be prolonged, but being nearly destitute of vocality, and produced by the "whispering current of breath," are to be rendered short as possible, without obscuring the true enunciation. The italicised, in the following, are specimens. I-f, pu-sh, th-istle, wh-eat, h-ome, s-o. 10. B, D, G, as heard in b-ow, d-are, g-one, are susceptible of less time than l, m, n, and ng, heard in l-ord, m-an, n-ine, r-uin, and so-ng. The latter are vocal without occlusion, and when in proper combinations, display the grace of time with much effect. The vocality of some of the elements depends upon their location in the syllable. Th, rh, w, y, v, and z, may be classed as vocal aspirates; v and z admit of considerable time. 11. This has to do with rhetoric; Rush gives some eminent instances, where the sentiment evidently requires quantity, to give a full display of the real meaning; but the syllables on which this significant power should be exercised, are composed of or end mostly with atonic sounds, and consequently are limited in their duration; constituting immutables. Satan addresses Gabriel thus: Again, Not that I less endure, or shrink from pain, Whose easier business were to serve the Lord, 12. In the first example, "sult" ought to be an indefinite quantity, to give the expression its full power; but being an immutable, it cannot be prolonged sufficiently to indicate the "pride, reproach, and complaint," which Satan is intended to convey. The last, offers the same objection. The quotation below, is adduced by the same writer. "Oh name, O sacred name of faithfulness profaned. 13. These last examples are all immutables, and exclude the time of the wave, so necessary to give that polished sarcasm and unleavened scorn, the sentiment so palpably demands. 14. We would call the attention of the student to Time, as all-essential to the good reader and speaker. We can not now enumerate all the important uses to which it can be applied, but the pupil may rest assured, that he cannot execute the high office of public speaking, the pathos of poetry, or the "majesty of the Drama," without a complete command over this powerful agent of oratory. 15. Dr. Rush thus speaks of the quantity of one of the most scientific and accomplished actresses, the histrionic art has ever boasted. "From the finely governed and varied quantities of Mrs. Siddons, I first learned, by beautiful and impressive demonstration, that the English language possesses similar, if not equal resources with the Greek and Latin, in this department of the luxury of speech; and I thus found myself indebted to the Stage, for the opening of that source of poetical and oratorical pleasure, which the more solemn pretences, and the hack instructions of a College, either knew not or disregarded. It was whilst listening to the recitation of this surpassing actress, that I felt the want of that elementary instruction, which would have enabled me to see through the whole of her excellence. I could not avoid, however, learning from her instinctive example what the appointed elders of my education should have taught me-that one of the most important means of expressive intonation, consists in the extended time of utterance." We need not remark on the high character of the testimony. Let the following tables and examples be diligently practised upon, swelling and prolonging the vowel sounds to the extent of the voice, yet preserving carefully the true pronunciation and character of the syllables. Farewell, happy fields, Where joy forever dwells. Hail, horrors! hail, Infernal world. Wo! to the traitor, wo! EXAMPLE 2. Heaven and earth will witness, If Rome must fall, that we are innocent! Hail, holy light. Or of the eternal co-eternal beam. EXAMPLE 3. To thee, cherubim and seraphim continually do cry Because the Father, to whom, in Heaven supreme, O wretched state! Oh bosom, black as death! Oh limed soul; that struggling to be free Art more engaged! Help, angels! Make assay! The stars shall fade away, the sun himself The wreck of matter and the crush of worlds. The sublimity of the sentiment in the last example, requires quantity throughout. The Lord's Prayer, Byron's Address to the Ocean, and all pathetic, solemn and dignified subjects, require quantity, in conjunction with the Median stress. SECTION 12.-PLAINTIVENESS OF SPEECH. 1. Let any of the vowel sounds be uttered with a mourn. ful expression, and extended quantity, and we shall have a display of the property of the voice set at the head of this section. In passing the interval from the 3d to 4th and 7th to 8th, in the musical scale, which are semitones, this peculiar symbol of pathos and tenderness may be heard. It is used in all the intervals, from a second up to the octave, but is most effective with a low pitch. 2. The plaintive character is obtained by the concrete movement. All syllables, whether indefinites, mutables or immutables, admit its application, though in different degrees, and when used in connection with long quantity, it assumes the form of the wave. In practice, the expres sion of the semitone may be demanded on a single word or sentence, or it may be heard through the entire section of discourse. It is rarely heard, however, on detached syllables, but, from its nature, is distributed over the whole drift of discourse; it is then denominated Chromatic Melody. 3. This function of the voice is often heard in the form of the wave direct and inverted. In the latter, it is probably one of the most significant symbols of speech that the whole nomenclature affords. 4. The Semitonic or Plaintive Expression, is used in penitence, disappointment, complaint, fatigue, supplication, fondness, love, pity, condolence, commiseration, mercy, compassion, peevishness, impatience, contrition, repining, chagrin, vexation, grief, sorrow, pain, &c. EXAMPLE 1.-Commiseration. Oh, sailor boy, wo to thy dream of delight, In darkness dissolves the gay frost-work of bliss: EXAMPLE 2.-Complaint. Is this the region, this the soil, the clime That we must change for Heaven? this mournful gloom Where joy forever dwells. Farewell, happy fields, EXAMPLE 3.-Sorrow. My Mother! when I learned that thou wast dead, 5. The last example should be read with a very conspicuous semitonic expression, and the whole poem (Cowper's Address to his Mother's Picture,) is a beautiful example for the application of this important power of speech. EXAMPLE 4.-Supplication. Forsake me not thus, Adam! Witness Heaven, Eve "ended weeping," and the whole of her pathetic supplication to Adam is replete with tenderness and love. Stay, jailor, stay, and hear my woe! Oh my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom,-would to God I had died for thee, Oh Absalom, my son, my son. Othello. Had it pleased Heaven To try me with affliction; had He rained To point his slow, unmoving finger at,— 6. The majestic passion of the despairing Moor, who has "loved not wisely but too well," calls for the highest effort of a manly and dignified semitone; care is requisite that the expression does not degenerate into a puerile whine. Milton's "Lycidas," and "Il Penseroso," should be read with this tone; also "Gertrude of Wyoming," "Lament of the Swiss Minstrel," and King David's lament over his son. SECTION 13.-TREMOR OF VOICE. 1. This property of the voice consists in rapid iterations, or tittles made in the glottis, as heard in laughing and crying. It is also heard in the gurgling of the throat and neighing of horses. The mutes, (k, p, t,) and aspirates, will not allow its application. It may be made on one pitch, or on the ascending and descending slides and waves, from a semitone to an octave. The student will endeavor to make the intervals between the consecutive tittles as small as possible; each iteration will consist of a distinct radical and rapid concrete movement. 2. If the pupil, in practice, find it difficult to execute the tremor, let him attempt to laugh, and it will be heard with tittles of wide intervals; let him continue the exercise, avoiding, as far as possible, the coarseness at first manifested, making the tittles as numerous and distinct as may be, and he will soon find it at his command. When he makes a practical application on words or sentences, let him distribute it over every element in the syllable, according to their respective capacities of time. Many, on the first trial, will probably find themselves inadequate to a correct execution of this brilliant characteristic of emotion. Let such take the Tables of Alphabetical Elements, and attempt a tremulous movement, by either laughing or crying them out. When they have succeeded in this, let them exercise |