Page images
PDF
EPUB

within the harbor, or on the beautiful sea without. The line of demarkation between the two colors, black and blue, showed the point which the pure sea would not pass; but it lay as quiet as the abominable pool, with which it never mixed. Boats without awnings were too hot to touch; ships blistered at their moorings; the stones of the quays had not cooled for months.

4. The universal stare made the eyes ache. Toward the distant line of Italian (Ĭ tăl' yăn) coast, indeed, it was a little relieved by light clouds of mist, slowly rising from the evaporation of the sea; but it softened nowhere else. Far away the staring roads, deep in dust, stared from the hillside, stared from the hollow, stared from the interminable plain.

5. Far away the dusty vines overhanging wayside cottages, and the monotonous wayside avenues of parched trees without shade, drooped beneath the stare of earth and sky. So did the horses with drowsy bells, in long files of carts, creeping slowly toward the interior; so did their recumbent drivers, when they were awake, which rarely happened; so did the exhausted laborers in the fields.

6. Every thing that lived or grew was oppressed by the glare; except the lizard, passing swiftly over rough stone walls, and the cicada, chirping his dry hot chirp, like a rattle. The very dust was scorched brown, and something quivered in the atmosphere as if the air itself were panting. Blinds, shutters, curtains, awnings, were all closed to keep out the stare. Grant it but a chink or keyhole, and it shot in like a white-hot arrow.

7. The churches were freëst from it. To come out of the twilight of pillars and arches-dreamily dotted with winking lamps, dreamily peopled with ugly old shadows piously dozing, spitting, and begging-was to plunge into a fiery river, and swim for life to the nearest strip of shade. So, with people lounging and lying wherever shade was, with but little hum of tongues or barking of dogs, with occasional jangling of discordant church bells, and rattling of vicious drums, Marseilles, a fact to be strongly smelt and tasted, lay broiling in the sun one day. 8. Shall I be left, forgotten in the dust,

When Fate, relenting, lets the flower revive?

Shall Nature's voice, to Man ǎlone unjust,

Bid him, though doomed to perish, hope to live?

III. ACCENT.

I.

DEFINITIONS.

ACCENT is the peculiar force given to one or more

syllables of a word.

2. In many trisyllables and polysyllables, of two syllables accented, one is uttered with greater force than the other. The more forcible accent is called primary, and the less forcible, secondary; as, hab-i-TA-tion.

3. The mark of acute accent ['] is employed, first, to indicate primary accent; secondly, the rising inflection (p. 53); as,

Réading, or read'ing. If thine enemy húnger, give him bread.

4. The mark of grave accent [`] is employed, first, to indicate secondary accent; secondly, that the vowel over which it is placed, with its attendant consonant, forms a separate syllable; thirdly, that the vowel in the unaccented syllable is not an alphabetic equivalent, but represents one of its usual oral elements; and fourthly, the falling inflection (p. 53); as,

Magnificent, or mag'nificent. A learned man caught that winged thing. Her goodness moved the roughest. Awày, thou coward!

The student will be required to give the office of each mark in the following

EXERCISES IN ACCENT.

1. The lone'ly hunt'er calls his bound'ing dogs, and seeks the high'way.

2. Hark! the whirl'wind is in the forest: agèd, trees are o'verturned'.

3. Vèrácity first of all, and fòréver.

4. The finest wits have their sédiment.

5. Hunting mèn, not béasts, shall be his game.

6. A fool with júdges; among fools, a judge.

7. Will the heed'lessness of honest students offend' their truest friends?

8. Hónèst stúdents learn the greátnèss of hùmílity.

9. That blessed and beloved child loves every winged thing. 10. The agreeʼable arʼtisan` made an adʼmirable părʼasõl` for that beau'tiful Russian (rush'an) la'dy.

11. No'tice the marks of ac'cent, and al'ways accent' correct'ly words that should have but one ac'cent, as in sen'sible, vaga'ry, circumstances, difficulty, in'teresting, &c.

