Man, only, mars kind Nature's plan,
And turns the fierce pursuit on man;
Plying war's desultory trade,
Incursion, flight, and ambuscade,
Since Nimrod, Cush's mighty son,
At first the bloody game begun.

23. Dear Brothers, who sit at this bountiful board,
With excellent viands so lavishly stored,

That, in newspaper phrase, 't would undoubtedly groan,
If groaning were but a convivial tone,

Which it isn't-and therefore, by sympathy led,

The table, no doubt, is rejoicing instead;

Dear Brothers, I rise-and it won't be surprising

If you find me, like bread, all the better for rising-
I rise to express my exceeding delight

In our cordial reünion this glorious night!

24. Have you ever seen a cactus growing? What a dry, ugly, spiny thing it is! But suppose your gardener takes it when just sprouting forth with buds, and lets it stand a week or two, and then brings it to you, and lo! it is a blaze of light, glōrions above all flowers. So the poor and lowly, when God's time comes, and they begin to stand up and blossom, how beautiful they will be! 25. How beautiful this night! The balmiëst sigh, Which vernal zephyrs breathe in evening's ear, Were discord to the speaking quietude

That wraps this movelèss scene.

Heaven's ĕbon 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 deemèth 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 ǎlōne,
So cold, so bright, so still.

26. O Time, who knowest a lēnient hand to lay,

Softest on sorrow's wounds, and slowly thence
(Lulling to sad repose the weary sense)
The faint pang stealèst unperceived away:
On thee I rest my only hopes at last;

I

And think when thou hast dried the bitter tear,
That flows in vain o'er all my soul held dear,
may
look back on many a sorrow past,
And greet life's peaceful evening with a smile-
As some lone bird, at day's departing hour,
Sings in the sunshine of the transient shower,
Forgetful, though its wings be wet the while.
But ah! what ills must that poor heart endure,
Who hopes from thee, and thee alone, a cure.
27. "Man, thou shalt never die!" Celestial voices
Hymn it unto our souls: according harps,
By angel fingers touched when the mild stars
Of morning sang together, sound fōrth still
The song of our great immortality:

Thick clustering orbs, and this our fair domain,
The tall, dark mountains, and the deep-toned seas,
Join in this solemn, universal song.

Oh, listen, ye, our spirits; drink it in

From all the air! "Tis in the gentle moonlight;
'Tis floating 'midst day's setting glories; Night,
Wrapped in her sable robe, with silent step
Comes to our bed, and breathes it in our ears:
Night, and the dawn, bright day, and thoughtful eve,
All time, all bounds, the limitless expanse,

As one vast mystic instrument, are touched

By an unseen, living Hand, and conscious chords

Quiver with joy in this great jubilee.

The dying hear it; and as sounds of earth
Grow dull and distant, wake their passing souls

To mingle in this heavenly harmony.

IV. MODULATION.

ODULATION is the act of varying the voice in reading and speaking. Its general divisions are PITCH, FORCE, QUALITY, and Rate.

Moodulation

Fitch

Force

Quality
Rate

The four general divisions, or modes of vocal sound, presented in this section, are properly the elements of expression; as, by the combination of the different forms and varieties of these modes, emphasis, slur, monotone, and other divisions of expression are produced.

I.

PITCH.

ITCH' refers to the key-note of the voice-its general degree of elevation or depression, in reading and speaking. We mark three general distinctions of Pitch: HIGH, MODERATE, and Low.

High
Pitch Moderate
Low

1 Exercise on Pitch.-For a general exercise on pitch, select a sentence, and deliver it on as low a key as possible; then repeat it, gradually elevating the pitch, until the

top of the voice shall have been reached, when the exercise may be reversed. So valuable is this exercise, that it should be repeated as often as possible.

2. High Pitch is that which is heard in calling to a person at a distance. It is used in expressing elevated and joyous feelings and strong emotion; as,

1.

2.

Go ring the bells, and fire the guns,
And fling the starry banners out;
Shout "Freedom!" till your lisping ones
Give back their cradle shout.

If I may trust the flattering eye of sleep,
My dream's presage some joyful news at hand:
My bosom's lord sits lightly in his throne;

And, all this day, an unaccustomed spirit

Lifts me above the ground with cheerful thoughts.

3. Ye crags and peaks, I'm with you once again!
I hold to you the hands you first beheld,
To show they still are free. Methinks I hear
A spirit in your echoes answer me,
And bid your tenant welcome to his home
Again! O, sacred forms, how proud ye look!
How high you lift your heads into the sky!
How huge you are! how mighty and how free!
Ye are the things that tower, that shine, whose smile
Makes glad, whose frown is terrible, whose forms,
Robed or unrobed, do all the impress wear
Of awe divine. Ye guards of liberty!
I'm with you once again!—I call to you
With all my voice! I hold my hands to you
To show they still are free. I rush to you,
As though I could embrace you!

3. Moderate Pitch is that which is heard in common conversation and description, and in moral reflection, or calm reasoning; as,

1. The morning itself, few people, inhabitants of cities, know any thing about. Their ideä of it is, that it is that part of the day that comes along after a cup of coffee and a beef-steak, or a piece of toast.

3.

And musing there an hour alone,

I thought that Greece might still be free;
For, standing on the Persian's grave,
I could not deem myself a slave.

The seas are quiet when the winds give ō'er;
So calm are we when passions are no mōre;
For then we know how vain it was to bōast
Of fleeting things too certain to be lost.
Clouds of affection from our younger eyes
Conceal that emptiness which age descries.

The soul's dark cottage, battered and decayed,
Lets in new light through chinks that time has made;
Stronger by weakness wiser men become

As they draw near to their eternal home:

Leaving the old, both worlds at once they view

That stand upon the threshold of the new.

4. Low Pitch is that which is heard when the voice falls below the common speaking key. It is used in expressing reverence, awe, sublimity, and tender emotions; as,

1. 'Tis midnight's holy hour, and silence now

2.

Is brooding, like a gentle spirit, o'er

The still and pulseless world. Hark! on the winds
The bells' deep tones are swelling;-'tis the knell
Of the departed year.

Softly woo away her breath,

Gentle Death!

Let her leave thee with no strife,

Tender, mournful, murmuring Life!

She hath seen her happy day:

She hath had her bud and blossom;

Now she pales and sinks away,

Earth, into thy gentle bosom!

3.

Soldier, rest! thy warfare o'er,

Sleep the sleep that knows not breaking!

Dream of battle-fields no more,

Days of danger, nights of waking,