Poetic Effect.*

"Nor áir, nor éarth, nor skíes, nor séas,
Deny the tribute of their praise."

"Eternal Wisdom, thee we praise,

Thee all thy creatures sing;

While with thy name, rocks, hills, and séas,
And heaven's high pàlace ring.

'Thy glories blaze all nature round,

And strike the gazing sight,

Through skies, and séas, and solid ground,
With terror and delight."

"Foolish féars, and fond desires,

Vain regrets for things as váin,
Lips too seldom taught to práise,
Oft to murmur and complain;

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These,

and every secret fault,

Filled with grief and shame, we own."

"Monotone."t

Sublimity and Awe.

Extract from Revelation XX.

V. 11. “And I saw a great white thrōne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled

* Verse, and even poetic prose, require the comparatively melodious effect of the "slight" inflection, in unemphatic "series" or sequences, of words and clauses which are comprehended under one and the same rule of syntax.

Rigorous analysis may enable an attentive ear to detect the "Second," in the "monotone," so called. But the characteristic effect on the ear, by the recurrence of the same note, is that of strict monotone or sameness of sound, as in the successive sounds of a bell, compared with those of any other instrument of music.

away; and there was found no place for them. 12. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before Gōd; and the books were ōpened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of thōse things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13. And the sea gāve ūp the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in thēm: and they were judged ēvery mān accōrding to their works."

Stanzas.

"His voice is heard the earth around,

When through the heavens his thunders rōll;
The troubled ōcean hears the sound,

And yields itself to his control.

"When he upon the lightning rides,
His võice in loudest thunder speaks;

The fiery element divides,

And earth to its deep centre shakes."

"Double Slide," "Circumflex” or “Wave.”

Mockery.

"And Elijah mocked the priests of Baal, and said, Cry alôud; for he is a god:† either he is tâlking, or he is pursûing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awâked."‡

*"Falling Circumflex," or "Direct Wave," in which there is first an "Upward," then a "Downward Slide."

"Rising Circumflex," or "Indirect Wave," in which there is first a "Downward" then an "Upward" slide of voice.

The exemplifications of inflection, in detail, may be found in either of the manuals before mentioned. Those which are presented in the present work, are such as are most frequently required in the reading of the Scriptures and of hymns, or of pulpit discourses.

EXERCISES IN "MOVEMENT."

The word "movement" has properly the same application in elocution as in music. It designates the rate of utterance, as slow, fast, or moderate, and implies the recognition of "time," as an element of effect, in the modifications of the voice. "Movement," in elocution, has not the strict gradations of music; and, in its applications to reading and speaking in the pulpit, is usually limited to the following degrees,-"slowest," "slow," "moderate," "lively."

The first mentioned of these distinctions, is exemplified in the style of awe and deep solemnity, which prevails in the utterance of the profoundest emotions of the soul. It occurs in many passages of the Old Testament, in which the language is of a marked poetic character, as in the book of Job, the Psalms, and portions of the prophetic writings. It pervades, also, the peculiar style of the Book of Revelation, in the New Testament. The "slowest movement" characterizes likewise the poetry of Milton and of Young, and, sometimes, that of Cowper and of Thomson. It belongs appropriately to the reading of those hymns which describe the awful majesty of Jehovah, and to those which embody the ideas of death, retribution, and eternity. It is the peculiarly distinctive point of style in funeral discourses.

The full command over the movement of the voice, is an indispensable requisite to the proper effect of the utterance of devotion, whether in the reading of psalms and hymns, or in the act of prayer. The following exercises should be frequently practised till the full solemnity of the slowest enunciation is attained, in that prolonged, though not drawling style, which gives ample scope and majestic effect to every sound of the voice, and causes every element of speech to succeed another in the most impressive and deliberate style.

The language of reverence and awe, demands space for feeling and imagination, in every characteristic sound. A single devotional exclamation ought, sometimes, to convey the whole heart and soul of the speaker, in one element of sound.

"Thou! whose all-providential eye surveys,
Whose hand directs, whose spirit fills and warms
Creation, and holds empire far beyond!
Eternity's Inhabitant august!

Of two eternities amazing Lord!

One past, ere man's or angel's had begun;
Aid! while I rescue from the foe's assault
Thy glorious immortality in man:

A theme forever, and for all, of weight,
Of moment infinite!"

"As yet 't is midnight deep. The weary clouds,
Slow-meeting, mingle into solid gloom.

Now, while the drowsy world lies lost in sleep,
Let me associate with the serious Night,
And Contemplation, her sedate compeer."

"Father of light and life, thou Good supreme!
Oh! teach me what is good! teach me Thyself!
Save me from folly, vanity, and vice,
From every low pursuit; and feed my soul

With knowledge, conscious peace, and virtue pure;
Sacred, substantial, never-fading bliss!"

V. 2. "Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. 3. Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men. 4. For a thousand years, in thy sight, are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night. 5. Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep; in the morning they are like grass which groweth up. 6. In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth."

Pathos and Sublimity.

Address of the pastor La Roche. - M'Kenzie.

'You behold the mourner of his only child! the last earthly stay and blessing of his declining years! Such a child, too! It becomes not me to speak of her virtues! yet it is but gratitude to mention them, because they were exerted towards myself! Not many days ago, you saw her young, beautiful, virtuous and happy!- Ye who are parents will judge of my affliction now! But I look towards Him who struck me! I see the hand of a father,