In the second instance, the word thoù by being the most important, obtains the chief, or rather the sole emphasis; and thus, it is not only restored to its natural long quantity, but obtains from emphasis a still greater degree of length, than when pronounced in its separate state. This greater degree of length, is compensated by the diminution of quantity in the words pleas'd and hear, which are sounded shorter than in the preceding instance. The word shult still continues short. Here we may also observe, that though thou is long in the first part of the verse, it becomes short when repeated in the second, on account of the more forcible emphasis belonging to the word alone, which follows it.

In the third instance, the word shalt having the emphasis, obtains a long quantity. And though it is impossible to prolong the sound of this word, as it ends in a pure mute, yet in this, as in all similar instances, the additional quantity is to be made out by a rest of the voice, proportioned to the importance of the word. In this instance, we may also observe, that the word shalt, repeated in the second part of the line, is reduced again to a short quantity.

In the fourth instance, the word hear placed in opposition to the word behold, in the latter part of the line, obtains from the sense the chief emphasis, and a proportion ate length. The words thou and shalt, are again reduced to short quantities; and the word pleas'd lends some of the time which it possessed, to the more important word hear.

From these instances, it is evident, that the quantity of our syllables is not fixed; but governed by emphasis.--To observe a due measurement of time, on all occasions, is doubtless very difficult; but by instruction, attention, and practice, the difficulty may be overcome.

Emphasis changes, not only the quantity of words and syllables, but also, in particular cases, the seat of the accent. This is demonstrable from the following examples.

"He shall increase, but I shall décrease.” "There is a difference between giving and forgiving." "In this species of composition, plausibility is much more essential than probability." In these examples, the emphasis requires the accent to be placed on syllables, to which it does not commonly belong.

In order to acquire the proper management of the emphasis, the great rule, and indeed the only rule possible to be given, is, that the speaker or reader study to attain a just conception of the force and spirit of the sentiments which he is to pronounce. For to lay the emphasis with exact propriety, is a constant exercise of good sense and attention. It is far from being an inconsiderable attainment. It is one of the greatest trials of a true and just taste; and must arise from feeling delicately ourselves, and from judging accurately, of what is fittest to strike the feelings of oth

ers.

There is one error, against which it is particularly proper to caution the learner; namely, that of multiplying emphatical words too much. It is only by a prudent reserve in the use of them, that we can give them any weight. If they recur too often; if a speaker or reader attempts to render every thing which he expresses of high importance, by a multitude of strong emphases, we soon learn to pay little regard to them. To crowd every sentence with emphatical words, is like crowding all the pages of a book with Italic characters, which, as to the effect, is just the same as to use no such distinctions at all.

SECTION 4. Of Pauses.

PAUSES or rests, in speaking and reading, are a total cessation of the voice, during a perceptible, and in many cases, a measurable space of time.

Pauses are equally necessary to the speaker, and the hearer. To the speaker, that he may take breath, without which he cannot proceed far in delivery; and that he may, by these temporary rests, relieve the organs of speech, which otherwise would be soon tired by continued action: to the hearer, that the ear may also be relieved from the fatigue, which it would otherwise endure from a continuity of sound; and that the understanding may have sufficient time to mark the distinction of sentences, and their several members.

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There are two kinds of pauses: first, emphatical pauses; and next, such as mark the distinctions of the sense. emphatical pause is made, after something has been said of peculiar moment, and on which we desire to fix the

hearer's attention. Sometimes, before such a thing'is said, we usher it in with a pause of this nature. Such pauses have the same effect as a strong emphasis; and are subject to the same rules; especially to the caution just now given, of not repeating them too frequently. For as they excite uncommon attention, and of course raise expectation, if the impor tance of the matter is not fully answerable to such expectation, they occasion disappointment and disgust.

But the most frequent and the principal use of pauses, is, to mark the divisions of the sense, and at the same time to allow the speaker to draw his breath; and the proper and delicate adjustment of such pauses, is one of the most nice and difficult articles of delivery. In all reading, and public speaking, the management of the breath requires a good deal of care, so as not to oblige us to divide words from one another, which have so intimate a connexion, that they ought to be pronounced with the same breath, and without the least separation. Many sentences are miserably mangled, and the force of the emphasis totally lost, by the divisions being made in the wrong place. To avoid this, every one, while he is speaking or reading, should be very careful to provide a full supply of breath for what he is to utter. It is a great mistake to imagine, that the breath must be drawn only at the end of a period, when the voice is allowed to fall. It may easily be gathered at the intervals of the period, when the voice is only suspended for a moment; and, by this management, one may always have a sufficient stock for carrying on the longest sentence, without improper interruptions.

