,,the ,,voice ,,and ,,spiritual ,,education ,,the ,,voice ,,and ,,spiritual ,,education ,,by ,,hiram ,,corson1 ,,ll4,d4 ,,professor ,,of ,,english ,,literature ,,in ,,the ,,cornell ,,university ,new ,york ,,the ,,macmillan ,,company ,,london3 ,,macmillan ,,co41 ,,ltd4 #aiad ,all rights reserved ,,copyright1 #ahif1 ,,by ,,macmillan ,,and ,,co4 ,set up and electrotyped ,march1 #ahif4 ,reprinted ,february1 #ahig2 ,july1 #aija2 ,february1 #aijc2 ,august1 #aijd2 ,march1 #aijh2 ,october1 #aiad4 ,norwood ,press ,j4 ,s4 ,cushing ,co4--,berwick ,smith ,norwood ,mass4 ,u4,s4,a4 ,,prefatory ,,note ,while it is the purpose of this little book to emphasize the importance of vocal culture in its relations to literary and general culture1 it is not its purpose1 except incidentally1 to impart elocutionary instruction4 ,attention is called to a few features of the subject1 which1 if realized in any voice1 would contribute much to the technical part1 at least1 of good reading4 ,special stress is laid upon the importance of spiritual education as the end toward which all education should be directed1 and as an indispensable condition of interpretative reading4 ,such education is demanded for responding to1 and assimilating1 the informing life of any product of literary genius2 without it1 mere vocal training avails little or nothing4 ,by the spiritual ,i mean man's essential1 absolute being2 and ,i include in the term the emotional1 the susceptible or impressible1 the sympathetic1 the instinctive1 the intuitive1--in short1 the whole domain of the non-intellectual1 the non-discursive4 ,with the kind permission of the editor1 ,i have embodied in the part of the book devoted to the voice1 my article on ,vocal ,culture1 published ',the ,atlantic ,monthly' for ,june1 #ahie4 ,h4 ,c4 ,cascadilla ,cottage1 ,ithaca1 ,n4 ,y41 #cj ,jan41 #ahif4 ,la voix est une revelatrice1 une initiatrice1 dont la puissance est aussi merveilleuse qu'inconnue4 99 99 99 99 99 ,un des plus reels avantages de la lecture a haute voix est precisement de vous reveler dans les chefs-d'oeuvre une foule de petites nuances ignorees du peintre meme qui les y a jetees4 ,par la1 cet art pourrait devenir un puissant instrument d'education4 ,c'est souvent un excellent professeur de litterature qu'un grand maitre de diction4 ,,ernest ,,legouve1 de l',academie francaise4 ,,the ,,voice ,,and ,,spiritual ,,education ,can reading be taught8 is a question often asked1 and partly for the reason1 it may be1 that so many readers who have gone through courses of vocal training in schools of elocution1 or under private teachers1 so frequently offend people of taste and culture by an extravagance of expression1 by mimetic gesture1 and by offensive mannerisms of various kinds4 ,but a reasonable inference cannot be drawn from such readers that vocal training must necessarily do more harm than good4 ,yes1 much can be taught1 and is taught1 and well taught1 it may be2 the desideratum is the education1 intellectual and spiritual1 especially the latter1 without which the mere teaching and training are vain and impotent4 ,the organs of speech can be brought by intelligent training into a complete obedience to the will and the feelings2 and without this obedience of his vocal organs1 a reader1 whatever be his other qualifications1 cannot do his best4 ,he is in the position of a musical performer who has sympathetically assimilated the composition he is rendering1 but whose instrument is badly out of tune4 ,a reader may have the fullest possible appreciation of the subject matter1 intellectual and spiritual1 of a poem1 and a susceptibility to all the subtlest elements of effect involved in its form2 but if he have not full control of his vocal faculties1 he can but imperfectly reveal through his voice1 his appreciation and susceptibility4 ,this control can be secured only by long and intelligent training4 ,the voices1 generally1 of even the most cultivated people1 have gone more or less astray1 and need to be brought back from the error of their ways1 before they can serve effectively to interpret a literary product4 ,many great poets have written subtly organic verse1 who could not vocally realize its potentialities1 they not having their organs of speech sufficiently under control4 ,samuel ,taylor ,coleridge is an example4 ',amongst ,coleridge's accomplishments1' says ,de ,quincey1 alluding1 in his ',literary ,reminiscences' to ,coleridge's lectures on ,poetry and the ,fine ,arts1 at the ,royal ,institution1 'good reading was not one2 he had neither voice1 nor management of voice4' ,but he must imaginatively have heard the wonderful verse of ,christabel and ,kubla ,khan1 as an organic1 inseparable part of the poetical expression4 ,mere literary skill could not have produced such verse4 ,it was a texture woven by the spirit1 which he could not adequately exhibit to the physical ear1 as he was not master of the physical means for so doing4 ,to read naturally is a common and a very vague phrase4 ,the question is1 what is nature8 ,it is the object of the science and art of reading1 to realize as fully as possible the imperfectly realized instincts of the voice4 ',there is a power in science which searches1 discovers1 amplifies1 and completes1 and which all the strength of spontaneous effort can never reach4' ,when people speak of the natural in expression1 they generally mean nature on the plane on which they are best acquainted with it--the plane of common speech4 ,but the language of the higher poetry1 or of tragedy1 or even of impassioned prose1 is1 more or less1 an idealized language1 for the expression of which a corresponding idealization of voice is demanded4 ,to read1 for example1 ,milton's apostrophe to ,light1 at the beginning of the third book of ,paradise ,lost1 after the manner of common speech1 would be somewhat absurd4 ,the idealization of voice demanded for the reading of such language1 is not1 however1 a departure from nature1 but is nature on a higher plane4 ',enter into the spirit of what you read1 read naturally1 and you will read well1' is about the sum and substance of what ,archbishop ,whateley teaches on the subject1 in his ',elements of ,rhetoric4' ,similar advice might with equal propriety be given to a clumsy1 stiff-jointed clodhopper in regard to dancing3 ',enter into the spirit of the dance1 dance naturally1 and you will dance well4' ,the more he might enter into the spirit of the dance1 the more he might emphasize his stiff-jointedness and his clodhopperishness4 ,of this distinguished advocate of 'natural' reading and speaking1 ,mr4 ,grant1 writing in #ahce1 says3 ',oratory is not his forte1 444 he goes through his addresses in so clumsy and inanimate a way that noble lords at once come to the conclusion that nothing so befits him as unbroken silence4 ,he speaks in so low a tone as to be inaudible to those who are any distance from him4 ,and not only is his voice low in its tones1 but it is unpleasant from its monotony4 ,in his manner there is not a particle of life or spirit4 ,you would fancy his grace to be half asleep while speaking4 ,you see so little appearance of consciousness about him that you can hardly help doubting whether his legs will support him until he has finished his address4' ,the writer of this justly says of the ,archbishop's writings3 ',they abound with evidences of profound thought1 varied knowledge1 great mental acuteness1 and superior powers of reasoning4' ,but his 'natural' theory in regard to speaking1 did not1 it appears1 avail with him1 even when backed by such abilities4 ',nature1' says the ,archbishop1 'or custom1 which is a second nature1 suggests spontaneously the different modes of giving expression to different thoughts1 feelings1 and designs1 which are present to the mind of any one who1 without study1 is speaking in earnest his own sentiments4 ,then1 if this be the case1 why not leave nature to do her own work8 ,impress but the mind fully with the sentiments1 etc41 to be uttered2 withdraw the attention from the sound1 and fix it on the sense2 and nature1 or habit1 will spontaneously suggest the proper delivery4' ,such instruction as this is not unlike that which ,hamlet gives to ,guildenstern1 for playing upon a pipe1 and would be1 in the majority of cases1 hardly more efficacious3 ',govern these ventages with your fingers and thumb1 give it breath with your mouth1 and it will discourse most excellent music4 ,look you1 these are the stops4' ,guildenstern replies3 ',but these cannot ,i command to any utterance of harmony2 ,i have not the skill4' ,the last sentence tells the whole story4 ,the ,archbishop1 with all his great abilities1 had not the requisite skill in oratorical delivery4 ,so this may be said to be the conclusion of the whole matter3 the main result which can be secured in teaching reading1 and in training the voice1 is technique and elocutionary skill of various kinds--a skill which the student can bring into his service1 when voicing his intellectual appreciation and spiritual assimilation of a poem or any other form of spiritualized thought2 the illumination of the subject-matter1 intellectual and spiritual1 must come from the being of the reader4 ,he can't give to his hearers what he doesn't possess4 ,the saying of ,madame de ,sevigne1 ',il faut etre1 si l'on veut paraitre1' is applicable to the reader4 ,an attempt to express what is beyond the range of his spiritual life and experience1 at once betrays his deficiency4 ,and no amount of mere vocal training will compensate for this deficiency4 ,there are two unwarrantable assumptions in what ,dr4 ,whateley writes about ,elocution3 #a4 ,that a reader or speaker can do with an untrained voice what his mind wills1 or his feelings impel him1 to do4 ,not one in a thousand can4 #b4 ,that all principles of ,elocution which may be taught will continue in the consciousness of the reader or speaker--that he will be ever thinking of the vocal functions which he exercises4 ',the reader's attention1' he says1 'being fixed on his own voice1 the inevitable consequence would be that he would betray more or less his studied and artificial delivery4' ,all true culture1 to be true1 must be unconscious of the processes which induced it4 ,but before it is attained1 one must be more or less 'under the law1' until he become a law to himself1 and do spontaneously and unconsciously what he once had to do consciously1 and with effort4 ,it may be that ,dr4 ,whateley's views in regard to ,elocution were somewhat the reactionary product of the highly artificial style of pulpit oratory which appears to have been the fashion in the ,dublin of his day4 7,note #a47 ,he was a man of such perfect honesty and integrity1 with such a resulting aversion to sham and empty display of every kind1 that he came to regard all training in vocal delivery as unfavorable to genuineness4 ,his theory was fully confirmed1 he may have felt1 by some of the popular theatrical preachers around him1 who made a display of themselves1 and who1 in the ,archbishop's words1 'aimed at nothing1 and--hit it4' ,when ,i was a small boy1 at school1 sixty years ago1 all the scholars had to read aloud twice a day2 the several classes standing while they read1 and toeing a chalk line4 ,the books used were the ,new ,testament and ,lindley ,murray's ,english ,reader4 ,the standard instruction imparted was very limited1 but very good so far as it went1 namely1 ',speak distinctly and mind your stops4' ,each boy read1 at a time1 but a single verse of the ,new ,testament1 or a single paragraph of the ,english ,reader2 the 'master' himself first reading a verse1 or a paragraph1 each time the reading went around the class4 ,well1 the result was that all the boys acquired at least a distinct articulation and a fluent utterance1 properly sectioned off by their minding the stops4 ,some of the boys1 of whom ,i was one1 had to read aloud1 at home1 from other books4 ,when ,i showed by my expression1 or1 rather1 by my want of it1 that ,i did not understand what ,i was reading1 ,i was at once told so1 the passage was explained and read to me1 and ,i had to read it again1 to show that ,i had caught the meaning and the proper expression4 ,if ,i were required to read something which was entirely new to me1 my eye was exercised in running ahead of my voice1 and taking in what was coming1 to the extent of a sentence or two1 in order to read with sufficient expression not to be stopped1 as ,i was very impatient of interruption1 especially if ,i particularly enjoyed the subject-matter4 ,when ,i look back upon these daily exercises in reading1 at school and at home1 ,i feel that nothing could have been better at the time4 ,there was no such thing as 'speaking a piece1' with gesture1 'limbs all going like a telegraph in motion1' and straining after effect4 ,it was simply careful1 honest reading1 with no attempt at make-believe of feeling4 ,no encouragement was given to any affectation of that kind2 but whatever impressed my listeners as genuine feeling and appreciation on my part1 was duly praised2 and ,i was very fond of praise1 and was stimulated by it to do my best4 ,i fear that such reading has very much gone out of use1 and that untimely technical instruction has taken its place4 ,call on a college student to read any prose passage extempore1 and what is the result in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred8 ,why1 he will read it1 experto credite1 in a most bungling way1 with an imperfect articulation1 without any proper grouping or perspective2 and if the passage be an involved and long-suspended period1 which his eye should run along and grasp as a whole1 in advance of his voice1 he will be lost in it before he get half way through it4 ,he has had little or no practice in reading aloud4 ,he has 'parsed' much in the lower schools1 but his parsing has not resulted in synthesis 7which should be the sole object of all analysis71 has not resulted in a knowledge of language as a living organism1 and the consequence is that his extempore vocalization of the passage is more or less chaotic and--afflicting4 ,extempore reading requires that the eye be well trained to keep ahead of the voice1 and to take in a whole period1 or a whole stanza1 in order that each part of it be read with reference to the whole1 that is1 with the proper perspective4 ,to do this demands an almost immediate synthetic grasp1 the result of much training4 ,the perspective of speech is virtually a part of the meaning4 ,one who reads without perspective does not give his hearers the exact meaning1 for the reason that1 subordinate parts standing out as prominently as leading parts1 the hearer does not get a correct impression of their various degrees of importance1 unless he do for himself what the reader should do2 and1 certainly1 not many hearers are equal to this--not one in a thousand4 ,our estimates of all things are more or less relative1 so that perspective plays a large part in whatever we take account of4 ,what would a picture be without perspective8 ,but it is of equal importance1 of greater importance1 indeed1 in the vocal presentation of language4 ,a true perspective demands1 on the part of the reader1 the nicest sense of the relative values of successive and involved groups or sections of thought--those belonging to the main current of thought being brought to the front with a fulness of expression1 and the subordinate groups or sections according to their several degrees of subordination1 being thrown back with a corresponding reduction of expression4 ,along with this1 the whole must have that toning which reveals the spirit of the whole4 ,could there be any better test than reading1 of a student's knowledge of the organic structure of the language1 and the extent to which the thought is spiritualized8 ,hardly4 ,the ordinary examinations of the schools1 through questions1 are wholly inadequate for getting at such knowledge--for evoking a student's sense of the life of the language as an organ of the intellectual and the spiritual4 ,technical knowledge is a good thing in its way1 but a knowledge of life1 in whatever form1 is a far better thing4 ,and it is only life that can awaken life4 ,technical knowledge1 by itself1 is only dry bones4 ,the technical1 indeed1 cannot by itself be appreciated4 ,it must be appreciated as an expression of life--as an expression of the plastic spirit of thought and feeling4 ,reading must supply all the deficiencies of written or printed language4 ,it must give life to the letter4 ,how comparatively little is addressed to the eye1 in print or manuscript1 of what has to be addressed to the ear by a reader6 ,there are no indications of tone1 quality of voice1 inflection1 pitch1 time1 or any other of the vocal functions demanded for a full intellectual and spiritual interpretation4 ,a poem is not truly a poem until it is voiced by an accomplished reader who has adequately assimilated it--in whom it has1 to some extent1 been born again1 according to his individual spiritual constitution and experiences4 ,the potentialities1 so to speak1 of the printed poem1 must be vocally realized4 ,what ,shelley1 in his lines ',to a ,lady1 with a ,guitar1' says of what the revealings of the instrument depend upon1 may be said1 with equal truth1 of the revealings of every true poem2 it 'will not tell ,to those who cannot question well ,the spirit that inhabits it2 ,it talks according to the wit ,of its companions2 and no more ,is heard than has been felt before1' by those who endeavor to get at its secrets4 ,good reading is a vocal manifestation of responsiveness1 on the part of the reader1 to the hieroglyphic letter4 ,such early training in reading as ,i have described1 is the best preparation for the more elaborate expression demanded by the higher literature4 ,and we shall not have a true1 honest vocal interpretation of literature until we return to this early honest reading4 ,i say 'return1' for1 so far as my knowledge goes1 there is a plentiful lack of it1 at present1 in primary schools--a lack somewhat due1 no doubt1 to the ever-increasing amount and variety of knowledge which students are compelled to acquire in the schools4 ,there is no time left for education4 ,he would be the ideal teacher who could induce a maximum amount of education on the basis of a minimum amount of acquirement4 ,but just the reverse prevails4 ,acquirement is made the all in all1 and education is left to take care of itself4 ,the acquisition of knowledge1 too1 becomes a mere indulgence with thousands of people1 in these days--an indulgence which renders them more and more averse to any of that independent activity of mind upon which education so largely depends4 ,i am quite surprised at what ,m4 ,ernest ,legouve says1 in his ',petit ,traite de lecture a haute voix a l'usage des ecoles primaires1' of the importance attached1 in ,america1 to reading aloud4 ,in the very opening sentence of this work1 he says1 ',la lecture a haute voix compte1 en ,amerique1 parmi les elements les plus importants de l'instruction publique2 elle est une des bases de l'enseignement primaire4' ,and elsewhere he calls upon the people of ,france to imitate the ,united ,states of ,north ,america1 in making the art of reading aloud the very corner-stone of public education6 ,where could ,m4 ,legouve have got this remarkable opinion of the high estimate1 in this country1 of reading aloud1 as an educational agency8 ,from whatever source he derived it1 it is certainly most remote from the truth4 ,what ,sir ,henry ,taylor says of the neglect of the art of reading in ,england 7,correspondence1 edited by ,professor ,dowden1 p4 #bbe71 is quite applicable to this country4 ,after saying that he regards the reading of ,shakespeare to boys and girls1 if it be well read and they are apt1 'as carrying with it a deeper cultivation than anything else which can be done to cultivate them1' he adds1 ',i often think how strange it is that amongst all the efforts which are made in these times to teach young people everything that is to be known1 from the cedar of ,lebanon to the hyssop on the wall1 the one thing omitted is teaching them to read4 ,at present1 to be sure1 it is a very rare thing to find any one who can teach it2 but it is an art which might be propagated from the few to the many with great rapidity1 if a due appreciation of it were to become current4 ,the rage for lecturing would be a more reasonable rage if that were taught in lectures which can be conveyed only by voice and utterance1 and not by books4' ,here1 by the way1 is indicated what the literary lecture should be4 ,it is a comparatively easy thing to lecture about literary products and to deal out literary knowledge of various kinds1 and cheap philosophy in regard to the relations of literature to time and place4 ,a professor of literature might do this respectably well without much knowledge of the literature itself4 ,but what students especially need is to be brought into direct relationship with literature in its essential1 absolute character2 so that the very highest form of literary lecturing is interpretative reading4 ,such reading brings home to sufficiently susceptible students what cannot be lectured about--namely1 the intellectually indefinite element of a literary product4 ,much of what is otherwise done for students1 in the way of lecturing1 they could do quite as well for themselves4 ',a book of criticism1' says ,hume1 'ought to consist chiefly of quotations4' ,the same should be said of a literary lecture1 with the important addition to the word 'quotations1' 'effectively read4' ,to return from this digression1 what seemed so strange to ,sir ,henry ,taylor1 is not so strange when it is considered that the dealing out of knowledge1 in the schools1 on the part of the teacher1 and the acquiring of it on the part of students1 leave no time for education of any kind except the little which is incident upon the imparting and the acquisition of various kinds of knowledge 'from the cedar of ,lebanon to the hyssop on the wall4' ,perhaps the greatest danger to which education proper will be more and more exposed1 in the future1 will be the great increase of knowledge1 in every department of thought4 ,this may sound paradoxical2 but with the increase of knowledge1 the temptation will correspondingly increase to make the acquisition of the greatest possible amount of it1 in schools1 colleges1 and universities1 the leading aim4 ,to give the student the fullest command of his faculties1 should certainly be the prime object1 to which the acquisition of knowledge should be subservient2 but this object seems to be more and more lost sight of1 while to cram his mind to the utmost1 with vague1 indefinite1 and heterogeneous knowledge1 is getting more and more to be1 if not the sole1 at any rate the chief1 consideration4 ,this state of things prevails from our lowest to our highest schools4 ,we hear and read ad nauseam that the word 'education' means 'a drawing out4' ,this one etymology everybody knows1 if he doesn't know any other4 ,lecturers and writers on education1 and school circulars1 keep reiterating it4 ,there are certain truths so ding-donged in our ears that they lose all their vitality4 ,one of these certainly is1 that the word 'education' means 'a drawing out4' ,sometimes a teacher at a school institute1 after presenting this etymology1 proceeds to present what he considers the best methods of ramming in6 ,there are schools1 and their patrons think them excellent1 which out-herod ,herod in their slaughter of the ,innocents4 ,sad1 indeed1 is it that the young are so debarred1 as they are1 by the tasks imposed upon them1 from all sweet and quickening 'impressions before the letter4' ',as in ,hood's exquisite parody of ,george ,robins's advertisement1' says ,george ,henry ,lewes in his novel1 ,ranthorpe1 'the pump is enumerated as having a handle within reach of the smallest child1 so do our illustrious educators wish to place the pump of knowledge within reach of the meanest capacity1 that infants may forego the mother's milk to drink of its ,pierian spring4' ,the time must come1 it is no doubt in the very far future1--there are no indications1 at present1 of its being in the near future1--when it will be a pedagogical question how to induce a maximum amount of education with a minimum amount of brain-slaughter4 ,to get back1 now1 to the leading subject1 vocal culture3 a college student whose voice was neglected in early life1 and1 worst of all1 whose sympathies were not then so attuned to good literature1 by the influences and atmosphere of his home1 that he came to have an inward impulsion to vocalize whatever he specially enjoyed in his reading1 will not be much profited by a course in soulless elocutionary spouting4 ,one may have an extraordinary natural gift of vocal expression which is superior to all adverse circumstances2 but such an one is a rara avis in terris4 ,unless there be an early initiation into literature and its vocalization1 in advance of the benumbing technical instruction of the schools1 much cannot be expected from the great majority of students1 in a literary or elocutionary direction4 ,truly 'illuminative reading1' to use ,carlyle's phrase1 is1 apart from this condition1 quite out of the question4 ,in the whole range of linguistic and literary studies1 ,english1 ,latin1 ,greek1 ,german1 ,french1 ,italian1 ,spanish1 or whatever be the language and literature studied1 vocalization should be made of prime importance4 ,so it should even in ,anglo-,saxon and early ,english studies4 ,when ,i conducted these studies1 which ,i did1 for more than twenty-five years1 ,i pronounced to my classes all that was gone over4 ,beowulf ,i read to them entire4 ,the interest of students in this ,anglo-,saxon epic is much enhanced when it is fluently and vigorously read4 ,it is the only way by which the spirit of the poem can be brought home to them4 ,to know ,chaucer as a poet1 and not merely as a writer of fourteenth-century ,english1 his verse1 which1 after a lapse of five hundred years1 continues to rank with the best in the literature1 must be voiced2 and to voice it1 with the best knowledge of its pronunciation which has been attained to by ,alexander ,j4 ,ellis1 in his ',early ,english ,pronunciation1' and by other phonologists1 requires a careful training of the voice and much practice4 ,a susceptible reader comes1 in time1 to feel1 to some extent1 what the intonation1 also1 of the verse1 must have been4 ,to inspire students with a permanent interest in 'the morning star of song1' the teacher must be an accomplished reader of his verse1 and must train his students to the best reading of it of which they are capable4 ,of course1 a knowledge of the language in its historical development1 previous to ,chaucer1 is desirable1 though not indispensable1 to appreciate his poetry2 but the best vocalization1 in the fullest sense of the word1 which can be attained to1 is indispensable4 ,to know of what earlier inflection any final -e is the residual1 is well enough2 but ,i cannot think that any one would insist that such knowledge is indispensable to an appreciation of the poetry4 ,philology is not the handmaid to poetical cultivation4 ,she can be dismissed altogether from service4 ,there are no emergencies1 even1 where it is necessary to engage her temporarily4 ,in the study of ,latin and ,greek1 even with our imperfect knowledge of the ancient pronunciation1 and our no knowledge of the ancient intonation1 of these languages1 it is all important that the student should read ,greek and ,roman authors aloud4 ,a student who has first been trained to read ,greek and ,latin prose with fluency and expression can then have considerable appreciation of verse in advance of any technical knowledge4 ,and if he be trained to read in time1 he will know what 'quantity' really means4 ,as ,latin and ,greek verse is read in the schools 7when it is read at all71 it is accentual1 not quantitative4 ,i cannot think that there was any more quantity in ,greek and ,latin than there is in ,english1 or in any other modern language1 unless the ,greeks and ,romans spoke more in time than we do1 which is not likely4 ,the ,romans were probably more measured in their speech than the ,greeks4 ,syllables1 in ,greek and ,latin verse1 must have been made long or short by an intoning of the verse4 ,when ,vergil1 or ,ovid1 or any hexameter poet1 is read in the schools1 his verse is the same as that of ,longfellow's ,evangeline1 made up of xa1 ax1 and axx feet4 7,note #b47 ,the following verse from ,ovid1 for example 7,met4 ,i4 #adc71 ,sanguine aque ma nu crepi tantia concutit arma1 is read in the same way as the following from ,longfellow's ,evangeline3 ,or by the owl1 as he greeted the moon with demoniac laughter2 and the first and second of the following verses from ,ovid 7,met4 ,i4 #adh1 #adi71 ,filius ante diem patrios inquirit in annos4 ,victa jacet ,pietas2 et ,virgo caede ma-dentes ,ultima coelestum terras ,astraea reliquit1 are read in the same way as the following from ,evangeline3 ,and as she gazed from the window she saw serenely the moon pass ,forth from the folds of a cloud1 and one star follow her footsteps4 ,ovid's ,met4 ,i4 #bb1 ,nam coelo terras et terris abscidit undas1 is read in the same way as ,colossians iii4 #ai3 ,husbands1 love your wives1 and be not bitter against them2 and ,ovid's ,met4 ,i4 #cf1 ,tum freta diffun di1 rapidisque tum escere ventis1 is read in the same way as ,psalm ii4 #a3 ,why do the heathen rage1 and the people imagine a vain thing4 ,rebus sic stantibus1 what's the use of talking about quantitative and accentual verse1 as if they were really two kinds of verse8 ,they are1 to be sure1 but they are not made so1 in reading4 ,there is1 in fact1 no such thing as a spondee in ordinary speech4 ,a true spondee must be made by voicing two syllables in equal time1 and each without stress4 ,after having been trained in the 'scanning' of the schools 7counting verses on the fingers71 ,i threw aside and tried1 and successfully tried1 to forget all the scholarship of ,latin verse1 and began reading ,vergil aloud and in time4 ,i felt1 at first1 the movement of the verse backward1 the ultimate and the penultimate foot came out first to my feelings2 and in time1 the movement of the entire verse became distinct4 ,chaucer's verse must be read more in time than modern verse4 7,note #c47 ,but all true verse must be read more in time than prose4 ,and even impassioned prose1 like some of ,de ,quincey's1 for example1 must be read1 more or less1 in time4 ,perhaps it may be said that both prose and verse should be read in time according as the thought is spiritualized4 ,the choruses in ,milton's ,samson ,agonistes can be properly appreciated only when read in time4 ,the verse has been condemned by some critics1 as if ,milton1 whose ear1 as ,de ,quincey says1 was angelic1 could not compose good verse when he dictated1 in his blindness 7to which the merit of the verse of the ,paradise ,lost and the ,paradise ,regained1 was1 no doubt1 somewhat due71 this last of his great poetic compositions6 ,even in the study of modern languages1 in the schools1 there is not enough pronouncing of the original4 ,it is mostly read off in ,english4 ,if a teacher of a foreign language1 whose pronunciation is correct 7if it is not correct1 he should not teach it71 were simply to read aloud to his students1 they having the text before their eyes1 and were to require them to read1 until they could pronounce correctly and fluently1 the language studied1 it would be a much better introduction to the language than the usual grammatical grind at the outset4 ,a certain amount of grammatical grind is necessary1 but a thorough training in pronunciation should come first of all4 ,and then1 if a student got nothing other than a good pronunciation1 it would be certainly worth more to him than any amount of grammatical drill without it4 ,a living language should not be studied scientifically until it is known4 ,and the most important thing to know1 at first1 is its pronunciation4 ,thomas ,elwood1 ,milton's young ,quaker friend1 tells us1 in his autobiography1 of his reading ,latin to the blind poet1--how he was required to get rid of his ,english pronunciation of the language1 which his 'master' disliked1 and to learn what he calls 'the foreign pronunciation1' his description thereof showing it to have been the ,italian1--and then adds1 ',having a curious ear' 7that is1 a careful1 accurate1 nice1 keenly susceptible ear71 'he understood by my tone1 when ,i understood what ,i read1 and when ,i did not2 and accordingly would stop me1 examine me1 and open up the most difficult passages to me4' ,this sentence suggests that much more might be done than is done1 in the way of getting at students' appreciation of the ,latin or ,greek they may be reciting1 by requiring them to voice the original in advance of translating4 ,after having attained1 by sufficient practice1 an easy fluency of utterance1 they could--or some could--bring out1 through their voices1 much which they could not reveal through translation or any amount of exegesis4 ,all the members of the class might be on a par1 so far as translation and exegesis go1 in exhibiting their knowledge and appreciation of the original2 but there would always be a few who could reveal through vocalization what is beyond translation and exegesis4 ,and the professor would not necessarily need to have the 'curious ear' of a ,milton to detect this kind of superiority of the few4 ,this brings me to say that1 in literary examinations1 whatever other means be employed1 a sufficiently qualified teacher could arrive at a nicer and more certain estimate of what a student has appropriated1 both intellectually and spiritually1 of a literary product1 or any portion of a literary product1 by requiring him to read it1 than he could arrive at through any amount of catechising4 ,the requisite vocal cultivation on the part of the student is1 of course1 presumed4 ,but even an uncultivated voice would reveal appreciation1 or the want of it1 to some extent4 ,for1 after all1 it is not so much the cultivated voice as spiritual appreciation1 which tells in reading4 ,i have