Tenor

“ The tenor of the chapter is such as almost to prove an ironical intention in whoever selected it. "Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. ”

“ For the Tenor's manners were as attractive as his appearance, and his ways were not at all mysterious when considered apart from the points already indicated, but, on the contrary, simple in the extreme: the ways of one who is kindly courteous and considerate on all occasions, paying proper respect to every man, and also rigorously exacting from each the respect that was due to himself. ”

“ Through the whole tenor of my school-day time,
The face of one, who, whether boy or man,
Was vested with attention or respect
Through claims of wealth or blood; nor was it least
Of many benefits, in later years
Derived from academic institutes
And rules, that they held something up to view
Of a Republic, where all stood thus far
Upon equal ground; that we were brothers all
In honour, as in one community,
Scholars and gentlemen; where, furthermore,
Distinction open lay to all that came,
And wealth and titles were in less esteem
Than talents, worth, and prosperous industry. ”

“ All of a tenor was their after-life,
No day discolour'd with domestic strife; ”

“ You are of course aware that every Man has two mouths or voices—as well as two eyes—a bass at one and a tenor at the other of his extremities. I should not mention this, but that I have been unable to distinguish your tenor in the course of our conversation. ”

“ The tenor is always the rara avis. He is hard to find, he is harder to train, and if we may except the prima donna, he is hardest to control. No wonder, then, that operatic managers have to start out on tenor-hunting expeditions and are supremely happy if they capture a good specimen of the bird.
In 1820, Count Palffy, the manager of the Vienna Opera, was at his wits' end for a good tenor. ”

“ 'The tenor's voice is spoilt by affectation, And for the bass, the beast can only bellow; In fact, he had no singing education, An ignorant, noteless, timeless, tuneless fellow; ”

“ By the tenor of these presents we grant to each and all the masters and scholars that, when they come to said institution, while they remain there, and also when they return from it to their homes, they may freely carry with them both coming and going, throughout all the lands subject to us, all their things which they need while pursuing their studies, and all the goods necessary for their support, without any duty, levy, imposts, tallies, gabelles, or other exactions whatever. ”

“ The several tenors, distributed all round me a little too lavishly perhaps for the nicer harmonies of strict musical taste, being—as I suppose, now, in the light of a larger experience—ambitious and fitful, as is the proverbial wont of tenors, and running jealously ever and anon into a dishonest falsetto, as if with a professional wish to attract attention,—these several tenor-snorers were, I felt sure, what the world might very well suffer a great many ambitious, fitful, and dishonest tenors{83} always to be, namely, among the common rank and file of cooks and waiters. ”

“ Although, of course, they require modifications to suit the circumstances of different establishments, their general tenor is adapted to all, and the high tone of professional and moral aptitude they require renders them worthy the acceptance of every assistant who would deserve the approval of his employer, and of every employer who desires the best interests of his assistants. ”

“ That these men are lost beyond the hope of redemption, is clear from the fact that they express their determination to employ themselves in no more useful or moral way; and how long they would persist in this pernicious amusement is rendered uncertain, by the entrance of their leader or chieftain—who, it is needless to say, is the tenor. ”

“ The first tenor, the gentleman on the extreme left, is a stocky little man, with a large chest and short legs conspicuously curving inward. He has plenty of white teeth, ash-blonde hair, and goes smooth-shaven for purely personal reasons. ”

“ We being willing for certain reasons to be certified about the Tenour of a certain Act made and ordained in our Parliament at Westminster in the Fortieth Year of our Reign intituled “An Act for the Union of Great Britain and Ireland,” Command You, that the Tenor of the aforesaid Act with all things relating thereunto under Your Seal distinctly and openly without Delay You send to Us in our Chancery and this Writ. ”

“ Ordered, That the counsellors and attornies, admitted to practice in this court, shall take either an oath, or, in proper cases, an affirmation, of the tenor prescribed by the rule of this court on that subject, made in February term, 1790. ”

