ABRUPT STRESS.

1. Impatient command.

"Hence! home you idle creatures, get you home. You blocks, you STONES, you WORSE than sènseless things!

Be gone!

Run to your houses, fall upon your knèes,
Pray to the gods to intermit the PLAGUE

That needs must light on this ingràtitude.”

The force must be thrown with an abrupt jerk on the emphatic syllables.

2. Anger. (Loud as well as abrupt' force and long slides.')

"CASSIUS. That you have wronged me doth appear in this;

You have condemned and noted Lucius Pella,
For taking bribes here of the Sardians;
Wherein, my letter, praying on his side,
Because I knew the man, was slighted off.

BRUTUS. You wronged yourself to write in such a case.
CAS. In such a time as this it is not meet
That every nice offence should bear its comment.
BRU. Let me tell you, Cassius, you yourself
Are much condemned to have an itching palm;
To sell and mart your offices for gold
To undeservers.

CAS. I an itching palm?

You know that you are Brutus that speak this,
Or, by the gods, this speech were else your last.

BRU. The name of Cassius honors this corruption,
And chastisement does therefore hide his head.

BRU. Remember March, the ides of March remember. Did not great Julius bleed for justice' sake?

What villain touched his body, that did stab,
And not for justice? What! shall one of us,
That struck the foremost man of all this world,
But for supporting robbers, shall we now
Contaminate our fingers with base bribes,
And sell the mighty space of our large honors,
For so much trash as may be grasped thus?
I had rather be a dog, and bay the moon,
Than such a Roman."

3. Defiance. (Very abrupt' and 'loud, with long slides.")

"I have returned, nót as the right honorable member has said, to raise another stórm, —I have returned to protect that constitution, of which I was the parent and the founder, from the assassinàtion of such men as the honorable gèntleman and his unworthy associates. They are corruptthey are SEDITIOUS and they, at this very moment, are in a CONSPIRACY against their country! Here I stand for impeachment or trial! I dare accusation! I DEFY the honorable gentleman! I defy the GOVERNMENT! I defy their whole PHALANX! Let them come forth! I tell the ministers I will neither give them quarter, nor take it!"

4. Indignation.

"Who is the man, that, in addition to the disgraces and mischiefs of the war, has dared to authorize and associate to our arms the tomahawk and scalping-knife cf the sav age? -to call into civilized alliance the wild and inhuman inhabitant of the woods? to delegate to the merciless Indian the defence of disputed rights, and to wage the horrors of his barbarous war against our brethren? My lords, we are called upon as members of this house, as men, as Christian men, to protest against such horrible barbarity."

SMOOTH STRESS.

All pleasant and good ideas demand smooth stress' or force, free from all abruptness.

In 'joyous' pieces, when the time is fast, the stress must be given with a lively, SPRINGING swell of the voice, which throws the force smoothly on the middle of the sound. Hence it is called the 'median' stress.

1.

'Animated and joyous' examples for smooth stress.
"His cares flew away,

And vísions of happiness dànced o'er his mind.

"He dreamed of his home, of his dear native bowers, And pleasures that waited on life's merry mòrn ; While memory each scene gayly covered with flowers, And restored every róse, but secréted its thòrn.”

In the following example of 'noble,' manly joy, the happy median stress swells with the same smooth, springing force as above, but with more fulness and longer quantity and pauses.

2. "Fellow Citizens,-I congratulate you,-I give you joy, on the return of this anniversary. I see, before and around me, a mass of faces, glowing with cheerfulness and patriotic pride. This anniversary animates and gladdens and unites all American hearts. Every man's heart swells within him, — every man's port and bearing becomes somewhat more proud and lofty, as he remembers that seventyfive years have rolled away, and that the great inheritance of liberty is still his; his, undiminished and unimpaired; his, in all its original glory; his to enjoy, his to protect, and his to transmit to future generations."

'Subdued' example for gentle but happy median or smooth stress.

"At last, Malibran came; and the glance riveted upon her glorious face.

child sat with his Could he believe

that the grand lady, all blazing with jewels, and whom everybody seemed to worship, would really sing his little song? Breathless he waited; - the band, the whole band, struck up a little plaintive melody. He knew it, and clapped his hands for joy.

"And oh! how she sung it! It was so simple, so mournful, so soul-subduing;—many a bright eye dimmed. with tears; and nought could be heard but the touching words of that little song,-oh! so touching!

"Little Pierre walked home as if he were moving on the air. What cared he for money now? The greatest singer in all Europe had sung his little song, and thousands had wept at his grief.

"Thus she, who was the idol of England's nobility, went about doing good. And in her early, happy death, when the grave-damps gathered over her brow, and her eyes grew dim, he who stood by her bed, his bright face clothed in the mourning of sighs and tears, and smoothed her pillow, and lightened her last moments by his undying affection, was the little Pierre of former days,— now rich, accomplished, and the most talented composer of his day."

'Noble, example for prolonged, full-swelling median or smooth stress.

"We must forget all feelings save the one;
We must behold no object save our country;
And only look on death as beautiful,

So that the sacrifice ascend to Heaven,

And draw down freedom on her evermore.

'But if we fail?'

In a great cause!

They never fail, who die

The block may soak their gore;
Their heads may sodden in the sun; their limbs
Be strung to city gates and castle walls;

But still their spirit walks abroad. Though years

Elapse, and others share as dark a doom,
They but augment the deep and sweeping thoughts
Which overpower all others, and conduct

The world, at last, to freedom!"

Examples for the longest quantity' and fullest 'swell' of the median or smooth stress.

"O liberty! O sound once delightful to every Roman O sacred privilege of Roman citizenship! once

ear!

sacred,

"Ye crags and peaks, I'm with you once again!
O sacred forms, how proud you look!

How high you lift your heads into the sky!
How huge you are! how mighty and how free!
"Ye guards of liberty,

I'm with you once again."

"The land that bore you - O!

Do honor to her! Let her glory in

Your breeding."

"These are Thy glorious works, Parent of Good.

Almighty! Thine this universal frame,

Thus wondrous fair! Thyself how wondrous, then!"

Example for noble' but happy median stress.'

"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

"He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul."

QUALITY OF VOICE.

Quality of voice is 'pure' or 'impure.

It is 'pure' when all the breath used is vocalized. It is impure' or aspirated when only a part of the breath is vocalized.

PRINCIPLE.

Pure quality' should be used to express all good and agreeable ideas.