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Article PENCILLINGS FBOM THE SKETCH-BOOK OF A MA... ← Page 3 of 13 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Pencillings Fbom The Sketch-Book Of A Ma...
affords much room ^ for the engendering what is disagreeable in the natures of both men and women . The saying is no less true than common , that life on board ship is a capital test of disposition ., It soon develops itself ; a good-tempered individual is brought out in striking contrast with an ill-natured person ere many days , nay hours , have elapsed . It may , too , be added , that a meddling officious person is sure to do mischief . I know an instance in which a well-intended
though uncalled for interference on board a vessel bound for Bombay , on the part of an officer , eventually resulted in the loss of his
. Our passenger-list comprised a young civilian destined for Bengal , or writer as he was then called ; four King ' s and Company ' s assistant surgeons , a captain in the Madras army , a youth joining his father in India , a missionary , and five vivacious cadets . We had also a young gentleman termed a free mariner , that is , a person who ,
before Europeans were permitted to go where they pleased in Hindostan , went out on business purposes upon indenture , by which he bound himself not to do aught soever to conspire against the government of the East-India Company ; an infringement of which regulation , a century ago , might possibly have been attended with a show of serious consequences , though such an attempt , in the present day ,
would be regarded as a ridiculous idea , rendering the individual so minded a very fit subject , in public opinion , for the interior of a lunatic asylum . The missionary , who was one of the right sort , a good and earnest man , and of a very retired and taciturn cast of character , officiated as our chaplain on Sundays , giving all on board the benefit of his services in reading the Church of England liturgy , with the addition of a sermon when the weather would allow .
I know not , when our beautiful ritual is read with an impressiveness at sea , that it is in any place surpassed in solemnity ; he understood its simple eloquence , and seemed to know the true force of every word . But may I be pardoned a remark here , though a layman ? How great a mistake does it appear that the real value of elocution , pathos , and emphasis , should be so little appreciated by the greater
number of the clergy of the Established Church . Why is not reading aloud more studied at the universities ? and how painfully defective does that form , of late so commonly adopted in what , for distinction ' s sake , are termed High Church places of worship , strike upon the ear . It is , in fact , one unvaried monotone throughout the prayers , and the sermon is often delivered in a babyish squeaking tone in lieu of a well-modulated and distinct pronunciation , at once
graceful , becoming , and manly . Surely eloquence is a talent not given to man without an object ; and if so , in sacred things it should occupy a conspicuous place . Now I humbly conceive that intoning the service is in reality an act embodying , as it were , a derogation of one of the noblest gifts of the Creator to man . The power of the human voice , which should be made to conduce to the glory of its Divine Maker , is by the system referred to , reduced to a standard iuliuilely inferior to and unworthy of its high origin and true dignity ;
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Pencillings Fbom The Sketch-Book Of A Ma...
affords much room ^ for the engendering what is disagreeable in the natures of both men and women . The saying is no less true than common , that life on board ship is a capital test of disposition ., It soon develops itself ; a good-tempered individual is brought out in striking contrast with an ill-natured person ere many days , nay hours , have elapsed . It may , too , be added , that a meddling officious person is sure to do mischief . I know an instance in which a well-intended
though uncalled for interference on board a vessel bound for Bombay , on the part of an officer , eventually resulted in the loss of his
. Our passenger-list comprised a young civilian destined for Bengal , or writer as he was then called ; four King ' s and Company ' s assistant surgeons , a captain in the Madras army , a youth joining his father in India , a missionary , and five vivacious cadets . We had also a young gentleman termed a free mariner , that is , a person who ,
before Europeans were permitted to go where they pleased in Hindostan , went out on business purposes upon indenture , by which he bound himself not to do aught soever to conspire against the government of the East-India Company ; an infringement of which regulation , a century ago , might possibly have been attended with a show of serious consequences , though such an attempt , in the present day ,
would be regarded as a ridiculous idea , rendering the individual so minded a very fit subject , in public opinion , for the interior of a lunatic asylum . The missionary , who was one of the right sort , a good and earnest man , and of a very retired and taciturn cast of character , officiated as our chaplain on Sundays , giving all on board the benefit of his services in reading the Church of England liturgy , with the addition of a sermon when the weather would allow .
I know not , when our beautiful ritual is read with an impressiveness at sea , that it is in any place surpassed in solemnity ; he understood its simple eloquence , and seemed to know the true force of every word . But may I be pardoned a remark here , though a layman ? How great a mistake does it appear that the real value of elocution , pathos , and emphasis , should be so little appreciated by the greater
number of the clergy of the Established Church . Why is not reading aloud more studied at the universities ? and how painfully defective does that form , of late so commonly adopted in what , for distinction ' s sake , are termed High Church places of worship , strike upon the ear . It is , in fact , one unvaried monotone throughout the prayers , and the sermon is often delivered in a babyish squeaking tone in lieu of a well-modulated and distinct pronunciation , at once
graceful , becoming , and manly . Surely eloquence is a talent not given to man without an object ; and if so , in sacred things it should occupy a conspicuous place . Now I humbly conceive that intoning the service is in reality an act embodying , as it were , a derogation of one of the noblest gifts of the Creator to man . The power of the human voice , which should be made to conduce to the glory of its Divine Maker , is by the system referred to , reduced to a standard iuliuilely inferior to and unworthy of its high origin and true dignity ;