Puslapio vaizdai
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C. He shall increase, but I shall decrease.

D. There is a difference between giving | and fòrgiving.

E. In this species of composition, plaúsibility | is much more essential than pròbability.

F. What is done, cannot be undone.

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G. He that déscended is the same that ascended. H. Some appear to make very little difference between décency | and indecency, morálity and ìmmorality, relígion | and ìrreligion.

I. The conduct of Antoninus | was marked by jústice and humànity; that of Néro, by injustice | and ìnhumanity.

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J. There is a possibility of such an occurrence, though there is no probability.

K. This corruptible | must put on íncorruption; and this mortal must put on ìmmortality.

T. Now give some examples where only one part of a comparison is expressed, and the other is to be made clear by emphasis.

L. I give one from the 84th Psalm: "I had rather be a doorkeeper | in the house of my Gód, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness." That is, I had rather be, not only a common inmáte, but even a doòrkeeper;—and this meaning is plainly suggested by laying emphasis on doorkeeper by the falling slide.

A. I give one from the 19th chapter of Luke: “I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out." Here, the emphasis on stones, by the falling slide, plainly indicates, that if

these should hold their peace, not only men of ordinary sensibility, but even the stones | would cry out.

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B. I have one from the Lord's prayer: Give us this day our daily bread." That is, As thou hast fed

us hitherto, so give us this day our daily bread: or, As thou hast supplied us the past dáy, so give us this dáyour daily bread.

C. I have one from the 43d Psalm: "Enter not into judgment with thy servant, for in thy sight shall no flesh living | be justified.

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D. I give one from the speech of Satan, in Milton's Paradise Lost:

To reign is worth ambition, though in Hèll:
Better to reign in Hèll | than serve in Heaven.

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To supply the comparison in the last line, it might be rendered: Better to reign, not only in the lowest place uncúrsed, but even in Hèll.

LESSON VIII.

ARTICULATION-VOWELS-INDISTINCT AND VITIATED SOUNDS.

IT has already been remarked, that it is the special characteristic of good reading to present the words with as much distinctness to the ear of the hearer, as the fairly written or printed page does to the eye of the reader. And to do this, every word, and every syllable,

and each vocal letter of every syllable, must be distinctly enunciated with its appropriate sound and accent. This is articulation, and lies at the very foundation of a good delivery. Whoever aims at excellence in his delivery, must labor at first principles, and not remit his labor till he has completely mastered all the elementary sounds of the language, so that he may be able to utter them with perfect ease in all their varied combinations.

Our language contains about forty-two elementary sounds, made by the twenty-six letters of the alphabet. Five of the letters, a, e, i, o, u, are called vowels; the rest consonants, except w and y when they end a syllable, and then they become vowels. When two vowels unite to form a syllable, they are called a diphthong; as, aim, clean, voice. When three vowels unite to form a syllable, they are called a triphthong; as, beauty, view.

For the sound of the vowels, the scale of Walker is adopted here, with the single exception of a, as heard in care, dare, rare, which is placed as the 5th sound of a : thus-fate, får, fåll, fắt, cåre; mě, met; pine, pin; no, move, når, nôt; tube, tub, båll; oil, pound; thin, THIS. Th, as heard in thin, is called sharp or acute; TH, as heard in this, is called obtuse.

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One of the highest beauties of delivery is a full, round, mellow pronunciation of the open vowels and diphthongs, as heard in father, noble, tone, voice, choice, point, joint, authority; aurora; and the too feeble and indistinct utterance of the unaccented syllables and consonants is among the most prevailing faults.

But there is another defect which claims attention; It is a vitiated sound of the vowels and diphthongs not

under accent, and sometimes when they are. This is a blemish more observable perhaps in the Eastern States; but it pervades, more or less, the whole country. The sound is confined principally to what should be the sound of the short o, as heard in not; the long broad ở, as heard in for; the broad å, as heard in fall-which is similar to the last-and the diphthongs ou and oi.

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Thus the vowel sounds in cl, cốm, cốn, ốm, ổn, ố, and ov, are compressed and flattened into the second sound of å, as heard in far; so that providence, incônstant, and words of this sort, are pronounced incånstant, pråvidence, cånstitution, åbservation; and frog, log, hog, flock, lock, clock, lông, song, wrong, are pronounced fråg, håg, flåck, lång, sång, wrẵng; and the names of the Deity-God and Lord-are pronounced Gåd, Lård; and sometimes with a drawl superadded.

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The sound of å, as heard in fall, is often changed to the second sound, as heard in far; so that åll, cåll, tåll, and ball, are pronounced åll, cåll, tåll, båll; and tone, stone, &c., are pronounced ton, ston, or stun; and count, cow, how, out, coward, are pronounced căount, căow, hảow, aout, cãoward; and voice, choice, rejoice, boy, joy, annoy, joint, point, anoint, poison, broil, oil, soil, are robbed of that open, broad, full sound, so agreeable to the ear, and pronounced våice, båy, jint, pint, anint, &c. Persons who pronounce in this way are unconscious of the fact, and, of course, have no conception how greatly it mars the style of their delivery.

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The long open sound of o, as heard in force, course, divorce, portrait, glory, glórious, story, is often shortened to force, corse, divorce, portrait, glory, glorious,

story; and the long 1, as in mine, thine, mild, child, is changed into a sort of drawl, as måine, thẳine, måild, chaild.

The long sound of è and o, and the diphthong åu, forming an unaccented syllable at the beginning of a word, as event, emit, enough, emotion, obey, opinion, omit, o'clock, opaque, authority, audacious, &c., are liable to be sunk or perverted to the sound of short and pronounced uvvent, ummit, ubbey, uppinion, uthority, &c. Much pains should be taken to give distinctness to these syllables, and to do it with the proper sounds of the vowels.

Also the long sounds of è and o in the inseparable propositions pre and pro, when not under accent, are apt to be sunk into per or pr in the words prevent, prẻdict, prevail, pretend, predominate, promote, pronounce, proceed, profane, propose, &c., and pronounced pårvent, or p'rvent, p'rvail, p'rmote, p'rfane, p'rdominate; and in other words these letters are liable to be sunk, as in belief, polite, several, every, deliverer, traveller, history, memorable, melody, philosophy, society, variety, &c., and pronounced b'lief, p'lite, ev'ry, &c.

The long sound of ù, not under accent, as in the words virt-ue, virt-uous, nåt-ure, nat-ural, measure, treasure, creature, leisure, structure, popular, singular, particular, regular, secular, is often robbed of its mellow and musical sound, by being pronounced virtu, natur or natchŭr, treasur, creatur or creatchur, leisŭr, structur or structshur, popeler, singelar, particelar, secelar, regelar. In all such words the sound of u should be distinctly audible, as virt-ue, nat-ure, &c.

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