"'Tis God's all-animating voice
That calls thee from on high;
'Tis his own hand presents the prize
To thine aspiring eye."

EXERCISES IN PITCH.

Middle Pitch.*

Emotion progressive from Seriousness to Cheerfulness and Ani

mation.

Hope. Addison.

"No life is so happy as that which is full of hope, especially when the hope is well-grounded, and when the object of it is of an exalted kind, and in its nature proper to make the person happy, who enjoys it. This proposition must be self-evident to those who consider how few are the present enjoyments of the most happy man, and how insufficient to give him an entire satisfaction and acquiescence in them.

"My next observation is this; that a religious life is

* The average level of the voice in public reading or speaking, —in the form of lectures, practical and doctrinal discourses, and unempassioned address, a pitch somewhat lower than the middle notes of conversation; as the former implies graver tone.

†The new pitch with which every new paragraph properly commences, is a point of the greatest moment in elocution, as deciding the natural and appropriate style of reading, and distinguishing it from that which is mechanical and unimpressive. True reading causes the paragraphs of a piece, and the heads of a discourse, to indicate the change which is taking place in the current and direction of the thought. Every new topic, subordinate, as well as principal, requires a new shade of voice, in pitch, as higher or lower than the average tone of the preceding paragraph. The same remark applies to single sentences. The common fault, derived from school habits, is to rise to a new and higher pitch, at the beginning of every sentence or paragraph, and gradually fall in the successive clauses or sentences. Correct reading varies the pitch according to the connection existing between sentences, and commences on the low note of the cadence of the preceding sentence or par

that which most abounds in a well-grounded hope, and such a one as is fixed on objects that are capable of making us entirely happy. This hope, in a religious man, is much more sure and certain than the hope of any temporal blessing; as it is strengthened not only by reason but by faith. It has, at the same time, its eye perpetually fixed on that state which implies, in the very notion of it, the most full and the most complete happiness.

"Religious hope does not only bear up the mind, under sufferings, but makes her rejoice in them, as they may be the instruments of procuring her the great and ultimate end of all her hope. Religious hope has likewise this advantage above any other kind of hope, that it is able to revive the dying man, and to fill his mind not only with comfort, but with rapture and transport. He triumphs in his agonies, while the soul springs forward with delight to the great object which she has always had in view, and leaves the body with an expectation of being re-united to it in a glorious and joyful resurrection."

agraph, when the sense is continuous or analogous, but rises to a new and a higher strain, only when there is a new, a distinct, or an opposite thought in the new sentence or paragraph. On the other hand, a new sentence or paragraph, opening with a graver mood of sentiment, begins, properly, with a lower pitch than, perhaps, even the cadence of the preceding context.

The opening of a new paragraph should, generally, be lower in pitch than the strain of utterance in the preceding part of a discourse. But when, as in the example to which the present note refers, the speaker intimates, in the beginning of a paragraph, the plan or order of his discourse, the voice is higher in pitch, as well as slacker in force; so as to keep the main subject of address distinct from the parenthetical allusions to the speaker's train of thought for the time. The practical rule of elocution, for the commencing pitch of paragraphs is, usually, Begin anew; i. e., Slacken the force, lower the pitch, and retard the rate of the voice. This rule is founded on the obvious principle that it is not till progress has been made in a sentence or paragraph, that the new impulse of thought is felt in the force, pitch, and movement of the voice. * An example of the usual lower pitch of a new paragraph.

Low Pitch.

Grave Emotion.

Man is born to Trouble.- Finlayson.

