48. "In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God. He heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him. Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth. He bowed the heavens also, and came down ; and darkness was under his feet; and he rode upon a cherub, and did fly; yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind."

49. "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth And the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upor the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light.'

QUANTITY.

50. Quantity consists in the extended time of utterance, without changing the standard pronunciation of words. It is produced by a well-marked radical, a full volume of sound, and a clear lessening vanish. When it is well executed, the syllable will be kept free from a vapid, lifeless drawl.

51. The power of giving a gracefully-extended quantity to syllables is not common. The principal source of differ. ence between a good reader and a bad one lies in their varied degrees of ability in this respect.

52. Although writers on elocution seem, in a measure, to have overlooked quantity as an important element of expres sion, still it is one of the most important which a distin guished speaker employs in giving utterance to the senti ments of sublimity, dignity, deliberation, or doubt.

53. When judiciously applied and skilfully executed, it seems to spread a hue of feeling over the whole sentence. It gives that masterly finish, and that fine, delicate touch, to the expression, which never fails to impress the deepest feeling, or to excite the most sweet and enchanting emotions.

54. A well-marked stress, and a gracefully-extended time, form the bases of the most important properties of the voice

such as gravity, depth of tone, volume, fulness of sound, smoothness, sweetness, and strength. If the mind were a pure intellect, without fancy, taste, or passion, the abovenamed function of the voice, which may properly enough be termed the signature of expression, would be uncalled for But the case is widely different. The impassioned speaker, overpowered by his subject, and at a loss to find words to express the strength of his feelings, naturally holds on to and prolongs the tones of utterance, and thereby supplies any deficiency in the words themselves.

55.

56.

Examples in Quantity.

"With woful measures, wan Despair

Low, sullen sounds his grief beguiled;
A solemn, strange, and mingled air;
"Twas sad by fits; by starts 'twas wild."

"Thou art, O God! the life and light

Of all this wondrous world we see;
Its glow by day, its smile by night,

Are but reflections caught from thee.
Where'er we turn, thy glories shine,
And all things fair and bright are thine."

57. "Spirit of Freedom! when on Phyle's brow

Thou satt'st with Thrasybulus and his train,
Couldst thou forebode the dismal hour that now
Dims the green beauty of thine Attic plain?

58 "The stars shall fade away, the sun himself
Grow dim with age, and nature sink in years
But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth,
Unhurt amidst the war of elements,

The wreck of matter, and the crush of worlds.'

59. It is apparent that one predominating sentiment pervades the whole of the above extracts. They are of a solemn, sublime, and dignified description; and a gracefully-extended quantity diffused over the whole with evenness and continuity, will bring out that sentiment in the most impressive

Inanner.

60. Quantity is employed in giving utterance to feelings of malignity and emotions of hatred; also in cases of irony, and in those of affected mawkish sentimentality; and when so managed that the clear lessening vanish shall blend with the full opening of the succeeding word, it will give a fine effect to that morbid sensitiveness which exaggerates every feeling.

61. O, you are well tuned now!

But I'll set down the pegs that make this music,
As honest as I am."

"That lulled them as the north wind does the sea.

63. “And do you now put on your best attire ?
And do you now cull out a holiday?
And do you now strow flowers in his way,
That comes in triumph over Pompey's blood?"

62

64. "The languid lady next appears in state,

Who was not born to carry her own weight;
She lolls, reels, staggers, till some foreign aid
To her own stature lifts the feeble maid.
Then, if ordained to so severe a doom,
She, by just stages, journeys round the room;
But, knowing her own weakness, she despairs
To scale the Alps—that is, ascend the stairs.

My fan!' let others say, who laugh at toil;
'Fan!' 'Hood!' Glove!' 'Scarf!' is her laconic style;
And that is spoke with such, a dying fall,
That Betty rather sees than hears the call;
The motion of her lips, and meaning eye,
Piece out the idea her faint words deny.
O, listen with attention most profound!
Her voice is but the shadow of a sound.
And help! O, help! her spirits are so dead,
One hand scarce lifts the other to her head.
If, there, a stubborn pin it triumphs o'er,
She pants! she sinks away! she is no more!
Let the robust and the gigantic carve;

Life is not worth so much; she'd rather starve
But chew she must herself. Ah! cruel fate
That Rosalinda can't by proxy eat"

RATE OR MOVEMENT OF THE VOICE.

65. The term rate or movement of the voice has reference to the rapidity or slowness of utterance. In good reading, the voice must be adapted to the varying indication of the sentiments in the individual words, and the rate must accommodate itself to the prevailing sentiment which runs through the whole paragraph.

66. Every one must perceive that the rate of the voice, in the utterance of humorous sentiments and in facetious description, is vastly different from that which is appropriate on occasions of solemn invocation.

67. The rates of movement, which are clearly distinguishable in varied sentiment, may be denoted by the terms slow, moderate, lively, brisk, and rapid.

SLOW MOVEMENT.

68. Slow movement is exemplified in the expression of the deepest emotions; such as awe, profound reverence, melancholy, grandeur, majesty, vastness, and all similar sentiments.

69. In exercising the voice on the rates of movement, the examples illustrating the extremes should be read consecutively, for reasons which must be obvious to the teacher.

70. As several constituents of expression are frequently blended, especially in the utterance of dignified and impres sive sentiments, it may not be amiss to take the same example to illustrate the separate functions of the voice. Thus the passage from the book of Job, which we have already used to exemplify the principles in pitch and monotone, may serve to illustrate the lowest and deepest notes, long quantity and slow movement, because all these are blended in giving force and true expression to the sentiment.

ILLUSTRATIONS.

71. "In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men, fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake. Then a spirit passed before my face. The hair of my flesh stood up. It stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof. An image was before mine eyes. There was silence; and I heard a voice. - .Shall mortal man be more just than God?'"

72. Thy awe-imposing voice is heard

66

74.

- we hear it! The Almighty's fearful voice! Attend!

It breaks the silence, and in solemn warning speaks."

Melancholy.

73. With eyes upraised, as one inspired,

Pale Melancholy sat retired,

And from her wild, sequestered seat,

In notes by distance made more sweet,

Poured through the mellow horn her pensive soul."

"The hills,
Rock-ribbed and ancient as the sun,- the vales,
Stretching in pensive quietness between,
The venerable woods, -rivers that move

In majesty, and the complaining brooks,

That make the meadows green, — and, poured round all,
Old ocean's gray and melancholy waste, —
Are but the solemn decorations all

Of the great tomb of man."

Grandeur. Vastness.

75. "Roll on, thou deep and dark blue ocean, roll! Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain."

76. "Thou glorious mirror, where the Almighty's form
Glasses itself in tempests; in all time,

Calm or convulsed-in breeze, or gale, or storm,-
Icing the pole, or in the torrid clime