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To these properties are added aspirated quality', and the 'falling inflection', as a predominating one.

[ll ° v] "A FOOL, A FOOL! I MET A FOOL i' the forest, [explo. s.] A MÓTLEY FOOL ;—a miserable world;

[a. q.] As I do live by food, I met a FÒOL;

[Laughing Who laid him down, and basked him in the sun, voice.] And railed on lady Fórtune | in good terms,

In GOOD SÉT TÈRMS, and yet a мÓTLEY FOOL!"

RULE XVI. Gaiety and cheerfulness are marked by 'moderate force', 'high pitch', and 'lively movement'; moderate 'radical stress'; and smooth, 'pure quality' of tone, with varied inflections'.

[°]

Example.

"Celia. I pray thee, Rosalind, sweet my cóz, be [u] mèrry.

[r. s.]

--

Rosalind. Well, I will forget the condition of mý [pu.t.] estate, to rejoice in yours. From henceforth I will, [#]coz, and devise spòrts; let me sèe; what think you of falling in lòve ?

Celia. I prythee, do, to make spôrt withal; but love no man in good earnest.

Rosalind. What shall be our spòrt, then?

Celia. Let us sit and mock the good housewife, Fòrtune, from her wheel, that her gifts may henceforth be bestowed equally.

Rosalind. I would we could do so; for her benefits are mightily misplaced: and the bountiful blind woman doth most mistake her gifts to women."

RULE XVII. Tranquillity, serenity, and repose, are indicated by moderate force', 'middle pitch', and 'moderate movement'; softened median stress '; 'smooth' and " 'pure' quality' of tone; and moderate inflections.

Example.

"How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank! [m. s.] Here will we sit, and let the sounds of music [sm. q.] Creep in our ears! soft stillness, and the night, Become the touches of sweet harmony. Look how the floor of heaven

Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold!
There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st,

* Middle pitch', 'moderate force', and 'moderate movement'.

But in his motion | like an àngel | sings,
Still quiring to the young-eyed chèrubim :
Such harmony is in immortal souls!"

The careful study and practice of tones cannot be too strongly urged on the attention of young readers. Reading, devoid of tone, is cold, monotonous, and mechanical, and false, in point of fact. It defeats the main end of reading, which is to impart thought in its natural union with feeling. Faulty tones not only mar the effect of expression, but offend the ear, by their violation of taste and propriety. Reading can possess no interest, speech no eloquence, without natural and vivid tones.

The foregoing examples should be practised with close attention, and persevering diligence, till every property of voice exemplified in them, is perfectly at command.

§ XI. APPROPRIATE MODULATION.

The word modulation' is the term applied, in elocution, to those changes of 'force', 'pitch', and 'movement', 'stress', 'quality', and 'inflection', which occur, in continuous and connected reading, in passing from the peculiar tone of one emotion to that of another. Modulation', therefore, is nothing else than giving to each tone, in the reading or speaking of a whole piece, its appropriate character and expression.

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The first practical exercise which it would be most advantageous to perform, in this department of elocution, is, to turn back to the exercises on versatility' of voice, and repeat them till they can be executed with perfect facility and precision. The next exercise should be a review, without the reading of the intervening rules, of all the examples given under the head of 'tones'. A very extensive and varied practice will thus be secured in modulation'. It should be required of the pupil, while performing this exercise, to watch narrowly, and state exactly, every change of tone, in passing from one example to another. The third course of exercise in modulation', is to select those of the pieces contained in this book, which are marked for that purpose, as the notation will indicate. A fourth course of practice may be taken on pieces marked in pencil, by the pupils themselves, under the supervision of the teacher.

This statement w, it is thought, be a sufficient explanation of the reason why no separate exercises are given under the head of modulation, in Part I. of this volume. The closing remarks of Section X. apply equally to § XI.

Suggestions to Teachers.

The compilers of this volume are well aware, that, in numerous schools, it is exceedingly difficult to command sufficient time for the

thorough and effectual performance of exercises in reading, and still more so, to find time for the systematic study of elocution: they would, however, respectfully suggest, that, as the complaint against bad reading is still so loud and general, some efforts for the removal of the grounds of this complaint, must be made. If so, these efforts, to be successful, must be systematic; and, if systematic, they cannot be hurried and superficial. Every teacher can best decide, in his own case, how much time he can create for such purposes. But it would, at all events, be practicable to make time by diminishing the quantity of reading usually attempted in a lesson.-A class who have learned in a day, to read ONE PARAGRAPH distinctly and impressively, have done more than has heretofore been effected, in successive YEARS of desultory and irregular practice.

*Teachers and students who wish for a more extensive statement of the general principles of elocution, or to devote their attention to the subject of gesture in connexion with declamation, may find it serviceable to peruse the American Elocutionist,* by one of the editors of the present work.

The American Elocutionist; comprising Lessons in Enunciation', 'Exercises in Elocution', and 'Rudiments of Gesture'; with a Selection of new Pieces for practice in Reading and Declamation; and engraved Illustrations in Attitude and Action. Designed for Colleges, Professional Institutions, Academies, and Common Schools. By William Russell. Boston: Jenks and Palmer.

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PART II.-PIECES FOR PRACTICE IN READING AND DECLAMATION.

LESSON I. PAUL'S DEFENCE BEFORE FESTUS AND AGRIPPA.

ACTS, XXVI. CHAPTER.

I THINK myself happy, king Agrippa, because I shall answer for myself this day before thee, concerning all the things whereof I am accused by the Jews: especially, as I know thee to be expert in all customs and questions which 5 are among the Jews. Wherefore I beseech thee to hear me patiently.

My manner of life from my youth, which was at the first among my own nation at Jerusalem, know all the Jews; who knew me from the beginning, (if they would 10 testify,) that after the straitest sect of our religion, I lived a Pharisee. And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers; to which promise, our twelve tribes, continually serving God day and night, hope to come: and for this hope's sake, king 15 Agrippa, I am accused by the Jews.

Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead? I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth: and this I did in Jerusalem. 20 Many of the saints I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests: and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them. And I often punished them in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, 25 I persecuted them even unto strange cities.

But as I went to Damascus, with authority and commission from the chief priests, at mid-day, O king! I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me, and them who journeyed 30 with me. And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying, in the Hebrew

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