great is his mercy
toward them that fear him.
As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our
transgressions from us.

In thinking of what is stern, severe, harsh, cruel, or base, the
muscles of the throat contract and produce the rigid, throaty tone
known as the _guttural_:

On what compulsion must I? Tell me that.

"Curse on him!" quoth false Sextus
"Will not the villain drown?
But for this stay, ere close of day,
We should have sacked the town!"

Certain states of mind, such as awe, caution, secrecy, fear, etc.,
produce in greater or less degree an aspirated or "breathy" quality,
called the _whisper_ or _aspirate_:

When Jubal struck the chorded shell,
His listening brethren stood around,
And, wondering, on their faces fell
To worship that celestial sound.

The red rose cries, "She is near, she is near;"
And the white rose weeps, "She is late;"
The larkspur listens, "I hear, I hear;"
And the lily whispers, "I wait."

The atmosphere of hush and repose expresses itself by a partial
whisper:

Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!
The river glideth at his own sweet will:
Dear God! the very houses seem asleep;
And all that mighty heart is lying still!

It must not be supposed that the whisper is always associated with
moderate or with weak force as in the preceding examples. Strong force
is used with the whisper to express intensity of feeling or vehemence:

Whispering with white lips: the foe! they come! they come!

Hush, I say, hush!

Other emotional states have their corresponding qualities of voice,
such, for example, as the quality of oppressed feeling and the quality
expressing agitation.

To conclude: it must be carefully borne in mind that the reader should
never strive to produce a certain quality apart from the emotion which
should precede. By force alone, for example, he will succeed in
producing mere sound without the quality. Nor are any of the examples
given above, in dealing with the various elements of vocal expression,
intended for practice in voice gymnastics apart from the preliminary
state of which they are the vocal expression. They are intended merely
as illustrations of the laws which govern correct speech.

* * * * *

THE HIGH SCHOOL READER

THE BANNER OF ST. GEORGE

Words by Shapcott Wensley: music by Sir Edward Elgar

It comes from the misty ages,