Cadence is a fall of the voice, which has reference not so much to pitch as to force, though it may depress both; for it seems to be generally contrasted with emphasis,[476] and by some is reprehended as a fault.  “Support your voice steadily and firmly,” says Rippingham, “and pronounce the concluding words of the sentence with force and vivacity, rather than with a languid cadence.”—­Art of Speaking, p. 17.  The pauses which L. Murray denominates the suspending and the closing pause, he seems to have discriminated chiefly by the inflections preceding them, if he can be said to have distinguished them at all.  For he not only teaches that the former may sometimes be used at the close of a sentence, and the latter sometimes where “the sense is not completed;” but, treating cadence merely as a defect, adds the following caution:  “The closing pause must not be confounded with that fall of the voice, or cadence, with which many readers uniformly finish a sentence.  Nothing is more destructive of propriety and energy than this habit.  The tones and inflections of the voice at the close of a sentence, ought to be diversified, according to the general nature of the discourse, and the particular construction and meaning of the sentence.”—­Murray’s Gram., 8vo, p. 250; 12mo, p. 200.

ARTICLE IV.—­OF TONES.

Tones are those modulations of the voice which depend upon the feelings of the speaker.  They are what Sheridan denominates “the language of emotions.”  And it is of the utmost importance, that they be natural, unaffected, and rightly adapted to the subject and to the occasion; for upon them, in a great measure, depends all that is pleasing or interesting in elocution.

“How much of the propriety, the force, and [the] grace of discourse, must depend on these, will appear from this single consideration; that to almost every sentiment we utter, more especially to every strong emotion, nature has adapted some peculiar tone of voice; insomuch, that he who should tell another that he was angry, or much grieved, in a tone that did not suit such emotions, instead of being believed, would be laughed at.”—­Blair’s Rhet., p. 333.

“The different passions of the mind must be expressed by different tones of the voice. Love, by a soft, smooth, languishing voice; anger, by a strong, vehement, and elevated voice; joy, by a quick, sweet, and clear voice; sorrow, by a low, flexible, interrupted voice; fear, by a dejected, tremulous, hesitating voice; courage, by a full, bold, and loud voice; and perplexity, by a grave and earnest voice.  In exordiums, the voice should be low, yet clear; in narrations, distinct; in reasoning, slow; in persuasions, strong:  it should thunder in anger, soften in sorrow, tremble in fear, and melt in love.”—­Hiley’s Gram., p. 121.