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EXCLAMATIONS, INTERJECTIONS, CLIMAX. 209 MATIONS,

est men is in the form of interrogatory. He who does not occasionally use it, even when expecting no reply, has reason to suspect that his feelings never rise above a dead level of placid contentment. The only caution needed upon the subject is to avoid so frequent or constant a use of this form of speech as justly to expose one to a charge of mannerism.

22. Exclamations.-Exclamations are similar to interrogations.

"When will they cease pressing me into the dust!"

"And may the disciples of Washington thus see, as we now see, the flag of the Union floating on the top of the Capitol; and then, as now, may the sun in his course visit no land more free, more happy, more lovely than this our own country!"

"Oh that I possessed the talent of eulogy, and that I might be permitted to indulge the tenderness of friendship in paying the last tribute to his memory! Oh that I were capable of placing this great man before you!"

23. Interjections.-The frequent use of interjections, such as oh! ah! alas! give an appearance of affectation and frigidity to style, and should be avoided.

24. Climax.-In the arrangement of thoughts and expressions, a peculiar force is commanded by securing a gradual increase of interest to the last. Let the feeblest expression come first, the strongest last. Such an arrangement is called a Climax.

Something like a gradual increase of assertion appears in the following sentence from Bancroft:

"The unparalleled persecution of vast masses of men for their religious creed occasioned but a new display of the power of humanity-the Calvinists preserved their faith over the ashes of their churchcs, and the bodies of their murdered ministers; the power of a brutal soldiery was defied by whole companies of faithful men that still as

sembled to sing their psalms; and from the country and from the city, from the comfortable homes of wealthy merchants, from abodes of an humble peasantry, from the workshops of artisans, hundreds of thousands of men rose up, as with one heart, to bear testimony to the indefensible, irresistible right to freedom of mind."

This sentence is pleasantly climacteric, and accomplished rhetoricians often use this style. A good period is usually a climax.

25. Anti-climax.-An Anti-climax is sometimes resorted to, to belittle a subject.

Hawthorne speaks of a custom, which he intended to ridicule, as "befitting the Christian, the good citizen, the horticulturist, and the gentleman." The fol lowing from Shakspeare is very beautiful:

"What must the king do now? must he submit?

The king shall do it: must he be disposed?

The king shall be contented: must he lose

The name of king? let it go!

I'll give my jewels for a set of beads;
My gorgeous palace for a hermitage;
My gay apparel for an almsman's gown;
My figured goblets for a dish of wood;
My sceptre for a palmus walking-staff;
My subjects for a pair of carved saints;
And my large kingdom for a little gravc-
A little, little grave—an obscure grave!"

In the use of these two forms of expression, care should be taken to avoid an appearance of art. It is the highest art to conceal art.

26. Repetition. Repetition may be resorted to without tautology when the object is to deepen the impression, and the magnitude of the theme will justify it.

"He aspired to the highest! above the people! above the au thorities! above the laws! above his country!"

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The peculiarity of repetition is to seize upon the most prominent thought and hold the attention upon it a long time. If the attention is not wearied, the impression is greatly deepened.

Pope, to awaken compassion for the fate of an unfortunate lady, says:

"By foreign hands thy dying eyes were closed,
By foreign hands thy decent limbs composed,

By foreign hands thy humble grave adorned,

By strangers honored, and by strangers mourned."

Paul emphatically urges his argument in the form of interrogatories with repetition, thus:

"Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they ministers of Christ? I am more."

He adds to this still another series of climacteric repetitions, 2 Corinthians xi. 23. Observe how the impression of the value of science is increased by the following repetition of the word in Spencer's able work on education:

"Thus to the question with which we set out-What knowledge is of most worth ?-the uniform reply is-Science. This is the verdict on all the counts. For direct self-preservation, or the maintenance of life and health, the all-important knowledge is-Science. For that indirect self-preservation which we call gaining a livelihood, the knowledge of greatest value is-Science. For the due discharge of parental functions, the proper guidance is to be found only in— Science. For that interpretation of national life, past and present, without which the citizen can not rightly regulate his conduct, the indispensable key is-Science. Alike for the most perfect production and highest enjoyment of art in all its forms, the needful preparation is-Science. And for purposes of discipline-intellectual, moral, religious—the most efficient study is, once more, Science."*

* Education, Intellectual, Moral, and Physical, by Herbert Speucer (New York, 1861), p. 93.

It would be impossible, were the attempt made, to express all the forms in which thought and emotion may clothe themselves. Careful observation, when reading or listening to speakers, will enable the student to secure a great variety in his own expres sions.

RHYTHM.

213

CHAPTER VI.

THE MELODY OF SENTENCES.

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27. Rhythm.-IN what may be called the oratorical style, a style particularly pleasing when pronounced, a peculiar balance of sentences is often preserved. Prose has its rhythm as well as poetry, only it is less restrained, less artificial, and more varied.

A rhythm is often secured by a proper admixture of long sentences and short, loose sentences and periods, interspersed with various forms of expression, such as interrogations, exclamations, repetitions, and climaxes; but also a single long sentence may have a rhythmical balance of its parts. For instance, observe the following:

“As we perceive the shadow to have moved along the dial-plate, but did not perceive it moving; and it appears that the grass has grown, though nobody ever saw it grow: so the advances we make in knowledge, as they consist of such minute steps, are only perceivable by the distance."

"And the king was much moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept; and as he went up, thus he said: O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would to God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son !"

"It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.".

"The ocean may roll its waves, the warring winds may join their forces, the thunder may shake the skies, and the lightnings pass swiftly from cloud to cloud; but not the forces of the elements com

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