mand of deep-toned expression in reading and speaking. Reading and reciting passages from Milton and from Young, and particularly from the Book of Psalms, or from hymns of a deeply solemn character, are exercises of great value for securing the command of the lower notes of the voice."

5. In the following exercises the movement is very slow, the pauses are very long, and the prevailing inflection the grave monotone.

1. THE GRAVE.

How frightful the grave! how deserted and drèar! With the howls of the storm-wind, the creaks of the bier, And the white bōnes all clattering together!

2. THE BELL OF THE ATLANTIC.

Toll, toll, tōll, thōu bell by billows swũng;

And, night and day, thy warning words repeat with mournful tongue;

Toll for the queenly boat, wrecked on yōn rocky shòre! Sea-weed is in her palace walls; she rides the surge nō more.

3. THE GHOST IN HAMLET.

MRS. SIGOURNEY.

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 pārt,

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

The pōpulous | and the powerful | was a lūmp,
Seasonless, herbless, trēeless, mānless, lifeless;
A lump of death, a chãos of hard clày.
The rivers, lakes, and ōcean, all | stood still,

SHAKESPEARE.

And nothing stirred within their silent dèpths.
Ships, sailorless, lay rōtting on the sea,

And their masts | fell down | piecemeal; as they dropped |

They slept on the abyss, without a sùrge

The waves were dèad; the tides were in their gràve;
The moon, their mistress, had expired befòre;
The winds were withered in the stagnant air,
And the clouds | perished: Dārkness | had nō nēed |
Of aid from them-she was the universe.

VIII. RECAPITULATION OF PITCH.

BYRON.

1. Very low is the pitch of awe, of reverence, of solemnity, of melancholy, horror, and despair.

2. Low is the pitch of serious, grave, solemn, and im- ̧ pressive thoughts and feelings.

3. Middle is the pitch of ordinary conversation, and of unimpassioned narrative, descriptive, or didactic composition.

4. High pitch is the pitch of courage, boldness, exultation, wonder, and anger, and of shouting or calling.

5. Very high is the pitch of rapturous emotion, of un.controllable passion, of terror, and pain.

CHAPTER V.

QUALITY OF VOICE.

INTRODUCTORY.

1. Quality of voice relates to the kind of tone used in reading or speaking in order to express varied thoughts and emotions.

2. The ever-varying intonations of a rich and cultivated voice constitute one of the greatest charms of a .good reader or speaker.

3. "In poetical and impassioned language," says Prof. Russell, "tones are often the most prominent and the most important qualities of voice; and to give these with propriety, force, and vividness, is the chief excellence of good reading or recitation.

4. "The language of prose, being generally less imaginative and exciting, does not require the extent and power of tone used in poetry. But as true feeling is, in both cases, the same in kind, though not in degree, and as no sentiment can be uttered naturally without the tone of its appropriate emotion, and no thought, indeed, can arise in the mind without a degree of emotion, a great importance is attached, even in the reading or speaking of prose composition, to those qualities of voice comprehended under the name of tones.

5. "Without these, utterance would degenerate into a merely mechanical process of articulation. It is these that give impulse and vitality' to thought, and which constitute the chief instruments of eloquence."

KINDS OF TONE.

The different qualities of tone may be classed as follows:

1. Pure tone.

4. The Guttural.

2. The Orotund.

3. The Aspirated.

5. The Falsetto.

6. The Semitone.

Of these divisions, the pure tone and the orotund are the most important, because they are most used in reading.

FAULTS IN QUALITY.

1. Perhaps the most common fault in school reading consists in using one uniform tone for all kinds of selections.

2. This hard, thin, high, grating quality is appropriately termed the "school tone."

3. The faulty habits of pupils in this respect are best corrected by requiring pupils to repeat in concert, after the teacher, short extracts which include great variations of quality. Many timid pupils are, at first, frightened at the sound of their own voices in any other tone than the conventional school tone.

4. Another fault is the tendency to the nasal tone. This high, thin, sharp, disagreeable tone is produced by forcing the breath into the nose before it leaves the mouth, and this fault in reading is the result of not opening the mouth sufficiently in reading. It may be broken up by persistent drill on the open vowel sounds, and by exercises that keep the voice down to a low pitch.

I. PURE TONE.

1. Pure tone, or head tone, is a clear, smooth sound, so formed as to have a slight resonance in the head or through the nasal passages. A good illustration of this quality is afforded by giving the sound of oo as in moon,

prolonged for ten seconds, in a thin, clear, gentle vocal sound, on a moderately high pitch.

2. Pure tone is used in all quiet, gentle, subdued forms of utterance; in the expression of pathos and tenderness; in ordinary conversation; in unimpassioned reading; and in the prolonged tones of shouting or calling, when the voice, raised to a high pitch, flows in a thin, clear, penetrating volume.

3. "The production of pure and full tone," says Prof. William Russell, "is the common ground on which elocution and vocal music unite, in elementary discipline. Both arts demand attention to appropriate healthful attitude, and to free, expansive, energetic action in the organs.

4. “Both require erect posture, free opening of the chest, full and regular breathing, power of producing and sustaining any degree of volume of voice, and, along with these, the habit of vivid, distinct articulation.

5. "Both equally forbid that imperfect and laborious breathing which mars the voice, exhausts the organs, and produces disease. Both tend to secure that healthy vigor of organ which makes vocal exercise, at once, a source of pleasure and a source of health."

EXAMPLES.

1. Straight mine eye hath caught new pleasures, While the landscape round it measures.

2. O that this lovely vale were mine!

3. O then I see Queen Mab hath been with you! 4. Rejoice, ye men of Angiers; ring your bélls; Open your gates to give the victors way.

5. Joy! joy forever! my task is done!

6. Ring, joyous chords! ring out again!

7. Hear the sledges with the bells-silver bells!