heard 'poor1 but honest' voices read some poems very effectively1 and ,i have heard rich1 but dishonest voices read very afflictingly4 ,to adapt the ,french saying1 le style1 c'est l'homme1 it may be said that la lecture a haute voix c'est l'homme4 ,reading reveals the reader's spiritual appreciation or the absence of it4 ,and it is only to the extent that a reader assures his hearers that he has himself experienced the sentiments to which he gives utterance1 that he impresses them4 ,to one who has truly appreciated it1 there is nothing more dreary than the usual elocutionary rendering of a poem4 ,suppose a teacher were to examine a student on such a poem as ,coleridge's ,christabel by questioning him about it1 and the student were to show that he was thoroughly acquainted with all the facts and details of the poem2 there would still be no evidence of that student's susceptibility to what in the poem constitutes its mysterious charm1--none whatever4 ,the student might be utterly destitute of such susceptibility1 and yet he could just as well prepare himself to answer all the teacher's questions4 ,a very small boy might do so1 whose appreciation of poetry had not gone beyond ',how doth the little busy bee4' ,there might be a most susceptible literary genius in the class1 who might fall below the other student in such an examination6 ,it is quite likely that he would1 for he would be chiefly occupied with the poem as a poem1 and would assimilate its life without retaining a recollection of all the details1 to which the other had given exclusive attention4 ,or suppose the poem were ,gray's ,elegy written in a ,country ,churchyard1 and the student were to pass a perfectly satisfactory examination thereupon1 on the basis1 say1 of the valuable notes in ,professor ,hales's ,longer ,english ,poems2 what would that signify1 in comparison with the reading of the poem1 which would unmistakably show whether he had responded1 to any extent1 or not1 to its sweet evening pensiveness1 to the general tenor of the theme1 to the moulding spirit of the whole8 ,that he should understand the articulating thought1 all the grammatical constructions 7and there are several which need to be particularly looked into71 and all points to which attention is called in ,professor ,hales's notes1 is1 to be sure1 important2 but an examination confined to these would not be any test of his literary capacity1 of his susceptibility to the poem as a poem4 ,in these remarks1 ,i assume1 of course1 that the prime object of a literary examination should be to test not so much a student's knowingness1 as his literary capacity1 which means a capacity to respond to the spiritual life of a poem1 or any other form of literature1 in the true sense of the word 'literature4' ,it is its spiritual life which makes a poem a poem1 whatever the thought articulation may be4 ,the student who is capable of such response should rank higher 7nobody but a ,dr4 ,dryasdust could deny this7 than the student who could answer all questions which the most prolific questioner could ask him1 but who could afford no evidence1 through his reading of it1 that the poem was anything more to him than was a primrose to ,wordsworth's ',peter ,bell4' ,as the student advances to the higher literature1 he should be trained in the higher1 more complex vocal functions demanded for its interpretation2 he should understand1 all along1 in his vocal education1 the relation of that education to the rendering of works of genius4 ,he should always know what his vocal exercises are for1 what relation they have to the interpreting and symbolizing of thought and feeling4 ,i remember a teacher who advised his scholars--,i was one of them--to go out frequently into the open air and exercise their voices4 ,and the poor fellows did go1 and 'fright the isle from her propriety' with their bawling without having any conception of what they were bawling for4 ,their lungs were exercised thereby1 but the bawling did nothing for their vocal training4 ,vocal exercise must not only be physiologically intelligent1 but there must always be some conception back of it which it is the aim of the exercise to realize in the voice4 ,one may have a conception1 more or less distinct1 of how some very significant sentence in ,shakespeare1 for example1 should be uttered1 and yet his voice is not sufficiently obedient to his will and his feelings4 ,he therefore has something to work after1 and in time may vocally realize1 to his full satisfaction1 his conception2 and in doing so1 he has acquired some new and valuable control of his voice1 which he can make use of1 whenever required1 in the rendering of other expressions4 ,a true poem is a piece of articulate music which may require to be long practised upon by the voice before all its possible significance and effectiveness be realized4 ,but there must be an ideal back of the practice 7merely to keep 'going over' the poem will not do72 not1 of course1 an entirely distinct ideal1 it may be more or less vague1 but such an ideal as may be got in advance through a responsiveness to its informing life4 ,this ideal will become more and more distinct in the course of the practice4 ,this is true of every form of art4 ,the artist starts with an ideal more or less vague 7but it is an ideal which motives all his work71 and this ideal only gradually takes shape in the process of its realization in a picture or a statue4 ,composing continues to the end4 ,the poet is still composing1 still working after a fuller realization of his ideal1 when he is making the last verbal change in his poem4 7,note #d47 ,to quote from ,browning's ',a ,death in the ,desert'3 ,god's gift was that man should conceive of truth1 ,and yearn to gain it1 catching at mistake ,as midway help1 till he reach fact indeed4 ,the statuary ere he mould a shape ,boasts a like gift1 the shape's idea1 and next ,the aspiration to produce the same2 ,so1 taking clay1 he calls his shape thereout1 ,cries ever1 ',now ,i have the thing ,i see'3 ,yet all the while goes changing what was wrought1 ,from falsehood like the truth1 to truth itself4 99 99 99 99 99 ,god only makes the live shape at a jet4 ,interpretative reading goes on in the same way4 ,after a reader's long familiarity with a poem1 and when he thinks he has realized all its possibilities of vocal effectiveness1 some new vocal movement on a single word1 it may be1 is suggested1 which is a decided contribution to the effect before reached4 ,the play of ,hamlet abounds in little speeches1 and single words1 even1 whose possibilities of expressiveness can hardly be exhausted4 ,every great poet writes1 at times1 more significantly than he knows4 ,in the creation of every great work of genius1 a large degree of unconscious might enters2 and this unconscious might the reader with the requisite degree of spiritual susceptibility may respond to4 ,this is an activity of the highest order on the part of a reader4 ,melody1 harmony1 and every mode of form1 are1 to some extent1 the product of an unconscious might4 ,deep feeling attracts to itself such elements of language as serve best to conduct it4 ,assonance1 especially1 is a manifestation of it4 ,paradise ,lost abounds with the assonance which the dominant feeling of the poet induced4 ,when ,hamlet is subjecting his friends to a searching examination in regard to the appearance of the ghost of his father1 he asks ',his beard was grisly8' and then adds1 'no4' 7,the word is followed by a period1 in the ,folio47 ,what a varied expressiveness this little word 'no' admits of6 ,when ,macbeth says to his wife1 when they are considering the murder of the king1 ',if we should fail8' she replies ',we fail8' ,though the interrogative is used in the ,folio1 the period would1 perhaps1 be the better pointing4 ,however that be1 the reading of 'we fail' involves much consideration2 and so does the reading of thousands of single words in ,shakespeare's ,plays4 ,but1 after all1 it is not upon inflections and emphases and other vocal functions which pertain more especially to the interpretation of the articulating thought1 that the true reader chiefly depends4 ,the most important thing with him is the choral atmosphere in which a spiritualized composition requires to be presented4 ,and it is in this respect that the art of reading particularly corresponds with the sister art of painting4 ,the artist in form and color bathes his landscape in 'the light that never was1 on sea or land1' or1 if not that1 in some light or other1 some 'tender light which heaven to gaudy day denies1' and which serves to reveal the feeling which he aimed to express through the landscape4 ,the landscape itself corresponds in painting with the articulating thought in reading2 but the spiritual attitude of the artist is exhibited through the light in which the landscape is bathed4 ,and so the spiritual attitude of the reader is exhibited through his intonation1 which corresponds with atmosphere in painting4 ,a susceptible reader will1 on the first reading of a poem or an impassioned prose composition1 be more or less immediately responsive to the key-note of the composition4 ,an increased familiarity will finally bring this key-note fully home to his feelings1 or as fully as may be2 and if he has made the articulating thought his own1 he is now prepared to interpret the composition to the ears of others4 ,a reader's success in interpreting such a poem as ,tennyson's ,in ,memoriam1 for example1 can be but partial if he has not adequately caught1 and does not vocally reproduce1 the key-note1 however distinctly he may present the articulating thought4 ,it is the tone which spiritualizes and quickens the thought2 and it is the main object in reading1 to spiritualize and quicken thought1 to bring it into relation with the spiritual being of the hearer4 ,vocal training1 the most scientific and systematic1 will not of itself make readers1 that is1 vocal interpreters of genius4 ,something more must be done than is at present done1 in homes and schools1 especially in homes1 for the education of the spiritual nature2 and this education must be begun early1 must precede the education of the intellect4 ,the premature forcing open of the bud of reason1 which now prevails to a lamentable degree1 must receive its due condemnation4 ,it is a thing to be condemned from ,christian pulpits4 ,as ,george ,henry ,lewes says1 in his novel1 ,ranthorpe1 'the child must feel before it can know2 and knowledge1 great and glorious as it is1 can never be the end of life3 it is but one of the many means4' ,it is quite superfluous to say that a reader should have a perfect articulation2 that he should be able to command a wide range of pitch2 all degrees of force1 from pianissimo to fortissimo2 radical1 median1 vanishing1 and compound stress2 every variety of inflection1 direct upward and direct downward inflection2 equal and unequal1 upward and downward1 single and double waves2 accelerated and retarded utterance2 many qualities of voice2 not to name numerous other vocal functions and attributes which are means to various kinds of interpretative ends4 ,he should also have a complete knowledge of the language he is rendering1 as a living organism1--an indispensable condition of his presenting the successive and involved groups of thought with the requisite distinctness of outline1 and with the requisite perspective1 determined by their relative value1 of which he should have the nicest sense4 ,a very important condition of perspective1 ,i would say by the way1 is the light touch which needs to be given to whatever is implied1 has been anticipated1 should be taken for granted1 etc41--the light touch which conveys the impression that the mind of the reader does not come down upon the parts receiving the same1 those parts saying themselves1 so to speak1 but is occupied with the main current of thought4 ,any untrained voice can emphasize1 but only a trained or a naturally unperverted voice can give the light touch successfully4 ,yet it is possible for the heaviest1 clumsiest voice to be trained to the light touch1 to delicacy of tint1 just as one who is clay-fisted may1 in time1 attain to some delicacy of manipulation4 ,the voice and the hand have wonderful possibilities1 rarely realized2 the former1 when converted from the error of its ways1 being1 indeed1 the most expressive organ of the soul2 the latter being 'the consummation of all perfection as an instrument4' ,one great secret in forcible speech is1 that all the force be thrown upon the vowels--the inarticulate elements4 ,while sounding them1 the organs of speech are apart1 and if the lungs are kept well inflated1 the throat is open1 and no friction results2 while articulating the consonants1 certain two of the organs of speech are in contact1 and the throat is more or less closed4 ,if force be thrown upon the consonants1 the articulate elements1 or certain of them1 such as r and k1 for example1 there is more or less friction in the throat4 ,in uttering forcibly the word 'struck1' for example1 all the force should be thrown upon the 7u1 the consonants str and k being about the same as in ordinary utterance4 ,the music of speech is chiefly in the vowels4 ,but the consonants must1 of course1 be distinctly articulated and not be drowned in the vocality4 ,sir ,henry ,taylor writes to ,lady ,taunton1 ,may #bc1 #ahfb 7,correspondence1 edited by ,edward ,dowden71 of ,tennyson's reading3 ',as to his reading1 he is a very deep-mouthed hound1 and the sound of it is very grand2 but ,i rather need to know by heart what he is reading1 for otherwise ,i find the sense to be lost in sounds from time to time2 and1 even when ,i do know what the words are1 ,i think more of articulation is wanted to give the consonantal effects of the rhythm2 for without these effects the melodious sinks into the mellifluous in any ordinary utterance2 and even when intoned by such an organ as ,alfred's1 if the poetry be of a high order1 the rhythm so sounded loses something of its musical and more of its intellectual significance4 ,in the best verse1 not every word only1 but every letter1 should speak4 ,nevertheless1 his reading is very fine of its kind1 and it is a very rare thing to hear fine reading of any kind4' ,in regard to inflections1 or bends1 of the voice1 of every kind1 direct upward1 or downward1 or combinations of both1 which are called waves 7upward waves being a combination of downward and upward inflections1 or bends1 and downward waves the reverse1 and double waves being a combination of upward and downward waves1 or the reverse71 ,i would say1 what ,i have said in my ',primer of ,english ,verse1' that a reader must have a sub-consciousness of a dead level1 by which1 or from which1 to graduate all his departures2 and it is only by avoiding all non-significant departures that he imparts to his hearers a sub-consciousness of his own standard4 ,there should never be in reading a non-significant departure from a pure monotony4 ,significant vocal intervals lose their effectiveness when they are mixed up with non-significant ones4 ,great effects can be secured through very simple means by a reader who strictly observes this principle4 ,every little bend of the voice tells4 ,but a wriggling voice1 the general tenor of which is a violation of this principle1 cannot secure such effects4 ,the hearer is presented with a jumble of non-significant and would-be significant intervals1 which is less effective than a pure monotony would be4 ,appreciative reading is shown as much1 perhaps1 in what ,i will call time melody1 as in almost any other feature of vocalization4 ,a reader's sense of the relative values of successive and involved groups of thought1 is largely indicated by his varied 7melodious7 rate of utterance4 ,and much of the pleasure which an appreciative listener derives from reading1 as reading1 is this indication on the part of the reader of a nice estimate of relative values4 ,he feels that the reader is a qualified interpreter4 ,this estimate cannot always be determined by what a writer makes1 syntactically1 principal1 and what subordinate1 in the construction of his language4 ,of course1 a mere variation of time is not1 of itself1 sufficient4 ,there must be an appropriate variation of tone-color1 etc4 ,a simile or comparison1 for example1 must be so read as to indicate the reader's estimate of what it illustrates2 and this is particularly shown by the accelerated or retarded utterance of it1 and by the tone-color given to it4 ,the following striking simile from ,,ii ,kings1 xxi4 #ac1 should be read with an accelerated utterance1 implying the ease with which the act illustrated will be performed3 ',and ,i will stretch over ,jerusalem the line of ,samaria1 and the plummet of the house of ,ahab3 and ,i will wipe ,jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish1 wiping it1 and turning it upside down4' ,the following comparison 7,isaiah1 lv4 #aj1 #aa7 should be read in slower time1 in itself considered1 and1 partly1 for the reason that it precedes what it illustrates 7a due expectation must be awakened as to what follows73 ',as the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven1 and returneth not thither1 but watereth the earth1 and maketh it bring forth and bud1 and giveth seed to the sower and bread to the eater2 so shall my word be that goeth out of my mouth3 it shall not return unto me void1 but it shall accomplish that which ,i please1 and it shall prosper in the thing whereto ,i sent it4' ,in still slower time1 every appreciative reader would spontaneously read the following comparison 7,milton's ,paradise ,lost1 ,book ,i41 w4 #eia-fjj73 his form had not yet lost ,all her original brightness2 nor appeared ,less than archangel ruined1 and the excess ,of glory obscured3 as when the sun1 new risen1 ,looks thro' the horizontal misty air ,shorn of his beams2 or from behind the moon1 ,in dim eclipse1 disastrous twilight sheds ,on half the nations1 and with fear of change ,perplexes monarchs4 ,darken'd so1 yet shone ,above them all the archangel4 ,an increased time of utterance must be secured through the prolongable vowels and consonants1 rather than through pauses1 though the latter must also be somewhat extended4 ,accelerated utterance must not impress as hurry4 ,the fifth chapter of the ,book of ,daniel1 descriptive of ,belshazzar's feast1 affords good illustrations of the slighting of speech4 7,note #e47 ,take1 for example1 the first five verses 7the parts which should be slighted are indicated by smaller type73 #a4 ,belshazzar1 the king1 made a great feast to a thousand of his lords1 and drank wine before the thousand4 #b4 ,belshazzar1 whiles he tasted the wine1 commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father ,nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in ,jerusalem2 that the king1 and his princes1 his wives1 and his concubines1 might drink therein4 #c4 ,then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of ,god which was at ,jerusalem2 and the king and his princes1 his wives and his concubines1 drank in them4 #d4 ,they drank wine1 and praised the gods of gold1 and of silver1 of brass1 of iron1 of wood1 and of stone4 #e4 ,in the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand1 and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaster of the wall of the king's palace2 and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote4 ,the parts in smaller type have various degrees of subordinate value1 which the nicely appreciative reader would indicate by his reading2 but they all belong to the background of the description4 ,any of these parts1 if brought fully into the foreground1 would be given an undue importance1 and would reduce somewhat the prominence and distinctness of the other parts4 ,in the first verse1 'the king1' should be read with an abatement of voice1 being an understood appositive2 'to a thousand of his lords' 7'thousand' being used for an indefinite large number71 is sufficiently implied in 'gave a great feast1' and the voice should be reduced upon it1 and should not descend upon 'lords1' as it is assumed that the feast was given to the chief men of the kingdom2 'and drank wine before the thousand3' the voice after descending upon 'wine1' should drift lightly over 'before the thousand4' ,in the second verse1 'whiles he tasted the wine' should1 as it were1 say itself2 and then the command of the king1 in regard to the sacred vessels of the temple1 should be brought to the front2 'that the king1 and his princes1 his wives1 and his concubines1' should be thrown back with a reduced and somewhat accelerated voice1 and prominence given to 'might drink therein1' the purpose being to invite chief attention to the sacrilegious act of making such use of the sacred vessels4 ,a distinct noting of the different kinds of people present at the feast is not called for here4 ,the voice has other business on hand1 namely1 the bringing forward of the sacrilegious purpose to drink wine from the sacred vessels of the temple4 ,further on in the chapter1 in the speech of ,daniel to the king 7v4 #bc71 it is necessary to bring these people fully to the front1 the melodious movement of the voice being adapted to the special emphasizing of 'thou' and 'concubines1' thus3 'and thou1 and thy lords1 thy wives1 and thy concubines1' a somewhat increased pitch and force being given to 'concubines4' ,in the third verse1 ',then they brought the golden vessels1' etc41 should be read as a matter of course1 and not as if it were necessary to invite the attention of the hearer to the fact that the command of the king was obeyed4 ,the latter mode of reading would be wholly gratuitous 7as it should be assumed that the command of the king was obeyed71 and would waste attention2 'and the king1 and his princes1 his wives1 and his concubines' should be again thrown back1 and1 the voice should descend somewhat forcibly upon 'drank1' thus marking distinctly the sacrilege4 ,in the fourth verse1 ',they drank wine1' being a mere repetition1 should say itself 7the mind of the reader not coming down upon it1 but keeping along on the upper plane of expression71 and the voice should come out strongly upon 'and praised the gods of gold'2 but it should be reduced1 and somewhat accelerated1 upon1 'and of silver1 of brass1 of iron1 of wood1 and of stone4' ,their idolatry having been sufficiently brought out through 'and praised the gods of gold1' it would waste attention to bring forward also the several other materials of which their gods were composed4 ,these should be expressed1 as it were1 by the way4 ,the mind of the reader is done with the fact of idolatry4 ,in the fifth verse1 ',in the same hour1 came forth fingers 444 and wrote1' should be brought fully to the front1 an increase of time being given to ',in the same hour1' to mark distinctly the fact that divine vengeance followed close upon the sacrilege of drinking from the sacred vessels of the temple1 which was aggravated by their idolatry 7the words 'hour1' 'fingers1' and 'wrote1' receiving each the falling inflection72 but 'of a man's hand' should be slighted1 the voice being kept up on 'hand1' it being assumed that the fingers were1 of course1 those of a man's hand1 or1 at least1 of a human hand4 ,the place just where the writing was done1 'over against the candlestick upon the plaster of the wall of the king's palace1' being of no special importance1 under the circumstances1 should be slighted4 ,to bring it to the front would cause an entirely unnecessary expenditure of attention on the part of the hearer4 ,it should be left to its own intrinsic value1 without any enforcement from the voice2 'and the king saw' comes to the front1 the voice falling upon 'saw1' and drifting down over 'the part of the hand that wrote4' ,as additional examples1 take the last seven verses of the chapter3 they afford illustrations1 too1 of the marking of the new idea1 as distinguished from the important idea1 of a sentence considered by itself3 #be4 ,and this is the writing that was written1 ,,mene1 ,,mene1 ,,tekel1 ,,upharsin4 #bf4 ,this is the interpretation of the thing3 ,,mene2 ,god hath numbered thy kingdom1 and finished it4 #bg4 ,,tekel3 ,thou art weighed in the balances1 and art found wanting4 #bh4 ,,peres3 ,thy kingdom is divided1 and given to the ,medes and ,persians4 #bi4 ,then commanded ,belshazzar1 and they clothed ,daniel with scarlet1 and put a chain of gold about his neck1 and made a proclamation concerning him1 that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom4 #cj4 ,in that night was ,belshazzar the king of the ,chaldeans slain4 #ca4 ,and ,darius the ,median took the kingdom1 being about threescore and two years old4 ,in the twenty-fifth verse1 ',and this' stands out1 'this' being the new idea1 the voice drifting1 with some acceleration1 over 'is the writing that was written'2 ',,mene1 ,,mene1 ,,tekel1 ,,upharsin1' that is1 'numbered1 numbered1 weighed1 divisions1' 'mene1 mene' being an emphatic repetition4 ,in the twenty-eighth verse1 'peres1' having the same root1 and meaning 'divided1' is substituted for 'upharsin4' ,in the twenty-sixth verse1 ',this is the interpretation' stands out1 the voice coming down on 'interpretation' and drifting over1 and slighting1 'of the thing4' ,when 'mene' is pronounced by ,daniel1 it must be supposed that its meaning is understood1 but not its application2 the word 'kingdom' must1 therefore1 be marked with the emphasis2 'and finished it' must be somewhat slighted1 as the meaning of the phrase is anticipated in 'numbered4' ,in the twenty-seventh verse1 the voice moves along with some acceleration1 over 'thou art weighed in the balances1' the idea of 'weighed' being anticipated in 'tekel1' and 'art found wanting' is brought strongly out4 ,in the twenty-eighth verse1 'kingdom' must receive the emphasis1 'divided' being anticipated in 'peres'2 'and given to the ,medes and ,persians' we must suppose is not altogether new information to ,belshazzar1 after his having been informed that the division of his kingdom is at hand4 ,he knows who will come into possession of it4 ,this phrase1 therefore1 must not be brought fully to the front4 ,it must be uttered with some acceleration of the voice and in a way to indicate the supposed feeling of ,daniel in regard to the quick work which is to be made of the kingdom4 ,the twenty-ninth verse should be read with some acceleration of voice1 and without any special expression1 the reader assuming that the promise made by the king to ,daniel1 in the sixteenth verse1 if he can interpret the writing1 was fulfilled4 ,this twenty-ninth verse must not1 therefore1 be read as imparting new information4 ,in the thirtieth verse1 ',in that night' must be brought fully out1 through a time emphasis1 to mark how immediate was the fulfilment of ,daniel's interpretation2 there must be some acceleration of voice upon 'was ,belshazzar the king of the ,chaldeans1' and a quite strong emphasis given to 'slain4' ,in the thirty-first verse1 'took' is the foreground word1 the emphasis of it implying an accordance with ,daniel's interpretation2 'being about threescore and two years old1' should be read as a gratuitously affixed fact1 having no particular bearing upon what has been related4 ,cultivated people cannot away with what is generally understood by 'elocution1' which is rather a vocal and ,delsartian display than an honest vocalization1 which good reading should be1 of what has been intellectually and spiritually assimilated4 ,reading is not acting4 ,the first thing to be done to bring 'elocution' into good repute 7it is certainly not in good repute at present7 is to free reading from all strain of expression--to reduce emphasis and attain to the greatest degree of simplicity compatible with the subject-matter4 ,and one important feature of reading which should receive special attention1 as a means to this end1 is the light touch1 which conveys the impression that the mind of the reader does not come down upon the parts receiving the same1 those parts expressing what has been anticipated1 or should be taken for granted1 etc41 and constituting the remote background of expression4 ,the highest result which can be exhibited of literary culture and a corresponding vocal culture1 is an organic melody1 in the reading of a great poem1 the outcome of the poem's organic life4 ,by melody1 in reading1 is meant that organic variety in the use of all the vocal functions and affections1 that arabesqueness of expression1 which does not allow the ear of the hearer to detect a regular recurrence of any of these functions and affections4 ,there is melody of pause1 of inflection1 of rhyme1 of rhythm1 of time1 of force1 of emphasis1 and of every vocal affection4 ,in truly melodious reading1 the design or figure1 so to speak1 is so arabesque that it is not taken in by the ear of the hearer1 and does not come to his consciousness1 but it tells effectively on his feelings4 ,and by 'effectively' ,i specially mean that the feelings are brought into harmony with1 into a state of elective attraction for1 the contriving creative spirit which moulds the poetic form4 ,such reading of high poetry is the extreme merit of vocal expression4 ,some of its principles may be taught2 but the vitality of it must be the result of the spiritual education of the reader1 must be exhaled spontaneously from his being4 ,a reader with a nice sense of melody may conceal a deficiency of melody in the poem he is reading2 and he may do this1 without arbitrarily imposing variety4 ,an imposed variety is not true melody1 which must be vital1 organic4 ,in the reading of ,pope's uniform couplets1 for example1 he may keep down the rocking-horse movement of the verse 7,note #f7 by a skilful management of the pauses 7which come so uniformly in the middle and at the end of the verses71 and of the rhyming words1 by an acceleration and retardation of voice wherever these are permissible1 by the light touch1 and by various other means4 ,to counteract the uniform construction of such verse as the following1 for example1 from the ,essay on ,man1 without arbitrarily imposing variety1 the reader's art must approach the artful3 ,warms in the sun1 refreshes in the breeze1 ,glows in the stars1 and blossoms in the trees1 ,lives thro' all life1 extends thro' all extent1 ,spreads undivided1 operates unspent2 etc4 or the following1 descriptive of the heroine1 in ,the ,rape of the ,lock3 ,on her white breast1 a sparkling cross she wore1 ,which ,jews might kiss1 and infidels adore4 ,her lively looks a sprightly mind disclose1 ,quick as her eyes1 and as unfix'd as those3 ,favors to none1 to all she smiles extends2 ,oft she rejects1 but never once offends4 ,bright as the sun1 her eyes the gazers strike1 ,and1 like the sun1 they shine on all alike4 ,yet graceful ease1 and sweetness void of pride1 ,might hide her faults1 if ,belles had faults to hide3 ,if to her share some female errors fall1 ,look on her face1 and you'll forget 'em all4 ,the absence of enjambement makes it somewhat difficult so to keep down the rhyme emphasis that it may not pester the ear4 7,note #g47 ,where a reader's feelings have been melodized by culture1 they will protect him against the influence of a too artificial construction of the verse4 ,he will not impose variety1 but he will utter humdrum verse1 as far as possible1 under the conditions of his melodized feeling4 ,the importance of cultivating the speaking voice is quite as great as that of cultivating the reading voice4 ,perhaps it is greater2 for the speaking voice has a wider and more constant influence--an influence which is exerted in all the relations of life1 an influence calming or irritating1 an influence bringing men into friendly or unfriendly attitudes toward each other4 ,how demulcent the effect of a gracious voice1 and how rasping that of a snappish one6 ',the sweetest music1' says ,emerson1 'is not in the oratorio1 but in the human voice when it speaks from its instant life tones of tenderness1 truth1 or courage4 ,the oratorio has already lost its relation to the morning1 to the sun1 and the earth1 but that persuading voice is in tune with these4' ,of ,emerson's own voice1 the ,rev4 ,charles ,g4 ,ames1 in ',a ,memorial ,address1' says3 ',his speech had a subtle spell1--a charm like ,nature's own1 so that he affected men like ,old ,honesty 444 so silvery1 cheery1 sane1 fearless6444 ,there was no false ring1 no trick to catch applause or to turn off attention from the message to the messenger2 no show of knowledge or power or art4 ,one might forget it all next hour1 through sheer moral inability to stay at such an unwonted altitude2 but while listening to that high discourse it certainly did seem as if we belonged up there1--as if a man ought to make the very earth a pedestal of honor for his feet and wear the sky about his brow as an aureole4' ,how much wrath1 with its evil consequences1 might be averted by soft answers6 ,how much pleasanter an arrival at a hotel might be than it often is1 if the slapdash clerk in the office had a voice better attuned to a courteous reception of a guest6 or an arrival in ,new ,york1 from abroad1 if a custom-house official knew how to ask1 in a civilized way1 ',what's in that box8' ,the question is often asked in a way which has a decidedly indurating effect upon the conscience of a traveller1 in regard to dutiable things he may have brought with him4 ,how afflicting the chaotic clatter of high-pitched voices1 at a reception1 or an evening party6 ,a room jam-full of standing people1 'unaimed prattle flying up and down' 7true conversation is out of the question7 is hard to endure1 even with the prospect of lobster and of chicken salad1 ice cream1 and numerous other unwholesome things about to be4 ,american girls1 before they 'come out1' may talk in a quiet way2 but so soon as they 'come out1' many of them think they must show that they have 'come out1' by the high pitch and rapidity of their voices1 which quite deprive a nervous man of his self-possession4 ,how much 'the charm of beauty's powerful glance' may be heightened or lowered by the character of the voice which goes along with it6 ,woman tells on others by a gracious manner1 by the