pirations, at giving enlargement and sobriety to the ideas of the age, at facilitating the exercise of political power, and refining the intercourse of private life. It is the education which gives a man a clearer conscious view of his own opinions and judgments, a truth in developing them, an eloquence in expressing them, and a force in urging them. He is at home in any society, he has common ground with every class; he knows when to speak and when to be silent; he is able to converse, he is able to listen; he can ask a question pertinently, and gain a lesson seasonably, when he has nothing to impart himself; he is ever ready, yet never in the way; he is a pleasant companion, and a comrade you can depend upon; he knows when to be serious and when to trifle; and he has a sure tact which enables him to trifle with gracefulness and to be serious with effect. He has the repose of a mind which lives in itself, while it lives in the world, and has resources for its happiness at home when it cannot go abroad. He has a gift which serves him in public, and supports him in retirement, without which good fortune is but vulgar, and with which failure and disappointment have a charm. (NEWMAN: Idea of a University.) AN INTERRUPTED REPAST While they were thus speaking, Locksley's loud and repeated knocks had at length disturbed the anchorite and his guest. "By my beads," said the hermit, stopping short in a grand flourish, "here come more benighted guests. I would not for my cowl that they found us in this goodly exercise. All men have their enemies, good Sir Sluggard; and there be those malignant enough to construe the hospitable refreshment which I have been offering to you, a weary traveller, for the matter of three short hours, into sheer drunkenness and debauchery, vices alike alien to my profession and my disposition." “Base calumniators!" replied the knight; "I would I had the chastising of them. Nevertheless, Holy Clerk, it is true that all have their enemies; and there be those in this very land whom I would rather speak to through the bars of my helmet than barefaced." 66 Get thine iron pot on thy head then, friend Sluggard; as quickly as thy nature will permit," said the hermit, “while I remove these pewter flagons, whose late contents run strangely in mine own pate; and to drown the clatter,— for, in faith, I feel somewhat unsteady strike into the tune which thou hearest me sing. It is no matter for the words; I scarce know them myself." So saying, he struck up a thundering De profundis clamavi, under cover of which he removed the apparatus of their banquet; while the knight, laughing heartily, and arming himself all the while, assisted his host with his voice from time to time as his mirth permitted. (SCOTT: Ivanhoe) THE COMBAT OF SOHRAB AND RUSTUM He spoke, and Rustum answer'd not, but hurled In turn, and full struck Rustum's shield; sharp rang, Could wield; an unlopped trunk it was, and huge, Still rough like those which men in treeless plains By their dark springs, the wind in winter-time And strewn the channels with torn boughs so huge To his knees, and with his fingers clutch'd the sand; (ARNOLD: Sohrab and Rustum) SUMMER STORM Now on the hills I hear the thunder mutter, The upturned leaves first whiten and flutter, Up from the stream with sluggish flap Struggles the gull and floats away; Nearer and nearer rolls the thunder-clap, We shall not see the sun go down to-day: Now leaps the wind on the sleepy marsh, You can hear the quick heart of the tempest beat. And instantly follows the rattling thunder, Fell, splintering with a ruinous crash, Shuts off the landscape, mile by mile; For a breath's space I see the blue wood again, And ere the next heart-beat, the wind-hurled pile, That seemed but now a league aloof Bursts crackling o'er the sun-parched roof; The rapid hail clashes, And crashing and crumbling Will silence return nevermore? (LOWELL: Summer Storm) CHAPTER VI PRONUNCIATION Ability to make the vowel and consonant sounds correctly and distinctly is absolutely essential to good pronunciation. But the ability to make every sound of the language with accuracy does not insure good pronunciation, which is a matter of broader scope. In the first place, it requires in the case of every word a knowledge of the particular values attached to the letters composing that word. A person may, for example, be able to produce the score or more of sounds represented by the letters in machine; but that does not guarantee that he will not pronounce the word mashine, or makēēn, or something else. Furthermore, good pronunciation requires correct placing of accent; exclusion of silent letters; inclusion of all requisite sounds; avoidance of adding superfluous sounds; utterance of the sounds in their proper order; and freedom from super-accuracy, which constitutes affectation. Each of these factors may now be 'considered in some detail, with this salient idea in mind: that a person is put in the way of improving his pronunciation when he becomes thoroughly aware of the points of difficulty. Pronouncing correctly with respect to the accepted values of vowels and consonants is difficult because of the wide range of these values in the English language. To illustrate, the letter a has half a dozen values in |