I had fondly imagined, that, in this respect, they were surpassed by none.

Now my mistake was detected.

I cannot pretend to communicate the impression that was made upon me by these accents, or to depict the degree in which force and sweetness were blended in them.

They were articulated with a distinctness that was unexampled in my experience.

But this was not all.
The voice was not only mellifluent and clear, but the emphasis was so just, and the modulation so impassioned, that it seemed as if an heart of stone could not fail of being moved by it.