word "burned into a parenthetic situation, in consequence of the grammatical connection between the words "comet " and " that." To atone to the ear for this verbal dislocation, the word "comet " takes on an additional force, a lower "slide," a longer "quantity in its accented syllable, and a more descriptive swell of "stress," than it would otherwise have. The line, "That fires," &c. is also read with a resuming force of expression, borrowed, as it were, from the style of voice in the word " comet; while the word "burned," (which, as being a descriptive verb, must possess a degree of accent,) is rendered parenthetic in effect, by being thrown into "monotone," instead of a downward "slide," and by being somewhat reduced in force, and raised in pitch; while its descriptive power is retained by prolonged "quantity" and "median swell." The following examples will illustrate the effect of "arbitrary emphasis and "reduction " where a clause is to be partially parenthesized, so as to preserve the connection of sense, on each side of it. "Say first, for Heaven, (hides nothing from thy view,) "Thus while he spake, each passion (dimmed his face "There was a Brutus once that would have brooked As easily as a king." The student may analyze for himself the effect of the "arbitrary emphasis" and "reduced expression," as indicated by the italics and the parenthesis. The slight, level, and rapid "expression, which takes place on clauses such as that included within crotchets, Dr. Rush has termed the " flight of the voice, and the emphatic connecting expression," the "emphatic tie." 66 The effect of these modifications of voice will be rendered still more apparent by longer examples. "He stood, and called His legions, angel forms, who lay entranced Hath vexed the Red-sea coast." The same mode of reading applies to all actual parentheses, or similar qualifying phrases, and their context; as in the following instances. "Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed: not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, (as it is written, 'I have made thee a father of many nations,') before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not, as though they were.' "For as many as have sinned without law, shall also perish without law; and as many as have sinned in the law, shall be judged by the law, (for not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified; for when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts, the meanwhile, accusing, or else excusing one another ;) in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel." [Zanga, relating the origin of his hatred of Alonzo.] ""Tis twice three years since that great man, "One day, (may that returning day be night, 66 [Corporal Trim's eloquence.] My young master in London is dead," said Obadiah. "Here is sad news, Trim," eyes as Trim stepped into the kitchen, dead." *cried Susannah, wiping her * said Trim, poor boy! poor gentle "I lament for him from my heart and my soul," fetching a sigh,-"Poor creature! man!" "He was alive last Whitsuntide," said the coachman. * Phrases occurring between two dashes, are sometimes equivalent to a parenthesis in effect. "Whitsuntide! alas!"* cried Trim, extending his right arm, and falling instantly into the same attitude in which he read the sermon, "What is Whitsuntide, Jonathan," (for that was the coachman's name,) "or Shrovetide, or any tide or time past, to this? Are we not here now?" * continued the corporal, (striking the end of his stick perpendicularly upon the floor, so as to give an idea of health and stability,)" and are we not " (dropping his hat upon the ground) "gone! in a moment!"— It was infinitely striking! Susannah burst into a flood of tears. We are not stocks and stones: - Jonathan, Obadiah, the cookmaid, all meltThe foolish fat scullion herself, who was scouring a fishkettle upon her knees, was roused with it. The whole kitchen crowded about the coporal. ed. "Are we not here now,— and gone in a moment? was nothing in the sentence: - it was one of your self-evident truths we have the advantage of hearing every day; and if Trim had not trusted more to his hat than his head, he had made nothing at all of it. 66 66 "Are we not here now?" continued the corporal, and are we not" (dropping his hat plump upon the ground, — and pausing before he pronounced the word) gone! in a moment!" The descent of the hat was as if a heavy lump of clay had been kneaded into the crown of it. —Nothing could have expressed the sentiment of mortality, runner, — like it: his hand *of which it was the type and foreseemed to vanish from under it; it fell dead; the corporal's eye fixed upon it, as upon a corpse ;and Susannah burst into a flood of tears." 66 Emphasis, fully defined for the purposes of elocution, is prominent expression," embodied in an accented syllable. It bears the same relation to "expression," in its full sense, that “syllabic accent "bears to "rhythmical accent." It may be restricted to a single word: expression" applies, as in music, to the sequence of sounds, in connected and consecutive utterance, designed for the communication of feeling. 