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the lively spirit of the young gilds every opening pròspect. The field of hope appears to stretch wide before them. Pleasure seems to put forth her blossoms on every side. Propelled by desire, forward they rush with inconsiderate àrdour; prompt to decide and to choose; averse to hesitate or to inquire; credulous, because untaught by expèrience; rash, because unacquainted with dànger; headstrong, because unsubdued by disappointment: hence arise the pèrils to which they are exposed, and which too often, from want of attention to faithful admonition, precipitate them into ruin irretrievable.

RULE X.-REPETITION.

The repeated word should be pronounced with animation and the rising inflection.

Newton was a Christian. Newton! whose mind burst forth from the fetters cast by nature on our feeble conceptions;-Newton, whose science was truth, and the foundation of whose knowledge was philosophy; not those visionary and arrogant presumptions which too often usurp its name; but philosophy, resting on the basis of the mathematics, which, like figures, cannot lie.-Newton, who carried the line and rule to the utmost barriers of creation; and explained the principles by which, no doubt, all created matter is held together and exists.

Obs. A parenthesis must always be pronounced in a different tone from its relative sentence; e. g.-Judas said unto him, (not Iscariot,) Lord, how is it thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?

OF ACCENT, EMPHASIS, AND MODULATION.

ACCENT.

RULE. Whatever inflection is adopted, the accented syllable is always louder than the rest; but if the accent be pronounced with the rising inflection, the accented syllable is higher than the preceding and lower than the succeeding syllable; and if the accent have the falling inflection, the accented syllable is pronounced higher than the other syllable, either preceding or succeeding.

Examples.

Sooner or later virtue must meet with a reward.

Most certainly virtue will meet with a rewàrd, not pùnishment. If virtue must have a rewárd, it is our interest to be virtuous.

C

EMPHASIS.

RULE.-Emphasis is an earnest, vehement, or expressive signification of one's mind,-a form of speech that indicates more than is expressed by words, and can be comprehended only from some peculiar and significant manner of expression.

Example.

Do you ride to London to-day?

If

Now the places of the emphasis here determines the sense. I say, Do you ride to London to-day? it implies, Do you, or some other person, go to London? If I place the emphasis on the word ride, it implies, Do you ride or walk to London? If I place it on the word London, the question is, Do you ride to London or some other place? If on the word day, the question would seem to ask, Do you go to-day, or to-morrow?

MODULATION.

The modulation of the voice consists in giving appropriate turns and tones in reading, corresponding with the sense; and, to be correct, depends almost entirely upon feeling and understanding the passage read.

Soft.

Full.

Solemn.
Gentle.

Full.

Solemn.

Example.

These as they change, Almighty Father, these
Are but the varied God.-The rolling year
Is full of thee:-forth, in the pleasing spring,
Thy beauty walks; thy tenderness and love
Wide flush the plains; the forest smiles;
And every sense and every heart is joy.
Then comes thy glory in the summer months,
With light and heat refulgent; then thy sun
Darts full perfection through the coming year;
And oft thy voice in dreadful thunder breaks;
And oft at morn, deep noon, or solemn eve,
By brooks and groves, in hollow whispering gales,
Thy bounty shines in autumn unconfined,
And spreads a common feast for all that lives.
In winter, awful thou, with clouds and storms
Around thee thrown; tempest on tempest hurled;
Majestic darkness, on the whirlwind's wing
Riding sublime. Thou bidst the world adore,
And humblest nature with thy northern blast.

PAUSES AND BREAKS.

These occur when sudden emotions of the mind are felt by the speaker.

Example 1.-To be or not to be?—that is the question.

Example 2.-Nay, good lieutenant-alas, gentlemen!
Help ho-lieutenant-Sir! Montano!-

Help, masters!-here's a goodly watch indeed!
Who's that? Who rings the bell?

The town will rise.

Diable!-Ho!

PROMISCUOUS EXERCISES ON THE PRECEDING

RULES.

ADMONITION.

CONTEMPLATE the great scenes of nature and accustom yourselves to connect them with the perfections of God. All vast and unmeasurable objects are fitted to impress the soul with awe. The mountain which rises above the neighbouring hills, and hides its head in the sky-the sounding, unfathomed, boundless deepthe expanse of heaven, where above and around no limit checks the wandering eye-these objects fill and elevate the mind; they produce a solemn frame of spirit which accords with the sentiment of religion. From the contemplation of what is great and magnificent in nature, the soul rises to the Author of all. We think of the time which preceded the birth of the universe, when no being existed but God alone.-Moodie.