Pauses in reading, and public discourse, must be formed upon the manner in which we utter ourselves in ordinary, sensible conversation; and not upon the stiff artificial manner which we acquire, from reading books according to the common punctuation. It will by no means be sufficient to attend to the points used in printing; for these are far from marking all the pauses which ought to be made in speaking. A mechanical attention to these resting-places has perhaps been one cause of monotony, by leading the reader to a similar tone at every stop, and a uniform cadence at every period. The primary use of points is, to assist the reader in discerning the grammatical construction; and it is only as a secondary object, that they regulate his pronuncia tion.

To render pauses pleasing and expressive, they must not only be made in the right place, but also accompanied with a proper tone of voice, by which the nature of these pauses is intimated; much more than by the length of them, which can seldom be exactly measured. Sometimes it is only a slight and simple suspension of voice that is proper; sometimes a degree of cadence in the voice is required; and sometimes that peculiar tone and cadence which denote the sentence to be finished. In all these cases, we are to regu late ourselves, by attending to the manner in which nature teaches us to speak, when engaged in real and earnest discourse with others.

It is a general rule, that the suspending pause should be used when the sense is incomplete; and the closing pause, when it is finished. But there are phrases, in which, though the sense is not completed, the voice takes the closing, rather than the suspending pause; and others, in which the sentence finishes by the pause of suspension.

The closing pause must not be confounded with that fall of the voice, or cadence, with which many readers uniformly finish a sentence. Nothing is more destructive of propriety and energy than this habit. The tones and inflections of the voice at the close of a sentence, ought to be diversified, according to the general nature of the dis course, and the particular construction and meaning of the sentence. In plain narrative, and especially in argumentation, a small attention to the manner in which we relate a fact, or maintain an argument, in conversation, will show, that it is frequently more proper to raise the voice, than to let it fall, at the end of a sentence. Some sentences are so constructed, that the last words require a stronger emphasis than any of the preceding; while others admit of being closed with a soft and gentle sound. Where there is nothing in the sense which requires the last sound to be elevated or emphatical, an easy fall, sufficient to show that the sense is finished, will be proper. And in pathetic pieces, especially those of the plaintive, tender, or solemn kind, the tone of the passion will often require a still greater cadence of the voice. The best method of correcting a uniform cadence, is frequently to read select sentences, in which the style is pointed, and in which antitheses are frequently introduced; and argu T

mentative pieces, or such as abound with interrogatives, or earnest exclamation.

SECTION 5. Of Tones.

TONES are different both from emphasis and pauses; consisting in the modulation of the voice, the notes or variations of sound which we employ in the expression of our sentiments.

Emphasis affects particular words and phrases with a degree of tone or inflection of the voice; but tones, peculiarly so called, affect sentences, paragraphs, and sometimes even the whole of a discourse.

To show the use and necessity of tones, we need only observe, that the mind, in communicating its ideas, is in a continual state of activity, emotion, or agitation, from the different effects which those ideas produce in the speaker. Now the end of such communication being, not merely to lay open the ideas, but also the different feelings which they excite in him who utters them, there must be other signs than words, to manifest those feelings; as words uttered in a monotonous manner, can represent only a similar state of mind, perfectly free from all activity or emotion. As the communication of these internal feelings, was of much more consequence in our social intercourse, than the mere conveyance of ideas, the Author of our being did not, as in that conveyance, leave the invention of the language of emotion, to man; but impressed it himself upon our mature in the same manner as he has done with regard to the rest of the animal world; all of which express their various feelings, by various tones. Ours indeed, from the superior rank that we hold, are in a high degree more comprehensive; as there is not an act of the mind, an exertion of the fancy, or an emotion of the beart, which has not its peculiar tone, or note of the voice, by which it is to be expressed; and which is suited exactly to the degree of internal feeling, It is chiefly in the proper use of these tones, that the life, spirit, beauty, and harmony of delivery con

sist.

An extract from the beautiful lameutation of David over Saul and Jonathan, may serve as an example of what has