The young lady's reader

Front matter

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RECOMMENDATIONS.

Introduction

A fine reader may contribute as much pleasure to the domestic circle, during the course of life, as a skillful performer on the harp or pianoforte. The instrument for reading is ever at hand, and seldom out of tune. Every body has an ear for it. It amuses childhood, instructs youth, soothes manhood, and cheers old age.

When a young lady has acquired this accomplishment, why should she not entertain a circle of friends by reading, as readily as she would sing or play for them? Custom sanctions the one, why should it not the other ?

The following rules are universally acknowledged to be requisite to good reading, namely :

Full and distinct enunciation of syllables, and correct and elegant pronunciation.

The voice should be pitched in the natural key; raised so loud as to be heard without effort, and not so loud as to fatigue the auditor and reader.

Reading should not be so rapid as to be unintelligible, nor so deliberate as to be wearisome.

A monotonous tone, — "the drone-pipe of the humble-bee," — should be avoided.

A graceful attitude and pleasant expression of countenance, .should not be considered beneath the reader's notice.

Above all, it is requisite to read intelligently — to enter into the meaning and spirit of the author. Without this, all other rules are in vain. Much assistance about the modulation of the voice, may be given by teachers of elocution, but nature and good taste, are the best teachers of emphasis and expression.

The arrangement of the pieces contained in this book, under the various divisions made by Rhetoricians, may facilitate the intelligent reading of them; but it has, also, another important object in view.

The examples given in class-books for Rhetoric are few, and mostly from the older writers. Instructors have long felt the need of further examples and apposite illustrations, for their pupils.

IV INTRODUCTION.

To young ladies who have studied the rules of Rhetoric at school, without fully understanding them, or without paying much attention to them, these examples may be of service in reviving and increasing their knowledge.

They may assist those who are writing exercises in composition, in the formation of a good style, and in the use of figurative language. Models, in any art, are often better than rules; — not for servile imitation; they inspire a correct taste, and delicate perception of the beautiful.

It has been left, in most cases, for the reader to discover the rhetorical figure, or figures, in each piete, without the aid of italics ; such assistance would be a poor compliment, both to author and reader.

The examples are many of them from American authors ; this needs no apology; it is a pleasure to find that they have already contributed so largely to English Classic Literature.

CONTENTS,

HARMONY OF PERIODS.

May you Die among your Kindred, ... Greenwood, 13

Perry's Victory, .-....- Irving, 13

Harmony, -...-... Bowring, 14

Indian Summer, ------- Story, 15

On the Spring, - - - - -- - - Gray, 16

Unwritten Poetry, - - - - - - - Willis, 17

Evening, - Croly, 18

Idleness, - Willis, 18

RESEMBLANCE BETWEEN SOUND AND SENSE.

The Passions, - ■ • - - - - - - - ' ' . J Collins, 20

Lake of Geneva, -------- Byron, 23

To a Sky-Lark, Wordsworth, 23

The Chase, Scott, 24

The two Comets, Brainard, 26

The Gnome and the Paddock, - Brainard, 28

INVERSION.

The Pantheon, Byron,

Eve's Love for Adam, Milton,

TROPES.

The Coral Insect, Mrs. Sigourney,

Farewell to the Vanities of the World, - J. Walton,

Gertrude of Wyoming, Campbell,

The Death of the Flowers, Bryant,

Lucy, -- - -r . . . . , Wordsworth, Contentedness, Jeremy Taylor,

29 29

30 31 32 32 33 34

METAPHOR.

Love's Excuse for Sadness, Bulwer,

Religion, Erskine,

The Christian Soldier's Death, ... - Montgomery,

Invention, £. Everett,

Tyranny, Talfourd,

Truth, Coleridge,

The Sceptic, Mrs. Hemans,

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35 36 36 38 38 39 39

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