 
 former member, requires the falling inflection 
 likewise : a sentence in the same manner might 
 be formed at time ; but as this is the penultimate 
 member, it must necessarily adopt the rising in- 
 flection, according to the rule laid down in the 
 preceding article. 
 
 It may be necessary to observe, that when 
 these members of sentences marked with a semi- 
 colon, or colon, follow each other in a series, 
 though they must all have the falling inflection, 
 
: 
 
 ELOCUTION. 13 3 
 
 his inflection must be pronounced in a higher 
 one of voice on the second than on the first, and 
 on the third than on the second ; to prevent the 
 monoteny which would otherwise necessarily be 
 the consequence : A series of colons, therefore, 
 must be considered as a compound series, and 
 pronounced according to the rules laid down for 
 the pronunciation of that species of sentence 
 which will be the subject of the next article. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 Natural reason inclines men to mutual converse and society : It 
 implants in them a strong affection for those who spring- from 
 them : It excites them to form communities, and join in public 
 assemblies : And, for these ends, to endeavour to procure both the 
 necessaries and conveniencies of life. Cicero. 
 
 In this sentence the falling inflection in the 
 common level of the voice is placed on the word 
 society ; the same inflection, with a little more 
 force, and in a somewhat higher tone of voice, 
 takes place on the words spring from them; 
 and the word assemblies has the same inflection a 
 little increased in force and height ; this gradual 
 increase of force and height on the three first 
 members, gives variety and harmony to the de- 
 clension of voice on the next member, which 
 forms the period. 
 
 Series. 
 
 As variety is necessary in the delivery of almost 
 every separate portion of a sentence, it must be 
 much more so where the sentence is so construct- 
 or 
 
134 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 ed that perfectly similar portions succeed each 
 other to a considerable number. If the ear is 
 displeased at the similar endings of two or three 
 members, which, though unlike in other res- 
 pects, are necessarily connected in sense; how 
 intolerable must it be to hear a long detail of 
 perfectly similar members, pronounced with ex- 
 actly the same tone of voice ! The instinctive 
 taste for harmony in the most undisciplined ear 
 would be disgusted with such a monotony : And 
 we find few readers, even among those who are 
 incapable of diversifying any other species of 
 sentence, that do not endeavour to throw some 
 variety into an enumeration of many similar par- 
 ticulars. An attempt to point out the most har- 
 monious and emphatic variety, and to reduce it to 
 such rules as may help to guide us in the most 
 frequent and obvious instances, is one of the prin- 
 cipal objects of the present essay. 
 
 Nothing, however, can be more various than 
 the pronunciation of a series : Almost every dif- 
 ferent number of particulars requires a different 
 method of varying them ; and even those of pre- 
 cisely the same number of particulars, admit of a 
 different mode of pronunciation, as the series is 
 either cemmencing or concluding, simple or com- 
 pound ; single or double, or treble, with many 
 other varieties too complex to be easily deter- 
 mined : but as enumerating several particulars of 
 a similar kind, in such a manner as to convey 
 them more forcibly to the mind, and at the same 
 time to render them agreeable to the ear ; as this, 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 135 
 
 I say, is one of the most striking beauties in 
 reading, it will be necessary to give as clear an 
 idea as possible of that tone and inflection of voice 
 which seems so peculiarly adapted to this species 
 of sentence. 
 
 In the first place., then, we may observe, that 
 whenever we enumerate particulars with em- 
 phasis, or more than ordinary precision, we are 
 apt to give some of the first, at least, such a tone 
 as marks not only a distinct enumeration but a 
 complete one ; that is, the voice falls into such a 
 tone as shews each particular article of enumera- 
 tion to be completed, but not the whole number; 
 or, in other words, it is exactly that tone of voice 
 we use, when, in collecting several particalars 
 into one aggregate, we distinguish with more 
 than ordinary precision each particular from the 
 other. In the pronunciation of sentences of this 
 kind, the similar members would naturally adopt 
 the falling inflection ; or that inflection we use on 
 the words voluntarily, deter minaiely, knowing* 
 ly, &c. N° X, XI, XII, XIII, &c. of the 
 scale of sounds, Plate II. p. 100; which inflec- 
 tion not only distinguishes and enforces each 
 particular taken separately, but preserves the idea 
 of a collective whole. 
 
 But the nature as well as use of this inflection 
 will, perhaps, be better understood by recurring- 
 to a former example : 
 
 I tell you, though you, though all the world, though an angel 
 from heaven were to affirm the truth of it, I could not believe it. 
 
136 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 If, instead of adopting the falling inflection 
 upon you, world, and heaven, we suspend the 
 voice upon these words, as we do upon the words 
 voluntarily, determinately, knowingly, Sec. N° I, 
 II, III, &c. or the words involuntarily, indeter- 
 minately, unknowingly, N° X, XI, XII, &c. 
 Plate II. we shall soon perceive the propriety of 
 using the inflection we are here describing, that 
 is, the same inflection with which we pronounce 
 the words involuntarily, indeterminately, unknow- 
 ingly, &c. N° I, II, III, &x. or the words vol- 
 untarily, determ'mately, knowingly, &x. N° X, 
 XI, XII, &c. Plate II. And first let us try 
 this passage with the rising inflection on each par- 
 ticular : 
 
 I tell yon, though y6u, though all the \vr6kl, though an angel 
 from heaven, were to affirm the truth of it, I could not believe it. 
 
 Plow tame and insipid is this asseveration, in 
 comparison with the following manner of deliver- 
 ing it ! that is, each particular haying the falling 
 inflection : 
 
 I tell you, though you, though all tiie world, th®ugh an angel 
 from heaven were to affirm the truth of it, I could not believe it. 
 
 The necessity of adopting this inflection in the 
 series Will be still more apparent, by repeating 
 another passage both with and without it. — And 
 first let us try the example, by pronouncing it 
 with the voice suspended on every member, as 
 the commas seem to indicate ; that is, with the 
 rising inflection, as on the words voluntarily, de- 
 terminately, knowingly, &c. N° I, II, III, &c. 
 or the words involuntarily, indeterminately , un- 
 knowingly, N° X, XI, XII, &c. Plate IL 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 137 
 
 The descriptive part of this allegory is likewise very strong- and 
 full of sublime ideas ;— the figure of "cUath, the regal crown upon 
 his h£ad, his menace of S&taii, his advancing to the c6mbat, the 
 outcry at his birth, are circumstances too noble to be passed over 
 in silence, and extremely suitable to this king of terrors. 
 
 Now let us pronounce each particular of this 
 series but the last with the falling inflection, that 
 is, with the same inflection as on the words in m 
 voluntarily, indeterminately, unknowingly, &c, 
 or the words voluntarily, determinately, knowing, 
 ly, &c. N° X, XI, XII, &c. Plate II. p. 100. 
 
 The descriptive part of this allegory is likewise very strong and 
 full of sublime ideas; the figure of death, the regal crown upon 
 his head, his menace of Satan, his advancing to the cdmbat, the 
 outcry at his birth, are circumstances too noble to be passed over 
 in silence, and extremely suitable to this king of terrors. 
 (See p. 166.) 
 
 The difference of these two methods of pro- 
 nouncing this sentence is so obvious as to leave 
 no doubt to which we shall give the preference ; 
 ^but it may not be improper to remark, that in a 
 series of this kind, unless the language be very 
 emphatical, it is necessary to give the last article 
 of the series the rising inflection, as this is the 
 point where the sense begins to form ; and this 
 point, if emphasis forbid not, always requires 
 the suspension of voice marked by the rising in- 
 flection. See Compact Sentence, p. 110 and 116. 
 
 Thus having given a general idea of this very 
 important figure in reading, it will be necessary 
 to enter upon that system of rules, which is cal- 
 culated to direct and ascertain the pronunciation 
 of it ; but as every series requires different in» 
 m2 
 
138 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 flections, as it either commences or concludes a 
 sentence, it may be necessaiy to observe, that by 
 the name of a commencing series is meant that 
 which begins a sentence, but does not conclude 
 it ; and that by the name of a concluding series 
 is meant that which ends the sentence, whether 
 it begin it or not. As a difference of inflection 
 also takes place upon the several members of a 
 series, as these members consist of one single 
 word, or more words, it will not, perhaps, be im- 
 proper to call the series whose members consist 
 of single words, a simple series ; and those whose 
 members consist of two or more words, a com- 
 pound series. In order, therefore, to convey the 
 rules that relate to this curious and intricate part 
 of reading, it will be necessary to begin with the 
 most simple combination of words, though not 
 properly a series. 
 
 Simple Series. 
 
 '"Rule I. When two members, consisting of 
 single words, commence a sentence, the first 
 must have the failing and the last the rising 
 inflection. 
 
 Exercise and temperance strengthen the constitution. 
 
 The difference of tone which distinguishes the 
 commencing words of this sentence, will be much 
 more perceptible, if we do but consult explica- 
 tion of Plate I. p. 97. 
 
ELOCUTION 
 
 139 
 
 fr 
 
 Rule II. When two members, consisting of 
 single words, conclude a sentence, as the last must 
 naturally have the falling inflection, the last but 
 one assumes the rising inflection. 
 
 The constitution is strengthened by exercise and temperance. 
 
 This rule is the converse of the former. It 
 must, however, be observed, that sentences of 
 this kind, which can scarcely be called a series of 
 particulars, may, when commencing, assume a 
 different order of inflections on the first words, 
 when the succeeding clause does not conclude the 
 sentence. This may be illustrated by consulting 
 Plate I. N° III. and IV.; where we see exercise 
 and temperance, when the next clause concludes 
 the sentence, as in N° III. adopt one order of in- 
 flections ; and the same words, when the next 
 clause does not conclude, as in N° IV. adopt a 
 quite opposite order. Not that this order in N° 
 IV. is absolutely necessary, as that in N° III. ; 
 but it may always be adopted when we wish to 
 be more harmonious and emphatical. 
 
 Rule III. When three members of a sentence, 
 consisting of single words, succeed each other in 
 a commencing series, the two last are to be pro- 
 nounced as in Rule I. and the first with the falling 
 inflection, in a somewhat lower tone than the se- 
 cond. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 Manufactures, trade, and agriculture, naturally employ more 
 than nineteen parts of the species in twenty. Spect. No, 115- 
 
140 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 A man that has a taste of music, painting, or architecture, is like 
 one that has another sense, w hen compared with such as have no 
 relish for those arts. Ibid. No. 93. 
 
 In short, a modern Pindaric writer, compared with Pindar, is 
 like a sister among- the CamiSars, compared with Virgil's Sybil; 
 there is the distortion, grimace, and outward figure, but nothing" 
 of that divine impulse, winch raises the mind above itself, and 
 makes the sounds more than human. 'Spectator, No. 160. 
 
 Rule IV. When three members of a sentence, 
 consisting of single words, succeed each other 
 in a concluding series, the two last are to be 
 pronounced as in Rule II. and the first with the 
 rising inflection in a little higher tone than the se- 
 cond. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 A modern Pindaric writer compared with Pindar, is like a sister 
 among the Camisars compared with Virgil's Sybil ; the one gives 
 that divine impulse which raises the mind above itself, and makes 
 the sounds more than human, while the other abounds with noth-. 
 ing but distortion, grimace, and outward figure. 
 
 It may not be improper to observe, that al- 
 though the series of four, whether commencing 
 or concluding, must necessarily have the first and 
 last words inflected alike, and the two middle 
 words inflected alike, yet that the series of three 
 in a concluding member may, when we are pro- 
 nouncing with a degree of solemnity, and wish to 
 form a cadence ; in this case, I say, we not only 
 may, but must pronounce the first word with the 
 falling, the second with the rising, and the last 
 with the falling inflection. 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 141 
 
 Rule V. When four members of a sentence, 
 consisting of single words, succeed each other in 
 a commencing series, and are the only series in 
 the sentence, they may be divided into two equal 
 portions : the first member of the first portion 
 must be pronounced with the rising, and the se- 
 cond with the falling inflection, as in Rule II. ; and 
 the two members of the last portion exactly the 
 reverse, that is according to Rule I. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 Metals, minerals, plants, and meteors, contain a thousand curi- 
 ous properties which are as engaging to the fancy as to the rea- 
 son. Sped. No. 420. 
 
 Proofs of the immortality of the soul may justly be drawn from 
 the nature of the Supreme Being, whose justice, goddness, wis- 
 dom, and veracity, are all concerned in this great point 
 
 Spectator, No. 111. 
 
 The fl6rist, the pUnter, the gardener, the husbandman, when they 
 are only accomplishments to the man of fortune, are great reliefs 
 to a country life, and many ways useful to those who are possessed 
 of them. Ibid. No. 93. 
 
 Rule VI. When four members of a sentence, 
 consisting of single words, succeed e"ch other in 
 a concluding series, a pause may, as in the for- 
 mer rule, divide them into two equal portions : 
 but they are to be pronounced with exactly con- 
 trary inflections ; that is, the two first must be 
 pronounced according to Rule I. and the two last 
 according to Rule II. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 There is something very engaging to the fancy as well as to 
 our reason, in the treatise of metals s minerals, pl&nts, and mete- 
 ors. Sped. No. 430. 
 
142 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 An instance of the variety of inflection with 
 which a series of four particulars is pronounced, 
 and of the diversity of inflection which the series 
 requires, as it is either commencing or conclu- 
 ding, will be greatly illustrated by the following 
 example : 
 
 He who resigns the world, has no temptation to ^nvy, hatred, 
 malice, shger, but is in constant possession of a serene mind ; he 
 who follows the pleasures of it, which are in this very nature dis- 
 appointing-, is in constant search of c&re, solicitude ieir6;se, und 
 confusion. Spectator, No. 282. 
 
 The first series in this sentence, being a com- 
 mencing series, is pronounced as in Rule V. ; 
 and the last, as a concluding series, according to 
 Rule VI. 
 
 These rules might be carried to a much grea- 
 ter length ; but too nice an attention to them, in 
 a long series, might not only be very difficult, but 
 give an air of stiffness to the pronunciation, which 
 wouid not be compensated by the propriety. It 
 may be necessary, however^ to observe, that in a 
 long enumeration of particulars, it would not be 
 improper to divide them into portions of diree ; 
 and if we are not reading extempore, as it may be 
 called, this division of a series into portions of 
 three ought to commence from the end of the 
 series ; that if it is a commencing, we may pro- 
 nounce the last portion as in Rule III. ; and if it 
 is a concluding series, we may pronounce the last 
 portion according to the observation annexed to 
 Rule IV. 
 
ELOCUTION. 1^3 
 
 Rule VII. When a simple series extends to a 
 considerable length, we may divide it into por- 
 tions of three, beginning from the last : if it be a 
 commencing series, pronounce the last three 
 words according to Rule III. ; and if it be a con- 
 cluding series, pronounce them according to the 
 observation added to Rule IV. 
 
 Commensing Series* 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 Love, joy, peace ; long suffering-, gentleness, goodness ; faith, 
 meekness, temperance, are the fruits of the Spirit, and against such 
 there is no law. 
 
 Concluding Series, 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace ; long suffering, 
 gentleness, goodness ; faith, meekness, temperance : — Against 
 such there is no law. Galatians, chap. v. 
 
 Commencing Series. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 Metaphors ; amigmas, mottoes, parables ; fables, dreams, vi- 
 sions ; dramatic writings, burlesque, and all the methods of allu- 
 sion, are comprehended in Mr. Locke's definition of wit, and Mr. 
 Addison's short explanation of it. 
 
 Concluding Series. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 Mr. Locke's definition of wit, with this short explication, compre- 
 hends most of the species of wit ; as metaphors, icnigmas, mottoes, 
 parables ; fables, dreams, visions ; dramatic writings, burlesque, 
 and all the methods of allusion. Sped. No. 62* 
 
144 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 If these observations should appear to have too 
 much refinement, and to bestow more labour on 
 these passages than is rewarded by the variety 
 produced ; it must be remembered, that in form- 
 ing a system, and pushing its principles to their 
 remotest consequences, — for the sake of shewing 
 the extent of these governing principles, and giv- 
 ing an air of completeness, and universality to the 
 system adopted, it is often necessary to attend to 
 particulars more curious than useful ; if, howe- 
 ver, we consider, that pronouncing these passages 
 in a perfect monotone would be extremely dis- 
 gusting, and that some general idea of the variety 
 they are capable of, may at least give the ear a hint 
 of a better pronunciation, it will not be thought 
 useless that so much pains has been bestowed on 
 this species of sentence. This consideration may 
 encourage us to push our inquiries still farther 
 into this laborious part of the subject ; as those 
 readers who are disgusted at it, may easily omit 
 the perusal, and pass on to something more easy 
 and agreeable. 
 
 Compound Series. 
 
 Preliminary Observations. 
 
 When the members of series consist of several 
 words, or comprehend several distinct members 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 145 
 
 of sentences, they are under somewhat different 
 laws from those consisting of single words. In a 
 single series the ear is chiefly consulted, and the 
 inflections of voice are so arranged as to produce 
 the greatest variety ; but in a compound series 
 the understanding takes the lead : For as a num- 
 ber of similar members of sentences in succession 
 form a sort of climax in the sense, this climax can 
 be no way pronounced so forcibly as by adopting 
 the same inflection which is used for the strong 
 emphasis ; for, by this means, the sense is not on- 
 ly placed in a more distinct point of view, but 
 the voice enabled to rise gradually upon every 
 particular, and thus add to force an agreeable va- 
 riety. 
 
 In pronouncing the compound series, the same 
 rule may be given as in the simple series : Where 
 the compound series commences, the falling in- 
 flection takes place on every member but the last ; 
 and when the series concludes, it may take place 
 on every member except the last but one. It 
 must be carefully noted, likewise, that the second 
 member ought to be pronounced a little higher, 
 and more forcibly than the first, the third than the 
 second, and so on ; for which purpose, if the 
 members are numerous, it is evidently necessary 
 to pronounce the first member in so low a tone as 
 to admit of rising gradually on the same inflection 
 to the last. 
 
 Rule I. When two commencing members of 
 a sentence, each of which consists of more than a 
 single word, are in succession, the first member 
 
 N 
 
^46 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 must terminate with the falling, and the last with 
 the rising inflection. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 Moderate exercise, and habitual temperance, strengthen the 
 constitution. 
 
 . In this example, we find the first member, en- 
 ding at exercise, pronounced with the falling, and 
 the second, at temperance, pronounced with the 
 rising inflection. 
 
 Rule II. When two successive members, each 
 of which consists of more than a single word, 
 conclude a sentence, the first member is to be 
 pronounced with the rising, and the last with the 
 failing inflection, or rather with the falling inflec- 
 tion in a lower tone of voice, called the conclu- 
 ding inflection. See Plate I. N° III. and IV. 
 p. 98. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 Nothing tends more powerfully to strengthen the constitution 
 than moderate exercise and habitual temperance. 
 
 In this example, the first member, at exercise, 
 is pronounced with the rising inflection, -and the 
 last, at temperance, with the concluding or falling 
 inflection, without force, and in a lower tone of 
 voice than the preceding words. 
 
 Rule III. When three members of a sentence, 
 each of which consists of more than a single word, 
 are in a commencing series, the first member 
 must be pronounced with the falling inflection, 
 
■ELOCUTION". 
 
 147 
 
 the second with the same inflection, somewhat 
 higher and more forcible, and the third with the 
 rising inflection, as in the last member, Rule I. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 To advise the ignorant, relieve the nSedy, comfort the afrl*cted, 
 are duties that fall in our way almost every day of our lives. 
 
 Sped. No. 92. 
 
 In our country, a man seldom sets up for a poel, without attack. 
 ing the reputation of all his brothers in the art. The ignorance of 
 the moderns, the scribblers of the age, the decay of p6etry, are 
 the topics of detraction, with which he makes his entrance into the 
 world. Ibid. No 253. 
 
 As the genius of Milton was wonderfully turned to the sublime, 
 his subject is the noblest that could have entered into thaahoughts 
 of man ; every thing that is truly great and astonishing has a place 
 in it ; the whole system of the intellectual warld, the chaos and 
 the cre^ion, heaven, earth, and hell, enter into the constitution of 
 his poem. ibid. No. 315. 
 
 Ride IV. When three members of a sentence, 
 each of which consists of more than a single word , 
 are in a concluding series, the falling inflection can 
 only fall on the first member, and the two last are 
 pronounced exactly like the two concluding mem 
 hers, Rule II. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 Tt was necessary for the world, that arts should be invented and 
 improved, books written and transmitted to posterity, nations con" 
 quered and civilized. Spectator, No. 255 
 
 All other arts. of perpetuating our ideas, except writing or print- 
 ing, continue but a short time : Statues can last but a few thou- 
 sands of years, edifices fewer, and colours still fewer than edifices 
 
 Ibid. No. 166 
 
i 48 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 Our lives, says Seneca, are spent either in doing" nothing at ill, 
 or in doing- nothing- to the purpose, or in doing- nothing- that we 
 ->ught to do. Spect. No. 93. 
 
 If a man would know whether he is possessed of a taste for fine 
 writing, I would have him read over the celebrated works of an- 
 tiquity, and be very careful to observe whether he tastes the dis- 
 tinguishing perfections, or, if 1 may be allowed to call them so, 
 the specific qualities of the author he peruses ; whether he is par- 
 ticularly pleased with Livy for his manner of telling a st&ry ; with 
 Sallust, for his entering into those internal principles of action 
 which arise from (he characters and manners of the persons he de- 
 scribes ; or with Tacitus, for his displaying those outward motives 
 of safety and interest, which gave birth to the whole series of trans- 
 actions which he relates. Ibid. No. 409. 
 
 It may here be necessary to observe, that if we 
 doubt of the inflections that are to begivento a very 
 compound series, the best way to discover them 
 will be to reduce the series to a few words, and 
 then the proper inflections will be very percepti- 
 ble. Suppose, for instance, we contract the 
 series in the last example to its radical words, 
 which, for example sake, let us suppose to be 
 these — whether he is pleased with Livy for his 
 story y Sallust for his characters, or Tacitus for 
 his motives ; we shall find, by this trial, the same 
 radical pronunciation proper both for the original 
 and the abridgment. 
 
 Rule V. When four members of a sentence, 
 each of which consists of more than a single 
 word, are in a commencing series, the three first 
 are to be pronounced with the falling inflection. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 Labour or exercise ferments the humours, casts them into their 
 pi oper channels, throws off redundancies, and helps nature in those 
 
ELOCUTION. 149 
 
 secret distribi'itions, without which the body cannot subsist in its 
 vigour, nor the soul act with cheerfulness. 
 
 Spectator, ISo. 115. 
 
 Rule VI. When four members of a sentence, 
 each of which consists of more than a single 
 word, follow in a concluding series, the two first 
 members only can have the falling inflection, and 
 the two last are to be pronounced like the two 
 concluding members, Rule II. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 Notwithstanding all the pains which Cicero took in the education 
 of his son, history informs us, that young- Marcus proved a mere 
 blockhead; and that Nature (who, it seems, was even with the son 
 for her prodigality to the father) rendered him incapable of im- 
 proving" by all the rules of Eloquence, the precepts of philasophy, 
 his own endeavours* and the most refined conversation in x Athens. 
 
 Spectator, No 307 
 
 Rule VII. When five members of a sentence, 
 each of which contains more than a single word, 
 follow in a commencing series, the four first may 
 be pronounced with the falling inflection ; each 
 member rising above the preceding one, and the 
 last as in Rule I. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 The descriptive part of this allegory is likewise very strong and 
 full of sublime ideas. The figure of d^ath, the regal crownupon 
 his hsad, his menace of Satan, iiis advancing to the cdmbat, the 
 outcty at his ; .birth, are circumstances too noble to be passed over 
 in silence, and extremely suitable to this king of 1 errors. 
 
 Spectator, No, 310. 
 N 2 
 
15Q ELEMENTS OF 
 
 Aristotle observes, that the fable of an epic poem should abound 
 in circumstances that are both credible and astonishing 1 : Milton's 
 fable is a master-piece of this nature ; as the war in heaven, the 
 condition of the fallen &ngels, the state of innocence, the temp- 
 tation of the serpent, and the fall of man, though they are very as- 
 tonishing- in themselves, are not only credible but actual points of 
 f*itfc. Spectator, No. 315, 
 
 Rule VIII. When five members of a sentence, 
 each of which contains more than a single word, 
 follow in a concluding series, the three first may 
 be pronounced with the falling inflection, and the 
 two last with tue rising and falling inflection, as 
 in Rule II. 
 
 EXAMPLES 
 
 Though we seem grieved at the shortness of life in general, we, 
 are wishing every period of it at an end. The minor longs to be 
 at ige, then to be a man of business, then to make up an estate 
 then to arrive at h6nours, then to retire. Sped. No 93. 
 
 There is no blessing of life comparable to the enjoyment of a 
 discreet and virtuous friend. It eases and unloads the mind, clears 
 find improves the understanding, engenders thoughts and kn6w- 
 iedge, animates virtue and good resolutions, and finds employment 
 for the most vacant hours of life. Sped. N° 93. 
 
 The devout man does not only believe but f^els there is a Deity; 
 he has actual sensations of him ; his experience concurs with his 
 reason, he sees him more and more in all his intercourses with 
 him, and even in this life almost loses his faith in conviction. 
 
 Ibid. No. 465. 
 
 Rule IX. When six members of a sentence, 
 each of which contains more than a single word, 
 follow in a commencing series, the first five may 
 be pronounced with the falling inflection, every 
 
ELOCUTION, 151 
 
 member rising above the preceding one, and the 
 two last members as in Rule II. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 That a man, to whom he was in a great measure, beholden For 
 his crown, and even for his life; a man to whom, by every honouv 
 and favour, he had endeavoured to express his gratitude ; whose 
 brother, the earl of Derby, was his own father-in-law ; to whom 
 he had even committed the trust of his person, by creating* him 
 lord chamberlain ; that a man, enjoying his full confidence and 
 afRction ; not actuated by any motive of discontent or apprehen- 
 sion ; that this man should engage in a conspirancy against him he 
 deemed absolutely false and incredible. 
 
 Hume's Mist, of England, Vol. I. p. 363, 
 
 I would fain ask one of those bigoted infklels, supposing all the 
 great points of atheism as the casual or eternal formation of the 
 w^rld, the materiality of a thinking substance, the mortality of the 
 saul, the fortuitious organization of the bddy, the motions and gra- 
 vitation of matter, with the like particulars, were laid together, 
 and formed into a kind of creed, according to the opinions of the 
 most celebrated atheist ; I say, supposing such a creed as this 
 were formed, and imposed upon any one people in the world* 
 whether it would not require an infinitely greater measure of faitli 
 than any set of articles which they so violently oppose. 
 
 Spectator, No 168 
 
 Under this ride may be placed that grand and 
 terrible adjuration of Macbeth: 
 
 I conjure you by that which you profess 
 (Howe'er you come to know it) answer me ; 
 Though you untie the winds and let them fight 
 Against the churches ; thoug the ye sty waves 
 Confound and swollow navigation up ; 
 Though bladed corn be lodg'd and trees blown ddwn; 
 Though castles topple on their warder's haads; 
 Though palaces and -pyramids do slope 
 Their heads to their foundations; though the treasure 
 Of nature's germins tumble altogether, 
 Ev'n till destruction Sicken, answer me 
 To what I ask you. 
 
152 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 where, by placing the falling inflection, without 
 dropping the voice, on each particular, and giv- 
 ing this inflection a degree of emphasis, increasing 
 from the first member to the sixth, we shall find 
 the w T hole climax wonderfully enforced and 
 diversified : this w^as the method approved and 
 practised by the inimitable Mr. Garrick ; and 
 though it is possible that a very good actor may 
 vary in some particulars from this rule, and yet 
 pronounce the whole agreeably, it may with con- 
 fidence be asserted, that no actor can pronounce 
 this passage to so much advantage as by adopting 
 the inflections laid down in this rule. 
 
 Rule X. When six members of a sentence, 
 each of which consists of more than a single 
 word, succeed each other in a concluding series, 
 the four first may be pronounced with the falling 
 inflection, each member ascending above the 
 preceding and the two last, as in Rule II. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 For if we interpret the Spectator's words in their literal mean- 
 ing, we must suppose that women of the first quality used to pass 
 away whole mornings at a puppet-show ; that they attested their 
 principles by pitches ; that an audience would sit out an evening 
 to hear a dramatic performance, written in a language which they 
 did not understand ,• that chairs and flower-pots were introduced 
 as actors on the British stage ; that a promiscuous assembly of 
 men and women were allowed to meet at midnight in masks with- 
 in the verge of the C6urt, with many improbilicies of the like na- 
 ture. Spectator, No. 102. 
 
 Rule XL When seven or more members of a 
 sentence, each of which consists of more than a 
 single word, succeed each other in a commencing 
 
ELOCUTION, 
 
 154 
 
 > series, all but the last member may be prouounc- 
 ed with the falling- inflection, each succeeding 
 member rising above that which precedes it, and 
 the two last members as in Rule I. 
 
 EXAMPLE . 
 
 Nature has laid out all her art in beautifying 1 the f^ce ; she has 
 touched it with vermilion; planted in it a double row of ivory ; 
 made it the seat of smiles and blushes ; lighted it up and enlivened 
 it with the brightness of the eyes ; hung it on each side with curi- 
 ous organs of sense; given it airs and graces that cannot be des- 
 cribed; and surrounded it with such'a flowing shade of h&ir, as 
 sets all its beauties in the most agreeable light. 
 
 Spectator,^. 98, 
 
 Series of Serieses. 
 Preliminary Observation, 
 
 When the members of a series, either from 
 their similitude or contrariety to each other, fall 
 into pairs or triplets; these pairs or triplets, con- 
 sidered as whole members, pronounced according 
 to the rules respecting those members of a series 
 that consist of more than a single word; but the 
 parts of which these members are composed, if 
 consisting of single words, are pronounced accor- 
 ding to those rules which relate to those members 
 that consist of single words, as far as their subor- 
 dination to the whole series of members will per- 
 mit. Hence arises, 
 
 Kule I. When several members of a sentence 
 
154 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 
 
 consisting of distinct portion of similar or oppo- 
 site words in a series, follow in succession, they 
 must be pronounced singly, according to the num- 
 ber of members in each portion, and together, ac- 
 cording to the number of portions in the whole 
 sentence, that the whole may form one related 
 compound series. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 The soul consists of many faculties as the understanding and the 
 wUl, wit ii all the senses both inward and dutward; or, to speak 
 more philosophically, the soul can exert herself in many different 
 ways of action: she can understand, will imagine, s^eahdhdar; 
 ldve and disc6nrse; and apply herself to many other like exercises 
 of different kinds and natures. Spectator, No. 600. 
 
 The first portion of this series of serieses, she 
 can understand, will, imagine, as it contains one 
 complete portion, may be considered as a con- 
 cluding series ; and as it forms but one portion 
 of a great series, it may be considered as a com- 
 mencing one, and must be pronounced in sub- 
 serviency to it ; that is, the first and second 
 word must have the rising, and the last the falling 
 inflection, but without dropping the voice. The 
 next portion must be pronounced in a similar 
 manner ; that is, the first word with the rising, 
 and the last with the falling inflection, with the 
 voice a little higher and more forcible on the word 
 here than on the word imagine : the next portion, 
 being the last but one, alters its inflections ; the 
 first word having the falling, and the last the ris- 
 
ELOCUTION. 155 
 
 inflection, agreeably to the rule laid down in 
 the preliminary observation to the Compound 
 Series. 
 
 On the other hand, those evil spirits, who, by long" custom, 
 have contracted in the body habits of lust and sensuality; m*[ice 
 and revenge; an aversion to every thing- that is good, j u st, and 
 laudable, are naturally seasoned, and prepared for pain and misery. 
 
 Spectator, No. 447. 
 
 Asthisisacommencingseries, of serieses the last 
 member but one of the second series may be pro- 
 nounced with the falling inflection at revenge: 
 \ and as the last member has a series of three 
 \ single words, they come under Rule III. of the 
 Simple Commencing Series. 
 ft 
 
 The condition, sp^ch, and behaviour of the dying- pirents ; 
 with the &g-e, innocence, and distress of the children, are set forth 
 in such tender circumstances, that it is impossible for a reader 
 of common humanity not to be affected with them. 
 
 Spectator, No. 85. 
 
 These two serieses, containing three members 
 each, and not concluding the sentence, may be 
 considered as a concluding and commencing 
 series of three single members each, and pro- 
 nounced as in Rule III. of the Simple Series. 
 
 Uis (Satan's) pride, envy, revenge ; dbstinacy, despair, and 
 impenitence, are all of them very artfully interwoven. 
 
 Spectator, No. 50X 
 
 Here are two distinct serieses of three mem- 
 bers, each of which must be pronounced ex- 
 actly like the last example, that is like the 
 
156 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 concluding and commencing series of thn 
 Rule III. of the Simple Series. 
 
 ' 
 
 Thefman who lives under an habitual sense of the divine presence, 
 keeps up a perpetual cheerfulness of temper, and enjoys every 
 moment the satisfaction of thinking 1 himself in company with his 
 dearest and best of friends. He no sooner steps out of the world, 
 but his heart burns with devAtion, swells with hdpe, and triumphs 
 in the consciousness of that presence which every where surr6unc!s 
 him; or on the contrary pours out its fears, its sorrows, its ap- 
 prehensions, to the great Supporter of its existence. 
 
 Spect. No. 93. 
 
 This sentence may be considered as a sen- 
 tence consisting of two commencing serieses, 
 both of which may be pronounced according 
 to Rule III. Compound Series. 
 
 ; 
 How many instances have we (in the fair sex) of chastity, fideli- 
 ty, devdtion? How many ladies distinguish themselves by the 
 education of their children, care of their families, and love of their 
 husbands: which are the great achievements of woman kind ; as 
 the making- of War, the carrying on of traffic, administration 
 of justice, are those by which men grow famous and get them- 
 selves a n^me ? Spectator, No. 73. 
 
 The several series is this passage may be con- 
 sidered as forming one complete observation : 
 the first is a concluding series of three, and may 
 be pronounced as the concluding series, Rule 
 IV. in every member but the last, which being 
 the first step of the series of serieses, instead of 
 the concluding inflection, adopts the falling in- 
 flection only. The next series may be pronoun- 
 ced in the same manner as the former, with this 
 difference only, the last member, being the se- 
 cond step of the series of serieses, ought to have 
 
ELOCUTION. 1£7 
 
 the falling inflection a little higher on husbands 
 than it was on devotion in the first series. The 
 last series has its three members pronounced 
 exactly like the commencing series, Rule HI. ; 
 and thus every series is pronounced, both ac- 
 cording to its own particular analogy, and that 
 of the three taken together. 
 
 38. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life; nor an- 
 gels, nor principalities, nor powers ; nor things present, nor things 
 to come ; 
 
 39. Nor height, nor d^plh ; nor any other creature, shall be able 
 to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our 
 jA-d. Romans, ch. viii. ver. 3&, 39. 
 
 Upon the first view of this passage, we find it 
 naturally fails into certain distinct portions of simi- 
 lar or opposite words. These portions seem to 
 be five in number ; the first containing two mem- 
 bers, death, life ; the second containing three, 
 angels, principalities, powers; the third two, 
 things present, things to come ; the fourth two*, 
 height, depth ; the fifth one, any other creature : 
 these members, if pronounced at random, and 
 without relation to that order in which they are 
 placed by the sacred writer, lose half their beauty 
 and eifect ; but if each member is pronounced 
 with an inflection of voice that corresponds to 
 its situation in the sentence, the whole series be- 
 comes the most striking and beautiful climax im- 
 aginable. 
 
 In order, then, to pronounce this passage pro- 
 perly, it is presumed that there ought to be a 
 
158 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 gradation of force from the first portion to the 
 last ; and that this force may have the greater 
 Variety, each portion ought to be accompanied 
 with a gradation of voice from low to high ; that 
 each portion also should continue distinct, even 
 portion but the last should be pronounced as a 
 simple concluding series, with the failing inflec- 
 tion on the last member, enforcing, and not drop- 
 ping the voice ; that last member, according to 
 the general rule, must have the rising inflection ; 
 and in this manner of pronouncing it, the whole 
 sentence has its greatest possible force, beauty, 
 and variety. 
 
 From the examples which have been adduced, 
 we have seen in how many instances the force, 
 variety and harmony of a sentence have been im- 
 proved by a proper use of the failing inflection. 
 The series in particular is indebted to this inflec- 
 tion for its greatest force and beauty. But it is 
 necessary to observe, that this inflection is not 
 equally adapted to the pronunciation of every se- 
 sies : where force, precision, or distinction is ne- 
 cessary, this inflection very happily expresses the 
 sense of the sentence, and forms an agreeable cli- 
 max of sound to the ear ; but where the sense of 
 the sentence does not require this force, preci- 
 sion, or distinction, (which is but seldom the 
 case), where the sentence commences with a con- 
 ditional or suppositive conjunction, or where the 
 language is plaintive and poetical, the falling in- 
 flection seems less suitable than the rising : this 
 will be better perceived by a few examples. 
 
ELOCUTION. i5-9 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 Seeing" then that the soul has many different ficulties, or in other 
 words many different ways of Acting- ; that it can be intensely 
 pleased or made happy by a ll these different faculties or ways of 
 acting; that it may be endowed with several latent faculties, which 
 it is not at present in a condition to exsrt ; that we cannot believe 
 the soul is endowed with any faculty which is of no vise to it ; that 
 whenever any one of these faculties is transcendently pleased, the 
 soul is in a state of happiness ; and in the last place, considering 
 that the happiness of another world, is to be the happiness of the 
 whole m&n ; who can question but that there is an infinite variety 
 in those pleasures we are speaking of; and that this fullness of 
 joy will be made up of -all those pleasures, which the nature of the 
 soul is capable of receiving ? Spectator, No. 600. 
 
 As the fourth member of this sentence, from 
 Its very nature, requires the rising inflection, and 
 as the whole series is constructed on the suppo- 
 sitive conjunction seeing ; every particular mem- 
 ber of it seems necessarily to reqnire the rising 
 inflection : for it may be observed as a pretty 
 general rule, that where a conditional or a suppo- 
 sitive conjunction commences the series, if there 
 is nothing particularly emphatical in it, the rising 
 inflection on each particular of the series is pre- 
 ferable to the falling, especially if the language be 
 plaintive and tender. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 W hen the gay and smiling aspect of things has begun to leave 
 the passages to a man's heart thus thoughtlessly unguarded; when 
 kind and caressing- looks of every object without, that can flatter 
 his senses, has conspired with the enemy within, to betray him 
 and put him off his defence ; when music likewise hath lent her 
 aid, and tried her power upon the passions ; when the voice of sing, 
 ing men, and the voice of singing women, with the sound of the 
 viol and the lute, have broke in upon his soul, and in some tender 
 notes have touched the secret springs of rapture, — that moment 
 
160 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 let us dissect and look into his h^art ;— see bow vain, Low weak, 
 bow 4mpty a thing- it is ! 
 
 Sterne's Sermon on the House of JLounmig, i?t. 
 
 In this example, the plaintive tone which the 
 whole sentence requires, gives it an air of poe- 
 try, and makes the falling inflection too harsh te 
 terminate the several particulars; for it may be ob- 
 served in passing, that a series of particulars are as 
 seldom to be pronounced with the falling inflection 
 in poetry, as they are for the most part to so be pro- 
 nounced in prose. The reason of this, perhaps, may 
 be, that, as poetry assumes so often the ornamen- 
 tal and the plaintive, where a distinct and emphatic 
 enumeration is not so much the object as a noble 
 or a tender one ; that expression which gives the 
 idea of force and familiarity is not so suitable to 
 poetry as to prose: as a confirmation of this we 
 may observe, that when poetry becomes either 
 forceful or familiar, the falling inflection is then 
 properly adopted in the pronunciation of the -se- 
 ries. ■ 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 Love in these labyrinths his slaves detains, 
 And might ly hearts are held in slender chains 
 With hairy springes we the birds betray, 
 Slight lines of hair surprise the finny prey ; 
 Fair tresses iron's imperial race ensnare, 
 And beauty draws us with a single hair. 
 
 Mape of the Locke ; Canto n. *ver. 23. 
 
 Here the emphasis on each particular requires 
 the first and second to be pronounced with the 
 falling inflection, as in Rule VI. of the Compound 
 Series. 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 161 
 
 But rhyming poetry so seldom admits of this 
 inflection in the series, that the general rule is for 
 a contrary pronunciation. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 So when the faithful pencil has design'd 
 Some bright idea of the master's mtnd, 
 Where a new world leaps out at his command. 
 And ready nature wait* upon his hand ; 
 When the ripe colours soften and unite, 
 And sweetly melt into just shade and light ; 
 When mellowing years their full perfection give, 
 And each bold figure just begins to live; 
 The treacherous colours the fair art betray, 
 And all the bright creation fades awdy. 
 
 Pope's Essay on Crit. ver. 404, 
 
 In this example we find every particular, ex- 
 cept the last but one (where the sentence begins 
 to grow emphatical,) adopt the rising inflection, 
 as more agreeable to the pathetic tenor of the pas- 
 sage than the falling: and it may be obser- 
 ved, that there are few passages of this sort in 
 rhyming poetry, of the pathetic or ornamental 
 kind, which do not necessarily require the same 
 inflection. 
 
 Thus no objection to the utility of these long 
 laboured rules has been dissembled. In sub- 
 jects of this nature something must always be 
 left to the taste and judgment of the reader ; but 
 the author flatters himself, if any thing like a 
 general rule is discovered in a point supposed 
 to be without all rule, that something at least is 
 added to the common stock of knowledge, 
 which may in practice be attended with advan- 
 tage. 
 
 o 2 
 
Is62 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 What the bishop of London says of improve* 
 ments in grammar, may, with the greatest propri- 
 ety, be applied to this part of elocution. " A 
 " system of this kind," says this learned and in- 
 genious writer, " arising from the collection and 
 " arrangement of a multitude of minute particu- 
 " lars, which often elude the most careful search, 
 " and sometimes escape observation when they 
 " are most obvious, must always stand in need of 
 ** improvement : it is, indeed, the necessary con- 
 " dition of every work of human art or science, 
 " small as well as great, to advance towards per- 
 " fection by slow degrees : by an approximation, 
 " which, though it may still carry it forward, yet 
 " will certainly never bring it to the point to 
 " which it tends." 
 
 Dr. Lcwth's Preface to his Grammar, 
 
 fhe Final Pause or Period. 
 
 Wheiva sentence is so far perfectly finished, 
 as not to be connected in construction with the 
 following sentence, it is marked with a period. 
 This point is in general so well understood, that few 
 grammarians have thought it necessary to give an 
 express example of it .; though there are none 
 who have inquired into punctuation who do not 
 know, that in loose sentences the period is fre- 
 quently confounded with the colon. But though 
 the tone, with which we conclude a sentence, is 
 generally well understood, we cannot be too care- 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 1*63 
 
 ful in pronunciation to distinguish it as much as 
 possible from that member of a sentence, which 
 contains perfect sense, and is not necessarily con- 
 nected with what follows. Such a member, 
 which may not be improperly called a scntentiola^ 
 or little sentence, requires the falling inflection, 
 but in a higher tone than the preceding words ; as 
 if we had only finished a part of what we had to 
 say, while the period requires the falling inflection 
 in a lower tone, as if we had nothing more to add. 
 But this final tone does not only lower the last 
 word ; it has the same influence on those which 
 more immediately precede the last ; so that the 
 cadence is prepared by a gradual fall upon the 
 concluding words ; every word in the latter part 
 of a sentence sliding gently lower till the voice 
 drops upon the last. See this more clearly explain- 
 ed, Plates I. and II. This will more evidently ap- 
 pear upon repeating the following sentence : 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 As the word taste arises very often in conversation, I shall en- 
 deavour to give some account of it, and to lay down rules how we 
 may know whether we are possessed of it, and how we may ac- 
 quire that fine taste in writing- which is so much talked of among 
 the polite wdrld. Spectator, No. 4Q7. 
 
 t , d We find perfect sense formed at the words ac- 
 count of it, andfiossessedofit; but as they do not con- 
 clude the sentence, these words, if they adopt the 
 falling ineflction, must be pronounced in a higher 
 tone than the rest ; while in the last member, not 
 only the word worlds pronounced lower than the 
 
164, 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 rest, but the whole member falls gradually into 
 the cadence, which is so much talked of among the 
 polite xvorld. And here it will be absolutely ne- 
 cessary to observe, that though the period gener- 
 ally requires the falling inflection, every period 
 does not necessarily adopt this inflection in the 
 same tone of voice ; if sentences are intimately 
 connected in sense, though the grammatical 
 structure of each may be independent on the oth- 
 er, they may not improperly be considered as so 
 many small sentences making one large one, and 
 thus requiring a pronunciation correspondent to 
 their logical dependence on each other : hence it 
 may be laid down as a general rule ; that a series 
 of periods in regular succession are to be pro- 
 nounced as every other series : that is, if they fol- 
 low each other regularly as parts of the same ob- 
 servation, they are to be pronounced as parts, and 
 not as wholes. 
 
 EXAMPLES* 
 
 Some men cannot discern between a noble and a mean action. 
 Others are apt to attribute them to some false end or intention, 
 and others purposely misrepresent or put a wrong interpretation 
 on them. Sped. T$g. 255, 
 
 Though the first part of this passage, is mark- 
 ed with a period in all the editions of the Spec- 
 tator I have seen, nothing can be plainer than that 
 it ought to be pronounced as the first member of 
 the concluding series of three compound mem- 
 bers. See article Compound Series, Hule IV. 
 
1€5 
 KiLOCtmojy. 
 
 Thus although the whole of life is allowed by every •netojbe 
 *hort, the Several divisions of it appeals ^and ^--J « 
 for lengthening our span ,n g eneral,bu would ^ ^ V°« M£ ^ 
 parts of which it is composed. The u f u J^X s between the pre-- 
 fisned to have all the time J **** 1 *!?^^^ be con. 
 sent moment and next quarter-day. ^P^X^thinffS in the 
 tented to loose three years an kis he couldb ^^r Juchf revolu- 
 posture, which he fancies tuey wul &^ in, ator Jut of his esis- 
 ?ion of time. The lover would be glad to strike out«c 
 
 r^tV^ou^, that it * *«^ 4 
 
 Though here are no less than six periods in 
 ihispasstge, and every one ^ them requires the 
 falling inflection, yet every one of them ought to 
 be pronounced Jin a somewhat different pitch of 
 voice from the other; and for this purpose they 
 may be considered as a concluding series of com- 
 pound members ; the last period of whicn must 
 conclude with a lower tone of voice than the pre- 
 ceding, that there may be a gradation. bee 
 Compound Series, Rule IV. . ... \ 
 
 To these observations this may be subjoined, 
 that the period, though generally, does not al- 
 ways, require the falling inflection and a lower 
 tone of voice. The first and most general excep- 
 tion to the rule is the following : 
 
 Exception \, 
 
 When a sentence concludes an antithesis, the 
 tost branch of which requires the strong empha- 
 
166 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 sis, and therefore demands the falling inflection ; 
 the second branch requires the weak emphasis, 
 and rising inflection: and, consequently, if this 
 latter branch of the antithesis finish the sentence, 
 it must finish without dropping the voice, that 
 the inflections on the opposite parts of the anti- 
 thesis may be different. See Emphasis. 
 
 EXAMTLES. 
 
 If we have no regard for our d wn character, we ought to hare 
 seme regard for the character of others. 
 
 If content cannot remdve the disquietudes of mankind, it will at 
 least alleviate them. 
 
 I would have your papers consist also of all things which may 
 be necessary or useful to any part of society ; and the mach&nic 
 aits should have their place as well as the liberal. 
 
 Spectator, No. 428. 
 
 In the first of these examples, a concession is 
 made in the strongest terms in the supposition, 
 for the sake of strengthening the assertion in the 
 conclusion, and therefore neither can be pronoun- 
 ced with due force but by giving own the falling 
 and others the rising inflection. There is almost 
 the same necessity for the same order of inflec- 
 tions on remove and alleviate in the second exam- 
 ple ; and the third would be more forcibly pro- 
 nounced with the falling inflection on mechanic 
 arts, and the rising on liberal, unless it were to 
 conclude a paragraph or branch of a subject ; for 
 in this case, if the sense does necessarily require 
 the rising inflection, the ear will always expect 
 the falling. See Penultimate Member. 
 
1 
 
 ELOCUTION. 167 
 
 To this Exception may be added another, 
 which forms a rule of very great extent ; and 
 that is, where the last member of a sentence is a 
 negative, in opposition to some affirmative, either 
 expressed or understood ; but this rule is so al- 
 lied to emphasis, that the reader is referred to 
 that article, where he will find it fully explained 
 and illustrated. 
 
 Interrogation' 
 
 " But besides the points which mark the pan- 
 *' ses, in discourse," says Dr. Lowth, " there are 
 " others which denote a different modulation of 
 " the voice in correspondence with the sense. 
 ** The interrogation and exclamation points," 
 says the learned bishop, " are sufficiently expiain- 
 " ed by their names; they are indeterminate as 
 " to their quantity or time, and may be equiva- 
 u lent in that respect to a semicolon, a colon, or 
 " a period, as the sense requires ; they mark an 
 " elevation of voice." This is, perhaps, as just 
 an account of these points as could have been gi- 
 ven in so few words ; but, like every general rule 
 that has been hitherto given, leaves us in a thou- 
 sand difficulties when we would reduce it to prac- 
 tice; Whatever may be the variety of time we 
 annex to the interrogation, certain it is, that there 
 is no circumstance in reading or speaking which 
 admits of greater variety of tone ; a question may 
 imply so many different degrees of doubt, and is 
 
168 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 liable to so many alterations from a diversity 61 
 intention in the speaker, that I shall at present 
 content myself with pointing out a few of the 
 most obvious ; and endeavour to distinguish and 
 reduce them to certain classes, that they may 
 be applied to particular examples, and rendered 
 useful. 
 
 The most obvious distinction between inter- 
 rogative and other sentences is, that as, in other 
 sentences, the substantive or pronoun precedes 
 the verb it governs, in an interrogative sentence, 
 the verb, either auxiliary or principal, ought al- 
 ways to precede either the substantive or pronoun. 
 Thus, when I speak declaratively, I say, I am 
 going to college; but when I speak interrogatively, 
 I say, Are you going to college ? where we may 
 observe, that in the declarative and interrogative 
 sentences, the pronoun and the verb hold different 
 places. 
 
 This inversion of the common order of the 
 words in composition, is accompanied by a simi- 
 lar inversion of the inflection of voice in pronunci- 
 ation ; for as the common order of inflections in a 
 declarative sentence, is that of placing the rising 
 inflection towards the middle, and the falling at 
 the end, as in the first example ; the interroga- 
 tion inverts this order, and uses the falling inflec- 
 tion of voice in the middle of the sentence, and 
 the rising on the last word, as in the last exam- 
 ple : this peculiarity, however, does not extend 
 to every species of interrogation ; and interroga- r 
 tive sentences arc, in reality, so irequenth to be 
 pronounced like declarative sentences, it is {Scarce- 
 
ELOCUTION. ^9 
 
 ly any wonder that those who do not attend to the 
 delicacies of reading should never use the rising 
 inflection of the voice on any question : but such 
 force, spirit, and variety, is thrown into a dis- 
 course by such an alteration of the voice as the 
 question affords, that those who have the least de- 
 sire to read well, ought never to neglect so fa- 
 vourable an opportunity : a question terminating 
 with the rising inflection of voice at once breaks 
 the chain of discourse, grown heavy by its length, 
 rouses the auditor/rom the languor of attending to 
 a continued series of argument, and excites fresh 
 attention by the shortness, briskness and novelty 
 of the address : and if the greatest masters of 
 composition have thought it necessary to throw 
 in questions to enliven and enforce their har- 
 rangues, those who have the least taste for the de- 
 livery of them, find it as necessary to attend to 
 the peculiarity of voice this figure requires when 
 they read. 
 
 This inflection of voice, however, which di- 
 tinguishes the interrogation, seems entirely con- 
 fined to those questions which a ;e formed with- 
 out the interrogative pronouns or adverbs. When 
 a question commences with one of these, it has 
 invariably the same inflection as the declarative 
 sentence, unless we have either not heard, or 
 mistaken an answer just given us : for in that 
 case, the emphasis is placed on the interrogative 
 word ; and the voice elevated by the rising in- 
 flection on the end of the sentence. Thus, if we 
 say simply, When do you go to college P the word 
 
 p 
 
170 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 college has the falling inflection, and the voice is 
 no more elevated than if, being acquainted with 
 the time, we should say, At that time I find you 
 go to college : but if we have mistaken the answer 
 that has been given us concerning the time, we 
 say, When do you go to college ? we lay a consid- 
 erable stresb upon the word when, and suspend 
 the voice with the rising inflection to the end of 
 the sentence. 
 
 Again ; if we ask a question without previous 
 conversation, or reference to any thing that has 
 passed, if we do not use the interrogative words, 
 we infallibly use the rising inflection, and elevate 
 the voice on the end of the question ; thus we 
 meet, and say — Are you going to college ? if we 
 have the least eagerness for information, the voice 
 is elevated and suspended with the rising inflec- 
 t ion on the last word : but if the person we speak 
 to, either does not hear, or else mistakes what we 
 say, so as to make it necessary to repeat the ques- 
 tion, we then adopt the falling inflection on the 
 last word, and, giving it some degree of empha- 
 sis, say, Are you going to college ? with the same 
 inflection of voice, and in nearly the same tone, 
 with which we should say simply, You are now 
 going to college ; with this difference only, that in 
 the latter case the voice falls into a lower tone, 
 and in the former seems to rest in the tone of the 
 sentence, somewhat louder, perhaps, but with ex- 
 actly tiie same falling inflection as the latter, and 
 entirely different from that upward turn of voice 
 which distinguishes the first question. 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 171 
 
 Thus we find the immediate repetition of the 
 same question requires a different inflection of 
 voice according to its form. When we ask a 
 question commencing with an interrogative word, 
 as — When do you go to college ? When, from a 
 mistake of the answer about the time, we repeat 
 this question, we use the rising inflection of voice, 
 and elevate it to the end, as — Whm do you go to 
 college ? On the contrary, when we first Ubk a 
 question withoutthe interrogative word, we use 
 the rising inflection, and raise the voice on the 
 
 last word, as ire you going to college ? and 
 
 when we repeat the question, we use the failing 
 inflection of voice on the last word ; and though 
 we may pronounce the last word louder than the 
 rest, we do not use the rising inflection as in the 
 former case, but the falling, as — I say, are you 
 going to college ? 
 
 But such is the variety of this species of sen- 
 tence, that a question may be asked without ei- 
 ther the interrogative words, or an inversion of 
 the arrangement, or the rising inflection of voice 
 on the last word : for instead of saying, Do you 
 intend to read that book ? with the rising inflec- 
 tion on the word book, we may, with the same ex- 
 pectation of an answer, use the same inflection on 
 the same word, and say, You intend to read that 
 book ? — Both sentences will be equally interroga- 
 tory, though the last seems distinguished from 
 the first, by implying less doubt of what we ask ; 
 for when we say, You intend to read that book? 
 with the rising inflection on the word book, we 
 
HS 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 have not so much doubt about the reading of it 
 as when we say, Do you intend to read that book ? 
 with the same inflection on the same word : and 
 accordingly we find the voice more elevated at the 
 end of the question where there is more doubt 
 implied ; and where the doubt is small, the voice 
 is less elevated at the end ; though, in both cases, 
 the same kind of inflection is inviolably preser- 
 ved ; for the question- — You intend to read that 
 hook? with the rising inflection on the word book, 
 is equivalent to the interrogative affirmation ; / 
 suppose you intend to read that book ? both of 
 which we find naturally terminate in a suspension 
 ©f voice, as if an ellipsis had been made, and part 
 of the question omitted ; for these questions end 
 in exactly the same inflection of voice which the 
 same words would have in the question at length 
 — You intend to read that book, do you not? — 
 that is, in the suspension of voice called the rising 
 inflection, similar to that usually marked by the 
 comma. Not but this very phrase, You intend to 
 read that book, pronounced with the falling in- 
 flection on the last word like a declarative sen- 
 tence, might have the import of a question, if at- 
 tended with such circumstances as implied a 
 doubt in the speaker, and required an answer 
 from the hearer : though this mode of speaking 
 would, perhaps, imply the last degree of doubt 
 possible, yet as some degree of doubt might be 
 implied, it must necessarily be classed with the 
 interrogation. 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 17: 
 
 Having premised these observations, it may be 
 necessary to take notice, that with respect to pro- 
 nunciation, all questions may be divided into two 
 classes ; namely, into such as are formed by the 
 interrogative pronouns or adverbs, and into such 
 as are formed only by an inversion of the com- 
 mon arrangement of the words : the first with 
 respect to inflection of voice, except in the cases- 
 already mentioned, may be considered as purely 
 declarative ; and like declarative sentences they 
 require the falling inflection at the end : and the 
 last, with some few exceptions, require the rising 
 inflection of voice on the last word ; and it is this 
 rising inflection at the end which distinguishes 
 them from almost every other species of sentence. 
 Of both these in their order. 
 
 The Question with the Interrogative Words. 
 
 Rule I. When an interrogative sentence 
 commences with any of the interrogative pro- 
 nouns or adverbs, with respect to inflection, ele- 
 vation, or depression of voice, it is pronounced 
 exactly like a declarative sentence. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 How can he exalt his thoughts to any thing great and noble, 
 who only believes that after a short turn on the stage of this 
 world, he is to sink into oblivion, and to lose his consciousness for 
 a ver > Spectator, No. 21Q. 
 
 p 2 
 
174 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 As an illustration of the rule, we need only al- 
 ter two or three of the words to reduce it to a 
 declarative sentence ; and we shall find the inflec- 
 tion, elevation, and depression of voice on every 
 part of it the same. 
 
