and monotonous, and many important thoughts of an author would be lost, or not sufficiently heeded, for want of being prominently brought into view,

But the omission of emphasis is not the only fault pertaining to this head. The misplacing of it (that is, the putting of it on words to which it does not belong) may have an equally bad effect. A wrong kind of emphasis, too, may operate as badly as none at all, or one placed where it does not belong.

To tell where emphasis ought to be employed, or what kind should be used, cannot be reduced to general rules. It is to be employed whenever the sense requires it; but who can tell beforehand what this will be? The most that can be done is

to point out the different kinds of emphasis, or modes in which it is produced. To use these successfully, every person should well understand what he reads or speaks, and endeavor to make the feelings of the author his own. If a person cannot, or will not, understand what sentiments and thoughts deserve a prominent expression, technical rules can afford him no material assistance. He may, however, be conscious that a passage is emphatical, but be in doubt what sort of emphasis would be best adapted to give the right expression of thought, or, that being determined, how he shall express the emphasis itself so as to give it the greatest effect. In these respects, he may be assisted by proper instruction; and to this end what I have to say under this head will be mainly directed.

I shall now exhibit various modes in which emphasis may be expressed.

I. Emphasis may be expressed by giving intensity to the inflections.

EXAMPLES.

"God thundereth marvelously with his voice; great things he doeth which we cannot comprehend." The word we has naturally the rising inflection, and is here rendered emphatical by making the inflection intensive.

Now the Egyptians are mén, and not Gòd; and their horses flesh', and not spirit.

"When the Lord shall stretch out his hand, both he that hélpeth shall fall, and he that is helped shall fall down, and they áll shall fall together." All the words here marked have their inflections intensive to make them emphatical.

The circumflex is generally intensive, and the words which have it emphatical; but this is not always the fact.

II. Emphasis is frequently formed by a change of inflections; that is, if a word without emphasis would have a particular slide, it will have a different one if it becomes emphatical.

EXAMPLES.

"But if thy brother is grieved with thy food, now walkest thou not charitably'. Destroy not him with thy food for whom Christ dièd." Were it not for the emphasis, the first food would have the rising slide, and charitably the falling: so him would have the falling, and the second food the rising inflection, and the word Christ would also have the rising slide.

"Blamè not before you have examined the truth: understand first, and then` rebúke." The inflections on first, then, and rebuke are inverted.

"Be at peace with màny: nevertheless, have but onè counsellor of a thousand." The slide is inverted on thousand.

"Let reason go before every enterprise', and counsel before áction." The slide is inverted on action.

"Some people will never learn any thing, for this reason,because they understand every thing too soon." The inversion is on soon.

"And when he is comé, he will reprove the world of sin`, and of righteousness', and of judgment: of sin', because they believe not on mé; of righteousness', because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; of judgmént, because the prince of this world is judged." Nearly all the inflections in this example are inverted.

"What new importance, then', does not the achievement acquire to our minds when we consider that it was the deed of our fathers; that this grand undertaking was accomplished on the spot where wè dwell; that the mighty region they explored is oùr native land; that the unrivalled enterprise they displayed is not merely a fact proposed to our admiration, but is the source of our being; that their cruel hardships are the spring of oùr prospèrity; their amazing sùfferings' the seed from which our happiness has sprùng; that thèir weary banishment gave us a home; that to their separation from every thing which is dear and pleasant in life we owe all the comforts, the blessings, the privileges' which make our lot the envy of mankind!" Here are many emphatical particulars brought together, most of which depend for their emphatical expression on a change of slides. Each member of the whole compound sentence constitutes by itself one emphatic thought or sentiment, and is ter

minated by the falling slide; whereas without any particular emphasis it would have the rising.

III. Emphasis at the close of a sentence may be formed by inverting the cadence.

This mode of emphasis nearly resembles one that is formed by inverting the falling slide, but is in reality distinct from it, as will be perceived by comparing together what has been said with regard to the inflections, and the elevation and depression of the voice to the amount of a tone or semitone.

EXAMPLES.

Custom is the plague of wìse mén, and the idol of fools.*
All men think all men mortal but themselves.
Short-lived as we are, yet our pleasures, we see,
Have a still shorter date, and die sooner than we.
Juba. Alas! the story melts away my soul.
That best of fathers'!-how shall I discharge
The gratitude and duty which I owe him?

Syph. By laying up his counsels in your heart.
Juba. His coùnséls bade me yield to thy^ directions'.
Then, Syphax', chìde me in severest terms',
Vent all thy pas`sion', and I'll stand its shock'
Calm and unruffled as a summer seá

When not a breath of wind flies o'er its surface.

