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III.

EXPRESSION.

XPRESSION OF SPEECH is the utterance of thought, feeling, or passion, with due significance or force. Its general divisions are EMPHASIS, SLUR, INFLECTION, MODULATION, MONOTONE, PERSONATION, PAUSES, and MEASURE AND RHYTHM OF VERSE.

Orthoëpy is the mechanical part of elocution, consisting in the discipline and use of the organs of speech and the voice for the production of the alphabetic elements and their combination into separate words. It is the basis-the subsoil, which, by the mere force of will and patient practice, may be broken and turned up to the sun, and from which spring the flowers of expression.

Expression is the soul of elocution. By its ever-varying and delicate combinations, and its magic and irresistible power, it wills-and the listless ear stoops with expectation; the vacant eye burns with unwonted fire; the dormant passions are aroused, and all the tender and powerful sympathies of the soul are called into vigorous exercise.

I. EMPHASIS.

EMPHASIS is the peculiar force given to one or more

of a sentence.

To give a word emphasis, means to pronounce it in a loud' or forcible manner. No peculiar tone, however, is necessary, as a word or phrase may be rendered emphatic or peculiarly significant by prolonging the vowel sounds, by a pause, or even by a whisper.

'Loudness.-The instructor will explain to the class the fact, that loudness has not, of necessity, refer

ence to high pitch, but to volume of voice, used on the same key or pitch, when reading or speaking.

Emphatic words are often printed in italics; those more emphatic, in small CAPITALS; and those that receive the greatest force, in large CAPITALS.

RULES FOR THE USE OF EMPHASIS.

1. WORDS AND PHRASES PECULIARLY SIGNIFICANT, or important in meaning, are emphatic; as,

Whence and what art thou, execrable shape?

2. WORDS AND PHRASES THAT CONTRAST, or point out a difference, are emphatic; as,

I did not say a better soldier, but an elder.

3. THE REPETITION of an emphatic word or phrase usually requires an increased force of utterance; as,

You injured my child—you, sir!

4. A SUCCESSION of important words or phrases usually requires a gradual increase of emphatic force, though emphasis sometimes falls on the last word of a series only; as,

His disappointment, his ANGUISH, his DEATH, were caused by your carelessness.

These misfortunes are the same to the poor, the ignorant, and the weak, as to the rich, the wise, and the powerful.

EXERCISES.'

1. O Heaven! he cried, my bleeding country save!

2. I shall know but one country. I was born an American; I live an American; I shall die an American.

3. See how beauty is excelled by manly grace, and wisdom, which alone is truly fair.

4. He buys, he sells,-he STEALS, he KILLS for gold.

5. He that trusts you, where he should find you lions finds you where foxes, GEESE.

HARES

6. A good man loves HIMSELF too well to lose an estate by gaming, and his NEIGHBOR too well to win one.

'Direction.-Require the student is illustrated by each of the following to tell which of the preceding rules exercises.

7. The thunders of heaven are sometimes heard to roll in the voice of a united people.

8. A day, an HOUR, of virtuous liberty, is worth a whōle ETERNITY in bondage.

9. Let us fight for our country, OUR WHOLE COUNTRY, and NOTHING BUT OUR COUNTRY.

10. If I were an American, as I am an Englishman, while a foreign troop remained in my country, I NEVER Would lay down my arms-never, NEVER, NEVER.1

11. What STRONGER breastplate than a heart untainted! THRICE is he armed that hath his quarrel JUST; and he but NAKED, though locked up in STEEL, whose conscience with INJUSTICE is corrupted. 12. Strike-till the last armed foe expires; STRIKE-for your altars and your fires; STRIKE-for the green graves of your sires;

GŎD-and your native land!

13. Son of night, RETIRE; call thy winds, and fly. WHY dost thou come to my presence with thy shadowy arms? Do I FEAR thy gloomy form, dismal spirit of Loda? WEAK is thy shield of clouds; FEEBLE is that meteor, thy sword.

14.

What should I say to you? Should I not say,

Hath a Dog money? is it possible,

A CUR can lend three thousand duc'ats?

15. In the prosecution of a virtuous enterprise, a brave man DESPISES danger and difficulty.

16. Was that country a DESERT? No: it was cultivated and fertile; rich and populous! Its sons were men of genius, spirit, and generosity! Its daughters were lovely, susceptible, and chaste! Friendship was its inhabitant! Love was its inhabitant ! Domestic affection was its inhabitant! LIBERTY was its inhabitant!

17. Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounce it to you— trippingly on the tongue; but if you mouth it, as many of our players do, I had as lief the town-crier spake my lines. Nor do not saw the air too much with your hand thus, but use all gently; for in the very torrent, tempest, and (as I may say) WHIRLWIND of your

1 In order to make the last never more forcible, the emphasis is produced by the falling slide, and a deep

depression of the voice,—almost to a deep aspirated whisper, drawn up from the very bottom of the chest.

passion, you must acquire and beget à temperance that will give it smoothness.

18. Kind souls! What, weep you when you but behold our Cæsar's VESTURE wounded? Look ye here! Here is HIMSELF, MARRED, as you see, by TRAITORS.

19. If there be any in this assembly, any dear friend of Caesar's, to him I say, that Brutus' love to Cæsar was no less than his. If, then, that friend demand why Brutus rose against Cæsar, this is my answer: not that I loved Cæsar LESS, but that I loved Rome MORE. Had you rather Cæsar were living, and die all SLAVES, than that Cæsar were dead, to live all FREEMEN?

20. As Cæsar loved me, I weep for him; as he was fortunate, I rejoice at it; as he was valiant, I honor him; but as he was AMBITIOUS, I slew him. There is tears for his love, joy for his fortune, honor for his valor, and DEATH for his ambition.

SL

II. SLUR.

LUR is that smooth, gliding, subdued movement of the voice, by which those parts of a sentence of less comparative importance are rendered less impressive to the ear, and emphatic words and phrases set in stronger relief.

When a word or part of a sentence is emphasized, it is usually pronounced with a louder and more forcible effort of the voice, and is frequently prolonged. But when a sentence or part of a sentence is slurred, it must generally be read in a lower and less forcible tone of voice, more rapidly, and with all the words pronounced nearly alike.

In order to communicate clearly and forcibly the whole signification of a passage, it must be subjected to a rigid analysis. It will then be found, that one paramount idea always pervades the sentence, although it may be associated with incidental statements, and qualified in every possible manner. Hence, on the proper management of slur, much of the beauty and propriety of enunciation depends, as thus the reader is enabled to bring forward the primary ideä, or more important parts, into a strong light, and throw other

portions into shade; thereby entirely changing the character of the sentence, and making it appear lucid, strong, and expressive.

Slur must be employed in cases of parenthesis, contrast, repetition, or explanation, where the phrase or sentence is of small comparative importance; and often when qualification of time, place, or manner is made.

The parts which are to be slurred in these exercises are printed in italic letters, the prominent ideas appear in Roman, and the more emphatic words in SMALL CAPITALS.

EXERCISES.

1. The rivulet sends forth glad sounds, and, tripping o'er its bed of pebbly sands, or leaping down the rocks, seems with continuous laughter to rejoice in its own being.

2. Ingenious boys, who are idle, think, with the hare in the fable, that, running with SNAILS (so they count the rest of their schoolfellows), they shall come soon enough to the post; though sleeping a good while before their starting.

3. I love Music, when she appears in her virgin purity, almost to adoration. But vocal music-the dearest, sweetest thing on earth -unaccompanied with good elocution, is like butter without salt; a garlic-eater with a perfumed handkerchief; or, rather, like a bankrupt beau-his soft hands incased in delicate kids-with soiled linen, and patches upon his knees.

4. No! DEAR as FREEDOM is, and in my heart's just estimation prized above all price, I would much rather be MYSELF the SLAVE, and WEAR the BONDS, than fasten them on HIM.

5. The devout heart, penetrated with large and affecting views of the immensity of the works of God, the harmony of his laws, and the extent of his beneficence, bursts into loud and vocal expressions of praise and adoration; and from a full and overflowing sensibility, seeks to expand itself to the utmost limits of creation.

6. They shall hear of my VENGEANCE, that would scorn to LISTEN to the story of my WRONGS. The MISERABLE HIGHLAND DROVER, bankrupt, barefooted, stripped of all, dishonored, and hunted down, because the avarice of others grasped at more than that poor al could pay, shall BURST on them in an AWFUL CHANGE.

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