beauty of holiness as it is manifested in all her ways1 in all her relations1 domestic and social1 and especially by her voice4 ,a woman with a sweet and gracious voice1 the index of a sweet and gracious nature1 may exert through it1 in the ordinary relations of life1 without even knowing it1 a better influence than she could by advisedly devoting herself to doing good1 even if such devotion took the form of distributing religious tracts6 ,the moral atmosphere of a home may be not a little due to the voice of the wife and mother4 ,the memory1 even1 of a voice which was toned by love and sympathy1 may continue to be a sweet influence long after the voice itself has been hushed in death4 ,the influence of the voice for good or evil1 in the domestic1 social1 and all other relations of life1 cannot be estimated4 ,a voice may even have a good or bad reflex action upon its possessor4 ,a slovenly articulation1 for example1 may be the index of a moral slovenliness1 and may react upon the latter4 ,subtle1 indeed1 and imperceptible1 are the influences upon ourselves1 for good or evil1 of all our commonest doings4 ,a fond1 worldly mother may be anxiously ambitious that her daughter shall have all the accomplishments required for her fullest attractiveness when she 'comes out4' ,years may be spent upon her musical education1 with the poor result1 perhaps1 of 'fine sleights of hand and unimagined fingering1 shuffling off the hearer's soul through hurricanes of notes to a noisy ,tophet'2 she may be taught dancing which rivals that of a ,taglioni1 and ,french1 and drawing1 and painting2 she may be sent abroad to snatch the graces beyond the reach of art1 of the most elegant ,european society2 and yet1 in the grand scheme of accomplishments1 the speaking voice is left out and entirely neglected1 though she have a voice unpleasantly pitched1 and with other remediable defects which are far1 very far1 from idealizing1 transfiguring her6 ,if the time devoted to the piano1 with the supposed poor result1 had been devoted to a careful cultivation of her voice1 her power to charm 7that being the end proposed7 would be much more increased than by any or all of her other accomplishments4 ,it is easy to infer what ,shakespeare's opinions were on many subjects1 although his ,plays are regarded by some critics as peculiarly impersonal2 but they are charged with his personality1 and shadow forth1 not dimly1 his views in regard to many things4 ,the evidence is abundant that the voice was to him very significant1 apart from his estimate of its importance1 as a professional actor1 and that he was most susceptible to its charms and to its defects4 ,it is her voice which the grief-stricken ,lear is made to speak of1 when he bends over the dead ,cordelia3 ',her voice1' he says1 'was ever soft1 gentle1 and low'2 and to this he adds1 'an excellent thing in woman'2 ,shakespeare1 no doubt1 meaning that he had in his mind1 at the time1 the cruel voices1 expressive of their hard and wicked hearts1 of ,regan and ,goneril4 ,after the death of ,antony1 ,cleopatra1 in her rapturous praise of him1 says1--- ,his voice was propertied ,as all the tuned spheres1 and that to friends2 ,but when he meant to quail and shake the orb1 ,it was as rattling thunder4 ,hamlet's advice to the players we may take as an expression of ,shakespeare's own standard of vocal delivery1 and as his protest against a stilted and ranting declamation1 which1 no doubt1 characterized many of the actors of his day4 ,there is evidence in the ,plays that1 in the process of composition1 he must either have heard imaginatively what he was writing1 or have actually voiced his language as he went along4 ,he did not write for the eye1 but for the ear4 ,and the high vocal capabilities of his language may be somewhat attributable to his hearing of what he wrote4 ,must he not have heard the effect of monosyllabic words1 uttered with the tremor and semi-tone of old age1 when he wrote ,king ,lear's speeches8--',you see me here1 you gods1 a poor old man1 as full of grief as age1' etc41 and ',when we are born1 we cry that we are come to this great stage of fools1' etc4 ,and must he not have heard the effect of polysyllabic words as expressive of ,macbeth's sense of the vastness of his guilt1 when he wrote1 'this my hand will rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine1' etc48 of the guttural emphasis1 expressive of detestation1 in the speech of ,coriolanus to the rabble8--',you common cry of curs6 whose breath ,i hate as reek o' the rotten fens1' etc4 ,an interesting compilation might be made from the ,plays1 of passages expressive of strong passion of various kinds1 the several vocabularies of which testify to ,shakespeare's having imaginatively or actually voiced what he wrote4 ,the speech of the ,bastard to ,hubert1 in ,king ,john 7,a4 iv4 ,s4 #c71 is a signal example3 ,bastard4 ,here's a good world6--,knew you of this fair work8 ,beyond the infinite and boundless reach ,of mercy1 if thou didst this deed of death1 ,art thou damn'd1 ,hubert4 ,hubert4 ,do but hear me1 sir4 ,bastard4 ,ha6 ,i'll tell thee what2 ,thou'rt damn'd as black--nay1 nothing is so black2 ,thou art more deep damn'd than ,prince ,lucifer3 ,there is not yet so ugly a fiend of hell ,as thou shalt be1 if thou didst kill this child4 ,i fancy that ,shakespeare had a fine voice4 ,if he had not1 it is quite certain that he had the highest estimate and appreciation of the voice as the organ of the soul4 ,his creative spirit1 too1 attracted to itself the most effective vocabulary for the vocal expression of every kind of passion--the most effective by reason of their monosyllabic or their polysyllabic character1 of their vowel or their consonantal elements4 ,to him1 language was for the ear1 not for the eye4 ,the written word was to him what it was to ,socrates1 'the mere image or phantom of the living and animated word4' 7,note #h47 ,the art of printing has caused language to be overmuch transferred from its true domain1 the sense of hearing1 to the sense of sight4 ,the lofty idealized language of poetry is known1 in these days1 chiefly through the eye1 and its true power is consequently quiescent for the generality of silent readers4 ,in silent reading1 an appreciation of matter and form must be largely due to an imaginative transference to the ear of what is taken in by the eye4 ,the impression seems to be getting stronger and stronger1 in these days of excessive teaching and excessive learning1 that no one can do anything or learn anything without being taught1--without 'taking a regular course1' as the phrase is4 ,this seems to be especially true in the matter of vocal cultivation4 ,people go to schools of oratory with nothing within themselves which is clamorous for expression2 not even a very 'still small voice' urging them to express something4 ,many who desire1 or think they do1 to be readers1 as there are many who desire1 or think they do1 to be artists1 evidently believe that if they be trained in technique they can be readers or artists4 ,but suppose some one is impelled to cultivate vocal power because of his desire to express what he has sympathetically and lovingly assimilated1 of a work of genius3 if he endeavor to give an honest expression1 so far as in him lies1 to what he feels1 and avoid trying to express what he does not feel1 and if he persevere in his endeavor1 with always a coefficient ideal back of his reading1 he may--in time1 he certainly will--become a better reader than another could if he should set out1 with malice prepense1 to be an elocutionist1 and with that malicious purpose1 were to employ a mere voice-trainer who should teach him to perpetrate all sorts of vocal extravagances1 to make faces1 and to gesticulate when reading what does not need any gesture4 ,such an one1 after passing out of the hands of his trainer1 is most likely to go forth and afflict the public with his performances1 which will be wholly a pitiable exhibition of himself4 ,some of the best readers ,i have ever known have been of the former class1 who honestly voiced what they had sympathetically assimilated1 and did not strain after effect4 ,but it seems that when one sets out to read1 with no interior capital1 he or she1 especially she1 is apt to run into all kinds of extravagances which disgust people of culture and taste4 ,the voice1 instead of being the organ of the soul1 is the betrayer of soullessness4 ,without that interior life which can respond to the indefinite life of a work of genius 7indefinite1 that is1 to the intellect71 a trained voice can do nothing of itself in the way of real interpretation4 ,it may bring out the definite articulating thought1 in a way1 but the electric aura in which the thought should be enveloped1 will be wanting2 and where this is wanting1 in the expression of spiritualized thought1 the true object of reading is but imperfectly realized4 ,what can be got through the eye1 it is not the main function of the voice to deliver4 ,there must be the requisite 'drift' and choral intonation--drift1 the air1 the pervading1 ruling spirit1 'the dominant's persistence1' the prevailing tone color4 ,i am pleased to quote1 in this connection1 what ,professor ,edward ,dowden writes in his article on ',the teaching of ,english literature1' contained in his recent volume1 ',new ,studies in ,literature'3 ',few persons nowadays seem to feel how powerful an instrument of culture may be found in modest1 intelligent1 and sympathetic reading aloud4 ,the reciter and the elocutionist of late have done much to rob us of this which is one of the finest of the fine arts4 ,a mongrel something which1 at least with the inferior adepts1 is neither good reading nor yet veritable acting1 but which sets agape the half-educated with the wonder of its airs and attitudinizing1 its pseudo-heroics and pseudo-pathos1 has usurped the place of the true art of reading aloud1 and has made the word recitation a terror to quiet folk who are content with intelligence and refinement4 ,happily in their behalf the great sense-carrier to the ,empire1 ,mr4 ,punch1 has at length seen it right to intervene4 7,note #i47 ,the reading which we should desire to cultivate is intelligent reading1 that is1 it should express the meaning of each passage clearly2 sympathetic reading1 that is1 it should convey the feeling delicately2 musical reading1 that is1 it should move in accord with the melody and harmony of what is read1 be it in verse or prose4' ,a training of the organs of speech which brings them into complete obedience to the will and the feelings1 and a perfect technique1 important and indispensable as they are1 cannot1 of themselves1 avail much in the interpretation of spiritualized thought4 ,this must be mainly the result of such education as induces an inward preparedness for responding to and assimilating the essential life of a work of genius4 ,quicquid recipitur1 recipitur ad modum recipientis 7whatever is received1 is received according to the measure of the recipient74 ,and it is1 or should be1 the leading object of literary education to enlarge the spiritual measure of the recipient4 ,now it must be said that the schools1 with all their grammars1 their rhetorics1 their philologies1 their psychologies1 their histories and cheap philosophies of literature1 their commentaries and annotations1 do not prepare their students to know works of genius in their absolute character2 for such knowledge implies an adequate education of the absolute1 that is1 spiritual man1 and such education is not induced by the above studies as at present conducted4 ,it demands spiritual life to respond to spiritual life2 or1 in the words of ,st4 ,paul1 'the natural man receiveth not the things of the ,spirit of ,god1 for they are foolishness unto him2 neither can he know them1 because they are spiritually discerned4' ,what is generally understood in the schools as a thorough study of a work of genius1 is occupied quite exclusively with the language and with that part of the subject-matter which can be intellectually formulated4 ,that part which demands a spiritual response and which it is the main object of reading to vocalize for the purpose of calling forth such response1 is not included in the so-called thorough study4 ,the latter may do much1 indeed1 to shut off any spiritual response which a student might give if he were not subjected to such study4 ,in this statement no depreciation of scholarship is meant to be implied4 ,let us have the most thorough scholarship possible2 but it must not become an end to itself2 it must be a means to the higher end of intellectual and spiritual life4 ,what chiefly afflicts a cultivated hearer1 in 'elocution1' is the conspicuous absence of spiritual assimilation on the part of the reader4 ,at best1 he voices only what the eye of an ordinary reader could take in1 and leaves the all-important part to his face1 arms1 and legs1 and various attitudes of the body4 ,but the spiritual in literature must be addressed to the ear4 ',a spirit aerial informs the cell of ,hearing1' says ,wordsworth1 in his great poem1 ',on the power of sound4' ,reading1 ,i have said1 is not acting4 ,it is the acting which usually accompanies the reading or recitation of the professional elocutionist which cultivated people especially dislike4 ,when they wish to see acting1 they prefer going to a theatre4 ,when they listen to reading1 they want serious interpretative vocalization2 only that and nothing more is necessary1 unless it be a spontaneous and graceful movement of the hands1 occasionally1 such as one makes in animated conversation4 ,again1 the most elegant way of vocally interpreting a poem1 is to read it from a book1 rather than to recite it4 ,recitation has much to do with this acting business4 ,in fact1 elocutionists recite in order to have their arms free to act--to illustrate the thought they are expressing4 ,thought should not be helped out by gesture4 ,gesture results1 or should result1 from emotion1 and should1 therefore1 be indefinite4 ,mimetic gesture1 or mimetic action of any kind1 is rarely1 if ever1 in place4 ,if a speaker1 addressing a very ignorant audience1 had to use the word 'rotatory1' for example1 he might make a cyclic movement or two with his hand1 to illustrate its meaning4 ,but to do so before an audience presumably intelligent enough to know the meaning of the word1 would be impertinent--a 'wasteful and ridiculous excess4' ,so1 too1 it would be1 to illustrate the word 'somersault1' before an audience of ordinary intelligence4 ,the absurdity of mimetic action is well illustrated in the following3 ',i have heard1' says a writer in ',expression' 7,vol4 ,i41 ,no4 #b71 published in ,boston1 'of a popular public reader of ,boston giving last season ,wordsworth's ,daffodils2 and as she came to the last two lines1-- ,and then my heart with pleasure fills1 ,and dances with the daffodils1 she put her hand to her heart and with pleasure indicated by a sentimental flash of the eye upon the audience1 danced a few graceful steps expressive of exuberant joy1 and bowed herself off the platform amid the vociferous applause of the audience4 ,the reader's taste in this case was no worse than that of the audience that applauded her4 ,the incident shows how great the general lack of taste1 and the need of the systematic study of fitness in the relation of thought to its expression4' ,i would say rather than 'lack of taste1' lack of spiritual life1 although the former is closely allied with the latter4 ,a reader who has assimilated the ',daffodils1' who can sympathetically reproduce within himself the heart-dance of the poet1 can better reveal that reproduction through the voice 7the requisite vocal culture being assumed7 than through such mimetic foolery as the above4 ,he would not and could not condescend to the latter1 if he had feeling deep enough truly to know the poem of the ',daffodils4' ,true feeling is always serious1 even if it be that of deep joy4 ,the trouble with many public readers is1 that they don't truly know1 have not inwardly experienced1 what they attempt to interpret vocally2 and1 as a consequence1 they resort to what disgusts people of real culture4 ,i was once present1 by accident1 at a lecture given by a ,delsarto-elocutionary woman1 and in the course of the lecture1 she presented what1 she said1 would be false gestures in reciting ,whittier's ,maud ,muller4 ,she then recited the poem1 with1 according to her notions1 true gestures1 which were more in number than ,cicero made1 perhaps1 in his orations against ,cataline1 or ,demosthenes1 in his oration ,on the ,crown4 ,every idea of the poem told outwardly on her body4 ,if a woman1 in reading ,maud ,muller1 has emotions which must find vent in gesture1 and various physical contortions1 she ought to be put under treatment that would tone up her system4 ,the ,university of the ,future1 in order to be a vastly greater power than the ,university of the ,present1 must1 at least1 rank spiritual education with intellectual training and discipline4 ,this the ,university of the near ,future must do2 the ,university of a more