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ment of fuch paufes is one of the most nice and difficult articles of delivery. In all reading, the management of the breath requires a good deal of care, fo as not to oblige us to divide words from one other, which have fo intimate a connection, that they ought to be pronounced with the fame breath, and without the leaft feparation. Many a sentence is miferably mangled, and the force of the emphasis totally loft, by divifions being made in the wrong place. To avoid this, every one, while he is reading, should be very careful to provide a full fupply of breath for what he is to utter. It is a great miftake to imagine, that the breath must be drawn only at the end of a period, when the voice is allowed to fall. It may eafily be gathered at the intervals of the period, when the voice is fufpended only for a moment; and, by this management, one may always have a fufficient stock for carrying on the longest sentence, without improper interruptions.

Paufes in reading must generally be formed upon the manner in which we utter ourselves in ordinary, fenfible conversation; and not upon the stiff artificial manner, which is acquired from reading books according to the common punctuation. It will by no means be fufficient to attend to the points used in printing; for these are far from marking all the pauses, which ought to be made in reading. A mechanical attention to these refting places, has perhaps been one cause of monotony, by leading the reader to a fimilar tone at every stop, and a uniform cadence at every period. The primary ufe of points, is to affift the reader in difcerning the grammatical conftruction; and it is only as a fecondary object, that they regulate his pronunciation. On this head, the following direction may be of ufe: "Though in reading, great attention fhould be paid to the ftops, yet a greater fhould be given to the sense; and their correfpondent times occafionally lengthened beyond what is ufual in common fpeech."

To render paufes pleafing and expreffive, they must not only be made in the right place, but also accompanied with a proper tone of voice, by which the nature of these paufes is intimated; much more than by the length of them, which can seldom be exactly measured. Sometimes it is only a slight and simple fufpension of voice that is proper; fometimes a degree of cadence in the voice is required; and fometimes that peculiar tone and cadence which denote the fentence to be finished. In all thefe cafes, we are to regulate ourselves by attending to the manner in which nature teaches us to speak, when engaged in real and earnest discourse with others. The following fentence exemplifies the fufpending and the closing paufes: "Hope, the balm of life, fooths us under every misfortune." The firft and fecond pauses are accompanied by an inflection of voice, that gives the hearer an expectation of fomething further to complete the fenfe the inflection attending the third paufe fignifies that the fenfe is completed.

The preceding example is an illustration of the suspending pause, in its simple state the following instance exhibits that

THE

ENGLISH READER.

PART I.

PIECES IN PROSE.

Gen CHAP I.

SELECT SENTENCES AND PARAGRAPHS.

SECTION 1.

DILIGENCE, induftry, and proper improvement of time, are material duties of the young.

The acquifition of knowledge is one of the most honourable occupations of youth.

Whatever ufeful or engaging endowments we poffefs, virtue is requifite, in order to their fhining with proper luftre.

Virtuous youth gradually brings forward accomplished and flourishing manhood.

Sincerity and truth form the basis of every virtue.

Difappointments and diftrefs are often bleffings in disguise. Change and alteration form the very effence of the world. True happiness is of a retired nature, and an enemy to pomp and noife.

In order to acquire a capacity for happiness, it must be our first study to rectify inward diforders.

Whatever purifies, fortifies also the heart.

From our eagerness to grafp, we ftrangle and destroy pleasure.

NOTE.

In the first chapter, the compiler has exhibited sentences in a great variety of construction, and in all the diversity of punctuation. If well practised upon, he presumes they will fully prepare the young reader for the various pauses, inflections, and modulations of voice, which the succeeding pieces require. The Author's "English Exercises," under the head of Punctuation, will afford the learner additional scope for improving himself in reading sentences and paragraphs variously constructed.

A temperate fpirit, and moderate expectations, are excellent fafeguards of the mind, in this uncertain and changing state.

There is nothing, except simplicity of intention, and purity of principle, that can stand the teft of near approach and ftrict examination.

The value of any poffeffion is to be chiefly estimated, by the relief which it can bring us in the time of our greatest need.

No perfon who has once yielded up the government of his mind, and given loose rein to his defires and paffions, can tell how far they may carry him.

Tranquillity of mind is always most likely to be attained, when the business of the world is tempered with thoughtful and ferious retreat.

He who would act like a wife man, and build his houfe on the rock, and not on the fand, fhould contemplate human life, not only in the funfhine, but in the shade.

Let usefulness and beneficence, not oftentation and vaniy, direct the train of your pursuits.

