studied. To express the pulsation and remission, time and rest, which constitute the elements of rhythm, sets of symbols have been invented, which are as unnecessary to the full understanding of the subject, as they are clumsy and deforming to the didactic page.

Rhythm, good or bad, is an element of all speech. In every sentence, however uttered, or by whomsoever, there is a rhythm; it may be stiff-like the action of a person on stilts; regular and firm-like the march of a soldier; irregular and weak-like the sidling progression of a simpleton ; undecided--like much ordinary walking; limping-like the motion of a cripple; hurried or slow; leaping or creeping; staggering or steady; jolting or smooth; graceful or vulgar: in short, it may have every characteristic of action. As various as are the modes of walking, between the courtier's gait and the hobble of a clown, or the styles of gesticulation between the expressive elegance of an accomplished actor, and the thumping and jumping of a ranting preacher, so numerous and so characteristic are the kinds of rhythm heard in the different departments of oratory, and in colloquial speech.

The object of our rhythmical directions and exercises is to enable the student to adapt the thesis and arsis of the voice,the light and shade of speech, to the full expression of the sense of what he utters. The regulation of rhythm so as perfectly to bring out the sense and expressiveness of a passage is often a very nice point, requiring much judgment and taste; it affords, therefore, ample scope for the display of these admirable qualities in a public reader or speaker; and no more useful exercise can occupy the attention of the elocutionary student.

The various readings of disputed passages in the poets, especially in Shakspere, which occupy critics, and afford such abundant exercise and opportunity for mental and vocal discrimination, are just so many varieties of rhythm. The pulsation of accent on this syllable, and the remission on that, are the topics of the most enlightened and learned disquisition and criticism.

Every single word is not the sign of a distinct idea. Grammatical words are rather, merely, syllables of what has been called the "oratorical word," which fully expresses the idea or completes some part of it. Words, therefore, in good utterance, fall into expressive groups, which are separated from each other, not always by a pause, but by some change of modulation, break of inflexion, or other appreciable variety of style, which clearly

marks to the ear and mind, the boundaries of each group or Oratorical Word.

We shall not, at once, present the student with a perfect mode of grouping, but lead him over some preliminary stages, to show the mutual relations and dependencies of words; and to give him opportunity of practice in the principle of grouping and pausing, before arriving at the mode in which his highest oratorical efforts may safely be made.

I. Single words, we have said, do not separately express ideas, or complete portions of an idea. Articles, for instance, serve merely to point out the definiteness or indefiniteness of an object. Between them and their substantives we find the first degree of relation subsisting. Let the student then consider the article and the word to which it refers as one word, and enounce then accordingly. The accent, or rhythmical force, may sometimes be on the article, "I did not say - a' man' - but - the" man';" "we should not write - an" u'nit, - union, or universe, but - a" u'nit, - union, or universe :"-except, however, in such contrasts, the article will be unaccented. The article may be united with the qualifying word should one intervene between it and the substantive,—as a good man, - a very good - man ;" but should a parenthesis intervene, the article must be separated from it, as in the sentence, “It is an I had almost said - asinine affair." In reading the passages illustrating the different stages of grouping, or in practising any of the stages, the student should accompany each accent with an action of the hand or finger. In the following sentences the downward action will take place on every word except in the articlegroup. A secondary accent may be given to the article when it is the second syllable before the primary accent of the group, as "a' respect"able - man," "the' deluded - people," " ""an' incredible - affair."

EXAMPLES OF THE FIRST STAGE.

A contemplation - of- God's - works, - a voluntary - act - of- justice to our own - detriment, a generous concern - for- the good-of-mankind, - tears - shed - in - silence - for- the misery - ofothers, - a private - desire - of- resentment - broken - and - subdued, an unfeigned - exercise - of- humility, or- any - other - virtue ; -aresuch actions - as - denominate - men - great - and reputable.

He - that would - pass - the latter - part - of-life - with - honour and decency, must, - when - he - is - young, - consider - that - he shall - one-day-be - old ;-and-remember-when-he-is-old-thathe-has-once-been-young ; - in - youth - he - must - lay-up-knowledge for his support - when his powers-of-acting - shall forsake him, and - in - age - forbear - to - animadvert - with - rigour -on- faults which experience - only - can - correct.

A cheerful temper, - joined - with - innocence, - will - make beauty - attractive, - knowledge - delightful, - and - wit - good-natured; it will lighten sickness, poverty, and affliction ;— convert - ignorance - into an amiable - simplicity, - and - render deformity itself - agreeable.

Mankind must speak - from the beginning, therefore ought -from-the beginning - to-be - taught - to - speak - rightly ; - else they may acquire - a habit - of- speaking - wrong.—And - whoever - knows - the difficulty-of-breaking - through - bad - habits, - will avoid that labour - by - prevention.

Night, sable - goddess! - from - her - ebon - throne,

In rayless - majesty - now - stretches - forth

Her - leaden - sceptre - o'er - a slumbering - world.
Silence - how dead! - and - darkness - how - profound!

Creation - sleeps. 'Tis - as the general - pulse

Of life stood - still, - and - nature - made - a pause,—

An awful - pause, - prophetic - of- her - end.

II. The next degree of relation subsists between prepositions and the nouns to` which they refer; a break of any kind is seldom admissible betwixt them. The groups may now therefore include with articles, all prepositions, when they stand next to the words to which they relate. Should a parenthesis intervene, the preposition must be separated from it, as “It will come to - I know not what – an end at all events." In such constructions as the following, the preposition must stand apart from the words immediately after it, to show the ellipsis,— around him, above him, &c,

"Thus while-around- the wave subjected soil

Impels the native to repeated toil,"

"There, while-above-the giddy tempest flies,

And all around-distressful yells arise.”

