That patient merit of the unworthy takes, Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought; HAMLET "High on a throne of royal state, which far MILTON. "In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men, fear came upon me, and trembling, which unade all my bones to shake. Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up: it stood still, but I could not discern the form there. of: an image was before mine eyes, there was silence, and I heard a voice, saying, shall mortal man be more just than God? Shall a man be more pure than his Maker? Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly: How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth. They are destroyed from morning to evening; they perish forever without any regarding it." JOB, 4th CHAP. 13-20th VERSES. "As autumn's dark storms pour from two echoing hills, so towards each other approached the heroes. As two dark streams from high rocks meet and mix, and roar on the plain; loud, rough and dark in battle, met Laughlin and Innisfail: Chief mixed his strokes with chief, and man with man. Steel clanging sounded on steel. Helmets are cleft on high; blood bursts and smokes around. As the troubled noise of the ocean when roll the waves on high; as the last peal of the thunder of heaven; such is the noise of battle." OSSIAN. "In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him. 2* Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations, also, of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth. There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: He bowed the heavens, also, and came down; and darkness was under his feet; and he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind." 18th PSALM, 6-10th VERSES. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, let there be light,' and there was light." GENESIS, 1st and 3d VERSES. NOTE. The above extracts, save the first, are examples of the sublime, as well as of Monotone. XI. MODULATION. In Modulation are comprehended all the various inflections of which the voice is capable. It may, indeed, be termed the soul or witchery of eloquence; for through its medium the sense is charmed, the imagination taken prisoner, and the most obdurate softened and relaxed. The effect of Modulation upon the heart must ever be acknowledged, as long as the human ear can drink the harmony of its sounds. To attempt a system of accurately teaching this delightful power, would be indeed vain and futile;* nothing but being possessed of a chastely correct ear, sensibly alive to the good feelings of nature, being perfectly master of your subject, and letting it fully and exclusively occupy your mind, can ever enable you to attain modulation. Instead of paying attention to the different heights, and keys which are said to produce modulation, but which in reality modulation gives even a name to, it is here recommended to every speaker, to commence his subject in a tone sufficiently audible to be perfectly heard; then he can rise, and afterwards fall, as sense and feeling, in conjunction with the rules of this essay and the five inflections of the voice dictate. Those who are possessed of the requisites already mentioned, will find in the following, fit exercises of modulation; but the student will have much to do before he can be capable of reading or reciting, with any prospect of success, such surpassing efforts of poetic genius. * Mr. Walker, and others, have made very ingenious remarks typified on paper, on the inflections of the human voice; but a just knowledge of the true causes which produce those inflections, will preclude the necessity of any study on the subject, save of the rules to be found in this, and similar books, and of a just conception, as has been above stated, of the author's meaning, which conception will impart the true feeling, and out of that feeling, will arise the natural, and, consequently, the proper inflection, which marks on paper can never correctly convey. Mr. Walker's own words, give cre dence to these observations. In his preface to the third Edition of his Rhetorical Grammar, he says, "The sanguine expectations I had once entertained, that this analysis of the human voice, would be received by the learned with avidity, and applause, are now over; I have almost worn out a long life in laborious exertions, and though I have succeeded; beyond expectation, in forming readers, and speak. ers, in the most respectable circles in the three kingdoms, yet I have had the mortification, to find few of my pupils listen to anything, but my pronunciation. When I have explained to them, the five modifications of the voice, they have assented and admired, but so difficult did it appear to adopt them, especially to those advanced in life, that I was obliged to follow the old method, -read as I read." Examples. O thou that with surpassing glory crown'd So burdensome still paying, still to owe, Forgetful what from him I still receiv'd; From granting he, as I from begging peace: TWAS at the royal feast, for Persia won By Philip's warlike son. Aloft in awful state, The godlike hero sat On his imperial throne. His valiant peers were plac'd around, The lovely Thais by his side, None but the brave, None but the brave, deserve the fair. Amid the tuneful choir, The trembling notes ascend the sky, The song began from Jove, * When he the fair Olympia press'd, * * * * MILTON. And stamp'd an image of himself, a sovereign of the work. The list'ning crowd admire the lofty sound; A present deity, they shout around; A present deity; the vaulted roofs rebound, With ravish'd ears the monarch hears, Assumes the god, affects to nod, And seems to shake the spheres. The praise of Bacchus, then, the sweet musician sung; Of Bacchus, ever fair and ever young. The jolly god in triumph comes! |