a. A reader unacquainted with the real nature Principal of a classical education will probably under-sentence value it b. When he sees Ј to b. c. That so large a portion of time is devoted to Noun sen. the study of a few ancient authors d. Whose works seem to have no direct bear-ing on the studies and duties of our own generation tence to b. Adv. sen tence to c. "The former scheme of analysis will then be applicable to the subordinate sentences." By thus understanding the principle of breaking up a sentence into its component parts, the youngest reader will perceive, at once, both when he may advantageously suspend his voice, and what words he must endeavour as closely as possible to connect together. 6 CHAPTER XVI. "Awake the feelings and inform the sense, this is the true way to get effective reading. 'Every man of genius,' says Johnson, has some way of fixing the attention peculiar to himself, and, with some few exceptions, every man of intelligence will by his natural manner gain the sympathy of an intelligent audience, who are seldom smitten with the love of what is called fine reading." "BOYES' Life and Books. N chronicling the details of a "marriage in high life" the morning papers lately remarked, in what were intended to be highly complimentary terms, upon the manner in which the officiating clergyman had performed the ceremony; an unguarded expression caught the keen eye of that censor morum of the nineteenth century, Mr. Punch. How he proceeded to criticise the offending paragraph I cannot exactly remember, but the burden of his remarks was, that to speak of a man as reading emphatically was as bad a compliment as it was possible to pay him, if not a positive insult. Even the oracular Mr. Punch probably never uttered a truer sentiment; emphasis, as it is often understood and applied, being not only out of place in ordinary reading, but often positively offensive. In ordinary conversation a person scarcely ever uses emphasis, save when he is more or less excited -much more excited, at any rate, than he should ever be in general reading. Now reading, though essentially different from speaking, (it being an art of itself to write that which shall resemble conversation,) is so strictly analogous to it, that the same fundamental principles will be found to exist in both, regulating at once the manner, and the tone, and the expression with which our words are uttered; and for this reason I think we can only decide what emphasis does mean by reference to our familiar everyday conversation. Listen for five minutes to any two persons conversing together; the first thing we observe is that there are invariably one or more words in every sentence in which the whole meaning centres. We then observe that these words are not marked by any emphatic pronunciation, but are brought out by the words preceding and following them being more or less subordinated to them. Just as in music the fortes are marked by the pianos in the previous and subsequent passages, rather than by actual strength of voice or wrists in the execution of the passage itself. Those persons who can appreciate the difference between the two styles of singing and playing will understand the difference between a reader who marks the most prominent words by emphasis and one who leaves the hearer's own judgment to infer which they are by subordinating the rest of the sentence. stances of this : : Take two or three in Do you mind dining early to-day? He said there was a beggar at the door. We observe, again, that a very slight difference of tone will make the same words convey a totally different meaning, and still without the use of anything approaching to what is ordinarily termed emphasis. E. g. "Is old Dibble dead?" (I thought it was the parson not the sexton.) "Is old Dibble dead ?" (I thought it was the young one.) "Is old Dibble dead ?" (I think you're joking.) "Is old Dibble dead?" (I fancied he was as well as ever.) At other times a change of tone modifies the meaning. E. g. He said the carriage was at the door. Implying that it was expected. Or, He said the carriage was at the door. Implying that it was not expected. The fault of many readers is that they pass over words which are meant to convey a distinct idea as though they would imply that the idea had already been expressed, pronouncing them in a tone which in conversation means, 66 But you know all about that." Thus in most persons reading there is nothing graphic, and a description of an event, or scene, or dialogue, is scarcely ever realized as it would be if related by the same person in actual conversation. A person who in reading will make the sense of his author plain by so simple a process as the above suggestion involves will not, indeed, be called a "fine reader" by the multitude; but the very fact of his conveying the full meaning without drawing any of the attention to himself will be sufficient to secure him the approbation of that one judicious one whose approval should "in our allowance overweigh a whole theatre of others." Words closely connected in sense will often be found more or less separated from each other, and care will have to be taken by the reader that he makes the connection evident by his tone of voice. E. g. "He stood and called His legions, Angel forms, who lay entranced At times several sentences will be found to be exegetical of a single word or expression, and, unless this is made evident by a sort of continuous and subordinate tone, their meaning will often be lost, or caught with difficulty. E. g. "Wilt thou upon the high and giddy mast Seal up the ship-boy's eyes, and rock his brains And in the visitation of the winds, Who take the ruffian billows by the top, Curling their monstrous heads and hanging them, With deafening clamor in the slippery clouds, That with the hurly death itself awakes?" |