ac0410let

It is a part of an Englishman?s constitutionHis thoughts and beauties are so spread abroad that one touches them everywhere; one is intimate with him by instinctNo man of any brain can open at a good part of one of his plays without falling into the flow of his meaning immediately ?No doubt one is familiar with Shakespeare in a degree,? said Edmund, ?from one?s earliest yearsHis celebrated passages are quoted by everybody; they are in half the books we open, and we all 293 Jane Austen talk Shakespeare, use his similes, and describe with his descriptions; but this is totally distinct from giving his sense as you gave itTo know him in bits and scraps is common enough; to know him pretty thoroughly is, perhaps, not uncommon; but to read him well aloud is no everyday talent ?Sir, you do me honour,? was Crawford?s answer, with a bow of mock gravity Both gentlemen had a glance at Fanny, to see if a word of accordant praise could be extorted from her; yet both feeling that it could not beHer praise had been given in her attention; that must content them Lady Bertram?s admiration was expressed, and strongly too?It was really like being at a play,? said she?I wish Sir Thomas had been here Crawford was excessively pleasedIf Lady Bertram, with all her incompetency and languor, could feel this, the inference of what her niece, alive and enlightened as she was, must feel, was elevating ?You have a great turn for acting, I am sure, MrCrawford,? louis vuitton purses said her ladyship soon afterwards; ?and I will tell you what, I think you will have a theatre, some time or other, at your house in NorfolkI mean when you are settled thereI think you will fit up a theatre at your house in Norfolk ?Do you, ma?am?? cried he, with quickness?No, no, that will never beYour ladyship is quite mistakenNo theatre at Everingham! Oh no!? And he looked at Fanny with an expressive smile, which evidently meant, ?That lady will never allow a theatre at Everingham Edmund saw it all, and saw Fanny so determined not to see it, as to make it clear that the voice was enough to convey the full meaning of the protestation; and such a quick consciousness of compliment, such a ready comprehension of a hint, he thought, was rather favourable than not The subject of reading aloud was farther discussedThe two young men were the only talkers, but they, standing by the fire, talked over the too common neglect of the qualification, the total inattention to it, in the ordinary school-system for boys, the consequently natural, yet in some instances almost unnatural, degree of ignorance and 294 Mansfield Park uncouthness of men, of sensible and well-informed men, when suddenly called to the necessity of reading aloud, which had fallen within their notice, giving instances of blunders, and failures with their secondary causes, the want of management of the voice, of proper modulation and emphasis, of foresight and judgment, all proceeding from cartier watches the first cause: want of early attention and habit; and Fanny was listening again with great entertainment ?Even in my profession,? said Edmund, with a smile, ?how little the art of reading has been studied! how little a clear manner, and good delivery, have been attended to! I speak rather of the past, however, than the presentThere is now a spirit of improvement abroad; but among those who were ordained twenty, thirty, forty years ago, the larger number, to judge by their performance, must have thought reading was reading, and preaching was preachingThe subject is more justly consideredIt is felt that distinctness and energy may have weight in recommending the most solid truths; and besides, there is more general observation and taste, a more critical knowledge diffused than formerly; in every congregation there is a larger proportion who know a little of the matter, and who can judge and criticise Edmund had already gone through the service once since his ordination; and upon this being understood, he had a variety of questions from Crawford as to his feelings and success; questions, which being made, though with the vivacity of friendly interest and quick taste, without any touch of that spirit of banter or air of levity which Edmund knew to be most offensive to Fanny, he had true pleasure in satisfying; and when Crawford proceeded to ask his opinion and give his own as to the properest manner in which particular passages in the service chanel purse white should be delivered, shewing it to be a subject on which he had thought before, and thought with judgment, Edmund was still more and more pleasedThis would be the way to Fanny?s heartShe was not to be won by all that gallantry and wit and good-nature together could do; or, at least, she would not be won by them nearly so soon, without the assistance of sentiment and feeling, and seriousness on serious subjects ?Our liturgy,? observed Crawford, ?has beauties, which not even a careless, slovenly style of reading can destroy; but it has also re295 Jane Austen dundancies and repetitions which require good reading not to be feltFor myself, at least, I must confess being not always so attentive as I ought to be? (here was a glance at Fanny); ?that nineteen times out of twenty I am thinking how such a prayer ought to be read, and longing to have it to read myselfDid you speak?? stepping eagerly to Fanny, and addressing her in a softened voice; and upon her saying ?No,? he added, ?Are you sure you did not speak? I saw your lips moveI fancied you might be going to tell me I ought to be more attentive, and not allow my thoughts to wanderAre not you going to tell me so?? ?No, indeed, you know your duty too well for me to?even supposing?? She stopt, felt herself getting into a puzzle, and could not be prevailed on to add another word, not by dint of several minutes of supplication and waitingHe then returned to his former station, and went on as if there see by chloe bag had been no such tender interruption ?A sermon, well delivered, is more uncommon even than prayers well readA sermon, good in itself, is no rare thingIt is more difficult to speak well than to compose well; that is, the rules and trick of composition are oftener an object of studyA thoroughly good sermon, thoroughly well delivered, is a capital gratificationI can never hear such a one without the greatest admiration and respect, and more than half a mind to take orders and preach myselfThere is something in the eloquence of the pulpit, when it is really eloquence, which is entitled to the highest praise and honourThe preacher who can touch and affect such an heterogeneous mass of hearers, on subjects limited, and long worn threadbare in all common hands; who can say anything new or striking, anything that rouses the attention without offending the taste, or wearing out the feelings of his hearers, is a man whom one could not, in his public capacity, honour enoughI should like to be such a manI never listened to a distinguished preacher in my life without a sort of envyBut then, I must have a London audienceI could not preach but to the educated; to those who were capable of estimating my compositionAnd I do not know that I should be fond of preaching often; now and then, perhaps once or 296 Mansfield Park twice in the spring, after being anxiously expected for half a dozen Sundays together; but not for a constancy; it would not do for balenciaga bag a const