CONVERSATIONAL.

OF PURSUING OUR INTERESTS.

Every one would pursue his own interest if he knew what it was; and, in fact, every one does pursue it, but he, generally, totally mistakes it. No man would choose riches before happiness, power before quiet, or fame before safety, if he knew the true value of each. No man would prefer the transitory enjoyments of this world to the permanent and sublime feeling of a better, if he had a clear prospect of them both. But we see the former through a mist which always magnifies, and the latter appears at so great a distance that we scarce see it at all, and, therefore, it makes little impression upon our senses, and has as little influence upon our conduct.-Christian Lacon.

THE MIND.

TEACHING.

The mind, which is our chief distinction, can never be spoken or thought of too reverently. It is God's highest work, his mirror and representative. Its superiority to the outward universe is mournfully overlooked and is yet most true. This pre-eminence we ascribe to the mind, not merely because it can comprehend the universe, which cannot comprehend itself, but for still higher reasons. We believe the human mind is akin to that intellectual energy which gave birth to nature; and, consequently, that it contains within itself the seminal and prolific principles from which that nature sprung. We believe too, that the highest purpose of the universe is to furnish materials, scope, and excitements to the mind in the work of assimilating to the Infinite Spirit; that is, to minister to a progress within us which nothing without us can reveal. So transcendent is the mind, no praise can equal God's goodness in creating us after his spiritual likeNo imagination can conceive of the greatness of the gift of a rational and moral existence.-W. M.

ness.

INCULCATING.

Our mind is ourselves, and our chief care should be its culture and ornament. There is nothing of equal importance. When we remove hence-when death puts a period to our present state of existence, we leave behind us all our estates and treasures, we drop our titles and external ornaments, but we shall carry with us the same tempers and dispositions that we had here, and our works follow us. Are we unholy-we shall be hereafter lodged in the company of such beings. Are we proud-we shall then be abased. Are we humble-we shall then be exalted. Are we pure in heart-we shall then see God. Are we merciful-we shall then obtain mercy. It is incumbent then upon us to employ some time in consideration, as to the nature and obligations of those virtues and dispositions of mind, upon which so much depends; to confirm ourselves in the love and practice of them, and to watch against temptations that might ensnare us and carry us from the course that leads to happiness.-W. M.

CONTRAST.

SENTIMENT AND PRINCIPLE.

Sentiment and principle are often mistaken for each other, though, in fact, they widely differ. Sentiment is the virtue of

ideas, and principle the virtue of action. Sentiment has its seat in the head, principle in the heart. Sentiment suggests fine harangues and subtle distinctions. Principle conceives just notions and performs good actions in consequence of them. Sentiment refines away the simplicity of truth and the plainness of piety, and gives us virtue in words and vices in deeds. Sentiment may be called the Athenian who knew what was right, and principle the Lacedæmonian who practised it.-W. M.

MORALIZING.
MAN.

Oh God! what is man !-even a thing of nought-a poor, infirm, miserable, short-lived creature, that passes away like a shadow, and is hastening off the stage where the theatrical titles and distinctions, and the whole mask of pride which he has worn for a day, will fall off and leave him naked as a neglected slave. Send forth your imagination, I beseech you, to view the last scene of the greatest and proudest who ever awed and governed the world. See the empty vapour disappearing, one of the arrows of mortality sticks fast within. See, it forces out his life and freezes his blood and spirits.-Sterne.

APOSTROPHE.

Ye stars! which are the poetry of heaven,

If in your bright beams we would read the fate
Of men and empires, 'tis to be forgiven,

That in our aspirations to be great,

Our destinies o'erleap their mortal state

And claim a kindred with you; for you are

A beauty and a mystery, and create

In us such love and reverence from afar,

That fortune, fame, power, life, have called themselves a star.

Byron.

Sun of the sleepless! melancholy star!

Whose tearful beam glows tremulously far;

That showest the darkness thou canst not dispel,
How like art thou to joy remembered well :

So gleams the past, the light of other days,

Which shines but warms not with its powerful rays;
A night-beam sorrow watcheth to behold
Distinct, but distant, clear, but oh, how cold.

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