ably, without Regard to Senfe or Stops; or always beginning a Sentence with a high Voice, and concluding it with a low one, or vice verfa; or always beginning and concluding it with the fame Key. Oppofite to this is

7. A flat, dull, uniform, Tone of Voice, without Emphafis or Cadence, or any Regard to the Senfe or Subject of what

is read.

This is a Habit, which Children, who have been used to read their Leffons by way of Tafk, are very apt to fall into, and retain as they grow up. Such a Monotony as Attorneys Clerks read in when they examine an engroffed Deed. This is a great Infelicity when it becomes habitual; because it deprives the Hearer of the greatest Part of the Benefit or Advantage he might receive by a close Attention to the weighty and interefting Parts of the Subject, which fhould always be diftinguished or pointed out by the Pronunciation. For a juft Pronunciation is a good Commentary: And therefore no Perfon ought to read a Chapter or a Pfalm in Public, before he hath carefully read it over to himself once or twice in private. But

Laftly, the greatest and most common Fault of all, is reading with a Tone.

No Habit is more eafy to be contracted than this, or more hard to be conquered. This unnatural Tone in reading and fpeaking is very various; but whatever it be, it is always difguftful to Persons of Delicacy and Judgment.

Some have a womanifh fqueaking Tone; which Perfons whofe Voices are fhrill and weak, and over-ftrained, are very apt to fall into.

Some have a finging or canting Note; and others affume a high, fwelling, theatrical Tone; who being ambitious of the Fame of fine Orators, lay too much Emphafis on every Sentence, and thereby tranfgrefs the Rules of true Oratory.

Some affect an awful and ftriking Tone, attended with folemn Grimace, as if they would move you with every Word, whether the Weight of the Subject bear them out or not. This is what Perfons of a gloomy or melancholy Caft of Mind are moft apt to give into.

Some have a fet, uniform Tone of Voice; which I have already taken notice of. And others, an odd, whimsical, whining Tone, peculiar to themfelves, and not to be defcribed; only that it is laying the Emphasis on Words which do not require or deferve it.

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Thefe

These are the most common Faults of a bad Pronunciation. Our next Enquiry is

II. How to avoid them.

To this End the few following Rules may be of Service.

1. If you would not read in too loud or too low a Voice, confider whether your Voice be naturally too low or too loud; and correct it accordingly in your ordinary Conversation: by which means you will be better able to correct it in reading. If it be too low, converfe with those that are deaf; if too loud, with those whose Voices are low. Begin your Periods with an even moderate Voice, that you may have the Command of it, to raise or fall it as the Subject requires.

2. To cure a thick confused cluttering Voice, accustom yourself, both in Converfation and Reading, to pronounce every Word diftinct and clear. Obferve with what Deliberation fome converfe and read, and how full a Sound they give to every Word; and imitate them. Do not affect to contract your Words, (as fome do) or run two into one. This may do very well in Converfation, or in reading familiar Dialogues, but is not fo decent in grave and folemn Subjects; especially in reading the facred Scriptures.

It appears from Demofthenes's Cafe, that this Fault of Pronunciation cannot be cured without much Difficulty, nor will you find his Remedy effectual without Pains and Perfeverance.

3. To break a Habit of reading too fast, attend diligently to the Senfe, Weight, and Propriety of every Sentence you read, and of every emphatical Word in it. This will not only be an Advantage to yourself, but a double one to yonr Hearers; for it will at once give them Time to do the fame, and excite their Attention when they fee yours is fixed. A folemn Pause after a weighty Thought is very beautiful and ftriking. A well-timed Stop gives as much Grace to Speech as it does to Mufic.Imagine that you are reading to Perfons of flow and unready Conceptions; and measure not your Hearer's Apprehenfion by your own. If you do, you may poffibly out-run it. And as in reading you are not at liberty to repeat your Words and Sentences, that fhould-engage you to be very deliberate in pronouncing them, that their Senfe may not be loft. The Eafe and Advantage that will arife both to the Reader and Hearer, by a free, full, and deliberate Pronunciation, is hardly to be imagined.

I need lay down no Rules to avoid a too flow Pronunciation; that being a Fault which few are guilty of.

4. To cure an uneven, defultory Voice, take care that you do not begin your Periods either in too high or too low a Key; for that will neceffarily lead you to an unnatural and improper Variation of it. Have a careful Regard to the Nature and Quantity of your Points, and the Length of your Periods; and keep your Mind intent on the Senfe, Subject, and Spirit of your Author.

The fame Directions are neceffary to avoid a Monctony_in Pronunciation, or a dull, fet, uniform Tone of Voice. For if your Mind be but attentive to the Senfe of your Subject, you will naturally manage and modulate your Voice according to the Nature and Importance of it.

Laftly, To avoid all Kinds of unnatural and difagreeable Tones, the only Rule is, to endeavour to fpeak with the fame Eafe and Freedom as you would do on the fame Subject in private Conversation. You hear nobody converse in a Tone; unless they have the Brogue of fome other Country, or have got into a Habit (as fome have) of altering the natural Key of their Voice when they are talking of fome ferious Subject in Religion. But I can fee no Reafon in the World, that when in common Conversation we speak in a natural Voice with proper Accent and Emphafis, yet as foon as we begin to read, or talk of Religion, or fpeak in Public, we fhould immediately affume a ftiff, aukward, unnatural Tone. If we are indeed deeply affected with the Subject we read or talk of, the Voice will naturally vary according to the Paffion excited; but if we vary it unnaturally, only to feem affected, or with a Defign to affect others, it then becomes a Tone, and is offenfive.

