hate because it adores thee! May all its neighbors, conspiring together, be able to sap its foundations! And if Italy be not sufficient, may the East ally itself with the West against her! May a hundred nations from all ends of the universe press on to level her hills and walls! let her hurl her walls on her own head, and tear out her entrails with her own hands; let the wrath of Heaven, called down by my prayers, rain upon her a deluge of fires! May I, with these eyes of mine, see this thunderbolt fall, see her houses in ashes, and laurels in the dust! see the last Roman heave his last sigh. Curse of Kehama. ROBERT SOUTHEY. I charm thy life From the weapons of strife, And the beasts of blood. But earth, which is mine, Her fruits shall deny thee. And the winds shall not touch thee When they fall nigh thee; And thou shalt seek death To release thee in vain. With a fire in thy heart And a fire in thy brain; And sleep shall obey me, And visit thee never, And the curse shall be on thee For ever and ever! Duchess of York to Richard III. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE. Either thou wilt die, by God's just ordinance, And promise them success and victory. Shame serves thy life and doth thy death attend. -Richard III, iv., 4. THE TONE OF CONFUSION. (See Tone Drill No. 52.) [The tone of Confusion implies a checking or stoppage of the flow of utterance. Either the mind has ceased to think continuously or the speaker is trying to repress his real thoughts.] An Orator's First Speech in Parliament. ALEXANDER BELL. The pillar of "ten-pounders" rises now, and towards the Speaker makes profoundest bow. Unused to so much honour, his weak knees bend with the weight of senate-dignities. He staggers-almost falls-stares-strokes his chin-clears out his throat, and ventures to begin. "Sir, I am sensible"(some titter near him)-"I am, Sir, sensible"-"Hear! hear!" (they cheer him.) Now bolder grown, for praise mistaking pother, teapots one arm, and spouts out with the other. "I am, Sir, sensible-I am, indeed-that, though-I shouldwant-words-I must proceed; and, for the first time in my life I think I think-that-no great orator-should shrink: —and, therefore,—Mr. Speaker-I for one—will speak out freely. Sir-I've not yet done. Sir, in the name of those enlightened men who sent me here to-speak for themwhy, then, to do my duty-as I said before-to my constituency-I'LL SAY NO MORE." GASPING. (See Tone Drill No. 105.) [Gasping indicates a struggle for breath. This spasmodic tone may be caused by overexertion or by a great mental shock or by a physical injury.] Wounded. WILLIAM E. MILLER. Let me lie down Just here, in the shade of this cannon-torn tree, Let me lie down. Dying at last! My mother, dear mother! with meek tearful eye, Great Heaven! this bullet-hole gapes like a grave; Our Father! our Father! why don't you proceed? Ebbing away! The light of the day is turning to gray. I am dying; bend down, till I touch you once more; MOANING. (See Tone Drill No. 140.) [Moaning manifests mental or physical pain, with exhaustion. It is agony in its weaker states. Sometimes there is unconsciousness.] : Lady Macbeth in Her Sleep. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE. Yet here's a spot. Out, damned spot! out, I say! One: two why, then 'tis time do do 't. Hell is murky. Fie, my lord, fie! a soldier, and afeard? What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account? Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him? The thane of Fife had a wife; where is she now? What, will these hands ne'er be clean? No more o' that, my lord, no more o' that: you mar all with this starting. Here's the smell of the blood still: all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Oh, oh, oh! . . Wash your hands; put on your nightgown; look not so pale: I tell you yet again, Banquo's buried; he cannot come out on 's grave. To bed, to bed; there's knocking at the gate: come, come, come, come, give me your hand: what's done cannot be undone: to bed, to bed, to bed.-Macbeth, v., 1. TONE OF UPROAR. (See Tone Drill No. 207.) [The tone of Uproar manifests great perturbation, commotion or turmoil. It is akin to Excitement.] The War in Heaven. JOHN MILTON. Immediate in a flame But soon obscured with smoke, all Heaven appeared, Their devilish glut, chained thunderbolts and hail That whom they hit none on their feet might stand, But they stood not long; Rage prompted them at length, and found them arms Light as the lightning-glimpse, they ran, they flew; |