(Alarm'd' by his sentinel', - the wolf', Whose howl's' his watch'), thus' with stealthy' pace' Towards his design' Moves like a ghost'. - Thou sound and firm-set Hear not my steps', - which way they walk', - for The very stones' - prate of my whereabouts', And take' the present horror' from the time', - Shakspeare. 11. O,-ye wild Groves', - Oh'! where' is now your bloom'? (The Muse interprets thus the tender thought') Your flowers, your verdure, and your balmy gloom', Of late so grateful' in the hour of drought'? Why' do the birds', - that song' and rapture' To all your bowers', - their mansions now forsake'? And the dead' foliage' flies' in many a shapeless' Yet' - such' the destiny' of all on earth', - Fair' as the bud' - his vernal mourn' breaks forth', Ye blighting Whirlwinds', -spare' his balmy prime',- PRACTICE. [In the following Examples, let the pupils, before reading them aloud, point out the FIGURES of speech.] 1. Address of Brutus over the Dead Body of Cæsar. Romans, Countrymen, and Lovers! hear me for my cause; and be silent, that you may hear: believe me for mine honour; and have respect to my honour, that ye may believe: censure me in your wisdom; and awake your senses, that ye may the better judge. If there be any in this assembly, any dear friend of Cæsar's, to him I say, that Brutus' love to Cæsar was no less than his! If, then, that friend demand why Brutus rose against Cæsar, this is my answer,-Not that I loved Cæsar less, but that I lov'd Rome more! Had you rather Cæsar were living, and die all slaves; than that Cæsar were dead, to live all free men? As Cæsar lov'd me, I weep for him; as he was fortunate, I rejoice at it; as he was valiant, I honour him; but as he was ambitious, I slew him. There are tears, for his love; joy, for his fortune; honour, for his valour; and death, for his ambition! Who is here so base that would be a bondman? If any, speak ;—for him have I offended? Who is here so rude that would not be a Roman? If any, speak ;-for him have I offended! Who is here so vile that will not love his country? If any, speak;-for him have I offended! I pause for a reply.--Shakspeare. 2. The Ocean. Roll on, thou deep and dark blue Ocean-roll! Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain; Man marks the earth with ruin-his control Stops with the shore. Upon the watery plain The wrecks are all thy deed, nor doth remain A shadow of man's ravage, save his own, When, for a moment, like a drop of rain, He sinks into thy depths with bubbling groan, Without a grave, unknelled, uncoffin'd, and unknown. Thou glorious mirror, where the Almighty's form Calm or convulsed-in breeze, or gale, or storm, Dark heaving; boundless, endless, and sublime ;— Of the Invisible! even from out thy slime The monsters of the deep are made; each zone Obeys thee; thou goest forth, dread, fathomless, alone! And I have loved thee, Ocean! and my joy Of youthful sports was on thy breast to be Borne, like thy bubbles, onward: from a boy I wanton'd with thy breakers; they to me Were a delight; and if the freshening sea Made them a terror,-'twas a pleasing fear! For I was, as it were, a child of thee, And trusted to thy billows far and near, And laid my hand upon thy mane-as I do here! 3. Sir Isaac Newton, as a Christian. Byron. Newton was a Christian! Newton, whose mind burst forth from the fetters fastened by nature upon our finite conceptions!-Newton, whose science was truth, and the foundation of whose knowledge of it was philosophynot those visionary and arrogant presumptions, which too often usurp its name; but philosophy resting upon the basis of mathematics, which, like figures, cannot lie!-Newton, who carried the line and rule to the utmost barrier of creation, and explored the principles by which all created matter is held together and exists!— Erskine. 4. Enterprise. But thou, O Goddess! in thy favourite Isle The wide earth's store-house, fenc'd about E That stretch a thousand thousand sails), And Love, when worthiest of his name, 5. King Lear, in a Storm. Wordsworth. Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks: rage, blow! You cataracts, and hurricanoes, spout Till you have drench'd our steeples, drown'd the cocks! Singe my white head. And thou, all-shaking thunder, Rumble thy bellyful, spit fire, spout rain! Nor rain, wind, thunder, fire, are my daughters! 6. Pious Trust in Affliction. Shakspeare. Hast thou no Trust? no Helper? Go to Him He that directs the blind bird's weary flight, CHAPTER XVII.-Pause, Inflections, and Modulation, with Graduated Force. CLIMAX OR AMPLIFICATION. Climax or Amplification has its basis in Enumeration or Series; but as a figure of Rhetoric and Elocution has much greater force when its subjects successively increase in importance, and it is used to express strong emotional excitement. In reading, it requires the voice to be gradually raised or energised, as the subjects approach their highest point, or climax. Here, however, boisterousness of manner must not be mistaken for energy of expression. The graduated force of voice is denoted by the index figures 1, 2, 3, &c. SIMULTANEOUS EXERCISES. 1. What shall we say', - when a woman' guilty of homicide', - a mother' of the murder' of her own child', - comprises so many misdeeds in one single crime'? - a crime' - in its own nature - detestible'1; - in a woman' - prodigious'2; - in a mother' - incredible'3. And - perpetrated against one, whose age' called for compassion'1; whose near relation claimed affection'2; - and whose innocence - deserved' the highest' favours'3. 2. But my lords', - who' is the man, that - in addition to the disgraces' and mischiefs of the war', has dared' to authorise' - and associate' to our arms', the tomahawk' and the scalping-knife' of the savage'1?— to call into civilized alliance, - the wild' and inhuman' inhabitants' of the woods'??-to delegate to the merciless' Indian', - the defence of disputed rights'3?-and to wage the horrors' of his barbarous' war' - against |