Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

Proverbs. 1. A bitter jest--is the poison of friendship. 2. Be ever vigilant, but never suspicious. 3. Cheerfulness-is perfectly consistent with true piety. 4. Demonstration-is the best mode of instruction. 5. Entertain not sin, lest you like its company. 6. Finesse-is unworthy of a liberal mind. 7. Good counsels above all price.

ness-is the parent of want, shame, and misery.

324 SHOUTING, Or High and Loud-implying force of utterance. The last words of Marmion afford excellent means, when memorized, for the student to try the compass of his voice upwards, as well as its power on high pitches. It is not often that these high and almost screaming notes are required in public speaking: yet, there are times, espe-8. Hearts-may agree, tho' heads-differ. 9. Idk cially in the open air, when they may be introduced with great effect. And it is always well to have an inexhaustible capital of voice, as of money; indeed, there is no danger of having too much of either, provided we make Force of Habit. Habit-hath so vast a a proper use of them. In giving the word of prevalence over the human mind, that there, command, on occasions of fire, erecting build-is scarcely any thing too strange, or too ings, on the field of battle, martial exercise, &c., power and compass of voice are very desirable.

[ocr errors]

10. Learn to live, as you would wish to die. 11. Content-is the highest bliss. 12. Vez not yourself, when ill spoken of.

strong, to be asserted of it. The story of the miser, who, from long accustoming to cheat others, came at last to cheat himself, and with great delight and triumph picked his own pocket of a guinea, to convey to his hoard, is not impossible or improbable. In like manner it fares with the practisers of deceit, who, from having long deceived their acquaintance, gain at last a power of deceiving themselves, and acquire that very opinion, however false, of their own abili ties, excellences, and virtues, into which they have for years, perhaps, endeavored to betray their neighbors.

325. 1. "The war, that for a space did fail, Now, trebly thundering, swell'd the gale, And (10) Stanley!" (6) was the cry: A light on Marmion's visage spread, and fired his glazing eye: With dying hand, above his head, he shook the fragment of his blade, and shouted (8) VICTORY!" (9) CHARGE! CHESTER, (10) CHARGE! ON, (11) STANLEY-(12) ON!" (3) Were the last words of Marmion. 2. (6) LIBERTY! (8) FREEDOM! (5) TYRANNY is DEAD! (6) Run (7) HENCE! PROCLAIM it about the STREETS! 3. The combat deepens: (4) and dumb boy,) is the lifetime of the Deity. Varieties. 1. Eternity, (wrote a deaf "ON! ye BRAVE! Who rush-to (6) GLO-2. No evil can be successfully combatted, or RY, or the (3) grave; (9) WAVE-MUNICH! all thy (10) BANNERS wave! (8) And charge with a.! thy (3) CHIVALRY."

young, and gay as soft, and innocent as gay. 5. Had Cæsar genius? he was an orator Had Cæsar judgment? he was a politician! Had Cæsar valor? he was a conqueror ! Had Cæsar feeling? he was a friend! 6. Music-is one of the sweetest flowers of the intellectual garden; and, in relation to its called-the universal language of nature. power to exhibit the passions, it may be 7. Whatever the immediate cause may be, the effect is so far good, as men cease to do evil, they learn to do well.

removed, but from the opposite good, from a desire for it, and an attachment to it; i. e. till the mind is perfectly willing to relinquish 926. CONSTITUTIONAL LAW, in its ex- the evil. 3. A man's ruling love-governs tended sense, includes the study of the con- him; because, what he loves, he continues stitutions, or fundamental laws of the vari- to will. 4. Sweet harmonist, and beautiful ous Nations: i. e. the structure, and mechan-as sweet, and young as beautiful, and soft as ism of their government, and the appointments, powers, and duties of their officers. The United States Constitutional Law, may be considered under five different heads; viz: Legislative Power, Executive Power, Judicial Power, State Rights Restrictions, and United States Statutes and Treaties. The Legislative power is vested in a Congress, consisting of a Senate and House of Representatives, elected by the people, or their State Legislatures; the Executive power, in a President, who holds his office four years; the Judicial power, in a Supreme Court, which consists of one Chief Justice, and eight Associate Justices, and in such inferior courts, as Congress may ordain, or establish. State rights and restrictions-are powers not delegated by the Constitution to the United States, nor prohibited by it to the States, but reserved to the States, respectively, or to the people.

