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iş, preserving a fulness of tone, without ascent or descent on the scale.

The Monotone when given in a low key, and without force, is much more audible than when the voice slides up and down.

Actors adopt this tone when repeating passages aside. It conveys the idea of being inaudible to those with them in the scene, by being in a lower tone; and by being in a Monotone becomes audible to the whole house.

Generally the Monotone requires a low tone of voice, with slow and prolonged utterance. It is the ONLY tone that can properly present the supernatural and ghostly. This is the best tone, by far, to practice, in the cultivation of the voice.

Examples.

Milton.

1. High on a throne of royal state, which far
Outshone the wealth of Ormus or of Ind,

2.

3.

Or where the gorgeous East, with richest hand,
Showers on her kings barbaric pearl and gold,
Satan exalted sat!

How reverend is the face of this tall pile,
Whose ancient pillars rear their marble heads,

To bear aloft its arched and ponderous roof,

By its own weight made steadfast and immovable,
Looking tranquillity! It strikes an awe
And terror on my aching sight: the tombs
And monumental caves of death look cold,
And shoot a chillness to my trembling heart.

Shakspeare.

I am thy father's spirit;

Doomed for a certain term to walk the night,

And, for the day confined to fast in fires,

Till the foul crimes, done in my days of nature,
Are burnt and purged away. But that I am forbid
To tell the secrets of my prison-house,

I could a tale unfold, whose lightest word

Would harrow up thy soul; freeze thy young blood;
Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres;

Thy knotted and combined locks to part,

And each particular hair to stand on end,
Like quills upon the fretful porcupine:

But this eternal blazon must not be

To ears of flesh and blood:-List,—list,—O list!—
If thou didst ever thy dear father love,
Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.

VARIATIONS.

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By Vocal Variation, is meant the different movements of the voice, or variations from the key, in the delivery of a sentence. These are the Sweeps, the Bend, the Slides, and the Closes.

1. SWEEPS.

The most important are the Emphatic Sweeps.

The movement of the voice, which a development of the Emphatic Sweeps requires, is a sweep upward from the key to the word emphasized, and, coming down upon the word, with increased force, is carried below the key and again back to it. The upper movement is called the Upper Sweep the lower movement, the Lower Sweep. Low'r Sweep?

Thus :

Upp'r Sweep

Examples.

They were gone on your arrival?
You overcame him in the struggle?
He rode to London last week?

Accentual Sweeps take the same movement of the Emphatic, though very much diminished in extent, and are generally developed upon one syllable or word:-The Accentual Sweeps in this movement may be compared to the ripples upon a lake; while the Emphatic may be likened to the great waves of the sea.

The movement of the Accentual Sweeps may be observed, in the following sentence, if read without Emphasis. Thus :

Examples.

Night, sable goddess, from her ebon throne

In rayless majesty now stretches forth

Her leaden sceptre o'er a slumbering world.

2. BEND.

The Bend is a slight turn of the voice upward, at a pause of imperfect sense.

The use of the Bend in reading and speaking will be found of the greatest utility, as it gives life and animation to the subject: especially in opening an address use the Bend as much as possible, as it aids materially in gaining the good will and sympathy of the audience.

Examples.

Trained and instructed', strengthened by wise discipline', and guided by pure principle,' it ripens into an intelligence' but little lower than the angels.

Ladies,' and gentlemen,' our country at this hour,' not only needs patriotism in the field,' but also all the aid of noble hearts at home.

3. SLIDES.

The Upward Slide. The Downward Slide. The Wav ing Slide. The Double Slide.

THE UPWARD SLIDE,

is a gradual rise of the voice upward through a series of tones, ceasing at the highest. Thus:

Examples.

?

Would you deny being useful to the present generation, because you have been wounded by the poisoned shaft of envy?

Are you a scholar, and shall the land of Muses ask your help in vain?

Can the deep statesman, skilled in great design,

Protect but for a day precarious breath?

Or the tuned follower of the sacred nine,

Soothe with his melody, insatiate death?

THE DOWNWARD SLIDE,

is the reverse of the Upward: carrying the voice downward through a series of tones, ceasing at the lowest.

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Examples.

Who is there so cold that did not weep when Mighty Cæsar fell?
Who but rather turns

To heaven's broad fire his unconstrained view,

Than to the glimmering of a waxen flame?

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is used in the delivery of all questions where the disjunctive conjunction or is present: the or forming the point at which the one ends, and the other begins. The voice takes the movement of the Upward Slide to or, and the Downward Slide from it to the close.

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Are the stars that gem the vault of the heavens above us, mere decorations of the night; or are they revolving suns and centres of planetary systems?

Was it a wailing bird of the gloom,

Which shrieked on the house of woe all night?

Or a shivering fiend that flew to a tomb?

4. CLOSES.

The Partial Close, marked thus:

The Perfect Close,

in the following examples.

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The Partial Close is a fall of the voice at the end of one

of the parts of a sentence to the key, or to a point near the key, preparatory to the Perfect Close.

The Perfect Close is a fall of the voice, at the end of a sentence, to a point generally below the key.

Examples of both in Connection.

Before closing this I wish to make one observation: I shall make it once for all.

History, as it has been written, is the genealogy of princes: the field book of conquerors.

FORCE.

Reading with greater or less Force, is simply reading with more or less volume of voice upon the same key. There are many reasons why we should be judicious in the use of Force. First, if too little Force be used, the rear portion of the audience will not hear distinctly. Secondly, if too much Force be used, the speaking will be too loud for those nearest the rostrum. Thirdly, the continued use of an unusual degree of Force, destroys the flexibility of the voice; and leaves no room for an increase of volume, when the nature of the sentence absolutely demands greater force.

STRESS, according to Dr. Rush, is but the rendering of Force perceptible or impressive, in single sounds.

There are, properly, three kinds: the Radical, the Median, and the Increasing.

1. The RADICAL is generally explosive, and falls on the first part of a sound.

Examples.

[Explosive Utterance, Orotund, High Key,]

Strike, for the sires who left your free!

Strike, for their sakes who bore you!
Strike for your homes and Liberty,
And the Heaven you worship o'er you!

[Explosive Utterance, Pure Tone, High Key.]

VOICE OF SPRING.-Mrs. Hemans.

Ye of the rose lip and the dew-bright eye

And the bounding footstep, to meet me fly!

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