Askelon; least the daughters of the Philistines rejoice; lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph. Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew nor rain upon you, nor fields of offerings; for there the shield of the mighty was vilely cast away; the shield of Saul, as though he had not been anointed with oil." The first of these divisions expresses sorrow and lamentation: therefore the note is low. The next contains a spirited command, and should be pronounced much higher. The other sentence, in which he makes a pathetic address to the mountains where his friends had been slain, must be expressed in a note quite different from the two former; not to low as the first, nor so high as the second, in a manly, firm, and yet plaintive tone.

The correct and natural language of the emotions, is not so difficult to be attained, as most readers seem to imagine. If we enter into the spirit of the author's sentiments, as well as into the meaning of his words, we shall not fail to deliver the words in properly varied tones. For there are few people, who speak English without a provincial note, that have not an accurate use of tones, when they utter their sentiments in earnest discourse. And the reason that they have not the same use of them in reading aloud the sentiments of others, may be traced to the very defective and erroneous method, in which the art of reading is taught; whereby all the various, natural, expressive tones of speech are suppressed; and a few artificial, unmeaning, reading notes, are substitued for them.

But when we recommend to readers, an attention to the tone and language of emotions, we must be understood to do it with prop. er limitation. Moderation is necessary in this point, as it is in other things. For when Reading becomes strictly imitat ive, it assumes a theatrical manner, and must be highly improper, as well as give offence to the heaters; because it is inconsistent with that delicacy and modesty, which are indispensable on such occasions. The speaker who delivers his own emotions, must be supposed to be more vivid and animated, than would be proper in the person who relates them at second hand.

We shall conclude this section with the following rule, for the tones that indicate the passions and emotions. "In reading, let all your tones of expression be borrowed from those of common speech, but, in some degree, more faintly characterized. Let those tones which signify any disagreeable passion of the mind, be still more faint than those which indicate agreeable emotions; and on all ocsions, preserve yourselves from being so far affected with the subject, as to be able to proceed through it, with that easy and masterly manner, which has its good effects in this, as well as in every other art."

SECTION VII.-PAUSEJ.

PAUSES or rests, in speaking or reading. are a total cessation of the voice during a perceptible, and in many cases, a measurable space of time. Pauses are equally necessary to the speaker and the hearer. To the speaker, that he may take breath, without which he cannot proceed far in delivery; and that he may, by these tem

porary rests, relieve the organs of speech, which would otherwise be soon ured by continued action: To the hearer, that the ear, also, may be relieved from the fatigue, which it would otherwise endure from a continuity of sound; and that the understanding may have sufficient time to mark the distinction of sentences, and their several members.

There are two kinds of pauses; first, emphatical pauses; and next such as mark the distinction of sense. An emphatical pause generally made, after something has been said of peculiar moment, and on which we desire to fix the hearer's attention. Sometimes, before such a thing is said, we usher it in with a pause of this nature. Such pauses have the same effect as a strong emphasis; and are subject to the same rules; especially to the caution, of not repeating them too frequently. For as they excite uncommon attention, and of course raise expectation, if the importance of the matter be not fully answerable to such expectation they occasion disappointment and disgust.

But the most frequent and the principal use of pauses, is, to mark the divisions of the sense, and at the same time to allow the reader to draw his breath; and the proper and delicate adjustment of such pauses, is one of the most nice and difficult articles of delivery. In all reading, the management of the breath requires a good deal of care so as not to oblige us to divide words from one another which have so intimate a connexion that they ought to be pronounced with the same breath, and without the least separation. Many a sentence is miserahly mangled, and the force of the emphasis totally lost, by division being made in the wrong place. To avoid this, every one, while he is reading, should be very careful to provide a full supply of breath for what he is to utter. It is a great mistake to imagine, that the breath must be drawn only at the end of a period, when the voice is allowed to fall. It may easily be gathered at the intervals of the period, when the voice is suspended only for a moment; and, by This management, one may always have a sufficient stock for carrying on the longest sentence, without improper interruptions.

