66 -- and unsteady voice of juvenile readers, and the unsatisfactory current of utterance in the style of some professional speakers, is owing to the want of a firmly marked "rhythm," a fault which necessarily produces to the ear of the hearer a wandering uncertainty of effect. Time," to which "rhythm," is subordinate, demands precision and exactness, when applied as a measure of speech. Some readers, however, err on the extreme of marking time too prominently, and with a jerking accent, which offends the ear by causing reading to resemble a music lesson in "accent," accompanied with a heavy “beat,” for the sake of awakening the attention of a learner whose 66 organ of time" is dull. The style of practice in the first stages, must, of course, be characterized by full and distinct effect, even at the hazard of seeming labored and forced, if the reader's ear is not naturally susceptible, and requires powerful impressions. But much practice should be added, with a view to produce smoothness and delicacy; as the painter does not rest satisfied with the mere blocking out of light and shadow in his picture, but labors till he has secured that exquisite finish, which is the crowning grace, in every successful attempt of art; and art fails in its endeavors, if it does not present nature in the union of beauty and truth. EXAMPLES OF "RHYTHM." 1.- Declamatory Style. [FROM A SERMON OF ROBERT HALL.] "It re- | mains with | you then |1 to de- | cide | whether that freedomat | whose | voice | the | kingdoms of Europe | a- | woke from the | sleep of | ages, | to | run a ca- | reer of | virtuous | 2 emu- | lation | pelled the | great and good; the | freedom | | nations touch ། in | everything | which dis- | and in- | vited the in-vited | whose | magic the en- | thusi asm of poetry, and the | flame of | eloquence; |~|~ the freedom which | poured into our | lap and arts, | ¦ numerable | 2 insti- | tutions and im- | provements, | 2 opulence | and embellished | life | with in- | it is for whether | this | freedom | shall till it be- | came a | theatre of | wonders; you to de- cide yet sur- | vive, | or | perish | for- | ever." 1 "Rhythmical" pause. 2 A "secondary" instead of the usual "primary," accent. 2.-Poetic expression in Prosc. [PASSAGES OF SCRIPTURE INTRODUCED IN THE BURIAL SERVICE.] 1 "I am the 1 Resur- | rection | and the | life, |◄◄ be- | lieveth in | me, | yet shall he | live: | I know that he shall earth, that my Re- | deemer | liveth, | | and stand at the | latter | day upon the | | ཤ and though | worms de- | stroy this | body, | yet in my flesh | shall I see | God." ||--| ཡ 3.-Sentiment, in Didactic Style. [GOLDSMITH.] "Writers of every | age | have en- | deavored to | show that pleasure is in | us, | and | not in the | objects offered for our a- musement. |--|If the soul be happily dis- | posed, || everything | be- comes capable of af- | fording | enter- tainment ; | | and distress will almost | want a | name. | Every oc- currence | passes in re- | view like the figures of a pro- | cession; some | | may be awkward, || others none but a fool | is, for this, ཡ master of the ceremonies. | ill | dressed; but | en- | raged with the | 4.-Splendor and Pathos. [BURKE'S DESCRIPTION OF MARIE ANTOINETTE.] "It is | now, sixteen or | seventeen | years saw the Queen of | France, at Versailles: and 1 since I then the | Dauphiness, | surely | never | lighted on this orb, which she | hardly | seemed to | touch, and | cheering a more delightful | vision. I saw her | just a-bove the ho- | rizon, || decorating | the elevated | sphere she just be gan to move 1 A "secondary," instead of the usual "primary,” accent. in: glittering, like the morning | star: || full of life, must I have, | motion, and | what a | heart to con- template with- | out ethat ele- | vation | and | that | fall.” ~ | 5.-Oratorical Declamation. [LORD CHATHAM.] fortune 1 and "I cannot, my | Lords, I will not, | join | in con- gratulation on misand dis- grace. ||| | | This, my lords, is a perilous tremendous moment; it is not a | time for | adu- | lation: || the | smoothness of | flattery |◄◄| cannot save us | in this | rugged and | awful | crisis. | I || It is | now | necessary to in- | struct the | throne | in the | language of | truth. |~~|~~| We| must,◄|◄ if | possible, | dis- | pel the de- | lusion and | darkness which en- | velope it; || and dis- | play, in its full danger | and | genuine | colors, | the | ruin which is | brought to our doors." || a 6.-Sentiment, in Didactic Style. [ADDISON.] — "I know but | one | way of | forti- | fying my | soul gainst gloomy | presages and | terrors of | mind; | and that is, by se- | curing to my- | self◄|◄ the | friendship and pro- | tection of ❘ that | Being | who dis- | poses of e- | vents, | and | governs fu- | turity. He sees, at | one | view, | | 1 the whole thread of my ex- | istence, not only that | part of it which I have al- | ready | passed | through, |◄ but that which runs | forward | into | all the | depths of e- ternity. When I lay me | down to | | | sleep, I recom- | mend myself to | his care; || when I a-wake, I give myself | up to | his di- | rection. Amidst | all the | evils that | threaten me, I will look up to | him for | help; || and | question not but he will | either a- | vert them, | or | turn them to ། my advantage. the time nor the | manner Though I know | neither of the | death | I am to | die, | I am not at all so- | licitous a- | bout it; || be- | and sup- | port cause I am sure that | he knows them | both, |~|~ and that he will not | fail to | comfort me under them." |~~|~~l 7.