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119. Battle Hymn and Farewell to Life, KORNER,

130. Address to an Egyptian Mummy, . HORACE SMITH,

PART I.

MARKS AND SOUNDS.

GOOD reading has been generally considered under three heads, namely, the mechanical, which supposes the ability to speak the names of words on seeing them; the intellectual, which includes a comprehension of the author's ideas; and the rhetorical, in which the tones appropriate to an expression of feeling are considered, together with such a management of the voice as may best convey to the hearer the full import and sentiment of what is read.

The pauses and marks in reading are the comma (,), indicating the shortest pause; the semicolon (;), indicating a pause somewhat longer than the comma; the colon (:), indicating a pause longer than the semicolon; the period (.), which indicates the longest pause.

To these we should add the interrogation mark(?), should we not? — indicating a question; the exclamation mark (!), indicating emotion; the dash (—), indicating a sudden break; the parenthesis marks (as here), used when words independent of the sentence are thrown in.

The apostrophe (') indicates the possessive case; as, Mary's book. It is also used to mark the omission of one letter or more; as, e'er for ever; 'gan for began.

The hyphen is used to separate syllables; also to connect compound words; as, in-ter-rupt, wood-shed.

The acute accent, as now generally used in English dictionaries, denotes that the stress of the voice should be put on a certain syllable; as, fam'i-ly, in-tim'i-date, in'stant, in-sist'. The pupil should distinctly understand this, as the pronunciation of words is frequently indicated, in the following lessons, by the help of this little mark.

The diæ resis, a Greek word, signifying a division, divides into sylla bles two vowels that might otherwise seem to make a diphthong; as, Creätor. Here the e and a are separate in sound; but in creature, ea is a diphthong. The diæresis may be placed over a vowel, to show that the

vowel ought to be pronounced separately, as if commencing a new sylla ble; as, wingëd, learned, blessëd, agëd.

Marks of quotation are used "to denote that the words of another person, real or supposed, than the author, are quoted."

The makron, a Greek word, signifying long, is merely the hyphen mark placed over a vowel, and denotes that the quantity is long; as, hāte, mēte, hide, nōte, mute. The breve (from the Latin brevis, short) denotes that the vowel over which it is placed is short; as, hut, mět, hit, hot, hut, myth.

Our language contains thirty-four purely elementary sounds, and six compound sounds, that are generally classed as elementary. Five of the letters, a, e, i, o, u, are called vowels; the rest consonants, except w and y when they end a syllable, and then they become vowels.

These elementary sounds are a în far, fat, fate, fall; e in me, met; i in fit; o in note, not; u in bull; oo in fool; u in but; w in wet; y in yet; h in hot; ng in king; m in man; n in not; l in let; r in run; p in pan, b in bag; ƒ in fan, v in van; th in thin, th in thine; t in tin, d in din; k in kind, g in gun; s in sin, z in zeal; sh in shine, z in

azure.

There are four compound vowel sounds sometimes classed as elementary; namely, i in pine, u in cube, ou in house, oi in voice; and two compound consonant sounds, namely, ch in chest, j in jest.

The letters c, q, and z, do not appear in the above list, because, as representatives of sound, they are redundant; c expressing only what is as well expressed by s or k (as in city, can); q being only kw; and x,

ks or gs.

By cognate consonant sounds is meant a class of sounds allied or related to each other; as pand b, ƒ and v, th in thin and th in this. The former, namely, p, f, and th in thin, are said to be aspirate; the latter, vocal.

When two vowels unite to form a syllable, they are called a diphthong; as, aid, mean, hoist. When three vowels unite to form a syllable, they are called a triphthong; as, beauty, view.

In the following exercises, words are arranged illustrating the sound to be enunciated. Let the pupil first pronounce the representative sound by itself, and then apply it to the letter or letters conveying it In the Exercises.

It should be explained that different letters are often used to express the same sound. In great and weigh, ea and eigh have the simple sound of long a as in fāte, and are its substitutes or equivalents.

Much trouble in the mispronunciation of common words, such as again, been, none, catch, evil, even, &c., will be avoided by drilling a class in the following Exercises, the words of which have been carefully selected.