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true, it connects the meanest individual with the universe itself: a chicken, roosting upon its perch, with the spheres revolving in the firmament."

Lively.

"In thy right hand lead with thee
The mountain nymph, sweet Liberty;
And, if I give thee honor due,
Mirth, admit me of thy crew,
To live with her, and live with thee,
In unreproved pleasures free:
To hear the lark begin his flight,
And, singing, startle the dull night,
From his watch-tower in the skies,
Till the dappled dawn doth rise;
Then to come, in spite of sorrow,
And at my window bid good morrow,
Through the sweet brier or the vine,
Or the twisted eglantine."

Quick.

"Now the storm begins to lower;
(Haste, the loom of hell prepare ;)
Iron sleet of arrowy shower
Hurtles in the darkened air.

"Ere the ruddy sun be set,
Pikes must shiver, javelins sing,
Blade with clattering buckler meet,
Hauberk crash, and helmet ring.

Sisters, hence with spurs of speed!
Each her thundering falchion wield;
Each bestride her sable steed:
Hurry, hurry, to the field!"

The preceding exercises will be found serviceable in training the organs and forming the voice to the appropriate style of public reading and speaking. They are not meant, however, to supersede a regular course of culture, on the plan prescribed in Dr. Rush's Philosophy of the Voice,-an advantage, now accessible to students in Boston and Cambridge, at the Vocal and Gymnastic Institute of Mr. J. E. Murdoch.

INFLECTION.

Introductory Observations. The use of inflection is to give significance to speech, and constitutes that part of modulation which is addressed to the understanding. It ranks next to a distinct articulation, as the means of rendering consecutive oral expression intelligible. It has, too, a certain effect of local melody,-so to term it,-in the successive clauses of a sentence, without which aid we could not discriminate between the commencement and the completion of a thought addressed to the ear.

Propriety of tone, even in the plainest forms of prose reading, is wholly dependent on the right use of inflections; and the absence, or the wrong application, of these modifications of voice, indicates either a want of ear, or of right understanding as to the sense of what is read. In the reading of verse, appropriate inflections are the only means of avoiding the two great evils of monotony and chant.

Reading, without inflections, becomes lifeless, as may be observed in what is usually called a 'schoolboy tone. This fault not only divests language of its meaning, but substitutes a ludicrous monotony for the natural, animated, and varied expression of the voice, in actual communication. The hearer unavoidably loses all interest in what is monotonously read; for it makes no appeal either to his feelings or to his understanding.

But it is not monotony, or the mere absence of inflection, or a formal mannerism, that is the only ground of complaint, as regards the too common style of reading. The ear undisciplined by proper early training, acquires habits of false intonation, and for the appropriate slides of the voice, substitutes, often, such

as are quite at variance with the sense of what is read, or utterly repugnant to the ear of cultivated taste.*

SIMPLE RISING AND FALLING INFLECTIONS, OR SLIDES. DEFINITIONS.† Inflection, as a term applied to elocution, signifies the inclining, or sliding, of the voice, either upward or downward.‡

There are two simple inflections,—the upward, or rising, usually denoted by the acute accent (')—the downward, or falling, marked with the grave accent (`).

The former occurs in the tone of a question which admits of being answered by yes or no, or by any other form of affirmation or negation; and the latter in that of the answer; thus,

"Is it a difficult affair ?"-"Yes."

"Will you go see the order of the course?""Not I."

"A'rm'd, say you?"-"Arm'd, my lord."

Note 1. In the tones of strong emotion, the rising inflection runs up to a very high note, and the falling

*A striking example of this fault occurs in the prevalent nse of the wave,' double slide, or circumflex,'-in the colloquial accent, and the local reading intonation of New England,—a fault which even well-educated persons often unconsciously display on the gravest occasions, although the appropriate use of the circumflex belongs only to the language of wit, or drollery, or to sarcastic and ironical expression.

This tone is strikingly exemplified in every emphatic word of what are popularly termed 'Yankee stories,' but may be traced, in a reduced form, in the current tones of New England, whether in speaking or in reading.

†The importance of clear and correct ideas in the study of a subject new to many learners, has induced the author to adopt as systematic and exact an arrangement as possible, though at the risk, perhaps, of apparent formality. Those parts of this work which are distinguished by leaded lines, are intended to be committed to memory. On all others, the learner should be closely examined.

Teachers and students will find here, as in all other departments of elocution, a copious source of instruction in Dr. Rush's elaborate work on the Philosophy of the Human Voice.

descends to one very low. The space traversed by the voice, in such cases, is sometimes a 'third,' sometimes a fifth,' and sometimes an 'octave,' according to the intensity of emotion.

(

Example 1. [The tone of indignant surprise, heightened by question and contrast]:-"Shall we in your person crown the author of the public calamities, or shall we destroy him?"

2. "Hark! a deep sound strikes like a rising knell."

[Earnest, agitated inquiry]:-"Did you not hear it?" [Careless and contemptuous answer]:-"No! 'twas but the wind,

3.

Or the car rattling o'er the stony street."

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[Excessive impatience]:-"Must I endure all this?"

[Derisive and scornful repetition]:-"All this?" [Emphatic assertion]:-"Ay, more."

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Note 2. In unempassioned language, on the contrary, the tone being comparatively moderate, the inflections rise and fall but slightly.

The following examples, in which this diminution of inflection takes place, are so arranged that the inflections are to be reduced by successive stages, till they lose entirely the point and acuteness of the tone of question, from which they are supposed to commence, and are, at last, brought down nearly to the comparative level which they acquire in conversational expression, the form in which they are oftenest employed in a chaste and natural style of reading.

Example 1. Interrogation, when not emphatic, thus, "Shall I speak to him?"

2. Contrast, when not accompanied by emotion: "They fought not for fame but freedom."

3. The expression of a condition or a supposition: "If we would be truly happy, we must be actively useful." "Your enemies may be formidable by their number and their power. But He who is with you is mightier than they."

4. Comparison and correspondence: "As the beauty

of the body always accompanies the health of it, so is decency of behaviour a concomitant to virtue."

5. Connexion: "He shook the fragment of his bláde, And shouted, Victory!"

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6. Continuance of thought, or incomplete expression, generally: "Destitute of resources, he fled in disguise.' "Formed to excel in peace, as well as in wár, Cæsar possessed many great and noble qualities." "While dangers are at a distance, and do not immediately approach us; let us not conclude that we are secure, unless we use the necessary precautions against them." "To us who dwell upon its surface, the earth is by far the most extensive orb that our eyes can anywhere behold.”

CIRCUMFLEX.

DEFINITION. Circumflex, or wave. The two simple inflections, the rising and the falling, are superseded, in the tones of keen and ironical emotion, or peculiar significance in expression, by a double turn, or slide of voice, which unites both in one continuous sound, called the circumflex, or wave.

When the double inflection thus produced, terminates with the upward slide, it is called the rising circumflex, which is marked thus (v); when it terminates with the downward slide, it is called the falling circumflex, -marked thus (^).

These inflections occur in the following passage of ironical expression,-deriding the idea that Cæsar was entitled to the credit of humane feeling, because he could not pass the Rubicon without a pause of misgiving: "Oh! but he paused upon the brink!"

MONOTONE.

DEFINITION. When no inflection is used, a monotone, or perfect level of voice, is produced, which is usually

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