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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
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ELEMENTS of EXPRESSION
VOCAL AND PHYSICAL
BY
REV. PHILIP WILLIAMS, O. S. H..
AND/
VEX. FR. CELESTINE SULLIVAN, 0. S. B.,
PROFESSORS OF ELOCUTION
St. Benedict's College. Atchison. Kan.
And they read in the book of the law of God
distinctly and plainly to be understood: and they
understood when it was read — II. Esdras, VIII.. 8.
ABBEY STUDENT PRINT,
ST. BENEDICT'S COLLEGE.
ATCHISON, KAN.
1895.
HH]\]'
,v/ r
Copyright. 1895,
By St. Benedict's College.
TO
THE STUDENTS
Of St. Benedict's College,
vhose ardent interest in the noble science and art of
expression has encouraged us in our labor,
and to ail students of Elocution,
we respectfully dedicate
this volume.
PREFACE.
Elocution is a science and an art. When the art
absorbs the science, naturalness will be the result, for
"art at its highest and nature at its truest are one/'
Some professors of this noble art. when asked what
method they use. simply reply: "We follow nature."
If the question were put to us, our answer would be the
same. We would, however, make our answer more de-
finite by stating, that to follow nature, is not to follow
individual whims and eccentricities, but to speak in a
manner worthy of our subject and concordant to its
sentiments. The venerable watch-word "Be Natural."
thus resolves itself into "Speak Properly.' 1
Those that claim to be disciples of nature usually for-
get the scientific part of elocution, and. hence, discard
all rules. Their entire theory consists of two words:
"Be natural." We also say, by all means, be natural.
But if there are no rules to teach us how to be natural,
how can we acquire this open sesame to the grand dom-
ains of expression? How can we determine the line
where nature ceases, and affectatoin begins* If there
are no rules governing delivery, we can neither praise a
speaker for the highest merits, nor censure him for the
grossest defects. Happily, we have rules, which far
from making us unnatural, guide us back to nature's
paths from which we have deviated.
VI PREFACE.
"Those rules of old discovered not devised
Are Xature still, but Nature methodized :
Unerring nature, still divinely bright,
One clear, unchanged, and universal light,
Life, force, and beauty, must to all impart
At once the source, the end, and test of art ;
Art from that fund each just supply provides,
Works without show and without pomp presides."
To state anew "those rules of old," in a comprehen-
sive form, for the benefit of college students, is the ob-
ject of the present volume. The principles laid down
do not claim novelty as a recommendation. Like all
principles, they derive their value not from their old-
ness or newness, but from their truth. They have stood
the test of ages, and been the faithful guides of many
eloquent speakers.
There are several text-books of elocution deserving-
high commendation, but they are only adapted to spe-
cial schools of Elocution and Oratory, where hours each
day may be devoted to the subject. They are also ill-
suited to the intellectual powers of beginners as they
deal from the start in technicalities, philosophical anal-
yses, etc.
It has been our object throughout to retain only es-
sential theory, and even to condense that, to avoid tech-
nical terms as far as may be, and to give copious choice
examples.
All literature, we are justly told,
"Should to one of these four ends conduce:
For wisdom, piety, delight, or use."
Each of the four have many select representatives
throughout the volume. Most of our examples appear
for the first time in an elocution book. The}' have been
chosen from Catholic sources. We do not wish, there-
PREFACE. VII
by, to depreciate any of the noble names of literature,
or rob them of deserved prominence. We only wish
to remove writers of merit from cobwebbed shelves,
where their beauties have too long been obscured by
dust and silence. It is hoped that the tidbits given,
while they delight the mind with their beauty and ele-
vate and refresh it with wholesome truths, will also ex-
cite a craving for more. Hence. Ave have given the
names of works and authors. Only selections recom-
mended by intrinsic worth should be memorized. Stu-
dents should be required to seek additional examples
from other sources. Turning the leaves of our popular
readers at random they will be greeted by apt selections
from Milton, Sir Walter Scott, Thackeray, Bulwer Lyt-
ton, Dickens. Ruskin, Longfellow, Macaulay, Tennyson,
Webster. Clay. Burke, etc.
The arrangement of subjects in an elocution book is
always attended with difficulties. As regards logical
order, it resembles the alphabet. If G were placed be-
fore B, and Y before C, the alphabet would not suffer.
Before we can read well we must know all the letters.
for Z sometimes precedes his extreme brother A, and
O not seldom introduces the egotist, I. It is the same
in elocution. Vocal elements that are treated last may
enter a given selection earlier, and characterize it more
than some treated in the fore-part of the book. Until
the}' are all mastered, we cannot read well. , If the ar-
rangement we have given does not accord with any pro-
fessor's views, it will be an easy task to change the or-
der and take any section or chapter that expedience ad-
vises or circumstances require. As it stands, we suggest
the following order:
I. Class, Breathing. Action. Articulation, and the sim-
pler Gestures.
VIII PREFACE.
II. Class, Gesture, Force, and Delsarte's Laws of
Gesture.
III. Class, Pitch, Inflexion. Quality, and Planes of
Gesture.
IV. Class, Emphasis, Gestures of Different Members.
and Pause.
V. Class, The remainder of the book.
With all of these review, review, review.
Concert drills are recommended for economizing time
and labor. In this way each student will receive some
practice every class hour. It is only by practice skill
may be acquired. A student may be able to tell you
very accurately how a certain selection should be spoken
and luhy it should be so rendered, dut this will avail
him but little as an orator, if he does not, by diligent
practice, attain the power of doing it gracefully.
One selection mastered thoroughly is better than
numberless ones imperfectly studied.
Class criticism may be employed to produce worthy
emulation. It makes speaker and hearer vigilant.
The book does not claim to be exhaustive or perfect.
••Whoever thinks a faultless piece to see,
Thinks what ne'er was, nor is, nor e'er shall be."
Hence, kindly criticism, for the improvement of future
editions, will be gratefully received.
We acknowledge indebtedness to Maurice Francis
Egan, LL.D., Rev. Alfred Young, C.S. P., Eleanor C.
Donnelly, and others for the generous permission grant-
ed us to quote from their writings.
If the principles herein laid down further the pow-
er of human speech, kindle the tires of eloquence slum-
bering in many a youthful bosom, give to College grad-
uates a trusty vehicle to convey truth ana a strong
weapon to defend right, the irresistible weapon — grace-
ful delivery — the fondest hopes of the authors will be
realized.
THE AUTHORS.
September 14. 1895.
CONTENTS.
Preface ....
Index . . ....
Index to Selections .
Chapter I . — Breathing.
I. What is Breathing .
II. Proper method
III. Breathing Exercises
Ch apte r 1 1 . — A ( TI< >N .
i. Definition of Action
II. Position
III. Attitude
Chapter 1 1 1 . — Articulation.
I. Elementary Sounds
11. Consonant Elements
III. Exemplification of Vowel-Qua
[V. Difficult Combinations
Chapter I V. — Gesture.
I. Delsarte's Definition
II. Relaxation
111. Exercises in Relaxation
Chapter V. — Force.
I. Forms of Force
II. Degrees of Force
111. Use of Force
Chapter VI. — Deesarte's Laws of Gesttj
I. Explanation of Laws
Page
V
. XIV
. XVIII
1
2
3
8
11
11
17
18
l-Qual
ity
19
39
49
50
51
. 59
. 63
65
contents:
Page
Chapter VII.— Pitch.
I. Divisions of Pitch
69
II. Uses of Each Division
70
Chapter VIII. — Inflexion.
I. Kinds of Inflexion
74
II. Rules for Rising Inflexion
74
III. Rules for Failing, and Circumflex
Inflexions ....
76
Chapter IX. — Quality.
I. Kinds of (Quality , . .
Ml
II. Pure Tone
81
III. The Orotund
87
IV. The Aspirate ....
91
V. The Guttural
98
VI. The Pectoral .....
9n
VII. The Falsetto
98
VIII. The Nasal . . .
99
Chapter X . — Planes of Gesture.
I. Scale of Not ilion .
1 < m;
II. Significance of Various Planes
1<>7
III. Miscellaneous Examples
i 1 6
Chapter XI. — Emphasis.
I. Difference between Emphasis and
Accent .....
L36
II. Rules underlying Emphasis
139
III. Modes of Emphasis
143
IV. Observations .....
150
V. Unemphatic Words
153
VI. Climax . . . . .
154
Chapter XII. Gestures of Different Members.
I. The Head
157
II. Nine Attitudes of the Eye
160
III. The Mouth
163
Page
Chapter XIII. — Pause.
I. Influence of the Pause . . .163
II. Length of the Pause . . . 164
III. Rules for Pausing- .... 166
Chapter XI V. — Poetic Reading.
I. Various Feet ..... 176
II. Poetic Pauses 179
Chapter XV . — Personation.
I. Rules for Personation . . 1ST
C h a pt e r X V 1 . — Ton e Color.
I. What it Embraces-. . . .192
II. What it is Due to . . . 194
111. Its Necessity 195
Selections 202
INDEX.
L J aKe
Action
8
Action, Cicero on
8
Action, Quintilian on ....
8
Action, St. Francis of Sales on
9
Anticlimax .....
. 154
Articulation
. 16
Articulation. Barber on
. 16
Articulation, Exercises in
. 19
Ascending Gesture ....
. 107
Attitude, Definition of
<• n
Attitude, First . . . .'.'..
12
Attitude, Second ....
. 13
Attitude, Third .
13
Attitude, Fourth ....
14
Backward Oblique ....
. itie
Breathing- . ... .
i
Breathing, Exercises in ...
3
Breathing, Kofier on
"2
Breathing, Correct Mode of
2
Clasped Hands .....
. 107
Climax . ....
. 154
Clinched Hands .....
. 107
Consonants . ....
. 18
Delsartc's Laws .....
. 05
Descending Gesture ....
. 100
Elementary Sounds. Tabic of
. 17
Emotions, Cultivation of
. 49
XV
Emphasis
Emphasis, Modes of
Emphasis, Kales of
Eyes .
Eyes, Attitudes of
Eyes in Reading .
Excited Position .
Force, as a Mode of
Force, Definitions of
Force, Degrees of
Force, Energetic
Force, Impassioned
Force, Moderate
Force, Subdued .
Force, Forms of
Force, Effusive
Force. Explosive
Force, Expulsive
Force. Judicious Use <»1
Force, Dr. Rush on
Gesture. Definition of
Gesture of Different Me
Gesture. Delsarte's Lnw
Law of Altitude
Law of Duration
Law of Force
Law of Opposition
Law of Succession
Law of Velocity
Gesture. Planes of
Hand. Quintilian on
Head .
phasis
mber>
s of
Page
136
143
139
159
160
159
12
L45
54
59
r»i
62
61
08
56
63
54
4!>
157
65
67
hi;
•'.7
65
65
i;i;
K)6
157
157
CONTENTS.
Head. Attitudes of
Horizontal Gesture
Ictus
Index Hand .
Inflexion
Inflexion, Circumflex
Inflexion, Fa 1 lino-
Inflexion, Rising
Inflexion, as a Mode of
Lateral Gesture
Members. Gestures of
Military Position
Mouth
Notation of Gesture
Pause
Pause, Csestiral
Pause. Influence of
Pause, Rules for
Personation
Pitch .
Pitch, High
Pitch, Low
Pitch, Middie
Planes of Gesture
Poetic Reading
Position
Position, First
Position. Second
Position, Third
Position of Fingers
Prone Hand
Quality
Quality, Aspirate
Diffe
mpli!
*ent
XVII
Quality, Falsetto
Quality. Guttural
Quality. Nasal
Quality. Orotund .
Quality. Pure Tone
Quality. Pectoral
Relaxation ....
Relaxation, Exercises for Arms
Relaxation, Exercises for Hand a
Relaxation. Exercises for Leu-
Relaxation, Exercises for Neck
Relaxation. Exercises for Torso
Rhythm ....
Supine Hand
Time as a Mode of Emphasis
Tone Color ....
Tone Color. Examples of
Unemphatic Words
Unexcited Position
Vertical Hand. The
W
rist
98
98
99
s7
81
96
50
52
:»i
52
:»i
174
106
148
191
L92
L53
11
118
INDEX TO SELECTIONS.
JEgeon's Speech. Shakespeare
Antonio's Consolers. Shakespeare
Army of the Lord. The. Adelaide A.Procter
At the Seashore. Father Faher
Bard's Story. The. Maurice F. Egan .
Called and Chosen. Eleanor C. Donnelly
Cassius Inciting Brutus to Conspiracy. Sha
speare .... . .
Catholicism and the Religions of the World.
Newman
Condition of Ireland. The. T. F. Meagher
Day's Changes. A. Rev. J. Ba lines
Decoration Day Oration. Bourke Cochran
Rev. Alfred Young,
Shakespeare
C. Mangan
Drunkard's Death. The
C.S.P. .
FaistatTs Lantern and Troops
Four idiot Brothers; The.
(xheber's Glen, The. Moore. .
Gualherto's Victory. Eleanor C. Donnelly
Hamlet's Plan to Catch the King. Shakespeare
Hamlet Upbraids the Queen. Shakespeare
Homeless. ■ Ade. aide A . Procter
Hotspur's Death. Shakespeare
LaM of the Xarwhale. The. John Boyle O Keid_\
Night in June, A. Maurice F. Egan
Pajre
244
253
249
218
226
273
216
238
275
259
v21
2< 14
229
246
215
277
224
204
2( >8
209
INDEX TO SELECTIONS. XIX
Page
Scene from ' k King Henry VJ.," Third Part.
Shakespeare . . . . . .269
Scene from "The Merchant of Venice.' 1 Shake-
speare . . . . . . .267
Scene from "The Dream of Grerontias.' 1 Newman '2.~>7
Twenty Grolden Years Ago. J.C. Mangan 271
William Shakespeare. Maurice F. Egan . '2S(\
Wolsey's Advice lo Cromwell. Shakespeare . 2-M>
CHAPTER I.
BREATHING.
Although it may seem strange, nay. unnatural, thai
Breathing — that which anyone practices uninterrupted-
ly — that which was the beginning of life, and is its
continuity, — must be studied; still, there arc certain
canons which govern respiration for focal ends, the
observance of which is not arbitrary.
The unstudied breathing by which life is sustained is
insufficient for vocalization. Voice is the result of an
air-shock on the vocal ligaments. The amount of air
that we unconsciously inhale for the support of life.
answers admirably its specific purpose, hut is inade-
quate for speaking.
Manifestly, therefore, if we desire to use our voice.
we must learn to breathe more copiously.
Breathing consists of Inspiration and Expiration.
Both are arts; both must be acquired.
A speaker who has not learnt to inhale correctly will
never possess a rich, substantial voice. One that has
mastered inhalation but neglects expiration, will soon
find his breath-expenditure greater than his receipts, and
will early end his career as a speaker with a ruined.
bankrupt voice. We must have an income, or the
outcome will be— inevitable failure.
2 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION. VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
We can never afford to run out of breath when we
are speaking, for then, silence will ensue, painful alike
to speaker and hearer. Among the various methods of
breathing the one recommended most by good results is
this: ''First, feel that the diaphragm -region — the
waist— expands . This expansion is caused by the down-
ward contraction of the diaphragm. Secondly, at the
same time feel an incipient expansion of the whole
trunk-region, from the lowest point of the abdomen to
the highest point of the Chest and Collar-bone. This
Expansion is felt in the entire circumference of the
trunk, as a complete oneness of action, not in sections
or broken. Thirdly, whether the amount of breath ta-
ken be great or small, whether a half or a full expan-
sion be required, it must always be done with the com-
bined breathing-apparatus and with oneness of action.
The difference between half and full, long and short
breaths, is not in method, but in time and the amount
of expansion. This is the only correct, natural,
healthy way of breathing, for by this method the
whole of the lungs is used and ventilated and thus kept
healthy.'' — Leo Kofler.
It is obvious, from the above, that diaphragmatic,
or abdominal breathing, is the proper method. The di-
aphragm must control the breath, otherwise the un-
reined air will rush to the throat, and, in its hurry to
gain freedom, will make the tones "breathy,' 1 or. if the
throat endeavors to control the efflux of the air, the ef-
fort will necessarily stiffen the muscles of the throat,
and ''throaty" tones will be the result. Each one may
experience this by trying the following exercise.
Take a few heavy inspirations as you would when
nearly spent with running: note the effect on the dia-
phragm. You will observe it pulsates; now, if, while
BKEATHING. 3
taking one of the rapid gulps of air, you stop quickly,
you will feel the diaphragm grasp the air to check its
exit. Never allow the throat to share this office with
the diaphragm — for the diaphragm has been assigned
the office by nature, and nature never permits an infrac-
tion of her laws to go unpunished.
Unless the breath is under perfect control, pure tone
is an impossibility; for in its production all the air that
is liberated must be converted into sound.
The nose, unless obstructed, is the medium of inspi-
ration. Avoid the pernicious inversion, of which too
many are guilty, of using the nostrils as channels to
convey your sentiments to long-suffering audiences, and
the mouth to convey air and dust to short -enduring or-
gans. An All-wise Providence has arranged the nose
so that it warms and "filters' 1 the air before it reaches
the more delicate organs. Whereas the mouth, not
being intended for inspiration, carries the cold air di-
rectly to the delicate membrane, thereby causing hoarse-
ness, and eventually serious throat and lung-ailments.
Inspiration and Pausing in -peaking go hand in hand;
neither should be indulged where they interfere with
the sense of the phrase. Nevertheless, never make any
effort to sustain a tone, or complete a sentence, when
the air in the lungs is well-nigh exhausted. A! way-
stop at the approach of fatigue.
Let the student practice the following Exercises with
due moderation: as enthusiastic disciples, by violent
practice, might overtax the respiratory muscles and do
themselves irreparable injuries.
Exercise 1.
Stand erect, shoulders back and down — in which po-
sition they should remain during the whole exercise —
4 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION. VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
till the lungs comfortably by very short inhalations and
then quickly empty them in one blast.
Exercise II.
Fill the lungs with one energetic draught, then emit
the air in jets.
Exercise III.
Inhale and utter ah and a , alternately. Employ half
the breath on ah, the other half on a. Pronounce a h
high and forcible, a low and subdued.
Exercise IV.
Inhale deeply, prepare the lips as you would say
"who,'' then exhaust the lungs with pun's.
Exercise V.
Place thumbs on costal, fingers on abdominal mus-
cles, bending profoundly forward empty the lungs; in
assuming erect position, inhale vigorously, retain the
air-supply a few moments, then expel it vocally, with
abdominal impulses, in the form of u h, uh. uli.
Exercise VI.
Repeat directions of the preceding number and use
the ail in alternating uh, ah, in aspirate and pure tones.
Exercise VII.
Assume an erect attitude, heels together, toes turned
BREATHING. •>
outward from id to 90 degrees apart. This is the* "drill
position/' With hands lightly pressed on the chest, till
the lungs gently and emit the air in a lustrous prolonga-
tion of the syllable sil.
Exercise VIII.
Take preceding position, inspire energetically, run
the speaking gamut upward, employing the word "up;"
increasing gradatim the tone's intensity.
Exercise IX.
Vary the preceding exercise by running the speaking
gamut downward, using the word "down," gradually
decreasing the force.
Exercise X.
Repeat No. VIII., accompanying the raise for each
tone with a corresponding movement of each arm and
wrist, so that, when the rounding note of the octave is
reached, the arms be extended upward to their utmost.
Exercise XI.
Leaving the arms extended as No. X. required, re-
peat Xo. IX.. and, with each descension in tone, lower
the arms with a gentle wave of the wrist, so that, on
the concluding '"down," the arms reach the sides as for
"drill position."
Exi rcise XII.
Take position as indicated in No. V1L, inspire deep-
ly, tap the chest gently with the finger-tips in order to
6 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
drive the air into all the lung-cells, then, let the air
escape in a sound showing weariness, as a-uh.
Exercise XIII.
Observe the preliminaries of No. V. ; when the lungs
are well inflated, expend the air with explosive force on
the sentence.
"Arise, ye more than dead!"— Dry den.
or, "Rise, O Sun of Justice, rise!" — Bev. James Kent Stone.
Exercise XIV.
Comply with the injunctions of No. VII.; when the
lungs are well expanded, summon your brightest smile
and laugh out the vowels i, e, e, a, a, o, o, o, u. u, u.in
a low tone; occasionally introduce an open vowel.
This exercise is characteristically adapted to
strengthen the throat, invigorate and make more elastic
the vocal ligaments, deepen and mellow the voice.
Exercise XV.
Inflate the lungs fully, utter o, a, ou, in a soft, pure
tone; continue until the air supply is nearly consumed,
then prolong the sound of o, gradually merging it into
oo, and diminishing the force as the air-supply lessens,
until, with the last thin current, sound weds itself to
silence.
[A breathing exercise should introduce every elocution hour.]
Examples where copious Breathing is required.
"Oh, perverse children of men, who refuse truth when of-
fered you, because it is not truer! Oh. restless hearts and
BREATHING. <
fastidious intellects, who seek a gospel more salutary than
the Redeemer's, and a creation more perfect than the Crea-
tor's! God, forsooth, is not great enough for you: you have
those high aspirations and those philosophical notions, in-
spired by the original Tempter, which are content with noth-
ing that is, which determine that the Most High is too lit-
tle for your worship, and His attributes too narrow for your
love. Satan fell by pride : and what was said of old as if of
him, may surely now, by way of warning, be applied to all
who copy him : "Because thy heart is lifted up, and thou hast
said, I am God, and I sit in the chair of God, whereas
thou art a man and not God, and hast set thy heart as if it
were the heart of God, therefore I will bring thee to
nothing, and tliou shalt not be, and if thou be sought for.
thou shalt not be found any more forever.' "- Newman.
"Ah! why then wake my sorrow, and bid me now count o'er
The vanished friends so dearly prized- -the days to come no
more—
The happy days of infancy, when no guile our bosoms knew,
Nor reck'd we of the pleasures thai with each moment flew?
'Tis all in vain to weep for them —the past a dream appears:
And where are they -the loved, the young, the friends of boy-
hood's years?"
lit /•. < 'harles Meehan.
••St. Paul was a vessel of election to bear the good odor of
Christ into the palaces of kings! A torrenl of eloquence
flowing into one barren fields of a vain philosophy, to fertilize
and adorn! A rich exhibition of virtue, winning by its beau-
ty, attracting by its symmetry, and exciting to activity by
emulation! A glowing meteor of benediction, dissipating
the clouds, and warming the hearts of the beholders to chari-
ty on earth, that they might be fitted for glory in heaven!'*
Bishop England.
ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION. VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
CHAPTER II.
ACTION.
By Action we understand that part of Elocution which
speaks to the eye.
Cicero, perhaps the greatest orator that ever lived,
says on this subject: u It is of little consequence that
you prepare what is to be spoken, unless you are able
to deliver your speech with freedom and grace. Nor is
even that sufficient, unless what is spoken be deliv-
ered by the voice, by the countenance, and by the gest-
ure in such a manner as to give it a higher relish. "
And again: *Tt is hardly possible to express of how
great consequence is the manner in which the orator
avails himself of tones of voice, gesture, and the expres-
sion of the countenance. For even indifferent speak-
ers, by the dignity of their action, have frequently
reaped the fruits of eloquence; whilst those whose lan-
guage is that of an orator, often on account of the
awkwardness of their action, have been reckoned indif-
ferent speakers.
Quintilian says: "If delivery can produce such an
effect as to excite anger, tears, and solicitude in sub-
jects we know to be fictitious and vain, how much more
powerful must it be when we are persuaded in reality?
Nay, I venture to pronounce that even an indifferent
oration, recommended by the force of action, would
have more effect than the best, if destitute of this en-
forcement." St. FRANCIS of Sales, who by his preach-
ACTION. 9
ing of the Word of God drew tens of thousands into
the true fold of Christ, gives studied delivery a very de-
cided commendation when he says, "that the most
eloquent composition, badly delivered, will produce little
or no effect; whilst a very mediocre speech, eloquently
delivered, will often he attended with the most striking
results." And this is only natural, for good delivery
makes the impression deeper and more lasting.
Many labor under the false idea, that the orator is
horn, not made. They proclaim against all attempts at
acquiring oratory. They say it makes one artificial;
and still there is not a single orator of any renown who
was not aided by art. The greatest orators of ancient
times were Cicero and Demosthenes. Both of these
were assiduous in the study of the minutest details of
the art. DEMOSTHENES was not gifted by nature. The
preeminence he acquired in a nation of orators was the
work of years of close application. His practice and
belief agreed with Cicero's,— that to be an orator
something more was needed than to be born. With
regard to the idea that the study of Elocution tends to
create an unnatural mode of delivery, we hold that it is
only true where the art is impt r/< ctly acquired. It is
the same in all the arts. The man who has taken
but a few lessons in painting, will not be true to
nature in his pictures. No one condemns the pictorial
art on this account. It is just as inane to condemn
elocution on a judgment formed from hearing one
who is yet in the primer of Elocution. The real erf of
elocution lies in concealing art. Following up a line
of argument based on the assertions of some. Demos-
thenes should have been the worst of orators, since
he pursued this study further than any other ancient
or modern speaker.
LO ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
Amongst modern orators, we may point with nation-
al pride to Henry Clay, the prince of American speak-
ers. He early began to prepare for the success he
afterwards attained. He acknowledges the pains he
took to acquire oratory. "I owe my success in life,"
he says, "to one single fact, namely, that at an early
age I commenced and continued for some years, the
practice of daily reading and speaking the contents of
some historical or scientific book It is to this early
practice of the art of all arts that I am indebted for
the primary and leading impulses that stimulated my
progress, and have shaped and moulded my whole
destiny. V In short, no man who has attained even pass-
ing renown as an orator will admit that the study of
action is not a positive necessity for success in oratory.
These remarks are inserted here, as the hue and cry
of ignorance has arisen against this part of the study
of oratory in particular. Let the student of oratory
heed rather the words of Shakespeare than those of men
whose delight it is to carp:
'•Pleads he in earnest ! Look upon his face,
His eyes do drop no tears : his prayers are jest ;
His words come from his mouth, ours from our breast:
He prays but faintly and would be denied;
We pray with heart and soul.'*
We will treat this division of Elocution under the fol-
lowing heads, — Position, Relaxation, Delsarte's Laws,
and Planes of Gesture. To these we subjoin a few re-
marks on the limits of Personation.
POSITION. 11
POSITION.
The study of Position is the tirst point we call atten-
tion to, as it is the first point which catches the eye when
a speaker appears. Is he ungraceful in his bearing? If
so, he has implanted in the minds of the audience a
point against him at the very start. The old saying has
it. "first impressions are generally lasting/* It holds
good here as well as anywhere — hence, the importance
of this subject. .
In laying down rules for Position, elocutionists have
in view two points — the correct and expressive balance,
or poise of the body, and a becoming appearance.
There arc Three Positions. We shall call them the
Unexcited, the Excited, and the Military. Each of these
forms the basis of one or more attitudes. By Attitude
is meant the enlargement of a Position. In the Unexcited
Position, the speaker stands erect in an easy, dignified
manner, with the hands hanging naturally at the sides,
and the feet nearly together. The weight of the body
should be principally on the ball of the left foot, and
the right should be three or four inches in advance.
The left limb is straight: the right, slightly bent at the
knee. As a change and rest, reverse the position,
throwing the weight on the right and placing the left in
advance.
It is used in all unexcited speech, such as narration
and the portrayal of the gentler emotions. As an exam-
ple, we insert the following.
From Essay on Criticism.
Of all the causes which conspire to blind
Man's erring- judgment, and misguide the mind.
12 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
What the weak head with strongest bias rules.
Is pride, the never-failing vice of fools.
Pope.
The First Attitude is only the enlargement of the
first position. The feet should be separated some dis-
tance, thus giving a firmer basis. A rest and change
from this attitude is made by advancing the left foot
and throwing the weight of the body on the right.
The first attitude is used while giving utterance to
grandeur, heroism, and strong oratorical thought. As
an example on which to practice, an excerpt from the
speech of Hon. J. K. Chandler on the Know Nothing
Movement is here inserted.
"If. Mr. Chairman. I had not long been a member of this
House, I might startle at the risk of presenting myself as the
professor of a creed evil spoken of. But I know the House is
composed of gentlemen. I stand here alone in defence of
my faith, but I stand in the Congress of the nation.. I
stand for truth and my soul is undaunted."
In the Second Position, the Excited, the left foot is
advanced and most of the weight is thrown on the ball.
The right heel'is entirely off the floor, and the ball of
the right foot, touching the floor, balances the body.
The left leg is slightly bent at the knee. A rest is
taken by reversing the position, bringing the right foot
to the front, etc. The body is inclined forward as if
about to take a step. The Excited Position is assumed
in an}' speech implying vainest a^eal and solicitude.,
and, also, as ••Practical Elocution" says: '•When the
speaker is impelled by some emotion which causes him
to step forward toward his audience, as if to get nearer
to them that he may impart, with more power and
emotion, that which he utters."
POSITION. 1 3
Example .
From Romeo and Juliet. Act II,
But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun,
Shakespeare,
The Second Attitude differs from the second position in
extension and also in the position of the feet. The left
is extended as in the second position, but the right does
not balance on the ball. It is planted firmly on the
floor. The whole body leans forward as in the Excited
position, and the muscles arc rigid, forming straight
lines and angles rather than curves. This attitude nia\
also be reversed. It is correctly used in defiant threat-
ening and very emphatic thought. Practice on \\\\>
example.
From The Merchant of Venice. Act III.
Salarino. Why I am sure, if he forfeit, tliou wilt not take
bis flesh: what's that good for?
Shylock. Emphatic. To bait fish withal : if it will feed noth-
ing else, it will feed my revenge. The villain) von teach me,
I will execute: audit shall go hard, but 1 will better the
instruction. — JShakespean .
The Third Attitude is based on the Kxcited position
likewise. The weight is thrown on the left foot. The
right leg is straight; the left, bent at the knee. The
right foot is forward and separated from the left by a
space of about twice the length of the foot. The body
inclines backward. This attitude is generally used in
dramatic oratory where horror or extreme terror are to
be expressed. As an example, Brutus* speech where he,
sees the ghosl of Caesar, is appropriate.
14 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION. VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
From Julius Caesar. Act IV.
Brutus. How ill this taper burns. Hal who comes here?
I think it is the weakness of my eyes
That shapes this monstrous apparition.
It comes upon me. — Art thou anything?
Art thou some god, some angel, or some devil,
That mak'st my blood cold, and my hair to stare?
Shakespeare.
In the Third Position which we call the Military,
the heels are together or nearly so. We can describe it
best by saying it is the soldier's position. The weight
of the body is about equally divided on each foot. The
elocutionist finds most use for this position iu personat-
ing characters, and in practicing breathing exercises,
etc. In personating the feeble and broken-hearted
Aegeon, standing before the court of Solinus, this posi-
tion would be suitable.
From The Comedy of Errors. Act I.
Aegean. A heavier task could not have been imposed.
Than I to speak my griefs unspeakable :
Yet, that the world may witness, that my end
Was wrought by fortune, not by vile offence,
I'll utter what my sorrow gives me leave.
Shakespeare.
In the Fourth Attitude, which is based on this position.
the feet are widely separated. It is principally used in
personations, and is expressive of impudence, selfasser-
tion, etc. As an example on which to practice, we cite
Falstaff's words, when asked to give a reason for one of
his monstrous assertions.
POSITION, 15
From King Henry IV. First Part, Act II,
Poms. Come, your reason, Jack, your reason.
Palstaff. What, upon compulsion? No; were I at the strap-
pado or all the racks in the world, I would not tell you on
compulsion. Give you a reason on compulsion! if reasons
were as plenty as blackberries, I would give no man ;i reason
upon compulsion, I, — Shakespeare.
ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION. VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
CHAPTER III.
ARTICULATION.
Articulation, derived from articulare = to divide into
single members or joints, to furnish with joints, hence,
to utter distinctly, giving each joint its due value and
prominence, demands precedence, being the basis of
just Elocution.
Jonathan Barber says: "Students of elocution
should always attend to articulation as the primary
object; and in the first instance, it should be prosecuted
alone, as a distinct branch of the art, and prosecuted
until perfection in it is attained. "
The acquisition of an accurate and distinct articula-
tion is wholly mechanical. It demands nothing* more
than industry and persevering elementary practice.
Wherein does it consist?
'Tn just articulation, the words are not hurried
over, nor precipitated syllable over syllable; nor, as it
were, melted together into a mass of confusion. They
should neither be abridged nor prolonged, nor swal-
lowed, nor forced; they should not be trailed nor
drawled, nor let slip out carelessly. They are to be
delivered out from the lips as beautiful coins, newly
issued from the mini; deeply and accurately impressed,
perfectly finished, neatly struck by the proper organs,
distinct, indue succession and of due weight." — Austin's
( 'Iiirnuoiuid ..
ARTICULATION. 1 1
Although it is impossible to classify all the elements
of syllables and words exactly, the following classifi-
cation will be found comprehensive and accurate enough
for cultivating the articulator}' organs. Theory, how-
ever, will prove useless, unless swallowed up in prac-
tice.
Practice, and practice only, in every department of
elocution, is the magic watchword that insures success.
Elementary Sounds
a
as in
(J" I'll.
a i
s in
jlJid )'OS.
e e a
s in
merger.
a
path.
a
Italian.
u
null.
a
ran .
e
In hit.
u
a
burnish.
a
tang.
e
pn mil r.
i
rift.
a
guffaw.
junto.
u
00
wok.
a
notary.
7
loam.
00
!<!<>,,.
DIPHTHONGS.
ou = a glide from a to oo, i><>n>.
u = a compound of T and oo , student.
i = a glide from a to i, prize.
a = a vanish in i or e, ray.
o = a vanish in oo or oo , hones.
18 elements of expression, vocal and physical.
Oral Consonant Elements.
Continuous
Momen-
tary
Place of Articulation.
Lips
Lips and teeth
Tongue and teeth
Tongue and hard palate (forward)
Tongue and hard palate (back) . . .
Tongue, hard, and soft palate. . . .
Tongue and soft palate
Various places
f
th(in)
s
sh
thly)
z, r
zh, i
Consonants are styled Momentary and Continuous, be-
cause the mute consonants, surds as well as sonants, are
incapable of any appreciable duration; whereas the con-
tinuants maybe sustained until the breath expires.
Consonants delivered with impeded tone, owing to
their tone quality, are called "sonants;" consonants
produced with breath sounds only, and those made by
mute action, are called surds, because they are "tone-
less."
For the oral consonants, the passage through the nose
must be wholly obstructed. It is the property of the
soft palate to do this by being pressed like a valve on
the wall of the pharynx, thus clearing the passage into
the mouth.
The nasal consonants, m, n. ng, which are solely
"sonants," require the soft palate to be depressed, thus
cutting off the passage to the mouth and rendering it
ARTICULATION. 19
necessary for the air to escape through the nostrils;
e.g., twang, sing, wrong, lamb, etc.
The examples which follow have been culled with
careful hand from Catholic gardens, and form a bou-
quet, exhaling the most wholesome fragrance.
While the specific object for their insertion was the
exemplification of vowel-quality, withal, the teacher
will find a broad held wherein his pupils may prorita b]y
explore for specimens of various kinds of Pitch, Force,
Stress, Emphasis, etc.
Vowels having identical sounds or closely allied,
have been combined; for their correct pronunciation
AVebster's dictionary will afford the rules.
An answer, not that you long for,
But diviner, will come one day;
Your eyes are too dim to see it,
Yet strive, and wait, and pray.
Adelaide A. Procter.
Weep on, weep on, your hour is past,
Your dreams of Pride are o'er:
The fatal chain is round you cast
And you are men no more.
In V(/m the hero's heart hath bled,
The sage's tongue hath warned in vain
Oh. Freedom! once thy flame hath tied,
It never lights again!
Faith's meanest deed more favour bears
Where hearts and wills are weigh'd,
ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
Than brightest transports, choicest prayers^
Which bloom their hour and fade.
Heaven but faintly warms the breast
That beats beneath a broider'd veil :
And she who comes in glittering vest
To mourn her frailty, still is frail.
Those hearts of ours— how strange! how strange!
How they yearn to ramble, and love to range
Down through the vales of the years long gone,
Up through the future that fast rolls on.
Father By an.
God is in all places; therefore, we owe Him respect in all
places. There is no place in the universe which is nob con-
secrated by the presence of His majesty: and in what place
soever I am. I may say with Jacob: "'This place is holy,
and I knew it not."
A. E.
I've lived to know my share of joy.
To feel my share of pain,
To learn that friendship's self can cloy;
To love, and love in vain;
To feel a pang and wear a smile,
To tire of other climes;
To like my own unhappy isle.
And sing the gay old times!
Old times! Old times!
The very earth, the steamy air
Is all with fragrance rife ;
And grace and beauty every where
Are flushing into life.
ARTICULATION.
'Do you ask me the place of this valley,
To hearts that are harrowed by care?
It lieth afar between mountains,
And God and his Angels are there :
And one is the dark mount of sorrow,
And one the bright mountain of prayer.
Oh, England's fame ! Oh, glorious name !
And one, that France most cherished,
On marble bare are written there—
Their names and how they perished !
Its summit high against the sky,
Like sentinel defending,
Points from the sod to where, with God.
Their spirits now air blending!
Joseph K. Foran.
And mine. O brother of my soul
When my release shall come ;
Thy gentle arms shall lift me then.
Thy wings shell waft me home.
We trample grass and prize the flowers of May :
Yet grass is green when flowers do fade away.
What lend, what people, has tlie sun ever illumined more
worthy of the heart's deep affection than our own? Here.
where Nature, who never hastens and never tires, has stored,
through countless ages, whatever may be serviceable to man.
divine Providence has given us a country as large as all Eu-
rope, with a soil more fertile, and a climate more invigorating.
22 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION. VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
In the city hallowed by the name of Washington, in the
capital of the freeest people on earth, the Eoman Catholic
Church made to our country the magnificent gift of a great
unversity, where science and art, where religion and morality
will ever find a home, and where our people will learn the
grand lesson that loyalty to God means loyalty to the state.
Had Washington, Franklin, Carroll and their illustrious
brethren failed in the work which God had laid out for them,
it would have been a dire calamity to humanity itself.
A.
Then what this world to thee, my hearty
Its gifts nor feed thee nor can bless ;
Thou hast no owner's part
In all its fleetingness.
In the dark hour of the night, just before day.
In the rear of the camp, 'twas marching my beat
When a gentle voice murmured, "Forgive them. I pray,
For this, O my Lord! I bow at thy feet."
To the tent of the penitent I moved on tiptoe,
I thought some mortal was stricken with grief.
'Twas a Sister of Charity, face all aglow.
Praying for us and our country's relief.
John F. Scanlan.
Every one has some sweet face
Prisoned in a picture case,
Or by memory's magic art
Photographed upon the heart:
And we all in gloomy days.
Steal apart and on them gaze.
Michael O'G
ARTICULATION,
Now from the overcrowded streets,
Whose torrid heat the city parches,
The multitudes seek cool retreats
By breezy shores or woodland arches.
W. 1). Kelly.
It dawned on my soul like a picture of light,
Or a star that illumines the azure of night,
Sparkling and beautiful, winsome and fair
The pink of perfection of all that were there.
John Curran K<<</<i,t.
A.
Tiie temple is a cross: its centre the tabernacle, and Christ
is adored forever in the divinest symbol of His love, which is
borne upward on aerial spires far above all monuments of hu-
man pride, shedding benediction and gentler life through the
world's waste.
Seek thy salve while sore is green.
Fester'd wounds ask deeper lancing:
After-cures are seldom seen.
Often sought, scarce ever chancing :
In the rising stifle ill,
Lest it grow ((gainst thy will.
Bobert Southwell
Another year — the curfew rings :
Fast cover up each coal.
The old year dies, the old year dies.
The bells its requiem toll.
A pilgrim year has reached its shrine,
The air with incense glows:
The spirit of another year
Comes forth from long repose.
Thomas O'Hagan.
24 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION. VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
A. 6.
Swift fly the years, and rise th' expected morn !
O, spring to light, auspicious babe be born!
Pope.
O Religion of peace! thou hast not like other systems, incul-
cated the precepts of hatred and discord; thou hast %aught>
men nothing but love and harmony.
In awe she listened, and the shade
Passed from her soul away:
In low and trembling voice she cried,
"Lord help me to obey!"
The waves were white, and red the morn
In the noisy hour when I was born.
And the whale it whistled, and the porpoise rolled.
And the dolphins bared their backs of gold;
And never was heard such an outcry wild
As welcomed to life the ocean child!
All nature manifests the infinite skill of its Author.
See how pale the moon rolls
Her silver wheel ; and, scattering beams afar
On earth's benighted souls,
See wisdom's holy star ;
Or, in his fiery course, the sanguine orb of war.
Star of the deep I when angel lyres
To hymn thy holy name essay,
In vain a mortal harp aspires
To mingle in the mighty lay I
Mother of God ! one living ray
Of hope our grateful bosom tires,
When storms and tempests pass away,
To join the bright immortal choirs..
^Ive Maris Stella I
ARTICULATION.
Fall in ! fall in ! fall in ! Every man in his place
Foil in ! fall in ! fall in! Each with a cheerful face
Fall in! fall in!
Plow calm, how beautiful comes on
The stilly hour, when storms are gone;
When warring winds have died away.
And clouds beneath the glancing ray.
Melt off. and leave the land and sea
Sleeping in bright tranquillity,—
Fresh as if day again were born,
Again upon the lap of morn.
In some things all, in all things none are crossed:
Few all things need, and none have "1! they wish.
Unmingled joys here to no man befall;
Who least hath some; who most hath never rtll.
A O o\V
Anxiou> thoughts in endless circles roll,
Without a centre where to fix the soul:
In this wild maze their vain endeavors end:
How can the less the greater comprehend?
Or finite reason reach infinity?
For what could fathom (rod were more than He.
Peace o'er the world her olive wend extend.
And white-robed Innocence from heaven descend.
Hark! a glad voice the lonely desert cheers:—
••Prepare the way! a God. a God appears!"
••A God, a (fed!*' the vocal hills reply:
The rocks proclaim tir approaching Deity.
Pope.
Knowledge is the light which comes down from the throne
if the Eternal.
ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
Passed from this world with sin and sorrow rife.
A world unfitted for a soul like hers—
Pure in each sphere— as sister, mother, wife—
To mingle with God's holiest worshippers,
And round his throne to join the myriad throng
Who praise His holy name in ceaseless song!
./. 0. (.'urt in.
A.
Down, down they come— those fruitful
Those earth-rejoicing drops!
A momentary deluge pours,
Then thins, decreases, stops.
Freedom all solace to man gives;
He lives at ease who freely lives.
The beginning of matter, the elements into which it may
ultimately be resolvable, how the cycles of the heavenly bod-
ies began, the unspeakable intricacy of their checks and
counter-checks, the secular aberrations and secular correc-
tions of the same, the secret of life, the immateriality of the
soul, where physical science ends,— all these questions are dis-
cussed in a thousand books in a spirit and tone betokening
the most utter forgetfulness that we" are little creatures, who
got here> God help us I where He chooses and when. — Father
F<<h< r.
And the music floats down the dim valley
Till each finds a word for a wing:
That to men. like the doves of the deluge.
The message of peace they may bring.
ARTICULATION. 27
E, EE, I.
They shall safely steer who see ;
Sight is wisdom. Come to me!
Hunted elsewhere, God's Church with thee found rest :— *
Thy future's Hope is she— that queenly Guest.
Oh be not thine such strife! there heaves no sod
Along thy f/elds, but hides a hero's head:
And when you charge for freedom and for God
Then-then be mindful of the mighty dead !
Think that your field of battle is the bed
Where slumber hearts, that never feared a foe
And while you feel, at each electric tread.
Their spirit through your veins indignant glow,
Strong be your sabre's sway for freedom's vengeful
blow.
Oli, might I see but once again, as once before,
Through chance or wile, that shape awhile, and then no
more!
Death soon would heal my griefs! This heart, now sad
and sore.
Would beat anew a little while, and then no more!
Ah! tlius when Death shall close the scene, may Heaven's
eternal Spring
Around the soul her fadeless wreaths her sacred roses tling:
And when she looks in triumph back, will not her world of
bliss
Seem happier, for the gloom that rests on all that's found in
this.