 He cannot exalt his" thoughts to any thing" great or noble, 
 because he only believes that after a short turn on the stage of 
 this world, he is to sink into oblivion, and to lose his conscious- 
 ness for £ver. 
 
 Here we perceive, that the two sentences, 
 though one is an interrogation, and the other a 
 declaration, end both with the same inflection of 
 voice, and that the falling inflection ; but if we 
 convert these words into an interrogation, by 
 leaving out the interrogative word, we shall soon 
 perceive the difference. 
 
 Can he exalt his thoughts to any thing great or noble, who 
 only believes that after a short turn on the stage of this world 
 he is to sink into oblivion and to lose his consciousness for 
 <S-er ? 
 
 In pronouncing this sentence with propriety, 
 we fiiuUhe voice slide upwards on the last words, 
 contrary to the inflection it takes in the two for- 
 mer examples. — If grammarians, therefore, by 
 the elevation of voice, which they attribute to the 
 question, mean the rising inflection, their rule, 
 with some few exceptions, is true only of ques- 
 tions formed without the interrogative words ; 
 for the others, though they may have a force and 
 loudness on the last words, if they happen to be 
 ^mphatical, have no more @f that distinctive in- 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 175 
 
 flection which is peculiar to the former kind of 
 interrogation, than if they were no questions at 
 all. Let us take another example: — Why should 
 not a female character be as ridiculous in a man, 
 as a male character in one of the female sex ? 
 Here the voice is no more elevated at the end 
 than if I were to say, A female character is just 
 as ridiculous in a man as a male character in one 
 of the female sex : but if I say, Is not a female 
 character as ridiculous in a man as a male charac- 
 ter in one of the female sex ? — here not only 
 the emphasis, but the rising inflection, is on the 
 last words ; essentially different from the inflec- 
 tion on these words in the first question, Why 
 should not a female character be as ridiculous in a 
 man, as a male character in one of the female 
 sex ? We may presume, therefore, that it is 
 the emphasis, with which these questions some- 
 times terminate, that has led the generality of 
 grammarians to conclude, that all questions ter- 
 minate in an elevation of voice, and so to con- 
 found that essential difference there is between a 
 question formed with and without the interroga- 
 tive words. 
 
 Rule II. Interrogative sentences commencing 
 with interrogative words, and consisting ox mem- 
 bers in a series depending necessarily on each 
 other for sense, are to be pronounced as a series 
 of members, of the same kind in a declarative 
 sentence. 
 
176 
 
 ELEMENTS GF 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 From whence can lie produce such cogent exhortations to the 
 practice of every vhlue, such ardent excitements to piety and 
 devAlion, and such assistance to attain them, as those which are 
 to be met with throughout every page of these inimitable writ- 
 ings ? Jeni/ns*s View of the Interna! Evid. p. 41. 
 
 Where, amidst the dark clouds of pagan philosophy, can he 
 shew us such a clear prospect of a future state, the immortality 
 of the sdui, the resurrection of the dead, and the general j"dg- 
 ment, as in St. Paul's first Epistle to the Corinthians ? 
 
 Ibid. p. 40. 
 
 But to consider the Paradise Lost only as it regards our 
 present subject ; what can be conceived greater than the bat- 
 tle of angels, the majesty of Messiah, the stature and be- 
 haviour of Satan and his peers ? what more beautiful than 
 Pandaem6nium, Paradise, Heaven, A'ngels, A 'dam, and E\e ? 
 what more strange than the creation of the v/6rld, the several 
 metamorphoses of the fallen angels, and the surprising adven- 
 tuies their leader meets with in his search after paradise ? 
 
 Sped. No. 418. 
 
 In these sentences we find exactly the same 
 pauses and inflections of voice take place as in 
 the different series of declarative sentences ; that 
 is, the first example is to be pronounced as in 
 Rule III. of the Compound Series, p. 145; 
 the second as in Rule V. p. 146 ; and the last 
 example, being a Series of Serieses, must be 
 pronounced according to the rules laid down 
 under that article, p. 151. 
 
 But the question which in reading and speak- 
 ing produces the greatest force and variety, is that 
 which is formed without the interrogative words. 
 
ELOCUTION. 177 
 
 The Question without the Interrogative Words. 
 
 Rule I. When interrogative sentences are 
 formed without the interrogative words, the last 
 word must have the rising inflection. If there 
 be an emphatical word in the last member, fol- 
 lowed by several words depending on it, which 
 conclude the sentence, both the emphatical word 
 and the concluding words are to be pronounced 
 with the rising inflection : thus the words ma- 
 king one, and cause of the shipwreck, in the two 
 following examples, have all the rising inflection. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 Would it not employ a beau prettily enough, if, instead of 
 eternally playing" with his snuff-box, he spent some part of his 
 time in making- one ? Spectator, No. 43. 
 
 If the owner of a vessel had fitted it out with every thing" 
 necessary, and provided to the utmost of his power ag-ainst the 
 dang-ers of the sea, and that a storm should afterwards arise 
 and break the masts, would any one in that case accuse him 
 of being- the cause of the shipwreck ? 
 
 Demosthenes on the Crotvn. JRoIlin. 
 
 In these examples, we find, that, however 
 variously the voice may employ itself on the rest 
 of the sentence, the concluding words in the last 
 member must necessarily be suspended with the 
 rising inflection : the only exception to this rule 
 is, when these interrogative sentences are con- 
 nected by the disjunctive or; for in that case the 
 sentence or sentences that succeed the conjunc- 
 tion are pronounced as if they were formed by 
 the interrogative words, or were merely declara- 
 tive. 
 
178 ELEMENTS OP 
 
 Rule II. When interrogative sentences con- 
 nected by the disjunctive or, succeed each other, 
 the fir it ends with the rising, and the rest with 
 the falling inflection. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 Shall we in your person crfiwn the author of the public ca- 
 lamities, or shall we destroy him ? 
 
 ±£schi7ics on the Crown. JRollin. 
 
 Is the goodness, or wisdom of the divine Being-, more mani- 
 fested in this his proceeding ? Sped. No. 519. 
 
 But should these credulous infidels after all be in the right, 
 and this pretended revelation be all a fable, from believing it 
 
 wh » harm could ensue ? Would it render princes more tyranni- 
 cal or subjects more ungovernable ? The rich more insolent, or 
 th. poor more dis6rderly \ — Would it make worse parents, or 
 child en; husbands or wives; masters or seivants; friends or 
 neighbours; or would it npl make men more virtuous, and, conse- 
 quently, more happy in every situation? 
 
 Jenyns's View of the Internal Evidence, p. 107. 
 
 In the tw T o former of these examples, we find 
 j.he disjunctive or necessarily direct the voice in 
 the last member of each to the falling inflection ; 
 and in the third example, we have not only an 
 instance of the diversity of voice on the several 
 questions according to their form, but an illus- 
 tration of the exception formed by the conjunc- 
 tive or ; for in the former part of this passage, 
 where it is used conjunctively, it does not occa- 
 sion any more alteration of the voice on the word 
 ensue than any other conjunctive word; but 
 when used disjunctively, as in the last member 
 of the question commencing at — or would it not 
 make men more virtuous ', &c. — we find it very 
 
ELOCUTION. 179 
 
 properly change the tone of voice from the in- 
 terrogative to the declarative ; that is, from the 
 rising to the failing inflection. 
 
 Rule III. Interrogative sentences, without in- 
 terrogative words, when consisting of a variety 
 of members necessarily depending on each other 
 for sense, admit of every tone, pause, and inflec- 
 tion of voice, common to other sentences, pro- 
 vided the last member, on which the whole ques- 
 tion depends, has that peculiar elevation and in- 
 flection of voice which distinguishes this species 
 of interrogation. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 But can we believe a thinking being, that is in a perpetual pro- 
 gress of imprdvements, and travelling- on from perfection to per- 
 fection, after having just looked abroad into the works of its 
 Creator, and made a few discoveries of his infinite goodness, wis- 
 dom, and power, must perish at her first setting- dut, and in the 
 very beginning- of her inquiries ? Sped. No. 111. 
 
 In reading this passage we shall find, that plac- 
 ing the failing inflection without dropping the 
 voice on the words improvements and Creator, 
 will not only prevent the monotony which is apt 
 to arise from too long a suspension of the voice, 
 but enforce the sense by enumerating, as it were, 
 the several particulars of which the question 
 consists. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 Do you think that Themistocles, unci the heroes who were kill- 
 ed in ihe battles of Marathon and Plal&j , do you think the very 
 tombs of your ancestors will not send forth groans, if you 
 
180 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 crown a man, who, by his own confession, has been for ever 
 conspiring- with barbarians to ruin Greece' 
 
 JEschines on the Crown. Eollin. 
 
 This passage will be rendered much more for- 
 cible and harm onions, if, instead of suspending 
 the voice throughout, we make use of the failing 
 inflection, without dropping the voice on the 
 words Plate a and confession. 
 
 Rule IV. Interrogative sentences formed 
 without, the interrogative words, and consisting 
 of members in a series, which form perfect sense 
 as they proceed, must have every member ter- 
 minate with the inflection of voice peculiar to 
 this species of interrogation. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 And with regard to the unhappy Lacedxmonians, what calami- 
 ties have not befallen them for taking- only a small part of the 
 spoils of the temple ? they who formerly assumed a suprrioritv 
 ovei Greece, are they not now going to send ambassadors to 
 A ie^u; tier's court, to beau the name of hostages in his u-&in, 
 to cc>me a spectacle of misery, to bow the knee before the 
 m6narch, submit themsehes and their country to his mercy, 
 and receive such laws as a cdnqueror — a conqueror they attacked 
 first, shall think fit to prescribe them ? 
 
 JEschines on the Croivn. Rollin. 
 
 It need scarcely be observed, that in order to 
 prevent the monotony to which this passage is 
 very iiable in reading, we ought to begin the first 
 question as soft as possible, that the voice may 
 proiiounee them ail with an increasing force to 
 the last. 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 181 
 
 But did you, O— -(what title shall T give you !) did you betray 
 the least shadow of displeasure against me, when I broke the 
 chords of that harmony in your presence, and dispossessed the 
 commonwealth of the advantages of that confederacy, which 
 you magnify so much with the loudest strains of your theatrical 
 v 6 ice ? did you ascend the r6strum ? did you denounce, or once 
 explain those crimes, with which you are n6w pleased to charge 
 me ? JJemosthenes on the Crown, llollin 
 
 In this and the preceding sentence, we shall 
 find the ear relieved, and the sense greatly en- 
 forced, by placing the falling inflection with em- 
 phasis in a high tone of voice on the words con- 
 queror, first, and explain, according to Rule III. 
 
 Would an infinitely wise Being make such glorious beings for 
 so mean a purpose? can he delight in the production of such 
 abortive intelligence, such sh6rt-lived reasonable beings ? would 
 he give us talents that are not to be exerted, capacities that are 
 not to be gritified ? Sped. No. 111. 
 
 In the reading of every series here produced, 
 it will be necessary to increase the force at the 
 same time that we preserve the rising inflection 
 on the last word or member of every one. 
 
 One exception to this rule is, when a series of 
 questions and answers follow each other : for in 
 this case, though the first is elevated as in oilier 
 interrogations, not commencing with interroga- 
 tive words, the rest of the questions assume the 
 declarative tone, and fall gradually into a period. 
 
 ! 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 As for the particular occasion of these (charity) schools, there 
 cannot any offer more worthy a generous mind. Would you do 
 a handsome thing without return J — do it for an infant that is not 
 
182 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 sensible of the obligation ? Would you do it for tbe public gdod : 
 — do it fov one who will be an honest artificer ? Would you do it 
 for the sake of heaven ? — give it for one who shall be instructed 
 in the worship of Him for whose sake you gave it ? 
 
 Sped. No. 294, 
 
 In this example there is evidently an opposi- 
 tion in the interrogations which is equivalent to 
 the disjunctive or ; and if the ellipsis were sup- 
 plied, which this opposition suggests, the sen- 
 tence would run thus : If you will not do a hand- 
 some thing without return, would you do it for the 
 public good? andifnotfor the public good, would 
 you do it for the sake of heaven ? so that this 
 exception may be said to come under Rule II. 
 of this article. 
 
 This rule may throw a light upon a passage in 
 Shakspeare, very difficult to pronounce with va- 
 riety, if we terminate every question with the ris- 
 ing inflection, which, however, must necessarily 
 be the case as the questions do not imply opposi- 
 tion to, or exclusion of each other. The passage 
 referred to is in Henry V. where that monarch, af- 
 ter the discoveiy of the conrpiracy against him, 
 thus expostulates with lord Scroope, who was 
 concerned in it : 
 
 Oh how hast thou with jealous/ infected 
 The sweetness of affiance ! show men dutiful ? 
 Why so didst thou : or seem they grave and learned 
 Why so didst thou : come they of n*ble family : 
 Why so didst thou : seem they religious ? 
 Why so didst thou : or are they spare in diat; 
 Free from gross passion or of mirth or knger ; 
 Constant in spirit, not swerving with the bl6od 
 
ELOCUTION. 183 
 
 Qariiiah'd and deck'd in modest camplement, 
 Not working- with the eye without the ear, 
 And but in pureed judgment trusting- neither ? 
 Such and so finely boulted didst thdu seem. 
 
 In pronouncing this passage, it should seem 
 most eligible to use the rising inflection at the 
 end of the several questions : but after the four 
 first, the falling inflection seems very properly 
 adopted on the word diet, as this is the first branch 
 of the last series of questions ; and as this series 
 continues for several lines, provided the voice be 
 but inflected upwards on the last member at nei- 
 ther •, the rest of the parts may be pronounced as 
 is most suitable to the sense and harmony of the 
 whole, according to Rule III. of this article. 
 
 The necessity of attending to the distinction of 
 inflection, when things are distinguished and op- 
 posed to each other, will appear more clearly from 
 the following passage : 
 
 See Fulkj-anddi.es, the virtuous and the just; 
 See god like Turenne prostrate on the dust •; 
 See Sydney bleeds amid the martial strife ; 
 Was this their virtue or contempt of life ? 
 
 oj- cc 
 
 Essay on Man, Epist. iv. v. 99. 
 
 If, in reading this passage, the voice were to 
 adopt the same inflection both on virtue and on 
 contempt of life, and to end the last branch of the 
 question as well as the first with the rising inflec- 
 tion, the distinction, so strongly marked by the 
 sense, would be utterly lost : whereas, if we end 
 virtue with the rising, and life, with the faffing in, 
 flection, the distinction evidently appears. "But 
 
18' 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 in the following passage from Shakspeare we have 
 an instance of the necessity of a contrary mode of 
 pronunciation, arising from a similitude of ob- 
 jects connected by the disjunctive or : 
 
 Is this the nature, 
 Which passion could not sk&ke ? whose solid virtue, 
 The shot of accident, or dart ofch^nxe 
 Could neither raze nor pieice ? Othello. 
 
 In this passage, the shot of accident and the 
 dart of chance ; being only different words for the 
 same thing, the word or conjoins them ; and to 
 avoid any implication that they mean different 
 things, the same inflection of voice ought to be 
 on them both, that is, the rising inflection : but 
 in the last member, where the opposition is evi- 
 dent, both from the sense of the words, and the 
 disjunctive nor, the falling inflection ought to be 
 laid on raze, and the rising on pierce. 
 
 For the same reason, in reading the following 
 stanza of Gray's Elegy in a Country Church-yard, 
 it should seem by much the most eligible method 
 to suspend the voice with the rising inflection on 
 the word death : 
 
 Can stovy'd urn or animated bust, 
 Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath I 
 Can honour's voice provoke the silent dust, 
 Or flatt'ry sooth the dull cold ear of death ? 
 
 As the sense of the word or, that is, whether 
 it means conjunction or disjunction, is not always 
 very obvious, it may not be useless to propose 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 185 
 
 the following rule : if we are in doubt whether or 
 is conjunctive, or disjunctive, let us make use 
 of this paraphrase — if it is not so, is it so? and if 
 the sense will bear this paraphrase, the or is dis- 
 junctive, and the subsequent question ought to 
 have the falling inflection : if it will not bear it, 
 the or is conjunctive, and the subsequent ques- 
 tion ought to have the rising inflection. Thus 
 if we paraphrase the stanza just quoted, we shall 
 find the or conjunctive. If storied urn cannot 
 call back the fleeting breath, can animated bust 
 call it back? If honour's voice cannot provoke the 
 silent dust, can flattery sooth the dull cold ear of 
 death? 
 
 If this paraphrase does not seem suitable to the 
 general import of the sentence, it is because the 
 objects are not put in opposition or contradistinc- 
 tion to each other, and therefore that the or is 
 conjunctive, and consequently, that the latter 
 question requires the rising inflection as well as 
 the former: but where the oris disjunctive, we 
 find this paraphrase very suitable to the general 
 import of the sentence. Thus in the following 
 sentence. 
 
 But should these credulous infidels after all be in the right, and 
 this pretended revelation be all a fable ; from believing it what 
 harm could ensue ? would it render princes more tyrannical, or 
 subjects more ung6vernable, the rich more insolent or the poor 
 more disorderly ? Would it make worse parents, or children, hus- 
 bands, or wives ; masters or servants, friends, or neighbours ? or 
 would it not make mem more virtuous, and, consequently, more 
 happy in 6 very situation } . Jent/ns. 
 
 9.2 
 
36 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 If we try the paraphrase upon the former parts 
 of this sentence, we shall find it as repugnant to 
 the sense as in the former example ; but if we 
 apply it to the last member, we shall find it per- 
 fectly accord with the meaning of the author. 
 Thus, if we say — If it will not make worse pa- 
 rents or children, husbands or wives, masters or 
 servants, friends or neighbours; will it not make 
 men more virtuous, and, consequently, more happy 
 in every situation ? — from whence we may con- 
 clude, that in the former part of this passage, the 
 or is conjunctive, and suspends the voice at the 
 end of ever)* member, and that the last or is dis- 
 junctive, and requires the sentence to end with 
 the falling inflection. 
 
 In passages of this kind, therefore it seems 
 quite necessary to attend to the distinction of in- 
 flection here laid down ; and it may be farther 
 observed, that the sense of a passage will always 
 be more clearly understood by attending to this 
 distinction, though there may not be always 
 the same necessity for it. Thus in the following 
 passage : 
 
 One great use of prepositions in English, is to express those re- 
 lations, which in some languages, are chiefly marked by cases, or 
 the different endings of the noun. 
 
 Here, though the word cases ends the penulti- 
 mate member, yet, as the last member must have 
 the falling inflection, the word cases must have 
 the falling likewise ; for as here the word or is 
 very different from the or preceded by either 9 ir\ 
 
ELOCUTION 
 
 187 
 
 this sentence, All languages express the relations 
 of nouns either by prepositions or cases ; so it 
 seems to intimate a different pronunciation ; and 
 as in the last example the words prepositions and 
 cases are opposed to each other, and for that rea- 
 son require different inflections ; so, in the for- 
 mer, a sameness of inflection on both the parts 
 connected by or, seems better to preserve that 
 sameness of idea which each of these parts con- 
 veys. 
 
 These examples serve to discover a great and 
 natural source of that variety and precision which 
 we so much admire in good readers and speakers. 
 So many more instances might have been produ- 
 ced, that these remarks might have justly formed 
 a separate article ; but they seemed to belong 
 more particularly to the interrogation, as here we 
 view the force of contrast in a stronger light ; 
 here we see, that though the interrogation, with- 
 out the interrogative words, necessarily requires 
 the rising inflection, yet when one part of this in- 
 terrogation is distinctly opposed to, or contrasted 
 with the other, these parts require opposite in- 
 flections of voice ; and it may, without hesitation, 
 be pronounced, that similar inflections of voice 
 upon similar members or members in opposition, 
 and opposite inflections of voice upon opposite 
 words, or words opposed to, or contradistinguish- 
 ed from each other in sense, are as congenial and 
 essential to language as the marking of different 
 things by different words. 
 
188 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 And here it were to be wished we could con- 
 clude this article without a mention of those ex- 
 ceptions, which are so apt to discourage inquir- 
 ers into this subject, and induce them to conclude 
 that there is nothing like rule or method in read- 
 ing or speaking : but it ought to be remembered, 
 that though there are numerous exceptions to al- 
 most every rule in grammar, we do not from this 
 conclude, that grammar has no rules at all ; in 
 subjects where custom has so extensive an influ- 
 ence, and where nature seems to vary expression 
 for the sake of variety, if such rules can be drawn 
 out as have a great majority of instances in their 
 favour, we may certainly conclude that this, as 
 well as every other department of language, is 
 not without fixed and settled rules. 
 
 That rule which directs us to suspend the 
 voice with the rising inflection at the end of a 
 question formed without the interrogative words, 
 is, perhaps, as general, and as well founded, as 
 any rule in language ; but the ear, which is dis- 
 gusted at too long a suspension of voice, when 
 the question is drawn out to a considerable length, 
 often for the sake of a better sound, converts the 
 interrogative into the declarative tone, , and con- 
 cludes a question of this kind with the falling in- 
 flection : 
 
 Thus there are few readers who would not 
 conclude the following question with the felling 
 inflection. 
 
 Do you think that Themistocies and the heroes who were killed 
 ;.n the battles of Marathon and Platxa, do you think the very tombs 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 189 
 
 of your ancestors would not send forth groans, if you crown a man, 
 who, by his own confession, has been for ever conspiring with bar- 
 barians to ruin Greece ? 
 
 If this question were considered as entirely de- 
 tached from the rest of the subject, there is no 
 doubtbut the ear is ranch more gratified by this, 
 than by an opposite pronunciation ; but when 
 we reflect, that by this pronunciation, though the 
 ear is gratified, it is at the expense of that peculiar 
 poignancy which the rising inflection gives to 
 this species of interrogation, we shall be less sat- 
 isfied with the sacrifice we make to sound ; for 
 though sound has its rights as well as sense, sense 
 seems to have the first claim, especially in prose, 
 and more particularly in this case, where the 
 question loses all its force and vigour, unless pro- 
 nounced with its specific inflection : besides, 
 when we consider that in pronouncing a whole 
 subject to the best advantage, perhaps it is not 
 necessary that every part should be so pronoun- 
 ced as to be by itself most agreeable to the ear, we 
 shall perceive that it is possible some parts may 
 be prononnced less harmoniously as parts, which 
 may contribute greatly to the energy, variety, 
 and even harmony of the whole ; as less agreea- 
 ble passages, and even discords in music, are 
 known to add greatly to the general beauty and 
 effect of a whole composition. 
 
 It must, however, be acknowledged, that some 
 questions are so immoderately long, and, losing 
 sight of the first object of interrogation, run into 
 such a variety of after-thoughts, that, preserving 
 
190 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 the idea of the question all through, and ending it 
 with the rising inflection, would not only be very 
 difficult and inharmonious, but in some measure 
 prejudicial to the force and energy of the sense : 
 when this is the case, changing the rising to the 
 falling inflection is certainly proper ; and what 
 fault there is in the want of correspondence be- 
 tween sense and sound, must be placed to the ac- 
 count of the composition : a reader, like a musi- 
 cal peformer, perhaps, can cover a few blemishes 
 in his author, by the elegance and delicacy of 
 the tones he produces ; but all his art will not err- 
 able him to make bad composition read as well as 
 good ; or to make sense and sound accord in the 
 reading, when they are at variance in the compo- 
 sition. Thus in the following sentence : 
 
 The Brigantines, even under a female leader, had force cough 
 to burn the enemy's settlements, to storm their camps, and if suc- 
 cess had not introduced negligence and inactivity, would have 
 been able entirely to throw oil "the yoke : And shall not we, un- 
 touched, unsubdued, and struggling, not for the acquisition, but 
 the continuance of liberty, deciare, at the very first onset, what 
 kind of men Caledonia has reserved for her defence ? 
 
 In reading this sentence, we find it difficult to 
 give it all its necessary force and harmony, and at 
 the same time pronounce the emphatical word 
 Caledonia, and the following words, with the ri- 
 sing inflection, as the nature of the question seems 
 to demand ; on the other hand, if we lay the 
 emphasis with the falling inflection on the word 
 Caledonia, the rising inflection on reserved, and 
 the falling on defence, the cadence will be harmo- 
 
ELOCUTION. 191 
 
 niously formed, and the sense will appear great- 
 ly enforced ; bnt as this sense is not the precise 
 and specific import of the interrogation, it must 
 be left to the reader's judgment which mode of 
 pronunciation he will adopt. 
 
 And here it may be worth observing, that ques- 
 tions without the interrogative words, demanding 
 the rising inflection of voice, are always unfavour- 
 able to harmony when they end a branch of a sub- 
 ject commonly denoted by the paragraph ; And 
 that if the general rule be violated, this position 
 4 of the question seems the best apology for it ; as 
 concluding a question of this kind with the rising 
 inflection seems to leave a demand unanswered, 
 and the branch of the subject imperfect : but if 
 the question does not end the paragraph, but is 
 either directly answered by the speaker, or fol- 
 lowed by something so immediately connected 
 with it as to remove the suspense of waiting for 
 an answer; if this is the case, I say, let the train 
 of questions be ever so numerous, it seems quite 
 necessary to conclude with the rising inflection. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 Consider, I beseech you, what was the part of a faithful citizen i 
 of a prudent, an active, and an honest minister ? Was he not to 
 secure Eubcea as our defence agaisst all attacks by Sea ? Was^ he 
 not to make Beotia our barrier on the midland side ? The cities 
 bordering on Peloponnesus our bulwark on that quarter ? Was he 
 not to attend with due precaution to the importation of com, that 
 this trade might be protected through all its progress up lo our . 
 own harbours ? Was he not to cover those districts which we com- 
 manded by seasonable detachments, as the Proconesus, the Ch'er- 
 soncsus, and T^nedos ? To exert himself in the assembly for this 
 purpose ? While with equal zeal he laboured to gam others to our 
 
192 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 interest and alliance, as Byzantium, Abydus, and Eubo&a ? Was 
 he not to cut off the best, and most important resources of our 
 enemies, and to supply those in which our country was defec- 
 tive ? — And all this you gained by my counsels and my adminis- 
 tration. Leland's Demosthenes. 
 
 In pronouncing this passage, we find no meth- 
 od so proper as that of annexing the rising inflec- 
 tion to every single question ; and as they are not 
 final, but are closed by a sentence with the falling 
 inflection, the whole comes forcibly to the mind 
 and agreeably to the ear, instead of that hiatus, 
 both in sense and sound, with which the former 
 sentence concludes when we finish it with the ri- 
 sing inflection. 
 
 It may be observed, likewise, that when ques- 
 tions are succeeded by answers, it will be neces- 
 sary to raise the voice in the rising inflection on 
 the question, and after a considerable pause to 
 pronounce the answer in a lower tone of voice, 
 that they may be the better distinguished from 
 each other. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 My departure is objected to me, which charge I cannot answer 
 without commending myself. For what must I siy ? That I fled 
 from a consckmsness of guilt ? But what is charged upon me as a 
 crime, was so far from being a fault, that it is the most glorious 
 action since the memoiy of man. That I feared being called to an 
 account by the pebpie ? That was never talked of; and if it had 
 been done, I should have come off with double hdiour. That I 
 wanted the support of good and honest men ? That is false. That 
 I was afraid of death ? That is a calumny. I must, therefore, say 
 what 1 would not, unless compelled to it, that I withdrew to pre- 
 serve the city. Cicero. 
 
 in pronouncing this passage, we shall find 
 it absolutely necessary, both for the vivacity 
 
ELOGUTTGN. 
 
 193 
 
 ©f the questions, and to distinguish them from 
 the answers, to pronounce the former in a 
 higher, and the latter in a lower tone of voice, 
 and to make a very long pause after each ques- 
 tion. 
 
 It seems necessary only to make one observa- 
 tion more before wc close this article ; and that 
 is, that as questions of this kind, which demand 
 the rising inflection at the end, especially when 
 they are drawn out to any length, are apt to car- 
 ry the voice into a higher key than is either suita- 
 ble or pleasant, too much care cannot be taken to 
 keep the voice down, when we are pronouncing 
 the former parts of a long question, and the com- 
 mencing questions of a long succession of ques- 
 tions ; for as the characteristic pronunciation of 
 these questions is, to end with the rising inflec- 
 tion, provided we do but terminate with this, the 
 voice may creep on in a low and almost sameness 
 of tone till the end ; and then if the voice is not 
 agreeable in a high key, which is the case with the 
 generality of voices, the last word of the whole 
 may be pronounced with the rising inflection, in 
 nearly the same low key in which the voice com* 
 mences. 
 
 Perhaps it may not be entirely useless to take 
 notice of a very common mistake of printers, 
 which is annexing the note of interrogation to such 
 sentences as are not really interrogative, and which 
 include a question only imperatively. Such are 
 the following 
 
1 94 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 Presumptuous man ! the reason would'st thou had, 
 Why form'd so weak, so Utile, and so blind? 
 First, if thou canst, the harder reason guess, 
 Why form'd no weaker, blinder, and no less. 
 Ask ofthy mother, earth, why oaks are made 
 Taller or stronger than the weeds they shade ? 
 Or ask of yonder argent fields above, 
 Why Jove's satellites are less than Jove ? 
 
 Popes Essay on Man, Ep. i. v. 35. 
 
 Iii this passage we find the first couplet very 
 properly marked with the note of interrogation, 
 and the second couplet as properly left without it. 
 But the third couplet, which is no more a ques- 
 tion than the second, has a note of interrogation 
 annexed to it ; and the fourth, which is perfectly 
 similar to the third, is marked with a note of in- 
 terrogation likewise. 
 
 Exclamation. 
 
 This note is appropriated by grammarians t© 
 to indicate that some passion or emotion is con- 
 tained in the words to which it is annexed ; and 
 it may, therefore, be looked upon as essentially 
 distinct from the rest of the points ; the office of 
 which is commonly supposed to be that of fixing 
 or determining the sense only. Whether a point 
 that indicates passion or emotion without deter- 
 mining what emotion or passion is meant,or if 
 we had points expressive of every passion or em- 
 otion, whether this would, in common usage, 
 more assist or embarrass the elocution of the rea- 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 195 
 
 der, I shall not at present attempt to decide ; but 
 when this point is applied to sentences which, 
 from their form, might be supposed to be merely 
 interrogative, and yet really imply wonder, sur- 
 prise, or astonishment ; when this use, I say, is 
 made of the note of exclamation, it must be con- 
 fessed to be of no small importance in reading, 
 and very justly to deserve a place in grammati- 
 cal punctuation. 
 
 Thus the sentence, How mysterious are the 
 ways of Providence ! which naturally adopts the 
 exclamation, may, by a speaker who denies these 
 mysteries, become a question, by laying a stress 
 on the word hozv, and subjoining the note of in- 
 terrogation ; as How 7 mysterious are the zvays of 
 Providence ? Upon hearing a piece of music, we 
 may cry out with rapture, What harmony is that ! 
 or we may use the w r ords to inquire What har- 
 mony is that ? that is, what kind of harmon} r . 
 The very different import, of these sentences, as 
 they are differently pointed, sufficiently shew the 
 utility of the note of exclamation. 
 
 So lit le, however, is this distinction attended 
 to, that we seldom see a sentence commencing 
 with the interrogative words marked with any 
 thing but the note of interrogation, however dis- 
 tant the meaning of the sentence may be from 
 doubt or inquiry. 
 
 Thus Mr. Addison, speaking of the necessity 
 of exercise, says — 
 
196 
 
 ELEMENTS OT 
 
 The earth must be laboured before it gives its increase ; ana 
 whenitiR forced imoits several products* bow many bands must 
 they pass through befcre they are fit for use ? Sped. No. 115. 
 
 And this passage, in all the editions of the Spec- 
 tator, I have seen, is marked with a note of inter- 
 rogation. Another writer in the Spectator, 
 speaking of the grandeur and beauty of heaven, 
 
 says — 
 
 How irreat must be the majesty of that place, where the whole 
 art of creation has been employed, and where God has chosen to 
 show himself in the most magnificent manner ? Ibid.No. 580. 
 
 Instances of this mistake are innumerable; and 
 yet it is clear as any thing in language, that these 
 passages ought not to be marked with the inter- 
 rogation, but with the exclamation point. — It may 
 be urged, indeed, in extenuation of this fault, that 
 the note of interrogation is not always very easy 
 to be distinguished from the note of exclamation ; 
 and w T hen this is the case, a mistake is not of any 
 great importance to the reader ; for we may be 
 sure that question which may be mistaken for an 
 exclamation, whatever tone or passion it may de- 
 mand, can never require any inflection of voice on 
 the last word, but that which the question itself 
 requires, which is the falling inflection.— It will, 
 however, be necessary to take notice of an ex- 
 ception to this rule, which is, when the exclama- 
 tion comes immediately after a question, and, as 
 it were, repeats it ; for, in this case, the repeated 
 question, which is really an exclamation, assumes 
 the rising inflection. 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 197 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 Will you for ever, Athenians, do nothing- but walk up and down 
 the city, asking- one another, What news ? What u^ws ! Is there 
 any thing- more new than to see a man of Macedonia become mas 
 ter of the Athenians, and give laws to all Greece ? 
 
 JJemosthene^s First Philippic. Mollin. 
 
 In this passage we find the first question in- 
 cluding the last, and being formed without the 
 interrogative words, requires the rising inflection; 
 and as the sentence of admiration, What news ! 
 immediately followed, it exactly imitates the ob- 
 ject it ironically admires. This inflection of the 
 note of admiration is not confined to the repeti- 
 tion of this inflection in the foregoing question ; 
 for if a question is asked with the interrogative 
 words, and, consequently, with the falling inflec- 
 tion, if we immediately echo the question, and 
 turn it into an admiration, the voice necessarily 
 adopts the rising inflection before described. 
 Thus when Pope inquires into the place where 
 happiness resides, he says— • 
 
 Plant of celestial seed, if dropp'd below, 
 Say in what mortal soil thou deign'st to -grow : 
 Fair op'ning to some courts propitious shine, 
 Or deep with diamonds in the flaming- mine ? 
 Twin'd with the wreaths Parnassian laurels yield, 
 Or reap'd in iron harvests of the field ? 
 Where gr^ws ? where grows it ndt ? if vain our toil, 
 We ought to blame the culture, not the soil. 
 
 Pope's Essay on J\fan, b. iv. 
 
 Here the phrase, wher&grows, assumes the ri- 
 sing inflection, and ought to be marked with the 
 note of exclamation. 
 
i98 
 
 ELEMENTS Of 
 
 It may not be entirely useless to take notice of 
 a common error of grammarians; which is, that 
 both this point and the interrogation require an 
 elevation of voice. The inflection of voice pro- 
 per to one species of question, which, it is proba- 
 ble, grammarians may have mistaken for an ele- 
 vation of voice, it is presumed has been fully ex- 
 plained under that article i By the elevation of 
 voice they attribute to this point, it is not unlike- 
 ly that they mean the pathos or energy with 
 which we usually express passion or emotion ; 
 but which is, by no means, inseparably connected 
 with elevation of voice ; were we even to sup- 
 pose, that all passion or emotion necessarily as- 
 sumes a louder tone, it must still be acknowledg- 
 ed this is very different from a higher tone of 
 voice, and therefore that the common rule is very 
 fallacious and inaccurate. 
 
 The truth is, the expression of passion or emo- 
 tion consists in giving a distinct and specific 
 quality to the sounds we use, rather than in in- 
 creasing or diminishing their quantity, or in giv- 
 ing their quantity any local direction upwards or 
 downwards : Understanding the import of a sen- 
 tence, and expressing that sentence with passion 
 or emotion, are things as distinct as the head and 
 the heart : This point, therefore, though useful 
 to distinguish interrogation from emotion, is as 
 different from the rest of the points as Grammar 
 is from Rhetoric ; and whatever may be the tone 
 of voice proper to the note of exclamation, it is 
 certain the inflections it requires are exactly the 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 1§9 
 
 same as the rest of the points ; that is, if the ex-, 
 elamation point is placed after a member that 
 would have the rising inflection in another sen- 
 tence, it ought to have the rising in this; if af- 
 ter a member that would have the falling inflec 
 tion, the exclamation ought to have the falling 
 inflection likewise j or if exclamation is mingled 
 with a question, it requires the same inflection 
 the question would require, unless, as we have 
 formerly observed, the question with the interro- 
 gative words is an echo of another question of 
 the same kind, which, in this case, always re- 
 quires the rising inflection : And this exception., 
 it may be observed, is perfectly agreeable to the 
 general rule ; for a repetition of a question of 
 this kind alters its form, and changes it in effect 
 into a question without the interrogative word ; 
 as the member, where grows, in the last example, 
 is equivalent to the sentence, Do you ask where it 
 grows ; an ellipsis in the words, not altering in 
 the least the import of the sentence. 
 
 An instance, that the exclamation may be 
 mixed with interrogations of both kinds, may 
 be seen in the following speech of Gracchus, 
 quoted by Cicero, and inserted in the Spectator, 
 N°. 541. 
 
 Whither shall I turn ? Wretch that I am ! to what place shall I 
 betake myself? Shall I go to the Capitol ? alas ! it is overflowed 
 with my brother's blood ! or shall I retire to my h^use ? yet there 
 I behold my mother plunged in misery^ weeping and despairing ? 
 
200 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 Every distinct portion of this passage may be 
 truly said to h r -* an exclamation ; and yet we find, 
 in reading it, though it can scarcely be pronoun- 
 ced with too much emotion, the inflections of 
 voice are the same as if pronounced without any 
 emotion at all : that is, the portion, Whither 
 shall I turn, terminates like a question with the 
 interrogative word, with the falling inflection. 
 The member, Wretch that lam, like a member 
 forming incomplete sense, with the rising inflec- 
 tion ; the question, without the interrogation 
 word, Shall I go to the Capitol, with the rising 
 inflection ; alas ! it is overflowed with my brothers 
 bloody with the falling : The question commencing 
 with the disjunctive or, or sliall I retire to my 
 house, .with the failing inflection, but in a lower 
 tone of voice. 
 
 Thus we see how vague and indefinite are the 
 general rules for reading this point, for want of dis- 
 tinguishing high and low tones of voice from those 
 upward and downward slides, which may be in 
 any note of the voice, and which, from their radi- 
 cal difference, form the most marking differences 
 in pronunciation. 
 
 Parenthesis. 
 
 The parenthesis is defined by our excellent 
 grammarian, Dr. Lowth, to be a member of a 
 
ElOCUTIOff, 201 
 
 sentence inserted in the body of a sentence, which 
 member is neither necessary to the sense* nor at 
 all affects the construction. He observes, also* 
 that in reading or speaking, it ought to have a 
 moderate depression of the voice, and a pause 
 greater than a comma. This is, perhaps, as just 
 a definition of the parenthesis as Could be given in 
 so few words, and may serve to regulate our opi- 
 nion of it when the marks of it in printing are 
 either omittejd or used improperly ; but several 
 other particulars respecting this grammatical note 
 may be remarked, which will tend greatly to ac- 
 quaint us with the true nature of it, and shew us 
 how it may be pronounced to advantage. 
 
 And first it may be observed, that the paren- 
 thesis seems to have been much under-rated by 
 the generality of writers on composition, who 
 consider it rather as a blemish than an advantage 
 to style, and have almost entirely prohibited the 
 use of it. This, however, cannot be done with- 
 out arraigning the taste of the best writers, both 
 ancient and modern, who frequently make use of 
 this figure of grammar, and often with great ad- 
 vantage : for though, when used injudiciously, it 
 interrupts the course of the thought, and obscures 
 the meaning; yet sometimes it so happily conveys 
 a sentiment or stroke of humour, as to entitle it 
 to no small merit among the grammatical figures, 
 and to rank it even with those of oratory and elo- 
 quence. What, for example, can add greater 
 force to a pathetic sentiment than a thought rising 
 up from the fulness of the heart, as it were in the 
 middle of another sentence ? What can add grea* 
 
202 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 ter poignancy to a sally of wit, than conceiving it 
 as springing naturally from the Luxnriancy of the 
 subject without the least effort or premeditation of 
 the writer? What can give such importance to a 
 transient thought, as producing it in the negli- 
 gence of an intervening member; and how much 
 is composition familiarized, and rendered natural 
 and easy, by the judicious introduction of these 
 transient unpremeditated thoughts! This manner 
 of conveying a thought makes us esteem it the 
 more in proportion as the author seems to esteem 
 it less ; and if, to this advantage of the parenthesis, 
 v/e add that of the conciseness of thought and 
 variety of pronunciation, it sometimes bestows on 
 the style and cadence of a sentence, we shall by 
 no means think it a trifling or insignificant part of 
 composition. 
 
 But though the parenthesis has often an ex- 
 cellent effect both in composition and delivery, 
 yet, when it is used too frequently, or extended to 
 too great a length, it embarrasses the reader, and 
 obscures rather then illustrates the meaning of 
 the author ; for which reason we find good writers 
 constantly avoid a long and complicated paren- 
 thesis. The best parenthesis, therefore, is the 
 shortest; for as the main current of the sentence 
 is standing still while this intervening member is 
 pronounced, the thread of the discourse is bro- 
 ken, a id, if discontinued too long, is with difficult}' 
 taken up again. 
 
 The real nature of the parenthesis once under- 
 stood, we are at no loss for the true manner &f 
 
ELOCUTION. 2©3 
 
 delivering it. The tone of voice ought to be in- 
 terrupted, as it were, by something unforeseen; 
 and, after a pause, the parenthesis should be pro- 
 nounced in a lower tone of voice, at the end of 
 which, after another pailse, the higher tone of 
 voice, which was interrupted, should be resumed, 
 that the connexion between the former and latter 
 part of the interrupted sentence may be restored. 
 It may be observed, too, that in order to preserve 
 the integrity of the principal members, the paren- 
 thesis ought not only to be pronounced in a 
 lower tone, but a degree swifter than the rest of 
 the period, as this still better preserves the broken 
 % sense, and distinguishes the explanation from the 
 text. For that this is always the case in conver- 
 sation, we can be under no doubt whether we con- 
 sider, that whatever is supposed to make our au- 
 ditors wait, gives an impulse to the tongue, in or 
 der to relieve them as soon as possible from the 
 suspense of an occasional and unexpected inter- 
 ruption. 
 
 Paile I. The most general rule is, that the 
 parenthesis always terminates with that pause and 
 inflection of voice with which the interrupted 
 part of the sentence that precedes it is marked ; 
 for any closer connexion between the parenthesis, 
 and the latter, than between the parenthesis and 
 the former part of the sentence, would form a 
 fresh member, compounded of the parenthesis 
 and the latter part, and by this means leave the 
 former imperfect. Accordingly, when the mem- 
 ber immediately preceding the parenthesis ends 
 with imperfect sense, or a comma and the rising 
 
204 ELEMENTS O*' 
 
 inflection, (which is almost always the case,) the 
 parenthesis ends with a comma, and the rising 
 inflection likewise. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the Uw,) 
 that the law hath dominion over a man as long" as he lHeth ? 
 
 Rom. vii. 1' 
 
 When it ends with perfect sense, generally 
 marked whith a colon, and consequently requires 
 the falling inflection of voice (which very seldom 
 happens,) the parenthesis ends with a colon and 
 falling inflection also. 
 
 <L 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 Then went the captain with the officers, and brought them with- 
 out violence ; (for they feared the people, lest they should have 
 been stoned:) And when they had brought them, they set them be- 
 fore the council. Acts. v. 26, 27. 
 
 But before we proceed to give other examples, 
 it will be necessary to take notice, that though 
 the pause and inflection, terminating the paren- 
 thesis and the member that precedes it, may be 
 said to be the same, it must still be understood 
 to mean the same only as far as the difference of 
 tone with which the parenthesis is pronounced 
 will permit ; for if the parenthesis is to be pro- 
 nounced in a lower tone than the principal sen^ 
 truce, which seems universally allowed, the 
 pause and inflection of voice with which the 
 parenthesis ends, mast necessarily be pronounced 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 205 
 
 lower than the same pauses and inflections ter- 
 minating the preceding member : but as this 
 is only like reading the same sentence in a high- 
 er or lower, in a louder or softer tone, (in all 
 which modes of pronunciation the pauses and 
 inflections have an exact proportion, and are cal- 
 led the same, though different in some respects ; ) 
 so the higher and lower tone with which the 
 same pause and inflection are pronounced in and 
 out of a parenthesis, may be so easily conceived, 
 that, perhaps, this observation may, by most 
 readers, be thought superfluous. To resume 
 therefore the rule : 
 
 A parenthesis must be pronounced in a lower 
 tone of voice, and conclude with the same pause 
 and inflection which terminate the member that 
 immediately precedes it. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 Notwihstanding all this care of Cicero, history informs us that 
 Marcus proved a mere blockhead ; and that nature (who it seems 
 was even with the son for her prodigality to the father) rendered 
 him incapable of improving, by all the rules of Eloquence, the 
 precepts of philosophy, his own endeavours, and the most refined 
 conversation in Alliens. Sped. No. 3 07. 
 
 Natural historians observe (for whilst I am in the country I 
 must fetch my allusions from thence) that only male birds have 
 voices ; that their songs begin a little before breeding-time, and 
 end a little after. Ibid. No. 128. 
 
 Dr. Clarke/ has observed, that Homer is more perspicuous than 
 any other author; but if he is so (which yet may be questioned) 
 the perspicuity arises from his subject, and not from the language 
 itself in which he writes. IVartPs Gratnmar, p. 292. 
 
 The many letters which come to me from persons of the best 
 sense in b6th sexes (for I may pronounce their chracters from their 
 way of writing) do not a little encourage me in the prosecution of 
 this my undertaking Spectator, JNu. 1^4, 
 
206 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 It is this sense which furnishes the imagination with its 
 Meas ; so that by the pleasures of the imagination or fancy (which, 
 I shall use promiscuously) I here mean such as arises from visible 
 objects. ibid. No. 411. 
 
 In these examples, we find the parenthesis 
 break in upon the sense ; but as the interruption 
 is short, and is also distinguished from the body 
 of the sentence by a different tone of voice, as 
 well as by pauses, it does not in the least em- 
 barrass it. 
 
 But when parentheses are long, which is 
 sometimes the case in prose, and often in poetry, 
 too much care cannot be taken to read them in 
 so different a tone of voice from the rest . of the 
 sentence, as may keep them perfectly seperate 
 and distinct : this, is not only to be done by 
 lowering the voice, and pronouncing the paren- 
 thesis more rapidly, but by giving a degree of 
 monotone or sameness to the voice, which will, 
 perhaps, distinguish the parenthesis, and keep it 
 from mingling with what incloses it better than 
 any of the other peculiarities. Let us take a 
 few examples by way of praxis. 
 
 Since then every sort of good which is immediately of import- 
 ance to happiness, must be perceived by some immediate power 
 or sense, antecedent to any opinions or reasoning, (for it is the 
 business of reason to compare the several sons of good perceived 
 -by the several senses, and to find out the proper means foi? ob- 
 taining them,) we must therefore carefully inquire into the seve- 
 ral sublimer perceptive powers or senses ; since it is by them we 
 best discover what state or course of life best answers the inten- 
 tion «f <iU>d and nature, and wherein true happiness consists. 
 
 Hutchesori's Moral Philosophy, book i. chap. i. sect. 5^ 
 
 If sometimes on account of virtue we should be exposed U 
 suck evils, which, is sometimes the c 4 se (though men are milcli 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 207 
 
 more frequently involved by their vices in such evils, and that in a 
 more shameful base way) virtue can teach us to bear such evils 
 with resolution, or to conquer them. 
 
 Ibid. chap. ii. sect. 11 
 
 r And although the diligent and active should not, without 
 weighty causes, be any way restrained in their just acquisitions' 
 (and, indeed, the best sorts of democracy may allow them to ac^ 
 quire as much as can be requisite for any elegance or pleasure 
 of life that a wise man could desire :) yet we are never to put in 
 the balance with the liberty or safety of a people, the gratifying the 
 vain ambition, luxury, or avarice of a few. 
 
 Ibid, book ill ch. vi. sect. 1. 
 
 For these reasons, the senate and people of A'thens, (with due 
 veneration to the gods and heroes, and guardians of the Athenian 
 eity and territory, whose aid they now implore ; and with due at- 
 tention to the virtue of their ancestors, to whom the general liber- 
 ty of Greece was ever dearer than the partiular interest of their 
 own st^te) have resolved that a fleet of two hundred vessels shall 
 be sent to sea, the admiral to cruise within the streights of Ther- 
 mopylae. Lela?id's Demosthenes on the Crown. 
 
 As to my own abilities in speaking (for I shall admit this 
 charge, although experience hath convinced me, that what is cal- 
 led the power of eloquence depends for the most part upon the 
 hearers, and that the characters of public speakers are determined 
 by that degree of favour which you vouchsafe to 6ach) ; if long 
 practice, 1 say, hath given me any proficiency in speaking, you 
 have ever found it devoted to my countiy. Ibidem. 
 
 In these instances of the parenthesis, it will be 
 found very difficult to keep the main thread of 
 the subject entire, unless we distinguish the in- 
 tervening member by a pause, a lower tone of 
 voice, and a somewhat swifter and less varied 
 tone than what precedes and follows : and we 
 must never forget, that when the parenthesis is 
 pronounced, the voice, after a short pause, must 
 recover the higher tone it fell from, in order to 
 preserve the connexion in the thought. With. 
 
208 
 
 ELEMENTS OP 
 
 out these precautions it will often be impossible 
 to pronounce Milton so as to make him intelligi- 
 ble. That sublime and excursive genius is like 
 Homer, frequently, by the beauty of an interven- 
 ing thought, carried so far out of the direct line 
 of his subject as to make it impossible for his 
 reader to preserve the direct line, but by distin- 
 guishing those thoughts that vary from it by a 
 different pronunciation. Let us adduce a few 
 examples for practice. 
 
 But what if he our ctfnqueror (whom I now 
 Offeree believe almighty, since no less than such 
 Could have o'er-powcr'd such force as 6urs) 
 Have left us this our spirit and strength entire 
 Strongiy to suffer and support our pains ? 
 
 Par ad. Lost, b* i. v. 143. 
 
 His spA\r (to equal which the tallest pine 
 Hewn on Norwegian hills to be the wast 
 Of some great admiral were but a wind) 
 He walk'd with to support uneasy steps 
 Over the burning marie. Ibid. v. 292. 
 
 Know then, that after Lucifer from h*av'n 
 (So call hirn brighter once amid^r the iiost 
 Of angels than that star the srSfs among) 
 Fell with his flaming legions through the deep 
 Into his place, and the great Son return'd 
 Victorious with his saints, th' omnipotent 
 Eternal Father from his throne beheld 
 Their multitude, and to his son thus spake. 
 
 Ibid, book vii. v. 131. 
 
 Hound he surveys (and well might where he stood 
 So high above the circling canopy 
 Of night's extended shade) from eastern point 
 Of Libra, to the fleecy star that bears 
 Andromeda far off Atlantic seas 
 Beyond the horizon. Ibid, book iii. v. 555. 
 
ELOCUTION, 
 
 209 
 
 They anon 
 With hundreds and with thousands trooping* came 
 Attended : all access was throng'd ; the gates 
 And porches wide, but chief the spacious h&U 
 (Though like a cover'd field, where champions bold 
 Wont ride in arm'd, and at the soldan's chair 
 Defy'd the best of Panim chivalry 
 To mortal combat, or career with l&nce) 
 Thick swarm'd both on the ground, and in the air 
 Brush'd with the hiss of rustling wings. 
 
 Ibid. book. it). 752 
 
 Under this article, perhaps, may be arranged 
 aside speeches in dramatic works, and all the in- 
 tervening explanatory members in narrative wri- 
 ting : for both these species of members, like the 
 parenthesis, require both a lower tone of voice 
 and a more rapid pronunciation, than the rest of 
 the composition. 
 
 It may not, perhaps, be improper to observe, that 
 the small intervening members, says /, says he^ 
 continued they y &c. not only follow the inflection, 
 but the tone of the member which precedes 
 them : that is, if the preceding member bre'alsLs 
 off with the rising inflection, these intervening 
 members are not pronounced in a lower tone 
 like other parentheses, but in a higher and feebler 
 tone of voice than the rest. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 Thus then, said he, since you are so urgent, it is thus that I 
 conceive it. The sovereign good is that, the possession of which 
 renders us happy. And how, said I, do we possess it ? Is it sen- 
 sual or intellectual \ There you are entering, said he, upon the 
 detail. iforis 
 
 S 2 
 
210 ELEMENTS OP 
 
 The first intervening member said he •, is pro- 
 nounced with the falling inflection somewhat 
 feebler than the words thus then, which have the 
 same inflection : the next intervening member, 
 said I, has the falling inflection, in a feebler tone 
 than the word how, which has the falling inflec- 
 tion likewise ; but said he, in the next sentence, 
 has the rising inflection like the preceding word 
 entering, though in a feebler tone of voice. The 
 same may be observed of the intervening mem- 
 ber, says one of the frogs, in the following 
 example : 
 
 A company of waggish boys were watching of frogs at the 
 side of a pond, and still as any of them put up their heads, 
 they would be pelting them down again with stones : " Chil- 
 I dren," (says one of the frogs), " you never consider, that 
 <( though this may be play to you, it is death to us.'' 
 
 V Estrange in Sped. Xo. 23. 
 
 But when the intervening member goes far- 
 ther than these simple phrases, they must always 
 be pronounced in a lower tone of voice, and ter- 
 minate with the rising inflection. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 I had Utters from him (here I felt in my p6ckets) that exactly 
 spoke the Czar's character, which I knew perfectly well. 
 
 Spectator, Xo. 136. 
 
 Young master was alive last Whitsuntide, said the coachman. 
 — Whitsuntide ! alas ! cried Trim, (extending his right arm, and 
 falling instantly into the same attitude in which he read the ser- 
 mon) — What is Whitsuntide, J6nathan (for that was the coach- 
 man's name), or Shrovetide, or any tide or time past to this ? Are 
 we not here n6\v, continued the cfirporal, (striking the end of 
 his stick perpendicularly upon the floor, so as to give an idea 
 of health and stability,) and are we r^t (dropping his hat upon 
 the ground) gone in a m6ment ? Sterne \ 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 211 
 
 In these examples we perceive the parenthesis 
 has a pronunciation much more different from 
 the text than the small explanatory members, 
 cried Trim, and continued the corporal, which, 
 though pronounced in a different manner from 
 the bodv of the sentence, have not so marked a 
 difference as the parenthesis. 
 
 Rule II. As the first general rule was, that 
 the parenthesis ought to terminate with the same 
 pause and inflection of voice as the member that 
 preceded it ; the next general rule is, that the 
 parenthesis, like the member immediately pre- 
 ceding it, almost always terminates with the 
 pause of the comma and the rising inflection: 
 this has been abundantly exemplified in the 
 foregoing instances ; and it will now be neces- 
 sary to take notice of an exception of this rule, 
 which is, when the parenthesis terminates with 
 ^an emphatical word which requires the falling- 
 inflection; for in this case, emphasis requires 
 that the parenthesis should terminate with the 
 falling instead of the rising inflection. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 Had I, when speaking- in the assembly, been absolute and inde- 
 pendent master of affairs, then your other speakers rmVht call me 
 
 Ho account. But if ye were ever present, if ye were all in general 
 nvited to propose your sentiments, if ye were all agreed that 
 the measures then suggested were really the best; if you, JEs- 
 
 ^chines, in particular, were thus persuaded, (and it was no partial 
 affection for me, that prompted you to give me up the hopes, 
 the applause, the honours, which attended that course I then ad- 
 vised, but the superior force of truth, and your utter inability to 
 point out any more eligible course;) if this was the case, I say, 
 is it not highly cruel and unjust to arraign those measures now, 
 when you could not then propose any better ? 
 
 LclancVs Demost. on the Crown. 
 
212 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 Here the parenthesis finishing with two parts 
 in opposition to each other, and the first of them 
 being negative, and the last positive, the sense 
 necessarily requires that advised should termi- 
 nate with the rising, and eligible course with the 
 Falling inflection ; but as the member which im- 
 mediately precedes the parenthesis is emphatical, 
 and takes the falling inflection, likewise in this 
 case the general rule is not broken. 
 
 Cicero, speaking of the duty of magistrates, 
 says — 
 
 Care must be. taken that it b£ not (as was often done by our an- 
 cestors through the smallness of the treasury and continuance of 
 the w&rs) necessary to raise taxes ; and in order to prevent this, 
 provision should be made against it long beforehand : but if the 
 necessity of this service should happen to any state (which I had 
 father suppose of another than our own ; nor am I now discoursing; 
 of our 6wn but of every state in general) methods must be used 
 to convince all persons (if they would be secure) that they ought 
 ro submit to necessity. Cicero's Offices, book ii. c. 21 f 
 
 In this passage are no less than three paren- 
 theses ; the first and last, according to the gene- 
 ral rule, end with the rising inflection; but the 
 middle parenthetic member ending with two 
 emphatic objects, the last of which requires the 
 falling inflection, the general rule must be dis- 
 pensed with. Why the negative part of a sen- 
 tence requires the rising, and positive part the 
 falling inflection, see Theory of Emphatic In- 
 flection. 
 