-Sentiment, in Didactic Style. [JOHNSON.] "Kindness is pre- | served by a | constant re- | cipro- cation of benefits | or | interchange of | pleasures; | I but such | benefits | only | can be be- | stowed, | as others are | capable of re- |ceiving, | pleasures im- parted, | as | others en- | joy. ||49| and | such | are | qualified to By | this de- | scent from the | pinnacles of | art | no | honor will be | lost; || for the | conde- | scensions ། are | always | over- | paid | by | gratitude. An | elevated | genius | em- | ployed in | ginus, |◄ like the | sun | ༥ in his | evening | decli- | nation : he re- | mits his | splendor, but re- | tains his | pleases | more, though he| magnitude; and dazzles | less." | ~~ | or The difference of effect in "rhythmical accent," it will be perceived, on closely examining the style of the preceding passages, is greatly dependent on the number of syllables included within each "bar," and, not less, on the pauses, which are also included in the "rhythm," and therefore enclosed within the bars; since the "time" of the voice necessarily includes its rests and intermissions, as well as its sounds. 66 "Rhythm" depends, farther, on the position of the accented syllable which takes on the emphasis of a phrase, as well as on the different species of accent, as 66 radical," "concrete," "temporal." Compare, particularly, the contents of the "bars the last few lines of the last two examples. They will be found to imbody the expressive genius of each author, and "clothe his thought in fitting sound." The meek and quiet spirit of Addison, breathes in the plain, conversational, and comparatively uniform style of "rhythm," in the close of the paragraph quoted from him; and the noble soul, but mechanical ear, of Johnson, are equally expressed in the sweeping "rhythm" of "quantity" and pause, and measured antiphony, in the cadence of the last sentence extracted from the in 66 99 66 966 move Rambler. The limits of an elementary work like the present, will not admit the details of analysis by which the peculiar character of each of the authors quoted might be verified by his peculiar "rhythm." But in the statements already made on quantity," pause, ," "accent," and "rhythm," the implements of analysis have been furnished; and the exercise of applying them may be left to the teacher and the student. ment, III.-Prosodial Accent, or "Metre.” The term "metre," or 66 measure," is applied, in prosody and in elocution, to that exact gauge of "rhythm," which is furnished in the process of prosodial analysis termed "scanning," by which a 99 verse, or line of poetry, is resolved into its constituent " quantities" and " accents.' 66 "Metre," as a branch of prosody, comprehends, in our language, both "quantity" and "accent." The ancient languages, and those of modern Europe, generally, are less favorable than ours, to this union. The Greek and the Latin seem to have leaned chiefly on "quantity;" and we discern a similar tendency, though in an inferior degree, in the European continental languages, - particularly those of the South. A language abounding in long "quantities" of various sound, needs less aid from "accent," whether for distinctive enunciation or expression of feeling, than one redundant, like the English, in the number and force of its consonants. The racy energy of English enunciation, is owing to the comparative force, spirit, and brilliancy of its accent, which strikes so instantaneously on the ear, with a bold" radical movement" and absorbing power, that compel the attention to the determining syllable of every word. It bespeaks at once the practical and energetic character of the people with whom it originated. Other modern languages seem to distribute the accent among all the syllables of a word, and to leave the ear doubtful to which it is meant to apply,-unless in the case of long vowels, in which they greatly excel, as regards the uses of music and of " pressive" speech, or impassioned modes of voice. ex In emphatic utterance, however, the firm grasp which our numerous hard consonants allow to the organs, in the act of articulation, gives a peculiar percussive force of explosion to the vowels that follow them in accented syllables; and the comparatively short duration of our unaccented sounds, causes those which are accented, when they possess long "quantity," to display it with powerful effect in the utterance of "expressive" emotion. Our poets sometimes turn this capability of the language to great account; and none abounds more in examples than Milton, whose ear seems to have detected and explored every element of expressive effect which his native tongue could furnish. Syllables have been classed, in prosody, as long or short, accented or unaccented; and the prosodial characters, (long,) and (short,) have been used to designate them to the eye. The same marks have been arbitrarily used to denote accented and unaccented syllables. The "rhythm" of verse as measured by "long" and "short |