gesture is merely a hindrance to reading. The reader must practise modulation of the voice, in pitch, speed and accent, until he is able to impress upon the listener a general effect only, and not the mechanisms by which the effect is produced. Otherwise he should be a transparent medium; his task is only to make clearly audible the language that lies before him on the printed page. Shakespeare will do the rest himself, and may be trusted to do it. Good phrasing is as important in the vocal transmission of language as it is in the performance of music. It is as important in prose as in verse. It is, however, more difficult to attain in verse, because attention has to be given concurrently to the metrical structure which the phrasing plays across. In reading verse and especially the elastic and fluid verse of the drama-the metre must not be allowed to dominate the phrasing; and the phrasing, if properly executed, will not blur or confuse the metre. It is good practice to read a passage aloud to oneself, first as a metrical passage only, a succession of bars of equal length each with a definite number of beats, then as a succession of verbal phrases, noticing how these stand related to the recurrent bar, where the pauses occur, and what value is to be assigned to each pause. A little practice of this kind soon brings the power of feeling both metrical form and phrase-construction simultaneously, and fusing them in a single vocal rendering. Indistinct enunciation is the most common fault in reading aloud. In order to bring out the quality of a passage as art, not only must each phrase (and if the passage is in verse, each line) be distinctly conveyed, but within the line or phrase each word, and within the word each element, vocal or consonantal, in its sound. The art of reading aloud consists in giving this distinct articulated utterance to a continuous flow of speech, and in adding to this (but quite simply and as it were instinctively) the variations of time, pitch, and modulation which supply colour, warmth and vitality. A practised reader, when reading to himself, collects or "skims " the sense from the printed page, almost as fast, sometimes, as his eye can travel down it; in order to read what is before him word by word, or even phrase by phrase, he has to exercise strong selfrestraint. Reading aloud obliges us to do this. Further, it is a powerful aid to memory; besides bringing the work of art more fully before us, it makes it more lastingly a part of ourselves. Hence the importance of reading aloud, not only as a social function and a means of giving and receiving enjoyment, but also towards appreciating and assimilating what is best in literature. JULIUS CÆSAR BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE JULIUS CÆSAR was written at some time in the years 1599-1601, and first printed and published in the First Folio of 1623. The plot of the play is taken from the three lives of Casar, Brutus, and Mark Antony in North's translation of Plutarch's LIVES, which had first been published in 1579, and was republished in 1595. The story formed the basis of numerous Elizabethan dramas, and it was in a play on the same subject that Polonius appeared at the University (HAMLET, III. ii., 109-10). A SOOTHSAYER. CINNA, a poet. Another Poet. LUCILIUS, TITINIUS, MESSALA, Young CATO, friends to Brutus and Cassius. VOLUMNIUS, LUCIUS, page to Brutus. VARRO, CLITUS, CLAUDIUS, STRATO, DARDANIUS, servants to Brutus. PINDARUS, servant to Cassius. CALPURNIA, wife to Cæsar. PORTIA, wife to Brutus. Women. Senators, Citizens, Attendants, Soldiers, etc. The action takes place in Rome, except in Act IV. Scenes ii. and iii., where it is near Sardis; and in Act V., where it is near Philippi. ACT I. SCENE I. FLAVIUS, MARULLUS, and a crowd of Roman workpeople. [The scene is a street in Rome; it is full of artisans in their holiday clothes; Flavius and Marullus approach.] Flavius. Hence! home, you idle creatures, get you home: Is this a holiday? what! know you not, Of your profession? Speak, what trade art thou? [He turns to one of the leaders of the crowd.] One of the Citizens. Why, sir, a carpenter. Marullus. Where is thy leather apron and thy rule? What dost thou with thy best apparel on? You, sir, what trade are you? [He addresses another of the leaders.] Another Citizen. 10 Truly, sir, in respect of a fine workman, I am but, as you would say, a cobbler. Marullus. But what trade art thou? answer me directly. Citizen A trade, sir, that, I hope, I may use with a safe conscience; which is, indeed, sir, a mender of bad soles. Marullus. What trade, thou knave? thou naughty knave, what trade? 3 Citizen. Nay, I beseech you, sir, be not out with me: yet, if you be out, sir, I can mend you. Marullus. What meanest thou by that? mend me, thou saucy 20 fellow! Why, sir, cobble you. Citizen. Flavius. Thou art a cobbler, art thou? Citizen. Truly, sir, all that I live by is with the awl: I medle with no tradesman's matters, nor women's matters, but with awl. I am, indeed, sir, a surgeon to old shoes; when they are in great danger, I recover them. As proper men as ever trod upon neat's leather have gone upon my handiwork. Flavius. But wherefore art not in thy shop to-day? Why dost 30 thou lead these men about the streets? Citizen. Truly, sir, to wear out their shoes, to get myself into more work. But, indeed, sir, we make holiday, to see Cæsar and to rejoice in his triumph. Marullus. Wherefore rejoice? What conquest brings he home? To grace in captive bonds his chariot wheels? You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things! O you hard hearts, you cruel men of Rome, Knew you not Pompey? Many a time and oft 40 Have you climb'd up to walls and battlements, To towers and windows, yea, to chimney-tops, Your infants in your arms, and there have sat The live-long day, with patient expectation, To see great Pompey pass the streets of Rome: And when you saw his chariot but appear, |