Be well advised, tell o'er thy tale again:It can not be;—thou dost but say 'tis so.
Shakespeare.
2.
JULIA. Why! do you think I'll work?
DUKE. I think 'twill happen, wife.
JULIA. What, rub and scrub your noble palace clean?
DUKE. Those taper fingers will do it daintily.
JULIA. And dress your victuals (if there be any)? O, I shall go mad.
Tobin.
THOROUGH STRESS.
Thorough Stress is used in expressing command, denunciation, bravado, braggadocio, etc. This stress has a degree of force a little stronger than the compound stress, and it is produced by a continuation of the full volume of the voice throughout the whole extent of the sentence. When the time is short the tone resembles that of uncouth rustic coarseness.
1.
These abominable principles, and this more abominable avowal of them, demand the most decisive indignation.
2.
Now strike the golden lyre again;
A louder yet, and yet a louder strain':
Break his bands of sleep asunder,
And rouse him, like a rattling peal of thunder'.
Hark! hark! the horrid sound
Has raised up his head,
As awaked from the dead;
And amazed he stares around.
Revenge! revenge.
Dryden.
SEMITONE.
The progress of pitch through the interval of a half tone. It is called also the Chromatic melody, because it expresses pity, grief, remorse, etc. It may colour a single word, or be continued through an entire passage or selection.
1.
The New Year comes to-night, mamma, "I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord"—tell poor papa—"my soul to keep,
If I"—how cold it seems, how dark, kiss me, I cannot see—
The New Year comes to-night, mamma, the old year dies with me.
The Semitone is very delicate, and must be produced by the nature of the emotion. An excess, when the mood or language does not warrant it, turns pathos into burlesque, and the scale may very easily be turned from the sublime to the ridiculous. Strength, flexibility, and melody of voice are of little worth if the judgment and taste are defective.
MONOTONE
Is a sameness of the voice, indicating solemnity, power, reverence, and dread. It is a near approach to one continuous tone of voice, but must not be confounded with monotony. Much of the reading we hear is monotonous in the extreme, while the judicious use of the monotone would sufficiently vary it, to render it attractive. Monotone is of great importance in reading the Bible, the beautiful words of the Church Service, and in prayer, and the haste with which these solemn words are often slurred over, is much to be deplored. Monotone is usually accompanied by slow time, and it is, in fact, a low Orotund.
1.
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth His handy work. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.
Bible.
2.
These, as they change, Almighty Father! these
Are but the varied God. The rolling year
Is full of Thee.—
And oft Thy voice in dreadful thunder speaks;
And oft at dawn, deep noon, or falling eve,
By brooks and groves, in hollow-whispering gales.
In Winter, awful Thou! with clouds and storms
Around Thee thrown, tempest o'er tempest rolled—
Majestic darkness! On the whirlwind's wing,
Riding sublime, Thou bidd'st the world adore,
And humblest Nature, with Thy northern blast.
Thomson.
3.
Now o'er the one-half world
Nature seems dead; and wicked dreams abuse
The curtain'd sleep; now witchcraft celebrates
Pale Hecate's off'rings; and wither'd murder,
Alarum'd by his sentinel, the wolf,
Whose howl's his watch—thus with his stealthy pace,
With Tarquin's ravishing strides, towards his design
Moves like a ghost.—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 for the time
Which now suits with it.
Shakespeare.
CHAPTER VII.
TIME.
The varieties of movement in utterance are expressed by Time, which is the measure of the duration of the sounds heard in speech, and it is divided into three general divisions; viz.—Moderate, Quick and Slow time, these being sub-divided by the reader, according to the predominate feeling which the subject seems to require.
Time and Stress, properly combined and marked, possesses two essential elementary conditions of agreeable discourse, upon which other excellences may be engrafted. If either be feebly marked, other beauties will not redeem it. A well-marked stress, and a graceful extension of time, are essential to agreeable speech, and give brilliancy and smoothness to it.
MODERATE
