LESSON LXXXIX. REMARK.-Read the last part of each sentence with a full and distinct atterance, giving to each word its proper emphasis. ARTICULATE distinctly.-E-pis-to-la-ry, not e-pis-tlary: per-son-al, not per-s'nal: mis-er-y, not mis'ry: drudg-er-y, not drudg'ry: fe-lic-itous-ly, not f'lic'tous-ly: Her-cu-les, not Her-c'les: un-fort-u-nates, not ún-fort'nates: dis-con-so-late, not dis-con-s'late: sim-i-lar, not sim❜lar: du-ti-ful, not dute-ful: cal-cu-la-tion, not cal-c'la-tion: suf-fer-ings, not suf-f'rin's: ex-pe-ri-ence, not ex-pe-r'ence: par-tic-u-lar, not par-tic'lar: un-du-late, not un-d'late. 2. Prot-est-a'-tions, n. solemn declara- Let'-ter-mon-ger, n. a dealer in letters. 6. Pique, a. (pro. peek) to pride or value. one's self. Scrib-ler-i'-na, n. an affected or ro- Drag'-on-ism, n. tyranny, violence. At'-tar, n. (the same as ot-ter) the oil or essence of roses. Cha-rade' (pro. sha-rade'), n. a peculiar kind of enigma or riddle. 7. Fe-lic'-i-tous-ly, adv. happily. Ex-or'-di-um, n. the beginning. 9. In-dite', v. to write, to compose. Pen'-ance, n. suffering imposed as punishment. 10. E-lic'-it, v. to draw forth. Un'-du-late, v. to present a wavy appearance (used figuratively.) ON LETTER WRITING. 1. +EPISTOLARY as well as personal intercourse is, according to the mode in which it is carried on, one of the pleasantest or most irksome things in the world. It is delightful to drop in on a friend without the solemn prelude of invitation and acceptance, to join a + social circle, where we may suffer our minds and hearts to relax and expand in the happy consciousness of perfect security from invidious remark and carping criticism; where we may give the reins to the sportiveness of innocent fancy, or the enthusiasm of warm-hearted feeling; where we may talk sense or nonsense, (I pity people who can not talk nonsense), without fear of being Looked into icicles by the coldness of unimaginative people, living pieces of clock work, who dare not themselves utter a word, or lift up a little finger, without first weighing the important point in the hair balance of propriety and good breeding. 2. It is equally delightful to let the pen talk freely, and unpremeditatedly, and to one by whom we are sure of being understood; but a formal letter, like a ceremonious morning visit, is tedious alike to the writer and receiver; for the most part spun out with unmeaning phrases, trite observations, complimentary flourishes, and protestations of respect and attachment, so far not deceitful, as they never deceive anybody. Oh, the misery of having to compose a set, proper, well-worded, correctly-pointed, polite, elegant epistle one that must have a beginning, a middle, and an end, as methodically arranged and portioned out as the several parts of a sermon under three heads, or the three gradations of shade in a school-girl's first landscape! 3. For my part, I would rather be set to beat hemp, or weed in a turnip field, than to write such a letter exactly every month, or every fortnight, at the precise point of time from the date of our correspondent's last letter, that he or she wrote after the reception of ours; as if one's thoughts bubbled up to the well-head, at regular periods, a pint at a time, to be bottled off for immediate use. Thought! what has thought to do in such a correspondence? It murders thought, quenches fancy, wastes time, spoils paper, wears out innocent goose quills. "I'd rather be a kitten, and cry mew! than one of those same" prosing letter-mongers. 4. Surely in this age of invention something may be struck out to obviate the necessity (if such necessity exists) of so tasking, degrading the human intellect. Why should not a sort of mute barrel-organ be constructed on the plan of those that play sets of tunes and contra dances, to indite a catalogue of polite epistles calculated for all the ceremonious observances of good breeding? Oh the unspeakable relief (could such a machine be invented) of having only to grind an answer to one of one's "dear, five hundred friends!" 5. Or suppose there were to be an epistolary steam engine. Ay, that's the thing. Steam does every thing now-a-days. Dear Mr. Brunel, set about it, I beseech you, and achieve the most glorious of your undertakings. The block machine at Portsmouth would be nothing to it. That spares manual labor; this would relieve mental drudgery, and thousands yet unborn but hold! I am not so sure the female sex in general may quite enter into my views of the subject. 6. Those who pique themselves on the elegant style of their billets, or those fair scriblerinas just emancipated from boardingschool restraints, or the dragonism of their governess, just beginning to taste the refined enjoyments of sentimental, confidential, soul-breathing correspondence with some Angelina, Seraphina, or Laura Matilda; to indite beautiful little notes, with long-tailed letters, upon vellum paper, with pink margins, sealed with sweet +mottoes, and dainty devices, the whole deliciously perfumed with musk and attar of roses; young ladies who collect "copies of verses," and charades, keep albums, copy patterns, make bread seals, work little dogs upon footstools, and paint flowers without shadow-Oh! no! the epistolary steam engine will never come into + vogue with those dear creatures. They must enjoy the "feast of reason, and the flow of soul," and they must write --yes! and how they do write! 