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8.

I am thy father's spirit;

Doomed for a certain term to walk the night,

And, for the day confined to fast in fires,

Till the foul crimes, done in my days of nature,

Are burnt and purged away'. But that I am forbid
To tell the secrets of my prison-house,

I could a tale unfold', whose lightest word

Would harrow up thy soul'; freeze thy young blood`;
Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres`;
Thy knotted and combinèd locks to part`,

And each particular hair to stand on end',
Like quills upon the fretful porcupine':

But this eternal blazon must not be

To ears of flesh and blood:-List`,-list',- list'!—

If thou didst ever thy dear father love',

Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder`.

PERS

VI. PERSONATION.

ERSONATION consists of those modulations or changes of the voice necessary to represent two or more persons as speaking.

This principle of expression, upon the correct application of which much of the beauty and efficiency of delivery depends, is employed in reading dialogues and other pieces of a conversational nature. The student should exercise his discrimination and ingenuity in studying the characters of persons to be represented, fully informing himself with regard to their temperament and peculiarities, as well as +ir condition and feelings at the time,—and so modulate ee as best to personate them.

EXERCISE.

He. Dost thou love wandering? Whither wouldst thou go?
Dream'st thou, sweet daughter, of a land more fair?
Dost thou not love these aye-blue streams that flow?
These spicy forests? and this golden air?

She. Oh, yes, I love the woods, and streams, so gay ;
And more than all, O father, I love thee;

Yet would I fain be wandering-far away,

Where such things never were, nor e'er shall be.

He. Speak, mine own daughter with the sun-bright locks!
To what pale, banished region wouldst thou roam?

She. O father, let us find our frozen rocks!

Let's seek that country of all countries-HOME!

He. Seest thou these orange flowers? this palm that rears
Its head up toward heaven's blue and cloudless dome?
She. I dream, I dream; mine eyes are hid in tears ;

My heart is wandering round our ancient home.

He. Why, then, we'll go.

Who sheltered us,

She. On, on! Let's pass

Farewell, ye tender skies, when we were forced to roam ! the swallow as he flies!

Farewell, kind land! Now, father, now-FOR HOME!

For further exercises in Personation, the student is referred to the selections entitled LADY CLARE, MAUD MULLER, and THE ROSE AND THE GAUNTLET.

PAUSES

VII. PAUSES.

AUSES are suspensions of the voice in reading and speaking, used to mark expectation and uncertainty, and to give effect to expression. Pauses are often more eloquent than words. They differ greatly in their frequency and their length. In lively conversation and rapid argument, they are comparatively few and short. In serious, dignified, and pathetic speaking, they are far more numerous, and more prolonged.

The pause is marked thus, in the following illustrations and exercises.

RULES FOR THE USE OF PAUSES.

1. NOMINATIVES.-A pause is required after a compound nominative, in all cases; and after a nominative consisting of a single word, when it is either emphatic, or is the leading subject of discourse; as,

Joy and sorrow move him not. No people can claim him. No country can appropriate him.

2. WORDS IN APPOSITION.-A pause is required after words which are in apposition with, or opposition to, each other; as, Solomon the son of David was king of Israel. False delicacy is affectation not politeness.

3. A TRANSITION.-A pause is required after but, hence, and other words denoting a marked transition, when they stand at the beginning of a sentence; as,

But it was reserved for Arnold to blend all these bad qualities into one. Hence Solomon calls the fear of the Lord the beginning

of wisdom.

4. CONJUNCTIONS AND RELATIVES.--A pause is required before that, when a conjunction or relative, and the relatives who, which, what; together with when, whence, and other adverbs of time and place, which involve the idea of a relative; as,

He went to school that he might become wise. This is the man that loves me. We were present when La Fayette embarked at Havre for New York.

5. THE INFINITIVE.—A pause is required before the infinitive mood, when governed by another verb, or separated by an intervening clause from the word which governs it; as,

He has gone to convey the news. He smote me with a rod to please my enemy.

6. IN CASES OF ELLIPSIS, a pause is required where one or more words are omitted; as,

So goes the world: if wealthy, you may call this friend, that brother.-A poor fellow witty and wise, entered the room. He walked on this side and then on that he tried to introduce a social chat; but some formally and freezingly replied and some

said by their silence, better stay at home.

7. QUALIFYING CLAUSES.-Pauses are used to set off qualifying clauses by themselves; to separate qualifying terms from each other, when a number of them refer to the same word; and when an adjective follows its noun; as,

The rivulet sends forth glad sounds, and tripping o'er its bed of pebbly sands, or leaping down the rocks seems with continuous laughter to rejoice in its own being. He had a mind deep active well stored with knowledge.

These rules, though important, if properly applied, are by no means complete; nor can any be invented which shall meet all the cases that arise in the complicated relations of thought. A good reader or speaker pauses, on an average, at every fifth or sixth word, and in many cases much more frequently. His only guide, in many instances, is a discriminating taste in grouping ideas, and separating by pauses those which are less intimately allied. In doing this, he will often use what may be called

SUSPENSIVE QUANTITY.

SUSPENSIVE QUANTITY means prolonging the end of a word, without actually pausing after it; and thus suspending, without wholly interrupting the progress of sound.

The prolongation on the last syllable of a word, or Suspensive Quantity, is indicated thus in the following examples. It is used chiefly for three purposes:

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1st. To prevent too frequent a recurrence of pauses; as,

Her lover sinks-she sheds no ill-timed tear;

Her chief is slain-she fills his fatal post;
Her fellows flee-she checks their base career;
The foe retires-she heads the rallying host.

2d. To produce a slighter disjunction than would be made by a pause; and thus at once to separate and unite; as,

Would you kill your friend and benefactor? Would you practice hypocrisy and smile in his face, while your conspiracy is ripening?

3d. To break up the current of sound into small portions, which can be easily managed by the speaker, without the abruptness which would result from pausing wherever this relief was needed; and to give ease in speaking; as,

1. Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze,

Glows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees;

Lives through all life, extends through all extent,
Spreads undivided, operates unspent.

2. That lame man, by the field tent, is untainted with the crime of blood, and free from any stain of treason.

GENERAL RULE.

Whenever a preposition is followed by as many as three or four words which depend upon it, the word preceding the preposition will either have suspensive quantity, or else a pause; as,

He is the pride of the whole country.

Require students to tell which of the preceding rules or principles is illustrated, wherever a mark, representing the pause or suspensive quantity, is introduced in the following

EXERCISE.

1. It matters very little what immediate spot may have been the birth-place of such a man as Washington. No people can claim no country can appropriate him. The boon of Providence to the human race his fame is eternity and his dwellingplace creation.

2. Though it was the defeat of our arms and the disgrace of our policy I almost bless the convulsion in which he had his origin. If the heavens thundered and the earth rocked yet

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