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EXAMPLES OF RHETORICAL PAUSES.

120. SHORT PAUSE, QUAVER REST, 7

The laurels of the warrior" are dyed in blood
Anxiety is the poison of human life ■

And Nathan said unto David Thou art the man ■
Well honour is the subject of my story

Riches pleasure and health are evils to those who know not how to use them

Nations like men fail in nothing which they boldly and virtuously attempt ■

Let but one brave great active disinterested man arise and he will be received followed】 and venerated ■

A people once enslaved may groan ages in bondage ■ Add to your faith virtue and to virtue knowledge and to knowledge temperancer and to temperance patience ■

121. MIDDLE PAUSE, CROTCHET REST,

This pause is chiefly employed

To divide the principal parts of a sentence:

My heart was wounded with the arrow of affliction and my eyes became dim with sorrow

Man that is born of a woman hath but a short time to liver and is full of misery

There can be nothing more prejudicial to the great interests of a nation than unsettled and varying policy

Before and after all parenthetic clauses:

Beauty like a flower soon fades away!

Genius the pride of man as man is of the creation has been possessed but by few ■

In connecting sentences closely allied in sense :

Logicians may reason about abstractions but the great mass of mankind cannot feel an interest in them They must have images

In his own view Napoleon stood apart from other men He was not to be measured by the standard of humanity He was not to be subjected to laws or obligations which all others were expected to obey Nature and the human will were to bend to his power

122. LONG PAUSE, MINIM REST,

This pause is used at the close of every proposition that conveys complete sense. When perfect rhetorical meaning is not conveyed at the close of a grammatical sentence, the crotchet rest should be used

123. LONGEST PAUSE, SEMIBREVE REST,

This pause should be employed at the close of every division of a discourse; before a new train of ideas, or a course of argument; at a return from a digression, or from excited declamation to calm statement and logical discussion.

GENERAL EXERCISE IN PAUSE.

When at length Hyder Ali found that he had to do with men who either would sign no convention" or whom no treaty and no signature could bind and who were the determined enemies of human intercourse itself he decreed? to make the country possessed by those incorrigible and predestinated criminals a memorable example to mankind He resolved in the gloomy recesses of a mind capacious of such things to leave the whole Carnatic an everlasting monument of vengeancer and to put perpetual desolation as a barrier between him and those against whom the faith which holds the moral elements of the world together was no protection

He became at length so confident of his force and so collected in his might that he made no secret whatever】 of his dreadful resolution-Having terminated his disputes with every enemy and every rival" who buried their mutual animosities7 in their common interest against the creditors of the Nabob of Arcot he drew from every quarter whatever a savage ferocity could add to his new rudiments in the art of destruction and compounding all the materials of fury into one black cloud he hung for a while on the declivities of the mountains-Whilst the authors of all these evils were idly and stupidly gazing_on this menacing meteor which blackened all the horizon it suddenly burst and poured down the whole of its contents upon the plains of the Carnatic

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Then ensued a scene of woer the like of which no eye" had seen nor heart conceived and which no tongue】 can adequately tell All the horrors of war before known or heard of were mercy to that new havoc - A storm of universal fire blasted every field consumed every house and destroyed every temple The miserable inhabitants7 flying from their flaming villages in part7 were slaughtered others without regard to sex to age to rank or sacredness of function fathers torn from their children husbands from wives enveloped in a whirlwind of cavalry and amidst the goading spears of drivers and the trampling of pursuing horses were swept into captivity in an unknown and hostile land- Those who were able to evade this tempest fled to the walled cities but

escaping from fire" sword" and exile they fell into the jaws

of famine

So completely did these masters in their art absolve themselves of their impious vow that when the British armies traversed as they did the Carnatic for hundreds of miles in all directions through the whole line of their march they did not see one man not one woman not one child not one fourfooted beast of any description whatever One dead uniform silence reigned over the whole region ■ —Burke.

124. Perhaps the readiest mode of acquiring a correct idea of rhetorical punctuation is, to consider every cluster of words so connected as to admit of no separation, and containing a distinct primary or modifying idea, only as one oratorical word. These oratorical words must be separated from each other by pauses of greater or less duration.

125. The division of sentences into oratorical words is equally necessary to present a composition in intelligible groups to the ear of the auditor, and to enable the speaker to replenish his lungs for the easy delivery of the words (secs. 17, 119.) The necessities of respiration are thus combined with the partial developments of sense, till the completion of the proposition, or of the period, is made. They also give time the most important adjunct of effect in expression and

action.

126. The following may serve as a specimen of the system recommended: analogous groupings may be formed on every page:

Reason guides-a-man to-an-entire-conviction of-the-historical-proofs of-the-Christian-religion; after-which it-delivers and-abandons-him to-another-light which thoughnot-contrary is-entirely-different-from-it and-infinitely-superior-to-it.

127. Marked thus, according to the musical notation.-Sec. 117. Reason guides a man to an entire conviction of the historical proofs of the Christian religion after which it delivers and abandons him to another light which though not contrary is entirely different from it and infinitely superior to it

EMPHATICAL PAUSE.