Anecdote. Patience. A youth, who was a pupil of Zeno, on his return home, was asked by his father, "what he had learned ?" The lad replied, "that will appear hereaf ter." Or this, the father, being enraged, beat his son; who, bearing it patiently, and withsu: complaining, said, "This have I learned, to endure a parent's anger."

Rather suffer wrong than do wrong.

THE FISHERMAN.

A perilous life, and sad-as life may be,
Hath the lone fisher on the lonely sea;
In the wild waters laboring, far from horne,
For some poor pittance, e'er compelled to roam!
Few friends to cheer him-in his dangerous life,
And none to aid him-in the stormy strife.
Companion of the sea and silent air,
The lonely fisher thus must ever fare;
Without the comfort, hope-with scarce a friend
He looks through life, and only sees-its end!
"Thou art, O God! the life and light
Of all this wondrous world we see;
Its glow by day, its smile by night,
Are but reflections-caught from thee!
Where'er we turn, thy glories shine,
And all things bright and fair -are thine"

327. SPEAKING THE GAUNTLET. We Proverbs. 1. Soft hands, and soft brzinshave all heard of the practice, that prevails generally go together. 2. Let time be the judge, among some tribes of Indians, called "run-and common sense the jury. 3. Cherish an arning the gauntlet;" when a company ardent love of nature and of art. 4. The region range themselves in two rows, a few yards beyond the grave, is not a solitary one. 5. Each apart, and their prisoner is obliged to run night—is the past day's funeral: and each morn― between them; when each throws his hatchet its resurrection. 6. Better be exalted by humility, at him; and if he passes through without than brought low by exaltation. 7. Tight-lacing— being killed, he is permitted to live. In the is a gradual suicide, and tends to enkindle imimportant exercise, here recommended, each pure desires. 8. Good manners-are always bemember of the class, after making some coming. 9. The candid man has nothing to con proficiency, memorizes and recites, a strong ceal; he speaks nothing but truth. 10. Plate and powerful sentence, and the others try to said-read much; but read not many books. 11. put out, or break down, the one that is Marry in haste; repent at leisure. 12. If you will speaking, by all sorts of remarks, sounds, not keep, you cannot have. 13. Prune off uselese looks, and actions; tho' without touching him: and the gauntlet speaker, girds up the loins of his mind, and endeavors to keep the fountain of feeling higher than the streams: and so long, he is safe; but alas for him, that shrinks into himself, and yields to his

opponents.

But this, and ills severer-he sustains:
As gold-the fire, and, as unhurt remains:
When most reviled, altho' he feels the smart,

It wakes-to NOBLER deeds the wounded heart.

The noble mind-unconscious of a fault,
No fortune's frown-can bend, or smiles-exalt:

Like the firm rock-that in mid-ocean-braves

The war of whirlwinds, and the dash of waves:

branches.

[ocr errors]

learn to tolerate nothing ancient, that reason
Government. It is time that men should
does not respect, and to shrink from no nov
elty, to which reason may conduct. It is
time that the human powers, so long occu
pied by subordinate objects and inferior arts,
should mark the commencement of a new
era in history, by giving birth to the art of
civil happiness of man.
improving government, and increasing the
It is time, that le
gislators, instead of that narrow and das
tardly coasting, which never ventures to
lose sight of usage and precedent, should,
guided by the polarity of reason, hazard a
bolder navigation, and discover, in unex-
plored regions, the treasure of public feli
city.

Varieties. 1. Did not Mr. Pitt, by the
force of his eloquence, raise himself to be
the prime minister of England? 2. A rich
man's son-generally begins-where his
father left off; and ends where his father
began-pennyless. 3. A proneness to talk
of persons, instead of things, indicates a
narrow, and superficial mind.
The world—may scorn me, if they choose; I care
But little for their scoffings: I may sink
For moments; but I rise again, nor shrink
From doing-what the faithful, heart inspires
will not flatter, fawn, nor crouch, nor wink
At what high mounted wealth, or power desires;
I have a LOFTIER aim-to which my soul aspires.

