former case; as in the solemn and deliberate call to attention;" Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken."* This leads me to the chief point, which I had in view under this head, the emphatic pause. Garrick employed this on the stage, and Whitefield in the pulpit, with great effect. It occurs sometimes before, but commonly after a striking thought is uttered, which the speaker thus presents to the hearers, as worthy special attention, and which, he seems confidently to expect, will command assent, and be fixed in the memory, by a moment of uninterrupted reflection. More commonly such a thought as admits the emphatic pause, drops the voice to a grave under-key, in the manner described at the close of the last article. Sometimes it breaks out in the figure of interrogation, with a higher note, and the eye fixed on some single hearer. To produce its proper effect, it must spring from such reality of feeling as defies all cold imitation; and this feeling never fails to produce, while the voice is suspended on the emphatic pause, a correspondent significance of expression in the countenance. 1 There is still another pause, so important in delivery, as to deserve a brief notice; I mean that with which a The rhetorical pause is as appropriate in music as in elocution. In this respect a skilful composer always conforms to sentiment, in a set piece. In metrical psalmody, though this adaptation cannot be made by the writer of the tune, it ought to be made in some good degree, by the performers. Instead of a tame subserviency to arbitrary quantity, they may often, with powerful effect, insert or omit a pause, as sentiment demands. I have scarcely ever felt the influence of music more, than in one or two cases where the stanzas, being highly rhetorical, were divided only by a comma, and the choir spontaneously rushed over the musical pause at the end of the tune, and began it anew, from the impulse of emotion. See example, Watts, Book I. Hymn 3, 6 and 7-8 and 9 stanzas. good speaker makes the close of a paragraph, or division of a discourse. The attempt to keep up an assembly to one pitch of interest, and that by one unremitted strain of address, is a great mistake, though a very common one, as it respects both the composition and the delivery of a discourse. It results from principles with which every public speaker ought to be acquainted, that high excitement cannot be sustained for a long time. He who has skill enough to kindle in his hearers, the same glow which animates himself, while he exhibits some vivid argument or illustration, will suffer them to relax, when he has finished that topic; and will enter on a new one, with a more familiar tone of voice, and after such a pause, as prepares them to accompany him with renewed satisfaction. ་ It may be remarked in passing, that when the voice has outrun itself, and reached too high a pitch, one of these paragraph-rests affords the best opportunity to resume the proper key. 24] SECT. 6.-Compass of voice. It may be thought that what has been said already, concerning high and low notes, is sufficient, on this part of modulation. My remarks on pitch, however, related chiefly to the predominant note which one employs in a given case; whereas I now refer to the range of notes, above and below this governing or natural key, which are required by a spirited and diversified delivery. Sometimes from inveterate habit, and sometimes from incapacity of the organs, the voice has a strong, clear bot tom, without any compass upwards. In other cases, it has a good top, but no compass below its key. Extreme instances to the contrary there may be, but commonly, I have no doubt that when a speaker uses only a note or two, above and below the key, it arises from habit, and not from organic defect. Few indeed have, or could by any means acquire, the versatility of vocal power, by which Whitefield could imitate the tones of the female or the infant voice, at one time, and at another, strike his hearers with awe, by the thundering note of his under key. Nor is this power essential to an interesting delivery. On the other hand, there are few, if any, who could not, by proper pains in cultivating the voice, give it all the compass which is requisite to grave and dignified oratory. As I cannot dwell on this point, it may be useful to say briefly, that when the voice of the young speaker is found to be wanting in compass, I would advise him, in the first place, to try an experiment, similar to that which was suggested, p. 107, for increasing strength or loudness of sound, without change of key. Suppose he takes the same line; O, you hard hearts, you cruel men of Rome ! and read it first on the lowest note, on which he can articulate. Then let him repeat it a note higher, and so on, till he reaches the highest note of his voice. His compass being ascertained, by such an experiment, on a few words, he may, then practise reading passages of some length, on that part of his voice which he especially wishes to improve; taking care, in this more protracted exercise, not to pitch on the extreme note of his voice, either way, so far as to preclude some variety above or below, to correspond with natural delivery. In the second place, I would advise him to read passages where the sentiment and style are specially adapted to the purpose he has in view. If he wishes to cultivate the bottom of his voice, selections from narrative or didactic composition may be made, which will allow him to begin a new sentence, in a note nearly as low, as that in which he finished the preceding. Or he may take passages of poetry, in which the simile occurs, a figure that generally requires a low and equable movement of voice. If he wishes to increase his compass on the higher notes, let him choose passages in which spirted emotion prevails; especially such as have a succession of interrogative sentences. These will incline the voice, spontaneously, to adopt those elevated tones on which he wishes to cultivate its strength. Instead of giving examples here, to illustrate the principles, I refer the reader to EXERCISES, [24] where a few selections are made for this purpose. 25] SECT. 7.-Transition. By this I mean those sudden changes of voice which often occur in delivery. This article, and those which follow upon modulation, are chiefly intended to combine and apply the principles of the preceding sections. The whole object is, to elucidate that one, standing law of delivery, that vocal tones should correspond, in variety, with sentiment; in contradistinction from monotony, and from that variety which is either accidental or mechanical. In this spontaneous coincidence, by which the voice changes its elevation, rate, strength, &c. in conformity with emotion, consists that excellence which is universally felt and admired, in the manner of a good speaker. To designate these changes, besides the rhetorical marks already employed to denote inflections, it will be necessary to adopt several new ones; and the following may answer the purpose; signifying that the voice is to be modified, in reading what follows the marks respectively, thus: (°) high. () low. In respect to the four first, when one of them occurs, it must be left to the reader's taste to determine how far ́its influence extends in what follows. In respect to this mark () it may be used to signify a considerable protraction of sound on that syllable, which precedes it, and then it will be inserted in the course of the line, without brackets. EXAMPLES. -Heaven and earth will witness, If ROME MUST. FALL.. that we are innocent. When the same mark is designed to signify that a passage is to be uttered with a slow rate, it will be inserted thus () where that passage begins, the extent of its influence being left to the reader's taste; or it may be com |