virtue of those eternal laws of justice, which ought equally to pervade every age, condition, rank, and situation, in the world." V. COMPOUND STRESS. Compound stress is a combination of the radical and the vanishing stress upon the same word. Indeed, it may be considered as a very emphatic form of the emotional circumflex inflection. It is applied, like the circumflex, to express extreme astonishment, irony, sarcasm, mockery, and contempt. It is the stress of extreme emotion. In the following examples, the words upon which the compound stress falls are marked with the circumflex inflection. EXAMPLES. 1. Repeat, three times, with extreme astonishment: ǎh! indeed! 2. Repeat, three times, with strong emphasis and the falling circumflex: êve, âle, ârm, âll, ôld, ôoze. 3. Repeat, with strong force and the rising circumflex : ā, ë, ī, ō, ū; the same with the falling circumflex. 4. Bănished from Rome! What's banished but set free From daily contact of the things I loathe? He dares not touch a hair of Catiline. 5. KING JOHN. Gone to be married! gone to swear a peace! False blood to false blood joined! gone to be friends! Shall Louis have Blanche, and Blanche these provincës? SHAKESPEARE. Is the old Grecian spirit frozen that cower like a belabored hound beneath 7. JULIUS CÆSAR. Must I budge? Must I observe you? Must I stand and crouch You shall digest the venom of your spleen Though it do split you; for, from this day forth, 8. FROM CICERO'S ACCUSATION OF VERRES. SHAKESPEARE. Is it come to this? Shall an inferior măgistrate, a góvernor, who holds his whole power from the Roman people, in a Roman province, within sight of Italy, bind, scourge, torture with fire and red-hot plates of iron, and at last put to the infamous death of the cross, a Roman citizen? VI. INTERMITTENT STRESS, OR THE TREMOR. 1. Intermittent stress, or the tremor, is the tremulous force of voice upon a sound or a word. The tremor is characteristic of the tottering feebleness of old age, of the weakness of sickness, or of the tones of a person shivering and trembling with cold, or with fear. 2. It naturally occurs in the utterance of fear, grief, joy, sobbing, and laughter, when the emotions are so strong as to enfeeble the flow of breath. In extreme pathos, the voice often trembles or quickens with emotion. 3. This form of stress must be very delicately applied, for, in excess, it becomes ridiculous. 4. Concerning the appropriate application of this form of stress, Prof. Russell remarks: "In the reading or the recitation of lyric and dramatic poetry, this function of voice is often required for full, vivid, and touching expression. Without its appeals to sympathy, and its peculiar power over the heart, many of the most beau tiful and touching passages of Shakespeare and Milton become dry and cold. Like the tremolo of the accomplished vocalist in operatic music, it has a charm, for the absence of which nothing can atone-since nature suggests it as the genuine utterance of the most delicate and thrilling emotion. 5. "The perfect command of tremor requires oftenrepeated practice on elements, syllables, and words, as well as on appropriate passages of impassioned language." DRILL ON TREMOR. 1. Inhale; give the tremulous sound of long a, thus: ā-ā-ā-ā, etc., prolonged until the breath is exhausted. 2. In a similar manner, take each of the remaining long vowel sounds, ē, I, ō, ū. 3. Take a similar drill on ä; on a; on o. EXAMPLES OF TREMOR. 1. OLD AGE. Pity the sorrows of a poor old man, Whose trembling limbs have borne him to your door, Whose days are dwindled to the shortest span; Oh! give relief; and Heaven will bless your store! 2. GAFFER GRAY. "Ho! why dost thou shiver and shake, Gaffer Gray? And why does thy nose look so blue?" "'Tis the weather that's cold, 'Tis I'm grown very old, And my doublet is not very new; Well-a-day!" 3. OLD AGE. And still there came that silver tone, WORDSWORTH. From the shriveled lips of the toothless crone— Let me never forget to my dying day 1. A fool, a fool, I met a fool in the forest; A motley fool, a miserable varlet. 2. Oh! then I see Queen Mab hath been with you. 5. SOBBING. So Mary said, and Dora hid her face. By Mary. There was silence in the room; And all at once the old man burst in sobs: “I have been to blame—to blame! I have killed my son ! I have killed him-but I loved him-my dear son! May God forgive me!-I have been to blame. Kiss me, my children!" 6. GOODY BLAKE AND HARRY GILL. TENNYSON's Dora. She prayed, her withered hand uprearing, His teeth may chatter, chatter still: Of Goody Blake and Harry Gill. WORDSWORTH. 7. RIP VAN WINKLE. He I am The honest man could contain himself no longer. caught his daughter and her child in his arms. your father!" cried he, "young Rip Van Winkle onceold Rip Van Winkle now!-Does nobody know poor Rip Van Winkle?" IRVING. 8. ENOCH ARDEN. Enoch, poor man, was cast away and lost." 9. LITTLE GRETCHEN. TENNYSON. They lifted her up tearfully, they shuddered as they said, “It was a bitter, bitter night! the child is frozen dead.” The angels sang their greeting for one more redeemed from sin. Men said, "It was a bitter night; would no one let her in ?" RECAPITULATION OF STRESS. 1. The radical is the stress of animation, of earnestness, of assertion, of command, and of passion. 2. The median is the stress of sentiment, of pathos and tenderness, of awe, reverence, sublimity, and enthusiasm. 3. Vanishing stress is the stress of very strong emphasis, of contempt and disdain, of willfulness, petulance, and impatience. 4. Thorough stress is the stress of impassioned oratory, and intense dramatic expression. 5. The compound is the stress of the circumflex inflection, of irony, sarcasm, contempt, and astonishment. |