wonderful, impetuosity. The following are examples of euphonic beauty:

And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever disse ver my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.-Poe.

Airs, vernal airs,

Breathing the smell of field and grove, attune
The trembling leaves, while universal Pan,
Knit with the graces and the hours in dance,
Led on the eternal spring.-Milton.

The voice within us is more distinctly audible in the stillness of the place; and the gentler affections of our nature spring up more freshly in its tranquillity and sunshine - nurtured by the healthy principle which we inhale with the pure air, and invigorated by the genial influences which descend into the heart from the quiet of the sylvan solitude around, and the soft serenity of the sky above.— Longfellow.

2. Rhythm, the regular recurrence of accents and pauses at such intervals as shall produce an agreeable rise and fall of tone. It is a principle of proportion introduced into language, according to which words are so chosen and arranged as not only to express the meaning, but also to appeal to the musical sensibility. The 'rests,' in particular, should be so distributed as neither to exhaust the breath by their distance from each other, nor to require constant cessations of voice by their frequency. What is easy to the organs of speech will, as a rule, be delightful to the ear. It is desirable, moreover, that the sound should grow to the last, the longest members and the most sonorous terms being, in general, retained for the close. Herein the requirements of energy and melody agree. Observe, in the following passages, how the sense is reinforced by the rhythmical flow. In parts, as will be indicated, the movement becomes metrical:

Or ever the silver cord be loosed-or the golden bowl be broken or the pitcher broken at the fountain-or the wheel broken at the cistern.

Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was - and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.—Bible.

The boat reappeared, but brother and sister had gone down in an embrace never to be parted; living through again, in one supreme moment, the days when they had clasped their little hands in love; and roamed the dáisied fields together.-George Eliot.

3. Harmony, from the Greek, signifying to fit together; the just adaptation of one thing to another. Thus defined, it comprehends the general appropriateness of diction to the subject and end of discourse; the similar construction of corresponding parts, as in balanced and antithetical sentences; the right relation of parts to each other and to the whole. Low comedy must not take the place of sober discussion; nor pompous assertion, of simple statement. A letter should not be written in the stately manner of an oration. The grave, the gay, the solemn, the merry, the sublime, the pleasant,— should each be brought forth in its own specific features and coloring. Where, also, members are coördinate and have a common dependence; where either resemblance or opposition is intended to be expressed, there should be a resemblance in construction, in language, or in both. The skilful handling of every part, again, so that there may be neither excess nor deficiency of treatment, is essential to success; but the management of the theme as a whole the steady working out of the main idea - is even a more requisite excellence, while it is a more costly one. Finally, it is occasionally possible-in prose less often than in poetry-to assist the meaning and to heighten the pleasure by making the sound an echo to the sense. Observe how Milton imitates the grating noise of the opening of hell-gates:

On a sudden, open fly

With impetuous recoil and jarring sound,

The infernal doors; and on their hinges grate
Harsh thunder.

Contrast with this the opening of heaven's doors:

Heaven opened wide

Her ever-during gates, harmonious sound,

On golden hinges turning.

Melancholy and gloomy subjects naturally express themselves in long words and slow measures:

In those deep solitudes and awful cells,

Where heavenly pensive contemplation dweils.-Pope.

A combination difficult to pronounce is suited to the description of labored movement, while an opposite arrangement corresponds to rapidity of motion. Thus Homer and his English translators suggest, by a succession of aspirates, the labor of Sisyphus:

With many a weary step, and many a groan,

Up the high hill he heaves a huge round stone.

Then the descent:

The huge round stone, resulting with a bound, Thunders impetuous down, and smokes along the ground. Heaviness and stupidity are similarly indicated:

Just writes to make his barrenness appear,

And strains from hard-bound brains six lines a year.-Pope. The uproar of battle is thus described:

Arms on armor clashing bray'd

Horrible discord, and the madding wheels
Of brazen chariots rag'd; dire was the noise
Of conflict; overhead the dismal hiss

Of fiery darts in flaming volleys flew.-Milton.

Poe's Song of the Bells is full of onomatopoetic words, all illustrative of harmony. One almost sees and hears the

How exquisitely does the same poet, in Lotos-Eaters, represent the dreamy haze of the enchanted land, and the sleepiness, the glutted weariness, of those who feed upon the lotos. Every stanza is a symbol of satiety.

4. Variety. In the works of nature, as in flowers and landscapes, and in the works of art which are intended to please, this is the prevailing characteristic. Perpetual sameness leads to monotony, and monotony is painful. To have only one tune or measure is little better than to have none. Subject to the more important considerations of meaning and force, the diction should be varied; there should be a due alternation of phrases with clauses; of long members and sentences with short ones; of the natural order with the inverted; of emphatic with unemphatic words; of abrupt with swelling terminations.

5. Imagery. Figures of speech nearly all tend to embellishment. as well as to illustration or emphasis