his influence in this, as in other things, is either upward. or downward..

EXERCISES IN QUALITY.

"Pure or Head Tone."*

This quality of voice belongs to moderate, soft, and subdued utterance, as in the expression of pathos, repose, and solemnity, when not accompanied by grandeur or sublimity. The object in view, in the practice of such passages as the following, is, to secure the power of moulding the voice into perfectly clear, pure, and smooth sound, as the true and proper habit of utterance, but particularly important in all passages of tender and softened effect. This mode of voice characterizes the appropiate reading of some of the Psalms, many of the most affecting hymns, and all the subdued appeals of direct address, in discourses from the pulpit. Pure head tone is of as much service to the public reader and speaker as to the singer. It renders the emission of vocal sound at once clear, easy, natural, and agreeable, and enables the performer to exert his organs without fatigue.

The following, and all other exercises, should be repeated till a perfect vocal execution is attained. To secure fully the quality in view, the "tonic" elements should be repeated in the same style. The ear and the voice will thus become perfectly attuned to the effect.

Pathos.

Ode to Peace.- Cowper.

"Come, peace of mind, delightful guest!
Return, and make thy downy nest,

Once more, in this sad heart!

* Properly, pure "head tone," the "quality," or resonance, which is naturally inseparable from the upper "register," or range of notes uttered by the human voice. This species of quality is the opposite to "pectoral," the resonance of the chest, in the execution of the deep, bass notes which form the lower "register."

Nor riches I nor power pursue,
Nor hold forbidden joys in view:

We therefore need not part.

"Where wilt thou dwell, if not with me,
From avarice and ambition free,

And pleasure's fatal wiles?

For whom, alas! dost thou prepare
The sweets that I was wont to share,
The banquet of thy smiles?

"The great, the gay, shall they partake
The heaven that thou alone canst make?
And wilt thou quit the stream

That murmurs through the dewy mead,
The grove and the sequestered shed,
To be a guest with them?

"For thee I panted; thee I prized;
For thee I gladly sacrificed

Whate'er I loved before;

And shall I see thee start away,

And helpless, hopeless, hear thee say

'Come, Evening, once again, season of peace; Return, sweet Evening, and continue long!

Methinks I see thee in the streaky west,

With matron step slow moving, while the night

Treads on thy sweeping train; one hand employed In letting fall the curtain of repose

On bird and beast, the other, charged for man

With sweet oblivion of the cares of day:

Not sumptuously adorned, nor needing aid,

Like homely-featured Night, of clustering gems;

A star or two, just twinkling on thy brow,
Suffices thee; save that the moon is thine
Not less than hers, not worn, indeed, on high,
With ostentatious pageantry, but set

With modest grandeur in thy purple zone,
Resplendent less, but of an ampler round. -
Come, then; and thou shalt find thy votary calm,
Or make me so.
Composure is thy gift."

"Aristotle tells us, that the world is a copy, or transcript, of those ideas which are in the mind of the First Being, and that those ideas which are in the mind of man, are a transcript of the world. To this we may add, that words are the transcript of those ideas which are in the mind of man, and that writing or printing is the transcript of words. As the Supreme Being has expressed, and, as it were, printed his ideas in the creation, men express their ideas in books, which, by this great invention of these latter ages, may last as long as the sun and moon, and perish only in the general wreck of nature.

"There is no other method of fixing those thoughts which arise and disappear in the mind of man, and transmitting them to the last periods of time; no other method of giving a permanency to our ideas, and preserving the knowledge of any particular person, when his body is mixed with the common mass of matter, and his soul retired into the world of spirits. Books are the legacies

* Conversational passages, essays, lectures, and discourses, when read in the study or the parlor, the conference or the lecture-room, may, particularly when composed in moderate and unimpassioned style, be properly read in merely pure "head" tone. But the public reading of the same may, from the larger demands of space, and, consequently, the fuller tone of voice, be carried to the extent of moderate "orotund" utterance. See page 168.

that a great genius leaves to mankind, which are delivered down from generation to generation, as presents to the posterity of those who are yet unborn.

"All other arts of perpetuating our ideas, continue but a short time. Statues can last but a few thousands of years, edifices fewer, and colors still fewer than edifices. Michael Angelo, Fontana, and Raffaelle, will, hereafter, be what Phidias, Vitruvius, and Appelles, are at present; the names of great statuaries, architects, and painters, whose works are lost. The several arts are expressed in mouldering materials. Nature sinks under them, and is not able to support the ideas which are impressed up

on it.

The circumstance which gives authors an advantage above all these great masters, is this, that they can multiply their originals, or, rather, can make copies of their works, to what number they please, which shall be as valuable as the originals themselves. This gives a great author a prospect of something like eternity. If writings are thus durable, and may pass from age to age, throughout the whole course of time, how careful should an author be of committing anything to print, that may corrupt posterity, and poison the minds of men with vice and error!"

Solemnity.

Funeral Hymn.

"How still and peaceful is the grave,

Where, life's vain tumults past,

The appointed house, by Heaven's decree,
Receives us all at last!

"The wicked there from troubling cease,

Their passions rage no more;

And there the weary pilgrim rests
From all the toils he bore.

66

'All, levelled by the hand of death,

Lie sleeping in the tomb,

Till God in judgment call them forth
To meet their final doom."

"Orotund Quality."*

It

This mode of voice is characterized by peculiar roundness, fullness, and resonance, combining the "purity" of the "head tone" with the reverberation of the chest. has a deeper effect than mere purity of tone, and usually ranges with the upper bass notes of the male voice; while the head tone has a lighter character, and seldom extends below the tenor level. Orotund quality is the natural mode of utterance in all deep, powerful, and sublime emotions. It belongs, accordingly, to oratory, and to the bolder forms of poetry.

Orotund utterance is, like pure tone, a most effective aid to easy and full voice. It serves to diminish the fa-. tigue of vocal exertion, and, at the same time, to give out clear and agreeable sound: it renders the utmost force of energetic utterance easily practicable; and, by throwing vigor into the voice, it spares the lungs.

The remarks on frequency of practice in pure tone, apply also to orotund quality. Every exercise should be perfectly mastered before proceeding to another; and the

* The term "orotund" Dr. Rush has adopted from a modification of the Latin phrase "ore rotundo." The word, as was mentioned before, is a good technical designation in elocution; as it not only intimates the peculiar rotundity of the proper voice for public speaking, but the special condition of the interior and back parts of the mouth, which its production requires. As a "quality" of voice, it is the natural resonance of notes of the middle and lower tenor and upper bass "register," when uttered in a round, full, and bold style, with the glottis freely opened, and all the circumjacent parts of the throat and mouth well expanded. An ample "laryngial" effect is thus produced: to this effect the technical term "orotund" is applied. See Orthophony.