remote ,future1 we must believe1 if we believe that the spiritual is the crowning attribute of man--that by which he is linked with the permanent1 the eternal1 will make all intellectual training and discipline1 even all physical training1 so far as may be1 subservient to the spiritual man4 ,let us cry ',all good things ,are ours1 nor soul helps flesh more1 now1 than flesh helps soul6' ,the rectification of the intellect must1 as the greatest poem of the century1 ,browning's ',ring and the ,book1' implicitly teaches1 be through the rectification of the spiritual1 absolute man4 ,as bearing directly on my leading subject1 the vocal interpretation of literature 7that is1 spiritualized thought71 ,i would indicate some of the means and conditions of a more spiritual education than is contemplated in the most advanced educational schemes of the day4 ,what may be said to be the predominant idea of the present day1 entertained especially by scientists and exercising its influence1 more or less1 on the great majority of minds1 in regard to the main avenue to knowledge and truth8 ,i answer1 and ,i think not unjustifiably1 the idea that the analytic1 discursive1 generalizing intellect1 is adequate to solve all solvable problems--that it is the only reliable means of arriving at a positive knowledge2 that1 accordingly1 education1 the highest education1 consists almost exclusively in learning and in being trained to discover and apply1 the laws1 so called1 of nature1 to trace facts to their 7scientific7 causes and to advance logically from causes to facts--that upon which the analyzing and generalizing intellect cannot be exercised1 being set down as unknowable4 ,of an intuition inaccessible to analysis1 they take little or no account4 ,this some future age1 with a more complete education1 than ours1 will1 ,i am persuaded1 regard as the cardinal defect in the education and philosophy of the present age--a defect that tends to deaden1 if not to destroy1 in many minds1 all faith in those spiritual instincts and spiritual susceptibilities and apprehensions1 which constitute the basis of a living hope and faith in immortality1 and through which1 and through which alone1 man may know1 without thought1 some of the highest truths1 truths which are beyond the reach of the discourse of reason4 ,while the reasoning faculties of a man may exist in vigor1 the ties which unite the soul sympathetically and through assimilation1 with universal spirituality1 may be sundered1 and a spiritual world for him there will then be none4 ,that there are higher and subtler organs of discernment than the discursive intellect1 and higher things to be discerned than can be discerned by the senses1 the lowliest of men and women1 no less than the most exalted in intellect and genius1 have1 throughout the whole recorded history of the race1 borne an incontrovertible testimony4 ',the natural condition of humanity1' says ,william ,howitt1 'is alliance with the spiritual2 the anti-spiritual is but an epidemic--a disease4' ,great have been the conquests of ,science1 the last fifty years1 and great has been their influence on the temporal well-being of mankind4 ,but it must be admitted1 perhaps1 that these conquests1 the product mainly of the insulated intellect1 have been somewhat at the expense of 'the interior divinity4' ,wordsworth1 addressing his friend ,coleridge1 in the second book of ',the ,prelude1' says3 to thee ,science appears but what in truth she is1 ,not as our glory and our absolute boast1 ,but as a succedaneum1 and a prop ,to our infirmity4 ,he has been speaking of mental science4 ,the present signs of the times1 however1 give promise that humanity1 far as it has drifted in one direction1 will assert its wholeness1 and will 'render unto ,caesar the things that are ,caesar's1 and unto ,god the things that are ,god's1' and that the awakening of 'the interior divinity1' of the spiritual instincts and intuitions1 will be as much the aim of the education of the future as the exercise of the mere intellect now is4 ,this awakening must begin in infancy1 when the child first 'rounds to a separate mind1' and can respond to its mother's smile1 and feel her protecting care1 and the rosy warmth of her love4 ,then will the wise mother regard her child as almost wholly an impressionable being1 and will see especially to its surroundings and its associations whether they are suitable to be stamped upon its plastic mind4 ,as it grows1 she will aim to quicken and purify it sentiment1 and to cultivate a love of the beautiful in form1 in color1 in sound1 especially as these are exhibited in the works of ,nature2 will endeavor to bring it into the fullest sympathy with all forms of animal life1 down to 'the meanest thing that feels4' ,it is a good sign when a boy loves animals and is kind to them2 but when he is bent on killing things1 it can be quite safely inferred that he has not received at home lessons in love and had his sympathies and affections duly awakened4 ,home-life in this country is not1 as a general thing1 such as to bring the best affections into a healthy play4 ,there is too much worry1 too much taking thought of the morrow1 too much dissatisfaction with the present condition1 too much eagerness to get rich4 ,some fathers never sufficiently dismiss their business and cares from their minds1 to play with their children and to show them those little attentions which their young hearts crave2 and mothers expend their souls in the cares and vexations of housekeeping1 or1 if1 by reason of their position and wealth1 they are free from these1 in social or other matters which shut them off1 more or less1 from those maternal functions which they should consider it their highest duty to exercise4 ,filial affection certainly does not increase in this country1 as the years go on4 ,is it too much to say1 perhaps it is1 that it is rather the exception than the rule1 for children1 after1 and often before1 their majority1 to show a strong attachment either for their parents or for each other8 ,and there is a word in our language that has quite survived its usefulness2 and if things continue to go on as they are now going1 it will soon be a fit subject for an ,archaic ,dictionary--,i mean the word ,,reverence4 ,it still maintains its place in our ,dictionaries of living vocables1 but the thing it represents is a rara avis in terris nigroque simillima cygno4 ,vain is the attempt to awaken the religious sentiment in a child1 to cause it to feel the real significance of the words1 as it utters them1 ',our ,father who art in heaven1' in whom the filial and the reverential sentiments are quite extinguished4 ,these sentiments are the soil in which the religious sentiment can best germinate1 grow1 bud1 and fragrantly bloom4 ,during a child's earliest years the foundation should be laid for that spiritual relationship with ,nature which ,wordsworth has presented in his great autobiographic poem1 ',the ,prelude4' ,such relationship but very few could realize in themselves as the great high priest of ,nature realized it2 but all could be brought into a more intimate spiritual relationship with ,nature than is favored and promoted1 at present1 by home influences and by school studies4 ,the latter1 when prematurely analytical1 and brain slaughtering1 tend rather to shut off such relationship4 ,what is understood as a scientific observation of nature1 is not its highest form1 so far1 at least1 as spiritual culture is concerned4 ,it is almost exclusively an analytic observation1 in which the conscious intellect plays the chief part4 ,it is study1 not spiritual communion4 ,the highest form of observation 7if observation it can strictly be called1 which is to so great an extent a rapture of necessity and spontaneity7 is that which results from the synthetic play of the spiritual faculties1 and brings the outer world and all its minutest features into relation with the inner world of man's spirit1 and makes him feel his great allies4 ,it is this kind of observation rather than the other1 which 'adds a precious seeing to the eye1' and gives to a man some measure of 'the vision and the faculty divine1' and enables him to know something of the fields that are his own2 but from which spiritual torpor may alienate him4 ',i1 long before the blissful hour arrives1' writes ,wordsworth1 meaning when the discerning intellect of man shall be wedded to this goodly universe in love and holy passion1 and shall find the ideal forms of ,poets1 a simple produce of the common day1 ,i1 long before the blissful hour arrives1 ,would chant1 in lonely peace1 the spousal verse ,of this great consummation2--and1 by words ,which speak of nothing more than what we are1 that is1 what we really or potentially are1 ,would ,i arouse the sensual from their sleep ,of death1 and win the vacant and the vain ,to noble raptures2 while my voice proclaims ,how exquisitely the individual mind 7,and the progressive powers perhaps no less ,of the whole species7 to the external ,world ,is fitted3--and how exquisitely1 too-- ,theme this but little heard of among men-- ,the external world is fitted to the mind2 etc4 ,the system of general spiritual education which is both explicitly and implicitly set forth in ',the ,prelude1' makes this great autobiographical poem one of the most valuable productions in ,english ,literature2 and teachers capable of bringing its informing spirit home to their students 7capable by virtue of their own assimilation of it71 might do great things in the way of a spiritual quickening of their students4 ,and how much capable mothers might derive from ,wordsworth's poetry for the spiritual nurture of their children6 ,capable mothers are1 alas6 comparatively few2 but forces1 to be noticed further on1 are now at work1 which are increasing the number of such mothers1 and will continue to increase it more and more1 as the ideals of a true womanhood are more and more exalted and realized4 ,the kind of regeneration which the world1 at present1 most needs1 will have to be largely induced by woman1 and she will induce it according as her true rights1 which are involved in her 'distinctive womanhood1' are recognized and granted her1 by her not over-generous brother4 ,spiritual education is not a matter of abstract instruction4 ,it must be induced on the basis of the concrete and the personal4 ,the spiritual faculties have no affinities for the abstract4 ,christianity was introduced into the world through the personal and concrete2 rather1 it is the personal and the concrete1 and its arch-enemy has ever been the abstract1 in the form of dogma and stark-naked doctrine4 ,dogmatism implies materialism4 ,as one advances spiritually1 dogma declines with him1 in inverse proportion4 ,christianity is essential being1 and not a doctrine1 not a body of opinions1 not 'a matter of antiquarian pedantry or of historical perspective4' ,in the great words of the ',de ,imitatione ,christi1' ',cui aeternum verbum loquitur1 ille a multis opinionibus expeditur' 7he to whom the eternal word speaks1 is freed from many opinions72 and to fit the soul to be spoken to by the eternal word1 is the true1 the ultimate object of spiritual education4 ,the permanent1 the eternal1 that which is alive for evermore1 should1 indeed1 be the object of all education4 ,phenomena1 in themselves1 are not educative4 ,a feeding on them alone1 if that were possible 7man naturally1 whatever his condition1 seeks other pabulum71 would soon result in a general atrophy of all the faculties1 intellectual and spiritual4 ,to use the words of ,st4 ,vincent de ,lerins1 which he applied to the ,catholic ,church1--would that the ,church had always made them its controlling principle6--'magnopere curandum est ut id teneamus quod ubique1 quod semper1 quod ab omnibus creditum est' 7it must be especially seen to1 that we hold to that which everywhere1 which always1 which by all1 has been believed74 ,there is no exclusiveness in the eternal word2 it speaks to every one whose ears are open to it2 it enters wherever it is not shut out4 ,it speaks through ,nature1 through every form of ,art 7which to be art must be a manifestation of it71 through ,poetry1 'the breath and finer spirit of all knowledge1' through ,music1 ,sculpture1 ,painting1 ,architecture1 through all sacred books1 and1 above all1 through sanctified men and women1 of the ,present and the ,past1 'the noble ,living and the noble ,dead4' ,in the words of ,emerson3 ,not from a vain or shallow thought ,his awful ,jove young ,phidias brought2 ,never from lips of cunning fell ,the thrilling ,delphic oracle2 ,out from the heart of nature rolled ,the burdens of the ,bible old2 ,the litanies of nations came1 ,like the volcano's tongue of flame1 ,up from the burning core below1-- ,the canticles of love and woe4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the word unto the prophet spoken ,was writ on tables yet unbroken2 ,the word by seers or sibyls told ,in groves of oak or fanes of gold ,still floats upon the morning wind1 ,still whispers to the willing mind4 ,the kind of books which the young should read1 is1 of course1 an important consideration4 ,if 'a general insight into useful facts' be regarded as the main thing in a child's education1 such as 'the royal genealogies of ,oviedo1 the internal laws of the ,burmese empire1 by how many feet ,mount ,chimborazo outsoars ,teneriffe1 what navigable river joins itself to ,lara1 and what census of the year five was taken at ,klagenfurt1' and other matters not having much to do with the advancement of the millennium1 why the question is easily settled as to the kind of books a child should be provided with1 and be required to learn1 and recite2 but if some vitality of soul1 the indispensable condition of intellectual vitality1 in after life1 be the aim1 then a different kind of books will be needed--such books as will serve to vitalize and guide the instincts1 to bring the feelings into a healthful play1 and awaken enthusiasm1 and thus to prepare the way for the later exercise of the reasoning faculties1 and for the comprehension of moral and religious principles4 ,there is a time to feel the ,true1 the ,beautiful1 and the ,good1 and a time to regard all these1 as far as may be1 under intellectual relations4 ,if 'the years that bring the philosophic mind' be anticipated in a child's education1 it will be likely1 by reason of the premature philosophy served out to it1 to become a stupid man or woman1 with a plentiful lack of both intellect and soul4 ,upon the closed bud of reason1 while it is not yet ready to be unfolded1 must be brought to bear the genial warmth of sensibility1 sympathy1 and enthusiasm2 and when it opens in its own good season1 it will not be dwarfed nor canker-bitten4 ,sensibility1 sympathy1 enthusiasm1 ,i repeat1 are the elements of the atmosphere in which the intellectual1 the moral1 and the religious nature of a child can alone germinate and healthily grow1 and in later years1 bloom and shed a wholesome fragrance4 ,stories written for the young must be concrete representations of the ,true1 the ,beautiful1 and the ,good2 in other words1 they must be works of art4 ,says ,browning1 in ',the ,ring and the ,book1' ,art may tell a truth ,obliquely1 do the thing shall breed the thought1 that is1 bring what is implicit within the soul1 into the right attitude to become explicit--bring about a silent adjustment through sympathy induced by the concrete 7it cannot be induced by the abstract72 in other words1 prepare the way for the apprehension of the truth-- do the thing shall breed the thought1 ,nor wrong the thought1 missing the mediate word2 that is1 ,art1 so to speak1 is the word made flesh1--is the truth1 and1 as ,art1 has nothing directly to do with an explicit presentation of the truth4 ',the highest1 the only operation of ,art1 as of ,nature1' says ,goethe1 'is formation' 7,gestaltung74 ,so may you paint your picture1 twice show truth1 ,beyond mere imagery on the wall1-- ,so1 note by note1 bring music from your mind1 ,deeper than ever the ,andante dived1-- ,so write a book shall mean1 beyond the facts1 ,suffice the eye and save the soul beside4 ,the greatest moral teachers the world has ever known1 have exhibited the least of explicit moralizing4 ,they have embodied their gospels1--clothed them in circumstance1--woven them into a tissue of imagery and incident and1 by so doing1 have given them that vitality which alone can awaken sympathy1 and thus induce a mental preparedness for a reception of the higher truths1 and a comprehension of great principles4 ,a deep sympathy with truth is the important thing3 this implies a rectification of the spiritual nature--its harmonization with the constitution of things4 ,a great amount of abstract truth may be lodged in one's brain1 and this sympathy may be more or less wanting4 ,to secure it1 the ',word' of the teacher must become flesh1--it must be contemplated in the flesh1 living and breathing1--it must be represented as militant1 subject to accident and antagonism1 but assuring men of its unquenchable vitality1 its relationship with the divine1 