Or, like a tower-he lifts his head on highAnd fortune's arrows-far below him fly. 328. MCUTHING. Somethink that words are rendered more distinct, to large assemblies, by dwelling longer on the syllables; others, that it adds to the pomp and solemnity of public declamation, in which they think every thing must be different from private discourse. This is one of the vices of the stage, and is called theatrical, in opposition to what is natural. By "trippingly on the tongue," Shakspeare probably means the bounding of the voice from accent to accent; trippingly along from word to word, without resting on syllables by the And, by "mouthing," dwelling on I syllables, that have no accent, and ought therefore to be pronounced as quickly as is consistent with a proper enunciation. Avoid an artificial air, and hold, as it were, the mirror up to nature. See the difference in the following, by pronouncing them with the accent, extending thro' the whole word, in a drawling tone, and then, giving them properly: con-jec-ture, en-croach-ment, happi-ness, grat-i-tude, for-tu-nate-ly; which is very far from true solemnity, which is in the spirit; not alone in the manner.

way.

Anecdote. A student in college-carried a manuscript poem, of his own composition, to his tutor, for his inspection.

The tutor,

after looking it over, inquired the author's
reason, for beginning every line with a capi-
tal letter, "Because it is poetry," said the
student. "It is!" said the teacher, "I de-
clare, I should not have thought it."

By frequent use-EXPERIENCE-gains its growth,
But knowledge-flies from laziness and sloth

Be humble-learn thyself to scan;
Know-PRIDE-was never made for man.

6. Where there is emulation-there will be
vanity; and where there is vanity, there
will be folly. 7. Each man has his proper
standard to fight under, and his peculiar duty
to perform: one tribe's office-is not that
of another: neither is the inheritance the

same.

I wander-by the mountain's side,
Whose peaks-reflect the parting day,
Or stoop-to view the river glide

In silvery ripples-on its way.
The turf is green, the sky is blue,

The sombre trees-in silence rest,
Save where a songster-rustles through
The drooping foliage-to-his nest;
Yet one thing--wants the pilgrim there-
A kindred soul, the scene to share.

329. REVISION. Before entering on a con- Proverbs. 1. Prie-is the greatest oneing sideration of the Inflections, and other higher to reason; and discretion-the great opposite of modifications of voice, the pupil is again ear-prule. 2. The wise-shape their apparel to the nestly solicited-to review all the principles, body; the proud-shape their body to their appathat have been brought forward; especially rel. 3. A sound and vigorous mind, in a healthy all that relates to Accent, Pauses, Emphasis, and the alphabet of music, or the eight notes; and, in this revision, be careful not to con found one principle with another; as stress with quantity, high sounds with loud ones, and low ones with feeble. Remember, that stress is a quick blow, or ick-tus of the voice; quantity-length of sound; high sounds-on, or above the sixth note; loud ones-hallooing; low sounds-on, or below the third note; feeble ones, softly, as from weakness. Practice the examples, till you make them fit you, and produce on yourselves and others, the desired effects.

330. I came to the place of my birth, and said; "The friends of my youth-where are they?" And echo answered,-" Where?" 2. When the Indians were solicited to emigrate to the West, they replied; What! shall we say, to the bones of our fathers-Arise! and go with us into a foreign land?

The truly lovely-
Are not the fair, who boast but of outward grace,
The nought, but beautiful of form and face;
They are the lovely-THEY, in whom unite, [light,
Earth's fleeting charms-with virtue's HEAVENLY
Who, tho' they wither,-yet, with faded bloom-
Bear their all of sweetness-to the tomb.

Notes. 1. Such is the careless and ignorant manner in which many have been permitted to come up, instead of being brought up, that it will often be found necessary to use a variety of

means to become divested of bad habits and their consequences.

2. Probably the lungs suffer more than any other part of the

body, by being cooped up in a small cavity. To enlarge the chest, side-wise, practice the elevation of the elbows to a horizontal plane

body, is an invaluable possession. 4. Experiencois the mother of the arts. 5. He, is never tired of listening, who wishes to gain knowledge. 6. BetEconomy-is the foundation of liberality, and the ter consider for a day, than repent for a year. 7. parent of independence. 8. Use no tobacco, if you would be decent, clean, and healthy. 9. The path of literature is more difficult, than that which leads to fortune. 10. That which is well done, is tuese done. 11. Of a little--take a little. 12. A hasty man-never wants woe.

