SECTION XX. Of the Interval of the Downward Octave. THIS interval, in addition to the expression, ascribed generally to the downward movement, conveys in the colloquial uses of the voice, the vivacity of facetious surprise, as in the instance of the phrase 'well done,' given above. It is in this case the very picture of amazement, and if I may so speak, raises the brow and opens the eye of the voice. In its more dignified uses, there is the highest degree of admiration or astonishment, either alone, or united with other sentiments. Thus the astonishment and positiveness marked by this interval, may be coexistent with the complacent feeling of mirth and sociability, or with the repugnant sentiment of fear or contempt or hatred, or in short, with almost any state of mind which is not contradictory to that astonishment and positiveness. For though these superadded sentiments have other symbols in expression, yet when they go with this high degree of astonishment, the downward octave is the true and only sign. of the combination. But as the same interval can thus represent different sentiments, it may be inquired,-whether some modification of its structure may not be necessary; and if so, how it is modified. It is modified in this manner. I shall particularly show in a future section, that the concrete movement, whether its direction is upward or downward, may bear with distinguishable audibility, additional force on the beginning or on the middl or on the end of its progress through a prolonged quantity. The names and further uses of these three kinds of stress will be given hereafter. Now in the appropriation of these forms of the downward octave to the different sentiments which were said to be within its expression, I assign the simple or natural form of the radical and vanish to the feeling of a high degree of mirthful wonder. When the force is laid on the middle of its course, by a swell at that place, the expression becomes more repulsive with its wonder. And when force is applied to the lower extremity, reversing thus the natural structure of the radical and vanish, it increases the degree of the repulsion, and mingles with it some slight affection of anger and of scorn. The characteristic thus assigned to the octave, might at once assure us that it is of rare occurence. It may be found occasionally in the intensity of colloquial excitement, and in the fervor of the drama: but never perhaps in the course of narrative or description, since the strained energy of its expression must be the real or the personated pouring out of the heart. SECTION XXI. Of the Interval of the downward Fifth. THE expression of the last described interval is marked by a quaint sentiment of familiarity, or by an excessive degree of violence. The Fifth has in many respects a similar meaning; but it clothes its sentiments of smiling surprise, and of admiration whether it is passive or repelling, with greater dignity than the octave. This interval is often used on imperative phrases. Its concrete, like that of the octave, may be modified in meaning by the different applications of stress. The following derisive exclamation of Gabriel to Satan, in the fourth book of Paradise Lost, is properly made by the natural form of the fifth; that is, by stress on the radical or opening portion of the interval, whilst the vanish dwindles away in its descent. Courageous chief! The first in flight from pain! The syllable ra,' here signalized by italics, is made by the natural or unaltered radical and vanish of the falling fifth. When the Queen says to Hamlet If it be, [that is, if death be the common lot] Hamlet returns Seems, Madam, nay it is! I know not seems. Now is,' here marked in italics, when uttered with the downward concrete of the fifth, represents most perfectly the positive affirmation and surprise of the speaker, at the misconception of his real state. But the solemn feeling of the prince, which rejects, with some little indignation, the profanity of the supposition, that there is any formal show in the deep reality of his grief, can not be expressed by the natural form of the radical and vanish. There is a light and pleasant surprise in this mode of the concrete which would misrepresent the sentiment. But if the voice is swelled to a greater stress as it descends, the grave severity and dignified conviction of the speaker become at once conspicuous. The intonation of this line may be thus delineated: Seems, Madam, nay it is! [ know not seems. I have in this reading set a rising third, or the most moderate form of interrogative expression, to the first word; for there is in it a slight sentiment of inquiry. The succeeding clause, which contains a most positive affirmation, has the downward fifth; and the whole scheme is calculated to show the opposite powers of expression in the rising and falling intervals. This is not the place to represent the notation of stress: therefore I have drawn the natural radical and vanish of the fifth. In a future section I shall show the reason, why the radical of the downward movement is here set so far above the line of the current melody. The discrete transition of the falling fifth, or the change of radical pitch through that interval, has somewhat of the expression of its concrete form. It is applied on those syllables which will not bear a prolongation, necessary for the concrete; and on the occasions of its employment, the two extremes of the interval are made on two different syllables. The following notation will exemplify the radical change or skip of the falling fifth: But Bru--tus says he was am- -biti -ous. If I have a right conception of the manner of exhibiting the sentiment of this line, I would say, it requires the intonation of grave surprise rather than that of contemptuous contradiction, with which it is sometimes read. The craft of Antony's oration turns upon the excitation of odium against the conspirators, by the favorable and moving representation of Cæsar's virtues, more than by the coloring of the crime of his assassins. And though in the well known burden of the speech, they are reported as honorable men, certainly not with the least good will in the title, still, the vocal curl of sneer, which we sometimes hear on this phrase, is inappropriate and affected. At least this may be said of it, as it occurs in more than the first half of the speech: and when at least the speaker is encouraged to bolder sentiments and declarations, they are those of quick and keen revenge; which wastes no time in the winding circumflex of contemptuous intonation. But whatever may be said of other parts of the speech, I must claim for the line above noted, the mode of intonation which expresses the surprise of the speaker, that any one could so violently reverse the fair conclusions from motives and actions: leaving to the audience to infer, from this surprise, that some other than ordinary or honest reasons must have influenced Brutus to make the ascription of ambition to Cæsar. If the notation of the passage be made in the common diatonic melody, with the difference of a tone only in the changes of its radical pitch, it will become a mere report of a saying of Brutus; without the least show of the sentiment I have ascribed to it, and endeavoured to justify. SECTION XXII. Of the Interval of the Downward Third. In general description, this interval may be said to carry the moderated expression of the fifth. The dignity of vocal character, like that of personal gesture, consists not only in the abatement of force, and in the slowness of time, but in a limitation within the widest range of movement And as there is more composure and solemnity in that form of interrogation which is made by the rise of the third; so the expression of surprise and admiration which belongs to the downward intervals, is in its most subdued and dignified degree, when heard on the falling third. One of the remarkable functions of the concrete descent of the third, is that which is performed on a syllable of long quantity, when found at the end of a sentence, or of a clause of discourse which contains a complete sense, but which may not be marked by the grammatical notation of a period. This use of the third was noticed and illustrated in the sixth section, and there described as constituting the feeble cadence. Its character has this double bearing: it seems to indicate that the sense may be taken as terminated at its place; and yet it does not altogether destroy the expectation of a further continuation. No one on hearing this cadence, would suppose the discourse to be finished. As the rising third is sometimes used for emphasis alone, in |