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in a soft high tone of voice, with an air of indifference, as if waving the advantages arising from his client's character; but the latter part assumes a lower and firmer tone, which greatly enforces and sets off the former.

The same observations hold good in the pronunciation of the following passage of his Oration against Rullus, who had proposed a law to sell the public lands:

I do not complain of the diminution of our revenues, and the woeful effects of this loss and damage. I omit what may give every one occasion for a very grievous and just complaint, that we could not preserve the principal estates of the public, the finest possession of the Roman people, the fund of our provisions, the granary of our wants, a revenue entrusted with the state; but that we must give up those lands to Rullus, which, after the power of Sylla, and the largesses of the Gracchi, are yet left us; I do not say, this is now the only revenue of the state, which continues when others cease; is an ornament in peace, fails us not in war, supports the army, and does not fear an enemy. I pass over all these things, and reserve them for my discourse to the people, and only speak at present of the danger of our peace and liberties.

Every member of this sentence, where there is a pause, must be pronounced with the rising inflexion, commonly called a suspension of voice; the whole must have an air of indifference, except the two or three last members, where the voice must fall into a lower and firmer tone at and reserve them, and continue in this tone to the end.

Anacoenósis.

ANACOENOSIS, or Communication, is a figure by which the speaker applies to his hearers or opponents for their opinion upon the point in

debate. Thus Cicero, in his Oration for Cæcina, appeals to Piso:

Suppose, Piso, that any person had driven you from your house by violence, how would you have behaved?

A similar appeal he makes use of in his Oration for Rabirius.

But what could you have done in such a case, and at such a juncture?-when to have sat still, or to have withdrawn, would have been cowardice; when the wickedness and fury of Saturninus had sent for you into the Capitol, and the consuls had called you to protect the safety and liberty of your country? Whose authority, whose voice, which party would you have followed? and whose orders would you have chosen to obey?

"This figure," says an ingenious author, "has "something of the air of conversation; and

though public discourses ought not to be "turned into mere conversation, yet a proper "and decent mixture of such a sort of freedom "entertains our hearers, both on account of its "variety, and its apparent condescension and good-nature." Gibbon's Rhetoric, p. 166.

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From the account we have given of this figure, it is sufficiently plain that it ought to be pronounced in an easy familiar middle tone of voice; without passion, and with such a frankness and openness of manner, as, if we were fully satisfied of the justice of our cause, and venture it to be decided on the common principles of reason and equity.

We have a shining example of this figure in the speech of the Lord Chief Justice to King Henry the Fifth, to excuse himself for committing him to prison for striking him in the execution of his office, when he was prince of Wales.

I then did use the person of your father;
The image of his power lay then in me;
And in th' administration of his law,

While I was busy for the commonwealtlı,
Your highness pleased to forget my place,
The majesty and pow'r of law and justice,
The image of the king whom I presented,
And struck me in the very seat of judgment;
Whereon, as an offender to your father,
I gave bold way to my authority,
And did commit you. If the deed were ill,
Be you contented, wearing now the garland,
To have a son set your decrees at nought,
To pluck down justice from your awful bench,
To trip the course of law, and blunt the sword
That guards the peace and safety of your person,-
Nay more, to spurn at your most royal image,
And mock your working in a second body.
Question your royal thoughts, make the case your's;
Be now the father, and propose a son;
Hear your own dignity so much profan'd;
See your most dreadful laws so loosely slighted;
Behold yourself so by a son disdain'd;
And then imagine me taking your part,
And in your pow'r so silencing your son.
After this cold consid'rance, sentence me;
And, as you are a king, speak in your state
What I have done that misbecame my place,
My person, or my liege's sovereignty.

The pronunciation of this speech will derive its greatest beauty from an attention to the Anacoenosis, beginning at the eleventh line. The preceding lines must paint the dignity of the office, the atrocity of the blow, and the courage and resolution of the commitment; but the succeeding lines must assume a different style: they must begin by a frankness of manner approaching to indifference, but gradually assume a dignity, as they begin to describe objects of power, authority, and grandeur. An easy and almost indifferent manner takes place again at Ques

tion your royal thoughts; but this manner, as in the preceding part, naturally slides into one more dignified at Hear your own dignity so much profan'd, &c.-but at the lines And then imagine me, &c. the voice again assumes the plain, open, frank, indifferent tone, till the concluding lines After this cold consid❜rance, &c. when the voice assumes a firmer tone, to indicate a consciousness of the justice of the cause, and a confidence in the uprightness of the determination.

Hypotyposis.

HYPOTYPOSIS, or Lively Description, is a representation of things in such strong and glowing colours, as to make them seem painted or transacted to the hearer's imagination.

This is the definition of the Hypotyposis, which we find in most of our books of rhetoric: but if the definition of a figure, which has been given at the beginning of this part of the present work, be a just one, Description is no more entitled to the appellation of a figure than Narration, Contemplation, Reflexion, or any similar expression of the mind. But, though rigorously speaking, it may not be a figure of rhetoric, it is a species of writing which deserves a very particular consideration, as it is the subject of delivery; for there is no part of composition which requires greater taste and judgment than that where the description of objects is strong and vivid, and where the sound seems an echo to the sense. Where the objects are common, and the subject without passion, the pronunciation ought to be plain, simple, and narrative; but where the objects are grand, sub

lime, and terrific, the delivery ought to assume those emotions which the objects naturally excite. Where we describe passion, our pronunciation must be impassioned, and thus we shall paint or draw a picture as it were of the objects or transactions we delineate. Those who perceive the necessity and beauty of this rhetorical colouring, and yet want taste and discernment to know where to bestow it, and in what degree, generally overcharge the picture, and give such a caricature as disgusts us more than a total absence of every ornament. Great care therefore must be taken in the delivery of description, that we do not become actors instead of describers, and mimics instead of relators.

Cicero's character of Catiline is a well-known instance of this figure.

He had the appearance of the greatest virtues; he made use of many ill men to carry on his designs, and pretended to be in the interest of the best men; he had a very engaging beha viour, and did not want industry or application; he gave into the greatest dissoluteness, but was a good soldier. Nor do I believe there ever was the like monster in the world, made up of such jarring and repugnant qualities and inclinations. Who at one time was more acceptable to the best men, and who more intimate with the worst? Who was once a better patriot, and who a greater enemy to this state? Who more devoted to pleasures, who more patient in labours? Who more rapacious, and yet more profuse? He suited himself to the humours of all he conversed with; was serious with the reserved, and pleasant with the jocose; grave with the aged, and facetious with the young; bold with the daring, and extravagant with the profligate.

- This description of Catiline, though uncommonly strong and animated, contains no striking imagery, no objects of terror or surprise, no traits of passion or emotion, and therefore re

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