Thorough Stress is when the force is equally loud from the commencement to the close of the syllable.

Vanishing Stress occurs when the sound gradually increases as it swells onward, and then abruptly terminates with a vocal explosion.

Intermittent Stress or Tremor is characterized by a vibratory, tremulous tone.

A clear understanding of the subject of stress can only be obtained by long and careful study, and, if acquired, will be of but little practical use. The only way by which a good command of the different kinds of stress can be acquired, is by careful practice on such a variety of emotional and other passages as will require every imaginable application of stress and force. Clear ideas and right feeling will always suggest the proper stress, but arbitrary rules concerning its use will always confuse and often result in ridiculous mistakes or total failure.

RADICAL STRESS.

Exercises in this kind of stress, if carefully and energetically practiced, will strengthen and deepen the voice, and increase its compass and flexibility more rapidly than any other. Excepting intellectual and moral qualifications, there are no others which it is so important for the reader, actor, or public speaker to possess as a strong, flexible, musical voice, a distinct articulation, and a good command of radical stress.

EXAMPLES OF EXPLOSIVE RADICAL STRESS.

1. Thy threats, thy mercy, I defy,

And give thee in thy teeth the lie.

2. It was the act of a coward who raises his hand to strike, and has not the courage to give the blow.

3. A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse.

4. Hold! hold! for your lives.

5. And, Douglas, more, I tell thee hereEven in thy pitch of pride—

Here, in thy hold, thy vassals' near,

I tell thee thou 'rt defied!

6. Yet though destruction sweep these lovely plains,
Rise! fellow-men, our country yet remains.
7. Unmannered dog! stand thou when I command!
Advance thy halberd higher than my breast,
Or, by Saint Paul! I'll strike thee to the earth,
And spurn upon thee, beggar, for thy boldness.
8. Retire! or taste thy folly; and learn by proof,

Hell-born! not to contend with spirits of heaven. 9. Rise! fathers, rise! 'tis Rome demands your help. 10. Down! down! cries Mar, your lances down!

Bear back both friend and foe.

11. You blocks! you stones! you worse than senseless things!

Most of the examples given under high pitch, also under emphatic repetition, are equally well suited to illustrate and exemplify explosive radical stress.

EXAMPLES OF INTERMITTENT STRESS OR TREMOR.

1. And when I am forgotten, as I shall be,
And sleep in dull, cold marble, where no mention
Of me more must be heard of,-say I taught thee;
Say Wolsey, that once trod the ways of glory,
And sounded all the depths and shoals of honor,
Found thee a way, out of his wreck, to rise in,
A sure and safe one, though thy master missed it.
Mark but my fall, and that that ruined me.

2. My lids have long been dry, Tom,

But tears came in my eyes:

I thought of her I loved so well,
Those early broken ties;

I visited the old church-yard,

And took some flowers to strew
Upon the graves of those we loved

Just forty years ago.

3. Can he desert me thus? He knows I stay
Night after night, in loneliness to pray
For his return, and yet he sees no tear!
No! no! it can not be he will be here.

4. I have known deeper wrongs;-I that speak to ye,
I had a brother once-a gracious boy,

Full of all gentleness, of calmest hope,

Of sweet and quiet joy,-there was the look
Of heaven upon his face, which limners give
To the beloved disciple. How I loved
That gracious boy! Younger by fifteen years,
Brother at once, and son! He left my side,
A summer bloom on his fair cheek, a smile
Parting his innocent lips. In one short hour
That pretty, harmless boy was slain!

5. And, oh! to see the briny tears fast hurrying down her cheek, As she offered up the prayer, in thought; she was afraid to speak, Lest she might waken one she loved far better than her life,For she had all a mother's heart, had that poor collier's wife. With hands uplifted, see, she kneels beside the sufferer's bed, And prays that He would spare her boy, and take herself instead. 6. 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!

7. I love it! I love it! and who shall dare
To chide me for loving that old arm chair?

I've treasured it long as a sainted prize;

I've bedewed it with tears and embalmed it with sighs;
'Tis bound by a thousand bands to my heart,

Not a tie will break, not a link will start;
Would you know the spell? a mother sat there!
And a sacred thing is that old arm chair.

When the student can give with correct and vivid expression the examples under radical stress and intermittent stress, his voice will be under sufficient control to enable

him, with but little practice, readily to command all the other forms of stress, and most of the pleasing, impressive, and affecting intonations of the voice.

QUANTITY.

Quantity, or time, in elocution means the measure of sounds, syllables, or words with regard to their duration.

The syllables and words capable of receiving the longest quantity and the most musical expression, are those which contain open vowel and liquid, or nasal subvocal sounds.

LONG QUANTITY.

Let the following words be pronunced with varying degrees of force, but always prolong them to the utmost extent possible without changing their character or giving them in a manner the least akin to a drawl: War, law, scorn, all, form, green, feel, thee, shame, blaze, pain, wail, dare, care, swear, air, star, arm, charm, barn, no, home, lone, soul, moan, roll, hold, go, you, soon, moon, fool, ooze, room, cool, file, mine, sire, joy, toil, coin, toys, bow, our, foul, round, down, new, dew, pale, rain, fail, dream, keen, calm, view, etc.

Practice on these words at first by gradually increasing both the force and the quantity on each word until you are able to dwell upon it either by the rising or the falling inflection, without any artificial tone, at least twice as long as it would be proper to dwell upon the word in quiet conversation. Sometimes practice increasing the quantity in subdued, plaintive, and solemn tones.

Take each of these words and make it the emphatic word of at least three short sentences: one declarative, one interrogative, and one exclamatory, and exercise on these sentences for the purpose of obtaining the power of develop

The exercise will

ing the quantity of the emphatic words. be profitable, not only as an exercise in quantity, but also in emphasis, modulation, and expression.

Dignity and force of delivery depend much on the power of swelling and protracting the open vowel sounds, and such of the subvowels as admit of long quantity. All of the examples given under slow movement are suitable examples for practice in long quantity, and those given under quick movement in short quantity.

EXAMPLES IN LONG QUANTITY.

1. Mr. President, I shall enter on no encomium upon Massachusetts-she needs none. There she is,-behold her, and judge for yourselves. There is her history-the world knows it by heart.

2. Though many and bright are the stars that appear

In the flag by our country unfurled;

And the stripes that are swelling in majesty there,
Like a rainbow adorning the world,

Their lights are unsullied as those in the sky,
By a deed that our fathers have done;

And they're leagued in as true and as holy a tie,
In their motto of "Many in one."

3. There is often sadness in the tone,
And a moisture in the eye,
And a trembling sorrow in the voice,
When we bid a last good-bye;
But sadder far than this, I ween,

4.

Oh, sadder far than all,

Is the heart-throb with which we strain

To catch the last footfall.

Yet this is Rome,

That sat on her seven hills, and from her throne
Of beauty ruled the world! Yet we are Romans.

Why, in that elder day, to be a Roman

Was greater than a king! And once again-
Hear me, ye walls, that echoed to the tread
Of either Brutus!-Once again, I swear,
The eternal city shall be free.