She lolls, reels, staggers, till some foreign aid
To her own stature lifts the feeble maid.
'Then, if ordain'd to so severe a doom,
She, by just stages, journeys round the room;
But, knowing her own weakness, she despairs
To scale the Alps—that is, ascend the stairs.
'My far!' let others say, who laugh at toil;
'Fan!' 'Hood!''Glove!' 'Scarf !' is her laconic style
And that is spoke with such a dying fall,
That Betty rather sees than hears the call;
The motion of her lips, and meaning eye,
Piece out the idea her faint words deny.
Oh, listen with attention most profound!
Her voice is but the shadow of a sound.
And help! oh, help her spirits are so dead
One hand scarce lifts the other to her head.
If, there, a stubborn pin it triumph's o'er,
She pants! she sinks away! she is no more!
Let the robust, and the gigantic carve;
Life is not worth so much; she'd rather starve
But chew, she must herself. Ah! cruel fate
That Rosalinda can't by proxy eat."

PorE.

RATE OR MOVEMENT OF THE VOICE.

The term rate or movement of the voice has reference to the rapidity or slowness of utterance. In good reading, the voice must be adapted to the varying indication of the sentiments in the individual words, and the rate must accommodate itself to the prevailing sentiment which runs through the whole paragraph.

Every one must perceive that the rate of the voice, in the utterance of humorous sentiments and in facetious description, is vastly different from that which is appropriate on occasions of solemn invocation.

The rates of movement which are clearly distinguishable in varied sentiment, may be denoted by the terms slow, moderate, lively, brisk, and rapid.

SLOW MOVEMENT.

Slow movement is exemplified in the expression of the deep est emotions; such as awe, profound reverence, melancholy, grandeur, vastness, and all similar sentiments.

In exercising the voice on the rates of movement, the examples illustrating the extremes should be read consecutively, for reasons which must be obvious to the teacher.

As several constituents of expression are frequently blended, especially in the utterance of dignified and impressive sentiments, it may not be amiss to take the same example, to illustrate the separate functions of the voice. Thus the passage from the book of Job, which we have already used to exemplify the principles in pitch and monotone, may serve to illustrate the lowest and deepest notes, long quantity and slow movement, because all these are blended in giving force and true expression to the sentiment.

Reverence.

"Thy awe-imposing voice is heard—we hear it ! The Almighty's fearful voice! Attend !

It breaks the silence and in solemn warning speaks."

Melancholy.

"With eyes upraised, as one inspired,

Pale Melancholy sat retired,
And from her wild sequestered seat,

In notes by distance made more sweet,

Pour'd through the mellow hour her pensive soul."

"The hills,

Rock-ribb'd and ancient as the sun,-the vales,
Stretching in pensive quietness between,—
The venerable woods,-rivers that move
In majesty, and the complaining brooks,

That make the meadows green,-and, pour'd round all,
Old ocean's gray and melancholy waste,-

Are but the solemn decorations all

Of the great tomb of man.'

Profound Solemnity.

"Leaves have their time to fall,

And flowers to wither at the north wind's breath,
And stars to set-but all,

Thou hast all seasons for thine own, O Death!

Grandeur-Vastness.

"Roll on,
thou deep and dark blue ocean, roll !
Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain.

...

"Thou glorious mirror, where the Almighty's form
Glasses itself in tempests; in all time,

Calm or convulsed-in breeze, or gale, or storm,-
Icing the pole, or in the torrid clime

Dark heaving,-boundless, endless, as sublime, –
The image of Eternity, the throne

Of the Invisible,-even from out thy slime

The monsters of the deep are made. Each zone
Obeys thee. Thou goest forth, dread, fathomless, alone."

MODERATE MOVEMENT.

Moderate movement is the usual rate of utterance in ordinary, unimpassioned narration, as in the following extract

66

Stranger, if thou hast learn'd a truth which needs
Experience more than reason,-that the world

Is full of guilt and misery,—and hast known

Enough of all its crimes and cares

To tire thee of it,-enter this wild wood,

And view the haunts of Nature."

LIVELY MOVEMENT.

This rate of the voice is exemplified in giving utterance t a moderate degree of joyful and vivid emotions, as in the fol lowing extracts:

"Now, my co-mates and brothers in exile,

Hath not old custom made this life more sweet

Than that of painted pomp? Are not these woods

More free from peril than the envious court?
Here feel we but the penalty of Adam,-
The seasons' difference, as, the icy fang
And churlish chiding of the wintry wind,
Which, when it bites and blows upon my body,
Even till I shrink with cold, I smile and say,
'This is no flattery.' These are counsellors
That feelingly persuade me what I am.
Sweet are the uses of adversity,

Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous,

Wears yet a precious jewel in his head;

And this our life, exempt from public haunt,

Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in every thing:

I would not change it.

BRISK MOVEMENT.

This rate of the voice is employed in giving utterance to gay, sprightly, humorous, and exhilarating emotions; as in the following examples:

"But, oh! how alter'd was its sprightlier tone,
When Cheerfulness, a nymph of healthiest hue,
Her bow across her shoulder flung,

Her buskins gemm'd with morning dew,

Blew an inspiring air, that dale and thicket rung The hunter's call, to Faun and Dryad known !" "Last came Joy's estatic trial,

He, with viny crown advancing

First to the lively pipe his hand address'd;
But soon he saw the brisk, awakening viol,
Whose sweet, entrancing voice he loved the best."
"I come, I come !—ye have call'd me long ;-
I come o'er the mountain with light and song,
Ye may trace my step o'er the wakening earth
By the winds which tell of the violet's birth,
By the primrose stars in the shadowy grass,
By the green leaves opening as I pass."

This rate of the voice is exemplified in g a moderate degree of joyful and vivid em lowing extracts:

"Now, my co-mates and brot

Hath not old custom me

Than that of painted