ment. The contest is doubtful and dreadful: two of his legions are entirely surrounded. He seizes a buckler from one of the private men,- puts himself at the head of his broken troops, · darts into the thick of the battle, cues his legions, and overthrows the enemy!"

("Pure Tone"

Animated Description.

res

: "Moderate force: Vivid "median stress.")

"The physical universe may be regarded as exhibiting, at once, all its splendid varieties of events, and uniting, as it were, in a single moment, the wonders of eternity. Combine, by your imagination, all the fairest appearances of things. Suppose that you see, at once, all the hours of the day, and all the seasons of the year, a morning of spring and a morning of autumn, a night brilliant with stars, and a night obscure with clouds, meadows, enamelled with flowers, fields, waving with harvests, woods, heavy ― with the frosts of winter;

you will then have a just notion of the spectacle of the universe. Is it not wondrous, that while you are admiring the sun plunging beneath the vault of the west, another observer is beholding him as he quits the region of the east,— in the same instant reposing, weary, from the dust of the evening, and awaking, fresh and youthful, in the dews of morn! There is not a moment of the day in which the same sun is not rising, shining in his zenith, and setting on the world! Or, rather, our senses abuse us and there is no rising, nor setting, nor zenith, nor east, nor west; but all is one fixed point, at which every species of light is beaming, at once, from the unalterable orb of day."

Animated Didactic Style, in Conversation.

("Pure Tone": "Moderate" force: "Unimpassioned radical," and lively "median stress.")

"People imagine they should be happy in circumstances

and repeating, with great emphasis, the gestures of the historian. The heads of some few of their horses and camels, were occasionally seen elevated above the group, and shadowing, as it were, the picture. When to these was added a glimpse of the scenery about the Dead Sea and the mountains of Judea, the whole effect was striking and fanciful, in the highest degree."

Serious Conversational Style.

"An idle man is a kind of monster in the creation. All nature is busy about him every animal he sees, reproaches him. Let such a man, who lies as a burden or dead weight upon the species, and contributes nothing either to the riches of the commonwealth, or to the maintenance of himself and family, consider that instinct with which Providence has endowed the ant, and by which is exhibited an example of industry to rational creatures."

("Pure Tone"

* Animated Narrative Style.

"Moderate" force: Vivid "radical stress.") "To form an idea of Cæsar's energy and activity, observe him when he is surprised by the Nervii. His soldiers are employed in pitching their camp. -The ferocious enemy sallies from his concealment, puts the Roman cavalry to the rout, and falls upon the foot. Everything is alarm, confusion, and disorder. Every one is doubtful what course to take, every one but Cæsar! He causes

the banner to be erected, the charge to be sounded, the soldiers at a distance to be recalled, all in a moment. He runs from place to place; his whole frame is in action; his words, his looks, his motion, his gestures, exhort his men to remember their former valor. He draws them and causes the signal to be given, — all in a mo

up,

* The vividness of effect in this style, raises the pitch above that of "serious" narrative: the prevailing note, however, is still, as in conversation, near the middle of the scale.

ment. The contest is doubtful and dreadful: two of his legions are entirely surrounded. He seizes a buckler from one of the private men,- puts himself at the head of his broken troops, · darts into the thick of the battle, cues his legions, and overthrows the enemy !"

Animated Description.

res

("Pure Tone : "Moderate" force: Vivid "median stress.") "The physical universe may be regarded as exhibiting, at once, all its splendid varieties of events, and uniting, as it were, in a single moment, the wonders of eternity. Combine, by your imagination, all the fairest appearances of things. Suppose that you see, at once, all the hours of the day, and all the seasons of the year, a morning of spring and a morning of autumn, a night brilliant with stars, and a night obscure with clouds, meadows, enamelled with flowers, fields, waving with harvests, woods, heavy with the frosts of winter; you will then have a just notion of the spectacle of the universe. Is it not wondrous, that while you are admiring the sun plunging beneath the vault of the west, another observer is beholding him as he quits the region of the east, — in the same instant reposing, weary, from the dust of the evening, and awaking, fresh and youthful, in the dews of morn! There is not a moment of the day in which the same sun is not rising, shining in his zenith, and setting on the world! Or, rather, our senses abuse us and there is no rising, nor setting, nor zenith, nor east, nor west; but all is one fixed point, at which every species of light is beaming, at once, from the unalterable orb of day."

Animated Didactic Style, in Conversation.

("Pure Tone": "Moderate" force: "Unimpassioned radical," and lively "median stress.")

"People imagine they should be happy in circumstances

which they would find insupportably burdensome in less than a week. A man that has been clothed in fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day, envies the peasant under a thatched hovel; who, in return, envies him as much his palace and his pleasure-grounds. Could they exchange situations, the fine gentleman would find his ceilings were too low, and that his casements admitted too much wind; that he had no cellar for his wine, and no wine to put in his cellar. These with a thousand other mortifying deficiencies, would shatter his romantic project into innumerable fragments in a moment."

Animated Didactic Style, in Public Discourse.

("Expulsive Orotund": "Moderate" force: Energetic "radical" and "median stress.")

"Blood, says the pride of life, is more honorable than money. Indigent nobility looks down upon untitled opulence. This sentiment, pushed a little farther, leads to the point I am pursuing. Mind is the noblest part of man; and of mind, virtue is the noblest distinction.

"Honest man, 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 Nature and of Heaven, Virtue takes place of all things. It is the nobility of angels! It is the majesty of God!"

II. "Low" Pitch.

This designation applies to the utterance of those feelings which we are accustomed to speak of as " deeper" than ordinary. Low notes seem the only natural language of grave emotions, such as accompany deeply serious and impressive thoughts, grave authority, or austere man

ner.

The transition in the voice, from "middle" to "low"

pitch would be exemplified in passing from the utterance of a thought which is merely serious, and so termed in contradistinction, rather to one of an animated and sprightly character, to that of one still deeper in its shade of feeling, and which would be appropriately termed grave. At the stage of voice expressive of the latter, we should perceive an obvious though not very strikingly marked deepening of tone, or descent on the scale.

It is to this degree of depression of voice, properly, that the word "low" in its connection with pitch, is applied, in elocution, as a technical designation; there being still lower notes of the scale implied in the expression of those emotions which are still deeper in character and deeper in

utterance.

The full and impressive effect of a sentiment, particularly in circumstances of a grave character, as on the occasion of an address on topics of politics, morals, or religion, must often be dependent on appropriate gravity of tone. A uniformly grave tone, even in public reading or speaking, becomes, it is true, dull and uninteresting. But the absence of a due degree and application of it, divests public speaking of dignity and authoritative effect, and deprives deep sentiment of its impressive power over the mind. The "grave" style carried too low, becomes "solemn," a fault in consequence of which the lawyer and the popular orator sometimes seem to usurp the tone of the pulpit, and the preacher to lose the vocal and the moral power which comes from touching distinctly all the chords of sacred eloquence, and not dwelling exclusively upon one. There is more than a mere music to the ear, in the skill with which a practised elocutionist leads his own voice and the sympathies of his audience, as they glide gradually but perceptibly down the successive stages of emotion, from serious attention, to grave listening, and solemn impression.

The attainment of a perfect control over "pitch," renders the practice of all its gradations highly important. The following examples require attentive practice in conjunction with the repetition of the elements and of words selected from the exercises in enunciation.