ELEMENTARY

flow of voice; the latter breaks the continuity both of sound and

sense.

Rhythm is, in detail, the regular recurrence of accent, at definite and measured intervals, and may be beat and marked as strictly as in music, if attention is paid to the suspensions of sound by pauses, so as to include them, as well as the actual sounds of the voice, between the beats, as in the bars of music. Every accented syllable is, in elocution, equivalent to the beginning of a bar in music, and may be so marked; thus, | Muse | music | musical | un- - | musical | ; or, if read with pauses | Muse |, | or | 7|| music |, | or | ↑ musical |, | or | 7| un- | musical | .*

The subjoined exercises should be practised with the aid, at first, of beating time at the commencement of every bar, as in music. The rhythm should be, for some time, marked quite strongly with the voice; the beat and the decided marking may be gradually laid aside, as the ear becomes competent to direct itself. But the actual time should never cease to be carefully observed in reading, speaking, and reciting, any more than in music itself. The fact, however, should never be forgotten, that an habitual strong marking of rhythm, is the same fault in elocution as in music. It protrudes what should be a barely perceptible property, and turns an excellence into a defect. A delicate marking of rhythm, is a genuine grace of cultivated elocution, in the reading of verse, and in the language of ora tory or of sentiment. The great object of practice, as regards “ time,” is truth, not force.

The student of elocution would do well to score numerous passages, for himself, in the manner exemplified as follows.

* Every accented monosyllable, in elocutionary rhythm, constitutes & bar; all the unaccented syllables, in a polysyllable, are grouped in the same bar, with the accented syllable, or pause preceding. The rule for marking is simply. Place a bar before every accented syllable, wherever found, and before every pause. — One or more unaccented syllables are sometimes grouped into the same bar with a pause. For the convenience of marking, a bar is assumed as composed of one quarter or two' eighth notes.

Half or secondary accents, wherever they occur, commence a new bar; thus, the syllable man-, in the word | manijes- | tation, or the syllable con-, in the word in- | contro- | vertible.

"Be wise
de fer

Verse, or Metrical Accent.

Iambic Metre.

Blank Verse.

to-day |;|1111'tis | madness to

[Next day the fatal | precedent Thus on,till | wisdom

will plead |;||

is pushed | out of | life .17777 of time .17717971 till allare | fled |, | leaves |

Pro-crastination is the thief Year after year it steals, And to the mercies of a | moment The vast con- cerns

of an e-ternal | scene."

Heroic Couplets.

"Hope

Man

springs e- | ternal |in the| human | breast|;||

The soul, un-easy

to be | blest |;117

Octosyllabic Quatrian Stanza (Long Metre).

"Dear is the | hallowed | morn to me |;|

When village | bells

And

Call me

a-wake the | day |;|11

by their sacred | minstrelsy |, |

from | earthly | cares | a- | way."

*The rests are usually "rhetorical" pauses, or prolongations added to the grammatical pauses indicated by the punctuation. The initial rest represents the slight interval between the first bar and the preceding utterance, whatever that may be.

"Like | children

Common Metre Stanza.

for some | bauble | fair

That | weep them- | selves to | rest |;||

We part with | life |-|.|a-wake | ! | 1| and | there

The jewel in our | breast!"

Short Metre Stanza.

"Sweet at the dawning | light |, |
Thyboundless | love | to tell

| And when ap- | proach | the | shades of | night |, |
| Still on the theme to | dwell!”

Trochaic Measure.

"Now begin the | heavenly | theme |, |

| Sing of mercy's | healing | stream:

Ye, who | Jesus' | kindness | prove |, |

Sing of his re- deeming love | !" | MIMITI

"Teach me some me- | lodious | measure |, |

| Sung by | raptured | saints

Fill my soul

above;

with | sacred | pleasure |, |

While I sing re- | deeming | love!"

* From the analysis which has been given of rhythm, in conjunction with metrical accent in its principal forms, it may be perceived that, in reading, the prosodial grouping of syllables is subordinatenot predominant in the audible effect. The common fault in reading verse is caused by inverting this rule; and, when to this defect is added that of omitting the rhythmical pauses, nothing is left to the ear but the mere jingle of the scanning.

Prose Rhythm.

Extract from Psalm XXXIII.

V. 1. "Re-joice in the | Lord |, | O ye | righteous M

for praise |is| comely for the up- | right | . | 1 2. Praise the Lord with harp

un- to him

{ strings |· | MI

sing

with the psaltery | and an | instrument of | ten 11|3. Sing | unto him a | new | song |;|

and play | skilfully with a | loud noise

| 71 | 4. | ¶ For the | word of the | Lord | is | right |;|1. and all his works are done in truth |. TIMIT 5. He loveth | righteousness and judgment |:|77|71 of the | goodness of the | Lord |.| By the word of the Lord were the |

the earth is full

7711117116.

heavens made; and all the host of them by the l breath of his mouth. 11|11| 7. He | gathereth l the | waters of the | sea | to- | gether as a | heap |:|1 helayeth up the depth in store-houses. 77778.1Let all the earth | fear the | Lord |:|77|77 let | all the in- | habitants of the world stand in awe of him.111 9. For he spake, and it was done |;|11|he commanded, | and it | stood | fast | " | MIMIMI

Rlections in Westminster Abbey.— Addison.
Though I am always | serious,

I do not | know what it is to be melancholy |;|and can therefore | take a view of Nature in her | deep and | solemn | scenes |, | with the same | pleasure as in her | most | gay | ˇ and de- | lightful ones.MIMIT By this means I can im- | prove myself with | those | objects | which | others | con- | sider with | terror | . || 11|| 7|| 1 When I | look upon the tombs of the | great |, | every e- | motion of | envy | dies in me |;|7|7 when I read the | epitaphs || of the | beautiful |, | every in- | ordinate de- | sire || goes | out |;|M when I meet with the | grief of parents upon a | tombwith com- | passion |;||

stone |, |my| heart || melts

when I see the | tomb of the | parents them- | selves |, |

I consider the vanity of grieving for those whom we must | quickly | follow |:|11111111

when I

see kings || lying by | those who de- | posed them, when I con- | sider | rival | wits |, | placed

side by side,

with their |

or the holy men | that di- | videđ the | world

contests dis- | putes |,

and astonishment |, factions, and debates

I re- | flect |, |with sorrow | on the little compe- | titions of man- | kind | . |

When I read the | several | dates of the | tombs |, || of | some that died yesterday, and some years ago, I con- sider | that | great | day

six | hundred | when we

they

of fu- | turity |, |

ex-ist || only in the | all-cre- | ating | power |

of God, who shall stand | here, a hundred |

years hence, to trace |, scent from the | Pilgrims, have now surveyed,

through us,

their de- |

as we

and to survey, the progress of their | country |, |

66

during the lapse of a | century | .” |11|11|17|7" On the | morning of that | day |, | ‍| al- | though it | will not dis- turb in our re- | pose, the voice of accla- | mation and gratitude, com- | mencing shall be trans- | mitted

us

| Plymouth,

of the sons of the Pilgrims,

the murmur

1771

"Ad- vance |,ye | future | *gener- | ations |!

are | passing |, | and | soon | shall our | human du- | ration .IT/T We

1.197
|

* The initial half accent, in words analogous to the above, is assumed as the equivalent of a full accent; · the time of half accent being equal to that of accent, although the force is not.