hymns', by prayers and glorifications' we serve God's'glory', and the necessities' of men'; and by the tongue', our tables' are made' to differ' from mangers', our cities' from deserts', our churches from hordes of beasts' and flocks' of sheep'. Since nature' hath taught us to speak, and God' requires' it, and our thankfulness' obliges us, and our necessities engage' us, and charity' sometimes calls' for it, and innocence' is to be defended', and we are to speak' in the cause' of the oppressed', and open our mouths' in the cause of God'; and it is always' a seasonable' prayer, that God' would open our lips' that our mouth may do the work of heaven', and declare' his praises', and show forth his glory'; it concerns' us to take care that nature' be changed' into grace, necessity' into choice', that', while we speak' the greatness' of God', and minister to the needs' of our neighbours', and do the works' of life' and religion, of society' and prudence', we may be fitted' to bear a part' in the songs of the angels', when they shall rejoice' at the feast of the marriage' supper of the Lamb'. MARCELLUS TO THE MOB. Wherefore`re | joice? ||that | Cæsar' | comes'in ] What conquests | brings he | home? | 1What | tributaries | follow him to | Rome', his | chariot'] You blocks, you | stones', you worse than [ Have you climb'd up' to walls' and battlements', To towers' and windows', tops, yea', to chimney | Your infants' in your arms', and there' Be gone! run' to your houses', fall' upon REMARKS ON THE TONES AND INFLEXIONS OF THE ABOVE LINES. Marcellus, an enemy of Cæsar's, demands of the people who were rejoicing in the streets, on the occasion of Cæsar's being presented with a crown on the Lupercal, why they had left their homes? They answer, To rejoice for Cæsar. He rejoins, Wherefore rejoice? The emphatic word, then, evidently is wherefore; and in accordance with the rule on Interrogation, the falling inflexion is employed. The word rejoice follows in the same inflexion. The rising slide takes place on triumph, as the question is asked by the verb is, understood. "Is it that Cæsar comes in triumph ?" The tone of the first question is loud, as necessary to express indignation; in the second, irony is mixed with indignation, for Cæsar's triumph at this time was not in the usual way of triumph among the Romans. The irony becomes more apparent in the second and third lines, "What conquests brings he home?" &c. Cæsar at this time was bringing no conquests home, no tributaries followed him; the strained circumflex action of the voice, then, on conquests and tributaries, is necessary to express the full meaning. This movement is described in page 58, as differing from circumflex emphasis, as it has more force on the ascending slide, and comes off feebly on the descending. 66 Brings he home," and "follow him to Rome," are comparatively insignificant clauses, and follow in a light voice, unless it be sup posed that Marcellus had Pompey in his eye at the time, and wished to draw the minds of the people to the contrast; in this case, he would be emphatic. "You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things!" As indignation, though for a moment indulging in irony, cannot be supposed to continue long in this vein, the poet naturally makes Marcellus break out into the passionate exclamation, "You blocks, you stones," &c. In the pronunciation of the previous line, "To grace in captive bonds his chariot wheels," the indignation which bursts out in "You blocks," &c. should be developing itself; in the dying away of one passion, another may be seen advancing. The inflexion of the line, "You blocks," &c. is explained in page 59. "Oh you hard hearts, you cruel men of Rome, knew you not Pompey ?" The first words are the language of reproach, which expresses itself in low tones; the key of the first line, then, differs from that of the line immediately before, "You blocks," &c. Cruel may be pronounced with emphatic force, in order to denote degree; they were not merely hard-hearted or callous, but absolutely cruel. "Knew you not Pompey ?" is spoken in the loud tone of a triumphant appeal. Many a time and oft," &c. The voice here assumes a lower note, in accordance with the rule which was given on Modulation, that what followed in illustration or explanation began in a lower key. The voice rises, however, and swells with the climax; and, in the last line, "To see great Pompey pass the streets of Rome,' the speaker seems for a moment to forget his auditors, indulging his imagination for an instant in the memory of the spectacle which he delights to dwell on. "And do you now put on your best attire ?" &c. Sarcastic indignation may aspirate the tone a little here. The reason of the emphasis on now is apparent-You who rejoiced in honour of Pompey do all this now that his enemy comes. "Put on your best attire," and "cull out a holiday," are pronounced in a lighter voice, as the ideas are before virtually included in their rejoicing for Pompey. The third now may adopt the falling emphasis, to mark it more strongly, as the first nows refer generally to Cæsar's triumph; but the third brings it home with peculiar force-Do you rejoice now on that occasion when Cæsar is coming in triumph over Pompey's blood? The voice is exploded on blood with the rising inflexion, and must in its tone approximate to a feeling of horror. tr Begone! run to your houses," &c. The voice here assumes a tone of pity, intimating that their conduct was so enormously ungrateful, that they were sure subjects for the punishment of the gods; and that therefore man's indignation must be foregone. An example of successive emphasis is seen in the last line, "That needs' must' light on this ingratitude." THE MOTHER TO HER SLEEPING CHILD. Lo'!at the couch where' | infant' | beauty' | Her | silent' | watch the mournful' | mother' | keeps': | She', while the | lovely' | babe'un | conscious | Smiles' on her slumbering | child' with | pensive' | | | eyes', I And weaves' a song of melancholy* | joy': | 471 Sleep, image of thy father, sleep,my | No lingering | hour of sorrow' | shall be | thine', I *In a measure of four syllables, the third has what may be termed a secondary accent, as in melancholy, where the third syllable has a force greater than lan or ly. No' sigh' that | rends' thy | father's' | heart' and I mine: 1771 Bright as his | manly | sire', the son shall' be Inform'and | soul'; |77|but, | ah'! | more' [ blessed' than he': |77| Thy | fame, thy worth,thy | filial | love', Shall | soothe' this | aching | heart for | all the pasť, With | many'a | smile'|my| solitude' | re | pay',| And chase the world's'un generous' scorn' I a | way'. I The first line might have been measured | Lo! at the | but the feeling requiring a pause after "Lo!" at and the have been made the remiss syllables of the bar at the | the heavy syllable passing in silence. The sense requiring a pause after couch, the remiss action of the voice may be made up in silence, as the voice cannot be prolonged on the word couch. The remiss action of the voice is as long on where as the heavy action on the syllable in, in the succeeding bar, quantity being different from accent. The time of each bar, as was noticed in page 80, is the same; but the aliquot parts of bars may be different, provided they on the whole make up the sum of time. The tone of these lines is generally low, soft, slow. The musing of the mother is well expressed by the low voice, and the delight with which she dwells on the picture conjured up by maternal hope, calls for a prolonged pronunciation. There is variety, however, in the tones; the low ascends at times into a higher note, and the softness is occasionally given with a considerable swell. The first change of key in these lines may be at, "The mournful mother keeps". a sympathetic feeling in the reader prompts |