4. Metaphors, enigmas, mottoes, parables, fables, dreams, visions, dramatic writing, burlesque, and all the methods of allusion, are comprehended under Mr. Locke's definition of wit.

5. Common calamities and common blessings, fall heavily upon the envious.

6. A generous openness of heart, a calm deliberate courage, a prompt zeal for the public service, are at once constituents of true greatness, and the best evidences of it.

7. The splendour of the firmament, the verdure of the earth, the varied colours of the flowers, which fill the air with their fragrance, and the music of those artless voices which mingle on every tree; all conspire to captivate our hearts, and to swell them with the most rapturous delight.

8. To acquire a thorough knowledge of our own hearts and characters,-to restrain every irregular inclination,-to subdue every rebellious passion,-to purify the motives of our conduct,-to form ourselves to that temperance which no pleasure can seduce, to that meekness which no provocation can ruffle, to that patience which no affliction can overwhelm, and that integrity which no interest can shake; this is the task which is assigned to us,-a task which cannot be performed without the utmost diligence and care.

9. The beauty of a plain, the greatness of a mountain, the ornaments of a building, the expression of a picture, the composition of a discourse, the conduct of a third person, the proportions of different quantities and numbers, the various appearances which the great machine of the universe is perpetually exhibiting, the secret wheels and springs which produce them, all the general subjects of science and taste, are what we and our companions regard as having no peculiar relation to either of us.

EMPHASIS.

General Observations. Every sentence contains one or more words which are prominent, and peculiarly important, in the expression of meaning. These words are marked with a distinctive inflection; as may be observed by turning to some of the examples in the preceding lesson,-those, in particular, which illus trate the reading of strong emotion, or of antithesis. The learner will find, on repeating these examples, that the words which are pronounced with peculiar inflection, are uttered with more force than the other words in the same sentences. This special force is what is called emphasis. Its use is to impress more strikingly on the mind of the hearer the thought, or portion of thought, embodied in the particular word or phrase on which it is laid. It gives additional energy to important points in expression, by causing sounds which are peculiarly significant, to strike the ear with an appropriate and distinguishing force. It possesses, in regard to the sense of hearing, a similar advantage to that of 'relief,' or prominence to the eye, in a well executed picture; in which the figures seem to stand out from the canvass.

Emphasis, then, being the manner of pronouncing the most significant words, its office is of the utmost importance to an intelligible and impressive utterance. It is the manner of uttering emphatic words which decides the meaning of every sentence that is read or spoken. A true emphasis conveys a sentiment clearly and forcibly to the mind, and keeps the attention of an audience in active sympathy with the thoughts of the speaker: it gives full value and effect to all that he utters, and secures a lasting impression on the memory.

DEFINITION. Emphasis, when strictly defined, may be regarded as force of utterance, applied to a particular word or phrase, by unusual energy of articulation on accented syllables.

Note 1. That emphasis is chiefly a peculiar force of accent, will be apparent from the following illustration. Pronounce the word, Begone! in the tone of familiar and good-humoured expression: then repeat it in the tone of vehement or indignant command. In either case the first syllable of the word is nearly the same as to force. In the former state of feeling, the second syllable has very little more than the usual proportion of accent; but in the latter, the last syllable becomes vastly more energetic in comparison with the first. The result will be found similar in kind, though less in degree, in sentences which contain the emphasis of distinction or contrast. That emphasis should be to the ear merely a relative force of accent, is a natural consequence of the state of mind which gives rise to this modification of voice. The immediate mental cause of emphasis is earnestness, or intensity of thought or feeling, which necessarily leads to forcible utterance, or energetic articulation. The emphatic word is that which embodies and concentrates this state of mind, for the purpose of expression; and the accented syllable of such a word, as the determining and significant one, necessarily absorbs the energy of voice.

