"concrete downward slide" on a single sound, which includes, within itself, the whole interval otherwise occupied by a" discrete triad." Another form of the "mechanical slide," is used to indicate, as mentioned before, complete sense, or the finishing of an independent part of a sentence. Its effect, as a descent of voice, differs to the ear from that of the cadence, in the fact formerly stated, of its commencing and ceasing at a higher point of the scale, and from its not being preceded by the "penultimate slide," nor by a previous descent of voice which prepares the ear for the deliberate and full effect of cadence. It may be termed the "downward slide of complete sense" or "partial" cadence, as contrasted with its opposite, the "upward slide" of the " third," in incomplete sense, assumed, on purpose, in the middle of a sentence, to create expectation of farther expression, for the completion of a thought; or the "upward third" of unimpassioned interrogation, which also implies incomplete or undetermined sense. The "downward slide of complete sense," may be so denominated also, as contrasted with the mere effect of “ concrete pitch," when a reader, as was formerly supposed, for the purpose of illustration, is suddenly interrupted in the act of reading, and breaks off at an incomplete phrase.

"The signification of our sentiments, made by tones and gestures, has this advantage above that made by wórds, that it is the language of nature."

"In epic poetry, the English have only to boast of Spenser and Milton, who neither of them wanted either genius or learning to have been perfect póets; and yet both of them are liable to many censures."

2.-"Partial Cadence," at the close of a clause which forms complete sense.

"Greatness confers no exemption from the cares and sorrows of life its share of them frequently bears a melancholy proportion to its exaltation."

"In man, we see a creature whose thoughts are not limited by any narrow bounds either of place or tìme, who carries his researches into the most distant regions of this globe, and beyond this globe, to the planets and heavenly bodies; looks backward to consider the first origin of the human ràce; casts his eyes forward to see the influence of his actions upon posterity, and the judgments which will be formed of his character a thousand years hènce: a creature who traces causes and effects to great lengths and intricacy; extracts general principles from particular appearances; improves upon his discoveries, corrects his mistákes,' and makes his very errors profitable."

3.-"Upward Slide of incomplete or suspended sense."

“Were men entirely free from více, all would be uniformity, harmony, and order."

"The idea of that Divine Being, whose benevolence and wisdom have, from all eternity, contrived and conducted the immense machine of the universe, so as at all times to produce the greatest possible quantity of happiness, is certainly, of all objects of human contemplation, by far the most sublime."

"If a man is deeply impressed with the habitual and thorough conviction, that a benevolent and all-wise Being can admit into the system of His government no partial evil which is not necessary for the universal good, he must consider all the misfortunes which may befall himself, his friends, his society, or his country, as necessary for the prosperity of the universe, and therefore as what he ought, not only to submit to with resignation, but as what he himself, if he had known all the connexions and dependences of things, ought sincerely and devoutly to have wished for."

4.-"Upward Slide" of "unimpassioned interrogation." "Have you heard the news? Can we place any depén

1 "Penultimate upward slide."

2 A "rising tritone" is sometimes the equivalent of the " upward slide of the third."

dence on the report? Is it probable that such an event could have been kept so long concéaled?"

"Shall we adopt the measures proposed by this speaker? Are the arguments which he has advanced sufficient to produce convíction? Can we proceed with perfect confidence that we shall not have to retráce our steps?"

"Does the work relate to the interests of mankind? Is its object useful, and its end móral? Will it inform the understanding, and amend the heart? Is it written with freedom and impartiality? Does it bear the marks of honesty and sincérity? Does it attempt to ridicule anything that is good or great? Does a manly style of thinking predominate in it? Do réason, wít, húmor, and pléasantry, prevail in it? Does it contain new and useful trúths?"

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CHAPTER VII.

"TIME."

THE chief characteristics of utterance, which are subjects of attention in vocal culture, are the "quality" of the voice, as sound, inerely, and its "expression," as produced by "force," " stress, "melody," or pitch,' " and "time," - properties equivalent to those which are comprehended, in music, under the heads of" quality," dynamics," (force,) "melody," and "rhythm," (the effect of the union of "accent," or comparative force, and "time," on the sequence of sounds.)

The subject of "time" is that which remains to be discussed, as the ground of practical exercises in elocution.

The study of time, as a measure of speech, will lead to the primary classification of single vowel sounds, as long or short, in duration, according to their character and expression, as elements of language. The contrast, in the duration of the "tonic element," or vowel sound, a, in the words male and female, will furnish examples; the a in the former being much longer, or, in other words, occupying a much larger space of time, in utterance, than the a in the latter. The

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technical designation of this property of vocal sounds, is quantity,"—implying quantity of time, or duration. The a of male, is accordingly termed a "long," the a in female, a "short quantity."-Such is the usual distinction recognized in prosody, and applied to versification.

