from court to-day, who has told you bad news?' If the inquirer wants only to know whether myself or some other person has seen the supposed great man, he will put the emphasis upon you. If he knows that I have seen somebody from court, and only wants to know whether I have seen a great man who may be supposed to know what inferior persons about the court do not, he will put the emphasis upon noble lord. If he wants to know only whether the great man came directly from court, so that this intelligence may be depended upon, he will put the emphasis on court. If he wants only to know whether I have seen him to-day or yesterday, he will put the emphasis upon to-day. If he knows that I have seen a great man from court to-day, and only wants to know whether he has told me any news, he will put the emphasis upon news. If he knows all the rest, and wants only to know whether the news I heard was bad, he will put the emphasis upon the word bad.

"The matter contained in a parenthesis, or between commas used instead of a parenthesis, is to be pronounced with a lower voice, and quicker than the rest, and with a short stop at the beginning and end, that the hearer may perceive where the strain of the discourse breaks off, and where it is resumed; as, When, therefore, the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John (though Jesus himself did not baptize, but his disciples) he departed from Judea, and returned to Galilee.'

"In every sentence there is some word, perhaps several, which are to be pronounced with a stronger accent or emphasis than the others. Time was when the emphatical word or words in every sentence were printed in italics. And a great advantage it was toward understanding the sense of the author, especially where there was a thread of reasoning carried on. But we are now grown so nice, that we have found the intermixture of two characters deforms the page, and gives it a speckled appearance; as if it were not of infinitely more consequence to make sure of edifying the reader than of pleasing his eye."

The following excellent directions for teaching Reading are from the celebrated Dr. Franklin's "Sketch of an English School:"

"The First Class-Let the pieces read by the scholars in this class be short-such as Croxal's fables, and little stories. In giving the lesson, let it be read to them; let the meaning of the difficult words in it be explained to them. A vocabulary of the most usual difficult words might be formed for

their use, with explanations. This would help to fix the meaning of the words in their minds.

"The Second Class-To be taught reading with attention, and with proper modulations of the voice, according to the sentiment and the subject.

"Some short pieces, not exceeding the length of a Spectator, to be given this class for lessons; and some of the easier Spectators would be very suitable for the purpose. These lessons might be given every night as tasks the scholars to study them against the morning. Let it then be required of them to give an account, first, of the parts of speech, and construction of one or two sentences. This will oblige them to recur frequently to their grammar, and fix its principal rules in their memory. Next, of the intention of the writer, or the scope of the piece, the meaning of each sentence, and of every uncommon word. This would early acquaint them with the meaning and force of words, and give them that most necessary habit of reading with attention.

"The master then to read the piece with the proper modulations of voice, due emphasis, and suitable action, where action is required, and put the youth on imitating his manner.

'Where the author has used an expression not the best, let it be pointed out, and let his beauties be particularly remarked to the youth.

"Let the lessons for reading be varied, that the youth may be made acquainted with good styles of all kinds in prose and verse, and the proper manner of reading each kind-sometimes a well-told story, a piece of a sermon, a general's speech to his soldiers, a speech in a tragedy, some part of a comedy, an ode, a satire, a letter, blank verse, Hudibrastic, heroic, &c. But let such lessons be chosen for reading as contain some useful instruction, whereby the understanding or morals of the youth may at the same time be improved.

"It is required that they should first study and understand the lessons, before they are put upon reading them properly; to which end each boy should have an English dictionary, to help him over difficulties. When our boys read English to us, we are apt to imagine they understand what they read, because we do, and because it is their mother tongue; but they often read as parrots speak, knowing little or nothing of the meaning. And it is impossible a reader should give the due modulation to his voice, and pronounce properly, unless his understanding goes before his tongue, and makes him master of the sentiment. Accustoming boys to read aloud what they do not first understand, is the cause of those even set tones so common among readers, which, when they have once got a habit of using, they find so difficult to correct; by which

means, among fifty readers, we scarcely find a good one. For want of good reading, pieces published with a view to influence the minds of men, for their own or the public benefit, lose half their force. Were there but one good reader in a neighbourhood, a public orator might be heard throughout a nation with the same advantages, and have the same effect upon his audience, as if they stood within the reach of his voice."

The following observations on the subject of READING are from "The School and the Schoolmaster," and other excellent American works on Popular Education :—

"If a child be never allowed to read what he cannot understand, he will never form those bad habits of reading, called SCHOOL READING, now so universal. I have known several children taught to read by their mothers on the principle of never reading what they did not understand, who always from the beginning read naturally and beautifully; for good reading seems to be the natural habit, and bad the acquired."

EXTRACTS FROM "THE TEACHER'S MANUAL."

"If there be any school in which reading is taught intellectually rather than mechanically; where the child has learned to read in an easy unaffected manner; his tones all natural, and his delivery exactly as if he were talking on the same subject with his brothers and sisters; if from first to last he has understood every word he has uttered, before his lesson was finished; if he has never read any thing, without being able to close his book, and give a clear intelligible statement of it; then the remarks on reading in this treatise have no reference whatever to that school. But let them not be condemned as inapplicable. There are schools where the pupils are not so favoured; where they have been taught to read in a stiff, unnatural manner, without any attention to the sense; to utter like parrots, mere sounds, without bestowing a thought on the ideas they are intended to convey. It is only to such schools that all the remarks on reading are meant to apply."