A me

Pauses in reading must generally be formed upon the manner if which we utter ourselves in ordinary. sensible conversation; and not upon the stiff artificial manner, which is acquired from reading books according to the common punctuation. It will by no means be suffi dient, to attend to the points used in printing for these are far from marking all the pauses, which ought to be made in reading. chanical attention to these resting places, has perhaps, been one cause of monotony, by leading the reader to a simple tone at every stop, and a uniform cadence at every period. The primary use of points, is to assist the reader in discerning the grammatical construc tion-and it is only a secondary object, that they regulate his pro nunciation. On this head, the following direction may be of use:"Though, in reading, great attention should be given to the stops, yet a greater should be given to the sense; and their correspondent times occasionally lengthened beyond what is waai in common #peech."

To render pauses pleasing and expressive, they must not only be made in the right place, but also accompanied with a proper tone of voice, by which the nature of these pauses is estimated; much more than by the length of them, which can seldom be exactly measured. Sometimes it is only a slight and simple suspension of voice that is proper; sometimes a degree of cadence in the voice is requir ed; and sometimes that peculiar tone and cadence which denote the sentence to be finished. In all these cases, we are to regulate ourselves by attending to the manner in which nature teaches us to speak, when engaged in real and eprnest discourse with others. The following sentence exemplifies the suspending and the closing pauses: "Hope, the baim of life, soothes us under every misfortune." The first and secoud pauses are accompanied by an inflection of voice, that gives the hearer an expectation of something further to complete the sense; the inflection attending the third pause, signifies that the sense is completed.

The preceding example is an illustration of the suspending panse, in its simple state; the following instance exhibits that pause with a degree of cadence in the voice: "If content cannot remove the disquietudes of mankind, it will at least alleviate them."

The suspending pause is often, in the same sentence, attended with both the rising and falling inflection of voice, as will be seen in this example: "Moderate exercise, and habitual temperance, strengthen the constitution."*

As the suspending pause may be thus attended with both the rising and the falling inflection, is the same with regard to the closing pause-it admits of both. The falling inflection generally accompanies it; but it is not unfrequently connected with the rising inflection. Interrogative sentences, for instance, are often terminated in this manner-as, "Am I ungrateful?" "Is he in earnest ?"

But where a sentence is begun by an interrogative pronoun or adverb, it is commonly terminated by the falling inflection-as, "What has he gained by his folly ?" "Who will assist him?" "Where is the messenger?" "When did he arrive?"

When two questions are united in one sentence, and connected by the conjunction or, the best takes the rising, the second the falling juflection, as, "Does his conduct support discipline, or destroy it?

The rising and falling inflections must not be confounded with enr phasis. Though they may often coincide, they are, in their nature, perfectly distinct. Emphasis sometiraes controls those inflections.

The regular application of the rising and falling inflections, confers so much beauty on expression, and is so necessary to be studied by the young reader, that we shall insert a few more examples to induce him to pay greater attention to the subject. In these instances all the inflections are not marked. Such only are distinguished as are most striking, and will best serve to shew the reader their utility and importance.

"Manufactures, trade, and agriculture, certainly employ more than nineteen parts in twenty of the human species."

*The rising inflection is denoted by the acute-the falling, by the grave accent.

"He who resigns the world, has no temptation to envy, hatred, malice, anger; but is in constant possession of a serene mind: he who follows the pleasures of it, which are in their very nature disappoint. ing, is in constant search of care, solicitude, remorse, and confusion. "To advise the ignorant, relieve the needy, comfort the afflicted, are duties that fall in our way almost every day of our lives."

"Those evil spirits, who, by long custom, have contracted in the body habits of lust, and sensuality; malice, and revenge; an aver sion to every thing that is good, just, and laudable, are naturally seasoned and prepared for pain and misery."

"I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life; nor angels, nor prineipalities, nor powers; nor things present, nor things to come; nor height, nor depth nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God."

