TONES-GENERAL RULE.

The following rule for the management of those tones that indicate the stronger passions and emotions, is deemed worthy he attention of every disciple in elocution: "In reading, let your tones of expression be borrowed from those of common speech, but, in some degree, more faintly characterized. Let those tones which denote any disagreeable passion of the mind, be still more faint than those which indicate agreeable emotions: and, on all occasions, preserve yourself from being so far affected with the subject, as to be unable to proceed through it, in that easy and masterly manner which has its good effects in this, as well as in every other art."

MODULATION.

The great redeeming quality with some readers and speakers whose articulation is, by no means, remarkable for distinctness, and whose enunciation, in many other respects, is faulty, consists in the agreeable variety and beautiful modulation of the tones of their voice. Indeed, many a speaker passes with the multitude for an orator, whose sole dependance for popularity and favour in his art, rests on the power and melody of his tones, and the agreeableness of his modulations; for he well knows, that the great majority of hearers, are better judges of pleasing sounds, than they are of profound sentiments, and that they are willing to forego the advantages of the latter, for the gratifying indulgence of the former. But those who wish to persuade, to move-to convince the understanding and to affect the heart, will aim at something higher than merely the dealing out of harmonious sounds. However these may gratify the ear, yet on them alone the mind would starve. Harmonious and agreeable sounds should, therefore, be held by the reader or speaker, in the subordinate rank which a judicious taste assigns to ornaments in dress-as the mere appendages, not the body, of the garment.

An agreeable modulation, and a pleasing variety of intonation, are, however, by no means to be regarded as unworthy of attention. Their importance has already been illustrated, by showing, that, with some, they are the very quintessence of what passes for oratory. This being the case, then, we may readily conceive their happy effects when employed even by readers and speakers who are otherwise liberally endowed with the higher qualities of eloquence.

GENERAL RULE.

The best general rule that can be given for a skilful management and modulation of the tones of the voice, is to cultivate and adopt an agreeable variety, such as we know to be pleasing to others.

The author is aware that this rule is of too general a character to be of much utility to those whose taste in elocution is but a little cultivated, or whose apprehension of what is elegant or excellent, and of what is otherwise, is not very quick; but, in the subsequent pages of this work, many definite principles will be developed, which have a direct bearing upon this subject.

EXERCISES.

The great variety of elevation and depression of tone in which it is proper to pronounce different kinds of composition, depends mainly on the sentiments expressed: and there are few whose conception and taste are so obtuse as not to be regulated, in their enunciation, in some good degree, by this governing principle.

The following example from Byron, presents a great variety of elevation and depression of tone

But hush! hark! a deep sound strikes like a rising knell'
Did ye not hear it ?-No; 'twas but the wind,

Or the car rattling o'er the stony street:

On with the dance! let joy be unconfined;

No sleep till morn, when youth and pleasure meet
To chase the glowing hours with flying feet-

But hark!-That heavy sound breaks in once more,
As if the clouds its echo would repeat;

And nearer, clearer, deadlier than before!

Arm! Arm! it is-it is-the cannons' opening roar !

Remark. No one can be at a loss to perceive that the commencing words of this passage, "hush! hark!" should be pronounced in a low tone approaching a whisper; and the res idue of the same line, in a deep, low tone of earnest pathos, a little higher than the preceding, but not quite so elevated as the interrogatory which follows it. The line and a half which answer the question, require a light, joyous tone, considerably elevated above that in which the interrogation is expressed. In the phrase, "On with the dance!" the voice breaks forth with a sudden abruptness, and in quite an elevated tone; but falls a little, again, on the two and a half lines which follow. And again the voice falls very low at "hark!" and rises very greatly again, and successively, on each of the words "nearer,

clearer, deadlier;" until, as it approaches the word " Arm!" it breaks forth in its most energetick, impassioned, and highest strain.

In general, the tones and modulations of the voice, except when influenced by the principles of inflection and emphasis, are to be regulated by an exercise of good taste, which may ordinarily be acquired by an attentive observance of the manner adopted by those who excel in elocution, and by private application.

QUESTIONS.

Of what does chapter 2nd treat?

What is meant by tones?-What, by modulation?

Are the peculiar beauty and the great variety of tones belonging to the human voice, an evidence of man's superiority over the brute? In what chiefly consist the spirit and beauty of delivery?

How many notes or variations of tone, fall within the compass of the voice in speaking, compared with that of singing?

What is the diatonick scale ?-What is an octave ?
What is the difference between a note and a tone?
What is a semitone ?-What, a monotone?

Illustrate them both by examples ?-What is an interval?
Explain the intervals of a second, third, and fifth.
What is meant by the qualities or kinds of voice?

What is meant by abruptness?—What is meant by pitch?
What is a concrete sound?-What, a discrete sound?

Explain the difference between radical, and concrete and discrete pitch.
Is there a great variety in pitch?

Illustrate this by experiments on o, a, i, lay, &c.