Dear emblem of my native land,
My fresh fond words kept fresh and gre^n ,
The pressure of an unfelt hand
The kisses of a lip unseen
ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION. VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
A throb from my clear mother's heart —
My father's smile revived once more—
Oh. youth! oh. love! oh. hope! thou art,
Sweet shamrock, from the Irish shore!
E.
The Saviour's image sanctifies the ancestral hall, the closet
and bed-chamber; it is the subject for the exercise of the
highest genius in the imitative arts: it is worn next to the
heart in life: it is held before the failing eyes in death.
The whole universe is a temple filled with the glorious pres-
ence of the Deity.
Not always full of leaf, nor even spring :
Not endless night, nor yet eternal day,
The saddest birds a season find to sing :
The roughest storms a calm may soon allay.
Thus, with succeeding terms God tempereth all :
That man may hope to rise, yet fear to fall.
But ah! on sudden, Famine's breath brought direful desola-
tion :
Whilst tyrants cast their cruel laws around the dying nation.
And spurn'd the wasted, wither'd poor, for help, for mercy
crying.
The Saxons smiled with joy to hear that Celtic sons were dy-
ing.
O ! grant that when again
A year had ties,
And 'mid the haunts of men
My time lias sped,
My retrospective look
May not rebuke.
ARTICULATION. 29
E, I, U.
Fairer the inward perfection of a soul which God has re-
newed, than all the gorgeous but evanescent loveliness of
earth's most lovely scenes.
See! see! th" Eternal Hands
Put on her radiant crown,
And the sweet Majesty
Of mercy sitteth down.
Forever and for ever
On her predest'n'd throne!
Softly woo away her breath,
Gentle Death!
Let her leave thee with no strife
Tender, murmuring, mournful Life!
Every word has its own spirit-
True or false — that never dies;
Every word man's lips 'nave uttered
Echoes in (rod's skies,
From vast Niagara's gurgling roar
To Sacramento's golden shore.
From east to western wave.
The blended vows of millions rise.
Their voice re-echoes to the skies
•The Union we must save!"
Serve, then, that King, immortal and so full of mercy, who
will value a sigh and a glass of water given in His name, more
than all others will ever do the effusion of all your blood: and
begin to date the time of your useful services from the day on
which you shall have given yourself to a master so beneficent.
Bossw K
30 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
The Lord knows best : He gave us thirst for learning;
And deepest knowledge of bis work betrays
No thirst left waterless. Shall our soul-yearning
Apart from all things be a quenchless blaze?
John Boyle O'Reilly.
E.
Generosity, tenderness, and refinement of nature are espe-
cially cherished by poesy; while the hardier virtues, courage,
perseverance, and self-sacrifice, the constituents of the heroic
character, have at all times been the great objects to which
it directs our admiration.
Deny me wealth, far, far remove
The lure of power or name ;
Hope thrives in straits, in weakness, love,
And, faith, in this world's shame.
He beheld his wife and his infant weep for unknown joy:
soon yielding to an irresistible impulse, he fell at the foot of
the cross, and mingled torrents of tears with the regenerating
waters that were poured upon his head.
Has there been any form of government ever devised by
man to which the religion of Catholics has not been accommo-
dated'?
Man must not be permitted altogether to despise himself;
lest, believing, with the impious, that life is but a game in
which hazard reigns, he follow without rule and without
guidance, the will of his blind desires.
ARTICULATION. 31
I.
Lead kindly light, amid the encircling gloom
Lead thou me on !
The night is dark, and 7 am far from home:
Lead thou me on!
Ye heavens! from high the dewy nectar pour.
And in soft silence shed the kindly shower.
Rise ! for the day is passing.
And you lie dreaming on;
The others have buckled their armour
And forth to the fight are gone.
O source of uncreated light.
The Father's promised Paraclete!
Thrice holy fount, thrice holy fire.
Our hearts with heavenly love inspire;
Come and thy sacred unction bring
To sanctify us while we sing.
Yet higher powers must think though they it) tine
When sun is set, the little stars will shine.
Vain are thy offerings, vain thy sighs
Without one gift divine.
Give it, my child, thy heart to me,
And it shall rest in mine!
I.
The Catholic procession is the overflowing of religious joy.
beyond the vessel that usually contains it. It is the mystical
stream which Ezechiel saw flowing from the Altar of the holy
place, and issuing abroad, through the temple gates: deepen-
&2 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION. VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
mg and swelling, as it flows along, till it becomes a mighty
torrent, bounding forward in exultation, and making a joyful
noise as the sound of many waters,
lie from thick films shall purge the visual ray.
And on the sightless eye-ball pour the day :
"Tis He tlv obstructed paths of sound shall clear
And bid new music charm th" unfoldmg ear.
Why should I shiver beside the dim river
Which the feet of Christ have coasted?
For the angel of death can deh'ver
Grief-laden souls that are yearning to soar.
Oh! land of sorrows. Inm'sfail! the saddest, yet the fairest !
Though ever-fruitful are thy breasts — though green the
garb thou wearest.
/n vain thy children seek thy gifts, and fondly gather round
thee ;
They live as strangers midst thy vales smce dark oppression
bound thee.
Rev. Ambrose Butler.
I.
What an awful stale of mind must a man have attained,
when he can despise a mother's counsel! Her very name is
identified with every idea that can subdue the sternest mind:
that can suggest the most profound respect, the deepest and
most heart felt attachment, the most unlimited obedience*
Humility is one of the most difficult of virtues, both to
attain and to ascertain. Ancient civilization had not the
idea, and had no word to express it: or rather, it had the /dea..
and considered it ;i detect of mind, not a virtue, so that the
word which denoted it conveyed a reproach. Newman.
ARTICULATION. 33
O. then, let thy magical lingers glide lightly.
The slumbering strings rouse to melody true.
And thy own gentle voice chime with every vibration
As on fragrant flowers falls the soft soothing dew:
Bev. Michael B. Brown,
O.
Soar ii]) my soul unto I liy rest,
Cast off this loathsome load;
Long is the death of thine exile,
Too long thy strict abode.
The old proverb "Charity begins a1 home" so often quoted
aiid so little understood, means this: the tirst act of charity
is like the expansion of the circle in the water; ii springs
from its centre, it cannot overleap i lie intermediate space.
Depend upon it. therefore, that if our hearts conceive gfeal
thoughts of charity, and of some work at a distance, while
we are not doing the work of charity which lies at our feet>
it is a mere illusion.
Still, still in those wilds may young Liberty rally,
And send her strong shout over mountain and valley
The star of the west may yet rise in its glory,
And the land that was darkest, be brightest in story.
In this sweet spot the loved are sleeping;
The sculptured angel pure as snow,
Is. like the living mourner, weeping
For those who rest in death below!
On the white marble fond affection.
Above the buried and the cold.
Hath traced— ah mournful retrospection^
Their praise in characters of gold.
ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION. VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
Oil no, — not a heart that e'er knew him but mourns.
Deep, deep, o'er the grave, where such glory is shrined-
O'er a monument fame will preserve, 'mong the urns
Of the wisest, the bravest, the best of mankind!
o, oo, u.
Those hearts of ours—what fools! what fools !
How they laugh at wisdom her cant and rules !
How they waste their powers, and, when wasted, grieve
For what they have squandered but can not retrieve.
Father Ryan.
Oh I well was it said, tho' the king rule the nation,
Tho' the making of laws to the statesman belongs.
Who reigns first, who reigns last in the hearts of creation
Is the god-given poet who maketh our songs.
Eleanor C Donnelly..
Are our hearts lighter for the roses bloomy
Or sad life fairer for their odorous breath?
Or tangled threads upon Fate's busy loom,
More deftly straightened by the hands of death?
Suva T. Smith*
O, 00>~ V-
That mother viewed the scene of blood;
Her six unconquer'd sons were gone ;
Fearless she viewed- beside her stood
Her last— her youngest— dearest one :.
lie looked upon her and lie smiled;
Oh ! will she save that only child'?-
ARTICULATION. 35
Her loyal subjects, low and high,
Full many a costly tribute bring ;
The glories of her kingdom, I,
Her humble poet laureate sing,
E. J. McPheUp,
Trust not him thy bosom's weal,
A painted love alone revealing:
The show, without the lasting zeal:
The hollow voice, without the feeling.
Gerald Griffin,
O, U.
I had a dream : yes: some one softly said:
■•He's gone: and then a sigh went round the room.
And then I surely heard a priestly voice
Try Subvenite ; and they knelt in prayer."
A W UK I II,
Jitdge not: the workings of his brain
And of his heart thou canst not see
What looks to thy dim eyes a stain
In God's pure light may only be
A sear, brought from some well-won field.
Where thou wouldst only faint and yield.
Hours are golden links. God's token.
Reaching heaven; hut one by one
Take them, lest the chain be broken
Ere the pilgrimage be done.
Ther's nothing dark, below, above,
But in its gloom I trace thy love.
And meekly wait that moment when
Thy touch shall turn all bright again.
36 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION. VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
Truth can understand error, but error cannot understand
truth.
Another year— with tears and joys
To form an arch of love,
Another year to toil with hope
And seek for' rest above ;
Another year winged on its way
Eternity the goal
Another year — peace in its train,
Peace to each parting soul.
It is a day to date from, when we first come to see, that the
very fact of God having created its is in itself a whole magnif-
icent revelation of eternal love, more safe to lean upon than
what we behold, more worthy of our trust than what we
know, more utterly our own than any other possession we
can have. — Father Faber.
OI, OY.
''Then ye tarry with me," cried the gypsy in jo//,
"And ye make of my dwelling your home.
Many years have I prayed that the Israelite boy
(Blessed hope of the Gentiles) would come."
To leafless shrubs the flow'ring palms succeed,
Tlie od'rous myrtle to the noisome weed.
The lambs with wolves shall graze the verdant mead.
And boys in flow'ry bands the tiger lead.
PopL
While I, embroidering here with pleasant to/1
My imaged traceries around my name.
This banner weave (in part from hostile spoil),
And pay my fealty to thy highest claiml
( 'ardinal Wiseman .
ARTICULATION. 3 i
ou, ow.
A vacant hour is always the devil's hour. When time hangs
heavy, the wings of the spirit flap painfully and slow. Then
it is that a book is a strong tou-er, nay a very Church, with
angels lurking among the leaves, as if they were so many
niches.
In the stillness of awe and wonder, a clear bold voice cried
out, from a group near the door: ••Impious tyrant, dost thou
not see, that a poor, blind Christian- hath more power over
life and death than thou or thy cruel masters"/
Away, away! our hearts are gay.
And free from care, by night and day.
Think not of summer pleasure:
The merry bells ring gayly out
Our lips keep time with song and showl
And laugh in happy measure.
The sea! the sea! the open seaJ
The blue, the fresh, the ever free !
Without a mark, without a bound, •
It runneth the earth's wide regions round:
It plays with the clouds; it mocks the skies:
Or like a cradled creature lies.
Ye fields of changeless green.
Cover'd with living streams and fadeless nWers,
Thou paradise serene.
Eternal joyful hours
My disembodied soul shall welcome in thy bowers.
May never was the month of love
For May is full of flowers
But rather April wet by kind.
For love is full of showers.
Robert Southwells
38 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
o.
From harmony, from heavenly harmony.
This universal frame began :
From harmony to harmony
Through all the compass of the notes it ran.
The diapason closing full in man.
Dry den.
The spirit of the world can call to order sin which is not
respectable. It can propound wise maxims of public decency,
and inspire wholesome regulations of police. Or. again,
there it is, with high principles on its lips, discussing the re-
ligious vocation of some youth, — while it urges discreet de-
lay — and more considerate submissiveness to those who love
him, and have natural rights to his obedience.
Father Faher.
U.
The pure, pale star of the autumn eve
Beams from the blue like an angel's eye.
And softly the wayward wavelets heave
And sink on the strand with a weary sigh !
Justice pales, truth fades, stars fall from heaven:
Hitman are the great whom we revere ;
No true crown of honor can be given,
Till the wreath lies on a funeral bier.
Oh! His rest will be with you in the congress of the great.
Who are purified by sorrow, and are victors over fate:
Oh, (rod's rest will be with you, in the corridors of Fame,
Which were jubilant with welcome, when Death called out
your name.
ARTICULATION.
And hark! I hear a singing: yet in sooth :
I cannot of that imtsic rightly say
Whether I hear or touch, or taste the tones.
O, what a heart-subduing melody!
Newman.
U.
There has not been a sound to-day
To break the calm of nature
Nor motion, I might almost say.
Of life or living creature.
League not with him in friendship's tie,
Whose selfish soul is bent on pleasure;
For he from joy to joy will fly,
As changes fancy's tickle measure.
Behold her. ye worldly! behold her, ye vain!
Who shrink from the pathway of virtue and pain
Who yield up to pleasure your nights and your days
Forgetful of service, forgetful of praise.
Gerald Griffin.
For disciplining the organs, and for acquiring fa-
cility in the distinct enunciation of difficult combina-
tions, the following exercises are invaluable.
bd, robb'd, sobb'd niobb'd.
He was mobb'd by men whose doctrine was,
"Might makes Right."
bst, dubb'st, webb'st, dfubb'st.
Why dubb'st thou wise— a dullard?
40 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
biz, marbles, troubles, foibles.
The foibles of life tickle the sides of Mirth,
blst, trembl'st, assembl'st, enfeebl'st.
Thou enfeebl'st the cause by temporizing,
bid, mumbl'd, fumbl'd, humbl'd.
'Tis but the humbl'd plaint of pride,
bldst, nibbld'st, gabbld'st, dissembld'st.
Dissembld'st thou, or didst thou tell the truth?
bz, tubes, fobs, robes.
Oh robes of the rich and great! Your texture often
dazzles and bedims the eyes of justice!
dlst, meddPst, handl'st, addl'st.
Thou meddl'st with all affairs, save thine own.
did, paddl'd, wheedl'd, fondl'd.
Many were the fools he wheedl'd.
didst, dwindl'dst. fondl'dst, kindl'dst.
Thou kindl'dst in the breast of youth a flame that
ne'er will die.
dnd, glad'n'd, quick'n'd, slack'n'd.
The sweet whisperings of grace glad'n'd his heart
and quick'n'd his fervor.
dnz, burd'ns. lad'ns, gladd'ns.
Guilt burd'ns the mind,
dr, dream, drunk, drown, drizzle.
His dreams were all of fame and wealth —
His life, devoid of both,
dst, would'st, drudg'ds't, hadst.
When thou didst hate him worst, thou lov'dst hint
I letter
Than ever thou lov'dst Cassius.
dth, width, breadth.
The breadth of the world will not satisfy ambition.
dths, hundredths, thousandths, wraths, breadths.
ARTICULATION. 41
Six widths of one only equalled four breadths of
the other,
dzh, allege, ledge, fledge.
Allege not reasons to which you give no credence
yourself .
dzhd, privileged, enrag'd, gorg'd.
His barbarity could he gorg'd with blood alone.
flst, rifl'st, shunTst. muffl'st.
Thou shunTst in vain the cards of error; they al-
ways come forth with counterfeit value on their faces,
and can only take the meanest tricks.
fldst, rifTd'st, shuffl'd'st, rnuffl'd'st.
Thou rifTd'st the homes of the weak and unprotect-
ed, and coumtM'st it an honorable deed?
fnz, tough'ns. putfins, deaf'ns.
The religion of Christ sofVns the heart of the most
barbarous nation,
fnd, fright 'n'd, strength n'd. height n'd.
In vain that cause is strength n'd that has not jus-
tice and truth for its basis.
fts, handicrafts, drafts, rafts.
And lo! the crafts are mercilessly seized by hun-
gry waves that roar themselves hoarse with glee as they
view the floating timbers of the once united rafts,
fst, doff'st, scoff'st, quail" st.
Vile slave! dofl'st thou not thy fusty castor to the
king thy liege lord and master?
ftst, ingraft'st. draught's!, waft'st.
O Patriotism, thou ingraft'st upon the tree of
liberty the scions of religious toleration!
fths, fifty-fifths, twelfths.
Two rifth^ and seven twelfths = fifty nine sixti-
eths.
gd, digg'd, shrugg'd, wagg'd.
6
42 ELEMENTS OF EXPBESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
Deep he digg'd into the stubborn earth until greet-
ed by the glittering ore.
gdst, tugg'dst, lagg'dst.
Thou tugg'dst in vain with fortune: the hope of
riches which thou hugg'dst is illusory,
gld, strangl'd, spangFd, wrangl'd.
The captive's hope was strangl'd by the stern de-
meanor of his judge,
gist, tingl'st, inveigl'st, struggl'st.
Thou struggl'st bravely with adversity and wilt
not be overcome.
gldst, juggl'dst, jingl'dst, bungl'dst.
If thou bungl'dst this care
From thy office forbear,
gst, bring' st, sing'st, lag'st.
O childhood! thou bring'st the most fragrant,
unselfish, and acceptable offerings to the altar of
friendship!
kid, tinkl'd, rankl'd, sparkl'd.
The tiny bells which sweetly tinkl'd.
Sweet thoughts of home evoked,
kldst, tinkl'dst, rankl'dst, sparkfdst.
Thou, mercy, more brightly sparkl'd'st in the royal
diadem than any precious stone.
klz, wrinkl's, trickl's, stickl's.
He stickl's for injustice more zealously than the
champions of truth for their cause.
klst, oaokl'st, speckl'st. sprjnkl'st.
Thou oackl'st, but unlike the cackling of the geese
of Rome, thine arouses— laughter,
knd, heark'nd, dark'nd, lik'nd.
He heark'nd to the voice of mourning,
And dried the tears of distress,
kndst, reek'ud'st. heck'nd'st, wak'nd'st.
ARTICULATION. ■ 4d
Oh, Power! When thou beck'nd'st, flattery and
hypocrisy, arm in arm, hasten to comply,
kst, text, ach'st, break' st.
Thou break'st the laws of heaven and of earth and
yet thou talk'st of harmony. Harmony begins to pine
when estranged from order,
kts, erects, protects, cataracts.
He erects a monument, which never shall crumble,
and which the future shall not cease to admire, and
whereon is written — Spotless Reputation.
ktst, lock'dst, pick'dst. hack'dst.
Thou lock'dst thy heart against the gentle knocks
of grace and now 'tis stony grown.
ldz, scolds, scalds, unfolds.
His life unfolds the inward peace and beauty of
the just,
ldst, yield'st, mould'st, withhold'st.
Yield'st thou without a struggle to such a craven?
lmst, calnfst. embalm'st, overwhelui'st.
Thou unwritten music of nature, ealnf st the troub-
led heart and burdened soul.
lpst, gulp'dst, help'dst, yelp'dst;
O Charity! thou help'dsi those who' could not help
themselves!
lths, commonwealths, filths, healths.
The glory of commonwealths is bright honor and
justice.
ltst, moult'st, revolt \st. exalt'st.
Religion! thou exalt'st humanity to the skies,
lvst. revolv'st. delv'st, absolv'st
Delv'st thou in knowledge mines
With hopes of fame or wealth?
mdst, maim'dst. inllam'dst, defam'dst.
Thou maim'dst virtue when thou defam'dst R.D. —
44 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
mfs, nymphs, lymphs, triumphs.
The greatest triumphs are those silent, unpreten-
tious ones o'er sell.
mpst, buinp'st, romp'st, damp'st.
Why damp'st thou youthful enthusiasm?
mst, proclaim'st, redeem'st, bloom'st.
Thou proclaim' st thyself valiant thou white-livered
braggart,
ndgst, sting'dst, prolong'dst, ring'dst:
With thy cruelty, thou prolong' dst warfare while
peace was mourning and imploring for reunion.
ndzh, cringe, singe, expunge.
Cringe, cringe sycophants! beneath the glance of
Power!
ndzhd, sing'd, aveng'd, estrang'd.
His manes aveng'd, he ceased' commerce with
mortals,
ntsht, munch'd, pinchVl, quench'd.
He ne'er quench'd his thirst at the Pierian spring,
nths, sixteenths, labyrinths, months.
Months are labyrinths of time,
ntst, print'st, grunt'st, haunt'st.
Haunt'st thou the editor with a still-born poem?
nz, rains, refrains, feigns.
It rains, it rains,
The sweet refrains
Of crystal drops on window panes.
My heart and soul enchains.
pldst, sampTdst, crumpi'dst, toppl'dst.
Thou easily toppl'dst Error's Monument,
plz, temples, dimples, ripples.
The buoyant ripples chased one another in glee and
tiirted with the coquettish sunbeams that peeped
through the gently-stirring foliage of the tamarind.
ARTICULATION. 45
plst, tpppl'st, sampl'st, rippl'st.
Thrice thou sampl'st the hospitality of thine enemy
and found it generous and ample,
pt, hoppVl, kept, equipp'd.
Ye are all equipp'd? We are. Farewell then, Home!
with all the charms, which make thee dear,
pts, adepts, precepts, excepts.
Adepts are rare, where diligence and persevering
practice are rare,
rbdst, disturb'dst, absqrb'dst, curb'dst.
Thou absorb'dst attention, hut the hearts of thy
auditors remain cold and clayey,
rdz, chords, rewards, girds.
The minor chords of humility breathe greater peace
and joy than the loftiest majors of exultation,
rdst, bombard'st, retard'st, disregard'st.
Disregard'st thou the ingenuous voice of friendship?
rdzh, purge, surcharge, scourge.
A scourge should be placed in every loyal American
hand, to lash the traitor around the Land of Liberty,
rktst, einbark'dst, perk'dst, smirk'dst.
Thou embark'dst pilotless in a boundless sen.
rldst, twirl'dst, purldst, uncurl'dst,
O Fate, thou uncurl'dst the locks of time!
rmdst, harin'dst, inform'dst. alarm'dst
Thou harm'dst not me by depriving me of life, the
loss is all thine own.
rndst, yearn'dst, discern'dst. subornMst.
youth, thou yearn'dst for home — it is thy world!
rsts, bursts, worsts, thirsts.
The beacon of faith bursts through the doubtful
darkness and illumines the perilous way.
rtst, pervert'st. depart'st, convert'st.
Depart'st thou without a single word to cheer thee
41) ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
on the way?
rvdst, observ'dst, starv'dst. subserv'dst.
Avarice thou starv'dst thyself for the sake of that
which thou shalt not enjoy.
rvst, starv'st, deserv'st, reservist.
Thou prudently reserv'st thy strength for the final
onset,
sf, sphacel, sphex. spheral.
The spheric beauty of the dome evoked the admira-
tion of all.
shr, shroud, shrivel, shrift.
The shroud may soon envelop the graceful form
we praise,
skr, scrape, screed, scrimp.
He was such a scrimp that an)' screed against him
would be justifiable,
sks, basilisks, burlesques, masks.
Doggerel is best adapted to burlesques in poetry,
skst, bask'st, husk'st, ask'st.
Husk'st thou the golden ears?
slst, bustl'st, tussl'st, nestl'st.
Thou bustl'st around as officiously as a person who
has knowledge for his guide,
snz, lessens, heightens, havens.
The havens of peace are nigh to the turbid waters
of contention,
snst, moist' n'st, height' n'st, quick' n'st.
Thou moist'n'st the brow of suffering with tears
of sympathy.
sps, wasps, wisps, cusps.
It is strange that wasps which feed on the sweets
of flowers should have such sour dispositions,
sts, breasts, outcasts, nests.
On the last day when the breasts of all shall be uu-
ARTICULATION. 47
burdened before all, we shalJ know our friends,
stst, forecast'st, persist'st, overcast'st.
Forecast'st thou consequences in accordance with
the dictates of Prudence?
ths, troths, drouths, wreaths.
Time had not made one cycle ere their plighted
troths were broken.
thd, bequeathed, smooth VI. sheath'd.
He bequeathed his family that priceless inheritance
— a noble example, an unsullied name.
thz, scath's, swath's, tith's.
He scath's the memory of the man whom he feared
when living.
thst, breath'st. loath'st. smoothest.
Thou loath'st climbing and yet wouldst fain as-
cend '.
tlst, whittl'st, battl'st, prattPst.
Battl'st thou against fortune's decrees^
tldst, whittPdst, battl'dst, prattl'dst
Thou prattl'dst the drowsy hours away,
tsht, attach'd, sketeh'd, couch'd.
He that is attach'd truly to virtue's cause must
be virtuous,
tshtst, voueh'dst, scmvh'dst, search'dst.
Voueh'dst thou for the character of X — \ Then
thine own character needs a voucher,
vdst, engiavMst, retriev'dst, behoov'dst.
Thou retriev'dst by thy kindness innumerable
faults,
vlst, swiv'l'st. lev'Pst, revTst.
Thou rev'I'st while dear ones at home are weeping
and starving,
viz, hovels, grovels, travels.
Visit hovels, and contemplate human misery.
48 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
vz, hives, groves, sleeves,
The groves are musical with living hives,
vst, improv'st, eonriiv'st, pav'st.
Thou improv'st thy mind and heart by closely ob-
serving the beauties of nature,
znd,' impris n\l, reas'n'd, seas'n'd.
It is only the seas'n'd bark that may safely tempt
the waves,
znz, treasons, mizzens, emblazons.
Treasons, treasons! brood of irreli^ion!
49
CHAPTER IV.
GESTURE.
Probably the best definition of gesture ever given is
that of Delsarte: ''Gesture is the manifestation of
the being through the activities of the body/' Accept-
ing this definition, we acknowledge that Gesture should
come in answer to the inward impulse, or motive, and
should bfi an outward expression of that motive or
emotion.
The student that would rest satisfied with mastering
a number of formal Gestures, expressive of different
meanings, would fail to grasp the correct idea of
gesture. The Gesture must portray some emotion ex-
isting in the being. If the emotion within does not
move the speaker to action, he is soulless, and all the
gestures of a RosciUS would not make a good speaker
of him. There is. no doubt, such a thine; as the culti-
vation of those emotions, those impulses to action.
The training of the soul in virtue, and of the mind in
the arts and sciences, tends to develop in man keener
perceptions and stronger emotions. The better our
lives are. the quicker do we shrink from evil: the more
thorough our education is, the more easily do we dis-
tinguish between truth and falsehood. It may be no-
ticed that artists, owing to their refined sensibilities,
are more sensitive than others. They have unconsciously
developed this sensitive nature by close application to
the niceties and tine points of their art.
.')0 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION. VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
However, the development of the emotions in mail is
not the chief aim of elocution. Elocution's task is to
teach the correct, and therefore, the artistic portrayal
of the emotions.
Professor Brown, in his "Philosophy of Expression' '
says: "A single caution should he whispered in the ear
of the earnest student of technical gesture- We put
our suggestions in two apothegms: I. Conscious tech-
nique kills expression, II, A gesture put on is a
grimace. It has no art-expression."
Naturalness in gesture is only present when self is
suppressed and the inward emotion spurs us on to ac-
tion. Before you will be able to express the emotions
of the soul correctly, you must become as the child,
without self -consciousness. What is truer to nature,
and at the same time more graceful than the little child!
It manifests artlessly, and. } T et. artistically. the emotions
it feels. In applying ourselves to the study of gesture,
we should copy this model: for here nature speaks
untrammeled by art. He that is always straining after
effect, will lose in the impression he would make. We
must relax instead of straining. We must learn to sup-
press self, and let the inward emotion give the impulse
to action,
A course in the Relaxation of the different muscles 'of
the body is, therefore, highly necessary in order to lit
us for portraying the emotions. By Relaxation is
meant the taking of the will power away from the mus-
cles and allowing the limb to hang as if dead. We try
by this means to get rid of self -consciousness in the
muscles, in order to let nature take its place. In other
words, it is the relaxation of that tension which opposes
natural grace of motion. By practice of the exercises
in relaxation given below, the student will invigorate
the muscles, and free the joints of the body so that
each part of it will be, not only free.- but fitted to give
the most exact response to the promptings of the inner
man. These exercises are based on the laws laid down
by Francois Delsarte, the great Catholic philosopher of
expression. We do not give all that might be given;
but exercises for the other muscles of the body will
suggest themselves to the earnest student. Do not be
backward in practicing them, for relaxation, far from
producing an artificial mode of expression, enhances it
vastly by giving the speaker a body titled and eager to
portray the inmost emotions of the soul spontaneously
and harmoniously. Diligent practice of the following
Exercises will tend to remove all awkwardness.
Exercises in Relaxation.
Legs.
Stand with weight of body on right foot. Withdraw
energy from the muscles of the left leg and swing it by
a rotary movement of the upper body. Change to left
foot and go through same motion with right. Practice
each of the movements given for about thirty seconds.
Energize from hip to knee-joint and raise the leg having
lower part relaxed, or decomposed. Drop the leg life-
lessly.
Torso.
Stand in Fourth Attitude. Withdraw energy from
the neck muscles and let the head drop to the breast.
Withdraw energy from the torso, or waist, and drop
the trunk forward as far as it will go. Swing the re-
laxed part in a rotary motion, the energy coming from
the lower limbs.
52 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
Neck.
Decompose the neck and allow the head to drop for-
ward. Raise and allow it to drop as if lifeless to the
right and to the left sides and backward. By move-
ments of the body cause the head to rotate. You must
be careful not to carry the head to these different di-
rections. Incline the body that way and let the head
drop to its place.
Arms.
Raise the arms from the side toward each other till the
lingers touch above the head. Withdraw will-power
from the muscles and allow them to drop. Raise the
arms in front and when the hands point to the zenith
drop lifelessly as before. De-energize arm from shoul-
der down, and sway the body causing arm to swing
loosely in all directions. Raise arm from shoulder,
bend at elbow, causing fore-arm to hang at right angle
to upper arm, de-energize fore-arm and shake up and
down.
Hand and Wrist.
Grasp the right hand firmly with the left, placing left
thumb on palm of right hand and the fingers of left
hand on back of right, fieeomxwse ringers of right hand
and shake vigorously with the left. Exercise the lin-
gers of left hand in the same manner. Withdraw the
energy from the right hand and, with palm toward the
floor, shake up and down by means of the fore-arm mus-
cles. Hold the hand with the side to the floor. Shake
on the wrist as before. Hold it with the palm upward
and shake. Put the left hand through the same relax-
ing exercises, then both hands at once.
GESTURE. 53
These exercises should be practiced daily, devoting
about fifteen minutes of each class hour to the purpose
for a number of days, until the limbs and joints are
under the perfect control of the will. Then the out-
ward expression of the different emotions will be ready
to be artistically produced. It will no longer be me-
chanical expression, but nature speaking through the
unobstructed channels of action. This is true art in
oratory as defined by the great American. Daniel
Webster, when speaking of the eloquence of action:
"It comes, if it come at all, like the outbreaking of a
fountain from the earth, or the bursting forth of vol-
canic fires, with spontaneous, original, native force,"
ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION. VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
CHAPTER V.
FORCE.
Force is the degree of power with which sound is
produced on a word or words.
E very-day experience shows that different sentiments
require a different use of Force. Dr. Rush, in his ad-
mirable work on the human voice, speaking- on this
matter, says: "Secrecy muffles itself against dis-
covery by a whisper; and doubt, while leaning to-
ward a positive declaration, cunningly subdues his
voice, that the impression of his possible error may be
least exciting and durable. Certainty, on the other
hand, in the confident desire to be heard, is positive,
distinct, and forcible. Anger declares itself with ener-
gy, because its charges and denials are made with a
wide appeal, and in its own sincerity of conviction. A
like degree of force is employed for passions congenial
with anger; as hate, ferocity, revenge. All thoughts
unbecoming or disgraceful, smother the voice, with a
desire to conceal even the voluntary utterance of them.
Joy calls aloud, for companionship in the overflowing
charity of its satisfaction. Bodily pain, fear and ter-
ror, are also forcible in their expression; with the doub-
le intention, of summoning relief, and repelling the of-
fending cause when it is a sentient being."
In treating Force, we must consider first, the mode
of exerting it, or form, and second, the amount of
force which we employ, or degree.
FORCE, 55
FORM,
The form of force may be Effusive, Expulsive, or
Explosive.
The Effusive Form manifests itself by a smooth flow
of sound, avoiding all abrupt and sudden sound.
As an example from nature we adduce the moaning of
the wind.
It is principally used in giving expression to pathos,
aire, reverence, repose.
Examples for practice on the Effusive Form.
From The Lost Chord.
1 do not know what 1 was playing,
Or what I was dreaming then :
But I struck one chord of music.
Like the sound of a great Amen,
1 have sought, but ] seek it vainly,
That one lost chord divine.
Which came from the soul of the organ,
And entered into mine.
It may be that Death's bright ange)
Will speak in that chord again.
It may be that only in Heaven
I shall hear that grand Amen.
Adelaidt A. V 'rocU r.
From Hamlet Act III.
To be. or not to be.— that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind, to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles.
And by opposing end them?
Shakespeare,
56 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION. VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
The Expulsive Form of voice is that in which the
sound is emitted as in conversation, not smooth-flowing
hut suddenly and quickly. In nature the expulsive
sound is heard in the gurgling waters of a brook pas-
sing over some slight obstructions or in the chattering
of a flock of birds. It is a median between the effusive
and the explosive, and hence we tind it used in all ordi-
nary speech, such as descriptive and colloquial language.
Examples for practice on the Expulsive Form ;
From Othello. Act II.
logo. What, are you hurt, lieutenant?
Cassio. Ay, past all surgery.
Iago. Marry, heaven forbid!
Cas. Reputation, reputation, reputation! O! I have lost
my reputation. I have lost the immortal part of myself, and
what remains is bestial,— -My reputation, Iago, my reputa-
tion!
Iago. As I am an honest man, I thought you had receiv-
ed some bodily wound ; there is more offence in that, than in
reputation. Reputation is an idle and most false imposition,
oft got without merit, and lost without deserving ; you have
lost no reputation at all, unless you repute yourself such a
loser. What, man! there are ways to recover the general
again; you are but now cast in his mood, a punishment more
in policy than in malice: even so as one would beat his
offenceless dog. to affright an imperious lion. Sue to him
again, and lie's yours. — Shakespeare.
From The Army of the Lord.
Where sin and crime are dwelling, hid from the light of day.
And life and hope are fading at Death's cold touch away.
Where dying eyes in horror see the long forgotten past:
Christ's servants claim I lie sinner, and gain his soul at last.
Where the rich and proud and mighty God's message would
defy,
In warning and reproof His anointed ones stand by :
Bright are the crowns of glory God keepeth for His own,
Their life one sigh for heaven, their aim His will alone.
Adelaide A. Procter.
From Hamlet. Act III.
Speak the speech, I pray yon, as I pronounced it to you,
trippingly on the tongue; but if you mouth it, as many of
your players do, I had as lief the town-crier spoke my lines.
Nor do not saw the air too much with your hand, thus; but
use all gently: for in the very torrent, tempest, and (as I
might say) whirlwind of passion, you must acquire and beget a
temperance, that may give it smoothness. O! it offends me
to the soul, to hear a robustious periwig-pated fellow tear a
passion to tatters, to very rags, to split the ears of the ground-
lings; who, for the most part, are capable of nothing but inex-
plicable dumb shows and noise; I would have such a fellow
whipped for o"er-doing Termagant : it out-herods Herod: pray
you avoid it —Shakespeare.
From The Flag and the Cross.
Lift up the flag, yes. set it high beside yon gleaming Cross.
Close to the standard of the cause that never shall know loss.
Lift praising voice, lift pleading hand, the world must hear
and see
The soldiers of the Cross of Christ most loyal, dear flag, to
thee.
But wherefore speak of loyalty? Who fears a watching
world?
When have we flinched or fled from thee since first thou wert
unfurled?
Carroll and Moylan spoke for us, and Barry on the seas.
And a third of thy sturdy cradle guard — no Arnold among
these.
And yet they call us Aliens, and yet they doubt our faith —
The men who stood not with our hosts when test of faith was
death:
, r >S ELEMENTS OP EXPRESSION. VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
Who never shed a drop of blood when ours was shed like rain,
That not a star should fall from thee nor thy great glory
wane,
Eleanor CGrad;/.
The Explosive Form is illustrated in nature by the
boom of a cannon, the clang of the smith's hammer and
the clapping- of hands. In this form of voice the sound
is emitted with great abruptness. It is most commonly
used to denote an extreme of joy, hate, defiance, anger ,
terror,
Examples for practice on the Explosive Form,
Hail, St. Gabriel! hail! a thousand hails
For thine whose music still prevails
In the world's listening ear!
Angelic Word! send forth to tell
How the Eternal Word should dwell
Amid His creatures here I
Father Faber.
From Merchant oi Venice, AH 111,
Shylock* How now, Tubal"? what news from Genoa*? hast
thou found my daughter?
Tubal, I oft came where I did hear of her, but cannot find
her.
Shy. Why there, there> there, there! a diamond gone, cost
me two thousand ducats in Frankfort,-— No ill luck stirring,
but what light's o' my shoulders; no sighs but o' my breath-
ing: no tears but o' my shedding.
Tub, Yes, other men have ill luck too. Antonio, as I
heard in Genoa —
Shy, What, what, what'? ill luck, ill luck?
Tub, —hath an argosy cast away coming from Tripolis?
Shy. I thank God! I thank God! Is it true? is it true?
Tub. I spoke with some of the sailors that escaped the
wreck,
FORCE. 59
Shy. I thank thee, good Tubal.— Good news, good news!
ha ! ha ! — Shakespeare.
From Othello. Act I.
Othello. Holla ! stand there!
Boderigo. Signor, it is the Moor.
Brabantio. Down with him, thief!
Oth. Keep up your bright swords, for the dew will rust
them. — Good signor, you shall more command with years,
than with your weapons. — Shakespeare.
DEGREE.
Degree, for practical purposes, may be divided into
Subdued, Moderate, Energetic, Impassioned.
Peaceful, sad, end tender emotions are correctly ren-
dered in the Subdued force.
Examples.
From The Third Dolor.
Three days she seeks her Child in vain:
He Who vouchsafed that holy woe
And makes the gates of glory pain.
He, He alone its depth can know.
She wears the garment He must wear.
She tastes His Chalice! From a Cross
Unseen she cries. Where art thou, where:-'
Why hast Thou me forsaken thus?
With feebler hand she touches first
That sharpest thorn in all His Crown
Worse than the Nails, the Reed, the Thirst,
•Seeming Desertion's icy frown?
Aubrey De Vere.
60 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION. VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
From The Grave.
The Grave, it is deep and soundless,
And canopied over with clouds;
And trackless and dim and boundless
Is the Unknown Land that it shrouds.
Yet everywhere else shall mortals
For peace unavailingly roam :
Except through the Shadowy Portals
Goeth none to his genuine home !
And the heart that Tempest and Sorrow
Have beaten against for years,
Must look for a sunnier morrow
Beyond this Temple of Tears.
/. C\ Manyan.
From In Memory of His Friend.
A shadow slept folded in vestments,
The dream of a smile on his face,
Dim, soft as the gleam after sunset
That hangs like a halo of grace
Where the daylight hath died in the valley,
And the twilight hath taken its place--
A shadow! but still on the mortal
There rested the tremulous trace
Of the joy of a spirit immortal,
Passed up to its God in His grace.
A shadow ! hast seen in the summer
A cloud wear the smile of the sun?
On the shadow of death there is flashing
The glory of noble deeds done ;
On the face of the dead there is glowing
The light of a holy race run ;
And the smile of the face is reflecting,
The gleam of the crown he has won.
Father By an.
FORCE. M
The Moderate differs only in a slight degree from the
Subdued. It is commonly used in conversation and un-
excited speech .
Example,
From Julius Caesar. Act IV.
Brutus. Sheathe your dagger.
Be angry when you will, it shall have scope ;
Do what you will, dishonor shall be humor,
O Cassius ! you are yoked with a lamb,
That carries anger as the flint bears tire.
Who, much inforced, shows a hasty spark,
And straight is cold again,
Shakespeare,
The Energetic is used in patriotic, bold and grand
sentiments.
Examples,
From The Irish Disturbance Bill,
If ever I doubted before of the success of our agitation for
repeal, this bill, this infamous bill, the way it has been re-
ceived by the House, the manner in which its opponents have
been treated, the personalities to which they have been sub-
jected, the yells with which one of them has this night been
greeted— all these things dissipate my doubts, and tell me of
its complete and early triumph. Do you think those yells will
be forgotten? Do you suppose their echo will not reach the
plains of my injured and insulted country; that they will not
be whispered in her green valleys, and heard from her lofty
hills? Oh! they will be heard there! Yes, and they will not
be forgotten. The youth of Ireland will bound with indigna-
tion: they will say. "We are eight millions; and you treat us
thus, as though we were no more to your country than the
isle of Guernsey or of Jersey l—Damd O'Conmll,
H2 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION. VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
From An Address to the American Catholic Congress.
The shadow of an imposing - event begins to move. The
people of the United States, and of the hemisphere are about
to celebrate the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery
of America. We heartily rejoice in this resolve. That tre-
mendous event, that with reverence I may say the second cre-
ation, the rinding of a new world, and the vast results that
have flowed to humanity, can be traced directly to the Catho-
lic Church and the Roman Catholic Church alone. Protestant-
ism was unknowm when America was discovered. Let the
students and the scholars search the archives of Spain, and
the libraries of Europe, and the deeper the search the more
glory will adorn the brow of Catholicity. It was a pious
Catholic who conceived the .mighty thought. It was when
footsore and down-hearted at the porch of a monastery that
hope dawned on him. It was a monk who first encouraged
him. It was a Cardinal who interceded with the sovereigns
of Spain. It was a Catholic King who fitted out the ships.
It was a Catholic Queen who offered her jewels as a pledge.
It was the Catholic Columbus and a Catholic crew that sailed
out upon an unknown sea where ship had never sailed before.
It was to spread the Catholic faith that the sublime risk was
run. It was the prayer to the Blessed Mother that each night
closed the perils of the day and inspired the hopes of the
morrow. It was the Holy Cross, the emblem of Catholicity,
that was carried to the shore and planted on the new found
world, it was the Sacrifice of the Mass that was the first,
and for a hundred years, the only Christian offering upon this
virgin land. — Daniel Dougherty.
The greatest degree of force, the Impassioned, is
used in extremes of vehemence, terror, and the fiercer
passions', also in colling or shouting.
Examples.
From Julius Caesar. Act L
And do you now put on your best attire?
And do yon now cull out a holiday?
FORGE. 03
And do you now strew flowers in his way
That comes in triumph over Potnpey's bloody
Be gone!
Run to your houses, fall upon your knees.
Pray to the gods to intermit the plague
That needs must light on this ingratitude.
Shakespeare,
From Merchant of Venice. Act III.
I'll have my bond; I will not hear thee speak :
I'll have my bond, and therefore speak no more,
I'll not be made a soft and dull-ey ? d fool,
To shake the head, relent, and sigh, and yield
To Christian intercessors. Follow not ;
I'll have no speaking; I will have my bond.
Shakespeare,
From Macbeth. Act III.
A vaunt! and quit my sight. Let the earth hide thee!
Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold :
Thou hast no speculation in Those eyes,
Which thou dost glare with.
Shakespeare,
Before concluding this chapter, a few words on some
other matters regarding the use of force are in place.
Force must be applied judiciously. In a large hall,
care must he taken that sentences spoken in subdued
force are audible to the entire audience. In this mat-
ter, there may be three difficulties to overcome. First,
the size of the hall, second, the defective acoustics, and
third, the presence of a large audience. In any of these
three cases an increase of force is necessary. Besides
this, you may aid }ourself greatly by speaking more
slowly and articulating more distinctly. Never allow
«4 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION. VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
the pitch of voice to increase to a shout, unless some
particular passage demands it . Speak to those that are
farthest from you. In this way the sound will he pro-
jected, and by not shouting you will avoid giving dis-
gust to those closest to you. A person adapting his
force to the surroundings can pronounce the strongest
of invectives in a parlor without offending any one.
Another tendency to error in force which you must
avoid is imitation. Do not think that because some
ideal of yours brings out a passage in thunder tones,
that you must do the same or fail entirely. Your voice
may be inadequate to the effort. Ape no man. Use
your own scale; bestow your force, so that there is a
reserve power left to you, and be content. The most
vociferous is by no means the best or the most appreci-
ated. Everyone is acquainted with the fact that the
empty wagon rumbles most.
En order to strengthen your force so that you may be
heard well in any ordinary assembly, practice daily in
the middle pitch on some energetic passages. Avoid
rasping sounds, use the pure tone, and be careful not
to rise in pitch. Strengthening the foundation, the
middle pitch, will strengthen your voice along the
whole range.
