SMOOTH STRESS.

All pleasant and good ideas demand 'smooth stress' or force, free from all abruptness.

In 'joyous' pieces, when the time is fast, the stress must be given with a lively, SPRINGING swell of the voice, which throws the force smoothly on the middle of the sound. Hence it is

called the 'median' stress.

'Animated and joyous' examples for smooth stress.

1.

"His cares flew away,

And visions of happiness dànced o'er his mind.

"He dreamed of his hòme, of his dear nàtive bowers, And pleasures that waited on life's merry mòrn; While memory each scene gayly covered with flowers,

And restored every róse, but secréted its thòrn.”

In the following example of 'noble,' manly joy, the happy median stress swells with the same smooth, springing force as above, but with more fulness and longer quantity and pauses.

2. "Fellow Citizens,-I congratulate you, I give you joy, on the return of this anniversary. I see, before and around me, a mass of faces, glowing with cheerfulness and patriotic pride. This anniversary animates and gladdens and unites all American hearts. Every man's heart swells within him, - every man's port and bearing becomes somewhat more proud and lofty, as he remembers that seventy-five years have rolled away, and that the great inheritance of liberty is still his; his, undiminished and unimpaired; his, in all its original glory; his to enjoy, his to protect, and his to transmit to future generations."

'Subdued' example for gentle but happy median or smooth stress.

"At last, Malibran came; and the child sat with his glance riveted upon her glorious face. Could he believe that the grand

lady, all blazing with jewels, and whom everybody seemed to worship, would really sing his little song? Breathless he waited; -the band, the whole band, struck up a little plaintive melody. He knew it, and clapped his hands for joy.

"And oh! how she sung it! It was so simple, so mournful, so soul-subduing;- many a bright eye dimmed with tears; and nought could be heard but the touching words of that little song, oh! so touching!

"Little Pierre walked home as if he were moving on the air. What cared he for money now? The greatest singer in all Europe had sung his little song, and thousands had wept at his grief.

"Thus she, who was the idol of England's nobility, went about doing good. And in her early, happy death, when the grave-damps gathered over her brow, and her eyes grew dim, he who stood by her bed, his bright face clothed in the mourning of sighs and tears, and smoothed her pillow, and lightened her last moments by his undying affection, was the little Pierre of former days, now rich, accomplished, and the most talented composer of his day."

'Noble' example for prolonged, full-swelling median or smooth

stress.

"We must forget all feelings save the one;
We must behold no object save our country;
And only look on death as beautiful,

So that the sacrifice ascend to Heaven,

And draw down freedom on her evermore.

'But if we fail?'

In a great cause!

They never fail, who die

The block may soak their gore;

-

Their heads may sodden in the sun; their limbs
Be strung to city gates and castle walls ;-
But still their spirit walks abroad.

Though years

Elapse, and others share as dark a doom,

They but augment the deep and sweeping thoughts
Which overpower all others, and conduct

The world, at last, to freedom!

Examples for the longest 'quantity' and fullest 'swell' of the median or smooth stress.

now

"O liberty! O sound once delightful to every Roman ear! O sacred privilege of Roman citizenship! once sacred, trampled on!"

"Ye crags and peaks, I'm with you once again!
O sacred forms, how proud you look!
How high you lift your heads into the sky!
How huge you are! how mighty and how free!
"Ye guards of liberty,

I'm with you once again."

"The land that bore you

Do honor to her! Let her glory in

Your breeding."

O!

"These are Thy glorious works, Parent of Good.

Almighty! Thine this universal frame,

Thus wondrous fair! Thyself how wondrous, then!"

Example for noble' but happy median stress.'

"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

"He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul."

QUALITY OF VOICE.

Quality of voice is 'pure' or 'impure.'

It is 'pure' when all the breath used is vocalized.

It is impure' or aspirated when only a part of the breath is vocalized.

PRINCIPLE.

'Pure quality' should be used to express all good and agree

able ideas.

'Impure quality,' or aspirated, should be used to express all bad or disagreeable ideas.

Examples of impure quality.'

Painful earnestness or anxiety demands this aspirated quality' with 'abrupt stress.'

1. "Take care! your very life is endangered!"

2. "Oh! 'twas a fearsome sight! Ah me!

A deed to shudder at, — not to see."

3. "While thronged the citizens with terror dumb,

Or whispering with white lips, 'The foe! they come, they

4. "He springs from his hammock, he flies to the deck,Amazement confronts him with images dire,

Wild winds and mad waves drive the vessel a wreck : The masts fly in splinters, the shrouds are on fire! "Like mountains the billows tremendously swell:

In vain the lost wretch calls on mercy to save;
Unseen hands of spirits are ringing his knell,

And the death-angel flaps his broad wing o'er the wave."

Extreme aspiration should mark the fear and horror in the following words of Macbeth.

5.

"I'll go no more:

I am afraid to think what I have done;
Look on't again I dare not."

Strong aspiration and abrupt stress.'

6. "I am astonished, shocked, to hear such principles confessed, to hear them avowed in this house, or in this country; -principles equally unconstitutional, inhuman, and unchristian!"

'Bold' and 'impassioned' examples for very abrupt stress' and 'aspirated quality' on the emphatic words.

7. "It was the act of a coward, who raises his arm to strike, but has not the courage to give the blow! I will not call him villain, because it would be unparliamentary, and he is a privy councillor. I will not call him fool, because he happens to be chancellor of the exchequer. But I say he is one who has abused the privilege of parliament and freedom of debate, to the uttering of language which, if spoken out of the house, I should answer only with a blow! I care not how high his situation, how low his character, or how contemptible his speech; whether a privy councillor or a parasite, my answer would be a blow!”

8. "The wretch, who, after having seen the consequences of a thousand errors, continues still to blunder, and whose age has only added obstinacy to stupidity, is surely the object of either abhorrence or contempt, and deserves not that his gray hairs should secure him from insult."

9. "If ye are beasts, then stand here like fat oxen waiting for the butcher's knife."

This quality of voice demands that the aspirates and the less resonant consonants be made very prominent in the enunciation, while the purer vowels and the liquid, pleasant consonants reserve their prominence till pure tone is required. All examples of aspirated quality' require abrupt stress.

'Contemptuous and ironical' example.

10. "But base ignoble slaves, slaves to a horde

1. "That which befits us, imbosomed in beauty and wonder