Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?

Which kind of antagonism is expressed in each of these examples?

7. Recoil. This is the attitude when one is startled, or shrinks back in fear, or in horror.

Note: We rarely see an example of the extreme type of Recoil on the public platform, but milder types, suggestions of this attitude are frequent. Only a small part, of course, of the two passages below would be spoken in "recoil," but the context is given so that the student can approach the "recoil" more naturally.

Brutus. O Cassius I am sick of many griefs.

Cassius. Of your philosophy you make no use, if you give place to accidental evils.

Brutus. No man bears sorrow better.

Cassius. Ha! Portia!

Portia is dead.

(William Tell the Swiss patriot in chains before the Austrian invader Gesler.)

Gesler. Beware! think on thy chains.

Tell. Though they were doubled, and did weigh me down prostrate to earth, methinks I could rise up erect, with nothing but the honest pride of telling thee, usurper, to thy teeth, thou are a monster ... Gesler. (to officer) Lead in his son.

Tell.

Now will I take exquisite vengeance. (To Tell) I have destined him to die along with thee.

1. Mark in the margin below all the examples you recognize of the seven kinds of feet attitudes so far studied.

2. Give these heartily, without the book, of course, even if you do not give the exact words.

MARMION TAKING LEAVE OF DOUGLAS.

The train from out the castle drew;

But Marmion stopped to bid adieu

"Though something I might plain" he said,

"Of cold respect to stranger guest,

Sent hither by your king's behest,

While in Tantallon's towers I stayed---
Part we in friendship from your land,
And noble earl, receive my hand."
But Douglas round him drew his cloak,
Folded his arms, and thus he spoke:

"My manors, halls and bowers, shall still
Be open, at my sovereign's will,
To each one whom he lists, howe'er
Unmeet to be the owner's peer.
My castles are my king's alone,
From turret to foundation-stone-
The hand of Douglas is his own;
And never shall in friendly grasp
The hand of such as Marmion clasp!"

Burned Marmion's swarthy cheek like fire,
And shook his very frame for ire,
And "This to me!" he said;

"An't were not for thy hoary beard,
Such hand as Marmion's had not spared
To cleave the Douglas head!

And, Douglas, more I tell thee here,
Even in thy pitch of pride,

Here in thy hold, thy vassals near,
I tell thee, thou'rt defied!

And if thou saidst I am not peer
To any Lord in Scotland here,
Lowland or Highland, far or near,
Lord Angus, thou hast lied!"

On the earl's cheek the flush of rage
O'ercame the ashen hue of age;

Fierce he broke forth: "And.darest thou, then,
To beard the lion in his den-

The Douglas in his hall?

And hopest thou hence unscathed to go?
No, by Saint Bride of Bothwell, no!

Up drawbridge, grooms!-what, warder, ho!
Let the portcullis fall."

Lord Marmion turned-well was his need--
And dashed the rowels in his steed;
Like arrow through the archway sprung,
The ponderous gate behind him wrung;
To pass there was such scanty room,
The bars, descending, razed his plume.
The steed along the drawbridge flies,
Just as it trembled on the rise:
Nor lighter does the swallow skim
Along the smooth lake's level brim:
And when Lord Marmion reached his band,
He halts, and turned with clenched hand,
And shout of loud defiance pours,

And shook his gauntlet at the towers!

EXERCISES

-Sir Walter Scott.

Describe exercises 18-20 briefly and vividly, then lead the class in practicing them. Be prompt and accurate.

LESSON XXII

8. Animation is the attitude of body that expresses alertness, earnestness, eagerness. The speaker instinctively gets nearer to his hearer as he becomes more urgent; thus Animation tends to draw near, while Antagonism tends to draw away from.

Do you mean, sir, to accuse me of bribery?

That very night the Romans landed on our coast.

When my eyes shall be turned to behold for the last time the sun in heaven, may I not see him shining on the broken and dishonored fragments of a once glorious union; on states dissevered, discordant, belligerent, on a land rent with civil feuds, or drenched, it may be, in fraternal blood! Let their last feeble and lingering glance, rather, behold the gorgeous ensign of the republic, now known and honored throughout the earth, still full high advanced, its arms and trophies streaming in their original luster, not a stripe erased or polluted, nor a single star obscured, bearing for its motto no such miserable interrogatory as -What is all this worth? Nor those other words of delusion and folly-Liberty first and union afterward; but everywhere spread all over in characters of living light, blazing on all its ample folds, as they float over the sea and over the land in every wind under the whole heaven, that other sentiment, dear to every true American heartLiberty and union; now and forever, one and inseparable! -Webster.

If ye are beasts; then stand here like fat oxen waiting for the butcher's knife. If ye are men, follow me. Strike down yon guard, gain the mountain passes, and there do bloody work, as did your sires at old Thermopylae.

9. Explosion is Animation carried to the extreme. The speaker is so over-eager that he becomes excited. He leans forward so eagerly that his strong knee (the one on which his weight is) bends. He loses poise, he almost loses his self-control.

See that man drowning there, throw him a rope-quick.

Burned Marmion's swarthy cheek like fire,

And shook his very frame for ire,

And-"This to me!" he said.

If it will feed nothing else it will feed my revenge.

In the following passage the first two lines are Animation, the third and fourth Repose, the fifth Animation again, which in the sixth passes into Explosion.

"Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once

more,

Or close the wall up with our English dead.

In peace there's nothing so becomes a man
As modest stillness and humility:

But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger;
Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,
Disguise fair nature with hard-favor'd rage;
Now set the teeth and stretch the nostril wide,
Hold hard the breath and bend up every spirit,
To his full height. On, on, you noblest English,
Whose blood is fet from fathers of war-proof."
Shakespeare's Henry V.

10. Transition. When one turns from one topic to another, or from one aspect of a topic to another, it is natural to change the body also. Usually the speaker moves from Repose with the weight on the right or left foot, to Repose with the weight on the other foot. Sometimes however he takes a step, or several steps. Such transition of body should not occur unless there is transition in the thought.

I have showed you the proved facts gentlemen; now from such facts what conclusion are we forced to draw?

And then besides his unimpeachable character, he had what is half the power of a popular orator, a majestic presence.

a. Mark the Feet Attitudes of the following:

1. The world is too much with us; late and soon, Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers. Little we see in Nature that is ours;

We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!

2. Great in life he was surpassingly great in death.

3. Thou wilt not leave us in the dust:
Thou madest man, he knows not why,
He thinks he was not made to die;
And thou hast made him: thou art just.

4. Speak, what trade art thou?
Why, sir, a carpenter.

5. Charles Sumner insult the soldiers who had spilled their blood in a war for human rights!

6. Napoleon shouted to him: "Beat a retreat." The boy did not stir. "Gamin, beat a retreat." The boy stopped, grasped his drumsticks, and said: "I do not know how to beat a retreat. Desaix never taught me that. But I can beat a charge. Oh! I can beat a charge that would make the dead fall into line. I beat that charge at the Pyramids; I beat that charge at Mt. Tabor; I beat it again at the bridge of Lodi. May I beat it here?"

b. Find two examples of each feet attitude in David and Goliath, page 29.

EXERCISES

Describe exercises 21-24 clearly, vividly and briefly. Then lead the class in practising them. Do not let anyone perform them in a slovenly way; be brisk and accurate.