DELSARTE S LAWS OF GESTURE.
CHAPTER VI.
DELSARTE'S LAWS OF GESTURE.
Having familiarized ourselves with the bodily agents
of expression, we proceed to the laws governing them.
We give here the laws of Delsarte on the subject.
Law of Succession.
"Let your attitude, gesture, and face foretell what
you would make felt." — Delsarte.
In other words, facial expression and gesture should
precede speech. The expression begins at the eye, com-
municates itself to the faee. and then passes to the rest
of the body, successively throwing into motion each ar-
ticulation as it passes down. For instance, along the
arm it would start with the shoulder and upper arm.
then follow the elbow and lower arm, lastly wrist, hand,
and lingers. As a proof that this is the law of nature,
we refer you to the chi.d. Observe it and you will see
that on its face is mirrored the pleasure, pain, anger,
etc.. which stirs it. before it gives those emotions voice.
The little face often assumes lines of pain, long before
the voice has given evidence of grief.
Law of Opposition.
"When two limbs follow the same direction, they cannot
be simultaneous without an injury to the law of opposi-
tion. Therefore, direct movements should be successive,
and opposite movements simultaneous.' '
tit) ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION. VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
Iii order to make the law more intelligible we place
it thus:
I, Opposite movements should be simultaneous:
II. Parallel movements should be successive.
As an example of the I., suppose something- repulsive .
to be situated to the right oblique of the speaker. In
making a gesture to show his feeling of disgust toward
the object, he would move the head to the left, and with
the right hand make a movement as if to push it away
from him. The movement of both head and hand
should be simultaneous. An illustration of the II. part
of the law may be seen in the salutation of two friends.
The body bends forward and then onh 7 the hand is ex-
tended for the other's grasp. Care should be taken that
these laws be followed or awkward movements will en-
sue.
Law of Duration.
This law cautions us against multiplying gesture.
But one gesture is necessary for the expression of a
single thought. This gesture should be held till the
thought is completed. Notice, we do not affirm that it
must be held till the sentence is completed. There may-
be many modifications of the thought contained in a
sentence. Until a new impression dawns upon us, the
gesture must not he changed .
Law of Velocity.
•'The rhythm of gesture is proportional to the mass to
be moved." — Delaarte,
Interpreting this we have: The velocity of the gesture
should be proportionate to the thought or emotion «
Hence grandeur demands gestures of majestic dinien-
DELSARTE'S LAWS OF GESTURE. M
sions. In this law, gesture follows nature as seen in the
swinging of a pendulum. If a pendulum is set so that
it swings only a short distance, the motion will be quick;
place it lower on the rod, and permit it to swing with a
larger sweep, and the motion is slow. Take the follow-
ing 3X;impIe from Pope, and notice the change in the
velocity of gesture.
When Ajax strives some rock's vast weight to throw,
The line too labors and the words move slow.
Not so when swift Camilla scours the plain,
Flies o'er the unbending corn and skims along the main,
Law of Altitude.
Positiveness rises, hesitancy descends. If you are
absolutely certain of your assertion, the arm will be
carried straight toward the zenith in testifying to it. If
you make an assertion with hesitancy, the gesture will
not proceed above the shoulder line. The more doubt-
ful you are, the lower is the altitude of the gesture.
Try the Law of Altitude on the following sentences.
Possibility. He may be false.
Assertion. I believe him false.
Certainty. I have evidence proving him false.
Absolute Certainty. I swear that he is false.
In pronouncing these sentences, the first and second
call for gestures of different altitudes below the shoulder
line. The third is made above the shoulder line; the last
points straight to the zenith.
Law of Force.
1 'Conscious strength assumes weak attitudes. Con-
scious weakness assumes strong attitudes.' '
t>8 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION. VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
The broad base is the physically strong attitude.
This may be noticed in the child just learning to walk.
Its legs are spread wide to steady it in moving along.
Observe, the broad base is used also by one who has
imbibed too freely. In order to keep from falling, he
assumes this, the physically strong attitude. It is this
attitude, likewise, which conscious weakness will assume
in order to have at least the semblance of strength. On
the other hand conscious strength has nothing to fear,
and hence relaxes all tension and show of power. This
relaxation tends to moderate the position. The bully
will assume broad gesture and position to put on a
show of power which, of course, he is conscious he does
not possess. The athlete, conhdent in his own powers,
does not need to assume physically strong attitudes, for
he knows that when the trial comes his strength will
not be found wanting. Observe these two classes of
individuals and you will not hesitate as to where the
strength lies.
There is a dispute as to how many laws Delsarte
laid down for gesture. Some of his disciples claim
nine as the number, others six, and others do not
give any category. Delsarte died before issuing any
printed matter. Hence we have no means of certify-
ing ourselves as to the number. We take the forego-
ing to be laws in consonance with nature and appli-
cable to all gesture. Other laws attributed to him we
omit, as being unnecessary.
B9
CHAPTER VII.
PITCH.
Pitch may be defined as the highness or lowness of the
voice in the delivery of a sentence.
We may call the human voice a musical instrument.
It has, as the piano, three kinds of notes; the high, the
medium, and the low. Its range is not like that of the
piano in six or seven octaves, hut generally in a little
less than two. The voice, in delivery, may not be used
in the higher, middle or lower registers arbitrarily, hut
must be confined to that which the nature of the senti-
ment intended to he expressed, demands. In order,
therefore, that the student may learn how to use the
different pitches of voice correctly, for like the piano
the human voice is an instrument we must learn to play
on, we subjoin rules for his guidance.
Pitch is divided into High, Middle, and Low tones.
Of these the most used is the middle, it being the
most flexible. Legouve, in his admirable work. "The
Art of Reading." says: "The middle pitch, in fact,
is our ordinary voice, and is therefore the best and
truest delineator of our truest and most natural sen-
timents. The low notes are not without great power:
the high notes are occasionally brilliant; but to neither
should recourse be had frequently; they should be em-
ployed only when certain unusual effects are to be
produced — that is to say only exceptionally and spar-
ingly. As an illustration 1 should compare our high
70 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION. VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
notes to cavalry, whose peculiar province is to make
dashing charges and initiate strong attacks; the low-
notes I should compare to the artillery, as denoting
strength, effort, and the putting forth of unusual pow-
er; but the main body of the army, its real working-
strength and spirit, the element on which the tactician
relies the most and employs the oftenest, is the infantry.
The middle voice is our infantry. The chief precept,
therefore, which I would most earnestly impress upon
you is this: to the middle voice accord the supremacy,
first, last, and always!"
In the scale, b flat beginning below the leger line,
the four notes, o, c, d, e, would be the range of the low
pitch;/, g, a, b, c, would be the middle pitch, and d, e,
f, g, above, would be the range of the high pitch.
High Pitch is used to express buoyant, gay, energetic,
animated, and impassioned thought, and the height of
terror.
Middle Pitch is used to express all unimpassioned
narrative, and description.
Low Pitch is appropriate in sentiments of reverence,
solemnity, grandeur, and gravity.
Note.— Variations in pitch will be treated under the head of Inflection.
Examples for practice in High Pitch.
From Sweet May.
The summer is come! — the summer is come !
With its flowers and its branches green.
Where the young birds chirp on the blossoming boughs.
And the sunlight struggles between.
I). Florence McCarthy.
From Othello. Act II.
Oli (rod. that men should put an enemy in their mouths to
steal away their brains '. that we should, with joy. pleasure.
PITCH. 71
"revel, and applause, transform ourselves into beasts!— Shakes*
pea/re.
From Moore.
Joy to Ierne, joy,
This day a deathless crown is won,
Her child of song, her glorious son,
Her minstrel boy
Attains his century of fame,
Completes his time— allotted zone
And proudly with the world's acclaim
Ascends the lyric throne.
D. Florence McCarthy.
From The Comedy of Errors. Act V.
Justice, sweet prince, against that woman there!
She whom thou gav'st to me to be my wife —
Beyond imagination is the wrong,
That she this day hath shameless thrown on me.
Shakespeare.
From King Richard II. Act 11.
Why have those banish'd and forbidden legs
Dar'd once to touch a dust of England's ground?
But more than that.— why have they dared To march
So many miles upon our peaceful bosom.
Frighting her pale-fac'd villages with war.
And ostentation of despoiling arms'.-'
Shakespeare.
Examples for practice on Middle Pitch.
From Hamlet. Act III.
Speak the speech, I pray you. as I pronounced it to you, trip-
pingly on the tongue : but if you mouth it as many of your
players do. I had as lief the town-crier spoke my lines. Xor
do not saw the air too much with your hand, thus : but use
all gently. — Shakespeare.
I'l ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION. VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
From Land and Sea Breezes.
Alone in the night watch, after the sea breeze has sunk to
rest, I have stood on the deck, under those beautiful skies,
gazing, admiring, rapt. I have seen there, above the hori-
zon at once, and shining with a splendor unknown to those
latitudes, every star of the first magnitude— save only six —
that is contained in the catalogue of the hundred principal
fixed stars of astronomers. There lies the city on the sea-
shore wrapped in sleep. The sky looks solid, like a vault of
steel set w T ith diamonds. The stillness below is in harmony
with the silence above, and one almost fears to speak, lest the
harsh sound of the human voice, should wake up echo, and
drown the music that tills the soul.— M. F. Maury.
From Essay on Criticism.
But see! each Muse, in Leo's golden days,
Starts from her trance, and trims her withered bays:
Rome's ancient Genius, o'er its ruins spread,
Shakes off the dust, and rears his reverend head.
Then sculpture and her sister arts revive :
Stones leaped to form, and rocks began to live:
With sweeter notes each rising temple rung:
A Raphael painted, and a Yida sung.
Pope.
Examples for practice in Low Pitch.
From Julius Caesar. Act 77.
It must be by his death; and for my part,
I know no personal cause to spurn at him.
But for the general. He would be crowivd :
How that might change his nature, there's the question.
It is the bright day that brings forth the adder,
And that craves wary walking. Crown him?— that:
And then, I grant, we put a sting in him,
That at his will he may do danger with.
Shake&peart .
PITCH, 73
From The Pillar Towers of Ireland,
The pillar towers of Ireland, how wondrously they stand.
By the lakes and rushing rivers through the valleys of our
land;
In mystic rile, through the isle, they lift their heads sublime,
These gray old pillar temples, these conquerors of time !
D, F, M'Cartky.
From Omens Presaging the Downfall of Italy.
Last night, between the hour of twelve and one
In a lone aisle of the temple while I walked
A whirlwind rose, that, with a violent blast,
Shook all the dome. The doors around me clapt;
The iron wicket, that defends the vault
Where the long race of Ptolemies is laid,
Burst open and disclosed the mighty dead.
Dryden,
From Hamlet. Ad I
Ghost. I am thy father's spirit:
Hoomed for a certain time to walk the night,
And. tor the day. confined to fast in tires,
Till the foul crimes, done in my days of nature,
Are burn'd and purged away.
Shakespeare,
"(4 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION. VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
CHAPTER VIII.
INFLEXION.
As in the art of painting we find a ground color, or
basis, on which to bring ont the lights and shades, so in
the art of expression. Every man has a certain pitch of
voice in which he is most agreeable to his hearers and
most comfortable to himself. This is the ground-tone
from which he is to build, from which all advancement
is to be made. We call this pitch the conversational
tone. The variations from the key-note of this conver-
sational pitch we call Inflexions. We might then define
inflexion as: The undulations of the voice on particular
words to give a certain effect.
Every piece has a predominating pitch in which it
should be spoken. It is the judicious variations from
this pitch, on particular words, which forms the soul of
good speaking.
There are Three Inflexions : the Rising ( ' ),. the Fal-
ling p),and the Circumflex(~). It requires no little
attention to learn where each is appropriately used,
yet, a close observance of the fallowing rules will aid
us.
Rules for the Use of Rising Inflexion.
i. The Rising Inflexion is generally used whenever a
question is asked; e. g.,
Hath a dog - money?
INFLEXION. < 5
2. The Rising Inflexion is generally used where
weakness, either mentally or physically, is denoted;
A beggar who asks an alms says : Please give me a penny.
3. The Rising Inflexion is used in the expression
of something about which we are doubting; e. g.,
Is not that a man standing on that great peak far to the
South of us?
4. The Rising Inflexion is used in answers that are
slightly disrespectful, careless, etc.; e. g.,
Did you see him? I did.
5. The Rising Inflexion is used where the speaker is
supposed to have all of a succession of particulars in his
mind when he expresses the first; e. g.,
^ Caesar is said to have been tall, slim, agile, and hardy.
6. The Rising Inflexion is often used at the end,
when strong emphasis is used just before the close of the
sentence; e. g. ,
A very pleasing night to honest men.
7. The Rising Inflexion is generally used before the
disjunctive or; e. o-..
Will you ride or walk?
8. The Rising Inflexion is used on the negative in
all sentences where you have a negation and an affir-
mation; e. g. ,
I will not go. if he come for me.
9. The Rising Inflexion is generally used in the
last but one of a series of clauses; e. g.,
St. Benedict said to Totila: You do much evil: you have
already done much: cease at length to perpetrate injustice.
76 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
You will actually take Rome; you will cross the sea ; you will
reign nine years more, and. die in the tenth.
Rules for Falling Inflexion.
i. The Falling Inflexion is used in answer to a
direct question; e. g. ,
Must I endure all this? Aye, more.
2. The Falling Inflexion is used where strength,
command, positiveness are asserted; e. g.,
Brutus bay not me, I'll not endure it.
3. The Falling Inflexion is used where a series of
particulars suggest themselves one after another as the
speaker proceeds in his discourse; e. g.,
What a piece of work is man! how noble in reason ! how infi-
nite in faculties! in form, and moving, how express and
admirable! in action, how like an angel! in apprehension,
how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of
a n imals ! — Shakespeare.
4. The Falling Inflexion is used where the sense is
completed whether the end of the sentence is reached
or not; e. g.,
Oh Cassius, you are yoked with a lamb that carries anger as
the flint bears lire.
Rules for the Circumflex Inflexion.
1. The Circumflex .Inflexion is generally used in
the expression of humor, irony, and sarcasm; e. g.,
I have heard,
Where many of the best respect in Rome,
INFLEXION. 77
Except immortal Caesar !— speaking of Brutus,
Haye wished that noble Brutus had his eyes,
Shakespeare.
Before I would drown myself for the love of a guinea hen,
I would change my humanity with a baboon,— Shahespea re,
Application.
Study your selection until you are perfectly acquaint-
ed with what the author wishes to say. The perfection
of good speech depends greatly on this principle. Then
speak the piece as though it were your own. Prac-
tice on the following examples.
If it were done when 'tis done, then 't were well
It were done quickly.
Is it possible a cur can lend three thousand ducats/
No, Cassius; for the eye sees not itself
But by reflection from some other thing.
The minor longs to be of age; then to be a man of business;
then to arrive at honors; then to retire.
You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things.
I'd rather be a dog, and bay the moon, than such a Roman.
Queen. Hamlet, you have your father much offended.
Hamlet, Madam, you have my father much offended.
Shakespeare.
ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION. VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
CHAPTER IX.
QUALITY.
The voice is nature's medium of expression. The
ha man voice is the vehicle of thought , and feeling,
the agent of the soul, the bond of union betwixt man
and man. It may be trained to convey
"All thoughts, all passions, all delights,
Whatever stirs this mortal frame."
The voice, being commonly in harmony with the na-
ture of its possessor, reveals much character. It is re-
garded by some as an unfailing index. 'A gruff, disa-
greeable voice," say they, "makes known a like nature;
and a sweet, soft, kind voice tells the story of corres-
ponding inner traits of character." Naturalists that
have studiously observed dogs, inform us, that each
dog, as well as each family, has a distinct or peculiar
bark, which invariably agrees with its well-known dis-
position and characteristics. The owl and raven are
universally regarded as birds of evil omen; their voices
almost justify the view.
The moderate observation of each one will furnish
like examples from nature. None will fail to detect the
mild character of the dove in its plaintive cooing, and
the loathsome character of the venomous serpent from
its malignant hiss. No one hesitates to pronounce the
character of a lamb from its bleating, and a mastiff
from his bay.
QUALITY. 79
The same tell-tales of character may be found in u the
paragon of animals. " There are voices that enchain
attention, quell opposition, reach and win the heart;
there are others that estrange, provoke, and almost
make
'•Each particular hair to stand on end,
Like quills upon the fretful porcupine.''
The attribute which enables us to distinguish the
different voices is called Quality, Character, or Timbre
of voice.
"The voice is a living aeolian harp. The vocal chords
are situated in the upper part of the larynx, where the
air from the lungs, called breath, passes through, and
brings to phonation the tones conceived in the brain."
It is susceptible of much cultivation. True, all may
not attain the same mellowness, fullness, strength, and
flexibility of vocal power, hut all can improve by judi-
cious vocal exercise. The voice is exposed to "the
thousand natural shocks, that flesh is heir to," and,
hence, must be employed with discretion.
Perfect organs are little more to the speaker than
perfect tools to the mechanic — both must practice to
become skilful in their use. The golden rule of econ-
omy, never let the expenditure exceed the supply, i>
especially applicable to the voice. The supply essen-
tial to every speaker is a supply of breath. Hence,
correct vocal culture resolves itself into the art of
correct inspiration and expiration, the difficult art of
breathing.
The great value and necessity of a good voice, all ad-
mit. The sermons with which a Bernard or a Bossuet
kindled devotion in the hearts of thousands would
seem insipid, if delivered in leaden tones by a hueless
80 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
voice. Sjtakespearf. knew the value of a cultured
voice when he said,
In law what plea so tainted and corrupt,
But, being season 'd with a gracious voice,
Obscures the show of Evil?
The voice is the interpreter of the emotions. Each
emotion has its distinctive quality. If we would give
adequate expression to these innumerable emotions, we
must lie able to govern with
"giddy cunning
The melting voice through mazes running,
Untwisting all the chains that tie
The hidden soul of harmony."
The Qualities of Voice are seven: Pure, Orotund, As-
pirate. Guttural, Pectoral, Falsetto, and Nasal. The
first three of these have the three forms of Force. Effus-
ive, Expulsive, Explosive.
The Guttural, owing to its nature, has no Effusive
Form. The Pectoral, for a like reason, lacks Explosive
Form. The Falsetto sometimes uses the Expulsive and
Explosive Forms.
The Nasal scarcely enters the province of elevated ex-
pression. But when we rind an unfortunate that strains.
all his sayings through his nose, should we meet him
"when the melancholy days have ('01116,*' he would fil-
ter his pathos through his nose in the Nasal Effusive
But should we wipe the tears from his eyes and soothe
him with sweet words of consolation, he would show
his gratitude "by telliii us a tale" in the Nasal Ex-
pulsive. After the "tcde" is finished, the next theme
is, perhaps, politics. We differ as to the merits of
certain candidates. He extols his hero with great
warmth. We bring up his idol's past record, which;
darkens the picture somewhat. Our nasal friend log*
QUALITY. 81
es control of his temper and tongue, and pours out a
torrent of abuse on our favorite, in the Nasal Explosive.
PURE TONE.
Pure Tone should be mastered before the others are
attempted. In it lie all genuine power, compass, and
endurance. When all the breath summoned for the
production of a tone is vocalized, the result is Pure Tone.
"The tones must be brought to the front of the
mouth: The brightness or bloom of the tone should
sparkle upon the lips, and the mouth should be filled
with vibration. The hard-palate is the sounding- board,
and the. mouth the resonance cavity of the voice."
The vocal cords must be unconstrained, otherwise the
voice will be stiff and throaty. Use the throat for a
channel through which the tone-material merely passes.
Pure Tone is the exponent of a tranquil state of mind
and bod}/: it is also used in expressing the tender emo-
tions, as love, melancholy, cheerfulness, etc.
Examples.
From The Bells of Stonyhurst.
Now fold on fold
The sunset gold
Winds every westward vale in splendor:
And faint and far
To evening star
The turrets toll their ditty tender.
Wild College chimes
The vanished times
Live in your magic music air.
Within my heart
Old memories start
And wake anew your Ave Maria.
P. J. Coleman.
82 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
From "Aristotle's Poetics."
Revealed Religion should be especially poetical— and it is
so in fact. While its disclosures have an originality in them
to engage the intellect, they have a beauty to satisfy the
moral nature. It presents us with those ideal forms of ex-
cellence in which a poetical mind delights, and with which
all grace and harmony are associated. It brings us into a
new world— a world of overpowering interest, of the sublim-
est views and the tenderest and purest feelings. The peculiar
grace of mind of the New Testament writers is as striking as
the actual effect produced upon the hearts of those who have
imbibed their spirit. At present we are not concerned with
the practical, but the poetical nature of revealed truth. With
Christians, a poetical view of things is a duty,— we are bid to
color all things with hues of faith, to see a Divine meaning
in every event, and a superhuman tendency. Even our
friends around us are invested with unearthly brightness —
no longer imperfect men, but beings taken into a Divine fa-
vor, stamped with His seal, and in training for future happi-
ness. It may be added that the virtues peculiarly Christian
are especially poetical— meekness, gentleness, compassion,
contentment, modesty, not to mention the devotional virtues;
whereas the ruder and more ordinary feelings are the instru-
ments of rhetoric more justly than of poetry — anger, indigna-
tion, emulation, martial spirit, and love of independence. —
Newman.
From A Night in June.
O choir of silence, without noise of word!
A human voice would break the mytic spell
Of wavering shades and sound ; the lily bell
Here at my feet sings melodies unheard;
And clearer than the voice of any bird, —
Yes even than that lark which loves so well,
Hid in the hedges, all the world to tell
In trill and triple notes that May has stirred.
"O love complete !" soft sings the mignonette :
"O Heart of All!'' deep sighs the red, red rose:
QUALITY.
"O Heart of Christ!" the lily voices meet
In fugue on fugue; and from the flag-edged, wet,
Lush borders of the lake, the night wind blows'
The tenor of the reeds— '"Love, love complete!"
Maurice F. Egan.
From Merchant of Venice. Act V.
How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank!
Here will we sit, and let the sounds of niusic
Creep in our ears; soft stillness, and the night,
Become the touches of sweet harmony.
Sit, Jessica; look how the floor of heaven
Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold;
There's not the smallest orb, which thou behold 'st,
But in his motion like an angel sings,
Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubim :
Such harmony is in immortal souls:
But, whilst this muddy vesture of decay
Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it.
Shakespeare.
From Criterion.
Every one ought to choose the profession for which nature
has most fitted him. This rule is of great importance : it
has often been neglected and the arts and sciences have suf-
fered considerably in consequence. Some men imagine that
the word * -talent" means absolute ability. They suppose that
a man who possesses abilities for one particular study, must
likewise possess them for every other study. This is a great
mistake. Experience teaches that some men have extraor-
dinary abilities for some one branch of human knowledge,
whilst in other branches they either do not succeed at all or
their success will be very limited, notwithstanding the most
intense application Each talent has its own degree of
strength and of weakness. There are few men, we might say
there is not a single man. who would succeed equally well in
all stations or professions.— Bev. J. Balmes.
S4 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION. VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
From Bible, Science, and Faith.
The book of Nature and the hook of the Spirit, although
appealing to us in different tongues, ever voice the same tes-
timony and proclaim the same truth. They both, in words
eloquent and sublime, tell us of a God infinite in wisdom and
love and perfection, who ordains all things well, and who
compasses His ends with infinite knowledge and power
One may indeed reject the truths of the Bible and discard
the teachings of faith, as the mariner may ignore the saving-
bell or the friendly pharos, but he does so at his peril. Far
from gaining anything by this mad assertion of independence
— an independence which means not liberty and life, but
rashness and destruction — he inevitably loses, and his loss
carries with it the loss and death, it may be, of others be-
sides. There is too much of doubt and uncertainty in the
world of science for us to decline the undeniable helps of reve-
lation — too much fog and darkness enveloping many problems
of philosophy for us to close our eyes to the sun of Truth or
for us to make naught of the light of God's inspired word. —
Rev. J. A. Zahm.
From Books and Reading.
I have strayed into many fields of literature, and culled
flowers in many languages, and I can bear witness that,
whilst there are certain works in other languages which I
appreciate more highly than works of the same grade in our
own tongue, still, taking the literature of various countries
as a whole, there is none of less objectionable character and
of more elevating tone than is English literature, in its
grand roll of authors from Widsith, the old English gleeman
of the fourth century, down to the present laureate. But for
this boon we are not to thank the Protestantism of England.
It is rather due to the fact that the roots of English litera-
ture struck deep in Catholic soil, and the conservative char-
acter of the English people kept up the Catholic spirit and
the Catholic traditions long after the very name of Catholic
had become offensive. That Catholic spirit still lingers in
the cloistered aisles and corridors of Oxford. It hovers over
QUALITY. 85
the vacant tomb of Edward the Confessor within the hallow-
ed walls of Westminster Abbey. It speaks in tower and
pillared dome throughout the land, "of which every arch has
its scroll teaching Catholic Wisdom, and every window repre-
sents some canonized saint." It breathes through the Cath-
olic prayers still preserved in the Book of Common Prayer.
It has become transfused into some of the noblest passages in
Paradise Lost ; the Arianism and the Protestantism are
Milton's own ; but his magnificent lines clothe many a senti-
ment of tenderness and sublimity culled from the pages of
Ca?dmon, St. Avitus, Andreini, the Catholic mediaeval mir-
acle plays, and Lucifer, the Catholic drama of Vondel, the
great Catholic and national poet of Holland. — Brother Azarim.
From Paradise. Canto XXII.
Astounded, to the guardian of my steps
I turn'd me, like the child, who always runs
Thither for succour, where he trusteth most.
And she was like the mother, who her son
Beholding pale and breathless, with her voice
Soothes him. and he is cheer'd : for thus she spake
Soothing me: knowest not thou, thou art in heav'n?
And know'st not thou, whatever is in heav'n.
Is holy, and that nothing there is done
But is done zealously and well? Deem now,
What change in thee the song, and what my smile
Had wrought, since thus the shout had pow'r to
move thee.
In which couldst thou have understood their
prayers.
The vengeance were already known to thee.
Which thou must witness ere thy mortal hour.
The sword of heaven is not in haste to smite.
Nor yet doth linger, save unto his seeming.
Who in desire or fear doth look for it.
Cory's Dante.
From Martin Luther and His American Worshippers.
American Catholic Quarterly Review, July, 1884./
Modern taste unfortunately— and we may thank Luther's
teaching for it — is no longer Christian, but pagan. Our her-
86 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION. VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
oes. too often nowadays, are made and held up for worship,
not on the score of religion, virtue, or love of country, but
because they are of the world, worldly, mouthpieces in word,
or patterns indeed, of the bad passions and corrupt inclina-
tions that belong to unregenerate man. They have their use,
too ; for they are put up by a few bad men, and stand in their
pedestals mute but eloquent witnesses of the cowardly servil-
ity that is an unfailing mark of all degenerate communities
and peoples. Thus Greece of old, in her halls, groves, and
high-ways, for one bust of Plato or Leonidas, had full twenty
of Aphrodite, Eros, Priapus and adulterous Jove Luther
deserves no statue at the hands of the American people, nor
in their chief city, for his teachings or any influence they
may have exercised on civil and religious liberty. The idle
boast that our political liberty has any connection with
Martin Luther or his Reformation is sufficiently disproved
by the fact that the liberties of Germany were effectually lost
after Lutheranism had brought Germany under its influence,
and nowhere more thoroughly than in Scandinavian Europe,
where it became supreme without a rival.— Monsignor Cor-
coran.
From Sweet Innisfallen.
Sweet Innisfallen, long shall dwell
In memory's dream that sunny smile,
Which o'er thee on that evening fell,
When first I saw thy fair isle.
'Twas light, indeed, too blest for one,
Who had to turn to paths of care—
Through crowded haunts again to run,
And leave thee bright and silent there;
No more unto thy shores to come
But on the world's rude ocean tost.
Dream of thee sometimes as a home
Of sunshine he had seen and lost.
Moore.
QUALITY. 87
THE OROTUND.
The Orotund is a rich, deep, resonant chest-tone. It
is the Pure Tone amplified. The volume of Pure Tone is
increased when the sentiments, which Pure Tone con-
veys, become more elevated. Thus, in expressing our
esteem, love, or mere admiration, we employ the simple
Pure Tone. But when esteem heightens to reverence,
love to adoration, admiration to awe, then the tone
swells in harmony until it merges into what is called
Orotund.
The Orotund requires deep breathing, great free-
dom, and a liberal opening of the vocal apparatus.
Examples.
From The Hidden Gem.
Father! who here this thing of clay didst fashion
Into Thine Image's terrestrial frame.
Its dust together hold, or free disperse.
Where rest my fathers, or as outcasts flung:
Make it the earthworm's, or the vulture's feast,
So that from its corruption flash my soul.
Into the furnace of thy purest fire :
Or rather, like a pearl, be gently dropped
Into the abyss of Thy great ocean-bosom,
To seek in vain for surface, depth, or margin,
Absorbed, yet unconsumed, entranced, yet free.
Cardinal Wiseman.
From The Precious Blood.
Salvation ! What music is there in that word. — music that
never tires but is always new. that always rouses yet always
rests us! It holds in itself all that our hearts would say. It
is sweet vigor to us in the morning, and in the evening it is
contented peace. It is a song that is always singing itself
88 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
deep down in the delighted soul. Angelic ears are ravished
by it up in heaven ; and our Eternal Father himself listens to
it with adorable complacency. It is sweet even to Him out
of whose mind is the music of a thousand worlds. To be
saved! What is to be saved? Who can tell? Eye has not seen,
nor ear heard. It is a rescue, and from such a shipwreck. It
is a rest, and in such an unimaginable home. It is to lie
down forever in the bosom of God in an endless rapture of in-
satiable contentment. — Father Father .
From Threnodia Augustalis.
Be true, O Clio, to thy hero's name
But draw him strictly so
That all who view the piece may know
He needs no trappings of fictitious fame
For once, O Heaven, unfold thy adamantine book;
And let his wondering senate see,
If not thy firm, immutable decree,
At least the second page of strong contigency.
Such as consists with wills originally free,
Let them with glad amazement look
On what their happiness may be;
Let them not still be obstinately blind,
Still to divert the good thou hast designed,
Or with malignant penny
To stain the royal virtues of his mind.
llryden.
From Paradise. Canto XXX.
O prime enlightener! thou who gav'st me strength
On the high triumph of thy realm to gaze!
Grant virtue now to utter what I kenn'd.
There is in heav'n a light, whose goodly shine
Makes the Creates visible to all
Created, that in seeing him alone
Have peace; and in a circle spreads so far,
That the circumference wore too loose a zone
QUALITY. 89
To girdle in the sun. All is one beam,
Reflected from the summit of the first,
That moves, which being hence and vigour takes.
And as some cliff, that from the bottom eyes
Its image mirror'd in the crystal flood,
As if bo admire its brave apparelling
Of verdure and of flowers; so, round about,
Eyeing the light, on more than million thrones,
Stood, eminent, whatever from our earth
Has to the skies return 'd.
( fary's Dante,
From The Bells of Stonyhurst
Old College bells!
Your carol swells
Like angel chords., or voices fairy;
Within my soul
I hear you toll
In fancy still your Ave Maria,
Old bells, old bells.'
Your music tells
Of joyous hours and friendships cherished,
Of smiles and tears, and golden years
And dreams and hopes that long have perished.
Ah. sweet and sad,
When evening glad
Gives rest to hearts with toiling weary.
By memory tolled,
Sweet bells of old!
To hear again your Ave Maria.
P. J. Coleman,
From St Hereulanus.
••Perugians. stand!
Fight for the faith of fatherland ;
Your leader I : strike, strike for God,
Your altars and your native socL v
Ml ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
His voice gives nerves the strength of steel,
Gives hearts the valor heroes feel ;
One purpose gleams in every eye :
. "On to the fight and victory!"
Brave heart! outstripping e'en the brave,
You fell, but in your fall you gave
Example fair of steadfast faith,
Of dauntless soul, of glorious death.
By craft, not arms, the city falls,
The foeman's sentries pace the walls :
Your veins a city's ransom hold—
What bliss! you die to save your fold!
Leo XIII.
From The Duellist's Honor.
Upon what ground can he who engages in a duel, through
fear of ignominy, lay claim to courage? Unfortunate delin-
quent! Do you not see by how many links your victim was.
bound to a multitude of others'? Does his vain and idle re-
signation of his title to life absolve you from the enormous,
claims which society has upon you for his services,— his
family for that support of which you have robbed them.,
without your own enrichment? Go, stand over that body:
call back that soul which you have driven from its tenement;
take up that hand which your pride refused to touch, not one
hour ago. You have in your pride and wrath, usurped one
prerogative of God — you have inflicted death. At least, in.
mercy, attempt the exercise of another; breathe into those
distended nostrils,— let your brother be once more a living-
soul! Merciful Father! how powerless are we for good, but,
how mighty for evil L Wretched man 1 he does not answer,,
—he cannot rise. All your efforts to make him breathe are
vain. His soul is already in the presence of your common
Creator, Like the wretched Cain will you answer, "Am I
my brother's keeper?" Why do you turn away from the
contemplation of your own honorable work? Yes, go far as
you will, still the admonition will ring in your ears:. It was
by your hand he fell!— Bishop Khgland*
QUALITY. 91
THE ASPIRATE.
The Aspirate is used when the mind is stirred with
apprehension, when we wish to caution others without
being overheard, when extremely affrighted . and in ex-
pressing every form of secrecy.
It is a breathy quality demanding little or no vocal-
ity. The production of this quality is an excellent vocal
exercise, but we should stop before the organs become
dry, and take o-reat care to economize breath.
Examples.
From Macbeth. Act II.
Macbeth. Whence is that knocking?—
How is 't with me. when every noise appalls me?
What hands are here! Hal they pluck out mine eyes.
Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood
Clean from my handy Xo! this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine.
Making the green one red.
Re-enter Lady Macbeth.
Lady M. My hands are of your color; but I shame
To wear a heart so white. (knock.)! hear a knocking
At the south entry: — retire we to our chamber.
A little water clears us of this deed:
How easy is it. then? Your constancy
Hath left you unattended. — (fcnocfc.)Hark! more knocking.
Get on your nightgown, lest occasion call us.
And show us to be watchers.— Be not lost
So poorly in your thoughts.
Macb. To know my deed, 'twere best not know myself.
(knock.
Wake Duncan with thy knocking: I would thou couldst!
Shakespeare.
92 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
From The Dying Christian to His Soul.
Hark! they whisper : angels say,
Sister spirit come away.
What is this absorbs me quite,
Steals my senses, shuts my sight,
Drowns my spirits, draws my breath?
Tell me, my soul, can this be death?
Pope.
From The Hidden Gem.
Bibulus. This way, masters, this way, we are now just at
the door.
I. Robber. Which way?
Bib. Why, this way.
II. Bob. But which is this way?
Bib. Follow me, you—
I. Bob. Gome, no sauce — where are you?
Bib. Follow your nose, then, straight across the court.
[They meet in the middle.]
Here we are at last altogether, now take hold of one an-
other, and follow me. — Cardinal Wiseman.
From King John. Act IV.
Arthur. O! now you look like Hubert : all this while
You were disguised.
Hubert. Peace! no more, adieu.
Your uncle must not know but you are dead :
I'll fill these dogg'd spies with false reports :
And, pretty child, sleep doubtless, and secure.
That Hubert for the wealth of all the world
Will not offend thee.
Arth. O fteaven !— I thank you, Hubert.
Huh. Silence! no more. Go closely in with me:
Much danger do I undergo for thee.
Shakespeare*
QUALITY. 93
From Essay on Satire.
Each fool to low ambition, poorly great,
That pines in splendid wretchedness of state,
Tired in the treacherous chase, would nobly yield,
And, but for shame, like Sylla, quit the field;
The demon Shame paints strong the ridicule,
And whispers close, "The world will call you fool.''
Pope.
From Hamlet. Act I.
Angels and ministers of grace defend us ! —
Be thou a spirit of health, or goblin damn'd,
Bring with thee airs from heaven, or blasts from hell,
Be thy intents wicked or charitable,
Thou com'st in such a questionable shape,
That I will speak to thee; I'll call thee, Hamlet,
King, father, royal Dane ; O, answer me:
Let me not burst in ignorance! but tell
Why thy canonized bones, hearsed in death,
Have burst their cerements! why the sepulchre,
Wherein we saw thee quietly inurn'd,
Hath oped his ponderous and marble jaws.
To cast thee up again!
Bhakespea n .
THE GUTTURAL
The etymology of this word gives us a clue to its
quality. It is derived from the Latin word guttur =
throat, because it is of the throat, throaty. It is the
result of a rigid condition of the vocal organs arising
from the intensity of the passions it manifests. It is a
gruff, discordant tone, eminently fitted to express ex-
treme anger, intense rage, deep contempt, and merciless
revenge. If we would give just expression to our ha-
tred for detestable things, we must acquire this quality.
94 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
Examples.
From The Hidden Gem.
Again and again, I have been vilely used, down to the last
night! Aye, last night! That was the last drop! That can
never be blotted out except by one means.— Yes in the in-
tense solitude of that foul dungeon,— in the Tartarus of that
broiling furnace — in the murkiness of that endless night-
still more, in the bitterness of an envenomed soul — in the
recklessness of despair— yea, through gnashing teeth and
parched throat — I, Bibulus, vowed revenge — fatal revenge.
My manacles and gyves rung like cymbals, as my limbs quiver-
ed while I uttered the burning words ; and a hollow moan, or
laugh — I know not which — reechoed them through the vault.
* * *
And when did an Asiatic heart retract such a vow? When
did it forego the sweet, delicious thougth — the only luxury of a
slave — revenge?. . . .Down, ye growling curs of remorse ! Hush!
hissing worms of conscience ! You are too late— the potion is
mixed, and the fatal drug cannot be extracted. And then re-
member Ardea — this afternoon — with its death of a mad
hound foaming at i^the mouth, or a viper shrivelled up on a
scorching bank. No; no more qualms. What I am going to
do is a safe remedy of- all my ills— the easiest way of gaining
all my ends. — Cardinal Wiseman.
From Othello. Act III.
Othello. O, that the slave had forty thousand lives,
One is too poor, too weak for my revenge.
Now do I see 'tis true.— Look here, Iago :
All my fond love thus do I blow to heaven ; ; tis gone.—
Arise, black vengeance from thy hollow cell!
Yield up, O love ! thy crown, and hearted throne,
To tyrannous hate! swell, bosom with thy fraught.
For 'tis of aspics' tongues!
Iago. Pray, be content.
Oth. O, blood, Iago. blood !
Shakespeare.
QUALITY, 95
From The Battle of Knocktuagh.
Then stept fierce Cathal to the front his Chieftains standing
nigh :
"Proud stranger take our answer back, and this our reason
why:—
Our wolves are gaunt for lack of food— our eagles pine away,
And to glut them with your flesh, lo! we stop you here to-
day!"
"Now, gramercy for the thought!" Calm Sir Hugolin replied,
And with a steadfast look and mien that wrathful Chieftain
eyed:—
"Yet should your wild birds covet not the dainty fare you
name,
Then, by the rood, our Norman swords shall carve them bet-
ter game!"
By tJu Author of "Tin monks of Kilcrea."
From Coriolanus. Act V.
Measureless liar, thou hast made my heart
Too great for what contains it. Boy ! O slave'.
Pardon me. lords, 't is the first time that ever
1 was forc'd to scold. Your judgments, my grave lords.
Must give this cur the lie: and his own notion
i Who wears my stripes, impress'd upon him, that
Must bear my beating to his gravej shall join
To thrust the lie upon him.
I. Lord. Peace both, and hear me speak.
Cor. Cub me to pieces. Yolsces : men and lads.
Stain all your edges on me. — Boy! False hound!
If you have writ your annals true, 't is there,
That like an eagle in a dove-cote. I
Flutter'd your Volscians in Corioli:
Alone I did it, Boy!
Shakespeare.
9Q ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
From The Siege of Maynooth.
"The I}arl heaped favors on thee?" — "Never heaped
king more on Lord."
"He loved thee? honored thee?" — I was his heart, his arm,
his sword!"
"He trusted thee .?"-=- "Even as he trusted his own lofty soul!"
"And thou hetrayedst him?" Base wretch! thou knowest the
traitor's goaU
"Ho Provost Marshal, hither! Take this losel caitiff hence
I mark, methinks, a scaffold under yonder stone defence.
Off with his head! By Heaven, the blood within me boils and
seethes!
To look on him { So vile a knave pollutes the air he breathes!"
J, 0. Mangan.
THE PECTORAL.
The etymology of this word also stands us in good
stead. It has its origin from 'pectus, the breast, be-
cause it derives its resonance from the lower part of
the chest. It is deeper than the Orotund but lacks its
strength and purity. It is tinged with the Aspirate
and the Orotund. In the expression of horror x re-
morse, ait>e, etc., it is very effective.
Examples*
From Hell. Canto XXX.
"O ye,, who in this world of misery,
Wherefore I know not,, are exempt from pain,"
Thus he began> "attentively regard
Adamo's woe. When living^ full supply
Ne'er lacked me of what most I coveted :
One drop of water now, Alas! I crave.
The rills, that glitter down the glassy slopes
Of Casentino, making fresh and soft
The banks whereby they glide to Arna's stream.,
QUALITY. 97
Stand ever in my view; and not in vain ;
For more the pictured semblance dries me up,
Much more than the disease, which makes the flesh
Desert these shrivell'd cheeks."
Canfs Dante.
From God in the Night.
Deep in the dark I hear the feet of God :
He walks the world; He puts His holy hand
On every sleeper— only puts His hand-
Within it benedictions for each one —
Then passes on : but ah ! wliene"er He meets
A watcher waiting for Him, He is glad.
(Does God like man, feel lonely in the dark?)
He rests His hand upon the watcher's brow —
But more than that He leaves His very breath
Upon the watcher's soul, and more than this.
He stays for holy hours where watchers pray:
And more than that. He oftentimes lifts the veils
That hide the visions of the world unseen.
The brightest sanctities of highest souls
Have blossomed into beauty in the dark.
Father Eyan.
From God Revealed in Nature.
God of Christians! it is on the waters of the abyss arid on
the vast expanse of the heavens that Thou hast particularly
engraven the characters of Thy omnipotence! Millions of
stars sparkling in the azure of the celestial dome— the moon
in the midst of the firmament— a sea unbounded by any shore
—infinitude in the skies and on the waves— proclaim with
most impressive effect the power of Thy arm! Never did Thy
greatness strike me with profounder awe than in those
nights, when, suspended between the stars and the ocean.
I beheld immensity over my head and immensity beneath
my feet !
I am nothing: I am only a simple, solitary wanderer, and
often have I heard men of science disputing on the subject of
98 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
a Supreme Being, without understanding them: but I have
invariably remarked, that it is in the prospect of sublime
scenes of nature that this unknown Being manifests Himself
to the human heart, — Chateaubriand,
THE FALSETTO.
The Falsetto is that thin, shrill voice which we use
when w^e exceed our natural compass. It is used in
fright, affectation, screaming, and in petulant emphasis.
Men sometimes employ this quality of voice in imita-
ting women and children.
Examples.
From Prologue to "The Maiden Queen."
Women like us passing for men you'll cry.
Presume too much upon your secrecy
The ladies we shall not so easily please:
They'll say, "What impudent bold things are these.
That dare provoke, yet cannot do us right,
Like men, with huffing looks, that dare not fight!"
Dryden
From The Poet's Little Rival.
Then the poet leans and listens
With a quaint and tender air.
As the bird-like child goes darting
Through the beautiful parterre.
"Bravo! Bravo! little poet!"
(Startled, flushed with love's sunshine:/
tk See my poem, papa darling!
Every word a blossom fine."
"Sweet" he says: "God bless thee daughter ;
Ne'er was poem writ like thine!"
Eleanor (\ Donnelly.
QUALITY. 99
From Ellen Middleton.
Julia was standing at the head of the stone steps that I
have described as forming one of the extremities of the ve-
randa : and as she placed her foot on one of the moss-covered
slippery steps she called out, "I'm going down— I'll have my
own way now.'' I seized her hand, and drawing her back ex-
claimed, ''Don't Julia!'' on which she said, "You had better
not tease me : you are to be sent away if you tease me." I
felt as if a viper had stung me : the blood rushed to my head.
and I struck her; she reeled under the blow, her foot slipped.
and she fell headlong down the steps. A voice near me said.
