ON MODULATION. (59)

From Lloyd.

  ‘T is not enough the voice’ be sound and clear’,
  ‘T is modulation’ that must charm the ear. 
  When desperate heroes grieve with tedious moan,
  And whine their sorrows in a seesaw tone,
  The same soft sounds of unimpassioned woes,
  Can only make the yawning hearers doze.

  The voice all modes of passion can express
  That marks the proper word with proper stress: 
  But none emphatic can that speaker call,
  Who lays an equal emphasis on all.

  Some o’er the tongue the labored measure roll,
  Slow and deliberate as the parting toll;
  Point every stop, mark every pause so strong,
  Their words like stage processions stalk along.

  All affectation but creates disgust;
  And e’en in speaking, we may seem too just. 
  In vain for them’ the pleasing measure flows,
  Whose recitation runs it all to prose: 
  Repeating what the poet sets not down,
  The verb disjointing from its favorite noun,
  While pause, and break, and repetition join
  To make it discord in each tuneful line’.

  Some’ placid natures fill the allotted scene
  With lifeless drawls, insipid and serene;
  While others’ thunder every couplet o’er,
  And almost crack your ears with rant and roar;
  More nature oft, and finer strokes are shown
  In the low whisper than tempestuous tone;
  And Hamlet’s hollow voice and fixed amaze,
  More powerful terror to the mind conveys
  Than he, who, swollen with impetuous rage,
  Bullies the bulky phantom of the stage.

  He who, in earnest studies o’er his part,
  Will find true nature cling about his heart. 
  The modes of grief are not included all
  In the white handkerchief and mournful drawl: 
  A single look’ more marks the internal woe,
  Than all the windings of the lengthened Oh’!

MCGUFFEY’S SIXTH READER. (61)

MCGUFFEY’S SIXTH READER. (63)

SELECTIONS FOR READING.

I. ANECDOTE OF THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE.

A laughable story was circulated during the administration of the old Duke of Newcastle, and retailed to the public in various forms.  This nobleman, with many good points, was remarkable for being profuse of his promises on all occasions, and valued himself particularly on being able to anticipate the words or the wants of the various persons who attended his levees, before they uttered a word.  This sometimes led him into ridiculous embarrassment; and it was this proneness to lavish promises, which gave occasion for the following anecdote: