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English language, and who must remain a source of admiration to the enlightened, and of instruction to those who seek for Rhetorical and Belles Lettres information.

NOTE. The above tribute to departed merit, is not invidiously paid with a view of derogating from the merits of subsequent and powerful writers on the same subject; but in justice to the pioneer who cleared the soil, and rendered it receptive of the high cultivation since bestowed upon it.

AN ESSAY

ON

ELOCUTION.

ELOCUTION may be said to be comprised under the following heads :---Articulation, Accent, Emphasis, Pronunciation, Climax, Suspension, Parenthesis, Antithesis, Monotony, or Monotone, Modulation, Enumeration, or Amplification, Pauses, Irony, Alliteration, Iteration, Interrogation, Per-sonation, Metaphor, Comparison, Personification, or Prosopopoeia, Apostrophe, Action. They shall be treated of in their turns.

I. ARTICULATION.

Articulation is the production of distinct sounds, formed by the unition of the organs of speech, an especial mark of favor, allotted to us by the Deity, and one of the most estimable of his gifts.

Articulation should be clear and distinct, not in syllables and words only, but even to the very letter; for as in the formation of the most noble architec-tural structure, a union of various blocks of granite, marble, or other solid substance is indispensable, so, in the formation of language, a distinct articulation unites the various parts, and, from what would otherwise be an unintelligible mass, produces a perfect and harmonious whole. Those rules already published upon this subject, preclude the necessity of further remark here, as they are sufficiently lu

minous.

II. ACCENT.

Accent consists in laying a particular stress on a certain syllable, or the syllables of a word, which gives such syllable, or syllables, force, and marks the grammatical form.

The change of accent altering the part of speech,

from a substantive to a verb.

Emphasis alters the regular seat of accent.

Example.

Some poets may be compared with others, but Milton and Shakspeare are in comparable.

The regular accent would be incomparable.

III. EMPHASIS.

Emphasis produces a primary beauty of oratory; it gives the nice distinctions of meaning, the refined conceptions which language is capable of expressing, and imparts a force and harmony to composition which its absence would render lifeless, and frequently unintelligible.

The following question will prove the great nicety and utility of emphasis for the mode of emphasising it, will give four different meanings

"Do you go to Europe this year?" If the question be asked without a stress on any particular word, the replicant may say yes, or no; if on you, he may say no, I send. If on Europe, he may say no, to India. If on this year, he may say no, next year. The best rule for emphasising justly, is to study the true meaning of the author, and lay the stress upon such words as you would make impressive, were you conversing upon the same subject. The following examples will sufficiently elucidate the force and beauty of Emphasis.

"It must be so-Plato thou reason'st well-
Else whence this pleasing hope, this fond desire,
This longing after immortality?

Or whence this secret dread and inward horror,
Of falling into nought? Why shrinks the soul
Back on herself, and startles at destruction?
"Tis the divinity that stirs within us;
'Tis heav'n itself that points out an hereafter,
And intimates eternity to man.
Eternity! thou pleasing, dreadful thought!
Thro' what variety of untry'd being,
Thro' what new scenes and changes must we pass!
The wide, th' unbounded prospect lies before me;
But shadows, clouds, and darkness rest upon it.
Here will I hold. If there's a pow'r above us,
And that there is, all nature cries aloud
Thro' all her works, he must delight in virtue;
And that which he delights in, must be happy.
But when? or where ?-This world was made for

Cæsar.

I'm weary of conjectures-this must end 'em.

Thus am I doubly arm'd. My death and life,
My bane and antidote are both before me.
This in a moment brings me to an end;
But this informs me I shall never die.

The soul, secur'd in her existence, smiles
At the drawn dagger, and defies its point:
'The stars shall fade away, the sun himself
Grow dim with age and nature sink in years:
But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth,
Unhurt amidst the war of elements,

The wreck of matter and the crash of worlds."

TRAGEDY OF CATO.