sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking can be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable—and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come ! - PATRICK HENRY.

RISING AND FALLING

You ask what I have to say in my defense,

you, who glory in the

name of France, who wander through the world to enrich and exalt the you demand how I could dare to arm myself Do you confine the love of others the actions which you Those stars which glitter on

land of your birth, against the invaders of my native rocks? home to yourselves? Do you punish in dignify and reward among yourselves? your breasts, do they hang there as recompense for patient servitude ? I see the smile of contempt which curls your lips. You say: This brute, he is a ruffian, a beggar! That patched jacket, that ragged cap, that rusty belt: - shall barbarians such as he close the pass against us, shower rocks upon our heads, and single out our leaders with unfailing aim, these grovelling mountaineers, who know not the joys and brilliance of life, creeping amidst eternal snows, and snatching with greedy hand their stinted ear of corn?

Yet, poor as we are, we never envied our neighbors their smiling sun, their gilded palaces; we never strayed from our peaceful huts to blast the happiness of those who had not injured us. The traveler who visited our valleys met every hand outstretched to welcome him; for him every hearth blazed; with delight we listened to his tale of other lands. Too happy for ambition, we were not jealous of his wealth; we have even refused to partake of it. — ANDREAS HOFER.

LESSON XXIII

FORCE

STRESS

THE way we exert force, and the amount of force, do not take into account the location of force upon the different parts of the sound or syllable, which is called stress.

There are six kinds of stress:

Radical stress, or force on the first part of the syllable, needs no explanation. It is the stress we use in our everyday conversation. In this stress we speak "with precision of accent," with a "prompt stroke or attack on each important word used."

A good way to secure the radical stress is to strike the palm of the left hand with the right fist on each syllable it is desired to stress. Example:

My liege, your anger can recall your trust,
Annul my office, spoil me of my lands,
Rifle my coffers; but my name, my deeds,
Are royal in a land beyond your scepter.

BULWER LYTTON, in Richelieu.

Final stress, or force upon the last part of the syllable, generally signifies self-assertion, determination, resolution, courage, defiance. Sometimes, however, it expresses amazement, horror, rebuke, scorn, hate, revenge, etc.

A good way to secure the final stress is to push into the air with the right fist, in the first part of the stroke as if you were pushing something away, and in the second part as if that something had given away before your force. Let the voice follow the motion of the hand. Examples:

I will go.

You sha'n't go.

Blaze with your serried columns !

I will not bent the knee !

The shackles ne'er again shall bind
The arm which now is free.
I've mailed it with the thunder,

When the tempest muttered low;

And where it falls, ye well may dread

The lightning of its blow!

- G. W. PATTEN, in The Seminole's Reply.

Stay there, or I'll proclaim you to the house and the whole street! If you try to evade me, I'll stop you, if it's by the hair, and raise the very stones against you.

- DICKENS.

Compound stress, or force upon the first and last parts of a syllable, is a combination of radical and final stress. It is used for mockery, satire, sarcasm, derision, etc., whenever one wishes to say one thing and mean another."

To get this stress, make the gesture for the radical

Actuated by the same principle of choice, he has now on the anvil another scheme, full of difficulty and desperate hazard, which totally alters the commercial relation of two kingdoms; and, what end soever it shall have, may bequeath a legacy of heart burning and discontent to one of the countries, perhaps to both, to be perpetuated to the latest posterity. This project is also undertaken with the hope of profit. It is provided that, out of some (I know not what) remains of the Irish hereditary revenue, a fund at some time, and of some sort, should be applied to the protection of the Irish trade.

- BURKE, in Arraignment of the Ministry.

EXERCISES

46. Give Ex. 13 gently in Radical, Final, and Compound Stress, using the gestures appropriate to the different stresses.

47. Repeat Ex. 46 in increasing degrees of force.

NOTE. No day should be allowed to go past without practicing some exercises, both in voice and action. Growth will not result if you practice but once a week, and then for an hour or an hour and a half. Practice for a short time only, but every day.

Median stress, or force on the middle part of the syllable, gives a smooth, gentle, flowing effect. It is used in expressing remorse, feebleness, suppressed fear, awe, etc., and in general for expressing all sad moods.

The median stress may be obtained by causing the hand to pursue a wave line in the air, something like the following:

Let the voice follow the line

Examples:

and hand, giving a gentle swell in the middle of the syllable.

In one hour joy lay without a pulse, without a gleam, or breath. A sorrow came that swept through the land as huge storms sweep through the forest and field, rolling thunder along the sky, disheveling the flowers, daunting every singer in thicket or forest, and pouring blackness and darkness across the land and up the mountains. many hearts, in so brief a time, touch two such boundless feelings? It was the uttermost of joy; it was the uttermost of sorrow midnight, without a space between.

Did ever so

noon and

BEECHER, in The Martyr President.

Thorough stress, or force upon all parts alike, as will easily be seen, is a sort of continued force, as if the force were prolonged until it should take effect. It is used generally for some kind of calling, such as shouting, triumph, command, apostrophe, etc.