“ I got the man an engagement to sing for a week in a Methodist meeting-house, and before the week was out he was decided to be an article used in the service of religion, and was returned to me free of duty, and cursing the head off of every officer in the revenue service. The end of it was that my tenor claimed that I had broken my contract by setting him to sing in a church, and he sued me for damages, and got them too. ”

“ We are speaking here of vocal music; but the parts in an instrumental fugue are mostly treated pretty much as if they were voice parts. For the purposes of fugal answer, we group the voices in pairs, the higher pair being the treble and tenor, and the lower the alto and bass. If the student remembers the directions for transposing a given subject which are given in Counterpoint, he will be aware that a subject given in the treble must be transposed a fourth or fifth lower for the alto, an octave lower for the tenor, and an eleventh or twelfth lower for the bass. ”

“ I am a poor courtier, sir, quoth he,
That am forth of service worn;
And fain I would thy prentice be,
Thy cunning for to learn.
Marry heaven forfend, the tanner replied,
That thou my prentice were:
Thou wouldst spend more good than I should win
By forty shilling a year.
[Pg 111]
Yet one thing would I, said our king,
If thou wilt not seem strange:
Though my horse be better than thy mare,
Yet with thee I fain would change. ”

“ Nay at this day, and in this Land, many Tenants by their Tenures and Services are tyed to the same Subjection, even to Subordinate and Inferiour Lords: To serve the King in his Wars, and to till his Ground, is not only agreeable to the Nature of Subjects, but much desired by them ”

“ The tenure of an estate in copyholds involves an oath of fealty from the tenant, and together also with suit to the customary court of the manor. Another incident of the tenure, and this [Pg 91] sometimes a very profitable one, is the escheat to the lord on failure of heirs. ”

“ A man could hold by serjeanty of a mesne lord, such as presiding over the lord's court, riding with the lord or on his errands, feeding his hounds, or supplying bows and arrows. Tenure in free socage may involve a nominal service to a lord, such as the gift every year of a rose, a sparrowhawk, a pair of gloves, a pair of gilt spurs, or a pound of pepper, or of incense or of wax. Tenure in socage may originate by a gift of land to a daughter or younger son, or to some dependant for past services, or a purchase with a gross sum. ”

“ BAPTISTA, TRANIO, and SERVANTS
TRANIO. Sir, what are you that offer to beat my servant?
VINCENTIO. What am I, sir? Nay, what are you, sir? O immortal
gods!
O fine villain! A silken doublet, a velvet hose, a scarlet
cloak,
and a copatain hat! O, I am undone! I am undone! While I play
the
good husband at home, my son and my servant spend all at the
university. ”

“ It was now established that every tenant-in-chief should do homage to the king; that every superior tenant should do homage to his lord; that every villein should be the bondman of the free; and that every slave should, without any property however limited and insecure, be the absolute chattel of some master. ”

“ A condition of good behavior, and a tenure during good behavior, are distinct things. The condition for good behavior is necessarily implied, and adheres to every officer. The tenure during good behavior belongs only to those officers in whose commissions that tenure is expressed. ”

“ The faithful servant is faithful in a little, and if it be a small thing, the servant that is faithful in it, doth thereby testify his love to his master, as much as in a greater matter. Take another similitude; A tenant, in his master’s absence, doth, upon the intreaty of his neighbour tenant, give him a butt or half a ridge of ground: and when, at his master’s return, he is challenged for suffering the other to change his march-stone, he answers. ”

“ As you state the case of tenant at will, I fully agree, that no law can compel you; but law was not at all in my thoughts.
Now, my lord, if what I writ of injury and injustice, were wholly applied in plain terms to one or two of the college here, whose names were below my remembrance; you will consider how I could deserve an answer in every line full of foul insinuations, open reproaches, jesting flirts, and contumelious terms; and what title you claim to give me such treatment. I own my obligation to sir William Temple for recommending me to the late king, although without success ”

“ You are about to pass through a noble struggle, in which the living God acts the part of superintendent, in which the Holy Ghost is your trainer, in which the prize is an eternal crown of angelic essence, citizenship in the heavens, glory everlasting. ”

