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like the thunder of night'—(All) It was like the thunder of night when the cloud bursts on Cona', and a thousand ghosts' shriek at once' on the hollow wind'.

(1st Voice) The morning-(2d Voice) — morning was gay'-(3d Voice) the morning was gay on Cromla', —

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(1st Voice) Calmar stood forth' — (2d Voice) - stood forth to meet them',

· (3d Voice) — Calmar stood forth to meet them in the pride of his kindling soul'.

(1st Voice) But pale'-(2d Voice) - pale was the face'. - (3d Voice) — but pale was the face of the chief, as he leaned on his father's spear'. (1st Voice) The lightning (2d Voice) — lightning flies'— (3d Voice) — the lightning flies on wings of fire'.

(1st Voice) But slowly-(2d Voice) - slowly now the hero falls', — (3d Voice) - but slowly now the hero falls', like the tree of hundred roots before the driving storm'.

(1st Voice) Now from the gray mists of the ocean' the white-sailed ships of Fingal'* appear'. (2d Voice) High'-(3d Voice) — high is the grove of their masts' as they nod, by turns, on the rolling waves'.

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(1st Voice) As ebbs the resounding sea through the hundred isles of Inistore',- (2d Voice) - so loud' (3d Voice) · so vast' (1st Voice) immense' - (All) — returned the sons of Lochlin to meet the approaching foe'.

(1st Voice) But bending,―(2d Voice) — weeping',—(3d Voice) — sad, and slow' (All) - sank Calmar, the mighty chief, in Cromla's lonely wood'. (1st Voice) The battle'-(2d Voice) - battle is past', -(3d Voice) — " The battle is past'," said the chief'.

(1st Voice) Sad is the field' (2d Voice) — sad is the field of Lena'! (3d Voice) Mournful are the oaks of Cromla!

(All) The hunters have fallen in their strength! The sons of the brave are no more'!

(1st Voice) As a hundred winds on Morven'; — -(2d Voice)- -as the stream of a hundred hills' ;-(3d Voice) as clouds successive fly over the face of heaven' ;

(1st Voice) so vast',-(2d Voice) — so terrible', -(3d Voice)—so roar

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(All) - the armies mixed on Lena's echoing plain'.

(1st Voice) The clouds of -(2d Voice) — night come rolling down'; (3d Voice) - the stars of the north arise' over the rolling waves': they show their heads of fire through the flying mists of heaven'.

(1st Voice) "Spread the sail'," said the king'. (2d Voice) "Seize the winds as they pour from Lena'." (3d Voice) We rose on the waves with Songs'.

(All) We rushed with joy through the foam of the deep'.

Here the acute accent is intended as a mark of accent, not of inflection.

LESSON XIII.

PUNCTUATION, TYPOGRAPHICAL MARKS, ETC.

136. PUNCTUATION, from the Latin word punctum, a point, is the art of dividing words or sentences from one another by means of certain marks or points, designed to facilitate the apprehension or to regulate the enunciation of a written language. Points or stops are said to have been first used by Aristoph'ănës, the Alexandrian grammarian; but the modern system of punctuation is due to Manutius, a learned printer, who lived at Venice in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

137. Authors differ in regard to the proper mode of punctuating; some contending, with Sheridan, that the stops should be disposed according to the emphasis and pauses which would be naturally made in reading aloud; and others, that they should be placed according to the grammatical structure of a sentence. The former is called the Rhetorical, and the latter the Grammatical mode. The tendency of modern usage is to the latter.

138. In grammatical punctuation, such stops only are given as may assist the reader in promptly comprehending the sense. It may, therefore, often be proper to make a pause where no stop appears to the eye Indeed, it is often allowable, for the sake of pointing out the sense more strongly, or of shifting and relieving the voice, to make a very considerable pause where there is no punctuation mark; and where the grammatical construction requires none.

139. The grammatical points are the Comma (,), which marks the smallest grammatical division of a sentence, and usually represents the shortest pause; the Semi-colon (;) and the Colon (:), which separate those portions which are less connected than those divided by Commas; and the Period (.), which is what its name denotes, a full stop, which commonly terminates a sentence.