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EXTRACTS FROM THE TEACHER TAUGHT."

"READING-MECHANICAL, INTELLECTUAL, AND RHETORICAL. "In teaching children to read well, there are three distinct and very different objects of attention. Reading may be taught as a mechanical, as an intellectual, or as a rhetorical exercise.

MECHANICAL READING.

"The mechanical part of reading consists in the modulation of the voice as to loudness, distinctness of articulation, and slowness, and in

regard to propriety of pronunciation, emphasis, tones, and pauses. No one can read to the edification of others, without a careful attention to all these particulars. This part of reading is learned more by imitating good readers, than by the study of rules. Only here and there one would ever learn to sing, if all their knowledge of the subject were gathered from books. The common school teacher must pursue a course similar to that practised by the teacher of music; he must read, and require the pupil to imitate his tones, emphasis, cadence, &c. Unless such an example be daily held up before the children, it cannot reasonably be expected that they will read mechanically well.

Those teachers, who hear a class read three or four times in a day, and direct one or another to read faster or slower, or to regard their pauses, but set before them no example for their imitation, do not teach with any effect. It would be as well to omit reading entirely, for they would be sure to acquire no bad habits.

"Some teachers do not even correct their pupils when they read wrong, or, if they do, it is a correction without explanation; their attention, while the class read, is sometimes almost entirely occupied with doing a sum, mending a pen, or setting a copy.

"In teaching the mechanical part of reading, it is well for the teacher occasionally to select short sentences, by which some rule may be illustrated, and read them as they should be read, and require each member of the class to do the same. If it be desired to illustrate the nature and power of emphasis, he may repeat a sentence like this: Shall we get a lesson in geography to-day? Let each scholar repeat it with the emphasis on we, and then with the emphasis on geography, and then on to-day; and let the teacher show them that a change in the emphasis would call forth a different answer. In a similar manner cadence may be illustrated. The following sentence may be used: 'Hear instruction, be wise, and refuse it not;' and the pupils may be required to read it, making a full cadence of the voice at instruction and wise, and then without. By some such process all the rules that belong to mechanical reading may be clearly explained.

INTELLECTUAL READING.

"The intellectual part of reading is the most important and the most difficult. It consists in teaching children to understand what they read. This is too much neglected; many children grow up without knowing that sentences, sections, chapters, and even books are a kind of pictorial representation of the writer's thoughts. A thing may be described by a picture or by words. The great object of teaching children to read is, that they may understand the picture, and derive information from the perusal of it. Children and youth often read as though they were performing a mere mechanical exercise, and as if a good reader was to be known by the marks of a good skater-by his velocity, and the variety of his evolutions. Let them understand that the object of reading is very different from the object aimed at in jumping a rope; that it is not for exercise, but to cull and collect the writer's thoughts, and to preserve them for future use. In order to do this, children should be required to give the sense of what they read.

This must be done in childhood, or, when they become adults, they will read without much benefit.

"Teachers should question their pupils, with more or less particularity, according to time and circumstances, in regard to what they have read, and in regard to the truth of any sentiments advanced in the lesson. They may also be questioned about the meaning of words, their composition and derivation, about the name of the writer, and respecting any thing else suggested by the lesson, that is connected with the enlightening of the child's mind.

"I have no doubt there would be more harmony on moral, religious, and political subjects, if the number of intelligent readers of books were increased. There are in this land of liberty, where every one has the privilege of reading and thinking for himself, very many who depend on others to think for them. Their opinions on all subjects are derived from some influential leader, whom they regard as an oracle of wisdom. This is a kind of liberty that ought not to be tolerated in this country; the liberty of receiving our opinions from others, without venturing to read and think for ourselves, is reducing the mind to a state of slavery. This will, to some extent, be the condition of every one who is not in childhood and youth taught to read understandingly.

RHETORICAL READING.

"The rhetorical part of reading consists chiefly in entering into the spirit of the author, so as to imbibe his temper and feelings. A scholar may read correctly and intelligently, but without any rhetorical effect. Perhaps it is not possible for every scholar to attain a high degree of excellence in this department. There are but few good orators, and but few good musicians; for a similar reason there are but few good rhetorical readers. It is only here and there one, of all those who can read, that do read with force, variety, and, if necessary, with deep emotion.

"Though rhetorical excellence is not expected in all readers, yet something can be done by the teacher to improve the style of a child's reading; he can break up that peculiar tone that is neither reading nor singing, but a burlesque upon both; he can do something towards mellowing the voice that now grates harsh thunder.' It is a subject that is worthy of attention. If, however, the teacher himself has no skill or taste for such reading, I should not advise him to attempt to teach what he cannot practically illustrate.

"There is another important matter connected with this subject, which must not be omitted. It is the cultivation of a taste for reading in children. If they can read, b t will not, they might as well have never learned. The teacher should take some pains to cultivate among his pupils a fondness for reading. This is generally a consequence of teaching scholars to read understandingly. If they get information from the perusal of books, they will generally be fond of reading, but not always. There must be an acquired love of knowledge; the innate love of it, that exists to some extent in all, is not sufficient; it needs guiding and controlling."