Providence. If a man lets his hand lie in the ice, it is highly probable Providence will ordain it to be frozen; or if he holds it in the fire, to be burnt. Those who go to sea, Providence will sometimes permit to be drowned; those, on the other hand, who never quit dry ground, Providence will hardly suffer to perish in the sea. It is therefore justly said, "Help yourself, and Heaven will help you." The truth is, that God has helped us from the beginning; the work of the master is completed; and, so far as it was intended to be so, perfect; it requires, therefore, no further extraordinary aids and corrections from above; its further development and improvement in this world placed in our own hands. We may be good or bad, wise or foolish, not always perhaps in the degree which we, as individuals, might choose, were our wills perfectly free, but so far as the state of the human race, immediately preceding us, has formed us to decide.

Varieties. 1. Is animal, or human magnearly level with the shoulders, and commence gently tapping the netism, true? 2. When the spirit is deterbreast between the shoulders, the ends of the fingers of both hands mined, it can do almost anything; therefore, being nearly together; and then, during the exercise, strike lack never yield to discouragement in doing, or from the sternum toward each shoulder, drawing the hands far-getting, what is good and true. 3. What ther and farther apart, till the ends of the fingers reach the arm

pits, and even out on the arm, without depressing the elbows: try it, and you will see and know.

Anecdote. Flying To; not From. Some years ago, a person requested permission of the Bishop of Salisbury, in England, to fly from the spire of his church. The good bishop, with an anxious concern for the man's spiritual, as well as temporal safety, told him, he vas very welcome to fly to the church; but ht would encourage no one to fly from it.

THE BUTTERFLY.

Child of the sun! pursue thy rapturous flight,
Mingling with her thou lov'st-in fields of light;
And, where the flowers of Paradise unfold,
Quaff fragrant nectar-from their cups of gold,
There shail thy wings, rich as an evening sky,
Expand-and shut-in silent ecstasy.

Yet, wert thou once a worm, a thing, that crept
On the bare earth, then wrought a tomb, and slept;
And such-is man; soon, from his cell of clay,
Yo burst & seray-in the blaze of day.

temptation is greater, than permitting young
persons, and especially young men, in this
degenerate world, to handle much money,
4. Exhibit such an
that is not their own.
example in your dress, conversation, and
temper, as will be worthy of imitation. 5.
We often hear it said, "that people, and
things, are changed." Is it not ourselves
that have changed? The heart-makes all
around, a mirror of itself.

REAL glory

Springs from the silent conquest of ourselves,
And, without that the conqueror is nought,

But the first slave.

7. Every word, spoken from affectum, leaves
an everlasting impression in the mind; every
thought, spoken from affection, becomes a
living creation; and the same also, if not
spoken,-if it be fully assented to by the mind.

When the stem dies, the leaf, that grew
Out of its heart, must perish too.

[ocr errors]

331. EVERY emotion of the mind has its Proverbs. 1. A wise governor, would rather own external manifestation; so that no one preserve peace, than gam a victory. 2. It is emotion can be accommodated to another. sometimes a benefit to grant favors, and at other Observe the native eloquence of a hungry times, to deny them. 3. An angry person is an4. child, when asking for a piece of bread and gry with himself, when he returns to reason. butter; especially, the third or fourth time; Wherever you are, conform to the usual cusand mark its emphasis, and tones: also the toms and manners of the country. 5. To encourage qualities of voice, with which it expresses its the unworthy, is to promote vice. 6. Ingratitude to the benevolent-generally ends in disgrace. 7. grief, anger, joy, &c. The manner of each Esteem virtue, tho' in a foe: abhor vice, tho' in a passion is entirely different; nor does it ever friend. 8. The more one speaks of himself, the apply one for another; indeed, children in less willing is he, to hear another talked about. their own efforts, always make the proper 9. Nature-is always conteut with herself. emphasis, inflections, and gestures; and they Form your opinions of a person, by his questions, are graceful in all, when under the sole influ- rather than by his answers. 11. Say-can wisence of nature. Thus, from nature, unso-dom-e'er reside, with passion, envy, hate, or phistocated, may be derived the whole art of pride? 12. In a calm sea, every man is pilot. 13. speaking. The author is free to acknow- A good life-keeps off wrinkles. ledge, that he has learned more about true eloquence, from children, and the Indians, and his consequent practice, than from all other sources.

