'Bold' and 'noble,' ' negative.'

"Not such as swept along

By the full tide of power, the conqueror leads
To crimson glory and undying fame."

'Sarcastic,' (contempt, scorn, and irony.) These mixed ideas, being 'harsh' and 'impure,' demand abrupt stress' and 'aspirated quality, with the circumflex slides.'

"But base, ignoble slaves, slaves to a horde
Of petty tyrants, feudal despots; lords,
Rich in some dozen paltry villages,-

Strong in some hundred spearmen, only great
In that strange spell,

a name. Each hour, dark fraud

Or open rapine, or protected murder,

Cries out against them. But this very day,

An honest man, my neighbor, - there he stands,

Was struck, - struck like a dog, by one who wore

The badge of Ursini; because, forsooth,

He tossed not high his ready cap in air,
Nor lifted up his voice in servile shouts,
At sight of that great ruffian.

'Impassioned,' ('negative.')

And suffer such dishonor?

"Be we men,

The stain away in blood?

Men, and wash not
Such shames are common.”

'Subdued' pathos and joy blended.

"I have known deeper wrongs. I, that speak to ye, I had a brother once, a gracious boy,

Full of all gentleness, of calmest hope,

Of sweet and quiet joy, — 'there was the look
Of heaven upon his face, which limners give
To the beloved disciple.' How I loved
That gracious boy! Younger by fifteen years,

g

• Pathetic' and bold,' with abrupt' and 'tremulous' foree.

"In one short hour

The pretty, harmless boy was slain! I saw
The corse, the mangled corse, and then I cried
For vengeance!

Have

ye

'Impassioned' and 'sarcastic.'

"Rouse, ye Romans! Rouse, ye slaves!
brave sons? Look in the next fierce brawl
To see them die. Have ye fair daughters? Look
To see them live, torn from your arms, distained,
Dishonored; and, if ye dare call for justice,
Be answered by the lash."

That sat on her seven hills, and from her throne

Of beauty ruled the world!. Yet we are Romans."

'Noble,'

Why, in that elder day, to be a Roman

Was greater than a king! And once again,-
Hear me, ye walls, that echoed to the tread
Of either Brutus ! Once again I swear,
The eternal city shall be free!"

POETRY.

Good reading of Poetry demands, in addition to the elements of elocution which belong to all emotional expression, as such, that just enough special attention be given to quantity and accent to fill out the time equably in each "bar" of the poetical "measure," and mark its rhythm perceptibly. In good

poetry the rhythm always harmonizes with the sense and spirit, so that the rhythmical accent falls naturally just where emphatic force is needed to give the author's true meaning. The relative degree of force which should mark the rhythm, agrees with the relative or emphatic force with which the ideas should be read.

It is better, therefore, to study and read poetry as emotional prose, without any thought of poetical measure, than to fall into the greater fault of marking the metre too prominently and mechanically, with an offensive" sing-song," or "scanning."

The aim should be to mark the poetical measure but delicately, so that we may perceive, if we choose to think of it, that the reader is giving it happily, but not so that we must think of its mechanical structure instead of the worth and beauty of the ideas. Poetical rhythm and quantity belong not so much to the form as to the spirit of poetry, for they are essential elements in the natural expression of all beautiful and tender and noble sentiments, whether in verse or prose.

PHYSICAL CULTURE.

To make the exercises in reading as conducive to health as to elocutionary improvement, let teachers see that the following necessary physical conditions of healthful vocal expression be carefully observed, viz:

1. POSITION. Pupils must stand or sit uprightly and easily, so that the larger organs of speech may act with perfect freedom.

2. BREATHING. Pupils must inhale fully at the outset, and as frequently as the natural pauses will allow, so as to keep the lungs at all times well supplied with fresh air.

3. EXPULSION. Pupils must learn, if they would read with force and ease, to expel the emphatic tones from the throat, by contracting the expulsory muscles of the waist, so as to lift up and throw out the vocalized breath with the utmost required force. without unnaturally exercising and irritating the throat

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VOCAL CULTURE.

The organic divisions of quality of voice, such as "headtone," chest-tone," and "orotund," we have not given in this manual for schools, for the practical reason that there are so few, even among professional vocalists, who have naturally both the tenor and bass qualities, or the 'head' and 'chest' tones, so few who can ever learn to use both expressively. Instead of trying,-in most cases in vain,—to make the reader, whose natural quality of voice is 'head-tone' or tenor, cultivate the chest-tone' or bass, and vice versa,' let the lower natural tones of the high pitched voices, and the upper natural tones of the low pitched voices, be cultivated and rounded into the full, noble, orotund quality on the tones of the middle pitch. This has the advantage of being practicable and of preserving, amid all the manifold improvements of vocal culture, the natural quality of each voice, which is always the most expressive and pleasing.

The many examples we have given for daily exercise in the different kinds of vocal expression, if thoroughly practiced, furnish the most natural means and method of vocal culture. Exercise in the right way and earnestly what voice the pupil has, and he will soon acquire additional force, volume, compass, flexibility, and expression of voice.

NATURAL EXPRESSION.

Let pupils practice carefully and thoroughly the examples for the right use of each one of the 'elements' of expression, and the examples for rightly blending all these elements in the natural expression of each kind' of sentiment, till the appropriate force,' 'time,'' slides,' &c., for reading any given 'kind' become inseparably associated in the reader's mind with the sentiment itself. Then the IDEA, the FEELING, will spontaneously inspire its own best expression; and so, at last, IMPERFECT ART may ripen into PERFECT NATURE.

HILLARD'S SIXTH READER.

L-THE CONTRAST: OR PEACE AND WAR.

[ATHENEUM.]

PEACE.

LOVELY art thou, O Peace! and lovely are thy children, and lovely are the prints of thy footsteps in the green valleys.

Blue wreaths of smoke ascend through the trees, and 5 betray the half-hidden cottage; the eye contemplates wellthatched ricks, and barns bursting with plenty: the peasant laughs at the approach of winter.

White houses peep through the trees; cattle stand cooling in the pool; the casement of the farm-house is covered 10 with jessamine and honeysuckle; the stately greenhouse exhales the perfume of summer climates.

Children climb the green mound of the rampart, and ivy holds together the half-demolished buttress.

The old men sit at their doors; the gossip leans over 15 her counter; the children shout and frolic in the streets.

The housewife's stores of bleached linen, whiter than snow, are laid up with fragrant herbs; they are the pride of the matron, the toil of many a winter's night.

The wares of the merchant are spread abroad in the 20 shops, or stored in the high-piled warehouses; the labor of each profits all; the inhabitant of the north drinks the fragrant herb of China; the peasant's child wears the webs of Hindostan.

The lame, the blind, and the aged repose in hospitals;