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2. O Solitude! if I must with thee dwell,
Let it not be among the jumbled heap

Of murky buildings: climb with me the steep-
Nature's observatory-whence the dell,

In flowery slopes, its river's crystal swell,

May seem a span; let me thy vigils keep

'Mongst boughs pavilion'd, where the deer's swift leap Startles the wild bee from the foxglove bell. But tho I'll gladly trace these scenes with thee, Yet the sweet converse of an innocent mind, Whose words are images of thoughts refined, Is my soul's pleasure; and it sure must be Almost the highest bliss of human-kind, When to thy haunts two kindred spirits flee. "Nature."

JOHN KEATS.

3. And O, ye Fountains, Meadows, Hills, and Groves,
Forebode not any severing of our loves!

Yet in my heart of hearts I feel your might;
I only have relinquished one delight

To live beneath your more habitual sway:

I love the brooks which down their channels fret,
Even more than when I tript lightly as they;
The innocent brightness of a new-born day
Is lovely yet;

The clouds that gather round the setting sun
Do take a sober coloring from an eye

That hath kept watch o'er man's mortality;
Another race hath been, and other palms are won.
Thanks to the human heart by which we live,
Thanks to its tenderness, its joys, and fears—
To me the meanest flower that blows can give
Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.
"Intimations of Immortality."

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH.

4.

'T was morning, and the old man lay alone;
No friend had closed his eyelids; and his lips,
Open and ashly pale, the expression wore
Of his death-struggle. His long, silvery hair
Lay on his hollow temples thin and wild,
His frame was wasted, and his features wan
And haggard as with want, and in his palm
His nails were driven deep, as if the throe
Of the last agony had wrung him sore.
And thus had passed from its unequal frame
A soul of fire, a sun-bent eagle stricken
From his high soaring down, an instrument
Broken with its own compass. Oh, how poor
Seems the rich gift of genius, when it lies,
Like the adventurous bird that hath outflown
His strength upon the sea, ambition wrecked!
A thing the thrush might pity, as she sits
Brooding in quiet on her lowly nest.

"The Dying Alchemist.”

5.

N. P. WILLIS.

Romeo: He jests at scars, that never felt a wound.
(Juliet appears above at a window.)

But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.

Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,

Who is already sick and pale with grief,

That thou, her maid, art far more fair than she:

Be not her maid, since she is envious;

Her vestal livery is but sick and green,

And none but fools do wear it; cast it off.

It is my lady; oh, it is my love!

Oh that she knew she were!

She speaks, yet she says nothing: what of that?
Her eye discourses, I will answer it.

I am too bold, 't is not to me she speaks:
Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven,
Having some business, do entreat her eyes
To twinkle in their spheres till they return.

What if her eyes were there, they in her head?

The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars,
As daylight doth a lamp; her eyes in heaven
Would throw the airy region stream so bright

The birds would sing and think it were not night.
As silver-voiced; her eyes as jewel-like,

And cased as richly; in the face another Juno;

Who starves the ears she feeds, and makes them hungry
The more she gives them speech.

"Romeo and Juliet."

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE.

EIGHTEENTH LESSON

PART 1. DRILL

1. Physical Culture, Deep Breathing, and Voice Exercise. Review the exercises of Lesson Eighteen of the first term, page 79.

2. Articulation. Repeat distinctly and rapidly:

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3. Pronunciation. Drill in words for the sounds of u, as in urn and but (see page 224).

PART 2. EXPRESSION

TONE COLOR

By tone color is meant the quality imparted to the voice by the feeling of the speaker. Just as the painter has many colors on his palette ready for instant use, so the reader or speaker must have all his emotions developed for his various requirements. The human voice is capable of

most wonderful cultivation, and nothing is more valuable for this purpose than reading aloud passages charged with emotion. By a strange paradox the student must first develop his feelings in order to subdue them and bring them under intelligent control. Many effects must be practised beforehand, lest the student run to extravagance in the actual performance. The reader's feelings must be "proved," so to speak, before he dare venture to liberate his powers of expression. In reading the examples of this lesson, the student should at first observe the various effects upon the quality of his voice, and endeavor to improve this quality in so far as the particular thought and feeling seem to demand for their proper expression.

EXAMPLES FOR PRACTISE

1. Pity the sorrows of a poor old man,

Whose trembling limbs have borne him to your door;
Whose days are dwindled to the shortest span.
Oh! give relief, and Heaven will bless your store.
"The Beggar."

THOMAS Moss.

2. Ho! sound the tocsin from the tower,
And fire the culverin!

Bid each retainer arm with speed,

Call every vassal in!

"The Baron's Last Banquet."

A. G. GREENE.

3. There is a silence where hath been no sound, There is a silence where no sound may beIn the cold grave-under the deep, deep sea, Or in wide desert where no life is found, Which hath been mute, and still must sleep profound. "Sonnets." THOMAS HOOD.

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