66 Expression," however, while it contains the same elements with emphasis, comprises a few more. It includes the effects *All intervening clauses and phrases of whatever length, are read in the style of parenthesis. arising from "quality," in all its forms, "pure,' 99.66 99 66 "aspirated," expulsive," " and "explosive &c., and from the "effusive,' 66 modes of utterance; from force in all its gradations, from whispering to shouting; "stress," in its "radical," "median," "vanishing,' compound," ," and "thorough" forms; "tremor ; " 66 melody," "pitch," "slide," and "wave," in all their forms; "time," in all its influence over "movement," 99 66 rhythm," " and metre. These modifications of voice have all been discussed and exemplified. But to all these, "expression" adds the effect of "drift," as it has been termed by Dr. Rush, or, in other words, the impression produced on the ear by the frequent or successive recurrence of any mode or element of " expression." 99 66 "Drift," accordingly, is either an excellence or a fault, according to the circumstances in which it is adopted as a mode of effect. When a passage is so pervaded by one mood of feeling, and by one style of language and of structure, and even by one form of phrase, that a special unity of effect is obviously designed, as a result in audible expression, a frequent trait of declamatory eloquence and even of poetic emotion to which metre still farther contributes, the "drift,' or frequently recurring quality," force, “stress, melody," pitch, "slide," " wave,' "movement," or "rhythm," for a "drift" may be constituted by the frequent recurrence of one, or of several, or of all of these accidents of voice, has the effect of deepening the impression arising from the sentiment as a whole. Hence we may observe that the "drift," of recurring "melody," or what, in popular language, is termed a "tone," is often a means of powerful and deep impression on the ear and on the external sympathies of an audience, when there is little of unity, force, or weight in the sentiment which the speaker utters. The ear of discerning judgment and of true taste, however, is always offended, rather than pleased, by any perceptible drift not authorized by a predominating emotion associated with the language of a speaker, or the composition in the hands of a reader. Still, a gentle and chaste "drift" is one of the natural secrets of effect, in elocution, and should be carefully observed and closely analyzed, by every student who is desirous of securing a master-key to the human heart. 66 It is unnecessary to dwell on this subject after the discussion and exemplification of emphasis. We will conclude with referring to two examples which will fully illustrate the effect of "drift." Let the student read aloud, with well-marked expression," the first example of "impassioned emphasis," (the reply of Coriolanus to the tribunes,) and watch the impression produced on the ear by the recurrence of those vehement and infuriated downward "slides," which occur in the words marked by italics and capitals; and he will obtain a clear idea of the effect arising from the "drift" of the "slide." Let the reader repeat the sentence, and observe the prodigiously increasing force and loudness of the same words, as they succeed each other, and he will perceive, at once, the effect of the "drift" of mere force, or "loud concrete." Let the passage be read once more, with the attention fixed on the perpetually recurring and increasing "compound stress;" and the "drift" of "stress" will be sufficiently understood. The analysis might be pursued still farther; but the suggestions now dropped will serve to indicate the mode of reading for the purpose of tracing a "drift." The student may now return to page 241, and read aloud, for the sake of a wide contrast in "drift," the tender, pathetic, and "chromatic" lines illustrative of "feminine grief and sorrow," in which will be found all the opposite "drifts" of recurring "semitone," "subdued" and softened force, gentle "median stress," and other prevailing properties of kindred character. Exercises of this description may be performed on any of the examples contained in the book, which are of sufficient length to admit of recurrence of "expression," and, consequently, of "drift." No exercise can be more useful either for imparting a thorough knowledge of elocution, or securing its best effects; and none can be more useful for eradicating any false habits of "expression," such as are popularly called tones, — in the style of an individual, or of professional bodies and classes of men. The defective mode of instruction in elocution, which at present prevails in schools and higher places of learning, leaves much to be done by every student, not only by way of acquisition, but in the more arduous task of self-correction; and in no department of elocution is this process of self-culture and self-advancement so important to all, or so sure to the diligent, as in that of analysis and practice for the detection of errors, and the correction of faults in the management of the voice, as regards expression." 66 |