trasted with "on the hill," but that the "nightingale's song" is only heard in the sequestered quiet of a "grove." "It was thus."

This is the commencement of the principal sentence. "Thus" is the accented word, because new.

"By the cave of the moun'tain afar."

"Cave of the mountain" is practically a compound word, and the accent is on the completing part. "Afar" is merely expletive.

"While his harp' rung symphonious."

"While" may be accented or not, ad lib.;

"Harp" is accented, because new; "rung symphonious" is subordinate, because involved in the mention of "harp."

"A her'mit began."

This is the principal sentence; the subject, "hermit,” is accented, because new; the predicate "began " is merely expletive.

"No more'."

This is an adjunct to the predicate "(was) at war;" the accent is on "more," because new, and the completing word of the phrase.

"With himself or with na'ture."

The leading accent is on "nature," because contrasted with himself."

"At war'."

This is the predicate of a principal sentence, new, and therefore emphatic.

"He thought as a sage'."

Accent on "sage," because "thought" is involved in the idea of "at war with himself."

"Tho' he felt as a man.' ""

"Tho' " may be accented or not, ad lib.; "felt," is emphatic, because contrasted with "thought;" and "man" is emphatic, because contrasted with "sage."

XIV. RHYTHM AS AFFECTING READING.

The accented syllables, in prose, occur at irregular intervals, and so produce a constantly varying rhythm. In poetry, the accents occur at regulated intervals, so as to form " common measure," as in :

66

"The shades of night were falling fast: "

or triple measure;

as in

"At the close of the day when the hamlet is still;" or a mixture of common and triple measures.

The rhythm of music includes uniformity of time, as well as regularity of accent; and a musical composition is exactly measurable into bars of equal length, according to the standard time adopted by the composer. The rhythm of speech differs from that of music, in being dependent on accent alone; and the bars into which prose, as well as poetry, may be divided, are not of equal length, and cannot be made equal, without doing violence to the sense, and creating an offensive jingling or sing-song.

The attempts which have been made to arrange poetry and prose into bars of equivalent duration need only to be illustrated to be condemned. The following specimens are quoted from a work of respectable authorship.

[The mark denotes a rest or pause to make up a defective measure.]

I.

"At the close of the | day, when the | hamlet is | still, |
And mortals | the | sweets of for | getfulness | prove, |
When | nought but the | torrent | is | heard on the | hill, |
And nought but the | nightingale's | song | in the grove: |
It was thus, by the | cave of the | mountain a | far, |
While his harp rung sym | phonious, | a | hermit be | gan;
No more with him | self, or with | nature at | war, |
He thought as a | sage | tho' he | felt as a | man. |”

II.

"Then Agrippa | said unto | Paul, |

Thou art permitted to speak for thy | self. | | Then | Paul | stretched forth the | hand, | and | answered | for him | self. | I think myself | happy. |

| King A | grippa, | be | cause I shall | answer for my self | this | day | before | thee, | touching | all the things | where | of | I am ac | cused | of the Jews: | | wherefore | I be | seech thee |▾ to hear me patiently. Į "

The bars which mark the measures of time in the above illustrations violate the logical principles on which words are separated or joined together in reading Articles and prepositions should, clearly, be connected with the words to which they refer, as making up the expression of a single thought; but the ill-timed junctions and divisions indicated by these bars, bring together parts of two distinct thoughts, and separate parts of one distinct thought, in utter disregard of sense; as in:

-cause I shall | answer for my | etc.

These unnatural divisions apparently result from the adoption of the principle of musical notation which requires that the first note of every bar shall be the accented part of the measure. This principle, no doubt essential to a concerted marking of time among players, is not consistent with the accentual variety of speech. A beat implies an upward movement before the downward stroke; and a large proportion of words commence with unaccented syllables. A bar in speech-notation may, therefore, begin with a light, as readily as with a heavy syllable, according to the position of the accent.

The fundamental principle which regulates the collocation of words in sentences is, that no two words should be united which have not a mutual relation in forming sense; and that no two such words should be separated. In this way the words of a sentence fall into grammatical or logical groups, the individual words composing which are, as it were, syllables in the "oratorical word" formed by the whole group. These oratorical words have accents, among their component syllabic words, just as ordinary words have among their syllables; and the oratorical words themselves are subject to a higher species of accent, called emphasis, which throws into prominence the leading thought in a sentence. [See "Emphasis."]

Reading in accordance with this principle has a music of its own; a varying time and force, adapting sound to sense, and to the natural expression of all moods and passions. It is, moreover, perfectly conservative of poetic measures; only it gives predominance to sense and sentiment; whereas these, in the passages quoted above, are subordinated to fixed musical accents, and recurrent bars of equal time.

Perhaps the best mode of showing the difference in the results of the two methods of reading will be to mark the same passages with the divisions of logical expression. The minor grammatical groups are indicated by a hyphen (-), and the major divisions of the sentences by a vertical line (1). The former is equivalent to a slight hiatus; and the latter to a pause.

I.*

"At the close of the day, | when the hamlet - is still, |
And mortals | the sweets- of forgetfulness - prove, |
When nought - but the torrent | is heard - on the hill, |
And nought - but the nightingale's song | in the grove: |

*See these passages under the head of " Emphasis."

It was thus, by the cave of the mountain - afar, |
While his harp - rung symphonious, | a hermit - began; |
No more with himself, - or with nature | at war, |

He thought as a sage | tho' he felt as a man."

II.

"Then | Agrippa | said unto Paul, | Thou art permitted - to speak for thyself. | | Then | Paul - stretched forth the hand, and answered - for himself: | | I think myself - happy, | King Agrippa, | because - I shall answer - for myself - this day | before thee | touching all the things | whereof- I am accused of the Jews: | wherefore | I beseech thee to hear me - patiently."

The essential parts of a sentence are its subject and its predicate. These express two distinct thoughts, and should always be separately pronounced, except when either of them is unemphatic. A sentence may, besides, include complemental or circumstantial adjuncts (expressive of how, why, when, where, etc.) and connectives. Complemental clauses are united to the principal member to which they refer, when there is no intervening word, as in "cave of the mountain"; and circumstantial adjuncts are separated from the principal member-like parentheses—and also from each other, as distinct thoughts. Connectives may couple individual words or clauses, or may join sentences. In the former case, they are united to the word or clause which they connect in sense-when there is no intervening word; but, in the latter case, connectives generally stand apart, to show that they do not connect merely the proximate words.

Another relation between words, important although only occasional, is that between governing and dependent words. This relation is of so close a nature that it will even separate grammatically related words. Thus, we unite adjective and noun, as in "a good man"; but we