Pathetic.

When I left thy shores, O Naxos,
Not a tear in sorrow fell;
Not a sigh or faltered accent

Spoke my bosom's struggling swell,
Yet my heart sunk chill within me,
And I waved a hand as cold,
When I thought thy shores, O Naxos,
I should never more behold.

Still the blue wave danced around us
'Mid the sunbeam's jocund smile
Still the air breathed balmy summer,
Wafted from that happy isle.
When some hand the strain awaking
Of my home and native shore,
Then 't was first I wept, O Naxos,
That I ne'er should see thee more.

Grief:

My boy refused his food, forgot to play,
And sickened on the water, day by day;
He smile & more seldom on his mother's smile;
He prattled less, in accents void of guile,
Of that wild land, beyond the golden wave,
Where I, not he, was doomed to be a slave;
Cold o'er his limbs the listless languor grew;
Paleness came o'er his eye of placid blue;
Pale mourned the lily where the rose had died,
And timid, trembling, came he to my side.
He was my all on earth. O! who can speak
The anxious mother's too prophetic woe,

Who sees death feeding on her dear child's cheek,
And strives, in vain, to think it is not so?
Ah! many a sad and sleepless night I passed
O'er his couch, listening in the pausing blast,
While on his brow, more sad from hour to hour,
Drooped wan dejection like a fading flower!

RULE 3. Whatever is grave, solemn or dignified, should generally be read in a moderately deep, full, and firm tone, with few inflections of voice, and slow

movement.

QUESTION. What is Rule Third, or the rule for the language of gravity, &c. I

EXAMPLES.

Gravity.

Father! thy hand

Hath reared these venerable columns; Thou
Didst weave this verdant roof; Thou didst look down
Upon the naked earth, and, forthwith, rose
All these fair ranks of trees. They in thy sun
Budded, and shook their green leaves in thy breeze.
And shot toward heaven. The century-living crow,
Whose birth was in their tops, grew old and died
Among their branches, till, at last, they stood,
As now they stand, massy and dark,

Fit shrine for humble worshiper to hold
Communion with his Maker.

Solemnity.

How shocking must thy summons be, O Death!
To him that is at ease in his possessions!
Who, counting on long years of pleasure here,
Is quite unfurnished for the world to come!
In that dread moment, how the frantic soul
Raves round the walls of her clay tenement;
Runs to each avenue, and shrieks for help;
But shrieks in vain! How wishfully she looks
On all she's leaving, now no longer hers!

RULE 4. Whatever partakes of grandeur, sublimity, awe, or deep reverence, should generally be read on a low note, with slow movement, and a clear voice, approaching monotone.

EXAMPLES.

Grandeur.

Night, sable goddess, from her ebon throne,

In rayless majesty now stretches forth

Her leaden scepter o'er a slumbering world.

Silence how dead! and darkness how profound!

Sublimity.

The clouds now rolled, in volumes, over the mountain tops; their summits still bright and snowy, but the lower parts of an inky black The rain began to patter down in broad and scattered drops, the wind freshened, and curled up the waves: at length it seemed as

ness.

QUESTIONS. What are the subjects of the Examples under Rule Third? What is Rule Fourth? Will you name the subjects illustrated? How should language of this kind generally be read?

if the bellying clouds were torn open by the mountain tops, and complete torrents of rain came rattling down. The lightning leaped from cloud to cloud, and streamed quivering against the rocks, splitting and rending the stoutest forest trees. The thunder burst in tremendous explosions; the peals were echoed from mountain to mountain; they crashed upon Dunderburg, and then rolled up the long defile of the highlands, each headland making a new echo, until old Bull Hill seemed to bellow back the storm.

All

Reverence and Awe

O thou Eternal One! whose presence bright
space doth occupy; all motion guide;
Unchanged through time's all devastating flight,
Thou only God! There is no God beside.
Being above all beings! Mighty One!

Whom none can comprehend, and none explore,
Who fillest existence with thyself alone;
Embracing all, supporting all, ruling o'er-
Being whom we call God.