 Before we conclude this article, it may not be 
 improper to take notice of a very erroneous prac* 
 lice among printers, which is, substituting com- 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 213 
 
 mas instead of the hooks which mark a paren- 
 thesis. Slight as this fault may appear at first 
 sight, we shall find upon reflection, that it is pro- 
 ductive of great inconveniences; for if the pa- 
 renthesis ought to be read in a lower tone of 
 voice, and these hooks which inclose it are a 
 mark of this tone, how shall a reader be able to 
 understand this at sight, if the marks of the pa- 
 renthesis are taken away, and commas inserted 
 in their stead? The difficulty of always deciding, 
 what is a parenthesis, and what is not, may, per- 
 haps, be some excuse for confounding it with 
 other intervening members; but the absolute 
 necessity of reading a real parenthesis with its 
 proper tone of voice, makes it of some impor- 
 tance to distinguish between this and the incident 
 tal member which is often confounded with it. 
 The best rule, therefore, to distinguish the 
 member in question is, not merely to try if sense 
 remains when it is left out of the sentence, but to 
 see if the member so modifies the preceding 
 member as to change it from a general to a par- 
 ties lar meaning ; for if this be the case, the mem- 
 ber, though incidental, is absolutely necessary to 
 the Sense of the whole sentence, and consequent- 
 ly cannot be a p irenthesis. An example will 
 assist us in understanding this distinction, which 
 is nearly the same as that which has been taken 
 notice of in the definition of a sentence, p. 47. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 My friend the divine, having" been used with words of com- 
 plaisance, (which he thinks could be properly applied to no man 
 
214 ELEMENTS OP 
 
 living*, and I think could be only spoken of him, and that in 
 his absence) was so offended with the excessive way of speaking 
 civilities among us, that he made a discourse against it at the 
 dub. 
 
 The incidental member in this sentence, which, 
 in every edition of the Spectator I have seen, is 
 marked as a parenthesis, is certainly nothing 
 more than an incidental member modifying that 
 which ptecedes, and therefore ought to have no 
 fall of the voice in pronouncing it as the paren- 
 thesis requires ; for the words of complaisance are 
 not merely these words in general, but such as 
 he thought could be applied to no one living, 
 &x. ; and consequently this modifying member 
 ought not to be so detached from that which 
 ^t modifies, as to be pronounced in a lower tone 
 of voice, as this would in some measure injure 
 the sense. 
 
 Thus have we gone through the several pauses 
 and distinctions of punctuation, and to these 
 pauses and distinctions have added such a slide or 
 inflection of voice as is suited to express them 
 with clearness, strength, and propriety. Our 
 next attempt must be to show what pronunciation 
 is required by accent, emphasis, variety, harmo- 
 ny, and passion ; and this must be the subject of 
 the second part of this work. 
 
 - $ 
 
ELEMENTS 
 
 OF 
 
 ELOCUTION. 
 
 PART II. 
 
 ACCENT. 
 
 AS Accent relates to the pronunciation of 
 words taken singly, it can have little to do in an 
 essay on the pronunciation of words in succes- 
 sion, as Elocution, perhaps, may not improperly 
 he called; for as words justly pronounced are 
 merely the materials for delivery, these must all 
 1)C supposed to be in our own possession be- 
 fore we can possibly begin to arrange and display 
 them to advantage. A person who pronounces 
 every word singly with the greatest purity, may 
 not be able to read well; and another may con- 
 vey the sense of an author with great force and 
 beauty, who does not always either pronounce 
 the words justly, or place the accent on the pro- 
 per syllable. The only point, therefore, in 
 which it will be necessary to take notice of ac* 
 cent in reading, is that where the emphasis re- 
 quires a transposition of it: this happens when 
 two words which have a sameness in part of their 
 formation, are opposed to each other in sense. 
 Thus, if I pronounce the words y^z"^ and injus- 
 
216 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 tice as single words, I nuturally place the ac- 
 cent on the penultimate syllable of both ; but if 
 I contrast them, and say, Neither justice nor in- 
 justice have any thing to do with the present ques- 
 tion ; in this sentence I naturally place the accent 
 on the first syllable of injustice, in order the more 
 forcibly and clearly to distinguish it from justice. 
 This transposition of the accent, which is so evi- 
 dently dictated by the sense, extends itself to all 
 words which have a sameness of termination, 
 though they may not be directly opposite in 
 sense ; thus, if I wanted more particularly to 
 show that I meant one requisite of dramatic story 
 rather than another, I should say; In this species 
 **f composition, plausibility is much more essential 
 than probability ; and in the pronunciation of 
 these words, I should infallibly transpose the ac- 
 cent of both, from the third to the first syllables ; 
 in order to contrast those parts of the words 
 which are distinguished from each other by the 
 import of the sentence. As an instance of the ne- 
 cessity of attending to this emphatical accent, as 
 it may be called, we need only give a passage 
 from "the Spectator, N°. 189: 
 
 In this case I may use the saying 1 of an eminent wit, who upon 
 some great men's pessing him to forgive his daughter who had 
 married against his consent, told them he could refuse nothing to 
 their instances, but that he would have them remember there was 
 a difference between giving and for giving. 
 
 In this example, we find the whole of the pas- 
 
 'sage depends on placing the accent on the*firsr 
 
 syllable of forgiving, in order to contrast it more 
 
 i 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 217 
 
 strongly with giving, to which it is opposed ; 
 as, without this transposition of accent, the op- 
 position, on which the sentiment turns, would 
 be lost. 
 
 Another instance will more fully illustrate 
 the necessity of attending to this emphatical ac- 
 cent. 
 
 The prince for the public good has a sovereign property in every 
 private person's estate ; and, consequently, his riches must. in~ 
 crease or t/ecrease, in proportion to the number and riches of his 
 subjects. Spectator, No. 200. 
 
 The words increase and decrease have, in this 
 example, the accent on the first syllable of each, 
 as it is there the contrast in the sense lies. 
 
 What has already been said of accent, as it re- 
 lates to the art of reading, is, perhaps, more thau* 
 sufficient ; but so much has been said about thv 
 nature of this accent, both in the ancient and mo- 
 dern languages, that it may not be improper to of- 
 fer a few thoughts on the subject here. Almost 
 all authors, ancient and modern, assert, that the 
 accented syllable is pronounced in a higher tone 
 than the rest ; but Mr. Sheridan insists that it is 
 not pronounced higher but louder only.* What- 
 ever may have been the nature of accent in the 
 learned languages, certain it is, that the accented 
 syllable in our own is always louder than the rest; 
 and if we attend ever so little to the two kinds of 
 inflection with which every accented word in a 
 
 * See this erronious opinion of Mr. Sheridan clearly refuted in 
 the Observations on the Greek and Latin Accent and Quantity at 
 the end of the Key to the Classical Pronunciation of Greek and 
 Latin Proper Names. 
 
18 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 sentence is pronounced, we shall soon see that the 
 
 accented syllable is either higher or lower than the 
 
 rest, according to the inflection which it adopts. 
 
 Thus in this sentence, Plate III. N°. I. p. 220 : 
 
 Sooner or later virtue must meet with a reward. 
 
 Here I say the last syllable wardhas the foiling 
 inflection ; and if we pronounce the word with- 
 out emphasis, and merely as if we were conclu- 
 ding the subject, this sylkftle will be pronounced 
 louder and lower than the syllable immediately 
 preceding ; but if we give emphasis to this sylla- 
 ble, by opposing it to something else, we shall 
 find it pronounced both higher and louder than 
 the preceding syllables. Thus in the following 
 Sentence, Plate'lll. N°. II : 
 
 Most certainly virtue will meet with a reward, andnot punishment. 
 
 Here the word reward has the same inflection 
 as m the former instance, and the word punish- 
 merit ends with the rising inflection ; but the syl- 
 lable -ward is perceptibly higher as well as louder 
 than the syllable that precedes it. Again, if 
 we give this word the rising inflection, we shall 
 find, in this case, that without emphasis the ac- 
 cented syllable ward is pronounced both louder 
 and higher than the preceding syllables. Thus 
 N°. III. : 
 
 If virtue must have a reward, it is our interest to be virtuous. 
 
 These observations compare the accented syl 
 lable with the preceding syllables only : it will in 
 the next place be necessary to compare it with 
 
ELOCUTION, 219 
 
 those that follow : for which purpose, let us 
 observe the pronunciation of this sentence, N°* 
 IV. 
 
 We ought to avoid blame, though we cannot be perfect. 
 
 Here, I say, if we give the word perfect the 
 falling inflection, and pronounce it with emphasis, 
 we shall find the first syllable very perceptibly 
 higher and louder thafc|Jrhe last ; on the contra- 
 ry, if we give the woycl perfect the rising infec- 
 tion, we shall find the accented syllable louder 
 than the last, though not so high ; for the last 
 syllable perceptibly slides into a higher tone, 
 Thus N°. V. • 
 
 If we wish to be perfect, we must imitate Christ. 
 
 These observations will, perhaps, be still bet- 
 ter conceived, by watching our pronunciation of a 
 word where the accent is nearly in the middle. 
 Thus in this passage of Shakspeare : 
 
 What earthly name to interrogatories. 
 
 Shall task the free breath of a sacred king ? 'Kmg John, 
 
 In this passage, I say, the syllable rog has the 
 rising inflection, and is pronounced perceptibly 
 louder and higher than the two first, and louder 
 and lower than the three last : but if we give 
 this syllable the falling inflection, as in this sen- 
 tence : 
 
 He is neither mov'd by intreaties nor iaterrdgatories, 
 
 Here, I say, the syllable rog 9 if pronounced with 
 the least degree of emphasis, is both louder and 
 higher than either the preceding or subsequent 
 syllables. 
 
220 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 t From these observations, this general conclu- 
 sion may be drawn: Whatever infection be adopt- 
 ed, the accented syllable is always louder than the 
 rest ; but if the accent be pronounced with the ri- 
 sing inflection, the accented syllable is higher than 
 the preceding, and lower than the succeedmg syl- 
 lable ; and if the accent have the falling inflection, 
 the accented syllable is pronounced higher than any 
 other syllable, either preceding or succeeding. 
 The only exception to this is, the sentence, N° I. 
 where the accent is on the last syllable of a 
 word which has no emphasis, and is pronounced 
 as forming a cadence at the conclusion of a dis- 
 course. 
 
 Sooner or later virtue must meet with a rev.-^rd. 
 
 Here the last syllable, though pronounced lou- 
 der than the first, is evidently pronounced a de- 
 gree lower. 
 
 It may not r perhaps, be improper to take no- 
 lice of a common usage of the word accent, which, 
 though seemingly inaccurate, will be found, upon 
 examination, to be a just application of the word. 
 It is the custom, not only of England, but of oth- 
 er parts of the world which are seats of empire, 
 to call those modes of pronunciation used in parts 
 distant from the capital, by the name of accents* 
 Thus we say, a native of Ireland speaks English 
 with the Irish, and a native of Scotland with the 
 Scotish accent ; though both these speakers pro- 
 nounce every word with the accent on the very 
 same syllable as the English. Why then do we 
 say, they speak with a different accent ? One rca- 
 

 
 
ELOCUTION. 221 
 
 son is ? that speaking sounds have never been suf- 
 ficiently analysed to enable us to discover their 
 component parts, which makes us take up with 
 indefinite and unspecific terms, instead of such as 
 are precise and appropriated to their object. This 
 has greatly obscured the notion of accent,and led 
 Mr. Sheridan to suppose, that accent in our lan- 
 guage is no more than a force upon a certain syl- 
 lable of a word, which distinguishes it from the 
 rest; but that accent has no reference to inflec- 
 tions of voice, and for that reason the word is 
 used by us in the singular number. * Others 
 have imagined, that we have two accents, the 
 grave and acute ; but in the definition of these, 
 they seem only to mean that the latter has a grea- 
 ter degree of force than the former. Thus, for 
 want of the simple distinction of the rising and 
 falling slide of the voice, with which every ac- 
 cented syllable must necessarily be pronounced, 
 the nature of our own accent seems as obscure, 
 and as little understood, as that of the Greeks and 
 Romans : and it is to this obscurity we owe the 
 supposed impropriety of calling a dialect by the 
 name of accent ; for though there are other dif- 
 ferences in the Scotish and Irish pronunciation 
 of English besides this, it is to the difference of 
 accent that the chief diversity is owing : if we 
 understand accent only as force or stress, there is, 
 indeed, the slighest difference imaginable ; since 
 in both those kingdoms the stress is (to the ex- 
 ception of very few words indeed) laid on the 
 same syllable as in England ; and, for this reason, 
 
 * Essay on the Harmony of Language. IZobsir.. tT74 
 
 T 2 
 
222 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 the laws of poetry are exactly the same in all ; 
 but if we divide accent into grave and acute, and 
 call the acute, the stress with the rising inflection, 
 and the grave, the stress with the failing inflection, 
 we shall then see the propriety of saying, such a 
 one speaks with the Irish or Scotch accent ; for 
 though the Irish place the stress precisely on the 
 same syllable as the English, it is often with a 
 different inflection ; and the same may be said of 
 the Scotch. Thus the Scotch pronounce the far 
 greater part of their words with the acute accent, 
 or rising inflection, and the Irish as constantly 
 make use of the grave accent, or falling inflection, 
 while the English observe pretty nearly a due 
 mixture of each. If we pronounce a sentence 
 in these three different modes, it may, perhaps, 
 suggest to the ear the truth of the foregoing obser- 
 vations. 
 
 Scotch. 
 Exercise and temperance strengthen the constitution. 
 
 Irish. 
 Exercise and temperance strengthen the constitution. 
 
 English. 
 Exercise and temperance strengthen the constitution. 
 
 If these observations are just, the Irish ought 
 to habituate themselves to a more frequent use of 
 the rising inflection, and the Scotch to the falling, 
 in order to acquire what is not (from this view 
 of the subject) improperly called the English ac- 
 cent. 
 
 But, besides the two simple accents, which, 
 from the rising or falling inflection they adopt, 
 
ELOCUTION. ^23 
 
 may be called the acute and the grave ; there are 
 two other accents compounded of these, which 
 may be called the rising and falling circumflexes. 
 These are totally unknown to the moderns : but 
 are so inherent in the nature of the human 
 voice, and so demonstrable upon experiment, as 
 to defy contradiction. See Preface to this work, 
 m the Notes. 
 
 EMPHASIS. 
 
 Introduction to the Theory of Emphasis* 
 
 Emphasis, in the most usual sense of the 
 word, is that stress with which certain words are 
 pronounced, so as to be distinguished from the 
 rest of the sentence. Among the number of 
 words we make use of in discourse, there will al- 
 ways be some which are more necessary to be un- 
 derstood than others : those things with which 
 we suppose our hearers to be pre-acquainted, we 
 express by such a subordination of stress as is 
 suitable to the small importance of things already 
 understood; while those of which our hearears 
 are either not fully informed, or which they might 
 possibly misconceive, are enforced with such an 
 increase of stress as makes it impossible for the 
 hearer to overlook or mistake them; Thus, as 
 in a picture, the more essential parts of a sentence 
 are raised, as it were, from the level of speakings 
 and the less necessary are, by this means, sunk 
 into a comparative obscurity. 
 
224 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 From this general idea of emphasis, it will rea- 
 dily appear of how much consequence it is to 
 readers and speakers not be to mistaken in it ; the 
 necessity of distinguishing the emphaucal words 
 from the rest, has made writers on this subject ex- 
 tremely solicitous to give such rules for placing 
 the emphasis, as may, in some measure, facilitate 
 this difficult part of elocution: but few have gone 
 farther than to tell us, that we must place the em- 
 phasis on that word in reading, which we should 
 make emphatical in speaking ; and though the 
 importance of emphasis is insisted on with the 
 utmost force and elegance of language, no assist- 
 ance is given us to determine w^hich is the em- 
 phatic word where several appear equally em- 
 phatical, nor have we any rule to distinguish be- 
 tween those words which have a greater, and 
 those which have a lesser degree of stress ; the 
 sense of the author is the sole direction we are 
 referred to, and ail is left to the taste and under- 
 standing of the reader. 
 
 One writer, indeed, the author of the Philo- 
 sophical Inquiry into the Delivery of written Lan- 
 guage, has given us a distinction of emphasis into 
 two kinds, which has thrown great light upon this 
 abstruse subject. This gentleman distinguishes 
 the stress into emphasis of force, and emphasis of 
 sense. " Emphasis of force," he tells us, " is 
 " that stress we lay on almost every significant 
 ;i word ; emphasis of sense, is that stress we lay 
 '< on one or two particular words, which distin- 
 f£ guishes them from all the rest in the sen- 
 *' tence." — " The former stress," he observes, 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 225 
 
 " is variable, according to the conception and 
 " taste of the reader, and cannot be reduced to 
 " any certain rule :" " the latter," he says, " is de* 
 u ter mined by the sense of the author, and is al- 
 " ways fixed and invariable." This distinction, 
 it must be owned, is, in general, a very just one ; 
 and a want of attending to it, has occasioned great 
 confusion in this subject, even in our best wri- 
 ters. They perceived, that besides those words 
 which were strongly emphatical, there were many 
 others that had a stress greatly superior to the 
 particles and less significant words, and these 
 they jumbled together under the general term 
 emphasis. Thus when the emphatical words 
 were to be marked by being printed in a different 
 character, we find in several of the modern pro- 
 ductions on the art of reading, that sometimes 
 more than half the words are printed in Italics^ 
 and considered as equally emphatical. The 
 wrong tendency of such a practice is sufficiently 
 obvious, but its origin was never pointed out till 
 the publication of the essay above mentioned. 
 This must be allowed to have thrown considera- 
 ble light on the subject ; and it is by the assis- 
 tance which this author has given, that I shall en- 
 deavour to push my inquiries into emphasis still 
 farther than he has done : I shall not only estab- 
 lish the distinction he has laid down, but attempt 
 to draw the line between these two kinds of em- 
 phasis, so as to mark more precisely the bounda- 
 ries of each. To this distinction of emphasis, 
 I shall add another : I shall make a distinction 
 
226 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 of each into two kinds, according to the inflec- 
 tion of voice they adopt ; which, though of the 
 utmost importance in conveying a just idea of 
 emphasis, has never been noticed by any of our 
 writers on the subject. This distinction of em- 
 phasis arises naturally from the observations al- 
 ready laid down, on the rising and falling inflec- 
 tion ;- Ave have seen the importance of attending 
 to these two inflections in the several parts and at 
 the end of a sentence ; and it is presumed, the u- 
 tility of attending to the same inflections, when 
 applied to emphasis, will appear no less evident 
 and unquestionable. 
 
 But before we enter into this distinction of 
 emphatic inflection, it may not be improper to 
 *show more precisely the distinction of emphasis, 
 into that which arises from the peculiar sense of 
 one or two words in a sentence, and that which 
 arises from the greater importance of the nouns, 
 verbs, and other significant words, than of con- 
 nectives and particles. And, first, let us exam- 
 ine some passages where only the latter kind of 
 emphasis is found ; this emphasis, if it may be so 
 called, takes place on almost every word in a sen- 
 tence, but the articles, prepositions, and smaller 
 parts of speech ; and by pronouncing these fee- 
 bly, we give a force to the other w r ords, that is 
 commonly, but improperly styled emphasis. 
 
 Thus, in pronouncing the following sentence 
 in the Spectator : 
 
 Gratian very often recommends the fine taste as the utmost per= 
 faction of an accomplished man. Sgect. No. 409= 
 
ELOCUTION. 227 
 
 We may perceive a very evident difference in 
 the force with which these words are pronoun- 
 ced : the article the, the conjunction and particle 
 as the, and the preposition and aritcle of an, are 
 very distinguishable from the rest of the words by 
 a less forcible pronunciation ; and this less forci- 
 ble pronunciation on the smaller words, raises the 
 others to some degree of emphasis. If we 
 pronounce the next sentence properly, we 
 shall find several other words sink into an obscu- 
 rity of the same kind, and by their feebleness a 
 comparative degree of force thrown on the rest 
 of the words. 
 
 As this word arises very often in conversation,! shall endeavour 
 to give some account of it ; and to lay down rules how we may 
 know whether we are possessed of it ; and how we may acquire 
 that fine taste in writing which is so much talked of among the 
 polite world. Ibid. 
 
 In this sentence we find the prepositions, con- 
 junction, aiid pronoun it, pronounced with the 
 same degree of feebleness as in the last instance ; 
 and besides these we find the words, / shall, we 
 may, we are, and which is, pronounced much 
 more feebly than the rest of the words ; this can 
 be owing to nothing but the nature of the words 
 themselves, which, though indicating person, 
 promise, power, and existence, exhibit none of 
 these particulars emphatically ; that is, these 
 words imply only such general circumstances as 
 the objects are commonly supposed to be accom- 
 panied with, and therefore are anticipated or pre- 
 supposed by the hearer ; for whatever the hearer 
 is supposed to be acquainted with, is not the ob- 
 ject of communication : the person speaking is 
 
C 22H 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 under no necessity of telling his auditors that he 
 in particular shall do any thing, unless he means 
 to distinguish himself from some other speaker; 
 for that he speaks^ is very well understood by ev- 
 ery one who hears him; and for this reason, 
 whatever has been once mentioned, is gener- 
 ally pronounced afterwards with less force than 
 at first, as supposed to be already sufficiently 
 known. 
 
 As an instance of the variety which this em- 
 phasis of force (as it is called) admits, it may not 
 be improper to mark the foregoing sentence two 
 different ways ; first with such words».in Italics as 
 seem necessarily to require a greater force than 
 the particles ; and then to add to these, such words 
 as we may pronounce in the same manner without 
 altering the sense. 
 
 As this word arises very often in conversation, I shall endeavour 
 to give some account of it ; and to lay down rales how we may 
 hnorj whether we are possessed of it ; and how we may acquire that 
 fine taste in -writing which is so much talked of among the polite 
 world. 
 
 As this word arises very often in conversation, I shall endeavour to- 
 give some account of it ; and to lay dow?i inrfes how we may know 
 whether we are possessed of it* and how we may acquire that fine 
 taste in writing which is so much talked of among the polite world. 
 
 It may, however, be observed, that though the 
 last manner of marking this sentence is more 
 emphatical, the first is the most easy and na- 
 tural. 
 
 I shall offer another instance to show the dif- 
 ference in the stress we lay on different words in 
 a sentence, and then proceed to an examination 
 of that stress which may be properly styled em- 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 229 
 
 phatical. Thus if we repeat the folio wing sen- 
 tence, 
 
 Exercise and temperance strengthen the constitution, 
 
 We find the particles and and the, pronounced 
 much more feebly than the other words : and yet 
 these other words cannot be properly called em- 
 phatical; for the stress that is laid on them is no 
 more than what is necessary to convey distinct- 
 ly the meaning of each word : but if a word 
 which has emphasis of sense be thrown into this 
 sentence, we shall soon perceive a striking dif- 
 ference between these words and the emphatical 
 one ; thus, if we were to say, 
 
 Exercise and temperance strengthen even an indifferent con- 
 stitution. 
 
 Here we shall find the word indifferent , pro- 
 nounced much more forcibly than the words ex- 
 ercise, temperance, and strengthen, as these words 
 are more forcibly pronounced than the particles 
 and and the, and even than the word constitu- 
 tion : for as this word comes immediately after 
 the emphatic word indifferent, and is, by the very 
 import of emphasis, in some measure understood, 
 it sinks into the same degree of obscurity with 
 the particles, and cannot be raised from this ob- 
 scurity without diminishing the force of the em» 
 phatic word itself . 
 
 If it should be asked what degree of force are 
 we to give to these obscure words, it may be 
 answered, just that force which we give to the 
 unaccented syllables of words ; so that two words, 
 one accented and the other not, are to the ear ex- 
 
 U 
 
230 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 actly like one word ; thus the words, even an in- 
 different constitution, are sounded like a word of 
 eleven syllables, with the accent on the fifth. For, 
 a full explication of the relative force of words, 
 see Rhetorical Grammar, p. 97. 
 
 This brings us to a threefold distinction of 
 words with regard to the force with which they 
 are pronounced ; namely, the conjunctions, par- 
 ticles, and words understood, which are obscure- 
 ly and feebly pronounced; the substantive's, 
 verbs, and more significant words, which are firm- 
 ly and distinctly pronounced ; and the emphatical 
 word, which is forcibly pronounced : it is the 
 last of these only which can be properly styled 
 emphasis ; and it is to a discovery of the nature 
 and cause of this emphasis, that all our attention 
 ought to be directed. 
 
 And first we may observe, that if these dis- 
 tinctions are just, the common definition of em- 
 phasis is very faulty. Emphasis is said to be a 
 stress laid on one or more words to distinguish 
 them from others", but this definition, as we have 
 just seen, makes almost every word in a sentence 
 emphatical, and, at the same time, confounds the 
 distinction between words which have force from 
 a peculiarity of meaning, and those which have 
 force from having only a general meaning, or 
 more meaning than the particles. Here then we 
 must endeavour to investigate a juster defini- 
 tion ; such a one as will enable us to distinguish 
 words which are really emphatical, from those 
 which are only pronounced with common force : 
 m\ as the ingenious author above mentioned has 
 
ELOCUTION", 
 
 231 
 
 observed, these latter words may sometimes be 
 forcibly, and sometimes feebly pronounced, 
 without any importance to the sense, as has been 
 shown in the last example but one ; but the for- 
 mer, that is, such words as are truly emphatical,, 
 must always have their just degree of force and 
 energy, or the sense will be manifestly injured : 
 this Emphasis of sense, therefore, ought to be 
 tjie first object of inquiry. 
 
 The principal circumstance that distinguishes 
 emphatical words from others, seems to be a 
 meaning which points out, or distinguishes, some- 
 thing as distinct or opposite to some other thing, 
 When this opposition is expressed in words, it 
 forms an antithesis, the opposite parts of which 
 are always emphatical. Thus in the follow- 
 ing couplet from Pope: 
 
 *Tis hard to say, if greater want of skill 
 Appear in writing 1 or in judging ill. 
 
 The words writing dxi&judging are opposed to 
 each, and are therefore the emphatical words : 
 where we may likewise observe, that the disjunc- 
 tive or, by which the antithesis is connected, 
 means one of the things exclusively of the other. 
 
 The same may be observed in another cou- 
 plet from the same author ; where one branch o 
 the antithesis is not expressed but understood :f 
 
 Get wealth and place, if possible with grace, 
 If not by any means g*et wealth and place, 
 
 Here it appears evidently, that the words any 
 means, which are the most emphatical, are direct- 
 ly opposed to the means understood by the word 
 
232 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 grace, and the last line is perfectly equivalent to 
 this : If not by these means, by any other means, 
 get wealth and place. 
 
 In these instances, the opposition suggested 
 by the emphatical word is evident at first sight ; 
 in other cases, perhaps, the antithesis is not quite 
 so obvious ; but if an emphasis can be laid on 
 any word, we may be assured that word is an an- 
 tithesis with some meaning agreeable to the gen- 
 eral sense of the passage. 
 
 To illustrate this, let us pronounce a line of 
 Marcus in Cato, where, expressing his indigna- 
 tion at the behaviour of Caesar, he says, 
 
 I'm tortur'd ev'n to madness, when I think 
 Of the proud victor 
 
 And we shall find the greatest stress fall natur- 
 ally on that word, which seems opposed to some 
 common or general meaning ; for the young he- 
 ro does not say, in the common and unem- 
 phatic sense of the word think, that he is tortur- 
 ed even to madness when he thinks on Caesar ; 
 but in the strong and emphatic sense of this word, 
 which implies, not only when I hear or discourse 
 of him, but even when I think of him, I am tor- 
 tured even to madness. £s the word think there- 
 fore rises above the common level of significa- 
 tion it is pronounced above the common level 
 of sound ; and as this signification is opposed to 
 a signification less forcible, the word may be pro- 
 perly said to be emphatical. 
 
 This more than ordinary meaning, or a mean- 
 ing opposed to some other meaning, seems to be 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 233 
 
 the principal source of emphasis ; for if, as in 
 the last instance, we find the words will bear 
 this opposition to their common signification, we 
 may be sure they are ernphatical ; this will be 
 still more evident from another example : 
 
 By the faculty of a lively and picturesque imagination, a man in 
 a dungeon is capable of entertaining- himself with scenes and land- 
 skips, more beautiful than any that can be found in the whole 
 compass of nature. Spectator, No. 411. 
 
 Ifwe read this passage without that emphasis 
 which the word dungeon requires, we enervate 
 the meaning, and scarcely give the sense of the 
 author ; for the import plainly is that a lively im- 
 agination , not merely absent from beautiful scenes 
 but even in a dungeon, can form scenes more beau- 
 tiful than any in nature. 
 
 This plenitude of meaning in a particular 
 word, is not always so prominent as to be discern- 
 ible by a common reader ; but wherever it really 
 exists, the general meaning of the author is great- 
 ly enforced by emphatically pointing it out. Let 
 us take an example : 
 
 Steele begins one of his letters in the Spectator 
 with the following sentence : 
 
 I have very often lamented, and hinted my sorrow in several 
 speculations, that the art of painting is so little made use of, to the 
 improvement of our manners. Sped. No. 226* 
 
 As in this sentence, which is the first in the es- 
 say it is taken from, we find a new and important 
 object introduced ; so, if we do not pronounce it 
 with emphasis, it will not be sufficiently noticed. 
 The word painting; as it stands in this sentence 
 U 2 
 
234 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 may very well be supposed to be in contrast 
 with other arts, which, though often used for the 
 improvement of manners, are, perhaps, not so 
 conducive to that end, as this particular art : this 
 antithesis is perfectly understood if the word 
 painting is made emphatical, but entirely lost if 
 it is pronounced feebly : nay, sliding it over 
 without emphasis, will suppose the hearer pre- 
 acquainted widi the subject to be treated, con- 
 trary to what is really the case : this will be still 
 more apparent by pronouncing it both ways ; 
 first, without the proper stress on the word 
 painting, and afterwards with it. 
 
 I have very often lamented, and hinted my sorrow in several 
 speculations, that the art of painting is so little made use of to the 
 improvement of our manners. 
 
 I have very often lamented, and hinted my sorrow in several 
 speculations, that the art of painting is so little made use of to the 
 improvement of our manners. 
 
 In these instances we find every emphatical 
 word placed in opposition, as it were, to some 
 meaning which it seems to exclude. 
 
 Wherever the contrariety or opposition is ex- 
 pressed, we are at no loss for the emphatical 
 words ; the greatest difficulty in reading, lies 
 in a discovery* of those words which are in oppo- 
 sition to something not expressed, but under- 
 stood ; and the best method to find the emphasis 
 in these sentences, is to take the word we sup- 
 pose to be emphatical, and try whether it will admit 
 of those words being supplied whieh an empha- 
 sis on it would suggest : if, when • these word s 
 are supplied , we find them not only agreeable to 
 
ELOCUTION, 
 
 235 
 
 the meaning of the writer, but an improvement 
 of his meaning, we may pronounce the word 
 emphatical ; but if these words we 'supply, are 
 not agreeable to the meaning of the words expres- 
 sed, or else give them an affected and fanciful 
 meaning, we ought by no means to lay the em* 
 phasis upon them : Let us take an example of 
 both these kinds of emphasis. 
 Mr. Addison, in one of his Spectators, showing 
 the advantages of good taste, says — 
 
 A man of a polite imagination is let into a great many pleasures 
 that the vulgar are not capable of receiving- ; he can converse with. 
 a picture, and find an agreeable companion in a statue. 
 
 Spectator, No. 411, 
 
 We shall find but few readers lay any consid- 
 erable stress upon the word picture, in this sen* 
 tence; but if we examine it by the former rule, 
 we shall find a stress upon this word a consider- 
 able embellishment to the thought ; for it hints 
 to the mind that a polite imagination does not on- 
 ly find pleasure in conversing with those objects 
 which give pleasure to all, but with those which 
 give pleasure to such only as can converse with 
 them ; here then the emphasis on the word pic- 
 ture, is not only an advantage to the thought, but 
 in some measure necessary to it. This will ap» 
 pear still more evidently by reading the passage 
 both ways, as in the last example. 
 
 But if emphasis does not improve, it always 
 vitiates the sense ; and, therefore, should be al- 
 ways avoided where the use of it is not evident; 
 
236 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 this will appear by placing an emphasis on a 
 word in a sentence which does not require it : 
 
 I have several letters by me from people of good sense, who la- 
 ment the depravity or poverty of taste the town is fallen into with 
 relation to plays and public spectacles. Spectator, No. 208. 
 
 Now, if we lay a considerable degree of em- 
 phasis upon the words good sense, it will strongly 
 suggest that the people here mentioned are not 
 common or ordinary people, which, though not 
 opposite to the meaning of the writer, does not 
 seem necessary either to the completion or em- 
 bellishment of it ; for as particularly marking 
 these people out as persons of good sense, seems 
 to obviate an objection that they might possibly 
 be fools, and as it would not be veiy wise to sup- 
 pose this objection, it would show as little wis- 
 dom to endeavour to preclude it by a more 
 than ordinary stress ; the plain words of the au- 
 thor, therefore, without any emphasis on them, 
 sufficiently show his meaning. 
 
 From these observations, the following defini- 
 tion of emphasis seems naturally to arise : em- 
 phasis, when applied to particular words, is that 
 stress roe lay on words, which are in contradistinc- 
 tion to other words either expressed or under- 
 stood. And hence will follow this general rule: 
 Wherever there is contradistinction in the sense 
 of the words, there ought to be emphasis in the 
 pronunciation of them ; the converse of this be- 
 ing equally true, Wherever we place emphasis 
 we suggest the idea of contradistinction. 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 237 
 
 Emphasis thus investigated and denned, we 
 may observe, that all words are pronounced 
 either with emphatic force, accented force, or 
 unaccented force; this last kind of force we 
 may call by the name of feebleness ; or, in other 
 words, where the words are in contradistinction 
 to other words, or to some sense implied, we 
 may call them emphatic ; where they do not de- 
 note contradistinction, and yti are more import- 
 ant than the particles, we may call them accent- 
 ed, and the particles and lesser words we may 
 call unaccented or feeble ; for if we observe the 
 pronunciation of these latter words, we shall 
 find they have exactly the same feebleness as the 
 unaccented syllables of a word whose accented 
 syllable is pronounced with some degree of force ; 
 we shall see likewise, that an accented word, 
 which has a degree of force, when compared 
 with unaccented words; when it is joined with 
 an emphatic one, and pronounced immediately 
 before or after it, sinks into a feebleness equal to 
 the unaccented words; and that the unaccented 
 syllables, even of an emphatic word, are pro- 
 nounced with as much less force than the accent- 
 ed syllable, as the unaccented syllables of an ac- 
 cented word, are less forcible than the accented 
 syllable of an unemphatic word. These obsen* 
 vations are exemplified in the pronunciation of 
 the following sentence : 
 
 Exercise and temperance strengthen the constitution. 
 
 Exercise and temperance strengthen even an indifferent con, 
 stitution, 
 
238 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 In the first of these sentences, the particles 
 and and the are pronounced like unaccented sylla- 
 bles of temperance and constitution : in the last 
 sentence, the word constitution is pronounced 
 with the same feebleness as the particles and and 
 the ; and the two last syllables of the emphatic 
 word indifferent, are as much below the second 
 syllable in force, as the particles and unaccented 
 syllables are below those which have an accent. 
 
 By this threefold distinction we are enabled to 
 make very considerable advances in the methods 
 of conveying instruction in reading; we can not 
 only mark the emphatic words as usual, but dis- 
 tinguish them from the accented: these again 
 may be distinguished from the unaccented, and 
 by these means we make a nearer approach to the 
 sense of composition, and to a method of con- 
 veying our delivery of it to others. But a still 
 greater advance remains to be made by another 
 distinction: a distinction, which, to the former 
 advantages of marking the different degrees of 
 force on words, adds the still more striking dif- 
 ference of inflection of voice. This distinction, 
 though obvious and palpable, is perfectly new ; 
 and it is hoped it has been so explained in the 
 first part of this work, as to be readily compre- 
 hended by the reader ; for w^hen it is once com- 
 prehended, we may strongly presume that it can- 
 not fail to add greatly to instruction in speaking, 
 as these two different inflections of voice are the 
 most marking and significant distinctions of 
 speech. 
 
ELOCUTION. ^39 
 
 As a specimen of the utility of these distinc- 
 tions of emphasis and inflection, we may observe, 
 that a difference of character may express the 
 different degrees of force with which every word 
 is pronounced, and a different accent may show 
 what inflection each of these forces must adopt. 
 Thus in the following example : 
 
 "Exercise and temperance strengthen even in LYDIfFEliENT 
 
 constitution. 
 
 Here we see a threefold distinction of force : 
 the word indifferent is emphatical, and has the 
 greatest stress; the words exercise, temperance, 
 and strengthen, have a lesser degree of force ; 
 and the words and, even, an, and constitution, 
 have a still smaller degree of stress, and may be 
 said to be absolutely feeble : and these different 
 forces are diversified by the difference of inflec- 
 tion, as marked in the example. But although, 
 in certain critical cases, where the sense of an 
 author is difficult to point out, all these three 
 distinctions may greatly assist us in conveying 
 the exact pronunciation ; yet in general, it will 
 be quite sufficient to mark the emphatic word 
 with small Italics, and the rest with Roman let- 
 ters, without entering into the distinction of the 
 feeble words from those that have a secondary 
 force.; which feeble words, if necessary to be 
 pointed out, may be denoted by the small Ro- 
 man letter, and their different inflections by a 
 different accent. 
 
 Those who wish to see this notation more 
 distinctly delineated, may consult the Rhetori- 
 
240 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 cal Grammar; where, it is presumed, they 
 will find the fullest satisfactiQn respecting the 
 relative force of unaccented words. 
 
 Theory of Emphatic Inflection. 
 
 Having thus endeavoured to give a clear and 
 distinct idea of the two different kinds of em- 
 phasis, and attempted to prove, that emphasis, 
 properly so called, always supposes contradis- 
 tinction, or antithesis, either expressed or uiu 
 derstood ; it will now be necessary to show that 
 every emphatic word, properly so called, is as 
 much distinguished by the inflection it adopts, 
 as by the force with which it is pronounced. 
 
 We have seen already, that where there is no 
 emphasis, the most significant words in a sen- 
 tence adopt a different inflection of voice for the 
 sake of variety and harmony: for, provided the 
 sentence reads well, it is of no consequence on 
 which words the different inflections are placed. 
 Thus in the following sentence : 
 
 Exercise and temperance strengthen the constitution 
 
 In this sentence, I say, the words temperance 
 and strengthen have the rising, and exercise and 
 constitution the falling inflection ; but if this sen- 
 tence were lengthened by the addition of another 
 member, we should find the inflections shift 
 their places. Thus in the following sentence : 
 
 'Exercise and temperance strengthen the constitution and 
 sweeten the enjoyments of life. 
 
 Here, I say, the words exercise and constitu- 
 tion have the rising, and temperance and strength- 
 
ELOCUTION. 241 
 
 en the falling inflection, as most agreeable to the 
 harmony of the whole sentence : but if a word 
 really emphatical had been in the first sentence, 
 no additional member would have obliged it to 
 alter its inflection. Thus in the following sen- 
 tence : 
 
 ^Exercise and temperance strengthen even an indifferent con- 
 stitution. 
 
 Here the word indifferent, which is really em- 
 phatical, has the falling inflection ; and this in- 
 flection it will still preserve, though we lengthen 
 the sentence in imitation of the former by an ad- 
 ditional member. For example : 
 
 'Exercise and temperance strengthen even an indifferent consti- 
 tution, and supply, in some measure the imperfections of nature 
 
 Here we find that, however the inflection may 
 change place on the rest of the words, the word 
 indifferent must always have the falling inflection, 
 or the sense of the sentence will not be brought 
 perfectly out. In the same manner we may ob- 
 serve, that the same word in another sentence, 
 when it requires the rising inflection, cannot alter 
 that inflection to the falling, without injuring the 
 sense. Thus in the following sentence : 
 
 He that has but an indifferent constitution ought to strengthen 
 it by exercise and temperance. 
 
 Here the word indifferent must necessarily 
 have the emphasis with the rising inflection,, 
 whatever may be the inflection on the other 
 words. 
 
 X 
 
-**** ELEMENTS Of 
 
 As a farther proof that emphatic words cannot 
 alter their inflection, we need only attend to the 
 pronunciation of a line in Milton, where two 
 emphatic words are opposed to each other ; speak- 
 ing of Nimrod, he says — 
 
 Hunting (and men not beasts shall be his game). B. xii v. 30. 
 
 In pronouncing this passage, we shall find every 
 reader lay the falling inflection on men, and the 
 rising on beasts, as giving them a contrary posi- 
 tion, that is; pronouncing men with the rising, 
 and beasts with the falling inflection, would socn 
 convince us that the former arrangement is pre- 
 cisely what the sense demands. 
 
 From these observations this maxim arises, 
 that as the emphasis of a word depends on the 
 sense of a sentence, so the inflection of voice 
 which this emphatic word adopts, depends on 
 the sense likewise, and is equally invariable: 
 from whence it will evidently follow, that where 
 there are two emphatic words in the same sen- 
 tence, the sense alone can decide which is to have 
 the rising, and which the falling inflection of 
 voice. 
 
 It has been already proved, that emphasis al- 
 ways implies antithesis; and that where this an- 
 tithesis is agreeable to the sense of the author, 
 the emphasis is proper; but that where there is 
 bo antithesis in the thought, there ought to be 
 none on the words ; because, whenever an em- 
 phasis is placed upon an improper word, it will 
 ,-tfggest an antithesis, which either does not exist, 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 243 
 
 or is not agreeable to the sense and intention of 
 the writer. Here some new light seems to be 
 thrown on the nature of emphasis, and a line 
 drawn to distinguish emphatic words from others ; 
 but still we are at a loss for the reason why one 
 emphatic word should adopt the rising inflection, 
 and another the falling: from the foregoing ex- 
 amples, it appears, that every emphatic word re- 
 quires either the one or the other of these inflec- 
 tions, and that the meaning of an author entirely 
 depends on giving each emphatic word its pecu- 
 liar inflection. It does not seem therefore entire- 
 ly useless, so far to inquire into the nature, or 
 specific quality, if I may be allowed to call it so, 
 of these two emphatic inflections, as to be able to 
 decide which we shall adopt where the sense of 
 the author does not immediately dictate. Thus 
 in a former quotation from Milton, when speak- 
 ing of Nimrod, he says, 
 
 Hunting (and men not beasts shall be his game.) 
 
 Here I say, the ear and understanding are both 
 immediately satisfied upon pronouncing men with 
 the falling, and beasts with the rising inflection ; 
 but in another line of the same author, when 
 speaking of Satan, he calls him, 
 
 The tempter ere th' accuser of mankind. 
 
 Here, I say, it is not quite so clear how we shall 
 dispose of these two inflections on the two em- 
 phatic words tempter and accuser ; and an inqui- 
 ry into the nature of these inflections, so as to fix 
 
244 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 the peculiar import of each, may, perhaps, assist 
 us in deciding with precision in this and similar 
 instances. 
 
 It has been observed, that emphasis is divisible 
 into two kinds, namely, into that where the anti- 
 thesis is expressed, and that where it is only im- 
 plied; or, in other words, into that emphasis 
 where there are two or more emphatic words cor- 
 responding to each other, and that where the em- 
 phatic word relates to some other word, not ex- 
 pressed but understood ; an instance of the first 
 is this : 
 
 When a Persian soldier was reviling- Alexander the Great, his 
 officer reprimanded him by saying 1 , Sir, you were paid to fight 
 against Alexander, and not to rail at him. ' Spectator. 
 
 Here we mid fight and rail are the two em- 
 phatic words which correspond to each other, and 
 that the positive member which affirms something, 
 adopts the falling inflection on fight , and the neg- 
 ative member which excludes something, has the 
 rising inflection on rail. 
 
 An instance of the latter kind of emphasis is 
 this : 
 
 By the faculty of a lively and picturesque imagination, a man 
 in a dungeon is capable of entertaining himself with scenes and 
 "iandskips, more beautiful than any that can be found in the whole 
 cempass of nature. Spectator, No. 411. 
 
 Here we find the word dungeon emphatrcal, but 
 it has not any correspondent word as in the other 
 sentence. If we pronounce this emphatic word 
 with the falling inflection, the correspondent 
 words which belong to this emphasis may be im- 
 agined to be nearly these, not merely absent from 
 beautiful scenes ; which, if added to the word dun 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 245 
 
 geon, we should find perfectly agreeable to the 
 sense suggested by the emphasis on that word ; 
 if we draw out this latter sentence at length, we 
 shall find it consist of the same positive and neg- 
 ative parts as the former, and that the positive 
 part assumes the falling, and the negative the ri- 
 sing infiection in both. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 When a Persian soldier was reviling Alexander the Great, his 
 officer reprimanded him by saying- ; Sir, you were paid to fight Al- 
 exander, and not to rail at him. 
 
 By the faculty of a lively and picturesque imagination, a man in 
 a dungeon, and not merely absent from beautiful scenes, is capable 
 of entertaining* himself with scenes and landskips, more beautiful 
 than any that can be found in the whole compass of nature. 
 
 Here then we are advanced one step towards a 
 knowledge of what inflection of voice we ought 
 to use on one kind of emphasis ; for whenever 
 the emphatic word points out a particular sense in 
 exclusion of some other sense, this emphatical 
 word adopts the falling inflection: the wordflght, 
 therefore, in the first, and dungeon in the last ex- 
 ample, must necessarily be pronounced with the 
 falling inflection, as they tacitly exclude rail, and 
 mere absence from beautiful scenes, which are in 
 contradistinction to them. 
 
 Having thus discovered the specific import of 
 one emphatic inflection, it will not be very diffi- 
 cult to trace out the other : for as the import of 
 these two inflections may be presumed to be dif- 
 ferent, we may, by analogy, be led to con- 
 
 X 2 
 
246 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 elude, that as the emphatic word which excludes 
 something in contradistinction to it, demands the 
 falling inflection, the emphasis with the rising in- 
 flection is to be placed on those words, which , though 
 in contradistinction to something else, do not abso- 
 lutely exclude its existence. Let us try this by 
 an example. Lothario, in the Fair Penitent, 
 expressing his contempt for the opposition of 
 Horatio, says, 
 
 By the joys 
 Which yet my soul has uncontrol'd pursu'd, 
 I would not turn aside from my least pleasure 
 Though all thy force were arm'd to bar my way. 
 
 Fair Penitent, Act ii. 
 
 The word thy, in this passage, has the emphasis 
 with the rising inflection ; which intimates, that 
 however Lothario might be restrained by the force 
 of others, Horatio's force, at least, was too insig- 
 nificant to control him : and as a farther proof 
 that this is the sense suggested by the rising in- 
 flection on the word thy, if we do but alter the in- 
 flection upon this word, by giving it the emphasis 
 with the falling inflection, we shall find, that instead 
 of contempt and sneer, a compliment will be paid 
 to Horatio ; for it would imply as much as if Lo- 
 thario had said, / would not turn aside from my 
 least pleasure, not only though common force, but 
 even though thy force, great as it is, were armed 
 to bar my way : and that this cannot be the sense 
 of the passage, is evident. 
 
 Here then we seem arrived at the true princi- 
 ple of distinction in emphasis. All emphasis has 
 
ELOCUTION. 247 
 
 an antithesis either expressed or understood; if 
 the emphasis excludes the antithesis, the emphat- 
 ic word has the falling infection ; if the emphasis 
 does not exclude the antithesis, the emphatic word 
 has the rising inflection. The grand distinction, 
 therefore, between the two emphatic inflections is 
 this ; the falling inflection affirms something in the 
 emphasis, and denies what is opposed to it in the 
 antithesis, while the emphasis with the rising in- 
 flection, affirms something hi the emphasis, with- 
 out denying what is opposed to it in the antithesis : 
 the former, therefore, from its affirming and de- 
 nying absolutely, may be called the strong empha- 
 sis ; and the latter, from its affirming only, and 
 not denying, may be called the weak emphasis. 
 As a farther trial of the truth of these definitions, 
 let us examine them by a few additional examples. 
 When Richard the Third rejects the proposal 
 of the duke of Norfolk to pardon the rebels, he 
 says, 
 
 Why that, indeed, was our sixth Harry's way, 
 Which made his reign one scene of rude commotion s 
 I'll be in men's despite a monarch : no, 
 Let kings that fear forgive ; blows and revenge 
 Forme. Richard III. Act 5, 
 
 In this example, we find several words emphat- 
 ical ; but the words despite and fear particularly 
 so : these are always pronounced with the strong 
 emphasis, which always adopts the falling inflec- 
 tion. In the foregoing definition of this emphasis, 
 it is said, that the falling inflection affirms some- 
 
248 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 thing hi the emphasis, and denies what is oppo- 
 sed to it in the antithesis ; and we accordingly 
 find, that something is affirmed of the words des- 
 pite and fear, and something is denied of the an- 
 tithetic objects suggested by these words, which 
 are favour and fearlessness ; for the paraphrase of 
 these words, when thus emphatical, would be, Fit 
 be, not in men's favour, but in their despite a ?non- 
 dfch — and let not me who am fearless, but kings 
 that fear, forgive : by which we perceive the 
 justness of the definition ; for what is affirmed of 
 the emphatic object is denied of the antithetic ob- 
 ject ; agreeably to the definition of the strong em- 
 phasis, or the emphasis with the falling inflection : 
 another example will serve farther to illustrate the 
 nature of this species of emphasis. 
 
 When Cato is encouraging his little senate to 
 hold out against Caesar to the last, he says, 
 
 Why should Rome full a moment ere her time ? 
 
 The emphasis, with the failing inflection on the 
 word moment, which is the inflection it is always 
 pronounced with, suggests an antithesis opposed 
 to a moment, which antithesis is a very short time; 
 and the import of this emphasis at length, would 
 be equivalent to this : Why should Rome fall not 
 only a little, but even a moment before her time f 
 Bv which paraphrase, we see the definition of this 
 emphasis again exemplified ; for something is af- 
 firmed of the emphatic object, and something is 
 denied of the antithetic object. 
 
 The import of the emphasis with the rising in* 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 249 
 
 flection, may be exemplified by the following pas- 
 sage. Horatio, in the Fair Penitent, taxing Lo- 
 thario with forgery, says, 
 
 'Twas base and poor, unworthy of a man, 
 To forge a scroll so villainous and loose, 
 And mark it with a noble lady's name. 
 
 Fair Penitent, Act ii. 
 
 The word man, in the first line of this example, 
 is the emphatic object, which must necessarily 
 have the rising inflection ; because this inflection 
 intimates, that something is affirmed of the em- 
 phatic, which is not denied of the antithetic ob- 
 ject : the antithetic object to the word man, we 
 may suppose to be some being of a lower order ; 
 and if this emphasis were paraphrased, it would 
 run thus : *Twas base and poor, unworthy of a 
 man, though not unworthy of a brute. And thus 
 we find, that in this emphasis, what is affirmed of 
 the emphatic object is not denied of the antithetic 
 object, agreeably to the definition laid down. 
 
 In the examples which have been hitherto 
 produced, the emphasis has always clearly sug- 
 gested the antithesis ; and a paraphrase, 
 formed by producing both the emphatic and an- 
 tithetic object, has readily presented itself : but 
 ihere are many instances, where, though the an- 
 tithetic object is equally real, it is not so easily 
 made out. In order to facilitate this operation, 
 it will be necessary to observe, that the human 
 feelings have recourse to the most minute dis- 
 tinctions imaginable, for the sake of expressing 
 those feelings with precision and force. 
 
250 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 Thus when Lothario, in the Fair Penitent, 
 says to Lucilla, 
 
 I see thou hast learn'd to rail. Fair Penit. Act. i. 
 
 The emphasis with the rising inflection on the 
 word rail, does not suggest any precise antithet- 
 ic object in opposition to it, but an indefinite 
 something more excellent than railing, as if he 
 had said, I see thou hast learn'd to rail, if thou 
 hast not acquired any art more excellent than 
 railing : but whether she has any such acquire- 
 ment, he leaves her to judge. 
 
 In the same manner, when Jane Shore is pro- 
 testing her fidelity to Edward's issue, Gloster 
 answers, 
 
 'Tis well — we'll try the temper of your heart. 
 
 Jane Shore, Act iv. 
 
 The emphasis with the falling inflection on the 
 word try suggests an antithesis, which makes it 
 necessary to have recourse to the former speech : 
 in this we find Jane Shore give proof of her fi- 
 delity by protestations ; but Gloster replies, 
 y Tis well, -we'll try the temper of your heart ; 
 which is perfectly equivalent to saying, JYe -will 
 not only prove your fidelity by talking, but by 
 trial ; and as this amplifies and illustrates the 
 sense of the passage, we may be sure the em- 
 phasis is properly placed. 
 
 An instance of an antithesis, perhaps, still less 
 ©bvious, we have in the following line of Rich. 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 251 
 
 ard the Third, where Prince Edward apologi- 
 zes for his brother's sarcastic ridicule on the 
 duke of Gloucester : 
 
 I hope your grace knows how to bSar with him. 
 
 Richard 111. Act in. 
 
 The dear, in this sentence, is the emphaticul 
 word, and always pronounced with the rising 
 inflection ; hut though we perceive, at first hear- 
 ing, the propriety of adopting this inflection, we 
 cannot so readily discover the antithetic object 
 intimated by it ; it is not till we consider the 
 definition of the neuter verb to bear, that we 
 find out what is opposed to it ; the word dear, 
 in the passage alluded to, indicates supporting a 
 degree of displeasure, so as to seem pleased 
 when we are not really so ; the antithetic object, 
 
 I therefore, must be, being really pleased, and the 
 paraphrase intimated by this emphasis will be 
 this : I hope your grace knows how to bear, 
 or to seem pleased with him, though not to be 
 really pleased xvith him. 
 
 Sometimes the sense of a passage makes it 
 difficult to determine whether we must use the 
 emphasis with the rising or falling inflection : 
 and in this case, (though it seldom happens) we 
 may adopt either the one or the other indiffer- 
 ently. Thus when Horatio, in the Fair Peni- 
 tent, tells Calista that he came to her as a friend, 
 she answers, 
 
 You are my husband's friend, the friend of .ll'tamont ' 
 
 The words husband 'and Altamont, in this line. 
 
252 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 are emphatical ; if they are both pronounced with 
 the failing inflection, it imports an absolute de- 
 nial of the antithetic object, which is the Friend- 
 shfp of Horatia to her ; if we pronounce them 
 with the rising inflection, it only insinuates thai 
 he is not her friend : and this latter emphasis 
 seems the most suitable to the situation of Calista, 
 as at that time she has not so far broke terms 
 with Horatio as absolutely to deny that he is her 
 friend ; and, therefore, the inflection which affirms 
 something in the emphasis, without denying the 
 antithesis, is the inflection she ought to adopt. 
 
 Thus have I been led insensibly by my subject 
 into intricacies and distinctions, whither, per- 
 haps, but few of my readers will be able to follow 
 me : I might, indeed, have contented myself with 
 less minuteness and precision, but the saccula- 
 tion appeared too curious and useful to be slight- 
 ly treated. If what has been observed of these 
 emphatic inflections be true, we may take occa- 
 sion to contemplate how few are the principles on 
 which Divine Wisdom constructs operations of 
 the greatest extent and variety : and it may be 
 presumed, that by being acquainted with these 
 principles, we shall be better enabled to enter in- 
 to the views of Providence in the gift of speech, 
 by perfecting and regulating it according to these 
 views. By a knowledge of the principles of gram- 
 mar, we are enabled to express our thoughts with 
 greater force, precision, and perspicuity ; and it 
 cannot be doubted, that a knowledge of the gram- 
 mar of pronunciation, if it may be called so, will 
 powerfully tend to the same useful purpose. 
 
ELOCUTION. X3o 
 
 Practical System of Emphasis. 
 
 Having endeavoured to shew the nature of 
 emphasis, properly so called, and attempted to 
 distinguish it into its several kinds, according to 
 the inflection of voice it adopts ; having made 
 some efforts to ascertain the peculiar character of 
 each emphatic inflection, and by this means af- 
 forded some assistance to a discovery of the true 
 emphasis in doubtful cases ; it will be necessary, 
 in the next place, to endeavour to reduce what has 
 been said into a practical system, and to extend 
 the former observations on emphatic inflection to 
 the pronunciation of every different species of em- 
 phasis. Hitherto we have treated chiefly of that 
 emphasis, which may be called single : that is, 
 either where the two emphatic words in antitfee- 
 sis with each other are expressed ; or where but 
 one of them is expressed, and the antithesis to it 
 is implied or understood. But besides these, 
 there are instances where two emphatic words are 
 opposed to two others, and sometimes where 
 three emphatic words are opposed to three oth- 
 ers in the same sentence. Let us take a view of 
 each of these different kinds of emphasis in its or- 
 der. 
 
 - ("Exercise and temperance strengthen even an indifferent coii- 
 C stitution. 
 
 2 C You were paid to fight against Alexander, and not to rail a t 
 C him. 
 
 Y 
 
254 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 a C The pleasures of the imagination are not so gross as those 
 £ of sense, nor so rejined as those of the understanding. 
 
 C Be rais'd a mortal to the sAvW. 
 £ £/*<? drew an Angel down. 
 
 In the first example, we find the emphatic won 
 indifferent suggests an antithesis not expressed, 
 namely, not a good constitution ; this may be call- 
 ed the single emphasis implied. 
 
 In the second example, the words fight and 
 rail are in antithesis with each other, and do not 
 suggest any other antithetic objects ; and this 
 may be called the single emphasis expressed. 
 
 In the next example, the emphatic words gross 
 and refined are opposed to each other, and con- 
 trasted with sense and understanding ; and this 
 mutual correspondence and opposition of four 
 parts to each other may not improperly be term- 
 ed the double emphasis. 
 
 When three antithetic objects are opposed to 
 three, as in No. 4, we may call the assemblage 
 the treble emphasis. 
 
 Single Emphasis implied and expressed. 
 
