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would seem the appropriate language of all emotions which, in poetic phraseology, are said to "fill the soul," "swell the bosom," "fire the heart," or "delight and charm the fancy."

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Thorough stress," is, accordingly, the characteristic mode of "expression" in the utterance of rapture, joy, triumph, and exultation, lofty command, indignant emotion, disdain, excessive grief, or whatever high-wrought feeling seems for the time to wreak itself on expressive sound. It is obviously the language of extreme or impassioned feeling only. It abounds, accordingly, in lyric and dramatic poetry. It is found, however, in all vehement declamation in which the emotion is sustained by reflective sentiment, as in the excitement of virtuous indignation and high-souled contempt.

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Thorough stress" is one of the most powerful weapons of oratory, as well as one of the most vivid effects of natural feeling. If indiscriminately used, it becomes ineffective, as savoring of the habit and mannerism of the individual, rather than of just and appropriate energy. In such circumstances, it becomes rant; and when joined, as it sometimes is, to the habit of "mouthing," it can excite nothing but disgust in a hearer of well-regulated taste.

Juvenile readers, however, in some instances, from diffidence, and students, from their enfeebling mode of life, are apt to fall far short of the requisite degree of this expressive function of voice. To obtain the full command of it in all its applications, and to preserve it always from excess, much careful practice on appropriate examples, and on letters, syllables, and words, becomes indispensable, as a preparatory discipline in elocution.

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EXAMPLES OF THOROUGH STRESS."

Rapture, Joy, Triumph, Exultation.

("Expulsive orotund": "Impassioned" force: Powerful "stress.")

1.

"Lend, lend your wings! I mount, I fly!

O Grave! where is the victory?

O Death! where is thy sting!"

("Expulsive orotund: " Force of shouting: Vehement "stress.")

2.

"Shout, Tyranny, shout

Through your dungeons and palaces, 'Freedom is o'er !'"

Lofty Command.

("Expulsive orotund," and "sustained" force of calling, combined: Powerful and prolonged "stress.")

"Princes! potentates!

Warriors, the flower of heaven! once yours, now lost,

If such astonishment as this can seize

Eternal spirits.

Awake! arise! or be for ever fallen!"

Vehement Indignation.

("Expulsive orotund": "Declamatory" force: Vehement stress.")

"These abominable principles, and this more abominable avowal of them, demand the most decisive indignation. I call upon that right reverend and this most learned Bench, to vindicate the religion of their God, to defend and support the justice of their country. I call upon the bishops to interpose the unsullied sanctity of their lawn, upon the judges to interpose the purity of their ermine, to save us from this pollution. I call upon the honor of your lordships, to reverence the dignity of your ancestors, and to maintain your own. I call upon the spirit and humanity of my country, to vindicate the national character."

Disdain.

Satan, [to Ithuriel and Zephon.]

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("Expulsive orotund": Impassioned force: Powerful

"stress.")

"Know ye not then," said Satan, filled with scorn,

66 Know ye not me? Ye knew me once no mate
For you; there sitting where ye durst not soar :
Not to know me argues yourselves unknown,-
The lowest of your throng."

Violent Grief.

Lady Capulet, [on the apparent death of Juliet.] ("Aspirated pectoral and oral Quality": "Explosive Explosive" utterance: Impassioned" force: Violent “ stress.")

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"Accursed, unhappy, wretched, hateful day! Most miserable hour that ere time saw, In lasting labor of his pilgrimage!"

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When, by the hysterical or excessive force of impassioned feeling, the breath is agitated into brief successive jets, instead of gushing forth in a continuous stream of unbroken sound, a tremor, or tremulous effect of voice, is produced, which breaks its "stress" into tittles or points; much in the same way that a row of dots may be substituted to the eye, for one continuous line. The human voice, in the case now in view, is as appropriately said to tremble," as when we apply the term to the shivering motion of the muscular frame.

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The tremor " of the voice is the natural expression of all emotions, which, from their peculiar nature, are attended with a weakened condition of the bodily organs; such as extreme feebleness from age, exhaustion, sickness, fatigue, grief, and even joy, and other feelings, in which ardor or extreme tenderness predominates.

In the reading or the recitation of lyric and dramatic poetry, this function of voice is often required for full, vivid, and touching expression. Without its appeals to sympathy, and its peculiar power over the heart, many of the most beautiful and touching passages of Shakspeare and

Milton, become dry and cold. Like the tremolo of the accomplished vocalist, in operatic music, it has a charm for the absence of which nothing can atone; since nature suggests it as the genuine utterance of the most delicate and thrilling emotion.

The perfect command of "tremor," requires often-repeated practice on elements, syllables, and words, as well as on appropriate passages of impassioned language.

EXAMPLES OF TREMOR."

1. The Tremor of Age and Feebleness.

("Pure Tone": "Subdued force of Pathos: Tremulous utterance, throughout.)

"Pity the sorrows of a poor old man,

Whose trembling limbs have borne him to your door, Whose days are dwindled to the shortest span ; Oh! give relief; and Heaven will bless your store!"

2. Exhaustion and Fatigue.

("Aspirated pectoral and oral Quality":"Suppressed" force : "Tremor," throughout.)

Adam, [to Orlando.] "Dear master, I can go no farther: Oh! I die for food! Here lie I down, and measure out my grave. Farewell! kind master."

("Pure Tone":

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"Subdued " force of Pathos: Occasional
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tremor of Tenderness.)

Orlando, [to Adam.]

"Why, how now, Adam! - no greater heart in thee? Live a little; comfort a little; cheer thyself a little. For my sake be comfortable; hold death awhile at the arm's end: I will here be with thee presently. Well said! thou look'st cheerily and I'll be with thee quickly. Yet thou liest in the bleak air: Come, I will bear thee to some shelter. Cheerly, good Adam!"

3. Sickness.

King John, [on the eve of his death, to Faulconbridge.] ("Aspirated pectoral Quality":"Suppressed" force: Gasping and tremulous utterance.)

"O cousin, thou art come to set mine eye: My heart hath one poor string to stay it by, Which holds but till thy news be uttered; And then all this thou seest, is but a clod And module of confounded royalty."

4. Excessive Grief.

Eve, [to Adam, after their fall and doom.]

("Aspirated pectoral and oral Quality": "Impassioned" force: Weeping utterance: "Tremor," throughout.)

"Forsake me not thus, Adam: witness heaven
What love sincere, and reverence in my heart
I bear thee, and unweeting have offended,
Unhappily deceived: thy suppliant,

I beg, and clasp thy knees; bereave me not,
Whereon I live, thy gentle looks, thy aid,
Thy counsel in this uttermost distress,
My only strength and stay: forlorn of thee
Whither shall I betake me, where subsist? "

5. Extreme Pity.

("Pure Tone":" 'Impassioned" force: Weeping and tremulous utterance.)

Miranda, [to her father.] "Oh! I have suffered With those that I saw suffer! a brave vessel,

Who had, no doubt, some noble creatures in her,

Dashed all to pieces. Oh! the cry did knock
Against my very heart! Poor souls! they perished.
Had I been any god of power, I would

Have sunk the sea within the earth, or ere

It should the good ship so have swallowed, and
The freighting souls within her!"

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