Aids to Self-Culture.

THE ART OF READING.-No. I.

IN placing these articles before our readers, we desire that they may be looked upon merely as hints to aid the student in self-culture-not as a system or as anything approaching completeness. We shall merely give a few of the more rudimentary principles-such as will appear, at once, obvious to the most ordinary capacities, leaving for a future time, a more systematic development of the theory and practice of reading; when we may enter into the consideration of all the branches of the subject which we deem of importance to the student desirous of cultivating his elocutionary powers; giving exercises similar to those already given in the classes formed for the study of English grammar, logic, &c.

The course we shall pursue in the present short series of articles, will be,-1st, Simply to give an idea of the common practice of punctuation, as now used by writers and printers, to "point" the different parts of a sentence, which need partial or entire separation. 2ndly. Give a few general rules by which punctuation may be made subservient to, what we shall, for the present, call pausation.*

The theory of inflection, emphasis, tone, &c., will have to stand over for consideration when we enter more fully into the subject. Meanwhile, it is taken for granted, that those for whom these hints are intended, are acquainted with the elements of English grammar, and are able to construe a sentence with tolerable ease and accuracy.

To those who are not possessed of this valuable and indispensable key to all knowledge, we would merely hint, that as their position is anything but desirable, we would advise them to hunt up the resources of the Controversialist in that particular, especially if they have any respect for those with whom they are in daily contact, or any regard for their own personal feelings. But to those who are anxious to cultivate the power of reading which they have already obtained, we desire to address a few plain words, or give them a number of rules or directions, by which they may improve themselves in the practice of one of the most elegant, and at the same time, most useful acquisitions a man can be possessed of. For what is more common than to hear our best authors, poets in particular, barbarously maltreated, absolutely butchered, cut up, as no gentle hostess would permit a joint upon her table to be.

In reading poetry, as in prose, it should be remembered, that the sense of the writer is the first thing to be attended to, before any rhetorical flourish can be admitted. We could heartily wish that every one who attempts to read our best writers, should get thoroughly imbued with their spirit, before attempting to lay them bare to others; were this the case, how much mortification would be spared both to reader and hearer! Let that be the first essential-to feel what you are reading; and do not express that feeling in "tearing a

* We use the term Pausation on our own authority, as we think unneedful confusion has been brought about by the indiscriminate use of the word Punctuation, which really means to point off. (L. Punctum-Point.) While pausation simply indicates a slight pause or cessation, where there is no printer's mark.

passion to tatters," but in a manner more becoming a gentleman and a man of sense, than a strolling player, who strives to "split the ears of the groundlings," and is moreover in danger of cracking all the glass in his immediate vicinity: such reading we should be far from designating by the simple title of elocution, but rather as so much balderdash.

We have no desire to

To one who is bent upon improvement, and who is desirous of imparting its benefits to those around him, these remarks will not be felt in the shape of a lecture,* but a as hint to trust to their own strong sense of propriety, in preference to that of one who "struts and frets," becomes the hero of an hour, "and then is heard no more." be the founders of a hot-bed to force a few premature shrubs into public notoriety, but rather wish to aid those who have a desire to elevate the taste of themselves and those around them: the public may safely be left to other hands. There is a great deal more honour due to him who is willing to work for those few which may always be found ready to hand, than to him who desires to deal largely with the whole human race-the man of "large heart," but with nothing in it.

We know that many of our readers are doing all they can to elevate those around them, and it is for these we are ever ready and willing to work. It is they who claim our highest regard. The man who cultivates one little spot near him, and gradually extends his operations, as he makes that fruitful, is the man that does most good. "Do the duty that lies nearest." 'Begin at Jerusalem," but do not end there.

With regard to the subject we have now in hand, we are aware of the difficulties that beset the beginner. The question of how to pause, and where, may be said to comprehend almost the whole subject matter of elocution. Many are sorely puzzled as to whether they ought to pause at the end of every line, in rhyme, and frequently find, that the distance of one comma, or other printer's mark, is at too great a distance from the other to be read in the same breath, and hence comes a difficulty. But these may be overcome by a careful study of the principles of what we have before called pausation. Not only so, but the carrying of this theory into practice would ensure greater success than the old routine of imitation by which many get hold of the mannerisms of imperfect teachers. Besides, having a theory to start upon, is of great advantage, as the practice tests the utility of it; as all theories that are impracticable, become merely speculative-which is not the case in the practice of rhetoric. Theory should regulate practice, as the spiritual thought should govern and guide the outward life. Not that a perfect theory will always evolve good practice, or that constant practice will give a conception of spiritual truth. For how often do we find the man, who grants that we should live for each other, spending all his energies on self; while the poor wayfarer will spend his whole life doing good. Theory and practice should go hand in hand, each in harmony with the other; the stream of our life be worthy of its source. The life within should govern that without; things should take their colouring from within. Vitality should lie under all our words and actions.

