Puslapio vaizdai
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its approach: bonds, and tortures, and death, cannot extinguish
its influence. Let no man despair, then, of the christian cause.
Whoever dreamed of such an ocean?
Whoever dreamed of such a notion?
He ought to prove such a position:

He ought to approve such a position.
They weary wandered over wastes and deserts:
They weary wandered over waste sand deserts.

When Ajax strives some rocks vast weight to throw,
The line, too, labours, and the words move slow.
That morning, thou, that slumber'dst not before,
Nor sleptst, great Ocean, laidst thy waves at rest,
And hush'dst thy mighty minstrelsy.

The learner should be required to read the foregoing exercises over and over again, again and again, until he can articulate, with ease and accuracy, every vowel and every consonant sound in each sentence. Those letters distinguished by Italick characters, demand his particular attention: for an attentive observer may easily be convinced, perhaps to his astonishment, that few readers can be found, who would not, in pronouncing these thirteen sentences, be guilty of more than thirty inaccuracies.

The vowel o in the words of, for, from, and the like, is frequently perverted to that of short u; and thus, one of the most melodious and grateful sounds in the language, is lost.

One of the prominent points of articulation illustrated in these exercises, is the frequent recurrence of a difficult sound at the close of one, and at the commencement of another, word: such as, "effects of, such an ocean, ought to approve, wastes and deserts, Ajax strives some rock's vast weight to throw;" in which instances, it will be found utterly impossible to give every element its distinct sound without making a short pause between the words. In the phrase, "weight to throw," for example, the atonickt in weight cannot be fully exploded unless a pause is made after it. To this point, then, let the pupil particularly direct his attention; for the suppression and blending of sounds,

as several of these examples clearly show, often lead to a total perversion of the sense.

RULE II.

The practice of hurrying over words so as to precipitate syllable upon syllable, and, as it were, blend them together into indistinct and confused masses, is by no means allowable.

The least critical listener is always dissatisfied with an indistinct speaker or reader, though, perhaps, utterly unable to point out his particular faults; whilst the judicious observer has to complain, that letters, syllables, words, and sometimes even large portions of sentences, are either wholly suppressed by him, or pronounced in so feeble and indistinct a manner as to confuse and perplex the mind in its attempts to apprehend their meaning. Under a false conceit of beauty, some speakers allow their voice to glide along through their sentences by attempting to articulate and swell only what they conceive to be the most prominent words, so that its course appears like that of a small animal passing across a field laid in ridges, alternately appearing in, and disappearing from, sight. Although the beautiful undulation in the motion of a bird on the wing, is highly pleasing, yet were the aerial voyager, in every descent, to sink so low as to elude the sight, the pleasure we derive from beholding his flight, would be, in a great measure, destroyed. Precisely in the same manner are we affected by the movements of the voice. We are pleased with its waving, undulating motion; but, in its progress, we like (if the figure may be employed) always to keep sight of it. Its descent, therefore, should never be so great as to render the articulation indistinct.

The following examples may serve to illustrate the importance of Rule II.

EXERCISES.

Ive not er dauvim sin se wen tin pursu tau vum.

Ive not erdauvim sin se wentin pursutauvum.

Ther wuza singlur opposition beh twee niz alleged motives un diz conduct.

Slowly un sadly we la dim down,
Frum th feel dau viz fame fresh un gory.

Offtin th lone church-yard, at nitive seen
Th school-boy weh thiz satchel in ezand.

By pronouncing these sentences with rapidity several times over, according to the corrupt orthography in which they are presented, the precise elocution of many a reader will be produced. After which, let any one pronounce the same sentences with distinctness and energy, according to their correct orthography in which they subsequently appear, observing to give every word and every letter its full and appropriate sound, and the contrast will convince him of the magnitude of the errours against which he is cautioned.

I have not heard of him since he went in pursuit of them. There was a singular opposition between his alleged motives and his conduct.

Slowly and sadly we laid him down,

From the field of his fame fresh and gory.