 In the single emphasis implied, we find the in- 
 flections are so strictly appropriated to the nature 
 of the emphasis, that using one instead of the oth- 
 er would inevitably alter the sense : This has 
 been abundantly proved in the preceding chap- 
 ter. The Same may be observed (as we shall see 
 presently) of the single emphcisis expressed ; but 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 255 
 
 this approbation of inflexion to sense does not 
 seem to hold so strictly where the emphasis 
 is double, or treble ; for here, as the antithetic 
 objects are almost always expressed, and there 
 is seldom any danger of a mistake in the sense, 
 we shall not wonder to find harmony claim her 
 indisputable rights in making this sense most 
 agreeable to the ear. 
 
 But though the inflections of the double and 
 treble emphasis frequently yield to the harmony 
 of arrangement, the single emphasis expressed re- 
 quires its specific inflection on each part ; for in 
 the second example : 
 
 You were paid to fight against Alexander, and not to rail at 
 him. 
 
 Here, if we were to place the rising inflection on 
 fight, and the falling on rail, as the harmony of 
 cadence would intimate, we should soon find, 
 that in the single emphasis expressed, there is as 
 strict an appropriation of inflection to the sense of 
 the emphasis as when but one part of the antith- 
 esis is expressed in the single emphasis implied. 
 As the inflections in this species of emphasis, 
 therefore, are of much more importance, and 
 much more difficult to settle, than those of the 
 double and treble emphasis, it may not be im- 
 proper, before we enter on the latter, to extend 
 our speculations a little on the former. 
 
 Whatever may be the reason why the positive 
 member of a sentence should adopt the empha- 
 sis with the falling inflection, and the negative 
 
256 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 member the rising ; certain it is, that this appro- 
 priation of emphatic inflection, to a positive or 
 negative signification, runs through the whole sys- 
 tem of pronunciation. Agreeably to this arrange- 
 ment, we constantly find good readers finish neg- 
 ative sentences with the rising inflection, where 
 ordinary readers are sure to use the falling inflec- 
 tion, and to drop the voice ; and, perhaps, this dif- 
 ferent pronunciation forms one of the greatest dif- 
 ferences between good and bad readers : Thus, 
 in the following sentence from the Oration of De- 
 mosthenes on the Crown, translated by Dr. Ice- 
 land : 
 
 Observe then, iEsehines ; our ancestors, acted th«s in both these 
 instances ; not that they acted for their benefactors, not that they 
 saw no danger in these^peditions. Such considerations never 
 could induce them to abandon those who fled to their protection. 
 No, from the nobler motives of glory and renown, they devoted 
 their services to the distressed. 
 
 There are lQw good readers who will not pro- 
 nounce the two first sentences of this passage so 
 as to terminate them with the rising inflection ; 
 And this manner of reading them we find agree- 
 able to the paraphrase suggested by the falling 
 inflection adopted by the positive signification of 
 the last sentence ; bv which means all the sen- 
 tences of this passage form parts of one thought, 
 anel may be reduced to the definition of the em- 
 phasis with the falling inflection ; as, They act- 
 ed from the nobler motives of glory and re?iown+ 
 and not infrior motives. 
 
 Wherever, therefore, a negative sentence, or 
 
ELOCUTION. 257 
 
 member of a sentence, is in opposition to a posi- 
 tive sentence, or member of a sentence, we find it 
 usually adopt the rising inflection : And often 
 where there is no correspondent positive member 
 or sentence expressed, if the negative member 
 or sentence would admit of a positive, and that the 
 sense of this positive is agreeable to the general 
 tenor of the composition ; in this case, likewise, 
 we find the negative member or sentence adopt 
 the rising inflection. Thus, in the same oration, 
 Demosthenes, speaking of the public works he 
 had erected, says, 
 
 As to those public works, so much the object of your ridicule, 
 they, undoubtedly, demand a due share of honour and applause ; 
 but I rate them far beneath the great merit of my administration. 
 It is not with stones nor bricks that I' have fortified the city. It is 
 not from words like these that 1' derire my reputation. Would you 
 know my' methods of fortifying ? Examine, and you will find them 
 in the arms, the towns, the territories, the harbours I have secured 
 the navies, the troops, the armies I have raised. 
 
 The two middle negative sentences of this pas- 
 sage have not any correspondent positive senten- 
 ces preceding or following them ; but the rising 
 inflection on these sentences suggest a meaning 
 so compatible with the mind of the speaker, that 
 we cannot doubt of its being the true one ; for 
 it is equivalent to saying, It is not with works 
 like these that 1' have fortified the city, but with 
 something much biter. This will receive a far- 
 ther illustration from another passage of the same 
 orator. 
 
 For if you now pronounce, that, as my public conduct hath not 
 oeem right, Ctesiphon must stand condemned, it must be thought 
 
 Y 2 
 
- JO ELEMENTS OF 
 
 that yourselves have r-.c't d wronj;, not that you owe your present 
 state to the caprice of fortune. I3ut it cannot he. No, my coun- 
 trymen ! It cannot he jou hive acted wrong*, in encountering dan- 
 ger hravely, for the liberty and safety of all Greece. No ! by those 
 generous souls of ancient tiir.es, who were exposed at Marathon ! 
 By those who stood arrayed at Plataca ! By those who encounter- 
 ed the Persian fleet at Salamis! who fought at Artemisium ! By 
 all those illustrious sons of Athens, whose remains he deposited in 
 the public monuments ! AH of whom received the same honoura- 
 ble interment from their country : Not those only who prevailed, 
 not those only who were victorious. And with reason. What was 
 ihe part of gallant men they all performed ; their success was such 
 us the supreme director of the world dispensed to each. 
 
 The two last members of the first sentence we 
 find naturally adopt their specific inflections ; 
 that is, the positive member, the falling on wrong, 
 and the negative the rising on fortune. The suc- 
 ceeding sentence has a negation in it that suits 
 the rising inflection much better than the falling, 
 and therefore Greece has very properly the rising 
 inflection ; and the latter members, not those only 
 xv 'ho prevailed, not those only who were victorious, 
 will not admit of the falling inflection without an 
 evident prejudice to the sense. 
 
 Plausible, however, as this doctrine may ap- 
 pear, it is not pretended that it is universally true. 
 It is certain, that a negative member of a sen- 
 tence may often have the falling, and a positive 
 member the rising inflection : But it is as certain, 
 that where the sentence is so constructed as to 
 require the rising inflection on the negative, and 
 the falling on the positive part of the sentence, 
 there is always both greater force and harmony. 
 
 From these observations, therefore, we may 
 conclude, that in the single emphasis where har- 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 259 
 
 mony is not grossly violated, sense ought always 
 to predominate : And hence will arise this gener- 
 al rule : Whenever a sentence is composed of a 
 positive and negative part, if this positive and neg- 
 ative imports that something is affirmed of one of 
 the things which is denied of the other, the positive 
 must have the falling, and the .negative the rising 
 infection. 
 
 Small as the extent of this rule is, it appears 
 to throw a considerable light on the doctrine of 
 emphasis ; and particularly where the sense of a 
 passage is not very obvious, and where harmony 
 admits of a diversity of inflection. Let us en- 
 deavour to reduce these speculations to practice. 
 In a passage of Milton's Paradise Lost, the angel, 
 speaking of Nimrod, says, 
 
 Hunting (and men, not beasts, shall be his game ) 
 
 P. L. B. xii. 
 
 Every ear agrees to lay the emphasis with the fal* 
 ling inflection on men, and the emphasis with the 
 rising inflection on beasts, agreeably to the rule 
 just laid down ; but when, in the same author, we 
 meet with a description of Satan's coming down 
 to be revenged on men in these words, — 
 
 For now 
 Satan, now first inflam'd with rage, came down ; 
 The tempter, ere th' accuser oT mankind, 
 To wreck on innocent frail man his loss 
 Of that first battle, and his flight to hell. P. L. B. iv. 
 
 In the third line of this passage we find no such 
 certainty in adapting a different inflection to the 
 
2m 
 
 ELEMENTS OP 
 
 
 two emphatic words tempter and accuser, as in 
 the former instance. 
 
 A little reflection, however, obliges us to give 
 the falling inflection to tempter, and the rising to 
 accuser ; but the reason of this disposition does 
 not readily occur. A little farther reflection will 
 induce us to resolve this arrangement of inflection 
 into the foregoing rule. For the word ere, sig- 
 nifying before, relates to the word now, in the for* 
 mer line ; and the paraphrase of this emphasis is, 
 The tempter now, at this time, not the accuser, as 
 he was afte?'wards ; whereas a transposition of 
 emphatic inflection, that is, the rising inflection 
 on tempter, and the falling on accuser, would in- 
 fallibly suggest this sense — The tempter, not only 
 before he was something more inimical than accu- 
 ser, but before he was even the accuser of mankind. 
 This paraphrase agrees so ill with sense of the pas- 
 sage, and the former so well, that we need not 
 hesitate a moment about the true emphasis. 
 
 The reason for placing the emphasis with the 
 rising inflection on accuser, and that with the 
 falling on tempter, seems to arise from the same 
 principle as that of placing the emphasis with 
 the falling inflection on the positive, and that 
 with the rising inflection on the negative part of 
 a sentence ; for the priority of one thing to an- 
 other is reducible to its being that thing at that 
 time, and not another ^tiling ; and the preferable- 
 ness of one thing to another is equal to the 
 choice being fixed on one thing and not another. 
 Thus the following phrase: "I would rather 
 
I 
 
 ELOCUTION. 
 
 261 
 
 Ai teach the art of poisoning than that of sophistry," 
 may be reduced to this : If I must teach one of 
 these arts, I will teach poisoning, and not sophis- 
 try. But if one of these parts of the antithesis 
 admits of emphasis, that is, if it appears to he the 
 intention of the speaker not to say merely that 
 one thing is prior or preferable to another, but 
 that one of these things, in the strictest sense of 
 the word, and opposed to something of smaller 
 import, is prior or preferable to another ; or, if 
 one of these things is said to be prior or prefer- 
 able to another thing, taken in its strictest sense, 
 and opposed to some other thing of less impor- 
 tance ; in this case, I say, the emphasis with the 
 falling inflection is on that part of the antithesis 
 which intimates something of more importance 
 than is simply expressed. Thus, in the follow- 
 ing sentence, 
 
 I would die sooner than mention it. 
 
 If we mean only to declare our choice between 
 dying and mentioning, the falling inflection must 
 be placed, on die, as this is the part of the sentence 
 that corresponds to the positive part of the sen- 
 tence that corresponds to the positive part of the 
 declaration : If we would express this choice with 
 emphasis, so as to show that we would not only 
 undergo great difficulties, but that we would 
 even die sooner than mention it, the same inflection 
 is preserved on the same word, with a small addi- 
 tion of emphatic force: If it were understood 
 that we would die sooner than mention it, but, 
 for fear mention should be taken in too large a 
 
262 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 sense, we wish to express a resolution of dying 
 before we would discover the smallest part of it ; 
 in this case, I say, we should lay the strong em- 
 phasis and falling inflection on mention, which 
 would intimate a new antithesis, and be equiva- 
 lent to saying, J would not only die before I 
 would declare or relate it, but even before I 
 would mention it ; and here we find the word die 
 assume the weak emphasis and the rising inflec- 
 tion, as the question in this case is not so much 
 about dying as about the degree of mention we 
 are resolved not to make. 
 
 But if both parts of the comparison be under- 
 stood, and therefore to be taken simply and 
 without emphasis, and it is the intention of the 
 speaker to declare, with emphasis, the priority 
 or preferableness only : in this case, the compar- 
 ative word has the strong emphasis and falling in- 
 flection, and the word compared has the weak 
 emphasis 'and rising inflection. Thus Gay, in 
 his fable of the Elephant and bookseller, makes 
 the latter offer pay to the former for writing sat- 
 ire ; and in order to show there is no necessity to 
 hire beasts to prey on men, while men, by envy, 
 prey on each other, says, 
 
 Envy's a sharper spur than pay. 
 
 Here the word sharper has the strong emphasis 
 and falling inflection, as envy is not said, with 
 emphasis, to be a sharper spur than pay ; for en- 
 vy is not here opposed to any other disposi- 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 263 
 
 tion, or to a disposition less malevolent ; nor is 
 pay opposed to any other, or to a less reward ; 
 but the emphasis is confined to the comparative 
 word sharper ; as if he had said, Envy is not 
 only a spur equally sharp, but sharper than pay. 
 On these principles we may account for the 
 emphasis which a good actor always places on 
 the first part of the antithesis in the following 
 examples : 
 
 Ham. What look'd he frowning'ly ? 
 
 Hor. A countenance mQre in sorrow than in anger. Shaks* 
 
 It is a custom 
 More honoured in the breach than the observance. Ibid* 
 
 He is more knave than fool. Proverbial phrase. 
 
 Oh' ! the blood more stirs, 
 To rouse a lion than to start a hare. 
 
 Shahs. Hen. IV. Part I. Act i. 
 
 This last example is the parallel of that from 
 Gay ; and it is presumed, that a judicious actor 
 would lay the great stress, that is, the emphasis 
 with the falling inflection, on the word more, and 
 give the words lion and hare the weak emphasis 
 and rising inflection. For Hotspur, in this pas- 
 sage, is talking of dangers, and is not so much 
 comparing them as the advantages that arise from 
 them ; and the paraphrase of this emphasis would 
 be, the resistance we make to great and small 
 danger is not equal ; a great danger stirs th0 
 blood much more than a small one. 
 
 This paraphrasing or drawing out the signifi- 
 cation of emphatic words seems the best guide 
 

 264 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 where the sense is not quite obvious, and will 
 lead us to decide in many doubtful cases, where 
 nothing but the taste of the reader is commonly 
 appealed to. To illustrate this still farther, let 
 us examine a line in Otway's Venice Preserv- 
 ed, where Pierre, expatiating on the wretched 
 state of Venice, says, 
 
 Justice is lame as well as blind among us. 
 
 The phrase, as well as, signifies nothing more 
 than parity, and is nearly similar in sense to the 
 conjunction arid; if, therefore, we lay die falling 
 inflection on blind, it would be equivalent to say- 
 ing, Justice is not only lame, but blind : and this 
 is a piece of information we did not want : For 
 justice is always supposed to be blind. But the 
 falling inflection on lame, and the rising on blind, 
 is equivalent to saying, Justice is not only blind, 
 as she is every where else, but in Venice she is 
 lame as well as blind. And that this is the true 
 meaning of the passage, cannot be doubted. If 
 the poet had written the line in this manner : 
 
 Justice is as lame as she is blind among us : 
 
 The falling inflection placed on blind, would im- 
 ply, that Justice is not only very lame, but even 
 as lame as she is blind. Thus we see the sense 
 varies with the different emphasis we adopt, and 
 is never fully and forcibly displayed without the 
 kind of emphasis that is peculiarly suited to it. 
 But it may be asked, since the sense must be 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 265 
 
 fully conceived before we can adapt the emphasis 
 to the words, of what use is it to ring all these 
 changes upon the different emphases, when, 
 though we conceive them ever so distinctly, they 
 will only suggest one particular sense, but will ne^ 
 ver tell us which we shall adopt as most suitable 
 to the meaning of the author. To this it may 
 be answered, that whatever tends to show the 
 different import of each kind of emphasis, enables 
 us the better to judge of the suitableness or un- 
 suitableness of each emphasis to the sense. This 
 unfolding and displaying of what is suggested by 
 each emphasis is that assistance to the under- 
 standing which spectacles are to the eye : mag- 
 nifying glasses are not calculated for those whose 
 powers of sight are so strong and clear as to have 
 no need of them, nor for those who have no sight 
 jat all ; but for such as wish to view objects dis- 
 tinctly, and with less labour than without this as- 
 sistance. Where the sense is clear, we need no 
 such assistance ; but where the sense is obscure 
 and dubious, it can scarcely be doubted that dis- 
 playing and unfolding it by such paraphrases as 
 are suggested by the application of different 
 kinds of emphasis, will tend greatly to take away 
 the ambiguity, will show which kind of empha- 
 sis is most suitable to the sense, and enable us to 
 pronounce with greater confidence and security. 
 From what has been said of the nature of em- 
 phasis, it will evidently follow, that pronunciation 
 is a kind of supplement to written language. As 
 
266 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 vivacity and force depend greatly on brevity, 
 and brevity borders naturally on obscurity ; in or- 
 der to preserve the meaning without losing the 
 force, pronunciation interposes, and, as it were, 
 supplies the ellipsis in the written words, by a 
 stress and inflection of voice, which^imply what 
 belongs to the sense, but which is not sufficient- 
 ly obvious without oral utterance. Hence we 
 may conclude, that language is never perfect till 
 it is delivered. 
 
 A just pronunciation brings to view its latent 
 and elliptical senses, without clogging it with 
 repetitions which would retard its communica- 
 tion and enfeeble its strength. Thus by pro- 
 nouncing the following sentence : Exercise and 
 temperance strengthen an indifferent constitution : 
 By pronouncing this sentence, I say, with the fal- 
 ling inflection on the word indifferent, I convey 
 as much to the understanding as if 1 had said, Ex- 
 ercise and temperance strengthen not only a com- 
 mon constitution, but even an %ndifferent constitu- 
 tion. And the inferiority of the latter sentence, 
 from tautology and pleonastic tardiness, suffi- 
 ciently shows the necessity of a just pronuncia- 
 tion to supply the ellipses of written language. 
 
 Double Emphasis. 
 
 The double emphasis, as we have already obser- 
 ved in page 254, seems most frequently to be 
 regulated by the harmony of the sentence ; for 
 as it is a general rule, that the rising inflection 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 267 
 
 must take place in the middle of such a sentence* 
 the second branch of the first member must neces- 
 sarily have the rising inflection, and the rest of the 
 branches must have such an emphasis and inflec- 
 tion as contribute most to the harmony of the 
 period. With this general rule, that the two 
 parts of the antithesis have each of them the two 
 different inflections, arranged in an opposite or- 
 der ; that is, as two inflections in the same mem- 
 ber cannot be alike, if the second branch of the 
 first member has the rising, the first branch must, 
 of course, have the falling inflection; and as the 
 last branch of the second member forms the peri- 
 od, and therefore requires the falling, the first 
 branch of this member must necessarily have 
 the rising inflection ; this is the arrangement of 
 inflection which seems universally adopted by 
 the ear, as it will be found, upon experiment, no 
 other is so various and musical. An example 
 will soon convince us of tins : 
 
 The pleasures of the imagination, taken in their full extent, are 
 not so grdas as those of sense, nor so refined as those of the under- 
 standing. Sped. No. 411, 
 
 In this example, the ear perceives the necessity 
 of adopting the rising inflection on the word sense; 
 and, for the sake of variety, lays the failing Inflec- 
 tion on gross ; and, by the same anticipation, per- 
 ceiving the period must have the falling inflec- 
 tion on imagination, adopts the rising inflection 
 on refined; by these means, the greatest variety 
 is obtained, and the sense inviolably preserved ; 
 
268 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 for if we were to repeat this passage with contra- 
 ry inflections on the first member, we should soon 
 perceive the impropriety : 
 
 . The pleasures of the imagination, taken in their full extent, are 
 not so gross as those ofsaise, nor so refined as those of the under- 
 
 Here we perceive the whole sentence is monoto- 
 nous, by adopting the same inflections in the 
 same order on the first and last members ; and the 
 sense is manifestly injured by laying the strong 
 emphasis and falling inflection in the middle of 
 the sentence, contrary to the general rule. 
 
 The nature of the double emphasis expressed \ 
 respecting the inflection of voice which each an- 
 tithetic part adopts rather in compliance with the 
 ear than for the purpose of enforcing the sense, 
 will be farther illustrated by the treble emphasis* 
 
 Treble Emphasis. 
 
 The treble emphasis, where all the parts are ex- 
 pressed, occurs but seldom ; and when it does, 
 there is seldom any difficulty in pronouncing it ; 
 for as «ach part has its correspondent part expres- 
 sed, there is scarcely any necessity to enforce one 
 more than the other, and they easily fall into a 
 just and harmonious arrangement. Thus in the 
 following lines : 
 

 ELOCUTION. 
 
 Sh£ in her girls again is courted; 
 J* go a -wooing with ray 63jys : 
 
 269 
 
 Every emphatical word adopts that inflection 
 which the harmony of the verse would necessarily 
 require, if there were not an emphatical word in 
 the whole couplet. This arrangement of em- 
 phatic inflections almost always takes place when 
 every part of the treble emphasis is expressed; 
 but when the double emphasis has two of its parts 
 so emphatical as to imply two antithetic objects 
 not expressed, and so to form a treble emphasis 
 implied only ; in this case, I say, it is not so ea- 
 sily determined how we are to place the emphatic 
 inflections. Thus in. the following passage of 
 Milton, (Paradise Lost, Book I. v. 262.^ 
 
 To reign is worth ambition, though in hell ; 
 Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven : 
 
 The words heaven and hell, in the last line, be- 
 sides the common antithesis which they form to 
 each other, seem to have each of them an antithet- 
 ic object distinct and separate, and so to form a 
 treble emphasis, instead of a double one ; for the 
 emphasis with the falling inflection on hell^ 
 seems to intimate, that to reign is so desirable, 
 that it is better to reign, not only where it is at- 
 tended with its usual cares, but even in hell, 
 where it is attended with torments ; and the same 
 emphatic inflection on heaven implies, that servi- 
 tude is not only detestable where it has its usual 
 
 Z2 
 

 270 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 inconveniences, but even in heaven, where it is 
 attended with pleasures. These paraphrases, 
 implied by the emphasis with the falling inflec- 
 tion, seem not only to agree with the sense of the 
 author, but necessarily to belong to it ; and yet 
 so agreeable is a contrary arrangement of inflec- 
 tion to the ear, that we seldom find this passage 
 pronounced in this manner. 
 
 Let a whole assembly be desired to read these 
 lines in Milton, and a single person will scarcely 
 be found whose ear will not draw him into the 
 common arrangement of emphatic inflection, 
 though contrary to the strongest sense of the 
 passage : 
 
 To reign is worth ambition, though in hell ; 
 Better to rtign in kill than serve in heaven. 
 
 Most readers, I say, in repeating these lines, 
 will pronounce the last line as it is marked ; that 
 is, they will lay the falling inflection on reign, 
 and the rising inflection on hell, in order to diver- 
 sify it from two concluding branches of the an- 
 tithesis ; that is, the line will be exactly the same 
 with respect to inflection and emphasis, as the 
 following : 
 
 Not so gross as those of sense, nor so refined as those of the un- 
 derstanding. 
 
 But if we attend to the sense of Milton, we shall 
 find that the word hell, though in the middle of 
 the antithesis, seems necessarily to require the 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 271 
 
 falling inflection ; for, as we 'have observed, Sa- 
 tan's ambition to reign is so great, that he wishes 
 to reign even in hell; that is, not where reigning 
 has its usual cares attending it, but even in hell, 
 where it is accompanied with torments suited to 
 his superior wickedness. If we wish to convey 
 this sense strongly, which the words of the au • 
 thor will certainly admit of, we must necessari- 
 ly place the emphasis with the falling inflection 
 on the word hell, and neglect the music of the 
 line, which would require another arrangement : 
 For if it is an invariable maxim, that where force 
 and harmony are inconsistent, the preference 
 must be given to the former ; without all ques- 
 tion, this passage ought to be read, not as it com- 
 monly is, in this manner ; 
 
 *To reign is worth ambition, though in hell ; 
 Better to rtign in MIL than serve in heaifrc. 
 
 But in this : 
 
 To reign is worth ambition, though in hell ; 
 Better to r&ign in hell than servs in heav'n. 
 
 An emphasis of exactly the same kind is 
 found in a saying of Julius Caesar, who, when 
 he was passing through an obscure village in 
 GaiiL made use of these words : 
 
 * Mr. Garrick, upon being asked to read these lines, repeated 
 them at first in the former mode of placing the emphatic inflec* 
 turns ; but, upon re-considering them, approved of the latter. 
 
272 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 
 I would rather be the fir at man in that village than the tecmd in 
 Home. 
 
 The general harmony of pronunciation invaria- 
 bly inclines us, at the first reading of this pas- 
 sage, to lay the emphasis with the falling inflec- 
 tion on first ; that with the rising on village ; the 
 rising likewise on second, and the falling on 
 Rome ; but if we wish strongly to enforce the 
 sense of the words, we must necessarily lay the ri- 
 sing inflection on first, and the falling on village, 
 in the following manner : 
 
 I would rather be the first man in that village than the *£c»thI 
 In Rime. 
 
 For in this pronunciation we strongly enforce 
 the desire he had for superiority, by making him 
 prefer it, not only in a commonplace, but even in 
 that village, to inferiority, even in Rome. If this 
 latter mode of reading this sentence seems too 
 turgid and emphatic for the historic style, what 
 are we to think of that general rule that seems 
 Universally to be acknowledged by all readers ; 
 .namely, that the sense of an author ought always 
 to be enforced to the utmost, let the harmony be 
 what it w^ill ? This maxim, however, I take to 
 he rashly adopted ; for, as we have before obser- 
 %'ed, reading seems to be a compromise between 
 the rights of sense and sound. Obscurity is the 
 greatest possible defect in reading ; and no har- 
 mony whatever will make amends for it : But 
 if the sense of a passage be sufficiently clear, it 
 seems no infringement on the rights of the un- 
 
ELOCUTION. ^73 
 
 derstanding to give this sufficiently clear sense an 
 harmonious utterance. In this case, it is, perhaps, 
 necessary to distinguish between clear sense and 
 strong sense : the first is that which puts the au- 
 thor's meaning beyond the possibility of mistake ; 
 he latter, as it were, adds something to it, and 
 places the sense in such a point of view as to give 
 it, though not a different, yet a greater force 
 than what the words immediately suggest ; but 
 if this additional force becomes harsh, quaint, or 
 affected, the ear claims her rights in favor of har- 
 mony ; and good taste will always admit her 
 claim, when the rights of the understanding are 
 sufficiently secured. 
 
 Thus in that noble sentiment of Cato : 
 
 A day, an hour, of virtuous liberty 
 Is worth a whole eternity in bondage. 
 
 To pronounce this passage with the greatest 
 force, we ought to lay the emphasis with the fal- 
 ling inflection on eternity, as this would suggest 
 a paraphrase perfectly illustrative of the sense, 
 which is, that a day or an hour of virtuous liberty 
 is not only worth more than the longest finite du- 
 ration in bondage, but even a whole eternity. 
 This pronunciation, however, would necessarily 
 give the rising inflection to bondage, which woiild 
 conclude the passage so inharmoniously, that the 
 ear finds itself obliged to neglect this so forcible 
 expression, and content itself with placing the 
 rising inflection on eternity, for the sake of the 
 harmony of the cadence : and as the plain import 
 
274 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 of the word eternity is sufficiently strong and 
 emphatical, sense is no great loser by the sacri- 
 fice : If, however, the thought could have been 
 so disposed as to have made a word, so suscept- 
 ible of force as eternity, adopt the falling inflec- 
 tion and conclude the line, the expression, it is 
 presumed, would have been still stronger. Let 
 us suppose, for instance, the two last lines had 
 stood thus : 
 
 A day, an hour, in virtuoii9 liberty 
 Outweighs, in bondage, an eternity : 
 
 I do not contend that this alteration is not great- 
 ly inferior to the original in point of composition, 
 from the necessity of adopting words less suita- 
 ble ; but, I think, I may appeal to the ear of ev- 
 ery critical speaker for the superiority of the lat- 
 ter, with respect t© the force and harmony of pro- 
 nunciation. In the same manner it may be ob- 
 served, that if the words in Milton were transpo- 
 sed as in the following line, 
 
 Better in hill to rtign, than serve in heav'n. 
 
 The falling inflection on hell, and the rising on 
 reign, would preserve both the force and harmo- 
 ny ; but I am far from presuming to judge 
 whether the line would be better by this altera- 
 tion. The same may be observed of the trans- 
 position of the saying of Caesar : 
 
 In that village I would rather be the first man, than the ^cond 
 in Rome 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 275 
 
 By this arrangement we see the strongly emphat- 
 ic words, which require the falling inflection, are 
 in the beginning and end of the sentence, and 
 the two emphatic words that require the rising 
 inflection in the middle ; and, consequently, the 
 inflections on the two first and two last emphatic 
 words are in a different order. 
 
 But if a treble emphasis implied will often, 
 for the sake of harmony, neglect such an empha- 
 sis as produces the greatest force, there is much 
 greater necessity for this sacrifice to sound 
 where every part of the treble emphasis is ex- 
 pressed. Thus, in the following lines : 
 
 He raised a mortal to the skies, 
 She drew an angel ddvm. 
 
 If, for the sake of showing that Timotheus did 
 not only raise a mortal very high, but even to 
 the skies ; if, I say, for the sake of intimating 
 this sense, we lay the emphasis with the falling 
 inflection on skies, we shall ruin the harmony of 
 the couplet : The same may be observed if we 
 lay the same emphasis on angel ; for though this 
 would intimate that St. Cecilia did not draw 
 down a common being, but even an angel, j$l* 
 this intimation would make no amends for the, 
 quaintness and discord this inflection would .oc- 
 casion ; but if these lines had been so construct- 
 ed as to admit of the emphasis with the falling 
 inflection on these words, perhaps we should n©£ 
 have found either sense or harmony the worse 
 for it. 
 
276 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 Be to the skies a mortal raised 
 An angel she drew dcvtn. 
 
 Thus we perceive there are some things clear 
 and decided, others ambiguous and indetermi- 
 nate : The best decision in the latter case is, to 
 observe the pronunciation of the bes*: readers 
 and speakers, and to mark it by the inflections 
 which ars here made use of. A notation of this 
 kind, will enable us to collect examples of differ- 
 ent modes of pronunciation, and to form an 
 opinion from examples of the best authority : by 
 this means w r e shall be able to give some stabili- 
 ty to those sounds which have hitherto been 
 thought too fleeting and evanescent for retros. 
 pection. 
 
 General Emphasis. 
 
 Hitherto emphasis has been considered as ap- 
 propriated to a particular word in a sentence, 
 the peculiar sense of which demanded an in- 
 crease of force, and an inflection correspondent 
 to that sense ; we shall now endeavour to throw 
 some light upon that emphatic force, which, 
 when the composition is very animated, and ap- 
 proaches to a close, we often lay upon several 
 w r ords in succession : This successive emphat- 
 ic force does not, like the former, suggest any 
 particular meaning excluded by it, and there- 
 fore may not improperly be called a general em- 
 
ELOCUTION, &77 
 
 phasis. This emphasis is not so much regula- 
 ted by the sense of the author as by the taste and 
 feelings of the reader, and therefore does not ad- 
 mit 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 such rules as 
 will naturally arise from a few examples. 
 
 When Lucius in Cato seems to have exhaust- 
 ed every topic in favour of giving up a hopeless 
 war and submitting to Cassar, he concludes with 
 this emphatic period : 
 
 What men could do, 
 Is done already : Heav'n and earth will witness, 
 I'f Rome must fall, that we are innocent. 
 
 The common manner of pronouncing this last 
 line is to lay an emphasis with the rising inflec- 
 tion on the word must, which is certainly a very 
 just one, and may be called the particular empha- 
 sis ; but if we were to place an emphasis on each 
 of the four words, f R me m st f 11 ; that 
 is, the emphasis with the rising inflection on ij\ 
 that with the falling on Rome and must, and the 
 rising onfall ; if these emphases, I say, are pro- 
 nounced with a distinct pause after each, it is 
 inconceivable the force that will be given to 
 to these few words. 
 
 In the same manner, when Demosthenes is 
 describing the former helpless state of Athens, he 
 says, 
 
 There was a time, then, my fellow-citizens, when the Lacede- 
 
 A a 
 
278 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 monians were sovereign masters both by sea and land; when 
 'heir troops and forts surrounded the entire circuit of Attica; 
 when they possessed Eubce, Tanagra, the whole Barman district, 
 Megara, JEgina, Cleor.e, and the other islands ; while this state 
 bad not o;>e ship, ?i:t cue wall. 
 
 The general mode of pronouncing the last 
 member of this sentence is, to lay an emphasis 
 on the last word, wall ; This is unquestionably 
 proper ; but if we lay an emphasis on the three 
 last words, that is, the falling on not, the rising 
 on one, and the falling on wall, and pause very 
 distinctly between each, we shall be at no loss to 
 decide on the superiority of this general empha- 
 sis. 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 stern despite of nature, 
 Shutting their ears to all her little cries, 
 When great august and godlike justice call'i 
 At Aulis one pour'd cut a daughter's life, 
 And gain'd more glory than by all his wars ; 
 Another slew a sister in just rage ; 
 A third, the theme of all succeeding times, 
 Gave to the cruel axe a darling son : 
 Nay more, for justice some devote themselves, 
 As he at Carthage, an immortal name ! 
 Yet there is one step left above them all, 
 . Above their history, above their fable ; 
 A wife, bride, mistress,, unsnjcyed, 
 Do that, and tread upon the Greek and Roman glory. 
 
 Jlct'w. Scene last. 
 
 In pronouncing this passage, we shall find the 
 generality of readers content themselves with 
 laying an emphasis upon the word one in the 
 
ELOCUTION, 
 
 79 
 
 thirteenth line, and pronounce the two- succeed- 
 ing words step and left without any particular 
 force ; but if we give emphatic force to each of 
 these three words, and at the same time pause 
 considerably after every word, we shall find the 
 whole line glow with meaning and energy : for 
 though pronouncing the word one with the em- 
 phasis and rising inflection, and the succeeding 
 words step and left with the same inflection, 
 without emphasis, would undoubtedly bring out 
 the author's sense ; yet pronouncing ( ne and sttp 
 both with emphasis and the falling inflection, 
 seems to snateh a grace beyond the reach of art, 
 and fall in with the enthusiasm of the poet. The 
 emphasis with the falling infection and increasing 
 force, on the four successive words wfe, brkk\ 
 m stress, unenj yeel, in the last line but one, 
 crowns the whole climax with suitable force and 
 harmony. 
 
 But though general emphasis may, at 'first 
 sight, seem to be an exception to the general 
 rule, yet, upon a nearer inspection, it willjje 
 found strictly conformable to it. Emphasis has 
 been defined to be another word for opposition 
 or contradistinction ; now where, may be asked, 
 is the opposition or contradistinction to these 
 words if and Rome and fall in the sentence, 
 
 Heav'n and earth will witness, 
 If Rome must fall, that we are innocent ? 
 
 It may be answered, that the mind, in endeav- 
 
^80 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 Gunng to express things strongly, seems to have 
 recourse to a redundancy of sound as well as of 
 words ; the adjective own and the substantive 
 self are superfluous words, if we regard only 
 their mere grammatical import. For the senten- 
 ces, this book is mine, and I wrote it, literally sig- 
 nify as much as this book is my own, and I wrote 
 it niygelf; hut th- sentences may be said to 
 
 be emphatical, and the former not. To the same 
 end our language has adopted an auxiliary verb, 
 to express action or passion with emphasis, in a 
 shorter way than perhaps in any o 1 her tongue. 
 Thus, when Othello says to Desdemona — 
 
 Perdition catch ray soul but I do love thee — 
 
 it is equivalent to saying, I actually and really love 
 thee, — in contradistinction to t lit appearance of 
 love, which so often supplies the place of the real- 
 ity : and this seems to lead us to the latent antithe- 
 sis of the general emphasis, which is, the appear- 
 ance, as distinguished from the reality or the 
 similitude, from the identity ; therefore, 
 
 ihough the words if Rome, and fall, taken sepa- 
 rately, have no direct antithetic ideas, yet, when 
 united together by successive emphases, they im- 
 ply a reality and identity^ of situation in opposi- 
 tion to every possible contrary situation, which 
 contrary situation becomes the antithetic object 
 of the emphatic words, and thus brings the gen- 
 eral emphasis under the same definition as par- 
 ticular emphasis, and shows that both are but 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 281 
 
 other words for opposition, contradistinction, or 
 contrast. 
 
 From this view of emphasis, we may perceive 
 the propriety of laying a stress upon seme Gf the 
 most insignificant words when the language is 
 impassioned, in order to create a general force, 
 which sufficiently justifies the seeming impro- 
 priety. Thus, in the following sentence — The 
 very man whom he had loaded with favours was 
 the first to accuse him— 2*. stress upon the word 
 man will give considerable force to the sentence 
 ■ — the very man, &c. If to the stress on this 
 word we give one to the word very, the force 
 will be considerably increased — the very man, 
 &c. But if to these words we unite a stress on 
 the word the, the emphasis will then attain its 
 utmost pitch and be emphatic, as it may be 
 called, in the superlative degree — the very man, 
 &c. And this general emphasis, it may be ob- 
 served, has identity for its object, the antithesis 
 to which is appearance, similitude, or the least 
 possible diversity. 
 
 Intermediate or Elliptical Member. 
 
 It now remains to say something of an em- 
 phatic circumstance, which, though not mention- 
 ed by any of our writers on the subject, seems 
 of the utmost importance to an accurate idea of 
 pronunciation. 
 
 Aa 2 
 
282 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 It has been already observed, that emphatic 
 force is relative : It may be likewise observed, 
 that it is not relative only with respect to the in* 
 ferior force which is given to the unemphatic 
 words ; it is relative, also, with respect to the 
 inflection on those words that are not emphatic- 
 al ; that is, emphasis derives as much force from 
 pronouncing those words which are not ernphat- 
 ical with a peculiar inflection, as it does from 
 pronouncing the, emphatic words themselves with 
 a suitable inflection and greater force. Let us 
 endeavour to illustrate this by an example : 
 
 Must we, in your person cro-un the author of the public car 
 lamities, or must we destroy him ? 
 
 *&schines against Demostlienes. 
 
 Here, I say, in order to preserve to the two em- 
 phatical words, crown and destroy, that force 
 which the contrast demands, we must necessari- 
 ly pronounce the intermediate member, the au- 
 thor of the public calamities, with the rising in- 
 flection, like crown, but in a feebler, though 
 higher tone of voice : This mode of pronuncia- 
 tion places the opposite parts in full view, which 
 would be necessarily obscured, if the words au- 
 thor of the public calamities had the same portion 
 of force and variety as the rest ; so that this 
 member, which may not improperly be called 
 the elliptical member, has exactly that inflection 
 and that feebleness which it would have, if it had 
 been repeated, at the end of the sentence, in this 
 manner : 
 
ELOCUTION- 
 
 23-3 
 
 Must we, in your person, crown the author of the public calam- 
 ities ? or must we destroy the author of the public calamities ? 
 
 This will be farther illustrated by another ex 
 ample : 
 
 It is not he who hath strengthened our fortifications, who hath, 
 digged our intrenchments, who hath disturbed the tombs of our 
 ancestors, that should demand the honours of a patriot minister, 
 but he who hath procured some intrinsic services to the State. 
 
 Here the intermediate member, that should de- 
 mand the honours of a patriot minister, which 
 agrees both with the positive and negative part of 
 the sentence, must be pronounced in subordina- 
 tion to the word ancestors ; that is, as this word 
 has the emphasis with the rising inflection, ac- 
 cording to the general rule, the intermediate 
 member must have the rising inflection likewise, 
 in a higher and feebler tone of voice, and without 
 any peculiar force upon any of the words. 
 
 Another example will render this rule still 
 clearer : 
 
 A good man will love himself too well to lose an estate by 
 gambling, and his neighbour too well to win one. 
 
 In this sentence, as in the two former, there are 
 two principal constructive parts ; and between 
 these parts there is a member which relates to 
 both, and must be pronounced in subordination 
 to both ,else the force of each will be lost. This 
 member is, an estate by gaming ; the first prin- 
 cipal constructive part of this sentence ends with 
 the emphatic word lose; and as its connexion 
 with the latter constructive part necessarily 
 
284 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 requires that it should be pronounced with the 
 rising inflection, every word of the intermediate 
 member which follows it must be pronounced 
 with the rising inflection likewise : for if any 
 emphasis or variety of inflection be given to this 
 member, it will infallibly deprive the correspond- 
 ent antithetic words, himself, lose, neighbour, and 
 win, of all their force and harmony. Every 
 word of this middle member, therefore, must be 
 - pronounced with the rising inflection, in a some- 
 what higher tone than the word lose, and nearly 
 approaching a monotone. On the contrary, if 
 we were to place this member at the end of the 
 sentence, in this manner, 
 
 A good man will love himself too well to lose, and his neigh- 
 bour too well to win, an estate by gaming — 
 
 In this arrangement, in order to give force and 
 variety to the correspondent emphatic words, the 
 same inflections must take place as before ; that 
 is, himself, must have the falling, lose the rising, 
 neighbour the rising, and win the falling inflec- 
 tion : And to preserve this order, which can alone 
 give the sentence its due precision, the last mem- 
 ber, an estate by gaming, must be pronounced 
 with the same inflection as the word win, but in 
 a lower tone of voice, and approaching to a mo- 
 notone ; for if any force or variety is given to 
 these words, it must necessarily be at the ex- 
 pence of those that arc alone entitled to it. The 
 bad effect, indeed, of pronouncing so many 
 words at the end of a sentence in so low and fee- 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 285 
 
 ble a tone, is apt to invite the ear to a different 
 pronunciation at first ; but a moment's reflection 
 on the sense will induce us rather to dispense 
 with a want of sound than of meaning. The 
 first of these forms of arranging the words is 
 indisputably the best ; and writers would do 
 well to make it a rule in composition, never to 
 ilnish a sentence with a member that relates to 
 each part of a preceding antithesis ; a neglect of 
 this rule occasions many uncouth sentences 
 even in our best authors. 
 
 Mr. Addison, speaking of the power of the 
 imagination, says, 
 
 It would be in vain to inquire whether the power of imagining 
 things strongly proceeds from any greater perfection in the soul, 
 or from any nicer texture in the brain of one man than of another. 
 
 Spectator, No. 417". 
 
 In this sentence, in order to present each part of 
 the antithesis, soul and brain, clearly and precise- 
 ly to the mind, it will be necessary to confine 
 the emphatic force to these words alone ; and 
 this can be done no other way than by laying the 
 rising inflection on soul, and the falling on brain, 
 and pronouncing the last member, of one. man 
 than of another, with the same inflection as brain. 
 but in a lower and almost monotonous tone of 
 voice ; this will necessarily give an uncouthness 
 to the sound of the sentence, but is absolutely 
 necessary to give the sense of it strongly and 
 clearly. 
 
 It is true, that by this mode of pronunciation 
 
286 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 the intermediate member is presented less clear- 
 ly to the mind ; but when we consider that the 
 sense of it is nearly anticipated by the compara- 
 tive greater and nicer, we shall, with less reluct- 
 ance, give it up to the principal emphatic words, 
 soul and brain. 
 
 It must not be dissembled, however, that if 
 this intermediate member contains an emphatical 
 word, or extends to any length, it will be neces- 
 sary to consider it as an essential member of the 
 sentence, and to pronounce it with emphasis and 
 variety. Thus, if the sentence just quoted had 
 been constructed in this manner : 
 
 A good man will love himself too well to lose, and his neigh" 
 kourtoo well to win, a very considerable sum by gaming 1 . 
 
 If, in reading this sentence, we were to place 
 the emphasis with the rising inflection on lose, 
 and the falling on win, and were to pronounce 
 the rest of the sentence in a low monotonous tone 
 of voice, in the same manner as when it contain- 
 ed but half the number of syllables, we should he 
 both obscure and discordant ; but as the last 
 member is lengthened to double the number of 
 syllables, we find.it may be so pronounced as to 
 form an harmonious cadence. Another exam- 
 ple will show the necessity of sometimes 
 breaking the general rule. Mr. Addison, speak- 
 ing of the mutual polish and refinement which 
 the intercourse between the sexes gives each oth- 
 er, concludes, 
 
 In a word : a man would not only be an unhappy, but a rude 
 
f 
 
 ELOCUTION. 
 
 28' 
 
 unfinished creature, were he conversant with none bat those of 
 his own make. Sped, No. 433. 
 
 Here we find the intermediate member close the 
 sentence, and is of such a length as to forbid the 
 feeble monotone which is proper in other cases. 
 It may not, however, be useless to observe, that 
 when these intermediate members are so long, or 
 of so much importance as to demand an emphatic - 
 ai pronunciation, the antithesis is in some meas- 
 ure obscured, and the sentence is deprived of 
 spirit and vivacity. 
 
 Before we conclude this article, we may ob- 
 serve, that the emphasis on opposite parts, which 
 ©bscures the intermediate member, is calculated 
 more for the purposes of force than harmony, 
 and therefore ought to be observed with less rig- 
 our in verse than prose ; but where the former 
 is familiar, argumentative, and strongly emphat- 
 ical, it seems to require the obscure pronuncia- 
 tion of tie intermediate member no less than the 
 latter. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 'Tishard to say if greater want of skill 
 Appear in writing or in judging ill : 
 But of the two less dangerous is th' offence, 
 To tire our patience than mislead our sense ; 
 Some few in that, , but numbers err in this, 
 Ten censure v/rong for one who writes amiss ; 
 A fool might once himself alone expose, 
 Now one in verse makes many more in prose. 
 
 Pope's Eteay on Cvit* 
 
 In the first couplet of this passage, the word iU f 
 which agrees to both the emphatic words writ- 
 
288 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 ing and judging, is pronounced feebly with the 
 falling inflection, after a strong pronunciation of 
 the same inflection on judging. In the next 
 couplet, tire and patience, mislead, and sense, 
 form a double emphasis, and come under the 
 general rule ; but in the next couplet, the words 
 wrong and amiss, being only different expres- 
 sions for the same idea, are to be considered as 
 an intermediate member to the two emphatic 
 words censure and write, and pronounced feebly 
 with the same inflections as the words they fol- 
 low*. 
 
 From what has been said on this article, it ap- 
 pears of how much importance to reading and 
 speaking is a judicious distribution of emphasis ; 
 and if what has been observed be true, it is evi- 
 dent how useful, and even necessary it must be, 
 in teaching, to adopt something like the method 
 
 * In the first edition of this work I had not sufficiently consid- 
 ered the nature of unaccented words, and, therefore, gave them 
 the very vague and indefinite appellations I met with in other 
 authors, namely, obscure and feeble ; a farther prosecution of the 
 subject in the lihetorical Grammar enabled me to ascertain the 
 real force of these unaccented words, and to class them with the 
 unaccented syllables of accented words. Thus a clear and 
 definite idea was substituted for an indeteminate and obscure 
 one : And I could, with confidence, tell my pupil that the sen. 
 tence 
 
 " I do not, so much request, as demand your attention," 
 
 was pronounced like three words ? I do not like a word of three 
 syllables, with the accent on the second ; so muck request, like a 
 word of four syllables, with the accent on the last ; and as de- 
 mand your attention, like a word of seven syllables, with the ac- 
 cent on the third. See p. 239. * 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 289 
 
 of marking them here pointed out. Methods of 
 this kind are usually rejected, because at first 
 they are found rather to embarrass than assist the 
 reader ; but this will be found to be the case in 
 every art where improvement arises chiefly from 
 habit : The principles of music would embar- 
 rass and puzzle a performer who had learned on 
 ly from the ear, but nothing but a knowledge of 
 these principles could convey to him the difficult 
 passages of a composer, and enable him to ac- 
 quire them without the assistance of a teacher. 
 Reading, indeed, may be considered as a species 
 of music ; the organs of utterance are the instru 
 ments, but the mind itself is the performer ; and 3 
 therefore, to pursue the similitude, though the 
 mind may have a full conception of the sense of 
 an author, and be the better able to judge nicely 
 of the execution of others, yet if it has not imbi- 
 bed the habit of performing on its own instru- 
 ment, no expression will be produced. There is 
 a certain mechanical dexterity to be acquired be- 
 fore the beautiful conceptions we possess can be 
 communicated to others. This mechanism is 
 an essential part of all the fine arts. Nothing 
 but an habitual practice will give the musician 
 his neatness of execution, the painter his force of 
 colouring, and even the poet the happiest choice 
 and arrangement of his words and thoughts. 
 How, then, can we expect that a luminous and 
 elegant expression in reading and speaking can be 
 acquired without a similar attention to habitual 
 practice ? This is the golden key to every ex p . 
 B b 
 
290 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 cellence, but can be purchased only by labour, 
 unremitting labour, and perseverance. 
 
 Harmonic Inflection. 
 
 Besides that variety which necessarily arises 
 from an attention to the foregoing rules, that is, 
 from annexing ceitain inflections to sentences of 
 a particular import or structure, there is still an- 
 other source of variety, in those parts of a sen- 
 tence where the sense is not at all concerned, 
 and where the variety is merely to please the ear. 
 It is certain, that if the sense of a sentence be 
 strongly conveyed, it will seldom be inharmoni- 
 ously pronounced ; but it is as certain, there are 
 many members of sentences which may be dif- 
 ferently pronounced without affecting the sense, 
 but which cannot be differently pronounced 
 without greatly affecting their variety and harmo- 
 ny. Thus in the following sentence: 
 
 As we perceive the shadow to have moved along 1 the dial-plate, 
 but did not perceive it moving-; and it appears that the grass lias 
 grown, though nobody ever saw it grow : so the advances we 
 make in knowledge, as they consist of such minute steps, are only 
 perceivable by the distance. 
 
 In this sentence, provided we do not drop the 
 voice before the end, the sense of the sentence 
 is not at all concerned in any of the inflections, 
 except that on grow in the middle, which must 
 necessarily be the rising, and that on distance at 
 the end, which must be the falling inflection : if 
 
ELOCUTION. 291 
 
 these inflections are preserved on these words, 
 the rest may take their chance, and the sense will 
 be scarcely affected ; but the dullest ear must 
 perceive an infinite advantage to the harmony in 
 placing the falling inflection on grown in the first 
 part of the sentence, and on knowledge in the 
 last: and so natural is this pronunciation, that 
 there are few readers so bad as not to place these 
 inflections on these words without any other 
 guide than the ear. 
 
 This part of pronunciation, therefore, though 
 of little importance to the sense, is of the utmost 
 importance to the harmony of a sentence. Eve- 
 ry writer on the subject has left it entirely to the 
 ear ; and, indeed, so nice are the principles on 
 which harmony and variety in pronunciation de- 
 pend, that it is no wonder any analysis of it has 
 been shifted off, and classed among those things 
 for which it is utterly impossible to give rules. 
 But as we have often observed, though the vari- 
 eties of voice, in other respects, are almost infi- 
 nite, all these varieties are still reducible to two 
 radical and essential differences, the upward and 
 downward slide or inflection ; and therefore, 
 though the high and low, the loud and soft, the 
 quick and slow, the forcible and feeble, admit of 
 almost infinite degrees, every one of these differ- 
 ences and degrees must either adopt the rising 
 or falling inflection of voice ; and these inflec- 
 tions being more essential to the sense and har- 
 mony than any, or all the other differences, we 
 have, in the distinction of the voice into the ri~ 
 
292 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 
 sing and falling inflection, a key to part of the 
 harmony and variety so much admired, and, it 
 may be added a very essential part. If therefore 
 no rules could be given to the application of 
 these inflections to the purposes of harmony and 
 variety the practicability of marking upon paper 
 those which are actually made use of by good 
 readers and speakers, would be of the utmost 
 importance to elocution ; but in this, as well as 
 in other cases, an attempt will be made to 
 mark out some rules, which it is hoped will not 
 be entirely useless. 
 
 Preliminary Observations. 
 
 When similar members of sentences do not 
 run into such a series, as brings them into the 
 enumerative form ; the voice, both to relieve the 
 ear, and impress the sense, falls naturally into a 
 succession of inflections, which is something 
 similar to that used in the series, and at once 
 gives force and varieiy : these inflections some 
 times take place at the beginning of a sentence, 
 where the members are similar ; but most com- 
 monly near the end, when the sentence is conclu- 
 ding with several similar members, which, with- 
 out this inflection on some particular words, 
 would disgust the ear by a succession of similar 
 sounds. This inflection, from the obvious use 
 of it, we may call the Harmonic Inflection. 
 
 Difficult, and, perhaps, impossible as it is to 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 293 
 
 describe sounds upon paper to those who are 
 wholly unacquainted with them, the task is not 
 quite so arduous when we address those who 
 have a general idea of what we attempt to con- 
 vey. If the nature of the rising and falling in- 
 flections has been sufficiently conceived, the use 
 of them in this particular will be easily pointed 
 out. The harmonic inflection then is, using the 
 rising and falling inflection of the voice upon 
 successive words, principally to please the ear, 
 and break a continued chain of similar pauses .: 
 for the rising inflection of the voice lias nothing 
 emphatical in it, nor the falling any thing conclu- 
 ding. As this latter inflection, and the small 
 pause that accompanies it, often takes place on 
 words that are immediately connected in sense 
 with what follows, it seems barely a resting place 
 for the voice and ear, and such an enforcing of 
 the sense as naturally arises from a more deliberate 
 pronunciation of the words. That the voice 
 may be in the falling inflection without marking 
 a conclusion in the sense, and even while it ex- 
 cites expectation of something to follow, is evi- 
 dent from the pronunciation of the first member 
 of a series ; but this falling inflection of the voice 
 b essentially different from that which we com- 
 monly use when we conclude a sentence ; for, in 
 the former case, as has been already observed, 
 the voice is palpably raised higher than on the 
 preceding words, though ending with the falling 
 inflection* ; in the latter it falls gradually lower 
 
 \ See Part. 1 p. 74-, 133. 
 
 Bb 2 
 
294 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 on several of the preceding words, and may 
 properly be said to drop. An example will con- 
 tribute greatly to the comprehending of this mark- 
 ing inflection, so necessary to the variety and 
 harmony of a sentence. 
 
 "We may observe, that any single circumstance of what we 
 have formerly seen often, raises up a whole scene of imagery, 
 and awakens numberless ideas that slept in the imagination ; such 
 a particular smell or colour is able to fill the mind on a sudden 
 with a picture of the fields or gardens where we first met with 
 it ; and to bring up into vihv all the variety of images thatonce 
 attended it. Spectator. No. 417. 
 
 We may here observe, that the former part of 
 this passage has a succession of similar pauses 
 till it comes to the semicolon, (which, from the 
 complete sense it forms, might as well have been 
 marked by a colon), and that the succeeding part 
 of the sentence runs exactly into the same suc- 
 cession of similar pauses : winch, if pronounced 
 exactly alike, would offend the ear by a mono- 
 tony. A good reader, therefore, solicitous to 
 avoid a sameness of sound, throws his voice into 
 tht rising inflection upon bring, and into the foi- 
 ling upon view, by which means a variety is in- 
 troduced, and the period ends more harmonious- 
 ly from the preparation made for it by the har- 
 monic inflection. 
 
 Another instance where this inflection may be 
 repeated successively, is, perhaps, better calcula- 
 ted to convey an idea of it : 
 
 We may learn from this observation which we have made on the 
 mind of man, to take particular care, when we have once settled 
 in a regular course of life, how we too frequently indulge our- 
 selves in any the most innocent divers-ions and entertainments ; 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 295 
 
 since the mind may insensibly fall off from the relish of virtuous 
 actions, and by degrees exchange that pleasure, which it takes in 
 the performance of its duty, for delights of a much more inferior 
 and unprofitable nature. " Sped. No. 44~ 
 
 In this example, we have the same succession of 
 similar pauses as in the last ; and though the 
 voice may very properly fix itself in the falling 
 inflection on the word entertainments, and by that 
 means occasion some variety, yet the subsequent 
 part of the period proceeds by similar pauses as 
 well as the former ; and therefore, the harmonic 
 inflection introduced upon the words degrees and 
 exchange, and upon that and pleasure, that is, 
 the rising inflection, upon degrees and that, and 
 the falling inflection upon exchange and pleasure y 
 by this means, I say, the monotony will be brok- 
 en, the thought enforced, and the period render- 
 ed much more musical. 
 
 One example more, where this inflection may 
 be oftener repeated, will still better enable us to 
 show the real nature and use of it : 
 
 l must confess I think it below reasonable creatures to be alto- 
 gettje? conversant in such diversions as are merely innocent, and 
 have nothing else to recommend them, but that there is no hurt in 
 them. Whether any kind of gaming has even this much to say for 
 3! self, I shall not determine; but 1 think it very wonderful to see 
 persons of the best sense pissing away a dozen hours together in 
 shuffling and dividing a pack of cards, with no oilier conversation 
 hut whit is made up of a few game phrases, and no other ideas, 
 but those of black and red spots ranged together in different 
 figures. Spect. No. 93. 
 
 The necessity of introducing the harmonic in- 
 flection in the latter part of this sentence will bet- 
 er appear, by first reading it in the common man- 
 
296 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 ner, and afterwards with the inflection we have 
 been describing; this will show the difficulty of 
 avoiding a monotony without adopting this in- 
 flection, and the variety and force it gives to the 
 language and sentiment when it is adopted. The 
 words best and sense; passing an&away; dozen and 
 together; shuffling and dividing ; other and con- 
 versation ; what and made up ; these wwds, I 
 say, will be very apt to drag, and produce a same- 
 ness of sound if pronounced in the common way ; 
 but if the rising inflection is used on the first, and 
 the falling on the last of every pair, the monoto- 
 ny will be prevented, and a succession of sounds 
 introduced, very descriptive of the repetition 
 conveyed by the words. 
 
 But the great object of the harmonic inflection 
 is forming the cadence : here it is, that harmony 
 and variety are more peculiarly necessary, as the 
 ear is more particularly affected by the close of a 
 subject, or any branch of a subject, than by any oth- 
 er part of the composition. We have had frequent 
 occasion to observe, that though a series of senten- 
 ces may all require to be pronounced with the fal- 
 ling inflection ; yet if they all belong to one sub- 
 ject, or one branch of a subject, usually called 
 a paragraph, that the last of them only demands 
 that depression of voice which marks a conclu- 
 sion : to which observation we may add this gen- 
 eral rule. 
 
