nglish
Pronunciation,' and by other phonologists, requires a careful training
of the voice and much practice. A susceptible reader comes, in time, to
feel, to some extent, what the _intonation_, also, of the verse, must
have been. To inspire students with a permanent interest in 'the morning
star of song,' the teacher must be an accomplished reader of his verse,
and must train his students to the best reading of it of which they are
capable. Of course, a knowledge of the language in its historical
development, previous to Chaucer, is desirable, though not
indispensable, to appreciate his poetry; but the best vocalization, in
the fullest sense of the word, which can be attained to, _is_
indispensable. To know of what earlier inflection any final _-e_ is the
residual, is well enough; but I cannot think that any one would insist
that such knowledge is indispensable to an appreciation of the poetry.
Philology is not the handmaid to poetical cultivation. She can be
dismissed altogether from service. There are no emergencies, even, where
it is necessary to engage her temporarily.

In the study of Latin and Greek, even with our imperfect knowledge of
the ancient pronunciation, and our no knowledge of the ancient
intonation, of these languages, it is all important that the student
should read Greek and Roman authors aloud. A student who has first been
trained to read Greek and Latin prose with fluency and expression can
then have considerable appreciation of verse in advance of any technical
knowledge. And if he be trained to read in time, he will know what
'quantity' really means. As Latin and Greek verse is read in the schools
(when it is read at all), it is accentual, not quantitative. I cannot
think that there was any more quantity in Greek and Latin than there is
in English, or in any other modern language, unless the Greeks and
Romans _spoke_ more in time than we do, which is not likely. The Romans
were probably more measured in their speech than the Greeks. Syllables,
in Greek and Latin verse, must have been made long or short by an
intoning of the verse.

When Vergil, or Ovid, or any hexameter poet, is read in the schools, his
verse is the same as that of Longfellow's Evangeline, made up of _xa_,
_ax_, and _axx_ feet. (Note 2.)

The following verse from Ovid, for example (Met. I. 143),

Sanguine | aque ma | nu crepi | tantia | concutit |
arma,

is read in the same way as the following from Longfellow's E