That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin ? Who would fardels bear,
To groan and sweat under a weary life;
But that the dread of something after death,
That undiscover'd country, from whose bourn
No traveller returns,-puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have,
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all ;
And thus the native hue of resolution

Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought;
And enterprises of great pith and moment,
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action."-

66

High on a throne of royal state, which far
Outshone the wealth of Ormus and of Ind,
Or where the gorgeous East with richest hand
Show's on her king's barbaric pearl and gold,
Satan exalted sat-

"

HAMLET

MILTON.

"In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men, fear came upon me, and trembling, which inade all my bones to shake. Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up: it stood still, but I could not discern the form there. of: an image was before mine eyes, there was silence, and I heard a voice, saying. shall mortal man be more just than God? Shall a man be more pure than his Maker? Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly: How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth. They are destroyed from morning to evening; they perish forever without any regarding it."

JOB, 4th CHAP. 13-20th VERSES.

"As autumn's dark storms pour from two echoing hills, so towards each other approached the heroes. As two dark streams from high rocks meet and mix, and roar on the plain; loud, rough and dark in battle, met Laughlin and Innisfail : Chief mixed his strokes with chief, and man with man. Steel clanging sounded on steel. Helmets are cleft on high; blood bursts and smokes around. As the troubled noise of the ocean when roll the waves on high; as the last peal of the thunder of heaven; such is the noise of battle."

OSSIAN.

"In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him.

2*

Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations, also, of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth. There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: He bowed the heavens, also, and came down ; and darkness was under his feet and he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind."

18th PSALM,

6-10th VERSES.

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, let there be light,' and there was light." GENESIS, 1st and 3d VERSES.

NOTE. The above extracts, save the first, are examples of the sublime, as well as of Monotone.

XI. MODULATION.

In Modulation are comprehended all the various inflections of which the voice is capable. It may, indeed, be termed the soul or witchery of eloquence; for through its medium the sense is charined, the imagination taken prisoner, and the most obdurate softened and relaxed. The effect of Modulation upon the heart must ever be acknowledged, as long as the human ear can drink the harmony of its sounds. To attempt a system of accurately teaching this delightful power, would be indeed vain and futile ;* nothing but being possessed of

* Mr. Walker, and others, have made very ingenious remarks typified on paper, on the inflections of the human voice; but a just knowledge of the true causes which produce those inflections, will preclude the necessity of any study on the subject, save of the rules to be found in this, and similar books, and of a just conception, as has been above stated, of the author's meaning, which conception will impart the true feeling, and out of that feeling, will arise the natural, and, consequently, the proper inflection, which marks on paper can never correctly convey. Mr. Walker's own words, give cre dence to these observations. In his preface to the third Edition of his Rhetorical Grammar, he says, "The sanguine expectations I had once entertained, that this analysis of the human voice, would be received by the learned with avidity, and applause, are now over; I have almost worn out a long life in laborious exertions, and though I have succeeded, beyond expectation, in forming readers, and speak. ers, in the most respectable circles in the three kingdoms, yet I have had the mortification, to find few of my pupils listen to anything,

a chastely correct ear, sensibly alive to the good feelings of nature, being perfectly master of your subject, and letting it fully and exclusively occupy your mind, can ever enable you to attain modulation.

In

stead of paying attention to the different heights, and keys which are said to produce modulation, but which in reality modulation gives even a name to, it is here recommended to every speaker, to commence his subject in a tone sufficiently audible to be perfectly heard; then he can rise, and afterwards fall, as sense and feeling, in conjunction with the rules of this essay and the five inflections of the voice dictate. Those who are possessed of the requisites already mentioned, will find in the following, fit exercises of modulation; but the student will have much to do before he can be capable of reading or reciting, with any prospect of success, such surpassing efforts of poetic genius.

Examples.