 Rule I. When a series of similar sentences, or 
 members of sentences, form a branch of a subject 
 or paragraph ; the last sentence or member must 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 297 
 
 fall gradually into a lower tone, and adopt the 
 harmonic inflection, on such words as form the 
 most agreeable cadence. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 One of the most eminent mathematicians of the age has assured 
 me, that the greatest pleasure he took in reading Virgil was in 
 examining JEneas's voyage by the map; as I question not but many 
 a modern compiler of history would be delighted with little more 
 in that divine author than in the bare matters of fact. 
 
 Sped. No. 109. 
 
 Here we find placing the rising inflection upon 
 the word little, and the falling upon more ; and 
 the falling upon divine, and the rising upon au- 
 thor, gives both a distinctness and harmony to the 
 cadence. 
 
 Gratian very oftea recommends the fine taste as the utmost per- 
 fection of an accomplished man. As this word arises very often 
 in conversation, I shall endeavour to give some account of it; and 
 to lay down rules how we may know whether we are possessed of 
 it, andh6w we may acquire that fine taste of writing which is so 
 much talked of among the polite world. Sped. No. 109. 
 
 Placing the rising inflection upon how, and the 
 falling upon acquire ; the falling inflection upon 
 fine, and the rising upon writing, prevents a same- 
 ness which would otherwise arise from the simili- 
 tude of the three members, and gives an agreea- 
 ble close to the sentence. 
 
 Since I have mentioned this unaccountable 2eal which appears 
 in atheists and infidels, I must further observe, that they are like- 
 wise in a most particular manner possessed with the spirit of big- 
 otry. They are wedded to opinions full of contradiction and im» 
 possibility, and at the same time look upon the smallest difficulty 
 man article of faith as a sufficient reason for rejecting it. 
 
 Spect. No. 185, 
 
£298 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 As the rising inflection on the word wedded, and 
 the falling on the word opinions, the falling on con- 
 tradiction, and the rising on impossibility, pre- 
 vents a sameness in the first member of the last 
 sentence arising from its similitude to the closing 
 member of the first ; so the rising inflection up- 
 on the words same and smallest, and the falling 
 upon time and difficulty, and the falling upon ar- 
 tide, and the rising upon faith ; this arrangement 
 of inflections, I say, on the latter part of the sen- 
 tence, gives a force, harmony, and variety, to the 
 cadence. 
 
 We may be sure the metaphorical word taste would not have 
 been so general in all tongues, had there noi been a very great 
 conformity between that mental taste, which is the subject of this 
 paper, and that sensitive taste which gives us a relish of every dif- 
 ferent flavour that affects the palate. Accordingly we find, there 
 are as many degrees of refine mint in the intellectual faculty, as in 
 the sense which is marked out by this common denomination. 
 
 Sped. No. 409. 
 
 If we do but place the rising inflection on ac- 
 cordingly, and the falling on find, the rising 
 on many, and the falling on refinement, in the 
 last sentence, we shall perceive a great variety, 
 as well as harmony added to the whole passage. 
 
 Harmony of Prose. 
 
 The foregoing observations on the harmony 
 of the cadence, have, undoubtedly, suggested to 
 the reader that great object of ancient and mod- 
 ern composition, the harmony of prose : this is a 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 299 
 
 subject so intimately connected with harmonious 
 pronunciation, that it seems necessary to investi- 
 gate the principles of that composition which is 
 generally esteemed harmonious, in order, if pos- 
 sible, to throw some light upon the most accu- 
 rate mode of delivering it. 
 
 The ancients thought harmonious prose to be 
 only a looser kind of numbers, and resolved many 
 passages of their most celebrated orations into 
 such feet as composed verse. In modern lan- 
 guages, where accent seems to stand for the quan- 
 tity of the ancients, we find harmonious prose 
 resolvable into an arrangement of accented sylla- 
 bles, somewhat similar to that of versification. 
 The return of the accented syllable at certain 
 intervals, seems the common definition of both. 
 
 In verse we find these intervals nearly equal ; 
 and.it is this equality which forms the measure. 
 Thus in the following couplet : 
 
 Short is the date, alas ! of modern rhym&s ; 
 
 And 'tis but just to let them live betimes. PoJFp. 
 
 An undisciplined reader, in pronouncing this sen- 
 tence, would be apt, from the greater smooth- 
 ness of the line, to lay the accent, or metrical em- 
 phasis, as it may be called, on the word is in the 
 first line ; but as this would bring forward a word 
 which, from its nature, is always sufficiently un- 
 derstood, a good reader will place the accent on 
 short and date, and sink the words is the into a> 
 comparative obscurity ; and as this interval of 
 two syllables happens at the beginning of aline, 
 
300 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 it is so far from having a bad effect on the ear, 
 that it frequently relieves it from the too great 
 sameness to which rhyming verse is always lia- 
 ble. 
 
 But if this inequality of interval is sometimes 
 for the sake of variety necessary in verse, it is not 
 to be wondered, that for a similar reason, we avoid 
 as much as possible too great a regularity of in- 
 terval between the accented syllables in prose. 
 Loose and negligent, however, as prose may ap- 
 pear, it is not entirely destitute of measure : for 
 it may be with confidence asserted, that, where- 
 ver a style is remarkably smooth and flowing, it. 
 is owing in some measure to a regular return of 
 accented syllables. And though a strength and 
 severity of style has in it something more excel- 
 lent than the soft and flowing, yet the latter holds 
 certainly a distinguished rank in composition. 
 The music of language never displeases us, but 
 when sense is sacrificed to sound ; when both are 
 compatible, we should deprive a thought of half 
 its beauty, not to give it all the harmony of which 
 language is susceptible. As all subjects are not 
 masculine, sublime, and strong ; nil subjects do 
 not require, and, indeed, are not susceptible of a 
 strength and severity of style. Those, therefore, 
 which are beautiful, didactic, and persuasive, de- 
 mand a smoothness and elegance of language ; 
 which is not only agreeable, as it is suited to the 
 objects it conveys, but, like fine colours or 
 sounds, is in some measure, pleasing for its own 
 sake. Accordingly, we find, that, though we 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 101 
 
 cannot so easily trace that accentual rhythmus 
 which forms the harmony of the beginning and 
 middle of a sentence, yet the latter part, or what 
 is commonly called the cadence, consists (when 
 harmoniously constructed) of such an arrange- 
 ment of accented words as approaches nearly to 
 Verse. Every ear will immediately find a rug- 
 gedness and want of harmony in the conclusion of 
 the following sentence : 
 
 We are always complaining- our days are few., and acting as 
 though there would be no end of them. Addistrn^ 
 
 The reason of this harshness seems to be, that 
 vast chasm of unaccented words that extends 
 from the word acting to the word end. The eat, 
 indeed, sensible of the want of accent, lays a little 
 Stress upon though : but this does not quite rem, 
 edy the evil : still there are four words unaccent- 
 ed, and the sentence, remains harsh: but if we 
 alter its structure, by placing a word that admits 
 of an accent in the middle of these four words* 
 we shall find harmony succeed to harshness itnft 
 inequality. 
 
 We are always complaining our days are few, and acting as. 
 q hough there would never be an end of them. 
 
 This difference, therefore, can arise from no- 
 thing but an unequal and unmetrical arrange- 
 ment of accent in the former sentence, ana a 
 greater approach to equal and metrical arrange- 
 ment of accent in the latter. 
 
 As a farther corroboration of the truth of this 
 
 Go 
 
302 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 
 opinion, let us take a sentence remarkable for its 
 harmony, and try whether it arises from the fore- 
 going principles. 
 
 We hear at this distance but a faint echo of that thunder in De- 
 mosthenes, which shook die throne of Mace don to its foundations; 
 and are sometimes at a loss for that conviction in the arguments 
 of Cicero, which balanced in the midst of convulsions the totter- 
 ing- republic of Rome. 
 
 In the latter part of this sentence, we find the 
 accented syllables at exactly equal intervals from 
 the word sometimes to the word midst; that is, 
 there are three unaccented syllables between every 
 accented syllable : and from the word midst to 
 the word Rome, there is an exact equality of in- 
 tervals; that is, two unaccented syllables, or, 
 which is perfectly equivalent, syllables pronoun- 
 ced in the time of two, to one unaccented. 
 
 Now, if we change a few of the words of this 
 sentence to others of different length and accent, 
 we shall find the harmony of the sentence con- 
 siderably diminished, though the sense may be 
 inviolably preserved. 
 
 We hear at this distance but a faint echo of th-at thunder in De- 
 mosthenes which shook the throne of Macedon to its foundations.; 
 and are sometimes at a loss for that force in the proofs of Cice-, 
 ro, which balanced in the midst of anarctvy the tottering- state ©Y 
 Rpme. 
 
 That full flow of prosaic harmony } so percept 
 tible in the former sentence, is greatly diminish- 
 ed in- this; and the reason seems plainly point- 
 ed out : for as the harmony of verse is owing 1 
 solely to an equal and regular return of accent 
 
ELOCUTION 
 
 30: 
 
 the harmony of prose must arise from the same 
 source ; that is, as verse owes its harmony en- 
 tirely to a regular return of accent, prose can 
 never be harmonious by a total want of if. The 
 sole difference between them seems to lie in the 
 constant, regular, and artificial arrangement of 
 accent in the one, and the unstudied, various, 
 and even opposite arrangement in the other. 
 Verse, with some few exceptions, proceeds in a 
 regular alternation of accent, from one end of the 
 poem to the other ; harmonious prose, on the con- 
 trary, in some members, adopts one species of 
 arrangement, and in some another ; but always 
 so as to avoid such clusters of accents in one 
 place, and such a total absence of them in an- 
 other, as necessarily occasions a ruggeduess and 
 difficulty of pronunciation. 
 
 At first sight, perhaps, we should be led to 
 suppose, that the intervals between the accents 
 ought rather to diminish than increase as they ap- 
 proach the end of a sentence ; and yet, if we con- 
 sult the ear, we shall find that intervals of two 
 unaccented syllables sound better even in the 
 closing member of a sentence, than intervals of 
 one unaccented syllable only. Let us take the 
 following sentence as an example of this : 
 
 Demetrius compares prosperity to the indulgence of a fond 
 mother to a child, which often proves his ruin; but the affection of 
 the Divine Being- to that of a wise father, who would have his sons 
 exercised in labour, disappointment, and pain, that they may 
 gather strength and fortitude. 
 
 Now, if, instead of the word strength, we sub- 
 
304 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 stitute experience, though the sense may be 
 weakened, the sound will, perhaps, be improved ; 
 and if the ears of others should agree with mine 
 in this particular, it may be laid down as a rule, 
 that other circumstances being equal, the last 
 members of sentences ought rather to end in the 
 dactylic than in the iambic measure. In this ap- 
 pellation of the measure of prose, I adopt the 
 terms generally made use of, and particularly by 
 Mason, in his Essay on Prosaic Numbers. This 
 gentleman deserves much praise for his attempt 
 to investigate the causes of prosaic harmony, but 
 appears to me to have an idea of English metre 
 so blended with that of the Latin and Greek, as 
 to throw error and confusion over his whole per^ 
 formance. For what can we make of his placing 
 two long quantities over the two syllables of the 
 words sentence and sp ndee ? Each of these words 
 can have but one accent ; and it is accent, or em- 
 phasis, and these only, and not any length or 
 openness, of the vowels, that forms English 
 metre, or that rhythmus which is analogous to it 
 in prose. 
 
 Harmony of Prosaic Inflections. 
 
 Hitherto I have only considered poetic and 
 prosaic harmony as arising from an harmonious 
 and rhythmical arrangement of accent ; and it is 
 with some diffidence I venture upon a farther ex ♦ 
 
ELOCUTION 
 
 \Q5 
 
 plication of this subject upon principles which 
 have never yet been thought of : but I presume 
 it will be found, upon inquiry, that the various 
 and harmonious arrangement of the rising and 
 falling inflections of the voice, is no less the cause 
 of harmony 5 both in verse and prose, than the 
 metrical arrangement of accent and emphasis. 
 
 The melody both of prose and verse seems to 
 consist as much in such an arrangement of em- 
 phatic inflection, as suits the sense, and is agree- 
 able to the ear, as it does in a rhythmical dispo- 
 sition of accented and emphatic syllables. To 
 illustrate this observation, let us take an harmo- 
 nious couplet in Pope's Prologue to Cato ; 
 
 A brave man struggling- in the storms of fate. 
 And greatly falling with a falling stale. 
 
 The first line of this couplet ends with the ri- 
 sing inflection, to prevent the want of harmony 
 there would be in ending two successive lines 
 with the same inflection ; a sameness for which 
 nothing but emphasis will ever apologize. . As 
 this line ends with the rising inflection, the last 
 word may not improperly be called the rudder, 
 which directs the inflections on the preceding 
 words ; for in order to prevent an exact return 
 of the same order of inflection, it is not sufficient 
 that the different inflections succeed each other 
 alternatively ; this would be like the successive 
 sounds of the letters ,A B ; A, B. To prevent a 
 return of sounds so little various, we find the ear 
 generally adopt a succession of inflection, which 
 Cc % 
 
306 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 interposes two similar inflections between twQ 
 similar inflections ; and this produces a variety 
 similar to the series, 
 
 A, B, B, A; orB, A, A, B. 
 
 The first line, therefore, of this verse, neces- 
 sarily ending- with the rising inflection oh the 
 word fate, in order to make the other word a»s 
 various and harmonious as possible, the falling 
 inflection is placed on storms, the same inflecticrn 
 on struggling, and the rising inflection on brave-; 
 and this, in the first line, forms the arrange- 
 ment, rising, falling, falling, rising; or 
 
 A, B, B, A. 
 
 The next line ending the sentence, necessarily 
 adopts the falling inflection on the last word state, 
 and this directs the rising inflection to be placed 
 on the two words falling, and the falling inflec- 
 tion on greatly, which produces this order, fal- 
 ling, rising, rising, falling ; or B, A, A, B< Thig 
 order of placing the inflections is not invariably 
 adopted, because emphasis sets aside every oth* 
 er-rule, and makes harmony subservientto sense: 
 but it may be asserted, this order of arranging the 
 inflections is so generally adopted by the ear, that 
 when emphasis does not forbid, this is the ar- 
 rangement into which the verse naturally slides^ 
 It may likewise be observed, that where empha- 
 sis coincides with this arrangement, the verse is 
 always the most harmonious, and the sense in its 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 S07 
 
 most poetical dress. Nay, we shall find harmo- 
 nious prose, where emphasis does not interrupt 
 the natural current of inflection, glide insensibly 
 into this rhythmical arrangement of inflection. 
 Let us take an example : 
 
 Exercise and temperance strengthen the constitution. 
 
 Agreeably to the order we have just taken no- 
 tice of, we find this sentence adopt the falling in- 
 flection on exercise \ the rising on temperance 
 and strengthen, and the falling on constitution $ 
 •but if we add another member to this sentence, 
 so -connected with this as to require the rising 
 inflection on constitution, we shall find that .the 
 arrangement of inflection is changed, but the 
 same order preserved. 
 
 'Exercise and temperance strengthen the constitution, and 
 sweeten the enj6yments of life. 
 
 -Here, I say, contrary to the former arrangement, 
 we find the rising inflection on exercise, the fal- 
 ling on temperance and strengthen, and the ri- 
 sing on constitution j because here the sense re- 
 mains suspended and unfinished. See Plate 1. 
 5vf° IV. p. 97, 98, A final member succeeds, 
 consisting of three accented words ; the two last 
 -of which must always be pronounced with dif- 
 ferent inflections ; that is, the penultimate with 
 the rising, and the ultimate with the falling in- 
 flection ; but the antipenultimate word sweeten-, 
 may adopt either the rising or falling inflection, 
 as either will diversify it sufficiently from the 
 
308 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 preceding and succeeding inflections ; but the 
 tailing inflection on this word seems to be prefer- 
 able, as the three words sweeten, enjoyment, and 
 life, form one distinct portion ; and this portion 
 can be no way so variously pronounced as by the 
 falling inflection on sweeten, the rising on enjoy- 
 ments, and the falling on life. 
 
 But whatever may be the order of arrangement 
 in the commencement and middle of a sentence^ 
 it is certain, that if we mean to form an harmonir 
 ous cadence, one of these two arrangements of 
 inflection ought to take place at the end of a sen- 
 tence : that is, if the last member consists of four 
 accented words, the same inflections ought tp 
 take place at the end of a sentence, as we find 
 generally obtain in the last line of a couplet in 
 poetry ; or if the last member consist of three 
 'accented words, such inflections ought to be a- 
 dbpted as will make a series of three inflections 
 most various, which is, by giving the last word 
 the tailing, thepenultimate the rising, and the an- 
 tipenultimate either the rising or falling inflection. 
 See Simple Series, Rule iv. p. 100. 
 
 An instance of the first arrangement is the fol- 
 lowing sentence : 
 
 The immortality of the soul is the basis of morality, and the 
 source of all the pleasing- hopes and secret joys, that can arise in 
 the heart of a reasonable creature. Sped. ^io. 111. 
 
 In the last member but one of this sentence, 
 the words pleasing and joys have the rising in- 
 flection, and hopes and secret the falling ; and in 
 

 ELOCUTION. 
 
 309 
 
 the last member, the words arise and creature 
 have the falling, and heart and reasonable the ri- 
 sing inflection, which is exactly the order of in- 
 flection in the last couplet of the tragedy of Cato : 
 
 Produces fraud and cruelty and strife 
 And robs the guilty world of Cato's life : 
 
 where produces and strife have the rising inflec- 
 tion, and fraud and cruelty the falling ; and guil- 
 ty and life the falling, and world and Cato the ri- 
 sing inflection. 
 
 An instance of the other arrangement we find 
 in this sentence : 
 
 Cicero concludes his celebrated baoks tie Oratore, with some 
 precepts for pronunciation and action ; without which part he af- 
 firms, that the best orator in the world can never succeed, and 
 an indifferent one, who is master of this, shall gain much greater 
 applause. 
 
 In order to pronounce this sentence with an har- 
 monious cadence, the word this must have the 
 rising inflection, as at the end of the first line of 
 a couplet, and the three last words, much greater 
 applause, which form the last member, must be 
 pronounced very distinctly with the falling in- 
 flection on the last, the rising inflection on great- 
 er and the falling on much. 
 
 The rule, therefore, that arises from these ob- 
 servations is, that when the last pause necessarily 
 leaves the last member of a sentence with four 
 accented words, as in the first example, they are 
 pronounced with the inflections in the order fal- 
 ling, rising, rising, falling: and when the pause 
 
310 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 
 leaves three accented words in the last member, 
 they are pronounced as in the last example ; that 
 is, either in the order, fallings rising. Jailing ; 
 or rising, rising, falling. 
 
 As a corroboration of these principles, we may 
 observe, that where the pause necessarily leaves 
 but two accented words in the last member, and 
 that emphasis forbids the preceding member to 
 be so pronounced as to form the order of inflec- 
 tions we have prescribed ; when this is the case, 
 I say, we shall find the period end inharmoni- 
 otisly. Let us take an example : 
 
 If they do not acquiesce in his judgment, which I think nevei' 
 happened above once or twice at most, they appeal to me. 
 
 Spectator, 
 
 Here the sense requires, that the emphasis with 
 the failing inflection should be pfcced on the 
 word most ; after which must be a pause : and 
 as the final member consists only of two accent- 
 ed words, appeal and me, no tolerable cadence 
 can be formed ; for these words, having neces- 
 sarily the rising and failing inflection, are but a 
 repetition of the same inflections, in the same or- 
 der as on the words twice and most , which forms 
 as monotonous a conclusion as the series, 
 A, B; A, B. 
 It seldom happens, however, that the sentence 
 is so constructed as to prevent the ear from fal- 
 ling into one or other of the two before mentioned 
 arrangements of inflection. For so agreeable to 
 the ear is an harmonious cadence, that for the 
 
elocution. 311, 
 
 Bake of forming one, allowances will be made 
 for giving an emphatic accent even to words not; 
 entitled to it from their sense. Let us suppose 
 the following sentence forming the conclusion of 
 a discourse : 
 
 So from what has been said, we may certainly conclude, 
 that as virtue is not always rewarded in the present life, it will 
 be sure to meet with the moat ample and satisfactory reward in 
 the life to come. 
 
 If this sentence is properly pronounced, thefe 
 must be a considerable pause at the word re* 
 ward, in order to pronounce the last member 
 with a distinct and harmonious fall ; but if WM 
 pause here, we snail find it impossible to pfo*~ 
 nounce the last member harmoniously without 
 laying a stress on the word in ; and though this 
 word has no title either to accent or emphasis 
 from the sense it conveys, yet the necessity of 
 concluding a discourse, or any capital branch of 
 a- discourse, with an harmonious fall, will suffi- 
 ciently authorize a considerable stress and distinct 
 inflection on that insignificant word. 
 
 A good ear, therefore, will sometimes lay a 
 stress on certain words, and sometimes omit it 
 for the sake of an harmonious cadence. Thus, 
 in Sterne's Sermon on the House of Mourning 
 and the House of Feasting, we mett with this 
 passage : 
 
 From reflections of this serious cast, bow insensibly do the 
 thoughts carry us farther ! and from considering 1 what we are, 
 what kind of world we live in, and what evils befall us ih it, bow 
 
312 ELEMENTS OP 
 
 naturally do they set us to look forward at what poBsibly we stall 
 be ! for what kind of world we are intended — what evils may be- 
 fall us there — and what provision we may make against them here, 
 whilst we have time and opportunity. 
 
 In this passage we find the last member, whilst 
 We have time and opportunity, necessarily re- 
 quires that the word whilst should be pronoun- 
 ced with the degree of force due to an accented 
 word, or the cadence would be faulty. But if this 
 last member were constructed in this manner; 
 whilst we have time and opportunity afforded us; 
 in this case, I say, we need give no force to the 
 word whilst, as there are three accented words, 
 time, opportunity, and afforded, which will be 
 sufficient to form the cadence without it. 
 
 These observations necessarily suggest the 
 importance of such a choice and arrangement pf 
 words as fall in with the most harmonious pronun • 
 ciation. Pronunciation and composition mutual-- 
 Iy throw light on each other; they are counterparts 
 of one great operation of the human mind, name- 
 ly, that of conveying the ideas and feelings, of 
 one man to another with force, precision, and? 
 harmony. It will not be very surprising, there^ 
 fore, if the foregoing observations on promifr- 
 ciation should have hinted a few rules on the har- 
 mony of composition. We have seen, that the 
 harmony of every sentence depends more partic- 
 ularly on the construction of the latter party* as 
 this forms what is commonly called the cadence; 
 This part of the sentence, therefore, should Be 
 
 * Quint. L. IX, Gap. Iv. 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 313 
 
 more particularly attended to, as it is that which 
 crowns the whole, and makes the most lasting 
 impression on the ear. 
 
 Rides for Reading Verse. 
 
 Whatever difficulties we may find in read- 
 ing prose, they are greatly increased when the 
 composition is in verse ; and more particularly 
 if the verse be rhyme. The regularity of the 
 feet, and the sameness of sound in rhyming verse, 
 strongly solicits the voice to a sameness of tone 
 and tone, unless directed by a judicious ear 3 is apt 
 to degenerate into a song, and a song, of all others, 
 the most disgusting to a person of just taste. If, 
 therefore, there are few who read prose with 
 propriety, there are still fewer who succeed in 
 verse; they either want that equable and har- 
 monious flow of sound which distinguishes it 
 from loose, unmeasured composition, or they 
 have not a sufficient delicacy of ear to keep the 
 harmonious smoothness of verse from sliding in- 
 to a whining chant; nay, so agreeable is this 
 chant to many readers, that a simple and natural 
 delivery of verse seems tame and insipid, and 
 much too familiar for the dignity of the lan- 
 guage. So pernicious are bad habits in every 
 exercise of the faculties, that they not only lead 
 us to false objects of beauty and propriety, but at 
 last deprive us of the very power of perceiving the 
 mistake. For those, therefore, whose ears are 
 D D 
 
3H ELEMENTS OP 
 
 not just, and who are totally deficient in a true 
 taste for the music of poetry, the best method of 
 avoiding this impropriety is to read verse exactly 
 as if it were prose ; for though this may be said 
 to be an error, it is certainly an error on the safer 
 side. 
 
 To say, however, as some do , that the pro- 
 nunciation of verse is entirely destitute of song, 
 and that it is no more than a just pronunciation 
 of prose, is as distant from truth, as the whining 
 chant we have been speakingef, isfromtrue poetic 
 harmony. Poetry without song is a body with- 
 out a soul. The tune of this song is, indeed, 
 difficult to hit ; but when once it is hit, it is sure 
 to give the most exquisite pleasure. It excites 
 in the hearer the most eager desire of imitation; 
 and if this desire be not accompanied by a just 
 taste or good instruction, it generally substitutes 
 the turn ti, turn ti, as it is called, for simple, ele- 
 gant poetic harmony. 
 
 It must, however, be confessed, that elegant 
 readers of verse often verge so nearly on what is 
 called sing song, without falling into it, that it is 
 no wonder those who attempt to imitate them, 
 slide into that blemish which borders so nearly 
 on a beauty. And, indeed, as an ingenious au- 
 thor observes.^ " there is such an affinity be- 
 " tween poetry and music, that they were in the 
 " earlier ages never separated ; and though mod- 
 " ern refinement has, in a great measure, de- 
 " stroyed this union, yet it is with some degree 
 " of difficulty, in rehearsing these divine com- 
 
 * Philosophical Essay on the Delivery of written Language. 
 
ELOCUTION. 315 
 
 " positions, that we forget the singing of the 
 " Muse." 
 
 The truth is, the pronunciation of verse is a 
 species of elocution very distinct from the pro- 
 nunciation of prose : both of them have nature 
 for their basis ; but one is common, familiar, and 
 practical nature ; the other beautiful, elevated, 
 and ideal nature ; the latter as different from the 
 former as the elegant step of a minuet is from 
 the common motions in walking. Accordingly, 
 we find, there are many who can read prose 
 well, who are entirely at a loss for the pronunci- 
 ation of verse : for these, then, we will endeavour 
 to lay down a few rules, which may serve 
 to facilitate the acquiring of so desirable an ac- 
 complishment. 
 
 But first it may be observed, that though all 
 the passions may be in a poetical dress, and that 
 the movement of the verse may be suited to all 
 their different characters ; yet as verse is a spe- 
 cies of music, none of the passions appear to 
 such advantage in poetry as the benevolent ones ; 
 for as melody is a thing pleasing in itself, it must 
 naturally unite with those passions which are 
 productive of pleasing sensations ; in like man- 
 ner as graceful action accords with a generous 
 sentiment, or as a beautiful countenance gives 
 advantage to an amiable idea. Thus the noble 
 and generous passions are the constant topics of 
 ancient and modern poets ; and of these passions, 
 the pathetic seems the favourite and most 
 endearing theme. Those readers, therefore, who 
 
OAU ELEMENTS OF 
 
 cannot assume a plaintive tone of voice, will 
 never succeed in reading poetry ; and those who 
 have this power, will read verse vety agreeably, 
 though almost every other requisite for delivery 
 be wanting. 
 
 It has been observed upon a former occasion,* 
 that the different inflections of voice upon partic- 
 ular words are not so perceptible in verse as 
 prose ; and that in the former, the voice some- 
 times entirely sinks the inflection, and slides into 
 a monotone This propensity of the voice in 
 reading verse, shows how nearly poetry approach- 
 es to music ; as those notes properly called mu- 
 sical, arc really so many monotones, or notes 
 without slides, in different degrees of the musi- 
 cal scale, and sometimes in the same degree. 
 This approach to a monotone, especially in plain* 
 tive poetry, makes it often difficult, and some- 
 times impossible, to distinguish whether the 
 slides that accompany the pauses and emphasis of 
 verse are rising or falling; and at those pauses 
 where we can easily distinguish the inflections, we 
 sometimes find them different from such as wc 
 should adopt in reading the passage if it were 
 prose ; that is, we often find the rising inflection 
 at a pause in verse, where, if it were prose, we 
 should use the falling : an instance is given of 
 this at the end of the series, (p. 160) ; and to 
 this many more might be added. For as pro- 
 nunciation has for its object the strongest and 
 clearest sense, united with the most agreeable 
 sound ; if, in order to be harmonious, we must 
 
 * Vol I. p. 202. 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 317 
 
 necessarily enfeeble or obscure the sense ; or if, 
 in order to be strong and clear, we find it neces- 
 sary to be harsh, the composition is certainly faul- 
 ty ; and all a reader can do in this case is, to make 
 such a compromise between sense and sound 
 as will produce, upon the whole, the best effect. 
 It has been before observed, that sometimes in 
 prose, when the meaning is sufficiently obvious, 
 we may abate an enforcement of the sense for the 
 sake of the sound ; and in poetry, the sacrifice to 
 sound is much more necessary ; that is, if the" 
 sense be sufficiently clear ; for nothing can of- 
 fend against every species of pronunciation so 
 much as confusion or obscurity. But though an 
 elegant and harmonious pronunciation of verse 
 will sometimes oblige us to adopt different inflec- 
 tions, from those we should use in prosaic pro- 
 nunciation, it may be laid down as a good gene- 
 ral rule, that verse requires the same inflections 
 as prose, though less strongly marked, and more 
 approaching to monotones. If, therefore, we arc 
 at a loss for the true inflection of voice on anv 
 word m poetry, let us reduce it to earnest conver- 
 sation, and pronounce it in the most familiar and 
 prosaic manner ; and we shall for the most part 
 fall into those very inflections we ought to adopt 
 in repeating verse : nay, it is the preservation of 
 these prosaic inflections that makes the poetic 
 pronunciation natural; and the whining chant 
 which is adopted by many affected readers of po- 
 etry, owes in a great measure, its origin to a neg- 
 lect of this rule. Thus in the following couplet- 
 Dd2 
 
' ° ELEMENTS OF 
 
 Short is the date in which ill acts prevail, 
 
 Bat honesty's a rock will never fail. Steele. 
 
 If we pronounce the last word fail with the rising 
 inflection, sliding upwards a little higher than 
 usual, we shall infallibly draw the couplet into the 
 whining one we are here speaking of;* but if we 
 pronounce every part of the sentence exactly in 
 in the same manner, except the last word, and 
 give this the falling inflection, we shall find a nat- 
 ural tone preserved, and the whining chant entire- 
 ly vanished. 
 
 This observation naturally leads us to a rule 
 which may justly be looked on as the fundamen- 
 tal principle of all poetic pronunciation ; which \% 
 that, wherever a sentence, or member of a sen- 
 tence, zvould necessarily require the falling infac? 
 t'wn in prose, it ought always to have the same 
 inflection in poetry\; for though, if we were to 
 read verse prosaically, we should often place the 
 falling inflection where the style of verse would 
 require the rising, yet in those parts, where a 
 portion of perfect sense, or the conclusion of a sen- 
 tence, necessarily requires the falling inflection:, 
 the •- same inflection must be adopted both in verse 
 andprose, 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit 
 Of ihat forbidden tree, whose mortal taste 
 Brought death into the world, and all our woe, 
 
 * Conversing 1 with Dr. Johnson upon this subject, he repeated 
 this couplet to me in the manner here described ; which he $ai«l 
 was the manner in which Savage always used to pronounce verse, 
 
/ 
 
 ELOCUTION. 
 
 319 
 
 With loss of Eden, till one greater man 
 
 Restore us, and regain the blissful seat ; 
 
 Sing heav'nly muse, that on the secret top 
 
 Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire 
 
 That shepherd, who first taught the chosen seed, 
 
 In the beginning, how the heav'ns and earth 
 
 Rose out of chaos. Milton's Parad. Lont y B. i. v. 1. 
 
 Though we were to read this passage quite 
 prosaically, it would not admit of the falling in- 
 flection on any of its pauses till the end, and here 
 the voice ought to assume the falling inflection, 
 and be in a lower tone than at any of the other 
 pauses : But in the following example : 
 
 High on a throne of royal state, which faF 
 Outshone the wealth of Ormus or of Inde, 
 Or where the gorgeous East with richest hand, 
 Show'rs on her kings barbaric pearl and gold, _ 
 Satan exalted sat. Ibid. B, ii. <v. 1. 
 
 In reading this passage prosaically, we might 
 place the falling inflection on Inde ; but the po- 
 etical pronunciation of this passage w r ould neces- 
 sarily require a suspension of voice with the ri- 
 sing inflection on that word. It may be obser- 
 ved, indeed, that it is in the frequent use of the 
 rising inflection, where prose would adopt the 
 falling, that the song of poetry consists : familiar, 
 strong, argumentative subjects naturally enforce 
 the language with the falling inflection, as this is 
 naturally expressive of activity, force and precis- 
 ion ; but grand, beautiful, and plaintive subjects 
 slide naturally into the rising inflection, as this is 
 expressive of awe, admiration, and melancholy ; 
 where the mind may be said to be passive : and 
 
320 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 it is this general tendency of the plaintive tone to 
 assume the rising inflection, which inclines judi- 
 cious readers to adopt it at those pauses where 
 the falling inflection is absolutely necessary ; and 
 for want of which the pronunciation degene- 
 rates into the whine, so much and so justly dis- 
 liked ; for it is very remarkable, that if, where 
 the sense concludes, we are careful to preserve 
 the falling inflection, and let the voice drop into 
 the natural talking tone, the voice may be sus- 
 pended in the rising inflection on any other part 
 of the verse, with very little danger of falling in- 
 to the chant of bad readers. Thus in the follow- 
 ing passage which opens the tragedy of Cato : 
 
 The dawn is overcast, the morning low'rs. 
 And heavily in clouds brings on the day ; 
 The great, the important day, 
 Big with the fate of Cato and of Rome. 
 
 The grandeur of the objects and swell of lan- 
 guage in this description, naturally throw the 
 voice into those tones that express the awe and 
 dignity which those objects excite in the mind ; 
 and these tones being inclined to the plaintive ; 
 naturally slide into the rising inflection on the 
 pauses ; and this is apt to draw the voice into a 
 chant : but let the word Rome have the falling in- 
 flection and sink into a lower key, in the natural 
 talking tone, and the imperfections in pronoun- 
 cing the former part will be in a great measure 
 covered ; on the contrary, though the former 
 part be pronounced ever so accurately, if the 
 word Rome has the rising inflection, the whole 
 
ELOCUTION. 321 
 
 will appear to be unfinished, and have a disagree, 
 able whining tone. 
 
 This may suffice to shew the necessity of at- 
 tending to the pronunciation of periods in verse, 
 and of giving them the same inflection of voice 
 they wouid require in prose ; for it must be care- 
 fully noted, that though v.e often end with the ri- 
 sing inflection in verse, where we should use the 
 falling in prose, yet if in prose it is necessary we 
 .should end with the rising inflection, we ought 
 always to end with the same inflection in verse ; in 
 this case, the rising inflection at the end of a sen- 
 tence will not appear to have the whining tone. 
 Thus, where a question would require the rising 
 inflection in prose, verse wnil necessarily require 
 it to the end with the same inflection : and in 
 this case, the rising inflection will have no bad 
 effect on the ear. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 What ! shall an African, glial! Juba's heir 
 Reproach great Cato's son, and shew the world 
 A virtue wanting- in a Roman soul ? 
 
 Here, though every pause requires the rising in* 
 flection, and the period the same, yet as this pe- 
 riod is an interrogation requiring" the rising in- 
 flection, no whining chant is the consequence, but 
 the whole is natural. 
 
 From these observations, this general rule will 
 naturally arise ; that though, in verse, we fre- 
 quently suspend the voice, by the rising inflection^ 
 
322 
 
 ELEMENTS OP 
 
 where, if the composition -were prose, we should 
 adopt the falling ; yet, wherever, in prose, the 
 member or sentence would necessarily require the 
 rising inflection ; this inflection must necessarily 
 be adopted in verse. An instance of all these 
 cases may be found in the following example 
 from Pope : 
 
 He who through vast immensity can pierce, 
 Sec worlds on worlds compose one universe; 
 Ol/serve how system into system -uns, 
 What other planets circle other suns ; 
 "Wiiat vary'd being peoples ev'ry s<.r, 
 May tell why hear'n has made us as we are. 
 Bui of this frame, the bearings and die ties. 
 The strong connexions, nice dependencies, 
 Gradations just, lias thy pervading- soul 
 Losk'dthr ■••ugh ? or can a part contain the whole \ 
 
 Is the great chain that draws a; I to agree, 
 And drawn supports, upheld by God, or thee ? 
 
 If this passage were prose, every line but the 
 fifth might end with the falling inflection, like a 
 commencing series of five members ; but the 
 fifth, being that where the two principal construc- 
 tive parts unite, and the sense begins to form, 
 here, both in prose and verse, must be the prin- 
 cipal pause, and the rising inflection.* The two 
 questions with which this sentence ends, ought to 
 have the rising inflection also, as this is the in- 
 flection they would necessarily have in prose ; 
 though from injudiciously printing the last cou- 
 plet so as to form a fresh paragraph, the word 
 whole is generally pronounced with the falling in- 
 flection, in order to avoid the bad effect of a 
 
 • See Part I. p. 98, 111. 
 
ELOCUTION. 323 
 
 question with the rising inflection at the end of a 
 paragraph ; which would be effectually preven- 
 ted by uniting the last couplet to the rest, so as 
 to form one whole portion ; and which was un- 
 doubtedly the intention of the poet. 
 
 Having premised these observations, we shall 
 endeavour to throw together a few rules for the 
 reading of verse, which, by descending to partic- 
 ulars, it is hoped will be more useful than those 
 very general ones which are commonly to be met 
 with on this subject ; and which, though very in- 
 genious, seem calculated rather for the making 
 of verses than the reading of them. 
 
 Rule I. As the exact tone of the passions, 
 emotion, or which verse excites, is not at first 
 easy to hit, it will be proper always to begin a 
 poem in a simple and almost prosaic style, and so 
 proceed till we are warmed with the subject, and 
 feel the emotion we wish to express. 
 
 Thus in Gray's Elegy in a Country Church- 
 yard, if we cannot immediately strike into the 
 solemn style with which that poem begins, it will 
 be better to commence with an easier and less 
 marking tone ; and somewhat like the style of 
 reading prose, till the subject becomes a little fa- 
 miliar. There are few poems which will not al- 
 low of this prosaic commencement ; and where 
 they do not, it is a much less fault in reading to 
 begin with too little emphasis, than either to 
 strike into a wrong one, or to execute the right- 
 emphasis awkwardly. Gray's Elegy on the Ex- 
 
324 ELEMENTS 
 
 tirpation of the Bards, is almost the only one that 
 does not admit of commencing moderately. 
 
 Ruin seize thee, ruthless king ! 
 Confusion on thy banners wait ! &c. 
 
 Rule II. In verse every syllable is to have the 
 same accent, and every word the same emphasis, 
 as in prose : for though the rhythmical arrange- 
 ment of the accent and emphasis is the very defi- 
 nition of poetry, yet, if this arrangement tends to 
 give an emphasis to words which would have none 
 in prose, or an accent to such syllables as have 
 properly no accent, the rhythmus, or music of 
 the verse, must be entirely neglected. Thus 
 the article the ought never to have a stress^ 
 though placed in that part of the verse where the 
 ear expects an accent. 
 
 Of all the causes which conspire to blind 
 Man's erring- judgment and misguide the mind, 
 What the weak head with strongest bias rules, 
 Is pride ; the never failing vice of fools. Pofce: 
 
 An injudicious reader of verse would be very apt 
 to lay stress upon the article the in the third line, 
 but a good reader would infallibly neglect the 
 stress on this, and transfer it to the words what 
 and weak. Thus also in the following example, 
 no stress must be laid on the word of, because we 
 should not give it any in prosaic pronunciation : 
 
 Ask of thy mother earth why oaks are made 
 Taller and stronger than the weeds they shade. Ih'd 
 
 For the same reason the word as, either in the 
 
"ELOCUTION. 
 
 325 
 
 first or second line of the following couplet, ought 
 to have no stress : 
 
 Eye nature's walks, shoot folly as it flies, 
 And catch the manners living as they rise. 2602* 
 
 The last syllable of the word excellent , in the fol- 
 lowing couplet, being the place of the stress, is 
 very apt to draw the organs to a wrong pronuncia- 
 tion of the word, in compliance with the rhyth- 
 mus of the verse : 
 
 Their praise is still the style is excellent : 
 The sense they humbly take upon content. Ibid. 
 
 But a stress upon the last syllable of this word 
 must be avoided upon pain of the greatest possi- 
 ble reproach to a good reader ; which is that of 
 altering the accent of a word, to indulge the ear 
 in a childish jingle of syllables. The same may 
 be observed of the word eloquence and the parti- 
 cle the in the following couplet : 
 
 False eloquence like the prismatic glass 
 Its gaudy colours spreads on ev'ry place. Ibid. 
 
 If in compliance with the rhythmus, or tune 
 of the verse, we were to lay a stress on the last 
 syllable of eloquence, and on the particle the in 
 the first of these verses, scarcely any thing can be 
 conceived more disgusting to a good judge of; 
 reading. 
 
 A bad fault opposite to this is very common 
 among bad readers ; and that is, hurrying over 
 the two last syllables of such words so as to 
 £ e 
 
326 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 
 reduce the pronunciation to prose : for it must 
 be carefully noted, that the beauty of reading 
 verse depends exceedingly upon the tone in 
 which we pronounce it. The unaccented sylla- 
 bles, though less forcible, ought to have the same 
 time as those that are accented ; a regular march, 
 an agreeable movement, ought to reign through 
 the whole. 
 
 This rule, however, with respect to the place 
 of the accent, admits of some few exceptions. 
 Milton has sometimes placed words so unfavour- 
 ably for pronunciation in the common way, that 
 the ear would be more disgusted with the harsh- 
 ness of the verse, if the right accent were preser- 
 ved, than with a wrong accent which preserves the 
 harmony of the verse : for it is not merely redu- 
 cing aline to prose if the sense requires it, which 
 is a capital fault in reading poetry, but reducing 
 it to very harsh and disagreeable prose. Thus the 
 Angel, in Milton, reasoning with Adam about 
 the planets, says, 
 
 For such vast room in nature unpossess'd 
 By living souls, desert and desolate 
 Only to shine yet scarce to contribute 
 Each orb a glimpse of light, convey'd so far 
 Down to this habitable, which returns 
 Light back to them, is obvious to dispute. 
 
 Par ad. Lost, 2?. viii. \\ 15ov- 
 
 The word contribute has properly the accent on 
 the second syllable ; but the verse would be s« 
 harsh with this accent, that it is presumed a good 
 reader would, for the sake of sound, lay the priu- 
 
ELOCUTION. oA * 
 
 cipal accent on the first syllable, and a subordi- 
 nate stress on the third. The same may be ob~ 
 served of the word attribute, in the following pas- 
 sage from the same author : 
 
 The swiftness of those circles attribute, 
 Though numberless, to his omnipotence, 
 That to corporeal substances could add 
 Speed almoit spiritual. Ibid. B. viii. v. 197. 
 
 Where a word admits of some diversity in pla- 
 cing the accent, it is scarcely necessary to ob- 
 serve, that the verse ought in this case to decide. 
 Thus in the following passage : 
 
 Now gentle gales 
 Fanning their odoriferous wings dispense 
 Native perfumes, and whisper whence they stole 
 Those balmy spoils. Parad. Lost, B. iv. v. 156.. 
 
 For Hamlet and the trifling of his favour 
 Hold it a fashion and a toy in blood, 
 A violet in the youth and prime of nature, 
 Forward not permanent, though sweet not lasting, 
 The perfume of a minute. tihakspsare. 
 
 The word perfume in the passage from Milton 
 ought to be accented on the last syllable, and the 
 same word in Shakspeare on the first ; for both 
 these modes of placing the accent are allowable 
 in prose, though the last seems preferable ; as it 
 is agreeable to that analogy of dissyllable nouns 
 and verbs of the same form, which requires the 
 accent to be on the first syllable of the noun, and 
 on the last of the verb. 
 
 But when the poet has with great judgment 
 contrived that his numbers shall be harsh and 
 
328 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 grating, in order to correspond to the ideas the] 
 suggest, the common accentuation must be pre 
 served. 
 
 On a sudden open fly 
 With impetuous recoil and jarring sound 
 Th f infernal doors, and onlheir Linges grate 
 Harsh thunder. Pavad. Lost, Ji. ii. tt. B79- 
 
 Here the harshness arising from the accent on 
 the second syllable of the word impetuous, finely 
 expresses the recoil and jarring sound of the 
 gates of hell. 
 
 Rule III. The vowel e, which is often cut oft 
 by an apostrophe in the word the, and in sylla- 
 bles before r, as dangerous, generous, &c. ought 
 to be preserved in the pronunciation, because the 
 syllable it forms is so short, as to admit of being 
 sounded with the preceding syllable, so as not to 
 increase the number of syllables to the ear, or at 
 all hurt the harmony. 
 
 'Tis hard to say, if greater want of skill 
 
 Appear in writing or in judging ill ; 
 
 But of the two less dang'rous is th' offence, 
 
 To tire our patience, than mislead our sense. I'ty? 
 
 Him the Almighty power 
 Hurl'd headlong flaming from th' etherial sky 
 With hideous ruin and combustion, down 
 To boltomless perdition, there to dwell 
 Iii adamantine chains, and penal fire, 
 Who durst defy th 'Omnipotent to arms. >Milt.?: 
 
 In the example from Milton, we have an instance 
 that the particle the may either form a distinct 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 329 
 
 syllable in poetry or not; in the first line it must 
 necessarily form a distinct syllable ; in the second 
 and last it may be so blended with the succeed- 
 ing word as to be pronounced without elision, 
 and yet form no distinct syllable. 
 
 Rule IV. Almost every verse admits of a 
 pause in or near the middle of the line, 
 which is called the caesura ; this must be 
 carefully observed in reading verse, or much of 
 the distinctness, and almost all the harmony 
 will be lost. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 Nature to all things fixM the 11 mils fit, 
 And wisely curb'd proud man's pretending wit ; 
 As on the land, while here the ocean gains, 
 In other parts it leaves wide sandy plains ; 
 Thus in the soul, while memory prevails, 
 The solid pow'r of understanding fails; 
 Where beams of warm imagination play 
 The memory's soft figures melt away. Pope.- 
 
 These lines have seldom any points inserted in 
 the middle, even by the most scrupulous punctu- 
 ists ; and yet nothing can be more palpable to 
 the ear, than that a pause in the first at things, in 
 the second at curbed, in the third at land, in the 
 fourth tit parts, and in the fifth at soul is abso- 
 lutely necessary to the harmony of these lines ; 
 and that the sixth, by admitting no pause but at 
 understanding, and the seventh, none but at im- 
 agination, border very nearly upon prose. The 
 reason why these lines will not admit of a pause 
 any where but at these words, will be evident to 
 
330 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 those who have perused the former part of this 
 work on the division of a sentence, (Part I. 
 page 16.;) and if the reader would see one of the 
 most curious pieces of analysis on this subject in 
 any language, let him peruse in Lord Kaim's 
 Elements of Criticism the chapter of Versifica- 
 tion, where he will find the subject of pausing, a-s 
 it relates to verse, discussed in the deepest, clear- 
 est, and most satisfactory manner. It will be on- 
 ly necessary to observe, in this place, that though 
 the most harmonious place for the capital pause 
 is after the fourth syllable, it may, for the sake 
 of expressing the sense strongly and suitably^ 
 and sometimes even for the sake of variety, be 
 plaice at several other intervals. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 *Tis hard to say — if greater want of skill. 
 So when an angel — by divine command, 
 With rising- tempest — shakes a guilty land. 
 Then from his closing" eyes — thy form shall part. 
 And the last pang — shall tear thee from his heart. 
 Inspired repuls'd battalions — to engage, 
 And taught the doubtful battle — where to rage. 
 Know, then, thyself — presume not Cod to scan ; 
 The proper study of mankind — is man. 
 
 But besides the capital pause, there are certain 
 subordinate pauses, which, though not so essen- 
 tial as the capital pause, yet, according to some of 
 our prosodists, form some of the greatest delica- 
 cies in reading verse, and are an inexhaustible 
 source of variety and harmony in the composition 
 of poetic numbers. But in the exemplifying of 
 iijis demi-c&sura, or subordinate pause, our pro- 
 
!/ 
 
 ELOCUTION. Wl 
 
 soclists either show the impropriety of *Aany of 
 these pauses, or that they may' be account- 
 ed for upon a different principle. 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 Relent | less walls || whole darksome round J contains. 
 For her I white virgins | ! ,'»yme | nea j S g . n ^ 
 In these (deep solitudes] |a'id aw | f u ] c ,,lis 
 
 Nothing- could be more puerile and destruct- 
 ive of the sense than to make pauses as they are 
 here marked in the middle of the words relent- 
 less, hymeneal, and awful, which are instances 
 -Lord Kaim brings of the use of this half pause. 
 In the lines quoted by Mr. Sheridan, as instan- 
 ces of the demi-caesura, we find an emphatic op- 
 position at every one ; and this opposition al- 
 ways requires a pause, whether in prose or verse. 
 See Part I. page 77. 
 
 Glows | while he reads V» but trembles [ as he writes. 
 Reason | the card jj but passion | is the gale. 
 From men [ their cities (I and from J gods their fUr.es. 
 From storms | a shelter j| and from heat | a shade. 
 
 So that, on the whole, notwithstanding the de- 
 cided manner in which these prosodists speak of 
 the demi-ctfsura as necessary in verse, I am apt- 
 to conclude that it often exists no where but in 
 their own imaginations. But the next Rule will 
 lead us to the consideration of a pause of much 
 more importance, which is a pause at the end of 
 the line. 
 
 Rule V. At the end of every line in poetry 
 
!< 32 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 
 must bp a pause proportioned to the intimate or 
 remote connexion subsisting between the two 
 lines. 
 
 Mr. Sheridan, in his Art of Reading, has in- 
 sisted largely on the necessity of making a pause 
 at the end of every line in poetry, whether the sense 
 requires it or not, which he says has incherto es- 
 caped the observation of all writers on the sub- 
 ject ; and this, he observes, is so necessary, that 
 without it we change the verse into prose. It is 
 with diffidence 1 dissent from such an authority, 
 especially as I have heard it approved by per- 
 sons of great j udgment and taste. * I must own , 
 however, that the necessity of this pause, where 
 the sense does not require it, is not so evident to 
 me as to remove every doubt about it ; for, in 
 the first place, if the author has so united the pre- 
 ceding and following lines in verse as to make 
 them real prose, why is a reader to do that which 
 his author has neglected to do ; and indeed seems 
 to have forbidden by the very nature of the com- 
 position ? In the next place, this slight and al- 
 most insensible pause of suspension does not seem 
 to answer the end proposed by it ; which is, that 
 of making the ear sensible of the versification, or 
 of the number of accentual impressions in every 
 
 * I asked Dr. I>owth, Mis Garrick, and Dr. Johnson, about 
 the propriety of this pause, and they all agreed with Mr. Sheri- 
 dan. Had 1 been less acquainted with the subject, and seen 
 less of the fallibility of great names upon it, I should have yield- 
 ed to this decision ; but great names are nothing- where the 
 matter in question is open to experiment ; arid to this experiment 
 I appeal. 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 333 
 
 line. For this final pause is often so small, when 
 compared with that which precedes or follows it 
 in the body of the line, and this latter and larger 
 pause is so often accompanied with an inflection 
 of voice which marks the formation of perfect 
 sense, that the boundaries of the verse become 
 almost, if not utterly imperceptible, and the com- 
 position, for a few lines, fall into an harmonious 
 kind of prose. For it is evident, that it is not a 
 small pause at the end of a line in verse, which 
 makes it appear poetry to the ear, so much as 
 that adjustment of the accented syllables which 
 forms a regular return of stress, whether the line 
 be long or short. Accordingly, we find, that 
 those lines in blank verse, which have a long 
 pause in the middle, from a conclusion of the 
 sense continuing, are, in spite of all our address 
 in reading, very prosaical. This prosaic air in 
 these lines may have a very good effect in point 
 of expression and variety, but if too frequently 
 repeated, will undoubtedly render the verse al- 
 most imperceptible ; for, as was before observ- 
 ed, the ear will measure the lines by the greatest 
 pauses, and if these fall within, and not at the 
 end of the line, the versification will seem to be 
 composed of unequal lines, and will want that 
 measure which the ear always expects in verse, 
 and never dispenses with, but when sense, varie- 
 ty, or expression is promoted by it. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 Deeds of eternal fame 
 Were done, but infinite ; for wide was spreil 
 
^34 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 That war, and various ; sometimes on firm ground 
 A standing- fight ; then soaring- on main wing- 
 Tormented all the air; all ftir seem'd then 
 ( .'enflicting fire : long time in even scale 
 The battle hung JliUon. 
 
 The pauses at the end of these lines are so 
 small when compared with those in the body of 
 the lines, that an appeal may be made to every ear 
 for the truth of what has been just observed. 
 This disproportion in the pauses cannot, however, 
 be said to reduce the composition to prose ; nay, 
 even if we were to use no pauses at all at the end of 
 the lines, they would not, on this account, entire- 
 ly lose their poetic character; for, at worst, they 
 might be called numerous or harmonious prose ; 
 and that the greatest part of blank verse is nei- 
 ther more nor less than this, it would not be diffi- 
 cult to prove. 
 
 Mr. Sheridan defines numbers to be certain 
 impressions made on the ear at stated and regu- 
 lar distances ; and as he supposes verse would 
 be no verse without a pause at the end of each 
 line, he must define verse to be a certain number 
 of impressions made on the ear at stated and reg- 
 ular distances, terminated by a pause, so as to 
 make this number of impressions perceptibly 
 equal in every line. But if a pause comes into 
 the definition of verse because it serves to shew 
 the equal number of impressions in every line, 
 a pause that is insufficient for this purpose is not, 
 strictly speaking, a poetical pause ; for if the 
 pause classes words into such portions as obliges 
 
ELOCUTION. -«3oD 
 
 the ear to perceive the equality or inequality of 
 these portions, the longest pauses will be the 
 boundaries of those portions the ear will most- 
 readily perceive, and the short pauses will, like 
 the demi-cassura, appear either imperceptible, 
 or subservient only to the greater pause : Thus 
 the foregoing passage from Milton will, while 
 we are ponouncing it, address the ear in the same 
 manner it does the eye in the following arrange . 
 ment s 
 
 Deeds of eternal fame were clone, but infinite ; 
 For wide was spread that war and various ; 
 Sometimes on firm ground a standing fight ; 
 Then soaring on main wing, tormented all the air ; 
 All air seem'd then conflicting fire : " 
 Long time in even scale the battle hung. 
 
 This arrangement of the words, though exactly 
 classed into those portions in which they come to 
 the ear, seems to destroy the verse to the eye, 
 and to reduce it into what may be called nume- 
 rous prose : But have we not reason to suspect 
 that the eye puts a cheat upon the ear, by ma- 
 king us imagine a pause to exist where there is 
 only a vacancy to the eye ? Mr. Sheridan has 
 very properly accounted for the perception of 
 false quantity in Latin verse by this association 
 of visible and audible objects, and there seems an 
 equal reason to suspect the same fallacy here. 
 
 The best pronouncers of tragedy have never 
 observed this pause, and why should it be intro- 
 duced into other compositions is not easily com- 
 prehended ; The numbers of the verse, the dfcs> 
 
Q36 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 
 nity of the language, an inversion of the common 
 erder of the words, sufficiently preserve it from 
 falling into prose ; and if the name of verse only 
 be wanting, the loss is not very considerable. 
 When the line is terminated by a rhyme, the 
 boundaries of the verse are very discernible by 
 the smallest pause ; though the most harmonious 
 rhyming verse must be acknowledged to be that 
 where the rhyme is accompanied by a consider- 
 able pause in the sense ; but as too long a suc- 
 cession of these lines satiates the ear with too 
 much equality, we readily exchange sound for 
 variety or force of expression. Sometimes even 
 the pauses before and after a rhyme are so con- 
 siderable, and that at the end of the rhyme so 
 small, that the boundaries of the verse are lost 
 in the rapidity of the expression. 
 
 Which, "without passing through the judgment, gains 
 The heart, and all its end at once attains. Pope 
 
 'Tis with our judgments as cur watches ; none 
 Go just alike, yet each believes his own. Ibid. 
 
 In these lines I think it is evident, that if we 
 make a small pause or suspension, as Mr. She- 
 ridan calls it, at the end of the first verse, the 
 pauses of sense at judgment and heart, and at 
 -watches and alike, are so much more perceptible, 
 that every trace of the length of the verse is lost; 
 The same may be observed of the following lines 
 of Milton: 
 
 Sing heav'nly Muse, that on the secret top 
 Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire 
 
ELOCUTION. J°< 
 
 That Shepherd, who first taught the chosen seed 
 
 In the beginning, how the heav'ns and earth 
 
 Rose out of chaos : Or if Sion hill 
 
 Delight thee more, and Siloa's brook, that flow'd 
 
 Fast by the oracle of God : I thence 
 
 Invoke thy aid to my advent'rous song. 
 
