EXAMPLES. The charge is too trifling to be confuted, and deserves only to be mentioned that it may be despised. It is in society only that we can relish those pure delicious joys which embellish and gladden the life of man. RULE VII. Whatever words are put into the case absolute, must be separated from the rest by a pause. EXAMPLES. If a man borrow aught of his neighbor, and it be hurt or die, the owner thereof not being with it, he shall surely make it gcod. That day shall find us, Heaven consenting, free. RULE VIII. — In reading blank verse, avoid the one extreme of ending every line with too marked a pause; and the other, of confounding one line with another so as to destroy the measure. RULE IX. EXAMPLE. The heart is hard in nature, and unfit For human fellowship, as being void Of sympathy, and therefore dead alike To love and friendship both, that is not pleased With sight of animals enjoying life, Nor feels their happiness augment his own. - COWPER. ·A simile in poetry ought generally to be delivered in a lower tone of voice than that part of the passage which precedes it. EXAMPLE. But ere he could arrive the point proposed, I, as Æneas, our great ancestor, Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder The old Anchises bear, so from the waves of Tiber SHAKSPEARE. * Mr. Sheridan, in his Art of Reading, has insisted largely on the necessity of making a pause at the end of every line in poetry, whether the sense requires it or not. Walker, in his Elements of Elocution, tells us that he asked Dr. Lowth, Mr. Garrick, and Dr. Johnson, about the propriety of this pause, and they all agreed with Mr. Sheridan, though Walker differed. We think that Sheridan is right; but the pause should be so delicate and slight as, while it preserves the music of the verse, not to interrupt the sense or the passion. THE INTERMEDIATE STANDARD SPEAKER. PART FIRST.-THE ROSTRUM. L-THE WORTH OF ELOQUENCE. LET us not, gentlemen, undervalue the art of the orator. Of all the efforts of the human mind, it is the most astonishing in its nature, and the most transcendent in its immediate triumphs. The wisdom of the philosopher, the eloquence of the historian, the sagacity of the statesman, the capacity of the general, may produce more lasting effects upon human affairs; but they are incom'parably less rapid in their influence, and less intoxicating from the ascendency they confer. In the solitude of his library the sage meditates on the truths which are to influence the thoughts and direct the conduct of men in future times; amid the strife of faction the legislator discerns the measures calculated, after a long course of years, to alleviate existing evils, or produce happiness yet unborn; during long and wearisome campaigns the commander throws his shield over the fortunes of his country, and prepares in silence and amid obloquy the means of maintaining its independence. But the triumphs of the orator are immediate; his influence is instantly felt; his, and his alone, it is "The applause of listening senates to command, The threats of pain and ruin to despise, To scatter plenty o'er a smiling land, And read his history in a nation's eyes!" "I can conceive," says Cicero, "of no accomplishment more to be desired than to be able to captivate the affections, charm the understanding, and direct or restrain, at pleasure, the will of whole assemblies. This single art has, amongst every free people, commanded the greatest encouragement, and been attended with the most surprising effects. For what can be more astonishing, than that from an immense multitude one man should come forth, the only, or almost the only man, who can do what Nature has made attainable by all? Or can any thing impart to the ears and the understanding a pleasure so pure as a discourse which at once delights by its elocution, enlists the passions by its rhetoric, and carries captive the conviction by its logic? "What triumph more noble and magnificent than that of the eloquence of one man, swaying the inclinations of the people, the consciences of judges, and the majesty of senates? Nay, farther, can aught be esteemed so grand, so generous, so public-spirited, as to relieve the suppliant, to raise up the prostrate, to communicate happiness, to avert danger, to save a fellow-citizen from exile and wrong? Can aught be more desirable than to have always ready those weapons with which we can at once defend the weak, assail the profligate, and redress our own or our country's injuries? "But, apart from the utility of this art in the Forum, the Rostrum, the Senate, and on the Bench, can any thing in retirement from business be more delightful, more socially endearing, than a language and elocution agreeable and polished on every subject? For the great characteristic of our nature- that which distinguishes us from brutes-is our capacity of social intercourse, our ability to convey our ideas by words. Ought it not, then, to be preeminently our study to excel mankind in that very faculty which constitutes their superiority over brutes? "Upon the eloquence and spirit of an accomplished orator may often depend, not only his own dignity, but the welfare of a government, nay, of a people. Go on, then, ye who would attain this inestimable art. Ply the study you have in hand, pursue it with singleness of purpose, at once for your own honor, for the advantage of your friends, and for the service of your country. of H. MEANS OF INSTRUCTION IN BOOKS. THERE is one source of gratification, perhaps the most important of all, and which, it is to be hoped, will be considerably augmented in power and importance in this institution, and that is the Library. Thanks to heaven that we can read! Thanks to heaven that there are books worth reading books in which the wisdom ages is collected in a convenient space! Yes, eternal honor to that Pelasgian hero, that mythical Cadmus, who crossed the snowy mountains, and brought the Asiatic gift of letters to the western world, and with that spell awoke the magic muse of Greece! Honor to those scribes- - not pharisees who, on the papyrus leaf and parchment roll more durable than brass or KNOWLEDGE AS A POWER. 