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EXAMPLES OF "THOROUGH STRESS."

Rapture, Joy, Triumph, Exultation.

("Expulsive orotund :" "Impassioned " force: Powerful "stress.")

1.

FROM THE DYING CHRISTIAN. -Pope.

"Lend, lend your wings! I mount, I fly!

O Grave! where is thy victory?

O Death! where is thy sting!"

("Expulsive orotund:" Force of shouting: Vehement "stress.")

2.

FROM MOORE'S LINES ON THE FATE OF NAPLES.

"Shout, Tyranny, shout

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Through your dungeons and palaces, Freedom is o'er!""

Lofty Command.

("Expulsive orotund," and "sustained" force of calling, combined: Powerful and prolonged "stress.")

FROM SATAN'S CALL TO HIS LEGIONS.-Milton.

"Princes! potentates!

Warriors, the flower of heaven! once yours, now lost,

If such astonishment as this can seize

Eternal spirits,

Awake! arise! or be forever fallen!"

Vehement Indignation.

("Expulsive orotund:"" Declamatory" force: Vehement" stress.") FROM CHATHAM'S REBUKE OF LORD SUFFOLK.

"These abominable principles, and this more abominable avowal of them, demand the most decisive indignation. I call upon that right reverend and this most learned Bench, to vindicate the religion of their God, to defend and support the justice of their country. I call upon the bishops to interpose the unsullied sanctity of their lawn, upon the judges to interpose the purity of their ermine, to save us from this pollution.

I call upon the honor of your lordships, to reverence the dignity of your ancestors, and to maintain your own. I call upon the spirit and humanity of my country, to vindicate the national character."

Disdain.

SATAN, [TO ITHURIEL AND ZEPHON.]-Milton.

("Expulsive orotund :" "Impassioned" force: Powerful "stress.")

"Know ye not then," said Satan, filled with scorn, "Know ye not me?—Ye knew me once no mate For you; there sitting where ye durst not soar: Not to know me argues yourselves unknown,The lowest of your throng."

Violent Grief.

LADY CAPULET, [ON THE APPARENT DEATH OF JULIET.]-Shakspeare. ("Aspirated pectoral and oral Quality :” “Explosive " utterance: Impassioned" force: Violent "stress.")

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"Accurs'd, unhappy, wretched, hateful day! Most miserable hour that e'er time saw,

In lasting labor of his pilgrimage!"

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TREMOR, OR INTERMITTENT STRESS."

When, by the hysterical or excessive force of impassioned feeling, the breath is agitated into brief successive jets, instead of gushing forth in a continuous stream of unbroken sound, a tremor, or tremulous effect of voice, is produced, which breaks its "stress" into tittles or points; -much in the same way that a row of dots may be substituted to the eye, for one continuous line. The human voice, in the case now in view, is as appropriately said to "tremble," as when we apply the term to the shivering motion of the muscular frame.

The "tremor" of the voice is the natural expression of all emotions which, from their peculiar nature, are attended with a weakened condition of the bodily organs; such as

extreme feebleness from age, exhaustion, sickness, fatigue grief, and even joy, and other feelings, in which ardor or extreme tenderness predominates.

In the reading or the recitation of lyric and dramatic poetry, this function of voice is often required for full, vivid, and touching expression. Without its appeals to sympathy, and its peculiar power over the heart, many of the most beautiful and touching passages of Shakspeare and Milton become dry and cold. Like the tremula of the accomplished vocalist, in operatic music, it has a charm, for the absence of which nothing can atone; since nature suggests it as the genuine utterance of the most delicate and thrilling emotion.

The perfect command of " tremor," requires often-repeated practice on elements, syllables, and words, as well as on appropriate pas· sages of impassioned language.

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1. The Tremor of Age and Feebleness.

("Pure Tone:" "Subdued" force of Pathos: Tremulous utterance,

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throughout.)

STANZA FROM A POPULAR BAllad.

Pity the sorrows of a poor old man,

Whose trembling limbs have borne him to your door, Whose days are dwindled to the shortest span ;

Oh! give relief; and Heaven will bless your store!"

2. Exhaustion and Fatigue.

("Aspirated pectoral and oral Quality:" "Suppressed" force: “Tremor” throughout.)

FROM "AS YOU LIKE IT."-Shakspeare.

Adam, [to Orlando.] “Dear master, I can go no farther: Oh! I die for food! Here lie I down, and measure out my grave. Farewell! kind master.”

("Pure Tone :" "Subdued" force of Pathos: Occasional "tremor

of Tenderness.)

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Orlando, [to Adam.] "Why, how now, Adam!-no greater heart in thee? Live a little; comfort a little; cheer thyself a little. For my sake be comfortable; hold death awhile at the arm's end: I will here be with thee presently.

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Well said! thou look'st cheerily and I'll be with thee quickly. Yet thou liest in the bleak air: Come, I will bear thee to some shelter. Cheerly, good Adam!”

3. Sickness.

KING JOHN, [ON THE EVE OF HIS DEATH, TO FAULCONBRIDGE.]—Shakspeare. ("Aspirated pectoral Quality:" "Suppressed" force: Gasping and tremulous utterance.)

"O cousin, thou art come to set mine eye: My heart hath one poor string to stay it by, Which holds but till thy news be uttered; And then all this thou seest, is but a clod And module of confounded royalty."

4. Excessive Grief.

EVE, [TO ADAM, AFTER THEIR FALL AND DOOM.]-Milton. ("Aspirated pectoral and oral Quality:" "Impassioned" force: Weeping utterance : "Tremor," throughout.)

"Forsake me not thus, Adam: witness heaven
What love sincere, and reverence in my heart
I bear thee, and unweeting have offended,
Unhappily deceived: thy suppliant,

I beg, and clasp thy knees; bereave me not,
Whereon I live, thy gentle looks, thy aid,
Thy counsel in this uttermost distress,
My only strength and stay: forlorn of thee
Whither shall I betake me, where subsist?"

("Pure Tone:""

5. Extreme Pity.

Impassioned" force: Weeping and tremulous utterance.)

FROM THE TEMPEST.- Shakspeare.

Miranda, [to her father.], "Oh! I have suffered
With those that I saw suffer! a brave vessel,
Who had, no doubt, some noble creatures in her,
Dashed all to pieces. Oh! the cry did knock

Against my very heart! Poor souls! they perished.

Had I been any god of power, I would

Have sunk the sea within the earth, or ere

It should the good ship so have swallowed, and
The freighting souls within her!"

6. Joy and Admiration.

[ALONZO'S EXCLAMATION, ON BEHOLDING HIS SON FERDINAND, WHOM HE HAD SUPPOSED DROWNED.]—Shakspeare.

("Pure Tone:" "Impassioned expulsive" force: "Tremor" of joy, throughout.)

"Now all the blessings

Of a glad father compass thee about!"

("Pure Tone:" "Impassioned expulsive" force: Ecstatic "tremor "of joy, wonder, and love.)

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How many goodly creatures are there here!

How beauteous mankind is! Oh! brave new world,
That has such people in 't!"

The various modes of "stress" have been so copiously illustrated, that it seems unnecessary to add special exercises, at the close of this chapter. Before proceeding to the next subject, however, the student will derive much benefit from reviewing the examples of the different forms of "stress," and practising them in conjunction with the elementary sounds and combinations, and with the addition of the following words, as classified for this purpose.

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