In order to acquire a habit of fpeaking with a juft and forcible emphafis, nothing more is neceffary, than previously to ftudy the construction, meaning, and spirit of every fentence and to adhere as nearly as poffible to the manner in which we diftinguifh one word from another in conversation; for in familiar difcourfe we scarcely ever fail to exprefs ourselves emphatically, and seldom place the emphasis improperly. With refpect to artificial helps, fuch as diftinguishing words and claufes of fentences by particular characters or marks; I believe it will always be found, upon trial, that they miflead inftead of affift the reader, by not leaving him at full liberty to follow his own understanding and feelings. The most common faults refpecting emphafis are, laying so strong an emphasis on one word as fo to leave no power of giving a particular force to other words, which, though not equally, are in a certain degree emphatical; and placing the greatest stress on conjunctive particles, and other words of fecondary importance. These faults are strongly characterised in Churchill's cenfure of Moffop. WITH ftudied improprieties of fpeech He foars beyond the hackney critic's reach, Whilft principals, ungrac'd, like lacquies wait; In ways firft trodden by himself excels, He, she, IT, AND, WE, YE, THEY, fright the foul. EMPHASIS is often deftroyed by an injudicious attempt to read melodioufly. Agreeable inflexious and eafy variations of the voice, as far as they arise from, or are confiftent with just speaking, are deferving of attention. But to fubftitute one unmeaning tune, in the room of all the proprieties and graces of good elocution, and then to applaud this manner, under the appellation of musical speaking, can only be the ef fect of great ignorance and inattention, or of a depraved taste. If public speaking must be mufical, let the words be fet to music in recitative, that these melodious speakers may no longer lie open to the farcafm; Do you read or fing? if you fing, you fing very ill. Seriously, it is much to be wondered at, that this kind of reading, which has fo little merit confidered as mufic, and none at all confidered as speaking, fhould be fo ftudioufly practifed by many speakers, and fo much admired by many hearers. Can a method of reading, which is fo entirely different different from the usual manner of converfation, be natural and right? Is it poffible that all the varieties of fentiment, which a Public speaker has occafion to introduce, fhould be properly expreffed by one melodious tone and cadence, employed alike on all occafions and for all purposes ? RULE VII. Acquire a juft variety of Paufe and Cadence. ONE of the worst faults a speaker can have, is to make no other pauses than what he finds barely neceffary for breathing. I know of nothing that such a speaker can so properly be compared to, as an alarum-bell, which, when once fet a going, clatters on till the weight that moves it is run down. Without pauses, the sense must always appear confufed and obfcure, and often be misunderstood; and the spirit and energy of the piece must be wholly loft. In executing this part of the office of a speaker, it will by no means be fufficient to attend to the points ufed in printing; for these are far from marking all the pauses which ought to be made in speaking. A mechanical attenion to these refting-places has perhaps been one chief cause of monotony, by leading the reader to an uniform found at every imperfe&t break, and an uniform cadence at every full period. The use of points is to affift the reader in difcerning the grammatical conftruction, not to direct his pronunciation. In reading, it may often be proper to make a pause where the printer has made none. Nay, it is very allowable for the fake of pointing out the sense more strongly, preparing the audience for what is to follow, or enabling the speaker to alter the tone or height of the voice, fometimes to make a very confiderable paufe, where the grammatical conftruction requires none at all. In doing this, however, it is neceffary that in the word immediately preceding the paufe, the voice be kept up in fuch a manner as to intimate to the hearer that the fenfe is not completed. Mr. GARRICK often obferved this rule with great fuccefs. This particular excellence Mr. Sterne has defcribed in his ufual fprightly manner. See the following work. Book VI. Chap. III. BEFORE a full pause, it has been customary in reading to drop the voice in a uniform manner; and this has been called the cadence. But fure ly nothing can be more deftructive of all propriety and energy than this habit. The tones and heights at the close of a sentence ought to be infinitely diverfified, according to the general nature of the difcourfe, and the particular construction and meaning of the sentence. In plain narrative, and especially in argumentation, the least attention to the manner in which we relate a story, or fupport an argument in converfation, will show, that it is more frequently proper to raise the voice than to fall it at the end of a sentence. Interrogatives, where the speaker feems to expect an answer, fhould almost always be elevated at the clofe, with a peculiar tone, to indicate that a queftion is afked. Some fentences are fo conftructed, that the laft word requires a ftronger emphafis than any of the preceding; whilst others admit of being clofed with a foft and gentle found. Where there is nothing in the fenfe which requires the laft found to be elevated or emphatical, an eafy fall, fufficient to fhow that the fenfe is finished, will be proper. And in pathetic pieces, efpecially thofe of the plaintive, tender, or folemn kind, the tone of the paffion will often require a ftill lower cadence of the voice. But before a fpeaker can be able to fall his voice with propriety and judgment at the close of a sentence, he must be able to keep it from falling, and to raise it with all the variation which the fenfe requires. The best method of correcting a uniform cadence, is frequently to read felect fentences, in which the ftyle is pointed, and fre quen |