Hope, of all passions, most befriends us here: Emphasis of Sense. In the following examples, both parts of the antithesis 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 mer'i which distinguishes them, but from the in'terest which governs ùs. The pleasures of the imagination are not so gróss as those of sense, nor so refin'ed as those of the understanding. That may generally be suspected to be right, 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 one 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 mor`tal to the skiés, 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, plausability is more essential than probability. He who is good before invisible witnesses, is eminently so before the visible. Neither justice nor injustice has any thing to do with the present question. Did he do it vóluntarily or in'voluntarily? He did it voluntarily, not in'voluntarily. 15, The following sentences exemplify the use of both the Circumflex 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. D I knew when seven justices could not take up a quarrel, but when the parties were met themselves, one of them thought but of an if; as if you said so, then I said sô: O ho! did you so? So they shook hands and swore brothers. Queen. Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended. Hamlet. Mother, you have my father much offended. My sentence is for open war: of wiles, .The humble Norval Is of a race who strive not but with deeds. Monotone. But what then'! Is it come to this'? Shall an inferior māgistrate, a governor, who holds his whole power of the Roman people, in a Roman province, within sight of Italy, bind, scourge, torture with red hot plates of iron, and at last, put to the infamous death of the cross, a Roman citizen! High on a throne of royal state, which far Hence! loath'd Melancholy, Of Cerberus, and blackest midnight born, In stygian cave forlorn, 'Mongst horrid shapes, and shrieks, and sights unholy, Find out some uncouth cell, Where brooding darkness spreads his jealous wings, And the night raven sings; There under ebon shades and low-brow'd rōcks, As ragged as thy locks, In dark Cimmerian desart ever dwell. 16th, When a sentence is so constructed as to have an enumeration of particulars, each particular rising gradually above the last in sense, it is a Climax or Gradation. This figure is most perfect, when the last idea in the former member becomes the first in the latter. As every climax is a series, it must be pronounced with an increasing swell and elevation of the voice. The Minor longs to be of age, then to be a man of business, then to make up an estàte, then to arrive at hon'ours, then to retire. I tell you, though yoù, though all the world, though an angel from heav'en, were to affirm the trúth of it, I could not believe it. Consult your whole nature: consider yourselves, not only as sensitive, but as rat'ional beings; not only as rational, but soc`ial ; not only as social, but immortal. The descriptive part of this allegory is likewise very strong, and full of sublime ideas: the figure of Death, the regal crown upon his head, his menace of Satan, his advancing to the combat, the outcry at his birth, are circumstances too noble to be passed over in silence, and extremely suitable to this king of terrors. Whom he did foreknow, he also did predes'tinate; and whom he did predestinate, them he also called ; and whom he called, them he also justified; and whom he justified, them he also glorified. For I am persuaded, that neither death nor life; nor ángel's, nor principálities, nor powèrs, nor things pres'ent, nor things to come: nor héight, nor dèpth; nor any creáture, shall be able to separate us from the love of Gód, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. There is no enjoyment of property without gòvernment, no government without a màgistrate; no magistrate without obedience; and no obédience, where every one acts as he pleases. What is there remaining of liberty, if whatever is their pleasure, it is lawful for them to do; if what is lawful for them to do, they dare do; if what they dare do, they really execute, and if what they execute, is no way offensive to you. If this guiltless infant had been murdered by its own nurse, what punishment would not the mother have demanded! with what cries and exclamations would she have stunned our ears! What shall we say then, when a woman guilty of homicide-a mother, of the murder of her own child, comprises so many misdeeds in one crime?-a crime in its own nature detestable ;-in a woman, prodigious; in a mother, incredible and perpetrated against one whose age called for compassion, whose near relation claimed affection, and whose innocence deserved the highest favour? There are in heaven, the redeemed of all people, nations, and languages: there are the heroes of religion, who for having turned many to righteousness, shine bright forever as the stars in the firmament: there are the angels powerful in strength; there are the seraphims burning with love: there are the thousand thousands that minister to the Eternal; and the ten thousand times ten thousand that stand before his throne. -Tis Rome demands our tears: The mistress of the world, the seat of empire! Base men, use them to so base effect; |