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THE CIRCUMFLEX.

The Circumflex is a union of the inflections, and is of two kinds, Rising and Falling. It is governed by the same principle; that is, positive assertions of irony, raillery, etc., will have the falling Circumflex, and all negative assertions of double meaning, will have the rising.

Doubt, pity, contrast, grief, supposition, comparison, irony, implication, sneering, raillery, scorn, reproach, and contempt, are expressed by them. Be sure and get the right feeling and thought, and you will find no difficulty in expressing them properly, if you have mastered the voice.

Both these circumflex inflections may be exemplified in the word so, in a speech of the Clown in Shakespeare's "As You Like it."

1. I knew when seven justices could not take up a quarrel; but when the parties were met themselves, one of them thought but of an If; as if you said so, then I said sô. Oh hô! did you say so? So they shook hands and were sworn friends.

2. The queen of Denmark, in reproving her son, Hamlet, on account of his conduct towards his step-father, whom she married, shortly after the murder of the king, her husband, says to him, "Hamlet, you have your father much offended." To which he replies, with a circumflex on you, Madam, you-have my father much offended.' He meant his own father; she-his step-father; he would also intimate, that she was accessory to his father's murder; and his peculiar reply was like daggers in her soul.

3. In the following reply of Death to Satan, there is a frequent occurrence of circumflexes, mingled with contempt: 'And recon'st thou thyself with spirits of heaven, hell-doomed, and breath'st defiance here, and scorn, where I reign king? and, to enrage thee more, thˇy king, and lord!' The voice is circumflexed on heaven, hell-doomed, king, and thy, nearly an octave.

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HAMLET TO LAERTES.

3. Zounds! show me what thoul't do: woul't weep? woul't fight? woul't fast? woul't tear thyself? I'll do it. Dost thou come here to whine? to outface mě, with leaping in her grăve? be buried quick with her, and so will I^; and if thou prate of mountains, let them throw MIL^LIONS of acres on us, till our ground, singeing her pate against the burning zone, make Ossa like a wart. Nay, and thoul't mouthe, I'll rant as well as thôu.

FURTHER EXAMPLES IN CIRCUMFLEX.

1. They tell ûs to be moderate, but they revel in profusion.

2. Most courteous tyrants! Româns! Râre patterns of humanity!

3. So even ran his line of life, his neighbors thought it ôdd.

4. Is thy servant a dog, that he should do this great thing?

5. They will give us peace! Yes; such peace as the wolf gives to the lâmb-the kĭte to the dôve.

6. Talk to me of danger? Death and shame! Is not my race as high, as ancient, and as proud as thine?

7. Thêy follow an adventurer whom they fêar, and obey a power which they hate; we serve a monarch whom we love, -a God whom we adore.

THE MONOTONE.

The Monotone is sameness of sound, arising from repeating the several words or syllables of a passage in one and the same general tone.

The Monotone is employed in the delivery of a passage that is solemn or sublime.

EXAMPLES.

1. Mãn that is bōrn ōf wōmān, īs ōf few days and full of trouble. Hē cōmēth fōrth like ā flōwēr, and is cut down; hē flēēth alsō ās ā shādōw, and cōntīnūēth nōt.

2. Mãn diēth, and wastēth āwāy: yēā, mān gīvēth ūp the ghōst, and where is hē? As the waters fail from thē sēā, and thē flōōd dēcāyēth and drīēth ūp, sō mãn līēth dōwn, and rīsēth nōt; till thẽ hẽāvēns bē nō mōrē, they shall nōt āwāke, nōr bē raised ōūt ōf thēīr slēēp.

3. Fōr thūs sāith thẽ high and lofty ōne that īnhābītēth ētērnīty, whōse name is Hōly, I dwell in the high and holy place.

4. Lōrd thōu hāst bēēn ōūr dwelling-place in all gēnērātīōns. Bēfōre thẽ mōūntaīns were brought fōrth, ōr ēvēr thōū hadst fōrmed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlāsting, Thou ārt God.—Bible.

PAUSES.

We have seen that the art of Elocution is the application of that system of rules which teaches us to pronounce written composition with justness, energy, variety, and ease. Agreeably to this definition, reading may be considered as that species of delivery which not only expresses the sense of an author, so as barely to be understood, but which, at the same time, gives it all that force, beauty, delicacy, and variety of which it is susceptible; the first consideration depends upon grammatical pauses which separate clauses, sentences, and paragraphs according to their sense-the last depends much upon rhetorical pauses which are introduced to give expression to the words of an author.

Thus we have two kinds of pauses- Grammatical and Rhetorical. We have also pauses peculiar to poetry, and designed to increase the beauty and melody of verse; they are termed harmonic. These are usually considered as two; the one being called cœsural, and the other the final harmonic pause. The length of pauses are not fixed and invariable, and so cannot be brought under precise rules. There are, however, a few general principles which may be safely observed as far as they have application.