'•She has killed her!" — Lady Georgiana Fullerton.
From The Rape of the Lock.
"Ob, wretched maid!'' She spread her hands and cried.
While Hampton's echoes, "wretched maid!" replied,
"Was it for this you took such constant care
The bodkin, comb, and essence to prepare?
For this your locks in paper durance bound?
For this with torturing irons wreathed around?
For this with fillets strained your tender head,
And bravely bore the double loads of lead?
Oods! shall the ravisher display your hair.
While the fops envy, and the ladies stare?
And shall this prize, th' inestimable prize,
Exposed through crystal to the gazing eyes,
And heighten'd by the diamond's circling rays,
On that rapacious hand forever blaze?
Sooner shall grass in Hyde Park circus grow.
And wits take lodgings in the sound of Bow!
Sooner let air. earth, sea. to chaos fall.
Men. monkeys, lapdogs. parrots, perish all!"
Pope.
THE NASAL.
"That nasal twang,
Heard in conventicle, where worthy men,
100 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
Misled by custom, strain celestial themes
Through the pressed nostril spectacle— bestrid,''
is placed here, not to be acquired — but to be avoided.
It is the outcome of permitting 1 too much or too little
air to pass through the nasal passages. Those who
ma} 7 have acquired this quality from carelessness
should regard it as a defect, and, hence, begin to over-
come it. It is chiefly valuable for mimics and imper-
sonators.
GENERAL EXAMPLES.
The student should be required to determine the
qualities entering into each of the following selections,
and explain and deliver them according to the foregoing-
rules.
From Nature Proclaims a Deity.
There is a God! the herbs of the valley, the cedars of the
mountain bless Him ; the insect sports in His beam ; the bird
sings Him in the foliage ; the thunder proclaims Him in the
Heavens, the ocean declares His immensity : man alone has
said, there is no God! Unite in thought at the same instant
the most beautiful objects in nature. Suppose that you see.
at once, all the hours of the day, and all the seasons of the
year; a morning of spring and a morning of autumn: a night
bespangled with stars, and a night darkened by clouds:
meadows enamelled with flowers : forests hoary with snow :
fields gilded by the tints of autumn,— then alone you will
have a just conception of tiie universe!— Chateaubriand.
From Philosophy of History.
- .Christianity was the connecting power which linked to-
gether the great community of European nations, not only in
the moral and political relations of life, but also in science
QUALITY. 101
and modes of thinking. The Church was like the all embrac-
ing vault of heaven, beneath whose kindly shelter, those war-
like nations began to settle in peace, and gradually to frame
their laws and institutions. Even the office of instruction,
the heritage of Christian knowledge, the promotion of sci-
ence, and of all that tended to advance the progress of the
human mind, devolved to the care of the Church, and were
exclusively confined to the Christian schools The little
knowledge that was then possessed, was by the more active
spirit, and the sound understanding and practical sense of
the European nations, and their better priesthood, applied
with general advantage to the interests of society. Science
was not then, as in the later period of its proud ascendency,
in open hostility with the pure dictates of faith and the
institutions of life. On that world so variously excited in
peace, as in war. and by the different pursuits of art and in-
dustry, useful knowledge and wholesome speculation descend-
ed, not like a violent flood, but like the soft distillations of
the refreshing dew. or the gentle drops of fertilizing rain,
from the Heaven of faith which over-arched the whole.—
Frul> rick von Sdilegel.
From Father Connell.
Helen heard the noise of a heavy blow, and the long shrieks
suddenly stopped, subsiding into a low. melancholy cry, fol-
lowed by deep, deep moans: and a second blow, accompanied
by a hissing sound of human breath, such as workmen utter,
when they labor with a hatchet. Perfect silence ensued, for
a short time, only interrupted by the whispering of the night-
breeze through the grass, and through the bushes, and by the
gentle fall of water near at hand. Hasty footsteps entered
the little hollow, and paused within a few feet of where she
lay concealed.
"This is the place he bade us wait for him." said a hoarse,
deep voice but in cautious tones.
'"It is." answered another person— and the two words were
spoken with a shudder.
"That was a black act." continued the first voice.
••Oh. it was a bloody deed: Oh. the thought of this night
will never leave my mind, never, never!"
Banim.
102 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
From A Sermon on Heaven.
You have found yourself, perchance, upon a summer day.
within the sanctuary of some sequestered vale; the tempered
sunshine rests on all; in the rain-freshened verdure of the
.tree above you, and of the grass beneath your feet; on the
smiling hills that enfold you on every side; on the sleeping
waters of the lake beneath. The air is sweet with the scent
of flowers, and cooled by the plashing of the shady stream;
sounds of song are in the sky above, and in the woods and
thickets around. Though, indeed, you scarcely note each sev-
eral charm; for it is the unspeakable harmony of all, and its
unison with the chords of your heart within, that you are
sensible of as you pant out, in a very rapture of thanksgiving,
My God, this is heavenly!
Yes, it is; and thank Him for such a glimpse, into the mir-
ror, when the very smoothness of unf alien nature is upon it,
when the Peace of Paradise seems restored, and the uncloud-
ed smile of its not yet outraged God seems reflected on earth
that bears as yet no curse. Make the most of such hours, for
they will quickly pass : the valley will be storm-swept, the
skies darkened, the verdure, the fragrance, the melody, — all
will soon go. But that is to remind you that what you have
seen is an image, and not the reality; it is not to take away
the lesson that its beauty has taught you, nor to rob you of
the hope it has kindled in your soul. For the invisible Heav-
en of God is clearly seen from the created world below, being
understood through its image in creation. — Archbishop Ryan.
From Epistle II. Moral Essays.
Nothing so true as what you once let fall,
"Most women have no characters at all."
Papilla, wedded to her amorous spark,
Sighs for the shades— "How charming is a park V~
A park is purchased but the fair he sees
All bathed in tears— "Oh, odious, odious trees !"
Pope.
QUALITY.
From To a Tomb.
What horror at thy sight shoots through each sense!
How powerful is thy silent eloquence
Which never natters! Thou instruct 'st the proud,
That their swoll'n pomp is but an empty cloud,
Slave to each wind; the fair, those flowers they have
Fresh in their cheek, are strewed upon a grave.
Thou tell'st the rich their idol is but earth ;
The vainly pleased, that syren-like their mirth
Betrays to mischief, and that only he
Dares welcome death, whose aims at virtue be.
Habington.
From The Necessity of Religion for Society.
Religion is the only solid basis of society. If the social
editice rests not on this eternal and immutable foundation, it
will soon crumble to pieces. It would be as vain to attempt
to establish society without religion as to erect a palace in
the air, or on shifting sands, or to hope to reap a crop from
seed scattered on t lie ocean's surface. Religion is to society
what cement is to the building: it makes ali parts compact
and coherent. What principles without religion are binding
enough to exact of you that obedience which you owe to
society and to the laws of your country? Es it the dread
of civil punishment? But the civil power takes cognizance
only of overt acts. It has no jurisdiction over the heart,
which is the seat of rebellion, the secret council chamber
where dark schemes are concocted. The civil power cannot
enter the hidden recesses of the soul, and quell the tumults
raging there. It cannot suppress those base calumnies, wdiis-
pered in the dark, which poison the social atmosphere witli
their foul breath, and breed hatred, resentment, and death.
You might as well preserve a tree from decay by lopping off a
few withered branches whilst allowing the worms to gnaw at
the roots, as to preserve the social tree from moral corruption
by preventing some external crimes whilst leaving the heart
to be worm-eaten by vice.— Cardinal Gibbons,
104 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
From Sursum Corda.
Homeless hearts! homeless hearts! through the dreary.
dreary years,
Ye are lonely, lonely wand'rers, and your way is wet with
tears ;
In bright or blighted places, wheresoever ye may roam,
Ye look away from earth-land, and ye murmur, "Where is
home?
Homeless hearts! God is Home!
Father Ryan.
From Hamlet. Act III.
Whereto serves mercy,
But to confront the visage of offence?
And what's in prayer, but this two-fold force, —
To be forsetalled ere we come to fall,
Or pardoned, being down? Then I'll look up;
My fault is past. But, O. what form of prayer
Can serve my turn? Forgive me my foul murder I—
That cannot be ; since I am still possess'd
Of those effects for which I did the murder.
My Crown, mine own ambition, and myociueen
Try what repentance can : What can it not?
Yet what can it, when one cannot repent?
O wretched state I O bosom, black as death!
O limed soul, that, struggling to be free.
Art more engag'd! Help, angels, make assay ! [steel,
Bow, stubborn knees! and. heart, with strings of
Be soft as sinews of the new-born babe ;
All may be well.
Shaiespea-re.
From 4 f Hereafter.' r
Is it not sweet to think, hereafter
When the spirit leaves this sphere,
Love, with deathless wing will waft her
To those she long hath mourned, for here?
QUALITY. 105
Hearts from which 't was death to sever,
Eyes, this world can ne'er restore,
There as warm, as bright as ever,
Shall meet us and be lost no more.
When wearily we wander, asking
Of earth and heaven, where are they
Beneath whose smiles we once lay basking
Blest, and thinking bliss would stay?
Hope still lifts her radiant finger
Pointing to the eternal Home,
Upon whose portal yet they linger.
Looking back for us to come.
Moore.
From Brutus's Harangue over the Dead Body of Lucretia.
Thus, thus my friends! fast as our breaking hearts
Permitted utterance, we have told our story :
And now, to say one word of the imposture—
The mask, necessity has made me wear.
When the ferocious malice of your king,—
King! do I call him'?— when the monster, Tarquin.
Slew, as most of you may well remember,
My father, Marcus, and my elder brother.
Envying at once their virtues and their wealth.
How could I hope shelter from his power.
But in the false face I have worn so long?
Say — would you seek instructions: would you seek
What ye should do? Ask ye yon conscious walls
Which saw his poison'd brother, saw the incest
Committed there, and they will cry. Bevenge!—
J. Howard Payne.
Wfi ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION. VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
CHAPTER X.
PLANES OF GESTURE,
Gesture has three points of direction: Ascending,
Horizontal, and Descending. Ascending gesture moves
from the level of the shoulder toward the zenith. Hor-
izontal gesture is the middle between ascending and
descending. It is even with the shoulder. Descending
gesture moves from the shoulder to the nadir. Each
of these may be made toward the front, the oblique, the
side or lateral, aiid the backward oblique.
The Hand has several different positions or uses. The
principal uses of the hand arc- — the supine, in which the
palm faces up; the prone, with the palm down; the
vertical with the palm outward; the index, with the
index ringer extended and most prominent; the clasped
and the clinched. Taking the first letter of each of the
above we have the following concise notation of oesture.
A.
F.
. .ascending front.
A.
0.
oblique.
A.
L.
lateral.
A.
B.
0..
backward oblique.
H.
F.
. .horizontal front.
H.
0.
oblique.
H.
L.
lateral.
H.
B.
0..
u backward oblique,
D.
F.
. .descending front..
D.
0.
oblique.
PLANES OF GESTURE. 107
D. L. ..
. . descending lateral.
D. B. 0..
u backward o
)liqne
R. H. ..
. . right hand.
L. H. ..
. . left hand.
B. H. .
. . both hands.
S.
. .supine.
P.
. . prone .
V.
. . vertica 1 .
I.
. . index.
Cla.
. .clasped.
Cli.
. . clinched.
Ascending gesture belongs to the imagination. It per-
tains to the realms of the ideal, the virtuous, the noble,
the heavenly.
Horizontal gesture belongs to the realm of the intellect.
It is employed in designating geographical localities, etc.
Descending gesture belongs to the will and is used
therefore in bold assertion and strong resolution. It is
also used to express inferiority, the baser passions^ and.
in general, things that we scorn or hate.
Front gestures signify nearness. They are more di-
rect and personal than the others.
Oblique gestures are less emphatic than front gestures.
They are used more in generalities.
Lateral gestures are less emphatic than even the ob-
lique. They express great extent, universality, etc.
Backward gesture refers to something past either geo-
graphieaily or chronologically.
The supine hand reveals, the prone conceals or imposes,
the vertical repels, the index points out, the clasped
strongly entreats, the clinched shows the existence of
strong passion.
108 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
These significations are not to be looked on as specific.
They are general and admit of a very liberal interpreta-
tion. For practice on these different planes of gesture
and faces of the hand, assume the Unexcited position, let
the arms hang loosely and entirely deeomjiosed. Now
raise the arm in the required direction taking care that
the shoulder leads and each joint unfolds in succession.
At the emphatic word end the gesture by a quick turn of
the wrist. This last movement is known as the ictus of
of the gesture, or the climax. The lingers and thumb
should have their natural position, i. e., the index
straight, the thumb straight and somewhat apart from
the index, the other three lingers relaxed, slightly
curved. Do not separate the fingers nor bend the thumb
inward. Carry the right hand through all of the above
planes of gesture, and as far as practicable, in all the
different faces of the hand. Practice the left next, and
then both together in the same way. The descending
vertical single hand and the double backward oblique
are not practicable.
In the sentences given below the abbreviations show
what gestures are appropriate. Where the hand is not
mentioned, the right is supposed, and where the use is
not given, the supine is to be understood.
The Supine Hand.
This hand may be used in the expression of almost
any emotion. In general, it is used to reveal.
Single Supine Hand.
D. F.
I demand my right.
I submit the matter to your decision.
PLANES OF GESTURE. 109
D. 0.
There is no foundation for these assertions.
What could I do in such a state of health'?
D. L.
Away with such trifling!
To thine own self be true,
And it must follow as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
D. B. 0.
Away with such an abominable idea.
Let those who did the deed now look to it.
H. F.
Nil'. I appeal to you. for you were present.
This above all. to thine own self be true.
H. 0.
Do you confess so much? G-ive me your hand.
This is my opinion, gentlemen.
H. L.
Search the latest records and you will find it inscribed.
Not that I loved Caesar less, but that 1 loved Rome more.
H. B. 0.
Turning from civilization, he struck out into the jungle.
His past life now appears to him a dream.
A. F.
Oil! Jesus, seize my hand and lead me home.
But conquered now. and crushed, I look aloft,
And sorrow leads me. Father, back to thee.
A. 0.
The angels of God watch over us ever.
The same stars look down upon man that looked upon the
Shepherds on the hilts of Bethlehem.
A. L.
The Dipper, great in- size but proportionate to the rest of
L10 ELEMENT* OF EXPRESSION. VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
the heavens, is known to everyone.
The sun, the moon, the stars proclaim His name.
A. B. 0.
Our forefathers, men of sterling worth, died for this faith.
Hurrah! Hurrah! great Caesar comes.
Both Hands Supine.
B. H. D. F.
I am willing to lay clown all I possess, at thy command.
O, death! where is thy sting?
B. H. D. 0.
Behold me at thy feet!
We can easily afford to grant this.
B. H. D. L.
Broad is the way that leacletli to destruction.
I utterly renounce the supposed advantages.
B. H. H. F.
I beg of you to consider the consequences of such a decision.
Here I stand longing ardently for you.
B. H. H. 0.
Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears.
It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes.
B. H. H. L.
On every side, we behold evidences of the Creator's good-
ness.
The world, from end to end, sends up its praise.
B. H. A. F.
Oh, God! we praise thee.
Oh. sacred Liberty! I lift my hands to thee.
B. H. A. 0.
The many stars T see were planted by an almighty hand.
The gathering clouds, like meeting armies, come on apace.
PLANES OF GESTURE. Ill
B. H. A. L.
Not a star glittered in all the firmament.
-Joy, joy! my soul is saved.
Single Hand Prone.
The Prone hand is as extensively used as the supine.
It generally represses and conceals.
D. F.
Down, slave, before me and pay your allegiance.
Even Genius feels rebuked and subdued, as in the presence'
of higher qualities.
D. 0.
The wild rose grew above that unknown grave.
Let every true patriot repress such a feeling.
D. L.
Repentance will cover that sin.
The noise died away.
D. B. 0.
1 despise thy threats of harm to me.
I utterly contemn and abhor such dealings.
H. F.
O Hamlet! speak no more.
Far ahead we saw the smoke of a great steamer.
H. 0.
Friendship has a power.
To soothe affliction in her darkest hour.
Peace, dreamer, thou hast done well.
H. L.
The landscape fades from view.
No more shall melancholy brood therein.
H. B. 0.
The dread-visitation from God was come upon Gomorrah.
112 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
Looking back to your deeds of yesterday, have you not
much to dread?
A. F.
He has suspended the sword above you.
Forbear, pollute not that sacred name.
A. 0.
Ye gods, withhold your wrath.
The rising sun put out the stars.
A. L.
Do you see that dark cloud over there?
The top of yon high mount we gained.
A, B. 0.
The Decalogue was given amidst Sinai's thunder.
Xo other institution carries the mind back to the time
when lions and tigers bounded in the Flavian amphitheaters.
Both Hands Prone.
B, H, D. F.
Here we gently laid him down and covered him.
I saw before me the mutilated corpse,
B. H, D. 0.
Down with ail such sentiments forever.
Frail men I bow down your necks to His yoke,
B. H. D. L.
In the graves of every nation lie unknown heroes.
Time, in his onward march, destroys all the works of man,
B. H. H. F.
On horror's head, horrors accumulate.
My blessing rest on you.
B. H. H. 0.
Night closed over the city.
Heaven blast your hopes with its heavy eurse.. *
PLANES OF GESTURE. 113
B. H. H. L.
O'er all the world darkness reigns supreme.
Sorrow mantles the whole earth.
B. H. A. F.
Withhold the chastisement we deserve.
Forever blessed be Thy sacred name!
B. H. A. 0.
The mantle of darkness lifted, and light was.
Hover o'er us in the storms of life.
B. H. A. L.
From end to end of the universe, God reigns.
The floor of heaven bestrewn with golden stars.
The Vertical Hand.
This hand is used to denote a warding off. The Su-
pine generally supports, the Prone represses, the Ver-
tical repels.
Single Vertical Hand.
H. F.
Out of my sight !
H. 0.
Drive back the bold invaders.
H. L.
Away with such vile measures.
H. B. 0.
Follow not: I'll have no speaking.
A. F.
Withhold Thy justice : grant me merry.
A. 0.
Oh. Heaven! forbid such a deed.
A. L.
Away, delusive phantom!
15
114 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL
A. B. 0.
Hence, horrible shadow!
Unreal mockery, hence!
B. H. F.
Whence and what art thou, execrable shape?
B. H. H. 0.
Far from us be such a thought.
B. H. H. S.
Bursts the wild storm of terror and dismay.
B. H. A. F.
Avert, O God the frown of thy indignation !
B. H. A. 0.
Angels and ministers of grace, defend us !
B. XL A. L.
Melt and dispel ye spectre doubts.
The Index Hand.
This form of gesture is used to limit the designating
gesture. Compare the following examples and the dif-
ference of use will he more obvious.
R. H. H. 0. P.
Let us go over the whole ground once more!
R. H. H. F. I.
Let us dwell on this point in particular.
L A. F.
That point is beyond your reach.
A. 0.
From yonder point I have often gazed at the sea.
A. L.
Do you see the eagle's nest far to our right?
A. B. 0.
I ask you to glance at that brightest page in our ( luirchV,
annals.
PLANES OF GESTURE. 115
H. F.
That point I will prove thus.
H. 0.
On yonder house they nailed the placard.
H. L.
In that mound lies a forgotten race.
H. B. 0.
For proof of this, look to the days of the penal laws of
Irleand.
D. F.
Lie there till the bugle arouses thee.
D. 0.
Thou creeping serpent, graceful in all thy movements!
D. L.
He lay here aside of the road.
D. B. .
You remain behind or yon will rue it.
The Clasped Hand.
This position denote* great emotion. It is used in
earnest entreaty, supplication, etc. The fingers of the
right hand are intertwined with those of the left.
Ascending and descending front gestures may be made
with the Clasped Hands.
A. F.
For God's sake spare me.
D..F.
All is now lost: I await your sentence.
The Clinched Hand.
This is used where great emphasis is to be expressed.
Strong denunciation with threats, desperation, resolu-
tion, etc.. take this mode of expression. E. g..
We will win the day or perish.
116 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
I'll have my bond.
Witt] this little hand I will crush his power.
Practice on these sentences, as was mentioned before,
taking care to grasp the sentiment, and portray it as if
it were your own. Mechanical gesture will thus be
avoided. We insert here also a number of extracts
which the student is to interpret and portray by appro-
priate gesture.
MISCELLANEOUS EXAMPLES.
He sees in the distance the goal he must attain.
From Julius Caesar. Act II
O conspiracy!
Shamest thou to show thy dangerous brow by night
When evils are most free? O then, by day,
W r here wilt thou find a cavern dark enough
To mask thy monstrous visage? Seek none conspiracy:
Hide it in smiles and affability;
For if thou path thy native semblance on,
Not Erebus itself were dim enough
To hide thee from prevention.
Shakespeare.
From St. Herculanus.
Down from far Gothland's icy coasts
Sweep Totila's resistless hosts.
He dooms Perugia's walls and towers,
And girds her round with ruthless powers.
Leo XIIL
PLANES OF GESTURE. 1]
From Hamlet. Act I.
O that this too too solid flesh would melt,
Thaw, and resolve itself into a clew!
Or that the Everlasting had not fixed
His cannon 'gainst self -slaughter! O God! O God!
How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable
Seem bo me all the uses of this world!
Fie on 't! O fie! 'tis an unweeded garden,
That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature
Possess it merely. That it should come to this!
But two months dead! — nay, not so much, not two;
So excellent a king; that was, to this
Hyperion to a satyr: so loving to my mother,
That he might not beteem the winds of heaven
Visit her face too roughly. Heaven and earth !
Must I remember? why, she would hang on him.
As if increase of appetite had grown
By what it fed on: and yet, within a month,—
Let me not think on't ; — Frailty, thy name is woman!-
A little month ; or ere those shoes were old.
With which she follow'd my poor father's body,
Like Niobe, all tears; — why she, even she, —
O heaven! a beast, that wants discourse of reason.
Would have mourn'd longer, — married with my uncle,
My father's brother: but no more like my father,
Than I to Hercules: within a month:
Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears
Had left the flushing in her galled eyes.
She married.
Shakespeare.
From Lalla Rookh.
'•What! while our arms can wield these blades.
"Shall we die tamely:-' die alone'.-'
-•Without one victim to our shades,
"One Moslem heart, where, buried deep.
"'The sabre from its toil may sleep?
•■Xo— God of Iran's burning skies!
L18 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
"Thou scorn 'st tli' inglorious sacrifice.
"No— though of all earth's hope bereft,
"Life, swords, and vengeance still are left.
"We'll make yon valley's reeking caves
"Live in the awe-struck minds of men,
••Till tyrants shudder, when their slaves
"Tell of the Gheber's bloody glen.
"Follow, brave hearts! — this pile remains
"Our refuge still from life and chains;
"But his the best, the holiest bed,
"Who sinks entomb'd in Moslem dead!"
Moore.
From Antony and Cleopatra. Act V.
O Antony!
Have I follow'd thee to this?-but we do lance
Diseases in our bodies. 1 must perforce
Have shown to thee such a declining day, .
Or look on thine : we could not stall together
In the whole world. But yet let me lament,
With tears as sovereign as the blood of hearts,
That thou, my brother, my competitor
In top of all design, my mate and empire.
Friend and companion in the front of war,
The arm of mine own body, and the heart.
Where mine his thoughts did kindle, that our stars
Unreconcileable should divide
Our equalness to this. —
Shakespeare.
From Love's Prisoner.
Reposing in his altar-home —
Imprison 'd there for love of me—
My Spouse awaits me ; and I come
To visit him awhile, and be
A solace to his loneliness —
If aught in me can make it less.
Hill.
PLANES OF GESTURE. 119
From Richard III. Act I.
Erroneous vassals ! fche great King of kings
Hath in the. table of bis law commanded,
That thon shalt do no murder: will you, then,
Spurn at his edict, and fulfill man's'?
Take heed: for he holds vengeance in his hand.
To hurl upon their heads that break his law.
Shakespeare,
From Milly's Expiation.
There are times when all these terrors
Seem to facie, and fade away,
Like a nightmare's ghastly presence
In tiie truthful dawn of day.
There are times, too. when before ine
They arise, and seem to hold
In the grasp my very being
With the deadly strength of old,
Till my spirit quails within me,
And my very heart grows cold.
AdelaifU A. Proctt r.
From The Tempest. Act IV.
These our actors.
As I foretold you. were all spirits, and
Are melted into air. into thin air:
And. like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces.
The solemn temples, the great globe itself:
Yea. all which it inherit shall dissolve.
Shakespeare.
From Yesterdays.
Oone! and they return no more,
But they leave a light in the heart:
The murmur of waves that kiss a shore
Will never, I know, depart-
120 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
(^one ! yet with us still they stay,
And their memories throb through life :
The music that hushes or stirs to-day,
Is toned by their calmer strife.
Father By an.
From Twelfth Night. Act I.
If music be the food of love, play on,
Give me excess of it: that surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken and so die, —
That strain again; it had a dying fall:
O, it came o'er my ear like the sweet south,
That breathes upon a bank of violets,
Stealing, and giving odor.
Shakespeare.
From A Voice from Afar.
A sea before
The throne is spread: its pure still glass
Pictures all earth-scenes as they pass:
We on its shore
Share, in the bosom of our rest,
G-od's knowledge, and are bless'd.
Newman*
From Two Gentlemen of Verona. Act V*
Who by repentance, is not satisfied, -
Is not of heaven nor earth.
Shakespeare*
From The Sister of Charity.
Her down-bed, a pallet— her trinkets, a bead,
Her lustre — one taper, that serves her to read :
Her sculpture— the crucifix nailed by her bed ; •
Her paintings— one print of the thorn-crowned head :
Her cushion— the pavement that wearies tier knees:
PLANES OF GESTURE. I2i
Her music— the psalm, or the sigh of disease:
The delicate lady lives mortified there,
And the feast is forsaken for fasting and prayer.
Gerald Griffin.
From Winter's Tales. Act III.
But, O thou tyrant !
Do not repeno these things ; for they are heavier
Than all thy woes can stir : therefore betake thee,
To nothing but despair. A thousand knees
Ten thousand years together, naked, fasting,
Upon a barren mountain, and still winter
In storm perpetual, could not move the gods
To look that way thou wert.
Shakespeare.
From The Diver.
Soon one of these monsters approached me, and plied
His hundred feelers to drag
Me down through the darkness: when, springing aside.
I abandoned my hold of the coral crag,
And the maelstrom grasped me with arms of strength,
And upwhirled and upbore me to daylight at length.
J. C. Mangan.
From King Lear. Act III.
Blow, wind, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow!
You cataracts and hurricanoes spout
Till you have drench*d our steeples, drowned the cocks !
You sulphurous and thought-executing fires,
Vaunt couriers to oak-cleaving thunderbolts.
Singe my white head! And thou, all-shaking thunder.
Strike flat the thick rotundity o ; the world!
* * *
Rumble thy bellyful! Spit, fire! spout, rain!
^Nor rain. wind, thunder, fire, are my daughters:
I tax you not. you elements with unkindness,
122 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
I never gave you kingdom, call'd you children,
Yon owe me no subscription : why then, let fall
Your horrible pleasure: here I stand, your slave,
A poor, infirm, weak, and despis'd old man:—
But yet I call you servile ministers,
That have with two pernicious daughters join'd
Your high-engender'd battles 'gainst a head
So old and white as this, O! O ! 'tis foul !
Shakespeare.
From Stella Matutina.
Cerulean Ocean, fringed with white,
That wear'st her colors evermore,
In all thy pureness, all thy might,
Resound her name from shore to shore.
That fringe of foam, when drops the sun
To-night, a sanguine stain shall wear:—
Thus Mary's heart had strength, alone,
The passion of her Lord to share.
Aubrey Be Vere.
From Macbeth. Act IL
Is this a dagger which I see before me,
The handle toward my hand? come, let me clutch thee: —
I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.
Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible
To feeling as to sight? Or art thou but
A dagger of the mind; a false creation,
Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?
I see thee yet, in form as palpable
As this which now I draw.
Thou marshall'st me the way that I was going.
And such an instrument I was to use.
Mine eyes are made the fools o' the other senses.,
Or else worth all the rest ; I see thee still ;
And on thy blade, and dudgeon, gouts of blood..
PLANES OF GESTURE. 123
Which was not so before.— There's no such thing:
It is the bloody business; which informs
Thus to mine eyes.
Shakespeare.
From Ireland's Vow.
List! scarce a sound can be heard in our thorough-fares—
Look! scarce a ship can be seen on our streams:
Heart-crushed and desolate, spell-bound, irresolute,
Ireland but lives in the bygone of dreams !
Irishmen ! if we be true to our promises,
Nerving our souls for more fortunate hours.
Life's choicest blessings, love's fond caressings,
Peace, home and happiness, all shall be ours!
1). F. M'Carthy.
From Timon of Athens. Act V.
Come not to me again : but. say to Athens,
Timon hath made his everlasting mansion
Upon the beached verge of the salt flood;
Which once a day with his embossed froth
The turbulent surge shall cover; thither come.
And let my grave-stone be your oracle. —
Shakespeare.
From The Penitent Raven.
The Raven's nest is built with reeds,—
Sing woe. and alas is me !
And the Raven's couch is spread with weeds,
High on the hollow tree :
And the Raven himself, telling his beads
In penance for his past misdeeds.
Upon the top I see.
ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION. VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
Telling his beads from night to morn. —
Sing alas ! and woe is me!
In penance for stealing the Abbot's corn.
High on the hollow tree.
Sin is a load upon the breast,
And it nightly breaks the Haven's rest,
High on the hollow tree.
T. D. M'Gee.
From Titus Andronicus. Act III.
Hear me, grave fathers! noble tribunes, stay
For pity of mine age, whose youth was spent
In dangerous wars, whilst you securely slept:
For all my blood in Rome's great quarrel shed;
For all the frosty nights that I have watch 'd:
And for these bitter tears, which now you see
Filling the aged wrinkles in my cheeks:
Be pitiful to my condemned sons.
Shakespeare^.
I, who first swathed thee: thy grave-clothes now will bind :
Giver of Life, thou liest dead before me now:
Tears laved thee at thy birth; far hotter tears I find
To wash the death -drops from thy pallid brow.
From Troilus and Cressida. Act III.
Honour travels in a strait so narrow,
Where one but goes abreast : keep then the path :
For emulation hath a thousand sons.
That one by one pursue: if yon give way,
Or hedge aside from the direct forthright,
Like to an enter'd tide, they all rush by.
And leave you hindmost.
Shakespeare.
PLANES OF GESTURE. 125
From The Hidden Gem.
Farewell, sycophant! farewell, indeed'?
No, not yet.—
There shall be moaning over death in this house, before I
go to encounter it. After this cruel doom, who wil] blame
me, if I seek to escape it?. Yet here again comes the question
— who is doing this? Proculus. Then ought not my vengeance
to fall on him? Warily, calmly— let us weigh this.
If Proculus dies — Eusebius would be worse. Now, if Eu-
phemian dies, it is very different. We know that by his will
he has released all his slaves. So let him die and I am free.
But, is this generous? or honorable? tut, tut: who has
ever been generous, or honorable with me? and am I to begin
virtues first? Out upon it— no!
Yefc the thing must be done cautiously, securely. It is an
ugly thing, is killing, even in revenge. One must throw a
veil over it — make it appear like an accident, even to one's
self. Ha! happy combination — I know how at once to pro-
cure the necessary means, and then— the pilgrim who is go-
ing to sleep there — Capital! What more likely? He has some
design, no doubt— and he will be the only person near. A
train can be easily laid to bring it home to him. — Bravo, Bi-
bulus, thou art a clever hand at mischief.— By one blow thou
shalt gain liberty, security and revenge! — Cardinal Wiseman.
From Coriolanus. Act V.
Measureless liar, thou hast made my heart
Too great for what contains it. Boy! O slave!—
* * #
Cut me to pieces, Yolsces : Men and lads.
Stain all your edges on me. Boy! False hound!
If you have writ your annals true, 'tis there.
That like an eagle in a dove-cote, I
Flutter*d your Yolscians in Corioli :
Alone I did it.— Boy!
Shakespeare.
126 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION. VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
From The Death of Our Lady.
Weep, living things! of life the mother dies;
The world doth lose the sum of all her bliss,
The qeen of earth, the empress of the skies ;
By Mary's death mankind an orphan is.
Let nature weep, yea, let all graces moan;
Their glory, grace, and gifts die all in one.
Southwell.
From The Merchant of Venice. Act I.
Signior Antonio, many a time and oft,
In the Eialto you have rated me
About my money and my usances :
Still have I borne it with a patient shrug;
For sufferance is the badge of all our tribe :
You call me — misbeliever, cut-throat dog,
And spit upon my Jewish gaberdine,
And all for use of that which is my own.
Well then, it now appears you need my help :
Go to then ; you come to me, and you say,
"Shylock, we would have monies ;" you say so;
You that did void your rheum upon my beard.
And foot me as you spurn a stranger cur
Over your threshold ; monies is your suit;
What should I say to you ! should I not say
Hath a dog money? is it possible
A cur can lend three thousand ducats?" or
Shall I bend low, and in a bondman's key,
With 'bated breath, and whispering humbleness.
Say this, —
"Fair sir, you spit on me on Wednesday last:
You spurned me such a day; another time
You called me — dog; and for those curtesies
I'll lend you thus much monies'?
Siidkespeare.
PLANES OF GESTURE. 127
From On Hope.
Dear Hope! earth's dowry and Heaven's debt,
The entity of things that are not yet ;
Fair cloud of hrel both siiade and light,
Our life in death, our day m night;
Fates cannot rind out a capacity
Of hurting thee.
Crashaw,
From A Midsummer Night's Dream. Act IV.
1 was with Hercules and Cadmus once,
When in a wood of Crete they bay'd the bear
With hounds of Sparta : never did I hear
Such gallant chiding; for, oesides tne groves,
The sKies, tne fountains, exei-y region near
Seem'd all one mutual cry: I never heard
So musical a ctiscord, sucu sweet thunder.
Shakespeare,
From On Milton.
Three poets, in three distant ages born,
Greece, Italy, and England did adorn.
The first in loftiness of thought surpassed ;
The next in majesty: in both the last.
The force of Nature could no further go:
To make a third, she joined the other two.
Dryden.
From Much Ado about Nothing, Act V.
The wolves have prey'd: and look, the gentle day.
Before the wheels of Ph Debus, round about
Dapples the drowsy east with spots of gray.
Shakespeare.
128 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION. VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
From Essay on Criticism.
Still green with bays each ancient altar stands
Above the reach of sacrilegious hands:
Secure from flames, from envy's fiercer rage.
Destructive war, and all involving age.
See from each clime the learned their incense bring!
Hear in all tongues consenting pagans ring!
In praise so just let every voice be joined,
And fill the general chorus of mankind.
Hail, bards triumphant! born in happier days.
Immortal heirs of universal praise!
Pope.
From Taming of the Shrew. Act IV.
For 'tis the mind that makes the body rich;
And as the sun breaks through the darkest clouds.
So honour peereth in the meanest habit.
What! is the jay more precious than the lark.
Because his feathers are more beautiful?
Or is the adder better than the eel,
Because his painted skin contents the eyes?
O, no, good Kate: neither art thou the worse
For this poor furniture and mean array.
Shakespeare.
From A Ballad of Iscander-Beg.
"St. Michael stands upon my right,
Therefore I have no fear;
When he shall cease his holy tight
My end will then be near."
Thus spake the brave George Cast riot.
Albania's Christian knight,
Who once with Moslems cast his lot,
(With those who love our Jesus not.^
PLANES OF GESTURE. 129
They called him by another name—
The hateful Moslem crew!—
Iscander-Beg! They knew his fame,
And deep that fame they rue.
To-day. beside the Golden Horn.
Full many a Moslem dame
Most sore affrights her latest born
With that bright name that Christians mourn,
M, F, Egan.
From All's Well That Ends Well. Act L
Be thou blest, Bertram! and succeed thy father
In manners, as in shape ! thy blood and virtue.
Contend for empire in thee: and thy goodness
Share with thy birth-right !
Slidk&spean ,
From The Banner of the Holy Family.
To arms! to arms! for God our King!
Hark how the sounds of battle ring!
Unfold the Banner! Raise it high.
Dear omen of our victory.!
We come, our hands and hearts we bring;
We come, and Sion's song we sing
Unto the Holy Family]
Father Fdber,
From As You Like It. Act IL
All the world "s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts.
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurseVs arms:
And then, one whining school boy, with his satchel,
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school : and then, the lover,
J7
ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION. VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
Sighing like furnace, with a woful ballad
Made to his mistress' eye-brow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel.
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth. And then, the justice :
In fair round belly, with good capon lined,
With eyes severe, and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon :
With spectacles on nose, and pouch on side,
His youthful hose well sav'd, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank : and his big manly voice,
Turning again towards childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound: Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness, and mere oblivion:
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.
Shakespeare.
From Rachel in the North.
Out on the cruel field he lies, dear God!
Whom three nights gone I pillowed safe and warm.
Thinking the clown scarce soft enough, — the sod,
Alas ! the bloody sod now beds his form.
I watch— I wait. I had such hopes and schemes
Of what might be if he were home once more.
Fame! glory ! perish— empty, hollow dreams!
My glory 's dead. And this, O Heaven, is war !
Eleanor C. Donnelly.
From The Comedy of Errors. Act V.
Though now this grained face of mine be hid
In sap-consuming winter's drizzled snow,
And all the conduits of my blood froze up :
FLAXES OF GESTURE. 131
Yet hath my night of life some memory,
My dull deaf ears a little use to hear :
My wasting lamp some fading glimmer left,
All these old witnesses (I cannot err)
Tell me, thou art my son Antipholus.
Shakespeare.
From Campion. Act I.
Camp. Why did I hide? What was that of mine?
If Truth must walk erect, oh ! then, my lords.
Be not so cruel: and straightway destroy
The bloody edicts that affright her so.
But once set free the holy word of God :
"Throw wide these gates, and I will hasten forth
Through all the streets, by which I hither came.
In sight of all who sit in darkness there.
I'll hold erect my head— unfold my heart.
Which pants to blazon forth the truth of Rome.
Nay. more, bid come the champions of your Church.
Free from all wrath, like truly Christian men.
To hold dispute within the sight of all:
And let Her Royal Grace herself preside.
Then she. my lords, and you. and all the court
Shall know if what I preach do shun the light.
Morgan.
From Measure for Measure. Act II.
That in the captain's but a choleric word.
Which in the soldier is flat blasphemy.
Shakespeare.
From Major John Andre. Act II.
Arnold. Benedict Arnold, thou art a Traitor! Thou hast
sold thy honor, the blood and freedom of thy countrymen for
a handful of gold: Great Heavens: has it come to this? Did
I imagine when I first began my profligate life that it would
end in treachery? Arnold the Traitor: What a name? And
132 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
shall 1 mine go down to posterity so? Traitor branded on my
forehead !— Could my gallant father see me now, what would
he say'?' Me thinks his bones are restless in the cold grave to
think his son, his once darling boy, has become the cruel be-
trayer of his people! Arnold the Traitor! So the child, yet
unborn, will read in his country's history. Generations yet
to come will learn my name but to curse it as the cause of the
chains which shackle their freedom. Arnold the Traitor! Is
it for this thou didst tight and bleed so long? Is it for this,
thou for five long years didst lead thy countrymen, and see
them die with a smile upon their lips, because it was for lib-
erty? Is it for this thou didst cross the country, enter Cana-
da, brave the once hated British,— mock at its northern cold !
Ah! how my soldiers, ill-clothed and starving as they were,
would greet my hopeful glance! How they once cheered for
Benedict Arnold! Now they will curse me, execrate the mem-
ory of their country's betrayer! But hold! The crime is not
yet consummated; I have still time to retrace my steps — An-
dre is yet here. I will go to him, cast the money at his feet,
regain my papers and my honor ! Yet how can I recall my
plighted word! How pay my debts, how continue my profli-
gate life, without English money? ISo! I cannot relinquish
my mode of life! Have I not teen disgraced by /Congress?
Have not others been preferred before me? Actuated by
jealousy and secret hatred, my superiors in office, a few
months ago, removed me from my comfortable quarters in
Philadelphia, and put me on those hills. Yes, my actions,
my deeds of valor, my genius, have been undervalued. I have
suffered insults from the very persons my victories raised to
power! Money and Revenge! Let others curse me, let future-
generations spit upon my memory, I will have money! I can-
not change my manner of living. They may brand my re-
ward as the price of blood, of liberty; I call it the means of
pleasure. Arnold thou must go on; to retreat now would be
the act of a coward! Money and Revenge!— Haiti*
From Othello. Act III.
Oth. O, that the slave had forty thousand lives!
One is too poor, too weak for my revenge.
PLANES OF GESTURE. 133
Now do I see 't is true. — Look here Iago ;
All my fond love thus do I blow to heaven : 't is gone.—
Arise, black vengeance, from thy hollow cell !
Yield up, O Love ! thy crown and hearted throne,
To tyrannous hate! swell, bosom, with thy fraught.
For 't is of aspics' tongues!
Shakespeare,
From The Malediction. Act II
My father has cursed me, and his curse has penetrated the
marrow of my bones. Where is my father? He lias not yet
been put to death? What do you wish, Tarik? I was the son
of Gomez, but thou call'st me Almanzor. I am king of Mur-
cia ! Let the people offer me homage. Prostrate at my feet, I
wish to behold them from the summit of my throne. What
have I said, Lopez? Ha, Ha. Ha! Have you seen Pelagius?
I will bathe myself in his vile blood: I will plunge my
hand into the depths of his entrails: I will crush his hoary
head. How beautiful are the heavens! Mahomet alone is
great! Why, then, Abdallah, did you not efface these crosses
from the walls? I was also a Christian! Why does this
awful cross arise before my eyes? I see— I see the Immac-
ulate Virgin trampling the crescent beneath her feet— and
now! oh, hence! awful vision: hence! Ah Lopez, do you see
the hand that threatens me?
You, also, does it menace. Come! away! Let us flee. — O
God! upon the air, upon the walls, upon my heart is written,
••Cursed! cursed! cursed!" — Lyons.
From King Richard II. Act III.
Am I not king?
Awake, thou sluggard majesty! thou sleep'st.
Is not the king's name forty thousand names?
Arm. arm. my name!— A puny subject strikes
At thy great glory. Look not to the ground.
Ye favourites of a king : are we not high?
High be our thoughts.
Shakespeare.
134 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION. VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
From A Panegyric.
There is an instinct in all humanity to preserve the mem-
ory of the great. The heroes of this world are not silenced
when placed in the grave: they live on. Their deeds are
carved in yielding marble. Emblazoned in gold, they fling out
to the world from some grand monument the memory of him
who lies beneath. .But time wears away the stone, and be-
dims the lustre of the shining letters, and the cold world soon
forgets who sleeps there. Even the names of the greatest
become, with the onsweep of ages, a shadow. Who but the
student is acquainted with the names and deeds of an Alex-
ander, a Hannibal, a Genghis Kan, a Tamerlane: and yet these
were names to conjure within days agone ; names that thrilled
the hearts of nations: names at whose command millions of
swords outflew. What has become of them? Search the wide
earth and you will find hardly a stone inscribed to their
memory. The Catholic Church likewise preserves the
names of her great, but in a far more effective manner. She
writes their names above an imperishable altar and bids her
children store up their deeds within the heart as examples
for the direction of their own lives.— Williams.
From Henry VIII. Act III.
Wolsey. Cromwell, I did not think to shed a tear
In all my miseries; but thou hast forc'd me
Out of thy honest truth to play the woman.
Let's dry our eyes; and thus far hear me, Cromwell:
And,— when I am forgotten, as I shall be,
And sleep in dull cold marble, where no mention
Of me more must be heard of, say I taught thee.
Say, Wolsey, that once trod tlie ways of glory.
And sounded all the depths and shoals of honor,—
Found thee a way. out of his wreck, to rise in ;
A sure and safe one, though thy master miss'd it.
Mark but my fall, and that that ruhrd me.
Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away ambition :
By that sin fell the angels; how can man then.
The image of his Maker, hope to win by 't?
PLANES OF GESTURE. 135
Love thyself last; cherish those hearts that hate thee.
Corruption wins not more than honesty.
Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace.
To silence envious tongues. Be just, and tear not :
Let all the ends thou aim'st at be thy country's,
Thy God's, and truth's: then, if thou fall'st, O
Cromwell,
Thou fall'st a blessed martyr. Seiwe thy king;
And, — pr'ythee, lead me in;
There take an inventory of all I have,
To the last penny: 'tis the king's: my robe.
And my integrity in Heaven, is all
I dare now call mine own. O Cromwell, Cromwell,
Had I but serv'd my God with half the zeal
I serv'd my king, he would not in mine age
Have left me naked to mine enemies.
Shakespi zare,
13H ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
CHAPTER XI.
EMPHASIS,
SECTION I.
Any sentence includes one or more important words.
These vital words of the sentence, these words contain-
ing the thought, for the expression of which the sen-
tence has been formed, are termed emphatic, and Em-
phasis is the agent that confers on them their due
degree of prominence.
Emphasis, however, is not an element of expression,
but is the application of any vocal element to particular
words or clauses. From this it is manifest that Empha-
sis employs no uniform method.
Some aver that the most significant words must al-
ways receive special force, or energy of voice— there by
confining emphasis to a monotonous mode, and making'
it and stress identical . True, emphasis, in a large
measure, is to words, what accent is to syllables; but
unlike accent, it does not depend wholly on stress for
the execution of commands, but can, with equal right,
call upon any vocal element and be promptly obeyed.
In short, Emphasis is the sovereign of all elocutionary
elements, and they may all exclaim.
Your Highness' part
Is to receive our duties : and our duties
Are to your tlirone and state, children and servants;
Which do but what they should by doing everything,
S>afe toward your love and honor.. $hal;es»e<i.re
EMPHASIS. 137
Hence, whoever has command of emphasis has master-
dom of elocution.
That we may be able to give just emphasis, we must
possess a clear conception of whatever we try to inter-
pret. This is proven b} T the fact that in unconstrained
conversation, anyone emphasizes correctly, because he
understands clearly what he wishes to say.
Emphasis and Sense are mutually dependent.
To illustrate this principle, let us apply it to the sen-
tence,
My Teacher is very kind.
This sentence contains only rive words and. yet, is sus-
ceptible of live various senses.
If several boys, from divers schools, should engage in
conversation concerning their respective teachers, each
one would "niv"' his teacher. If an inquisitive passer-
by should catch the last words only, his curiosity would
be kindled, and, stopping, he would ask "who" was so
very kiwi? Whereupon the bravest and frankest of the
group answers. "My teacher." The answer adds fuel
to the stranger's curiosity, and he immediately asks the
name of the teacher. Being informed it is Mr. Birch,
he says with an incredulous air, to the intense satisfac-
tion of the }^oung spokesman's tittering companions,
"He must have changed a great deal."
The just anger of the boy is aroused, and he repeats
with increased emphasis. "Weil, he is very kind." The
memory of the questioner now carries him back to
former days, when this same kind teacher checked his
curiosity with the birch of justice, and he responds
abstractedly. "He gave punishments encugh in his
younger days, and often 'swayed the rod of empire
over" — any way a little kindness will not harm him
or his pupils seriously/'
is
138 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
The boy, strong in the good cause he is defending,
unwilling to grant ought that may detract from a teach-
er whose even kindness has endeared him to all, repeats
with greater force, "My teacher is very kind." The
stranger, anxious to leave, for a crowd is gathering,
desires to confound the hoy by a heavy retort, and
says, "Owing to his advanced age, perhaps, he is be-
coming negligent, and possibly lenient. But, my young
man, there is a vast difference between kindness and
lenity. Lenity, 3^011 know,"
"'All I know,.' 1 the boy's ardor interrupts, "is that
my teacher is very kind."'
The stranger's curiosity seems satisfied; he departs,
and the young hero is champion of the field. The
weapon he used was just emphasis. Each change of
emphasis, in the above sentences, effected a like change
of meaning; proving that Emphasis and Sense are
mutually dependent.
Let us now examine the sentence,
Love is stronger than the grave; jealousy, more
CRUEL.
As it stands, love, stronger, grave, jealousy,, and cruel,
would receive emphasis. But if some misanthrope
should deny the first part of your statement, you would
immediately display the firmness of your conviction
in what you said by affirming, "Love is stronger than
the grave." If some one asked you to point out brief-
ly wherein love differed from jealousy, 3011 would say.
Love is stronger than the grave: jealousy, more cruel.
Analyze the following sentence similarly. —
That man deserves lasting renown.
What will the meaning lie if you place the chief em-
EMPHASIS. ldd
phasis on man, on that, on renown? What word would
you emphasize and hoiv. to indicate that your hero mer-
its lasting- fame, although it will scarcely be accorded
him?
Similar sentences should he given by the teacher in
order to accustom the students to "emphatic" anal-
ysis. ■
The following rules are offered to assist the student in
in rinding the emphatic words. While no infallible
rules can be given, correct emphasis being the product
of good brain-work, yet, the rules here presented will
be found welcome and able aids .
i. Words containing the leading ideas must receive
capital emphasis; whereas, those expressing matter com-
paratively unimportant should be subordinated.
Example.
I have done my duty: I stand acquitted to my conscience
and my country : I have opposed this measure throughout ;
and now I protest against it as harsh, oppresive. uncalled for,
unjust : as establishing an infamous precedent, by retaliating
crime against crime: as tyrannous, cruelly and vindictively
tyrannous.— O'ConneJ.
2. The Chief emphasis is conferred on the words
which finish the new picture or idea.
Examples.
The beautiful world hath its mountains and plains.— 31. S.
Whitaker.
By the soft blue waters of Lake Lucerne stands the Chapel
of William Tell.— T. F. Meagher.
140 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION. VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
3. Words expressing or implying contrast deserve
emphasis.
Examples.
He raised a mortal to the skies ;
She drew an angel down.
It was midnight when I listened.
And I heard two voices speak ;
One was harsh, and stern, and cruel,
Dry den.
And the other soft and weak.
Adelaide A. Procter.
To err is human ; to forgive, divine. — Pope.
Fear carries us out of ourselves, shame confines us within
the round of our own thoughts. — Newman.
I said an elder soldier, not a better.— Shakespeare.
From Creator and Creature.
Look how the splendors of the Divine Eature gleam far
and wide, nay infinitely, while the trumpets of heaven blow,
and the loud acclaims of the untiring creatures greet with
jubilant amazement the Living Vision! See how Eternity and
Immensity entwine their arms in inexplicable embrace, the
one filling all space, the other outliving all time; the one
without quantity or limit, the other without beginning, end,
or duration. Behold the understanding and the will, the
one forever lighting up with such meridian glory the pro-
found abysses of God's uncircumscribed Truth and illimitable
Wisdom; the other enfolding for ever in its unconsuming
tires the incomprehensible life of God, His infinite oceanlike
expanse of being, and every creature of the countless Worlds
that from His life draw their own. — Father Faber.
EMPHASIS. 141
Get wealth and place, if possible with grace.
If not, by any means get wealth and place. — Pope.
The contrast in the above couplet is implied. The
poet desires us to secure wealth, and a good position in
society, if possible, honestly, so that we may not forfeit
grace; but, if we find it impossible to gain wealth and
honor by fair means, we should, according to the poet,
make use of any means to attain our purpose.
4. Words essential to the idea which the sentence
tries to convey, are emphatic when first introduced;
but occurring afterward, are unemphatic because they
have already made the intended impression on the
mind.
Example.
From a Munster vale they brought her
From the pure and balmy air.
An Ormand peasant's daughter
With blue eyes and golden hair.
They brought her to the city.
And she faded slowly there:
Consumption has no pity
For blue eyes and golden hair.
K I). WUMam&
Exception to No. 4.
Words repeated to deepen the effect on the mind are
rendered with increased emphasis.
142 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
Examples.
By foreign hands thy dying eyes were closed,
By foreign hands thy decent limbs composed,
By foreign hands thy humble grave adorn'd,
By strangers honour 'd and by strangers mourn "d!
Pope.
Happy, happy, happy pair!
None but the brave,
IN one but the brave,
None but the brave deserve the fair.
Lfryden.
5. The indispensable words of sentences are always
emphatic; words which can be omitted without destroy-
ing the clearness, are unemphatic.
ILLUSTRATION.
But here I am to speak what I do know.— Shakespeare.
AVe might omit "but," "lam/ 1 and "do, 1 ' from this
sentence, and still be able to gather from the context
the meaning. It would read: "Here to speak what I
know.' 1 You will observe it is not classic English, bat
still the sense is not impaired. Hence, the words that
may be omitted are unemphatic.
An exception to the foregoing occurs when such words
as "nevertheless, 11 "at all," "whatever." 1 "notwith-
standing, 1 ' etc., are found in a sentence, as they arc
especially introduced for emphasis.
I Have Kept Nothing Whatever.
Nothing, in this sentence, is plainly the most import-
ant word, for we may say, "I have kept nothing," and
the meaning will not suffer: yet, "whatever" receives
E3IPHASIS. 143
the chief emphasis. Such words are called "oratorical
words" and largely resemble combinations like Declar-
ation of Independence, Grand Army of the Republic,
Catholic Knights of America. Fellow of the Royal So-
ciety of Antiquaries, etc.
Example.
The Grand Army of the Republic embraces a body of he-
roes whose names and deeds are inscribed on Liberty's palm.
— Sullivan.
AYe mast tre:it the underlined words as a word of
nine syllables, giving equal weight to u Grand," "Ar-
my," "RepwMic," passing gently over the other sylla-
bles as we do over unaccented syllables in other words.
But after we have discovered the emphatic words,
the question arises, how shall we deliver them in order
to give them the prominence they deserve?
We must pronounce them in accordance with the
sentiment they express.
SECTION II.
MODES OF EMPHASIS-
Time, i. e. . dwelling somewhat longer on certain
words, is used as a mode of emphasis to express tender
feeling, sublimity, solemnity, admiration, etc. It. can
only be used with words possessing long quantity.
144 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
Examples.
From King Henry VIII. Act III.
So farewell to the little good you bear me.
Farewell, a long farewell to all my greatness,
This is the state of man ; to-day he puts forth
The tender leaves of hope, to-morrow blossoms,
And bears his blushing honors thick upon him;. . . .
O, how wretched
Is that poor man that hangs on princes' favors!
8haJces2>eo.n\
From Elegiac Stanzas.
Oh, let not tears embalm my tomb.—
None but the dews at twilight given!
Oh, let not sighs disturb the gloom, —
None but the whispering winds of heaven I
Jfoort-
From King John. Act III,
Constance. Father Cardinal, I have heard you say.
That we shall see and know our friends in heaven :.
If that be true, I shall see my boy again ;
For, since the birth of Cain, the first male child..
To him that did but yesterday breathe.
There was not such a gracious creature born.
But now will canker sorrow eat my bud.
And change the native beauty from his cheek,.
And he will look as hollow as a ghost :
And so he'll dte ; and, rising so again
I shall not know him ; therefore, never, never,
Must I behold my pretty Arthur more.
Sh(/k< s/)< an .
E3IPHASIS. 145
From Adventures of Telemachus. Book XIV.
Telemaclius had long been disturbed in the night by dreams
in which he saw his father Ulysses. The vision never failed
to return at the end of the night, just before the approach of
the Aurora, with her prevailing tires, to chase from heaven
the doubtful radiance of the stars, and from the earth the
pleasing delusion of sleep From these pleasing dreams
Telemachus always awoke dejected and sorrowful . While one
of them was recent upon his mind he cried out: " O my
father! O my dear father Ulysses! the most frightful dreams
would be more welcome to me than these. Those representa-
tions of felicity convince me that thou art already descended
to the abodes of those happy spirits whom the gcds reward
for their virtue with everlasting rest. I think I behold the
fields of Elysium! Must I then, O my father , see thee no
more forever'? How dreadful is the loss of hope ! — Fenelon.
Force is used with the sterner emotions and in the ex-
pression of impassioned thought.
The following examples offer opportunity for em-
phasis by Time and Force. Let the student indicate the
emphatic words and the means of emphasis.
From Threnodia Augustalis.
Calm was his life and quiet was his death.
Soft as those gentle whispers were
In which the Almighty did appear:
By the still voice the prophet knew him there.
That peace which made thy prosperous reign to shine,
That peace thou lea vest to thy imperial line.
That peace, oh happy shade, be ever thine!
Dryden.
14b ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
From Nature Superior to Science.
In all physical science we can only be the servants and
disciples of nature. She must be the absolute mistress, and
she will not yield one tittle of power to us. By submission
alone to those laws, which she herself has taught us, can we
overcome her. Let me now, in order to put this view more
strikingly before you, imagine a conversation, such as has
often, I dare say, taken place, especially at the commence-
ment of steam locomotion, in almost every part of the world.
We will suppose a person, by way of introducing the conver-
sation, saying of the steam engine: "What a wonderful in-
vention; how marvelous; to what a pitch has science been
brought; how completely has she mastered nature and her
laws! We have destroyed space, W T e have cheated time, we
have invented a piece of mechanism which we have endowed
with almost vital power, to which we have given all but
intelligence; and how proudly it goes on its way!
"Hold!" says one who has been listening to this boastful
speech; "hold! look at yon cloud ; it is heavy with thunder.
See those flashes, which already break through it — those
bright lances, each tipped with tire, destructive beyond all
the power of man: see their direction toward us ! Suppose
that by a law of nature, which you have not repealed, one of
those strike,, and make a wreck of that proud monster
"Nay," says a third; ''I will not consent to a trial like that.
It is not thus, in a vengeful form, that I will put into
contrast that great production of man's ingenuity and the
power of nature. No; I will take the most harmless, the
most gentle, the most tender thing in her, and I will put
that against the other.
What is softer, more beautiful, and more innocent than
the dew-drop, which does not even discolor the leaf upon
which it lies at morning; what more graceful, when, multi-
plied, it makes its chalice of the rose, adds sweetness to its
fragrance, and jewels to its enamel'?. . . .Expose the steam-en-
gine but to the action of this little and insignificant agent
and the metal, although you made a compact with it that it
should be bright and polished, cares more for the refreshment
from those drops of dew than it does for you. and it absorbs
EMPHASIS. 147
them willingly Every polished rod, so beautiful and fair,
is blotched and gangrened. A few drops from heaven have
conquered the proudest work of man's ingenuity and skill. —
Cu rdinal Wiseman.
Inflexion is one of the most valuable servants of em-
phasis; the rules laid down elsewmere govern its use.
Pause, or Phrasing, as a mode of emphasis, is reserved
for a separate chapter.
Let the student apply the preceding rules to the ex-
amples here given.
Examples.
From Coriolanus. Act. III.
You common cry of curs! whose breath I hate
As reek o' the rotten fens, whose loves I prize
As the dead carcasses of UDburied men
That do corrupt my air, I banish you :
And here remain with your uncertainty:
Let every feeble rumour shake your heart- !
Your enemies, with nodding of their plumes.
Fan you into despair! Have the power still
To banish your defenders : till, at length,
Your ignorance (which linds not till it feels .
Making not reservation of yourselves
(Still your own foesi. deliver you. as most
Abated captives, to some nation
That won you without blows. Despising
For you. the city, thus I turn my back :
There is a world elsewhere.
Shakespea re.
From Mores Catholici.
The middle ages were ages of the highest grace to men-
ages of faith — ages when all Europe was Catholic; when vast
temples were seen to rise in every place of human concourse.
148 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
to give glory to God, and to exalt men's souls to sanctity:
when houses of holy peace and order were found amidst
woods and desolate mountains— on the banks of placid lakes,
as well as on the solitary rocks in the ocean; ages of sanctity
which witnessed a Bede, ah Alcuin, a Bernard, a Francis, and
crowds who followed them as they did Christ; ages of vast
and beneficent intelligence, in which it pleased the Holy
Spirit to display the pow T er of the seven gifts in the lives
of an Anselm, a Thomas of Aquinum, and the saintly flocks
whose steps a cloister guarded : ages of the highest civil
virtue, which gave birth to the laws and institutions of an
Edward, a Lewis, a Suger: ages of the noblest art, which
beheld a Giotto, a Michael Angelo, a Kaffaele, a Domenichino;
ages of poetry, which heard an Avitus, a Casdmon, a Dante, a
Shakespeare, a Calderon; ages of more than mortal heroism,
which produced a Tancred and a Godfrey; ages of majesty,
which knew a Charlemagne, an Alfred, and the sainted youth
who bore the lily; ages, too, of England's glory, when she
appears, not even excluding a comparison with the Eastern
empire, as the most truly civilized country on the globe;
when the sovereign of the greater portion of the Western
world applied to her schools for instructors— when she sends
forth her saints to evangelize the nations of the world, and
to diffuse 'spiritual treasure over the whole world— when
heroes flock to her court to behold the models of reproachless
chivalry, and emperors leave their thrones to adore at the
tombs of her martyrs!— Kenelm H. Bighy.
From The Exile's Return.
The friends whom I loved and cherished have passed away,
ay ! every soul. The warm hearts and loving eyes that cheer-
ed my boyhood are gone,— the living friends are lost to sight,
and I miss their enlivening presence, oh! how much !— but
the inanimate friends— the old familiar scenes remain. I
have taken up my abode in the very house of my nativity-
ruined it is, and desolate, yet it is the shell which contained
the kernel of my affections. The fields are as green, the sky
as changeful, the mountains as grand, the sacred valley as
lonesome and solemn, and, above all, the faith and piety of
EMPHASIS. 149
the people is still blie same, simple, earnest, nothing doubt-
ing, all-performing. Where I herded my goats, a peasant
boy, I muse, an old and wrinkled man, on the path of life I
have trodden. I stand at the opposite end of existence, and
ask myself what is the difference. I have had since what
is called "position," I have wealth still — ay! a fortune,
but what of that — I am old, friendless, childless, and alone,
burdened with harrowing recollections, and ready to sink in-
to the grave, unhonored and unknown. — Mrs. Sadlier.
From History of Rome.
Coriolanus no sooner beheld Yeturia attired in mourning,
her eyes bathed in tears, and with a countenance and motion
that spoke her sinking under a load of sorrow, than he ran
hastily to her; and not only calling her mother, but adding
to that word the most tender epithets, embraced her, wept
pver her, and held her in his arms to prevent her falling
When some time had been allowed to those silent tears of joy,
which often flow plenteously at the sudden and unexpected
meeting of persons dear bo each other, Yeturia entered upon
the business she had undertaken. After many forcible ap-
peals to his understanding and patriotism, she exclaimed :
"What frenzy, what madness of anger transports my son !
Heaven is appeased by supplications, vows, and sacrifices: shall
.mortals be implacable? O Marcius, refuse me not the only
request, I ever made to thee; I will never importune thee
with any other. Cease thy immoderate anger; be reconciled
to thy country: this is all I ask; grant me but this, and we
shall both be happy. Freed from those tempestuous passions
which now agitate thy soul, and from all the torments of
self-reproach, thy days will flow smoothly on in sweet sereni-
ty of conscious virtue : And as for me, if I carry back to
Borne the hopes of an approaching peace, an assurance of thy
being reconciled to thy country, with what transports of joy
shall I be received! In what honor, in what delightful re-
pose, shall I pass the remainder of my life! What immortal
glory shall I have acquired!"
The Yolscian officers, not able unmoved to behold this
scene, burned away their eyes : But Coriolanus passionately
150 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
cried out: "Ah! Mother, what art thou doing'?" And ten-
derly pressing her hand he added in a low voice, "Rome is
saved, but thy son is lost!"— Nathaniel Hook.
SECTION III.
OBSERVATIONS.
Obs. 1. The degree of force, the length of time, the
height or depth of inflexion, on emphatic words, must be
chiefly determined by the taste and judgment of the
reader, aided by the character of the selection.
For mere narration, the emphasis will be moderate.
When feeling is united to the narration, the words
expressing the emotion are brought out with more
vigor and sparkle.
The following is a choice example of narration en-
livened by emotion.
From Lalla Rookh.
There stood— but one short league away
From old Harmozia's sultry bay —
A rocky mountain, o'er the sea
Of Oman beetling awfully;
A last and solitary link
Of those stupendous chains that reach
From the Caspian's reedy brink
Down winding to the Green Sea beacli
Thither the vanquished Hafed led
His little army's last remains; —
"Welcome, terrific glen!" he said,
"Thy gloom, that Eblis' self might dread,
Is heaven to him who flies from chains!"
E3IPHAS1S. 151
O'er a dark narrow bridge-way, known
To him and to his chiefs alone.
They crossed the chasm and gained the towers—
"•This home," he cried, ' ; at least is ours ;. . . .
Here — happy that no tyrants 's eye
Gloats on our torments- we may die!"
Moore.
Obs. 2. In most sentences, the tone of the voice is
gradually elevated until the emphatic word is reached,
and then the voice increases its speed, and gives the
remaining words in descending.
ILLUSTRATIONS.
c \
X
X
\
***
&
%
4*
d*
152 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
We find the same in pronouncing words, for example,
application^ he is coming.
p v;
O n
Y 4 <f
' Incomprehensibility = He said that you belied him.
Obs. S. In very solemn address and in speaking of
sombre, repulsive, or despicable things, the tone descends
on the emphatic word.
Examples.
What though for ages it droops in the dust,
Shall it droop thus forever? jSTo! KoI God is just.
Father By an.
From Richard III. Act I.
O! I have pass'd a miserable night,
So full of fearful dreams, of ugly sights
That, as I am a Christian faithful man,
I would not spend another such a night.
Though it were to buy a world of happy days.
So full of dismal terror was the time.
Shakespeare.
From Othello. Act II.
O God ! that men should put an enemy in their mouths, to
steal away their brains! that we should, with joy. revel,
pleasure, and applause, transform ourselves into beasts!
Shakespeare.
EMPHASIS. 10.3
Obs. Jf. Emphasis is too precious to lavish. If you
make all the words emphatic, the specific aim of empha-
sis is lost.
Prepositions, conjunctions, etc., are useful as links of
speech, but alone they possess no meaning. It is absurd,
therefore, and shows a very dull speaker, to emphasize
"ands," and k 'ofs," and "ins," and "fors," every time
they occur.
Do not say,
I will never submit to such tyranny.
The smaller number of words which you may empha-
size without detriment to the meaning and tenor of the
sentence — the better.
SECTION IV.
UNEMPHATIC WORDS.
The student should now be able to render the em-
phatic words. The unemphatic members of the sen-
tence may still puzzle him. The analysis of the follow-
ing sentence aims to remove this perplexity.
Daily practice in elocution makes the voice smooth.
In this sentence the particles u in" and "the" should
be obscured; the other words receive only sufficient
stress to make them yield their meaning distinctly.
Xote the difference when a word demanding special em-
phasis is introduced.
Daily practice in elocution makes even a strident voice
smooth.
Here, "strident" differs as much in emphasis from
2
154 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION. VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
• 'daily/' "practice," etc., as do they from the particles.
These unemphatic words are to he pronounced with the
same force, relatively, as the unaccented syllables of
words.
ILLUSTRATION.
Indispensable.=0 how beautiful !
Maladministrati on. = Where are you going?
SECTION V.
CLIMAX.
The Climax, or orator's ladder, is such a disposition
of words, clauses, or sentences, that each successive
member transcends its predecessor in force and impress-
iveness. Quintiiian's rule was, "that a weaker assertion
or proposition should never come after a stronger one."
A vivid climax of considerable length is a telling test
of elocutionary attainment. In its delivery we must
utilize the best of voice and action we can afford.
Keen discretion must govern its pronunciation, so
that we may not exhaust our vocal power before "cap-
ping' 1 the climax.
The voice should ascend in harmony with the devel-
opment of thought and feeling.
Sometimes, the desired effect may be produced, by
culminating the climax with an intense whisper.
The Anti-climax, the reverse of the climax, is used to
hurlesque y to disparage, etc. Pope used it very success-
fully when he styled Lord Bacon,
The greatest, wisest, meanest of mankind.
EMPHASIS. 155
Examples of Climax.
From Macbeth. Act IV.
I conjure you, by that which you profess,
(Howe'er you come to know it) answer me:
Though you untie the winds, and let them light
Against the Churches; though the yesty waves
Confound and swallow navigation up;
Though bladed corn be lodg'd, and trees blown down :
Though castles topple o'er their warder's heads ;
Though palaces and pyramids do stoop
Their heads to their foundations; though the treasure
Of nature's germins tumble all together,
Even till destruction sicken, answer me
To what I ask you.
Shakespeare.
From Prologue to Addison's Cato.
To wake the soul by tender strokes of art,
To raise the genius, and io mend the heart ;
To make mankind in conscious virtue bold,
Live o'er each scene, and be what they behold ;
For this the Tragic Muse first trod the stage :
Commanding tears to stream through every age:
Tyrants no more their savage nature kept,
And foes to virtue wonder'd how they wept.
Pope.
From Richard III. Act I.
Then, came wandering by
A shadow like an angel, with bright hair
Dabbled in blood; and he shrieked aloud,—
•'Clarence is come,— false, fleeting, perjur'd Clar-
ence."'
Shakespeare*
L56 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION. VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
From Lectures on Justification.
The Apostles spread their nets for disciples, and caught
thousands at a cast And when these had entered the
Church, many of them, doubtless, would wax cold in love,
and fall away ; but still, those who had the seed of God with-
in them, would become neither offences in the Church, nor
apostates, nor heretics: but would find day by day, as love in-
creased, increased experience, that what they had ventured
boldly, amid conflicting evidence, of sight against sight, and
reason against reason, with many things against it, but more
things for it, they had ventured well. The examples of
meekness, cheerfulness, contentment, silent endurance, pri-
vate self-denial, fortitude, brotherly love, perseverance in
well-doing, which would from time to time meet them in
their new kingdom,— the sublimity and harmony of the
Church's doctrine,— the touching and subduing beauty of her
services and appointments, — their consciousness of her vir-
tue, divinely imparted, upon themselves, in subduing, purify-
ing, changing them,— the bountifulness of her alms-giving.—
her power, weak as she was and despised, over the statesmen
and philosophers of the world, — her consistent and steady
aggression upon it, moving forward in spite of it on all sides
at once, like the wheels in the Prophet's vision, and this in
contrast with the ephemeral and variable outbreaks of sec-
tarianism, — the unanimity and intimacy existing between
her widely separated branches,— the mutual sympathy and
correspondence of men of hostile nations and foreign lan-
guages,— the simplicity of her ascetics, the gravity of her
Bishops, the awful glory shed around her Martyrs, and the
mysterious and recurring traces of miraculous agency here
and there, once and again according as the Spirit willed, —
these and the like persuasives acted on them day by day.
turning the whisper of their hearts into an habitual convic-
tion, and establishing in the reason what had been begun in
the will. — Newman.
GESTURES OF DIFFERENT MEMBERS.
CHAPTER XII.
GESTURES OF DIFFERENT MEMBERS.
Each part of the human body is expressive. We have
already treated of the hand and found it capable of ex-
pressing almost any emotion, that may present itself.
Quintilian says of the hand that. *' while other limbs
assist the speaker, the hands speak for themselves.
Fordo we not demand, promise, call, dismiss, threaten,
entreat, abhor, fear, ask, deny, with them? Do we not
indicate joy. sadness, doubt, acknowledgement, remorse,
measure, multitude, number and time with them? Do
the}' not arouse courage? Do they not mourn, repel,
consent? Do they not express admiration and shame?
This is the language which in the great diversity of
tongues among all races and peoples. 1 have in common
with all men. " No further commentary on the use of
the hands is necessary.
The feet and legs are sufficiently treated in the chap-
ter on action.
The Head.
There are few gestures of the head. The movement
of the head denoting yes or no. denying or giving as-
sent, is the one most commonly used.
i. The Erect Head is the attitude of repose. It de-
notes calmness and attention: e. o-..
Well, let him continue: we are listening.
158 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
2. The Bowed Head signifies thoughtfullness, reflec-
tion: e. g.,
From Hamlet. Act III.
To be or not to be,— that is the question :
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune;
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And, by opposing, end them?
Shakespeare.
3. The Lifted Head is expressive of joy, vivacity,
vehemence, self sufficiency, etc.; e. g. ,
From The Merchant of Venice. Act I.
Gratiano. Let me play the fool :
With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come,
And let my liver rather heat with wine,
Than my heart cool with mortifying groans.
Why should a man whose blood is warm within
Sit like his grandsire cut in alabaster?
Shakespeare.
4. The Advanced Head denotes eagerness, curiosity,
etc.; e. g.,
Really, were you the person I met?
5. The Head pivoted toward an object is significant
of kindly feeling toward it; e. g.,
I am glad to see you.
Pivoted from the object denotes disgust for it; e.g.,
I cannot bear the sight of you.
6. The Head drawn back from anything denotes
surprise, distrust, or harshness; e. g.,
GESTURES OF DIFFERENT MEMBERS. 159
From The Hidden Gem.
"Ignotus, I implore you, speak. — Still silent?
Speak, or I must believe your guilt. No answer?
Have I then ta'en a viper to my bosom,
Whom worthy I had deemed to be a son?
A faithless robber for a holy man?
And have five years of seeming piety,
Of feigned austerity, and sham religion,
Been but a hypocrite's deep preparation
For vilest treachery, and meanest crime?
Who will believe again in human virtue,
If this be true.
Cardinal Wiseman.
7. The Head is thrown entirely back and down in
great despair, agony \ and prostration; e. g.,
Oh, God, my last hope is gone!
8. The Head thrown entirely forward and down sig-
nifies shame, despair, etc.; e.g.,
Yes. 1 burn with shame to own it; I followed his bad example.
9. The Head inclined toward the side expresses care-
lessness, trustfulness, familiarity; e. g.,
Whether he go or stay is immaterial to me.
The Eyes.
The Eye has been called "the window of the soul/'
Through it we see the emotion which stirs the soul. It
first communicates the thought. It is capable of more
subtle expression than any other organ. The general
rule which should govern the eye might be worded
thus: Keep the eye to the audience. Even in reading.
kthis is necessary. The eve should he so practised that
lfiO ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION. VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
ster used to practice this by walking around a table on
which was placed an open book, and. taking in, whilst
facing the book, enough to continue speaking as he
went around. With some practice, this can be brought
to such a degree of perfection that the eye will, during
entire sentences, look steadily at the audience.
There are nine attitudes of the eye.
i. The Normal eye looking "straight ahead and rest-
ing easily on any object. It is expressive of calmness.
Practice on the following example.
From The Merchant of Venice. Act IV.
Antonio. I do oppose
My patience to his fury, and am arm'd
To suffer with a quietness of spirit,
The very tyranny and rage of his.
Shakespeare.
2. The Normal Eye with raised brow is expressive of
contempt; e. g. ,
You intend to force me. do you?
3. Eye wide open with brow drawn down denotes
anger; e. g. ,
From The Comedy of Errors. Act II.
Now, as I am a Christian, answer me,
In what safe place you have bestow'd my money,
Or I shall break that merry sconce of yours,
That stands on tricks when I am indispos'd.
Where is the thousand marks thou hadst of me"?
Shakespeare.
4. Eye opened wide with raised brow signifies aston-
ishment; e. g.,
Et tu. Brute? — Shakespeare.
GESTURES OF DIFFERENT MEMBERS. 161
5. Eye slightly closed with brow down indicates
thought; e . g. .
Yes, if I recollect rightly, it was ten days ago.
6. Eye opened with slightly lowered brow expresses
firmness; e. g. ,
Must I budge? Must I observe you? Must I stand and crouch
under your testy humor?— Shakespeare.
7. Eye partly closed with the brow normal speaks
of drowsiness; e. g. ,
Oh, for the days of childhood, I long for them once more.
8. Eye nearly closed with raised brow denotes ma-
lignity > and contempt of opposition; e. g.,
You thought to enchain me by your cunning hypocrisy.
9. Eye open with normal brow denotes indefinite
thought, day-dreaming, stupor, and such like states
of the mind; e. g. ,
How long I strolled beside the stream
I do not know, nor may 1 say.
Father Ryan.
The Mouth.
The Mouth, too, is a great agent of expression. To
convince yourself of this, place one hand over the mouth
and give to the eye and upper part of the face the most
sinister expression possible. Kow look in your mirror
and you will not be able to tell from the features
whether the expression is one of close scrutiny or of
finger.
The positions of the mouth, combined with the jaw
and chin, are principally as follows; 1. Jaw firm, lips
tightly closed denote tension, firmness, etc. 2. Jaw drop-
ped, lips wide open; terror. 3. Chin protruded; anger.
1H2 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION. VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
4. Lips compressed; concentration of mind. 5. Cor-
ners drawn up, — joy; corners down, sorrow. These po-
sitions of the mouth without the agreement of the other
features would not he expressive of the emotions we
have mentioned. Consonance is necessary. Do not as-
sert with the hand and deny with the head.
163
CHAPTER XIII.
PAUSE.
Many sentences, besides subject and predicate, con-
tain certain subordinate ideas expressed in clauses and
phrases. To show the relation between these governing
and dependent parts, and to prevent uncertainty of
reference. Pauses are used. These rhetorical pauses
often coincide with the printer's pauses — hut. some-
times, they are at variance. We often pause in reading,
where no punctuation mark may lie found, and must
frequently disregard the grammatical pause, or sacrifice
the sense.
The judicious reader will use the punctuation marks
merely as guides to point out the meaning of the author.
The old rule, to count one, at a comma; two. at a semi-
colon: three, at — etc. ; together with its counterpart, let
the voice always fall at c period, never, at a comma, is
now. happily, retained by only a few. We know that
the voice often rises at a period, and sinks at a comma:
or for that matter, where no punctuation mark is nec-
essary; and. that the pause at a comma, is sometimes
greater than at a semicolon, colon, or period.
The influence of the Pause in expression is boundless.
Silence, often, speaks louder than words. Force, clear-
ness, and dignity of phrases depend largely upon the
Pause. We can tell from a reader's Pauses whether he
understands his author.
1(U ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION. VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
"A speaker is known by his ands and his ors
Those stitches that fasten his patch-work together."
■ The pause is necessary both for the reader and the
hearer. For the reader, it is a physical necessity; lie
must stop for breath supplies. For the hearer, it is a
mental necessity; he cannot grasp the thoughts unless
they are presented separately, and time given him to
perceive their relation.
The Length of the Pause is controlled by the character
of the selection. In vehement expression, it will be very
brief; in solemn utterance, long. Normal sentiments
take the happy medium.
Examples.
From Eleonora.
Look on thy tender pledges left behind;
And, if thou canst a vacant minute find
From heavenly joys, that interval afford
To thy sad children and thy mourning lord.
Dry den
From A Memory.
Yea! dreams that vied with angels' flight'?
And, soaring, bore my heart away
Beyond the far star-bounds of night,
Unco the everlasting day.
Father Byaw;
From The Collegians.
The spirit of the scene produced its effect upon the mind of
Hardress himself, who , yielding to its influence, adopted a
degree of gaiety that surprised and delighted all who were
interested in his fortunes.
It is true, that from time to time, a fear struck at his heart,
like the shock of an alarm, and the glassy eyes of a corpse
PAUSE. 165
seemed at intervals to sfcare at him from among the crowd.
But he turned his eyes and his thoughts away to happier ob-
jects, and, as if in defiance of the ghastly interruption, be-
came more gay than before.— Gerald Griffin.
If we follow the punctuation in the above examples,
we must pause before and after the underlined words:
and in the first, and in the second, who and and in the
third. But by doing so, we give the words undue
prominence and thereby impair the sense. We make
''and" stand alone, endowing it with an independence
of which it is incapable. Our ears may be accustomed
to hear sentences rendered in this manner — for faulty
readers abound — and hence do not object to such vio-
lations. But the custom of making vacuums, by
separating words that are inseparable, is abhorred by
nature, and condemned by the judicious, as a vile cus-
tom — "honour'd in the breach. '* Evidently, we must
pass over the printer's pauses and put together what he
has put asunder.
A right moral state of heart is the formal and scientific
condition of a poetical mind. — Newman.
In this sentence no punctuation is required: yet, in
its delivery, we would not fail to pause as follows:
A right moral state of heart [| is the formal j and scientif-
ic condition || of a poetical mind.
The Reformation | in its results | has been unfavorable to
literature. Its immediate effect was j to destroy the literary
spirit. Erasmus said I that wherever it prevailed, | letters
went to ruin. Hallam remarks \ that "the first effects of the
great religious schism in Germany | were not favorable to
Classical literature." — Brother Azarias.
156 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
Here, the punctuation demands few pauses; the read-
er, however, will not neglect those marked.
i. Pause before relative pronouns, and adverbs of
time and place that convey the idea of a relative.
^Only pauses exemplifying tbe particular rule will be indicated.)
Examples.
From Creator and Creature.
There is something awful in the enduring love of God.
something | which overshadows the spirits of creatures so ca-
pricious and inconstant as ourselves. He will not easily sur-
render to His enemies a creature j whom He has borne in His
bosom like a nurse from the beginning. Into the least of His
blessings he pours an endless love. There are no infirmities
which He disdains, no prayers | which He disregards.— Father
Fa her.
From Passing Footsteps.
One other foot, through the shadows goes by, and I listen
again :
; Tis the step of a man grown aged among his fellow-men;
'Tis a weary while | since a mother | tirst guided those
stumbling feet,
They have grown unfit for this busy mart | where the
world's strong pulses beat.
Eleanor C. Donnelly.
2. Whatever intervenes between the subject and its
predicate, between the verb and its object, should be
separated from each by pauses.
From The Turf Shall be my Fragrant Shrine.
Thy heaven, | on which 'tis bliss to look, |
Shall be my pure and shining book,
Where 1 shall read, \ in words of flame, j
The glories of thy wondrous name.
Moore.
From A Tempest at Sea.
The mountains and valleys. | with their bold lineaments
and luxurious verdure, | are beautiful : but theirs is not like
the beauty of the ocean, for here all is life and movement. —
A rchMshop Hughe.*.
3. A succession of adjectives, in natural order, takes
a pause after each save the last.
From The Merchant of Venice. Act III.
Look on beauty,
And you shall see 'tis purchased by the weight;
Which therein works a miracle in nature,
Making them lightest that wear most of it:
So are those crisped snaky golden locks.
Which make such wanton gambol with the wind,
Upon supposed fairness, often known
To be the dowry of a second head
The scull, that bred them, in the sepulchre.
Shakespeare.
From The Story of Ireland.
The earl marshal returned with the unwelcome news to the
king, who rlew into a rage! What! He the great. . the court-
ly, the puissant, and gorgeous King Richard of England,
thus haughtily treated by a mere Irish prince ! By the glory
of William the Conquerer. this astounding conduct should
meet a dreadful chastisement! — Alexander M. Sullivan.
From The Republic.
Loyalty is the highest, noblest, and most generous of
human virtues, and is the human element of that sublime
charity which, the inspired Apostle tells us is the fulfilment
of the law. There is nothing great, generous, ) good. | or
heroic. 1 of which a truly loyal people are not capable, and
nothing mean. , base, cruel. | brutal | criminal. | detestable. |
not to be expected of a really disloyal people. — Ore.sf<s A.
Brownson.
168 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
4. A series of nouns belonging to one verb requires a
pause after each.
Examples.
Faith, | Justice, j Heaven itself, | now quit their bold,
When to false fame the captive heart is sold.
Pope.
From Catholic and Protestant Countries Compared.
To what do we owe our knowledge of the ancient classics at
the present day but to the indefatigable literary zeal of the
Catholic priesthood— of popes, j bishops, [ priests, j and above
all of the monks — in collecting, preserving, and transcribing
these highly-prized treasures'? Who produced and who care-
fully preserved the Book of books — the Holy Bible, especially
the Bible of Christians— the New Testament? From what
source has flowed forth the all precious and profoundly learn-
ed writings of the long line of fathers, ] doctors, 1 theologi-
ans, j and historians J of Christianity? He would be a venture-
some defamer indeed who would dare call in question the
debt that the world owes the Catholic Church on the
score of the cultivation of letters, as the controversialist
would be no less venturesome to attempt to frame an excuse
for the attacks made upon literary culture by the early Re-
formers and the wanton destruction of untold thousands of
books and manuscripts in hundreds of libraries by these
vandals who sprang up all over Great Britain, I Germany, 1
and in other countries f where Protestantism in its bigoted
and ignorant wrath strove by lire, ) sword, | and robbery | to
wipe from off the face of the earth every vestige of what had
been the most glorious monuments of Christendom. — Alfred
Young.
From Epistle VI. (Imitations of Horace.)
This vault of air, J this congregated ball, |
Self-centred sun, I and stars | that rise and fall.
There are, my friend! whose philosophic eyes
Look through and trust the ruler with his skies ;
PAUSE. 169
To him commit the hour, | the day,| the year, \
And view this dreadful all without a fear.
Pope.
5. When we wish to make a word very emphatic, we
should pause before and after it.
Examples.
From King John. Act III.
O, Austria thou dost shame
That bloody spoil: | thou slave, J thou wretch, j
thou coward ; J
Thou little valiant, great i in villany !
What I a fool 1 art thou.
A ramping fool ; j to brag, land stamp, | and swear, 1
Upon my party!
Thou { wear a lion's hide! j doit
it for shame,
And hang | a calf's-skin on those recreant limbs.
Shakespeare.
From Brutus.
Go to the tomb where lie his murder'd wife.
And the poor queen, who lowd him as her son,
Their unappeased ghosts will shriek, J Revenge! j
The temples of the gods, the all-viewing heaven, —
The gods themselves, — will justify the cry,
And swell the general sound— I Revenge! f Revenge!
./. Howard Payne.
It would be an easy task to multiply grammatical re-
lations that require a pause before or after, or both, but
as they are all subject to a general rule, it is unneces-
sary. A uniform observance of the following rule will
result in correct pausing:
Never make a pause which injures the sense.
22
170 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
Any pause so introduced is from the purpose of
speaking, "whose end, both at first, and now. was, and
is, "to convey meaning.
Still follow sense of every art the soul:
Parts answering parts shall slide into a whole.
Pope.
Require the students to indicate the pauses in the
following selections.
GENERAL EXAMPLES.
From The Dream of Home.
Who has not felt how sadly sweet
The dream of home, the dream of home.
Steals o'er the heart, too soon to fleet,
When far o'er sea or land We roam?
Sunlight more soft may o'er us fall,
To greener shores our bark may come:
But far more bright, more dear than all,
That dream of home, that dream of home.
Ask of the sailor youth when far
His light bark bounds o*er ocean's foam
What charms him most, when evening's star
Smiles o'er the wave? to dream of home.
Fond thoughts of absent friends and loves
At that sweet hour around him come;
His heart's best joy where'er he roves,
That dream of home, that dream of home.
Moore.
From The History of England.
If we estimate the character of a sovereign by the test of
popular affection, we must rank Edward the Confessor among
the best princes of his time. The goodness of his heart was
PAUSE. 171
adored by his subjects, who lamented his death with tears
of undissembled grief, and bequeathed his memory as an ob-
ject of veneration to their posterity. The blessings of his
reign are the constant theme of our ancient writers ; not, in-
deed, that he displayed any of those brilliant qualities, which
attract andmiration, while they inflict misery. He could not
boast of the victories he had achieved: but he exhibited the
interesting spectacle of a king, negligent of his private inter-
ests, and totally devoted to the welfare of his people; and, by
his labors to restore the dominion of the laws; his vigilance
to ward off foreign aggression; his constant, and ultimately
successful, solicitude to appease the feuds of his nobles; if he
did not prevent the interruption, he secured, at least, a long-
er duration of tranquillity than had been enjoyed in England
for half a century. He was pious, kind, and compassionate:
the father of the poor, and the protector of the weak : more
willing to give than to receive; and better pleased to pardon
than to punish Hence he appeared to shine with purer
light amid the gloom with which he was surrounded: and
whenever the people under the despotism of the Norman
Kings, had any opportunity of expresing their real wishes,
they constantly called for "the laws and customs of the good
King Edward.''— Lingard.
From St. Thomas of Canterbury.
