The palace stone, looks gay. Thy crowded ports, Yet, like the mustering thunder, when provok'd, A dauntless soul erect, who smiled on death. And through the smooth barbarity of courts, To urge his course; him for the studious shade Plato, the Stagyrite, and Tully join'd. Through the deep windings of the human heart, Of classic ages in thy Milton met? Of blooming Eden fair, as Heaven sublime! And elegance, and taste; the faultless form, O Thou! by whose almighty nod the scale Send forth the saving virtues round the land On gentle deeds, and shedding tears through smiles; Courage composed and keen; sound Temperance, PRINCIPLE SEVENTH. -Thomson. THE ANTITHESIS OR EMPHATIC FORCE. There is not in the whole science of Elocution a more pervading principle than that of Emphasis. Its importance is universal, since its application modifies all the rules of Delivery. Although it is upon the system of inflection that the grace and significance of vocal modulation depend, and by it that nature instructs us to express our feelings; yet, as it is by the law of emphasis that the sense of a passage is mainly elicited, and the inflections themselves to a certain degree determined, it must be evident that in the judicious management of this principle the success of delivery greatly consists. Emphasis is that principle which fixes the word on which the sense, and, consequently, the modulation, of any particular member are concentrated. Is all emphasis antithetic? This question seems to involve a controversy regarding the use and meaning of certain terms rather than the nature of things; and perhaps it may tend to the clearer distinction of the accented and emphatic forces to assume, at once, that all emphasis is antithetical. It has been common with rhetoricians as well as elocutionists to distinguish the elements of speech into unaccented, accented, and emphatic words-including in the first class, all the more subordinate words of a sentence, which are chiefly used as connecting particles; in the second, those words of greater import, such as the noun and verb, which are the signs of objects and affirmations; and in the third, all those highly expressive terms upon which the sense of a passage chiefly turns. The elocutionist delivers the words of the first class in that tripping manner which affords him time for pronouncing more leisurely those of the second; and his principal inflections are reserved for words of the third class, which, from their superior importance as embodying the concentrated sense, have received the name emphatic. Now, it seems perfectly obvious that every word occupying this high position will be found to involve antithesis either expressed or understood. The words of the first class, the unaccented, receive no inflection but when in opposition. Antithesis has the power of rendering even these emphatic by conferring upon them a significance beyond their usual import. Thus "Let us be wise up to what is written, not above what is written." "We are not justified in àrguing against the truth, but fòr the truth." In these quotations, the particles up, above, against, for, become emphatic, and receive modulation from the antithesis they involve, whereas they are naturally unaccented words and exclude modulation. The accented words of a sentence admit of inflection inde pendent of antithesis, as there are many passages of such an ordinary character, as not to convey any very emphatic mean. ing. These will be found to involve no opposition, being merely of an affirmative character. Thus-" Màn is the wórkmanship of a great and bountiful Creator-thát Creator has made him for hígh and nóble pùrposes-he is intended for two distinct states of being." This, it will be perceived, is merely accented, and claims only a weak and even unim. portant modulation, whereas the following is antithetical and determines the modulation on certain terms, the superior importance of which cannot be disputed. "His first life is tránsient, the sécond permanent; the first corpóreal, the sécond spìritual; the fòrmer confined to time, the latter embracing eternity." What, then, it may be asked, are those words that seem to admit modulation from their own individual importance, not relatively but positively, as the words Creator, erds, being, in the former members? Are they not emphatic? They may be called by any name, but are not emphatic in the precise sense of the term. They are the most important words of their own sentence, but are not of equal import with the emphatic words of other sentences. They are merely accented words, and require less skill in their management, and incur less danger of being overlooked, than the emphatic. The superior importance of the emphatic force over the accented arises from this circumstance, that its right application depends upon a mental process of the reader. It is by a critical examination of the sense of the passage, that he arrives at the emphatic force; and it would certainly much facilitate the inquiry were he to abide by the general principle that antithetic words alone are emphatic; that words placed in contrast or comparison are alone entitled to that distinction; and that the sense of such terms cannot be traced farther than the doctrine of antithesis applies. It must be obvious |