PART IV.

READINGS AND RECITALS

"'Tis not enough the voice be sound and clear;
'Tis modulation that must charm the ear.
When desperate heroines grieve with tedious moan
And whine their sorrows in a see-saw tone,
The same soft sounds of unimpassioned woes
Can only make the yawning hearers doze.
The voice all modes of passion can express,
That marks the proper word with proper stress.
But none emphatic can that actor call

Who lays an equal emphasis on all.

Some placid natures fill the allotted scene With lifeless drone, insipid, and serene; While others thunder every couplet o'er,

And almost crack your ears with rant and roar."

LLOYD.

(112)

READINGS AND RECITALS.

NIGHTFALL.

[This exquisite poetical gem should be given in the effusive form of voice, gentle force as in a dreamy reverie. Play upon the words, and bring out their full expression.]

[To be read with great intensity and expression; avoid monotony.]

'Tis midnight's holy hour-and silence now

Is brooding, like a gentle spirit, o'er

The still and pulseless world.

Hark! on the winds

The bell's deep tones are swelling-'tis the knell
Of the departed year. No funeral train

Is sweeping past; yet, on the stream and wood,
With melancholy light, the moonbeams rest
Like a pale, spotless shroud; the air is stirred
As by a mourner's sigh; and on yon cloud
That floats so still and placidly through heaven,

The spirits of the seasons seem to stand

Young Spring, bright Summer, Autumn's solemn form,
And Winter with his aged locks-and breathe,,

In mournful cadences that come abroad

Like the far wind-harp's wild and touching wail,
A melancholy dirge o'er the dead year,
Gone from the Earth forever.