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EXPLANATION

OF THE CHARACTERS USED IN THE EXERCISES IN READING AND DECLAMATION.

(1) A vertical bar, employed to divide each paragraph into sections of a convenient length for concert reading. [See the PREFACE.]

() A separation mark. It signifies that the words between which it is placed, should not coalesce.

(1) A rest.

Where this character is employed there should be a slight suspension of the voice.

(-) A hold. The vowels over which this character is placed, should have an unusual prolongation.

() A pause, called also a suspending pause. When placed over a rest, it signifies that this rest should have two or three times its usual length. It is called a suspending pause, because it keeps the mind of the hearer in suspense. [See an example on page 221, seventh line from the bottom.]

(ハハ ") Acute and grave accents. They are employed to represent the rising and falling inflections, and also the emphasis melodies. [See page 48 and 54.]

[See p. 48.] [See p. 48.]

(^) Acuto-grave accent, or acuto-grave circumflex. (~) Gravo-acute accent, or gravo-acute circumflex. (ir) Irony. The passage to which these letters are prefixed, is ironical.

(rp) Reproach. When these letters are prefixed to a passage, it contains the language of reproach.

(wh) Whisper. The passage to which these letters are prefixed, should be whispered.

(1, 2, 3, 4) These numbers represent the degrees of modulation. [See p. 57.]

The italic letters represent sounds which are liable to be omitted, or imperfectly articulated. When all the letters in a word are italic, the word is emphatic. The emphatic words, however, are seldom, in this work, marked by italic letters.

In designating the pronunciation of words, in the foot-notes, I have used the letters which, on page 19, and 20, represent the elements of the English language. No superfluous letters are employed, as is done by lexicographers. The pronunciation of each word is determined by the letters which represent the sounds of which it is composed, and by the situation of the accent.

(200)

PART II.

EXERCISES IN READING AND DECLA

MATION.

SPEECH OF SATAN TO HIS LEGIONS.

(MILTON.)

Narrative.

He scarce had ceas'd, when the superior fiend,
Was moving tow'rd the shore; his pond'rous shield, I
Etherial temper, mas sy, large', and round', |
Behind him cast; | the broad circumferencea
Hung on his shoulders like the moon' | whose orb
Through optic glass the Tuscan artist views
At evening from the top of Fes`o-le, |

с

Or in Valdarno, to descry new lands',

e

Riv'ers, or mountains, in her spotty globe. |
His spear' (to equal which the tallest pine,
Hewn on Norwegian hills, to be the mast
Of some great amiral, were but a wand') |
He walk'd with, | to support uneasy steps |
Over the burning marl, (not like those steps
On heaven's a'zure!) and the torrid clime
Smote on him sore besides, vaulted with fire: |
Nathless he so endur'd, till on the beach
Of that inflamed sea he stood, | and call'd

His legions, angel-forms | who lay entranc'd

C

a Ser-kům'fê-rêns. b Gallileo. He was born at Florence, the capital of Tuscany, in Italy. Valdarno, Valle'di Arno (Italian), the vale of the Arno, a delightful valley in Tuscany.

• Am'i-ral (French), admiral. A'žůr. * Nâth'lês.

Moun'tinz.

Thick as autumnal1 leaves | that strow the brooks
In Vallombro sab | where the Etrurian shades,
High over-arch'd, imbow'r ; or scatter'd sedge,
Afloat, when with fierce winds, Orion, arm'd, |
Hath vex'd the Red-Sea coast | whose waves o'erthrew
Busiris, and his Memphiane chivalry,f|

While with perfidious hatred | they pursu'd
The sojourners" of Go' shen, who beheld
From the safe shore, their floating carcasses,
And broken chariot wheels: so thick bestrown, |
Abject, and lost, I lay these, covering the flood, |
Under amazement of their hideous' change. [
He call'd so loud, that all the hollow deep
Of hell resound.ed! |

Speech.
ff Princes,

po'tentates,

Warriors, the flow'r of heav'n, once yours, now lost, I
If such astonishment as this' | can seize

Eternal spirits: | ir or have ye chosen this place,
After the toil of battle, to repose

Your wearied vîrtue, | for the êase you

find

To slum ber here, as in the vales of heav'n? 1
"Or, in this abject posture, have ye sworn
To adore the Conq''ror? | who now beholds"
Cherub, and seraph, | rolling in the flood |
With scatter'd arms, and ensigns; | till anon
His swift pursuers, from heav'n-gates discern°
The advantage, and descending, tread us down', {
Thus drooping; or, with linked thunderbolts,
Transfix' us to the bottom of this gulf. |
fff Awake! | arise'! | or be for ever fallen! |

с

a A-tum'nål. b Vallombrosa (válle, a vale; ombróso, shady), a shady valley in the Apennines, fifteen miles east of Florence. Orl'on, a constellation, in the southern hemisphere. Busi'ris, Pharaoh. e Memphian, from Memphis, ancient capital of Egypt. Tshiv'al-rẻ. Per-fid'yůs. So'džurn-årż. i A-máz'ment. Hidè-ús. k Wâr'yůrz. 1 As-ton'ish-ment. m E-têr'nål. Be-hold, not burholds.

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OSSIAN'S ADDRESS TO THE SUN.

O thou that rollest above, | round as the shield of my fathers! Whence are thy beams', O sun', thy everlasting light? | Thou comest forth in thy awful beauty; | the stars hide themselves in the sky; the moon, cold, and pale', sinks in the western wave. | But thou thyself, movest alone, who can be, a companion of thy course? |

a

The oaks of the mountains, fall; the mountains themselves, decay with years; the ocean shrinks, and grows again; the moon herself is lost in heav、n; | but thou art for ever the same, I rejoicing in the brightness of thy course.

When the world is dark with tempests', 'when thunder rolls, and lightning flies', thou lookest in thy beauty from the clouds', 'and laugh'est at the storm. 2 But, to Ossian, thou lookest in vain; for he, beholds thy beams no more, whether thy yellow hairs, flow on the eastern clouds', or thou tremblest at the gates of the west.

But thou, art, perhaps, like me' for a sea son: | thy years will have an end. Thou shalt sleep in the clouds', careless of the voice of the morning. | 4Exult, then, O sun', | in the strength of thy youth! Age, is dark, and unlovely: | it is like the glimmering light of the moon', when, it shines through broken clouds'; | and the mist, is on the hills, the blast of the north, is on the plain, the traveller, shrinks in the midst of his journey.

TELL'S ADDRESS TO THE MOUNTAINS.
(KNOWLES.)

"Ye crags, and peaks',e | I'm with you once again;f | I hold to you the hands you first' beheld, |

e

a Moun'tinz.

b Moon herself, not moo'-ner-self.

C

c He, beholds

thy beams; not He'be holds thy beams. d Ossian was blind. Crags and peaks; not cragz'n peaks, nor crags Ann Peaks. Agèn'.

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