The king shall do, it. Must he be deposed'? The king shall be content,ed: must he lose let it go,. I'll give my jew'els for a set of beads,; Some way of common trade, where subjects' feet 2. Great men such as Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Aaron Burr, Arnold, and the friend of my worthy oppo nent. 3. 'Twas night! the stars were shrouded in a vail of mist; a clouded canopy o'erhung the world; the vivid lightnings flashed and shook their fiery darts upon the earth; the deeptoned thunder rolled along the vaulted sky; the elements were in wild commotion; the storm-spirit howled in the air; the winds whistled; the hail-stones fell like leaden balls; the huge undulations of the ocean dashed upon the rock-bound shore; and torrents leaped from mountain-tops; when the murderer sprang from his sleepless couch with vengeance on his brow, murder in his heart, — and the fell instrument of destruction in his hand. The storm increased; the lightnings flashed with brighter glare; the thunder growled with deeper energy; the winds whistled with a wilder fury; the confusion of the hour was congenial to his soul, and the stormy passions which raged in his bosom. He clenched his weapon with a sterner grasp. A demoniac smile gathered on his lip; he grated his teeth; raised his arm; sprang with a yell of triumph upon his victim; and relentlessly killed - a MUSQUITO! 190. MODULATION. 1. Modulation is the ready and perfect adaptation of the appropriate elements of speech to the sentiment designed to be conveyed. 2. The skillful modulation of the voice requires an instantaneous and imperceptible transition from one Quality to another, an easy increase or decrease of Force, a ready change of Stress, and a perfect command of every degree of Pitch and Movement. 3. The good reader or speaker varies the element of expression so skillfully that the hearer gets a suggestion of the meaning of words by the very nature of the sound in which they are uttered. 4. In impersonation, description and narration much of the reader's success depends upon the modulation of his voice. So proficient have some readers become in the control of the vocal elements and of their features and limbs, that an audience can with difficulty believe the impersonator, who represents a dozen characters in as many minutes, is not really the several individuals represented. 5. The acquisition of this valuable power is but the summing up, classification, and adaptation of the variousRequisites of a good Elocution;" and though this appears simple, and seems to imply nothing but time, patience and perseverance, the pupil is assured that all these without the application of careful thought, will secure only indifferent success. 191. Examples. The following selection contains a great many varieties of elements, and its frequent reading and careful study, to master the sudden transitions, will repay the pupil more than the reading of a dozen pages of additional suggestions upon modulation. 192. General Direction. Ascertain by a careful reading the sentiment of each sentence, and then apply the appropriate element, and your reading will be correct. IMPERSONATION. 77. ["Mrs. McWilliams and the Lightning." - Mark Twain.] Well, sir, continued Mr. McWilliams, for this was not the beginning of his talk, the fear of lightning is one of the most distressing infirmities a human being can be afflicted with. It is mostly confined to women; but now and then you find it in a little dog, and sometimes in a man. It is a particularly distressing infirmity, for the reason that it takes the sand out of a person to an extent which no other fear can, and it can't be reasoned with, and neither can it be shamed out of a person. Well, as I was telling you, I woke up with that smothered and unlocatable cry of "Mortimer! Mortimer!" wailing in my ears; and as soon as I could scrape my faculties together I reached over in the dark and then said: 66 Evangeline, is that you calling? What is the matter? Where are you?" "Shut up in the boot-closet. You ought to be ashamed to lie there and sleep so, and such an awful storm going on.” "Why, how can one be ashamed when he is asleep? It is unreasonable; a man can't be ashamed when he is asleep, Evangeline." "You never try, Mortimer · you know very well you never try." I caught the sound of muffled sobs. That sound smote dead the sharp speech that was on my lips, and I changed it to So. "I'm sorry, dear-I'm truly sorry. I never meant to act Come back and "MORTIMER!" "Heavens! what is the matter, my love?" 'Do you mean to say you are in that bed yet!” "Come out of it instantly. I should think you would take some little care of your life, for my sake and the children's if you will not for your own. "But my love "Don't talk to me, Mortimer. You know there is no place all so dangerous as a bed, in such a thunder-storm as this, the books say that; yet there you would lie, and deliberately throw away your life, for goodness knows what, unless for the sake of arguing, and” 66 'But, confound it, Evangeline, I'm not in the bed now. I'm " [Sentence interrupted by a sudden glare of lightning, fol lowed by a terrified little scream from Mrs. McWilliams and a tremendous blast of thunder.] "There! you see the result. Oh, Mortimer, how can you be so profligate as to swear at such a time as this?" 'I didn't swear. And that wasn't a result of it, anyway. It would have come, just the same, if I hadn't said a word; and you know very well, Evangeline, at least you ought to that when the atmosphere is charged with elec know, tricity" 66 Oh, yes, now argue it, and argue it, and argue it! —I don't see how you can act so, when you know there is not a lightning-rod on the place, and your poor wife and children are absolutely at the mercy of Providence. What are you doing? - lighting a match at such a time as this! stark mad?" 66 Hang it, woman, where's the harm? dark as the inside of an infidel, and ' to sacrifice us all! Are you The place is as "Put it out! put it out instantly! Are you determined You know there is nothing attracts lightning like a light. [Fzt! -crash! boom-boloom-boomboom!] Oh, just hear it! Now you see what you've done!" "No, I don't see what I've done. A match may attract lightning, for all I know, but it don't cause lightning, I'll go odds on that. And it didn't attract it worth a cent this time; for if that shot was levelled at my match, it was blessed poor marksmanship, - about an average of none out of a possible million, I should say. Why, at Dollymount, such marksmanship as that" "For shame, Mortimer! Here we are standing right in the very presence of death, and yet in so solemn a moment you are capable of using such language as that. If you have no desire to Mortimer!" "Well?" |