In giving the few directions we have undertaken to supply, we would wish to guard those who may peruse these articles against the notion, that to be a very Walker's Dictionary as to the pronunciation of separate words, is to be a good reader. It is a sorry mistake. Such people, who will pronounce every word as though it alone claimed our

*In Mrs. Caudle's sense of the word.

attention, are, if possible, more tiresome than inveterate drawlers. They resemble the old lady who read Johnson's Dictionary through, and on being asked what she thought of it, said, “Oh, I liked some of the words very much; but didn't think much of the story." It is not enough to pronounce words correctly; for though it is true that every word should be distinctly uttered, yet they should be spoken as parts of a whole, and not as in themselves—separately—an end. In reading, as in speaking, care, taste, and judgment are required, to give the words all the force and elegance they are capable of receiving, in connexion with, and in dependence on, each other. For remember, that a true work of art shows in bold relief all the more important parts of the work, while the minor details are kept in the background; not that any part is worthless, for every adjunct serves its purpose, and should be kept in harmony and subordination to the whole or principal design.

In some of the compositions of our cleverest writers there is an apparent negligence of writing, and which requires a corresponding appearance of negligence in reading; but these are really some of the most difficult things to place palpably before the minds of others. Such are the compositions of Ingoldsby (Barham), Hood, &c. We have said thus much by way of introduction, so that we may be enabled to confine our after remarks in the space allotted for this part of the miscellaneous portion of the magazine.

E. B.

Philosophy.

HAVE WE SUFFICIENT EVIDENCE TO PROVE THAT COMMUNICATIONS ARE NOW MADE TO MAN FROM A SPIRITUAL WORLD? AFFIRMATIVE ARTICLE.-IV.

HAVE We evidence to prove that light and heat are communicated from the sun to the earth, or that thunder causes the air to vibrate? Yes; for these material phenomena we have material evidence-the evidence of our bodily senses. A person who had never seen, heard, or felt, could have no evidence of the existence of light, heat, or sound. But to a person possessing these senses, in a state of healthy development, the sensations themselves are their own evidence.

To prove the existence of a spiritual world and its fellowship with man, requires evidence of a very different kind from the rappings to be heard in America, the luminous exhalations to be seen in English churchyards, or the innumerable ghost stories that have tenanted for ages the darkened imaginations of men. Spirit alone can comprehend or communicate with spirit. Spiritual existence must be spiritually discerned. To those who can ascend from nature up to nature's God, and who, in the forms of the seen and tem

poral, can trace the presence of the unseen and eternal, and commune in spirit therewith, the proof of spiritual existence, and of its intercourse with itself in man, is complete; and, from its nature, can receive neither accession nor diminution from certain unaccountable bodily appearances and sounds. For spirit thus to attempt to convey to man a consciousness of its nature, would be as absurd as an attempt to impress a blind man with an adequate idea of the grandeur of external nature, and the ethereal beauty of the medium or vision, by a verbal description. For those who are destitute of spiritual perception there can be no evidence of spiritual existence. If they recognise not the presence of divine intelligence, and deathless life and beauty in all shifting scenes and common phenomena of nature, mysterious apparitions and unaccountable sounds must prove totally inadequate to the dispersion of their spiritual darkness. "If they believe not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from

the dead."

One of the natural consequences | ship, or the disruption of the medium of communication, between this spiritual centre and the material outworks of creation—the possibility of which is implied in the question before us-would be to the exiles of earth the essence and climax of all evil. That human nature is not thus hopelessly fallen, and that the ladder of communication between heaven and earth is still traversed by the messengers of God, is incontrovertibly evident to those whose eyes-being closed to the glare of material light-are opened upon the more subtle medium of spiritual perception. To such, all nature stands forth as the expositor of the mind of God. It is none other to them than the house of God-a temple for his worship. It is the gate of heaven, or universal medium of communication between the abstract divine ideal and the poor concrete practicalness of human nature. The withdrawment of the divine foundation would necessarily involve the material superstructure in ruin.

of this blindness to the presence of the spiritual and divine in nature, and one which we see so constantly exemplified in the converse and prevailing opinions of our own day is, that those whose belief in a spiritual world is based, not upon their own perception, but upon the word of others, derive all the conceptions they can form of this state from the world with which they are familiar. They can only conceive of it as a material creation, locally situated in some remote region of infinity, endowed with scenes of heightened magnificence and beauty, and limited by boundaries of ample extent. They suppose any communications that may have been sent hither from thence to have been conveyed by special messengers; but as the visits of those angels, so few and far between, occurred only in the fabulous past none of these divine messengers having been either seen or heard in these later and more matter-of-fact times-it thus becomes a matter of discussion whether we have any evidence to prove that communications are now made to man from a spiritual world.

That the above view of spiritual existence fails to apprehend its true nature, needs not many arguments to prove. It must be, in all its attributes, unlimited. As the Creator Spirit is omnipresent, and as the presence of God (and that alone) constitutes heaven, this spiritual state, attained by the recognition of his presence, must exist independent of place. The spiritual world is the region of primal and elemental being-the divine centre, in which exists those general laws and principles from which radiate the individual, particular, and inconstant phenomena depicted on the superficies of nature. The mind endowed with spiritual perception, as it gazes upon the features of nature, becomes

conscious of

"Like the baseless fabric of a vision,
The cloud capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself-
Yea, all which it inherit, would dissolve,
And like an unsubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind."