Lords, I know you ;
What done ye have, and what intent ere yet
Yon sun that rises weeping sets this night:
And therefore bind I with this charge your souls :
If any secular court shall pass its verdict
On me. your lord, or ere that sin be sinned,
I bid you flee that court: if secular arm
Attempt me. lay thereon the Church's ban,
Or else against you I appeal to Borne.
To-day the heathen rage— I fear them not :
If fall I must: this hand, ere yet I fall.
Stretched from the bosom of a peaceful gown
Above a troubled king and darkening realm.
Shall send God's sentence forth. My lords, farewell!
Aubrey Be Vere.
172 ELEMENTS OF EXPPwESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
From The Bridal of the Year.
And the artist, too — the gifted —
He whose soul is heavenward lifted
Till it drinketh inspiration
At the fountain of the skies;
He, within whose fond embraces
Start to life the marble graces;
Or, with god-like power presiding,
With the potent pencil gliding,
O'er the void chaotic canvas
Bids the fair creations rise!
And the quickened mass obeying
Heaves its mountains;
From its fountains
Sends the gentle streams astraying
Through the vales, like Love's first feeling-
Stealing o'er a maiden's heart :
The Creator —
Imitator —
From his easel forth doth start,
And from God's glorious nature learns anew his art I
I). F. M'Carthy.
From - Occasional Sermons.
I need not tell you, how suddenly the word of truth came
to our ancestors in this island and subdued them to its
gentle rule, how the grace of G-od fell on them, and, with-
out compulsion, as the historian tells us, the multitude be-
came christian; how, when all was tempestuous, and hopeless,
and dark, Christ like a vision of glory came walking to them
on the waves of the sea The fair form of Christianity
rose up and grew and expanded like a beautiful pageant
from north to south; it was majestic, it was solemn, it was
bright, it was beautiful and pleasant, it was soothing to the
griefs, it was indulgent to the hopes of man; it was at once a
teaching and a worship; it had a dogma, a mystery, a ritual
of its own; it had an hierarchical form. A brotherhood of
holy pastors, with mitre and crosier and uplifted hand, walk-
PAUSE. 173
ed forth and blessed and ruled a joyful people. The crucifix
headed the procession, and simple monks were there with
hearts in prayer, and sweet chants resounded, and the holy
Latin tongue was heard, and boys came forth in white,
swinging censers, and the fragrant cloud arose, and Mass was
sung, and the saints were invoked ; and day after day, and in
the still night, and over the woody hills and in the quiet
plains, as constantly as sun and moon and stars go forth in
heaven ; so regular was the stately march or blessed services
on earth, high festival, and gorgeous procession, and sooth-
ing dirge, and passing bell, and the familiar evening call to
prayer : till he who recollected the old pagan time, would
think it all unreal that he beheld and heard, and would con-
clude, he did but see a vision, so marvelously was heaven let
down upon earth, so triumphantly were chased away the
tiends of darkness to their prison below.
Such was the change which came over our forefathers: such
was the Religion bestowed upon them, bestowed on them as
a second grant, after the grant of the territory itself; nay, it
might almost have seemed as the divine guarantee or pledge
of its occupation. And you know its name: there can be no
mistake; you know what that religion was called. It was
called by no modern name — for modern religions then were
not. You know what religion has priests and sacrifices, and
mystical rites, and the monastic rule, and care for the souls
of the dead, and the profession of an ancient faith, coming
through all ages, from the Apostles. There is one, and only
one religion such: it is known everywhere: every poor boy in
the street knows the name of it: there never was a time,
since it first was, that its name was not known, and known
to the multitude. It is called Catholicism — a world-wide
name, and incommunicable: attached to us from the first:
accorded to us by our enemies: in vain attempted, never
stolen from us. by our rivals. Such was the worship
which the English people gained when they emerged out of
paganism into gospel light. In the history of their convers-
ion. Christianity and Catholicism are one: they are in that
history, as they are in their own nature, convertible terms.
— Newman.
174 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
CHAPTER XIV.
POETIC READING.
Poetry and music in early days were united. They
are still allied, though many have tried to sunder them.
Music informs lyric poetry. Dryden tells us, ""The
charm of poetry our souls bewitch, 11 and Shakespeare.
u Much is the force of heaven-bred poesy. " Rob poetry
of its magic rhythm, however, and you deprive it of its
witchery and force. Poetry is an art, and like sculpture,
architecture, painting, and music, its effects are premed-
itated. If we do not by diligent study discover the
end for which a poet employs a certain metre, certain
words, certain blendings, we will fail to bring out his
intention. In preparing a poem tor recitation, do the
same as you should do in prose: First find out the au-
thor's meaning; the meaning is always of primary im-
portance.
But poets (not poetasters), always arrange their
words so that we cm bring out the meaning in sweet,
melodious numbers. ''The great masters require of the
reader only that he should understand their meaning
and deliver it with proper accentuation; then they will
answer for the prosody coming right." — Buskin: Ele-
ments of English Prosody. Rhythm is a chief source of
poetic charm. Anyone derives pleasure from observing
rhythmical motions in nature. The uudulatory fields
of grain before the harvest; the graceful swaying of
POETIC READING. 175
leafy boughs in summer's welcome breezes; the rippling
of singing rivulets over the hardy pebbles; the playful
waves chasing one another toward the strand, will
arouse pleasurable emotions in the most insensible.
The rhythm of nature derives its beauty from the
recurrence of like motions at measured intervals of
space or time. "The wave swells and then sinks, mak-
ing a crest and a hollow, visible to the eye. A succes-
sion of crests and hollows forms a rhythm." Rhythm,
therefore in poetry is the harmonious result of stressed
syllables at regular intervals. It is not necessary to
chant the words or to fall into "sing-song, ?1 "the false
gallop of verse," to bring out this rhythm. If we read
true poetry, the rhythm and meaning will always accord.
If we read doggerel or "splay-foot verse, "we may read
it for the jingle, as sense does not enter largely into
such pieces. The poet's choice of metre is not arbitra-
ry. He must suit the metre to the thought.
Oil. lost, for ever lost — no more
Shall Vesper light our dewy way
Along the rocks of Crissa's shore,
To hymn the fading fires of day.
Moore.
My brother's breast was warm with truth.
Was bright with honor's purest ray:
He was the dearest, gentlest youth —
Ah, why then was he torn away'?
Ibid.
Compare these stanzas with the following:
From The Bridal of the Year.
But the Bride— the Bride is coming!
Birds are singing, bees are humming:
17<i ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL, AND PHYSICAL.
Silent lakes amid the mountains
Look but cannot speak their mirth;
Streams go bounding in their gladness.
With a Bacchanalian madness ;
Trees bow down their heads in wonder,
Clouds of purple part asunder,
As the Maiden of the Morning ;
Leads the blushing Bride to Earth!
Bright as are the planets seven—
With her glances
She advances
For her azure eyes are Heaven !
And her robes are sun-beams woven,
And her beauteous bridesmaids are
Hopes and Wishes —
Dreams delicious —
Joys from some serener star,
And Heavenly-hued Illusions gleaming from afar!
D. F. M'Carthy.
Why did not Moore employ the same metre for his
theme as M'Carthy! 1 Because the tripping metre so
aptly used by the latter, would be ill-suited to the slow
tones of grief, in fact, would burlesque sorrow. It will
avail the poet little, however, to harmonize metre and
subject, if the reader does not imitate him. A knowl-
edge of versification is indispensable for the higher
effects of poetical reading. A brief presentation of the
feet most commonly used is all that we can convenient-
ly introduce.
A poetic foot may be composed of two or three syl-
lables.
Dissyllabic Feet.
Iambus, second syllable accented, as amaze.
Trochee, first u u " sylvan.
Spondee, both syllables lt kk moonbeam.
POETIC READING. 177
For farther information the student is referred to
some treatise on versification. The ancient names for
the feet have been retained, but we should remember
that the feet in English are not long and short but
accented and unaccented.
Trissyllabic Feet.
Dactyl, first syllable accented, as dutiful.
Amphibrach, second syllable accented, as remember.
Anapest, third syllable accented, as recollect.
The Iambus, the Trochee, the Dactyl, and the Anapest
are called primary feet. A poem may be formed of
any of ths>e without recourse to blending. The follow-
ing examples are given to illustrate the melody peculiar
to each kind.
Spondee:
Rash dream|er return! O ye winds of the main
Bear him back to his own peaceful Ara again.
Griffin.
Farewell, | a long | farewell | to all | my greatness.
Shakespeare.
Amphibrach:
No pearl evler lay un'der Omans | green wliter.
Moore.
Iambus:
From Lines.
The world | is sweet. I and fair, j and bright, |
And joy aboundeth everywhere,
The glorious stars crown every night,
And thro' the dark of ev ? ry care
Above us shineth heaven's light.
Father Ryan.
178 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, YOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
Trochee:
From Give Place.
Joy so I true and | tender,
Dare you not abide'?
Will you spread your pinions
Must you leave our side?
Nay, an Angel's shining grace
Waits to fill your place!
Adelaide A. Procter.
Dactyl:
From Sister of Charity.
Sister of | Charity, | child of the | ho-li-est,
O for thy living soul ardent as pure. —
Mother of orphans and friend of the lowliest-
Stay of the wretched, the guilty, the poor.
B. I). Williams.
Anapest.
Sweet vale | of Avo|ca ! how calm | could I rest
In thy bosom of shade, with the friends I love best,
Where the storms that we feel in this cold world should
cease,
And our hearts like thy waters be mingled in peace.
It is unnecessary to preserve one species of feet
throughout a poem. Hence, in reading poetry, if you
find, that, by observing the preponderant metre of a
given poem, you violate accent or emphasis, scan the
line, to see whether the poet has introduced another
kind of feet.
Examples.
That heals the wound and cures not the disgrace.— Shakes-
peare.
POETIC READING. 179
If we read this verse as though it contained all iambic
feet we will emphasize "the" in the fourth foot, which
is plainly wrong. If we scan the line, we will discover
the fourth foot to be a pyrrhic.
That heals | the wound, | and cures | not the | disgrace.
Again,
Eye nature's walks, shoot folly as it flies,
And catch the manners living as they rise.
According to the scheme of the verse, u as"in the first
and the second line, should receive .-tress. Scan the
lines, however, and you will find the poet introduced
pyrrhics.
Here is a stanza including three kinds of feet, with
varying position.
From The Turn of the Leaf.
Poor tiny leaf, still so green. Oh! how
Can you forsake thus your native bough?
The sun still willing to shine around
And yet forsooth you sink to the ground!
Kenelm Henry Digby.
Another source of melody in verse, is the Final and
Caesural pause. The Final pause is especially necessary
in lyric poetry where the length of the lines vary.
Surely the poet did not make one line longer or
shorter than another from mere caprice; and what he,
on the printed page, addresses to our eye. we must con-
vey to the hearer, by means of the final pause. Where
the concluding word of a line is closely ' related to the
initial word of the succeeding verse, make a delicate
suspension, or poise of the voice on it. using it as a
pivot. In this way you will keep the lines distinct, and
180 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
not impair the sense. Lord Karnes, the eminent Scotch
critic, attributes the great variety of modulation con-
spicuous in English verse to pauses and accents, and
warns the reader, that unless he attends to these, he will
fail to appreciate the richness and variety of English
versitication.
The Csesural pause occurs about the middle of the
verse. It is soon determined in a selection, but when
once found, should not be followed blindly. It often
varies .
Examples.
Thus, if eternal justice H rules the ball |
Thus shall your wives, || and thus your children fall.
Pope.
His peers, upon this evidence,
Have found him guilty of high treason. || Much
He spoke, and learnedly, for life : but all
Was either pitied in him, or forgotten.
Shakespeare.
'Tis with our judgments as our watches : tf none
Go just alike, yet each believes his own.
Pope.
What the weak head with strongest bias rules
Is pride; (| the never-failing vice of fools.
Ibid.
The nations have fallen, || and thou art still young
Thy sun is bub rising, || when others are set;
And though slavery's cloud ||o'er thy morning hath hung,
The full noon of freedom || shall beam round thee yet.
Erin, oh Erin, || though long in the shade,
Thy star will shine out || when the proudest shall fade.
Moore.
POETIC READING. 181
What if the foot, || ordain 'd the dust to tread,
Or hand, to toil, || aspired to be the head?
What if the head, || the eye, or ear, repined
To serve mere engines || to the ruling mind?
Just as absurd, || for any part to claim
To be another, || in this general frame:
Just as absurd || to mourn the task or pains
The great directing mind of all || ordains.
Pope.
All the foregoing is strengthened by the testimony of
Legouve: "When you read a poet, read him as a poet.
Where there is rhythm let that rhythm be heard! When
the verses are painting and music, be a painter and a
musician when you read them!"
The following examples, containing various melodies,
are added for the student to analyze.
GENERAL EXAMPLES.
From To-day.
To-day is bright with golden gleams of spring.
To-day is fair, and all our sweet hopes sing;
But night comes down, and then our day is done.
It is not always bright, nor always spring,
And sunny seasons are the ones that bring
Most sudden showers : and the light is gone.
Live in the sunlight, in the fair to-day !
To-morrow keeps to-morrow, and the way
May, in a moment, lose the light of sun!
Maurice F. E<j<<n.
From Their Story Runneth Thus.
He sat beside that lonely grave for long,
He took its grasses in his trembling hand,
182 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION. VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
He toyed with them and wet them with his tears.
He read the name again and still again,
"What means it all? Can this be Ethel's grave?
I dreamed her soul had fled.
Was she the white dove that I saw in dream
Fly o'er the sleeping sea so long ago?
The convent bell
Rang sweet upon the breeze, and answered him
His question. And he rose and went his way
Unto the convent gate : long shadows marked
One hour before the sunset, and the birds
Were singing Vespers in the convent trees.
As silent as a star-gleam came a nun
In answer to his summons at the gate;
Her face was like the picture of a Saint,
Or like an angel's smile;. . . .her lips were pale and worn
By ceaseless prayer ; and when she sweetly spoke,
And bade him enter, 'twas in such a tone
As only voices own which day and night
Sing hymns to God.
She locked the massive gate.
He followed her along a flower-fringed walk
That, gently rising, led up to the home
Of virgin hearts.
Father Byan.
From Lalla Rookh.
But, hark ! the vesper call to prayer,
As slow the orb of daylight sets,
Is rising sweetly on the air,
From Syria's thousand minarets!
The boy has started from the bed
Of flowers, w r here he had laid his head.
And down upon the fragrant sod
Kneels, with his forehead to the south,
Lisping the eternal name of God
From Purity's own cherub mouth,
And looking, while his hands and eye-
Are lifted to the glowing skies,
POETIC READING. Ibd
Like a stray babe of Paradise,
Just lighted on that flowery plain,
And seeking for its home again.
Oh! 't was a sight — that Heaven— that child —
A scene which might have well beguiled
Even haughty Eblis of a sigh
For glories lost and peace gone by!
And now felt he. the wretched man
Reclining there— while memory ran
O'er many a year of guilt and strife,
Flew o'er the dark flood of his life,
Nor found one sunny resting-place,
Nor brought him back one branch of grace?
••There was a time." he said, in mild
Heart-humbled tones— "thou blessed child!
When, young and haply pure as thou,
1 looked and prayed like thee — but now—"
He hung his head— each nobler aim,
And hope, and feeling, which had slept
From boyhood's hour, that instant came
Fresh o'er him. and he wept— he wept!
Blest tears of soul-felt penitence!
In whose benign redeeming flow
Is felt the first, the only sense
Of guiltless joy that guilt can know.
Moon-.
From Philip and Mildred.
Lingering fade the rays of daylight, and the listening air is
chilly:
Voice of bird and forest murmur, insect hum and quivering
fly,
Stir not in that quiet hour: through the valley, calm and
stilly.
All is hushed and loving silence watch the slow departing
day.
Till the faint last western cloudlet, faint and rosy, eases
blushing.
184 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
And the blue grows deep and deeper where one trembling
planet shines,
And the day has gone forever — then, like some great ocean
rushing,
The sad night wind wails lamenting, sobbing through the
moaning pines.
Such, of all day's changing hours, is the fittest and the
sweetest
For a farewell hour— and parting looks less bitter and more
blest ;
Earth seems like a shrine for sorrow, Nature's mother voice
is sweetest,
And her hand seems laid in chiding on the unquiet throb-
bing breast.
Adelaide A. Procter.
From Absalom and Achitophel.
Surrounded thus with friends of every sort,
Deluded Absalom forsakes the court,
The admiring crowd are dazzled with surprise
And on his goodly person feed their eyes.
His looks, his gestures and his words he frames
And with familiar ease repeats their names.
Thus formed by nature, furnished out with arts,
He glides unfelt into their secret hearts,
Then with a kind compassionating look,
And sighs bespeaking pity ere he spoke,
Few words he said, bub easy those and lit,
More slow than Hybla-drops and far more sweet.
''I mourn, my countrymen your lost estate,
Though far unable to prevent your fate:
Behold a banished man, for your dear cause
Exposed a prey to arbitrary laws!
Yet oh that I alone could be undone,
Cut off from empire and no more a son !
Now all your liberties a spoil are made
Egypt and Tyrus intercept your trade
And Jebusites your sacred rites invade.
My father, whom with reverence yet I name.
POETIC READING. 185
Charmed into ease is careless of his fame ;
Exalts his enemies, his friends destroys,
And all his power against himself employs.
He gives, and let him give, my right away :
But why should he his own and yours betray?
Youth, beauty, graceful action seldom fail,
But common interest always will prevail :
And pity never ceases to be shown
To him who makes the people's wrongs his own.
Dry den.
The Pilgrims of the Night.
Hark! hark! my soul, angelic songs are swelling
O'er earth's green fields and ocean's wave-beat shore;
How sweet the truth those blessed strains are telling
Of that new life when sin shall be no more!
Chorus. Angels of Jesus
Angels of light.
Singing to welcome*
The pilgrims of the night!
Darker than night, life's shadows fall around us.
And. like benighted men. we miss our mark:
God hides Himself, and grace hath scarcely found us,
Ere death finds out his victim in the dark.
Onward we go, for still we hear them singing,
Come, weary souls! for Jesus bids you come!
And through the dark', its echoes sweetly ringing,
The music of the Gospel leads us home-
Far, far away, like bells at evening pealing,
The voice of Jesus sounds o'er land and sea,
And laden souls, by thousands meekly stealing.
Kind Shepherd! turn their weary steps to Thee.
Rest comes at length : though life be long and dreary,
The day must dawn, and darksome night be past :
All journeys end in welcomes to the weary.
And heaven, the heart's true home, will come at last.
186 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
Cheer up, ray soul! faith's moonbeams softly glisten
Upon the breast of life's most troubled sea:
And it will cheer thy drooping heart to listen
To those brave songs which angels mean for thee.
Angels! sing on, your faithful watches keeping,
Sing us sweet fragments of the songs above ;
While we toil on, and soothe ourselves with weeping.
Till life's long night shall break in endless love.
Father Faber.
PERSONATION. 187
CHAPTER XV.
PERSONATION.
We can hardly pass over this subject, as it is one
which is so often offended against by persons who are
otherwise fair elocutionists. As rules which must be
observed, we insert the following:
1 . Personation is not allowed unless the direct speech
of a person is given. In such a sentence as,
"She tore from braids of long black liair
The gems that gleamed like star-light there,'" etc..
you are not allowed to go through a motion indicative of
tearing them from your own hair. In the following ex-
ample, notice the personation does not commence till
you arrive at the direct speech. Then raise the hand
as if grasping a scepter, and point, at the same time
assuming majestic voice.
From Heart of Bruce.
The king sighed slightly, and his eyelids sank;
Later his eyes unclosed : and with strong voice
And hand half raised as if it grasped a scepter,
He spake :" "Yon case of silver is a reliquary —
Seal thou therein my heart when dead I lie:
In the Holy Land inter it."
Aubrey De Vere.
In speaking of another's limb, face, mouth, etc.. do
not point or refer to your own: e. o\.
188 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
No voice brought a word of solace to soothe that kind heart
breaking within him now. On his brow he felt the death-
damp. — Williams.
2. Personation is often in place where, although no
direct speech is used, the selection is intensely dramatic.
This is on account of our sympathy with the situation.
We see some one we love in a terrible crisis, and we
involuntarily portray his actions, allow him to speak, as
it were, through our organs of expression. As an ex-
ample of this, Copee's "Night Watch 1 ' will serve.
Irene de Grandfief sees lying wounded before her the
man who murdered her lover. She must tend him and
administer a potion regularly to prevent fever. Her
wrongs burn within her, and, for a time, she hesitates.
After a terrible struggle, she overcomes self, and with
eyes ever bent on her crucifix fulfils her duty. Though
much of the latter part of the piece is not in direct
speech, still personation would be proper on account of
the dramatic intensity .—Another example wouM be the
following: The tenement was ablaze. The clang of the
fire bells, the shouts of the spectators, the roaring of
the flames above, and of the engines below 7 in the street
was deafening. Suddenly there appeared far above, out
of reach of the ladders, a woman holding an infant.
Flames were licking the easement of the window below.
In a few moments she would be enwrapped in them.
The eye \ of th.3 crowd are upon her. Their hearts go out
to her in her terrible peri'. Oh. for a means of saving*
her and her precious burden! And is she to be made a
holocaust to the fire-king? A moment more and that
creeping red flame wi.i lie around her! Oh, God! is
there no hand to snatch her from that hell around^
3. The elocutionist is not allowed the liberties of
PERSONATION. • 189
the actor. The character may be personated when we
have the direct speech, but we are not permitted to
use accessories. In reciting the lines of Falstaff, di-
rected to the grand jurors, whom he has waylaid, we
are not allowed the use of a sword. We may stab at
the imaginary juror as he lies trembling on the ground,
but FalstafTs mighty weapon must be relegated to the
property man. Leave such portrayal to the actor.
Elocution calls for no properties.
4. Where a personation occurs within a persona-
tion, the speaker is not allowed to drift from one into
the other. The subordinate one is to be spoken in the
maimer in which the principal personation is character-
ized. In the selection, * 'The Old Surgeon's Story," an
old surgeon tells of a youth's interview with his moth-
er. In rendering this selection, it would be ridiculous
for the reciter to use the tones of voice of the mother
and child. The oid surgeon is the one who speaks, even
where he brings in the direct words of the mother and
child. His personality can not be lost sight of during
the entire selection. It is the prominent character.
Assuming the voice or action of any other party would
be ti mistaken interpretation of the poem. Those who
wilt ponder Hamlet's advice to the players, and thence-
forward closely follow it, will scarcely violate the rules
of personation.
From Hamlet. Act III.
Speak the speech, I pray you. as I pronounced it to you,
trippingly on the tongue: but if you mouth it. as many of
your players do, I had as lief the town-crier spoke my lines.
^Tor. do not saw the air too much with your hand, thus; but
use all gently: for in the very torrent, tempest, and, as I may
say. whirlwind of your passion, you must acquire and beget a
190 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION. VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
temperance that may give it smoothness. O, it offends me to
the soul to liear a robustious periwig-pated fellow tear a pas-
sion to tatters, to very rags, to split the ears of the ground-
lings, who for the most part, are capable of nothing but
inexplicable dumb-shows and noise. I could have such a
fellow whipped for o'erdoing Termagant: it out-herods Her-
od: pray you, avoid it. Be not too tame neither, but let your
own discretion be your tutor: suit the action to the word, the
word to the action; with this special observance, that you
o'erstep not the modesty of nature: for anything so overdone
is from the purpose of playing, whose end, both at the first and
now, was and is, to hold, as't were, the mirror up to Nature :
to show virtue her own feature, scorn her own image, and the
very age and body of the time his form and pressure. Now,
this overdone, or come tardy of, though it make the unskil-
ful laugh, cannot but make the judicious grieve : the censure
of the which one must, in your allowance, o'erweigh a whole
theatre of others. O, there be players, that I have seen play,
and heard others praise, and that highly, not to speak it pro-
fanely, that, neither having the accent of Christians, nor the
gait of Christian, pagan, nor Turk, have so strutted and bel-
lowed that I have thought some of Nature's journeymen had
made men and not made them well, they imitated humanity
so abominably.— Shakespeare.
TONE COLOR. 191
CHAPTER XVI.
TONE COLOR.
The power of some painters is so great, that, by one
stroke of the brush, they can change the nature of a
picture. They can convert a dismal scene into a smil-
ing one, a weeping into a laughing child.
We can as quickly and completely color an emotion
by means of vocal quality. Fame tells us, that "the
speaker's palette is as rich and varied as that of the
painter. Besides its lights and shadows, its broken
tones and brilliant colors, it possesses infinite varieties
of rhythm and timbre that may be combined to produce
endless effects/'
In order to do this, we must color the words to fit the
thought they express, we must make the sound "seem
an echo to the sense.* '
The following from Moore's — "Puck The Fairy,* 1
can only be justly rendered in a light, jaunty, delicate
manner corresponding with its mirthful flow.
To a miser's bed, where he snoring- slept
And dreamt of his cash. I slily crept:
Chink, chink o'er his pillow like money I rang,
And he waked to catch-but away I sprang,
Singing. I am the sprite
Of the merry midnight,
Who laugh at weak mortals, and love the moon-
light!
192 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
Observe how inappropriate the bright, (jay colors
of the former would be to express the following from
' "The Homeless Poor.
There black waters in their luring silence
Under loathsome ashes crawl and creep,
There the rats and vermin herd together,
There God's poor ones sometimes come to sleep.
In slow darkness creeps the dismal river
From its depths looks up a sinful rest,
Many a weary, baffled, hopeless wanderer
Has it drawn into its treacherous breast.
Adelaide A. Procter.
This cheerless picture requires vocal colors sombre as
"the dismal river.''
All writers of merit since Homer's day have under-
stood the charm and potency of words whose sound
echoes their sense. Dante acknowledges this when he
says,
' Could I command rough rhymes and hoarse, to suit
That hole of sorrow, o'er which every rock
His linn abutment rears, then might the vein
Of fancy rise full springing.
This desire of accomodating the sound to the sense
has given birth to many words whose sound corresponds,
resembles, or suggests the thing signified.
Hence Tone Color embraces not only correspondence
of sound and sense, but also resemblance and suggest-
iveness. Among the following words may be found
examples of each.
Gush, whirl, cool, moan, whirring, slender, rugged,
thunder, rough, shriek, ripple, sigh, cackle, weary,
jar, click, clash, clink, tick, clang, rumble, clatter,
boom, tinkle, bang, flutter, dash, grumble, clack, gfrowl,
TONE COLOR. 193
clap, croak, roar, hiss, shiver, chirp, rustle, twitter,
patter, linger, whizz, buzz, murmur, splash, chuckle,
crash.
Pope, by introducing words of this nature, artfully
imitates the sound made by a bowstring in delivering an
arrow.
The string let fly,
Twang'd short and sharp like the shrill swallow's cry.
In his translation of the Iliad he imitates the felling
of trees thus:
Loud sounds the axe, redoubling strokes on strokes,
On all sides round the forest hurls her oaks
Headlong. Deep echoing groan the thickets brown,
Then rustling, crackling, crashing, thunder down.
Pope again says.
When the tide rushes from her rumbling caves
The rough rock roars: tumultuous boil the waves.
The efforts of a dull author are thus suggested by the
same poet.
Just writes to make his barrenness appear,
And strains from hard-bound brains eight lines a year.
Shakespeare says very delicately of queen Mab,
She comes
In shape not bigger than agate stone
Drawn by a team of little atomies :
Her whip of cricket bone, the lash of film.
He says again.
The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums
Hath rung night's yawning peal.
The effect which certain words, in the foregoing
examples, produce, must be attributed to their vowel
194 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
and consonant colors. Certain sounds are expressive
of certain emotions. Sad strains of music Avill affect
us with an "ecstasy of woe 1 ' akin to that awakened by
the artirtic recitation of a pathetic poem.
Sherman says, ' 'There is one particular set of sounds
employed in groans, another in murmurs of pleasure
or applause. It is clear that by the use of syllables or
sounds from the one set or the other, the mind of the
reader may be affected through suggestion of the re-
spective emotion, and the author's meaning as contained
in his words greatly strengthened and intensified. "
When the thought is lively and sparkling, hard conso-
nants and heavy vowels will be in the minority; but
liquid consonants and light vowels will be scarce when
the thought is more serious and vigorous.
Weighty subjects usually depress the voice and are
expressed in words containing fuller vowel colors. This
is the reason we find it easier to pronounce some words
in a low, others in a high pitch; e. g., toll, ring.
Professor Tolman gave a very elaborate classification
of vowel and consonant colors in the March number of
the Andover Review, 1S87. The vowels at the bottom
of his scale, oo (wood, pull), o (gore), oo (gloom), aw
(awe), etc., he says "are peculiarly fitted to express
solemnity, awe, horror, and deep grief, also slowness of
motion, and extreme or oppressive greatness of size."
The vowels he has at the top of the scale, i (little), e
(met), a (mat), etc., are used especially in words ex-
pressing uncontrollable joy and delight, excessive gaye-
ty, triviality, rapid movement, delicacy, and physical
littleness."
"The surd mutes, p, k, t, express boldness, precipita-
TONE COLOR. 19o
tion, unexpectedness, vigor, determination, explosive
passion, and forcible and startling effects of all kinds .
They must be the initial consonants of accented sylla-
bles to have their full expressional value." U Z and zh
are rich, pleasant colors, as in easy, luxurious, azure,
pleasure. L and r smooth, especially 1, express above
all others softness, smoothness, lingering love and long-
ing."
We must never hope to tind whole poems strongly
colored. Nor would such monotony be desirable. Only
the emphatic parts receive appropriate tints. One word
ma}' give life and hue to a whole sentence. We should
imitate the authors and not distribute light and shade
too heavily.
Complete control of Tone Color is necessary for the
production of artistic results.
"When loud surges lash the distant shore
The hoarse rough verse should like the torrent roar."
How much more effective will not "the hoarse rough
verse" be if delivered in a concordant voice!
"Soft is the strain when zephyr gently blows
And the smooth stream in smoother numbers flows',"
and so should the voice How in >oft, persuasive tones
enhancing and impressing the author's beauties.
GENERAL EXAMPLES.
From The Temple of Fame.
O'er the wide prospect as I gazed around.
Sudden I heard a wild promiscuous sound.
Like broken thunders that at distance roar,
Or billows murmuring on the hollow shore:
Then gazing up. a glorious pile beheld.
ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION. VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
Whose tow'ring summit ambient clouds concealed.
High on a rock of ice the structure lay,
Steep its ascent, and slipp'ry was the way ;
The wondrous rock like Parian marble shone,
And seemed, to distant sight, of solid stone.
Pope.
From Hell. Canto IX.
And now there came o'er the perturbed waves
Loud-crashing, terrible, as if of a wind
Impetuous, from conflicting vapours sprung,
That 'gainst some forest driving all its might,
Plucks off the branches, beats them down and hurls
Afar ; then onward passing proudly sweeps
Its whirlwind rage, while beasts and shepherds fly.
Gary's Dante.
From Midsummer Night's Dream. Act 11.
Fairies' Song.
I. Fai. You spotted snakes, with double tongue
Thorny hedge-hogs, be not seen,
Newts, and blind-worms, do no wrong;
Come not near our fairy queen.
Chorus.
Philomel with melody,
Sing now your sweet lullaby :
Lulla, lulla, lullaby ; lulla, lulla, lullaby :
Never harm,
Nor spell nor charm.
Come our lovely lady nigh ;
So, good night, with lullaby.
II. Fai. Weaving spiders come not near
Hence, you long-legg'd spinners, hence;
Beetles black, approach not near :
Worm, nor snail, do no offence.
Shakespeare.
TONE COLOR. 197
From Odyssey. III., 118.
Two craggy rocks projecting to the main,
The roaring winds tempestuous rage restrain;
Within, the waves in softer murmurs glide,
And ships secure without their halsers ride.
Pope's Translation.
From Alexander's Feast.
Now strike the golden lyre again;
A louder yet, and yet a louder strain,
Break his bands of sleep asunder,
And rouse him like a rattling peal of thunder.
Hark, hark, the horrid sound
Has raised up his head ;
As awaked from the dead,
And amazed, he stares around.
Revenge. Revenge, Timotheus cries,
See the Furies arise :
See the snakes that they rear
How they hiss in their hair.
And the sparkles that flash from their eyes!
Dry den.
From Macbeth. Act IV.
For a charm of powerful trouble
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
Double, double toil and trouble,
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
Shakespeare.
From The Temple of Fame.
But straight the direful trump of slander sounds ;
Through the big dome the doubling thunder bounds :
Loud as the burst of cannon rends the skies,
The dire report through every region flies,
198 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
In every ear incessant rumours rung,
And gathering scandals grew on every tongue.
From the black trumpet's rusty concave broke
Sulphureous flames and clouds of rolling smoke ;
The poisonous vapour blots the purple skies,
And withers all before it as it flies.
Pope.
From Lalla Rookh.
Loud rings the ponderous ram against the walls;
Now shake the ramparts, now a buttress falls,
But still no breach— "Once more, one mighty swing
Of all your beams, together thundering !"
There— the wall shakes— the shouting troops exult,
"Quick, quick discharge your weightiest catapult
Right on that spot, and Neksheb is our own !"
*T is done— the battlements come crashing down,
And the huge wall, by that stroke riven in two,
Yawning, like some old crater, rent anew,
Shows the dim desolate city smoking through.
Moore.
From a Song for St. Cecilia's Day.
The trumpet's loud clangor
Excites us to arms
With shrill notes of anger
And mortal alarms.
The double double double beat
Of the thundering drum
Cries, hark! the foes come;
Charge, charge, 't is boo late to retreat.
JJrydeu.
From The Fairies of Knockshegowna.
In the noon of night, o'er the stormy hills,
The fairy minstrels play,
And the strain, replete with fantastic dreams,
TONE COLOR. liM
On the wild gust flits away.
Then the sleeper thinks, as the dreamful song
On the blast to his slumber comes,
That his nose as the church's spire is long,
And, like its organ hums!
And when they spread their filmy wings
In the dim moon's waning ray.
Strange meteors dance, and the glittering rills
Seem show 'ring iiery spray,
And deep when booms the solemn toll
Of the distant cloister bells,
The clang, and the clash, and the tambour roll
Of their midnight music swells.
B. D.. Williams,
From The Virgin Mary's Bank.
Out burst the pealing thunder, and the lightning leap'd
about ;
And rushing with his watery war, the tempest gave a shout;
And that vessel from a mountain wave came down with
1 hund'ring shock ;
And her timbers flew like scatter*d spray on Inchidony's
rock.
Then loud from all that guilty crew one shriek rose wild and
high,
But the angry surge swept over them, and husb'd their
gurgling cry:
And with a hoarse exulting tone the tempest pass'd away.
And down, still chafing from their strife, th" indignant wa-
ters lay.
./. J. Callanari.
From A Memory.
Low in the west gleam after gleam
Glowed faint and fainter, till the last
Made their dying day a living dream.
To last as Ions- as life shall last.
200 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
And in the arches of the trees
The wild birds slept with folded wing,
And e'en the lips of the summer breeze,
That sang all day, had ceased to sing.
And all was silent save the rill
That rippled round the lilies' feet,
And sang, while stillness grew more still
To listen to the murmur sweet.
And now and then it surely seemed
The little stream was laughing low,
As if its sleepy wavelets dreamed
Such dreams as only children know.
Sweet sang the stream as on it pressed,
As sorrow sings a heart to sleep;
As a mother sings one child to rest,
A nd for the dead one still will weep.
Father By an.
201
<(sc5 T •
Selections.
< r-^r 1 ^ o v-T^ 11 ^"^
*/iv'
f
202 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION. YOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
A Night in June.
I.
Rich is the scent of clover in the air,
And from the woodbine, moonlight and the dew
Draw liner essence than the daylight knew;
Low murmurs and an incense everywhere!
Who spoke? Ah! surely in the garden there
A subtile sound came from the purple crew
That mount wistaria masts, and there's a clue
Of some strange meaning in the rose-scent rare:
Silence itself has voice in these June nights —
Who spake? Why, all the air is full of speech
Of God's own choir, all singing various parts;
Be quiet and listen : hear — the very lights
In yonder town, the waving of the beech.
The maples' shades, — cry of the Heart of hearts!
II.
On such a night spoke raptured Juliet
From out the balcon; and young Rosalind,
Wandered in Arden like the April wind;
And Jessica the bold Lorenzo met;
And Perdita her silvered lilies set
In some quaint vase, to scent the prince's mind
With thoughts of her; and then did Jaques find
Sad tales, and from them bitter sayings get.
To all of these the silence sang their thought;
To all of these it gave their thought new grace:
Soprano of the lily, roses 1 lone
And passionate contralto, oak boughs' bass —
All sing the thought we bring them, be it fraught
With the sad love of lovers' or God's own.
SELECTIONS. 203
III.
This sweetness and this silence fill my sou*]
With longing and dull pain, that seem to break
Some cord within my heart, and sudden take
Life out of life: and then there sounds the roll
Of wheels upon the road, the distant toll
Of bells within the town : these rude things make
Life wake to life; and all the longings shake
Their airy wings,— swift fly the pain and dole.
Again the silence and the mute sounds sweet
Begin their speaking; I alone am still.
What are you singing, O you starry flowers
Upon the jasmine!! — "'Void and incomplete. 1 '
And you, clematis? — ''Void the joys that fill
The heart of love until His Heart is ours."
IV.
O choir of silence, without noise of word!
A human voice would break the mystic spell
Of wavering shades and sounds; the lily bell
Here at my feet sings melodies unheard;
And clearer than the voice of any bird. —
Yes, even than that lark which loves ho well.
Hid in the hedges, all the world to tell
In trill and triple notes that May has stirred.
4 '0 Love complete!" soft sino-s the mignonette;
w *0 Heart of All!" deep sighs the red. red rose;
"O Heart of Christ!" the lily voices meet
In fugue on fugue; and from the flag-edged, wet.
Lush borders of the lake, the night wind blows
The tenor of the reeds — "Love, love complete."
Maurice F. Egdn.
204 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
Hamlet Upbraids the Queen.
Hamlet. Now, mother, what's the matter!'
Queen. Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended.
Ham. Mother, you have my father much offended.
Queen. Come, come; you answer with an idle tongue.
Ham. Go, go; you question with an idle tongue.
Queen. Why, how now, Hamlet! what's the matter
now?
Have you forgot met
Ham. No, by the rood, not so: •
You are the Queen, your husband's brother's wife;
And — would it were not so!— you are my mother.
Queen. Nay, then I'll set those to you that can speak.
Ham. Come, come, and sit you down; you shall not
budge:
You go not till I set jou up a glass
Where you may see the inmost part of you.
Queen. What wilt thou do? thou wilt not murder
me ? —
Help, help, ho!
Ham. Leave wringing of your hands; peace! sit you
down,
And let me wring your heart: for so I shall,
If it be made of penetrable stuff;
If damned custom have not brass' d it so,
That it is proof and bulwark against sense.
Queen. What have I done, that thou darest wag thy
tongue
In noise so rude against met
Ham. Such an act
That blurs the grace and blush of modesty;
Cads virtue hypocrite; takes off the rose
SELECTIONS. 205
From the fair forehead of an innocent love,
And sets a blister there; makes marriage- vows
As false as dicers' oaths: O, such a deed
As from the body of contraction plucks
The very soul; and sweet religion makes
A rhapsody of words: Heaven's face doth glow;
Yea this solidity and compound mass.
With tristful visage, as against the doom,
Is thought-sick at the act.
Queen. Ah me, what act,
That roars so loud and thunders in the index?
Ham. Look here upon this picture, and on this.
The counterfeit presentment of two brothers.
See what a grace was seated on this brow;
Hyperion's curls; the front of Jove himself;
An eye like Mars, to threaten and command;
A station like the herald Mercury
New-lighted on a heaven-kissing hill;
A combination and a form indeed,
Where every god did seem to set his seal,
To give the world assurance of a man:
This was your husband. Look you now what follows:
Here is your husband; like a mildew'd ear.
Blasting his wholesome brother. Have you eyes?
Gould you on this fair mountain leave to feed.
And batten on this moor? Ha! have you eyes?
Queen. O Hamlet, speak no more!
Thou turn'st mine eyes into my very soul:
And there I see such black and grained spots
As will not leave their tinct.
O, speak to me no more!
These words like daggers enter in mine ears:
No more, sweet Hamlet!
Ham. A murderer and a villain;
206 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION. VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
A slave that is not twentieth part the tithe
Of your precedent lord; a Vice of kings;
A cutpurse of the empire and the rule,
That from a shelf the precious diadem stole.
And put it in his pocket!
Queen. No more!
Ham. A king of shreds and patches, —
Enter the Ghosi.
Save me and hover o'er me with your wings.
You heavenly guards! — What would your gracious fig-
ure \
Queen. Alas, he's mad!
Ham. Do you not come your tard} T son to chide.
That, lapsed in time and passion, lets go by
Th' important act of your dread commands
O. say!
Ghost. Do not forget, This visitation
Is but to whet thy almost-blunted purpose.
But, look, amazement on thy mother sits:
O, step between her and her fighting soul!
Conceit in weakest bodies strongest works .
Speak to her, Hamlet.
Ham. How is't with you. lady'
Queen. Alas, how is't with you.
That you do bend your eye on vacancy,
And with tlf incorpora! air do hold discourse?
Whereon do you look^
Ham. On him, on him! Look you how pale he
glares!
His form and cause conjoined, preaching to stones.
Would make them capable. — Do not look upon me;
Lest with this piteous action } t ou convert
My stern affects: then what I have to do
Will want true color: tears, perchance, for blood.
SELECTIONS. 207
Queen. To whom do you speak this?
Ham. Do you see nothing there?
Queen. Nothing at all; yet all that is 1 see.
Ham. Nor did yon nothing hear?
Queen. No, nothing but ourselves
Ham. Why. look you there! look, how it steals
away!
My father, in his habit as he lived!
Look, where he goes, even now. out at the portal!
[Exit Ghost.
Queen. This is the very coinage of your brain:
This bodiless creation ecstasy
Is very cunning in.
Ham. Ecstasy!
My pulse, as yours, doth temperately keep time.
And makes as healthful music: 'tis not madness
That I have utter'd: bring me to the test.
And I the matter will re-word; which madness
Would gambol from. Mother, for love of grace.
Lav not that flattering unction to your soul.
That not yo ir trespass but my madness speaks:
It will but skin and film the ulcerous place.
Whilst rank corruption, mining all within.
Infects unseen. Confess yourself to Heaven;
Repent what's past, avoid what is to come.
And do not spread the compost on the weeds.
To make them ranker. Forgive me this my virtue;
For in the fatness of these pursy times
Virtue itself of vice must pardon beg.
Yea. courb and woo for ieave to do him good.
Queen. O Hamlet, thou hast cleft my heart in twain.
Ham. O. throw away the worser part of it.
And live the purer with the other half.
Good nio-ht, mother. — Hamlet. Act III.
208 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
Homeless.
It is cold, dark midnight, yet listen
To that patter of tiny feet!
Is it one of your dogs, fair lady,
Who whines in the bleak cold street?
Is it one of your silken spaniels
Shut out in the snow and the sleet *
My dogs sleep in their baskets,
Safe from the darkness and snow;
All the beasts in our Christian England,
Find pity wherever they go —
(Those are only the homeless children
Who are wandering to and fro) .
Look out in the gusty darkness, —
1 have seen it again and again.
That shadow, that nits so slowly
Up and down past the window-pane: —
It is surely some criminal lurking
Out there in the frozen rain?
Nay, our criminals are all sheltered,
They are pitied and taught and fed :
That is only a sister-woman
That has got neither food nor bed, —
And the night cries. w \Sin to be living,"
And the River cries. w> Sin to be dead."
Look out at that farthest corner
Where the wall stands blank and bare: —
Can that be a pack which a Pedler
SELECTIONS. 209
Has left and forgotten there?
His goods lying out unsheltered
Will be spoilt by the damp night air.
Nay;- — goods in our thrifty England
Are not left to lie and grow rotten,
For each man knows the market value
Of silk or woollen or cotton ....
But in counting the riches of England
I think our Poor are forgotten .
Our Beasts and our Thieves and our Chatties
Have weight for good or for ili;
But the Poor are only His image,
His presence, His words, His will; —
And so Lazarus lies at our door-step
And Dives neglects him still.
Adelaide A. Procter.
Hotspur's Death.
Hotspur. If I mistake not thou art Harry Monmouth.
