While yet we live, scarce one short hour perhaps,
Between us two let there be peace, both joining,

As joined in injuries, one enmity

Against a foe by doom express assigned us
That cruel Serpent. On me exercise not
Thy hatred for this misery befallen;
On me already lost, me than thyself

More miserable? Both have sinned; but thou
Against God only, I, against God and thee,
And to the place of judgment will return,
There with my cries importune Heaven, that all
The sentence, from thy head removed, may light
On me, sole cause to thee of all this wo;

Me, me only, just object of his ire!

11. The dignity and deep pathos of the following stanzas cannot be fully expressed, but by the frequent union of the Monotone and the Tremor with the simpler elements of the Chromatic Melody.

The king stood still
Till the last echo died; then, throwing off
The sackcloth from his brow, and laying back
The pall from the stiff features of his child,
He bowed his head upon him, and broke forth
In the resistless eloquence of wo :—
"Alas! my noble boy! that thou shouldst die!

Thou, who wert made so beautifully fair!
That death should settle in thy glorious eye,
And leave his stillness in this clustering hair!
How could he mark thee for the silent tomb,
My proud boy, Absalom!

Cold is thy brow, my son! and I am chill,
As to my bosom I have tried to press thee.
How was I wont to feel my pulses thrill

Like a rich harp-string, yearning to caress thee,
And hear thy sweet-'my father,' from these dumb
And cold lips, Absalom!

The grave

hath won thee. I shall hear the gush
Of music, and the voices of the young;

And life will pass me in the mantling blush,
And the dark tresses to the soft winds flung;-
But thou no more, with thy sweet voice shall come
To meet me, Absalom!

But, oh! when I am stricken, and my heart,
Like a bruised reed, is waiting to be broken,
How will its love for thee, as I depart,

Yearn for thine ear to drink its last deep token!
It were so sweet, amid death's gathering gloom,
To see thee, Absalom!

And now, farewell! 'Tis hard to give thee up,
With death so like a gentle slumber on thee :-
And thy dark sin!—Oh! I could drink the cup,

:

If from this wo its bitterness had won thee.
May God have called thee, like a wanderer, home,
My erring Absalom!"

He covered up his face, and bowed himself
A moment on his child: then, giving him
A look of melting tenderness, he clasped
His hands convulsively, as if in prayer;
And, as a strength were given him of God,
He rose up calmly, and composed the pall
Firmly and decently, and left him there,
As if his rest had been a breathing sleep.

PAIN.

Mental Suffering and Bodily Pain, when not excessive, employ the vocal symbols of deep plaintiveness, even the Semitone, the Tremor, the Aspiration, and the Broken Melody.

Excessive bodily pain however, often substitutes for feebleness of voice great Force-sometimes even on the Falsette.

EXAMPLE.

Search there; nay, probe me; search my wounded reins-
-Pull, draw it out-

Oh, I am shot! A forked burning arrow

Sticks across my shoulders: the sad venom flies

Like lightning through my flesh, my blood, my marrow.
Ha! what a change of torments I endure!

A bolt of ice runs hissing through my bowels:
"Tis, sure, the arm of death, give me a chair;
Cover me, for I freeze, and my teeth chatter,
And my knees knock together.

SECRECY, APPREHENSION, FEAR, &c. Secrecy is expressed by that perfect Aspiration which we call the Whisper.

Apprehension and Mystery combine the Aspiration with a suppressed voice. Curiosity, Suspicion, Eagerness, and Hope employ the same elements.

Suppressed Fear speaks in an under tone, and combines with this kind of vocality both the Tremor and the Aspi

ration.

EXAMPLES.

1. Angels and ministers of grace defend us

Be thou a spirit of health, or goblin damned,

Bring with thee airs from heaven, or blasts from hell,

Be thy intents wicked or charitable,

Thou comest in such a questionable shape

That I will speak to thee.

Save me and hover o'er me with your wings,

You heavenly guards!—What would your gracious figure? 2. Hah! dost thou not see, by the moon's trembling light, Directing his steps, where advances a knight,

His eye big with vengeance and fate?

3. Then first, with amazement, fair Imogene found,

That a stranger was placed by her side;

His air was terrific, he uttered no sound;

He spoke not, he moved not, he looked not around,
But earnestly gazed on the bride.

4. Now, fair Hypolita, our nuptial hour

Draws on apace, four happy days brings in
Another moon; but oh! methinks, how slow
This old moon wanes! She lingers my desires,
Like to a step-dame, or a dowager

Long-withering out a young man's revenue.

5. Alas! I am afraid they have awaked,

And 'tis not done; the attempt, and not the deed,
Confounds us— -Hark! I laid the daggers ready,
He could not miss them. Had he not resembled
My father as he slept, I had done it.

TERROR, HORror.

When danger becomes imminent, fear bursts through all restraints, and the state of mind ensues which is called Terror; and this is expressed by great Force of voice combined with the Downward Inflection and a strongly marked Aspiration. The voice of Terror sometimes breaks on the ear in the scream of the Falsette.

Horror combines Force of voice and the Aspiration with the Guttural Harshness, which as an element of speech is never properly used but to give expression to the highest emotions of the mind.

INTERROGATION.

In Section V, of Chap. I, we deduced the principle that the Rising Slide is the prime element in Interrogation; and though this is the universal symbol of doubt and uncertainty, yet that the Thorough Interrogative Intonation is given only in the case of the Direct Question.

We are now to show how this Thorough form of Into

nation is modified by the conditions under which it is employed.

The Unimpassioned Interrogation should employ the Concrete Third and the Radical Stress.

The more earnest question carries the voice through the Fifth, and may employ the Vanishing Stress; as in the following example:

What! shall one of us,

That struck the foremost men of all this world
But for supporting robbers; shall we now
Contaminate our fingers with base bribes ?
And sell the mighty space of our large honors,
For so much trash, as may be grasped thus ?—
I had rather be a dog, and bay the moon,

Than such a Roman.

Dignity or Solemnity of expression will never allow the use of a wider interval than the Fifth; and where the question is characterized by these, Long Quantity and the Median Stress should prevail, and the Inverted Wave may take the place of the simple concrete.-Example:

Are these the pompous tidings ye proclaim,
Lights of the world, and demi-gods of Fame?
Is this your triumph-this your proud applause,
Children of Truth, and champions of her cause?
For this hath science searched, on weary wing,
By shore and sea-each mute and living thing?
Launched with Iberia's pilot from the steep,
To worlds unknown, and isles beyond the deep?
Or round the cope her living chariot driven,

And wheeled in triumph through the signs of Heaven?
Oh! star-eyed science, hast thou wandered there,

To waft us home the message of despair?

Vaunting or Mirthful Interrogation carries the voice through an Octave; and the Vanishing Stress increases the intensity of the inquiry, as in the following:—