and their tall and imposing commander, holding up his watch to count the lapse of three minutes, given as the reprieve to the lives of hundreds. No poet or painter can conceive of a spectacle of more dark and terrible sublimity; no human heart can conceive a situation of more appalling suspense.

20. For two minutes, not a person nor a muscle was moved, not a sound was heard in the unwonted stillness of the prison, except the labored breathings of the +infuriated wretches, as they began to pant, between fear and revenge at the expiration of two minutes, during which they had faced the ministers of death with unblenching eyes, two or three of those in the rear, and nearest the further entrance, went slowly out: a few more followed the example, dropping out quietly and deliberately; and before half of the last minute was gone, every man was struck by the panic, and crowded for an exit, and the hall was cleared as if by magic.

21. Thus the steady firmness of moral force, and the strong effect of determination, acting deliberately, awed the most savage men, and suppressed a scene of carnage which would have instantly followed the least precipitancy or exertion of physical force.

BUCKINGHAM.

---

QUESTIONS. What is the use of the state prison? Where is the penitentiary of this state? What accounts for the conduct of the subordinate officer, who, though ordinarily the mildest, was on this occasion the firmest? Suppose Major W. had fired through the windows, as he was advised, what would have been, in all probability, the result? Narrate the substance of the 19th and 20th paragraphs. What gained this bloodless victory?

Explain the inflections, and point out the emphatic words in the last two paragraphs.

ARTICULATION.

When similar sounds come at the end of one word, and at the beginning of the next, they must not be blended.

He sinks sorrowing to the tomb. Man loves society. Time flies swiftly. The birds sing. Man never dies. The heart turns away. The lip pants. The dim mournful light tries vainly to enter. The quick creak comes grating. Give vantage-ground.

LESSON XCII.

REMARK. — In reading poetry that rhymes, a slight pause should be made at the end of each line, in order that the harmony of the similar sounds may be perceived.

PRONOUNCE Correctly and ARTICULATE distinctly.-Heav-en-ly, pro. heav'n-ly: be-wil-der'd, not be-wild-ud: sounds, not souns: sweetest, not sweet-es: burst-ing, not bus't-in: dif-fer-ing, not diff'rin : health-i-est, not health-i-es: sa-tyrs, not sat-uz: fes-tal-sound-ing, not fes-t'ls-ound-in.

1. Shell, n. an instrument of music.
Cell, n. a cottage or place of residence.
Force'-ful, a. acting with power.

2. Re-coil'-ed, v. started back.
6. Mien, n. appearance, look.
7. Veer'-ing, a. turning, changing.
8. Se-ques'-ter-ed, a, private, secluded.
Run'-nels, n. small brooks, rivulets.
9. Bus'-kin, n. a kind of half boot.

1.

THE PASSIONS.

WHEN Music, heavenly maid! was young,
While yet, in early Greece, she sung,
The Passions, oft, to hear her shell,
+Thronged around her magic cell;
+Exulting, trembling, raging, fainting,
Possessed beyond the muse's painting:
By turns, they felt the glowing mind
Disturbed, delighted, raised, refined;
Till once, 't is said, when all were fired,
Filled with fury, rapt, inspired,
From the supporting myrtles round,
They snatched her instruments of sound;
And, as they oft had heard apart,
Sweet lessons of her forceful art,
Each, (for madness ruled the hour),
Would prove his own expressive power.

2. First Fear, his hand, its skill to try,
Amid the chords bewildered laid;
And back recoiled, he knew not why,
E'en at the sound himself had made.
3. Next Anger rushed, his eyes on fire

In lightnings owned his secret stings;
In one rude clash he struck the lyre,
And swept, with hurried hand, the strings.
4. With woeful measures, wan Despair

Low sullen sounds his grief beguiled;
A solemn, strange, and mingled air;
'Twas sad, by fits; by starts, 't was wild.
5. But thou, O Hope! with eyes so fair,
What was thy delighted measure!
Still it whispered promised pleasure,
And bade the lovely scenes at distance hail:
Still would her touch the strain + prolong;
And from the rocks, the woods, the vale,
She called on Echo still through all her song;
And where her sweetest theme she chose,

A soft responsive voice was heard at every close:
And Hope, enchanted, smiled, and waved her golden hair.

6. And longer had she sung, but with a frown,

Revenge impatient rose.

