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Drew after him the third part of heaven's sons
Conjured against the Highest; for which both thou
And they, out-cast from God, are here condemn'd
To waste eternal days in woe and pain?

10. And reckon'st thou thyself with spirits of heaven,
Hell-doom'd! and breath'st defiance here and scorn,
Where I reign king; and to enrage thee more,
Thy king and lord? Back to thy punishment,
False fugitive! and to thy speed add wings;
Lest with a whip of scorpions I pursue

Thy lingering, or with one stroke of this dart
Strange horror seize thee, and pangs unfelt before."

11. So spake the grisly terror, and in shape

12.

So speaking and so threatening, grew ten-fold
More dreadful and deform. On the other side,
Incensed with indignation, Satan stood
Unterrified; and like a comet burn'd,
That fires the length of Ophiuchus huge
In the arctic sky, and from his horrid hair
Shakes pestilence and war.

Each at the head
Level'd his deadly aim; their fatal hands
No second stroke intend; and such a frown
Each cast at th' other, as when two black clouds,
With heaven's artillery fraught, come rattling on
Over the Caspian; then stand front to front,
Hovering a space, till winds the signal blow
To join their dark encounter in mid air:

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13. So frowned the mighty combatants, that hell
Grew darker at their frown: so match'd they stood;
For never but once more was either like

To meet so great a foe. And now great deeds
Had been achieved, whereof all hell had rung,
Had not the snaky sorceress that sat

Fast by hell-gate, and kept the fatal key,

Risen, and with hideous outcry rush'd between.--Milton.

In the above extract from "Paradise Lost," Milton imagines Satan, Sin, and Death (each of which he personifies) to have met at the gate

of hell. It is written with great power, and is well suited to the cultivation of what elocutionists call a top to the voice. In reading or reciting it, an individual should raise his voice to the highest note in his power, especially from the line, "Whence and what art thou," to the one, the language of which is, " Strange horrors seize thee," &c. The rate of utterance should be rather rapid, and yet not so much so as to prevent the reader or declaimer from articulating every word correctly, and with distinctness and freedom.

ADAM AND EVE'S MORNIMG HYMN.

1. These are thy glorious works, Parent of good,
Almighty! thine this universal frame,

Thus wondrous fair; thyself how wondrous then !
Unspeakable, who sit'st above these heavens,
To us invisible, or dimly seen

In these thy lowest works; yet these declare
Thy goodness beyond thought and power divine.

2. Speak, ye who best can tell, ye sons of light,
Angels; for ye behold him, and with songs
And choral symphonies, day without night,
Circle his throne rejoicing; ye in heaven,
On earth, join, all ye creatures, to extol
Him first, Him last, Him midst, and without end.
Fairest of stars, last in the train of night,
If better thou belong not to the dawn,

Sure pledge of day, that crown'st the smiling morn
With thy bright circlet, praise him in thy sphere,
While day arises, that sweet hour of prime.
Thou sun! of this great world both eye and soul,
Acknowledge him thy greater; sound his praise
In thy eternal course, both when thou climb❜st,
And when high noon hast gain'd, and when thou fall'st.

3. Moon, that now meet'st the orient sun, now fliest
With the fix'd stars, in their orb that flies;
And ye five other wandering fires, that move
In mystic dance, not without song, resound
His praise, who out of darkness call'd up light.
Air, and ye elements, the eldest birth
Of nature's womb, that in quaternion run

Perpetual circle, multiform, and mix

And nourish all things; let your ceaseless change
Vary to our great Maker still new praise.

4. Ye mists and exhalations, that now rise
From hill or streaming lake, dusky or grey,
Till the sun paint your fleecy skirts with gold,
In honor to the world's great Author, -rise,
Whether to deck with clouds th' uncolor'd sky,
Or wet the thirsty earth with falling showers;
Rising or falling, still advance his praise.

