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TERMINAL STRESS.-А.

The Terminal Stress is the reverse of the Explosive Radical. As its name implies, the greatest energy is upon the terminus of the emphatic element. It is employed in emotions of surprise, fright, peevishness, and impatience.

1. WHAT! Is it possible ?

2. Ан!-Mercy on my soul! What is that? My old friend's GHOST?

3.

Ian itching PALM ?

Molière.

You know that you are Brutus that speak this,
Or, by the gods! this speech were else your last.

Julius Cæsar, Act IV., Sc. 3.

4. OUT of my sight! I despise thee.

Shakespeare.

5. Why, look you, I am whipped and scourged with rods, Nettled, and stung with pismires, when I hear

Of this vile politician Bolingbroke !

K. Henry IV., Pt. I., Act I., Sc. 3.

Shakespeare.

6. 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-eyed 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.

Merchant of Venice, Act III., Sc. 3.

COMPOUND STRESS :

Id.

This stress is a union of the Radical and Terminal. It is used in extreme surprise, sarcasm, contempt, mockery, impatience, pain, hatred, wrath, and revenge. This is the most intense form of "abrupt stress," and is often interchangeable with the two preceding

stresses.

It is as difficult to analyze, as the passions that employ it are difficult to express. The time is so brief between the "radical" and the "terminal," that a little lengthening of the tone is generally necessary to enable the ear to distinguish the separate impulses of the voice.

I.

2.

BACK, slaves ! I will return !

"Traitor!" I go; but I return. This trial!
Here I devote your senate !

O kill me and put me out of my pain !
Gods! if I could only paint a dying groan!
"Tried and convicted traitor!"-WHO says this?
Who'll prove it at his peril on my head ?

Croly.

Catiline.

3.

4.

5.

Catiline.

Croly.

6.

And do you now strew flowers in his way,
That comes in triumph over Pompey's blood?

Julius Cæsar, Act I., Sc. 1. 7.

Shakespeare.

For them?-I cannot do it to the gods;
Must I then do't to THEM?

Coriolanus, Act III., Sc. 2.

Id.

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My father's trade ! Bless me, that's too bad! My father's trade ? Why, blockhead, are you mad?

My father, sir, did never stoop so low ;

He was a gentleman, I'd have you know."

A Modest Wit.

9. O, ye gods, ye gods! Must I endure all THIS ? Julius Cæsar, Act IV., Sc. 3.

Shakespeare.

10. Must I go show them my unbarb'd sconce? Must I

With my base tongue give to my noble heart
A LIE, that I must bear?

Coriolanus, Act III., Sc. 2.

Id.

11.

MEND, and CHARGE HOME!

Or by the fires of heaven, I'll leave the FOE, And make my wars on YOU: Look to it: COME ON! Coriolanus, Act I., Sc. 4.

THOROUGH STRESS :

Id.

This stress is an application of force in which the energy is sustained equally throughout the emphatic element, and generally in a high or a very high pitch. It is used in rapture, triumph, command, shouting, calling, etc.

In passages of Sustained Force, of which the following are examples, this stress continues in a greater or less degree throughout the entire sentence or paragraph. It employs the higher pitches of voice.

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3.

"Ring!" he shouts, "Ring ! grandpapa,
Ring! oh, ring for Liberty!"

Independence Bell.

4. Io! they come, they come! garlands for every shrine ! Strike lyres to greet them home! bring roses, pour ye wine!

Swell, swell the Dorian flute, through the blue, triumphant sky!

Let the Cittern's tone salute the song of victory.

With the offering of bright blood, they have ransomed

hearth and tomb,

Vineyard, and field, and flood ;-Io! they come, they

come!

Greek Chant of Victory.

Mrs. Hemans.

5.

To the rock; to the rock with him !

6.

A voice came down the wild wind,-
"Ho! ship ahoy!" its cry :
"Our stout Three Bells of Glasgow'
Shall stand till daylight by !"

The Three Bells.

Whittier.

7.

The Sea.

8.

The sea, the sea!-the open sea!
The blue, the fresh, the ever free !
Without a mark, without a bound,
It runneth the earth's wide regions round!

Bryan W. Procter.

"Jump! far out, boy, into the wave,
Jump, or I fire!" he said;
"This chance alone your life can save,
Jump!jump!" The boy obeyed.

Leap for Life.

9.

George P. Morris.

Let every Highland glen
Send our shout back again,
"Roderigh Vich Alpine dhu, ho! ieroe !

Lady of the Lake, Canto II.

LAUGHTER :

"

Scott.

Laughter employs the abrupt stresses. It is as capable of development and culture as the other means of expression. Not only may individual laughter be encouraged and improved, but through practice different kinds may be learned for purposes of personation. Laughter-earnest, hearty laughter is a health-promoting exercise, and one of the best means for strengthening the lungs.

As a preparatory practice, review the exercise called the "glottis stroke" in the chapter on Voice Culture. A tabulated arrangement of the different kinds of laughter is given below, and may be practiced as follows:

First, simply as a vocal drill, then with full expression of hearty laughter. The long vowel, representing the drawl or vocal rest in hearty laughter, should be prolonged obscurely, and the syllable repeated six or more times in quick succession, as shown in the table below.

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No. 1, in the above table, represents the "giggle." The syllables in this laughter should be given in a high pitch and in a light quality of voice.

Nos. 2, 3, 4, and 6 may be called models, of which No. 4 is especially open and hearty.

No. 5 represents a coarse, uncultured laugh that is known as the "horse laugh," or boorish laugh.

No. 7, when given in a close, contracted, husky voice, represents the laugh of the miser. When given in the aspirated orotund quality and on a low or very low pitch, it is the sepulchral or ghostly laugh.

Laughter, however, depends largely upon the quality of voice for significance and expression, and it is by no means limited to the above syllables, but it sometimes accompanies the syllables and words of an entire sentence.

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