There wanted no more to enchain the attention. There was a spontaneous, though silent, expression of eager approbation, as the orator concluded these opening remarks, and while the clerk read the resolution many attempted the impossibility of getting nearer the speaker. Every head was inclined toward him, every ear turned in the direction of his voice, and that deep, sudden, mysterious silence followed, which always attends fullness of emotion. From the sea of upturned faces before him, the orator beheld his thoughts reflected as from a mirror. The varying countenance, the suffused eye, the earnest smile, the ever attentive look, assured him of his audience's entire sympathy. If among his hearers there were those who affected at first an indifference to his glowing thoughts and fervent words, the difficult mask was soon laid aside, and profound, undisguised, devoted attention followed. Those who had doubted Mr. Webster's ability to cope with and overcome his opponents were fully satisfied of their error before he had proceeded far in his speech. Their fears soon took another direction. When they heard his sentences of powerful thought, towering in accumulative grandeur, one above the other, as if the orator strove, Titan-like, to reach the very Heavens themselves; they were giddy with an apprehension that he would break down in his flight; they dared not believe that genius, learning, and intellectual endowment, however uncommon that was simply mortal, could sustain itself long in a career seemingly so perilous; they feared an Icarian fall. What New England heart was there but throbbed with vehement, tumultuous, irrepressible emotions as he dwelt upon New England struggles and New England triumphs during the war of the Revolution?

There was scarcely a dry eye in the Senate; all hearts were overcome; grave judges and men grown old in dignified life turned aside their heads to conceal the evidences of their emotion. In one corner of the gallery was clustered a group of Massachusetts men; they had hung from the first moment upon the words of the speaker, with feelings variously but always warmly excited, deepening in intensity as he proceeded. At first, while the orator was going through his exordium, they held their breath and hid their faces, mindful of the savage attack upon him and New England, and the fearful

odds against him, her champion:-as he went deeper into his speech they felt easier; when he turned Hayne's flank on Banquo's ghost they breathed freer and deeper. But now as he alluded to Massachusetts, their feelings were strained to their highest tension, and when the orator, concluding this encomium of the land of his birth, turned, unintentionally, or otherwise, his burning eye full upon them, they shed tears like girls. The exulting rush of feeling with which he went through the peroration threw a glow over his countenance, like inspiration—eye, brow, each feature, every line of his face seemed touched as with a celestial fire. The swell and roll of his voice struck upon the ears of the spell-bound audience, in deep and melodious cadence, as waves upon the shore of the far-resounding sea. The Miltonic grandeur of his words was the fit expression of his thought, and raised his hearers up to his theme. His voice, exerted to its utmost power, penetrated every recess and corner of the Senatepenetrated even the ante-rooms and stairways, as he pronounced in the deepest tones of pathos these words of solemn significance:

"When my eyes turn to behold for the last time the sun in heaven, may they not see him shining on the broken and dishonored fragments of a once glorious Union; on States dissevered, discordant, belligerent; on a land rent with civil feuds, or drenched, it may be, in fraternal blood. Let their last feeble and lingering glance rather behold the gorgeous ensign of the Republic, now known and honored throughout the earth, still full high advanced; its arms and trophies streaming in all their original luster; not a stripe erased or polluted; not a single star obscured; bearing for its motto no such miserable interrogatory as "What is all this worth?" nor those other words of delusion and folly, of Liberty first, and Union afterwards, but everywhere, spread all over in characters of living light, and blazing on all its ample folds, as they float over the sea and over the land, and in every wind under the whole heavens, that other sentiment dear to every American heart,-Liberty AND Union, —now and forever,—one and inseparable.

The speech was over, but the tones of the orator still lingered upon the ear, and the audience, unconscious of the close, remained in their positions. The agitated coun

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tenance, the heaving breast, the suffused eye, attested the continued influence of the spell upon them. Hands that in the excitement of the moment had sought each other still remained closed in an unconscious grasp. Eye still turned to eye, to receive and repay mutual sympathy, and everywhere around seemed forgetfulness of all but the orator's presence and words.-Charles W. March.

The last two selections, in the main, are good illustrations of elevated conversational address. A few passages requiring the fullest orotund quality are retained to preserve the symmetry and completeness of the selections.

PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS ON EMPHASIS,

INFLECTION AND CADENCE.

General treatises and lectures on elocution are of no great value to anybody. They may entertain popular audiences, and excite interest in good reading and speaking; but they do not, as a rule, touch upon the difficulties that perplex public speakers, nor do they offer specific directions for the attainment of desirable results. On the other hand, there is danger in following implicitly a highly-elaborated system. The enthusiastic student of elocutionary science may so expand his theories as clearly to invade the domain of individual taste, where no ipse dixit should be tolerated. Knowledge with discretion is needed that the pretension of ignorance and the folly of empiricism may be avoided. These cautions are called forth by the difficulties that surround the subject under discussion. It is one that requires all the knowledge and skill of the experienced teacher, who appreciates the limitations of elocutionary science.

It is not our purpose to discuss, at great length, the topics of emphasis, inflection, and cadence, but simply to make a few practical suggestions, as we have previously intimated.

EMPHASIS.

Correct emphasis in reading and speaking cannot be too highly commended. It demonstrates, at once, the intelligence of the speaker, and gives certainty of meaning to the thought expressed. It would be a questionable use of time to endeavor, by any set of rules, to indicate to students the emphatic words of a sentence. In every sentence there are one or more words upon which the meaning of the sentence turns. If the student has not sufficient intelligence to discover these words, it is very

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evident that he should continue his preparatory education. But when the meaning of the author is clearly apprehended, and the important words are made to stand out by the application of emphasis, then the significance of this agent of expression is seen and felt. It frequently happens that two speakers of equal intelligence and skill will emphasize a sentence or a verse from the Bible differently. This is not to be discouraged. It is rather to be encouraged, for truth is many-sided, and in this way we may see it from different intellectual standpoints. The main thing for the student, however, is to get a clear idea of the meaning of the text, and then to emphasize those words that will set forth with certainty the thought he wishes to express. Important as is the suggestion in the last sentence, it is nevertheless true that there is more practical difficulty in getting students to apply emphasis correctly, than in getting them to think the sentence clearly. This is due, in large measure, to two causes: first, lack of knowledge; second, complicated elocutionary requirements. How, then, is the application of emphasis retarded by lack of knowledge? In that students are ignorant of the vocal instrumentalities by which words are emphasized. The vocal agencies used for emphasis are: first, slide; second, pause; third, pitch; fourth, force; fifth, time; sixth, quality.

FIRST. The emphasis of the slide is a downward or an upward stroke of the voice, passing through the interval of a third, fifth, or octave on the musical scale, the length of the slide being determined by the intensity of the thought or emotion.

SECOND. The emphasis of pause is a sudden stop in speech, thereby exciting attention and giving weight or emphasis to the word momentarily withheld.

THIRD. The emphasis of pitch is a sudden change from the general pitch to a much higher or lower pitch, thereby arresting the attention, and giving significance to the words thus uttered.

FOURTH.-The emphasis of force is the utterance of certain words with greater loudness, thereby calling attention to their importance.

FIFTH. The emphasis of time is the retardation of the general rate of utterance, thereby calling attention to the words drawn out or retarded.