Then must I knock, or call when just in sight?
They will not keep you standing at the door.
Shall I find comfort, travel-sore and weak?

Of labor you shall find the sum.

Will there be beds for me and all who seek?

Yea, beds for all who come.

Christina Georgina Rossetti.

XXIV. LENGTH OF INFLECTION.

190 MEMORY is the only Paradise from which we cannot be driven.

IF

191 To arms! they come! the Greek! the Greek!

F we read the first of the above extracts simply and naturally, and then give the second with intensity and spirit, what differences do we find in the action of the voice? One is a greater variation of pitch, due not only to the change of pitch between the words, but to a greater length in the inflections of the accented vowels.

Length of inflection is the means usually adopted in conversation and all natural speaking to make salient some specific idea. It shows the degree of accentuation, the positiveness of conviction or excitement, and the intensity of interrogation or assertion.

In developing skill to lengthen inflection there is danger of making it labored. All should be as easy and flexible as possible. Ease and naturalness should be preserved, as there is a tendency not only to force the inflection but also to eliminate changes of pitch between subordinate words. In strong, natural emphasis length of inflection and changes of pitch are always found together. Whenever the elements of loudness are increased without increasing the length of inflection, all is made abnormal, and we have the fault known as declamation. In all increase of emphasis there should be as little increase in loudness as possible; because loudness is merely physical. Increase of emphasis, if dignity and intensity of thought are to characterize expression,

must result from greater changes of pitch, longer pauses, and greater saliency of inflection. In all natural and noble speech increase of earnestness is shown not by increase of loudness, but by lengthening the pauses and increasing the range of voice by means of wider intervals of pitch between the words and longer inflections in the vowels.

Problem XXXIX. Speak the simplest sentence with as much conversational ease as possible, then give in contrast an emphatic passage, and observe the difference in the action of the voice.

192 SIMPLICITY of character is the natural result of profound thought. Hazlitt.

193

COME as the winds come, when forests are rended,
Come as the waves come, when navies are stranded.

"Pibroch."

194

Scott.

"WHO dares”—this was the patriot's cry, as striding from the desk he came "Come out with me, in Freedom's name, for her to live, for her to die!" A hundred hands flung up reply, a hundred voices answered, “I!”

T. B. Read.

Problem XL. Give some simple passage, first indifferently, and then with genuine earnestness, without increasing loudness, and observe the effect upon the inflections.

195 MOST wretched men are cradled into poetry by wrong; they learn in suffering what they teach in song.

"Julian and Maddalo."

Shelley.

Problem XLI. Give some passage simply, as to one person, and then with great earnestness, so as to dominate the attention of a thousand people, without changing the elements of naturalness.

196 HAST not thy share? On winged feet, lo! it rushes thee to meet: And all that Nature made thine own, floating in air or pent in stone, Will rive the hills and swim the sea, and, like thy shadow, follow thee. Emerson.

Problem XLII. Contrast the earnestness and excitement of a noble with those of a less noble character, also 'one with great selfcontrol with another with nervous excitability.

197 Brutus.

Cassius.

I am.

Go to; you are not Cassius,

Brutus. I say you are not.

Cassius. Urge me no more, I shall forget myself;
Have mind upon your health, tempt me no further.
Brutus. Away, slight man!

Cassius. Is't possible?

Brutus.

Hear me, for I will speak.

Must I give way and room to your rash choler?

Shall I be frighted when a madman stares?

198 Cassius. I DENIED you not. Brutus. You did. Cassius. I did not.

Problem XLIII. Read passages with various degrees of earnestness, excitement, and dignity, and make the contrasts by inflectional modulations rather than by loudness.

199 NEW Occasions teach new duties; Time makes ancient good uncouth; They must upward still, and onward, who would keep abreast with Truth; Lo, before us gleam her camp-fires! we ourselves must Pilgrims be, Launch our Mayflower, and steer boldly through the desperate winter sea, Nor attempt the Future's portal with the Past's blood-rusted key. "The Present Crisis."

James Russell Lowell.