One is that the pause should be proportioned to the rate of utterance the intervals of rest being comparatively long when the rate is slow, and short when it is quick.

RULES FOR RHETORICAL PAUSES.

1. A long pause may be made before or after a word expressive of intense feeling.

2. A slight pause should mark an ellipsis or omission of a word.

3. After words, placed in opposition to each other, there should be a pause.

4. A pause is required between the parts of a sentence which may be transposed.

5. Before and after an intervening phrase, there should be a short pause. 6. Before conjunctions, or prepositions and similes a pause is usually required.

7. There should be a pause before a verb in the infinitive mood, depending upon another verb.

8. Before the relative pronouns, who, which, that, and what, a pause is generally necessary.

9. An adjective placed after its noun, should be separated from it by a short pause.

10. A pause is required after the nominative case, when it is emphatic or consists of more than one word.

The following examples, numbered to correspond with the foregoing rules, will illustrate more fully the effect of appropriate rhetorical pauses: Banished from Rome! What's banished, but set free?

1.

2.

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And their young voices rose | A VENGEANCE CRY TO GOD!

And made me | a poor orphan boy.

Their palaces were houses not made with hands; their diadems | crowns of glory.

To our faith we should add virtue; and to virtue | knowledge; and to knowledge | temperance; and to temperance | patience; and to patience | godliness; and to godliness | brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness | charity.

3.

4.

6.

7.

The morn | was bright, but the eve | was clouded and dark.
Some place the bliss in action | some in ease;

Those call it pleasure, and contentment | these.
1

With famine and death | the destroying angel came.

To whom the Goblin, full of wrath, replied.

The pangs of memory are | to madness | wrought.

I have watched their pastimes | and their labors.
We must not yield | to their foolish entreaties.
He continued steadfast | like the spring-time.

He daily strove | to elevate their condition.

Do not dare to lay your hands on the constitution.

8.

I had hoped to have had an opportunity to oblige so good a friend.

Let us look forward to the end of that century | which has commenced.

Spirit that breathest through my lattice, thou |

That cool'st the twilight of the sultry day.

His natural instinct discovers | what knowledge can perform.

There is not a great author here | who did not write for us; not a man of science | who did not investigate for us. We have received advantages from every hour of toil | that ever made these great and good men weary. He was a man-contented, virtuous, and happy.

9.

10.

I behold its summit | noble and sublime.

A remarkable affair | happened yesterday.

To be devoid of sense | is a terrible misfortune.
Industry is the guardian of innocence.

PERSONATION.

We should give especial attention to the change of voice in personation. In public reading and declamation it is of great importance, but is generally overlooked, or but little practiced. The narrative, or descriptive sentences leading to the personation, will depend for force, pitch, and time, upon the character of the ideas in the personation. For instance, if a death scene is being given as in "Poor Little Jim;" the pitch will be low, and diminish until the words, uttered by the dying boy are reached. Then with pure voice, slightly tremor; pitch moderate and time slow, with a pause between the narrative and the quoted words, the speaker will say :

NOTE-The rules for pauses should be applied on the above example, until they are thoroughly understood by the student.

"Tell father when he comes from work, I said good night to him, and mother, now-I'll-go-to-sleep."

The last words very soft and hesitating utterance.

Before this example is another in the same selection, not quite so marked, which we give, from third verse. She gets her answer from the child; soft fall the words from him:

"Mother, the angels do so smile and beckon little Jim;

I have no pain, dear mother, now, but O! I am so dry,

Just moisten poor Jim's lips again, and mother, don't you cry."
With gentle, trembling haste, he held the liquid to his lips, etc.

That which is quoted is supposed to be uttered by the dying child, and cannot be given effectively without the changes in voice, etc., referred to

above.

If the climax of the narrative is a battle scene, and the personation represents an officer giving the command to charge, as in "The Light Brigade,” then the most marked change will be made in the voice, between the descriptive and the personation.

"Forward the light brigade; take the guns!" demands full force; quick time and high pitch; compound stress, and the descriptive preceding it will commence with moderate pitch, moderate time (increasing) and medium force, with median stress.

We give a number of examples for the practice of the transitions, necessary in Personation.

(per.)

Stand to your guns men!" Morris cried.

Small need to pass the word;

(desc.) Our men at quarters ranged themselves

Before the drum was heard.

The pitch should fall three notes at least, on the words "Morris cried," and raised but slightly on the remainder of the stanza.

(desc.) And when Peter saw it he answered unto the people: (per.)

"Ye men

of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or, why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or authority we had made this man to walk," etc.

To read the Bible acceptably in public, requires the application of every principle in elocution, for nowhere is expression so richly rewarded as in the pronunciation of the sacred text. The descriptive and personation should

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