Prince. Thou speak'st as if I would deny my name.
Hot. My name is Harry Percy.
Prince. Why, then I see
A very valiant rebel of that name.
I am the Prince of Wales; and think not, Percy,
To share with me in glory any more;
Two stars keep not their motion in one sphere;
Nor can one England brook a double reign,
Of Harry Percy and the Prince of Wales.
210 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
Hot. Nor shall it, Harry; for the hour is come
To end the one of us; and would to God
Thy name in arms were now as great as mine!
Prince, I'll make it greater ere I part from thee;
And all the budding honors on thy crest
ril crop to make a garland for my head.
Hot, I can no longer brook thy vanities.
[They fight.
Enter Falstaff.
Fat Well said, Hal! to it, Hal! Nay, you shall find
no boy's play here,- — I can tell you.
Re-enter Douglas; he fights with Falstaff, who falls
down as if he were dead, and exit Douglas, Hotspur
is wounded, and falls.
Hot, Q Harry, thou hast robb'd me of my youth!
I better brook the loss of brittle life
Than those proud titles thou hast won of me;
They wound my thoughts worse than thy sword my flesh :
But thoughts the slaves of life, and life Time's fool,
And Time that takes survey of all the world.
Must have a stop. O, I could prophesy,
But that the earthy and cold hand of death
Lies on my tongue; no, Percy, thou art dust.
And food for—
Prince. For worms, brave Percy; fare thee well
great heart!
Ill-weaved ambition, how much art thou sunk!
When that this body did contain a spirit,
A kingdom for it was too small a bound;
But now two paces of the vilest earth
Is room enough. This earth that bears the dead
Bears not alive so stout a gentleman.
If thou wert sensible of courtesy ,,
SELECTIONS. 211
I should not make so dear a show of zeal:
But let my favours hide thy mangled face;
And, even in thy behalf, I'll thank myself
For doing these fair rites of tenderness.
Adieu, and take thy praise with thee to Heaven!
Thy ignominy sleep with thee in the grave,
But not remember'd in thy epitaph! —
[Sees Falstaff on the ground,
What, old acquaintance! could not all this iiesh
Keep in a little life? Poor Jack, farewell!
I could have better spared a better man :
O, I should have a heavy miss of thee.
If I were much in love with vanity!
Death hath not struck so fat a deer to-day,
Though many dearer, in this bloody fray. [Exit.
Fed. [Bising.] Ha! 'twas time to counterfeit, or that
hot termagant Scot had paid me scot and lot too. Coun-
terfeit! I lie; I am no counterfeit: to die, is to be coun-
terfeit; for he is but the counterfeit of a man who hath
not the life of a man: but counterfeit dying, when
a man thereby liveth. is to be no counterfeit, but the
true and perfect image of life indeed. The better part
of valour is discretion: in the which better part 1
saved my life. — I am afraid of this gunpowder Percy,
though he be dead: how, if he should counterfeit too,
and rise? by my faith. I am afraid he would prove the
better counterfeit. Therefore I'll make him sure; yea,
and I'll swear I kill'd him. Why may not he rise as
well as li Nothing confutes me but eyes, and nolxxVy
sees me. Therefore, sirrah, with a n^w wound in your
thigh, come you along with me.
[Takes Hotspuk on Ms back.
212 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
Reenter Prince Henry and Lancaster.
Prince. Come, brother John; full bravely hast thou
fleshed
Thy maiden sword.
Lancaster. But, soft! whom have we here 2
Did you not tell me this fat man was dead?
Prince. I did; I saw him dead, breathless and bleed-
ing
Upon the ground. —
Art thou alive? or is it fantasy
That plays upon our eyesight? I pry thee, speak;
We will not trust our eyes without our ears:
Thou art not what thou seem'st.
Fed. Xo, that's certain; I am not a double man: but
if I be not Jack Falstafl', then I am a Jack. There is
Percy! (Throwing his body down), if your father will
do me any honour, so; if not, let him kill the next
Percy himself! I look to be either earl or duke. I can
assure you.
Prince. Why, Percy I kill'd myself, and saw thee
dead .
FaL Didst thou?— Lord, Lord, how this world is
given to lying! — I grant you I was down and out of
breath; and so was he; but we rose both at an instant,
and fought a long hour by Shrewsbury clock. If I may
be believed, so: if not, let them that should reward
valour bear the sin upon their own heads. I'll take it
upon my death, I gave him this wound in the thigh: if
the man were alive, and would deny it, zounds, I
would make him eat a piece of my sword.
Lan. This is the strangest tale that ever I heard.
Prince. This is the strangest fellow, brother John. —
Come, bring your luggage nobly on your back;
SELECTIONS. 213
For my part, if a lie may do thee grace, '
I'll gild it with the happiest terms I have.—
The trumpet sounds retreat; the day is ours.
Come, brother, let's to tlr highest of the field,
To see what friends are living, who are dead.
The First Part of King Henry IV., Act V.
At the Seashore.
A child's first sight of the ocean is an era in his life.
It is a new world without him, and it awakens a new
world within him. There is no other novelty to be
compared with it, and after life will bring nothing at
all like it. A rapid multitude of questions rush upon
the mind; yet. the child is silent, as if he needed not an
answer to any of them. They are beyond answering:
and he feels that the sight itself satisfies him better than
any answer. Those great bright outspread waters! the
idea of God is the onl}^ echo to them in his mind; and
now henceforth he is a different child, because he has
seen the sea.
So is it with us when we sit by the ocean of creative
love. Questions throng upon us; problems start upon
all sides; mysteries intersect each other. Yet so long as
we are children, are childlike in heart and spirit, the
questions are not difficulties. Either they answer, them-
selves, or they do not need an answer, like questions
which are exclamations only; or we would rather not
have an answer, lest peradventure some high thing
should be lowered or some holy thing be made common.
To gaze — to gaze is all we desire. The fact that so
punch is mystery to us. is no trouble. It is love. That
214 ELEMENT* OF EXPRESSION. VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
is enough. We trust it, We would almost rather it
was not made plainer. It would be darker if it were.
Whereas now, though it is indistinct, it is tranquillizing
also, like the beauty of a summer night. We have
thoughts which cannot be put into words, but it seems
to us as if they more than answered all difficulties. How
the broad waters iiow and shine, and how the many-
headed waves leap up to the sun and sparkle, and then
sink down into the depths again, yet not to rest; and,
placid as the azure expanse appeals, how evermore it
thunders on the hard white sand, and fringes the coast
with a bewitching silver mist! Why should we ever stir
from where we are? To look on the sea seems better
than to learn the science of its storms, the grandeur of
its steadfastness, or the man}' moods of its beautiful
mutabilities. The heathen called the sea-spirit father.
There was much in the thought. But when we cease to
be children and to be childlike, there is no more this
simple enjoyment. We ask questions, not because we
doubt, but because, when love is not all in all to us, we
must have knowledge, or w T e chafe and pine. Then a
cloud comes between the sun and the sea, and that ex-
panse of love, which was an undefined beauty, a confused
magnificence, now becomes black and ruffled, and
breaks up into dark wheeling currents of predestina-
tion, or mountainous waves of divine anger and judicial
vengeance; and the white surf tells us of many a sunken
reef, where we had seen nothing but a smooth and
glossy azure plain, rocking gently to and fro, as un-
ruffled as a silken banner.
We shall be children once again, and on the same
shore, and we shall theu never leave it more, and we
shall see down into the crystal depths of this creative
love, and its wide waters will be the breadth and meas-
SELECTIONS. 215
ure of our joy, and its glancing splendor will be the
light of our eternal life, and its soft thunder will be the
endless, solemn, thrilling music of our beatitude. O
happy we! but we must be changed first of all, and
perchance by lire!- — Father Faber,
The Gheber's Glen.
But see — he starts — what heard he then \
That dreadful shout!— across the glen
From the land-side it comes, and loud
Rings through the chasm; as if the crowd
Of fearful things that haunt that dell,
its Ghoies and Dives and shapes of heli,
Had all in one dread howl broke out,
So loud, so terrible that shout!
"They come — the Moslems come!" he cries.
His proud soul mounting to his eyet- —
"Now spirits of tiie brave, who roam
Enfranchised through yon starry dome,
Rejoice, for souls of kindred lire
Are on the wing to join } T our choir!"
He said, and, light as bridegrooms bound
To their young loves, reclimbed the steep
And gained the shrine. His chiefs stood round;
Their swords, as with instinctive leap,
Together, at that cry accurst.
Had from their sheaths, like sunbeams, hurst,
And hark! again, again it rings;
Near and more near its echoings
Peal through the chasm. Oh! who that then
Had seen those listening warrior-men,
lUfi ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
With their swords grasped, their eyes of flame
Turned on their chief, could doubt the shame,
The indignant shame, with which they thrill
To hear those shouts, and yet stand still.?
He read their thoughts — they were his own —
''What! while our arms can wield these blades
Shall we die tamely? die alone?
Without one victim to our shades,
One Moslem heart, where, buried deep,
The sabre from its toil may sleep?
No; God of Iran's burning skies!
Thou scorn 'st the inglorious sacrifice.
No — though of all earth's hope bereft,
Life, swords, and vengeance still are left.
We'll make yon valley's reeking caves
Live in the awestruck minds of men.
Till tyrants shudder, when their slaves
Tell of the Gheber^s bloody glen.
Follow, brave hearts!— this pile remains
Our refuge still from life and chains;
But his the best, the holiest bed,
Who sinks entombed in Moslem dead!"
Moore.
Cassius Inciting Brutus to Conspiracy.
Oassii.ts, Will you gx> see the order of the course?
Brutus. Not L
Cass. I pray you, do.
Brit, I am not gamesome; I do lack some part
Of that quick spirit that is in Anthony.
Let me not hinder, Cassius, your desires;
SELECTIONS. 217
I'll leave you.
Cass. Brutus, I do observe you now of late;
I have not from your eyes that gentleness
And show of love as I was wont to have:
You bear too stubborn and too strange a hand
Over your friend that loves you.
Bru. Cassius,
Be not deceived: if 1 have veil'd my look;
I turn the trouble of my countenance
Merely upon myself Vexed I am
Of late with passions of some difference.
Conceptions only proper to myself.
Which give some soil, perhaps, to my behaviours;
But let not therefore my good friends be grieved, —
Among which number, Cassius be you one, —
Nor construe any further my neglect,
Than that poor Brutus, with himself at war.
Forgets the shows of love to other men.
Cass. Then, Brutus, I have much mistook your
passion;
By means whereof, this breast of mine hath buried
Thoughts of great value, worthy cogitations.
Tell me. good Brutus, can you see your face?
Bru. Xo, Cassius; for the eye .sees not itself
But by reflection from some other things.
( ( ass. "Tis just:
And it is very much lamented. Brutus.
That you have not such mirrors as will turn
Your hidden worthiness into your eye.
That you might see } r our shadow. 1 have heard,
Where many of the best respect in Rome. —
Except immortal Caesar, — speaking of Brutus,
And groaning underneath this age's yoke.
Have wished that nobie Brutus had his eyes.
28
218 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
Bru. Into what dangers would you lead me, Cassius.
That you would have me seek into myself
For that which is not in me?
Cass. Therefore, good Brutus, be prepared to hear:
And, since you cannot see yourself
So well as by reflection, I, your glass
Will modestly discover to yourself
That of yourself which you yet know not of.
And be not jealous on me, o-entle Brutus:
Were I a common laugher, or did use
To stale with ordinary oaths my love
To every new protester; if you know
That I do fawn on men, and hug them hard.
And after scandal them; or if you know
That I profess myself, in banqueting.
To all the rout, then hold me dangerous. [Sliout.
Bru. What means this shouting* I do fear the people
Choose Caesar for their king.
Cass. Ay, do you fear it?
Then must I think you would not have it so.
Bru. I would not, Cassius; yet I love him well.
But wherefore do you hold me here so long?
What is it that you would impart to me?
If it be aught toward the general good,
Set honour in one eye and death T the other,
And I will look on death indifferently;
For let the gods so speed me as I love
The name of honour more than I fear death.
Cass, I know that virtue to be in you, Brutus,
As well as I do know your outward favour.
Well, honor is the subject of my story.
I cannot tell what you and other men
Think of this life; but for my single self^
I had as lief not be as live to be
SELECTIONS. 219
In awe of such a thing as I myself.
I was born free as Caesar; so were you.
We both have fed as well; and we can both
Endure the Winter's cold as well as he:
For once upon a raw and gusty day.
The troubled Tiber chafing with her shores,
Caesar said to me, Barest thou, Gassius, now
Leap in with rite into this angry flood.
And swim to yonder point? Upon the word,
Accoutred as I was, I plunged in.
And bade him follow: so indeed he did.
The torrent roar'd and we did buffet it
With lusty sinews, throwing it aside
And stemming it with hearts of controversy:
But, ere we could arrive the point proposed,
Caesar cried. Help me, Cassws, or I sink!
1, as iEneas, oar great ancestor.
Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder
The old Anchises bear, so from the waves of Tiber
Did I the tired Caesar: and this man
Is now become a god; and Cassius is
A wretched creature, and must bend his body.
If Caesar carelessly but nod on him.
He had a fever when he was in Spain:
And when the tit was on him I did mark
How he did shake: 'tis true, this god did shake:
His coward lips did from their colour fly;
And that same eye. whose bend doth awe the world.
Did lose his lustre. I did hear him groan:
Ay, and that tongue of his, that bade the Romans
Mark him, and write his speeches in their books,
Alas, it cried. Give me some drink, Titinius,
As a sick girl. — Ye gods, it doth amaze me.
A man of such a feeble temper should
220 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
80 get the start of the majestic world,
And hear the palm alone. [Shout.
Bru. Another general shout!
I do believe that these applauses are
For some new honours that are heap'd on Caesar.
Cass. Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world
Like a Colossus; and we petty men
Walk under his huge legs, and peep about
To find ourselves dishonourable graves.
Men at some time are masters of their own fates:
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings
Brutus and Gcesar: what should be in that Ccesar?
Why should that name be sounded more than yours (
Write them together, yours is as fair a name;
Sound them, it doth become the mouth as well:
Weigh them, it is as heavy; conjure with them,
Brutus will start a spirit as soon as Ccesar.
Now, in the names of all the gods at once,
Upon what meat doth this our Ca?sar feed.
That he is grown so great? Age, thou art shamed!
Rome, thou hast lost the breed of noble bloods!
When went there by an age, since the great flood.
But it was famed with more than with one man?
When could they say, till now, that talkVl of Rome,
That her wide walls encompassed but one man?
Now is it Rome indeed, and room enough,
When there is in it but one only man.
O, you and 1 have heard our fathers say
There was a Brutus once that would have brook'd
Th' eternal Devil to keep his state in Rome,
As easily as a king!
Bru. That you do love me, I am nothing jealous;
What you would work me to, I have some aim:
SELECTIONS. 221
How I have thought of this, and of these times,
1 shall recount hereafter; for this present,
I would not, so with love I might entreat you,
Be any further moved. What you have said,
I will consider; what you have to say,
I will with patience hear; and find a time
Both meet to hear and answer such high things.
Till then, my noble friend, chew upon this:
Brutus had rather be a villager
Than repute himself a son of Rome
Under these hard conditions as this time
Is like to lay upon us.
Cass. I am glad that my weak words
Have struck but thus much show of fire from Brutus.
Wulius Gcesar, Act I.
Decoration Day Oration.
I am profoundly impressed with the change which
has come over the character of the day we celebrate.
Founded in the gloom of War. it has come to be a day of
glorious recollection and of patriotic anticipations.
Time, which spares neither grief nor joy, has so modi-
fied the sorrows of this nation as to enable us to smile
through our tears over the glorious prospect which lies
before us. Our hearts beat with quickening gratitude
to the heroic dead whose exalted patriotism has assured
us our destiny.
The character of a nation is often known by its festi-
vals. The character of the festival we celebrate to-day
is the most unique in the history of the world. We
celebrate in all its entirety the sublime epoch when fi-
222 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
clelity to the republic triumphed over the dangers that"
comprised the civil war, and we emerged from the con-
flict radiant with the light of liberty established and
indestructible American institutions with the undying
vigor of American patriotism .
The conflict in which we engaged was nd n.rde by the
generation in which we lived. It was a legacy handed
down by the fathers of the republic after the foreign
invader had been driven out.
But the Union soldier was great in peace as well as
in war. His course was marked by a heroism greater
than that of any other soldier in the world, for his was
not merely a triumph of arms; it was not merely a con-
clusion of physical triumph. It was a triumph of heart
and mind, for the Union soldier won the love of the foe
that he vanquished. To-day, throughout the length
and breadth of the country, there is a love for the flag
of the Union. The victory of the Union soldiers was
unique among the victories which have been won in war-
fares of the world. This festival celebrates all that he
did and all that he was. All that he was is unique, for
this is not essentially a military memorial alone. To-
day the union stands not defended by armed force or
by frowning fortresses. Its foundations are laid in the
hearts of our citizens. South as well as North, and it
will be durable and eternal because of that foundation.
But although the vigor of the Union soldier in taking
up arms was creditable to him. he also deserves credit
for the manner in which he laid down his arms. Nev-
er before 1 did victorious army so lay down its arms at
the behest of rulers without the slightest disturbance
throughout the length and breadth of the land.
The lesson which this day teaches above all others is
that no matter what difficulties may arise, the patriot-
SELECTIONS. 223
ism of this republic will be able to surmount them.
Xo matter what clangers ma}' threaten our institutions
there is always to be in reserve the American patriotism
sufficient to solve every question and surmount every
difficulty. The victory of the Union soldiers proved
the capacity and the power of this patriotism which un-
derlies American citizenship. Xo sooner had the smoke
lifted from Southern battlefields: no sooner had the
rivers that had run red with blood once more resumed
their course clear and pellucid to the sea. and the South
was seen humbled, than the men of the X'orth turned
with charity and brotherly love to the aid of the men
with whom they had fought. The victor}' which was
achieved for the Union was thus made a permanent one
for the union of these States.
Trie greatest or English writers ha- said that all
human institutions are but phantoms disappearing with
the dawn — if not of this day. at lea>t of another. AVe
have had abundant experience of this in nations that
have gone before. We are told that the barbarians
that swept down from the North upon the O.d World
were impelled by hunger; that they were unable to
carry on agriculture, and swooped down upon civili-
zation not so much for the conquest as for bread. And
we are told that in this day and in our cities there are
great bodies of men that are hungering for bread, ready
to be led to the work of destruction by anarchists.
But I have no fear of any such result for this country
when I see the faces of these men who have once done
their country a service. The ranks of patriots are re-
cruited from the poorest quarters, and from the tene-
ment house go forth men to become great and good
citizens. The safety of the State is to be found in the
intelligence and patriotism of the common people, and
224 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
upon this we can rely for protection. There are all
over this country, unknown and unsuspected heroes
who, when occasion should demand it, would become
Grants and Shermans and Sheridans.
The lesson of the Union was not ended in 1865. The
The mission of the Union soldier did not close with the
war. It continues to-day as a patriotism which is the
best security of the government. We are reminded of
the survivors as we turn to-day from the graves of the
brave men who were the heroes of the war.
On the Capitol at Washington, surmounting the great
dome where Congress is in session, there may be seen a
bright light high above all else on the building. And
as you recede from the place, and the turrets and fluted
columns of the edifice disappear in the darkness,, the
light at the top seems to be higher and higher, and
finally seems to blend with the horizon until Anally only
this light marks the temple of freedom of our beloved
government. And, as we celebrate this Decoration
Day, looking back on the martyrs of the civil war,
their deeds shall be to us the brilliant light which shall
grow ever brighter and illumine the pathway of the
republic to liberty, prosperity, and happiness .—Hon.
W. Bourke Cochran.
Hamlet's Plan to Catch the King.
Hamlet. O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I !
Is it not monstrous, that this player here,
But in a fiction, in a dream of passion,
Could force his soul so to his own conceit.
That from her working all his visage wannM;
SELECTIONS. 225
Tears in his eyes, distraction in's aspect,
A broken voice, and his whole function suiting
With forms to his conceit? and all for nothing!
For Hecuba!
What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba.
That he should weep for her? What would he do,
Had he the motive and the cue for passion
That I have? He would drown the stage with tears
And cleave the general ear with horrid speech;
Make mad the guilty, and appall the free.
Confound the ignorant, and amaze indeed
The very faculties of eyes and ears. Yet I,
A dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak,
Like John-a dreams, impregnant of my cause,
And can say nothing; no, not for a king
Upon whose property and most dear life
A damnM defeat was made. Am I a coward?
Who calls me villain? breaks my pate across?
Plucks off my beard, and blows it in my face?
Tweaks me by th" nose.' gives me the lie T the throat,
As deep as to the lungs? who does me this?
Ha!
'Swounds. I should take 't; for it cannot be
But I am pigeon-livered. and hick gall
To make oppression bitter; or, ere this.
I should have fatted all the region: kites
With this slave's offal. Bloody, blood}' villain!
Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain!
O vengeance! —
Why, what an ass am I! This is most brave,
That I, the son of a dear father murder'd,
Prompted to my revenge by Heaven and Heil,
Must, like a trull, unpack my heart with words,
226 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION. VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
And fall a — cursing, like a very drab,
A scullion!
Fie upon't foh! About, my brain! — I've heard
That guilty creatures sitting at a play
Have by the very cunning of the scene
Been struck so to the soul, that presently
They have proclaimed their malefactions;
For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak
With most miraculous organ. I'll have players
Play something like the murder of my father
Before mine uncle: I'll observe his looks;
I'll tent him to the quick; if he but blench.
I know my course. The spirit that I have seen
May be the Devil : and the Devil hath power
T' assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps.
Out of my weakness and my melancholy, —
As he is very potent with such spirits. —
Abuses me to damn me. IT1 have grounds
More relative than this: the play's the thing
Wherein I 1 11 catch the conscience of the King.
Hamlet. Act 1L
The Bard's Story.
(The Prince of this legend was the husband of Ethna, who 1
sister Fid alma, also a princess of Meath ? saw St. Patrick eel
Mass one morning by a river. They were attracted by the sigb.1
swered their questions and baptised them.)
Love makes man's life a glory; hate, a hell;
A warning to all warriors, this 1 tell:
Strongest of the Fini, he, the Prince, alone
Knelt by the river, sad. and made his moan.
SELECTIONS. 227
His lands were wide, his people staunch and true,
And in his palace four fair children grew .
His wife was Ethna. Princess mild of Meath,
Graceful and tall, a lily in its sheath.
The Mass was said each day beneath his roof,
And evil from his household held aloof.
And he had seen great Patrick when he came.
At Paschal time, and lighted Christian flame.
And he had seen the saint make poison good
By words of prayer, while hatred near him stood.
And only in defence of clan and life.
Since he had learned of Christ, had he made strife.
But though his cattle grazed ii] richest green,
Black spots and red spots by the river's sheen:
And though his bards his prowess daily sang,
His moans beside the reedy river rang
At fall of night — some piercing loud and shrill,
Others that brought to hearers death-like chill.
"Forgive, forgive!" he murmured: "old forgive!
Hoic run I bear my load of sin and live?
Oh! words of fire you spoke, great Patrick. Saint,
Ere the clear stream had washed,from me sin's taint.
'Even Red Conn, the slayer of your kin,
Forgive, forgive, if you would heaven win. '
'He slew in// men.' 'Forgive." the Saint replied.
•Though through his wrath your clansmen oft have
died. '
228 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
'Forgive, 5 he said, 'i/e laughed my threats to scorn!'
'Forgive, forgive! and win eternal morn."
'Forgive Red Conn, and hurt him not. I pray;
Your sister's son is he. Forgive, I say.'
'Let me but tight for Christ with sword and brand — *
'Thou canst not tight th} r sin with carnal hand. '
And then I promised; and the water flowed,
And all my heart with lov r e for Patrick glowed.
Conn came not near me; hid he dark and deep
In marsh and bog where strange, wild creatures sleep.
Once, when I thought of clansmen cold and dead,
Killed by his hand ere he to bogs had tied,
My wrath awoke, but dying soon in peace,
It to my better musings gave release.
Peace made me proud. One day I chased the deer,
And found my enemy crouched low in fear
Among the fern. I made a bound at him :
He tied, not lighting, to the river's brim.
Pale, worn, he was; my hatred quick awoke
13ut in my heart the voice of Patrick spoke.
'Forgive, forgive!' I heard the whisper run
All through the reeds. 'Remember Mary's son. 1
I listened not: I drove Conn to his knee;
His eyes were like a deer's in agony.
.My brain was drunk with rage, my blood was tire.
His death — the death of Conn was my desire.
His eyes were all that spoke; the whispering leaves
Said, 'Oh, foro-ive; great Patrick for you grieves.'
SELECTIONS. 229
I struck him down, and then looked in his face.
Christ! O God! how I did lose Thy grace!
T saw his face! 'Twas Conn's no more! O sight!
Wouldst Thou hadst shriveled me, O Lord of light!
1 saw His face, as He is on the cross!
There he lay prone upon the sodden moss.
The blood was His, not Conn's, that reddened all
The little shallows where the reeds grew tall.'
And, as the world shall last, the legends say,
Sweet Ethna's husband moans his life away.
Among the reeds his sighing all ma}' hear;
And may it such grace-losing make us fear!
For Love makes life a glory; Hate is vain.
Except to wound our Saviour's heart again.
Maurice F. Egan.
Falstaff's Lantern and Troops.
Enter Falstaff and Bardolph.
FaUtaff. Bardolph, am 1 not fallen away vilely since
this last action? do J not bate? do I not dwindle? Why,
lam withered like an old apple-john. Well, I'll repent,
and that suddenly, while I am in some liking; I shall be
out of heart shortly, and then 1 shall have no strength
to repent. An I have not forgotten what the inside of
a church is made of, I am a peppercorn, a brewer's
horse: the inside of a church! Company, villainous
company, hath been the spoil of me.
230 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
Bardolph. Sir John, you are so fretful, you cannot
live long.
Fed. Why there is it: come, sing me a song; make
me merry. I was as virtuously given as a gentleman
need to be: virtuous enough: swore little; diced not
above seven times a week; paid money that I borrowed
— three or four times; lived well, and in good compass:
and now I live out of all order, out of all compass.
Bard. Why you are so fat, Sir John, that you must
needs be out of all compass — out of all reasonable com-
pass, Sir John.
Fed. Do thou amend thy face, and I'll amend my life:
thou art our admiral, thou bearest the lantern in the
nose of thee; thou art the Knight of the Burning Lamp.
Bard. Why, Sir John, my face does you no harm.
Fed. No, I'll be sworn; I make as good use of it as
many a man doth of a death's-head or a memento mori:
I never see thy face. but I think upon hell-tire, and
Dives that lived in purple; for there he is in his robes,
burning, burning. If thou wert any way given to vir-
tue, I would swear by thy face; but thou art altogether
given over; and wert indeed but for the light in thy
face, the son of utter darkness. When thou ran'st up
Gad's-hill in the night to catch my horse, if I did not
think thou hadst been an ignis fatuus or a ball of wild-
tire, there's no purchase in money. (J, thou art a per-
petual triumph, an everlasting bonfire-light! Thou hast
saved me a thousand marks in links and torches,
walking with thee in the night from tavern to tavern:
but the sack that thou hast drank me would have
bought me lights as good cheap at the dearest chand-
ler's in Europe. I have maintains! that salamander of
yours with tire any time this two-and thirty years. But,
Bardolph, you should see my troops. If I be not
SELECTIONS. 231
ashamed of my soldiers. I am a soused gurnet. I have
misused the king's press terribly. I have got, in ex-
change of a hundred and fifty soldiers, three hundred
and odd pounds. I press'd me none but good house-
holders, yeomen's sons; inquired me out bachelors, such
as had been a^k'd twice on the banns; such a commodity
of warm slaves as had as iief hear the Devil as a drum;
such as fear the report of a caliver worse than a struck
fowl or a hurt wild-duck. I press'd me none but such
toast-and-butter, with hearts in their bodies no bigger
than pins'-heads, and they have bought out their servi-
ces; and now my whole charge consists of ancients, cor-
porals, lieutenants, gentlemen of companies, slaves as
ragged as Lazarus in the painted cloth, where the glut-
ton's dogs lick his sores; and such as, indeed, were
never soldier^, but discarded unjust servingmen. young-
er sons to younger brothers, revolted tapsters, and
ostlers trade-fallen; the cankers of a calm world and a
long peace; ten times more dishonourable ragged than
an old-faced ancient: and such have I. to till up the
rooms of them that have bought out their services, that
you would think tint I had a hundred and tifty tattered
prodigals lately come from swine-keeping, from eating
daft' and husks. A mad fellow met me on the way. and
told me I had unloaded all the gibbets, and press'd the
dead bodies. No eye hath seen such scare-crows. I'll
not march through Coventry with them. that's flat: nay,
and the villains march wide betwixt the legs as if they
had gyves on: for. indeed. I had the most of them out
of prison. There is but a shirt and a half in all my
company: and the half shirt is but two napkins tack'd
together and thrown over the shoulders like a herald's
coat without sle?ves: and. the shirt, to say the truth,
stolen from mv host at Saint Alban's. or the red-nose
232 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
innkeeper of Daventry. But that's all one; they'll line
linen enough on every hedge.
The First Part of King Henry IV, Act IV.
The Last of the Nar whale.
Ay, ay, 111 tell you, shipmates,
If you care to hear the tale.
How myself and the royal yard alone
Were left of the old Nar whale.
A stouter ship was never launched
Of all the Clyde-built whalers;
And forty years of a life at sea
Haven't matched her crowd of sailors.
Picked men they were, all young and strong.
And used to the wildest seas,
From Donegal and the Scottish coast,
And the rugged Hebrides.
Such men as women cling to, mates.
Like ivy round their lives;
And the day we sailed the quays were lined
With weeping mothers and wives.
They cried and prayed, and we g*ave 'em a cheei\
In the thoughtless way o' men;
God help them, shipmates — thirty years
They've waited and prayed since then.
We sailed to the North, and I mind it well,
The pity we felt, and pride.
When we sighted the din's of Labrador
From the sea where Hudson died.
SELECTIONS, 233
We talked of ships that never came back,
And when the great floes passed;
Like ghosts in the- night, each moonlit peak
Like a great war -frigate's mast,
"T was said that a ship was frozen up
In the iceberg's awful breast,
The clear ice holding the sailor's face
As he lay in his mortal rest.
And I've thought since then, when the ship came
home
That sailed for the Franklin band,
A mistake was made in the reckoning
That looked for the crews on land.
'"They're floating still," I've said to myself,
"And Sir John has found the goal;
The Erebus and the Terror, mates,
Are icebergs up at the Pole!"
We sailed due North, to Baffin's Bay,
And cruised through weeks of light,
"T was always day, and we slept by the bell.
And longed for the dear old night.
And the blessed darkness left behind.
Like a curtain round the bed;
But a month dragged on like an afternoon
With the wheeling sun o'erhead.
We found the whales were farther still,
The farther north we sailed;
Along the Greenland glacier coast,
The boldest might have quailed.
Such Shapes did keep us company,
Xo sail in all that sea.
But thick as ships in Mersey's tide
The bergs moved awfully
234 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION. VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
Within the current's northward stream;
But, ere the long day's close,
We found the whales and filled the ship
Amid the friendly noes.
Then came a rest: the day was blown
Like a cloud before the night;
In the south the sun went redly down —
In the north rose another light:
Neither sun nor moon, but a shooting dawn.
That silvered our lonely way;
It seemed we sailed in a belt of gloom,
Upon either side, a day;
The north wind smote the sea to death;
The pack-ice closed us round—
The Narwhale stood in the level fields
As fast as a ship aground.
A weary time it w r as to wait.
And to wish for spring to come,
With the pleasant breeze and the blessed sun.
To open the way toward home.
Spring came at last, the ice-fields groaned
Like living things in pain;
They moaned and swayed, then rent amain.
And the Narwhale sailed again .
With joy the dripping sails were loosed,.
And round the vessel swung;
To cheer the crew^ full south she drew.
The shattered floes among.
We had no books in those old days
To carry the friendly faces;
But I think the wives and lasses then*
SELECTIONS. 235
Were held in better places.
The face of sweetheart and wife to-day
Is locked in the sailor's chest,
But aloft on the yard, with the thought of home.
The face in the heart was best.
Well, Avell — God knows, mates, when and where
To take the things He gave;
We steered for home — but the chart was His,
And the port ahead — the grave !
We cleared the noes: through an open sea
The Narwhale southward sailed,
Till a day came round when the white fog rose.
And the wind astern had failed.
In front of the Greenland glacier line
And close to its base were we;
Through the misty pall we could see the wall
That beet'.ed above the sea.
A fear like the fog crept over our hearts,
As was heard the hollow roar
Of the deep sea thrashing the cliffs of ice
For leagues along the shore.
The years have come, and the years have gone,
But it never wears away —
The sense I have of the sights and sounds
That marked that wof ul day.
Flung here and there at the ocean's will.
As it flung the broken iloe —
What strength had we 'gainst the tiger sea
That sports with a sailor's woe?
The lifeless berg and the lifeful ship
Were the same to the sullen wave.
236 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
As it swept them far from ridge to ridge.
Till at last the Nar whale drave
With a crashing rail on the glacier wall,
As sheer as the vessel's mast—
A crashing rail and a shivered yard:
But the worst, we thought, was past.
The brave lads sprang to the fending work.
And the skipper's voice rang hard:
" Aloft there — one with a read}- knife —
Cut loose that royal yard!"
I sprang to the rigging: young I was,
And proud to be first to dare;
The yard swung free, and I turned to gaze
Toward the open sea, o'er the field of haze.
And my heart grew cold, as if frozen through,
At the moving Shape that met my view —
Christ! what a sight w T as there!
Above the fog, as I hugged the yard,
1 saw that an iceberg lay —
A berg like a mountain, closing fast —
Not a cable's length away!
I could not see through the sheet of mist
That covered all below.
But I heard their cheery voices still,
And I screamed to let them know.
The cry went down, and the skipper hailed,
But before the word could come,
It died in his throat, and I knew they saw
The Shape of the closing Doom !
No sound but that— but the hail that died
Came up through the mist to me;
SELECTIONS. 237
Thank God, it covered the ship like a veil,
And I was not forced to see —
But I heard it, mates: Oh, I heard the rush,
And the timbers rend and rive,
As the yard I clang to swayed and fell.
I lay on the ice alive!
Alive! O Lord of Mercy! ship and crew and sea
were gone!
The hummocked ice and the broken yard,
And a kneeling man — alone!
A kneeling man on a frozen hill.
The sounds of life in the air —
All death and ice — and a minute before
The sea and the ship were there!
I could not think they were dead and gone,
And 1 listened for sound or word:
But the deep sea roar on the desolate shore
Was the only sound 1 heard.
mates, I had no heart to thank
The Lord for the life He gave;
1 spread my arms on the ice and cried
Aloud on my shipmates' grave.
The brave, strong lads, with their strength in
vain.
I called them name by name;
And it seemed to me from the dying hearts
A message upward came —
Ay. mates, a message, up through the ice
From every sailor's breast:
"Go tell our mothers and wives at home
To pray for us here at rest.
238 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
Yes, that's what it means; 'tis a little word;
But, mates, the strongest ship
That ever was built is a baby's toy
When it comes to an Arctic Nip.
John Boyle O'Reilly.
Catholicism and the Religions of the World.
How different are all religions that ever were, from
the lofty and unchangeable Catholic Church! They
depend on time and place for their existence, they live
in periods or in regions. They are children of the soil,
indigenous plants, which readily flourish under a cert-
ain temperature, in a certain aspect, in moist or in dry,
and die if they are transplanted. .. .There is but one
form of Christianity possessed of that real internal uni-
ty which is the primary condition of independence.
Whether you look to Russia, England, or Germany,
this note of divinity is wanting. In this country espe-
cially, there is nothing broader than class religions; the
established form itself is but the religion of a class.
There is one persuasion for the rich, and another for
the poor; men are born in this or that sect; the enthusi-
astic go here, and the sober- -minded and rational go
there. They make money, and rise in the world, and
then they profess to belong to the Establishment. This
body lives in the world's winter, and the other would
melt away in the summer. Not one of them undertakes
human nature: none compasses the whole man; none
places all men on a level; none addresses the intellect
and the heart, fear and love, the active and the contem-
plative. It is considered, and justly, as an evidence for
SELECTIONS. 239
Christianity, that the ablest men have been Christians;
not that all sagacious or profound minds have taken
up its professions, but that it has gained victories
among them, such and so man} 7 , as to show that it is
not the mere fact of ability or learning which is the
reason why all are not converted.
Such too is the characteristic of Catholicity; not the
highest in rank, not the meanest, not the most refined,
not the rudest, is beyond the influence of the Church;
she includes specimens of every class among her child-
ren. She is the solace of the forlorn, the chastener of
the prosperous, and the guide of the wayward. She
keeps a mother's eye for the innocent, bears with a
heavy hand upon the wanton, and has a voice of majes-
ty for the proud. She opens the mind of the ignorant.
and she prostrates the intellect of the most gifted.
These are not words; she has done it, she does it still,
she undertakes to do it. All she asks is an open .field,
and the freedom to act. She asks no patronage from
the civil power; in former times and places she has
asked it; and, as Protestantism also, has availed herself
of the civil sword. It is true she did so. because in
certain ages it has been the acknowledged mode of act-
ing, the most expeditious, and open at the time to no
objection, and because, where she has done so, the
people clamoured for it and did it in advance of her;
but her history shows that she needed it not. for she
has extended and flourished without it. She is ready
for any service which occurs; she will take the world as
it comes; nothing but force can repress her. See. my
brethren, what she is doing in this country now; for
three centuries the civil power has trodden down the
goodly plant of grace, and kept its foot upon it; at
length circumstances have removed that tyranny, and
240 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION. VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
lo! the fair form of the Ancient Church rises up at
once, as fresh and as vigorous as if she had never
intermitted her growth. She is the same as she was
three centuries ago, ere the present religions of the
country existed; you know her to be the same; it is the
charge brought against her that she does not change; .
time and place effect her not, because she has her
source where there is neither time nor place, because
she comes from the throne of the Illimitable, Eternal
Grod , — Newman,
Wolsey's Advice to Cromwell.
Wolsey. Farewell, a long farewell, to all my great-
ness I
This is the state of man : To-day he puts forth
The tender leaves of hope: to-morrow blossoms,
And bears his blushing honours thick upon him;
The third day comes a frost, a killing frost,
And— when he thinks, good easy man, full surely
His greatness is a-ripening — nips his root,
And then he falls, as I do. I have ventured,
Like little wanton boys that swim on bladders,
This many summers in a sea of glory;
But far beyond my depth: my high-blown pride
At length broke under me; and now has left me.
Weary and old with service, to the mercy
Of a rude stream, that must forever hide me.
Vain pomp and glory of this world, I hate ye:
I feel my heart new open\L O, how wretched
Is that poor man that hangs ort princes' favours!
There is, betwixt the smile we would aspire to. y
SELECTIONS. 241
That sweet aspect of princes, and their ruin,
More pangs and fear than wars or women have;
And when he falls, he falls like Lucifer,
Never to hope again. -r-
Enter Cromwell, amazedly.
Why, how now 7 , Cromwell!
Crom. I have no power to speak, sir.
Wol. What, amazed
At my misfortunes? can thy spirit wonder
A great man should decline? Nay, and you weep,
I'm fall'ii indeed.
Crom. How does your Grace?
Wol. Why, well;
Never so truly happy, my good Cromwell.
I know myself now; and I feel within me
A peace above all earthly dignities.
A still and quiet conscience. Tiie king has cured me,
I humbly thank his Grace; and from these shoulders,
These ruin'd pillars, out of pity, taken
A load would sink a navy, too much honour.
O 'tis a burden. Cromwell, 'tis a burden
Too heavy for a man that hopes for Heaven!
Crom. I'm glad your Grace has made that right use
of it.
Wol, I hope I have: Tm able now, methinks —
Out of a fortitude of soul I feel —
T 1 endure more miseries and greater far
Than my weak-hearted enemies dare offer.
What news abroad?
Crom. The heaviest and the worst
Is your displeasure with the king.
Wol. God bless him!
Crom. The next is, that Sir Thomas More is chosen
Lord Chancellor in your place.
31
242 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
Wol. That's somewhat sudden:
But he's a learned man. May he continue
Long in his Highness' favor, and do justice
For truth's sake and his conscience? that his bones,
When he has run his course and sleeps in blessings,
May have a tomb of orphan's tears wept on 'em!
What more?
Crom. That Cranmer is return'd with welcome,
Installed Lord Archbishop Canterbury.
Wol. That's hews indeed.
Crom. Last, that the Lady Anne,
Whom the king hath in secrecy long married,
This day was view'd in open as his queen,
Going to chapel; and the voice is now
Only about her coronation.
Wol. There was the weight that pull'd me down.
Cromwell!
The king has gone beyond me: all my glories
In that one woman I have lost forever:
No sun shall ever usher forth mine honors.
Or gild again the noble troops that waited
Upon my smiles. Go, get thee from me, Cromwell;
1 am a poor fall'n man, unworthy now
To be thy lord and master; seek thy king;
That sun, I pray, may never set! I've told him
What, and how true thou art: he will advance thee:
Some little memory of me will stir him —
I know his noble nature — not to let
Thy hopeful service perish too: good Cromwell,
Neglect him not; make use now, and provide
For thine own future safety.
Crom. O my lord.
Must I, then, leave you?, must I needs forego
So good, so noble, and so true a master?
SELECTIONS. 243
Bear witness, all that have not hearts of iron,
With what a sorrow Cromwell leaves his lord.
The King shall have my service; but my prayers
For ever and for ever shall be yours.
Wol. Cromwell, I did not think to shed a tear
In all my miseries; but thou hast forced me.
Out of thy honest truth, to play the woman.
Let's dry our eyes: and thus far hear me, Cromwell;
And when I am forgotten, as I shall be,
And sleep in dull cold marble, where no mention
Of me more must be heard of — say. I taught thee,
Say, Wolsey — that once trod the ways of glory,
And sounded all the depths and shoals of honours —
Found thee a way. out of his wreck to rise in;
A sure and safe one, though thy master miss'd it .
Mark but my fall, and that that ruin'd me.
Cromwell I charge thee, fling away ambition:
By that sin fell the angels; how can man, then.
The image of his Maker, hope to win by't?
Love thyself last; cherish those hearts that hate thee:
Corruption wins not more than honesty.
Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace,
To silence envious tongues. Be just, and fear not:
Let all the ends thou aim'st at be thy country's.
Thy God's, and truth's: then, if thou fall's t,0 Cromwell,
Thou fall'st a blessed martyr! Serve the king;
And, — pr'ythee, lead me in:
There take an inventory of all I have.
To the last penny: 'tis the king's: my robe.
And my integrity to Heaven, is all
I dare now call my own. O Cromwell. Cromwell!
Had I but served my God with half the zeal
I served my king. He would not in mine age
Have left me naked to mine enemies.
King Henry VIII., Act III.
244 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
iEgeon's Speech.
2Ege. A heavier task could not have been iinpos'd.
Than I to speak my griefs unspeakable?
Yet, that the world may witness, that my end
Was brought by fortune, not by vile offence,
I'll utter what my sorrow gives me leave.
In Syracusa was I born; and wed
Unto a woman, happy but for me,
And by me too, had our hap been bad.
With her I iiv'd in joy: our wealth increas'd,
By prosperous voyages 1 often made
To Epidamnum: till my factor's death,
And the great care of goods at random left
Drew me from kind embracements of my spouse:
From whom my absence was not six months old,
Before herself (almost at fainting under
The pleasing punishment that women bear)
Had made provision for her following me.
And soon, and safe, 'arrived where I was.
There had she not been long, but she became
A joyful mother of two goodly sons;
And, which was strange, the one so like the other,
As could not be distinguished but by names.
That very hour, and in the self-same inn,
A poor mean woman was delivered
Of such a burden, male twins, both alike.
Those, for their parents were exceeding poor,
I bought, and brought up to attend my sons.
My wife, not meanly proud of two such boys,
Made daily motions for our home return:
Unwilling I agreed. Alas, too soon we came aboard!
