9.

Eternity!-thou pleasing, dreadful thought!
Through what variety of untried being,

Through what new scenes and changes must we pass!
The wide, th' unbounded prospect lies before me;
But shadows, clouds, and darkness rest upon it.

8 Night, sable goddess, from her ebon throne,
In rayless majesty, now stretches forth
Her leaden scepter o'er a slumbering world.
Silence, how dead! and darkness, how profound!
Nor eye, nor listening ear, an object finds;
Creation sleeps. 'Tis as the general pulse
Of life stood still, and Nature made a pause,
An awful pause, prophetic of her end.

Now o'er the one half world
Nature seems dead; and wicked dreams abuse
The curtained sleep; now witchraft celebrates
Pale Hecate's offerings; and withered murder,
Alarumed by his sentinel, the wolf,

Whose howl's his watch, thus with his stealthy pace,
Toward 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 from the time,
Which now suits with it.

EXERCISE XVII.

SUSTAINED FORCE.

The tones of the voice can be rapidly deepened, strength. ened, and improved in quality, by practicing upon syllables, words, and short passages, in the most intensive and sustained forms of the Expulsive, and the Explosive Radical Stress.

To give the accompanying examples with proper effect, the student must exert every energy of body and mind. By pursuing this course, he will soon increase the power and flexibility of his voice to a surprising extent, and, also, acquire a directness of tone and earnestness of manner, which will be invaluable to him as a public speaker

EXAMPLES.

1. I scorn your proffer'd treaty: the pale-face I defy,

Revenge is stamped upon my spear, and blood. my battle-cry. 2. Our brethren are already in the field,

WHY stand we here idle?

3. Tried and convicted traitor! Who says this?
Who'll prove it, at his peril, on my head?

4. Ile DARES not touch a HAIR of Catiline!

5. ROUSE, ye Romans! Rouse, ye SLAVES!

6. I laid me flat along, and cried in thralldom to the furious winds, "BLOW ON! this is the land of liberty !"

7. Thou dost BELIE him, Percy! thou dost BELIE him! did encounter with Glendower.

8. Unmanner'd DOG! STAND thou, when I command! Advance thy halberd higher than my breast, Or, by Saint Paul! I'll STRIKE thee to the EARTU, And spurn upon thee, beggar, for thy boldness. 9. A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse! 10.

What in the world he is,

That names me traitor, villian-like he LIES:
Call by thy trumpet: he that dares approach,
On him, on You-WHO NOT?—I will maintain
My truth and honor firmly.

11. Strike!-till the last armed foe expires;

12.

Strike!-for your altars and your fires;
Strike!-for the green graves of your sires-
God, and your native land!

BACK to thy punishment,

False fugitive! and to thy speed add wings;
Lest with a whip of scorpions I pursue
Thy lingering, or, with one stroke of this dart,
Strange horror seize thee, and pangs unfelt before!

13. WHENCE and WHAT art thou, execrable shape!
That dar'st, though grim and terrible, advance
Thy miscreated front athwart my way

To yonder gates? Through them I mean to pass-
That be assured-without leave asked of thee:
RETIRE! or taste thy folly; and learn by proof,
HELL-BORN! not to contend with spirits of heaven.

He never

EXERCISE XVIII

SUBDUED FORCE.

1. Ah! life is a journey of wearisome hours,

2

That the rose of enjoyment but seldom adorns; And the heart that is soonest alive to the flowers, Is always the first to be touched by the thorns.

Thou unrelenting Past!

Strong are the barriers round thy dark domain;
And fetters, sure and fast,

Hold all that enter thy unbreathing reign.

3. Ye've gathered to your place of prayer,
With slow and measured tread;

Your ranks are full, your mates all there,
But the soul of one hath fled.

Tread lightly, comrades, ye have laid
His dark locks on his brow,
Like life, save deeper light and shade,
We'll not disturb them now.

4. Slowly and sadly we laid him down,

From the field of his fame, fresh and gory; We carved not a line, we raised not a stone. But left him-alone in his glory.

5. Ah! few shall part, where many meet, The snow shall be their winding sheet, And every turf beneath their feet,

6.

Shall be a soldier's sepulcher.

Leaves have their time to fall,

And flowers to wither at the north wind's breath,

And stars to set;—but all,

Thou hast all seasons for thine own, O Death!
We know when moons shall wane,

When summer birds from far shall cross the sea,

When autumn's hue shall tinge the golden grain

But who shall teach us when to look for thee?

7. Yet half I hear the parting spirit sigh,

"It is a dread and awful thing to die!"—
Mysterious worlds untraveled by the sun,-
Where Time's far-wandering tide has never run,-
From your unfathomed shades, and viewless spheres,
A warning comes, unheard by other ears.

EXERCISE XIX.

LONG QUANTITY.

Quantity relates to the duration, or length of time taken up in the utterance of a syllable or word. The word roar is an example of long quantity; the word pit of short quantity.

Let the following words be pronounced in the swell, in the expulsive radical stress, and in the explosive radical stress, with varying degrees of force, but always prolonging them to the utmost extent possible without changing their character, or giving them in a manner the least akin to a drawl.

By pronouncing the words as if you were speaking to some one fifty or a hundred yards away, you will soon form the habit of bringing out the vocals and sub-vocals in a clear, strong, and prolonged tone.

EXAMPLES.

Star, pale, law, bold, scorn, you, arm, down, shame, slave, all, lo, rave, time, hail, roar, praise, own, where, moon, plume, law, wail, calm, who, why, shore, roll, ale, wall, hald, me, knell, lie, home, blow, rise, noon, cold, etc.

One of the greatest beauties of delivery consists in a full, clear, prolonged utterance of the open vowel sounds; all of which are eminently susceptible of long quantity, as are many of the sub-vocals when properly expressed. Words that end with these sounds generally ought to terminate with a prolonged and well-defined delicate vanish.

MOVEMENT.

In

Words are uttered slowly or rapidly, according to the predominating feeling. In anger or excitement of any kind, we cut them short, and hurry over them rapidly. grief, solemnity, adoration, and all the deeper emotions of the soul, we dwell upon the words, and utter them very slowly.

EXERCISE

XX.

IN SLOW MOVEMENT AND LONG QUANTITY.

EXAMPLES.

1. And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and lo! there was 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 figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, 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 sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

2. Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-tree's shade,
Where heaves the turf in many a moldering heap,-
Each in his narrow cell forever laid,—

The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep.

For them no more the blazing hearth shall burn,
Or busy housewife ply her evening care;

No children run to lisp their sire's return,

Or climb his knees, the envied kiss to share.

3. Thou from primeval nothingness didst call
First chaos, then existence:-Lord! on thee
Eternity had its foundation; - all

Sprung forth from Thee, — of light, joy, harmony,

Sole origin: - all life, all beauty thine.

Thy word created all, and doth create;

Thy splendor fills all space with rays divine.

Thou art and wert and shalt be! Glorious! great!
Light-giving, life-sustaining Potentate!

4. O Lord! have mercy upon us, miserable offenders! Spare thou those, O God! who confess their faults according to thy promises, declared unto mankind in Christ Jesus our Lord, and grant, oh! most merciful Father, for his sake, that we may hereafter live a godly righteous, and sober life, to the glory of thy Holy Name.