PAUSES. The pauses made in reading are of three kinds, grammatical, rhetorical, and harmonic. Grammatical pauses are those that are made at commas, semicolons, periods, &c. But the student who is qualified to use this book is supposed to be so familiar with the character and office of these pauses that it will be unnecessary to discuss them here. Rhetorical pauses are the stops which are made before or after the utterance of a striking thought. They are sometimes indicated to the eye by the dash, but commonly there is no visible sign to determine their place. If the rhetorical pause occurs before the important word or phrase, it excites the attention and expectation of the hearer, and thus prepares his mind to be more deeply impressed by what follows; if it comes after, it gives him time to consider the thought just presented, and to fix it more thoroughly in his memory. The length of grammatical and rhetorical pauses depends upon the rate of utterance. If the rate is rapid, the pauses will be short; if the rate is slow, the pauses will be long. In the following examples the rhetorical pause is denoted by the dash. EXAMPLES. 1. Industry-is the guardian of innocence. 2. Well, honor-is the subject of my story. 3. Prosperity-gains friends, and adversity-tries them. 4. Is not the mystery comprehended in one word-sympathy? 5. The war is inevitable; and-let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come! 6. There, in his dark, carved, oaken chair, old Rudiger sat-dead! 7. There comes a still small voice, and whispers peace! 8. We are slaves! The bright sun rises to his course and lights a race of-slaves. 9. Are fleets-and armies-necessary to a work of love and reconciliation? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled, that force-must be called in to win back our love? 10. And if thou said'st I am not peer 11. And see, how easily might one Even beneath your very nose. Enter your room, as I have done, Blow out your candles-thus-and thus-, Harmonic pauses belong to verse, and consist of the cesural pause and the final pause. The cesural pause generally occurs at or near the middle of the line, and the final pause at the end of it. Sometimes these pauses coincide with the grammatical pauses, and sometimes they do not. The proper observance of harmonic pauses contributes much to the melody of verse; but their use must be governed by correct taste, or the result will be a singsong utterance, which is one of the greatest faults of poetical reading. When the cesura would do injury to the sense, it should not be observed. The final pause should generally be very slight, and in many instances it should be disregarded altogether. Another slight pause, called the demi-cesura, is sometimes used between the cesura and the beginning or end of the line. In the following examples this mark () indicates the cesura, and this () the demi-cesura. EXAMPLES. 1. As some tall cliff || that lifts its awful form, Swells from the vale, || and midway leaves the storm. 2. So when an angel, || by divine command, 3. O sacred truth! || thy triumph ceased a while, 4. How dear to this heart || are the scenes | of my childhood! 5. Placed on an isthmus || of a middle | state, A being darkly wise || and rudely || great. 6. Warms in the sun, || refreshes | in the breeze, 7. She said and struck ; || deep entered | in her side 8. No tomb shall e'er plead || to remembrance for thee`, OSGOOD'S AMERICAN SIXTH READER. LESSON I. STUDIES. LORD BACON. NOTE.-In this and the next six lessons, the principal examples of ANTITHETIC EMPHASIS are printed in Italics to assist the pupil in making an application of RULE I. for EMPHASIS. 1. STUDIES serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability. Their chief use for delight is in privateness, and retiring; for ornament, is in discourse; and for ability, is in the judgment and disposition of business; for expert men can execute, and perhaps judge of particulars, one by one; but the general counsels, and the plots and marshalling of affairs, come best from those that are learned. 2. To spend too much time in studies, is sloth; to use them too much for ornament, is affectation; to make judgment wholly by their rules, is the humor of a scholar; they perfect nature, and are perfected by experience; for natural abilities are like natural plants, that need pruning by study; and studies themselves do give forth directions too much at large, except they be bounded in by experience. 3. Crafty men contemn studies, simple men admire them, and wise men use them, for they teach not their own use; but there is a wisdom without them, and above them, won by observation. Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider. Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested: that is, some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention. 4. Some books also may be read by deputy, and extracts made of them by others; but that would be only in the less important arguments, and the meaner sort of books; also distilled books are, like common distilled waters, flashy things. Reading maketh a full man; conference, a ready man; and writing, an exact man; and, therefore, if a man write little, he had need have a great memory; if he confer little, he had need have a present wit; and if he read little, he had need much cunning, to seem to know that he doth not. Histories make men wise; poets, witty; the mathematics, subtle; natural philosophy, deep; moral, grave; logic and rhetoric, able to contend. LESSON II. LOCHINVAR. WALTER SCOTT. 1. Он, young Lochinvar is come out of the west, There never was knight like the young Lochinvar! 2. He staid not for brake, and he stopped not for stone, The bride had consented, the gallant came late: Was to wed the fair Ellen of brave Lochinvar. |