In

formed to admire'; and therefore, epic poems are and must be' favourable' to the cause of virtue' such poems', valour', truth', justice', fidelity', friendship', piety', magnanimity' are the objects which are presented to our minds, under the most splendid and honourable colours'. virtuous personages', our affections' are engaged'; in their designs', and their distresses',

In behalf of

we are interested'; the generous and public affections are awakened'; the mind is purified' from sensual and mean pursuits', and becomes, as it were', accustomed to take part in great and heroic enterprises'.-Blair.

2. How dear to this heart' are the scenes of my childhood',

When fond recollection' presents them to view'; The orchard', the meadow', the deep-tangled wild wood',

And every lov'd spot' that my infancy knew'; The wide-spreading pond', and the mill' which stood by it,

The bridge', and the rock' where the cataract fell';

The cot of my father', and the dairy-house' nigh it, And e'en the rude bucket' that hung in the well',

Wordsworth.

3. By ceaseless action' all that is subsists':
Constant rotation of the unwearied wheel',
That nature' rides' upon; maintains her health',
Her beauty', her fertility'. She dreads

An instant's pause', and lives' but while she moves'.
Its own revolvency' upholds' the world'.
Winds' from all quarters agitate the air',
And fit the limpid element for use',

Else noxious': oceans, rivers, lakes,

streams'

and

All feel the fresh'ning impulse', and are cleansed'
By restless undulation': e'en the oak'

Thrives by the rude concussion' of the storm'.
Cowper.

UNMARKED EXERCISES.

4. Afflictions in Poverty.

The glowing minds of the young soon close above the wound of sorrow; their elastic spirits soon rise above the pressure; their green and subtle affections soon twine round new objects. But the sorrows of the poor, who have no outward appliances to soothe; the sorrows of the aged, with whom life at best is but a wintry day, and who can look for no after-growth of joy; the sorrows of a widow, aged, solitary, destitute, mourning over an only son, the last solace of her years; these are indeed sorrows, which make us feel the impotency of consolation.—Washington Irving.

5. The Forbearances of Social Life.

If we would have the kindness of others, we must endure their follies. He who cannot persuade himself to withdraw from society, must be content to pay a tribute of his time to a multitude of tyrants:—to the loiterer, who makes appointments he never keeps; to the consulter, who asks advice which he never takes; to the boaster, who blusters only to be praised; to the complainer, who whines only to be pitied; to the projector, whose happiness is to entertain his friends with expectations, which all but himself know to be vain ; to the economist, who tells of bargains and settlements; to the politician, who predicts the consequence of deaths, battles, and alliances; to the usurer, who compares the state of the different funds; and to the talker, who talks only because he loves to be talking.— Dr. Johnson.

6. Variety of News.

These various news I heard, of love and strife,
Of peace and war, health, sickness, death, and life;
Of loss and gain, of famine and of store,

Of storms at sea, and travels on the shore,
Of prodigies, and portents seen in air,

Of fire and plagues, and stars with blazing hair;
Of turns of fortune, changes in the state,
Of falls of favourites, projects of the great,
Of old mismanagements, taxations new,-
All neither wholly false, nor wholly true.

7. The Cid's1 Funeral.

Pope.

The Moor had beleaguered Valencia's towers,
And lances gleamed up through her citron bowers,
And the tents of the desert had girt her plain,
And camels were trampling the vines of Spain,
For the Cid was gone to rest.

There were men from wilds, where the death-wind sweeps,

There were spears from hills, where the lion sleeps.
There were bows from sands, where the ostrich runs,
For the shrill horn of Afric had called her sons
To the battles of the west.

There was arming heard in Valencia's halls,
There was vigil kept on the rampart walls;
Stars had not faded, nor clouds turn'd red,
When the knights had girded the noble dead,
And the burial train moved out.

Felicia Hemans.

8. The Mountain Prospect.

Pleasant were many scenes, but most to me

The solitude of vast extent, untouched

1 Don Roderigo Dios de Bivar, conqueror of Valencia from the Moors.

By hand of art, where Nature sowed

And reap'd her crops; whose garments were the clouds; Whose minstrels, brooks; whose lamps the moon and stars;

Whose organ-choir, the voice of many waters;

Whose banquets, morning dews; whose heroes, storms;
Whose warriors, mighty winds; whose lovers, flowers;
Whose orators, the thunderbolts of God;
Whose palaces, the everlasting hills;
Whose ceiling, heaven's unfathomable blue;
And from whose rocky turrets, battled high,
Prospect immense spread out on all sides round,—
Lost now between the welkin and the main,
Now wall'd with hills, that slept above the storm.

9. A Suppliant's Misery.

Pollok.

Ah; little knowest thou, that hast not tried,
What mis'ry 'tis in suing long to bide;
To lose good days that might be better spent,
To waste long nights in pensive discontent,
To speed to-day, to be put back to-morrow,
To feed on hope, to pine with fear and sorrow,
To have thy princess' grace, yet want her peers',
To have thy asking, yet wait many years;
To fret thy soul with crosses and with cares,
To eat thy bread with comfortless despairs,
To fawn, to crouch, to wait, to ride, to run,
To spend, to give, to wait, to be undone.

10. Death-bed Teaching.

Spenser.

"Men may live fools, but fools they cannot die." Much hast thou seen, fair youth, much heard; but thou Has never seen a death-bed, never heard

A dying groan: men saw it often;

And thus it spoke to him who ghastly lay,

And struggled for another breath :-Earth's cup

Is poison'd; her renown, most infamous;
Her gold, seem as it may, is really dust;

Her titles, slanderous names; her praise, reproach;
Her strength, an idiot's boast; her wisdom, blind;
Her gain, eternal loss; her hope, a dream;
Her love, her friendship, enmity with God;
Her promises, a lie; her laughter, grief;
Her beauty, paint, and rottenness within;
Her all, most utter vanity; and all
Her lovers mad, insane most grievously,
And most insane, because they know it not.

Pollok.

CHAPTER XIII.-Emphasis, Suspension, and Inflections of Voice, in connection with Antithesis.

Words in italics are emphatic.

Antithesis is the opposition or contrast of subjects, for the purpose of bringing their difference or distinction into stronger light. In reading, the words or subjects contrasted should be pronounced emphatically; and, in general, the first member of the sentence takes the rising inflection, followed by a suspending pause, slightly longer than the ordinary pause; the second concludes with the falling inflection.

There are, however, exceptions to this rule; as, when the parts are positive and negative, the positive takes the falling inflection, and the negative the rising; also when, in the same sentence, series of subjects are brought into contrast, the inflection depends on the nature of the subjects; except that the word on which the suspending pause occurs, not being negative, commonly takes the rising inflection.

In commencing the second member of the antithesis, the voice should be at the ordinary pitch, or the effect of the contrast will be lost; and in all cases, where the ordinary pitch is used at the commencement, the