In reading or speaking to a small audience, what pitch of the voice ought generally to be adopted?

Ought the same to be taken in addressing a large audience?

In impassioned discourse, is it ever allowable to raise the pitch or key-note as we advance ?

What is reading?

What is said of a theatrical manner of speaking?

What is the manner adopted by the greatest orators ?

Is the same correct in regard to singing?

Is a greater degree of moderation to be observed in reading than in speaking ?-Why?

What is said of tameness and of earnestness in reading?

What is the general rule for managing the tones of the voice in reading?

In what estimation should harmonious and agreeable sounds be held by a reader or a speaker?

Is an agreeable modulation important to every reader and speaker ?—

How do you prove this?

What is the general rule to regulate one in his modulation?

The following_marginal. directions may be of some service to the unpractised student.

EXERCISES.

Low Tone-Hark! heard you not those hoofs of dreadful note?
Sounds not the clang of conflict on the heath?

High-The fires of death-the bale-fires flash on high:
Death rides upon the sulphury Sirock;

Red battle stamps his foot, and nations feel the shock.
Low-Lochiel! Lochiel! beware of the day

When the Lowlands shall meet thee in battle array! Middle-For a field of the dead rushes red on my sight,

And the clans of Culloden are scattered in fight.
High-False wizard, avaunt! I have marshalled my clan:
Their swords are a thousand, their bosoms are one;
Though my perishing ranks should be strewed in their gore,
Like ocean-weeds heaped on the surf-beaten shore,
They are true to the last of their blood and their breath,
And like reapers descend to the harvest of death.
Down! soothless insulter; I trust not the tale.
Plaintive-Come, Antony, and young Octavius, come,
Revenge yourselves alone on Cassius;
For Cassius is a-weary of the world.

Poor child of danger, nursling of the storm,
Sad are the woes that wreck thy manly form!
Rocks, waves, and winds, the shattered bark delay;
Thy heart is sad, thy home is far away.

Errours in regard to Pitch and Tones.

High Pitch. As it regards the tones of the voice, there is not, perhaps, a more common or unbecoming fault to which publick readers and speakers are liable, than that of commencing in a loud and vociferous manner. This abrupt and boisterous beginning is always displeasing, and not unfrequently disgusting, to the auditory. It wears the aspect of immodesty in a speaker, and appears, in general, to proceed from his overweening confidence in his own abilities; and, moreover, to a judicious hearer, it is a fair index, put out to forewarn him, that he may expect, in what is to follow, neither a display of good taste nor of talents.

Although the pitch and tone of the voice at the opening of a discourse, are, in some measure, to be governed by the occasion, or the circumstances under which a reader or a speaker's oratorical powers are called forth, yet seldom will circumstances require him to depart from the general direction given him in regard to pitch, on page 56, namely, to adopt that pitch of voice which he generally employs in ordinary conversation. As this pitch will be found most convenient and easy to himself, so will it appear the most natural and agreeable to his

hearers a point by no means to be overlooked. In this pitch, also, will his tones and inflections of voice be the most natural, and thus enable him to give them the greatest and most grateful variety of swell and melody.

As a speaker advances in his discourse, especially if it be somewhat impassioned, and increases in energy and earnest. ness, a higher and louder tone will naturally steal upon him, and sometimes he may even change his radical pitch; and in such cases it may require no little address to keep his voice within proper bounds. This may easily be done, however, by occasionally recalling it, as it were, from the extremities of its adventurous flight, and by directing it to those who are near him.

Low Pitch.-An errour more frequent than that last pointed out, though perhaps not so fatal, occurs with those speakers who take their key-note or pitch in too low a tone to be distinctly heard. At the commencement of his discourse, a speaker may presume much upon the indulgence of his hearers; but this is no good reason why he should speak so low as to compel them to listen, with the greatest attention, in order to understand what is delivered. What is worth being uttered at all, is worth being spoken in a proper manner; but can any thing be more improper, than to utter our sentiments in so indistinct a manner, or in so low a tone, as to render it impossible for any one clearly to understand what is said?

This fault, if long continued, is apt to exhaust the patience of the hearers, who justly consider it an abuse of their goodnature, and an insult to their understandings. Therefore, in this, as in all other things, great extremes should be avoided.

Affected Tones.-There is not a more besetting, oratorical sin, into which readers and speakers are apt to fall, than that of adopting an affected tone of voice. Many a one who, in ordinary conversation, has nothing peculiar or disagreeable in his tones and modulations, or, perhaps, whose voice is quite agreeable and melodious, will, nevertheless, when he comes to read or speak in publick, at once divest himself of the natural tones of his voice, as he would cast off an old garment that carried contagion in it, and which he feared would be communicated to his hearers, and enter upon his labours with a stiff, formal, artificial, and affected intonation, in which he appears more unseemly and disagreeable than he would in a borrowed garment, even one that was shabby and did not fit him. Some affect a simpering, soft, silly, sweet prettiness of tone and manner; but more, a rigid, pompous dignity or solemnity; both of