140. Besides these points, there are others, partly grammatical and partly rhetorical, which may be thus enumerated: the Note of Interrogation (?), which shows that a question is denoted by the word to which it is annexed; the Note of Exclamation (!), expressing admiration, horror, or any considerable emotion; the marks of Parenthesis (), used when a clause, word or sign, which interrupts the progress of the sentence, is inserted; the Dash (—), used where a sentence breaks off abruptly, or where suppressed emotion is to be expressed; or as a substitute for the marks of Parenthesis, and sometimes as a modification of the other stops, or independently when no other stop may be appropriate.

141. There are other points, related rather to letters, words and syllables, than to the grammatical elucidation of sentences. The Apostrophë ('), a mark distinguished only from the Comma in being placed above the line, is used to denote the abbreviation of a word as o'er for over

also to mark the possessive case of nouns; as, John's hat. In the written language the difference between the nominative (or objective) case plural and the possessive case plural is expressed by the addition of an apostrophe after the letter s; as, the trees' leaves. Where a proper name ends in s, the s of the possessive case ought to be retained after the apostrophe; as, Mr. Ames's house, Collins's odes. Sometimes, for the sake of euphony, and in poetry to suit the measure of a verse, the s after the apostrophe is omitted in the pronunciation, and it ought then to be also dropped in the written or printed word; as, in Moses' days, for Jesus' sake. But where thes after the apostrophe is retained in the pronunciation, it ought to be exhibited to the eye.

142. The Hyphen (-) is employed to connect compounded words; as in alms-house, to-morrow. It is also used at the end of a line when a word is divided and a portion of the word has to be carried on to the beginning of the next line. A mark identical with the Hyphen, and called a Makron, is sometimes used over a vowel to denote that the quantity is long; as in remote, serene. The mark called the Breve (~) is placed over a Vowel to indicate that it has a short sound; as in Hělěna.

143. Marks of Quotation (" ") are used to denote that the words of another person, real or supposed, are quoted. When one quotation is introduced within another, the included one should be preceded by a single inverted comma, and closed by a single apostrophe, thus (' ').

144. Brackets [ ] enclose a word or sentence distinct from the text, or not originally inserted in it: as, "He [Milton] had read much, and knew what books could teach." Marks of Parenthesis enclose what the author himself interposes between parts of a sentence. Brackets generally enclose some explanation, omission, or comment supplied by another. 145. The Diærěsis (·), from a Greek word signifying a division or separation, consists of two points, which are placed over a vowel tc denote that it is to be separated in the pronunciation from the preceding vowel or syllable, in order that the vowel so marked may form, or help to form, a distinct syllable; as in aërial, orthoëpy, zoöphyte, blessed.

146. Two Commas (") are occasionally used (as in the Table under Paragraph 20) to indicate that something is understood which was expressed in the line and word immediately above.

147. Marks of Ellipsis (a Greek word signifying an omission) are formed by means of a long dash, or of a succession of points or stars * * * *), of various lengths, and which are used to indicate the omission of letters in a word, of words in a sentence, or of sentences in a paragraph.

148. The word Paragraph is from the Greek, and originally signified a writing near or subjoined. Thus it came to mean a subdivision in written or printed composition. It was formerly indicated by the following mark (T); but is now generally represented simply by beginning a sentence with a new line having a slight blank space at its commencement.

**See T 20" simply means see paragraph twenty. The sign (T) is sometimes used merely as a mark of reference, like an asterisk.

149. The Section (§) denotes the division of a discourse or chapter into inferior portions. The Index, or Hand (), points out a passage to which it is desired to direct especial attention. Three stars, placed in this form (**), or N. B., the initials of nota benë, "mark well," are sometimes used for the same purpose as the index. The Asterisk (*), the Obelisk or Dagger (†), the Double Dagger (‡), and Parallels (I), together with letters or figures of a small size, technically called Superiors, are marks of reference to the margin, or some other part of a book.

