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feebleness is softness and slowness, either in a high or a low tone also.

The different combinations of these states may

be thus represented:

High, loud, quick-forcible

High, loud, slow

High, soft, quick
High, soft, slow-feeble

Low, loud, quick-forcible

Low, loud, slow

Low, soft, quick

Low, soft, slow=feeble.*

When these states of the voice are combined with the two simple inflections, the curved inflections, and the circumflexes, they produce that almost endless variety by which human speech is characterized; for we have here eight different states of the voice, and when these are multiplied by six, the number of inflections, we shall have forty-eight distinct modifications of spoken sound, to say nothing of the infinitely various degrees in which each of these may exist.

The following passage requires to be pronounced with a considerable degree of force, and also in a high tone of voice:

Harry to Harry shall, not horse to horse,

Meet and ne'er part till one drop down a corse. With respect to forcible and feeble, as well as to loud and soft, there is often an increase or diminution of the quality towards the close of the passage. Thus in the following passage, there is a gradual diminution of force from the

* See Appendix to Walker's Dictionary of Proper Names, p. 245.

beginning to the end; and the last lines should be pronounced in the extreme of feebleness:

And wherefore should this good news make me sick? I should rejoice now at this happy news,

And now my sight fails, and my brain is giddy ;
O me! come nearer me; now I am much ill.

I pray you, take me up, and bear me hence
Into some other chamber: softly, pray---

Let there be no noise made, my gentle friends,
Unless some dull and favourable hand

Will whisper music to my weary spirit.-Shakspeare.

CHAPTER XI.

MODULATION OF THE VOICE.

"MUCH of the ease of the speaker, and much also of the effect of his discourse, depends upon the proper pitching of the voice. If he deliver his sentiments with facility, they are heard so far with pleasure; but if his efforts to make himself heard are attended with manifest pain, his audience will be impatient for his relief, and for their own, whatever may be the merits of his discourse. He who shouts at the top of his voice, is almost sure to break it, while he destroys his own feelings, becomes a mere brawler, and stuns his audience. He who mutters below the natural pitch of his voice, soon wearies himself, becomes inaudible, and altogether oppresses his hearers. Each extreme, therefore, is almost equally disagreeable and disadvantageous to the object of public speaking, though not equally irremediable."*

To acquire this proper pitch of the voice, that is, to form it to a certain key on the musical scale, and to be able also to change this key ac

* Art of Improving the Voice and Ear. Prowett. 1825.

London :

cording to the nature of the subject, are some of the most difficult things in reading and speaking. Every one has a certain pitch of voice, which is most easy to himself, and most agreeable to others. This may be called the natural pitch; it is that in which we converse, and must be the basis of every improvement we acquire from art and exercise. In order, therefore, to strengthen this middle tone, we ought to read and speak in it as loud as possible, without suffering the voice to rise into a higher key. This, however, is no easy operation: it is not very difficult to be loud in a high tone, but to be loud and forcible without raising the voice into a higher key, requires great practice and management. The best method of acquiring this power of voice is, to practise reading and speaking strong, animated passages in a small room, and to persons placed at a short distance from us; for, as we naturally raise our voice to a higher key, when we speak to people at a great distance, so we naturally lower our key, as they, to whom we speak, come nearer. When, therefore, we have no idea of its being necessary to make ourselves heard at a distance, the voice will not be so apt to rise into a higher key when we want to be forcible; and consequently, exerting as much force as we are able in a small room, and to people near us, will tend to swell and strengthen the voice in the middle tone. A good praxis on this tone of voice will be such passages as Macbeth's chal

lenge to Banquo's ghost, or any others which are full of passion and energy, and are, at the same time, addressed to a person near at hand:

What man dare, I dare:

Approach thou like the rugged Russian bear,
The arm'd rhinoceros or the Hyrcan tiger;
Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves
Shall never tremble. Or be alive again,
And dare me to the desert with thy sword;
If trembling I inhibit thee, protest me

The baby of a girl. Hence, horrible shadow!
Unreal mockery, hence!

As few voices are perfect, those which have a good bottom often wanting a top, and inversely, care should be taken to improve by practice that part of the voice which is most defective: for instance, if we want to gain a bottom, we ought to practise speeches which require exertion, a little below the common pitch; when we can do this with ease, we should practise them on a little lower note, and so on, till we are as low as we desire. For this purpose, it will be necessary to repeat such passages as require a full, audible tone of voice, in a low key. Of this kind are those which express hatred, scorn, or reproach, such as the following from Shakspeare, where Lady Macbeth reproaches her husband with want of manliness:

O proper stuff!

This is the very painting of your fears;
This is the air-drawn dagger, which, you said,

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