And still they gazed, and still their wonder grew That one small head should carry all he knew. Goldsmith.

Narration and Description may, however, assume a highly emotional character; and in such case, must be read with corresponding earnestness and impressiveness. Quotations may be introduced, which must be read with due regard to the emotions and character of the persons by whom they were spoken.

3. Description of the Fight between Fitz-James and
Roderick Dhu.

Ill fared it then with Roderick Dhu,
That on the field his targe he threw,
Whose brazen studs and tough bull-hide
Had death so often dashed aside;
For trained abroad his arms to wield,
Fitz-James's blade was sword and shield.
He practised every pass and ward,
To thrust, to strike, to feint, to guard;
While less expert, though stronger far,
The Gael maintained unequal war.
Three times in closing strife they stood,
And thrice the Saxon blade drank blood;
No stinted draught, no scanty tide,
The gushing flood the tartans dyed.
Fierce Roderick felt the fatal drain,
And showered his blows like wintry rain;
And, as firm rock or castle-roof,
Against the wintry shower is proof,
The foe invulnerable still,

Foiled his wild rage by steady skill;
Till at advantage ta'en, his brand

Forced Roderick's weapon from his hand,

And backward, borne upon the lea,
Brought the proud chieftain to his knee.
"Now, yield thee, or by Death's dark shade,
Thy inmost heart's blood dyes my blade!"
"Thy threats, thy mercy I defy!

Let recreant yield who fears to die."
Like adder darting from his coil,
Like wolf that dashes through the toil,
Like mountain-cat who guards her young,
Full at Fitz-James's throat he sprung;
Received, but reck'd not of a wound,
And locked his arms his foeman round.—
Now, gallant Saxon, hold thine own!
No maiden's hand is round thee thrown!
That desperate grasp thy frame might feel,
Through bars of brass and triple steel!—
They tug, they strain! down, down they go,
The Gael above, Fitz-James below.
The chieftain's gripe his throat compressed,
His knee was planted in his breast;
His clotted locks he backward threw,
Across his brow his hand he drew,
From blood and mist to clear his sight,
Then gleamed aloft his dagger bright!—
But hate and fury ill supplied

The stream of life's exhausted tide,
And all too late the advantage came
To turn the odds of deadly game;
For, while the dagger gleamed on high,
Reel'd soul and sense, reel'd brain and eye,
Down came the blow! but in the heath
The erring blade found bloodless sheath.
The struggling foe may now unclasp
The fainting chief's relaxing grasp;
Unwounded from the dreadful close,
But breathless all, Fitz-James arose.

Walter Scott.

4. Description of a Warrior Dying.

In his dim chamber, on his couch of Ind,

Hung round with crest, and sword, and knightly

vane,

Was stretch'd a cuirass'd form, that inly pin'd

With memories keener than his mortal pain ;— And oft around his darkening eyes would strain, As if some evil visitant was come;

Then press his wasted hand upon his brain,—

Mutter low words,-and beckon through the gloom, And grasp his couch, as if he saw the opening tomb!

The fearful secret murmur'd from his lips,

'Twas "murder;"-but his voice was now a sigh; For o'er his spirit gather'd quick eclipse!

He strove to dash the darkness from his eye, Then smote with nerveless hand upon his thigh ;But there the sword was not;-a deeper groan!A start,-as if the summoner was nigh,—

Told his last pangs! His eye was fix'd as stone! There lay a livid corse, the master of a throne! Dr. Croly.

5. Clarence's Dream.

Methought that I had broken from the Tow'r,
And was embark'd to cross to Burgundy,
And in my company, my brother Glo'ster,
Who from my cabin tempted me to walk.-
As we pass'd along

Upon the giddy footing of the hatches,

Methought that Glo'ster stumbled, and in falling,
Struck me (that sought to stay him) overboard,
Into the tumbling billows of the main.

Ah! then methought, what pain it was to drown!
What dreadful noise of waters in my ears !
What sights of ugly death within my eyes!
I thought I saw a thousand fearful wrecks;
A thousand men, that fishes gnawed upon;

Wedges of gold, great anchors, heaps of pearl,
Inestimable stones, unvalu'd jewels ;-

Some lay in dead men's skulls; and in those holes,
Where eyes did once inhabit, there were crept,
As 'twere in scorn of eyes, reflecting gems,
That woo'd the slimy bottom of the deep,
And mock'd the dead bones that lay scatter'd by.
Methought that often did I strive

To yield the ghost; but still the envious flood
Kept in my soul, and would not let it forth
To find the empty, vast, and wand'ring air;
But smother'd it within my panting bulk,
Which almost burst to belch it in the sea.

And yet my dream was lengthened after life ;—
O then began the tempest of my soul!
For then, methought, a legion of foul fiends
Environ'd me, and howl'd in mine ears

Such hideous cries, that with the very noise
I trembling wak'd.

V.-Argument.

Shakspeare.

Argumentative pieces necessarily require, in reading, that earnestness of manner, which denotes sincerity, honesty, and conviction, on the part of the writer or speaker. Argument may be calm, deliberate, philosophical, logical, impassioned, &c.; or it may combine any or all of these; and all such varieties must, in reading, be duly expressed.

1. Logical Moral Argument.

(Natural appetency for Rectitude.)

There is an appetite of our sentient nature which terminates in food, and that is irrespective of all its subsequent utilities to the animal economy; and there is an appetite for doing what is right, which terminates in virtue, and which bears equally little respect to its utilities-whether for the good of self or for the good

of society. The man, whom temptation to what is dishonourable, would put into a state of recoil and restlessness, has no other aim, in the resistance he makes to it, than simply to make full acquittal of his integrity. This is his landing-place; and he looks no further. There may be a thousand dependent blessings to humanity, from the observation of moral rectitude. But the pure and simple appetency for rectitude, rests upon this as its object, without any onward reference to the consequences, which shall flow from it. This consideration alone is sufficient to dispose of the system of utility; as being metaphysically incorrect in point of conception, and incorrect in the expression of it. If a man can do virtuously, when not aiming at the useful, and not so much as thinking of it-then to design and execute what is useful, may be and is a virtue; but it is not all virtue.-Dr. Chalmers.

2. Logical Demonstrative Argument.

(The Existence of Angels.)

The very heathen philosophers confessed the existence of angels, although they called them by other names, as demons, geniuses, and the like.

It is a question indeed in the schools, whether natural reason directs us to the acknowledgment of this truth. But to me it seems out of all doubt, that the existence of angels may be evinced by very cogent reasons, and such as must needs prevail with all those that will give themselves leisure attentively to consider the nature of things. For,

1st, Although man be an excellent creature, among the creatures of this lower world, yet that very reason whereby he excels those other creatures must needs force him to acknowledge, that he himself is too mean a creature to be the first-born and top of the creation, the master-piece of the works of God, who is the great Creator and Framer of all things. Supposing that God has created a perfect system of things comprehending