Page images
PDF
EPUB
[merged small][ocr errors]

Satan, [to Death.] "Whence and what art thou, execrable shape!
That dar'st, though grim and terrible, advance
Thy miscreated front athwart my way

To yonder gates? Through them I mean to pass,
That be assured, without leave asked of thee:

[ocr errors]

Retire! or taste thy folly; and learn by proof,
Hell-born! not to contend with spirits of heaven."
Wrath and Threatening.1

Death, [in reply.] "Back to thy punishment,
False fugitive! and to thy speed add wings;
Lest with a whip of scorpions I pursue

Thy lingering, or, with one stroke of this dart,

Strange horror seize thee, and pangs unfelt before!"

4.- Infuriate Anger.

THE DOGE OF VENICE, [ON THE EVE OF HIS EXECUTION, IN THE CONCLUDING WORDS OF HIS CURSE ON THE CITY.]— Byron's Marino Falieri.

"Thou den of drunkards with the blood of princes!
Gehenna of the waters! thou sea Sodom!

Thus I devote thee to the infernal gods!

Thee and thy serpent seed!

[To the executioner.] Slave, do thine office!

[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

[BOZZARIS, TO HIS BAND OF SULIOTES.] - Halleck.

"Strike till the last armed foe expires!

Strike for your altars and your fires!

Strike for the green graves of your sires,

God and your native land!”

1 The fierceness of emotion, in some instances, adds "aspirated quality "to "orotund."

EXERCISES IN "ASPIRATED QUALITY."

[ocr errors]

I." EFFUSIVE UTTERANCE.

1.- Awe, in its gentlest form, with moderate" Aspiration.”

("Pectoral Quality.")

Note. The effect intended here is but the slightest approach to a whisper, —a barely perceptible breathing sound accompanying the utterance, - not unlike, in its effect, to a slight hoarseness.

[JACOB'S EXCLAMATION AFTER HIS Dream.]

"How dreadful is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and the gate of heaven!"

2.-The same emotion deepened.

[FROM THE BOOK OF PSALMS.]

"Of old hast Thou laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the work of Thy hands. They shall perish, but Thou shalt endure; yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt Thou change them, and they shall be changed: but Thou art the same; and Thy years shall have no end.

"Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever Thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God.

"Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, 'Return, ye children of men.' For a thousand years, in Thy sight, are but as yesterday, when it is past, and as a watch in the night.

"Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning, they are like grass which groweth up. In the morning it flourisheth and groweth up: in the evening, it is cut down, and withereth."

3.-Awe, still deeper in “expression," and stronger in “ aspiration.” [NATURE, SHRINKING FROM DEATH.] — Campbell.

"Yet half I hear the parting spirit sigh,
'It is a dread and awful thing to die!'

Mysterious worlds, untravelled by the sun,-
Where Time's far-wandering tide has never run,
From your unfathomed shades, and viewless spheres,
A warning comes, unheard by other ears.

"T is Heaven's commanding trumpet, long and loud,

5

Like Sinai's thunder pealing from the cloud!
While Nature hears, with terror-mingled trust,
The shock that hurls her fabric to the dust;
And, like the trembling Hebrew, when he trod
The roaring waves, and called upon his God,
With mortal terrors clouds immortal bliss,
And shrieks, and hovers, o'er the dark abyss!'
0

[ocr errors]

4.- Awe, extending to Fear: with still stronger " aspiration.” [FROM A RUSSIAN HYMN.]-Bowring.

"It thunders! Sons of dust, in reverence bow!
Ancient of days! thou speakest from above:
Thy right hand wields the bolt of terror now;
That hand which scatters peace and joy and love.
Almighty! trembling like a timid child,

I hear Thy awful voice,― alarmed, afraid,
I see the flashes of Thy lightning wild,

And in the very grave would hide my head!"

- Horror and Fear: the effect transcending that of Awe; the

[ocr errors]
[blocks in formation]

MACBETH, [MEDITATING THE MURDER OF DUNCAN.]— Shakspeare.

