beauty and ornament is poured forth on the face of nature! What a magnificent spectacle presented to. the view of man! What supply contrived for his wants? What a variety of objects set before him, to gratify his senses, to employ his understanding, to entertain his imagination, to cheer and gladden his heart!

O luxury!

Bane of elated life, of affluent states,
What dreary change, what ruin is not thine!
How doth thy bowl intoxicate the mind!
To the soft entrance of thy rosy cave,
How dost thou lure the fortunate and great!
Dreadful attraction!

10th, When a member is inserted into another, and neither affects the construction of the sentence, nor is in any degree necessary to the sense, it is called a parenthesis. In reading it, the voice ought to be lowered, the words pronounced somewhat quicker than the other parts of the sentence, and with the same pause and inflexion which is given to the clause immediately preceding.

EXAMPLES.

Though religion removes not all the evils of life, though it promises no continuance of undisturbed prosper'ity, (which, indeed, it were not salutary for man always to enjoy,) yet, if it mitigates the evils which necessarily belong to our state, it may justly be said to give "rest to them who labour and are heavy laden."

Then went the captain with the officers and brought them without violence; (for they feared the people, least they should be ston'ed ;) and when they had brought them, they set them before the council. Acts *. 26, 27.

Young master was alive last whitsuntide, said the coachman. Whitsuntide! alas! cried Trim', (éxtending his right arm, and falling instantly into the same attitude in which he read the sermon)-what is whitsuntide, Jon'athan (for that was the coachman's náme,) or shrovetide, or any tide or time to this? Are we not here now', continued the cor'poral (striking the end of his stick perpendicularly upon the floor, so as to give an idea of health and stabil'ity,) and are we not' (dropping his hat upon the ground',) gone in a moment?

EMPHASIS.

11th, If in every assemblage of objects, some appear more worthy of notice than others; if in every assemblage of ideas, which are pictures of these objects, the same difference prevail: it, consequently, must follow, that in every assemblage of words which are pictures of these ideas, the same degrees of importance will necessarily be found. The art of speaking, then, must principally consist in arranging each word into its proper class of importance, and then giving it a suitable delivery.-There are four obvious distinctions between the sound of words, with respect to force. First, The force necessary for the least important words, such as conjunctions, particles, &c. which may be called feeble or unaccented.-Second, The force necessary for substantives, verbs, &c. which may be called accented.-Third, That force which is used for distinguishing some words from others, commonly called emphasis of force: but only, when properly applied, enforces, graces, and enlivens, without in any degree, affecting or fixing the sense of any passage. Fourth, The force necessary for emphasis of sense.As opposition is the foundation of all emphasis of sense, whatever words are contrasted with, contradistinguished from, or set in opposition to, one another, they are always emphatic. Hence, whenever there is antithesis in the sense, whether words or clauses, there ought to be emphasis in the pronunciation,

If no emphasis be placed on words, not only is discourse rendered heavy and lifeless, but the meaning left ambiguous. If the emphasis be placed wrong, we pervert and confound the meaning wholly. To lay the emphasis, then, with exact propriety, is a constant exercise of good sense and attention. It is one of the most decisive trials of a true and just taste; and must arise from feeling delicately ourselves, and from judging accurately of what is fittest to strike the feelings of others.

The following examples illustrate the nature and use of emphasis of force and emphasis of sense; or, as they are sometimes called, inferior and superior emphasis.

EMPHASIS OF FORCE.

Many persons mistake the love for the practice of virtue.

Shall I reward his services with falsehood! shall I forget him who cannot forget me!

If his principles are false, no apology from himself can make them right; if founded in truth, no censure from others can make thern wrong.

Providence never intended, that any state here should be either completely happy, or entirely miserable.

No station is so high, no power so great, no character so unblemished, as to exempt men from being attacked with rashness, malice, or envy.

The external misfortunes of life, disappointments, poverty, and sickness, are nothing in comparison of those inward distresses of mind, occasioned by folly, by passion, and by guilt.

-What men could do,

Is done already; heaven and earth will witness,
That, if Rome MUST fall, we are innocent.

Though deep, yet clear; though gentle, yet not dull;
Strong, without rage; without o'erflowing, full.

Hope, of all passions, most befriends us here:
Passions of prouder name befriend us less.
Joy has her tears, and transport has her death.
Hope, like a cordial, innocent though strong,
Man's heart at once inspirits and serenes.

EMPHASIS OF SENSE.

In the following examples, both parts of the antith esis are expressed : in such sentences, the least degree of force proper for emphasis of sense is necessary. The emphatic words, however, are far from being feebly pronounced; they ought to have more stress than any other words in the sentence: even superior to those that require the emphasis of force, if any such occur in the sentence.

As it is the character of great wits, to say much in few words; so small wits seem to have the gift of speaking much, and saying little.

We judge of men, not from the merit which distinguishes them, but from the in'terest which governs ùs, The pleasures of the imagination are not so gross as those of sen'se, nor so refin'ed as those of the under stan'ding.

That may generally be suspected to be righ't, which requires many words to prove it wrong; and that wrong; which cannot, without much labour, appear to be right.

When a Persian soldier was reviling Alexander the Great, his officer reprimanded, saying, you were paid to fight against Alexander, and not to rail' at him.

The hours of a wise man are lengthened by his ideas, as those of a fool are by his passions; the time of the one is long, because he does not know what to do with it; so is that of the other, because he distinguishes every moment of it with useful and amusing thoughts: or, in other words, because the on'e is al

ways wishing it away', and the other always enjoy`ing it.

There seems to be some minds suited to great, and some to little employments; some formed to soar aloft, and others to grovel on the ground, and confine their regard to a narrow sphere. Of these, the one is in danger of becoming useless by a daring negligence, the other by a scrupulous solicitude: the one collects many ideas, but confused and indistinct; the other is buried in minute accuracy, but without compass, and without dignity.

Let old Timotheus yield the prize,
Or both' divide the crown ;

Hé rais'd a mortal to the skies,
Shè drew an ángel down'.

The following sentences afford examples where the emphasis changes the accent of the word.

He shall increase, but I shall decrease.
There is a difference between giving and forgiving.

In this species of composition, plausibillity is more essential than probabillity.

He who is good before invisible witnesses, is eminetly so before the visible.

Neither justice nor injustice, has any thing to do with the present question.

Did he do it voluntarily or in'voluntarily? He did it voluntarily, not in'voluntarily.

15th, The following sentences exemplify the use of both the Circumfiex inflexions and the Monotone. But it is foolish in us to compare Drusus Africanus and ourselves with Clodius: all our other calamities were tolerable; but no one can patiently bear the death of Clodius.

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