A league from Epidamnum had we sail'd,
SELECTIONS. 245
Before the always- wind-obeying deep
Gave any tragic instance of our harm:
But longer did we not retain much hope;
For what obscured light the heavens did grant
Did but convey unto our fearful minds
A doubtful warrant of immediate death;
Which though myself gently would have embrac'd,
Yet the incessant weepings of my wife,
Weeping before for what she saw must come,
And piteous plain ings of the pretty babes,
That mourn'd for fashion, ignorant what to fear,
Forc'd me to seek delays for them and me.
And this it was, — for other means were none. —
The sailors sought for safety by our boat,
And left the ship, then sinking-ripe, to us.
My wife, more careful for the latter-born,
Had fastened him unto a small spare mast.
Such as sen -faring men provide for storms:
To him one of the other twins was bound.
Whilst I had been like heedful of the other.
The children thus dispos'd. my wife and I,
Fixing our eyes on whom our care was fix'd,
Fasten'd ourselves at either end the mast;
And floating straight, obedient to the stream,
Were carried towards Corinth, as we thought.
At length the sun, gazing upon the earth,
Dispers'd those vapours that offended us.
And by the benetit of his wish VI light
The seas wax'd calm, and we discovered
Two ships from far making amain to us,
Of Corinth that, of Epidaurus this :
But ere they came. — O, let me say no more!
Gather the sequel by that went before.
246 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
Duke. Nay, forward, old man; do not break off so.
For we may pity, though not pardon thee.
JZge. O, had the gods done so, I had not now
Worthily ternrd them merciless to us!
For, ere the ships could meet by twice five leagues,
We were encounter' d by a mighty rock,
Which being violently borne upon,
Our helpful ship was splitted in the midst;
So that in this unjust divorce of us
Fortune had left to both of us alike
What to delight in, what to sorrow far.
Her part, poor soul! seeming as burdened
With lesser weight but not with lesser woe,
Was carried with more speed before the wind.
And in our sight they three were taken up
By fishermen of Corinth as we thought.
At length another ship had seized on us;
And knowing whom it was their hap to save,
Gave healthful welcome to their shipwreckVl guests;
And would have reft the fishers of their prey,
Had not their bark been very slow of sail,
And therefore homeward did they bend their course. —
Thus have you heard me several from my bliss.
And by misfortune was my life prolonged.
To tell sad stories of my own mishaps.
The Comedy of Errors, Act I.
The Four Idiot Brothers.
Dried, as 'twere, to skeleton chips,
In the Madhouse found I Four:
From their white and shrivelled lips
SELECTIONS. 247
Cometh language never more.
Ghastly, stony, stiff, each brother
Gazes vacant on the other;
Till the midnight hour be come:
Bristles then erect their hair,
And the lips all day so dumb
Utter slowly to the air,
"Dies irce, dies ilia,
Solvet sceclum in far ilia."
Four bold brothers once were these,
Kiotous and reprobate,
Whose rakehellish revelries
Terrified the more sedate.
Ghostly guide and good adviser
Tried in vain to make them wiser.
On his deathbed spake their sire —
**Hear your father from the tomb!
Rouse not God's eternal ire;
Ponder well the dav of doom,
"Dies iree, dies ilia,
Solvet sceclum in favilla."
So spake he and died: The Four
All unmoved beheld him die.
Happy he! — his labors o'er.
He was ta'en to bliss on high.
While his sons, like very devils
Loosed from Hell, pursued their revels-
Still they courted each excess
Atheism and Vice could dare;
248 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
Ironhearted, feelingless,
Not a hair of theirs grew grayer.
"Live," they cried, '"while life enables!
God and devil alike are fables!"
Once at midnight as the Four
Riotously reeled along,
From an open temple-door
Streamed a flood of holy song.
"Cease, ye hounds, your yelling noises!"
Cried the devil by their voices.
Through the temple vast and dim
Goes the unhallowed greeting, while
Still the singers chant their hymn.
Hark! it echoes down the aisle —
"Dies irce, dies ilia,
Solvet sceclum in favilla."
On the instant stricken as
By the wrath of God they stand,
Each dull eyeball Axed like glass.
Mute each eye, unnerved each hand,
Blanch their hair and and wan their features,
Speechless, mindless, idiot creatures!
And now, dried to the skeleton chips,
In the Mad-cell sit the four,
Moveless; — from their blasted lips
Cometh language never more.
Ghastly, stony, stiff, each brother
Gazes vacant on the other;
SELECTIONS. 249
Till the midnight hour be come;
Bristles then erect their hair,
And their lips, all day so dumb,
Utter sloAvly to the air,
"Dies irce, dies ilia,
Solvet sceclum in favilla."
J. G. Manga n.
The Army of the Lord.
To tight the battle' of the Cross, Christ's chosen ones
are sent, —
Good soldiers and great victors. — a noble armament.
They use no earthly weapon, they know not spear or
sword,
Yet right and true and valiant is the army of the Lord.
Fear them, ye mighty ones of earth; fear them ye
demon foes;
Slay them and think to conquer, but the ranks will
always close:
In vain do earth and Heii unite their power and skill to
try.
They light better for their wounds, and they conquer
when they die.
The soul of every sinner is the victory they would gain;
They would bind each rebel heart in their master's gold-
en chain:
Faith is the shield they cany, and the two-edged sword
they bear
32
250 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
Is God's strongest, mightiest weapon, and they call it
Love and Prayer.
Where the savage hordes are dwelling by the Ganges'
sacred tide,
Through the trackless Indian forests, St. Francis is their
guide;
Where crime and sin are raging, to conquer they are
gone;—
They do conquer as they go, for St. Philip leads them
OIL
They are come where all are kneeling at the shrines of
wealth and pride.
And an old and martyred Bishop is their comrade and
their guide:
To tell the toil-worn negro of freedom and repose,
O'er the vast Atlantic's bosom they are called by sweet
St. Rose.
They are gone where Love is frozen, and Faith grown
calm and cold,
Where the world is all triumphant, and the sheep have
left the fold,
Where His children scorn His blessings, and His sacred
Shrines despise,
And the beacon of the warriors is the light in Mary's
eyes.
The bugle for their battle is the matin bell for prayer;
And for their noble standard Christ's holy cross they
bear .
His sacred name their war-crv, 'tis in vain what ye can
do.
SELECTIONS. 251
They must conquer, for your Angels are leaguing' with
them too.
Would you know, O World, these warriors? Go where
the poor, the old,
Ask for pardon and for heaven, and you offer food and
gold;
With healing and with comfort, with words of peace
and prayer,
Bearing His greatest gift to man, — Christ's chosen
priests are there.
Where sin and crime are dwelling, hid from the light
of day,
And life and hope are fading at death's cold touch away,
Where dying eyes in horror see the long-forgotten past.
Christ's servants claim the sinner, and gain his soul at
last,
Where the rich and proud and mighty God's message
would defy.
In warning and reproof His anointed ones stand by:
Bright are the crowns of glory God keepeth for his
own.
Their life one sigh for heaven, and their aim His will
alone.
And see sweet Mercy's sister, where the poor anfl
wretched dwell.
In gentle accents telling of Him she loves so well;
Training young hearts to serve their Lord, and place
their hope in Heaven,
Bidding her erring sisters love much and be forgiven.
252 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION. VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
Aucl where in cloistered silence dim the brides of Jesus
' dwell,
Where purest incense rises up from every lowly cell,
They plead not vainly, — they have chosen and gained
the better part.
And given their gentle life away to Him who has their
heart. '
And some there are among us — the path which they
have trod
Of sin and pain and anguish has led at last to God:
They plead, and Christ will hear them, that the poor
slaves who pine
In the black dungeon they have left, may see His truth
divine.
O, who can tell how many hearts are altars to His
praise,
From which the silent prayer ascends through patient
nights and days.
The sacrifice is offered still in secret and alone,
O World, ye do not know them, but He can help His
own.
They are with us, His true soldiers, they come in power
and might;
Glorious the crown which they shall gain after the
heavenly fight;
And you, perchance, who scoff, may yet their rest and
glory share,
As the rich spoil of their battle and the captives of their
prayer.
SELECTIONS. 253
O, who shall tell the wonder of that great day of rest,
When even in this place of strife His soldiers are so
blest:
O World, O Earth, why strive ye? join the low chant
they sing, —
' l O Grave, where is thy victory! O Death, where is thy
sting!''
Adelaide A. Procter,
Antonio's Consolers.
Enter Antonio, Salarino, and Solanio.
Anto. In sooth, I know not why I am so sad:
It wearies me, you say it wearies you;
But how I caught it, found it, or came by it,
What stuff 'tis made of, whereof it is born,
I am to learn:
And such a want- wit sadness makes of me,
That I have much ado to know myself -
Salar. Your mind is tossing on the ocean;
There, where your argosies with portly sail, —
Like signiors and rich burghers of the flood.
Or. as it were, the pageants of the sea, —
Do overpeer the petty traffickers.
That curtsy to them, do them reverence.
As they fly by them with their woven wings.
Solan. Believe me, sir, had I such venture forth.
The better part of my affections would
Be with my hopes abroad. I should be still
Plucking the grass, to know where sits the wind.
Peering in maps for ports, and piers, and roads;
And eveiy object that might make me fear
254 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
Misfortune to my ventures, out of doubt
Would make me sad.
Salar. My wind, cooling my broth,
Would blow me to an ague, when I thought
What harm a wind too great might do at sea.
I should not see the sandy hour-glass run.
But I should think of shallows and of flats;
And see my wealthy Andrew dock'd in sand.
Vailing her high-top lower than her ribs,
To kiss her burial. Should I go to church,
And see the holy edifice of stone.
And not bethink me straight of dangerous rocks,
Which, touching but my gentle vessel's side,
Would scatter all her spices on the stream;
Enrobe the roaring waters with my silks.
And, in a word, but even now worth this,
And now worth nothing? Shall I have the thought
To think on this, and shall I lack the thought,
That such a thing bechanced would make me sad?
But tell not me; I know Antonio
Is sad to think upon his merchandise.
Anto. Believe me, no; I thank my fortune for it.
My ventures are not in one bottom trusted.
Nor to one place; nor is my whole estate
Upon the fortune of this present year:
Therefore my merchandise makes me not sad.
Salar. Why, then you are in love.
Anto. Fie; fie!
Salar. Not in love neither? Then let's say you're
sad,
Because you are not merry; and 'twere as easy
For you to laugh and leap, and say you're merry
Because you are not sad. Noav, by two-headed Janus,
Nature hath framed strange fellows in her time:
SELECTIONS. 255
Some that will evermore peep through their eyes,
And laugh like parrots at a bag -piper;
And others of such vinegar aspect,
That they'll not show their teeth in way of smile,
Though Nestor swear the jest be laughable.
Solan. Here comes Bassanio, your most noble kins-
man,
Gratiano, and Lorenzo. Fare ye well:
We leave you now with better company.
Salar. I would have stay'd till I had made you
merry,
If worthier friends had not prevented me.
Auto. Your worth is very dear in my regard.
I take it, your own business calls on you,
And you embrace th' occasion to depart.
Enter Bassanio. Lorenzo and Gratiano.
Salar. Good morrow, my good lords.
Bass. Good signiors both, when shall we laugh? say,
when {
You grow exceeding strange: must" it be so?
Salar. We'll make our leisures to attend on yours.
{Exeunt Salarino and Solanio.
Luren. My Lord Bassanio. since you've found An-
tonio,
We two will leave you: but at dinner-time,
I pray you. have in mind where we must meet.
Bass. I wili not fail you.
Grat. You look not well. Signior Antonio,
You have too much respect upon the world:
They lose it that do buy it with much care.
Believe me, you are marvellously changed.
Anto. I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano;
A stage, where every man must play a part,
250 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
And mine a sad one.
Grat. Let me play the Fool:
With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come;
And let my liver rather heat with wine
Tnan my heart cool with mortifying groans.
Why should a man, whose blood is warm within,
Sit like his grandsire cut in alabaster?
Sleep when he wakes? and creep into the jaundice
By being peevish? I tell thee what, Antonio, —
I love thee, and it is my love that speaks, —
There are a sort of men whose visages
Do cream and mantle like a standing pond;
And do a wilful stillness entertain,
With purpose to be dress'd in an opinion
Of Wisdom, gravity, profound conceit;
As who should say, I am Sir Oracle,
And when I ope my lips, let no dog bark!
my Antonio! I do know of these,
That therefore only are reputed wise
For saying nothing; who, I'm very sure,
If they should speak, would almost damn those ears,
Which, hearing them, would call their brothers fools.
I'll tell thee more of this another time:
But tish not, with this melancholy bait,
For this fool gudgeon, this opinion. —
Come, good Lorenzo. — Fare ye well, awhile:
I'll end my exhortation after dinner.
Loren. Well, we will leave you, then, till dinner-
time.
1 must be one of these same dumb-wise men.
For Gratiano never lets me speak.
Grat. W r ell, keep me company but two years more,
Thou shalt not know the sound of thine own tongue.
SELECTIONS. 257
Anto. Farewell: I'll grow a talker for this year.
Grat. Thanks, i' faith; for silence is only commend-
able .
In a neat's tongue dried, and a maid not vendible.
The Merchant of Venice, Act I.
Selection from "The Dream of Gerontius."
I went to sleep; and now I am refreshed.
A strange refreshment: for I feel in me
An inexpressive lightness, and a sense
Of freedom, as I were at length myself.
And ne'er had been before. How still it is!
I hear no more the busy beat of time,
No, nor my fluttering breath, nor struggling pulse;
Nor does one moment differ from the next.
I had a dream; yes:- — some one softly said
"He's gone; and then a sigh went round the room.
And then I surely heard a priestly voice
Cry ''Subvenite;" and they knelt in prayer.
I seem to hear him still: but thin and low.
And fainter and more faint the accents come.
As at an ever- widening interval.
Ah! wjience is this! 1 What is this severance?
This silence pours a solitariness
Into the very essence of my soul;
And the deep rest, so soothing and so sweet.
Hath something too of sternness and of pain.
For it drives back my thoughts upon their spring-
By a strange introversion, and perforce
I now begin to feed upon myself,
Because I have nought else to feed upon. —
258 Elements of expression, vocal and physical.
Aid I alive or dead? I am not dead.
But in the body still; for I possess
A sort of confidence, which clings to mc.
That such particular organ holds its place
As heretofore, combining with the rest
Into one symmetry, that wraps me round
And makes me man; and surely I could move,
Did I but will it. every part of me.
And yet I cannot to my sense bring home,
B}/ very trial, that I have the power.
'Tis strange, I cannot stir a hand or foot.
I cannot make my lingers or my lips
By mutual pressure witness each to each.
Nor by the eyelid's instantaneous stroke
Assure myself I have a body still.
Nor do I know my very attitude,
Nor if I stand, or lie, or sit. or kneel.
So much I know, not knowing how I know.
That the vast universe, where I have dwelt.
Is quitting me, or I am quitting it.
Or I or it is rushing on the wings
Of light or lightning on an onward course.
And we e'en now are million miles apart.
Yet. . . .is this peremptory severance
Wrought out in lengthening measurements of space.
Which grow and multiply by speed and* time?
Or am I traversing infinity
By endless subdivision, hurrying back
From finite towards infinitesimal,
Thus dying out of the expansive world?
Another marvel: some one has me last
Within his ample palm: 'tis not a grasp
SELECTIONS.
Such as they use on earth, but all around
Over the surface of my subtle being,
As though I were a sphere and capable
To be accosted thus, a uniform
And gentle pressure tells me I am not
Self-moving, but borne on my way.
And hark! I hear a singing, yet in sooth
I cannot of that music rightly say
Whether I hear or touch or taste the tones.
Oh what a heart subduing melody!
Newman .
A Day's Changes.
It was a beautiful morning in April; Eugene had risen
at an early hour, and having mechanically taken a small
volume from a shelf of his library he. without opening-
it. went out to the balcony in front of his house to gaze
on the magnificent landscape of the surrounding coun-
try. What a love'y aurora it was! what a glorious be-
ginning of a genial day! Away in the far East appears
the sun in the horizon, and clothing the lessening clouds
that gently move on in the ether with his golden rays,
gives them the most charming coloring; on the world he
sheds the shining day that, burnished, plays on rocks,
and hills and towers, and the wandering streams. Earth
brightens up at his coming, birds salute his approach
in melodious tunes, the peasant goes to his field with a
heart light and glad, and sings of happiness and of love.
Eugene gazes on the charming scene with indescribable
pleasure; his tranquil, happy, peaceful soul, is easily
t< niched by scenes so sweet and charming. He enjoys
260 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
excellent health, possesses a large fortune, his family
affairs are in excellent condition, his friends are never
more happy than when they are able to give him pleas-
ure. No violent passion agitates his bosom, his sleep
during the night was placid and tranquil, and was inter-
rupted only by the break of day; he is only awaiting
the hour for resuming the ordinary course of his agree-
able occupations.
At last he opens his book; it is a romantic novel. A
wretched man, whom the world has not understood, is
disgusted with life; he curses society, curses the human
race, curses heaven and earth, the present, the past, the
future; he curses God, he curses himself. Tired of gaz-
ing on a sun that has for him no pleasant smile, tired of
a world that gives him only sorrow and anguish, weary
of a miserable existence that weighs so heavily on his
spirits and crushes his heart beneath its insupportable
burden, he has resolved to rid himself of his misery hy
putting an end to his life. See him standing on the
brink of the fatal precipice! already the sad "farewell"
is written in his portfolio; he turns his feverish head,
his pallid countenance, his blood shot eyes, his distorted
features, wildly around; before accomplishing the fatal
deed, he remains for a moment absorbed in gloomy si-
lence, meditates on the destinies of man, on the cruel
injustice of society. "This is exaggerated," impatient-
ly exclaims Eugene, ''there is indeed, much evil in the
world, but not all that is in the world is evil. Virtue
is not yet banished from the face of the earth; I myself
know many persons whom 1 could not. without doing
them gross injustice, set down as wicked. This is in-
tolerable, it is as false in philosophy as it is disgusting
in literature. 11 Thus Eugene reasoned in his own mind
and good naturedly he closed his book, banished from
SELECTIONS. 261
his mind these unpleasant images, and allowed his soul
to be once more transported by the contemplation of the
charming sceneiy around him.
Hours pass away; the time for commencing his daily
labor arrives. At the very outset it seems that the curs-
es of the suicide seem to have fallen on Eugene.
The weather has undergone a change; it will not be
at all as pleasant a day as the early morning indicated;
heavy dark clouds appear in the sky and threaten rain.
Eugene goes to his work; his umbrella is an insufficient
protection against the rain that pours down in torrents.
The v^iiy that leads to his place of business is narrow
and dirty; a coachman drives along with furious speed.
Eugene is splashed with mud; he must retrace his steps
and return home. He is angry; he does not utter the
horrible blasphemies of the suicide, but the prayer
which he says for the horses and their driver, will sure-
ly not do either a considerable amount of good. Life
is, after all. not quite as pleasant as he fancied in the
morning; yet it is tolerable. His philosophy darkens
with the weather. However, the sun has not yet gone
down in the West. It generally happens that one mis-
fortune follows in the footsteps of another. Eugene has
forgotten thetirst misadventure of the day, his thoughts
are again set on business, aud he goes to the house of a
friend from whom he expects important communica-
tions regarding a business transaction. Here he is re-
ceived coolly: the friend tries to evade ail conversation
on the chief points in question: pressing atf'airs. he
pretends, will not allow him time to talk over the mat-
ter just now.
Eugene takes leave, somewhat displeased at the turn
the affair has taken; vague suspicions arise in his mind,
he tortures his brains in order to discover what it all
202 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION. VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
can mean, when suddenly he meets another friend, who
is able and willing to clear up the mystery. Be on your
guard, Eugene, says the friend, in very few words; he
on your guard, or you will fall a victim to the infamous
perfidy of Mr. X. He thinks at once of the steps to be
taken to prevent the impending misfortune. He goes to
different friends to obtain information about the state of
affairs. All sympathize with him in his misfortune, but
all agree that it is now beyond remedy. All he can do,
is to be resigned to his fate. Eugene returns to his
home, retires into his private apartment and allows
himself to be transported by the cruel pain of seeing his
fairest hopes frustrated, his social position desperately
changed, and all his brilliant prospects for the future
inseparably ruined. On the table lies the volume he
had read in the morning. The sight of it recalls to his
mind the reflections he had made in reading it. Oh!
how miserably deceived you were, he exclaims, when
you imagined that the infernal descriptions contained in
that book were mere exaggerations! It cannot be de-
nied that that man was right. It is horrible, desperate,
unpardonable, yet it is true. Man is a depraved mon-
ster, society a cruel stepmother, a heartless executioner,
who takes pleasure in insulting and tormenting his
wretched victims, and scorns them at the very moment
that he covers them with ignominy and shame, to which
death itself would he preferable. There is no fidelity
in friendship, no gratitude, no generosity, no true virtue
on earth; all is egotism, self-interest, falsehood, treach-
ery! Eugene was disturbed in his monologue by a
gentleman who, relying on his title of friendship, took
the liberty of entering his apartment without the foi-
niality of being announced.
"Good day, my dear Eugene; I hear that you have
SELECTIONS. 263
been badly imposed on."
"Well, what can be doner*
"It is really too bad!"
"Yes. but so goes the world.
"Bat there is no time to be lost, we must remedy the
misfortune. ..."
"Remedy? it is impossible!"
''The remedy is very simple.
"I am surprised at your way of talking."
"All depends on ready money, your taking the first
mail-coach and arriving at D. before he will arrive
there. "
"Yes. but that is impossible in my present circum-
stances; the scoundrel knows that I have spent all my
ready money in that accursed transaction; he knows
that I have none whatever at my disposal now; he
knows how utterly impossible it would be for me to
overtake him."
"But suppose that the money was ready for you."
"Let us not joke about the matter."
•"Listen, my dear Eugene. A few friends and my-
self met together to discuss that affair, which you know.
One of the company related the serious misfortune that
had befallen you, and the disastrous consequences it
must entail on your family. You can easily imagine what
an impression the unpleasant news made on us. I re-
quested leave of my friends to sever my connection with
that project, that I might be free to place my own re-
sources at your disposal. All instantly followed my
example, and declared their readiness to run the risk of
postponing their operations till you come out triumph-
antly from this difficulty ."
"I cannot agree to it."
•'But you must!"
264 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION. VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
"But if these gentlemen, whom I do not even
know. .". . "
"This was all foreseen. Get ready, take the first
stage. In this portfolio you will find the money you
need. Farewell, my dear Eugene."
The portfolio was placed on the table, beside the fa-
tal book. Eugene is ashamed of having so hastily
hurled his anathemas at society. The hour for the de-
parture of the stage leaves him no time to philosophize,
but he feels that his philosophy has assumed a less des-
perate aspect. On the following morning the sun will
arise more gloriously than to-day; the birds will sing as
merrily as ever; the peasant will go forth to his work,
and Eugene will see things as he saw them before his
unpleasant adventures. Within twenty-four hours,
nothing has changed in nature or society, but the philo-
sophy of Eugene has traversed an immense space,
returning, like the planet, to the point from which it
had started, — Rev. J. Balmes.
The Drunkard's Death.
I stood beside the death-bed of a man
Whom drink had slain;
And saw a soul depart as I'd ne'er wish
To see again.
In throes of agony, a human blight.
In sense, a clod,
Struggled with death, a sick'ning, awful sight:
Then went to God.
It pained my heart to see the stark bare room,
And rotten floor
SELECTIONS. 265
Gaping with greasy rat holes, dark and foul,
And hingeless door.
The fireless hearth with dreary cinders strewn,
Blank, cold and dead;
The heap of filthy straw and stinking rags
That made the bed;
Old bottles, battered tins and broken ware.
The cupboard had;
Empty of food, it bore a thin, starved look,
Hungry and sad;
The crazy windows rattling with the wind,
And shattered wall:
Within, without, all things with dirt begrimed —
Dirt over ail.
But when I saw the man unhinged of sense,
A shattered wreck:
His darkened, sin-grimed soul departing hence;
I could not check
The rising tear that glimmered in my eye,
Nor hush the thought,
That here was one who better to this world
Had ne'ei been brought.
His heated brain with wild delirium raved;
His blood-shot eyes
Glared like a hunted beast's, while from his mouth
Came savage cries.
"Away!" he shrieked, with frantic look, "away!"
Ye fiends from hell!
Let go my throat. Begone! Dont strangle me, —
Hark! there's a bell!
It rings! rings! rings for Mass. I never go;
Leave me to sleep!
To sleep! I cannot sleep in flames like these
34
ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL, AND PHYSICAL.
That o'er me creep.
I'm all on tire. It scorches me to death.
Bring water here!
Bring floods, and drown me in their cooling depths!
Yon devils jeer
And gibe upon me with a mocking laugh
And gnashing teeth;
Take off this net. These cords around my throat
Won't let me breathe.
No! No! have mercy! Do not chain me yet.
I crave an hour,
A minute to be free! What have I done,
That worms devour
My flesh and heart and brain? These scalding
showers
Burn me to death.
These parching winds, these endless desert sands
Dry up my breath!
One drop of water for my burning tongue!
With thirst I sink.
Sweet water! heavenly streams! flow not so fast,
I cannot drink.
What spirit damned from out the shades of hell
Is lurking here^
Ha! ha! I know you well. 1r Tis you who sold
Me gin and beer .
Dost want my soul? Was.'t not enough to take
My very life?
And help me starve the children' — break the heart
Of my poor wife?
You are the man who on my ruin fed;
As vampire bat
SELECTIONS. 267
That gluts itself on blood, so you on me
Grew rich and fat.
Help! help! I cannot breathe this stifling air.
These hellish fumes;
This biting adder gnaws my life away
And soul consumes!"
The midnight moon was shining in the sky,
Cold, clear, and pale;
The winds, without, like ghosts in pain, moaned
forth
A long, weird wail .
A passing cloud a heavy shadow cast
Upon the bed.
He struggled, grasped the air, then upright stood;
And fell back, dead!
Rev. Alfred Young, G. S. P.
Scene from "The Merchant of Venice."
Enter Solanio and Salarino.
Solan. Xow. what news on the Kialto?
Solar. Why. yet it lives there uncheck'd. that Anto-
nio hath a ship of rich lading wreck 'd on the narrow
seas; the Goodwins, I think they call the place; a very
dangerous flat and fatal, where the carcasses of many a
tall ship lie buried, as they say, if my gossip Report be
an honest woman of her word.
Solan. I would she were as lying a gossip in that as
ever knapp'd ginger, or made her neighbours believe
268 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
she wept for the death of a third husband. But it is
true, without any slips of prolixity, or crossing the
plain highway of talk, that the good Antonio, the
honest Antonio, — O, that 1 had a title good enough to
keep his name company! —
Solar. Come, the full stop.
Solan. Ha, — what say'st thou? — Why the end is, he
hath lost a ship.
Salar. I would it might prove the end of his losses.
Solan. Let me say amen betimes, lest the Devil cross
my prayer; for here he comes in the likeness of a Jew.
Enter Shylock.
How now. Shylock! what news among the merch-
ants ?
Shy. You knew, none so well, none so well as yon,
of my daughter's flight.
Salar. That's certain: I, for my part, knew the tailor
that made the wings she flew withal.
Solan. And Shylock, for his own part, knew the
bird was fledg'd; and then it is tlte complexion of them
all to leave the dam.
Shy. She is damn VI for it.
Salar. That's certain, if the Devil may be her judge.
Shy. In Antonio I have another bad match; a bank-
rupt, a prodigal, who dare scarce show his head on the
Rialto; — a beggar, that was used to come so snug upon
the mart. Let him look to his bond; he was wont to
call me a usurer; — let him look to his bond: he was wont
to lend money for a Christian courtesy;— let him look
to his bond.
Salar. Why, I am sure, if he forfeit, thou wilt not
take his flesh: what's that good for?
Shy. To bait fish withal: if it will feed nothing else,
SELECTIONS. 269
it will feed my revenge. He hath disgraced me, and
hinder' d me half a million; laugh' d at my losses, mock'd
at my gains, scorned my nation, thwarted my bargains,
cooled mj friends, heated mine enemies; and what's
his reason? I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? hath not
a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, pas-
sions^ fed with the same food, hurt with the same
weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the
same means, warmed and cooled by the same Winter
and Summer, as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we
not bleed? if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you
poison us, do we not die? and if 3-011 wrong us, shall we
not revenged if we are like you in the rest, we will re-
semble you in that. If a Jew wrong a Christian, what
is his humility? revenge: if a Christian wrong a Jew,
what should his sufferance be by Christian example?
why, revenge. The viliaiuy you teach me, I will exe-
cute, and it shall go hard, but I will better the instruc-
tion. — Shakespeare.
Scene from King Henry VI., Third Part.
Enter Rutland, and Ids Tutor.
Hut. Ah! whither shall I fly to 'scape their hands?
Ah tutor! look, where bloody Clifford comes.
Enter Clifford and Soldiers.
Glif. Chaplain, away: thy priesthood saves thy life.
As for the brat of this accursed duke,
Whose father slew my- father, he shall die.
Tut. And I, nay lord, will bear him company.
CI if. Soldiers, awav with him.
270 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
Tut. Ah, Clifford! murder not this innocent child.
Lest thou he hated both of God and man.
Exit, forced off by Soldiers.
Clif. How now! is he dead already? Or. is it fear.
That makes him close his eyes? — I'll open them.
Rut. So looks the pent-up lion o'er the wretch
That trembles under his devouring paws:
And so he walks, insulting o'er his prey.
And so he comes to rend his limbs asunder. —
Ah, gentle Clifford! kill me with thy sword.
And not with such a cruel threatening look.
Sweet Clifford! hear me speak before I die:
I am too mean a subject for thy wrath;
Be thou reveng'd on men, and let me live.
Clif. In vain thou speak'st, poor boy: my father's
blood
Hath stopped the passage where thy words should
enter.
Rut. Then let my father's blood open it again:
He is a man, and, Clifford, cope with him.
Clif. Had I thy brethren here, their lives, and thine,
Were not revenge sufficient for me.
No: if I digg'd up thy forefathers' graves.
And hung their rotten coffins up in chains,
It could not slake mine ire, nor ease mine heart.
The sight of any of the house of York
Is as a fury to torment my soul
And till I root out their accursed line,
And leave not one alive, I live in hell.
Therefore —
Rut. O, let me pray before I take my death. —
To thee I pray: sweet Clifford, pity me!
Clif. Such pit}- as my rapier's point affords.
Rut. I never did thee harm: wh} T wilt thou slay met
SELECTIONS. 271
dlif. Thy father hath.
Rut. But 'twas ere I was born .
Thou hast one son, for his sake pity rue,
Lest, in revenge thereof, sith God is just,
He be as miserably slain as I.
Ah! let me live in prison all my days,
And when I give occasion of offence,
Then let me die, for now thou hast no cause.
CI if. No cause?
Thy father slew my father: therefore, die.
[Clifford stabs him:
But. Diifaciant, laudis summa sit Ista tuce! [Dies.
Rut. Plantaganet! I come. Plantaganet!
And this thy son's blood cleaving to my blade,
Shall rust upon my weapon, till thy blood
Congealed with this do make me wipe off both.
Shakespeare.
Twenty Golden Years Ago.
O. the rain, the weary, dreary rain.
How it plashes on the window-sill!
Night. I guess too. must be on the wane.
Strass and Gass around are grown still
Here I sit. with coffee in my cup—
Ah! 'twas rarely 1 beheld it now
In the tavern where I loved to sup
Twenty golden years ago.
Twenty years ago, alas! — but stay —
On my life, 'tis half-past twelve o'clock!
After all the hours do slip away —
272 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
Come, here goes to burn another block!
For the night, or morn, is wet and cold;
And my fire is dwindling rather low:—
I had fire enough, when young and bold
Twenty golden years ago .
Pear! I don't feel well at all, somehow:
Few in Weimar dream how bad I am;
Floods of tears grow common with me now,
High-Dutch floods, that Reason cannot dam .
Doctors think I'll neither live nor thrive
If I mope at home so — I don't know —
Am I living now? I was alive
Twenty golden years ago ,
Wifeless, friendless, liaggonless, alone,
Not quite bookless, though, unless I choose.
Left with nought to do, except to groan,
Not a soul to woo, except the muse —
O! this is hard for me to bear,
Me, who whilome lived so much en haut y
Me, who broke all hearts like china-ware,
Twenty golden years ago!
Perhaps 'tis better; — time's defacing waves,
Long have quenched the radiance of my brow —
They who curse me nightly from their graves,
Scarce could love me were they living now;
But my loneliness hath darker ills —
Such dun duns as Conscience, Thought and Co.,
Awful Gorgons! worse than tailor's bills
Twenty golden years ago!
SELECTIONS. 273
Did I paint a fifth of what I feel,
how plaintive you would ween I was!
But I won't, albeit I have a deal
More to wail about than Kerner has!
Kerner \s teai\s are wept for withered flowers,
Mine for withered hopes, my scroll of woe-
Dates, alas! from youth's deserted bowers,
Twenty golden years ago!
Yet, may Deutschland's hurdlings flourish long,
Me, I tweak no beak among them; — hawks
Must not pounce on hawks; besides, in song
1 could once beat all of them by chalks.
Though you find me as I near my goal.
Sentimentalizing like Rousseau,
O! I had a grand Byronian soul
Twenty golden years ago!
Tick — tick, tick — tick! — not a sound save Time's,
And the windgust as it drives the rain —
Tortured torturer of reluctant rhymes,
Go to bed. and rest thy aching brain!
Sleep! — no more the dupe of hope or schemes;
Soon thou sleepest where the thistles blow —
Curious anticlimax to thy dreams
Twenty golden y T ears ago!
J. G. Mangan*
Called and Chosen.*
Still runs the river past the broken wall
Where Claude and 1 were wont to sit of old,
: H. L. Kilner & Co., Philadelphia, Publishers.
35
274 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
Watching the limped water slide and fall
Over the dam, — a sheet of molten gold:
What time the clouds, like fairies gayly dressed,
Built up their glorious castle in the west;
Our sketch-books idly open on our knees;
The smell of wall-liowers tilling all the air;
'Twas dreamy joy to watch whole argosies
Of gorgeous dragon-flies make shipwreck there;
And bees 2*0 diving with their foolish heads
Into intoxicating lily-beds.
"Sweet idleness!'' said Claude; and then he drew
His smiling lips into a graver line,
And looked out with his earnest eyes of blue
To where the rosy river ran like wine:
"0 purple-dragon flies! O golden bees!
To you belongs this life of summer ease, —
But not to me" — and then his face grew broad
With purest purpose, and his eyes oave out
Great placid rays, as if the stars of God
Within their azure heaven wheeled about; —
"Except a man deny himself,' 1 he said;
And then broke off and drooped his classic head.
Again: "The kingdom suffers violence,
And naught save violence shall win the prize.
Dost comprehend, dear heart, the mystic sense?' 3
I shivered, as with cold, and hid mine eyes;
And all the glorious skies and glowing stream.
Swept into shadow, like a broken dream.
SELECTIONS. 275
That was five years ago. To-day, beside
The ruined wall, I sit alone and study
The same rich sunset clouds, the same swift tide,
Glassing the mill-dam with its ripples ruddy;
But on my lap, 'twixt folded hands, there lies
An open letter, traced 'neath foreign skies.
Dominican and priest, where Lacordaire's
First white-robed friars preached and prayed and
read,
He that was Claude, now Father Saint Pierre,
Speaks from the written page as from the dead:
And, joyous as a lover at the tryst.
Sighs ardently to shed his blood for Christ.
() happy Claude! O happier Saint Pierre!
O happiest of all the souls that take
The cross of self denial up, and bear
It bravely to the end for Christ's sweet >ake!
Sail on, gay dragon-Hies! hum on. bright bees!
We envy not your life of honeyed ease.
Eleanor G. Donnelly.
The Condition of Ireland.
The war of centuries is at a close. The patronage
and proscriptions of Ebrington have failed. The pro-
crastination and economy of Russell have triumphed.
Let a thanksgiving be proclaimed from the pulpit of
St. Paul's. Let the Lords and Commons of England
vote their gratitude to the vicious and victorious econ-
2TH ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION. VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
omisti Let the guns of Loudon Tower proclaim the tri-
umph which has cost, in the past, coffers of gold and
torrents of blood, and, in this year masses of putrefac-
tion to achieve. England! your great difficulty is at an
end: your gallant and impetuous enemy is dead. Ire-
land, or rather the remains of Ireland are yours at last.
Your red ensign floats, not from the Custom Houee.
where you played the robber; not from Limerick wall,
where you played the cut throat; but it flies from a
thousand graveyards, where the titled niggards of your
cabinet have won the battle which your soldiers could
not terminate. Go; send your scourge steamer to the
western coast to convey some memorial of your con-
quest; and in the halls where the flags and cannon you
have captured from a world of foes are grouped togeth-
er, there let a shroud, stripped from some privileged
corpse, be for its proper price displayed. Stop not
there; change your war crest; America has her eagle;
let England have her vulture. What emblem more tit
for the rapacious power whose statesmanship depopu-
lates, and whose commerce is gorged with famine prices?
That is her proper signal. But whatever the monarch
journalists of Europe may say. Ireland, thank God, is
not clown yet.
She is on her knee; but her hand is clinched against
the giant, and she has yet power to strike.
Last year from the Carpathian heights, we heard the
cry of the Polish insurrectionists: "There is hope for
Poland, while in Poland there is a life to lose. 1 '' True it
is, thousands upon thousands of our comrades have
fallen: but thousands upon thousands still survive: and
the fate of the dead shall quicken the purposes of tl e
living. The stakes are too high for us to throw up the
hand until the last card has been played; too high for
SELECTIONS. 277
us to throw ourselves in despair upon the coffins of our
starved and swindled partners. A peasant population,
generous and heroic, a mechanic population, honest and
industrious, is at stake.
They cannot, must not, be lost. — T. F. Meagher.
Gualberts's Victory.*
A mountain pass so narrow that a man
Riding that way to Florence, stooping, can
Touch with his hand the rocks on either side.
And pluck the flowers that in the crannies hide.
Here, on Good Friday, centuries ago.
Mounted and armed, John Gualbert met his foe:
Mounted and armed as well, but riding down
To the fair city from the woodland brown.
This way and that, swinging his jeweled whip,
A gay old love-song on his careless lip.
And otj his charger's neck the reins loose thrown.
An accidental meeting: but the sun
Burned on their brows, as if it had been one
Of deep design, — so deadly w;is the look »
Of mutual hate their olive faces took;
As (knight i v courtesy forgot in wrath),
Neither would yield his enemy the path
"Backr* cried Gualberto. "Never!" yelled his foe.
And on the instant, sword in hand, they throw
Them from their saddles, nothing loath.
And fall to lighting, with a smothered oath.
A pair of shapely, stalwart cavaliers,
Well- matched in stature, weapons, weight, and years.
; EL L. Kilner & Co., Philadelphia, Publishers
278 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
Theirs was a long, tierce struggle on the grass,
Thrusting and parrying up and down the pass;
Swaying from left to right, in combat clenched.
Till all the housings of their steeds were drenched
With brutal gore: and ugly blood-drops oozed
Upon the rocks, from head and hand contused.
But at the close, when Gualbert stopped to rest,
His heel was planted on his foeman's breast;
And looking up, the fallen courtier sees,
As in a dream, gray rocks and waving trees
Before his glazing vision faintly float,
While Gualbert" s sabre glitters at his throat.
iw Now die. base wretch ! v the victor fiercely cries.
His heart of hate outflashing from his eyes:
''Never again, by the all-righteous Lord!
Shalt thou, with life, escape this trusty sword,—
Revenge is sweet!' 1 And upward gianced the steel.
But ere it fell,— dear Lord! a silvery peal
Of voices chanting in the town below.
Grave, ghostly voices chanting far below. *
Rose, like a fountain's from spires of snow,
And chimed and chimed to. die in echoes slow.
In the sweet silence following the sound,
Gual berto and the man upon the ground
Glared at each other with bewildered eyes
(The glare of hunted deer on leached hound);
And then the vanquished, struggling to arise.
Made one last effort, while his face grew dark
With pleading agony: "'Gualberto! hark!
The chant — the hour — thou know'st the olden fashion.
The monks below intone our Lord's Passion.
SELECTIONS. 279
Oh! by this cross!' 1 — and here he caught the hilt
Of Ghialbert's sword, — "and by the Blood once spilt
Upon it for us both long years ago,
Forgive — forget— and spare a fallen foe!"'
The face that bent above grew white and set
(Christ or the Demon? — in the balance hung): —
The lips were drawn, — the brow bedewed with sweat, —
But on the grass the harmless sword was Hung:
And stooping down the hero, generous, wrung
Tiie outstretched hand. Then, lest he lose control
Of the but half -tamed passions of his soul,
Fled up the pathway, tearing casque and coat
To ease the tempest throbbing at his throat;
Fled up the crags, as if a fiend pursued,
And paused not till he reached a chapel rude.
There in the cool, dim stillness, on his knees,
Trembling, he flings himself, and. startled, sees
Set in the rock a crucifix antique,
From which the wounded Christ bends down to speak:
iC Thou hast done well. Gualberto. For My .sake
Thou didst forgive thine enemy: now take
My gracious pardon for thy times of sin,
And from this dot/ a better life begin."
White flashed the angels* wings above his head.
Rare, subtile perfumes through the place were shed;
And golden harps and sweetest voices poured
Their glorious losannas to the Lord.
Who in that hour, and in that chapel quaint,
Changed by His power, by His dear love's constraint,
Gual bert the sinner into John the saint.
Eleanor C. Donnelly.
280 ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION, VOCAL AND PHYSICAL.
William Shakespeare.
Tradition says that Shakespeare was ever gentle to
those oi the persecuted Faith of his fathers: and his
plays show it His speech is ''saturated with the
Scriptures.' 1 How x could he help it? Had he not in the
schoolroom gazed every day on the painted story of the
Cross, and read everywhere, in spite of Henry VIlFs
barbarity, the symbolism of the church which had filled
the life of England before the Reformation with the
beauty of God's word. Though the statues of the saints
were broken, and their figures in the stained glass win-
dows defaced, the -church of the Holy Trinity, still
pointed with its spire towards heaven. Even in Shake-
speare's later time, all remembrance of the Sacramental
Presence could not have faded out of Stratford. We
can imagine Shakespeare walking in the gloaming to-
wards this old church, with its Gothic windows and
fretted battlements. The glow-worms waver near him
as he comes through the avenue of green lime trees,
near the beech- and yew-shaded graveyard. He has
come by the shining Avon, from k, the lonesome mead-
ows beyond where the primroses stand in their golden
banks among the clover, and the frilled and fluted bell
of the cowsiip, hiding its single drop of blood, closes its
petals as the night comes down.' 1 He pauses in the
nave of the church and there in the soft glow 7 , cast by
the last shaft of glory from the setting sun, he sees that
vacant place where, his father has told him, the taber-
nacle had been. It is gone. Perchance an old woman,
who had seen the Faith in its glory, lies prostrate, sob-
bing before the despoiled altar whence her God has been
torn. And then he murmurs, with his own dying Queen
Katharine i
SELECTIONS. 281
"Spirits of peace, where are you'? Are you all gone
And leave me here in wretchedness behind ye?"
— And, folding his hands at his back, he passes back
through that sweet-scented lane, whose blossoms shall
fall on his own coffin ere long. His eyes are soft and
hazel; his cheeks are not as ruddy as when he laid the
cloth for his father and mother in earlier days; his fore-
head is dome-like; he wears his customary suit of scar-
let and black. 80 he goes to New Place, for warden he
has so long worked, to the demure Judith who waits
for him, to his little chubby cheeked grandchild, Bess
Hall. The antlers in the entry, the silver tankards on
the sideboard, of which his wife and Judith are so
proud, show dimly in the failing night; he murmurs
the new song he has lately made for his play of "Cym-
beline. ,,
"Fear no more the heat 0' the sun.
Nor the furious winter's rages:
Thou thy worldly task has done.
Home art gone and ta'en thy wages."'
A swan glides slowly to her nest among the reeds of
the Avon. "The crimson drops i* the bottom of the
cowslip," are now quite hid from the sight of the swal-
low that westward flies across the meadows. William
Shakespeare, whom God gifted so gloriously, passes
with the sadness of the gloaming in his soul.
••And the rest is silence."'
Maurice F. Egan.
*N#M*
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