He threw his blood-stained sword in thunder down,

And, with a withering look,

The war-denouncing trumpet took,

And blew a blast so loud and dread,

Were ne'er prophetic sounds so full of woe;

And ever and anon, he beat

The doubling drum with furious heat;

And though, sometimes, each dreary pause between,
Dejected Pity at his side,

Her soul-subduing voice applied,

Yet still he kept his wild, unaltered mien;

While each strained ball of sight seemed bursting from his

head.

7. Thy numbers, Jealousy, to nought were fixedSad proof of thy distressful state;

8.

+

Of differing themes the veering song was mixed;

And now it courted Love; now, raving, called on Hate.

With eyes upraised, as one inspired,

Pale Melancholy sat retired;

And, from her wild sequestered seat,
In notes by distance made more sweet,
Poured through the mellow horn her pensive soul;
And dashing soft from rocks around,
Bubbling runnels joined the sound:

Through glades and glooms the mingled measures stole,
Or, o'er some haunted streams, with fond delay,
(Round a holy calm diffusing,

Love of peace and lonely musing),

In hollow murmurs die away.

9. But, oh! how altered was its sprightlier tone,
When Cheerfulness, a nymph of healthiest hue,
Her bow across her shoulder flung,

10.

Her buskins gemmed with morning dew,

Blew an + inspiring air, that *dale and thicket rung,

The hunter's call, to Faun and Dryad known.

The oak-crowned sisters and their chaste-eyed queen,
Satyrs and sylvan boys were seen,

Peeping from forth their alleys green :
Brown Exercise rejoiced to hear,

And Sport leaped up and seized his beechen

Last, came Joy's ecstatic trial:

He, with viny crown advancing,

First to the lively pipe his hand addressed;
But soon he saw the brisk awakening viol,

spear.

Whose sweet entrancing voice he loved the best.
They would have thought, who heard the strain,
They saw in Tempé's vale her native maids,
Amid the festal-sounding shades,

To some unwearied minstrel dancing,
While, as his flying fingers kissed the strings,
Love framed with Mirth a gay +fantastic round,
(Loose were her tresses seen, her zone unbound),
And he, amid his frolic play,

As if he would the charming air repay,
Shook thousand odors from his dewy wings.

COLLINS.

QUESTIONS.-What is that figure of speech, by which passions, &c., are addressed as animated beings? What is meant by "shell" in the 3d line? What is this ode intended to illustrate? Who were the Fauns and Dryads? What do you know of Tempé's vale? What parts of the above sketch should be read in a lively manner? How should stanzas 2, 3, 4, and 8, bo read? How should the 6th stanza be read?

LESSON XCIII.

REMARK.- While each pupil reads, let the rest observe and then mention which syllables are pronounced wrong, and, also, which syllables or letters are omitted or indistinctly uttered.

Am-a-teurs', n. lovers of the fine
arts, such as music, painting, &c.
1. Haut'-boy, n. (pro. ho'-boy) an in-
strument of music.

2. Throes, n. extreme pain, anguish.
3. Brawn'-y, a. fleshy, having large
muscles.

Goad'-ed, v. pricked.

5. Jole, n. the cheek: cheek by jole
means, with the cheeks close together.
Dul'-cet, a. sweet to the ear, melo-
dious.

6. Erst, adv. formerly, long ago.
8. Dire, a. horrible, dismal.

This piece is a

THE AMATEURS.

travesty or parody, that is, it is written in the style of a serious poem, but for the purpose of rendering its subject ridiculous or ludicrous. It is written in the style of the Ode on the Passions, the lesson that precedes it, and is designed to ridicule a self-conceited and ignorant musician who is represented in the piece under a fictitious name.

1. WHEN Festin, heavenly swain, was young,
When first attuned his viol rung,
And the soft hautboy's melting trill
Confessed the magic-master's skill;
Beneath his opening windows round
The admiring rabble caught the sound;
And oft, at early morn, the throng
Besieged the house to hear his song.
Till once, 't is said, when all were fired,
Filled with fury, rapt, inspired,

With one consent, they brought around
Dire instruments of grating sound;
And each, (for madness ruled the hour),
Would try his own sky-rending power.

2. First in the ranks, his skill to try,

A stout and sturdy clown was there;
A deafening hautboy, cracked and dry,
Brayed harsh discordance on the air:
With breath retained, and labored grin,
Rapt by his own tumultuous din,
With blood suspended in his face,
And paws that could not find their place,