 In the fifth, sixth, and seventh lines of this 
 passage, the pause in the sense falls so distinctly 
 on the words chaos, more, and God, that a slight 
 pause at hill, flowed, and thence, would not have 
 the least power of informing the ear of the end of 
 the line, and of the equality of the verse, and, 
 therefore, for these purposes would be entirely 
 useless. For in all pronunciation, whether pro- 
 saic or poetic, at the beginning of every fresh 
 portion, the mind must necessarily have the 
 pause of the sense in view ; and this prospect of 
 the sense must regulate the voice for that portion, 
 to the entire neglect of any length in the verse, 
 as an attention to this must necessarily interrupt 
 that Row or current in the pronunciation which 
 the sense demands. Thus the current of the 
 voice is stopped at chaos ; and the succeeding 
 part of the verse, Or if Sion hill, is so much de- 
 tached from the preceding part, that the admea- 
 surement of the verse is destroyed to the ear, and 
 we might add a foot more to the latter part of the 
 verse without seeming at all to lengthen it ; we 
 might, for example, write the line in this manner, 
 
 Rose out of Chaos; or if Sion's verdant hill. 
 
 without any indication of false quantity to the 
 ear, though the eye scans it as too long by two 
 syllables, 
 
 F f 
 
338 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 
 The affectation which most writers of blank 
 verse have of extending the sense beyond the 
 line, whether necessary or not, is followed by a 
 similar affectation in the printer, who will often 
 omit placing a pause at the end of a line of verse, 
 where he would have inserted one in prose ; and 
 this affectation is still carried farther by the 
 reader, who will generally run the sense of one 
 line into another, w r here there is the least oppor- 
 tunity of doing it, in order to show that he is too 
 sagacious to suppose there is any conclusion in 
 the sense because the line concludes. This af- 
 fectation, I say, has possibly given rise to the 
 opposite one adopted by the learned ; namely, 
 that of pausing where the sense absolutely for- 
 bids a pause, and so by shunning Scylla, to fall 
 into Charybdis : This error is excellently des~ 
 scribed by Pope : 
 
 The vulgar thus through imitation err, 
 As oft the learn'd by being- singular; 
 So much they hate the crowd, that if the throng 
 By chance go right, they purposely go wrong. 
 
 The truth is, the end of a line in verse natur- 
 ally inclines us to pause ; and the words that re- 
 fuse a pause so seldom occur at the end of a 
 verse, that we often pause between words in verse 
 where we should not in prose, but where a pause 
 would by no means interfere with the sense : this 
 it is presumed, has been fully shown in the for- 
 mer part of this work ; and this, perhaps, niay be 
 the reason w r hy a pause at the end of a line in 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 339 
 
 poetry is supposed to be in compliment to the 
 verse, when the very same pause in prose is al- 
 lowable, and, perhaps, eligible, but neglected as 
 unnecessary : However this be, certain it is, that 
 if we pronounce many lines in Milton, so as to 
 make the equality of impressions on the ear dis- 
 tinctly perceptible at the end of every line ; if by 
 making this pause, w r e make the pauses that mark 
 the sense less perceptible, we exchange a solid 
 advantage for a childish rhythm, and, by endea- 
 vouring to preserve the name of verse, lose all 
 its meaning and energy. 
 
 Rule VI. In order to form a cadence in a 
 period in rhyming verse, we must adopt the fall- 
 ing inflection with considerable force, in the cae- 
 sura of the last line but one. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 One science only will one genius fit, 
 So vast is art, so narrow human wit ; 
 Not only bounded to peculiar arts, 
 But oft in those confin'd to single parts ; 
 Like kings we lose the conquests gain'd before, 
 Ity vain ambition still to mate them more ; 
 Each might his sev'ral province \\ well command, 
 Would all but stoop to what they understand- 
 Ill repeating these lines, we shall find it neces- 
 sary to form the cadence, by giving the falling 
 inflection with a little more force than common 
 to the word province. The same may be ob- 
 served of the word prospect, in the last line but 
 one of the following passage : 
 
 So pleas'd at first the tow'ring Alps we try, 
 Mount o'er the vales, and seem to tread the sky ; 
 
140 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 Th' eternal snows appear already past, 
 
 And the first clouds and mountains seem the last ; 
 
 But those attain'd, we tremble to survey 
 
 The growing labours of the lengthened way; 
 
 Th' increasing prospect li tires our wand'ring eyes, 
 
 Hills peep o'er hills, and Alps on Alps arise. 
 
 Rule VII. A simile in poetry ought always to 
 be read in a lower tone of voice than that part of 
 the passage which precedes it. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 'Twas then great Marib'rough's mighty soul was provM 
 That in the shock of charging hosts unmov'd, 
 Amidst confusion, horror, and despair, 
 Examin'd all the dreadful scenes of war. 
 In peaceful thought the field of death survey'd, 
 To fainting squadrons sent the timely aid; 
 lnspir'd repuis'd battalions to engage, 
 And taught the doubtful battle where to rage. 
 So when an angel, by divine command 
 With rising tempests shakes a guilty land, 
 (Such as of late o'er pale Britannia past,) 
 Calm and serene he drives the furious blast; 
 And, pleas'd th'A lmighty's orders to perform, 
 Rides on the whirlwind, and directs the storm. Addison^ 
 
 Rule jVIII. Where there is no pause in the 
 sense at the end of the verse, the last word must 
 have exactly the same inflection it would have in 
 prose. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 O'er their heads a chfystal firmamenl, 
 Whereon a sapphire throne, inlaid with pure* 
 Amber, and colours of the show'ry arch. Milton, 
 
 * This, it is presum'd is an instance, that a pause of suspension 
 may sometimes be improper at the end of a line. See pages 255, 
 255. 
 
ELOCUTION. 541 
 
 In this example, the word pure must have the 
 falling inflection, whether we make any pause at 
 it or not, as this is the inflection the word would 
 have if the sentence were pronounced prosaically. 
 For the same reason the words retired and went, 
 in the following example, must be pronounced 
 with the rising inflection. 
 
 At his command th' uprooted hills retii*'d 
 Each to his place; they heard his voice and went 
 Obsequious ; heav'n his wonfed face renew'd, 
 And with fresh flow'rets hill and valley smil'd. 
 
 Rule IX. Sublime, grand, and magnificent 
 description in poetry, frequently requires a lower 
 tone of voice, and a sameness nearly approaching 
 to a monotone, to give it variety. 
 
 This rule will surprise many who have always 
 been taught to look upon a monotone or same- 
 ness of voice as a deformity in reading. A de- 
 formity it certainly is, when it arises either from 
 a want of power to alter the voice, or a want of 
 judgment to introduce it properly ; but I presume 
 it may be with confidence affirmed, that when it 
 is introduced with propriety, it is one of the 
 greatest embellishments of poetic pronunciation. 
 Kay, a monotone connected with preceding and 
 succeeding inflections, is a real variety, and is 
 exactly similar to a succession of the same iden- 
 tical notes in music ; which, considered apart, is 
 perfectly monotonous, but, taken with what goes 
 before and follows, is among the finest beauties 
 of composition. 
 
 F f 2 
 
342 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 The use of the monotone has already been ex 
 emplified, page 102, in the grand description of 
 Satan's throne, at the beginning of the Second 
 Book of Paradise Lost, and may be farther illus- 
 trated by a passage of the Allegro of the same 
 poet. 
 
 Hence ! loath'd Melancholy, 
 
 Of Cerberus, arid blackest Midnight born, 
 In Stygian cave forlorn, 
 
 "Mongst horrid shapes and shrieks, and sights unholy. 
 Find out some uncouth cell, 
 
 Where brooding darkness spreads his jealous wings, 
 And the night raven sings; 
 
 There, under ebon shades and low-brow\l rocks, 
 As ragged as thy locks, 
 
 In dark Cimmerian desart ever dwell- 
 
 In repeating this passage, we shall find the 
 darkness and horror of the cell wonderfully aug- 
 mented, by pronouncing the eighth line, 
 
 " There, under ebon shades, and lo\r-brow\l rocks," 
 
 in a low monotone ; which monotone may not be 
 improperly signified, by the horizontal line gene- 
 rally used to mark long quantity ; as this line is 
 perfectly descriptive of a sameness of tone ; as 
 the acute and grave accent are of variety. 
 
 Modulation of the Voice. 
 
 After a perfect idea is attained of the pause, 
 emphasis, and inflection, with which we ought to 
 pronounce every word, sentence, interrogation., 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 343 
 
 climax, and different figure ef speech, it will be 
 absolutely necessary to be acquainted with the 
 power, variety, and extent of the instrument, 
 through which we convey them to others; for 
 unless this instrument be in a proper pitch, what- 
 ever we pronounce will be feeble and unnatural ; 
 as it is only in a certain pitch that the voice can 
 command the greatest variety of tones, so as to 
 utter them with energy and ease. 
 
 Every one has a certain pitch of voice, in 
 which he is most easy to himself, and most agree- 
 able to others ; this may be called the natural 
 pitch : this is the pitch in which we converse ; 
 and this must be the basis of every improvement 
 we acquire from art and exercise : for such is the 
 force . of exercise upon the organs of speech, as 
 well as every other in the human body, that con- 
 stant practice will strengthen the voice in any 
 key we use it to, even though this happen not 
 to be the most natural and easy at first. This is 
 abundantly proved by the strong vociferation 
 which the itinerant retailers in the streets acquire 
 after a few years practice. Whatever key they 
 happen to pitch upon at first is generally pre- 
 served ; and the voice in that note becomes won- 
 derfully strong and sonorous : but as the Specta- 
 tor humorously observes, their articulation is 
 generally so indistinct, that we understand what 
 they sell, not so much by the words as the tune. 
 As constant exercise is of such importance to 
 strengthen the voice, care should be taken, that 
 we exercise it on that part where it has naturally 
 
344 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 mid- 
 ;e of. 
 
 the greatest power and variety : this is the mi< 
 die tone ; the tone we habitually make use 
 when we converse with, or speak to persons at a 
 moderate distance ; for if we call out to one who 
 is so far off as to be almost out of hearing, we 
 naturally raise our voice to a higher key, as well 
 as swell it upon that key to a much greater de- 
 gree of loudness ; as, on the contrary, if we wish 
 to be heard only by a single person in company, 
 we naturally let fall our voice into a low key, and 
 abate the force of it, so as to keep it from being 
 heard by any but the person we are speaking to. 
 
 In this situation, nature dictates ; but the situa- 
 tion of the public speaker is a situation of ait ; he 
 not only wishes to be heard, but to be heard with 
 energy and ease ; for this purpose his voice must 
 be powerful in that key which is easiest to him, 
 in that which he will most naturally fall into, and 
 which he will certainly have the most frequent 
 occasion to use ; and this is the middle tone. 
 
 But before we enter farther on this subject, it 
 seems absolutely necessary to obviate a very com- 
 mon mistake with respect to the voice, which 
 may lead to an incurable error ; and that is the 
 confounding of high and low with loud and soft. 
 These plain differences are as often jumbled to- 
 gether as accent and quantity, though to much 
 worse purpose. Our mistaking of accent for 
 quantity when we converse about it, makes not 
 the least alteration in on * speaking ; but if, when 
 we ought only to be louder, we raise our voice 
 to a higher key, our tones become shrill and 
 
ELOCUTION. 345 
 
 feeble, and frustrate the very intention of speak- 
 ing- 
 
 Those who understand ever so little of music, 
 
 know that high and loud, and soft and low, are 
 by no means necessarily connected ; and that we 
 may be very soft in a high note, and very loud in 
 a low one ; just as a smart stroke on a bell may 
 have exactly the same note as a slight one, though 
 it is considerably louder. But to explain this 
 difference to those who are unacquainted with 
 music, we may say, that a high tone is that we 
 naturally assume when we wish to be heard at a 
 distance, as the same degree of force is more 
 audible in a high, than in a low tone, from the 
 acuteness of the former, and the gravity of the 
 latter ; and that a low tone is that we naturally 
 assume when we are speaking to a person at a 
 small distance, and wish not to be heard by 
 others ; as a low tone with the same force is less 
 audible than a high one ; if, therefore, we raise 
 our voice to the pitch we should naturally use if 
 we were calling to a person at a great distance, 
 and at the same time exert so small a degree of 
 force as to be heard only by a person who is near 
 us, we shall have an example of a high note in a 
 soft tone ; and on the contrary, if we suppose 
 ourselves speaking to a person at a small dis- 
 tance, and wish to be heard by those who are at 
 a greater, in this situation we shall naturally sink 
 the voice into a low note, and throw just as much 
 .force or loudness into it as is necessary to make 
 • it audible to the persons at a distance. This is 
 
345 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 exactly the manner which actors speak the 
 speeches that are spoken aside. The low tone 
 conveys the idea of speaking to a person near us, 
 and the loud tone enables us to convey this idea 
 to a distance. By this experiment we perceive, 
 that high and loud, and soft and low, though 
 most frequently associated, are essentially distinct 
 from each other. 
 
 Such, however, is the nature of the human 
 voice, that to begin in the extremes of high and 
 low are not equally dangerous. The voice na- 
 turally slides into a higher tone, when we want 
 to speak louder, but not so easily into a lower 
 tone, when we would speak more softly. Expe- 
 rience shows us, that we can raise our voice at 
 pleasure to any pitch it is capable of; but the 
 same experience tells us, that it requires infinite 
 art and practice to bring the voice to a lower key 
 when it is once raised too high. It ought there- 
 fore to be a first principle with all public readers 
 and speakers, rather to begin under the common 
 level of their voice than above it. The attention 
 of an auditory at the commencement of a lecture 
 or oration, makes the softest accents of the 
 speaker audible, at the same time that it affords 
 a happy occasion for introducing a variety of 
 voice, without which every address must soon 
 tire. A repetition of the same subject a thou- 
 sand times over, is not more tiresome to the un- 
 derstanding, than a monotonous delivery of the 
 most varied subject to the ear. Poets, to pro- 
 duce variety, alter the structure of their verse 
 
ELOCUTION. 347 
 
 and rather hazard uncouthness and discord than 
 sameness. Prose writers change the style, turn, 
 and structure of their periods, and sometimes 
 throw in exclamations, and sometimes interroga- 
 tions, to rouse and keep alive the attention ; but 
 all this art is entirely thrown away, if the reader 
 does not enter into the spirit of his author, and 
 by a similar kind of genius, render even variety 
 itself more various ; if he does not, by an altera- 
 tion in his voice, manner, tone, gesture, loud- 
 ness, softness, quickness, slowness, adopt every 
 change of which the subject is susceptible. 
 
 Every one, therefore, who would acquire a 
 variety of tone in public reading or speaking, 
 must avoid as the greatest evil a loud and voci- 
 ferous beginning ; and for that purpose it would 
 be prudent in a reader or speaker to adapt his 
 voice as if only to be heard by the person who 
 is nearest to him : if his voice has natural 
 strength, and the subject any thing impassioned 
 in it, a higher and louder tone will insensibly 
 steal on him ; and his greatest address must be 
 directed to keeping it within bounds. For this 
 purpose it will be frequently necessary for him 
 to recall his voice, as it were, from the extremi- 
 ties of his auditory, and direct it to those who 
 are nearest to him. This it will be proper to do 
 almost at the beginning of every paragraph in 
 reading, and at the introduction of every part of 
 the subject in discourse. Nothing will so pow- 
 erfully work on the voice, as supposing ourselves 
 
S48 
 
 ELEMENTS OP 
 
 conversing at different intervals with different 
 parts of the audience. 
 
 A celebrated writer on this subject directs a 
 reader or speaker, upon his first addressing his 
 auditory, to fix his eyes upon that part of them 
 from which he is the farthest, and to pitch his 
 voice so as to reach them. This, I fear would 
 be attended with very ill consequences if the as- 
 sembly w T ere very large ; as a speaker would be 
 strongly tempted to raise his voice, as well as 
 increase its force ; and by this means begin in a 
 key much too high for the generality of his au- 
 ditory, or for his own powers to continue it. The 
 safest rule, therefore, is certainly to begin, as it 
 were, with those of the assembly that are nearest 
 to us ; and if the voice be but articulate, however 
 low the key may be, it will still fee audible ; and 
 those who have a sufficient strength of voice for 
 a public auditory, find it so much more difficult 
 to bring down than raise the pitch, that they 
 will not wonder I employ my chief care to guard 
 against an error by far the most common, as well 
 as the most dangerous. 
 
 Much, undoubtedly, will depend on the size 
 and structure of the place we speak in : some are 
 so immensely large, as many of our churches and 
 cathedrals, that the voice is nearly as much dis- 
 sipated as in the open air ; and often with the ad- 
 ditional inconvenience of a thousand confused 
 echos and re-echos. Here a loud and vociferous 
 speaker will render himself unintelligible in pro- 
 portion to his exertion of voice: as departing 
 
elocution. 349 
 
 and commencing sounds will encounter each 
 other, and defeat every intention of distinctness 
 and harmony. 
 
 Nothing but good articulation will make a 
 speaker audible in this situation, and a judicious 
 attention to that tone of voice which is most 
 suitable to the size and imperfections of the place. 
 If the place we speak in be but small, it will be 
 scarcely necessary to observe that the loudness 
 of the voice should be in proportion. Those 
 who have not ears sufficiently delicate to discern 
 the true quantity of sound necessary to fill the 
 place they speak in, ought to take every possible 
 method to acquire so essential a qualification. A 
 knowledge of music, many trials of different de- 
 grees of loudness, and the friendly criticism of 
 good judges, may do much towards acquiring 
 this accomplishment ; and it must ever be re- 
 membered, that high and low are essentially dis- 
 tinct from loud and soft ; as we may with the ut- 
 most propriety be at the highest note of our 
 voice in the smallest room, provided we are not 
 too loud, and use the lowest part of our voice in 
 the largest, provided we are not too soft and in- 
 distinct to be heard. 
 
 In order to reduce the foregoing observations 
 to practice, it may not be unprofitable to attend 
 to the following rules. 
 
 Rule I. To gain a habit of lowering the voice, 
 it will be necessary to drop the voice to a lower 
 key upon the end of one sentence, and to com- 
 mence the next sentence in the same low key 
 
350 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 with which we concluded the former ; for this 
 purpose, it will be necessary to select sentences 
 .where this pronunciation is eligible, and practice 
 upon them. • 
 
 EXAMPLES. 
 
 Our sight is the most perfect and most delightful of all em* 
 senses. It fills the mind with the largest variety of ideas, con- 
 verses with its objects at the greatest distance, and continues the 
 longest in action without being tired or satiated with its proper 
 enjoyments. The sense of feeling can indeed give us a notion of 
 extension, shape, and all other ideas that enter at the eye, except 
 colours ; but at the same time it is very much straitened and con- 
 fined in its operations to the number, bulk, and distance of its 
 particular objects. Sped. No. 411 
 
 I shall first consider those pleasures of the imagination which 
 arise from the actual view and survey of outward objects ; and 
 these, I think, all proceed from the sight of what is great, uncom- 
 mon, or beautiful. There may, indeed, be something so terrible 
 or offensive that the horror or loathsomeness of the object may 
 overbear the pleasure which results from its greatness, novelty, 
 or beauty; but still there will be such a mixture of delight in the 
 very disgust it gives us, as any of these three qualifications are 
 most conspicuous and prevailing. Spect. No. 412. 
 
 The sense of feeling, in the first example, and 
 there may indeed, in the second, may very pro- 
 perly commence in a low tone of voice, as this 
 tone is generally suitable to the concession con- 
 tained in each of the sentences. * 
 
 Similes in poetry form proper examples for 
 gaining a habit of lowering the voice. 
 
 EXAMPLE. 
 
 He above the rest, 
 In shape and gesture proudly eminent, ,. 
 Stood like a tow'r. His form had not yet lost 
 JU1 her original brightness, nor appear'4 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 351 
 
 Less than archangel ruin'd and th' excess 
 
 Of glory obscur'd ; as when the sun new ris'n 
 
 Looks through the horizontal misty air 
 
 Shorn of his beams : or from behind the moon 
 
 In dim eclipse disastrous twilight sheds 
 
 On half the nations, and with fear of change 
 
 Perplexes monarchs. Milton's Parad. Lost, 
 
 In this example are two similes in succession ; 
 and it may be observed, that in order to pro- 
 nounce them properly, the voice ought to be 
 twice lowered ; that is, on the first simile at as 
 when the sun, and then at or from behind the 
 moon, which last simile must be in a lower tone 
 of voice than the former, and both nearly in a 
 monotone. 
 
 Rule II. This lowering of the voice will be 
 greatly facilitated if we begin the words we wish 
 to lower the voice upon, in a monotone, or same- 
 ness of sound, approaching to that produced by 
 repeatedly striking the same key of a harpsichord. 
 Thus in the following passage from Dr. Aken- 
 side's Pleasures of Imagination : 
 
 With what attractive charms this goodly frame 
 Of nature, touches the consenting hearts 
 Of mortal men ; and what the pleasing stores 
 Which beauteous imitation thence derives, 
 To deck the poet's or the painter's toil, 
 My verse unfolds. Attend ye g*entle pow'rs 
 Of musical delight ! and while I sing 
 . Your gifts, your honours, dance around my strain. 
 Thou, smiling queen of every tuneful breast, 
 Indulgent Fancy ; from the fruitful banks 
 Of Avon, whence thy rosy fingers guII 
 Fresh flow'rs, and dews, to sprinkle on the turf ' 
 Where Shakspeare iies, be present : and with thee 
 Let Fiction come upon her vagrant wing, 
 Wafting ten thousand colours through the air 
 
35% • ELEMENTS OF 
 
 And by the glances of her magic eye, 
 
 Combining each in endless fairv forms 
 
 Her wild Creation. Goddess of the lyre, 
 
 "Which rules the accents of the moving sphere. 
 
 Wilt thou, eternal Harmony, descend, 
 
 And join this festive train I for with thee comes 
 
 The guide, the guardian of their lovely sports, 
 
 Majestic Truth ; and where Truth deigns to come 
 
 Her sister Liberty will not be far. 
 
 Be present all ye Genii, who conduct 
 
 The wand'ring footsteps of the youthful bard, 
 
 New to your springs and shades : who touch his ear 
 
 With finer sounds; who heighten to his eye 
 
 The bloom of nature, and before him turn 
 
 The gayest, happiest, attitudes of things. 
 
 Pleasures of Imagination, Book L 
 
 This exordium consists of an invocation of se- 
 veral poetic powers, each of which ought to be 
 addressed in a manner somewhat different ; but 
 none of them admits of a difference sufficient to 
 give a variety to a long paragraph, except that of 
 Eternal harmony: and this from its nature re- 
 quires a solemn monotone in a much lower key 
 than the rest i if therefore we pronounce the 
 words, 
 
 Goddess of the lyre, 
 Which rules the accents of the moving sphere : 
 
 If, I say, we pronounce these words in a low 
 monotone, without any inflection of voice on 
 them ; we shall throw a great variety into the 
 whole invocation, and give it at the same time 
 that expression which the importance of the sub- 
 ject demands. 
 
 Rule III. As few voices are perfect ; those 
 which have a good bottom often wanting a top, 
 
ELOCUTION. 353 
 
 and inversely ; care should be taken to improve 
 by practice that part of the voice which is most 
 deficient : for instance ; if we want to gain a bot- 
 tom, we ought to practice speeches which require 
 exertion, a little below the common pitch ; when 
 we can do this with ease, we may practice them 
 on a little lower note, and so on till we are as low 
 as we desire ; for this purpose, it will be neces. 
 sary to repeat such passages as require a full 
 audible tone of voice in a low key : of this kind 
 is the speech of king John to Hubert, where he 
 takes him aside, and tempts him to undertake the 
 death of prince Arthur : 
 
 Come hither, Hubert. O, my gentle Hubert^ 
 We owe thee much ; within this wall of flesh 
 There is a soul counts thee her creditor, 
 And with advantage means to pay thy love. 
 And, my good friend, thy voluntary oath 
 Lives in this bosom, dearly cherished. 
 Give me thy hand, 1 had a thing to say — • 
 But I will fit it with some better time. 
 By heav'n, Hubert, I'm almost asham'd 
 To say what good respect I have of thee. 
 
 Bub. I am much bounded to your majesty. 
 
 K. John. Good friend, thou hast no cause to say se yetj 
 But thou shalt have — and creep time ne'er so slow, 
 Yet it shall come for me to do thee good. 
 I had a thing to say, — but let it go; 
 The sun is in the heav'n, and the proud day 
 Attended with the pleasures of the world, 
 Is all too wanton and too full of gaudes 
 To give me audience. If the midnight bell 
 Did with his iron tongue and brazen mouth '• i * 
 
 Sound one unto the drowsy race of night ; 
 If this same were a church-yard where we stand J(# 
 And thou possessed with a thousand wrongs ; 
 Or if that thou couldst see me without eyes, 
 Hear me without thine ears, and make reply- 
 Without a tongue, using conceit alone, 
 
 G g2 
 
354 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 Without eyes, ears, and harmful sound of words, 
 Then in despight of broad-ey'd watchful day 
 I would into thy bosom pour my thoughts . 
 But, ah ! I will not — yet 1 love thee well, 
 And by my troth, I think thou lov'st me well 
 Hub. So well, that wnat you bid me undertake, 
 j Though that my death were adjunct to my act, 
 By heav'n I'd do't. 
 
 K. John. Do I not know that thou wouldst ? 
 Good Hubert, Hubert, Hubert, throw thine eye 
 On that youug boy : I'll tell thee what, my friensl* 
 He is a very serpent in my way, 
 And wheresoe'er this foot of mine doth tread, 
 He lies before me. Do'st thou understand me ? 
 Thou art his keeper. 
 
 Hub. And I'll keep him so, 
 That he shall not offend your majesty. 
 K. John. Death. 
 Hub. My Lord ? 
 K. John. A grave. 
 Hub. He shall not live. 
 K. John. Enough. 
 I could be merry now. Hubert, I love thee ; 
 "Well, I'll not say what I intend for thee ; 
 Remember. Shakspeare's Kmg Johi y Act iii. Scene 5. 
 
 I have quoted so much of this fine passage, be^ 
 cause I think almost every part of it affords an 
 opportunity of practising to speak with force and 
 energy upon a lower tone of the voice ; for the 
 whole scene may be considered as only an ear- 
 nest whisper ; but as this whisper must be heard 
 by a whole audience it is necessary, while we 
 lower the pitch, to add to the force of the voice : 
 this, however, is no easy operation, and none but 
 good readers and consummate actors, can do it 
 perfectly. It is no very difficult matter to be 
 loud in a high tone of voice ; but to be loud and 
 forcible in a low tone, requires great practice and 
 management ; this, however, may be facilitated 
 
ELOCUTION, 355 
 
 by pronouncing forcibly at first in a low mono- 
 tone ; a monotone, though in a low key, and 
 without force, is much more sonorous and audi- 
 ble than when the voice slides up and down at 
 almost every word, as it must do to be various. 
 This tone is adopted by actors when they repeat 
 passages aside. They are to give the idea of 
 speaking to themselves, in such a manner as not 
 to be heard by the person with them on the stage, 
 and yet must necessarily be heard by the whole 
 theatre. The monotone in a low key answers 
 both these purposes. It conveys the idea of 
 being inaudible to the actors with them in the 
 scene, by being in a lower tone than that used in 
 the dialogue ; and by being in a monotone be- 
 comes audible to the whole house. The mono- 
 tone, therefore, becomes an excellent vehicle for 
 such passages as require force and audibility in 
 a low tone, and in the hands of a judieious reader 
 or speaker is a perpetual source of variety. 
 
 Rule IV. When we would strengthen the 
 voice in a higher note, it will be necessary to 
 practice such passages as require a high tone of 
 voice ; and if we find the voice grow thin, or 
 approach to a squeak upon the high note, it will 
 be proper to swell the voice a little below this 
 high note, and to give it force and audibility by 
 throwing it into a sameness of tone approaching 
 the monotone. A speech of Titus Quintius to 
 the Roman people, ironically encouraging them 
 to the greatest excesses, is a good praxis for the 
 higher tone of voice. 
 
$56 ELEMENTS OP 
 
 When you are to contend with us, you can seize the Aventine 
 all, you can possess yourselves of the Mons Sacer, the enemy is 
 at our gates, the JEsquilineis near being- taken, and nobody stirs 
 to hinder it. But against us you are valiant, against us you can 
 arm with all diligence. Come on then, besiege the Senate house, 
 make a camp of the forum, fill the jails with our chief nobles, and 
 when you have atchieved these glorious exploits, then at the least, 
 sally out at the iEsquiline gate with the same fierce spirits against 
 the enemy. Does your resolution fail you for this ? Go then, and 
 behold from our walls, your lands ravished, your houses plunder- 
 ed and in flames, the whole country laid waste with fire and 
 sword. Have you any thing here to repair these dmages ? Will 
 the tribunes make up your losses to you ? They will give you 
 words as many as you please ; bring impeachments in abundance 
 against the prime men of the state ; heap laws upon laws ; assem- 
 blies you shall have without end ; but will any of you return the 
 richer from these assemblies ? Extinguish, O Romans ! these fatal 
 divisions ; generously break this cursed enchantment, which keeps 
 you buried in scandalous inaction. — Open your eyes, and consider 
 the management of those ambitious men, who to make themselves 
 powerful in their party, study nothing but how they may foment 
 divisions in the commonwealth. 
 
 There are few voices so strong in the upper 
 notes as to be able to pronounce this speech with 
 the spirit it demands ; care must be taken there- 
 fore, particularly in the ironical parts, to keep the 
 voice from going too high, for which purpose it 
 ought to approach to monotone in the high notes 
 required upon the words — against us you arc 
 valiant— against us you can arm -with all dili- 
 gence — and particularly upon the questions — 
 Does your resolution fail you for this ? Have you 
 any thing here to repair these damages ? Will 
 the tribunes make up your losses to you ? And 
 the same conduct of the voice must be observed 
 upon the four succeeding ironical members. 
 
 But no exercise will be so proper to inure the 
 voice to high notes as frequenly to pronounce a 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 357 
 
 succession of questions, which require the ri- 
 sing inflection of voice at the end. Such is that 
 instance of a succession of questions ending with 
 the rising inflection, in the Oration of Demost- 
 henes on the Crown. See p. 140. 
 
 What was the part of a faithful citizen? Of a prudent, an ae* 
 tive, an honest minister ? W T as he not to secure Euboea, as our 
 defence against all attacks by sea ? Was he nGt to make Boeotia 
 our barrier on the midland side ? The cilies bordering on Pelopon- 
 nesus, our bulwark on that quarter ? Was he not to attend with, 
 due precaution to the importation of corn, that this trade might 
 be protected through all its progress up to our own harbour ? 
 Wa9 he not to cover those districts, which we commanded by 
 seasonable detachments, as the Proconesus, the Chersonesus, 
 aud Tenedos ? To exert himself in the assembly for this purpose ? 
 While with equal zeal he laboured to gain others to our interest 
 and alliance, as Byzantium, Abydus, and Euboea ? Was he not 
 to cut off the best and most important resources of our enemies fl 
 and to supply those in which our country was defective ? — And 
 all this you gained by my counsels and my administration. 
 
 LelancTs Demosthenes on the Crown* 
 
 It will naturally occur to every judicious read- 
 er, that this series of questions ought to rise 
 gradually in force as they proceed, and therefore 
 it will be necessary to keep the voice under at 
 the beginning : to which this observation may be 
 added, that as the rising inflection ought to be 
 adopted on each question, the voice will be very 
 apt to get too high near the end ; for which pur- 
 pose it will be necessary to swell the voice a little 
 below its higest pitch ; and if we cannot rise with 
 ease and clearness on every particular to the last, 
 we ought to augment the force on each, that the 
 whole may form a species of climax. 
 
 Rule V". When we would strengthen the 
 
359 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 voice in the middle tone, it will be necessary to 
 exercise the voice on very passionate speeches by 
 pronouncing them in a loud tone, without suffer- 
 ing the voice to rise with force, but preserving 
 all the energy and loudness we are able, in the 
 middle tone of voice. 
 
 The challenge of Macbeth to Banquo's ghost, 
 is a proper passage for this exercise of the middle 
 tone of voice. 
 
 What man dare I dare : 
 Approach thou like the rugged Russian bear, 
 The arm'd rhinoceros or Hyrcanian tyger ; 
 Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves 
 Shall never tremble. Be alive again, 
 And dare me to the desart with thy sword ; 
 If trembling I inhibit, then protest me 
 The baby of a girl Hence, horrible shadow, 
 Unreal mock' 1 '' hence ! 
 
 - — ■ *j> 
 
 Rule VI. When we have exerted the voice to 
 fe highest pitch, it will be necessary to bring it 
 down to a lower, by beginning the succeeding 
 sentence in a lower tone of voice, if the nature of 
 the sentence will permit ; and if we are speaking 
 extempore, it will be proper to form the sentence 
 in such a manner as to make it naturally require 
 a lower tone. A good praxis for recovering the 
 voice when it is carried to its utmost pitch is the 
 furious resentment and indignation of Posthu- 
 mus against himself for giving credit to the infi- 
 delity of Imogen. 
 
 Jachimo. This Posthumus — methinks I see him now — 
 Post . Ay, so thou dost, 
 Italian fiend ! ah me, nioSt credulous fool, 
 
ELOCUTION. v^y 
 
 Egregious murderer, thief, any thing-, 
 That's due to all the villains past, in being, 
 To come — oh give me cord, or knife, or poison, 
 Some upright justicer ? Thou king, send out 
 For torturers ingenious ; it is I 
 That all th' abhorred things o'th'earth amend 
 By being worse than they. I am Posthumus 
 That kill'd thy daughter ; villain-like I lye, 
 That caus'd a lesser villian than myself, 
 
 I A sacriligious thief to do't. The temple 
 
 Of virtue was she, yea, and she herself — 
 Spit and throw stones, cast mire upon me, set 
 The dogs o'th' street to bait me : every villain 
 Becall'd Posthumus Leonatus, and 
 Be villainy less than 'twas. Oh ! Imogen, 
 My queen, my life, my wife ! Oh Imogen, 
 Imogen ! Imogen 1 
 
 J In this example we find the fury of the passion 
 I very apt to carry the voice too high, but the poet 
 ; has very judiciously thrown in breaks and al- 
 terations in the passion, which gives the speaker 
 an opportunity of lowering and altering his voice. 
 Thus the voice is at its highest pitch of rage at to 
 come, when the break and different shade of the 
 same passion, at give me cord, &c. affords an 
 opportunity of lowering the voice by means of a 
 mixture of intreaty. The voice is at its utmost 
 extent of height at kilVd thy daughter ; as in 
 this passage he declares openly his guilt, in order 
 to provoke his punishment; but in the next 
 clause, villain like^ I lye, gives a different shade 
 of force to the voice by a mixture of remorse. 
 The next sentence — The temple of virtue, &c. 
 has a regret and tenderness in it that affords an 
 alteration of voice ; but as this alteration slides 
 into extreme grief, in which the voice is very apt 
 
360 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 to go too high, the next sentence — Spit and 
 throw stone y &c. — by the deep hatred it falls in- 
 to, gives the speaker an opportunity of lowing and 
 recovering the force of his voice, in order to con- 
 clude with that force and tenderness which the lat- 
 ter part of the speech necessarily requires. 
 Thus, by properly distinguishing the different 
 shades and mixtures of the passions, we not only 
 produce variety, but afford the voice such resour- 
 ces of energy, as can alone support it in the pro- 
 nunciation. 
 
 Rule VII. When we are speaking extempo- 
 re, and have carried the voice to its extent in 
 a high key, in order to bring it down to a lower, 
 we ought, if possible, to adopt some passion 
 which requires a low key ; such as shame, ha- 
 tred, admonition, &c. as in the spirited speech 
 of T. Quintius to the Roman people, quoted 
 under Rule IV. 
 
 The same may be observed of the speech of 
 the Angel in Milton to Satan, 
 
 Think we such toils, such cares disturb the peace 
 Of heav'n's blest habitants ? alike I scorn 
 Thy person, and imposture. Milton- 
 
 The former part of this speech raises the voice 
 to the highest pitch, and is finely relieved and 
 contrasted by the low tone which scorn requires 
 in the conclusion, 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 Gesture. 
 
 301 
 
 Gesture, considered as a just and elegant adap- 
 tation of every part of the body to the nature and 
 import of the subject we are pronouncing, has 
 always been considered as one of the most essen- 
 tial parts of oratory. Its power, as Cicero ob- 
 serves, is much greater than that of words. It 
 is the language of nature in the strictest sense, 
 and makes its way to the heart, without the ut- 
 terance of a single sound. Ancient and modern 
 orators are full of the power of action ; and action* 
 as with the illustrious Grecian orator, seems to 
 form the beginning, the middle, and end of ora- 
 tory. 
 
 Such, however, is the force of custom, that 
 though we all confess the power and necessity of 
 this branch of public speaking, we find few, in 
 «ur own country at least, that are hardy enough 
 to put it in practice. The most accomplished 
 speakers in the British Senate are very faulty in 
 their use of action, and it is remarkable that those 
 who are excellent in every other part of oratory 
 are very deficient in this. The truth is, though 
 the reason of action in speaking is in the nature 
 of things, the difficulty of acquiring the other 
 requisites of an orator, and the still greater diffi- 
 culty of attaining excellence in action, (which 
 after all our pains is less esteemed than excel- 
 lences of another kind) ; these, I say, seem to be 
 the reasons why action is so little cultivated 
 H h 
 
 L 
 
\62 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 among us ; t® this we may add, that so different 
 are national tastes in this particular, that hardlv 
 any two people agree in the just proportion of 
 this so celebrated quality of an orator. Perhaps 
 the finished action of a Cicero or a Demosthenes, 
 would scarcely be borne in our times, though 
 accompanied with every other excellence. The 
 Italians and French, though generally esteemed 
 better public speakers than the English, appear 
 to us to overcharge their oratory with action ; 
 and some of their finest strokes of action would, 
 perhaps, excite our laughter. The oratory, there- 
 fore, of the Greeks and Romans in this point is as 
 ill suited to a British auditor, as the accent and 
 quantity of the ancients is to the English lan- 
 guage. The common feelings of nature, with 
 the signs that express them, undergo a kind of 
 modification, whieh is suitable to the taste and 
 genius of every nation ; and it is this national 
 taste which must necessarily be the vehicle of 
 every thing we convey agreeably to the public 
 we belong to. Whether the action of the an- 
 cients was excessive, or whether that of the En- 
 glish be not too scanty, is not the question : those 
 who would succeed as English orators must 
 speak to English taste ; as a general must learn 
 the modern exercise of arms to command mo- 
 dern armies, and not the discipline and weapons 
 of the ancients. 
 
 But though the oratory of the moderns does 
 not require all those various evolutions of gesture 
 which was almost indispensable in the ancients, 
 
 - 
 
ELOCUTION, 
 
 163 
 
 yet a certain degree of it must necessarily enter 
 into the composition of every good speaker and 
 reader. To be perfectly motionless while we are 
 pronouncing words which require force and ener- 
 gy, is not only depriving them of their necessary 
 support, but rendering them unnatural and ridi- 
 culous. A very vehement address pronounced 
 without any motion but that of the lips and 
 tongue, would be a burlesque upon the mean- 
 ing, and produce laughter ; nay, so unnatural is 
 this total absence of gesticulation, that it is not 
 very easy to speak in this manner. 
 
 As some action, therefore, must necessarily 
 accompany our words, it is of the utmost conse- 
 quence, that this be such as is suitable and na- 
 tural. No matter how little, if it be but akin to 
 the words and passion ; for if foreign to them, it 
 counteracts and destroys the very intention of 
 delivery. The voice and gesture may be said 
 to be tuned to each other : and if they are in a 
 different key, as it may be called, discord must 
 inevitably be the consequence. An awkward 
 action, and such as is unsuitable to the words 
 and passion, is the body out of tune, and gives 
 the eye as much pain as discord does the ear. 
 
 In order therefore to gain a just idea of suitable 
 action and expression, it will be necessary to 
 observe that every passion, emotion, and senti- 
 ment, has a particular attitude of the body, cast 
 of the eye, and tone of the voice, that particularly 
 belongs to that passion, emotion, or sentiment : 
 these should be carefully studied, and practised 
 
;64 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 before a glass when we are alone ; and before a 
 few friends, whose candour and judgment we 
 can rely on. Some good piece of composition 
 should then be selected, and every period or sen- 
 tence be marked with that passion, emotion, or 
 sentiment, indicated by the words, that the eye 
 In reading may be reminded of the passion or 
 sentiment to be assumed. These passions and 
 emotions we should express with the utmost 
 force and energy we are able, when we are alone, 
 that we may wear ourselves into the habit of as- 
 suming them easily in public. This forcible 
 practice in private, will have the same effect on 
 our public deliver}', that dancing a minuet has 
 on our general air and deportment. What Pope 
 says of writing is perfectly applicable to action 
 in oratory. 
 
 True ease in action comes from art, not chance, 
 As those m«ve easiest who have learn'd to dance. 
 
 Ta descend, however, to a few of those particu- 
 lars, to which it seems the most necessary to at- 
 tend ; it may not be improper to take notice, that 
 in reading much less action is required than in 
 speaking. When we read to a few persons only 
 In private, it may not be useless to observe that 
 we should accustom ourselves to read standing; 
 that the book should be held in the left hand; 
 that we should take our eyes as often as possible 
 from the book and direct them to those that hear 
 us. The three or four last words, at least of 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 365 
 
 every paragraph, or branch of a subject, should 
 be pronounced with the eye pointed to one of 
 the auditors. When any thing sublime, lofty, 
 or heavenly, is expressed, the eye and the right 
 hand may be very properly elevated ; and when 
 any thing low, inferior, or grovelling is referred 
 to, the eye and hand may be directed downwards: 
 when any thing distant or extensive is mentioned, 
 the hand may naturally describe the distance or 
 extent ; and when conscious virtue, or any heart* 
 felt emotion, or tender sentiment occurs, we may 
 as naturally put the right hand on the breast, 
 exactly over the heart. 
 
 In speaking extempore, we should be sparing 
 of the use of the left hand, which may not un- 
 gracefully hang down by the side, and be suf- 
 fered to receive that small degree of motion 
 which will necessarily be communicated to it by 
 the action of the right hand. The right hand, 
 when in action, ought to rise extending from the 
 side, that is, in a direction from left to rigkt ; and 
 then be propelled forwards, with the fingers open, 
 and easily and differently curved : the arm should 
 move chiefly from the elbow, the hand seldom 
 be raised higher than the shoulder, and when it 
 has described its object, or enforced its emphasis, 
 ought to drop lifeless down to the side, ready to 
 commence action afresh. The utmost care must 
 be taken to keep the elbow from inclining to the 
 body, and to let the arms, when not hanging at 
 rest by the side, approach to the action we caji 
 a-kimbow ; we must be cautious too, in all action 
 H h 2 
 
366 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 but such as describes extent or circumference, 
 to keep the hand, or lower part of the arm, from 
 cutting the perpendicular line that divides the 
 body into right and left ; but above all, we must 
 be careful to let the stroke of the hand which 
 marks force, or emphasis, keep exact time with, 
 the force of pronunciation ; that is, the hand must 
 go down upon the emphatical word, and no 
 other : Thus in the execration of Brutus, in Ju- 
 lius Csesar : 
 
 When Marcus Brutus grows so covetous. 
 To lock such rascal-counters from his friends, 
 Be ready gods with all your thunderbolts, 
 Dash him in pieces. 
 
 Here the action of the arm which enforces the 
 emphasis ought to be so directed, that the stroke 
 of the hand may be given exactly on the word 
 dash; this will give a concomitant action to the 
 organs of pronunciation, and by this means the 
 whole expression will be greatly augmented... 
 This action may be called beating time to the- 
 emphasis, and is as necessary in forcible and 
 harmonious speaking, as the agreement between 
 the motion of the feet, and the music in dancing.^ 
 
 These are some of the simplest and most ne- 
 cessary directions, and such as may be followed 
 wkk the greatest safety : observing the action of 
 \ 
 
 * For a simple outline of action, as it may be called, it is pre- 
 sumed the Elements of Gesture, prefixed to the Academic Speaker, 
 will be found highl* useful; as the directions there given are il- 
 lustrated by plates describing the several positions of the body, 
 legs* 4P«? *ad hands, in a graceful and forcible delivery. 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 367 
 
 the best readers and speakers may, with some 
 cautions, be recommended to youth ; but cannot 
 with the same safety be proposed to those who, 
 by long practice, are confirmed in habits of their 
 own ; it may, instead of a modest and negative 
 kind of awkwardness, which is scarcely offensive, 
 substitute a real and disgusting kind of mimick- 
 iy ; and this, by every person of the least taste, 
 will be looked upon as a bad exchange. 
 
 To the generality of readers and speakers, 
 therefore, it may be proposed to make use of no 
 more action than they can help. If they arc 
 really in earnest, as they ought to be, some ges- 
 ticulation will naturally break out; and if it be 
 kept within bounds, it will always be tolerable* 
 A man's own feelings will often tell him how far 
 he may venture with safety ; for in that situation 
 which he finds the easiest to himself, he will ap- 
 pear most agreeable to his auditory. Such a 
 sympathy do we find between speaker and hearer, 
 that the one cannot be in an awkward situation, 
 without communicating a feeling of it to the 
 other. 
 
 Thus have we endeavoured to delineate tlipse 
 outlines, which nothing but good sense and tastp- 
 will fill up. The more distinctly these lines arc 
 marked, the easier will be the finishing,; aucGf, 
 instead of leaving so much to taste, as is gener- 
 ally done, we were to push as far as possible our 
 inquiries into those principles of truth and beau- 
 ty, in delivery, which are immutable and eternal ; 
 if, I say, we were to mark carefully, the se^inj- 
 
368 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 ingly infinite variety of voice and gesture in 
 speaking and reading, and compare this variety 
 with the various senses and passions of which 
 they are expressive ; from the simplicity of na- 
 ture in her other operations, we have reason to 
 hope, that they might be so classed and arranged, 
 as to be of much easier attainment, and produc- 
 tive of much certainty and improvement, in the 
 very difficult acquisition of a just and agreeable 
 delivery. 
 
 The Passions. 
 
 It now remains to say something of those 
 tones which mark the passions and emotions or 
 the speaker. These are entirely independent on 
 the modulation of the voice, though often con- 
 founded with it : for modulation relates only to 
 speaking either loudly or softly, in a high or a 
 low key ; while the tones of the passions or emo- 
 tions mean only that quality of sound that indi- 
 cates the feelings of the speaker, without any re- 
 ference to the pitch or loudness of his voice ; and 
 it is in being easily susceptible of every passion 
 and emotion that presents itself, and being able 
 to express them with that peculiar quality of 
 sound w T hich belongs to them, that the great art 
 of reading and speaking consists. When \vc 
 speak our own words, and are really impassioned 
 
 * 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 369 
 
 by the occasion of speaking, the passion or emo- 
 tion precedes the words, and adopts such tones 
 as are suitable to the passion we feel ; but when 
 we read, or repeat from memory, the passion is 
 to be taken up as the words occur ; and in doing 
 this well, the whole difficulty of reading or re- 
 peating from memory lies. 
 
 But it will be demanded, how are we to ac- 
 quire that peculiar quality of sound that indi- 
 cates the passion we wish to express ? The an- 
 swer is easy : by feeling the passion which ex- 
 presses itself by that peculiar quality of sound, 
 But the question will return, how are we to ac- 
 quire a feeling of the passion ? The answer to 
 this question is rather discouraging, as it will 
 advise those who have not a power of impassion- 
 ing themselves upon reading or expresssing 
 some very pathetic passage, to turn their studies 
 to some other department of learning where na- 
 ture may have been more favourable to their 
 wishes. But is there no method of assisting us 
 in acquiring the tone of the passion we want to 
 express ; no method of exciting the passion in 
 ourselves when we wish to express it to others ? 
 The advice of Quintilian and Cicero on this oc- 
 casion, is, to represent to our imagination, in the 
 most lively manner possible, all the most striking 
 circumstances of the transaction we describe, or 
 of the passion we wish to feel. " Thus," says 
 Quintilian, *' If I complain of the fate of a man 
 " who has been assassinated, may I not paint in 
 " my mind a lively picture of all that has pro- 
 
370 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 " bably happened on the occasion ? Shall not the 
 " assassin appear to rush forth suddenly from his 
 " lurking-place ; Shall not the other appear 
 " seized with horrors? Shall he not cry out, 
 " beg his life, or fly to save it ? Shall not I see 
 " the assassin dealing the deadly blow, and the 
 " defenceless wretch falling dead at his feet? 
 " Shall not I figure to my mind, and by a lively 
 " impression, the blood gushing from his 
 " wounds, his ghastly face, his groans, and the 
 " last gasp he fetches ?" 
 
 This must be allowed to be a very natural 
 method of exciting an emotion in the mind ; but 
 still the woes of others, whether real or fictitious, 
 will often make but a weak impression on our 
 own mind, and will fail of affecting us with a 
 sufficient force to excite the same emotions in 
 the minds of our hearers. In this exigence, it 
 may not, perhaps, be unprofitable, to call to our 
 assistance the device of the ancient Grecian ac- 
 tor Polus ; who, when he had the part of Electra 
 to perform, and was to represent that princess 
 weeping over the ashes of her brother Orestes, 
 ordered the urn which contained the ashes of 
 his dear and only son to be brought upon the 
 stage, and by this means excited in himself the 
 pitch of grief with which he wished to affect his 
 audience. 
 
 Calling to mind, therefore, such passages of 
 our own life as are similar to those we read or 
 speak of, will, if I am not mistaken, considerably 
 assist us in gaining that fervor and warmth of 
 
ELOCUTION, 
 
 371 
 
 expression, which, by a certain sympathy, is 
 sure to affect those who hear us. 
 
 But our natural feelings are not always to be 
 commanded ; and, when they are, stand in need 
 of the regulation and embellishments of art : it is 
 the business, therefore, of every reader and speak- 
 er in public, to acquire such tones and gestures 
 as nature gives to the passions; that he may be 
 able to produce the semblance of them when he 
 is not actually impassioned. The feelings of 
 men, when unpremeditatedly impassioned, will 
 do wonders. We seldom hear a person express 
 love, rage, or pity, when the passions are produ- 
 ced by a powerful object on the spot, without 
 feeling in ourselves the workings of the passions 
 thus instantaneously produced. Here the reality 
 of the situation contributes greatly to our own 
 feelings, as well as to the feelings of the speaker. 
 The speech of a malefactor seldom fails to move 
 us powerfully, however wretchedly delivered ; 
 and a person really in the agonies of passion 
 moves us irresistibly. But these are situations 
 very different from the reader and speaker in 
 public. The reader has always a fictitious or 
 absent passion to exhibit ; and the public 
 speaker must always produce his passion at a 
 certain time and place, and in a certain or- 
 der ; and in this situation it is generally sup- 
 posed by our best critics, that an excess of 
 feeling, such as we have when unpremeditately 
 actuated by strong passions, would render us in- 
 capable of expressing ourselves, so as properly 
 
 
372 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 to affect others. I have ray self seen Powel, in 
 the character of George Barnwell, so overwhelm- 
 ed with grief in that pathetic address, 
 
 Be warn'd, ye youths who see my sad despair, &c. 
 
 as to be incapable of expressing himself in the 
 most pathetic manner to the audience. Howev- 
 er this be, certain it is, we ought to study the ef- 
 fects and appearances of the passions, that we may 
 be able to exhibit them when we are not really 
 impassioned ; and, when we are, to give passion 
 its most agreeable expression. Mr. Burke has 
 a very ingenious thought on this subject in his 
 Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beauti- 
 ful. He observes, that there is such a connex- 
 ion between the internal feeling of a passion, 
 and the external expression of it, that we cannot 
 put ourselves in the posture or attitude of any 
 passion, without communicating a certain degree 
 of the passion itself to the mind. The same may 
 be observed of the tone of voice which is pecu- 
 liar to each passion : each passion produces an 
 agitation of the body, which is accompanied by a 
 -correspondent agitation of the mind : certain 
 sounds naturally produce certain bodily agita- 
 tions, similar to those produced by the passions £ 
 and hence music has power over the mind, and 
 can dispose it alternately to joy, or sorrow ; to 
 pity, or revenge. W hen the voice, therefore, as- 
 sumes that tone which a musician would produce 
 in order to express certain passions or sentiments 
 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 373 
 
 in a song,— the speaker, like a performer on a 
 musical instrument, is wrought upon by the 
 sound which he creates ; and, though active at 
 the beginning, at length becomes passive, by the 
 sound of his own voice on himself. Hence it is, 
 that though we frequently begin to read or speak, 
 without feeling any of the passion we wish to ex- 
 press, we often end in full possession of it. This 
 may serve to show the necessity of studying and 
 imitating those tones, looks, and gestures, that 
 accompany the passions, that we may dispose 
 ourselves to feel them mechanically, and improve 
 our expression of them when w£ feel them spon- 
 taneously ; for by the imitation of the passion, 
 we meet it, as it were, half way. A passion well 
 described, disposes us to tjie feeling of it, and 
 greatly assists us in expressing it with force and 
 propriety ; this shows the necessity of a good de- 
 scription of the passions, and how much the art 
 of speaking depends upon it. Those who feel 
 the passions most powerfully, and unite with this 
 feeling a power of describing their feelings, are 
 those from whom we may expect the best pic- 
 tures of what passes in the soul. For this rea- 
 son, good poets are generally the best painters of 
 the passions ; and for this reason too, we find the 
 greatest orators have been most conversant with 
 the best poets ; for though it is not the business 
 ©f the poet, like that of the philosopher, to enter 
 into a logical definition of the origin, extent, and 
 various relations of the passion he produces, he 
 must, however feel it strongly, and express it 
 
 I i 
 
374f ELEMENTS OF 
 
 exactly as we see it in nature, or it will fail in its 
 effect on the soul ; which in this case, jndges 
 by a sort of instinct. This, it is presumed, will 
 be a sufficient reason for drawing the examples 
 that are given of the passions chiefly from the 
 poets ; and of these, chiefly those in the dramatic 
 line; as it is in these that the passions are- gene- 
 rally the most delicately and forcibly touched. 
 
 Aaron Hill, in his Essay on the Art of Act- 
 ing, has made a bold attempt at such a descrip- 
 tion of the passions as may enable an actor to 
 adopt them mechanically, by shewing, that all the 
 passions require either a braced or relaxed state 
 of the sinews, and a peculiar cast of the eye. This 
 system he has supported with much ingenuity ; 
 but it were to be wished he had lived to give his 
 ©riginal idea the finishing he intended, and to have 
 seen it combated by opposite opinions, that he 
 might have removed several objections that lie 
 against it, and render the truth of it doubtful. 
 It must be owned, however, that this writer de- 
 serves great praise for the mere attempt he lias 
 made to form a new system, which, under some 
 restrictions, may not be without its use. It is 
 certain, that all the passions, when violent, brace 
 the sinews ; grief, which, when moderate, may be 
 said to melt or relax the frame, when ac- 
 companied by anguish and bitter complain- 
 ings, becomes active and bracing.* Pity 
 
 * See Dr. Johnson's excellent remark upon the speech of La$y 
 €onstantine in King John. Act Hi. sc. h 
 
 5 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 375 
 
 
 seems never to rise to a sufficient degree of sor- 
 row, to brace the sinews ; and anger, even in the 
 slightest degree, seems to give a kind of tension 
 to the voice and limbs. Thus, Shakspeare, as 
 quoted by this writer, has given us an admirable 
 picture of this passion in its violence, and has 
 made this violent tension of the sinews a consid- 
 erable part of its composition : 
 
 Now imitate the action of the tyger ! 
 Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood ; 
 Lend fierce and dreadful aspect to the eye ; 
 Set the teeth close and stretch the nostril wide 5 
 Hold hard the breath and bend up ev'ry spirit 
 To its full height.— 
 
 To this might be added r that admirable picture 
 of violent anger which' Shakspeare puts in the 
 mouth of Suffolk, in the second Part of Hen- 
 ry VI. 
 
 Would curses kill, as doth the mandrake's groan, 
 I would invent as bitter searching terms, 
 As curst, as harsh, and horrible to hear, 
 Delivered strongly through my fixed teeth, 
 With full as many signs of deadly hate 
 As lean fac'd Envy in her loathsome cave. 
 My tongue should stumble in mine earnest words, 
 Mine eyes should sparkle like the beaten flint, 
 Mine hair be fixt on end like one distract, 
 Ay, ev'ry joint should seem to curse and ban : 
 And, even new my burden'd heart would break, 
 Should I not curse them. — 
 
 Who can read these admirable descriptions of 
 anger without feeling his whole frame braced, 
 
376 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 and his mind strongly tinctured with the passion 
 delineated ! How much is it to be regretted that 
 so great a master of the passions as Shakspeare, 
 has not left us a description similar to this of ev- 
 ery emotion of the soul ! But though he has not 
 described every other passion like this, he has 
 placed them all in such marking points of view 
 as enables us to see the workings of the human 
 heart from his writings, in a clearer and more 
 affecting way than in any other of our poets ; and 
 perhaps, the best description that could be given 
 us of the passions in any language, maybe extract- 
 ed from the epithets he has made use of. But to 
 return to the system: Hill defines scorn to be 
 negligent anger, and adds, "it is expressed by 
 " languid muscles, with a smile upon the eye in 
 "the light species, or a frown to hit the serious." 
 The reason he gives for this expression is, " be- 
 " cause* scorn insinuates by a voluntary slack- 
 " ness, or disarming of the nerves, a known or a 
 " concluded absence of all power in the insulted 
 " object, even to make defence seem necessary." 
 This seems a very accurate picture of the pas- 
 sion, and the slackness of the nerves appears ne- 
 cessarily to enter into the proper method of ex- 
 pressing it. But, what are we to think of his defi- 
 nition of Joy ! "Joy," says he, " is pride pos- 
 sessed of triumph." No author I have ever yet 
 met with, has supposed pride to be a necessary 
 part of the composition of joy ; though a degree of 
 joy may form part of the composition of pride. 
 
ELOCUTION. 377 
 
 Pity, he defines to be active grief for another's af- 
 flictions ; but this definition seems not to include 
 the most leading trait of pity, which is, benevo- 
 lence and love ; and though pity is always accom- 
 panied with a degree of sorrow which often excites 
 us to assist those we pity, yet pity is often bestow- 
 ed on objects, we neither can nor endeavour to as- 
 sist. The poets have always strongly marked this 
 alliance between pity and love, and with great pro- 
 priety. When Blandford tells Oroonoko. he 
 pities him, Oroonoko answers 
 
 •Do pity me ; 
 
 Pity's akin to love, and every thought 
 Of that soft kind is welcome to my soul. 
 
