Students in elocution are frequently told (and they gather the same impression from books on the subject) "that the parenthesis is read in faster time than the rest of the sentence."-That this is a gross mistake as to certain kinds of parentheses, I will proceed to show.

Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead ;)

And all the brethren which are with me, unto the churches of Galatia.— Gal. 1 : 6.

say,

Is the fact that Paul and the brethren with him speak unto the churches of Galatia, of more importance, than the fact that Paul is "not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead?" "Certainly not," you "it is of less importance than the parenthesis." In that case, do you convey your mental valuation of the important parenthesis by reading it in faster time than the main text? You do not; but by reading it in much "slower" time than the lines immediately preceding and succeeding it, you at once indicate the mental value with which you regard it, or in other words, its superiority in importance to the main text. Another example:

7 But contrariwise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter;

8 (For he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles :)

9 And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision.-Gal. 2: 5, 7-9.

That the same mighty God was as effectual in Paul, as in Peter, being manifestly of greater importance than the main text, the 8th v. will be properly "valued" by a rendering in "slower time."

And here is a still more forcible example:—

4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,

5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved ;)

6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus :-Ephes., ch. 2.

The beautiful parenthesis, "By grace ye are saved," has its full meaning and value given, when read twice as slowly as the main text. The practice that many have, of reading the parenthesis in faster time, would in this case argue an absolute making light, or little, of the "saving grace."

The rule, then, as regards the duration of "time" in rendering the parenthesis is: "The parenthesis is read in slower time, when superior, and faster, when inferior, in importance to the main text.

In the subjoined example we have two parentheses ; the first, "Whereto the rather shall his day's hard journey soundly invite him," being inferior, requires the faster time.

The second, "When we have marked with blood those sleepy two of his own chamber, and used their very daggers" is superior to the rest of the passage, and consequently is read in slower time.

Macbeth. If we should-fail,-
Lady Macb. We fail!

But screw your courage to the sticking-place,
And we'll not fail. When Duncan is asleep,
(Whereto the rather shall his day's hard journey
Soundly invite him,) his two chamberlains
Will I with wine and wassel so convince,
That memory, the warder of the brain,
Shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason
A limbeck only. When in swinish sleep
Their drenched natures lie, as in a death,
What cannot you and I perform upon
The unguarded Duncan? what not put upon
His spongy officers, who shall bear the guilt
Of our great quell?

Macb. Bring forth men-children only!
For thy undaunted metal should compose
Nothing but males. Will it not be received,

(When we have mark'd with blood those sleepy two Of his own chamber, and used their very daggers,) That they have done't?

Towards the end of Hamlet's long speech at the conclusion of Act 2, Sc. 2, occurs the lines

"The spirit that I have seen

May be a devil; (and the devil hath power
To assume a pleasing shape): yea, and perhaps

Out of my weakness, and my melancholy,
(As he is very potent with such spirits)
Abuses me to damn me."

Both parentheses are inferior to the main text, being merely reflections and repetitions of a fact or facts that are patent to all-the devil having power to assume a pleasing shape being no new fact to us nor to Hamlet; and that "he is very potent" conveys no new idea. In each case, if read twice as fast as the lines preceding and succeeding them, the relative value of these inferior parentheses compared with the more important main text is shown at once.

In this passage from one of the "Ingoldsby Legends," the meaning would be extremely obscure were it not for the necessary changes in "time":

"4You may fancy King Charles at some court fancy ball The date we may fix in sixteen sixty-six,

In the room built by Inigo Jones at Whitehall,
Whence his father the martyr (as such mourned by all
Who in his wept the laws' and the monarchy's fall)
*Stepped out to exchange regal robes for a pall)—
4 You may fancy King Charles, I say, stopping the brawl
As burst on his sight the old church of St. Paul,
By the light of its flames now beginning to crawl
From basement to buttress and topping its wall.”

The peculiarity here is a parenthesis within a parenthesis; the whole of the longer one, with the exception of the one contained, being inferior, while the interpolation is superior to the preceding and succeeding lines. To mark the relative value of main text and the infe

rior and superior parentheses, I have placed the figures "4," "2," "8" in their respective places. No. 4 indicates the ordinary time in which the passage is begun; No. 2, at the beginning of the inferior parenthesis, where the time should be twice as fast; No. 8, at the commencement of the slow parenthesis, which indicates that it should be given twice as slowly as the lines read in "ordinary" or "4" time.

As to the manner of reading in "slow" or in "fast" time, there is an "unnatural" and a "natural" method; the first-named, which we wish, of course, to avoid, is commonly that of making pauses between words, for the purpose of attaining to a "slowness" in the rendering. This is a mistake; it is not what we do naturally when we speak slowly. The "natural" method of speaking slowly is by dwelling on the vowel sounds in words for a longer or shorter interval as may be neces

sary.

§ 1.-THE SIMILE.

In what kind of "time" should the "simile" be read? We employ "similes," in writing or speaking, for giving to the mind's eye a picture, a resemblance, of the thought or object described. We indicate the attitude of mind toward that described, by the sort of comparison we make. In a word, we express either approbation" or disapprobation of the thoughts or objects spoken of, when making use of that which we term a "likeness" of the thought or object. In reading, as we give that "comparison" in slower or in faster time than the main text, do we express either