O thou that with surpassing glory crown'd
Look'st from thy sole dominion, like the God
Of this new world; at whose sight all the stars
Hide their diminish'd heads; to thee I call,
But with no friendly voice, and add thy name,
O Sun, to tell thee how I hate thy beams,
That bring to my remembrance from what state
I fell, how glorious once above thy sphere;

Till pride and worse ambition threw me down,

Warring in heav'n against heav'n's matchless King.
Ah wherefore! he deserv'd no such return
From me, whom he created what I was,
In that bright eminence, and with his good
Upbraided none; nor was his service hard.
What could be less than to afford him praise,
The easiest recompense, and pay him thanks,
How due! yet all his good prov'd ill in me,
And wrought but malice; lifted up so high
I'sdain'd subjection, and thought one step higher
Would set me high'st, and in a moment quit
The debt immense of endless gratitude,

So burdensome still paying, still to owe,

but my pronunciation. When I have explained to them, the five modifications of the voice, they have assented and admired, but so difficult did it appear to adopt them, especially to those advanced in life, that I was obliged to follow the old method,-read as I read."

Forgetful what from him I still receiv'd;
And understood not that a grateful mind
By owing owes not, but still pays, at once
Indebted and discharg'd; what burden then?
O had his pow'rful destiny ordain'd
Me some inferior angel, I had stood

Then happy; no unbounded hope had rais'd
Ambition. Yet why not? Some other power
As great might have aspir'd, and me, though mean,
Drawn to his part; but other pow'rs as great
Fell not, but stand unshaken, from within
Or from without, to all temptations arm'd.
Hadst thou the same free will and pow'r to stand?
Thou hadst: Whom hast thou then, or what to accuse,
But heav'n's free love dealt equally to all?

Be then his love accurs'd, since love or hate,
To me alike, it deals eternal woe.

Nay curs'd be thou; since against his thy will
Chose freely what it now so justly rues.
Me miserable! which way shall I fly
Infinite wrath, and infinite despair?
Which way 1 fly is hell; myself am hell;
And, in the lowest deep, a lower deep
Still threat'ning to devour me opens wide,
To which the hell I suffer seems a heaven.
O then at last relent: Is there no place
Left for repentance, none for pardon left?
None left but by submission; and that word
Disdain forbids me, and my dread of shame
Among the sp'rits beneath, whom I seduc'd
With other promises and other vaunts
Than to submit, boasting I could subdue
Th' Omnipotent. Ah me, they little know
How dearly I abide that boast so vain,
Under what torments inwardly I groan,
While they adore me on the throne of hell,
With diadem and sceptre high advanc'd,
The lower still I fall, only supreme
In misery Such joy ambition finds.

But say

I could repent, and could obtain, By act of grace, my former state; how soon

Would height recall high thoughts, how soon unsay What feign'd submission swore? ease would recant Vows made in pain, as violent and void.

For never can true reconcilement grow

Where wounds of deadly hate have pierc'd so deep:
Which would but lead me to a worse relapse,
And heavier fall: So should I purchase dear
Short intermission bought with double smart.
This knows my punisher: therefore as far

From granting he, as I from begging peace:
All hope excluded thus, behold instead
Of us outcast, exil'd, his new delight,
Mankind created, and for him this world.
So farewell hope, and with hope farewell fear,
Farewell remorse: All good to me is lost;
Evil be thou my good: By thee at least
Divided empire with heav'n's King I hold,
By thee, and more than half perhaps will reign;
As man ere long, and this new world shall know.

TWAS at the royal feast, for Persia won
By Philip's warlike son.

Aloft in awful state,

The godlike hero sat

On his imperial throne.

His valiant peers were plac'd around,

Their brows with roses and with myrtles bound,
So should desert in arms be crown'd.

The lovely Thais by his side,

Sat like a blooming eastern bride,
In flower of youth and beauty's pride.
Happy, happy, happy pair!
None but the brave,

None but the brave,

None but the brave, deserve the fair.
Timotheus plac'd on high,

Amid the tuneful choir,

With flying fingers touch'd the lyre:
The trembling notes ascend the sky,
And heavenly joys inspire.

The song began from Jove,
Who left his blissful seats above;
Such is the power of mighty love!
A dragon's fiery form bely'd the god;
Sublime on radiant spheres he rode.
When he the fair Olympia press'd,

*

*

*

*

MILTON.

And stamp'd an image of himself, a sovereign of the work. The list'ning crowd admire the lofty sound;

A present deity, they shout around;

A present deity; the vaulted roofs rebound,
With ravish'd ears the monarch hears,
Assumes the god, affects to nod,

And seems to shake the spheres.

The praise of Bacchus, then, the sweet musician sung;
Of Bacchus, ever fair and ever young.

The jolly god in triumph comes!