Page images
PDF
EPUB

in the shambles, battening on garbage, while the slaughter of the brave went on around you! This enjoyment you shall not live to partake of: you shall die, base dog! — and that before yon cloud has passed over the sun!"

[blocks in formation]

("Aspirated pectoral quality:" "Explosive orotund.")

Anger and Threatening.

CATILINE, [ADDRESSING THE SENATE.] - Croly. "Here I devote your senate! I've had wrongs, To stir a fever in the blood of age,

Or make the infant's sinews strong as steel.

[ocr errors]

This day's the birth of sorrows! -This hour's work

Will breed proscriptions. Look to your hearths, my lords;
For there henceforth shall sit, for household gods,
Shapes hot from Tartarus! - all shames and crimes;

Wan Treachery, with his thirsty dagger drawn ;
Suspicion, poisoning his brother's cup;
Naked Rebellion, with the torch and axe,
Making his wild sport of your blazing thrones;
Till Anarchy come down on you like Night,
And Massacre seal Rome's eternal grave!"

Indignant and Enthusiastic Address.

("Expulsive orotund.")

RIENZI, [TO THE PEOPLE.]-Miss Mitford.

"Rouse, ye Romans! - Rouse, ye slaves!

Have ye brave sons? Look in the next fierce brawl
To see them die. Have ye fair daughters? Look
To see them live, torn from your arms, distained,
Dishonored; and, if ye dare call for justice,
Be answered by the lash. Yet, this is Rome,
That sat on her seven hills, and from her throne
Yet, we are Romans.

Of beauty ruled the world!

Why in that elder day, to be a Roman

Was greater than a king! And once again, -
Hear me, ye walls that echoed to the tread
Of either Brutus ! Once again, I swear,

[ocr errors]

-

[blocks in formation]

That to the city and the plain, to earth

And listening heaven, proclaims the glorious tale
Of Rome re-born, and freedom! "

[merged small][ocr errors]

("Expulsive orotund," "pure tone," intense "sustained" force.) [MACDUFF'S OUTCRY ON THE MURDER OF DUNCAN.]—Shakspeare.

"Awake! awake!

Ring the alarm-bell:- Murder! and treason!
Banquo, and Donalbain! Malcolm! awake!"

MISCELLANEOUS PIECES.

EXTRACTS FOR GENERAL PRACTICE.

EXERCISE I. A SEA-VOYAGE.-Irving.

[This extract exemplifies, in its diction, the forms of narrative, descriptive, and didactic style. The emotions arising from the subject and the language, are those of tranquillity, wonder, admiration, pathos, and awe.

66

99 66

[ocr errors]

The first of these emotions prevails through the first two paragraphs, and produces, in the vocal "expression," pure tone," decreasing gradually from gentle "expulsion to "effusion:" the 99 force is "moderate" the stress, at first, "unimpassioned radical," gradually changing to a soft "median:" the "pitch" is on "middle notes," -the "melody," "diatonic," in prevalent "intervals of the second," varying from the "simple concrete" to the wave:" the "movement is "slow," the pauses moderately long, the "rhythm" requires an attentive but delicate marking. Wonder is the predominating emotion expressed in the third paragraph. It produces a slight deviation from perfect "purity of tone towards "aspiration:" the "force” increases gently, after the first sentence: a slight tinge of ❝ vanishing stress" pervades the first sen

66

66

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

tence; an ample "median" prevails in the first two clauses of the second, and a vivid "radical" in the third clause; and, in the third sentence, a stronger "vanishing stress" than before, becomes distinctly audible, in proportion to the increasing emphasis: the “pitch" of this paragraph is moderately "low," at first, and gradually descends, throughout, as far as to the last semicolon of the paragraph; -the "slides are principally downward "seconds and thirds:" the "movement is "slow," excepting in the last clause of the second sentence, in which it is "lively;" the pauses are long; and the "rhythm" still requires perceptible marking.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

66

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

Admiration is the prompting emotion in the "expression" of the fourth paragraph. After the first sentence, which is neutral in effect, the voice passes from "pure tone 66 to orotund," as the "quality" required in the union of beauty and grandeur: the force passes from "moderate to declamatory:" the "stress becomes bold "median expulsion :" the "middle pitch," inclining to “low,' for dignity of effect; and downward "thirds" in emphasis: the 6. movement is "moderate;" the pauses correspondent; and the "rhythm" somewhat strongly marked.

[ocr errors]

The fifth and sixth paragraphs are characterized, in " expression," by pathos and awe. The first two sentences of the fifth paragraph, are in the neutral or unimpassioned utterance of common narrative and remark; the next three sentences introduce an increasing effect of the " pure tone of pathos; the last three of the paragraph are characterized by the expression of awe carried to its deepest effect; and the preceding pure tone, therefore, gives way to "aspiration,' progressively, to the end of the paragraph. The " force," in the first part of the paragraph, is “subdued ;” — in the latter, it is "suppressed" the "stress" is "median," throughout,― gently marked in the pathetic part, and fully, in that expressive of awe. The "pitch "is "middle on notes, inclining high in the pathetic expression, and "low," descending to "lowest," in the utterance of awe; the "melody" contains a few slight effects of "semitone," emphatic words in the pathetic strain, and full downward "slides" of "third" and "fifth," in the language of awe. The "movement is "slow" in the pathetic part, and " " in the utterance of awe; the pauses correspond; and the " rhythm" is to be exactly kept in the pauses of the latter, as they are the chief source of effect.