In reading then attend to your Subject, and deliver it just in fuch a Manner as you would do if you were talking of it. This is the great, general, and most important Rule of all; which, if carefully obferved, will correct not only this, but almost all the other Faults of a bad Pronunciation; and give you an eafy, decent, graceful Delivery, agrecable to all the Rules of a right Elocution. For however apt we are to tranfgrefs them in reading, we follow them naturally and eafily enough in Converfation. And Children will tell And Children will tell a Story with all the natural Graces and Beauties of Pronunciation, however aukwardly they may read the fame out of a Book. *

Secondly,

* Let the Tone and Sound of your Voice in reading be the fame as it is in fpeaking, and do not affect to change that natural and

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Secondly, Let us enquire what a good Pronunciation is, and bow to attain it.

I. A good Pronunciation in reading, is the Art of managing and governing the Voice fo as to exprefs the full Senfe and Spirit of your Author, in that juft, decent, and graceful Manner, which will not only inftruct but affect the Hearers; and will not only raise in them the fame Ideas he intended to convey, but the fame Paffions he really felt. This is the great End of reading to others, and this End can only be attained by a proper and juft Pronunciation.

And hence we may learn wherein a good Pronunciation in fpeaking confifts; which is nothing but a natural, easy, and graceful Variation of the Voice, fuitable to the Nature and Importance of the Sentiments we deliver.

A good Pronunciation in both these Respects is more eafily attained by fome than others; as fome can more readily enter into the Sense and Sentiments of an Author, and more eafily deliver their own, than others can; and at the fame time have a more happy Facility of expreffing all the proper Variations and Modulations of the Voice than others have. Thus Perfons of a quick Apprehenfion, and brifk Flow of animal Spirits (fetting afide all Impediments of the Organs) have generally a more lively, just, and natural Elocution, than Perfons of a flow Perception and a flegmatick Caft. However, it may in a good Degree be attained by every one that will carefully attend to and practise those Rules that are proper to acquire it.

And to this End the Obfervation of the following Rules is neceffary.

1. Have a particular Regard to your Pauses, Emphafis, and Cadence.

1. To your Paufes

And with refpect to this, you will in a good measure in reading be directed by the Points: but not perfectly; for there are but few Books that are exactly pointed.

The common Stops or Points are these.

A Comma (,), Semi-colon (;), Colon(), Period (. ), Interrogation (?), and Admiration ( ! ).

But

eafy Sound wherewith you speak, for a strange, new, aukward Tone, as fome do when they begin to read; which would almost perfuade our Ears, that the Speaker, and the Reader, were two different Perfons, if cur Eyes did not tell us the contrary.

WATTS's Art of Reading.

2..

But befide these, there are four more Notes or Distinctions of Pause, viz. a Parenthefis ((); which requires the Pause of a Comma at least, and fometimes a Semi-colon after it. A Double Period, or Blank Line, ( ); which denotes the Pause of two Periods, or half a Paragraph. 3. A Paragraph or Break; when the Line is broke or left imperfect, and the next begins under the fecond or third Letter of the preceding Line; and denotes the Pause of two double Periods. 4. A double Paragraph, that is, when the next Line not only begins fhorter than the preceding, but leaves the Space of a whole Line vacant between them; which fhews that the Voice is to reft during the Time of two Paragraphs.

Thefe Points ferve two Purpofes. 1. To diftinguish the Sense of the Author. 2. To direct the Pronunciation of the Reader.

You are not to fetch your Breath (if it can be avoided) till you come to the Period or Full Stop; but a difcernable Paufe is to be made at every one, according to its proper Quantity of Duration.

A Comma ftops the Voice while we may privately tell one; a Semi-colon two; a colon three; and a Period four.

Where the Periods are very long, you may take Breath at a Colon or Semi-colon; and fometimes at a Comma, but never where there is no Stop at all. And that you may not be under a Neceffity to take fresh Breath before you come to a proper Paufe, it will be proper to look forward to the Clofe of the Sentence, and measure the Length of it with your Eye before you begin it; that if it be long, you may take in a fufficient Supply of Breath to carry you to the End of it.

To break a Habit of taking Breath too often in reading, accuftom yourself to read long Periods, fuch (for Inftance) as the fixteen firft Lines in Milton's Paradife Loft.

But after all, there is fo much Licenfe admitted, and fo much Irregularity introduced, into the modern Method of Punctation, that it is become a very imperfect Rule to direct a juft Pronunciation. The Paufes therefore, as well as the Variations of the Voice, must be chiefly regulated by a careful Attention to the Senfe and Importance of the Subject.

2. The next Thing to be regarded in reading is the Emphafis; and to fee that it be always laid on the emphatical Word.

When we diftinguifh any particular Syllable in a Word with a ftrong Voice, it is called Accent; when we thus diftinguish any particular Word in a Sentence, it is called Emphajis; and the Word fo diftinguished, the emphatical Word.

And