speak to us and tell us their thoughts, and
impart their ideas.«
    »Who shall be the speaker? What language shall he utter? French?«
    »Your French forefathers don't speak so sweetly, nor so solemnly, nor so
impressively as your English ancestors, Robert. To-night you shall be entirely
English: you shall read an English book.«
    »An old English book?«
    »Yes, an old English book, one that you like; and I will choose a part of it
that is toned quite in harmony with something in you. It shall waken your
nature, fill your mind with music: it shall pass like a skilful hand over your
heart, and make its strings sound. Your heart is a lyre, Robert; but the lot of
your life has not been a minstrel to sweep it, and it is often silent. Let
glorious William come near and touch it; you will see how he will draw the
English power and melody out of its chords.«
    »I must read Shakspeare?«
    »You must have his spirit before you; you must hear his voice with your
mind's ear; you must take some of his soul into yours.«
    »With a view to making me better; is it to operate like a sermon?«
    »It is to stir you; to give you new sensations. It is to make you feel your
life strongly, not only your virtues, but your vicious, perverse points.«
    »Dieu! que dit-elle?« cried Hortense, who hitherto had been counting
stitches in her knitting, and had not much attended to what was said, but whose
ear these two strong words caught with a tweak.
    »Never mind her, sister: let her talk; now just let her say anything she
pleases to-night. She likes to come down hard upon your brother sometimes; it
amuses me, so let her alone.«
    Caroline, who, mounted on a chair, had been rummaging the book-case,
returned with a book.
    »Here's Shakspeare,« she said, »and there's Coriolanus. Now, read, and
discover by the feelings the reading will give you at once how low and how high
you are.«
    »Come then, sit near me, and correct when I mispronounce.«
    »I am to be the teacher then, and you my pupil?«
    »Ainsi, soit-il!«
    »And Shakspeare is our science, since we are going to study?«
    »It appears so.