Revenge! revenge.

_Dryden._

SEMITONE.

The progress of pitch through the interval of a half tone. It is called
also the Chromatic melody, because it expresses pity, grief, remorse, etc.
It may colour a single word, or be continued through an entire passage or
selection.


1.
The New Year comes to-night, mamma, "I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord"--tell poor papa--"my soul to keep,
If I"--how cold it seems, how dark, kiss me, I cannot see,--
The New Year comes to-night, mamma, the old year dies with me.

The Semitone is very delicate, and must be produced by the nature of the
emotion. An excess, when the mood or language does not warrant it, turns
pathos into burlesque, and the scale may very easily be turned from the
sublime to the ridiculous. Strength, flexibility, and melody of voice are
of little worth if the judgment and taste are defective.

MONOTONE

Is a sameness of the voice, indicating solemnity, power, reverence, and
dread. It is a near approach to one continuous tone of voice, but must not
be confounded with monotony. Much of the reading we hear is monotonous in
the extreme, while the judicious use of the monotone would sufficiently