12. Costume, mánnèrs, ríchès, cìvilizátion, have no pérmanènt ínterest for him. His héedlèssnèss offénds his trúest friends. 13. In a crówdèd life, on a stage of nátions, or in the obscúrèst hámlèt, the same bléssèd élemènts offer the same rich choices to each new cómer.

II.

WORDS DISTINGUISHED BY ACCENT.

MAN

ANY words, or parts of speech, having the same form, are distinguished by accent alone. Nouns and adjectives are often thus distinguished from verbs, and, in a few dissyllables, from each other.

EXAMPLES.

1. Why does your ab'sent friend absent' himself.?

2. Did he abstract' an ab'stract of your speech from the desk? 3. Note the mark of ac'cent, and accent' the right syllable.

4. Buy some cem'ent and cement' the glass.

5. Desert' us not in the des'ert.

6. If that project fail, he will project' another.

7. My in'crease is taken to increase' your wealth.

8. Perfume' the room with rich perfume.

9. If they reprimand' that officer, he will not regard their rep'rimand.

10. If they rebel', and overthrow' the government, even the reb'els can not justify the o'verthrow.

11. In August, the august' writer entered into a com'pact to prepare a compact' discourse.

12. In'stinct, not reason, rendered the herd instinct' with spirit 13. Within a minʼute from this time, I will find a minute piece of gold.

14. Earnest prayer is an in'cense that can never incense' Deity 15. While you converse' with each other, I hold con'verse with nature.

16. If they continue to progress' in learning, he will commend them for their progress.

17. If Congress interdict' intercourse with foreign nations, will the in'terdict be just?

18. Unless the con'vert be zealous, he will never convict' the con'vict of his errors, and convert' him.

19. If the pro'test of the minority be not respected, they will protest' against your votes.

20. If the farmer produce' produce enough for his family, he will not transfer' his title to that estate, though the transʼfer is legal.

THE

III.

ACCENT CHANGED BY CONTRAST.

HE ordinary accent of words is sometimes changed by a contrast in sense, or to express opposition of thought.

EXAMPLES.

1. He must in'crease, but I must de'crease.

2. He did not say a new ad'dition, but a new e'dition.

3. Consider well what you have done, and what you have left un'done.

4. I said that she will sus'pect the truth of the story, not that she will ex'pect it.

5. He that de'scended is also the same that as'cended.

6. This corruptible must put on in'corruption; and this mortal must put on imʼmortality.

7. There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the ter'restrial is another.

EXPRESSION.

EXPRESSION OF SPEECH is the utterance of thought,

feeling, or passion, with due significance or force. Its general divisions are EMPHASIS, SLUR, INFLECTION, MODULATION, MONOTONE, PERSONATION, and PAUSES.

Orthoëpy is the mechanical part of elocution, consisting in the discipline and use of the organs of speech and the voice for the production of the alphabetic elements and their combination into separate words. It is the basis—the subsoil, which, by the mere force of will and patient practice, may be broken and turned up to the sun, and from which spring the flowers of expression.

Expression is the soul of elocution. By its ever-varying and delicate combinations, and its magic and irresistible power, it wills—and the listless ear stoops with expectation; the vacant eye burns with unwonted fire; the dormant passions are aroused, and all the tender and powerful sympathies of the soul are called into vigorous exercise.

I. EMPHASIS.

I.

DEFINITIONS.

EMPHASIS is the peculiar force given to one or more

words of a sentence.

2. To give a word emphasis, means to pronounce it in a loud' or forcible manner. No uncommon tone, however, is necessary, as words may be made emphatic by prolonging the vowel sounds, by a pause, or even by a whisper.

3. Emphatic words are often printed in Italics; those more emphatic, in small CAPITALS; and those that receive the greatest force, in large CAPITALS.

1 Loudness.-The instructor will explain to the class the fact, that loudness has not, of necessity, refer

ence to high pitch, but to volume of voice, used on the same key or pitch, when reading or speaking.

« PreviousContinue »