"Whitsuntide! alas!"* cried Trim, extending his right arm, and falling instantly into the same attitude in which he read the sermon, "What is Whitsuntide, Jonathan," (for that was the coachman's name,) 66 or Shrovetide, or any tide or time past, to this? Are we not here now?" * continued the corporal, (striking the end of his stick perpendicularly upon the floor, so as to give an idea of health and stability,)" and are we not " (dropping his hat upon the ground) "gone! in a moment!" It was infinitely striking! Susannah burst into a flood of tears. - We are not stocks and stones : Jonathan, Obadiah, the cookmaid, all melted. The foolish fat scullion herself, who was scouring a fishkettle upon her knees, was roused with it. The whole kitchen crowded about the coporal.

"Are we not here now, and gone in a moment?

-

There

was nothing in the sentence: it was one of your self-evident truths we have the advantage of hearing every day; and if Trim had not trusted more to his hat than his head, he had made nothing at all of it.

"Are we not here now?" continued the corporal, "and are we not" (dropping his hat plump upon the ground, — and pausing before he pronounced the word) "gone! in a moment!" The descent of the hat was as if a heavy lump of clay had been kneaded into the crown of it. Nothing could have expressed the sentiment of mortality, * of which it was the type and forerunner, like it his hand seemed to vanish from under it; it fell dead; the corporal's eye fixed upon it, as upon a corpse ;· and Susannah burst into a flood of tears."

Emphasis, fully defined for the purposes of elocution, is prominent 66 expression," ,"embodied in an accented syllable. It bears the same relation to "expression," in its full sense, that "syllabic accent 99 bears to 66 rhythmical accent." It may be restricted to a single word: "expression" applies, as in music, to the sequence of sounds, in connected and consecutive utterance, designed for the communication of feeling.

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Expression," however, while it contains the same elements with emphasis, comprises a few more. It includes the effects

*All intervening clauses and phrases of whatever length, are read in the style of parenthesis.

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arising from "quality," in all its forms, " pure, aspirated," &c., and from the " effusive," "expulsive," and "explosive " modes of utterance; from force in all its gradations, from whispering to shouting; stress," in its " radical," median," "vanishing," " compound," and "thorough " forms; "tremor ; "melody," "pitch," "slide,” and “ wave," in all their forms; time," "in all its influence over 66 movement, ""rhythm," and metre. These modifications of voice have all been discussed and exemplified. But to all these, "expression" adds the effect of "drift," as it has been termed by Dr. Rush, or, in other words, the impression produced on the ear by the frequent or successive recurrence of any mode or element of "expression."

"Drift," accordingly, is either an excellence or a fault, according to the circumstances in which it is adopted as a mode of effect. When a passage is so pervaded by one mood of feeling, and by one style of language and of structure, and even by one form of phrase, that a special unity of effect is obviously designed, as a result in audible expression, a frequent trait of declamatory eloquence and even of poetic emotion to which metre still farther contributes, - the "drift," or frequently recurring "quality," force, " stress," " melody," pitch, "slide," "

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wave," 66 'movement," or rhythm," for a "drift" may be constituted by the frequent recurrence of one, or of several, or of all of these accidents of voice, — has the effect of deepening the impression arising from the sentiment as a whole. Hence we may observe that the " drift," of recurring "melody," or what, in popular language, is termed a “tone," is often a means of powerful and deep impression on the ear and on the external sympathies of an audience, when there is little of unity, force, or weight in the sentiment which the speaker utters.

The ear of discerning judgment and of true taste, however, is always offended, rather than pleased, by any perceptible drift not authorized by a predominating emotion associated with the language of a speaker, or the composition in the hands of a reader. Still, a gentle and chaste "drift" is one of the natural secrets of effect, in elocution, and should be carefully observed and closely analyzed, by every student who is desirous of securing a master-key to the human heart.

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ex

It is unnecessary to dwell on this subject after the discussion and exemplification of emphasis. We will conclude with referring to two examples which will fully illustrate the effect of "drift." Let the student read aloud, with well-marked pression," the first example of "impassioned emphasis," (the reply of Coriolanus to the tribunes,) and watch the impression produced on the ear by the recurrence of those vehement and infuriated downward "slides," which occur in the words marked by italics and capitals; and he will obtain a clear idea of the

effect arising from the "drift" of the "slide." Let the reader repeat the sentence, and observe the prodigiously increasing force and loudness of the same words, as they succeed each other, and he will perceive, at once, the effect of the "drift" of mere force, or "loud concrete." Let the passage be read once more, with the attention fixed on the perpetually recurring and increas ing "compound stress; " and the "drift" of "stress" will be sufficiently understood. The analysis might be pursued still farther; but the suggestions now dropped will serve to indicate the mode of reading for the purpose of tracing a "drift."

The student may now return to page 241, and read aloud, for the sake of a wide contrast in "drift," the tender, pathetic, and "chromatic" lines illustrative of "feminine grief and sorrow,' in which will be found all the opposite "drifts" of recurring 'semitone,” “subdued" and softened force, gentle “median stress," and other prevailing properties of kindred character.

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Exercises of this description may be performed on any of the examples contained in the book, which are of sufficient length to admit of recurrence of "expression," and, consequently, of "drift." No exercise can be more useful either for imparting a thorough knowledge of elocution, or securing its best effects; and none can be more useful for eradicating any false habits of "expression," such as are popularly called tones,—in the style of an individual, or of professional bodies and classes of men.

The defective mode of instruction in elocution, which at present prevails in schools and higher places of learning, leaves much to be done by every student, not only by way of acquisition, but in the more arduous task of self-correction; and in no department of elocution is this process of self-culture and self-advancement so important to all, or so sure to the diligent, as in that of analysis and practice for the detection of errors, and the correction of faults in the management of the voice, as regards "expression."

APPENDIX.

[Our desire to render this manual conducive, as far as possible, to a perfect development of the voice, induced us to solicit the aid arising from the perfect discipline to which the organs are subjected, in the elementary practice of the art of music. Professor G. J. Webb, of the Boston Academy of Music, has, in compliance with our request, furnished the following directions for the cultivation of perfect purity of tone, the want of which, in elocution, is a prevalent fault, both in public speaking and private reading.]

CULTIVATION OF PURE TONE.

Ir is important that the pupil, at the very outset of vocal study, should have the ability of appreciating purity of tone. Unless he has some distinct perception of it; in other words, unless a model of pure tone has been formed in his own mind, all merely physical effort to acquire it will be likely to fail.

The practice of the scale in swelling tones, is chiefly relied upon by teachers of vocal music, for developing the voice, and for acquiring purity, mellowness, flexibility, and an adequate breadth of tone.

Immediately before singing each sound, breath should be taken so as completely to inflate the lungs ; and after pausing an instant with the chest well expanded, the sound should commence with firmness, but with great softness, then gradually augmented to the loudest degree, succeeded by being as gradually diminished to the degree of force with which it began. Each tone should be prolonged from eighteen to twenty seconds.

This exercise, as a general rule, should be continued for about two months; singing the scale daily about four times.

In the delivery of the tones of the "chest register," the air ought to escape without touching the surfaces of the mouth; the tones of the "medium register,' are best acquired by directing the air a little above the upper front teeth in those of the "head register," the air is directed vertically.