To maintain a steady and unbroken mind, amidst all the fhocks of the world, marks a great and noble spirit.

Patience, by preferving composure within, refifts the impreffion which trouble makes from without.

Compaffionate affections, even when they, draw tears from our eyes for human mifery, convey fatisfaction to the heart.

They who have nothing to give, can often afford relief to others, by imparting what they feel.

Our ignorance of what is to come, and of what is really good or evil, fhould correct anxiety about worldly fuccefs. The veil which covers from our fight the events of fucceeding years, is a veil woven by the hand of mercy.

The best preparation for all the uncertainties of futurity, confifts in a well ordered mind, a good confcience, and a cheerful fubmiffion to the will of Heaven.

SECTION II.

THE chief misfortunes that befal us in life can be traced to fome vices or follies which we have committed.

Were we to survey the chambers of fickness and distress, we should often find them peopled with the victims of intemperance and fenfuality, and with the children of vicious indolence and floth.

To be wife in our own eyes, to be wife in the opinion of the world, and to be wise in the sight of our Creator, are three things so very different, as rarely to coincide.

Man, in his highest earthly glory, is but a reed floating on the stream of time, and forced to follow every new direction of the current.

The corrupted temper, and the guilty passions of the bad, fruftrate the effect of every advantage which the world confers on them.

The external misfortunes of life, disappointments, poverty, and sickness, are light in comparison of those inward diftreffes of mind, occasioned by folly, by paffion, and by guilt.

No ftation is so high, no power so great, no character so unblemished, as to exempt men from the attacks of rashness, malice, or envy.

Moral and religious inftruction derives its efficacy, not so much from what men are taught to know, as from what they are brought to feel.

He who pretends to great sensibility towards men, and yet has no feeling for the high objects of religion, no heart to admire and adore the great Father of the universe, has reason to distrust the truth and delicacy of his fenfibility.

When, upon rational and fober inquiry, we have established our principles, let us not fuffer them to be shaken by the fcoffs of the licentious, or the cavils of the skeptical.

When we obferve any tendency to treat religion or morals with disrespect and levity, let us hold it to be a sure indication of a perverted understanding, or a depraved heart.

Every degree of guilt incurred by yielding to temptation, tends to debase the mind, and to weaken the generous and benevolent principles of human nature.

Luxury, pride and vanity, have frequently as much influence in corrupting the sentiments of the great, as ignorance, bigotry, and prejudice, have in misleading the opinions of the multitude.

Mixed as the present ftate is, reafon and religion pronounce, that generally, if not always, there is more hap pinefs than mifery, more pleasure than pain, in the condition of man.

Society, when formed, requires diftinctions of property, diverfity of conditions, fubordination of ranks, and a multiplicity of occupations, in order to advance the general good.

C

That the temper, the fentiments, the morality, and, in general, the whole conduct and character of men, are influenced by the example and difpofition of the perfons with whom they affociate, is a reflection, which has long fince paffed into a proverb, and been ranked among the standing maxims of human wisdom, in all ages of the world.

SECTION III.

THE defire of improvement difcovers a liberal mind; and is connected with many accomplishments, and many virtues.

Innocence confers ease and freedom on the mind; and leaves it open to every pleafing fenfation.

Moderate and simple pleasures relifh high with the temperate in the midst of his studied refinements, the voluptuary languishes.

Gentleness corrects whatever is offenfive in our manners; and, by a conftant train of humane attentions, ftudies to alleviate the burden of common mifery.

That gentleness which is the characteristic of a good man, has, like every other virtue, its feat in the heart: and, let me add, nothing, except what flows from the heart, can render even external manners truly pleasing.

Virtue, to become either vigorous or useful, must be habitually active: not breaking forth occafionally with a tranfient luftre, like the blaze of a comet ; but regular in its returns, like the light of day not like the aromatic gale, which sometimes feasts the fenfe; but like the ordinary breeze, which purifies the air, and renders it healthful.

The happiness of every man depends more upon the state of his own mind, than upon any one external circumstance nay, more than upon all external things put together.

In no station, in no period, let us think ourselves fecure from the dangers which fpring from our paffions. Every age and every station they befet; from youth to gray hairs, and from the peasant to the prince.

Riches and pleafures are the chief temptations to criminal deeds. Yet thofe riches, when obtained, may very posfibly overwhelm us with unforeseen miferies. Those pleasures may cut fhort our health and life.

He who is accustomed to turn afide from the world, and commune with himself in retirement, will, sometimes at least, hear the truths which the multitude do not tell him. A more found inflructer will lift his voice, and

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