 Oroonoko, Act. ii» 
 
 And Dryden, in his Alexander's Feast, after de- 
 . scribing the power of Timotheus in exciting his 
 hero's pity for, the sad fate of Darius, says, 
 
 The mighty master smil'd to see, 
 That love was in the next degree ; 
 'Twas but a kindred sound to move, 
 For pity melts the soul to love. 
 
 And Julia, in the Two Gentlemen of Verona, 
 says of Proteus, 
 
 Because he loves her he despises me ; 
 
 Because I love him, I must pity him. Act iv. 
 
 Poets, who, where the passions are concerned, are 
 I i 
 
378 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 generally the best philosophers, constantly des- 
 cribe love and pity as melting the soul : but how 
 does this agree with the intense muscles with 
 which Hill marks the expression of both these 
 passions ? And how, according to this writer, 
 can the muscles be intense and the eye languid 
 at the same time, as he has described them in pi- 
 ty ; or is it conceivable that the eye can express 
 an emotion directly contrary to the feelings of 
 the whole frame? The distinction, therefore, of 
 braced and unbraced muscles, upon which his 
 whole system turns, seems at best but a doubtful 
 hypothesis ; and much too hidden and uncertain 
 for the direction of so important a matter as the 
 expression of the passions. 
 
 In the display of the passions which I have 
 adopted, nothing farther is intended, than such a 
 description of them as may serve to give an ide£ 
 of their external appearance, and such examples 
 of their operations on the soul as may tend to 
 awaken an original feeling of them in the breast 
 of the reader. But it cannot be too carefully no- 
 ted, that, if possible, the expression of every pas- 
 sion ought' to commence within. The imagina- 
 tion ought to be strongly impressed with the 
 idea of an object which naturally excites it, be- 
 fore the body is brought to correspond to it by suit- 
 able gesture. This order ought never to be re - 
 versed, except when the mind is too cold and 
 languid to imbibe the passion first; and in this 
 case, an adaptation of the body to an expression 
 of the passion, will either help to excite the pas- 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 379 
 
 sion we wish to feel, or in some measure supply 
 the absence of it. 
 
 The two circumstances that most strongly 
 mark the expression of passion, are the tone of 
 the voice, and the external appearance of counte- 
 nance and gesture ; these we shall endeavour to 
 describe, and to each description subjoin an ex- 
 ample for practice. 
 
 In the following explanation and description of 
 the passions, I have been greatly indebted to a 
 very ingenious performance called the Art of 
 Speaking ; this work, though not without its im- 
 perfections, is on a pfen the most useful that has 
 hitherto been adopted. The passions are first 
 described, then passages are produced which 
 contain the several passions, and these passions 
 are marked in the margin as they promiscuously 
 ^pcur in the passage. This plan I have adopted, 
 and I hope not without some degree of improve- 
 ment. For after the description of the several 
 passions, in which I have frequently departed 
 widely from this author, I have subjoined exam- 
 ples to each passion and emotion, which con- 
 tain scarcely any passion or eftiotion but that de- 
 scribed ; and by thus keeping one passion in 
 view at a time, it is presumed the pupil will 
 more easily acquire the imitation of it, than by 
 passing suddenly to those passages where they 
 are scattered promiscuously in small portions. 
 But though this association of the similar passi- 
 on is certainly an advantage, the greatest merit is 
 due to the author above mentioned ; who, by the 
 
380 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 division of a passage into its several passi©ns v | 
 and marking these passions as they occur, has 
 done real service to the art of speaking, and ren- 
 dered his book one of the most useful that has ! 
 foecn hitherto published* 
 
, THE PASSIONS. 
 
 The first picture of the Passions (if it may be 
 lied so) is 
 
 :alledso) is 
 
 TRANQUILLITY, 
 
 Tranquillity appears by the composure of the 
 countenance, and general repose of the whole 
 body, without the exertion of any one muscle. 
 The countenance cpen, the forehead smooth, the 
 eyebrows arched, the -mouth just not shut, and 
 the eyes passing with an easy motion from object 
 to object but not dwelling long upon any one. To 
 distinguish it, however, from insensibility, it 
 seems necessary to give it that cast of happiness 
 w,hich borders on chearfulness. 
 
 CHEARFULNESS. 
 
 When joy is settled into a habit, or flows from 
 a placid temper of mind, desiring to please and be 
 pleased, it is called gaiety, good-humour, or 
 chearfulness. ' 
 
 Chearfulness adds a smile to tranquillity, and 
 opens the mouth a little more. 
 
 Chearfulness in Retirement. 
 
 Now my co-mates, and brothers in exile, 
 Hath not old custom made this life more sweet 
 Than that of painted pomp ? Are not these woods 
 

 382' ELEMENTS OF 
 
 More free from peril than the envious court J 
 Here feel we but the penalty of Adam, 
 The season's difference ; as the icy fang" 
 And churlish chiding of the winter's wind, 
 Which, when it bites and blows upon my body 
 Ev'n till I shrink with cold, I smile and say, 
 This is no flattery ; these are counsellors 
 That feelingly persuade me what I am. 
 Sweet are the uses of adversity, 
 That like a toad, ugly and venemous, 
 Wears yet a precious jewel in its head ; 
 And this our life exempt from public haunts, 
 Finds tongues in trees, books in the running- brooks, 
 •Sermons in stones, and good in every thing. 
 
 Shakspeare's As You Likt It, 
 
 MIRTH. 
 
 When joy arises from ludicrous or fugitive 
 amusements in which others share with us, it is 
 called merriment or mirth. 
 
 Mirth, or laughter, opens the mouth horizon- 
 tally, raises the cheeks high, lessens the aperture of 
 the eyes, and, when violent, shakes and convulses 
 the whole frame, fills the eyes with tears, and 
 occasions holding the sides from the pain the 
 convulsive laughter gives them. 
 
 Invocation oj the Goddess of JWirth. 
 
 But come, thou goddess, fair and free, 
 In heav'n y'clep'd Euphrosyne, 
 And of men heart-easing Mirth ; 
 Whom lovely Venus at a birth, 
 With two sister graces more, 
 To ivy -crowned Bacchus bore. 
 Come, thou nymph, and bring with thee 
 Mirth and youthful Jollity ; 
 Quips, and cranks, and wanton wiles; 
 Nods, and becks, and wreathed smiles 
 
585 
 
 ELOCUTION, 
 
 Such as hang- on Hebe's cheek, 
 And love to live in dimples sleek : 
 Sport, that wrinkled Care derides, 
 And Laughter holding- both his sides : 
 Come and trip it as ye go, 
 ©n the light fantastic toe ; 
 And in thy right hand bring with thee 
 The mountain nymph, sweet Liberty. 
 
 • MiltQlL.sf'.d 
 
 Laughter on seeing a shveivd Buffoon, 
 
 A fool, a fool, I met a fool i'th 'forest, 
 
 A motley fool, a miserable varlet ; 
 
 As I do live by food I met a fool, 
 
 Who laid him down, and bask'd him in the sun, 
 
 And rail' d on lady Fortune in good terms ; 
 
 In good set terms, and yet a motley fool ; 
 
 Good morrow, fool, quoth T; no, sir, quoth he, 
 
 Call me not fool, till heav'n hath sent me fortune.; 
 
 And then he drew a dial from his poak, 
 
 And looking on it with lack-lustre eye, 
 
 Says very wisely, it is ten o'clock ; 
 
 Thus may we see, quoth he, how the world wags ; 
 
 J Tis but an hour ago' since it was nine, 
 
 And after one hour more 'twill be eleven, 
 
 And so from hour to hour we ripe and ripe, 
 
 And then from hour to hour we rot and rot, 
 
 And thereby hangs a tale. When I did hear 
 
 The motley fool thus moral on the time, 
 
 My lungs began to crow like chanticleer, 
 
 That fools should be so deep contemplative -: 
 
 And I did laugh sans intermission 
 
 An hour.by his dial, O noble fool! 
 
 A worthy fool ! motley's the only wear. 
 
 Shakspeare*8 As Ton tJfct 
 
 RAILLERY. 
 
 Raillery without animosity, puts on the aspect 
 of chearfulness ; -the countenance smiling, and 
 the tone of voice sprightly. 
 
384 ELEMENTS QF 
 
 Rallying a Person for being melancholy. 
 
 Let me play the fool 
 With mirth and laughter ; so let wrinkles coiive, 
 And let my liver rather heat with wine, 
 Than my heart cool with mortifying- groans. 
 Why should a man, whose blood is warm within, 
 Sit like his grandsire cut in alabaster ? 
 Sleep when he wakes, and cree$> into the jaundice 
 By being peevish ? I tell thee what, Anthonto, 
 (I love thee, and it is my love that speaks ;) 
 There are a sort of men whose visages 
 
 Do cream and mantle like a standing pond, 
 
 And do a wilful stillness entertain, 
 
 With purpose to be drest in an opinion 
 
 ©f wisdom, gravity, 'profound conceit, > 
 
 As who should say, I am, sir, Oracle, 
 
 And when I ope my lips, let no dog bark ! 
 
 I'll tell thee more of this another time ; 
 
 But fish not with this melancholy bait 
 
 For this fool's gudgeon, this opinion. 
 
 Come, good Lozenzo, fare ye well a while, 
 
 I'll end my exhortation after dinner. 
 
 SNEER. 
 
 Sneer is ironical approbation : where with a 
 voice and countenance of mirth somewhat exag- 
 gerated, we cast the severest censures; it is hv- 
 pocritical mirth and good humour, and differs 
 from the real by the sly, arch, satirical tone of 
 voice, look, and gesture, that accompany it 
 
 Scoffing at supposed Con>ardi.ce. 
 
 Satan beheld their plight, 
 And to his mates thus in derision eall'd : 
 O friends, why come not on those victors proud ? 
 Ere while they fierce were coming and when we, 
 To entertain them fair with open front 
 And breast, (what could we more ?) propounded terms 
 
 ! 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 385 
 
 Of composition, straight they chang'd their minds, 
 
 Flew off, and into strange vagaries fell, 
 
 As they would dance : yet for a dance they seem'd 
 
 Somewhat extravagant and wild, perhaps 
 
 For joy of offer'd peace ; but I suppose, 
 
 If our proposals once again were heard, 
 
 We should compel them to a quick result. 
 
 ' Milton's Farad. Lost, 
 
 JOY. 
 
 A pleasing elation of mind, on the actual or 
 assured attainment of good, or deliverance from 
 evil, is called Joy. 
 
 Joy, when moderate, opens the countenance 
 with smiles, and throws, as it were, a sunshine of 
 delectation over the whole frame : When it is 
 sudden and violent, it expresses itself by clap- 
 ping the hands, raising the eyes towards heaven, 
 and giving such a spring to the body as to make 
 it attempt to mount up as if it could fly : When 
 Joy is extreme, and goes into transport, rapture, 
 and ecstacy, it has a wildness of look and gesture 
 that borders on folly, madness, and sorrow. 
 
 Joy expected. 
 
 Ah ! Juliet, if the measure of thy joy 
 Be heap'd like mine, and that thy skill be more 
 To blazon it, then sweeten with thy breath 
 This neighbour air, and let rich music's tongue 
 Unfold the imagin'd happiness that both 
 Keceive in either by this dear encounter. 
 
 Shakspeare' 's Rom. and Jul* 
 
 Joy approaching to Transport. 
 
 Oh! joy, thou welcome stranger, twice three years 
 I have not felt thy vital beam, but now 
 
 Kk 
 
386 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 It warms my veins, and plays about my heart ; 
 
 A fiery instinct lifts me from the ground, 
 
 And 1 could mount. Dr. Young's Revenge 
 
 Joy approaching to Folly. 
 
 Come, let us to the castle ; 
 
 News, Friends ; our wars are done, the Turks are drowri'd 
 
 How do our old acquaintance of this isle ? — 
 
 Honey, you shall be well desir'd in Cyprus ; 
 
 I have found great love among- them. O my sweet, 
 
 I prattle out of fashion, and I dote 
 
 In mine own comforts. Shakspreare* 's Othello 
 
 Joy bordering on Sorrow. 
 
 Omy soul's joy ! 
 If after every tempest come such calms, 
 IVfay the winds blow till they have waken 'd death ! 
 And let the labouring bark climb hills of seas 
 Olympus high, and duck again as low 
 As hell's from heav'n ! If it were now to die, 
 'Twere now to be most happy, for I fear 
 My soul hath her content so absolute, 
 That not another comfort like to this 
 Succeeds in unknown fate. Ibidem 
 
 Joy, or Satisfaction inexpressible. 
 
 . Imoinda, Oh ! this separation, 
 
 Has made you dearer if it can be so 
 Than you were ever to me ! you appear 
 Like a kind star to my benighted steps, 
 To guide me on my way to happiness ; 
 I cannot miss it now. Governor, friend, 
 You think me mad : But let me bless you all 
 "Who any ways have been the instruments 
 Of finding her again. Imoinda's found ! 
 And every thing that I would have in her. 
 
 I have a thousand things to ask of her, 
 And she as many more to know of me, 
 But you have made me happier, I confess, 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 387 
 
 
 Acknowledge it much happier, than I 
 
 Have words or power to tell you. Captain, you, 
 
 Ev'n you, who most have wrong' d me, I forgive : 
 
 1 will not say you have betrayed me now, 
 
 I'll think you but the minister of fate 
 
 To bring me to my lov'd Imoinda here. 
 
 Let the fools 
 
 Who follow fortune live upon her smiles, 
 
 All our prosperity is plac'd in love, 
 
 We have enough of that to make us happy ; 
 
 This little spot of earth you stand upon, 
 
 Js more to me than the extended plains 
 
 Of my great father's kingdom ; here I reign 
 
 In full delight, in joys to pow'r unknown, 
 
 Your love my empire, and your heart my throne. 
 
 Southern's Oroonokc 
 
 DELIGHT. 
 
 Delight is a high degree of satisfaction, or 
 rather is joy moderated, and affording leisure to 
 dwell on the pleasing object ; the tones, looks, 
 and gestures, are the same as those of joy, but 
 less forcible, and more permanent. Thus we 
 gaze upon a pleasing figure or picture, listen to 
 music, and are intent upon delightful studies. 
 
 Delight on viewing a Statue. 
 
 Leon. See, my lord, 
 
 Would you not deem it breath'd, and that those veins 
 Did verily bear blood ? 
 
 Paul. My lord's almost so far transported that 
 He'll think anon it lives. 
 
 Leon. O sweet Paulina, 
 Make me to think so twenty years together, 
 No settled senses of the world can match 
 The pleasure of that madness. 
 
 Shaksp. Winter's Tale. 
 
388 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 LOVE. 
 
 Love is not ill denned by Aaron Hill, when 
 foe calls it, desire kept temperate by reverence : 
 it is, he says, a conscious and triumphant swell 
 of hope, intimidated by respectful apprehension 
 of offending, where we long to seem agreeable : 
 it is complaint made amiable by gracefulness ; re 
 proach endeared by tenderness ; and rapture aw- 
 ed by reverence ; the idea then, says he, to be 
 conceived by one who would express love 
 elegantly, is that of joy combined with fear. 
 
 To this we may add Shakspeare's description 
 of this passion in As You Like It. 
 
 Phoebe. Good shepherd, tell this youth what 'tis to love. 
 
 Syl. It is to be all made of phantasy ; 
 All made of passion, and all made of wishes ; 
 All adoration, duty, and observance, 
 All humbleness, all patience, and impatience ; 
 All purity, all trial, all observance. As You Like It. 
 
 If these are just descriptions of love, how un- 
 like to it is that passion which so profanely as- 
 sumes its name ! 
 
 Love gives a soft serenity to the countenance. 
 a languishing to the eyes, a sweetness to the 
 voice, and a tenderness to the whole frame ; when 
 intreating, it clasps the hands, with intermingled 
 lingers to the breast ; when declaring, the right 
 hand, open, is pressed with force upon the breast 
 exactly over the heart ; it makes its approaches 
 with the utmost delicacy, and is attended with 
 trembling hesitation and confusion. 
 
ELOCUTION. 389 
 
 Love decribed. 
 
 Come hither, boy ; if ever thou sh alt love, 
 In the sweet pangs of it remember me, 
 For such as 1 am, all true lovers are ; 
 Unstaid and skittish in all motions else, 
 Save in the constant image of the creature 
 That is belov'd — 
 
 Shakspe are's Ttv. Night. 
 
 Description of languishing Love. 
 
 O fellow, come, the song we had last night : — 
 Mark it, Cesario ; it is old and plain ; 
 The spinsters, and the knitters in the sun, 
 And the free maids that wave their thread with bones, 
 Do use to chaunt it ; it is silly sooth, 
 And dallies with the innocence of love 
 Like to old age. Ibid. 
 
 If music be the food of love, play on ; 
 Give me excess of it ; that, surfeiting, 
 The appetite may sicken, and so die. — 
 That strain again ; — it had a dying fall ; 
 O, it came o'er my ear, like the sweet south, 
 That breathes upon a bank of violets, 
 Stealing and giving odour. — Enough, no more, 
 'Tis not so sweet now, as it was before. 
 O spirit of love, how quick and fresh art thou ! 
 That notwithstanding thy capacity 
 Receiveth as the sea, nought enters there, 
 Of what validity and pitch soever, 
 But falls into abatement and low price, 
 Even in a minute ! so full of shapes is fancy, 
 That it alone is high fantastical. Twelfth Mght. 
 
 Delight in Love. 
 
 What you do 
 Still better's what is done. When you speak, sweet, 
 I'd have you do it ever : When you sing, 
 I'd have you buy and sell so ; so give alms, 
 Pray so ; and, for the ordering your affairs, 
 To sing them to : When you do dance, I wish you 
 
 Kk2 
 
; 90 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 A wave o'the sea, that you might ever do 
 
 Nothing but that ; move still, still so, 
 
 And own no other function : each your doing, 
 
 So singular in each particular, 
 
 Crowns what you are doing in the present deeds, 
 
 That all your acts are queens. Ibid. Winter's Tale. 
 
 Protestation in Love. 
 
 -O, hear me breathe my life 
 
 Before this ancient sir, who, it should seem, 
 
 Hath some time lov'd : I take thy hand ; this hand, 
 
 As soft as dove's down, and as white as it; 
 
 Or Ethiopian's tooth, or the fann'd snow, 
 
 That's bolted by the northern blasts twice o'er. 
 
 Shakspeare^s Winter's Tale- 
 
 Love complaining, 
 
 Ay, Protheus, but that life is alter'd now ; 
 I have done penance for contemning love, 
 Whose high imperious thoughts have punish' d me, 
 With bitter fasts, with penitential groans, 
 With nightly tears, and daily heart-sore sighs : 
 For in revenge of my contempt of love, 
 Love hath chac'd sleep from my enthralled eyes, 
 And made them watchers of mine own heart's sorrow. 
 O gentle Protheus, love's a mighty lord,. 
 And hath so humbled me, as I confess 
 There is no woe to his correction ; 
 Nor to his service, any joy on earth ; 
 Now no discourse except it be of love ; 
 Now can I break my fast, dine, sup, and sleep, 
 Upon the very simple name of love. 
 
 Shakspeare, Two Gent, of Verona, 
 
 PITY. 
 
 Pity 
 
 is benevolence to the afflicted. It is a 
 anixture of love for an object that suffers* and a 
 grief that we are not able to remove those suffer- 
 ings. It shows itself in a compassionate tender- 
 
ELOCUTION. 391 
 
 viess of voice ; a feeling of pain in the counte- 
 nance, and a gentle raising and falling of the 
 hands and eyes, as if mourning over the unhap*- 
 \fy object. The mouth is open, the eye- brow's 
 are drawn down, and the features contracted or 
 drawn together. See p. 277 278. 
 
 Pity in plaintive narration. 
 
 As in a theatre the eyes of men, 
 After a well-grac'd actor leaves the stage, 
 Are idly bent on him that enters next, 
 Thinking his prattle to be tedious, 
 Even so, or with much more contempt, men's eyes, 
 Did scowl on Richard ; no man cry'd God save him ; 
 No joyful tongue gave him his welcome home : 
 But dust was thrown upon his sacred head ; 
 Which with such gentle sorrow he shook off— 
 His face still combating with tears and smiles, 
 The badges of his grief and patience, — 
 That had not God, for some strong purpose-,-steei'd 
 The hearts of men, they must perforce have melted, 
 And barbarism itself have pitied him. 
 But heav'n hath a hand in those events ; 
 To whose high will we bound our calm contents. 
 
 Shakspeare's KicluJI. 
 
 Pity for falling greatness. 
 
 Ah, Richard ! with eyes of heavy mind, 
 I see thy glory like a shooting star, 
 Fall to the base earth, from the firmament ! 
 Thy sun sits weeping in the lowly west, 
 "Witnessing storms to come, woe, and unrest ; 
 Thy friends are fled, to wait upon thy foes, 
 And crossly to thy good all fortune goes. Ibid. 
 
 Pity for a departed Friend. 
 
 Alas! PoorYorick! I knew him, Horatio ; a fellow of infinite 
 Jest, of most excellent fancy : he hath borne me on his Rack a 
 
392 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 thousand times ; and now how abhorred in my imagination it is . 
 my gorge rises at it. Here hung- those lips that I have kissed 1 
 know not how oft. Where be your.gibes now ? Your gambols ? Your 
 songs ? Your flashes of merriment, that were wont to set the ta- 
 ble on a roar ? Not one now to mock your own grinning ? Quite 
 chop-fallen ? Now get you to my lady's chamber, and tell her, 
 let her paint an inch thick, to this favour she must come ; make 
 her laugh at that,— Ibid. Hamlet 
 
 Pity for the objeot beloved. 
 
 r Poor lord ! is't I 
 That chace thee from thy country, and expose 
 Those tender limbs of thine to the event 
 Of the non sparing war ? and is it I 
 That drive thee from the sportive court, where thou 
 Wast shot at with fair eyes, to be the mark 
 Of smoky muskets ? O you leaden messengers, 
 That ride upon the violent speed of fire, 
 Fly with false aim ; move the still piercing air, 
 That sings with piercing, do not touch my lord ! 
 Whoever shoots at him, I set him there ; 
 Whoever charges on his forward breast, 
 I am the caitiff, that do hold him to it ; 
 And, though I kill him not, I am the cause 
 His death was so' effected: better 'twere 
 I met the raven lion when he roar'd 
 With sharp constraint of hunger ; better 'twere 
 That all the miseries which nature owes, 
 Were mine at once ; No, come thou home, Rousillon, 
 Whence honour but of danger wins a scar: 
 As oft it loses all ; I will be gone : 
 My being here it is, that holds thee hence ; 
 Shall I say here to do*t ? no, no, although 
 The air of paradise did fan the house, 
 And angels offic'd all ! I will be gone. 
 
 Shakspeare's Mi's Welly &c t 
 
 Pity for youth over-watched. 
 
 Luc. I have slept, my lord, already. 
 
 £ru. It was well done ; and thou shalt sleep again ; 
 i shall not hold thee long : if I do live, 
 I will be good to thee. [Music, and a song 
 
 This is a sleepy tune ; O murd'rous slumber ! 
 
ELOCUTION, 
 
 393 
 
 Lay'st thou thy leaden mace upon my boy, 
 That plays thee music ? — Gentle knave, good night ; 
 I will not do thee so much wrong to wake thee. 
 If thou dost nod, thou break'st thy instrument ; 
 I'll take it from thee, and, good boy, good night. 
 
 Ibid. Jul Cues, 
 
 HOPE. 
 
 Hope is a mixture of desire and joy, agitating 
 the mind, and anticipating its enjoyment. It 
 erects and brightens the countenance, spreads 
 the arms with the hands open, as to receive the 
 object of its wishes: the voice is plaintive, and 
 inclining to eagerness ; the breath drawn inwards 
 more forcibly than usual, in order to express our 
 desires the more strongly, and our earnest ex- 
 pectation of receiving the object of them. 
 
 Collins, in his Ode on the Passions, gives us 
 a beautiful picture of Hope : 
 
 But thou, O Hope, with eyes so fair, 
 
 What was thy delighted measure ? 
 
 Still it whisper'd promis'd pleasure, 
 
 And bade the lovely scenes at distance hail ; 
 
 Still would her touch the scene prolong, 
 
 And from the rocks, the woods, the vale, 
 
 She call'd on echo still through all the song ; 
 
 And where her sweetest theme she chose, 
 
 A soft responsive voice was heard at every close, 
 
 And Hope, enchaDted, smil'd, and wav'd her golden hair. 
 
 Hope from approaching Nuptials. 
 
 Now, fair Hippolita, our nuptial hour 
 Draws on apace, four happy days brings in 
 Another moon ; but oh ! methinks, how slow 
 This old moon wains ! she lingers my desires, 
 
394 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 Like to a step-dame, or a dowager 
 Long-withering- out a young man's revenue. 
 
 Shaksp. Midsum. Night. 
 
 Hope of good tidings. 
 
 O Hope, sweet flatterer, whose delusive touch 
 Sheds on afflicted minds the balm of comfort, 
 Relieves the load of poverty; sustains 
 The captive bending with the weight of bonds, 
 And smooths the pillow of disease and pain ; 
 Send back th" exploring messenger with joy, 
 And let me hail thee from that friendly grove. 
 
 Glover's Beadiced. 
 
 HATRED, AVERSION. 
 
 When, by frequent reflection on a disagreeable 
 object, our disapprobation of it is attended with 
 a disinclination of mind towards it, it is called 
 hatred. When our hatred and disapprobation of 
 any object are accompanied with a painful sen- 
 sation upon the apprehension of its presence or 
 approach, there follows an inclination to avoid it, 
 called aversion. 
 
 Hatred or aversion, draws back the body as to 
 avoid the hated object; the hands at the same 
 time thrown out spread, as if to keep it off. 
 The face is turned away from that side towards 
 which the hands are thrown out ; the eyes look- 
 ing angrily, and obliquely the same way the hands 
 are directed ; the eye-brows are contracted, the 
 upper lip disdainfully drawn up, and the teeth 
 set ; the pitch of the voice is low, but loud and 
 harsh, the tone chiding, unequal, surly, and ve- 
 hement, the sentences are short and abrupt. 
 
 J 
 
ELOCUTION. 395 
 
 A description and example of this passion 
 frOm Shakspeare is given in the introduction to 
 these examples, p. 276. To these we shall add 
 a few others : 
 
 Hatred cursing' the object hated. 
 
 Poison be their drink, 
 Gall, worse than gall, the daintiest meat they taste ; 
 Their sweetest shade a grove of cypress trees, 
 Their sweetest prospects murd'ring basilisks, 
 Their softest touch as smart as lizard's stings, 
 Their music frightful as the serpent's hiss, 
 And boading sci*eech-owls make the concert full j 
 All the foul terrors of dark-seated hell. 
 
 Shdksp.Hbn. VI, 
 
 This seems imitated by Dr. Young. 
 
 Why get thee gone, horror and night go with thee. 
 Sisters of Acheron, go hand in hand, 
 Go dance about the bow'r and close them in ; 
 And tell them that I sent you to salute them. 
 Prophane the ground, and for th' ambrosial rose 
 And breath of jessamin, let hemlock blacken, 
 And deadly night-shade poison all the air : 
 For the sweet nightingale may ravens croak, 
 Toads pant, and adders rustle through the leaves : 
 May serpents, winding up the trees, let fall 
 Their hissing necks upon them from above, 
 And mingle kisses — such as I would give them 
 
 *ttevenge, 
 
 Hatred of a rival in glory, 
 
 He is my bane, I cannot bear him ; 
 One heaven and earth can never hold us both j 
 Still shall we hate, and with defiance deadly 
 Keep rage alive till one be lost for ever ; 
 As if two suns should meet in one meridian, 
 And strive in fiery combat for the passage. 
 
 Howe's Tamerlane, 
 
396 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 ANGER, RAGE, FURY. 
 
 When hatred and displeasure rise high on a 
 sudden from an apprehension of injury received, 
 and perturbation of mind in consequence of it, 
 it is called anger ; and rising to a very high de- 
 gree, and extinguishing humanity, becomes 
 rage and fury. 
 
 Anger, when violent, expresses itself with ra- 
 pidity, noise, harshness, and sometimes with in- 
 terruption and hesitation, as if unable to utter 
 itself with sufficient force. It wrinkles the brows, 
 enlarges and heaves the nostrils, strains the mus- 
 cles, clinches the fist, stamps with the foot, and 
 gives a violent agitation to the whole body- The 
 voice assumes the highest tone it can adopt con- 
 sistently with force and loudness, though some- 
 times to express anger with uncommon energy, 
 the voice assumes a low and forcible tone. 
 
 JVarralive in suppressed Ariger. 
 
 My liege, I did deny no prisoners, 
 But I remember when the fight was done, 
 When I was dry with rage, and extreme toil, 
 Breathless and faint, leaning upon my sword, 
 Came there a certain lord, neat, trimly dressM, 
 Fresh as a bridegroom ; and his chin, new reap'd, 
 Show'd like a stubble land at harvest-home : 
 He was perfumed like a milliner ; 
 And 'twixt his finger and his thumb he held 
 A pouncet-box, which ever and anon, 
 He gave his nose, and took't away again ;— 
 Who, therewith angry when it next came there, 
 Took it in snuff— and still he smil'd and talk'd, 
 And as the soldiers bore dead bodies by, 
 He call'd them — untaught knaves, unmannerly, 
 To bring a slovenly unhandsome corse 
 
i I 
 
 ELOCUTION. 397 
 
 Betwixt the wind and his nobility. 
 
 With many holiday and lady terms, 
 
 He questional me, among- the rest demanded 
 
 My prisoners, in your majesty's behalf. 
 
 I then all smarting" with my wounds being cold, 
 
 To be so pestered with a popinjay, 
 
 Out of my grief and my impatience 
 
 Answer'dneglectingly, I know not what, 
 
 He should, or lie should not ; — for he made me mad. 
 
 To see him shine so brisk, and smell so sweet, 
 
 And talk so like a waiting gentlewoman, 
 
 Of guns, and drums, and wounds, (heav'n save the mark !) 
 
 And telling me the sovereign'st thing on earth, 
 
 Was parmacity for an inward bruise; 
 
 And that it was great pity, so it was, 
 
 That villainous salt-petre should be digg'd 
 
 Out of the bowels of the harmless earth, 
 
 Which many a good tall fellow had destroy'd 
 
 So cowardly ; and but for these vile guns, 
 
 He would himself have been a soldier. 
 
 This bald, unjointed chat of his, my lord, 
 
 I answer'd indirectly as I said, 
 
 And I beseech you, let not his report, 
 
 Come current for an accusation, 
 
 Betwixt my love and your high majesty. 
 
 Shakspeare 1 's Henry IV. First Part, 
 
 Scorn and violent Anger, reproving, 
 
 Tut! tut! 
 Grace me no grace, nor uncle me no uncle, 
 I am no traitor's uncle ; and that word — grace 
 In an ungracious mouth is but profane ; 
 Why have those banished and forbidden legs 
 Dar'd once to touch a dust of England's ground ? 
 But more than why — Why have they dar'd to march 
 So many miles upon her peaceful bosom ; 
 Frighting her pale fae'd villages with war, 
 And ostentation of despised arms ? 
 Com'st thou because the anointed king is hence ? 
 Why foolish boy, the king is left behind, 
 And in my loyal bosom lies his pow'r. 
 Were I but now the lord of such hot youth 
 As when brave Gaunt, thy father, and myself 
 Rescu'd the Black Prince, that young Mars of men. 
 From forth the ranks of many thousand French i 
 
 Ll 
 
398 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 Oh, then, how quickly should this arm of mine, 
 
 Now prisoner to the palsy, chastise thee, 
 
 And minister correction to thy fault ! Shaksp. Rich. II 
 
 REVENGE. 
 
 Revenge is a propensity and endeavour to in- 
 jure the offender, which is attended with triumph 
 and exultation when the injury is accomplished. 
 It expresses itself like malice, but more openly, 
 loudly, and triumphantly. 
 
 Determined Revenge. 
 
 I know not : if they speak but truth of her 
 These hands shall tear her; if they wrong her honaui 
 The proudest of them shall well hear of it. 
 Time hath not yet so dry'd this blood of mine, 
 Nor age so eat up my invention, 
 Nor fortune made such havoc of my means, 
 Nor my bad life 'reft me so much of friends, 
 But they shall find awak'd in such a kind, 
 Both strength of limb and policy of mind, 
 Ability in means, and choice of friends 
 To quit me of them thoroughly. Ibid. Much Jdo, &c 
 
 Eager Revenge. 
 
 Oh, I could play the woman with mine eyes, 
 And braggart with my tongue ! — But, gentle heaven, 
 Cut short all intermission : front to front, 
 Bring thou this fiend of Scotland, and myself; 
 Within my sword's length set him ; if he 'scape, 
 Heaven forgive him too ! Shaksp. Macbeth, 
 
 Unrestrained Fury. 
 
 Alive '. in triumph ! and Mercutio slain 3 
 Away to heaven respective lenity, 
 And fire-ey'd fury be my conduct now !— 
 Now Tybalt take the villain back again 
 That late thou gav'st me ; for Mercutio's soul 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 399 
 
 Is but a little way above our heads 
 Staying for thine to keep him company, 
 And thou or I, or both shall follow him. 
 
 Ibid. Romeo and Juliet. 
 
 REPROACH. 
 
 Reproach is settled anger or hatred chastising 
 the object of dislike, by casting in his teeth the 
 severest censures upon his imperfections ot mis- 
 conduct : the brow is contracted, the lip turned 
 up with scorn, the head shaken, the voice low, as 
 if abhorring, and the whole body expressive of 
 aversion. 
 
 Reproaching -with Stupidity and Inconstancy. 
 
 Wherefore rejoice ? What conquest brings he home ? 
 What tributaries follow him to Home, 
 To grace in captive bonds his chariot wheels ? 
 You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things ! 
 O, you hard hearts, you cruel men of Rome, 
 Knew ye not Pompey ? Many a time and oft 
 Have you climb" d up to walls and battlements, 
 To towers and windows, yea, to chimney tops, 
 Your infants in your arms, and there have sat 
 The live-long day, with patient expectation, 
 To see great Pompey pass the streets of Rome : 
 And when you saw his chariot but appear, 
 Have you not made an universal shout, 
 That Tyber trembled underneath his banks, 
 To hear the replication cf your sounds, 
 Made in his concave shores ? 
 And do you now put on your best attire I 
 And do you now cull out a holiday ? 
 And do you now strew flowers in his way, 
 That comes in triumph over Pompey's blood I 
 Be'gone; 
 
 Run to your houses ; fall upon your knees, 
 Pray to the gods to intermit the plague, 
 That needs must light on this ingratitude, Shaksp. Jul. C<es< 
 
400 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 Eeproaclang -with -want of Friendship. 
 
 You have done that which you should be sorry for\ 
 There is no terror, Cassius, in your threats ; 
 For I am arm'd so strong in honesty, 
 That they pass by me as the idle wind, 
 Which I respect not. I did send to you 
 For certain sums of gold, which you deny'd me ; 
 For I can raise no money by vile means ; 
 Ko Cassius, I had rather coin my heart, 
 And drop my blood for drachmas, than to wring 
 From the hard hands of peasants their vile trash 
 By any indirection. 1 did send 
 To you for gold to pay my legions, 
 Which you deny'd me : Was that done like Cassius ? 
 Should 1 have answer'd Caius Cassius so ? 
 When Marcus Brutus grows so covetous, 
 To lock such rascal-counters from his friends, 
 Be ready, gods, with all your thunderbolts, 
 Dash him to pieces. Ibid 
 
 Heproaching with want of Jltanliness. 
 
 O proper stuff! 
 This is the very painting of your fears ; 
 This is the air-drawn dagger, which you said, 
 Led you to Duncan. Oh, these flaws and starts, 
 (Impostors to true fear) would well become 
 A woman's story, at a winter's fire, 
 Authoriz'd by her grandam. Shame itself! 
 Why do you make such faces ? When all's done, 
 You look but on a stool. Ibid. Macbeth 
 
 Heproaching -with want of Courage and Spirit. 
 
 ■ Thou slave, thou wretch, thou coward, 
 
 Thou little valiant, great in villany ! 
 Thou ever strong upon the stronger side ! 
 Thou fortune's champion, thou dost never fight 
 But when her humorous ladyship is by 
 To teach thee safety ! thou art perjur'd too 
 And sooth'st up greatness. What a fool art thou, 
 A ramping fool ; to brag and stamp, and swear, 
 Upon my party ! Thou cold-blooded slave, 
 Hast thou not spoke like thunder on my side* 
 
ELOCUTION. 401 
 
 Been sworn my soldier ? Bidding- me depend 
 Upon thy stars, thy fortune, and thy strength ? 
 And dost thou now fall over to my foes ? 
 Thou wear a lion's hide ! doff it for shame 
 And hang- a calf's skin on those recreant limbs. 
 
 FEAR AND TERROR. - v 
 
 Fear is a mixture of aversion and sorrow, dis- 
 composing and debilitating the mind upon the ap- 
 proach or anticipation of evil. When this is at- 
 tended with surprise and much discomposure, it 
 grows into terror and consternation. 
 
 Fear, violent and sudden, opens wide the eyes 
 and mouth, shortens the nose, gives the coun- 
 tenance an air of wildness, covers it with deadly 
 paleness, draws back the elbows parallel with the 
 sides, lifts up the open hands, with the fingers 
 spread, to the height of the breast, at some dis- 
 tance before it, so as to shield it from the dread- 
 ful object. One foot is drawn back behind the 
 other, so that the body seems shrinking from the 
 danger, and putting itself in a posture for flight. 
 The heart beats violently, the breath is quick and 
 short, and the whole body is thrown into a general 
 tremor. The voice is weak and trembling, the 
 sentences are short, and the meaning confused 
 iuid incoherent. 
 
 Terror before dreadful Actions described. ; 
 
 Between the acting of a dreadful thing", 
 And the first motion, all the interim is 
 Like a phantasma, or a hideous dream ? 
 The genius, and the mortal instruments^ 
 
 LI 2 I 
 
402 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 Are then in council, and the state of man, 
 
 Like to a little kingdom, suffers then 
 
 The nature of an insurrection. Shaksp. Jul, Cas. 
 
 Terror of Evening and J\"ight described. 
 
 -Light thickens ; and the crow- 
 
 Makes wing to the rooky wood , 
 Good things of day begin to droop and drowze ; 
 While night's black agents to their prey do rouze, 
 Thou marveli'st at my words : but hold thee still ; 
 Things, bad begun, make strong themselves by ill. 
 
 Ibid. Macbeth- 
 Fear from a dreadful Object. 
 
 Angels and ministers of grace defend us — 
 Be thou a spirit of health or goblin damn'd, 
 Bring with thee airs from heav'n, or blasts from hell, 
 Be thy inients wicked or charitable, 
 Thou com'st in such a questionable shape 
 That I will speak to thee. 
 Save me and hover o'er me with your wings 
 You heavenly guards ! — what would your gracious figure 
 
 Ibid. Hamlet. 
 
 Horror at a dreadful Apparition. 
 
 How ill this taper burns ! ha! who comes here ? . 
 1 think it is the weakness of my eyes, 
 
 That shapes this monstrous apparition 
 
 It comes upon me — Art thou any thing ? 
 
 An thou some god, some angel, or some devil, 
 
 That mak'st my blood cold, and my hair to stare, 
 
 Speak to me what thou art. Ibid. Jul. Cces. 
 
 Terror from committing Murder. 
 
 Mac. I've done the deed — didst not thou hear a noise ? 
 Lady. I heard the owl scream, and the crickets cry. 
 Did- you not speak ? 
 Mac When ? 
 Lady. Now. 
 Mac. As I descended ? 
 Lady. Ay. 
 Mac. Hark '.—who lies i'th* second chamber? 
 
ELOCUTION. 403 
 
 Lady. Donalbain. 
 
 Mac. This is a sorry sight. 
 
 Lady. A foolish thought to say a sorry sight. 
 
 Mac. There's one did laugh in his sleep, and one cryVl 
 murder ! 
 That they did wake each other ; I stood and heard them : 
 But they 'did say their pray'rs, and addressed them 
 Again to sleep 
 
 Fear of being discovered in Murder. 
 
 Alas, I am afraid they have awak'd, 
 And 'tis not done ; th' attempt and not the deed, 
 
 Confounds us Hark ! — I laid the daggers ready, 
 
 He could not miss them. Had he not resembled 
 
 My father as he slept, I had done it. Shakspeare, 
 
 SORROW. 
 
 Sorrow is a painful depression of spirit, upon 
 the deprivation of good, or arrival of evil ; when 
 it is silent and thoughtful, it is sadness ; when 
 long indulged, so as to prey upon and pos- 
 sess the mind, it becomes habitual, and grows 
 into melancholy ; when tossed by hopes and fears, 
 it is distraction ; when these are swallowed up by 
 it, it settles into despair. 
 
 In moderate sorrow, the countenance is de- 
 jected, the eyes are cast downward, the arms hang 
 loose, sometimes a little raised, suddenly to fall 
 again; the hands open, the fingers spread, and 
 the voice plaintive, frequently interrupted with 
 sighs. But when this passion is in excess, it dis- 
 torts the countenance, as if in agonies of pain ; it 
 raises the voice to the loudest complainings, and 
 sometimes even to cries and shrieks ; it wrings 
 the hands, beats the head and breast, tears the 
 
404 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 hair, and throws itself on the ground; and, like 
 other passions, in excess, seems to border on 
 phrenzy. 
 
 Sadness. 
 
 ilnth. In sooth, I know not why I am so sad. 
 It wearies me ; you say it wearies you : 
 But how I caught it, found it, or came by it, 
 What stuff 'tis made of, whereof it is born, 
 I am to learn. 
 
 And such a want-wit sadness makes of me, 
 That I have much ado to know myself. 
 
 Gra. You look not well, signor Authonio ; 
 You have too much respect upon the world : 
 They lose it that do buy it with much care •, 
 Believe me, you are marvellously chang'd. 
 
 Jlnlh. I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano ; 
 A stage, where every one must play his part ; 
 And mine's a sad one. Shakspeare's Mer. of V& 
 
 Deep JWelancholy described. 
 
 She never told her love, 
 But let concealment, like a worm i'th* bud, 
 Feed on her damask cheek. She pin'd in thought, 
 And with a green and yellow melancholy 
 She sat like patience on a monument 
 Smiling at grief. Ibid. Twelfth Night. 
 
 Pensive foreboding. 
 
 My mother had a maid call'd Barbara, 
 She was in love ; and he she lov'd prov'd mad, 
 And did forsake her : she had a song of willow, 
 An old thing 'twas, but it express'd her fortune, 
 And she dy'd singing it : That song to night 
 Will not go from my mind, I have much to do 
 But to go hang my head all o' one side, 
 And sing it like poor Barbara. Ibid. Othello, 
 
 Silent Grief. 
 
 Seems, madam ! nay, It is : I know not seems, 
 *Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother, 
 
elocution: 405 
 
 Nor customary suits of solemn black, 
 Nor windy suspiration of forc'd breath ; 
 No, nor the fruitful river in the eye, 
 Nor the dejected 'haviour of the visage, 
 Together with all forms, modes, shows of grief 
 That can denote me truly : These indeed seem, 
 For they are actions that a man might play; 
 But I have that within which passeth show, 
 These but the trappings and the fruits of woe. 
 
 Shakspeare's Hamlet. 
 
 Inward Sorrow. 
 
 Say that again. 
 The shadow of my sorrow ! Ha ! let's see :— 
 'Tis very true, my grief lies all within ; 
 And these external manners of lament 
 Are merely shadows to the unseen grief 
 That swells with silence in my tortured soul ; 
 There lies the substance : and I thank thee, king, 
 For thy great bounty, that not only giv'st 
 Me cause to wail, but teachest me the way 
 How to lament the cause. Til beg one boon, 
 And then be gone, and trouble you no more. Ibid. Rich. II, 
 
 Sorrow forgetful of its Intentions. 
 
 Yet one word more ; — Grief boundeth where it falls, 
 Not with the empty hollowness, but weight ; 
 1 take my leave before I have begun, 
 For sorrow ends not when it seemeth done. 
 Commend me to my brother Edmund York, 
 To this is all : — nay, yet depart not so ; 
 Though this be all", do not so quickly go, 
 1 shall remember more. Bid him — Oh, what ? 
 With ail good speed at Plashy visit me. 
 Alack, and what shall good old York there see, 
 But empty lodgings, and unfinish'd walls, 
 Unpeopled offices, untrodden stones ? 
 And what hear there for welcome but my groans I 
 Therefore commend me ; let him not come there 
 To seek out sorrow that dwells every where ; 
 Desolate, desolate, will I hence, and die ; 
 The last leave of thee takes my weeping eye. 
 
 Shakspeare , s Richard II 
 
406 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 Grief deploring Loss of Happiness. 
 
 I had been happy, if the general camp, 
 Pioneers and all, had wrong'd my love, 
 So had I nothing known : O now "for ever, 
 Farewell the tranquil mind ; farewell content, 
 Farewell the plumed troop and the big war 
 That make ambition virtue ! O farewell, 
 Farewell the neighing steed, and the shrill trump, 
 The spirit-stirring drum, the ear-piercing fife, 
 The royal banner, and all quality, 
 "Pride, pomp, and circumstances of glorious war ! 
 Farewell ! Othello's occupation's gone. Ibid. Othello. 
 
 Grief 'approaching to Madness. 
 
 Pand. Lady, you utter madness, and not sorrow. 
 
 Const. Thou art unholy to belie me so ; 
 I am not mad : this hair I tear is mine ; 
 My name is Constance; I was Geffrey's wife ; 
 loung Arthur is my son, and he is lost : 
 1 am not mad ; — I would to heaven I were ! 
 For then 'tis like I should forget myself: 
 Oh, if I could, what grief should I forget ! 
 Preach some philosophy to make me mad, 
 And, cardinal, thou shalt be canoniz'd ; 
 For, being not mad, but sensible of grief, 
 My reasonable part produces reason 
 How I may be delivered of these woes, 
 And teaches me to kill or hang myself: 
 If I were mad, I should forget my son, 
 Or madly think a babe of clouts were he ; 
 I am not mad ; too well, too well I feel 
 The different plague of each calamity. Ibid. King John, 
 
 Grief mixed with Pity, assuming a Smile. 
 
 Grief fills the room up of my absent child, 
 Lies in his bed, walks up and down with me; 
 Puts on his pretty looks, repeats his words, 
 Remembers me of all his gracious parts, 
 Stuffs out his vacant garments with his form, 
 Then have I reason to be fond of grief. Ibid. 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 Grief approaching to Distraction. 
 
 407 
 
 Thou canst not speak of what thou dost not feel ; 
 
 Wert thou as young as I, Juliet thy love, 
 
 An hour but married, Tybalt murder'd, 
 
 Doating like me, and like me banished, 
 
 Then might'st thou speak, then might'st thou tear thy hair, 
 
 And fall upon the ground as I do now, 
 
 Taking the measure of an unmade grave. 
 
 Shakspeare's Romeo and -Juliet, 
 
 Grief choaking Expression. 
 
 Macd. My children too 
 
 Hosse. Wife, children, servants, all that could be found ! 
 
 Macd. And I must be from thence ! my wife kilPd too ! 
 
 Hosse. I've said. 
 
 Mai Be comforted. 
 Lets make us med'cines of our great revenge, 
 To cure this deadly grief. 
 
 Macd. He has no children ! 
 What, all my pretty ones ? Did you say all \ . % 
 
 What, all ? 
 
 Mai. Endure it like a man. 
 
 Macd. I shall. 
 But I must also feel it as a man. 
 I cannot but remember such things were 
 That were most precious to me : did heaven Jfok on, 
 And would not take their part ? sinful Macduff, 
 They were all struck for thee ! naught that I am ! 
 Not for their own demerits, but for mine 
 Fell slaughter on their souls : heav'n rest them now. 
 
 Ibid. Macbeth 
 
 REMORSE. 
 
 Remorse, or a painful remembrance of crimi- 
 nal actions or pursuits, cast down the countenance, 
 and clouds it with anxiety, hangs down the head, 
 shakes it with regret, just raises the eyes as if to 
 look up, and suddenly casts them down again 
 with sighs ; the right hand sometimes beats the 
 breast, and the whole body writhes as with self 
 
408 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 aversion. The voice has a harshness as in ha- 
 tred, and inclines to a low and reproachful tone. 
 
 Keen Remorse for Drunke?iness. 
 
 I remember a mass of things, but nothing- distinctly ; a quar- 
 rel, nothing- wherefore. O that men should put an enemy in their 
 mouths to steal away their brains ! that we should with joy, plea- 
 sure, revel, applause, transform ourselves into beasts ! I will ask. 
 him for my place ag-ain ; he shall tell me I am a drunkard : Had I 
 as many mouths as Hydra, such an answer would stop them all ; 
 > To be now a sensible man, by and by a fool, and presently a beast ! 
 O strange ! every inordinate cup is unblessed, and the ingredient 
 is a devil. Shakspecre's Othello 
 
 Remorse for Treachery and Ingratitude. 
 
 I am alone the villain of the earth; 
 And feel I am so most. O Anthony, 
 
 f^hou mine of bounty, how wouldst thou have paid 
 ly better service, when my turpitude 
 Thou dost so crown with good ! This blows my heart ; 
 If swift thought break it not, a swifter mean 
 Shall out rike thought ; but thought will do't I feel— 
 I fight ag t thee ! — No : I will go seek 
 Some ^i n ereintodie< the foulest best 
 Befits W$ lauer part of life. Ibid. Ant. and Cleo 
 
 Reproach and Remorse for Murder of an innosent Child. 
 
 Oh, when the last account 'twixt heaven and earth 
 Is to be made, then shall this hand and seal 
 "Witness against us to damnation ! 
 How oft the sight of means to do ill deeds 
 Makes deeds ill done ! Hadst not thou been by, 
 A fellow by the hand of Nature mark'd, 
 Quoted and sign'd to do a deed of shame, 
 This murder had not come into my mind, 
 But taking note of thy abhorr'd aspect, 
 Finding" thee fit for bloody villany 
 Apt, liable to be employed in danger, 
 I faintly broke with thee of Arthur's death ; 
 And thou to be endeared to a king, 
 Mads't it no conscience to destroy a prince. 
 
 Ibid. King John. 
 
ELOCUTION. 409 
 
 DESPAIR. 
 
 Despair, as in a condemned criminal, or one 
 who has lost all hope of salvation, bends the eye- 
 brows downwards, clouds the forehead, rolls the 
 eyes frightfully, opens the mouth horizontally, 
 bites the lips, widens the nostrils,and gnashes the 
 teeth. The arms are sometimes bent at the el- 
 bows, the fists clinched hard, the veins arid mus- 
 cles swelled, the skin livid, the whole body 
 strained and violently agitated ; while groans of 
 inward torture are more frequently uttered than 
 words. If any words, they are few, and expres- 
 sed with a sullen eager bitterness, the tone of the 
 voice often loud and furious, and sometimes in 
 the same note for a considerable time. This state 
 of human nature is too frightful to dwell upon 9 
 and almost improper for imitation ; for if death, 
 cannot be counterfeited without too much shock- 
 ing our humanity ; despair, which exffloits a state 
 ten thousand times more terrible than death, 
 ought to be viewed with a kind of reverence to 
 the great Author of Nature, who seems some 
 times to exhibit to us this agony of mind as a 
 warning to avoid that wickedness which pro- 
 duces it. 
 
 Shakspeare has most exquisitely touched this 
 fearful situation of human nature, where he draws, 
 cardinal Beaufort, after a wicked life, dying in 
 despair, and terrified with the murder of duke 
 Humphrey, to which he was accessary, 
 M m 
 
410 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 K. Hen. How fares my lord? speak, Beaufort, to the sove- 
 reign. 
 
 Car. If thou be'st Death I'll give thee England's treasure. 
 Enough to purchase such another island, 
 So thou wilt let me live and feel no pain. 
 
 K. Hen. Ah, what a sign it is of evil life, 
 When death's approach is seen so terrible ! 
 
 War. Beaufort, it is thy sovereign speaks to thee. 
 
 Car. Bring me to my trial when you will, 
 Dy'd he not in his bed ? where should he die ? 
 Can I make men live, whether they will or no ? — 
 Oh ! torture me no more, I will confess. — 
 Alive again ? then show me where he is, 
 I'll give a thousand pounds to look upon him. — 
 He hath no eyes, the dust hath blinded them — 
 Comb down his hair; look! look! it stands upright, 
 Like lime-twigs to catch my winged soul ! 
 Give me some drink, and bid the apothecary 
 Bring the strong poison that T bought of him. 
 
 K. Hen. O thou eternal mover of the heavens, 
 Look with gentle eye upon this wretch ; 
 OAeat away the busy meddling fiend 
 That lays strong siege unto this wretch's soul, 
 And from his bosom purge this black despair ! 
 
 War. See how the pangs of death do make him grin. 
 
 Sal. Disturb him not, let him pass peaceably. 
 
 K. Hen. Peace to his soul, if God's good pleasure be ! 
 Lord Cardinal, if thou think'st on heav'n's bliss, 
 Hold upTOy hand, make signal of thy hope, — 
 He dies and makes no sign : O God, forgive him. 
 
 Shakspeare^s 2d part, Henry JT 
 
 The bare situation of the characters, the pause 
 and the few plain words of King Henry, he flics 
 and makes no sign! have more of the real sub- 
 lime in them than volumes of the laboured speech- 
 es in most of our modern tragedies, which, in the 
 emphatical language of Shakspeare, may be saicl 
 to be " full of sound and fury signifying no- 
 thing." 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 411 
 
 SURPRISE, WONDER, AMAZEMENT, 
 ADMIRATION. 
 
 An uncommon object produces wonder ; if it 
 appears suddenly, it begets surprise ; surprise 
 continuing becomes amazement ; and if the ob- 
 ject of wonder comes gently to the mind, and 
 arrests the attention by its beauty or grandeur, it 
 excites admiration, which is a mixture of appro- 
 bation and wonder ; so true is that observation 
 of Dr. Young in the tragedy of the Revenge : 
 
 Late time shall wonder, that my joys shall raise, 
 For wonder is involuntary praise. 
 
 Wonder or amazement opens the eyes, and 
 makes them appear very prominent. It some- 
 times raises them to the skies, but more frequent- 
 ly fixes them on the object ; the mouth is open, 
 and the hands are held up nearly in the 4 attitude of 
 fear ; the voice is at first low, but so emphatical, 
 that every word is pronounced slowly and with 
 energy : When, by the discovery of something 
 excellent in the object of wonder, the emotion 
 may be called admiration, the eyes are raised, 
 the hands lifted up, or clapped together, and the 
 voice elevated with expressions of rapture. 
 
 Surprise at unexpected Events. 
 
 Gone to be marry'd, gone to swear a peace ! 
 False blood to false blood join'd ! Gone to be friends ! 
 Shall Lewis have Blanch ? and Blanch those provinces J 
 It is not so : Thou hast mis-spoke, mis-heard I 
 Be well advis'd, tell o'er thy tale again : 
 
412 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 Jt cannot be ? thou dcst but say 'tis so, 
 What dost thou mean by shaking- of thy head ? 
 Why dost thou look so sadly on my son ? 
 What means that hand upon* that breast of thine » 
 Why holds thine eye that lamentable rheum, 
 Like a proud river peering- o'er his bounds ? 
 Be these sad sighs confirmers of thy words ! 
 Then speak ag-ain ; not all thy former tale, 
 But this one word, whether thy tale be true. 
 
 Shakspeare's K. John. 
 
 Amazement at strange STewB, 
 
 Old men and beldames, in the streets, 
 Do prophesy upon it dangerously ; 
 Young Arthur's death is common in their mouths ; 
 And when they talk of him they shake their heads, 
 And whisper one another in the ear ; 
 And he that speaks doth gripe the hearer's wrist ; 
 Whilst he that hears makes fearful action, 
 With wrinkled brows, with nods, with rolling' eyes. 
 I saw a smith stand with his hammer thus 
 The whilst his iron did on the anvil cool, 
 With open mouth swallowing a taylor's news ; 
 Who, with his shears and measure in his hand, 
 Standing on slippers, (which his nimble haste 
 Had safely thrust upon contrary feet,) 
 Told of a many thousand warlike French, 
 That were embattled and rank'd in Kent: 
 Another lean unwash'd artificer 
 Cuts off his tale, and talks of Arthur's death. Ibid 
 
 Emphatic Climax of Astonishment. 
 
 Sir Richard, what think you ? Have you beheld, 
 Or, have you read, or heard ? or could you think ? 
 Or do you almost think, although you see, 
 That you do see ? Could thought, without this object, 
 Form such another ? This is the very top, 
 The height, the crest, or crest unto the crest 
 Of Murder's arms : This is the bioodiest shame* 
 The wildest savag'ry, the vilest stroke, 
 That ever wall-ey'd Wrath, or starving Rage, 
 Presented to the tears of soft Remorse. 
 
ELOCUTION. 41: 
 
 PRIDE. 
 
 When our esteem of ourselves, or opinion of 
 our own rank and merit, is so high as to lessen 
 the regard due to the rank and merit of others, it 
 is called pride. When it supposes others belo*vv 
 our regard, it is contempt, scorn, or disdain. 
 