A considerable accession of the faculty of spiritual insight is obtained, when we learn to recognise the intrinsic dignity of our own souls; when, ceasing to look upon the spiritual world as something external and foreign to ourselves, and to say, Lo, here is Christ, or lo, there, we become conscious of the presence of his kingdom within us, and of the filial relationship which our spirits sustain to the Father of Spirits. We then perceive that there is a diviner revelation of God's will, a sublimer transcript of the law written upon our hearts, than aught that has been engraven on stone, or given by the disposition of angels; that our hearts enshrine a silent, secret, and internal sphere of spiritual communication, whose nature is full, comprehensive, and general, like the lightning that cometh out of the east and shineth unto the west; and which is a subject, not for frivolous curiosity and vulgar wonder, but one the presence of which induces in the soul a state of profound reverence and worship. The utterance of this communication through the medium of human The absence of this relation-language is forbidden by the laws of its

"A sense sublime
Of something far more deeply interfused,
Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns,
And the round ocean, and the living air,
And the blue sky; and in the mind of man
A motion and a spirit that impels
All thinking themes, all objects of all thoughts,
And rolls through all things."

The spiritual kingdom, consequent on its position as the centre and universal element of nature, sustains an intimate relationship, and exists in indissoluble union, with the mind of man.

nature, much less are we to suppose that the burden of such divine intelligence may be expressed through the crude and expressionless medium of spirit-rapping. The mode of spiritual communication is by means of the streams of divine light, which emanate from all things, and which, converging upon the susceptible soul, leave an impress there of the spiritual substance from whence they proceed. The effect this communion has upon its subject is to withdraw his attention from the objects of bodily sense. If he has

known Christ after the flesh, he now hence-
forth knoweth him no more. The influence
of substantial existence, and an ever-present
eternity, is paramount in his soul. Retiring
from the noisy creeds and delusive fantasies
of earth, his soul expatiates in the immensity
of Truth and God, and the language of his
heart becomes-

"In secret silence of the mind
My heaven, and there my God, I find."
B. T.

NEGATIVE ARTICLE.-IV.

"He is the FREEMAN whom the TRUTH makes | assistance in which, the Holy Spirit has

free;

And all are slaves besides."

been promised to those who sincerely seek it. These considerations will point out the danger and explain the prevalence of superstition. Powerful in its own energy, the

good, and prone to enlist itself in the service of evil. Now, in this respect, the early history of our race affords striking warnings of the fatal results of credulity: the heathen world sank from a knowledge of the true God, by yielding credence to the existence of false and imaginary deities, whose worship first mingled with, and finally supplanted, that of Jehovah. In the same way, the Jews repeatedly sank into mere idolaters; they saw around them the worshippers of Baal and Astaroth, of Dagon and Rimmon

IN the close of my former article on this subject, I briefly alluded to what I considered to be the mental genesis and origin of super-human will is weak towards that which is stition, the enslavement of the motive and governing power of man's spiritual nature to some ungrounded belief. Few readers, who have ever thought on this subject, will doubt the immense originating and active power of the human will. It is true that there are those who would reduce it to "the final state of desire;" but this definition (which represents what we consciously feel to be an active power, as a mere passive condition) can scarcely be regarded otherwise than as a mere attempt to evade and explain away one of the strongest evidences of immaterial mental existence. When a desire is distinct and strong, and the reason gives its verdict in favour of the propriety of attempting, or the probability of attaining, the desired end, the will generally becomes the active exponent or agent of the desire; but when a strong conviction of the impropriety of our wishes, or doubt and cowardice as to the result, have gained possession and guidance of the will, we remain inactive in spite of the urgent promptings of desire. The Christian warfare is one continued struggle between a regenerated will and unregenerate desires. To redeem the human will from the bondage of sin was the great problem of redemption consuminated on the cross by the God-man Christ Jesus, which required the manifestation of Divine power in human form, to subject "this body of death" to the guidance of a renovated will, is the great work which man is urged to perform, and for

they beheld the sacrificial rites and the unholy enchantments of the pagan priesthood, and instead of testing their pretensions they yielded a credulous assent; their wills became the slaves of a false belief,-they were carried away captive of their own lusts. The same lesson may be deduced from the witchcraft of the middle ages. It was believed possible to have dealings with Satan,

to sell the soul to the arch destroyer; and, fearful thought, men were left to the consequences of their mad delusion, until they believed the lie their hearts had framed,they put their hand to an imaginary contract, they sold their soul in very deed, and ratified the bargain with damning guilt; but their return was an empty mockery, their fancied power a blind imagination. Surely we may and ought to call on every thinking man to resist the threatened return of this mental plague, this soul-destroying gangrene of superstition, and to urge every sincere