Of the Emphasis of the Downward Octave.

AFTER What has been said generally of the downward emphasis, it is scarcely necessary to state that the octave, when set on a long syllable, gives the highest degree, of this species of emphasis. The word 'hell' in the following lines requires the octave:

So frown'd the mighty combatants, that Hell
Grew darker at their frown.

This is taken from the fine description of the threatful hostility between Satan and Death, in the second book of Paradise Lost. And whoever gives this part with a forcible and somewhat dramatic effect, will find it impossible to bring out the full sense of the poet, except by the above directed intonation. The intention of the author, if I dare to interpret it, is not to represent, simply without marking its degree, an increase of darkness produced by the figurative gloom of the brows of the combatants. Such a picture would be too tame and trite for this dreadful edge of battle. The thought becomes worthy of the occasion, when the frowns, are said to be able to blacken the deep darkness even of Hell.

So much for the description and illustration of the concrete pitch of the downward octave. But the transition for the purpose of emphasis is made on immutable syllables, by a change of radical pitch from an assumed point above the current melody. The following passage from the second book of Milton, may serve for illustration:

Far less abhorr'd than these
Vex'd Scylla, bathing in the sea that parts
Calabria from the hoarse Trinacrian shore.

I know not how others might attempt to make out the picture of this first line: but I can in no way satisfy my ear with it, except by a concrete rise through the octave on 'far,' by giving 'less' at the top of that interval, and then descending by the discrete skip of an octave in radical pitch to 'ab ;' thus

returning to the level of the radical of 'far,' or to the line of the current melody. It is not the place, but I may here say that 'horr'd,' is to be executed in the concrete downward emphasis of the octave.

A similar intonation is appropriate to the passage which follows in the text of the poem.

Nor uglier follow the night-hag.

In the examples here shown, I say nothing of the modes of stress or of the aspiration which might be necessary for the full vocal display of these passages. My business is with that single element, the downward movement.

If it be asked,-why the descent by the radical pitch has not the effect of the cadencial close; it may be answered,—that it does indeed approximate towards the nature of a cadence; but it is still a feeble one, and not sufficient to cut off the sense of discourse. For the descent is from a point assumed above the current line, and the downward reach is to about the level of that line: whereas the true and final cadence is made by a descent of three tones below that line.

Of the Emphasis of the Downward Fifth.

THE similarity of this element with the last, the difference consisting in degree only, renders it unnecessary to do more, than quote a phrase in which the less energetic emphasis of the downward fifth may be employed. The word 'courageous,' in the following extract from the dramatic contention between Gabriel and Satan, at the close of the fourth book of Paradise Lost, bears this downward fifth on its accented syllable.

Courageous chief!

The first in flight from pain!

The radical change of the downward fifth is exhibited in the reading of the following lines, from the first act of Julius

Cæsar. In the second scene, after Cassius has brought out from Brutus a proud declaration of his love of honor, he says,

I know that virtue to be in you, Brutus,
As well as I do know your outward favor.
Well, honor is the subject of my story.

Now, supposing this to be the proper place for the emphasis, the sentiment here conveyed, that this honor is the very matter he desires to speak of, is to be made out by a downward intonation on the word 'subject:' But the accented syllable of this word is too short to bear the concrete. The expression is therefore to be accomplished through a discrete descent, by assuming the first syllable sub,' at a fifth above the current melody, and returning to the line of that melody, on 'ject,' by the radical skip of a fifth. Some other form of emphasis on this word may, in a manner, show the sense which is here assumed. But I am very confident, that to an ear of judgment and taste, none will give the bright picture of the sentiment, which is effected by the proposed mode of intonation.

Of the Emphasis of the Downward Third.

THE downward Third expresses more moderate degree of the same sense and sentiment, which are conveyed by the preceding intervals of the octave and fifth. Thus in the following reply of Hamlet, the word 'queen' does not seem to require a stronger emphatic distinction than is made by a falling third.

Queen. Have you forgot me?
Ham.

No, by the rood, not so:
You are the Queen, your husband's brother's wife.

And here I may take occasion to refer to the difference between the effect of the downward third, when employed as the means of emphasis, and as a feeble cadence. For if the word 'Queen' merely descends concretely, from the line of the current melody to a third below it, the sentence may pass for a complete one, terminated at that point by a feeble ca

dence. But if the radical of this syllable is raised to a third above the current melody, and then brought down to it, in the manner of emphasis, a subsequent pause will not produce the like effect of a close.

The emphasis of the downward third by change of radical skip, may be made by a transition from that' to 'too,' in the following phrase.

Cassius. They shouted thrice; what was the last cry for?
Casca. Why, for that too.

Here the word 'that' is to be raised above the line of the current melody.

It was said formerly that the prepared cadence is produced by the downward radical change of a third, preceding the triad. Now, although in this case the voice falls to a third below the line of the current melody, still this descent alone does not produce a cadence. For the lowest constituent of this phrase of the third, if I may so call it, does not end in a feeble downward tone, but in an upward vanish, similar to the rest of the melody. This downward radical skip has all the effect of an emphasis, by forcibly impressing on the ear the most complete accomplishment of the close.

The downward minor third may be used for emphasis, under the same circumstances that admit the rising form of this interval. I perceive no difference in the effect, except perhaps that there is more gravity in the downward movement.

The downward second being a constituent of the diatonic melody, has no emphatic qualities. It serves to give variety to the current, by occasionally taking the place of the rising concrete. When given to the last constituent of a downward tritone, it makes the tripartite cadence.

The downward semitone has peculiarity sufficient to mark a strong emphatic distinction: but I am not aware of its being ever introduced, in a solitary manner, into the diatonic melody and in the chromatic it merely serves the purpose of variety, similar to that of the downward second in the diatonic current.

Of the Emphasis of the Wave.

The junction of opposite concretes produces a positive effect upon the ear, which gives emphatic distinction to the words on which it is applied.

If one were to draw the rules of reading from the mass of mankind, and not from cultivated and rare examples of excellence, it would be necessary to add to the two formerly described kinds of melody, that of the wave: since there are many speakers who apply the higher species of this element of intonation, to every long and emphatic syllable of discourse. Such a practice, to say the least of it, certainly prevents the employment of the impressive kinds of wave, as the means of emphasis.

The wave expresses, according to its forms, surprise, interrogation, mirthful wonder, sneer and scorn: and is emphatically used on long quantities which embrace these sentiments.

The dignified diatonic melody is made, as has been shown, by the wave of the second: but this is only a method of adding the gravity of the downward second, to the lighter effect of the ascent of that interval; and of producing that length in syllables which is essential to solemn utterance, without incurring the risk of falling into the notes of song. Consequently this wave of the second can not be enumerated among the means of emphasis. The other waves of higher intervals serve also the purpose of giving time and dignity to utterance, by doubling the intervals of which they are respectively composed. But they have a striking peculiarity when heard in the diatonic melody: giving thereby to the words which bear them, an emphatic distinction.

If the sentiment of scorn is contained in dignified discourse, it is to be expressed by the use of the vanishing stress, or by aspiration, joined with either the simple rise or fall of the concrete, or with the direct or inverted form of the single wave. For there is a degree of levity and familiarity in the double wave, which is unsuitable to the kind of discourse from which we are here excluding it.

In considering the emphasis of the wave, I shall not attempt to illustrate all its forms. If the reader has been careful to follow me in the analysis of this element, he will be able to make