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SPECIAL EXERCISES IN ELOCUTION.

Stu. He has been grossly insulted by Tybalt, but has avoided quarreling with him. Mercutio, Romeo's friend, takes up the quarrel, and is slain by Tybalt; and the latter, immediately after, is met by Romeo, who accosts him thus:

"Alive! in triumph, and Mercutio slain !
Away to heaven, respective lenity,

And fire-eyed fury be my conduct now !
Now, Tybalt, take the villain back again
That late thou gavest me; for Mercutio's sou
Is but a little way above our heads,
Staying for thine to keep him company;

And thou or I, or both, must go with him."

Pro. There is a good exercise in high pitch in the reply of Coriola'nus to Aufidius. The latter has sneered at the haughty soldier as a "boy of tears”; and Coriolanus retaliates, in words showing overpowering rage. Let me hear you read the passage. St. It requires practice; but I will do my best.

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Cut me to pieces, Volcians; men and lads,
Stain all your edges on me. 'Boy!' False hound!

If you have writ your annals true, 't is there,

That, like an eagle in a dove-cote, I

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Pro. The tone of choleric defiance in these words

of Hotspur affords another exercise in high pitch:

"Not speak of Mortimer?

But I will speak of him; and let my soul

Want mercy if I do not join with him!

Yea, on his part, I'll empty all these veins,

And shed my dear blood drop by drop in the dust,
But I will lift the down-trod Mortimer

As high in the air as this unthankful king,
As this ingrate and cankered Bolingbroke."

SPECIAL EXERCISES IN ELOCUTION.

199

Stu. The king has refused to ransom Mortimer, who happens to be the brother of Hotspur's wife. The indignant Hotspur again breaks out as follows:

"He said he would not ransom Mortimer;
Forbade my tongue to speak of Mortimer;
But I will find him when he lies asleep,

And in his ear I'll hollo Mortimer!

Nay, I'll have a starling shall be taught to speak
Nothing but Mortimer, and give it him

To keep his anger still in motion.”

Pro. With one more exercise we will conclude our illustrations for the present: It is the contemptuous speech of Coriolanus, the haughty patrician of Rome, to the populace:

“What would you have... you curs,

That like not peace nor war? The one affrights you,

The other makes you proud. He that trusts you,

Where he should find you lions, finds you

...

Where foxes... GEESE: you are no surer, no,
Than is the coal of fire upon the ice,

Or hailstone in the sun. He that depends

Upon your favors, swims with fins of lead,

HARES;

And hews down oaks with rushes. Hang ye....Trust ye?
With every minute you do change a mind,

And call him noble, that was now your hate,

Him vile, that was your garland!"

Stu. These exercises seem to me to require a good deal of practice to do them justice.

Pro. That is true: therefore let them have practice. Learn some of them by heart, and give them forth as you have opportunity; first being sure, from your teacher's authority, that you deliver them aright and in good taste. The physical benefit derived from such exercise of the lungs, prudently pursued, is as great as that got in many of the feats of the gymnasium. It is an exercise which any one can advanta geously take, in-doors or out.

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CATILINE'S LAST SPEECH TO HIS TROOPS.

LXXX. — CATILINE'S LAST SPEECH TO HIS TROOPS.

TAUNT (the au like a in far), n., bit- | Co'HORT, n., a troop of soldiers, about ter or sarcastic reproach. four or five hundred.

GALL'ING (a as in fall), a., fretting.

BUR'DEN (bur'dn), v. t., to encumber.

The following exercise should be read with much spirit and energy. Commencing in the tone of sorrow and despair, the voice should be gradually raised till, at the climax, it should attain an explosive force, expressive of reckless resolve and defiance.

BRAVE comrades! all is ruined! I disdain

To hide the truth from you.

And now,

The die is thrown!

let each that wishes for long life

Put up his sword, and kneel for peace to Rome.
Ye are all free to go. What! no man stirs !

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Not one!a soldier's spirit in you all?

Give me your hands!

This moisture in my eyes

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-'t will pass.

My noble hearts!

-

Well have you chosen to die! For, in my mind,
The grave is better than o'erburdened life ;-
Better the quick release of glorious wounds,
Than the eternal taunts of galling tongues ;-
Better the spear-head quivering in the heart,
Than daily struggle against Fortune's curse;
Better, in manhood's muscle and high blood,
To leap the gulf, than totter to its edge
In poverty, dull pain, and base decay.

Once more, I say, Are

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Then, each man to his tent, and take the arms
That he would love to die in,- for this hour
We storm the Consul's camp.-A last farewell!
When next we meet, we 'll have no time to look
How parting clouds a soldier's countenance:
Few as we are, we 'll rouse them with a peal
That shall shake Rome!

Now to your cohorts' heads! The word's Revenge!
REV. GEORGE CROLY. (1788-1860.)

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Pronounce Hiawatha, He-a-wa'tha (the second a as in fall); the au in haunt like in far. Heed the long o in shad'ow, mead'ow.

1. YE who love the haunts of nature, love the sunshine of the meadow, love the shadow of the forest, love the wind among the branches, and the rain-shower and the snow-storm, and the rushing of great rivers through their palisades of pine-trees, and the thunder in the mountains, whose innumerable echoes flap like eagles in their eyries, listen to these wild traditions, to this Song of Hiawatha !

2. Ye who love a nation's legends, love the ballads of a people, that, like voices from afar off, call to us to pause and listen, speak in tones so plain and childlike, scarcely can the ear distinguish whether they are sung or spoken, listen to this Indian legend, to this Song of Hiawatha!

3. Ye whose hearts are fresh and simple, who have faith in God and nature, who believe that in all ages every human heart is human; that, in even savage bosoms, there are longings, yearnings, strivings, for the good they comprehend not; that the feeble hands and helpless, groping blindly in the darkness, touch His right hand in the darkness, and are lifted up and strengthened, — listen to this simple story, to this Song of Hiawatha !

4. Ye who sometimes in your rambles through the green lanes of the country, where the tangled barberrybushes, hang their tufts of crimson berries over stone walls gray with mosses, pause by some neglected graveyard, for a while to muse and wonder on a half

effaced inscription, writ with little skill of so homely phrases, but each letter full of hope of heart-break, full of all the tender pathos of and the Hereafter, stay and read this rude tion, read this Song of Hiawatha ! LONGE

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The habit which the two boys, introduced in this story, had of clipping ng in such words as spelling, chopping, &c., is one which, we hope, ever avoid in serious delivery.

1. LET no one suppose that in the following would underrate the importance of learning correctly. In these days the young person wh to attain to positions of trust and profit mu good speller. What I would impress upon you is, that you must not only learn the orthograp word but acquaint yourself with its meaning; know the outside form of a word, its letters ar bles, but penetrate to its inner spirit and life.

2. The most extraordinary spelling, and, inde ing machine, in our school, was a boy whom call Mem'orus Wordwell. He was mighty an derful in the acquisition and remembrance of w of signs without the ideäs signified. The alph acquired at home before he was two years old. exultation of parents, what exclamation from a

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