through the might of its resistance1 and through its final triumph1 though not necessarily according to earthly standards of the triumphant4 ,there are novels which exhibit a somewhat low ideal of life through the general squaring up of things at the end--the good being rewarded outwardly and the bad punished4 ,but ,in the corrupted 'currents of this world1 ,offence's gilded hand may shove by justice1 444 but 'tis not so above4 ,the teachings of ,jesus are clothed in circumstance and imagery which were familiar to all whom he addressed4 ',all these things spake ,jesus unto the multitude in parables2 and without a parable spake he not unto them4' ,to use the words of ,archbishop ,trench in his ',unconscious ,prophecies of ,heathendom1' ',in his life and person1 the idea and the fact at length kissed each other1 and were thenceforward wedded forever4' ,the liberal-minded reader of the four records which we have of ,christ's life and teachings1 must admit that he added little or nothing to the previously existing knowledge of truth in the abstract2 he rather caused truth which philosophers and moralists had already intellectually recognized1 to be known 'by heart4' ,he presented it concretely1 in his own life and in his teachings1 and thus worked it into that 'daily bread' for which he commanded us to pray1 and which alone will nourish human sympathy and love4 ,in its previous intellectual1 abstract form1 it did not1 and could not1 become an element of spiritual life4 ,in the thirty beautiful little stories in the ,new ,testament1 educators of the young1 and indeed all educators in the fullest sense1 may see the cardinal principle of their calling1 namely1 that the greatest power of ethical and religious truth can be secured only through the concrete1 and the personal1 through that which is the truth1 and not through an abstract enunciation--through that form which is loved for its own sake2 whose beauty is its own excuse for being2 and the sense of love and beauty1 when awakened1 makes all things plain4 ,ubi caritas1 ibi claritas4 ,many who have written books for the young professedly to impart ,christian instruction1 have least observed the mode exhibited in the teachings of him whom they profess to take as their ,great ,exemplar4 ,their instruction is too explicit4 ,it is presented without a sufficiency of concrete clothing to keep it warm2 sometimes in its abstract nakedness4 ,it is thus powerless to awaken the love and sympathy of young hearts4 ,if the views above expressed are sound1 ,i would say that1 in choosing reading matter for the young1 special preference should be given to such stories as serve to awaken the imagination1 exercise the sympathies1 and nourish a lively and joyous enthusiasm4 ,i should wholly exclude explicitly moral and religious stories1 and should choose in their stead1 stories of human sympathy and sacrifice1 heroic endurance1 and unconscious virtues 7conscious virtue is always weak71 fairy tales1 and legends gay and sad4 ,a child of healthful1 unperverted feelings is averse to moral and religious books1 as a class4 ,it would rather read about ,robinson ,crusoe and his faithful man ,friday1 and it is far better that it should have such preference--far better that it should live1 while a child1 in the golden prime ,of good ,haroun ,alraschid1 instead of being prematurely crammed with1 to it1 lifeless moral and religious principles1 'useful' knowledge1 and the sciences4 ,wholesome to every one would be such ',recollections of the ,arabian ,nights' as are expressed by ,tennyson3 ',far off1 and where the lemon-grove ,in closest coverture upsprung1 ,the living airs of middle night ,died round the bulbul as he sung2 ,not he3 but something which possessed ,the darkness of the world1 delight1 ,life1 anguish1 death1 immortal love1 ,ceasing not1 mingled1 unrepressed1 ,apart from place1 withholding time1 ,but flattering the golden prime ,of good ,haroun ,alraschid4' ,a child cannot be made virtuous by maxims4 ,the life which is before it1 is not a scheme to be taught1 but a drama to be acted4 ,who loves not ,knowledge8 ,who shall rail ,against her beauty8 ,may she mix ,with men and prosper6 ,who shall fix ,her pillars8 ,let her work prevail4 ,but ,what is she1 cut from love and faith1 ,but some wild ,pallas from the brain ,of ,demons8 ,let her know her place2 ,she is the second1 not the first4 ,man must grow not alone in power ,and knowledge1 but by year and hour ,in reverence and in charity4 ,blessings upon all the books that are the delight of childhood and youth and unperverted manhood6 ,precious are the sympathetic tears which dim the page and which it is so wholesome to encourage in early life as a check to the growth of selfishness and egoism4 ',who1' writes ,george ,sand1 in her ',lettres d'un ,voyageur1' 'does not remember with delight1 the first books which he relished and devoured8 ,has never an old dusty cover of some volume found upon the shelves of a neglected closet1 brought back to your mind the lovely pictures of early years8 ,are you not again1 in fancy1 seated in the green meadow bathed in the evening sunlight1 where you read it for the first time8' ,what galleries of sweet1 pathetic1 inspiriting1 and noble pictures1 have been prepared for the modern child6--pictures1 which time and all the damp and cold of after life cannot obscure1 to those who have enjoyed them4 ,and to what a goodly company is it the privilege of childhood and youth1 and early manhood1 to be admitted6--the immortal offspring of cheerful genius1 whose companionship expands and strengthens and purifies the heart4 ,but the young are lamentably debarred1 in these days of excessive1 and non-educating1 learning1 from the wholesome influences1 wholesome1 in the way of inducing sympathy1 enthusiasm1 and a play of the imagination1 which the best books of the past and of the present might exert upon them4 ,their school tasks and examinations absorb all their time1 and the accompanying worry about 'marks1' saps their minds--',death loves a shining mark4' ,later on1 in the higher schools1 colleges1 and universities1 there is no time for communion with great authors4 ,the reading which is done1 is largely perfunctory4 ,speaking from my own long experience1 ,i do not think that one out of twenty of university students1 even of those who elect courses in ,english ,literature1 has read and assimilated the works of any one good author1 or any single work4 ,this is a statement based on an exceptionally long experience4 ,many have studied literature1 as the phrase goes1 but have no literary education1 however well they may have 'passed' in the kind of work done4 ,and such students pursue the study of elocution1 with a sufficiently pitiable result4 ,they have never had awakened in them the faculties which are demanded for assimilating the life of a work of genius1 and consequently can do nothing in the way of vocal interpretation4 ,they cannot give through the voice1 however well trained it may be1 what is not theirs to give4 ,believing as ,i do1 in the imperative need of the kind of education ,i have suggested1 ,i must1 as a natural consequence1 believe in the co-education of the sexes1 in the opening to women of all the avenues along which men only have hitherto gone1 and in the removal of all obstacles to the exercise of the powers inherent in 'distinctive womanhood4' ,these things will do more for civilization1 in the highest sense of the word1 that is1 the spiritual sense1 than all other agencies combined4 ,a true manhood and a true womanhood cannot be reached except through the mutual influence of the sexes upon each other4 ,they must be educated together1 such education beginning in the family1 and continuing through all stages of scholastic training up to and through the university4 ,boys at home1 without affectionate sisters1 and girls without affectionate brothers1 are at a disadvantage4 ,at no less disadvantage is either sex when separated from the other1 in school1 college1 or university4 ,for it is only at this period of their lives1 and in such relations1 that they can be fitted1 if fitted at all1 to walk the world together1 yoked in all exercise of noble end4 ,the moral insight of man1 to say nothing of his finer spiritual insight1 owes much of its penetrating clearness to the feminine element of his nature2 and unless this element be developed in due proportion to the intellectual element1 he can have1 at best1 but distorted views of right and wrong1 justice and injustice4 ,on this side of his nature1 the rays of an unclouded womanhood must strike1 before it can be awakened into a genial vitality1 and thus impart health1 vigor1 and subtlety to the intellectual side4 ',you cannot think1' says ,ruskin 7,sesame and ,lilies3 #b4 ,of ,queen's ,gardens71 'that the buckling on of the knight's armor by his lady's hand was a mere caprice of romantic fashion4 ,it is the type of an eternal truth--that the soul's armor is never well set to the heart unless a woman's hand has braced it2 and it is only when she braces it loosely that the honor of manhood fails4' ,on the other hand1 woman can be a true woman1 only to the degree to which she is permitted to share with man all his highest interests1 to sympathize with all his noblest aims1 and to work side by side with him in the regeneration of the world4 ,that which is especially distinctive in her nature1 must be subdued1 toned1 and guided by a greater breadth and solidity of intellectual culture2 and this can be most effectually secured by co-education1 and by her being afforded the opportunity to move with man along the higher planes of learning and of thought1 and to have a larger share with him than she has hitherto had1 in the fruits of the world's intellectual and moral conquests4 ,the general recognition and realization which are near at hand1 of woman's equal rights with man in all that pertains to the highest good of a human being1 will have an especially beneficial influence in the marriage relation1 the most important in its bearings of all the relations of human life4 ,there are numberless husbands who pass in society for kind and generous men1 recognizing the rights of all with whom they have dealings1 and cheerfully according those rights1 but who are1 in many ways1 ungenerous and inconsiderate toward their wives1 and that1 too1 without being in the least aware of it4 ,they would be very much surprised if any one were to tell them so4 ,and why is this8 ,it is1 no doubt1 in most cases1 because of a feeling engendered by the whole past constitution of society--a feeling that has become so ingrained as to be an unconscious one--that woman has peculiar duties which she must fulfil1 but that her rights1 apart from these peculiar duties1 depend upon the arbitrary will of man4 ,children1 from a very early age1 are made to feel this more or less1 according to the influences of their home-life4 ,when a father shows no estimate of the mother's opinions and advice1 never talks with her on the higher current subjects of interest1 nor consults her about the weightier matters with which he has to deal1 but regards her 7and this he may do in all kindness7 as one whose sole business it is to look well to the ways of her household1 the son's ideal of woman is not likely to be the highest4 ,happy indeed is he whose home education has been such that 'faith in womankind beats with his blood4' ,that1 by itself1 is a liberal education4 ,fears are entertained by many good people1 that co-education1 and woman's larger co-operation with man in the affairs of the world1 will tend to unsex her1 to render her mannish1 and eclipse1 more or less1 those qualities and graces which have hitherto been regarded as constituting the chief charm and glory of her sex4 ,she may1 indeed1 have less of mere femineity1 but1 in its stead1 she will certainly have more womanliness1 in the best sense of the word 7by virtue of which she is a specially commissioned regenerating power in the world71 if she is reared and educated with the other sex1 and allowed her full share in all the great interests of human life1 social1 political1 educational1 moral1 and religious4 ,under such circumstances she has a better chance of becoming ,a perfect ,woman1 nobly planned1 ,to warn1 to comfort1 and command1 than if she be excluded from those interests and lead the restricted life she has ever been obliged to lead by the conventionalities and regulations of society4 ,the great ,italian patriot1 ,giuseppe ,mazzini1 'the prophet and spiritual hero of his nation1' and1 indeed1 of the whole modern world1 wrote in #aheh3 ',seek in woman not merely a comfort1 but a force1 an inspiration1 the redoubling of your intellectual and moral faculties4 ,cancel from your mind every idea of superiority over her4 ,you have none whatever4 ',long prejudice1 an inferior education1 and a perennial legal inequality and injustice have created that apparent intellectual inferiority which has been converted into an argument of continued oppression4444 ,like two distinct branches springing from the same trunk1 man and woman are varieties springing from the common basis--,humanity4 ,there is no inequality between them1 but--even as is the case among men--diversity of tendency and of special vocation4 ',are two notes of the same musical chord unequal or of different nature8 ,man and woman are the two notes without which the ,human chord is impossible4 ,they fulfil different functions in ,humanity1 but these functions are equally sacred1 equally manifestations of that ,thought of ,god which ,he has made the soul of the universe4 ',consider woman1 therefore1 as the partner and companion1 not merely of your joys and sorrows1 but of your thoughts1 your aspirations1 your studies1 and your endeavors after social amelioration4 ,consider her your equal in your civil and political life4 ,be ye the two human wings that lift the soul towards the ,ideal we are destined to attain4' ,william ,lloyd ,garrison1 in an introduction to ',joseph ,mazzini1 his life1 writings1 and political principles1' writes3 ',mazzini's concern for the rights of man was never1 on any pretext1 in a purely masculine sense4 ,years ago he inculcated the equality of the sexes in regard to all civil and political immunities4 ,largely indebted to his mother for the grand impulses which led him to consecrate his life to the service of his country1 his generic respect for woman amounted almost to sanctitude3 it was the embodiment of all that is tender in affection1 fragrant in purity1 devout in aspiration1 and self-sacrificing in love4' ,it has never been a matter of much regret to me that so little is known of ,shakespeare's personal history--the circumstances of his outer life4 ,of what his interior life was1 we can have no doubt4 ,it must have been a life capable of sympathetically reproducing within itself all the great characters1 men and women1 of the ,dramas4 ,but if ,i could wear the wishing-cap of ,fortunatus1 ,i would wish to know what manner of woman1 in all particulars1 was ,mary ,arden1 the poet's mother4 ,the men whose intellectual and1 more especially1 spiritual gifts to the world1 have been the greatest1 and most quickening1 have oftener1 no doubt1 been more indebted1 for those gifts1 to their mothers than to their fathers4 ,the radiant shapes of the women of ,shakespeare's ,dramas certainly had their source in the feminine element1 the ewig weibliche1 of his nature1 and this element was as certainly1 ,i cannot but think1 derived from1 and quickened by1 his mother4 ,in what was1 without doubt1 his earliest play1 ,love's ,labor's ,lost1 ,biron1 ,i am quite sure1 expresses ,shakespeare's own opinion of the peculiar power of women 7,a4 ,,iv4 ,s4 ,,iii473 ,from women's eyes this doctrine ,i derive3 ,they sparkle still the right ,promethean fire2 ,they are the books1 the arts1 the academes1 ,that show1 contain1 and nourish all the world4 ,this was as certainly ,shakespeare's own opinion about woman as what ,biron says 7,a4 ,i4 ,s4 ,i47 was his own opinion about study3 ,study is like the heaven's glorious sun1 ,that will not be deep-search'd with saucy looks2 ,small have continual plodders ever won1 ,save base authority from others' books4 ,these earthly godfathers of heaven's lights1 ,that give a name to every fixed star1 ,have no more profit of their shining nights ,than those that walk and wot not what they are4 ,too much to know is to know nought but fame2 ,and every godfather can give a name4 ,shakespeare must early have felt his superiority in true education 7the nimble play of all the faculties7 to the merely learned men with whom he came in contact1 and must soon have discovered that he drank from fountains of which they knew nothing4 ,his own vitality of soul was responsive to the essential life of men and things2 and it was through this responsiveness that he attained to a wisdom inaccessible to mere learning and intellectual enlightenment4 ,it was his mother1 ,i like to think1 who initiated him into the mysteries of the spirit4 ,,note #a1 ,,page #ba4 ,see ,vol4 ,i1 pp4 #bbi et seq4 of ',memoirs of ,richard ,whateley1 ,archbishop of ,dublin4 ,with a glance at his contemporaries and times4 ,by ,william ,john ,fitzpatrick1 ,j4,p4 ,in two volumes4 ,london3 ,richard ,bentley1 #ahfd4' ,,note #b1 ,,page #dg4 ,this notation of feet ,i have used in my ',primer of ,english ,verse1' a representing an accented1 and x1 an unaccented1 syllable4 ,,note #c1 ,,page #ej4 ,we cannot help observing1 because certain critics observe otherwise1 that ,chaucer utters as true music as ever came from poet or musician2 that some of the sweetest cadences in all our ,english are extant in his swete upon his tongue1 in completest modulation4 ,let ,denham's strength and ,waller's sweetness join the ,io paean of a later age1 the eurekamen of ,pope and his generation4 ,not one of the ,queen ,anne's men1 measuring out tuneful breath upon their fingers1 like ribbons for topknots1 did know the art of versification as the old rude ,chaucer knew it4 ,call him rude for the picturesqueness of the epithet2 but his verse has1 at least1 as much regularity in the sense of true art1 and more manifestly in proportion to our increasing acquaintance with his dialect and pronunciation1 as can be discovered or dreamed in the ,french school4 ,critics1 indeed1 have set up a system based upon the crushed atoms of first principles1 maintaining that poor ,chaucer wrote by accent only6 ,grant to them that he counted no verses on his fingers2 grant that he never disciplined his highest thoughts to walk up and down in a paddock--ten paces and a turn2 grant that his singing is not after the likeness of their singsong2 but there end your admissions4 ,it is our ineffaceable impression1 in fact1 that the whole theory of accent and quantity held in relation to ancient and modern poetry stands upon a fallacy1 totters1 rather than stands2 and that1 when considered in connection with such old moderns as our ,chaucer1 the fallaciousness is especially apparent4 ,chaucer wrote by quantity1 just as ,homer did before him1 just as ,goethe did after him1 just as all poets must4 ,rules differ1 principles are identical4 ,all rhythm presupposes quantity4 ,organ-pipe or harp1 the musician plays by time4 ,greek or ,english1 ,chaucer or ,pope1 the poet sings by time4 ,what is this accent but a stroke1 an emphasis1 with a successive pause to make complete the time8 ,and what is the difference between this accent and quantity but the difference between a harp-note and an organ-note8 otherwise1 quantity expressed in different ways8 ,it is as easy for matter to subsist out of space1 as music out of time4--,mrs4 ,e4 ,b4 ,browning's ',the ,book of the ,poets4' ,,note #d1 ,,page #fd4 ,avant d'executer son oeuvre1 l'artiste la concoit2 il enfante au dedans de lui1 pour emprunter la langue de ,bossuet1 'un tableau1 une statue1 un edifice qui1 dans sa simplicite1 est la forme1 l'original1 le modele immateriel de ce qu'il executera sur la pierre1 sur le marbre1 sur la toile ou il arrangera toutes ses couleurs4' ,ce modele immateriel est pour l'artiste1 si l'on veut1 un ideal qu'il se propose de realiser dans son oeuvre3 c'est le patron sur lequel il travaille et qu'il s'efforce a reproduire le plus exactement possible4 ,il y met tous ses soins1 toute son etude1 et il travaille avec crainte et tremblement2 il craint de defigurer1 de mutiler l'image sainte imprimee dans son esprit2 il craint que sa main1 interprete infidele1 ne traduise mal sa pensee2 il craint que la copie ne soit qu'une caricature de l'original1 et il efface1 il corrige1 il rature1 il retouche1 il refait1 il a des hesitations1 des scrupules1 des repentirs2 souvent il se decourage1 il est sur le point d'abandonner l'oeuvre commencee1 il a peur de rester au-dessous de son sujet2 la perfection du modele immateriel le desespere1 et ce desespoir provient d'une illusion4 ,d'ordinaire1 ce modele ne lui semble si parfait que parce qu'il est encore vague1 confus1 indetermine4 ,nous prenons volontiers l'indefini pour la perfection2 individualiser une idee1 c'est lui donner on mode particulier a l'exclusion de tous les autres dont elle etait susceptible1 et cette exclusion nous coute1 c'est une sorte de sacrifice que s'impose notre imagination2 elle y a regret1 comme l'avare1 en depensant un ecu pour se donner un plaisir1 regrette tous les autres plaisirs imaginables que cet ecu lui aurait pu procurer4 ,car il ne faut pas accorder a ,schleiermacher que l'oeuvre d'art existe deja tout entiere dans l'esprit de l'artiste avant qu'il ait realise sa pensee dans le marbre ou sur la toile4 ,cette pensee est toujours plus ou moins enveloppee1 plus ou moins confuse2 elle n'est pas encore degagee de son delivre1 ou plutot c'est un rudiment incomplet1 une ebauche indistincte ou l'on n'apercoit que les principaux lineaments de l'oeuvre2 c'est un embryon dont les organes ne sont pas encore developpes4 ,c'est en travaillant a executer son plan que l'artiste parvient a concevoir ce plan d'une maniere claire et distincte2 c'est en manifestant au dehors sa pensee qu'il se la rend manifeste a lui-meme4 ,la composition et l'execution sont deux periodes de l'activite de l'artiste que l'abstraction seule peut distinguer2 dans le fait1 elles ne se distinguent point1 et le peintre compose encore dans le dernier coup de pinceau qu'il donne a sa toile4--,victor ,cherbuliez3 ,philosophie du ,beau4--,etudes sur le ,systeme d'esthetique de ,m4 ,th4 ,vischer4 ,troisieme article4 7,revue ,germanique1 ,tome x1 p4 #ffb47 ,,note #e1 ,,page #hc4 ,my attention was called to this chapter1 many years ago1 as affording good illustrations of the slighting of speech1 by ,mr4 ,j4 ,w4 ,taverner1 one of the best teachers of elocution ,i have ever known4 ,his daughter1 ,mrs4 ,f4 ,taverner ,graham1 has embodied much of his instructions in her valuable text-book1 entitled ',reasonable ,elocution1' originally published by ,a4 ,s4 ,barnes ,co41 in #ahgd4 ,it is now published by the ,american ,book ,company4 ,,note #f1 ,,page #ii4 ,john ,keats1 in his poem entitled ',sleep and ,poetry1' after speaking of the greatness of his favorite poets of the ,elizabethan period1 continues3 ,could all this be forgotten8 ,yes1 a schism ,nurtured by foppery and barbarism1 ,made great ,apollo blush for this his land4 ,men were thought wise who could not understand ,his glories3 with a puling infant's force ,they sway'd about upon a rocking-horse1 ,and thought it ,pegasus4 ,he alludes1 of course1 to the rocking-horse movement of the rhyming couplet as used during the ,popian period4 ,as used by ,chaucer1 this rocking-horse movement is not so felt4 ,,note #g1 ,,page #aja4 ,legouve1 in his ',l',art de la lecture1' chap4 vii1 ',les vers libres1' says3 les vers libres out un rhythme comme les vers alexandrins1 comme les vers des strophes1 seulement c'est un rhythme cache4 ,ils obeissent a une regle mysterieuse1 mais reelle1 que vous ne trouverez dans aucun traite de rhetorique1 mais qui est ecrite dans l'imagination de tous les poetes de genie4 ,voila pourquoi les vers libres du dix-septieme siecle sont excellents1 et ceux du dix-huitieme1 sauf quelques pieces de ,voltaire1 mediocres2 les poetes n'ont pas devine le secret4 ,,note #h1 ,,page #aad4 ,socrates4 ,i cannot help feeling1 ,phaedrus1 that writing is unfortunately like painting2 for the creations of the painter have the attitude of life1 and yet if you ask them a question they preserve a solemn silence4 ,and the same may be said of speeches4 ,you would imagine that they had intelligence1 but if you want to know anything1 and put a question to one of them1 the speaker always gives one unvarying answer4 ,and when they have been once written down1 they are tumbled about anywhere among those who may or may not understand them1 and know not to whom they should reply1 to whom not2 and if they are maltreated or abused1 they have no parent to protect them2 and they cannot protect or defend themselves4 ,phaedrus4 ,that again is most true4 ,socrates4 ,is there not another kind of word or speech far better than this1 and having far greater power--a son of the same family1 but lawfully begotten8 ,phaedrus4 ,whom do you mean1 and what is his origin8 ,socrates4 ,i mean an intelligent word graven in the soul of the learner1 which can defend itself1 and knows when to speak and when to be silent4 ,phaedrus4 ,you mean the living word of knowledge which has a soul1 and of which the written word is properly no more than an image8 ,socrates4 ,yes1 of course1 that is what ,i mean4--,plato1 ,phaedrus1 #bge ,d1 #bgf1 ,dr4 ,jowett's translation4 ,,note #i1 ,,page #aba4 ,he refers probably to articles in ,punch1 contained in the #b;d volume for the year #ahhg1 pp4 #be1 #cg1 #fd1 et al4 ,,index ,ames's1 ,rev4 ,c4 ,g41 description of ,emerson's voice1 #ajc1 #ajd4 ,appreciation of subject-matter1 not sufficient for interpretative reading1 #aj1 #aa4 ,art1 its function1 #aec-aeg4 ,belshazzar's ,feast 7,daniel v471 as illustrating the slighting of speech1 #hc-ie4 ,books1 children's1 #aej-afe4 ,brain slaughter in the schools1 #dj4 ,browning1 ,mrs4 ,e4 ,b41 quoted on ,chaucer's verse1 note #c4 ,browning1 ,robert1 quoted on processes of art work1 #fd2 on the function of art1 #aec-aee4 ,chaucer's verse must be voiced1 #dd1 #de2 must be read in time1 #ej2 ,mrs4 ,browning quoted thereupon1 note #c4 ,cherbuliez1 ,victor1 quoted on processes of art work1 note #d4 ,child1 early education of the1 #ach et seq4 ,children's books1 #aej-afe4 ,christianity1 a religion of the personal and the concrete1 #adg4 ,co-education of the sexes1 #afg-agd4 ,coleridge's reading1 #ab4 ,comparisons and similes1 reading of1 #hj-hb4 ,culture1 true1 unconscious of the processes which induced it1 #bj4 ,de ,imitatione ,christi1 quoted on 'the eternal word1' #adg1 #adh4 ,de ,quincey1 ,thomas1 quoted on ,coleridge's reading1 #ab4 ,dogma1 the arch-enemy of ,christianity1 #adg4 ,dowden1 ,prof4 ,edward1 quoted on reading1 #abj1 #aba4 ,education1 the danger to which it will be more and more exposed1 #ch2 etymology of the word1 #ci1 #dj4 ,elocutionary skill1 #ah4 ,elwood1 ,thomas1 quoted as to his reading ,latin to ,milton1 #ec4 ,emerson1 quoted on the human voice1 #ajb1 #ajc2 his own voice described1 #ajc1 #ajd4 ,enjambement1 absence of1 in ,pope's verse1 #aja4 ,estimates of all things1 relative1 #bg4 ,eternal ,word1 ,the1 not exclusive1 #adi1 #aej4 ,examinations1 literary1 #ee-fj2 leading object of1 #ei4 ,faith in womankind1 a liberal education1 #agc4 ,feeling must precede knowing1 in a child1 #gj1 #ga4 ,femineity vs4 womanliness1 #agc1 #agd4 ,garrison1 ,william ,lloyd1 quoted on ,mazzini's advocacy of the equality of the sexes1 #agg4 ,gesture1 mimetic1 its absurdities1 #abh-aca4 ,greek verse must be read aloud1 and in time1 #df4 ,grouping of speech1 #bh4 ,home-life in this country1 #aci1 #adj4 ,hume1 ,david1 quoted on criticism1 #cg4 ,imitation of ,christ1 quoted on 'the eternal word1' #adg1 #adh4 ',impressions before the letter1' #dj4 ,inflections1 or bends1 of the voice1 must be always significant1 #gg-gi4 ,interior life demanded in reading1 #aai4 ,jesus1 teachings of1 clothed in circumstance and imagery1 #aeg-afj4 ,keats1 ,john1 quoted on the ,popian period of ,english poetry1 note #f4 ,language1 as addressed to the eye1 must be largely supplemented by the voice1 #bi1 #cj4 ,languages1 modern1 the study of1 #ea1 #eb4 ,latin verse1 must be read aloud1 and in time1 #df4 ,legouve1 ,ernest1 quoted in regard to reading1 in ,america1 as an educational agency1 #cd2 quoted on 'les vers libres1' note #g4 ,lewes1 ,g4 ,h41 quoted on the stuffing of children with knowledge1 #dj1 #da4 ,linguistic studies1 importance of vocalization in1 #dc4 ,literary education1 leading object of1 #abb4 ,literary examinations1 #ee2 leading object of1 #ei4 ,literary lecture1 what it should be1 #cf1 #cg4 ,manhood1 a true1 #afg4 ,mazzini1 ,giuseppe1 quoted on woman1 her power1 her equality with man1 and her rights1 #agd-agg2 ,william ,lloyd ,garrison quoted on ,mazzini1 #agg4 ,melody in reading1 #ig-aja4 ,milton's ,samson ,agonistes1 choruses of1 must be read in time1 #ea4 ,mimetic gesture1 its absurdities1 #abh-aca4 ,monotony preferable to non-significant intervals1 #gi4 ,moral influence of the speaking voice1 #ajd-ajg4 ,moral insight of man1 #afh1 #afi4 ,moral teachers1 the greatest1 not explicit moralizers1 #aee4 ,mothers1 comparatively few1 capable1 #adf2 indebtedness of great men to their1 #agh4 ',natural' reading1 #ac4 ,nature1 spiritual relationship with1 #adb-ade4 ,perspective of speech1 an important element of interpretative reading1 #bg4 ,phenomena not in themselves educative1 #adh4 ,plato quoted on the written and the spoken word1 note #h4 ,poem1 a1 not a poem until it is voiced1 #cj2 a true1 #fb4 ,poets cannot always vocalize their own verse1 #ad4 ,pope's verse1 its mechanical uniformity1 #ajj1 #aja2 absence of enjambement in1 #aja4 ',prelude1' ,wordsworth's1 its great educative value1 #ade4 ,printed1 or written1 language1 deficiencies of1 to be supplied by the reader1 #bi1 #cj4 ,printing1 art of1 has caused language to be too much known through the eye alone1 #aad1 #aae4 ,reading1 can it be taught81 #i2 the main achievable result1 #ah2 extempore1 its requirements1 #bf2 the best test of a student's knowledge of language as an organism1 #bh1 #bi2 must give life to the letter1 #bi2 the conditions for so doing1 #cj2 ,shelley quoted thereupon1 #ca2 requirements in early life for its cultivation1 #db2 art of1 its correspondences with that of painting1 #fh1 #fi2 the requisite physical means of1 #gb2 technique of1 #gc et seq42 is not acting1 #abf4 ,reading matter for the young1 #afj-afd4 ,reasoning faculties1 the premature exercise of1 #gj1 #aeb1 #aec4 ,recitation1 its evils1 #abg4 ,reverential sentiments1 cultivation of1 #ada4 ,ruskin1 ,john1 quoted on the power of woman1 #afi1 #agj4 ,scholarship must not become an end to itself1 #abd4 ,schools do not fit their students for interpretative reading1 #abc4 ,science1 power of1 #ac2 ,wordsworth quoted on1 #acg4 ,shakespeare1 reading of1 to boys and girls1 #ce4 ,shakespeare's estimate of the voice1 #aji-aac2 his personal history and interior life1 #agh2 quoted on woman1 #agi2 on study1 #ahj2 his mother1 #agh1 #aha4 ,similes and comparisons1 reading of1 #hj-hb4 ,skill1 elocutionary1 #ah4 ,slaughter of the innocents1 in schools1 #dj2 ,g4 ,h4 ,lewes quoted1 #dj1 #da4 ,slighting of speech illustrated1 #hc-ie4 ,speaking voice1 importance of its cultivation as a moral agency1 #ajb-aji4 ,speech1 slighting of1 illustrated1 #hc-ie4 ,spiritual education demanded for interpretative reading1 #abb2 means and conditions of1 #acc-aff2 must be induced on the basis of the concrete and the personal1 #adf1 #adg4 ,stories for the young1 #aec4 ,taste1 true1 an expression of spiritual life1 #abi4 ,taylor1 ,sir ,henry1 quoted on reading1 #cd-cf2 quoted on ,tennyson's reading1 #gf1 #gg4 ,teacher1 the ideal1 #cb1 #cc4 ,tennyson's reading1 #gf1 #gg2 his ',recollections of the ,arabian ,nights1' #afb4 ',thorough' study of a work of genius1 #abd4 ,time1 its importance in vocal expression1 #gi-hb4 ,unconscious might1 in every work of genius1 #fe4 ,university of the future1 what it must do for the spiritual man1 #acb4 ,verse1 accentual and quantitative1 #df-di4 ,vincent de ,lerins1 ,st41 quoted on the universal and the eternal1 #adh1 #adi4 ,vocal exercises1 #fj-fb4 ,voice1 the speaking1 importance of its cultivation as a moral agency1 #ajb-aji2 ,shakespeare's estimate of1 #aji-aac4 ,whateley's1 ,archbishop1 theory of 'natural' reading1 #ad2 his own oratorical delivery1 #ae2 his assumptions in regard to elocution1 #ai4 ,woman1 her power and rights1 ,mazzini quoted on1 #agd-agg4 ,womanhood1 a true1 #afg1 #agj4 ,womanliness vs4 femineity1 #agc1 #agd4 ,wordsworth quoted on hearing1 #abe2 on science1 #acg2 the great educative value of his ',prelude1' #ade4 ,written1 or printed1 language1 deficiencies of1 to be supplied by the reader1 #bi1 #cj4 ,the ,aims of ,literary ,study4 ,,by ,,hiram ,,corson1 ,,ll4,d4 #ahmo4 ,cloth1 gilt4 #ge cents4 ,a book whose intimate companionship every literary man should cultivate4--,boston ,budget4 ,a source of inspiration4--,boston ,beacon4 ,if a copy of this little book could be given to every teacher of ,english in the land1 the rising generation would have reason to be thankful4 ,never before1 perhaps1 was the idea of literary education lifted to so high a plane and so successfully carried over from the realm of the purely intellectual into the region of the spiritual4 ,many of the utterances have the precision and brilliancy of epigrams4--,the ,evangelist4 ,a mammoth heap of information in a nutshell4--,cleveland ,gazette4 ,it is written in a clear1 logical style1 and also from a broad and comprehensive knowledge4 ,the true spirit of literature and the right way of estimating an author's worth are admirably set forth4 ,the aims and ideals of the study are excellently set forth1 and what is more1 set forth in a clear1 broad1 and scholarly manner4--,amherst ,student4 ,,the ,,macmillan ,,company1 #ff ,,fifth ,,avenue1 ,,new ,,york4 ,transcriber's ,note3 ,the oe ligature has been replaced with oe4 ,a lower case u with breve has been represented by 7u on page #ge4