“ How mean a tenure is that at the will of fortune, which chance, fraud, and rapine are every day so likely to deprive us of, and often the more likely by how much the greater worth our possessions are of! ”

“ I hate Traditions, ever since my narrow father, After my frolic with his tenant's girl, Made younger elder son, violated the whole Tradition of our land, and left his heir, Born, happily, with some sense of art, to live By brush and pencil. ”

“ I have been engaging my lord treasurer, and the other great men, in a project of my own, which they tell me they will embrace, especially his lordship. He is to erect some kind of society, or academy, under the patronage of the ministers, and protection of the queen, for correcting, enlarging, polishing, and fixing our language. The methods must be left to the society; only I am writing a letter to my lord treasurer, by way of proposals, and some general hints, which I design to publish, and he expects from me. ”

“ Admit your law to spare the knight requires, As beasts of nature may we hunt the squires? Suppose I censure--you know what I mean-- To save a bishop, may I name a dean? F. A dean, sir? no: his fortune is not made; You hurt a man that's rising in the trade. P. If not the tradesman who set up to-day, Much less the 'prentice who to-morrow may. Down, down, proud satire! though a realm be spoiled, Arraign no mightier thief than wretched Wild; Or, if a court or country's made a job, Go drench a pickpocket, and join the mob. But, sir, I beg you (for the love of vice!) ”

“ Whatever the Church owns—she holds it in Free and perpetual alms, unsubject to One earthly sceptre. LEICESTER. Nay, but hear thy judgment. The King and all his barons— BECKET. Judgment! Barons! Who but the bridegroom dares to judge the bride, Or he the bridegroom may appoint? Not he That is not of the house, but from the street Stain'd with the mire thereof. I had been so true To Henry and mine office that the King Would throne me in the great Archbishoprick: And I, that knew mine own infirmity, For the King's pleasure rather than God's cause Took it upon me—err'd thro' love of him. ”

“ The rogue fumbled his doffed hat.
“None of my own, master, but my brother’s. A waits in the street below, unwitting of my purpose.”
“What need? What purpose? State, state, and be done with it.”
“The purpose to have his wits cured, if so be I can entice him into your honour’s presence.”
“What, then, hath befallen his wits?”
“What not, great sir? A thinks every one he meets doth owe him money, and importunes the same for payment.” ”

“ He alludes to the servant who, because of his merit in faithfully and prudently ruling his master’s household, deserves to be exalted by him and set over all his goods, so as to enjoy them as an associate and companion, and almost like an equal of his master. ”

“ Nay, if the service has been true, if the master has indeed asked for what was good for himself, and the servant has done what was good for his master, they cannot choose but like each other; to have a new servant, or a new master, would be a mere horror to both of them. ”

“ But the tried servant of forty years, not dreaming of the possibility of his dismissal, innocently asked, "Ay, sir; whare ye gaun? I'm sure ye're aye best at hame;" supposing that, if there were to be any disruption, it must be the master who would change the place. An example of a similar fixedness of tenure in an old servant was afforded in an anecdote related of an old coachman long in the service of a noble lady, and who gave all the trouble and annoyance which he conceived were the privileges of his position in the family. ”

“ This distinction ran through all the different sorts of tenure; of which I now proceed to give an account.
1. There seem to have subsisted among our ancestors four principal species of lay tenures, to which all others may be reduced: the grand criteria of which were the natures of the several services or renders, that were due to the lords from their tenants. The services, in respect of their quality, were either free or base services ”

“ Geta. Oh brave!—But why, without more loss of time,
Don’t I accost th’ old man! (Going up.) My master, welcome!
I am rejoic’d to see you safe return’d.
Dem. What! my good master Governor! your slave!
The prop! the pillar of our family!
To whom, at my departure hence, I gave
My son in charge.
226 Geta. I’ve heard you for some time
Accuse us all quite undeservedly,
And me, of all, most undeservedly.
For what could I have done in this affair?
A slave the laws will not allow to plead;
Nor can he be an evidence.
Dem. I grant it.
Nay more—the boy was bashful—I allow it. ”