the slaves of passion, avarice, and pride! They offer us protection! yes, such protection as vultures give to lambs-covering and devouring them! Tell your invaders we seek nò change -and least of all such change as they would bring us!

24. Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled, that force must be called in to win back our love? 25. And this man

Is now become a god; and Cassius is

A wretched creature, and must bend his body,
If Cæsar carelessly but nod on him.

He had a fèver when he was in Spáin,

And, when the fit was on him, I did mark

How he did shake: 't is true, this god did shake:
His coward lips did from their color fly;

And that same eye, whose bend doth awe the world,
Did lose its lustre.

MODUL

IV. MODULATION.

ODULATION is the act of varying the voice in reading and speaking. Its general divisions are PITCH, FORCE, QUALITY, and RATE.

I.

PITCH.

PIT

DITCH' refers to the key-note of the voice-its general degree of elevation or depression, in reading and speaking. We mark three general distinctions of Pitch: HIGH, MODERATE, and Low.

1 Exercise on Pitch.-For a gen. eral exercise on pitch, select a sentence, and deliver it on as low a key as possible; then repeat it, gradually elevating the pitch, until the

top of the voice shall have been reached, when the exercise may be reversed. So valuable is this exercise, that it should be repeated as often as possible.

2. HIGH PITCH is that which is heard in calling to a person at a distance. It is used in expressing elevated and joyous feelings and strong emotion; as,

Go ring the bells, and fire the guns,
And fling the starry banners out;

Shout "Freedom!" till your lisping ones
Give back their cradle shout.

3. MODERATE PITCH is that which is heard in common conversation and description, and in moral reflection, or calm reasoning; as,

The morning itself, few people, inhabitants of cities, know any thing about. Among all our good people, not one in a thousand sees the sun rise once in a year. They know nothing of the morning. Their idea of it is, that it is that part of the day that comes along after a cup of coffee and a beef-steak, or a piece of toast.

4. LOW PITCH is that which is heard when the voice falls below the common speaking key. It is used in expressing reverence, awe, sublimity, and tender emotions; as,

F

"Tis midnight's holy hour, and silence now

Is brooding, like a gentle spirit, o'er

The still and pulseless world. Hark! on the winds
The bells' deep tones are swelling;-'tis the knell
Of the departed year. No funeral train

Is sweeping past, yet, on the stream and wood,
With melancholy light, the moonbeams rest,
Like a pale, spotless shroud; the air is stirred
As by a mourner's sigh; and on yon cloud,
That floats so still and placidly through heaven,
The spirits of the seasons seem to stand.

II.

FORCE.

ORCE1 is the volume or loudness of voice, used on the same key or pitch, when reading or speaking. Though the degrees of force are numerous, varying from a soft

1 Exercise on Force.-For a gen. eral exercise on force, select a sen

tence, and deliver it on a given key, with voice just sufficient to be heard;

whisper to a shout, yet they may be considered as three: LOUD, MODERATE, and GENTLE.

2. LOUD FORCE is used in strong, but suppressed passions, and in emotions of sorrow, grief, respect, veneration, dignity, apathy, and contrition; as,

How like a fawning publican he looks!

I hate him, for that he is a Christian.

VIRTUE takes place of all things. It is the nobility of ANGELS! It is the MAJESTY of GOD!

Roll on, thou deep and dark-blue ocean-roll!

Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain.

3. MODERATE FORCE, or a medium degree of loudness, is used in ordinary assertion, narration, and description; as, Remember this saying, "The good paymaster is lord of another man's purse." He that is known to pay punctually, and exactly at the time he promises, may, at any time, and on any occasion, raise all the money his friends can spare.

4. GENTLE FORCE, or a slight degree of loudness, is used to express caution, fear, secrecy, and tender emotions; as, Heard ye the whisper of the breeze,

As softly it murmured by,

Amid the shadowy forest trees?

It tells, with meaning sigh,

Of the bowers of bliss on that viewless shōre,
Where the weary spirit shall sin no mōre.

III.
QUALITY.

UALITY has reference to the kinds of tone used in reading and speaking. They are the PURE TONE, the OROTUND, the ASPIRATED, the GUTTURAL, and the TREMBLING. 2. THE PURE TONE is a clear, smooth, round, flowing sound, accompanied with moderate pitch; and is used to express peace, cheerfulness, joy, and love; as,

then gradually increase the quantity, until the whole power of the voice is brought into play. Reverse the pro

cess, without change of key, ending with a whisper. This exercise can not be too frequently repeated.

Methinks I love all common things—

The common air, the common flower;
The dear, kind, common thought, that springs
From hearts that have no other dower,

No other wealth, no other power,
Save love; and will not that repay

For all else fortune tears away?

3. THE OROTUND is the pure tone deepened, enlarged, and intensified. It is used in all energetic and vehement forms of expression, and in giving utterance to grand and sublime emotions; as,

Strike-till the last armed foe expires;
STRIKE-for your altars and your fires;
STRIKE for the green graves of your sires;
GOD-and your native land!

"FORWARD, THE LIGHT BRIGADE!

CHARGE FOR THE GUNS!" he said:

Into the valley of Death rode the six hundred.

4. THE ASPIRATED TONE is an expulsion of the breath more or less strong,― the words, or portions of them, being spoken in a whisper. It is used to express amazement, fear, terror, horror, revenge, and remorse; as,

How ill this taper burns!

Ha! who comes here?

Cold drops of sweat hang on my trembling flesh,

My blood grows chilly, and I freeze with horror !

While thronged the citizens with terror dumb,

Or whispering with white lips, "The foe! they come, they come!"

5. THE GUTTURAL is a deep under-tone, used to express hatred, contempt, and loathing. It usually occurs on the emphatic words; as,

Thou slave, thou wretch, thou coward!

Thou cold-blooded slave!

Thou wear a lion's hide?

Doff it, for shame, and hang

A calf-skin on those recreant limbs.

6. THE TREMULOUS TONE, or tremor, consists of a tremulous iteration, or a number of impulses of sound of the

least assignable duration. It is used in excessive grief, pity, plaintiveness, and tenderness; in an intense degree of suppressed excitement, or satisfaction; and when the voice is enfeebled by age.

7. The tremulous tone should not be applied throughout the whole of an extended passage, but only on selected emphatic words, as otherwise the effect would be monotonous. In the second of the following examples, where the tremor of age is supposed to be joined with that of supplicating distress, the tremulous tone may be applied to every emphatic syllable capable of prolongation, which is the case with all except those of pity and shortest; but even these may receive it in a limited degree.

O love, remain! It is not yet near day!
It was the nightingale, and not the lark,
That pierced the fearful hollow of thine ear;
Nightly she sings in yon pomegranate-tree.
Believe me, love, it was the nightingale.

Pity the sorrows of a poor old man,

Whose trembling limbs have borne him to your door,
Whose days are dwindled to the shortest span:

O give relief, and Heaven will bless your store.

IV.

RATE.

ATE1 refers to movement in reading and speaking, and
QUICK, MODERATE, or SLOW.

is

2. QUICK RATE is used to express joy, mirth, confusion, violent anger, and sudden fear; as,

The lake has burst!

The lake has burst!

Down through the chasms the wild waves flee :

1 Exercise on Rate.-For a gen. eral exercise, select a sentence, and deliver it as slowly as may be possible without drawling. Repeat the sentence with a slight increase of rate, until you shall have reached a rapid ity of utterance at which distinct ar

ticulation ceases. Having done this, reverse the process, repeating slower and slower. Thus you may acquire the ability to increase and diminish rate at pleasure, which is one of the most important elements of good reading and speaking.