when music likewise hath lent her aid, and tried her power upon the pássions; when the voice of singing men, and the voice of singing women, with the sound of the viol and the lute, have broken in upon his soul, and in some tender notes have touched the secret springs of rápture,—that moment let us dissect and look into his heart;-see how vàin, how weak, how empty a thing it is! 5. Beside the ignorance of masters who teach the first rudiments of reading, and the want of skill, or negligence in that article, of those who teach the learned lánguages; beside the erroneous manner, which the untutored pupils fall into, through the want of early attention in masters, to correct small faults in the beginning, which increase and gain strength with years; beside bad habits contracted from imitation of particular persons, or the contagion of example, from a general prevalence of a certain tone or chant in reading or reciting, peculiar to each school, and regularly transmitted, from one generation of boys to another: beside all thése, which are fruitful sources of vicious elocution, there is one fundamental error, in the method universally used in teaching to read, which at first gives a wrong bias, and leads us ever after blindfold from the right path, under the guidance of a false rùle. 6. A guilty or a disconténted mind, a mind, ruffled by ill fortune, disconcerted by its own pássions, soured by néglect, or fretting at disappointments, hath not leisure to attend to the necessity or reasonableness of a kindness desíred, nor a taste for those pleasures which wait on beneficence, which demand a calm and unpolluted heart to rèlish them, 7. "I perfectly remember, that when Calidius prosecuted Q. Gallius for an attempt to poison hím, and pretended that he had the plainest proofs of it, and could produce many letters, witnesses, informations, and other evidences to put the truth of his charge beyond a doubt, interspersing many sensible and ingenious remarks on the nature of the crime; I remember," says Cicero, "that when it came to my turn to reply to him, after urging every argument which the case itself suggésted, I insisted upon it as a material circumstance in favor of my client, that the prosecutor, while he charged him with a design against his life, and assured us that he had the most indubitable proofs of it then in his hands, related his story with as much ease, and as much calmness and indifference, as if nothing had happened. "Would it have been possible," exclaimed Cicero, (addressing himself to Calídius,) "that you should speak with this air of unconcern, unless the charge was purely an invention of your ówn ?—and, above all, that you, whose eloquence has often vindicated the wrongs of other people with so much spirit, should speak so coolly of a crime which threatened your life?" 8. To acquire a thorough knowledge of our own hearts and characters, to restrain every irregular inclination,—to subdue every rebellious pássion,-to purify the motives of our conduct,-to form ourselves to that temperance which no pleasure can sedúce,-to that meekness which no provocation can rúffle,-to that patience which no affliction can overwhelm, and that integrity which no interest can sháke; 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 pláin, 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 pérson, the proportion of different quantities and númbers, the various appearances which the great machine of the universe is perpetually exhibiting, the secret wheels and springs which prodúce them, all the general subjects of science and táste, are what we and our companions regard as having no peculiar relation to eìther of us. 10. Should such a man, too fond to rule alóne, 15 While Wits and Templars every sentence ráise, Who but must láugh, if such a man there be? 11. For these reasons, the senate and people of Áthens, (with due veneration to the gods and heroes, and guardians of the Athenian city and territory, whose aid they now implóre; and with due attention to the virtue of their ancestors, to whom the general liberty of Greece was ever dearer than the particular interest or their own státe,) have resolved that a fleet of two hundred vessels shall be sent to sea, the admiral to cruise within the straits of Thermopylæ. As to my own abilities in spéaking, (for I shall admit this charge, although experience hath convinced me, that what is called the power of eloquence depends for the most part upon the héarers, and that the characters of public speakers are determined by that degree of favor which you vouchsafe to éach,) if long practice, I say, hath given me any proficiency in speaking, you have ever found it devoted to my country.* Of the various exceptions which fall under the rule of suspending inflection, the only one which needs additional exemplification, is that, where emphasis requires the intensive falling slide, to express the true sense. See pp. 32 & 43. In some cases of this sort, the omission of the falling slide only weakens the meaning; in others it subverts it. 1. If the population of this country were to remain stàtionary, a great increase of effort would be necessary to supply each family with a Bíble; how much more when this population is increasing every day. 2. The man who cherishes a strong ambition for preferment, if he does not fall into adulation and servility, is in danger of losing all manly independence. 3. For if the mighty works which have been done in thee had been done in Sòdom,† it would have remained unto this day. EXERCISE 6. Page 32. Tender emotion inclines the voice to the rising slide. 1. And when Joseph came home, they brought him the * I have not thought it necessary to give examples of the cases in which emphasis requires the falling slide at the close of a parenthesis. † Even in Sodom, is the paraphrase of this emphasis, and so in the two preceding examples. present which was in their hand, into the house, and bowed themselves to him, to the earth. And he asked them of their welfare, and said, Is your father well, the old mán of whom ye spake? Is hé yet alive?-And they answered, Thy servant our father is in good health, he is yet alive: and they bowed down their heads, and made obeisance.— And he lifted up his eyes, and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother's son, and said, Is this your younger brother, of whom ye spake unto me! And he said, God be gracious unto thee, my son.-And Joseph made haste; for his bowels did yearn upon his brother: and he sought where to wēep; and he entered into his chamber, and wept there. 2. Methinks I see a fair and lovely child, Till, quite o'ercome with pity, his white arms The tender-hearted child, lays down the book, A stranger who once gave him, long agó, 3. Ye who have anxiously and fondly watched Beside a fading friend, unconscious that The cheek's bright crimson, lovely to the view, Like nightshade with unwholesome beauty bloomed, 5 And that the sufferer's bright dilated eye, Like mouldering wood, owes to decay alone Its wondrous lústre:-ye who still have hoped, Even in death's dread presence, but at length Have heard the súmmons, (O heart-freezing cáll!) 10 To pay the last sad duties, and to hear The first earth thrówn, (sound deadliest to the soul!- 15 Of final separation to begin) Ye who have felt all this-O pay my verse Page 33. EXERCISE T. The indirect question and its answer have the falling inflection. The interrogative mark is here inverted, to render it significant of its office, in distinction from the direct question, which turns the voice upward. 1. The governor answered and said unto them, Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you¿ They said, Baràbbas. Pilate said unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus, which is called Christ; They all say unto him, Let him be crucified. And the governor said, Why; what èvil hath he done; But they cried out the more, saying, Let him be crucified. 2. Where now is the splendid robe of the cònsulate ¿ Where are the brilliant tòrches; Where are the applauses and dances, the feasts and entertainments; Where are the coronets and canopies; Where the huzzas of the city, the compliments of the circus, and the flattering acclamations of the spectators All these have perished. 3. I hold it to be an unquestionable position, that they who duly appreciate the blessings of liberty, revolt as much from the idea of exercising, as from that of enduring, oppres sion. How far this was the case with the Romans, you may inquire of those nations that surrounded them. Ask them, 'What insolent guard paraded before their gates, and invested their strong hòlds ¿' They will answer,' A Roman lègionary.' Demand of them, 'What greedy extortioner fattened by their poverty, and clothed himself by their nakedness;' They will inform you, 'A Roman Quaèstor.' Inquire of them, 'What imperious stranger issued to them his |