INFLUENCE OF TONES. 5 



But tones of voice are fitted not only to please the ear, but to moaken 

 nssociations of ideas. A single tone will sometimes unlock the trea- 

 sures of memory, and open to us scenes as vivid as vi'hen first viewed, 

 and sensations as fresh as when first felt. When exiled from his coun- 

 try and friends, and wandering in a foreign land, what will so awaken 

 in the patriot's bosom reminiscences of his home, and so rouse up the 

 slumbering instinct of patriotism, as to listen to a popular air of his na- 

 tive country .'* The vSwiss recruits in the French army were so much 

 excited on hearing a simple national melody of theirs, that to prevent 

 desertion it became necessary to give orders that it should no longer be 

 played or sung. — In the last campaign of Napoleon, the French army 

 had been repulsed in three successive attacks, and had at length become 

 dispirited and appalled. Re-inforcements could not be procured, and to 

 abandon the enterprize was to lose all. What measure could then be 

 adopted that was likely to secure success ? Promises of reward and 

 menaces of punishment were equally vain. Music was the last resort 

 on which Napoleon could rely. He ordered the Marseilles Hymn to be 

 sung. For years this air of liberty, this tune which had led the march 

 of so many victories, had not been heard. Tlie eflect was instantane- 

 ous and thrilling. It revived the flagging courage and hopes of the sol- 

 diers. They rallied, and rushed to the battle-field, and won the victory. 



But the most important aspect in which we can view the tones of 

 the human voice, is as symbols of the thoughts and emotions of the 

 speaker. There is one, and but one universal language — the language 

 of the passions. The tones which express fear, hatred, love, grief, an- 

 ger, and other passions, are essentially the same in every clime. 



A knowledge of the functions of the voice is doubtless useful for 

 certain purposes ; but mere knowledge never made any man a good 

 speaker. It is one thing to know what tones are, and quite another to 

 be able to utter them. An orator may be a critic, but every critic is not 

 an orator. In reading a tragedy, for instance, we, from habit and from 

 our very constitution, imagine how the impassioned parts of it should 

 be spoken ; but when we attempt to utter them thus we are immediately 

 embarrassed. The necessity of uttering emotions in articulate sounds, 

 imposes not a little restraint on most speakers. Language itself is an 

 imperfect instrument; and no man has an imagination so powerful, a 

 command of language so perfect, a self-possession so complete, as not 

 to be somewhat fettered in giving vocal expression to his feelings. And 

 Justin proportion as he fails to express his own emotions, will he fail to 

 move his hearers. Another cause of unsuccessfulness in awakening 

 emotion, is that the speaker him!?elf is languid and uninterested. He 



