4th. A want of true time, appearing in the disproportion of syllables to each other, and to their place, as component parts of metrical feet,-in the irregular and varying succession of the different parts of a line, as compared with each other,-in the want of correspondence and symmetry in the pauses, whether as compared with each other, or with the average rate of

utterance.

Some readers err in all these particulars, and others in several, but most in at least one. The effect of any of these faults is to destroy, as far as it extends, the harmonious flow of verse, and to impair the perception of that harmony in thought, of which poetry is the expression.

5th. A very prevalent source of faults in the reading of poetry, consists in the mechanical observance of the final and casural pauses, without regard to meaning.

The error in regard to the final pause, would be exemplified thus, in the following instances:

"Of man's first disobedience; and the fruit Of that forbidden tree," &c.

Which is read thus, "Of man's first disobedience and the fruit of that forbidden tree," &c.

"Now came still evening on, and twilight gray Had in her sober livery all things clad."

Read thus, "Now came still evening on and twilight gray--had in her sober livery," &c.

"And dark as winter was the flow

Of Iser rolling rapidly."

Read, "And dark as winter was the flow-of Iser rolling rapidly."

The error of casural pause would occur thus:

"The look that spoke gladness and welcome was gone."

Read thus, "The look that spoke gladness-and welcome was gone."

"The blaze that shone bright in the hall was no more."

Read thus, "The blaze that shone bright-in the hall was no more."

"The boy stood on the burning deck."

Read, "The boy stood on-the burning deck." The ridiculous effects of this error it is unnecessary to describe at length.

6th. Reading literally and uniformly according to the rhythm, or the particular metre of a passage or of a stanza, without regard to emphasis.

This error may be considered as arising either from the want of a clear conception of the sense of what is read, or from the overlooking of particular instances in which the poetic license of substituting one foot for another, is indulged, as happens in the following line, in which the spondee is twice substituted for the iambus. The faulty reading is thus:

"Now came still evening on," &c., for
"Now came still evening on," &c.

"The boy stood on the burning deck," for

"The boy stood on the burning deck;"

The trochee being substituted for the iambus, as the second foot.

"And dark as winter was the flow

Of Iser rolling rapidly," for

"And dark as winter was the flow

Of Iser rolling rapidly;"

The pyrrhic being substituted for the iambus, as the third foot.

This fault is sometimes carried so far as to change the accent of words; thus,

"Yet beautiful' and bright he stood," for
"Yět beautiful and bright he stood;"

With the pyrrhic instead of the iambus, as the second foot.

Sometimes an improper elision of a syllable or letter, takes place in the same way:

"No more thus brooding o'er yon heap
With av'rice painful vigils keep," for
"With avǎrice painful vigils keep."

The principle on which the anapast is to be preserved in the second foot, is this. The verse admits, for variety, the occurrence of a spondee in the same situation; and as the latter contains two long syllables, or four short quantities, the former is nothing more than its strict equivalent in numbers; since it contains exactly the same amount of prosodial quantity.

To the same class of errors belong the following pronunciations: "dang'rous" for dangerous, "sev'ral" for several, "ev'ry" for every, "I th' open sky" for in the open sky. No attention should be paid to such apostrophes: they belong to a style which is become obsolete.

Note. Poetry occasionally employs a more ancient style of language, than would be appropriate in prose. This distinction extends not only to the use of words obsolete in prose, but also to forms of accent which are no longer authorized by good usage. Hence we find in verse such accents as the following: con'tribute, con'template, obdu'rate, &c., requiring a change from present custom in pronunciation. The rule of taste is, in these and similar instances, to follow the verse; as we should do in pronouncing "wind" to rhyme with "find," and "wound" to rhyme with "ground,” but not in other circumstances. In neither case, however, ought this principle of accommodation to be carried to extremes, as it would be if obeyed in the following or similar cases:

"Who now triumphs, and in the excess of joy.".
"Of thrones and mighty seraphim prostrate."—
"Last of my race-on battle plain

That shout shall ne'er be heard again!"
"His neighbours tell, and tell you truly,
In June, December, and in July

'Tis all the same to Harry Gill.”

7th. A fault which is peculiar to the reading of the

stanza in common metre, and which is familiarly,

called 'sing song,' arises from the use of a wrong inflection at the end of the second line.

The sense is usually left incomplete, or there is a continuance or connexion of thought, which requires the rising slide, at the close of this line; and when these reasons for this inflection do not exist, the principle of the prevalence of the rising inflection in poetry, -mentioned in the rules on inflection,-would still require it, in most instances. The structure of the common metre stanza, makes this inflection peculiarly important to harmony. The closing syllable of the second line contains the sound which is to be repeated for rhyme at the end of the fourth line; and if the former terminates with the same inflection as the latter, (which it must do if the falling slide is used in the former,) there is a kind of mocking echo, produced by the repetition of the inflection; and this mechanical correspondence is rendered peculiarly striking and disagreeable, by the additional influence of the rhyme, which takes away all possibility of the fault being obscured by any shade of variety in the sound of syllables.

The bad effect of this echoing inflection, is farther heightened, in most instances, by the reader overlooking the fact, that, in the progress of the stanza, more force and depth of sentiment usually become perceptible in the third line; requiring, therefore, a lower pitch at its commencement, than the prevailing strain of the first and second lines. The neglect of an appropriate lowering of the note at this point, leaves the voice to drift out of the stanza on the same note nearly with that of the opening strain. Here is an additional cause of the unhappy effect of the echoing notes, at the close of the stanza, as compared with the end of the second line. To the unnecessary sameness of inflection, and the unavoidable sameness of rhyme, is added a perfect sameness of note in both cases;—all which would be avoided by attending to the proper inflection at the close of the second line, and the true pitch at the beginning of the third. The mocking or echoing cadence would thus be avoided.

The effect of the above fault will be perceived by reading the following stanzas with the falling inflection instead of the rising, at the end of the second line, and keeping the same pitch on the last two lines as on the first two.

"But not when the death-prayer is said,
The life of life departs;

The body in the grave is laid,

Its beauty in our hearts.

And holy midnight voices sweet
Like fragrance fill the room;

And happy ghosts with noiseless feet
Come brightening from the tomb."

RULE. Poetry should be read more slowly than prose, -with a moderate prolongation of vowel and liquid sounds, with a slight degree of musical utterance,— in exact time, as prescribed by the emotion expressed in given passages, and by the nature of the verse. The utterance should indicate the metre, but should never render it prominent; and, in rhyming lines, the rising inflection should generally terminate the first; the falling being carefully avoided, unless when indispensable to force of emotion, or to the completion of sense not connected with subsequent expression.

SUGGESTIONS FOR PRACTICE.

The fault of rapidity may be most easily corrected by the pupil reading along with the teacher; the exercise being simultaneously performed. This practice may be continued till the proper rate of utterance is attained in simultaneous reading. The learner may, in his next stage of progress, read after the teacher, till he acquire such a command of his voice that he can read in the slowest style of utterance that any piece may require. This gradation of exercise may be transferred to the practice of whole classes; and stanzas suited to this purpose may be selected and arranged in such a succession as to produce, in one