Many critics think that the last part has been patched on; but, even granting it was written by another hand, it complements the references to nature in the first six verses of the Psalm. 'Law' in the second part is contrasted to nature in the first. It can be read so as to show entire unity by contrast. 'Law' must be so accentuated as to stand over against all that precedes,so as to show that the mind at this point changes the whole current of ideas. The qualities, also, which are asserted of 'law,' can be given as implied contrasts to the qualities of nature. Nature does not tell us all. The Bible makes 'perfect.' Nature stimulates the mind, law restores the 'soul.' The law is 'sure,' whereas nature does not give certain knowledge regarding God and immortality. Nature gives great knowledge to the scientific and the educated; the Bible makes wise the simple.' All the expressions at the first of these verses are synonymous with law. Only the first is to be accentuated. Pauses can be introduced before the last in such a way as to show the application of one or both of these teachers. Problem XXIII. Meditate over a poem, or passage, and become conscious of one centre upon which the whole depends, and so read as to show the relation of all the parts to this centre. 135 TAKE the bright shell from its home on the lea, 136. THE TWO VOICES. Anon. THE heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language; their voice cannot be heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run his course. His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof. The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever: the judgments of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honey-comb. Moreover by them is thy servant warned: in keeping of them there is great reward. Who can discern his errors? Clear thou me from hidden faults. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be perfect, and I shall be clear from great transgressions. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my rock, and my redeemer. Psalm XIX. 137 Bow down, dear Land, for thou hast found release! Hath taught thee the sure wisdom of His ways, "Commemoration Ode." THE James Russell Lowell. XVI. CONVERSATIONAL FORM. HE voice in conversation manifests not only the successive ideas, but also the broadest logical relations. It can make one word of a poem salient, and all other words subordinate. How does it do this? In order to answer this question, we must study more carefully the elements of conversational naturalness, of conversational form. Listen to some one speaking the simplest sentence: there are pauses, an attack upon every central word, constant changes of pitch, and an inflection upon every word. These are the fundamental characteristics of naturalness. They combine in many ways, and vary in infinite degrees; they are never exactly the same in two men, or even in two successive clauses, but they are always present. We find that changes of pitch especially combine with inflection, and produce in the shortest phrase a specific and ele mental form. There is a salient inflection in each leading clause, which governs subordinate inflections and changes of pitch. The accentuation or extension of this elemental form is the means by which the voice manifests the great central idea of the mind. In order to develop the power of emphasis, therefore, we must develop the flexibility of the voice, and secure power to execute the elements in this natural form. Art is preceded by a certain mechanical expertness. Not only so, but art implies a certain sense of form. In order to speak naturally to a thousand people, we must have such a command of conversational form as to be able to extend the subtleties of conversation without eliminating any one of them, or destroying the proportion. The chief elements of Melody, or Vocal Form, are change of pitch and inflection. Pauses, and intervals of pitch, take place between words and phrases; inflection, in the central vowel of the word. Intervals, as the word is here used, are changes of pitch between words during silence however momentary, but inflections are changes of pitch during the emission of the sound. Rush called changes of pitch discrete intervals,' and inflections concrete intervals.' Of these two elements, possibly inflection is the most elemental and essential effect or sign of the domination of mind over the voice. Absence of inflection denotes an absence of specific thinking, conviction, and earnestness, or of any relation of ideas to another mind. Inflection marks the specific difference between speech and song. Singsong, or absence of inflection, results when the mind drifts in thought or feeling, or whenever the mind is focussed merely upon the form for its own sake, as in proof-reading. Inflection, therefore, is only absent in certain abnormal forms of speech; it is always present as a most essential mark of conversation. Its immediate cause is the focus of the mind; it marks the central word of the phrase upon which the mind is concentrated, or the relation of other words to this, or of ideas to a hearer. This must be recognized by the student. Suppose a person comes in and gives this as simple news: 'I saw your father this morning.' We find in observing the way we speak this simple sentence, several facts. First, there is a governing inflection in the word which stands for the central idea of the mind; the word 'father' has a falling inflection which is longer and more sailent than that upon any other word in the sentence. Secondly, all the other words in the sentence or clause are brought into relationship with the emphatic word, so that there is an inflection upon every word. The words before the central one have a slight rising, and the words following the central one have a falling inflection. Thirdly, there are changes of pitch between these inflections in the same direction as the inflection upon the preceding word. Thus all the words of the phrase are brought into one melodic form, which may be illustrated in space, though of course not adequately, by the direction, abruptness, length, and distance apart of the following lines: We find, also, that there are certain places where pauses are introduced in conversation. The one which is most indicative of emphasis is after the emphatic inflection. If we read such a sentence without accentuation, or by obliterating this form, it becomes mechanical and monotonous, and conversational naturalness is entirely destroyed. If we read the words on a straight line, accenting the central word by stress of loudness, there is something wrong; it is not natural. We must have these characteristics, in giving an affirmation: The first words in the phrase must be given with a suspensive, rising inflection, beginning low and climbing by changes of pitch between the words, as well as by inflections; then we must accentuate the central word with a falling inflection from a still higher pitch, and the following words must be given with falling inflections, and lower in pitch, or in subordination. The elements of conversational form may be more clearly apprehended when we study their presence in meaningless syllables. If we take, for example, these meaningless syllables, la, le, lo, loo, accentuating each one in succession, we shall see at once how the concentration of the mind reveals itself, and how such vocal action awakens attention in another mind. Or we may take these four syllables, and arrange them with rising and falling inflections upon the successive sounds in such a way as to make them seem like actual conversation. They may be given with greater emphasis, so as to make them appear as if they were the expression of animated thinking and earnest discussion. Whatever syllables may be taken, when the mind holds one as the centre of them all, the voice gives that one such a saliency of inflection and pitch that the others are gathered in subordination, and some such vocal form is the result. This vocal form, or sentential accent or melody, whatever it may be called, is slightly different in every language, and even in the dialects of |