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ELEMENTS OF ELOCUTION.

A little practice, it is believed, will give the reader a perfect command of his voice in all the degrees of tone from the lowest to the highest notes to which the voice can be raised.

ACCENT.

Accent is a stress of voice given to a particular syllable to distinguish it from others in the same word; as in the word a-tone'-ment, the stress is laid on the second syllable. Accent is, in a measure, dependent on emphasis, and is transposed where the claims of emphasis require it; as when words occur, which have a partial sameness in form, but are contrasted in sense; as,

Neither justice nor injustice.

Neither hónor nor dishonor.

He must increase but I must decrease.

He that ascended is the same as be that descended
Neither lawful nor unlawful.

Neither worthy nor unworthy.

EMPHASIS.

Emphasis is a stress of voice laid on particular words in a sentence, tc distinguish them from others, and convey their meaning in the best manner; as, "You were not sent here to play, but to study." The learner will perceive that the words play and study are pronounced with more force than the rest of the sentence, and are therefore termed the emphatical words.

A word, on which the meaning of a sentence is suspended, or placed in contrast, or in opposition to other words, is always emphatical.

As to the degree or intensity of force that the reader or speaker should give to important words in a sentence, no particular rules can be given. He must enter into the spirit of what he reads-feel the sentiment expressed, and he will seldom fail in giving each word its proper force, or emphatic stress. Emphasis is ever associated with thought and emotion; and he who would become eminent as a reader, or speaker, must remember that the "soul of eloquence is feeling."

EXAMPLES FOR EXERCISE.

I do not request your attention, but demand it.
It is not so difficult to talk well, as to live well.
Prosperity gains friends, adversity tries them.
'Tis hard to say, if greater want of skill
Appear in writing or in judging ill.
Angels! and ministers of grace,-defend us.
I come to bury Cæsar, not to praise him.

A METHOD OF MARKING THE DIFFERENT FORCES OF WORDS. Various methods have been devised to mark the different forces of words in sentences, in such a manner as to convey a clear idea of the pronunciation. The most simple and practical method is to unite the unaccented words to those that are accented, as if they were syllables of them. This classification naturally divides a sentence into just so many portions, as it contains accents; as in the following sentence:

Prosperity gains friends | and adversity | tries them.

When there is no uncommon emphasis in a sentence, we can pronounce it with more or fewer accents, without materially affecting the sense. The

following sentence may be pronounced in four portions, or in ten, without
any injury to the sense of it.

Pitchuponthatcourseoflife | whichisthemostéxcellent | andcustom | will
makeitthemostdelightful.

Pitch | uponthát course | oflife | whichisthemòst | éxcellent | andcus-
tom willmakeit | themost | delightful.

J

Some place the bliss in action | some | in ease.
Those call it pleasure | and contentment | these.
The following extract from the poems of Ossian is inserted as scored
by Dr. Rush:

And is the son of Semo fallen? | Mournful are Tura's walls. | Sorrow

dwells at Dunscai. | Thy spouse is left alone in her youth. The son of

thy love is alone! | He shall come to Bragela, | and ask why she weeps 2

He shall lift his eyes to the wall, | and see his father's sword. | Whose

sword is that? | he will say. The soul of his mother is sad. | Who is
that, like the hart of the desert, | in the murmur of his course? | His
eyes look wildly round | in search of his friend. | Conal | son of Colgar, |
where hast thou been when the mighty fell? | Did the seas of Cogorma
roll round thee? | Was the wind of the south in thy sails? | The mighty
have fallen in battle, | and thou wast not there. | Let none tell it in Sel-
ma, nor in Morven's woody land. | Fingal will be sad, and the sons
of the desert mourn.

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115 On Sincerity,

116 Story of Le Fevre,

Tillotson. 228
Sterne. 230

119 Speech of a Scythian Ambassador to Alexander, Q. Curtius. 244

120 Diogenes at the Isthmian Games,
125 The Nature of True Eloquence,

126 The Perfect Orator,

127. Rolla's Address to the Peruvians,
132. Character of William Pitt,
133. Character of the Puritans,

134. Character of Washington,

245

D. Webster. 254

Sheridan. 254
Sheridan. 255

138. Address to the Patriots of the Revolution,

139. Specimen of the Eloquence of James Otis,
140. On Conciliation with America,

267

Edinburgh Review. 268

Phillips. 271
D. Webster. 275

Burke.

141. Speech on the Question of War with England, Patrick Henry.
146. Hannibal to Scipio Africanus,

147. Scipio's Reply to Hannibal,

149. Brutus Speech on the Death of Cesar,

277

278

280
288

290

Shakspeare. 293

LESSONS IN POETRY.

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300

159. The Cuckoo,

160. The Star of Bethlehem,

161. The Last Man,

162. Picture of a Good Man,

163. Hymn on a Review of the Seasons,
164. Questions and Answers,

165. On the death of Mrs. Mason,

166. Ode from the 19th Psalm,

167. Rest in Heaven,

168. The Star of Bethlehem,

169. Address to Time,

170. Absalom,

171. The Miami Mounds,

172. On Time,

173. Jugurtha in Prison,

174. Rienzi's Address to the Romans,

175. Battle of Waterloo,

176. Power of Eloquence,

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