SOLITUDE, though it may be silent as light, is, like light, the mightiest of agencies; for solitude is essential to man. All men come into this world alone; all leave it alone. Even a little child has a dread, whispering consciousness, that, if he should be summoned to travel into God's presence, no gentle nurse will be allowed to lead him by the hand, nor mother to carry him in her arms, nor little sister to share his trepidations. King and priest, warrior and maiden, philosopher and child, all must walk those mighty galleries alone. The solitude, therefore, which in this world appalls or fascinates a child's heart, is but the echo of a far deeper solitude, through which already he has passed, and of another solitude deeper still, through which he has to pass: reflex of one solitudeprefiguration of another.

Deep is the solitude of millions who, with hearts welling forth love, have none to love them. Deep is the solitude of those who, under secret griefs, have none to pity them. Deep is the solitude of those who, fighting with doubts or darkness, have none to counsel them. But deeper

than the deepest of these solitudes is that which broods over childhood under the passion of sorrow-bringing before it, at intervals, the final solitude which watches for it, and is waiting for it within the gates of death. O mighty and essential solitude, that wast, and art, and art to be, thy kingdom is made perfect in the grave; but even over those that keep watch outside the grave, thou stretchest out a scepter of fascination. De Quincy.

THE

XXV. ABRUPTNESS OF INFLECTION.

HE abruptness of an inflection, or the rapidity with which the sound-waves change their length in an inflection, is in proportion to the excitement, or, at times, to the lack of control. In one who is deliberate, the inflection changes its pitch inside of the vowel more slowly and gradually, while in one who is in an explosive mood of mind, all changes, but especially the concrete changes of pitch in the inflection, are more rapid. Again, the degree of abruptness shows the kind of excitement. Where the excitement is superficial, the tendency will be to quick inflections. In proportion as the excitement is deep and under control of will, the inflections will be more gradual, or will have less abruptness, and will be longer.

Abruptness in inflection may also vary with temperament. A man of nervous temperament, who is very quick in his thought, usually has more abrupt inflections, while one who is more deliberative and slow in thinking not only tends to speak more slowly, but the changes of pitch in his inflections are more gradual. Abruptness may sometimes be nervous jerkiness, which may amount to a fault. Again, definiteness of touch and decision of execution require that there shall be no drag in inflection: every inflection must be definite and decided.

A certain degree of abruptness of inflection manifests vigor of thought. Where inflections are too long, we have a tiresome drawl, which is a very serious defect. Again, where inflections are too slow, there is a tendency to circumflex or minor inflection, and various cadences of weakness. It is most

important that inflections should have the element of decision. A certain degree of abruptness is a fundamental characteristic of decision in touch; but the variation of the abruptness of inflection must never go so far as to become a jerk on the one hand or a drag on the other. Colloquial inflections, as a rule, are short and abrupt. Whenever a speaker has depth of meaning, when his appeal is to spiritual or noble motives, and when he asks for contemplative attention, his inflections tend to be more gradual or less abrupt.

Problem XLIV. Observe the effect of abandon to excitement upon the inflections when Hamlet speaks to his companions, and the effect of resolution and reverence when he speaks to the ghost.

201 UNHAND me, gentlemen!

By heaven, I'll make a ghost of him that lets me!

I say away!-Go on; I'll follow thee!

Problem XLV. Note the effect of excitement upon the abruptness of Hamlet's inflections. At first, he is indifferent, and the inflections are slow, but in his second speech, surprise and excitement cause them to be quick and abrupt.

202 "SAW who?" "My Lord, the king, your father."

my father?"

"The king,

Problem XLVI. Read a simple sentence, and appeal only to the understanding as in ordinary conversation; and then give the same, or another, and endeavor to awaken spiritual insight or mystic contemplation.

203 THE seat of knowledge is in the head; of wisdom, in the heart. We are sure to judge wrong if we do not feel right.

204 PRUNE thou thy words, thy thoughts control,

That o'er thee swell and throng;

They will condense within thy soul,

And change to purpose strong.

Hazlitt.

Newman