332. CICERO-copied, and imitated, every body; he was the very mocking-bird of eloquence, which is his greatest distinction, and glory for who so various as he; who so sweet, so powerful, so simply eloquent, or so magnificently flowing, and each, and all, by turns? His mind was a perfect pan-hurmonicon. Your original writer,-your original character, has no sympathies; he is heartbound, brain-bound and lip-bound; he is truly an oddity; he is like no-body, and no-body is like him; he feeds on self-adoration, or the adulation of fools; who mistake the oracles of pride and vanity, for the inspirations of genius.

10.

Debt. There is nothing-more to be dreaded, than debt: when a person, whose principles are good, unhappily falls into this situation, adieu to all peace and comfort The reflection imbitters every meal, and drives from the eyelids refreshing sleep. It corrodes and cankers every cheerful idea and, like a stern Cerberus, guards each avenue to the heart, so that pleasure does not approach. Happy! thrice happy! are those, who are blessed with an independent compe tence, and can confine their wants within the bounds of that competence, be it what it may To such alone, the bread of life is palatable and nourishing. Sweet is te morsel, that is acquired by an honest industry, the produce of which is permanent, or that flows from a source which will not fail. A subsistence, that is precarious, or procured by an uncertain prospect of payment, carries neither wine nor oil with it. Let me, therefore, again repeat, that the person, who is deeply involved in debt, experiences, on earth, all the tortures, the poets describe to be the lot of the wretched inhabitants of Tatarus.

333. There are some, even in this enlightched age, who affect to despise the acquisition of elocution, and other important and useful accomplishments; but such persons are generally very awkward themselves, and dislike the application and practice, that are necessary to render them agreeable and impressive speakers. It is an old adage-that the cause of the fickleness of mankind! 2. many--despise that, which they do not pos- A man's character is like his shadow; sess, and which they are too indolent to at-which sometimes follows, and at others, pre tain. Remember the fox and the grapes.

Anecdote. A colonel was once com

plaining, that from the ignorance, and inat-
tention of the officers, he was obliged to do the
whole duty of the regiment. Said he, "I am
my own captain, my own lieutenant, my own

cornet, and”. -"Your own trumpeter,"

said a lady present.

NOW came still evening on, and twilight gray
Had, in her sober livery, all things clad.
Silence-accompanied; for beast, and bird,
They, to their grassy couch, these-to their nest
Were sunk, all, but the wakefal nightingale ;
She, all night long, her amorous descant sung;
Silence-was pleas'd. Now glow'd the firmament
With living sapphires: Hesperus, that led
The starry host, rode brightest; till the moon,
Rising in clouded majesty, at length
Apparent queen, unvail'd her peerless light,
ander the dark her silver mantle threw.

Varieties. 1. Is not a want of purity,

cedes him; and which is occasionally longer, or shorter, than he is. 3. Admiration-signifies the reception and acknowledgment of a thing, in thought, and affection. 4. We should have good roads, if all the sinners were set to mend them. 5. The world is a

hive, that affords both sweets, and poisons,
with many empty combs. 6. All earthly en-
joyments are not what they appear; there-
fore, we should discriminate; for some are
sweet in hopes, but, in fruition, sour. 7. Or
der-is the sweetest, most pacific, regular
and delightful melody: the first motion is
one, and the end is one: the final end is the
similitude of the beginning.

Self, alone, in nature-rooted fast,
Attends us first, and leaves us--last.

