INTRODUCTION.

THE VOICE IN ELOCUTION.

"There is in souls a sympathy with sounds."

FORCE.

COWPER.

Or the fourteen vowel sounds in our language, some require for their enunciation more force than others. Thus the sound of a as in ah, and that of o as in oh, are louder than that of oo in foot or i in fit. So the diphthong sound ou as in growl is a little stronger than that of u as in tune. A strong sound is naturally fit to express strength; a weak one to express weakness.*

A similar difference exists among the twenty-two consonants. Thus the sounds of r, gr, h, str, thr, are strong. This fact will be perceptible in the articulation of rave, rail, rend, rip, rear, roar, grapple, grasp, grind, gripe, groan, growl, harsh, haul, horrid, strain, strangle, strive, stress, strike, struggle, thrash, thrill, throw, throb, thrust, throttle. But the sound. of l is weak; as in lave, lay, lick, linger, lisp, loll, love, lull,

* The difference in the fitness of vowels to express loud or soft sounds is seen in comparing words whose consonants are the same or nearly so. The stronger vowel usually expresses the louder sound. Compare croak, crack, and the obsolete crick; squall and squeal; snore and sneer; snort, snuff, and sniff; snarl and snivel. Or the strong vowel expresses greater force. Compare spout and spit, groan and grin, strong and string, master and mistress, thank and think, glare and glitter. In some other languages this difference is more perceptible than in ours. In some of the languages of the Scythian stock, as in the Magyar and the Turkish, the heavy vowels, a, o, u, are called masculine; the light, e, i, o, u, feminine. In the Mantchoo, we find ama meaning father, eme mother; kaka is male, keke female; amka father-in-law, emke mother-in-law; kankan a strong spirit, kenken a feeble

lute. W at the beginning of a word has the weak sound of oo; as in waft, warble, wave, weave, well, wind, wind, willow.

Many poets have successfully exerted their skill in selecting words the sound of which fitly expresses the loud or soft sounds they wish to describe, and the strength or weakness they wish to paint. Thus in Milton's description of the battle of the angels:

Now storming fury rose,

And clamor such as heard in heaven till now

Was never. Arms on armor clashing brayed
Horrible discord.

By contrast take his description of soft music : —

And ever, against eating cares,

Lap me in soft Lydian airs

Married to immortal verse;

Such as the meeting soul may pierce,

In notes with many a winding bout

Of linked sweetness long drawn out
With wanton heed and giddy cunning,
The melting voice through mazes running,
Untwisting all the chains that tie

The hidden soul of harmony.

From the same author take this description of the last exhibition of Samson's tremendous strength :

As with the force of winds and waters pent

When mountains tremble, those two massy pillars,

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spirit. In the Tartar-Turkish, savmak means to hate, sevmek to love; the former being the stronger emotion with a barbarian! In the. Semitic languages, "the weaker vowels i and u often convey a less active meaning as compared with the strong full a." Thus, in the Arabic, "The three consonants q, t, 7, form a root which conveys the idea of killing; then qatala means 'he killed,' qutila, 'he was killed.' Every active verb, like qatala, has its corresponding passive, qutila." See Whitney on "Language and the Study of Language," pp. 301, 302; and Preface to Wedgwood's "Dictionary of English Etymology." Compare the positive indicative Latin sum, es, est, sumus, estis, sunt, I am, you are, he is, etc., with the contingent subjunctive sim, sis, sit, simus, sitis, sint, I may be, thou mayst be, etc. In German, danken is to thank; denken, to think. See note, p. 18.

With horrible convulsion, to and fro

He tugged, he shook, till down they came and drew
The whole roof after them with burst of thunder.

Contrast Cleopatra's last words as the poisonous serpent at her breast is stinging her to death. (Shakespeare's "Antony and Cleopatra," Act V. Sc. 2.)

CLEOPATRA. As sweet as balm, as soft as air, as gentle,

O Antony ! - Nay, I will take thee too:

(Applying another asp to her arm.)