The reader who would wish to see a minute and ingenious inves tigation of the nature of these infectious, and the rules by which they are governed, may consult Walkers Elements of Elocution.

SECTION VIII.-MANNER OF READING VERSE.

When we are reading verse, there is a peculiar difficulty in making the pauses justly. The difficulty arises from the melody of verse, which dictates to the ear pauses or rests of its own! and to adjust and compound these properly with the pauses of the sense, so as neither to hurt the ear nor offend the understanding, is so very nice a matter, that it is no wonder we so seldom meet with good readers of poetry. There are two kinds of pauses that belong to the melody of verse; one is, the pause at the end of the line; and the other, the casural pause in or near the middle of it. With regard to the pause at the end of the line, which marks that strain or verse to be finished, rhyme renders this always sensible; and in some measure compels us to observe it in our pronunciation. In respect to blank verse, we ought also to read it so as to make every line sensible to the ear; for what is the use of melody, or for what end has the poet composed his verse, if, in reading his lines, we suppress his numbers, by omitting the final pause; and degrade them, by our pronunciation, into mere prose?—At the same time that we attend to this pause, every appearance of eing-song and tone must be carefully guarded against.The close of the line, where it makes no pause in the meaning, ought not to be marked by such a tone as is used in finishing a sen tence; but, without either fall or elevation of the voice, it should be denoted only by so slight a suspension of sound, as may distinguish the passage from one line to another, without injuring the meaning. The other kinds of melodious pause, is that which falls somewhere about the middle of the verse, and divides it into two hemistichs; a pause not so great as that which belongs to the close of the line, but, still sensible to au ordinary ear. This which is called the cæsural pause, may fall, in the English heroic verse, after the 4th, 5th, 6th or 7th syllable in the line. Where the verse is so constructed, that this caesural pause coincides with the slightest pause or division in the sense, the line can be read easily, as in the first verses of Pope's Messiah a

INTRODUCTION.

Ye nymphs of Solyma! begin the song;

"To heav'nly themes, sublimer strains belong."

But if it should happen, that words which have so strict and intima/e a connection, as not to bear even a momentary separation, are divided from one another by this cæsural pause, we then feel a sort of struggle between the sense and the sound, which renders it difficult to read such lines harmoniously. The rule of proper punctuation in such cases, is, to regard only the pause which the sense forms; and to read the line accordingly. The neglect of the casural pause may make the line sound somewhat unharmoniously; but the effect would be much worse, if the sense were sacrificed to the sound. For instance in the following line of Milton,

"What in me is dark,

Illumine; what is low, raise and support;"

the sense clearly dictates the pause after illumine, at the end of the third syllable, which in reading, ought to be made accordingly? though if the melody only were to be regarded, illumine should be Connected with what follows, and the pause not made till the fourth or sixth syllable.—So in the following line of Pope's Epistle to Dr.. Arburthnot,

"I sit, with sad civility I read :"

the ear plainly points out the casural pause as falling after sad, the fourth syllable. But it would be very bad reading to make any pause there, so as to separate sud and civilily. The sense admits of no other pause than after the second syllable sit, which therefore must be the only pause made in reading this part of the sentence.

There is another mode of dividing some verses, by introducing what may be called demi-cæsuras, which require very slight pauses, and which the reader should manage with judgement, or he will be apt to fall into an affected sing-ong mode of pronouncing verses of this kind. The following lines exemplify the demi-cæsura:

"Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze;

"Glows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees,

"Lives through all life, extends through all extent,
"Spreads undivided, operates unspent."

Before the conclusion of this introduction, the Compiler takes the liberty to recommend to teachers, to exercise their pupils in discov ering and explaining the emphatic words, and the proper tones and pauses, of every portion assigned them to read, previously to their being called out for the performance. These preparatory lessons, in which they should be regularly examined, will improve their judgement and taste; prevent the practice of reading without attention to the subject; and establish a habit of readily discovering the meth ing, force, and beauty, of every septence they peruse.