Oft in the lone church-yard, at night I've seen
The school-boy with his satchel in his hand.

To avoid being misunderstood, in the foregoing remarks, it may be proper to caution the student against confounding his idea of distinct articulation, with that of emphasis, force, or mere loudness of sound. The tone of the voice may be very low, and its force upon a syllable, word, or phrase, very slight indeed, and, at the same time, the articulation, perfectly distinct, and the enunciation, quite audible. To the reader or the speaker, this is a point of paramount importance. Whilst a dull uniformity of force and elevation would amount to unendurable monotony, a succession of depressions that produce indistinctness of articulation, is worse than the torture of Tantalus. Variety, therefore, in elevation and depression, force and softness, quickness and slowness, should be studied; but, at the same time, extremes are to be avoided.

AND.

There is no word in the language more frequently and unjustly trampled upon, than the poor conjunctive drudge—and. No slave was ever more grossly abused; and yet, its efforts are so very laudable and friendly in its ever-active exertions to bring together and unite its erratick and less social brethren, that it would be extremely difficult for its enemies to hatch up the shadow of an apology for bestowing upon it such a succession of ill usages. Three times out of four, perhaps, when it appears at its post in the path of the speaker, it is passed by with merely an imperfect and uncourteous nasal salute, as if it were some obtrusive menial, unworthy of the least regard. In examples like the following, it is seldom half articulated. Although it is as lawfully entitled to three, distinct elementary sounds, as ever was an honest pronoun to its case, or a princely verb to its tense, yet such is the ingratitude of poor, frail, clay-built readers and speakers, that they think nothing of robbing this most faithful and respectable servant of, at least, one, if not two, or even two and a half, of its legitimate elements.

Heaven and earth will witness,

If Rome must fall, that we are innocent.

The Assyrian came down, like the wolf on the fold,
And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold.

The word and, in these and similar examples, is commonly pronounced as if written und or un, with an imperfect or partially occluded articulation of these elements; whereas, it ought always to be pronounced in such a manner that each of its own three elementary sounds, though in their combined state, may distinctly appear.

In pronouncing the phrase, "And his," not only the a, but the h, is, also, frequently suppressed, and the sound of d is combined with that of the i following it; as if written thus, un diz cohorts, and so forth. Many would pronounce the phrase, "are innocent," in the first example, as if written, a rinosunt. This practice of suppressing letters, and, as it were, of melting words into indistinct masses, cannot be too cautiously guarded against.

EXERCISES.

She was then young, the blessing of her aged parents, of whom she was the hope and stay-and happiness shone brightly over her. Her life was all sunshine. Time for her had trod only on flowers: and if the visions which endear, and decorate, and hallow home, were vanished forever, still did she resign them for the sacred name of wife and the sworn affection of a royal husband, and the allegiance of a glorious and gallant people.

But unto the SON, in a style which annihilates competition and comparison, unto the SoN he saith, thy throne, O God, is forever and ever.

Sleep, the type of death, is, also, like that which it typifies, restricted to the earth. It flies from hell, and is excluded from heaven.

Between two worlds life hovers like a star

'Twixt night and morn, upon the horizon's verge.

Chillon, the favourite and the flower,
Most cherished since his natal hour,
His mother's image in his face,

The infant love of all his race.

For me the mine a thousand treasures brings;
For me health gushes from a thousand springs;
Seas roll to waft me, suns to light me rise;

My footstool, earth, my canopy, the skies.

These examples abound with little words, such as the, and, for, from, to, his, her, and the like, and are selected for the express purpose of enabling the student, by strict attention to a distinct articulation of them, to avoid, in future, the too common errour of slurring over such words-the chief source of that enormous transgression of the laws of elocution and common sense, by which many a reader blends words together in such a manner as to present them in the lump. An elegant and impressive elocution depends greatly on a distinct and appropriate enunciation of terminating syllables and small words. Although so great a force must not be given to them as to the larger and

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