5. His praise, ye winds, that from four quarters blow,
Breathe soft or loud; and wave your tops, ye pines,
With every plant, in sign of worship wave.
Fountains, and ye that warble, as ye flow,
Melodious murmurs, warbling tune his praise.
Join voices, all ye living souls. Ye birds,
That singing up to heaven's gate ascend,
Bear on your wings, and in your notes, his praise.

6. Ye that in waters glide, and ye that walk
The earth, and stately tread, or lowly creep;
Witness if I be silent, morn or even,
To hill or valley, fountain, or fresh shade,
Made vocal by my song, and taught his praise.
Hail universal Lord! be bounteous still,

To give us only good; and if the night
Have gathered aught of evil, or conceal'd,

Disperse it, as now light dispels the dark.-Milton.

The hymn which the great poet attributes to Adam and Eve, and in which he personifies various inanimate objects,.and calls upon them to "join voices" in praise of the Supreme Being, is most admirably written. Whoever reads this sublime piece of poetry, cannot otherwise than have strongly impressed upon his attention, the beauty and grandeur, both in thought and composition, with which it abounds. Its elocution requires a middle key, slow time, and long quantity.

9*

SPEECH OF CASSIUS, INSTIGATING BRUTUS TO JOIN THE CONSPIRACY AGAINST CÆSAR.

1. Well, honor is the subject of my story.
I cannot tell what you and other men
Think of this life; but for my single self,
I had as lief not be, as live to be

In awe of such a thing as I myself.

2. I was born as free as Cæsar; so were you;
We both have fed as well; and we can both
Endure the winter's cold as well as he;
For once, upon a raw and gusty day,

The troubled Tiber chafing with her shores,
Cæsar said to me: Dar'st thou, Cassius, now
Leap in with me into this angry flood,
And swim to yonder point? Upon my word,
Accoutred as I was, I plunged in,

And bade him follow; so, indeed, he did.

3. The torrent roared; and we did buffet it
With lusty sinews; throwing it aside,
And stemming it with hearts of controversy,
But ere we could arrive at the point proposed,
Cæsar cried: Help me, Cassius, or I sink.

4. 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,
Did I the tired Cæsar; and this man

Is now become a god; and Cassius is

A wretched creature, and must bend his body,
If Cæsar carelessly but nod on him.

5. He had a fever when he was in Spain,

And, when the fit was on him, I did mark

How he did shake: 'tis true, this god did shake:
His coward lips did from their color fly;

And that same eye, whose bend doth awe the world,
Did lose its lustre: I did hear him groan :

Ay, and that tongue of his, that bade the Romans

Mark him, and write his speeches in their books,
Alas! it cried: Give me some drink, Titinius,
As a sick girl. Ye gods, it doth amaze me,
A man of such a feeble temper should
So get the start of the majestic world,
And bear the palm alone!

The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in our selves, that we are underlings.

6. Brutus and Cæsar: what should be in that Cæsar?
Why should that name be sounded more than yours?
Write them together, yours is as fair a name;
Sound them, it doth become the mouth as well;
Weigh them, it is as heavy; conjure with them,
Brutus will start a spirit as soon as Cæsar.

7. Now, in the names of all the gods at once,
Upon what meat doth this our Cæsar feed,

That he has grown so great? Age, thou art sham'd:
Rome, thou hast lost the breed of noble bloods!
When went there by an age, since the great flood,
But it was famed with more than with one man?
When could they say, till now, that talk'd of Rome,
That her wide walls encompass'd but one man?

8. Oh! you and I have heard our fathers say
There was a Brutus, once, that would have brook'd
The infernal devil to keep his state in Rome,

As easily as a king.-Shakspeare.

Caius Cassius, a brave Roman General, who, through envy to Julius Cæsar, headed a conspiracy against him and aided in his assassination, caused one of his slaves to kill him, (Cassius) 42 years before Christ. Cassius' speech should be rhetorically given.

BRUTUS' ORATION ON THE DEATH OF CÆSAR.

1. Romans, countrymen, and lovers! hear me for my cause; and be silent, that ye may hear: believe me for mine honor; and have respect to mine honor, that you

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