7. But for another genus of female scribes, unhappy innocents! who groan in spirit at the dire necessity of having to hammer out one of those aforesaid terrible epistles; who, having in due form dated the gilt edged-sheet that lies outspread before them in appalling whiteness, having also felicitously achieved the graceful exordium, "My dear Mrs. P," or "My dear Lady V," or "My dear any thing else," feel that they are in for it, and must say something! Oh, that something that must come of nothing! those bricks that must be made without straw! those pages that must be filled with words! Yea, with words that must be sewed into sentences! Yea, with sentences that must seem to mean something the whole to be tacked together, all neatly fitted and dovetailed so as to form one smooth, polished surface! 8. What were the labors of Hercules to such a task! The very thought of it puts me into a mental perspiration; and, from my inmost soul, I compassionate the unfortunates now (at this very moment, perhaps,) screwed up perpendicularly in the seat of torture, having in the right hand a fresh-nibbed patent pen, dipped ever and anon into the ink bottle, as if to hook up ideas, and under the outspread palm of the left hand a fair sheet of best Bath post, (ready to receive thoughts yet unhatched), on which their eyes are riveted with a stare of disconsolate perplexity infinitely touching to a feeling mind. 9. To such unhappy persons, in whose miseries I deeply sympathize - Have I not groaned under similar horrors, from the hour when I was first shut up (under lock and key, I believe), to indite a dutiful epistle to an honored aunt? I remember, as if it were yesterday, the moment when she who had enjoined the task entered to inspect the performance, which, by her calculation, should have been fully completed. I remember how sheepishly I hung down my head, when she snatched from before me the paper, (on which I had made no farther progress than "My dear ant,") angrily exclaiming, "What, child! have you been shut up here three hours to call your aunt a pismire? "" From that hour of humiliation I have too often groaned under the endurance of similar penance, and I have learned from my own sufferings to compassionate To such unhappy per those of my dear sisters in affliction. sons, then, I would fain offer a few hints, (the fruit of long experience), which, if they have not already been suggested by their own observation, may prove serviceable in the hour of emergency. + 10. Let them - - - or suppose I address myself to one particular sufferer-there is something more confidential in that manner of communicating one's ideas. As Moore says, "Heart speaks to heart." I say, then, take always special care to write by candlelight, for not only is the apparently unimportant operation of snuffing the candle in itself a momentary relief to the depressing consciousness of mental + vacuum, but not unfrequently that trifling act, or the brightening flame of the taper, elicits, as it were, from the dull embers of fancy, a sympathetic spark of fortunate conception. When such a one occurs, seize it quickly and dextrously, but, at the same time, with such cautious prudence, as not to huddle up and contract in one short, paltry sentence, that which, if ingeniously handled, may be wiredrawn, so as to undulate gracefully and smoothly over a whole page. 11. For the more ready practice of this invaluable art of dilating, it will be expedient to stock your memory with a large assortment of those precious words of many syllables, that fill whole lines at once; incomprehensibly, amazingly, decidedly, solicitously, inconceivably, incontrovertibly." An opportunity of using these, is, to a distressed spinster, as delightful as a copy all m's and n's to a child. Command you may, your mind from play." They run on with such delicious smoothness! BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE. QUESTIONS.-How must epistolary intercourse or letter writing be conducted, in order to be agreeable and useful? What manner of conducting it is ridiculed in this lesson? What is meant by talking nonsense? To what inflections, in this lesson, is Rule II, §3, applicable? Parse "them" in the 10th paragraph. What word may be understood after it? Parse "dilating" in the 11th paragraph. Parse "incomprehensibly,” “amazingly," &c., in the same paragraph. Parse "m's" and "n's." Parse "all." Parse "run on" in the last sentence. What is the subject and what the attribute? See Pinneo's Analytical Grammar, page 114. LESSON XC. REMARK.-Be careful to give all the consonants their full sound ir each word. PRONOUNCE correctly.-I-rons, pro. i-urns: un-clean ly, prc. un-clen-ly: Christ-en-dom, pro. kris'n-dum: pris-on, pro. priz'n (see McGuffey's Spelling Book, page 49): min-utes, pro. min-its: pret-ty, pro. prit-ty. Ar'-ras, n. a kind of curtains hung | Foul, a. wicked, abominable. cent. A-non', adv. soon; still and anon means, now and then, frequently. Wince, v. to shrink back as from pain. Wan'-ton-ness, n. playfulness, sportive- Chid, v. blamed, reproached. [or troubles. Hubert. HEAT me these irons hot; and, look thou stand First Attendant. I hope your warrant will bear out the deed. Young lad, come forth; I have to say with you. (Enter Hub. Uncleanly scruples! Arthur. Good-morrow, Hubert. Hub. Good-morrow, little prince. Arth. As little prince (having so great a title To be more prince) as may be. You are sad. Hub. Indeed, I have been merrier. Arth. Mercy on me! Methinks no person should be sad but I: [Arthur.) |