Prepositions used as part of a verb, whether as the sign of the infinitive, to walk, to read, &c., or as adverbial complements to give in, to put down, &c., may in this stage be included in the rhythmical groups.

Prepositions-properly so called-are generally unaccented, or merely of secondary force. In case of antithesis, however, the preposition takes the primary accent, as "I did not say - upon" the table, - but - under the ta'ble." “Be instant - in" sea'son, and - out" of sea'son." The sign of the infinitive to is always unaccented or secondary.

Prepositions used as part of a verb are generally the emphatic syllables in the compound, as "Hold" off" - your hands." "Rouse' up" - for shame.” "Shake' off"- this downy sleep, death's counterfeit, and look on death itself." Say' on", - I'll hear thee."

A secondary accent will fall on the preposition when it is the second or third

"" within'

syllable before the primary: as "to' remember," "to' lament","

a month"," "out' at the portal." The preposition will be secondarily accented, also, when it is the second or third syllable before a secondary accent, as "by' the rec'ommendation," through' a mis'apprehension."

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EXAMPLES OF THE SECOND STAGE.

Year - steals - upon us - after year. Life - is never - still - for a moment; but - continually, though - insensibly, - sliding - into a new-form. Infancy-rises up-fast- to childhood; - childhood to youth; youth - passes - quickly - into manhood; and - the grey - hair, and the fading-look, -are-not-long-in admonishing us-that-old - age-is- at hand.

1...

The desire of distinction in the world - is - a commendable quality - when it - excites - men - to the performance - of illustrious actions: but this - ambition - is - so - seldom directed - to its - proper - end, -and-is-so- little - scrupulous - in the choice - of the means - which - it - employs - for the accomplishment of its - purpose, that it frequently- ruins - the morals - of those who -are-actuated - by it: and thus - for the pleasure - of beinglifted up- for a moment - above the common-level- of mankind, - many a man-has- forfeited his character with the wise and - good, - and - inflicted - wounds - on his conscience, - which the balm - of flattering - dependants - can never - heal.

Without eloquence, - knowledge-proceeds - faintly - and - slowly, like unassisted strength-in manual-works-with much-clumsy - labour: oratory-we-may- compare to the mechanical - arts which, by engines- and - well-adapted - instruments, - produce the same effects with ease, - and - finish with elegancy: The universe - is represented - in every-one of its particles. Everything - in nature - contains all the powers of nature. The world - globes - itself-in a drop of dew. cannot - find the animalcule, which is less

- little. Eyes, ears, taste, smell, -motion, -resistance, - appetite, -and- organs- of reproduction, which - take hold on eternity, all find room to consist in the small - creature.

Whence learned-she- this? - O she was innocent !

The fledge-dove knows the prowlers of the air,

Feared - soon
as seen, and flutters - back to shelter.
And the young steed - recoils upon his haunches,
The never-yet-seen adder's - hiss - first heard.

III. Connected in the next degree are Personal Pronouns and Verbs. The groups may now therefore include all personal pronouns, whether governing the verb; as-I love, thou lovest, he loves, or governed by it, as love me, I love her, They love us.

In such phrases as there is, was there, I did so, &c., the words there and so, have no adverbial force, and may be considered as a kind of impersonal pronoun they should therefore be added to the verb in this stage.

The sense must, of course, regulate the accent.

antecedent to a relative, it will be accented; as,

When the pronoun is the

"He" jests' at scars' who' nev'er felt' - a wound'."

Also, when pronominal antithesis is expressed or implied, the pronoun will take the primary accent, as-" did he' - tell' you", or did you' - tell' him" ?" but otherwise the pronoun will generally be unaccented or secondary.

When the pronoun is the second syllable before the verbal accent, it receives a secondary accent, as-"I' acknowledge it." When the verb itself has a secondary accent on the first syllable, it will yield that accent to the pronoun when emphatic, unless the latter is not sufficiently emphatic to take a pause after it, and form a beat by itself; as- "We' entertain" - hopes of a recovery, though the patient does not;" or- „“ We' - en'tertain" - hopes," &c. (the time of an unaccented syllable between the pronoun and verb.)

EXAMPLES OF THE THIRD STAGE.

God's - moral-laws, - the radiations-of his -being, were-designed - to converge - in the human - heart, - and - form - there - another - sun, whose light is - peace; peace - irradiating - every- action of the life - and - every emotion of the soul. Love - in the heart of God - is the sum of his - infinite - attributes, the of all his laws. Love - in the heart of man- is - the fulfilling, the confluence of those - laws. Thus, - "God - is - a Sun," and the human heart - a satellite, revolving - around the great heart of God, -and-receiving - its rays, - and - reflecting its light. The royal law of love is - a pencil - of

source

God's - attributes, - perfusing - the human - soul - with the grand

- generic - element - of his -being, - his - love, - and - with the lightof that-love, which is peace. Nay, - more; - the connexion

- between the sun and its satellite comes far short - of illustrating the unity - subsisting - between God - and -him- who - keeps -his-royal-law. Says the apostle, "He that- dwellethin love, - dwelleth in God, - and - God-in him ;" - love - merges - his heart in the heart of God, - a tributary - to that- ocean