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betray him," and put him off his defence"when music likewise hath lent her aid, and tried her power upon the passions-when the voice of singing men and the voice of singing women," with the sound of the viol and the lute, have broke in upon his soul, and in some tender note have touched the secret springs of rapture that moment let us dissect and look into his heart see how vain! how weak! how empty a thing it is! Look through its several recesses those pure mansions formed for the reception of innocence and virtue sad spectacle! behold those fair inhabitants now dispossessedturned out of their sacred dwellings, to make room" -for what?"-at the best for levity and indiscretion-perhaps for folly-it may be for more unpure guests, which possibly, in so general a riot of the mind and senses, may take occasion to enter unsuspected at the same time."

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Sterne.

How did Garrick' speak the soliloquy last night?"-Oh! against all rule, my Lord-most ungrammatically!" betwixt the substantive and the adjective, which should agree together in number, case, and gender," he made a breach thus"▪

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stopping, as if the point wanted settling;-and betwixt the nominative case, which your Lordship knows should govern the verb," he suspended his voice in the epilogue a dozen times, three seconds and three fifths by a stop-watch, my Lord," each time-Admirable grammarian!"—but in suspending his voice-was the sense suspended likewise?" did no expression of attitude or countenance fill up the chasm?"-Was the eye silent? Did you narrowly look?-I looked only at the stopwatch, my Lord!"-Excellent observer!"

And what of this new book the whole world makes such a noise about? Oh! 'tis out of all.

plumb, my Lord,"—quite an irregular thing! not one of the angles at the four corners, was a right angle. I had my rule and compasses, my Lord, in my pocket!"-Excellent critic!"

And, for the epic poem your Lordship bid me look at upon taking the length, breadth," heighth, and depth of it," and trying them at home, upon an exact scale of Bossu's-'tis out, my Lord,' in every one of its dimensions."—Admirable connoisseur!"

And did you step in," to take a look at the grand picture in your way back?'Tis a melancholy daub! my Lord; not one principle of the pyramid in any one group !—and what a price!

for there is nothing of the colouring of Titian ". the expression of Reubens-the grace of Raphael'the purity of Domenichino-the correggiescity of Correggio-the learning of Poussin". the air of Guido”—the taste of Carracci1—or the grand contour of Angelo! -Grant me patience," just heaven!"—of all the cants which are canted in this canting world"—though the cant of hypocrites may be the worst-the cant of criticism is the most tormenting!"

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I would go fifty miles on foot to kiss the hand of that man whose generous heart will give up the reins of his imagination into his Author's hands-be pleased he knows not why, and cares not wherefore."

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It may possibly be objected to this improved system of rhetorical pauses, that it is difficult to place them properly; and even when they are so placed, that they croud and deform the page, and hurt its beauty to the eye. If it be granted, that rhetorical pauses are so indispensable, that we cannot pronounce a piece of composition without them, any visible marks to indi cate these pauses must be of the utmost consequence.

But how is it difficult to place them? Is it not difficult also to place the grammatical points? These we cannot place, unless we have a clear conception of the grammatical structure of the sentence. Nor can we place rhetorical pauses accurately, unless we are fully able to read the passage rhetorically, in many instances oratorically. The present points of grammarians are made to act in a double capacity; that is, to serve the purpose of both grammatical points and rhetorical pauses, and there are six of them, viz., ;: .?! Let these points be applied exclusively to their proper purposes, the grammatical structure of the sentence, and to no other; and let the four rhetorical pauses, viz. be solely applied for the purposes of reading and speaking. Our punctuation will then be wonderfully simplified, every pause necessary in reading distinctly ascertained as to its value in time, and its situation evident to the eye. This visible rhetorical punctuation, so long desiderated, will approach much nearer to perfection in reading than the present system can do with respect to the structure of a sentence, and the separation of its parts.

As to these marks of rhetorical pauses deforming the pages of a book, I think the taste of him who thinks so, and his sense of beauty, exactly on a par with his, who should maintain, that a page of music would be much more simple and beautiful to the eye, if there were no rests or musical pauses in it; because these rests, being introduced, where there are already so many flats and sharps, and naturals, deform the page, and produce a confused appearance to the eye. When beauty interferes with utility, "I'll none of

"it."

CHAP. V.

EMPHASIS.

EMPHASIS, in a general sense, means any degree of force or stress by which syllables, words, or clauses, are distinguished from one another.

Emphasis may be divided into four sorts:-Organic Emphasis; Syllabic Emphasis; Emphasis of Force, and Emphasis of Sense.

Emphasis of Force and Emphasis of Sense, are explained in CHAP. 12.

Organic Emphasis.

Organic Emphasis or stress, is that force which arises from the nature and position of the organs of speech; it takes place at the moment of articulation: as, him and her and you and me.

The syllables, him, her, you, me, have the organic force, or emphasis; and the syllable, and, is without emphasis, or light.

Syllabic Emphasis.

Syllabic Emphasis is that force which is given to some particular syllable superior to any other in the word: as, father, mother, reply, compose, veracity.

This force is improperly called by writers on grammar and elocution, accent.

As the modern use of the word accent, for syllabic emphasis, is a manifest source of much error and confusion; and as it is always of importance to have distinct names for different things, I hope this name, accent, will, in future, be assigned exclusively to those vocal inflexions, of which it is so aptly significant, and which is its original meaning. It is a great point gained to have accurate ideas of the nature of that modulation which belongs to speech, and what the essential difference is between speech and song. But, without a concurrent accuracy in the use of terms, we shall never be secure from occasional confusion, even of those ideas which we know to be distinct, and of which we understand the discrimination. A misapplication of the terms accent, emphasis and quantity, has led all our writers on grammar, elocution, and prosody egregiously wrong.

Custom and the genius of the language, are the sole regulators of syllabic emphasis, and in so far it is optional. Every word in our language, monosyllables excepted, must have one of its syllables distinguished by syllabic emphasis.

Organic emphasis is totally different, and is not dependent on any custom, or on the genius of any language whatever, but is fixed in the nature of the articulation of speech, and is as involuntary as the throb and remission of the pulse, or the ebb and flow of the breath.

The action of the organs of speech, in the formation of syllabic impulses, and the laws of physical necessity, which give rise to these actions, have hitherto been very imperfectly explained. From the nature of the organs of speech, action and re-action in forming and combining syllables in the articulation of language, is as natural as the stroke and counter stroke of the pendulum. Although this action, and the principle upon which it proceeds, are natural, and beautifully simple, they are understood by very few. This may arise, partly from the novelty of the subject, the attention not having been directed to it; and partly from its