ISLE OF BEAUTY, FARE THEE WELL!-BAYLEY. SHADES of ev'ning, close not o'er us, Sunny spots where friends may dwell; Isle of Beauty, fare thee well! 'Tis the hour when happy faces Smile around the taper's light; When the waves are round me breaking, And my eye is vainly seeking When on that dear land I ponder, Where my old companions dwell, Absence makes the heart grow fonder- We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths; WE should count time by heart-throbs. He most lives PHILIP JAMES BAILEY. THE LOVE OF COUNTRY AND OF HOME. JAMES MONTGOMERY. JAMES MONTGOMERY was born in 1771, in Ayrshire, and began life as a clerk in the office of the "Sheffield Register" newspaper. This determined his occupation through His poems are written in life, which was that of the editor of the "Sheffield Iris." softly flowing verse, with fine powers of natural description, a gentle purity of tone, and the most beautiful human feeling. They include the "Wanderer in Switzerland," "The West Indies," "The World before the Flood," "The Pelican Island," and a great number of hymns and minor pieces. He died in 1854, at Sheffield. THERE is a land, of every land the pride, The wandering mariner, whose eye explores In every clime, the magnet of his soul, Touched by remembrance, trembles to that pole; Here woman reigns; the mother, daughter, wife, Where shall that land, that spot of earth, be found? SPELL AND PRONOUNCE impar'adise, to make like paradise. pageantry, pompous display. benign/ly, graciously. dispense', here, to shed around. ELOCUTION. 1. To be able to speak well in public is of the greatest moment in a country like this, when public opinion is the supreme power. The living voice must always have a far greater influence than the counsels of a printed page, but it depends on our ability to use it to the best advantage, whether that influence shall be as great as it might be. A good speech badly delivered falls without effect on an audience, whereas a much inferior one, spoken clearly and with an appropriate delivery, may have the most wonderful power over those who hear it. 2. Demosthenes one day lamented to a friend, that though he was most industrious in seeking public favour by speaking in the meetings of the people, and though he had spent his whole strength and vigour in doing so, he could find no acceptance, but was treated with contempt, while worthless speakers were heard gladly. "You speak truly, Demosthenes," said his friend, "but I will quickly remedy the cause of all this if you will repeat to me some passage from one of the poets." Demosthenes having done so, his friend, who was a great actor, presently repeated it after him, but gave the passage such new force and beauty by his delivery and action, that it seemed quite another thing. By this, Demosthenes was convinced how much grace and ornament language acquires from action, and began to think it a small matter, and as good as nothing for a man to exert himself in speaking, if he neglected distinct pronunciation and good delivery. Henceforward he studied both with the utmost care, and the result was, as all know, that he became famous for all time as an orator. 3. To read badly is as fatal to pleasure and benefit in its own sphere as to speak badly, and is only to be cured by the same means. 4. The first requisite for either good speaking or good reading, Mrs. Siddons used to say, is to TAKE TIME.-Force yourself to read and to speak very slowly, till you get the habit of pronouncing every part of each word perfectly. The best readers read very deliberately, and John Bright, the finest orator we have, speaks with a calm slowness very striking. 5. Do not mistake noise for effectiveness.-To roar, and bawl, or scream, may provoke laughter or disgust, but it is fatal to effect. Clearness and perfect pronunciation are necessary to make one's-self heard, but not loudness. 6. Take care of a singing tone either in speaking or reading." Pray," said Cæsar once, to some one who read before him, " do you read or sing? If you sing, you sing very badly." We all know what a "pulpit tone" is. Beware of it. The best reading is that which is so like elegant and lively conversation that a person outside, hearing it, would not know whether you were reading or speaking. 7. Always speak or read in a natural voice.—Actors and barristers always do so, and owe not only their effectiveness to it, but also their freedom from complaints of the throat. Clergymen, and speakers of other classes, forgetting this rule, and speaking in a forced or unnatural key, are subject very exten 2 A sively to throat ailments. voice. Speak and read always in your usual speaking GENERAL PRINCIPLES. Good elocution depends mainly in the thorough knowledge of two turns gr inflections of the voice-the rising and the falling-and in the proper use of them. The rising inflection (') is that sliding upwards of the voice which is generally used at a comma, or in asking a question which begins with a verb-as, "Poison, said you, did he drink póison?" The falling inflection (') is generally used at the semicolon (;), colon (:), and period (.)—as, " He did; he drank pòison." On the right use of these two inflections the force, variety, and harmony of speaking and reading depend. If you learn them thoroughly, you have only to learn further to modulate them aright, in different cases, to be a good speaker or reader. You must remember, however, that the rising inflection means the rising of the voice by a gradual upward slide, not mere loudness, and that the falling inflection means a gradual sliding of the voice downwards, not a sudden full. SELECT SENTENCES. WHAT a piece of work is man! how noble in reason! how infinite in faculties! in form and moving how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension how like a god. If to do were as easy as to know what were good to do, chapels had been churches, and poor men's cottages princes' palaces. He is a good divine who follows his own instructions: I can easier teach twenty what were good to be done, than to be one of the twenty to follow my own teaching. Men's evil manners live in brass; their virtues we write in water. The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together; our virtues would be proud, if our faults whipped them not; and our crimes would despair, if they were not cherished by our virtues. The sense of death is most in apprehension; How far this little candle throws its beams! -Love all, trust a few. Do wrong to none; be able for thine enemy The cloud-capt towers, the gorgeous palaces, Our indiscretion sometimes serves us well, When our deep plots do fail; and that should teach us There's a divinity that shapes our ends, Rough-hew them how we will. The Poet's eye, in a fine frenzy rolling, Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven; And as imagination bodies forth The form of things unknown, the Poet's pen A local habitation and a name. Heaven doth with us as we with torches do, Not light them for themselves; for if our virtues As if we had them not. Spirits are not finely touch'd, But to fine issues; nor nature never lends The smallest scruple of her excellence, But, like a thrifty goddess, she determines Both thanks and use. What stronger breastplate than a heart untainted? Oн, world, thy slippery turns! Friends now fast worn On a dissension of a doit, break out To bitterest enmity. So, fellest foes, Whose passions and whose plots have broke their sleep, To take the one the other-by some chance, Some trick not worth an egg, shall grow dear friends, |