"The quality of mercy is not strained;
It droppeth, as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath: It is twice bless'd;
It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes:
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown:
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above the scepter'd sway,
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself:

And earthly power doth then show likest God's
When mercy seasons justice."

MERCHANT OF VENICE.

"And the Lord sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him, and said unto him, there were two men in one city; the one rich and the other poor.

"The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds;

"But the poor man had nothing save one little ewe-lamb, which he had bought and nourished up; and it grew up together with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own meat, and drink of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter.

"And there came a traveller unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him; but took the poor man's lamb, and dressed it for the man that was come to him.

"And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, as the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die;

"And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.

"And Nathan said to David, thou art the man."

2d SAMUEL, 12th CHAPTER.

V. CLIMAX.

A climax is a figure in rhetoric, which rises in force and dignity of expression with the sense, and is productive of much grandeur and effect. The rule for reading or speaking a climax, is to raise the voice progressively with the subject, until you come to its close.

Examples.

"The cloud-capt towers, the gorgeous palaces,

The solemn temple-"

PLAY OF THE TEMPEST.

"Sudden the heart

Of this young, conquering, loving, god-like Roman

66

"Days, months, years, and ages,—"

THOMSON.

W. W. DIMOND.

"What a piece of work is man! how noble in reason! how in finite in faculties! in form and moving, how express and admirable in action, how like an angel! in apprehension, how like a God!" HAMLET.

"For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will sit, also, upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High !"

VI. ANTI-CLIMAX.

This figure, the reverse of the Climax, frequently imparts force, beauty, and pathos to language. It should be read or spoken by commencing the subject in the middle tone of voice, then subduedly and progressively letting it fall until you come to the termination of the passage.

Examples.

"In helpless, hopeless, brokenness of heart."
"That fires not, wins not, weeps not now."

BYRON.

IBID.

"Were I an American, as I am an Englishman, while a foreign troop was landed in my country, I never would lay down my arms, never, never, never."

EARL OF CHATHAM IN DEFENCE OF AMERICA.

On the Inflections of the Voice.

Perhaps this may be a proper place to remark upon one of the most persuasive ornaments of reading and speaking, which is modulation. All the variations of the human voice spring from five inflections. The first of which, however paradoxical it may seem, is monotone, the second the rising, and the third the falling inflection, the fourth the falling, and the fifth the rising. High and low, loud and soft, quick and slow, may be considered comparative modifications, as what is high in one case may be low in another, and so of the rest.

Examples of Monotone, and of the rising and falling

Inflections.

"Or wet the thirsty earth with falling showers,

Rising or falling

Again,

MILTON'S MORNING HYMN.

Eternity! thou pleasing, dreadful thought!"

ADDISON.

Examples of the falling and rising Inflections.

"The tear,

The groan, the knell, the pall, the bier,
And all we know, or dream, or fear—”

An excursion on the highway may as clearly as any other way, point out the five inflections of the voice. Monotone being the first, we will suppose the smooth, level way, and as we cannot always have smooth level ways, we will suppose our next change to be an acclivity, which we will call the rising inflection. When we shall have reached the summit, we will suppose that we shall have to descend, which we will call the falling inflection. At the foot of the hill, we meet a level spot, which as above, we will call monotone. After travelling some distance on this level, we arrive at a descent which we will term the falling inflection; at the foot of which we have a hill, which we will call the fifth or rising inflection, and these straight forward, and up and down, down and up, and continual equalities and inequalities, form our road through life, and afford a species of elucidation of the five inflections of the human voice.

VII. SUSPENSION.

Suspension, which may be considered of two kinds, the protracted and the slight, is when properly managed, one of the most effective things in eloquence; it impresses the auditor, elicits his attention, and calls forth his applause. A good orator may hold an audience almost breathless under its influence. But care should be taken not to use the protracted suspensive pause, but

when the subject is of sufficient magnitude to bear the speaker out in its adoption; for if it be recurred to frequently, and upon trivial occasions, censure will be the result. The effect is to be produced by stopping and suspending the voice immediately before the passage, or part of a sentence, by which you mean to make what is in oratory called your point. When you stop, let it be with an elevation of voice, which will leave the sense broken and incomplete, then your hearers, being in expectation of something superlative, will, when it comes, amply reward you for the excitement and gratification of their expectations. There are two ways of reading the protracted suspensive pause. The one is, when you suspend in a loud tone, you should terminate in a subdued tone; and the reverse. Independently of the particular power above attributed to suspension in the protracted sense, there is another and a slighter kind of suspension, which has a general power over eloquence, for by that keeping up of the voice, while the necessary breathing time is taking, a disjunction of the sense, and a stop to the harmony of the subject, which would otherwise continually occur, is prevented, some sentences being so long that a speaker could not have sufficient breath to go through them, even rapidly, much less to give them force and harmony, unless he were to have recourse to suspension, which carries him and the meaning evenly along until it set both down safely at he period. Its power is such, that the speaker may stop when and where he pleases, without injury to the sense, if he be a perfect master of its use.

Examples of the protracted Suspensive Pause.

"And Nathan said to David-thou art the man."

"It is an attribute- -to God himself."

"Born for your use, I live but to obey you,
Know then-'twas I!!"

TRAGEDY OF THE REVENGE, Act 5.

VIII. PARENTHESIS.

Parenthesis, says Dr. Johnson, is a sentence so included in another sentence, as that it may be taken out without injuring the sense of that which encloses it. This figure, rather used to impart variety than elegance to composition, should be read or spoken in a quicker. and a lower tone of voice than the general subject. The reader or speaker, should slightly suspend his voice immediately before the parenthesis, and take up the same tone at its close.

Examples.

"This moon, which rose last night, (round as my shield,)
Had not yet filled her horns, when, (by her light,)

A band of fierce barbarians," &c.

"Beneath a mountain's brow, (the most remote
And inaccessible by shepherds trod,)

In a deep cave, (dug by no mortal hand,)

An hermit liv'd," &c.

TRAGEDY OF DOUGLAS.

"If there's a power above us,

(And that there is all nature cries aloud
Through all her works,) he must delight in virtue."

TRAGEDY OF CATO.

"Farewell, a long farewell to all my greatness!
This is the state of man; to-day he puts forth
The tender leaves of hope; to morrow blossoms,
And bears his blushing honours thick upon him;
The third day comes a frost, (a killing frost,)
And when he thinks, (good easy man,) full surely
His greatness is a ripening, nips his shoot,
And then he falls, as I do. I have ventured,
(Like little wanton boys, that swim on bladders,)
These many summers in a sea of glory:
But far beyond my depth: my high blown pride
At length broke under me; and now has left me,
(Weary and old with service,) to the mercy
Of a rude stream, that must forever hide me.

HENRY THE VIII