out all these things for himself: and there are too many varieties of the wave to justify any thing like an entire enumeration of them. I shall name a few species.

Of the Emphasis of the Equal-single Wave of the Octave.

I can not at this moment give an example, from serious composition, of an octave in the above form. The piercing drawl of its intonation is only common in the play of vulgar snarlings, if indeed it is ever employed for any other purpose. It actively expresses surprise; and when heightened by the vanishing stress, aspiration, or guttural emphasis, it has the additional meaning of sneer and scorn. There is a difference in the effect of this symbol, according as it is made on a low or a high pitch of the voice. In the latter case, it has more of the character of raillery or mirthful comment than of canting contempt.

If the single-equal wave of the octave is inverted, the emphasis has the character of interrogation, from the ascent of the last constituent.

Of the Emphasis of the Equal-single Wave of the Fifth.

THIS element carries a degree of admiration, but less than that of the octave: as in the following example from the contest between Satan and Death.

And breath'st defiance here and scorn,

Where I reign king? and to enrage the more,
Thy king and lord!

Whoever will read the whole passage with the dramatic power which its composition justifies, will find he may set the element now under consideration, on the syllable thy,' as a full expression of the positiveness, vaunting authority and selfadmiration of the Goblin.

In order to show the difference in character between this direct wave, and its inverted form, let the latter be substituted in the above reading. The interrogative effect produced by

the ascent of its last constituent, will not only obscure the soul of the poet, but absolutely cross out his sense; for it will make Death ask a question, when he intends to be unanswerably affirmative.

I need not consume time by giving an example of the wave of the Third in its equal-single form. If we suppose an abatement in the degree of expression, all that was said of the character of the wave of the fifth, may be affirmed of it. It is more commonly employed than the fifth.

Nor need I say much of the emphasis of the direct and inverted wave of the Minor third; since it is employed for a purpose similar to that of its upward and downward constituents. It is, however, more expressive and has a longer quantity.

Of the Emphasis of the Unequal-single Wave.

I said formerly that the unequal wave is used as the symbol of admiration, surprise or interrogation, according as its course is direct or inverted in the wide variation of the dimensions of its constituents, and in its junction with vanishing stress or aspiration or guttural emphasis, it becomes the most eminent mark of scorn. The last word of the following contemptuous retort of Coriolanus on the Volscian general who had called him a boy of tears,' might perhaps be given as an instance of the ascent of a fifth and the subsequent descent of an octave.

False hound!

If you have writ your annals true, 'tis there
That, like an eagle in a dove-cote, I

Fluttered your Volces in Corioli;
Alone I did it.-Boy!

I say nothing here of the strong aspiration, necessary to blow out the scornful feeling of the speaker. I have heard this syllable pronounced on the Stage, with the simple downward emphasis. But there is more cool wonder and self-satisfaction in this intonation than belongs to the Roman's vexed baying of his revilers, and to his vehement retort of a charge of inconstancy, which he must have half acknowledged to himself.

In the following lines, from the contention between Brutus and Cassius, the word 'yea' may bear a direct-unequal wave, consisting of the rise of a tone or third, connected with the fall of a third or fifth.

For, from this day forth,

I'll use you for my mirth, yea, for my laughter,
When you are waspish.

If this word be given without aspiration, or vanishing stress, or guttural voice, I do not know that the expression will differ much from that of the equal wave. The sneer must therefore depend on the union of some one of these last named elements with the simple utterance.

The intonation of the italic-word 'wrong' in the following line, may be taken as an example of the emphasis of an unequal wave whose first constituent is a semitone; and the second a downward third or fifth, according to the force required by the sentiment:

You wrong me every way, you wrong me, Brutus.

I have turned over all the books within my reach without being able to find a sentence for illustrating a case of the double wave. Serious and elevated discourse can have all its purposes of feeling and sense fulfilled without it: and it is not the design. of this essay to point out to children and drolls, the scientific mode of derisively imitating the surprise of their neighbours, by the curling mockery of this vulgar element.

I have nothing to say about the Time of the concrete as a means of emphasis. The variations of its time are perceptible by strict attention: but they are so closely united with the modes of stress, that the separate consideration of them would be an unnecessary refinement.

Of the Emphasis of the Tremor.

The tremor may be applied to a succession of syllables, and thus, in a manner, constitute a tremulous melody. But we have here to consider its occasional application to one or two words in the current of speech.

When the tremor is made on a tonic element, in any interval except the semitone, it is the symbol of laughter: and consequently, in syllabic utterance it joins to the sense of the words on which it is set, the expression of joy and exultation.

Thou art the ruins of the noblest man,
That ever lived in the tide of times.

There is a sentiment of exultation, and a superlativeness of compliment in this eulogy, which can not be properly expressed by the smooth movement of the concrete. The first syllable of the emphatic word 'noblest,' when uttered with the tremulous intonation of the wave of the third or second, gives the vocal consummation to the feeling which suggests the exceeding measure of the praise.

When the tremor is formed of a single tonic, in the semitone or its waves, it constitutes the function of crying. When employed in the syllabic intonation of the chromatic melody it sets a more marked distinction on those emphatic words which express the sentiments of tenderness, grief, supplication, and other connatural states of feeling.

The following passage is taken from a dramatic part of Paradise Lost, in the tenth book; and if read with the personal action of the dialogue, calls for the highest coloring of the semitone, and of the tremulous movement.

Forsake me not thus, Adam! witness, Heaven,
What love sincere, and reverence in my heart
I bear thee, and unweeting have offended,

Unhappily deceived! Thy suppliant

I beg, and clasp thy knees; bereave me not,
Whereon I live, thy gentle looks, thy aid,
Thy counsel in this uttermost distress,
My only strength and stay. Forlorn of thee,
Whither shall I betake me, where subsist?
While yet we live, scarce one short hour perhaps,
Between us two let there be peace; both joining,

As joined in injuries, one enmity

Against a foe by doom express assigned us,
That cruel Serpent. On me exercise not

Thy hatred for this misery befallen;

On me already lost, me than thyself

More miserable? Both have sinned; but thou
Against God only; I, against God and thee;
And to the place of judgment will return,
There with my cries importune Heaven, that all
The sentence, from thy head removed, may light
On me, sole cause to thee of all this wo;
Me, me only, just object of his ire!

By the lines that follow in the poem, Eve is said to have 'ended weeping,' and her supplication, to have been accompanied with tears that ceased not flowing.' Now tears in speech are always made with more or less tremor. Should the semitonic tremor however be applied throughout the whole of this passage, the effect would be monotonous, and the characteristic concrete of speech would be lost in the agitated voice of crying. The mingled efficacy of these functions may be appropriately shown by using the tremor only on judiciously selected emphatic words. It may be well to remark that the above lines are not entirely subservient to the manner of delivery here suggested for some of the syllables which carry the deepest feeling of contrition, have not sufficient quantity to allow the eminent intonation of the tremor. The word 'beg' and the accented syllable of uttermost' are of this nature; for though they admit of the tremulous function to a certain degree, still their limited time does not fully satisfy the demands of sentiment for a free extension of the voice. The words 'bereave,' 'only,' 'forlorn,' 'thee,' and 'more,' through their indefinite quantity give ample measure to intonation. On these then, and others which might be designated, the tremor may be effectually set, whilst the rest of the melody, not so marked, must have the smooth concrete of the semitone.

A Recapitulating View of Emphasis.

UPON a close consideration of the foregoing subject, it will be found difficult to draw a definite line of separation between words which are emphatic, and the common run of the melody: in as much as some of the fainter cases of emphasis may scarcely differ from the simply accentual and temporal distinction of syllables.