29 stone recorded the sacred traditions of Judæa, the eloquence of Greece, and the annals of Rome! Honor to those honest workmen of the valley of the Rhine, who multiplied, by forms of wood and metal, all the literature of the ancient world, and gave to mankind a mass of knowledge that can never die, which no Arab chief can burn, and which no accident can in future destroy! How important to read the books which preserve the undying words of Newton, and those illustrious men who have bequeathed to us the legacy of their highest thoughts, treasured up and put out to the noblest uses, for the common good of all mankind! It behoves every man, whatever his rank in life, to take advantage of opportunities such as these, and especially it concerns the laboring man. We are, or ought to be, all laboring men. I do not think there is one individual, among the respectable company now assembled around me, who does not wish to rank himself as a working man. Some labor by the hand, and others by the head; but no one must be idle. Nor should we insist too much on the distinction between one class of labor and another; nor admit, for a moment, the great error, that labor is a curse. The necessity for labor, imposed by Providence, we cannot avoid; but it depends only upon the mind to fulfill the purpose of Providence, and convert that labor into enjoyment. Members of this Institute! by constantly attending to the means of instruction which it provides, you will win others to follow your example; the public favor will follow you; every thing will be prosperous before you, and it will be in your power to perpetuate and make more flourishing the institution to which you are attached. You have in hand a noble cause; you have powerful assistance; you have a great work to perform; and I will conclude by advising you TO GO AND DO IT. PROF. JOHN PHILLIPS. III. KNOWLEDGE AS A POWER. LET no man rest the support which he gives to any educational institution upon a notion of the advantages that he is peculiarly to derive from it. Let us build upon a nobler basis than this; for in vain have we founded this Institute, if, now that it is established, we trust for its support to any other than the broad and true principle, that "for the soul of man to be ignorant it is not good." Not because institutions such as this may be made to augment our individual influence in society; not because by the instruction which is here obtained will its possessor be raised in wealth; not because, in popular language, "knowledge is power," but, because with enlargement of knowledge comes improvement of individual character, and exaltation of social and national happiness. For this reason, let us adhere to the principle that "knowledge is good," because it is a source of blessing to mankind, and therefore deserves the cultivation of every reasonable man. Knowledge is power." Yes! Power! -power to do what? Power to employ the senses and faculties which God has given us in examining the works which he has made; and thus to acknowledge in all creation, "These are thy glorious works!" Power to penetrate the mysteries of nature, to learn the laws of matter and motion, and from all that we can gather from the contemplation of nature to draw one encouraging conclusion that nothing happens in the universe, which is not carefully planned and strictly attended to. Power to discover the forces which it has pleased the Almighty to put in action among particles of matter, and to turn these forces to the advantage of mankind; bounded no longer by the sea, limited no longer to human strength, served by more than Titanic agents, whereby man may even fly across that gulf which, for thousands of years, separated the two divisions of the world. Power to guide, to govern, and to bless mankind; and, most important of all, power to know and to control ourselves; power to take right views of our allotted place and destiny in and beyond this world; to rise beyond the influence of daily neces sity and immediate gratification, into the contemplations suited to immortal spirits, rays of a diviner essence. For these reasons we will honor knowledge as a Power! IB. IV. DOMESTIC USES OF BOOKS. "ALL our faults," says an author who knew the human heart well," spring from the inability to be alone." Every day's experience must convince you of the truth of La Bruyère's* remark. Thence comes the desertion of domestic life, the neglect of its duties, the careless parent, the disobedient family, and that wretched craving after external excitement which converts the paradise of home itself into an ǎr'id wilderness. But can that man ever be alone, can he ever dread solitude, who can converse alternately with Virgil and Cicero, with Tasso and Ariosto, with Racine and Corneille, with Scott and Shakspeare? To such a man is really true, what Cicero said of Scipio Africanus, "Never less alone than when alone; never less at rest than when at rest.” This is the real exclusive society- this is the magic circle, which, * Pronounced Lah-broo-e-air's |
