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RULE IX.

An emphatic succession of particulars, and emphatic repetition, require the falling inflection.

1.

EXAMPLES.

Beware what earth calls happiness; BEWARE

All joys but joys that never can expire'.

2. A great mind', a great heart', a great orator', a great career, have been consigned to history'.

BUTLER.

REMARK.—The stress of voice on each successive particular, or repetition, should gradually be increased as the subject advances.

.

The CIRCUMFLEX is a union of the two inflections on the same word, beginning either with the falling and ending with the rising, or with the rising and ending

with the falling; as, If he goes to me I shall go to

Pa

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те,

The circumflex is mainly employed in the language of irony, and in expressing ideas implying some condition, either expressed or understood.

EXAMPLES.

1. Yoŭ, a beardless youth, pretend to teach a British general.

2. What! shear a wolf? a prowling wolf?

8.

My father's trade? ah, really, that's too bad!

My father's trade? Why, blockhead, are you măd ?
My father, sir, did never stoop so low,-

He was a gentleman, I'd have you know.

4. What! confer a crown on the author of the public calamities? 5. But you are very wise men, and deeply learned in the truth; wě are weak, contemptible, mean persons.

6. They pretend they come to improve our stăte, enlărge our thoughts, and free us from error.

7. But youth, it seems, is not my only crime; I have been accused of acting a theatrical part.

8. And this man has become a god and Cassius a wretched creature.

SECTION IV.

MODULATION.

MODULATION implies those variations of the voice, heard in reading or speaking, which are prompted by the feelings and emotions that the subject inspires.

FULL
TONE.

{

EXAMPLES.

EXPRESSIVE OF COURAGE AND CHIVALROUS EXCITEMENT.

ƒ Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more,
Or close the wall up with our English dead!

{

MIDDLE ƒ In peace, there's nothing so becomes a man,
As modest stillness and humility;

TONE.

SHORT

AND

QUICK.

HIGH

AND

LOUD.

QUICK,

AND VERY LOUD,

But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger;

Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,
Disguise fair nature with hard-favored rage.
On, on, you noblest English,

Whose blood is fetched from fathers of war-proof!
Fathers, that, like so many Alexanders,

Have, in these parts, from morn till even fought,
And sheathed their swords for lack of argument.
(I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,
Straining upon the start. The game's afoot;
Follow your spirits, and, upon this charge,
CRY-HEAVEN FOR HARRY! ENGLAND! AND ST. GEORGE!

SHAKSPEARE.

REMARK. To read the foregoing example in one dull, monotonous tone of voice, without regard to the sentiment expressed, would render the passage extremely insipid and lifeless. But by a proper modulation of the voice, it infuses into the mind of the reader or hearer the most animating and exciting emotions.

The voice is modulated in three different ways. First, it is varied in PITCH; that is, from high to low tones, and the reverse. Secondly, it is varied in QUANTITY, or in loudness or volume of sound. Thirdly, it is varied in QUALITY, or in the kind of sound expressed.

PITCH OF VOICE.

PITCH OF VOICE has reference to its degree of ele vation.

Every person, in reading or speaking, assumes a certain pitch, which may be either high or low, according to circumstances, and which has a governing influence on the variations of the voice, above and below it. This degree of elevation is usually called the KEY NOTE.

As an exercise in varying the voice in pitch, the practice of uttering a sentence on the several degrees of elevation, as represented in the following scale, will be found beneficial. First, utter the musical syllables, then the vowel sound, and lastly, the proposed sentence,-ascending and descending.

-8.—do--e-in-me.-Virtue alone survvies.

7. si

i in die. Virtue alone survives.
-6.-la- -o-in-do.-Virtue alone survives.
o in no. Virtue alone survives
-a-in-at.-Virtue alone survives.-
a in ate. Virtue alone survives.
-a-in-far.-Virtue alone survives.-
a in all. Virtue alone survives.

5. sol
-4.-fa-
3. mi
-2.-re-
1. do

Although the voice is capable of as many variations in speaking, as are marked on the musical scale, yet for all the purposes of ordinary elocution, it will be sufficiently exact if we make but three degrees of variation, viz., the Low, the Middle, and the High.

1. THE LOW PITCH is that which falls below the usual speaking key, and is employed in expressing emotions of sublimity, awe, and reverence.

EXAMPLE.

Silence, how dead! darkness, how profound!
Nor eye, nor list'ning ear, an object finds;
Creation sleeps. 'Tis as the general pulse
Of life stood still, and Nature made a pause,—
An awful pause! prophetic of her end.

-

YOUNG

2. THE MIDDLE PITCH is that usually employed in common conversation, and in expressing unimpassioned thought and moderate emotion.

EXAMPLES.

1. It was early in a summer morning, when the air was cool, the earth moist, the whole face of the creation fresh and gay, that I lately walked in a beautiful flower garden, and, at once, regaled the senses nd indulged the fancy.

2.

"I love to live," said a prattling boy,

As he gayly played with his new-bought toy,

And a merry laugh went echoing forth,

From a bosom filled with joyous mirth.

HERVEY.

3. THE HIGH PITCH is that which rises above the usual speaking key, and is used in expressing joyous and elevated

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QUANTITY is two-fold;-consisting in FULLNESS or VOLUME of sound, as soft or loud; and in TIME, as slow or quick. The former has reference to STRESS; the latter, to MOVEMENT.

The degrees of variation in quantity are numerous, varying from a slight, soft whisper to a vehement shout. But for all practical purposes, they may be considered as three, the same as in pitch ;-the soft, the middle, and the loud.

For exercise in quantity, let the pupil read any sentence, as,

“Beauty is a fading flower,"

first in a slight, soft tone, and then repeat it, gradually increasing in quantity to the full extent of the voice. Also, let him read it first very slowly, and then repeat it gradually increasing the movement. In doing this, he should be careful not to vary the pitch.

In like manner, let him repeat any vowel sound, or all of them, and also inversely. Thus :

оооооо

REMARK.-Quantity is often mistaken for Pitch. But it should be borne in mind that quantity has reference to loudness or volume of sound, and pitch to the elevation or depression of a tone. The difference may be distinguished by the slight and heavy strokes on a bell-both of which produce sounds alike in pitch; but they differ in quantity or loudness, in proportion as the strokes are light or heavy.

RULES FOR QUANTITY.

1. SOFT, OR SUBDUED TONES, are those which range from a whisper to a complete vocality, and are used to express fear, caution, secrecy, solemnity, and all tender emotions.

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