Syph. Alas, my princé, I'd guide you to your safety.
Juba. I do believe thou wouldst; but tell me how'.
Syph. Fly from the fate that follows Cæsar's foés.
Juba. My father scorned to do it'.

Syph. And therefore died^.

Juba. Better to die tèn thoùsánd deaths'

Than wound my honor

Syph. Rather say, your love^.

Juba. Syphax, I've promised to preserve my tèmpér:

Why wilt thou urge me to confess a flamé

I long have stifled', and would fain conceál?

Syph. Believe me, princé, though hard to con`quèr lové,

'Tis easy' to divert^ and break its forcé.

Absence might cùre it', or a second' object'

Light up anothér flamé and put out this^.

Juba. Tis not a set of features, or complexion^,

The tincture of the skin^, that `I admire^.

Beauty soon grows familiar to the lover',

Fades in his eyé, and palls upon the sénse.

*The notation mentioned page 39, is here resumed.

IV. Emphasis is sometimes formed by raising the voice to a higher and sometimes to a lower note than it would naturally have without emphasis.

Shall the pagan slaves^ be masters, then',
Of the land which your fathers gave you?
Shall the Infidel lord it o'er Christian mén,
When your own good swords may save you?
Let him know there are hearts, however bowed'
By the chains which he threw around them',
That will rise, like a spirit from pall and shroúd,
And cry wo to the slaves who bound them.
Ah, whènce is that flame which now bursts on his eyé ?
Ah`, what is that sound which now larums his eár?
'Tis the lightning's red glare painting hell on the sky;
'Tis the crashing of thunders', the groan of the sphére.
He thunders, and all nature mourns.

Yet, taught by thesé, confess the Almighty just,
And, where you can't unriddlé, learn to trust.
Thus heaven instructs thy mind; this trial o'er',
Depart in peace, resign, and sin` no more.

He frowns, and darkness veils the moon-
The fainting sun grows dim at noon;
The pillars of heaven's starry roof'
Tremble and start at his reproof.

It should be here noted that a distinction should be made between highness and loudness of voice. Highness has reference to the note on which the voice is placed in the scale; loudness regards the distance to which it can be heard. The voice may be raised to a high note, and yet not be heard far, that is, the noise made by it be very little.

Low stands opposed to high. A low voice properly means one that is on a low key; yet the voice may be on a low note in the scale, and make much noise. The low notes of an organ are those which produce the strongest vibrations of air, and most powerfully affect the ear.

We have no word which strictly denotes the opposite of loud. Small is the opposite of large, and relates to quantity; soft is the opposite of hard; smooth the opposite of harsh, rough. For want of such a correlative, the term soft has been employed, to a great extent, to denote the opposite of loud, as well as of high, and hence has arisen considerable confusion in the use of terms. Low, when united with note, key, pitch, or any other word which relates to the scale of the voice, is opposed to high,

When

as a low or high note, a low or high pitch, and so on. we speak simply of the voice, without regard to this scale, we often use the word low as the opposite of loud; as, he has a loud voice, he has a low voice. We sometimes say that a person reads in a low tone of voice; but tone, in that connection, does not refer to any particular place in the scale, but to the small amount of voice that is uttered.

Quantity is always the how much of a thing. As applied to the voice, it denotes its abundance, or the contrary-the amount issued, or the time taken up in pronouncing a syllable or word. It is not, therefore, the same thing as loudness, and the contrary, for which it is sometimes mistaken. There may be a single emission of voice which shall be heard at a large distance, that is, which shall be quite loud, yet in quantity it may be small. These explanations are made in order to show more clearly what pertains to emphasis in all its forms.

V. Emphasis is sometimes formed by a greater, and sometimes by a less loudness of voice than is natural, or than would be used without it.

As high and loud often go together, I shall, in the following examples, leave it to the reader to discriminate occasionally between them; so also between low, as it relates to the note on which the voice is placed, and the amount of sound merely which is produced.

Small capitals will be used to show that a syllable is loud; small type to show that it is low.

EXAMPLES.

Eternity-thou pleasing, dreadful thought.

I know not what idea that lord may entertain of God and nature; but I know that such abominable principles are equally abhorrent to religion and humanity. What! to attribute the sacred sanction of God and nature to the massacres of the Indian scalping-knifé—to the cannibal savage, tor`turing', mùrdering', roasting', and eating-LITERALLY', my lords', EATING THE MANGLED VICTIMS OF HIS BARBAROUS BATTLES!

To turn forth into our settlements, among our connections, friends, and relations, the merciless cannibal', thirsting for the blood of màn, wòmán, and child!-to send forth the infidel savagé-against whom'? against your Protestant brethren !—— to lay waste their country, to desolate their dwellings, and extirpate their race and name, with these hórrible hèll-hounds of savage war!-HELL-HOUNDS, I say, of sàváge war^.