334. INFLECTIONS. These are the rising Proverbs. 1. As you sow, you shall reap. and falling slides of the voice, terminating 2. Betray no trust, and divulge no secret. 3. Chide on a higher, or lower pitch, than that on not severely, nor punish hastily. 4. Despise rone, 5. Envy cannot see; igno which it commenced; being continuous from and despair of none. the radical, or opening fullness of voice, to rance cannot judge. 6. Gossiping and lying, gethe vanish, or terminating point; and not nerally go hand in hand. 7. He, who swears, discrete, as the seven notes are. In the in- distrusts his own word. 8. It is not easy to love tonations, the voice steps up or down, by those, whom we do not esteem. 9. Labor brings discrete degrees; but in the inflections, it pleasure; idleness-pain. 10. Many a true word is spoken in jest. 11. He who serves-is not frea giides up or down, by continuous degrees. 12. First come, first served. 13. When gold speakɛ, The piano, organ, &c., give discrete degrees; all tongues are silent. the harp, violin, &c., continuous degrees.

335. The following sentences may be read, with either the falling, or the rising inflection; and the pupil should determine, from the sense, &c., the object of the question. 1. Is not good reading and speaking a very rare attainment? 2. How are we to recover from the effects of the fall? 3. Are we natually inclined to evil or good? 4. Is it possible for man to save himself? 5. Who is entitled to the more honor, Columbus, or Washington? 6. Which is the more useful member in society, the farmer, or the mechanic? 7. Ought there to be any restrictions to emigration? S. Will any one, who knows his own heart, trust himself?

Anecdote. Don't know him. Lord Nelson, when a boy, being on a visit to his aunt's, went one day a hunting, and wandered so far, that he did not return, till long after dark. The lady, who was much alarmed by his absence, scolded him severely; and among other things said; I wonder Fear did not drive you home. "Fear," replied the lad, "I don't know him."

Progress of Society. Whoever has attentively meditated-on the progress of the human race, cannot fail to discern, that there is now a spirit of inquiry amongst men which nothing can stop, or even materiall control. Reproach and obloquy, threats are persecution, will be in vain. They may inbitter opposition and engender violence, but they cannot abate the keenness of research. There is a silent march of thought, which no power can arrest, and which, it is not difficul to foresee, will be marked by important events. Mankind were never before in the situation in which they now stand. The press has been operating upon them for several centuries, with an influence scarcely perceptible at its commencement, but by daily becoming more

336. The inflections—may, perhaps, be better understood, by contrasting them with the monotone; which is nearly one continued sound, without elevation, or depression, and may be represented by a straight horizontal line, thus ; In the use of the inflections, the voice departs from the monotone, and its radical, in a continued elevation or depression, two, three, five, or eight notes, according to the intensity of the affirmation, interrogation, command, petition, or nega-palpable, and acquiring accelerated force, it tion; which are the five distinctive attributes of the vital parts of speech.

337. SOME OF MAN'S CHARACTERISTICS. His position is naturally upright; he has free use of both hands: hence, he is called the -only two-handed animal: the prominence of his chin, and the uniform length of his teeth, are peculiar: he is, physically, defenceless, having neither weapons of attack nor of defence: his facial angle is greater than that of any other animal; being from 70° to 90°: he has generally the largest brains: he is the only animal that sleeps on his back: the only one that laughs and weeps; the only one that has an articulate language, expressive of ideas: and he is the only one endued with reason and moral sense, and a capacity for religion; the only being capable of serving God intelligibly.

MILTON.

Thy soul-was like a star-and dwelt apart;
Thou hadst a voice-whose sound was like the sea,
Pure-as the naked heavens, majestic. free.
So didst thou travel-on life's common way,
In cheerful godliness; and yet-thy heart
The lowliest duties-on herself did lay.

is rousing the intellect of nations; and happy will it be for them, if there be no rash interference with the natural progress of knowledge; and if by a judicious and gradual adaptation of their institutions to the inevitable changes of opinion, they are saved from those convulsions, which the pride, prejudices and obstinacy of a few may occasion to the whole.

Varieties. 1: A good wife — is like a snail. Why? Because she keeps in her own house: a good wife is not like a snail. Why? Because she does not carry her all on her back: a good wife is like a town clock. Why? Because she keeps good time: & good wife is not like a tow a clock. Why? Because she does not speak so loud, that all the town can hear her: a good wife is like an echo. Why? Because she speaks when spo ken to: a good wife is not like an echo. Why Because she does not tell--all she hears. Ye maidens fair-consider well, And look both shrewd, and sly, Ere rev'rend lips, make good the knot, Your teeth-will ne'er untie

« AnteriorContinuar »