 Pride assumes a lofty look, bordering upon 
 ilie aspect and attitude of anger. The eyes full 
 ppen, but with the eye-brows considerably drawn 
 down, the, mouth pouting, mostly shut, and the 
 lips contracted. The words are uttered with a 
 slow, stiff, bombastic affectation of importance ; 
 the hands sometimes rest on the hips, with the 
 elbows brought forward in the position called 
 a-kimbo ; the legs at a distance from each other,, 
 the steps large and stately. 
 
 Pride deserting Independence. 
 
 Your grace shall pardon me, I will not back; 
 I am loo high born to be property'd ; 
 To be a secondary at control, 
 Or useful serving-man and instrument 
 To any sovereign state throughout the world. 
 Your breath first kindled the dead coal of war 
 Between this chastis'd kingdom and myself, 
 And brought in matter that should feed this fire 5 
 And now 'tis far too huge to be blown out 
 With that same weak wind which enkindled it. 
 You taught me how to know the face of right, 
 Acquainted me with interest to this land ; 
 Yea, thrust this enterprise into my heart ; 
 And come ye now to tell me John hath made 
 
 M m 2 
 
414 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 His peace with Rome ? What is that peace to me I 
 
 I, by the honour of my marriage bed, 
 
 After young Arthur, claim this land for mine ; 
 
 And, now it is half conquered, must 1 back, 
 
 Because that John hath made his peace with Rome 1 * 
 
 Am I Rome's slave ? What penny hath Rome borne. 
 
 What men provided, what munition sent, 
 
 To underprop this action ? l'st not I 
 
 That undergo this charge ? Who else but I, 
 
 And such as to my claim are liable, 
 
 Sweat in this business, and maintain this war I 
 
 Have I not heard these islanders shout out ; 
 
 Five le Roy / as I have bank'd their towns? 
 
 Have I not here the best cards for the game, 
 
 To win this easy match played for a crown ? , 
 
 And shall I now give o'er the yielded set ? 
 
 No, no, my soui, it never shall be said. Shahsp. K. John , 
 
 Pride bordering on Contempt. 
 
 Worcester, get thee gone, for I do see 
 Banger and disobedience in thine eye : 
 O, Sir, your presence is too bold and peremptory, 
 And majesty might never yet endure 
 The moody frontier of a servant brow. 
 You have good leave to leave us : when we need 
 Your use and counsel, we shall send for you. 
 
 Shakspeare Henry. IV, 
 
 CONFIDENCE, COURAGE, BOASTING, 
 
 Confidence is hope, elated by security of suc- 
 cess in obtaining its object ; and courage is the 
 contempt of any unavoidable danger in the ex- 
 ecution of what is resolved upon : In both, the 
 head is erect, the breast projected, the counte- 
 nance clear and open, the accents are strong, 
 round, and not too rapid ; the voice firm and 
 even. Boasting exaggerates these appearances 
 
ELOCUTION. 4-15 
 
 by loudness, blustering, and what is not unapt- 
 ly called swaggering : The arms are placed 
 a-kimbo, the foot stamped on the ground, the 
 head drawn back with pride, the legs take large 
 strides, and the voice swells into bombast. 
 
 Confidence in one beloved. 
 
 Base men that use them to so base effect ; 
 But truer stars did govern Proteus' birth ; 
 His words are bonds, his oaths are oracles, 
 His love sincere, his thoughts immaculate, 
 His tears pure messengers sent from his heart, 
 His heart as far from frand as heav'n from earth. 
 
 Shaksp. T-wo Gent, of Ver. 
 
 Confidence of Success in Combat. 
 
 Baling. O let no noble eye profane a tear 
 For me, if I be gor'd with Mowbray's spear : 
 As confident as is the faulcon's flight 
 Against a bird, do I with Mowbray fight. — 
 My loving lord, 1 take my leave of you ;•— 
 Of you, my noble cousin, lord Aumerle; — 
 Not sick, although I have to do with death; 
 But lusty, young, and chearly drawing breath. — 
 J iO as at English feasts, so I regret 
 The daintiest last, to make the end most sweet. 
 Oh thou, the earthly author of my blood, 
 Whose useful spirit in me regenerate, 
 Doth with a twofold vigour lift me up, 
 To reach at victory above my head, — 
 Add proof unto mine armour with my prayers, 
 That it may enter Mowbray's waxen coat, 
 And furbish new the name of John of Gaunt, 
 Even in the lusty 'haviour of his son. Shaksp. Rich If. 
 
 Moivb. However heaven or fortune cast my lot, 
 There lives or dies true to king Richard's throne, • 
 A loyal, just, and upright gentleman ; 
 tf ever did captives with a freer heart, 
 
4 16 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 Ca,st off his chains of bondage, and embrace 
 
 His golden, uncontrol'd enfranchisement, 
 
 More than my dancing soul doth celebrate 
 
 This feast of battle with mine adversary. — 
 
 "Most mighty liege, — and my companion peers> 
 
 Take from my mouth the wish of happy years : 
 
 As gentle and as jocund, as to jest, 
 
 Go I to fight, truth hath a quiet breast. Ibid, 
 
 Firm determined Resolution in Battle-. 
 
 I am satisfy'd : 
 Csesar sits down in Alexandria, where 
 i will oppose his fate. Our force by land 
 Hath nobly held ; our sever'd navy, too, 
 Have knit again, and fleet, threat'ning most sea-like. 
 "Where hast thou been, my heart ? Dost thou hear, lady 
 3 f from the field I should return once more, 
 'To kiss these lips, I will appear in blood ; 
 I and my sword will earn my chronicle ; 
 There is hope in it yet : 
 I* Will be trebk-sinew'd, hearted, breath'd-, 
 And fight maliciously : for when mine hours 
 Were nice and lucky, men did ransom lives 
 Of me for jests ; but now I'll set my teeth, 
 Alid send to darkness ail that stop me. Ibid. «lnt\ & Clear 
 
 Boasting indigjiant CJialtefige. 
 
 Show me what thou'lt do : 
 "Woo't weep ? woo't fight? woo't fast ? woo't tear thyself ; 
 Woo't drink up esil ; eat a crocodile ? 
 I'll do't — Do'st thou come here to whine, 
 To outface me with leaping inner grave ? 
 j?e buried quick with her, and so will I : 
 And if thou prate of mountains, let them throw 
 Millions of acres on us ; till our ground, 
 Singing its pate against the burning zone, 
 "Make Ossa like a wart ! Nay, an thou'lt mouth 
 J il rant as well as thou. ''S/iafoJ). Hamlet* 
 

 ELOCUTION. 
 
 417 
 
 PERPLEXITY, IRRESOLUTION, ANX- 
 IETY. 
 
 These emotions collect the body together as 
 if for thoughtful consideration ; the eye-brows 
 are contracted, the head hanging on the breast, 
 the eyes cast downwards, the mouth shut, the 
 lips pursed together. Suddenly the whole 
 body alters its aspect, as having discovered some- 
 thing, then falls into contemplation as before, the 
 motions of the body are restless and unequal; 
 sometimes moving quick, and sometimes slow ; 
 the pauses in speaking are long, the tone of the 
 voice uneven, the sentences broken and unfin- 
 ished. 
 
 Perplexity frem Temptation U Evil 
 
 From thee ; even from thy virtue, — 
 What's this ? what's this ? Is this her fault or mine ? 
 The tempter or the tempted who sins most ? 
 Not she ; nor doth she tempt ; but it is I, 
 That lying by the violet in the sun, 
 Do as the carrion does, not as the flower, 
 Corrupt with virtuous season. Can it be, 
 That modesty may more betray our sense 
 Than woman's lightness ? Having waste ground enough* 
 Shall we desire to rase the sanctuary, 
 And pitch our evils there ? Oh fie, fie, fie ! 
 What dost thou ? or what art thou, Angelo ? 
 Dost thou desire her foully for those things 
 That make her good ? O let her brother live ; 
 Thieves for their robbery, have authority 
 When judges steal themselves. What! do I lave her^ 
 That I desire to hear her speak again, 
 And feast upon her eyes ? What is't I dream on I 
 
418 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 Oh cunning enemy, that to catch a saint 
 
 With saints do'st bait thy hook ! most dangerous 
 
 Is that temptation that doth goad us on 
 
 To sin in loving virtue. Shaks. Meas. for Meas. 
 
 Perplexity from unexpected Events. 
 
 Heaven for his mercy ! what a tide of woes 
 Comes rushing on this woeful land at once ! 
 I know not what to do i — I would to heav'n 
 (So my untruth hath not provok'd him to it) 
 The king hath out off my head with my brother's. — 
 What are there posts dispatch'd for Ireland I — 
 How shall we do for money for these wars ? 
 Come, sister, — cousin I would say ; pray pardon me. 
 - Go, fellow, get thee home, provide some carts, 
 And bring awav the armour that is there. — 
 Gentlemen, will you go to muster men ? If I know 
 How, or which way, to order these affairs, 
 Thus disorderly thrust into my hands, 
 Never believe me. Both are my kinsmen: — 
 The one's my sovereign, whom both my oath 
 And duty bids defend ; the other again 
 Is my kinsman, whom the king has wrong'd ; 
 Whom conscience and my kindred bids to right. 
 Well, somewhat we must do — Come cousin, I'll 
 Dispose of you : go muster up your men, 
 And meet me presently at Berkley : Gentlemen, 
 I should to Plashy too ; 
 But time will not permit : — All is uneven, 
 And every thing is left at six and seven. Ibid. Iiiclt. II, 
 
 Perplexity, how to act on sudden Surprise. 
 
 Yes ; — 'tis JEmilia : — by and by .—She's dead. 
 'Tis like she comes to speak of Cassio's death ; 
 The noise was high. — Ha ! no more moving ? 
 Still as the grave.— Shall she come in, wer't good ? 
 I think she stirs again. :— No.— What's the best, 
 If she come in she'll sure speak to my wife. 
 
 Shaksp. Othello. 
 
 yEXxVnoN. 
 
 Vexation, besides expressing itself with the 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 419 
 
 looks, gestures, tone, and restlessness of perplex - 
 ity, adds to these, complaint, fretting, and 
 remorse. 
 
 Vexation at neglecting one's Duty, 
 
 O what a rogue and peasant slave am I ! 
 Is it not monstrous, that this player here, 
 But in a fiction, in a dream of passion, 
 Could force his soul so to his own conceit, 
 That from her working", all his visage warm'd, 
 Tears in his eyes, distraction in his aspect, 
 A broken voice, and his whole function suiting' 
 With forms to his conceit ! and all for nothing ; 
 For Hecuba ! 
 
 What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba, 
 That he should weep for her ? Ibid Hamlet, 
 
 PEEVISHNESS. 
 
 Peevishness is an habitual proneness to anger 
 on every slight occasion, and may be called a 
 lower degree of anger : it expresses itself there?.™ 
 fore, like anger, but more moderately, with half 
 sentences and broken speeches uttered hastily. 
 The upper lip is disdainfully drawn up, and* tlie 
 eyes are cast obliquely uppn the object of dis- 
 pleasure. 
 
 Troi What art thou angry, Pahdarus ? What with me ? 
 
 Pan. Because she's akin to me ; therefore, she's not so i&ir as 
 Helen ; an she were not kin to me, she would be as fair on Friday 
 as Helen is on Sunday. But what care I ? I care not an 'she 
 were a blackamoor, 'tis all one to me. 
 
 Troi. Say I she is not fair ? 
 
 Pan. I do not care whether you do or no. She's a fool to 
 £tay behind her father: let. her to the Greeks — and so I'll tell her 
 the next time I see her — for my part, I'll meddle nor make no 
 more i'th' matter. 
 
 Troi. Pandarus. — 
 
420 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 Pan. Not T. 
 
 Trot. Sweet Pandarus- 
 
 Pan. Pray you speak no more to me — I will leave all as T 
 found it — and there's an end. Shaksp. Troil. and Cress. 
 
 ENVY. 
 
 Envy is a mixture of joy, sorrow, and hatred : 
 it is a sorrow arising from the happiness of others 
 enjoying a good which we desire, and think we 
 deserve, or a pleasure we receive upon their los- 
 ing this good, for which we hated them. It is 
 nearly akin to malice, but much more moderate 
 in its tones and gestures. 
 
 -Aside the devil turn'd, 
 
 For envy, yet, with jealous leer malign, 
 
 Ey'd them askance, and to himself thus plain'd. 
 
 Sight hateful, sight tormenting ! thus these two, 
 Jmparadis'd in one another's arms, 
 The happier Eden shall enjoy their fill 
 Of bliss on bliss : while 1 to hell am thrust, 
 Where neither joy nor love, but fierce desire, 
 Among our other torments not the least, 
 Still unfulfill'd. with pain of longing pines. 
 
 Miiton's Parad. Lost. Book. i\\ o. 502. 
 
 MALICE. 
 
 Malice is an habitual malevolence long contin- 
 ued, and watching occasion to exert itself on the 
 hated object. This hateful disposition sets the 
 jaws, or gnashes the teeth, sends blasting flashes 
 from the eyes, stretches the mouth horizontals, 
 clinches both the fists, and bends the elbows in 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 421 
 
 a straining manner to the body. The tone of 
 voice and expression are much the same as in 
 anger, but not so loud. 
 
 How like a fawning publican he looks : 
 
 I hate him, for he is a Christian, 
 
 But more for that in low simplicity, 
 
 He lends out money gratis, and brings down 
 
 The rate of usance here with us in Venice. 
 
 If I can catch him once upon the hip, 
 
 I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him. 
 
 He hates our sacred nation, and he rails 
 
 Ev'n there, where merchants most do congregate. 
 
 On me my bargains and. well-won thrift, 
 
 Which he calls interest. Cursed be my tribe 
 
 If I forgive him. Shaksp. Merch. of Vert, 
 
 SUSPICION, JEALOUSY. 
 
 Fear of another's endeavouring to prevent our 
 attainment of the good desired, raises our suspi- 
 cion; and suspicion of his having obtained, or of 
 being likely to obtain it, raises or constitutes 
 jealousy. Jealousy between the sexes is a fer- 
 ment of love, hatred, hope, fear, shame, anxiety, 
 grief, pity, envy, pride, rage, cruelty, venge- 
 ance, madness, and every other tormenting 
 passion which can agitate the human mind'* 
 Therefore, to express jealousy well, one ought 
 to know how to represent justly all these passions 
 by turns, and often several of them together. 
 Jealousy shows itself by restlessness, peevishness, 
 thoughtfulness, anxiety, and absence of mind. 
 Sometimes it bursts out into piteous complaint, 
 and weeping; then a gleam of hope, that all is 
 N n 
 
422 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 yet well, lights up the countenance into a mo* 
 mentary smile. Immediately the face, clouded 
 with a general gloom, shews the mind overcast 
 again with horrid suspicions and frightful imagi- 
 nations. Thus the jealous man is a prey to the 
 most tormenting feelings, and is alternately tan- 
 talized by hope, and plunged into despair. 
 Shakspeare, as if unable to express these feel- 
 ings, makes Othello cry out, 
 
 But Oh ! what damned minutes tells he o'er 
 Who doats yet doubts, suspects yet strongly loves ! 
 
 Surprise in Jealousy commencing. 
 
 Think, my lord !— Oh heav'n he echoes me ! 
 As if there were some monster in his thought 
 Too hideous to be shown — Thou dost mean something ; 
 I heard thee say but now — Thou lik'dst not that, 
 When Cassio left my wife — What didst not like ? 
 And when I told thee he was of my counsel 
 In my whole course of wooing, thou cry'dst, indeed t 
 And didst contract and purse thy brow together, 
 As if thou hadst shut up within thy brain, 
 Some horrible conceit : if thou do'st love me, 
 Show me thy thought. Shaksp, Othello. 
 
 Suspicion and Jealousy commencing. 
 
 Leo. Too hot, too hot : 
 To mingle friendship far, is mingling bloods. 
 I have a tremor cordis on me:— my heart dances 
 But not for joy, — not joy — This entertainment 
 May a free face put on ; derive a liberty 
 From heartiness, from bounty, fertile bosom, 
 And well become the agent : it may, I grant ; 
 But to be padling palms, and pinching fingers, 
 As now they are ; and making practis'd smiles , 
 As in a looking-glass ; and then to sigh as 'twere 
 The nort o'the deer ; oh that is entertainment 
 

 ELOCUTION. 
 
 My bosom likes not, nor my brows ; 
 -Mamilius- 
 
 423 
 
 Art thou my boy ? — Ibid. Winter's Tale. 
 
 Jealousy increasing. 
 
 Go to, go to. 
 How she holds up the neb, the bill to him, 
 And arms her with the boldness of a wife, 
 To her allowing husband ! Gone already ; 
 Inch-thick, knee deep, o'er head and ears a fork'd one.— 
 Go, play, boy, play ;— thy mother plays, and I 
 Play too, but so disgrac'd a part, whose issue, 
 Will hiss me to my grave ; contempt and clamour 
 Will be my knell. — Go, play, boy, play — 
 There have been, 
 
 Or I am much deceiv'd, cuckolds ere now, 
 And many a man there is even at this present, 
 Now while I speak this, holds his wife by the arm, 
 That little thinks she hath been false in his absence. 
 
 Shaksp. Winter's Tale. 
 
 Attempt to hide Jealousy. 
 
 Her. Are you mov'd, my lord ? 
 
 Leo. No, in good earnest. — 
 How sometimes nature will betray its folly, 
 Its tenderness ; and make itself a pastime 
 To harder bosoms ! looking on the lines 
 Of my boy's face, methoughts, I did recoil 
 Twenty -three years ; and saw myself unbreech'd, 
 In my green velvet coat; my dagger muzzled, 
 Lest it should bite its master, and so prove, 
 As ornament oft does, too dangerous. — • 
 How like, methought, I then was to this kernel, 
 This squash, this gentleman : — Mine honest friend, 
 Will you take eggs for money ? Ibidem . 
 
 Jealousy confirmed. 
 
 Dost think I am so muddy, so unsettled, 
 To appoint myself in this vexation, sully 
 The purity and whiteness of my bed 
 Which to preserve is sleep ; which being spotted 
 Is goads, thorns, nettles, tails of wasps > 
 
424 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 Cive scandal to the blood o'th' prince my son, 
 
 Who I do think is mine, and love as mine, 
 
 Without ripe moving to't ? Would I do this ? 
 
 Could man so blench I Ibidem. 
 
 Jealousy mixed with grief. 
 
 How blest am I 
 In my just censure ! in my true opinion ! — 
 Alack for lesser knowledge ! — how accurs'd 
 In being so bless'd ! There may be in the cup 
 A spider steep'd, and one may drink, depart 
 And yet partake no venom, for his knowledge 
 Js not infected ; but if one present 
 The abhorr'd ingredient to his eye, make known 
 How he hath drunk, he cracks his gorge, his sides ! 
 With violent hefts. — I have drunk, and seen the spider ! 
 
 Ibidem. 
 
 Jealousy mixed ivith Rage and Regret. 
 
 This fellow's of exceeding honesty, 
 And knows all qualities with a learned spirit 
 Of human dealings : if I do prove her haggard 
 Though that her jesses were my dear heart -strin gs, 
 I'd whistle her off and let her down the wind 
 To prey at fortune. Haply, for I am black 
 And have not those soft parts of conversation, 
 That chamberers have, or far I am declin'd 
 Into the vale of years — yet that's not much ; — 
 vShe's gone, I am, abus'd and my relief 
 Must be — to loath her. Oh the curse of marriage, 
 That we can call these delicate creatures our's 
 And not their appetites ! Shaksp. Othello 
 
 MODESTY, SUBMISSION. 
 
 Modesty is a diffidence of ourselves, accom- 
 panied with delicacy in our sense of whatever is 
 mean, indecent, or dishonourable ; or a fear of 
 doing these things, or of having them imputed 
 
ELOCUTION. 425 
 
 to us. Submission is an humble sense of our 
 inferiority, and a quiet surrender of our powers 
 to a superior. Modesty bends the body forward, 
 has a placid, downcast countenance, levels the 
 eyes to the breast, if not to the feet of the su- 
 perior character : the voice is low, the tone sub- 
 missive, and the words few. Submission adds 
 to these a lower bending of the head, and a spread- 
 ing of the arms and hands downwards towards 
 the person we submit to. 
 
 Modesty on being appointed to a high station. 
 
 Now, good my lord, 
 Let there be some more test of my metal, 
 Before so noble, and so great a figure 
 Be stamp'd upon it. Shaksp. Meas.Jor Meas. 
 
 Submission on Forgiveness of Crime. 
 
 O nobler sir ! 
 Your over-kindness doth wring tears from me : 
 I do embrace your offer, and dispose 
 From henceforth of poor Claudio. Shahs. Much Jldo % &c. 
 
 SHAME. 
 
 Shame, or a sense of appearing to a disadvantage 
 before one's own fellow- creatures, turns away the 
 face from the beholders, covers it with blushes, 
 hangs the head, oasts down the eyes, draws down 
 and contracts the eye-brows. It either strikes 
 the person dumb, or, if he attempts to say any 
 thing in his own defence, causes his tongue to 
 faulter, confounds his utteranee, and puts him 
 N n2 
 
426 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 upon making a thousand gestures and grimaces 
 to keep himself in countenance ; all which only 
 heighten his confusion and embarrassment. 
 
 Shame at being convicted of a Crime. 
 
 Oh my dread lord — 
 I should be guiltier than my guiltiness, 
 To think I can be undiscernible 
 When I perceive your grace like power divine, 
 Hath look'd upon my passes ; then, good prince, 
 No longer session hold upon my shame, 
 But let my trial be mine own confession : 
 Immediate sentence then, and sequent death, 
 Is all the grace I beg. Ibid. Mens, for Jleas. 
 
 GRAVITY. 
 
 Gravity, or seriousness, as when the mind is 
 fixed, or deliberating on some important sub- 
 ject, smooths the countenance, and gives it an 
 air of melancholy ; the eye -brows are lowered, 
 eyes cast downwards, the mouth almost shut, ana 
 sometimes a little contracted. The posture of 
 the body and limbs is composed, and without 
 much motion: the speech slow and solemn, the 
 tone without much variety. 
 
 Grave Deliberation on War and Peace. 
 
 Fathers, we once r.jdn are met in council : 
 Caesar's approach has summon'd us together, 
 And Rome attends her fate from our resolves. 
 How shall we treat this bold aspiring man ? 
 Success still follows him, and backs his crimes : 
 Pharsalia gave him Rome. JEgypt has since 
 Receiv'd his yoke, and the whole Nile is Csesar's. 
 Why should I mention Juba's overthrow, 
 Or Scipio's death ? Numidia's burning sands. 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 427 
 
 Still smoke with blood ; 'Tis time we should decree 
 
 What course to take ; our foe advances on us, 
 
 And envies us even Lybia's sultry desarts. 
 
 Fathers, pronounce your thoughts ; are they still fix'd 
 
 To hold it out and fight it to the last ? 
 
 Or are your hearts subdu'd at length, and wrought, 
 
 By time and ill success, to a submission ? 
 
 Sempronius, speak. Addison's Cat&. 
 
 INQUIRY. 
 
 Inquiry into some difficult subject, fixes the 
 body nearly in one posture, the head somewhat 
 stooping, the eyes poring, and the eye-brows 
 contracted. 
 
 Inquiry mixed tvilh Suspicion. 
 
 Pray you, once more — 
 Is not your father grown incapable 
 Of reas'nable affairs ? is he not stupid 
 With age and altering rheums ? Can he speak, hear, 
 Know man from man, dispute his own estate ? 
 Lies he not bed-rid, and again does nothing 
 ]Jut what he did being childish ? Shahsp. Winter s Tale, 
 
 ATTENTION. 
 
 Attention to an esteemed or superior character 
 
 'lias nearly the same aspect as Inquiry, and re* 
 
 quires silence ; the eyes often cast down upon 
 
 the ground ; sometimes fixed upon the face of 
 
 tlic speaker, but not too familiarly. 
 
428 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 TEACHING OR INSTRUCTING. 
 
 Teaching, explaining, or inculcating, requires 
 a mild serene air, sometimes approaching 
 to an authoritative gravity ; the features 
 and gesture altering according to the age 
 or dignity of the pupil, and importance of 
 the subject inculcated. To youth it should be 
 mild, open, serene, and condescending ; to equals 
 and superiors, modest, and diffident ; but when 
 the subject is of great dignity or importance, the 
 air and manner of conveying the instruction ought 
 to be firm and emphatical, the eye steady and 
 open, the eye-brow a little drawn down over h% 
 but not so much as to look surly or dogmatical ; 
 the pitch of voice ought to be strong, steady, 
 and clear, the articulation distinct, the utterance 
 slow, and the manner approaching to confidence. 
 
 Instruction to modest Youth. 
 
 Pol. Wherefore, gentle maiden, 
 Do you neglect your gilly-flowers and carnations I 
 
 Per. I have heard it said, 
 There is an art which in their piedness shares 
 With great creating nature. 
 
 Pol. Say there be, 
 Yet nature is made better by no mean, 
 But nature makes that mean ; so over that art 
 Which you say adds to nature, is an art 
 Which nature makes ; you see, sweet maid, we marry 
 A gentler scyon to the wildest stock ; 
 And make conceive a bark of baser kind 
 By bud of nobler race. This is an art 
 Which does mend nature, change it rather ; but 
 The art itself is nature. Shakspeare's Winter's Tale. 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 Instruction to an Inferior. 
 
 429 
 
 Angelo — 
 There is a kind of character in thy life, 
 That to the observer doth thy history 
 Fully unfold : Thyself and thy belongings 
 Are not thine own so proper, as to waste 
 Thyself upon thy virtues, them on thee. 
 Heav'n doth with us as we with torches do, 
 Not light them for themselves : for if our virtues 
 Did not go forth of us, 'twere all as if 
 We had them not. Spirits are not finely touch'd 
 But to fine issues; nature never lends 
 The smallest scruple of her excellence ; 
 But like a thrifty goddess she determines 
 Herself the glory of a creditor, 
 Both thanks and use. But I do bend my speech 
 To one that can in my part me advertise. 
 Hold therefore, Angelo — 
 In our remorse be thou at full ourself- 
 Mortality and mercy in Vienna 
 Live in thy tongue and heart : Old Escalus, 
 Though first in question, is thy secondary : 
 Take thy commission. ' Shaksp. Meas. for Meas. 
 
 ARGUING. 
 
 Arguing, requires a cool, sedate, attentive as- 
 pect, and a clear, slow, and emphatical accent, 
 with much demonstration by the hand ; it as- 
 sumessomewhat of authority, as if fully con- 
 vinced of what it pleads for, and sometimes rises 
 to great vehemence and energy of assertion; the 
 voice clear, distinct, and firm, as in confidence. 
 
 Reasoning -with deference to others. 
 
 Ay, but yet 
 
 Let us be keen, and rather cut a little, 
 
430 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 Than fall and bruise to death. Alas ! this gentleman 
 
 Whom I would save had a most noble father ! 
 
 Let but your honour know, whom I believe 
 
 To be most straight in virtue, whether in 
 
 The working of your own affections, 
 
 Had time coher'd with place, or place with wishing, 
 
 Or that the resolute acting of j-our blood 
 
 Could have attain'd th* effect of your own purpose, 
 
 Whether you had not some time in your life 
 
 Err'd in this point you censure now in him, 
 
 And pulled the law upon you. Shaksp. Meets, for Meas 
 
 Reasoning ivarmly. 
 
 By my white beard, 
 You offer him, if this be so, a wrong, 
 Something unfilial : Reason, my son, 
 Should choose himself a wife ; but as good reason, 
 The father, (all whose joy is nothing else 
 But fair posterity) should hold some counsel 
 In such a business. Ibid. Winter's Tale, 
 
 Argument asserting right to Property. 
 
 As I was banish'd I was banish'd Hereford ; 
 But as I come, I come for Lancaster : 
 And noble uncle, I beseech your grace, 
 Look on my wrongs with an indifferent eye : 
 You are my father, for, methinks, in you 
 I see old Gaunt alive ; O, then, my father ! 
 Will you permit that I should stand condemn'd 
 A wandering vagabond ; my rights and loyalties 
 Pluck'd from my arms perforce, and given away 
 To upstart spendthrifts ? Wherefore was I born ? 
 If that my cousin king be king of England, 
 It must be granted, I am duke of Lancaster. 
 You have a son, Aumerle, my noble kinsman; 
 Had you first dy'd, and he been thus trod down, 
 He should have found his uncle Gaunt a father, 
 To rouse his wrongs, and chase them to the bay. 
 I am deny'd to sue my livery here, 
 And yet my letters-patent give and leave ; 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 431 
 
 My Father's goods are all distrain'd and sold ; 
 
 And these, and all are all amiss employ'd, 
 
 What would you have me do ? I am a subjeot, 
 
 And challenge law : Attorneys are deny'd me ; 
 
 And therefore personally lay the claim 
 
 To my inheritance of free descent. Shaksfi. Rich. ll. 
 
 ADMONITION. 
 
 Admonition assumes a grave air, bordering m\ 
 severity; the head is sometimes shaken at the 
 person we admonish, as if we felt for the mise- 
 ries he was likely to bring upon himself; the 
 right hand is directed to the person spoken to, 
 and the fore-finger, projected from the Test, 
 seems to point more particularly the danger we 
 give warning of ; the voice assumes a low tone, 
 bordering on a monotone, with a mixture of se- 
 verity and sympathy, of pity and reproach. 
 
 Admonition to execute Laxvs strictly. 
 
 'Tis one thing- to be tempted, Escalus, 
 Another thing to fall. I not deny 
 The jury passing on the prisoner's life, 
 May on the sworn twelve have a thief or two, 
 Guiltier than him they try ; what's open made 
 To justice, that it seizes on. What know 
 The laws that thieves do pass on thieves \ 'tis pregnant, 
 The jewel that we find, we stoop and tak't, 
 Because we see it ; but what we do not see, 
 We tread upon, and never think of it. 
 You may not so extenuate his offence, 
 For I have had such faults ; but rather tell me 
 When I, that censure him, da not so offend, 
 Let mine own judgement pattern out my death, 
 And nothing come in partial. He must die. 
 
 &haksp. JWeas^for Meas> 
 
432 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 •Admonition to beware of Complaisance in Friendship. 
 
 Every note, Lucilius, 
 When love begins to sicken and decay, 
 It useth an enforced ceremony. 
 There are no tricks in plain and simple faith : 
 Bat hollow men, like horses hot at hand, 
 Make gallant shew, and promise of their mettle : 
 But when they should endure the bloody spur, 
 They fall their crests, and, like deceitful jades, 
 Sink in their trial. Comes his army on ? Ibid. TuL Cc*. 
 
 Admonition to act justly. 
 
 Remember March, the ides of March remethber ! 
 Did not great Julius bleed for justice' sake 
 What villain touch'd his body, that did stab, 
 And not for justice ? What shall one of us, 
 That struck the foremost man of all this world', 
 But for supporting robbers ; shall we now 
 Contaminate our lingers with base bribes ? 
 And sell the mighty space of our lai'ge honours;, 
 For so much trash, as may be grasped thus ? — 
 I had rather be a dog, and bay the moon, 
 Than such a Roman. Ibid. JuB Cies. 
 
 AUTHORITY. 
 
 Authority opens the countenance, but draws 
 down the eye-brows a little, so as to give the look 
 an air of gravity. 
 
 Authority forbidding Combatants to fight. 
 
 Let them lay by their helmets and their spears, 
 And both return back to their chairs again : — 
 Withdraw from us, and let the trumpet sound 
 While we return these dukes what we decree. 
 Braw near 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 433 
 
 And list what with our council we have done. 
 
 For that our kingdom's earth should not be soil'd 
 
 With that dear blood which it hath foster'd ; 
 
 And for our eyes doth hate the dire aspect 
 
 Of civil wounds, plough'd up with neighbour's swords, 
 
 Therefore we banish you our territories : 
 
 You, cousin Hereford, upon pain of death, v 
 
 Till twice five summers have enrich'd our fields, 
 
 Shall not regret our fair dominions, 
 
 But tread the stranger paths of banishment. Ibid, Richard II, 
 
 COMMANDING. 
 
 Commanding requires an air a little more 
 peremptory, with a look little severe, or stern. 
 The hand is held out, and moved towards the 
 person to whom the order is given, with the palm 
 upwards, and sometimes it is accompanied by a 
 nod of the head to the person commanded. If 
 v the command be absolute, and to a person un- 
 willing to obey, the right hand is extended and 
 projected forcibly towards the person command- 
 ed* 
 
 Commanding Combatants to fight. 
 
 We were not born to sue, but to command ; 
 Which since we cannot do to make you friends, 
 Be ready as your lives shall answer it, 
 At Coventry, upon St. Lambert's day ; 
 There shall your swords and lances arbitrate 
 The swelling difference of your settled hate. 
 Since we cannot stone you, you shall see 
 Justice decide the victor's chivalry. 
 Lord Marshal, command our officers at arms, 
 Be ready to direct these home alarms. Shaksp. Rich. II 
 
 p o 
 
434 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 FORBIDDING. 
 
 Forbidding, draws the head backwards, and 
 pushes the arm and hand forwards, with the palm 
 downwards, as if going to lay it upon the person, 
 and hold him down immoveable, that he may not 
 do what is forbidden him : the countenance has 
 the air of aversion, the voice is harsh, and the 
 manner peremptory. 
 
 Forbidding to break Ordert. 
 
 On pain of death no person be so bold 
 Or daring hardy as to touch the lists, 
 Except the marshal, and such officers 
 Appointed to direct these fair designs. Ibidem. 
 
 AFFIRMING. 
 
 Affirming, with a judicial oath, is expressed 
 by hriing the right hand and eyes towards heav- 
 en ; or it conscience is appealed to, by laying the 
 rigut hand open upon the breast exactly upon 
 the heart ; the voice low and solemn, tne words 
 slow and deliberate ; but when the affirmation is 
 mixed with rage or resentment, the voice is 
 more open and loud, the words quicker, and the 
 countenance has an the confidence of strong and 
 peremptory assertion. 
 
 Affirming an Accusation, 
 
 My lord Aumerle, I know your daring tongue 
 Scorns to unsay what once it hath deliver'd : 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 435 
 
 In that dead time when Gloster's death was plot, 
 I heard you say, — " Is not my arm of length 
 " That reacheth from the restful English court, 
 *' As far as Calais to my uncle's head ? 
 Among much other talk, that very time 
 I heard you say, you rather had refuse 
 The offer of a hundred thousand crowns 
 Than Bolingbroke return to England : 
 Adding withal, how blest this land would be, 
 In this your cousin's death. 
 If that thy valour stand on sympathies, 
 There is my gage, Aumerle, in gage to thine. 
 1 heard thee say, and vauntingly thou spak'st it, 
 That thou wert cause of noble Gloster's death ? 
 If thou deny'st it twenty times, thou liest ; 
 And I will turn thy falsehood to thy heart 
 "Where it was forged, with my rapier's point. 
 
 Shakspeare's Rich. II. 
 
 DENYING. 
 
 Denying what is affirmed is but an affirmation 
 of the contrary, and is expressed like affirmation. 
 Denying a favour — see Re f u s i n g . 
 
 Denying an Accusation. 
 
 If I in act consent, or sin of thought, 
 Be guilty of stealing that sweet breath, 
 Which was embounded in that beauteous clay, 
 Let hell want pains enough to torture me ! 
 1 left him well. Shaksp. King John, 
 
 DIFFERING, 
 
 Differing in sentiment may be expressed 
 nearly as refusing. See Refusing. 
 
436 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 Differing about the conduct of a War. 
 
 Bru. Well, to our work alive. What do you think 
 Of marching to Philippi presently ? 
 
 Cas. I do not think it good. 
 
 Bru. Your reason ? 
 
 Cas. This it is : 
 'lis better that the enemy seek us, 
 So shall he waste his means, weary his soldiers, 
 Doing himself offence ; whilst we lying still, 
 Are full of rest, defence, and nimbleness. 
 
 Bru. Good Teasons must of force give place to better. 
 The people 'twixt Philippi and this ground, 
 Do stand but in a forc'd affection : 
 For they have grudg'd us contribution. 
 The enemy marching along by them, 
 By them shall make a fuller number up, 
 Come on refresh'd, new added, and encouraged ; 
 From which advantage shall we cut him off, 
 If at Philippi we do face him there, 
 These people at our backs. 
 
 Cas. Hear me, good brother 
 
 Bru. Under your pardon. — You must note beside. 
 That we have tried the utmost of our friends, 
 Our legions are brimfull, our cause is ripe ; 
 The enemy increaseth every day, 
 We, at the height are ready to decline. 
 There is a tide in the affairs of men, 
 Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune ; 
 Omitted, all the voyage of their life 
 Is bound in shallows and in miseries. 
 On such a full sea are we now afloat, 
 And we must take the current when it serves, 
 Or lose our ventures. Shakspeare's Jul. €<e$ 
 
 AGREEING. 
 
 Agreeing in opinion, or being convinced, is 
 e xpressed nearly as granting. See Granting. 
 
 Agreeing in an enterprise. 
 
 Post. I embrace these conditions ; let us have articles be- 
 wixt us ; orly thus far you shall answer, if you make your ad- 
 
ELOCUTION. 437 
 
 * \ 
 dresses to her, and give me directly to understand you have pre- 
 vailed, I am no farther your enemy, she is not worth our debate. 
 If she re main unseduced, you not making- it appear otherwise ; 
 for your ill opinion, and the assault you have made to her chas- 
 tity, you shall answer me with your sword. 
 
 Jac. Your hand, a covenant; we will have these thin ft 
 set down by lawful counsel, and straightway for Britain, lest the 
 bargain should catch cold and starve. I will fetch my gold, -and 
 have our two wagers recorded. Ibid. Cymbeline. 
 
 JUDGING. 
 
 Judging, demands a grave steady look, with 
 deep attention, the countenance altogether clear 
 from any appearance, either of disgust or favour. 
 The pronunciation slow, distinct, and em- 
 phatical, accompanied with little action, and that 
 very grave. 
 
 Judging- according- to strict Lara. 
 
 Her. I beseech your grace that I may know, 
 The worst that may befal me in this case, 
 If I refuse to wed Demetrius. 
 
 Thes. Either to die the death, or to abjure 
 For ever the society of men. , 
 Therefore, fair Hermia, question your desires, 
 Know of your youth, examine well your blood, 
 Whether not yielding to your father's) choice, 
 You can endure the livery of a nun, 
 For aye to be in shady cloister me w'd, 
 To live a barren sister all your life. 
 Chanting faint hymns to the cold, fruitless moon. 
 Thrice blessed they that master so their blood, 
 To undergo such maiden pilgrimage ! 
 But earlier happy is the rose distill'd 
 Than that which withering on the virgin thorn, 
 Grows, lives, and dies in singie blessedness. 
 
 Her. So will I grow, so live, so die, my lord, 
 Ere I will yield up my virginity 
 Unto his lordship, to whose unwish'd yoke 
 
 Oo2 
 
438 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 My soul consents not to give sovereignty. 
 
 Thes. Take time to pause, and by the next new moon, 
 (The sealing day betwixt my love and me, 
 For everlasting bond of fellowship) 
 Upon that day either prepare to die 
 For disobedience to your father's will, 
 Or else to wed Demetrius, as he would, 
 Or on Diana's altar to protest 
 For aye austerity and single life. 
 
 Shaksp. Mills. Nigh?* Bream* 
 
 REPROVING. 
 
 Reproving, puts on a stern aspect, roughens 
 the. voice, and is accompanied with gestures, not 
 much different from those of threatening, but 
 not so lively. It is like Reproach, but without 
 the sourness and ill-nature. See Re p r o Jit n . 
 
 Reproving -with Authority. 
 
 How comes it, Cassio, you are thus forgot, 
 That you unlace your reputation thus, 
 And spend your rich opinion for the name, 
 Of a night brawler ? Give me answer to it. Shaksp. Othelfa- 
 
 ACQUITTING. 
 
 Acquitting, is performed with a benevolent 
 tranquil countenance, and mild tone of voice ; 
 the right hand is open, and waved gently towards 
 the person acquitted, expressing dismission. 
 See Dismissing. 
 
 CONDEMNING. 
 
 Condemning, assumes a severe look, but 
 sometimes mixed with pity. The sentence is 
 
EL0CUT10K 
 
 439 
 
 either with severity or pity, according to the 
 guilt of the person condemned. 
 
 Passing sentence with severity. 
 
 For tills new marry'd man, approaching here, 
 Whose salt imagination yet hath wrong'd 
 Your well defended honour ; you must pardon him 
 For Mariana's sake ; but as a judge, 
 Being doubly criminal, in violation 
 Of sacred chastity, and in promise breach, 
 Thereon dependant for your brothers life, 
 The very mercy of the law cries out 
 Most audible, even from his proper tongue, 
 An Angelo for Claudio; death for death. 
 Haste still pays haste, and leisure answers leisure ; 
 Like doth quit like, and measure still for measure. 
 Then, Angelo, thy faults are manifest ; 
 Which, tho* thou would'st deny 'em, deny thee 'vantage. 
 We do condemn thee to the very block 
 Where Claudio stoop'd to death and with like hate, 
 Away with him. Sharcsp. Mens •for Metis. 
 
 Passing sentence -with pity and reluctance. 
 
 God quit you in his mercy ! Hear your sentence : 
 You have conspir'd against our royal person, 
 Join'd with an enemy, and from his coffers 
 Receiv'd the golden earnest of our death ; 
 Wherein you have sold your kin to slaughter, 
 His princes and his peers to servitude. 
 His subjects to oppression and contempt, 
 And his whole kingdom into desolation. 
 Touching our person, seek we no revenge ; 
 But we our kingdom's safety must so tender, 
 Whose ruin you three sought, that to her laws 
 We do deliver you. Go therefore hence, . 
 Poor miserable wretches, to your death, 
 The taste whereof God of his mercy give 
 You patience to endure, and true repentance 
 Of all your dire offences. Bear them hence. XhiA. J&nry V- 
 
440 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 PARDONING. 
 
 ... 
 
 Pardoning, differs from acquitting in this 
 the latter means clearing a person after trial of 
 guilt, whereas the former supposes guilt, and 
 signifies merely delivering the guilty person 
 from punishment,, Pardoning requires some 
 degree of severity of aspect and tone of voice, 
 because the pardoned person is not an object 
 of entire unmixed approbation. 
 
 Pardoning a cruel Prosecution. 
 
 That thou may'st see the difference of our spirits, 
 1 pardon thee thy life before thou ask it : 
 For half thy wealth, it is Anthonio's ; 
 The other half comes to the general state 
 Which humblenss may drive into a fine. Shaksp. Merc, of Yen. 
 
 DISMISSING. 
 
 Dismissing with approbation is done with a 
 kind aspect and tone of voice : the right open, 
 the palm upward, gently waved towards the per- 
 son. Dismissing with displeasure, besides ^the 
 look and tone of voice which suits displeasure, 
 the hand is hastily thrown out towards the per- 
 son dismissed, the back part of the hand towards 
 him, and the countenance at the same time 
 turned away from him. 
 
 Dismissing -with complaisance. 
 
 Chat. Then take my king's defiance from my mouth, 
 Tiie farthest limit of my embassy. 
 
ELOCUTION. 441 
 
 K. John. Bear mine to him, and so dtpart in peace : 
 Be thou as lightning 1 in the eyes of France, 
 For ere thou canst report I will be there, 
 The thunder of my cannon shall be heard ; 
 So hence ! Be thou as the trumpet of our wrath, 
 And sullen presage of your own decay. — 
 An honourable conduct let him have ; — 
 Pembroke, look to't ; — farewell, Chatillon. 
 
 Ibid. King John. 
 
 REFUSING. 
 
 Refusing, when accompanied with displea- 
 sure, is done nearly the same way as dismissing 
 with displeasure. Without displeasure, it is 
 done with a visible reluctance, which occasions 
 bringing out the words slowly, with such a shake 
 of the head, and shrug of the shoulders, and hes- 
 itation in the speech, as implies perplexity be- 
 tween granting and refusing, as in the following 
 example : 
 
 He/using to lend Money. 
 
 They answer in a joint and corporate voice, 
 That now they are at fall, want treasure, cannot 
 Do what they would; are sorry — you are honorable — ■ 
 But yet they could have wish'd — they know not — 
 Something hath been amiss — a noble nature 
 May catch a wrench — wou'd all were well — 'tis pity ; 
 And so intending other serious matters, 
 After distasteful looks and these hard fractions 
 With certain half caps, and cold-moving nods, 
 They froze me into silence. Shaksp. Timon of Athens, 
 
 Refusing -with displeasure. 
 
 Met. Most high, most mighty, and most puissant Caesar, 
 Metellus Cimber throws before thy seat 
 An humble heart. 
 
 C#s. I must prevent thee, Cimber j 
 
442 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 These crouchings, and these lowly courtesiei 
 
 Might fire the blood of ordinary men, 
 
 And turn pre-ordinance, and first decree 
 
 Into the lane of children. Be not fond, 
 
 To think thai Caesar bears such rebel blood, 
 
 That will be thamrM from the true quality 
 
 With that which melteth fools ; I mean sweet words 
 
 Low-crooked curt'sies, and base spaniel fawning-. 
 
 Thy brother by decree is banish'd ; 
 
 If thou dost bend, and pray, and fawn for him, 
 
 I spurn thee like a cur out of my way. 
 
 Know, Caesar doth not wrong-, nor without cause 
 
 Will he be satisfied. Shuksp. Jul. Cx». 
 
 GIVING, GRANTING. 
 
 When done with unreserved good- will, is ac- 
 companied with a benevolent aspect, and tone of 
 voice : the right hand open, with the palm up- 
 wards, extending towards the person we favour, 
 as if delivering to him what he asks ; the head at 
 the same time inclining forwards, as indicating 
 a benevolent disposition and entire consent. 
 
 Giving a daughter in Marriage. 
 
 Pros. If I have too severely punished you, 
 Your compensation makes amends ; for I 
 Have given you here a thread of mine own life, 
 Or that for which I live, whom once again 
 1 tender to thy hand : ail thy vexations 
 Were but nry trials of thy love, and thou 
 Hast strangely stood the test. Here afore heav'n 
 1 ratify this my rich gift : Ferdinand, 
 Do not smile at me that I boast her off; 
 For thou wilt find she will outstrip all praise, 
 And make it halt behind her. 
 
 Fer. I believe it 
 Against an oracle. 
 
ELOCUTION. 443 
 
 Pros. Then as ray gift and thine own acquisition 
 Worthily purchas'd, take my daughter. Shaksp. Tempest. 
 
 GRATITUDE. 
 
 Gratitude, puts on an aspect full of compla- 
 cency. If the object of it be a character greatly 
 superior, it expresses much submission. The 
 right hand open with the fingers spread, and 
 pressed upon the breast just over the heart, ex- 
 presses very properly a sincere and hearty sensi- 
 bility of obligation. 
 
 Gratitude for great Benefits. 
 
 O great Sciolto ! O my more than father ! 
 Let me not live, but at thy very name 
 My eager heart springs up and leaps with joy. 
 When I forget the vast, vast debt i owe thee— - 
 (Forget — but 'tis impossible) then let me 
 Forget the use and privilege of reason, 
 Be banish'd from the commerce of mankind, 
 To wander in the desert among brutes, 
 To bear the various fury of the seasons, 
 The midnight cold, and moon-tide scorching heat, 
 To be the scorn of earth, and curse of-heaven. 
 
 Rotve's Fair Penitent. 
 
 CURIOSITY. 
 
 Curiosity, opens the eyes and mouth, length- 
 ens the neck, bends the body forwards, and fix- 
 es it in one posture, nearly as in admiration. 
 When it speaks, the voice, tone, and gesture, 
 nearly as Inquiry. See Inquiry. 
 
444 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 Curiosity at first seeing' a fine Object. * 
 
 Pros. The fringed curtains of thine eye adrance, 
 And say what thou seest yond. 
 
 Mir. What ! is't a spirit ? 
 Lo how it looks about ! beliere, sir, 
 It carries> brave form. But 'tis a spirit. 
 
 Pros. No, wench, it eats and sleeps, and hath such senses 
 As we have, such. 
 
 Mir. I might call him 
 A thing divine, for nothing natural, 
 
 ever saw so noble. Shaksp. Tempest. 
 
 PROMISING. 
 
 Promising, is expressed by benevolent looks, 
 a soft but earnest voice, and sometimes by in- 
 clining the head, and hands open, with the palms 
 upwards, towards the person to whom the prom- 
 ise is made. Sincerity in promising is expres- 
 sed by laying the hand gently on the left breast. 
 
 Premise of prosperous Events. 
 
 I'll deliver all, 
 And promise you calm seas, auspicious gales. 
 And sail so expeditious, it shall catch 
 Your royal fleet far off. ' Ihidem. 
 
 VENERATION. 
 
 To parents, superiors, or persons of eminent 
 virtue, is an humble and respectful acknowledge- 
 ment of their excellence, and our own inferiori- 
 ty. The head and body is inclined a little for- 
 ward, and the hand, with the palm downward, 
 
ELOCUTION. 445 
 
 just raised as to meet the inclination of the body, 
 and then let fall again with apparent timidity and 
 diffidence; the eye is sometimes lifted up, and 
 then immediately cast downward, as if unwor- 
 thy to behold the object before it ; the eye- 
 brows are drawn down ; the features, and the 
 whole body and limbs, are all composed to the 
 most profound gravity. When this rises to ado- 
 ration of the Almighty Creator and Director of 
 all things, it is too sacred to be imitated, and 
 seems to demand that humble annihilation of 
 ourselves, which must ever be the consequence 
 of a just sense of the Divine Majesty, and our 
 own unworthjness. 
 
 RESPECT, 
 
 Is but a less degree of veneration^ and is near- 
 ly allied to modesty. 
 
 DESIRE, 
 
 Expresses itself by bending the body forwards, 
 and stretching the arms towards the object, as 
 to grasp it. The countenance smiling but eager 
 and wishful ; the eyes wide open, and eye-brows 
 raised ; the mouth open ; the tone of. voice sup- 
 pliant,, but lively and chearful, unless there be 
 distress as well as desire ; the expressions fluent 
 
446 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 and copious ; if no words are used sighs instead 
 of them ; but this is chiefly in distress. 
 
 COMMENDATION. 
 
 Commendation is the expression of the appro- 
 bation we have for any object in which we find 
 any congruity to our ideas of excellence, 
 natural, or moral, so as to communicate plea- 
 sure. As commendation generally supposes su- 
 periority in the person commending it assumes 
 the aspect of love, (but without desire and res- 
 pect, ) and expresses itself in a mild tone of voice, 
 with a small degree of confidence ; the arms are 
 gently spread, the hands open, with the palms 
 upwards, directed towards the person approved, 
 and sometimes gently lifted up and down, as if 
 pronouncing his praise. 
 
 Commendation for obliging Behaviour. 
 
 You have done our pleasures very much grace, fair ladies. 
 Set a fair fashion on our entertainment, 
 Which was not half so beautiful and kind ; 
 You've added worth unto't, and lively lustre, 
 And entertain'd me with mine own device : 
 I am to thank you for it. Timon of Aiken*. 
 
 Commendation for Fidelity. 
 
 O good old man, how well in thee appears 
 The constant service of the antique world, 
 When service sweat for duty, not for meed I 
 
 
ELOCUTION. 
 
 447 
 
 Thou art not for the fashion of these times, 
 
 Where none will sweat but for promotion ; 
 
 And having- that, do choak their service up, 
 
 Even with the having: : It is not so with thee. As You Like It. 
 
 EXHORTING. 
 
 Exhorting*, or encouraging, is earnest persua- 
 sion, attended with confidence of success. The 
 voice has the softness of love intermixed with 
 the firmness of courage ; the arms are some- 
 times spread, with the hands open, as intreating ; 
 and sometimes the right hand is lifted up, and 
 struck rapidly down, as enforcing what we say. 
 
 Exhorting. 
 
 But wherefore do you droop ? Why look you sad ? 
 Be great in act as you have been in thought ; 
 Let not the world see fear and sad distrust 
 Govern the motion of a kingly eye ': 
 Be stirring as the time ; be fire with fire ; 
 Threaten the threatener, and outface the brow 
 Of bragging- horror : so shall inferior eyes, 
 That borrow their behaviours from the great, 
 Grow great by your example ; and put on 
 The dauntless spirit of resolution ; 
 Show boldness and aspiring confidence. 
 What, shall they seek the lion in his den, 
 
 .And fight him there, and make him tremble there ? 
 
 Oh let it not be said ! — Forage, and run, 
 
 To meet displeasure farther from the doors, 
 
 And grapple with him ere he come so nigh. Shahsp. K. John, 
 
 COMPLAINING, 
 
 Complaining, as when one is under violent 
 bodily pain, distorts the features, almost closes 
 
448 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 the eyes ; sometimes raises them wistfully ; 
 opens the mouth, gnashes the teeth, draws up 
 the upper lip, draws down the head upon the 
 breast, and contracts the whole body. The 
 arms are violently bent at the elbows, and the fists 
 strongly clinched. The voice is uttered in 
 groans, lamentations, and sometimes vioLent 
 screams. 
 
 Complaining »f extreme Pain. 
 
 Search there ; nay, probe me ; search my wounded reins- 
 Pull, draw it out — 
 
 Oh, I am shot ! A forked burning arrow 
 Sticks across my shoulders : the sad venom flies 
 Like light'ning through my flesh, my hiood, my marrow. 
 Ha ! what a change of torments I endure ! 
 A bolt of ice runs hissing through my bowels : 
 'Tis, sure, the arm of death; give me a chair; 
 Cover me, for I freeze, and my teeth chatter, 
 And my knees knock together. Lee's Alexander. 
 
 FATIGUE. 
 
 Fatigue from hard labour gives a general lan- 
 guor to the body ; the countenance is dejected, 
 the arms hang listless ; the body, if not sitting 
 or lying along, stoops, as in old age ; the legs, 
 if walking, are dragged heavily along, and seem 
 at every step to bend under the weight of the 
 body. The voice is weak, and hardly articulate 
 §noiigh to be understood. 
 
ELOCUTION, 
 
 44$ 
 
 Fatigue from travelling'. 
 
 I see a man*s life is a tedious one : 
 
 I've tir'd myself, and for two nights together 
 
 Have made the ground my bed. I should be sickj 
 
 Bat that my resolution helps me. Milford, 
 
 When from the mountain top Pisanio show'd thee, 
 
 Thou wast within a ken. Oh me, I think 
 
 loundations fly the wretched ; such I mean 
 
 Where they should be relieved. Shahspeare' s CymbeMne* 
 
 Feebleness from Hunger. 
 
 Adam. Dear master, I can go no farther t Oh, I die for food! 
 here lie 1 down and measure out my grave. Farewell, kind 
 master. 
 
 Duke. Welcome : set down your venerable burden, 
 And iet him feed. 
 
 Orla. I thank you most for him. 
 
 Jidum. So had you need ; 
 I scarce can speak to thank you for myself. 
 
 Ibid. As Y9U lake It, 
 
 SICKNESS. 
 
 Sickness has infirmity or feebleness in every 
 motion, and utterance ; the eyes dim and al- 
 most closed, the cheeks are pale and hollow, the 
 jaw falls, the head hangs down as if too heavy to 
 be supported by the neck ; the voice feeble, 
 trembling and plaintive, the head shaking, and 
 the whole body, as it were sinking under the 
 weight that oppresses it. 
 
 Sickness approaching to Death. 
 
 And wherefore should this good news make me sick I 
 1 should rejoice now at this nappy news, 
 
450 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 And now my sight fails, and my brain is giddy : — 
 
 me ! come near me now I am much ill. 
 
 1 pray you lake me up and bear me hence 
 Into some other chamber ; softl), pray — 
 
 Let there be no noise made, my gentle friends, 
 Unless some dull and favourable hand 
 Will whisper music to my weary spirit. 
 
 Shaksp. Henry IV. 2nd JPxirt. 
 
 Trfling as this selection of examples of the pas- 
 sions may appear, it is presumed it will be sin- 
 gularly useful. The passions are every where to 
 be found in small portions, promiscuously min- 
 gled with each other, but not so easily met with 
 in examples of length, and where one passion 
 only operates at a time ; Such a selection, how- 
 ever, seemed highly proper to facilitate the study 
 of the passions, as it is evident that the expres- 
 sion of any passion may be sooner gained by con- 
 fining our practice for a considerable time to one 
 passion only, as by passing abruptly from one to 
 the other, as they promiscuously occur ; which 
 is the case with the author to whom I am so 
 much indebted for the description of the Pas- 
 sions, and with those who have servilely copied 
 him. The instances of a single passion which I 
 have selected, may be augmented at pleasure ; 
 and when the pupil has acquired the expression 
 of each passion singly, I would earnestly recom- 
 mend to him to analyze his composition, and 
 carefully to mark it with the several passions, 
 emotions, and sentiments it contains, by which 
 means he will distinguish and separate what is 
 often mixed and confounded, and be prompted 
 to force and variety at almost ever}- sentence. 
 
ELOCUTION, 
 
 451 
 
 I am well aware, that the passions are some- 
 times so slightly touched, and often melt so in- 
 sensibly into each other, as to make it some- 
 what difficult precisely to mark their boundaries ; 
 but this is no argument against our marking them 
 where they are distinct and obvious ; nor against 
 our suggesting them to those who may not be 
 quite so clear-sighted as ourselves. Indeed, the 
 objection to this practice seems entirely founded 
 on these two misconceptions : because we can- 
 not perfectly delineate every shade of sound or 
 passion, we ought not to attempt any approaches 
 to them ; and because good readers and speak- 
 ers have no need of these assistances, therefore 
 they are useless to every one else. But this rea- 
 soning, I am convinced, is so palpably wrong, 
 as sufficiently to establish the contrary opinion, 
 without any other argument in its favour. 
 
 THE END, 
 

 
 
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