AN OF Leffons in Reading and Speaking. CALCULATED TO IMPROVE THE MINDS AND REFINE THE TASTE OF YOUTH. TO WHICH ARE PREFIXED RULES IN ELOCUTION, AND DIRECTIONS FOR EXPRESSING THE PRINCIPAL By NOAH WEBSTER, Esq. CUSHING AND APPLETON'S EDITION, SALEM : PRINTED BY JOSHUA CUSHING, FOR CUSHING AND APPLETON, PROPRIETORS OF THE COPY RIGHT FOR MASSACHUSETTS AND NEWHAMPSHIRE. 1805. Indiana University. Library ADVERTISEMENT THE REVISED EDITION. 359026 THE AMERICAN SELECTION, though well received and much ufed in fchools, has been thought fufceptible of improvement; the compiler has therefore made fome alterations, omitting fome pieces which are believed to be lefs adapted to intereft young minds, and substituting others, which cannot fail to be as entertaining as ufeful. The prefent edition comprehends a great variety of fentiment, morality, hiftory, elocution, anecdote and defcription; and, it is believed, will be found to contain as much interefting matter, as any compilation of the size and price. New-Haven, Sept. 1804. DISTRICT OF CONNECTICUT, J. BE it remembered that on the thirteenth day of January, in the twenty-eighth year of the Independence of the United States of America, NoaH WEBSTER, jun. of faid Diftria, Efq. bath depofited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof he claims as author, in the words following, viz. "An American Selection of Leffons in Reading and Speaking, calculated 10 improve the minds and refine the taste of youth-to which are prefixed Rules in Elocution, and directions for expreffing the principal paffions of the mind.-By NOAH WEBSTER, jun. Author of Differtations on the English Language, Collection of Effays and Fugitive Writings, the Prompter, &c." In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States, entitled an act for the encouragement of learning, by fecuring the copies of maps, charts and books to the authors and proprietors of fuch copies, during the times therein mentioned. CHARLES DENISON, Clerk of the Diftri& District Clerk's Office, Jan. 30, 1804. A true copy of record.-Atteft. of Connecticut. PECIAL LIBRARY FUNDLES DENISON, Clerk, Educ BEC 1 0 1940 10-10-41 RULES FOR READING AND SPEAKING. A RULE I. Let your articulation be clear and diftin&. GOOD articulation confifts in giving every letter and fyllable its proper pronunciation of found. Let each fyllable, and the letters which compofe it, be pronounced with a clear voice, without whining, drawling, lifping, ftammering, mumbling in the throat, or fpeaking through the nose. Avoid equally a dull, drawling habit, and too much rapidity of pronunciation for each of these faults destroys a distinct articu lation. RULE II. Obferve the Stops, and mark the proper Paufes; but make no paufe where the fenfe requires none. The characters we ufe for ftops are extremely arbitrary, and do not always mark a fufpenfion of the voice. On the contrary, they are often employed to feparate the feveral members of a period, and fhow the grammatical construction. Nor, when they are defigned to mark pauses, do they always determine the length of those pauses, for this depends much on the fenfe and the pature of the fubject. A femicolon, for example, requires a longer paufe in a grave difcourfe, than in lively and fpirited declamation. However, as children are incapable of nice diftinctions, it may be beft to adopt, at firit, fome general rule with refpect to the paufes, and teach them to pay the fame attention to thefe characters as they do to the words.* They fhould be cautioned likewife against paufing in the midst of a member of a sentence, where the fenfe requires the words to be clucly connected in pronunciation. RULE III. Pay the fricteft attention to Accent, Emphafis, and Cadence. Let the accented fyllables be pronounced with a pro 3 per *See my American Spelling Book, in which the paufes of the comma, femicolon, colon, and period, are fixed at one, two, jour, fix. per ftress of voice; the unaccented, with little stress of voice, but diftinctly. The important words of a sentence, which I call natu rally emphatical, have a claim to a confiderable force of voice; but particles, fuch, as of, to, as, and, &c. require no force of utterance, unless they happen to be emphatical, which is rarely the cafe. No perfon can read or speak well, unless he understands what he reads; and the fenfe will always determine what words are emphatical. It is a matter of the highest confequence, therefore, that a fpeaker fhould clearly comprehend the meaning of what he delivers, that he may know where to lay the emphafis. This may be illuftrated by a fingle example. This fhort queftion, Will you ride to town to-day? is capable of four different meanings, and confequently of four different answers, according to the placing of the emphafis. If the emphafis is laid upon you, the queftion is, whether you will ride to town, or another perfon. If the emphafis is laid on ride, the queftion is, whether you will ride, or go on foot. If the emphafis is laid on town, the question is, whether you will ride to town, or to another place. If the emphafis is laid on to-day, the quef tion is, whether you will ride to-day, or fome other day. Thus the whole meaning of a phrafe often depends on the emphafis; and it is abfolutely neceffary that it fhould be laid on the proper words. Cadence is a falling of the voice in pronouncing the clofing fyllable of a period. This ought not to be uniform, but different at the clofe of different fentences.* But in interrogative fentences, the fenfe often requires the clofing word or fyllable to be pronounced with an elevated voice. This, however, is only when the last word voice. We may obferve that good fpeakers always pronounce upon a certain key; for although they modulate the voice according to the various ideas they exprefs, yet they retain the fame pitch of -Accent and Emphafis require no elevation of the voice, but a more forcible expreffion on the fame key. Cadence refpe&s the laf fyllable only of the fentence, which fyllable is actually pronounced with a lower tone of voice; but, when words of feveral fyllables clofe a period, all the fyllables but the last are pronounced on the fame key as the rest of the fentence...... word is emphatical; as in this queftion, "Betrayeft thou the Son of Man with a kiss? Here the fubject of inqui ry is, whether the common token of love and benevolence is prostituted to the purpofe of treachery: the force of the question depends on the laft word, which is therefore pronounced with an elevation of voice. But in this queftion, "Where is boasting then?" The emphatical word is boafting, which of courfe requires an elevation of voice.. The most natural pitch of voice is that in which we fpeak in common converfation. Whenever the voice is raised above this key, pronunciation is difficult and fatiguing. There is a difference between a loud and, a high voice. A perfon may fpeak much louder than he does in ordinary difcourfe, without any elevation of voice; and he may be heard diftinctly, upon the fame key, either in a private room, or in a large affembly. RULE IV. Let the Sentiments you exprefs be accompanied with proper By tones are meant the various modulations of voice by which we naturally express the emotions and paffions.. By looks we mean the expreffion of the emotions and paffions in the countenance. Geftures are the various motions of the hands or body,, which correfpond to the feveral fentiments and paffions, which the speaker defigns to exprefs. All these fhould be perfectly natural. They fhould be the fame which we ufe in common converfation. A speaker should endeavor to feel what he speaks; for the perfection of reading and speaking is to pronounce the words as if the fentiments were our own. If a perfon is rehearfing the words of an angry man, he fhould affume the fame furious looks; his eyes fhould flash with rage, his gestures fhould be violent, and the tone of his voice threatening. If kindness is to be expreffed, the countenance fhould be calm and placid, and wear a fmile; the tone fhould be mild, and the motion of the hand inviting. An example of the firft, we have in these words; "Depart from me, ye curfed, into ever lafting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." An A 2 example t |