phase to the question, while it is still limited to an unimpassioned request for information merely, he may ask it in any one of the following ways: a. "Do you intend to ride to town to-day?"—(No: I intend to go to-morrow.) b. "Do you intend to ride to town to-day'?”—(No: I intend to ride into the country.) C. "Do you intend to ride to town to-day'?"—(No: 1 intend to walk.) d. "Do you intend to ride to town to-day'?"-(No: I intend to send John.) 4. But if the questioner, having received no answer to his question, or an unsatisfactory one, should feel vexed, and should repeat the question, he would be likely to express his feelings somewhat emphatically, by a change of tone and inflection: "Do you intend to ride to town to-day`?” But if he had been filled with surprise and astonishment at the answer received, and should repeat the question, he would give it a still different expression: "Do you intend to ride to town to-day?" (That is,-Is it possible' that you intend to ride out on this cold, blustering day'?) Additional changes, in this one question, might be continued to a considerable extent. 5. A very nice distinction in sense sometimes depends upon the right use of the inflections, as in the following examples : “I did not give a sixpence'." The rising circumflex on sixpence implies that I gave something, but that it was either more or less than that sum. But if I say, "I did not give a six'pence,” the falling inflection on the same word implies that I nothing at all. gave 6. A physician says of a patient," He is better." This implies a positive amendment. But if he says, "He is better," it denotes only a partial and perhaps doubtful amendment, and implies, "But he is still dangerously sick." "Hume said he would go twenty miles to hear Whitefield preach'." Here the circumflex implies a contrast, that Hume would go a great distance to hear Whitefield preach', but he would take no pains to hear an ordinary preacher. 7. a. "A man who is in the daily use of ardent spirits, if he does not become a drunkard', is in danger of losing his health and character." If we put the rising inflection on drunkard, we pervert the meaning wholly, and assert that, in order to preserve health and character, one must become a drunkard. b. "The dog would have died, if they had not cut off his head." The falling inflection on died would make the cutting off of his head necessary to the saving of his life. 8. If one should say, "In church, I am unable to suppress evil thoughts," the inference would be, that, although he might suppress them elsewhere, he could not in church. The passage should be read with strong emphasis and the falling inflection on church. Thus:-"In church I am unable to suppress evil thoughts." 9. Macbeth, while revolving in his mind the contemplated murder of Duncan, but fearing the possible consequences that may result from the atrocious crime, says,— "If it were done, when 'tis done, then 'twere well It were done quickly." 10. If the passage be read in this form, without special emphasis on any word, it conveys either no idea, or a very absurd one. But Macbeth means,-If, when the crime is committed, no evil consequences will result from it, the sooner it is perpetrated, the better. To convey this idea, it is necessary to elevate the voice on the word done, and make it emphatic, thus: "If it were done', when 'tis done, then 'twere well 11. If a man should raise the cry of fire, and give the word the rising inflection, thus:-"fire', fire', fire'," we might think his shouting indicated a bonfire, and should not imagine that his own house was in flames: but if he should make the word decidedly emphatic, with the falling inflection,—fire', fire', fire',—we should at once heed the cry as a warning of danger. 12. In the following example, the meaning depends very much upon the emphatic manner in which the small words in a sentence are pronounced. In Shakspeare's Merchant of Venice, Bassanio thus apologizes to his wife for having given, to a friend, a ring which he had received from her: "If you did know to whom I gave the ring, If you did know for whom I gave When nought would be accepted but the ring, You would abate the strength of your displeasure." 13. In St. John's Gospel, xix. 6, Pilate is represented as saying to the chief priests and officers, who were determined to imbrue their hands in the blood of Jesus, "Take ye him, and crucify him; for I find no fault in him." As this is usually read, the absurd idea is conveyed, that Pilate delivered up Jesus because he found no fault in him. But if the word ye be made prominent in the reading, and I still more so, with the rising circumflex, probably the true meaning will be conveyed. Thus:-"Take ye him, and crucify him; for I find no fault in him :”- -as much as to say, "Therefore I will have nothing to do with his crucifixion." 14. The foregoing examples-both those in this lesson, and those in the preceding lessons-well illustrate the importance, to students, of thoroughly studying their reading selections, so as to obtain a thorough knowledge of all the phases of meaning, sentiment, and emotion, designed to be expressed by them, before attempting to read them aloud. CHAPTER III.-THE SPEAKING TONES, AND THEIR APPLICATIONS. BESIDES Emphasis and Inflections, there are certain characteristic modulations of voice, called TONES, that are prompted in part by the thoughts, but more by the emotions and feelings, which they are designed to express. These modulations are as numerous and as varied as are the emotions themselves, yet they may all be embraced in five great divisions,-Quality, Tone, Pitch, Movement, and Quantity of Voice. Although these are often combined in expressing thought and feeling,—each in some one of the almost numberless varieties or degrees in which it may be applied, yet it is most convenient to treat, first, of each separately. LESSON I.-Quality of Tone. Quality of tone has reference to the kind of sound uttered. Thus, there may be the pure tone, the o'rotund, the aspirate, the pectoral, the guttural, the nasal, etc., with as many variations of each as there are notes in the musical scale. Of these, the pure tone stands first in rank and importance, because it is that which is most needed in common speech, -in the ordinary affairs of life. DIVISION I.-Pure Tone. 1. Pure tone, in its most common form, may be described as that quality of voice that has its resonance in the back part of the roof of the mouth, and in which all the breath is converted into a clear, smooth, musical sound. Accord ing to the sentiments and feelings expressed, it may be produced at a high or a low pitch, with great or with small volume of sound, with slow or with rapid movement, and with much or with little force of utterance; but it is most appropriate for narrative, descriptive, and didactic pieces, and such as express either tranquil or joyful emotions. No one will use harsh tones when his thoughts are pleasant, when he is unmoved by passion, and when his feelings are pure, for the tone of one's voice is generally the faithful index of the mind. Wirt's narrative and descriptive piece, The Blind Preacher," should be read in the pure tone, but with sufficient life and spirit to show a decided interest in the subject. 2. The following, also, are appropriate examples for the use of great purity of tone:— [1] Soliloquy of Douglas.—Solemnity. "This place, the centre of the grove:- Imposes silence with a stilly sound. In such a place as this, at such an hour— Descending spirits have conversed with man, And told the secrets of the world unknown."-Home. [2]. From "The Voice of Spring.”—Joyful Emotion. "I come, I come! Ye have called me long; I come o'er the mountains with light and song; a See II., chapter xxxvii. |