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Julia. I'll not endure it-But remember thisDuke or no duke, I'll be a dûchess, sir!

Duke. A duchess! You shall be a queen-to all Who, by the courtesy, will call you so.

Julia. And I will have attendance!

Duke. So you shall,

When you have learned to wait upon yourself.
Julia. To wait upon myself! Must I bear this?

Duke. Excellent!

How well you sum the duties of a wife!
Why, what a blessing I shall have in you!
Julia. A blessing?

Duke. When they talk of you and mě,

Darby and Joan shall no more be remembered :-
We shall be happy!

Julia. Shall we?

Duke. Wondrous happy!

Oh, you will make an admirable wife!

Julia. I will make a vixen.

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Julia. A very vixen.

Duke. Oh, no! We'll have no vixens.

Julia.

I'll not bear it!

I'll to my father's!—

V. THE MONOTONE.

TOBIN.

The monotone is one uniform tone, which neither rises nor falls in pitch above or below the general level of the sentence. It is a continuous flow of sound, corresponding, in some degree, to the chanting tone in vocal music. It is generally associated with low pitch and slow movement. When the voice is under the influence of awe or horror, the monotone strikes upon the ear like the recurring pulsations of a deep-toned bell.

The monotone is the natural expression of voice when the feelings are under the influence of awe, adoration, reverence, sublimity, grandeur, or horror.

"Grandeur of thought and sublimity of feeling," says Tower, "are always expressed by this movement. The effect produced by it is deep and impressive. When its use is known, and the rule for its application is clearly understood, the reading will be characterized by a solemnity of manner, a grandeur of refinement, and a beauty of execution, which all will acknowledge to be in exact accordance with the dictates of Nature, and strictly within the pale of her laws."

The monotone, one of the most effective tones in elocution, must not be confounded with monotony, one of the worst faults in school reading.

There is one form of monotone, prevailing in the poetry of sentiment, that is not combined with low pitch. This may be called poetic monotone, as contrasted with the monotone on a low pitch, which may be termed grave monotone.

In poetic monotone, the key is not necessarily lower than the middle pitch, though there is always something of the suppressed force of pathos and sentiment. In examples of the poetic monotone, the slight or suspensive rising inflection takes the place of monotone.

I. INFLECTION DRILL ON THE MONOTONE.

1. Repeat, five times, the long vowel sounds, ā, ē, ī, ō, ū. 2. Count, in low pitch combined with monotone, from one to twenty, thus: one, two, three, etc.

3. Rōllōn, thōu deep and dark blue ōcean, rōll!

Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vàin.

4. An ancient time-piece says to all

Forever-nēvēr!

Nēvēr-fōrēvēr!

II. EXAMPLES OF POETIC MONOTONE.

1. FROM POE'S "RAVEN."

Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from

an unseen censer

Swung by Seraphim, whose footfalls tinkled on the tufted floor.

This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing To the fowl, whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom's

core;

This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining

On the cushion's velvet lining that the lamp-light gloated o'er,

But whose velvet violet lining with the lamp-light gloating o'er

She shall press, ah, nevermore!

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Long, but not loud, the droning wheel went on,
Like the low murmur of a hive at noon;
Long, but not loud, the memory of the gone.

Breathed through her lips a sad and tremulous tune. At last the thread was snapped: her head was bowed; Life dropped the distaff through his hands serene,— And loving neighbors smoothed her careful shroud, While Death and Winter closed the autumn scene.

READ.

3. PASSING AWAY.

While yet I looked, what a change there came!
Her eye was quenched, and her cheek was wan;
Stooping and staffed was her withered frame,
Yet just as busily swung she on.

The garland beneath her had fallen to dust:
The wheels above her were eaten with rust.

The hands, that over the dial swept,
Grew crooked and tarnished, but on they kept;
And still there came that silver tone

From the shriveled lips of the toothless crone-
Let me never forget, to my dying day,
The tone or the burden of that lay-
"Passing away! Passing away!"

III. LOW, OR GRAVE, MONOTONE.

PIERPONT.

The low, or grave, monotone is pitched on the lower notes of the voice. It is indicated by the macrons placed over the vowels:

1. ALEXANDER'S FEAST.

He chose a mournful mūse,
Soft pity to infuse:

He sung Darius great and good,
By too severe a fāte,
Fällen, fällen, fällen, fallen,
Fällen from his high estate,
And weltering in his blood.

2. THE SEA.

Break, break, break,

DRYDEN.

On thy cold gray stōnes, O Sea!
And I would that my tongue could utter
The thoughts that arise in mē.

O well for the fisherman's bōy,

That he shouts with his sister at play!

O well for the sailor lād,

That he sings in his boat on the bay!

And the stately ships gō ōn

To their haven under the hill;

But O for the touch of a vanished hand,
And the sound of a vōice that is still!

Break, break, break,

At the foot of thy crags, O Sea!

But the tender grace of a day that is dead

Will never come back to me.

TENNYSON.

3. DEATH.

Leaves have their time to fall,

And flowers to wither at the north-wind's breath,
And stars to sēt būt all,

Thōu hāst all seasons fōr thīne ōwn, O Death!

HEMANS.

4. DRIFTING.

From the strong Will, and the Endeavor

That forever

Wrestles with the tides of Fate;

From the wreck of Hopes far scattered,
Tempest-shattered,

Floating waste and desolate ;

Ever drifting, drifting, drifting
On the shifting

Currents of the restless heart;

Till at length in bōōks recorded,
They, like hoarded

Household words, nō mōre depārt.

5. THE BATTLE.

Heavy and sōlemn,

A cloudy column,

LONGFELLOW

Through the green plain they marching came-
Measureless spread, like a table dread,
For the wild, grim dice of the Iron game.

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