Syllables, when regarded in connexion with the "quantities" of their component elements, and classified for the purposes of elocution, have been arranged by Dr Rush, under the following denominations:

1st. "Immutable," or such as are, from the nature of their constituent sounds, incapable of prolongation. These are immutably fixed to the shortest " quantity "exhibited in an elementary sound, and cannot, even when accented, and uttered in solemn or in poetic expression, be prolonged, in any degree, without positive mispronunciation or destruction of the peculiar accent of the language; as the i, for example, in the word sick, or in the verb convict. "Immutable" syllables terminate with an abrupt, or "atonic " element, preceded by a short "tonic," as in the above examples.

The propriety of the designation "immutable" will be apparent, on referring to the following examples, in the utterance of which, although there is the utmost intensity of emotion, the elements ic oppose an insuperable resistance to any attempt to heighten the expression of passion by prolonging the sound of the syllable or word in which they predominate.

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HOTSPUR, [EXCLAIMING ON HIS FATHER'S ILLNESS, AND CONSEQUENT ABSENCE FROM THE CAMP AT SHREWSBURY.]-Shakspeare.

"Sick now! droop now! This sickness doth infect The very life-blood of our enterprise."

CATILINE, [INDIGNANTLY DEFYING THE ROMAN SENATE.]-Croly. "Tried and convicted traitor!—Who says this? Who'll prove it, at his peril, on my head?"

2d. "Mutable" syllables are such as are constituted like the preceding, but are capable of a slight degree of prolongation. Their time," therefore, is mutable, or admits of gradation, according to the length or shortness of sound, in their constituent elements, as pronounced with more or less emotion of a nature which requires slow, rapid, or moderate utterance of the words or phrases in which they occur. The monosyllable yet, or the accented syllable of the word beset, uttered in the tone of any vivid emotion, will furnish an example. An instance occurs in the scene of the combat between Fitz James and Roderic Dhu, when the latter makes the taunting exclamation," Not yet prepared?"- and another in Blanche's dying warning,

"The path's beset, by flood and fell!"

3d. "Indefinite" syllables, or those which contain, or terminate with, a "tonic" element, or with any "subtonic" but b, d, or g. The " quantity" of the predominating element in such syllables, even when it is not positively long, admits, without offence to the ear, of a comparatively indefinite prolongation; as the a in the words man, unmannerly, pronounced with emotion. The time occupied in the enunciation of such sounds, is properly determined by the degree of feeling which they are, for the moment, used to express; as we perceive in the different tones of the following examples: the first in Hamlet's admiring exclamation, "What a piece of work is a man!" and Lady Macbeth's indignant and reproachful interrogation addressed to her husband, when he stands horror-stricken at the vision of the ghost of Banquo, " Are you a man?"

The power and beauty of vocal "expression," are necessarily dependent, to a great extent, on the command which a reader or speaker possesses over the element of "quantity." Poetry and eloquence derive their audible character from this source, more than from any other. The music of verse is sacrificed, unless the nicest regard be paid to "quantity," as the basis of rhythm and of metre ; and, with the exception of the most exquisite strains of well-executed music, the ear receives no pleasure comparable to that arising from poetic feeling, imbodied in the genuine melody of the heart, as it gushes from the expressive voice which has the power of

"Untwisting all the chains that tie
The hidden soul of harmony."

Milton, in his Paradise Lost, affords innumerable examples of the majestic grandeur of long "quantities" in epic verse; and without the just observance of these, the reading of the noblest passages in that poem, becomes flat and dry. The same is true, still more emphatically, of the magnificent language of the poetic passages of Scripture, in those strains of triumph and of adoration, which abound in the book of Psalms, and in the prophets.

The necessity, on the other hand, of obeying the law of "immutable quantity," even in the grandest and most emphatic expression, is an imperative rule of elocution. A false, bombastic swell of voice, never sounds so ridiculous as when the injudicious and unskilful reader or speaker attempts to interfere with the conditions of speech, and to prolong, under a false excitement of utterance, those sounds which nature has irrevocably determined short. We have this fault exemplified in the compound of bawling, drawling, and redoubled wave," which some reciters contrive to crowd into the small space of the syllable vic, in the conclusion of Moloch's war-speech,

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"Which if not victory is yet revenge."

The fierce intensity of emotion, in the true utterance of this syllable, brings it on the ear with an instantaneous ictus, and tingling effect, resembling that of the lash of a whip applied to the organ.

A simi