"To arms!—they come!—the Greek, the Greek!"He woke—to die, 'midst flame and smoke,
And shout, and groan, and sabre-stroke,
And death-shots felling thick and fast.
Like forest-pines before the blast,
Or lightnings from the mountain-cloud;
And heard, with voice as trumpet loud,
Bozzaris cheer his band;
"Strike—till the last armed foe expires,
Strike—for your altars and your fires,
Strike—for the green graves of your sires,
Heaven—and your native land!"
They fought like brave men, long and well,
They piled that ground with Moslem slain,
They conquered—but Bozzaris fell
Bleeding at every vein.
His few surviving comrades saw
His smile, when rang their proud hurrah,
And the red field was won;
They saw in death his eyelids close,
Calmly, as to a night's repose,
Like flowers at set of sun.
Halleck.
GUTTURAL QUALITY.
The Guttural Quality is used in expressing the strongest degree of contempt, disgust, aversion, revenge, etc. Its characteristic is an explosive resonance in the throat, producing a harsh and grating sound, and its expression can be used in all the various tones, giving to them its own peculiar character.
This quality, is, however, of rare occurrence, and needs less cultivation than the other qualities.
1.
Avaunt! and quit my sight! Let the earth hide thee!
Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold:
Thou hast no speculation in those eyes
Which thou dost glare with!
Hence, horrible shadow!
Unreal mockery, hence!
Shakespeare.
2.
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 usance here with us 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!
Shakespeare.
3.
Thou stands't at length before me undisguised—
Of all earth's grovelling crew, the most accursed.
Thou worm! thou viper!—to thy native earth
Return! Away! Thou art too base for man
To tread upon! Thou scum! thou reptile!
4.
"And, Douglas, more I tell thee here,
Even in thy pitch of pride,
Here in thy hold, thy vassals near,
(Nay, never look upon your Lord,
And lay your hands upon your sword,)
I tell thee, thou'rt defied!
And if thou said'st I am not peer—
To any lord in Scotland here,
Lowland or Highland, far or near,
Lord Angus, thou has't lied!"
Sir Walter Scott.
TREMOR QUALITY.
The Tremor Quality is used in expressing pity, grief, joy, mirth, etc., and its characteristic is a frequent rise and fall of the voice, and a more delicate exercise of that particular vibration in the throat, known as "gurgling." It is apparent in extreme feebleness, in age, exhaustion, sickness, fatigue, grief, and even joy, and other feelings in which ardour or extreme tenderness predominate.
1.
Pity the sorrows of a poor old man
Whose trembling limbs have borne him to your door;
Whose days are dwindled to the shortest span;—
Oh, give relief, and heaven will bless your store!
2.
The king stood still till the last echo died; then, throwing off the sackcloth from his brow, and laying back the pall from the still features of his child, he bowed his head upon him, and broke forth in the resistless eloquence of woe:—
"Alas! my noble boy! that thou should'st die! Thou, who wert made so beautifully fair! that death should settle in thy glorious eye, and leave his stillness in thy clustering hair! How could he mark thee for the silent tomb, my proud boy, Absalom!
"Cold is thy brow, my son! and I am chill, as to my bosom I have tried to press thee! How was I wont to feel my pulses thrill, like a rich harp- string, yearning to caress thee, and hear thy sweet 'My father!' from those dumb and cold lips, Absolom!
"But death is on thee! I shall hear the gush of music and the voices of the young; and life will pass me in the mantling blush, and the dark tresses to the soft winds flung;—but thou no more, with thy sweet voice, shalt come to meet me, Absalom!"
N. P. Willis.
3.
Noble old man! He did not live to see me,