"That no man can promise to himself perpetual exemption from suffering, is a truth obvious to daily observation. Nay, amid the shiftings of the scene in which we are placed, who can say that, for one hour, his happiness is secure? The openings through which we may be assailed, are so numerous and unguarded, that the very next moment may see some message of pain piercing the bulwarks of our peace. Our body may become the seat of incurable disease. Our mind may become a prey to unaccountable and imaginary fears. Our fortune may sink in some of those revolutionary tempests which overwhelm so often the treasures of the wealthy. Our honors may wither on our brow, blasted by the slanderous breath of an enemy. Our friends may prove faithless in the hour of need, or they may be separated from us forever. Our children, the fondest hope of our hearts, may be torn from us in their prime; or they may wound us still more deeply by their undutifulness and misconduct.

"Alas! my brother of the dust, in this uncertainty of worldly blessings, where is the joy on earth, in which thou canst repose thy confidence? or what defence canst thou rear against the inroads of adversity? Dost thou hope that by rising to power, or by increasing thy goods, thou wilt insure the continuance of thy comfort? Vain man! hast thou not seen that the loftiest mountain meets first the lightnings of the sky, and that the spreading tree, when loaded with the glories of its foliage and fruit, is most easily broker by the fury of the blast? In this manner, the children of this world, by multiplying their stores and extending their connections, furnish a broader mark to the arrows of misfortune, and with the greater certainty suffer disappointment and sprrow."

Sublime Emotion.

The Works and Attributes of God. - Moodie.

"All vast and unmeasurable objects are fitted to impress the soul with awe. The mountain which rises above the neighboring hills, and hides its head in the sky, -the sounding, unfathomed, boundless deep, the expanse of Heaven, where, above and around, no limit checks the wandering eye; - these objects fill and elevate the mind, they produce a solemn frame of spirit, which accords with the sentiment of religion.

We

"From the contemplation of what is great and magnificent in nature, the soul rises to the Author of all. think of the time which preceded the birth of the uni verse, when no being existed but God alone. While unnumbered systems arise in order before us, created by his power, arranged by his wisdom, and filled with his presence, the earth and the sea, with all that they contain, are hardly beheld amidst the immensity of his works. In the boundless subject the soul is lost. It is he who 'sitteth on the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers. He weigheth the mountains in scales. He taketh up the isles as a very little thing.' 'Lord, what is man that thou art mindful of him!'

"The face of nature is sometimes clothed with terror. The tempest overturns the cedars of Lebanon, or discloses the secrets of the deep. The pestilence wastes, the lightning consumes, the voice of the thunder is heard on high. Let these appearances be connected with the power of God. These are the awful ministers of his kingdom. The Lord reigneth, let the people tremble. Who would not fear thee, O King of nations! By the greatness of thy power thine enemies are constrained to bow."

17

Pathetic Emotion.

Autumnal Meditation instructive to the Aged.- Alison.

There is an eventide in human life, a season when the eye becomes dim, and the strength decays, and when the winter of age begins to shed upon the human head its prophetic snow. It is the season of life to which autumn is most analogous; and much it becomes, and much it would profit you, to mark the instructions which the season brings. The spring and the summer of your days are gone, and with them, not only the joys they knew, but many of the friends who gave them. You have entered upon the autumn of your being; and whatever may have been the profusion of your spring, or the warm intemperance of your summer, there is yet a season of stillness and of solitude, which the benificence of Heaven affords you, in which you may meditate upon the past and the future, and prepare yourselves for the mighty change which you are soon to undergo.

"If it be thus you have the wisdom to use the decaying season of nature, it brings with it consolations more valuable than all the enjoyments of former days. In the long retrospect of your journey, you have seen every day the shades of the evening fall, and every year the clouds of winter gather. But you have seen also, every succeeding day, the morning arise in its brightness, and in every succeeding year, the spring return to renovate the winter of nature. It is now you may understand the magnificent language of Heaven, -it mingles its voice with that of revelation, it summons you, in these hours when the leaves fall, and the winter is gathering, to that evening study which the mercy of Heaven has provided in the book of salvation; and while the shadowy valley opens which leads to the abode of death, it speaks of that Hand which can comfort and can save, and which can conduct to those 'green pastures, and those still waters,' where there is an eternal spring for the children of God."