What should I stay — (Falls on a bed and dies.)

Read in Shakespeare's "King Henry the Fifth " the monarch's animating words to his soldiers at the siege of Harfleur :

But when the blast of war blows in our ears,

Then imitate the action of the tiger!
Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,
Disguise fair nature with hard-favored rage:
Then lend the 'eye a terrible aspéct ;

Let it pry through the portage of the head

Like the brass cannon.

Now set the teeth and stretch the nostril wide;
Hold hard the breath, and bend up every spirit

To his full height! On, on, you noble English!

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Cry- "Heaven for Harry! England! and Saint George !

For contrast with the preceding, read Young's description of the languid lady :

The languid lady next appears in state,

Who was not born to carry her own weight;
She lolls, reels, staggers, till some foreign aid
To her own stature lifts the feeble maid.
Then, if ordained to so severe a doom,
She by just stages journeys round the room;
But, knowing her own weakness, she despairs
To scale the Alps! that is, ascend the stairs !

And that is spoke with such a dying fall

That Betty rather sees than hears the call.

Again, what power of voice is sufficient to adequately express Satan's magnificent call to his millions of fallen angel warriors, who lay stunned on the fiery flood?

He called so loud that all the hollow deep

Of hell resounded: "Princes! Potentates!

Warriors! the flower of heaven, once yours, now lost,

If such astonishment as this can seize

Eternal spirits or have ye chosen this place
After the toil of battle to repose

Your wearied virtue, for the ease you find

To slumber here, as in the vales of heaven?
Or in this abject posture have ye sworn
To adore the Conqueror? who now beholds
Cherub and seraph rolling in the flood
With scattered arms and ensigns, till anon
His swift pursuers from heaven gates discern
The advantage, and descending tread us down
Thus drooping, or with linkéd thunderbolts
Transfix us to the bottom of this gulf.
Awake, arise; or be forever fallen!"

On the other hand, silence, like that of a clear midnight, requires a very different degree of force. Thus, in Shelley's "Queen Mab":

How beautiful this night! The balmiest sigh
Which vernal zephyrs breathe in evening's ear

Were discord to the speaking quietude

That wraps this moveless scene. Heaven's ebon vault,

Studded with stars unutterably bright,

Through which the moon's unclouded grandeur rolls,

Seems like a canopy which Love has spread

To curtain her sleeping world. Yon gentle hills,
Robed in a garment of untrodden snow;
Yon darksome rocks whence icicles depend,

So stainless that their white and glittering spires

Tinge not the moon's pure beam; yon castled steep,
Whose banner hangeth o'er the time-worn tower
So idly that rapt fancy deemeth it

A metaphor of peace, - all form a scene
Where musing solitude might love to lift
Her soul above this sphere of earthliness;
Where silence undisturbed might watch alone,
So cold, so bright, so still.

From the foregoing considerations and examples we evolve FORCE as an element of vocal expression in elocution; and we see that loudness and energy are naturally expressed by a louder or more energetic voice than feebleness, languor, or silence.

How loud should one speak or read? Evidently and always, loud enough to be heard without the slightest effort on the part of the audience. Not only so, but one should commonly use a somewhat greater degree of force than this, in order to allow room for variation of the voice by diminution.

This degree of force which is recommended for all ordinary occasions, and which is somewhat above the degree of loudness that would naturally be used in conversation, may be styled moderate; a higher degree may be termed loud or strong, and a lower, soft, slight, or weak.

Strong force is usually appropriate to joy, mirth, distress. surprise, scorn, impatience, and remorse, when these emotions are powerful; also to anger, rage, defiance, terror, excited command, and energetic decision. Moderate force should be used when no special reason can be given for any other. Slight force is generally used in tranquillity, tenderness, sorrow, pity, quiet contempt, secrecy, fear, awe, solemnity, reverence, and utter despair.

VOLUME.

The sounds of i in pit, e in pet, u in put, a in pat, o in pot, are small. Those of a in far, o in foe, a in fall, are larger. The sound of short i is especially adapted to express