PRINCIPLE.

If the general spirit is unemotional,' the slides are 'moderate.'

If the general spirit is bold,' 'joyous,' or 'noble,' the slides are long.'

If the general spirit is subdued or pathetic' or ' grave,' the slides are 'short.'

Examples for the 'moderate' slide, or in the definite language of music, the "Third."

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'Can I speak with you a móment ? " "Certainly."

"The ancient Spartans were not less remarkable for their bravery in the field of battle, than for brevity and wìt in their answers. We have a memorable instance of their national spírit, in the reply of the old wàrrior, who was told that the arrows of the Persian host flew so thick as to darken the sun. So much the better,' was his answer; we shall enjoy the

advantage of fighting in the shade.""

Examples for the long,' slide or the "Fifth."

"What but liberty

Through the famed course of thirteen hundred years,

Alòof hath held invàsion from your hills,

And sanctified their name? And will ye, will ye
Shrink from the hopes of the expecting world,
Bid your high hónors stóop to foreign ínsult,
And in one hour give up to ínfamy
The harvest of a thousand years of glóry?
Die àll first! Yes, die by piècemeal!
Leave not a limb o'er which a Dàne can trìumph!

"True courage but from opposition grows; And what are fifty what a thousand slâves, Matched to the virtue of a single arm

That strikes for liberty? that strikes to save

His fields from fìre, his infants from the sword,
And his large hònors from eternal infamy?"
"Ye men of Sweden, wherefore are ye come?
See ye not yonder, how the locusts swarm,
To drink the fountains of your honor up,
And leave your hills a desert? Wretched men!

Why came ye forth? Is this a time for sport?

Or are ye met with song and jovial feast,

To welcome your new guests, your Danish visitants?
To stretch your supple necks beneath their feet
And fawning lick the dust? Go, go, my countrymen,
Each to your several mansions, trim them out,
Cull all the tedious earnings of your toil,
To purchase bondage. O, Swedes! Swedes!
Heavens! are ye men and will ye suffer this?
There was a time, my friends, a glorious time!
When, had a single man of your forefathers
Upon the frontier met a host in arms,

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His courage scarce had turned; himself had stood,
Alone had stood, the bulwark of his country."

Example for the 'short' slide, or the "Minor Third"

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"Dear, gentle, patient, noble Nell was dead. Her little bird, a poor, slight thing the pressure of a finger would have crúshed, was stirring nimbly in its cáge, and the strong heart of its child-mistress was mute and mòtionless forever!

"Sórrow was déad, indeed, in her; but pèace and perfect happiness were born, - imaged — in her tranquil beauty and profound repòse.

"Waking, she never wandered in her mind but once, and that was at beautiful music, which, she said, was in the air! God knows. It may have been.

Opening her eyes at last from a very quiet sléep, she begged that they would kiss her once again. That done, she turned to the old màn, with a lovely smile upon her fáce, such, they said, as they had never séen, and never could for

gét—and clung, with both her arms, about his neck. She had never murmured or complained; but with a quict mind, and mánner quite unáltered, -save that she every day became more eárnest and more grateful to them,-faded like the light upon the summer's evening."

PITCH.

1. The standard pitch' or 'key-note.' 2. The relative pitch' or 'melody.'

The middle pitch is the natural key-note for unemotional,' 'bold,' and 'noble' pieces. A higher pitch is the natural keynote for animated and joyous,'' subdued or pathetic,' and 'impassioned' pieces. A lower pitch is required for 'grave' pieces.

The middle or conversational pitch must be used for all 'kinds' when pupils have not the requisite compass or cultivation of voice to read naturally on a higher or lower 'key.'

But appropriate variety of pitch on the successive words and syllables, is one of the most essential and beautiful parts of good reading. In perfect elocution, it adds to the eloquence of expressive emphasis, the musical charm of natural melody.'

NATURAL MELODY

Is produced in part by that agreeable modulation of all the elements of expression, which the varied sense and feeling demand, yet it chiefly depends on a pleasing variation of the radical or opening pitch, on successive syllables.

PRINCIPLE.

1. Not more than two or three consecutive syllables should be given on the same tone of the "musical scale.'

2. Natural melody demands that this frequent change of pitch on the unemphatic syllables shall be only one tone at a time.

The unemphatic syllables form a kind of flexible ladder connecting the emphatic ideas, up and down which we must glide tone by tone, so as to be in the right place to give the longer slides on the emphatic words without an unmelodious break in the natural current of the voice, which should flow on smoothly through all changes, (unless there is an abrupt break

in the ideas,) just as a good road runs on over ever-varying hills and vales without once losing its smooth continuity.

Melody demands that the pitch on consecutive emphatic words also be agreeably varied. Our limited space will not allow us to mark the many possible permutations of pitch, which may constitute natural melody. We will only repeat the important general directions. Avoid monotony, by giving at most only two or three consecutive syllables, on the same

tone

Avoid making unnatural changes of pitch, of more than one tone at a time.

Tur. up the melody on the negative ideas, so that you will have room above the key-note, to slide down easily on the positive ideas.

COMPASS.

The compass of voice which should be used also depends on the spirit' of the piece.

The most joyous' and most impassioned' demands the widest range of pitch, and the greatest natural variety. The unemotional' demands only moderate compass.

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The

' grave' demands still less variety and compass. And when the 'grave' deepens into supernatural awe or horror, by the same analogy, we may infer that natural variety or melody gives place to an unnatural sameness of utterance, with just that little variety of all the vocal elements which is necessary to express the sense at all.

Example for middle pitch' and moderate compass.'

"It is these which I love and venerate in England. I should feel ashamed of an enthusiasm for Italy and Greece, did I not also feel it for a land like this. In an American, it would seem to me degenerate and ungrateful, to hang with passion upon the traces of Homer and Virgil, and follow without emotion, the nearer and plainer footsteps of Shakspeare and Milton."

'Joyous' example for higher pitch' and wider compass.'

"There was a sound of revelry by night,

And Belgium's capital had gathered them

Her beauty and her chivalry; and bright
The lamps shone o'er fair women and brave men.
A thousand hearts beat happily, and when

Music arose with its voluptuous swell,

Soft eyes looked love to eyes which spake again,
And all went merry as a marriage-bell."

Grave' example for lower pitch' and less than 'moderate compass.'

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And, — when I am forgotten, as I shall be,

And sleep in dull cold marble, where no mention

Of me more must be heard of,

say I taught thee;
Say, Wolsey, that once trod the ways of glory,
And sounded all the depths and shoals of honor,
Found thee a way, out of his wreck, to rise in,
A sure and safe one, though thy master missed it.
Mark but my fall, and that that ruined me.
Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away ambition:
By that sin fell the angels; how can man then,
The image of his Maker, hope to win by 't?

Let all the ends thou aim'st at be thy country's,

Thy God's, and truth's: then, if thou fall'st, O Cromwell!
Thou fall'st a blessed martyr!

VOLUME.

• Full volume' is the most essential element in the truthful expression of noble' sentiment.

1. "MIND is the NOBLEST part of man; and of mind, vir TUE is the NOBLEST distinction. HONEST MÀN, in the ear of Wisdom, is a grander name, is a more high-sounding title, than peer of the realm, or prince of the blood. According to the eternal rules of celestial precedency, in the immortal heraldry of Náture and of Heaven, VIRTUE takes place of all things. It is the nobility of ANGELS! It is the MAJESTY of GÒD!”