"Now o'er the one half world

Nature seems dead; and wicked dreams abuse
The curtained sleep; now witchcraft celebrates
Pale Hecate's offerings; and withered murder,
Alarumed by his sentinel, the wolf,

Whose howl's his watch, thus with his stealthy pace,
Towards his design

Moves like a ghost. ·

[ocr errors]

Thou sure and firm-set earth!

Hear not my steps, which way they walk; for fear

The very stones prate of my whereabout,

And take the present horror from the time,

Which now suits with it."

II.—" EXPULSIVE UTTERANCE.

1.-Horror and Amazement: "aspiration" increased by “expulsion.”

("Pectoral Quality.")

HAMLET, [TO THE GHOST OF HIS FATHER.]-Shakspeare.
"What may this mean,

That thou, dead corse, again, in complete steel,

Revisit'st thus the glimpses of the moon,
Making night hideous; and we fools of nature,
So horridly to shake our disposition

With thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls?"

2.- Horror and Terror: effect still farther increased.
CLARENCE, [RELATING HIS DREAM.]—Shakspeare.

“Oh! I have passed a miserable night,
So full of fearful dreams, of ugly sights,
That, as I am a Christian faithful man,
I would not spend another such a night,
Though 't were to buy a world of happy days;
So full of dismal terror was the time!

"My dream was lengthened after life:
Oh! then began the tempest to my soul!
"With that, methought, a legion of foul fiends
Environed me, and howled in mine ears
Such hideous cries, that, with the very noise,
I trembling waked, and, for a season after,
Could not believe but that I was in hell;

Such terrible impression made my dream!

3.- Fear.

[ocr errors]

(Whispering Voice: "Guttural Quality.")

CALIBAN, [CONDUCTING STEPHANO AND TRINCULO TO THE CELL OF PROSPERO.]-Shakspeare.

[ocr errors]

"Pray you tread softly, that the blind mole may not
Hear a foot fall: we are now near his cell.

Speak softly!

All's hushed as midnight yet.

See'st thou here?

This is the mouth o' the cell: no noise! and enter."

4.- Fear and Alarm.

(Forcible Half-Whisper: "Pectoral Quality.")

ALONZO, [WHO, WITH GONZALO, IS SUDDENLY AWAKENED BY THE INTERVENTION OF ARIEL, AND FINDS THE CONSPIRATORS, SEBASTIAN AND ANTONIO, WITH THEIR SWORDS DRAWN.]-Shakspeare.

"Why, how now, ho!-awake? Why are you drawn?

Wherefore this ghastly looking?

Gonzalo. Sebastian.

What's the matter?

Whiles we stood here, securing your repose,

Even now, we heard a hollow burst of bellowing
Like bulls or rather lions: did it not wake you?

It struck mine ear most terribly.

Antonio. Oh! 't was a din to fright a monster's ear:

To make an earthquake!

[ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small]
[blocks in formation]
[ocr errors]

EXPLOSIVE UTTERANCE.

("Guttural and Pectoral Quality.")

[merged small][ocr errors]

SHYLOCK, [REGARDING ANTONIO.]

"How like a fawning publican he looks!
I hate him for he is a Christian;
But more, for that, in low simplicity,

He lends out money gratis, and brings down
The rate of usuance with us here in Venice.
If I can catch him once upon the hip,

I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him!
He hates our sacred nation; and he rails,
Even there where merchants most do congregate,
On me, my bargains, and my well-won thrift,
Which he calls interest. - Cursed be my tribe,
If I forgive him!

2.- Scorn and Abhorrence.

("Guttural and Pectoral Quality.")

MASANIELLO, [IN REPLY TO THE BASE SUGGESTIONS OF GENUINO.]

"I would that now

I could forget the monk who stands before me;

For he is like the accursed and crafty snake!

Hence! from my sight!-Thou Satan, get behind me

Go from my sight! I hate and I despise thee!

These were thy pious hopes; and I, forsooth,

Was in thy hands a pipe to play upon;
And at thy music my poor soul to death
Should dance before thee!

« PreviousContinue »