Alon. (c.) For the last time, I have beheld the shadowed ocean close upon the light. For the last time, through my cleft dungeon's roof, I now behold the quivering lustre of the stars. For the last time, O Sun! (and soon the hour) I shall behold thy rising, and thy level beams melting the pale mists of morn to glittering dew-drops. Then comes my death, and in the morning of my day, I fall, which—No, Alonzo, date not the life which thou hast run by the mean reck'ning of the hours and days, which thou hast breathed: a life spent worthily should be measured by a nobler line; by deeds, not years. Then would'st thou murmur not, but bless the Providence, which in so short a span, made thee the instrument of wide and spreading blessings, to the helpless and oppressed! Though sinking in decrepit age, he prematurely falls, whose memory records no benefit conferred by him on man. They only have lived long, who have lived virtuously.
Sheridan.
3
O thou that rollest above, round as the shield of my fathers! whence are thy beams, O sun! thy everlasting light? Thou comest forth in thy awful beauty: the stars hide themselves in the sky; the moon, cold and pale, sinks in the western wave. But thou thyself movest alone: who can be a companion of thy course? The oaks of the mountains fall; the mountains themselves decay with years; the ocean shrinks and grows again; the moon herself is lost in the heavens; but thou art forever the same, rejoicing in the brightness of thy course. When the world is dark with tempests, when thunders roll and lightnings fly, thou lookest in thy beauty from the clouds, and laughest at the storm. But to Ossian thou lookest in vain; for he beholds thy beams no more; whether thy yellow hair floats on the eastern clouds or thou tremblest at the gates of the west. But thou art, perhaps, like me,—for a season; thy years will have an end. Thou wilt sleep in thy clouds, careless of the voice of the morning.
Ossian.
CHAPTER VIII.
PITCH.
Pitch is the degree of elevation or depression of sound. On the proper pitching of the voice depends much of the ease of the speaker, and upon the modulation of the voice depends that variety which is so pleasing and so necessary to relieve the ear, but no definite rules can be given for the regulation of the pitch,—the nature of the sentiment and discriminating taste must determine the proper key note of delivery. He who shouts at the top of his voice is almost sure to break it, and there is no sublimity in shouting, while he who mutters below the proper key note soon wearies himself, becomes inaudible, and oppresses his hearers. Pitch is distinguished as Middle, High, and Low.
MIDDLE PITCH.
The Middle Pitch is used in conversational language, and is the note that predominates in good reading and speaking.