which seems to come from the depths of his inmost frame, thrills the hearer with a feeling from which a varied intonation would be an instantaneous relief. The same principle divested of the associations of horror, applies, in degree, to scenes and objects of overpowering majesty and splendor. The impression is, in such instances, too powerful to allow the varied and free play of ordinary utterance. The "monotone," therefore, as the indication of vastness and power, pervades the style of all the noblest and most impressive forms of human language in poetry, and, not unfrequently, in prose of a high-wrought style. It abounds, particularly, in the reading of the sacred Scriptures; and it is indispensable in the devotional language of hymns. It is used likewise in verse, and in poetic prose, for melody of effect, instead of the "downward slide of complete sense." The "monotone" does not, it is true, occur so frequently as most other modifications of voice. But, from its special office, it acquires peculiar importance. Without it, the tones of a devotional exercise, or the reading of many parts of the Scriptures, are unavoidably associated with irreverence, or utter absence of appropriate feeling. The language of Milton or of Young,, becomes parody to the ear, when divested of the due effect of this impressive element of voice. A great error, however, to be carefully avoided in actual reading and speaking, is the prevalent use of this mode of voice, without distinction of circumstances. The wearisome sameness of school reading, and of the style of many professional speakers, arises from the habitual unintentional use of this element. The monotony thus produced can be tolerated only in a law paper, a state document, a bill of lading, or an invoice, in the reading of which, the mere distinct enunciation of the words, is deemed sufficient. In other circumstances it kills, with inevitable certainty, everything like feeling or expression. 66 The student of elocution will derive great benefit, in his practice on monotone," from a repetition of the elements and of words, on the recurring identical successive "radical and concrete," with full prolongation and ample "median stress." The following examples will serve to suggest others of similar character. 66 Devotional Awe and Reverence. ("Effusive orotund quality:" "Subdued" force: "Median stress:" "Very low pitch.") [EXTRACTS FROM THE SCRIPTURES.] 1 "Hōly! hōly! hōly! Lōrd Gōd of Sabaoth!" 1 The "monotone" is usually distinguished by this horizontal mark. "Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy name!" "Unto Thee 1 lift up mine eyes, Ō Thōu that dwellest in the heavens!" Awe, Sublimity, Majesty, Power, Horror. ("Quality," force, "stress," and pitch, as before.) "And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and lo! there was a great earthquake. And the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig-tree casteth her untimely fīgs, when she is shaken of a mighty wìnd. 1And the heaven depārted as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their plàces. 'And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bōnd-man, and every free-man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sit teth on the thrōne, and from the wrath of the Làmb: for the great day of his wrath is cōme; and who shall be able to stànd?'" Amazement and Terror. ("Aspirated pectoral quality:" "Suppressed force :" "Median stress :" "Very low pitch.") 1 "In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men, 1 fear came upōn mē and trembling, which made all my bōnes to shake. 1 1Then a spirit passed befōre my face; 'the hair of my flesh stood up. It stood still; but I could not discern the fōrm thereof. An image was befōre mine eyes; 'there was silence; and I heard a voice saying, 1 Shall mōrtal mān be mōre just than Gōd? Shall a man be mōre pūre than his Maker?'" Majesty and Grandeur. ("Orotund quality:" "Moderate" force: "Median stress:" "Low pitch.") [DESCRIPTION OF SATAN.]-Milton. "His form had not yet lost All her original brightness, nor appeared 1 A deeper note commences at each of the places thus marked. The whole passage is a succession of "monotones." Less than archangel ruined, and the excess Sublimity and Splendor. ("Orotund quality:" "Moderate" force: "Median stress:" "Low pitch.") [SUMMER.]-Thomson. "But yonder comes the powerful King of Day, And sheds the shining day, that burnished plays On rocks, and hills, and towers, and wandering streams, Vastness, Sublimity, and Solemnity. (“Orotund quality :" "Impassioned" force: “Median stress:" "Low pitch.") [THE OCEAN.]—Byron. "Thou glorious mirror! where the Almighty's form Calm or convulsed, -in breeze, or gāle, or stōrm, - Dark heaving;— boundless, endless, and sublime, — The image of Eternity, — the throne Of the Invisible; even from out thy slime The monsters of the deep are made; each zone Obeys thee, thou go'st forth, dread, fathomless, alone!" "Poetic Monotone." [The "poetic monotone" is properly, the distinctive "second" which gives to the language of verse or of poetic prose, when not marked by emphatic or impassioned force, its peculiar melody, as contrasted with the "partial cadence" of "complete sense in clauses." The two faults commonly exemplified in passages such as the following, are, 1st, that of terminating a clause which forms complete sense, with a "partial cadence,” — 2d, that of terminating it with the upward "slide" of the "third." Both these errors turn verse into prose, or render poetic language in prose, dry and inexpressive; as both these modes of voice are the appropriate language of fact, and not of feeling or melody.] ("Pure tone:" "Subdued" force: "Median stress:" "High pitch.") 1.- [MUSIC.]-Moore. "For mine is the lay that lightly floats, And melt in the heart as instantly.” ("Pure tone :" "Subdued" force: "Median stress:" "Low pitch.") 'The winds of autumn came over the woods, Were the tree's withered leaves round it shèd." ("Pure tone:" "Moderate" force: "Median stress :" "Low pitch.") 3.[THE OCEAN DEPTHS.]-Percival. "Deep in the wave is a coral grōve, Where the purple mullet and gōld-fish rove, ("Quality," force, "stress," and pitch, as before.) "Still shall sweet summer, smiling, linger here, The mountains clasp thee lovingly within "Poetic Monotone," in Descriptive Prose. ("Quality," &c., as before.) 1.[SPRING.]-Anonymous. "In the calm spring evenings, what delightful hours the cottager spends in his little garden! - He is not without a feeling-unuttered though it be—of the sweetness of spring, and the delights of the passing hour; for, as the shades of night fall darkly on the scene, he leans upon his spāde, and lingers to breathe the odorous air, to hear the faint murmur of his wearied bees, now settling peaceably in their hive for the night, and the glad notes of birds, dying melodiously away in the inner woods.’ ("Quality," &c., as before.) 2.[THE CHOSEN GRAVE.]-Anonymous. "The thought is sweet to lay our bones within the bosom of our native soil. The verdure and the flowers I love, will brighten around my grave; the same trees whose pleasant murmurs cheered my living ears, will hang their cool shadows over my dūst; -and the eyes that met mine in the light of affection, will shed tears over the sod that covers me, keeping my memory green within their spirits." 66 SEMITONIC OR CHROMATIC MELODY. The uses of the musical scale, which occur, either in the natural and accustomed forms of speech, or the exercise of reading, have been, thus far in our analysis, of the character termed "diatonic." That is to say, the intervals, or the transitions, of voice, hitherto discussed in this volume, have all been such as extend to at least the interval of a full tone, or occupy the entire space necessarily traversed, in passing from one note to another, at the relative distance of a whole tone. The term “diatonic" may therefore be applied to all the melodial functions of voice to which we have been attending; and the "diatonic melody" of a sentence may be briefly thus reviewed. - In the simple statement of fact or of thought, in unimpassioned narration, and in plain definition or description, the "current melody" of a sentence will consist of, 1st, the usual upward " concrete produced by the "radical" and "vanish" of the elements of speech, traversing a tone, or occupying the interval of a "second;" 99 2d, an occasional downward "concrete" of the "second;" 3d, the differential" radical pitch," in the forms of upward and downward |