And what am I, then? Heaven's unnumbered host
Though multiplied by myriads, and arrayed
In all the glory of sublimest thought,

Is but an atom in the balance weighed
Against thy greatness; is a cipher brought
Against infinity! What am I then? Naught!
Naught? But the effluence of thy light divine,
Pervading all worlds, hath reached my bosom too;
Yes, in my spirit doth thy spirit shine,

As shines the sunbeam in a drop of dew.
Naught? But I live, and on hope's pinions fly,
Eager toward thy presence; for in thee

I live, and breathe, and dwell; aspiring high,
Even to the throne of thy divinity.

RULE 5. The language of scorn, contempt, or threatened revenge, requires, in most instances, a deep and guttural voice, rather slow movement, forcible utter ance, and very emphatic significancy of expression.

QUESTION.

EXAMPLES.

Scorn and Contempt.

I would that now

I could forget the wretch who stands before me;

What is Rule Fifth, or the rule for the language of scorn }

For he is like the accursed and crafty snake!

Hence! from my sight! Thou Satan, get behind me.
Go from my sight! I hate and I despise thee!
These were thy pious hopes; and I, forsooth,
Was in thy hands a pipe to play upon;
And at thy music my poor soul to death
Should dance before thee!

Thou stand'st at length before me undisguised, —
Of all earth's groveling crew the most accursed.
Thou worm! thou viper! to thy native earth
Return! Away! Thou art too base for man
To tread upon. Thou scum! thou reptile!

Revenge.

If they wrong her honor,
The proudest of them shall well hear of it.
Tine has not yet so dried this blood of mine,
Nor age so eat up my invention,
Nor fortune made such havoc of my means,
Nor
my bad life 'reft me so much of friends,
But they shall find awaked in such a kind,
Both strength of limb and policy of mind,
Ability in means, and choice of friends,
To quit me of them thoroughly.

RULE 6. Language expressing joy, mirth, or other pleasurable emotions, should be read with a quick movement, on a key slightly elevated, and with a smooth and flowing voice.

EXAMPLES.

Joy.

Then is Orestes blest! My griefs are fled
Fled like a dream! Methinks I tread in air!
Surprising happiness! unlooked for joy!
Never let love despair! The prize is mine!
Be smooth, ye seas! and, ye propitious winds
Blow from th' Epirus to the Spartan.coast!

And darkness and doubt are now flying away;
No longer I roam in conjecture forlorn;

QUESTIONS. What are the subjects of the Examples under Rule Fifth? What is Rule Sixth, or the rule for language of joy, &c. ? What are the subjects of the Exam ples under this rule.

So breaks on the traveler faint and astray,

The bright and the balmy effulgence of morn.
See truth, love and mercy, in triumph descending,

And nature all glowing in Eden's first bloom!

On the cold cheek of death smiles and roses are blending,
And beauty immortal awakes from the tomb.

*

Gayety.

I come! I come! — ye have called me long;
I come o'er the mountains with light and song.
Ye may trace my step o'er the wakening earth,
By winds which tell of the violet's birth,
By the primrose stars in the shadowy grass,
By the green leaves opening as I pass.

From the streams and founts I have loosed the chain;
They are sweeping on to the silvery main,
They are flashing down from the mountain brows,
They are flinging spray o'er the forest boughs, -
They are bursting fresh from their sparry caves,
And the earth resounds with the joy of waves!

NOTE. When excessive joy is accompanied by strong excitement, it should be read on an elevated key, and sometimes even on the shouting pitch.

EXAMPLE.

Excessive Joy.

Ye crags and peaks, I'm with you once again!
I hold to you the hands you first beheld,

To show they still are free. Methinks I hear
A spirit in your echoes answer me,

And bid your tenant welcome to his home
Again! O, sacred forms, how proud you look!
How high you lift your heads into the sky!
How huge you are! how mighty and how free!
Ye are the things that tower, that shine, whose smile
Makes glad, whose frown is terrible, whose forms,
Robed or unrobed, do all the impress wear
Of awe divine. Ye guards of liberty!
I'm with you once again!-I call to you
With all my voice! I hold my hands to you
To show they still are free. I rush to you,
As though I could embrace you!