128. A sudden pause, introduced where the rhetorical sense does not require it, is frequently a very effective mode of giving expression to emotion:

Oh, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth,

That I am meek and gentle, with these butchers!

If thou dost slander her, and torture me,
Never pray more!

ACCENTUATION OF ORATORICAL WORDS.

129. As an oratorical word may consist of a far greater number of syllables than a grammatical word, it becomes necessary to introduce

new degrees of stress, that the relative value of the various groups may be effectively presented to the ear and to the mind. The principal part of the oratorical word must be distinguished in the same manner as the accented syllable of the grammatical word, but with greater organic force.

130. Stress, applied to the accent of grammatical words, is called Syllabic; applied to oratorical words, being determined by meaning, it may be called Sentential.

131. The sentential accent of oratorical words always coincides (unless in certain cases of emphasis) with the syllabic accent, but it is uttered with greater respiratory chest-effort. In general, emphatic words are distinguished by an increased degree of accent: thus, the words ignoble, angel, temperance, have a syllabic accent, which coincides with the emphatic accent heard in the following lines:

Rising to the IGNOBLE call.
As if an ANGEL spoke.

Health consists with TEMPERANCE alone.

132. The accents of oratorical words are distinguished from those of grammatical words by being employed in determining the meaning, or in denoting the relative value, of the various groups; sentences thus forming compound oratorical words, having the primary accent on the principal word.

133. It is impossible to assign invariably the position of the sentential accents, for it constantly changes with the sense; so that the proper application of these accents, being left wholly to the speaker, becomes, in some manner, the best test of the accuracy or comprehensiveness of his judgment. The general principle of sentential accents is, that qualifying words require a stronger accent than the words which they qualify. The grouping of the several oratorical words is denoted by hyphens; the marks for the primary (") and secondary (') sentential accents have no connexion with the marks employed in the after-part of this work to denote Inflexion.

He-reads'-correct"ly. She-sings'-sweet'ly. The-Chris'tian'shope". The poor'-man's-pray"er. The-rights-of-the people. Religion without-bigotry. The-fear of God" is-the-begin'ning of-wis"dom. Av"arice cov'ets-wealth". To-prac"tise-vir'tue isthe-sure'-way to-love"-it. A-true"-friend' unbo'soms-free"ly, advi'ses-justly, assists'-read"ily, adven'tures-bold"ly. Hisen'ergies as-a-man", his-affec'tion as-a-fa"ther, his-solicitude as-a-king", his-zeal' as-a-Christian, were-nev'er-e"qualled.

The-shuddering-ten'ant of-the-frigid-zone
Bold"ly-proclaims'-that-happy-spot his-own",

Extols"-the-treas'ures of-his-stor"my-seas
And-his-long"-nights of-rev"elry and-ease".

134. Frequently, adjectives, adverbs, and other words which usually qualify, are merely expletive or additive, and then require only the secondary accent.

The-spa'cious-firmament on-high',
With-all-the-blue' ethe'real-sky",
And-spangled-heav"ens-a-shin"ing-frame-
Their-great-Original proclaim".

135. The simile, or illustrative phrase, takes the primary accent. Be-thou' as-a-light" to-direct-my-steps.

Hope', the balm"-of-life', soothes-misfortune.

The-earth', like-a-ten'der-mo"ther, nourishes-her-children. 136. Sameness of expression requires to be concealed and relieved by variety of accent.

"Come'-back"! come"-back'!" he-cried-in-grief.

None' but-the-brave"

None" but-the-brave'

None' but"-the-brave", deserves'-the-fair".

137. Words, which in ordinary use are unaccented, may be made uggestive of antithesis, or emphatic,* by being accented.

My book is torn. Did you" not speak to it? It is past" six o'clock. I" will not say so. It is not your" business. He did not flee to the officer.

138. Syllabic stress (i. e. verbal accent) is sufficient to denote antithesis, when the word is, in its natural expression, unaccented; as, on' the table (not under it).

139. All emphatic* words are best expressed by the primary

accent.

All'-partial-e"vil's univer"sal-good". They'-that-sow" intears", shall-reap" in-joy". Rend-your-heart", and-not-yourgar"ments. If-to-do" were-as-ea'sy as-to-know what-weregood"-to-do, chap"els had-been-churches, and-poor"-men'scot"tages prin"ces'-pal"aces. Who' steals'-my-purse", steals'trash".

Unblem"ished, let'-me-live"; or-die",-unknown"!
Oh, grant'-me hon"est-fame', or" grant'-me none".

140. Antithesis may be suggested by the primary accent.-Section 137.

I fight not for" Cæsar. We can do nothing against" the truth. No man can form a just estimate of his own" powers. Strength and majesty belong to man". He is one of Na"ture's noblemen. The awful now", asks us but once to embrace it.

To make an accented syllable emphatic, a greater degree of respiratory effort from the chest should be given on its utterance. The syllabic accent has, for its principal machine, the pharynx. But emphatic syllables may be distinguished by many other modes.-Vide EMPHASIS.

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