the emphasis is often rendered more impressive by a prolongation of sound on the emphatic word. This is very apparent in Eve's lamentation, in Paradise Lost: is "Must I thus l-e-a-v-e thee, Paradise? thus l-e-a-v-e 2. So, also, in the morning hymn: "Join a-l-l ye creatures to extol H-i-m first, 3. Sometimes a pause before the emphatic word or phrase very beautiful and effective, as it awakens curiosity and excites expectation, and thus prepares the mind to attach increased importance to what follows. This is one of the rhetorical pauses, and may be called the emphatic pause.* The following selections furnish good illustrations of it: 4. a. "Earth's highest station ends in—' Here he lies.' b. "But mercy is above this sceptred sway; It is enthroned in the hearts of kings; It is an attribute-to God himself.”—Shakspeare. C. "And Nathan said unto David-Thou art the man." d. "With dying hand, above his head e. He shook the fragment of his blade, And shouted-VICTORY!"-W. Scott. "She's gone; I am abused; and my relief f. "What were they made for, then, you dog?' he cries: * See the casural pause illustrated, near the close of Lesson VIII. g. "And, with the black and heavy plumes scarce trembling on his head, There, in his dark, carved, oaken chair, old Rudiger satdead." 5. If, in the following, a pause be made immediately before the last clause, and that clause be pronounced in a deep monotone, a considerable degree of grandeur and beauty will be given to the rendering of the passage: "And now, my race of terror run, Then sinks at once—and all is night." Here the emphatic clause will naturally be pronounced in a deep monotone, by which the impression of emphasis is more deeply felt than if the clause had received great additional force in the delivery. LESSON V. 1. Where it is evidently necessary to emphasize some word, in order to bring out the sense, and to give variety, beauty, and force to the reading, the antithesis, if not suffi ciently apparent, may be sought for in some word or phrase that is in opposition or contradistinction to some given word, and, at the same time, in harmony with the general sense of that particular portion of the work. The point, then, is to ascertain what is the general sense of the passage in question; and we should be careful not to attribute a trite or common meaning to it, if the whole tenor of the context is of an elevated character. 2. Thus, in the following brief extract, in which Marcus, a character in Addison's Cato, expresses his indignation at the behavior of Cæsar, he says,— "I'm tortured even to madness when I think Of the proud victor." One might suppose that Marcus means to say,— "I'm tortured even to madness when I think Of the proud victor." 3. But this would be trite and commonplace; and it will be well to look for a rendering that is less common, and more in harmony with the dignity and elevation of sentiment of such a writer as Addison. We therefore try the following:- "I'm tortured even to madness when I think Of the proud victor.” This implies, that not only "when I hear or discourse of Cæsar, but even when I think of him, I'm tortured even to madness." We now say, at once, This is, evidently, the meaning intended, and the right word has been emphasized. LESSON VI. 1. Sometimes the emphatic pause is needed, not for embellishment only, but for the correct rendering of the author's meaning. Thus, it should be introduced immediately after the word green in the following passage; and the succeeding word one should be made emphatic; otherwise, the meaning will be wholly lost. It is the scene in which Macbeth, contemplating his blood-stained hands, after the murder of Duncan, says, "Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood Clean from my hands? No-these my hands will, rather, Making the green-one red."-Shakspeare. Here Macbeth means, that his hands are so deeply stained with blood, that, should he wash them in the wide ocean, it would make it one sea of red. 2. In Shakspeare's tragedy of Othello we have a line which, if pronounced without the emphatic word and emphatic pause, amounts to nothing, but which contains a volume of meaning when both are used. The jealous Othello, soliloquizing when about to kill his suspected, but innocent, sleeping wife, says, "Put out the light, and then-put out the light:"— that is, put out the taper, and then-kill Desdemona. 3. We exhibit the full meaning of the following passage in like manner, by the use of the emphatic pause, which here separates the two emphatic words: "Canst thou believe thy Prophet, or, what's more, That Power Supreme that made thee-and thy Prophet?" In the following brief extract the emphasis should gradually rise higher and higher in pitch, until the emphatic pause is reached, when the voice should fall to a deep monotone : "We may die; die colonists; die slaves; die ignominously,—and on the scaffold.” LESSON VII. 1. If the sense of what is read requires the frequent use of emphasis, it will generally be found desirable to vary it in force, in pitch, in quantity or prolongation of sound, or in any other manner which delicate feeling and a correct ear may deem appropriate, but for which no general rules can be given. In the following, from Dryden's "Alexander's Feast," it adds greatly to the beauty to pronounce the emphatic words with gradually increasing force: "Happy, happy, happy pair! None but the brave, None but the brave, None but the brave deserves the fair."-Dryden. 2. So, also, in Hamlet's description of man :— "What a piece of work is man! in form and moving how express and admirable! in action, how like an ANGEL! in apprehension,— how like a GOD!"—Shakspeare's Hamlet. The following examples show considerable variety in the application of emphatic force, with the occasional use of the emphatic pause: "Now let the watchword be, Country, HOME, and LIBERTY!” 3. a. "The war is inevitable-and-LET IT COME! I repeat it, sir-LET IT COME!" b. "I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me LIBERTY, or give me DEATH!"-Patrick Henry. c. "If I were an American, as I am an Englishman, while a foreign troop remained in my country, I never would lay down my arms-NEVER, NEVER, never!"—Pitt. d. "I warn you, do not DARE to insult me thus !" e. f. "Thou slave, thou WRETCH, thou COWARD! Thou little valiant, great in villany!"-Shakspeare. "I will not endure this,―never, NEVER, NEVER!" 4. And yet, after all that may be said or written about emphasis, and notwithstanding its great importance for correctly expressing the sentiments and feelings designed to be indicated in written language, it must be admitted that the best critics sometimes differ respecting its application. Thus, in the impressive ghost scene in Hamlet, the |