66

[ocr errors]

very slow

on the

66

[ocr errors]

The first two sentences of the sixth paragraph, are characterized by the expression of deep pathos, differing from that of the first part of the preceding paragraph, by greater force, lower notes, fuller stress," slower "movement," and longer pauses. The " expression" of the third sentence, passes through the successive stages of apprehension, or fear, awe and horror,· -marked by increasing aspiration" and force, deepening notes, slower "movement, and longer pause, so as, at last, to reach the extreme of these elements of effect. The fourth sentence expresses still deeper pathos than before, and by the increased effect of the same modes of utterance. In the last sentence, in which awe combines with pathos, the " pression "becomes yet deeper and slower, but without increase of "force."

ex

A similar analysis should be performed on all the following pieces previous to the exercise of reading them. The analogy of emotion, exemplified in the numerous examples contained in the body of the book, will be found a sufficiently definite guide for this purpose.]

To an American visiting Europe, the long voyage he has to make is an excellent preparative. From the moment you lose sight of the land you have left, all is vacancy, until you step on the opposite shore, and are launched at once into the bustle and novelties of another world.

should correct the expres

I have said that at sea all is vacancy. sion. To one given up to day-dreaming, and fond of losing himself in reveries, a sea-voyage is full of subjects for meditation; but then they are the wonders of the deep, and of the air, and rather tend to abstract the mind from worldly themes. I delighted to loll over the quarter-railing, or climb to the main-top on a calm day, and muse for hours together on the tranquil bosom of a summer's sea; or to gaze upon the piles of golden clouds just peering above the horizon, fancy them some fairy realms, and people them with a creation of my own; or to watch the gentle undulating billows rolling their silver volumes. as if to die away on those happy shores.

There was a delicious sensation of mingled security and awe, with which I looked down from my giddy height on the monsters of the deep at their uncouth gambols: shoals of porpoises tumbling about the bow of the ship; the grampus slowly heaving his huge form above the surface; or the ravenous shark, darting like a spectre, through the blue waters. My imagination would conjure up all that I had heard or read of the watery world beneath me; of the finny herds that roam its fathomless valleys; of shapeless monsters that lurk among the very foundations of the earth; and those wild phantasms that swell the tales of fishermen and sailors.

Sometimes a distant sail gliding along the edge of the ocean would be another theme of idle speculation. How interesting this fragment of a world hastening to rejoin the great mass of existence! What a glorious monument of human invention, that has thus triumphed over wind and wave; has brought the ends of the earth in communion ; has established an interchange of blessings, pouring into the sterile regions of the north all the luxuries of the south; diffused the light of knowledge and the charities of cultivated life; and has thus bound together those scattered portions of the human race, between which nature seemed to have thrown an insurmountable barrier!

We one day descried some shapeless object drifting at a distance. At sea, everything that breaks the monotony of the surrounding

expanse, attracts attention. It proved to be the mast of a ship that must have been completely wrecked; for there were the remains of handkerchiefs, by which some of the crew had fastened themselves to this spar, to prevent their being washed off by the waves. There was no trace by which the name of the ship could be ascertained. The wreck had evidently drifted about for many months; clusters of shell-fish had fastened about it, and long sea-weeds flaunted at its sides. But where, thought I, is the crew? Their struggle has long been over; they have gone down amidst the roar of the tempest; - their bones lie whitening in the caverns of the deep. Silence oblivion, like the waves, have closed over them; and no one can tell the story of their end.

What sighs have been wafted after that ship! what prayers offered up at the deserted fire-side of home! How often has the mistress, the wife, and the mother, pored over the daily news, to catch some casual intelligence of this rover of the deep! How has expectation darkened into anxiety — anxiety into dread—and dread into despair! Alas! not one memento shall ever return for love to cherish. All that shall ever be known is, that she sailed from her port," and was never heard of more."

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

(Vivid Narrative, exemplifying, after the introductory sentence, Sympathetic Horror, then successively, Terror, Scorn, Revenge, Horror, and Awe.)

It was under the burning influence of revenge that the wife of Macgregor commanded that the hostage, exchanged for her husband's safety, should be brought into her presence. I believe her sons had kept this unfortunate wretch out of her sight, for fear of the consequences; but if it was so, their humane precaution only postponed his fate. They dragged forward, at her summons, a wretch, already half dead with terror, in whose agonized features, I recognized, to my horror and astonishment, my old acquaintance Morris.

He fell prostrate before the female chief with an effort to clasp her knees, from which she drew back, as if his touch had been pollution, so that all he could do in token of the extremity of his humiliation, was to kiss the hem of her plaid. I never heard entreaties for life poured forth with such agony of spirit. The ecstasy of fear was such, that, instead of paralyzing his tongue, as on ordinary occasions, it even rendered him eloquent; and, with cheeks as pale as ashes, hands compressed in agony, eyes that seemed to be taking their last

« PreviousContinue »