9

3. Here I stand for impeachment or trial! I dare accusation! I defy the honorable gentleman! I defy the government! I defy the whole phalanx!

4. Tried and convicted traitor? Who says this?

Who'll prove it, at his peril, on my head?

5. He dares not touch a hair of Cataline.

EXAMPLES OF SUBDUED FORCE.

Some are in the church-yard laid,
Some sleep beneath the sea;
But none are left of our old class,
Excepting you and me.

And when our time shall come, Tom,

And we are called to go,

I hope we'll meet with those we loved

Some forty years ago.

2. But I forbear. The sorrow of that scene is too awful for words. When the agony ceased upon the sea it was only to break forth afresh upon the land. Who shall measure it? Who shall trace its tear-stained path over this continent? Who shall count the broken hearts and ruined hopes of this dread ravage? None but God. None but He who let the tempest loose, that made the ship its prey; none but He who alone can bind up the bleeding hearts, and inspire with brighter hopes those whose hopes on earth this woe has blighted; none but He of whom not one of us all dares to ask the question, "What doest thou?" None but He to whom every stricken victim of the calamity we deplore may say with reverend lips, "Even so."

STRESS.

Stress relates to the way in which force of voice is applied to single sounds, words, and sentences.

Radical Stress is that in which the force of utterance is usually explosive.

Medium Stress is when the force is applied so as to gradually swell out the first part of the sound or syllable, and gradually decline to the close.

Thorough Stress is when the force is equally loud from the commencement to the close of the syllable.

Vanishing Stress occurs when the sound gradually increases as it swells onward, and then abruptly terminates with a vocal explosion.

Intermittent Stress or Tremor is characterized by a vibratory, tremulous tone.

A clear understanding of the subject of stress can only be obtained by long and careful study, and, if acquired, will be of but little practical use. The only way by which a good command of the different kinds of stress can be acquired, is by careful practice on such a variety of emotional and other passages as will require every imaginable application of stress and force. Clear ideas and right feeling will always suggest the proper stress, but arbitrary rules concerning its use will always confuse and often result in ridiculous mistakes or total failure.

RADICAL STRESS.

Exercises in this kind of stress, if carefully and energetically practiced, will strengthen and deepen the voice, and increase its compass and flexibility more rapidly than any other. Excepting intellectual and moral qualifications, there are no others which it is so important for the reader, actor, or public speaker to possess as a strong, flexible, musical voice, a distinct articulation, and a good command of radical stress.

EXAMPLES OF EXPLOSIVE RADICAL STRESS.

1. Thy threats, thy mercy, I defy,

And give thee in thy teeth the lie.

2. It was the act of a coward who raises his hand to strike, and has not the courage to give the blow.

3. A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse.

4. Hold! hold! for your lives.

5. And, Douglas, more, I tell thee hereEven in thy pitch of pride

Here, in thy hold, thy vassals near,

I tell thee thou'rt defied!

6. Yet though destruction sweep these lovely plains,
Rise! fellow-men, our country yet remains.
7. Unmannered dog! stand thou when I command!
Advance thy halberd higher than my breast,

Or, by Saint Paul! I'll strike thee to the earth, And spurn upon thee, beggar, for thy boldness. 8. Retire! or taste thy folly; and learn by proof,

Hell-born! not to contend with spirits of heaven. 9. Rise! fathers, rise! 't is Rome demands your help. 10. Down! down! cries Mar, your lances down!

Bear back both friend and foe.

11. You blocks! you stones! you worse than senseless things!

Most of the examples given under high pitch, also under emphatic repetition, are equally well suited to illustrate and exemplify explosive radical stress.

EXAMPLES OF INTERMITTENT STRESS OR TREMOR.

1. And when I am forgotten, as I shall be,
And sleep in dull, cold marble, where no mention
Of me more must be heard of,-say I taught thee;
Say Wolsey, that once trod the ways of glory,
And sounded all the depths and shoals of honor,
Found thee a way, out of his wreck, to rise in,
A sure and safe one, though thy master missed it.
Mark but my fall, and that that ruined me.

2. My lids have long been dry, Tom,

But tears came in my eyes :

I thought of her I loved so well,
Those early broken ties;

I visited the old church-yard,

And took some flowers to strew
Upon the graves of those we loved

Just forty years ago.

3. Can he desert me thus? He knows I stay
Night after night, in loneliness to pray
For his return, and yet he sees no tear!
No! no! it can not be-he will be here.

4. I have known deeper wrongs;-I that speak to ye,
I had a brother once-a gracious boy,
Full of all gentleness, of calmest hope,

Of sweet and quiet joy,--there was the look
Of heaven upon his face, which limners give
To the beloved disciple. How I loved
That gracious boy! Younger by fifteen years,
Brother at once, and son! He left my side,
A summer bloom on his fair cheek, a smile
Parting his innocent lips. In one short hour
That pretty, harmless boy was slain!

5. And, oh! to see the briny tears fast hurrying down her cheek, As she offered up the prayer, in thought; she was afraid to speak, Lest she might waken one she loved far better than her life,— For she had all a mother's heart, had that poor collier's wife. With hands uplifted, see, she kneels beside the sufferer's bed, And prays that He would spare her boy, and take herself instead. 6. Alas! my noble boy, that thou shouldst die!

Thou, who wert made so beautifully fair!
That death should settle in thy glorious eye,
And leave his stillness in this clustering hair!
How could he mark thee for the silent tomb,
My proud boy, Absalom!

7. I love it! I love it! and who shall dare
To chide me for loving that old arm chair?

I've treasured it long as a sainted prize;

I've bedewed it with tears and embalmed it with sighs; 'Tis bound by a thousand bands to my heart,

Not a tie will break, not a link will start;

Would you know the spell? a mother sat there!
And a sacred thing is that old arm chair.

When the student can give with correct and vivid expression the examples under radical stress and intermittent stress, his voice will be under sufficient control to enable

him, with but little practice, readily to command all the other forms of stress, and most of the pleasing, impressive, and affecting intonations of the voice.

QUANTITY.

Quantity, or time, in elocution means the measure of sounds, syllables, or words with regard to their duration.

The syllables and words capable of receiving the longest quantity and the most musical expression, are those which contain open vowel and liquid, or nasal subvocal sounds.

LONG QUANTITY.

Let the following words be pronunced with varying degrees of force, but always prolong them to the utmost extent possible without changing their character or giving them in a manner the least akin to a drawl: War, law, scorn, all, form, green, feel, thee, shame, blaze, pain, wail, dare, care, swear, air, star, arm, charm, barn, no, home, lone, soul, moan, roll, hold, go, you, soon, moon, fool, ooze, room, cool, file, mine, sire, joy, toil, coin, toys, bow, our, foul, round, down, new, dew, pale, rain, fail, dream, keen, calm, view, etc.

Practice on these words at first by gradually increasing both the force and the quantity on each word until you are able to dwell upon it either by the rising or the falling inflection, without any artificial tone, at least twice as long as it would be proper to dwell upon the word in quiet conversation. Sometimes practice increasing the quantity in subdued, plaintive, and solemn tones.

Take each of these words and make it the emphatic word of at least three short sentences: one declarative, one interrogative, and one exclamatory, and exercise on these sentences for the purpose of obtaining the power of develop