-a tone which is specially adapted alike to animated and joyous thoughts, and to alarm, shouting, impassioned command, etc. The following two selections will illustrate the use of very high pitch, with impassioned force :

[1] Shouting: Joyful Tones.

'Go, ring the bells, and fire the guns,
And fling the starry banner out;
Shout'freedom!' till your lisping ones
Give back their cradle shout.
Let boasted eloquence declaim
Of honor, liberty, and fame;

Still let the poet's strain be heard,
With 'glory!' for each second word,
And everything with breath agree

To praise our glorious liberty.'"- Whittier.

[2.] Great Excitement and Alarm.

"A horse! a horse! my KINGDOM for a horse!
-Slave! I have set my life upon a cast,
And I will stand the hazard of the die.
I think there be six RICHMONDS in the field!
Five have I slain to-day instead of him.
A horse! a horse! my KINGDOM for a horse!"

Shakspeare's King Richard III.

DIVISION III.-Low Pitch.

The low pitch which falls below the tone of ordinary conversation, is used to express awe, reverence, and sublimity, especially in the monotone; sometimes to express indignation, scorn, and derision; and it is also adapted to the tender emotions. It is the appropriate pitch for the first three selections under TONE. It is most effective when a change in sentiment or feeling allows it to follow the high pitch, so as to form a contrast. Thus:

666

Charge! Chester, charge! On, Stanley, on!'
Were the last words of Marmion."- W. Scott.

[1.] In the following extract the voice naturally takes a high pitch at the beginning of the speech of Cassius, and thus it continues until the passion changes to one of sorrowful indignation at "O, I could weep," when the voice falls into a harsh guttural tone, and the whole passage is thereby rendered very effective:

Low Pitch.

Guttural tone. High Pitch.

Pure tone.

Speech of Cassius.

"Come, Antony, and young Octavius, come
Revenge yourselves alone on Cassius,
For Cassius is aweary of the world :—
Hated by one he loves, braved by his brother,
Checked by a bondman, all his faults observed,
Set in a note-book, learned and conned by rote,
To cast into my teeth.-O, I could weep

My spirit from mine eyes! There is my dagger,
And here my naked breast-within, a heart
Dearer than Plutus' mine, richer than gold:
If that thou be'st a Roman, take it forth;
I, that denied thee gold, will give my heart:
Strike, as thou didst at Cæsar; for I know,

When thou didst hate him worst, thou lov'dst him better
Than ever thou lov'dst Cassius."

Shakspeare's Julius Cæsar.

[2] Here is an example in which the change from high pitch and full pure tone, to subdued force, low pitch, and guttural tone, is still more marked :

The Inquiry.

Some lone and pleasant dell,
Some valley in the west,
Where, free from toil and pain,

The weary soul may rest?

The loud wind dwindled to a whisper low,
And sighed for pity, as it answered-'No.'"-

Mackay

[3.] In the following passage, which should begin with. a plaintive tone and medium pitch, rise on the words "to them," then drop into a solemn tone, and at the period before the last rise to a high pitch, the changes in pitch. and tone are very effective. The speaker is showing of how little avail is honest counsel, when once vice and luxury have gained the ascendant in a state.

Medium Pitch.

Plaintive.

Oratorical Debate.

"If there are in this new Parliament any men devoted to their private interests, and who prefer the gratification of their passions to the safety and happiness of their country, who can riot without remorse in the plunder of their constituents, who can forget the anguish of guilt in the noise of a feast, the pomp of a drawing-room, or the glare of an equipage, and think expensive wickedness and the gayeties of folly equivalent to the fair fame of fidelity and the peace of virtue-to them' I shall speak to no purpose; for I am far from imagining any power in my words to gain those to truth who have resigned their hearts to avarice or ambition, or to prevail upon men to change opinions, which they have indeed never believed, though they are hired to assert them. For there is a degree of wickedness which no proof or argument can reclaim, as there is a degree of stupidity which no instruction can enlighten."-Parliamentary Debates.

Low and Solemn.

High.

In Tennyson's famous Bugle Song, the changes required in pitch, to adapt the expression to the sentiment, are extreme, and very striking in their effects. The first four lines of the first verse, being descriptive, require only medium pitch; the first four of the second, which are exclamatory, take a higher pitch; while the first four of the third naturally fall to the same pitch and tone as those in the first verse: but the lines in italics rise to a very high, shouting, uniform pitch, with exceedingly clear, ringing tones, and with very long quantity on the words "b-l-o-w," "b-l-o-w." The voice again falls to a low pitch on "answer, echoes," quickly rises again on the first" dying," and then takes a slow, falling gradation,“dying', dying, dying." The description, throughout, is so vivid that the "splendor" of the scene is painted, to the imagination, in unrivalled brilliancy of coloring; and the echoes seem to be almost heard, reverberating among the mountains, faintly responsive from the "purple glens," and dying away in the distance.

Bugle Song.

1. "The splendor falls on castle walls,
And snowy summits old in story;
The long light shakes across the lakes,
And the wild cataract leaps in glory.

B-l-o-w, bugle, b-l-o-w! set the wild echoes flying;
B-l-o-w, bugle !-answer, echoes,-dying', dying, dying.-

2. "O hark! O hear! how thin and clear,
And thinner, clearer, farther going;

O sweet and far, from cliff and scar,

The horns of Elfland faintly blowing!

B-l-o-w! let us hear the purple glens replying;

B-l-o-w, bugle! answer, echoes,-dying', dying, dying.

3. "O love, they die in yon rich sky,
They faint on field, on hill, on river;
Our echoes roll from soul to soul,

And grow forever, and forever.

B-l-o-w, bugle, b-l-o-w! set the wild echoes flying,
And answer, echoes, answer-dying',— dying,— dying`.—”

LESSON IV.-Movement of Voice.-Time.

There are those who are naturally slow speakers, and others who are rapid speakers; but, besides this, there are slow, medium, and rapid movements of voice, that are adapted cach to its particular kind and style of composition. While solemn, grave, and devotional thoughts, profound reverence, adoration and amazement, sublimity and awe, are naturally expressed in a slow and measured manner, unimpassioned but earnest thoughts move with a little more force and motion; while the gay, the animated, and the joyous and sometimes fear and indignation—attain a rapidity of utterance that is measured only by the rapid flow of the feelings which strive for expression. Therefore, movement in speech, as in music, will be found to pass through almost infinite gradations, as illustrated in the slow and solemn funeral march on the one hand, and in the animation of the dance on the other.

DIVISION I.-Slow Movement.

Very slow movement is, evidently, well adapted to the reading of such pieces as Prentice's The Closing Year, Derzhavin's Ode to God, and Byron's Dream of Darkness, from which we have already taken extracts, for other purposes. The following, in which the distinguished author has made a commonplace subject sublime, by his exquisite handling of it, requires a movement but little less slow than those mentioned :—