this, he must, in the first place, stand perfectly erect, and expand his chest as much as possible. If this direction be not attended to, the inevitable consequence will be, that the voice of the speaker will be scarcely audible; and the bad effect will be increased both by the ungracefulness of his position, and by the evident appearance of effort. Nothing can be more disagreeable to an audience, than the idea that what the speaker is doing is painful to himself; and this idea cannot fail to suggest itself, if they perceive him evidently drawing his breath at every two or three words, or panting for the want of it in the middle of a sentence. This may all be avoided, by keeping the body erect and the chest open, and by taking care to draw the breath at all those places which admit of a rhetorical pause. "The lungs must be kept inflated like the bellows of an organ, and have a body of air always in reserve; and the portion which, in the delivery, is constantly given out, must be imperceptibly and constantly supplied. The speaker is not to put off this necessary supply till he arrive at a full period, and so run himself out of breath, if the sentence should be long, as any part of a sentence admitting a pause between its members, though ever so light, or any place admitting a momentary suspension of the voice, suffices for the recovery of small portions of the air, which is thus expended."*

* Art of Improving the Voice and Ear, p. 172.

It is much easier to speak standing than sitting; for in the latter position, the muscles of the chest have not their full power, and the free circulation of the blood through the frame is somewhat impeded. They who practise reading aloud, as an exercise in elocution, ought therefore always to stand up when they read, not only because this is the most natural position for addressing an audience, but because it is thus only that they can give full play to their vocal organs, and avoid being soon fatigued. The use of dumbbells is also recommended as an excellent means of opening the chest.

As the audibleness of speech depends, in the first place, on the vocal organs, so does it depend nearly as much on the enunciative. Though a man give both a loud and a full utterance to his voice, yet, if he do not articulate, he will produce noise, not speech.

"Correct articulation, indeed, is the most important exercise of the voice and of the organs of speech, and of the most indispensable necessity; because any imperfection in this respect obscures every other talent in a public speaker; while one who is possessed only of a moderate voice, if he articulate correctly, will be better understood, and heard with greater pleasure, than one who vociferates without judgment. The voice of the latter may indeed extend to a considerable distance, but the sound will be dissipated in confusion; while not the smallest vibration of the

former is wasted-every tone is perceived at the utmost distance to which it reaches, and hence it has often the appearance of penetrating farther than one which is loud, but badly articulated.

"According to the description of Mr. Sheridan, a good articulation consists in giving every letter in a syllable its due proportion of sound, according to the most approved mode of pronouncing it, and in making such a distinction between the syllables of which words are composed, that the ear shall without difficulty acknowledge their number, and perceive at once to which syllable each letter belongs. Where these points are not observed, the articulation must be proportionally defective. In correct articulation, the words are not hurried over, nor precipitated syllable over syllable, and melted as it were together into a mass of confusion. They are neither cut short nor prolonged; neither swallowed, nor forced from the mouth as if they were shot; neither trailed, nor drawled, nor let slip out carelessly, so as to drop unfinished. They are rather delivered out from the lips, as Mr. Austin says, like beautiful coins newly issued from the mint, deeply and accurately impressed, perfectly finished, neatly struck, distinct, sharp,-in due succession and of due weight."*

In order to articulate well, it is necessary that the speaker should give their free action to all his

* Art of Improving the Voice and Ear, pp. 118, 121.

enunciative organs: he should not keep his teeth too much closed, and he should endeavour to enlarge the cavity of his mouth, since this will allow room to the tongue to execute the movements required, and, along with the erect posture already recommended, will also produce that richness and mellowness of tone, which constitute one of the finest qualities of the voice.

If there be any words which a speaker is in the habit of pronouncing in a thick and inarticulate manner, he should write them down, and practise them frequently, with slowness and deliberation, allowing every syllable clearly, and almost separately, to strike upon the ear. In this way his organs will soon learn to pronounce them correctly; and by degrees he will acquire the power of pronouncing them not only correctly, but as quickly as he does other words.

One of the most common defects in articulation is too slightly sounding the unaccented vowels. There is often an obscure sound given to the u, which confounds it with vowels of a very different kind. Thus we not unfrequently hear singular, regular, and particular, pronounced as if written sing-e-lar, reg-e-lar, and par-tick-e-lar. The other vowels, when unaccented, are liable to nearly the same indistinctness and obscurity as the u. The first e in event, the first o in opinion, opposed, and the i in sensible, terrible, &c., are apt to go into an obscure sound approaching to short u, as if written uv-vent, up-pinion, up-posed,

sen-sub-ble, ter-rub-ble, &c., while correct pronunciation, that is the least deliberate, requires these vowels to be spoken nearly as distinctly, and with as much purity, as when under the accent. Thus the e in event should be pronounced nearly as e in equal; the o in opinion as that in open; the i in the unaccented terminations ible and ity, and at the end of other syllables not under the accent, as in di-ver-si-ty, ought to have the sound of the i in city, and this sound to be preserved distinct and pure.

Another great defect in articulation is, sinking the sound of the final consonants. Thus the word and is frequently pronounced like the article an as, Both men and money are wanting, to carry on the war; which we hear spoken as if it were written, Both men an money are wanting, to carry on the war. This is particularly the case where several consonants come together, whether at the end of a word or of a syllable. Thus worldly is often pronounced as if it were written wordly; interests as if it were interess; posts as if pose; mists as if miss. To correct this, the best way is to select or to form a sentence, in which the letters wrongly pronounced or omitted, occur very frequently, and to practise the reading of this, till the organs have acquired a facility in pronouncing it right. The following sentence will be a good praxis on the consonants:

He who manifests most strongly a concern about