assume a high, swelling, theatrical note; who being ambitious of the fame of fine orators, lay too much emphasis on every sentence, and thereby transgress the rules of true bratory. BUCHANAN. MODULATION OF THE VOICE. THE variations of the emphasis must not only distin guish the various passions described, but the several forms and figures of speech in which they are expressed. For instance, in a prosopopeia, (that is, when things inanimate are addressed to, and made to speak as if they had life and rational souls) we must change the voice, as the person introduced would. In antithesis, (that is, when contraries are opposed to each other) one contrary must be pronounced louder than the other. In a climax, (that is, when the sentence rises gradually) the voice should always rise with it. In dialogues, (that is, when two are discoursing together) the voice should alter with the parts. In repetitions, it should be loudest in the second place. Words of distinction, or of praise or dispraise, must always be pronounced with a strong emphasis. II. Butto acquire a masterly elocution, one must not only take in the full sense, but enter into the spirit of an author; for none can convey the force and fullness of his author's ideas to another, till he feels them himself; or read a discourse to advantage, he does not understand and taste. And, therefore, the great rule which the masters of rhetorick so much press, ought always to be remembered "That to make a man speak well, and pronounce with a right emphasis, he ought thoroughly to understand all that he says; be fully persuaded of it; and bring himself to have those affections which he desires to infuse into others." For when a man is vehemently moved with the passion he would inspire other people with, he speaks with spirit and energy, and will naturally break out into all the suitable and moving expressions of an undissembled eloquence. III. We see illiterate people in grief, anger, joy, &c. utter their passions with more vehemence and fluency than the 1 most learned, who are not heartily interested in the matter, nor thoroughly warmed with the passion they describe. What the speaker is, for the most part, the audience will be. If he be zealously concerned, they will be attentive; if he be indifferent, they will be perfectly careless and cold: And, as fire kindles fire, so life and heat in the speaker enliven and inspirit the hearer. BUCHANAN. THE agreement of the parts of a story implies, that the story has been told by, at least, two persons, (the life of Doctor Johnson, for instance, by Sir John Haw kins and Mr. Boswell.) Now I think it scarcely possible for even two persons, (and the difficulty is increased if there are more than two) to write the history of any one of their acquaintance, without there being a considerable difference between them, with respect to the number and order of the incidents of his life. Some things will be omitted by one and mentioned by the other; some things will be briefly touched by one, and the same things will be cir cumstantially detailed by the other; the same things which are mentioned in the same way by them both, may not be mentioned as happening exactly at the same point of time, with other possible and probable differences. II. But these real or apparent difficulties, in minute circumstances, will not invalidate their testimony as to the material transactions of his life, much less will they render the whole of it a fable. If several independent witnesses, of fain character, should agree in all the parts of a story, (in testifying, for instance, that a murder or a robbery was committed at a particular time, in a particular place and by a certain individual) every court of justice in the world would admit the fact, notwithstanding the abstract possibil ity of the whole being false :-Again, if several honest men should agree in saying, that they saw the king of France beheaded, though they should disagree as to the figure of the guillotine, or the size of his executioner, as to the king's hands being bound or lose, as to his being composed or agitated in ascending the scaffold, yet every court of justice in the world would think, that such difference, respecting the circumstances of the fact, did not intralidate the evidence respecting the fact itself. III. When you speak of the whole of a story, you cannot mean every particular circumstance connected with the story, but essential to it; you must mean the pith and marrow of the story; for it would be impossible to establish the truth of any fact, (of admirals Byng or Kipple, for example, having neglected or not neglected their duty,) if the disagreement in the evidence of witnesses, in minute points, should be considered as annihilating the weight of their evidence in points of importance. WATSON to PAINE. DEATH, the king of terrors, was determined to choose a prime minister; and his pale courtiers, the ghastly train of diseases, were all summoned to attend, when each preferred his claim to the honour of this illustrious office. Fever urged the numbers he destroyed; cold Palsy set forth his pretensions by shaking all his limbs ; and Dropsy, by his swelled, unwieldy carcass. Gout hobbled up and alleged his great power in racking every joint; and Asthma's inability to speak was a strong, though silent argument in favour of his claim. Stone and Cholick pleaded their violence; Plague his rapid progress in destruction; and Consumption, though slow, insisted that he was sure. II. In the midst of this contention, the court was disturbed with the noise of musick, dancing, feasting, and revelry; when immediately entered a lady with a bold lascivious air, and a flushed and jovial countenance; she was attended on one hand by a troop of cooks and bacchanals; and on the other, by a train of wanton youths and damsels, who danced half naked to the softest musical instruments; her name was INTEMPERANCE. H : She waved her hand, and thus addressed the crowd of Diseases Give way, ye sickly band of pretenders, nor dare to vie with my superiour merits in the service of this great monarch. Am I not your parent? the author of your beings? Do ye not derive the power of shortening human life almost wholly from me? Who then so fit as myself for this important office? The grisly monarch grin. ned a smile of approbation, placed her at his right hand, and she immediately became his principal favourite, and prime minister: DODSLEY'S FABLES. AGAINST these gallant troops of your adversary prepare, O Romans, your garrisons and armies; and first; to that battered and maimed gladiator, oppose your consuls and generals next, against that outcast miserable crew, lead forth the flower and strength of all Italy. The walls of our colonies and free towns will easily resist the efforts of Cataline's rustick troops. But I ought not to run the parallel farther, or compare your other resources, preparations, and defences, to the indigence and nakedness of that robber. But if, omitting all those advantages of which we are provided, and he destitute, as the senate, the Roman knights, the people, the city, the treasury, the publick revenues, all Italy, all the provinces, foreign states: I say, if, omitting all these, we only compare the contending parties between themselves, it will soon appear how very low our enemies are reduced. II. On the one side modesty contends, on the other petulance here chastity, there pollution: here resolution, there rage here honour, there baseness: here moderation, there unbridled licentiousness: in short, equity, temperance, fortitude, prudence, struggle with iniquity, luxury, cowardice, rashness; every virtue with every vice. ly, the contest lies between wealth and indigence, sound and depraved reason; strength of understanding and fren zy in fine, between well grounded hope, and the most absolute despair. Last In such a conflict and struggle as this, were even human aid to fail, will not the immortal gods enable such illus. trious virtue to triumph over such complicated vice? UNCLE TOBY'S BENEVOLENCE. MY uncle Toby was a man patient of injuries-not from the want of courage-I have told you in a former chapter that he was a man of courage; and I will add here, that where just occasions presented or called it forth, I know no man under whose arm I would have sooner taken shelter. Nor did this arise from any insensibility or obtuseness of his intellectual parts, for he felt as feelingly as a man could do. But he was of a peaceful, placid nature; no jarring element in him: all was mixed up so kindly within him, my uncle Toby had scarce a heart to retaliate upon a fly. II. Go says he, one day at dinner, to an overgrown one, which had buzzed about his nose, and tormented him cruelly all dinner-time, and which, after infinite attempts, he had caught at last as it flew by him-I'll not hurt thee -says my uncle Toby, rising from his chair, and going across the room with the fly in his hand-I'll not hurt a hair of thy head:-Go-says he, lifting up the sash, and opening his hand as he spoke to let it escape-go, poor insect, get thee gone; why should I hurt thee?-This world is surely wide enough to hold both thee and me. This lesson of universal good will, taught by my uncle Toby, may serve instead of a whole volume upon the subject. STERNE. WHEN Tom, an' please your honour, got to the shop, there was no body in it, but a poor negro girl, with a bunch of white feathers, slightly tied to the end of a long cane, flapping away flies-not killing them-'Tis a pretty |