Note 2. Emphasis may be termed absolute, when it expresses strong emotion, or an idea which does not imply contrast.* Of the former we have examples in all sudden and forcible or emphatic exclamations, as in the following: "Gods! can a Roman senate long debate which of the two to choose, slavery or death?" Of the latter, (in which from the absence of emotion the force of utterance is of course much more moderate,) we may select the tone used in designating, announcing, or particularizing a subject: "It is my design in this paper to deliver down to posterity a faithful account of the Italian òpera, and of the grad

"Abso

Emphasis is of two kinds, absolute and relative." lute emphasis takes place, when the peculiar eminence of the thought is solely-singly considered." Knowles.

This wider view of emphasis, (and it ought, perhaps, to be extended still more,) seems more just than the restricted application of it, as given by Walker.

See farther on this subject Dr. Porter's Analysis.

ual progress which it has made upon the English stage."

Emphasis may be called relative, when a comparison of things unequal, or a contrast indicating a preference or preponderance, is implied or expressed. "My voice is still for war." "A countenance more in sorrow than in anger."

Thus,

Emphasis may be termed correspondent or antithetic, when there is a comparison of objects strictly equal, or a contrast not implying preference or preponderance. Thus, "As is the beginning so is the end." "In the one we most admire the mán; in the other, the work.” Emphasis is called single, when a contrast is restricted to two points; as in the following example : "We can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth."

Double and triple emphases are merely double and triple contrasts. Thus, "Custom is the plague of wise men, and the idol of fools." "A friend cannot be known in prospérity, and an enemy cannot be hidden in adversity."

"Emphatic phrase," is the designation of a clause in which there are several peculiarly significant or expressive words. "There was a time, then, my fellow-citizens, when the Lacedemonians were sovereign masters both by sea and land; while this state had nót one ship-no, NoT-ÓNE-WALL." "One of the

most eminent mathematicians of the age, has assured me that the greatest pleasure he took in reading Virgil, was in examining Æneas's voyage by the map; as I question not but many a modern compiler of history, would be delighted with little more-in that divine author-than the bare matters of fact."*

RULE. Pronounce emphatic words with a clear and decided force, sufficient to render them distinctly

* An unnecessary distinction is sometimes made in books on elocution between the above classes of examples; the former being termed emphatic phrases,' the latter instances of harmonic inflection.' The difference obviously lies in the inflected emphasis applying in the former case to words singly, while, in the latter, it extends to clauses. The difference is that which exists between the simple and the compound series.

prominent, and to impart full energy of feeling, peculiar meaning, or marked discrimination.

ERRORS. The prevailing fault, as regards emphasis, is the omission or slighting of it.

Hence arises a feebleness of expression, or a general monotony, in consequence of which the voice fails in giving those distinctions, or conveying that force of feeling, which are inseparable from a distinct and animated manner.

An omission of emphasis leaves the sense of whole passages obscure; and an error in the application of it, may cause an entire subversion of the meaning intended to be expressed. A sentence read without just emphasis, is an inert mass of sound, like a body destitute of life: the same sentence read with the discrimination and significance of true emphasis, becomes, as it were, a living and active being, exerting its appropriate energies.

The opposite fault is that of excessive anxiety about emphasis, and an unnecessary and formal marking of it, by studied force of expression.

This obtrusive tone is carefully to be avoided, as savouring of fastidiousness and pedantry, and indicating the presumption that the audience are so dull in intellect as not to appreciate the force of the speaker's language, unless he remind them of it by peculiar and pointed distinctions of voice.

A fault of local usage, prevailing throughout NewEngland, is that of giving all emphasis with the tone of the circumflex.

This peculiarity was mentioned under the head of inflection, and perhaps sufficiently explained to be clearly understood. It is a tone incompatible with simplicity and dignity of expression, and belongs properly to irony or ridicule,-to the peculiar significance of words and phrases embodying logical or grammatical niceties of distinction,-or to the studied. and peculiar emphasis which belongs to the utterance of a word intended to convey a pun. This fault would