150. The Brace (~~) is used to connect a number of words with one common term. The Caret (^) (from a Latin word, meaning it is want ing) is used exclusively in manuscript, to indicate something interlined. The Cedilla is a mark used under the French c, thus (ç), to signify that it is to be pronounced soft, like s.

151. There are three accentual marks. The mark of the acute accent is ('), and may be remembered by its pointing down towards you, as if to pierce. The mark of the grave accent is (`); the mark of the cir cumflex, which is a compound of the other two, is (^).

152. The acute accent is used in English sometimes as a mark of accent, and sometimes of quantity, and sometimes in place of the Diæresis. The grave accent and the circumflex are little used in English; and they are employed in French to denote a difference in the pronunciation, not in the accent.

153. In regard to the use of Capital Letters, authors exhibit much the same caprice that they do in punctuation. Formerly initial capital letters were much more used than now in distinguishing nouns. In German, nouns are still generally distinguished in this way. Wordsworth and many other English writers commence their emphatic nouns with capital letters. It is the present approved custom to distinguish by initial capitals the first word of every sentence, of every line of poetry, and of every quotation and every example formally introduced; also of every noun and principal word in the title of a book; as, "Locke on the Human Understanding."

154. Initial capitals are also used to distinguish proper names and adjectives derived from them; titles of honor and distinction; common nouns personified; the pronoun I and the interjections O, Ah, &c.; words used as the names of Deity, or to express his attributes; the personal pronouns he, his, and him, when referring to Deity in sentences where reference is at the same time made to any of his creatures in the same number and person; as, "he loved his God, admired His wondrous works." Nouns and adjectives to which it is desired to give any particular prominence that may impress them especially on the reader's attention are frequently capitalized now by the best writers.

QUESTIONS.-136 What is Punctuation? 137. To what mode of punctuating does modern usage incline? 138. What is said of Grammatical Punctuation? 139. What are the grammatical points? 140. Enumerate other points or marks. 141. What is the use of the Apostrophe? 142. The Hyphen? What mark is used to denote that a vowel is long? Short? 143. What of marks of quotation? 144. Brackets? 145. The Diare. sis? 146. Two commas? 147. Marks of ellipsis? 148. A Paragraph? 149. The Section? The Index? What other marks are there corresponding to the Index? What are the marks of reference? 150. What is the Brace? The Caret? 151, 152. What are the accentual marks, and what their use? 153, 154. What is said of the use of Capital Letters ?

LESSON XIV.

ON READING POETRY.

155. VERSE is generally an adjunct of poetry, although there may be poetry without it. Poetry of the highest order may be found in the Book of Job and the Psalms of David. But, even when poetry has the form of prose, its diction at times falls into the metrical sweep and cadence, as if by a law which makes the inward harmony suggest the external. The objection has been made that the habit of reciting poetry is apt to lead to a monotonous manner. As well might it be said that a habit of dancing leads to a faulty gait in walking. By attending to the measure of verse alone, and disregarding the sense, a sing-song mode of utterance may be contracted; but the judicious recitation of verse is admirably adapted to impart ease, flexibility and grace, to delivery.

156. Poetry is sometimes rendered in a slight degree more difficult than prose by the inversions or irregular arrangements of words, required by the measure. Were we, for instance, to express in prose the following

couplet :

Achilles' wrath, to Greece the direful spring

Of woes unnumbered, heavenly Goddess, sing!

it would run thus: "Sing, O heavenly Goddess! the wrath of Achilles, the direful spring of unnumbered woes to Greece." And this example is by no means one of the most remarkable instances of inversion that could be adduced.

157. Rules for inflecting the voice in the reading of verse, as well as of prose, are fallacious and prejudicial. No good reader was ever formed by them; and no two good readers will be likely to mark the passages for inflection in a given poem precisely alike. Bad habits of reading are often formed by an unwarranted reliance on the accuracy of these rules.

158. There are, however, some few principles to which the student's attention should be directed; not because they will certainly make him read well, but because, if he neglects them, he will undoubtedly read

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