think right. Therefore, what I have said, is more than sufficient, if you have sense; and ten times more would not be sufficient, if you have not; so here I rest it."

PRINCIPLES OF ELOCUTION.

THE art of Elocution may be defined to be "That system of rules, which teaches us to pronounce written or extemporaneous composition with justness, energy, variety, and ease." Or, according to another definition, "It is the just and graceful management of the voice, countenance, and gesture in speaking." The first requisite in a reader or speaker is TO MAKE HIMSELF HEARD, and this will be attained with ease by no one, unless he give full play to all the organs connected with the voice, such as the chest, throat, tongue, teeth, lips, and palate.

Few persons are to be found whose natural powers of voice may not be rendered capable of performing tolerably the functions of public speaking in our assemblies. In a voice, however, decidedly imperfect, any attempt at improvement, at least so far as to become able to discharge the functions of an orator, is entirely hopeless. And again, though the quality of the voice is the gift of nature, there is no one who may not derive advantage from the rules laid down for the proper management of this organ, whatever degree of

natural excellence he may possess herein. The ancient Greek orators and tragedians carried their attention to the cultivation of the voice to an extreme which it would be vain and useless for us to imitate, and which is also condemned by Cicero himself. “What is so necessary to an orator," says he, “as the voice? Yet would I never advise those who study public speaking to labour at their voice like the Greeks and the tragedians, who, during several years practise to declaim in a sitting posture, and every day, before they speak in public, lie down and gradually elevate their voice, and after they have spoken, seat themselves and recover, and collect it in some manner, bringing it down from the highest tones to the deepest. Should we proceed in this manner, our clients would be cast before we could practice our Paan and our Munio as often as the rules of art might require. To carry this labour to such extremes would rather tend to deter than to encourage." Moreover, strength and loudness of voice are not so requisite in modern times as with the Greeks, who usually laboured under the great disadvantage of speaking in the open air and to very crowded audiences. It is true, the sound of a powerful

* Cic. de Orat., lib. i., c. 59.

Paan-Cantio quæ clara, exultanti, contentaque voce

canitur.

Munio-Cantio quæ leni et remissiore voce edatur.

OLIVET.

human voice produces something sublime in its effect, and bears along with it the idea of terror and awe. Homer thus represents the shout of Mars, when wounded by Diomede :

"Bellow'd brazen-throated Mars,

Loud as nine thousand warriors, or as ten,
Join'd in close combat. Grecians, Trojans shook,
Appall'd alike at the tremendous voice

Of Mars, insatiable with deeds of blood.

COWPER.

And the shout of Milton's rebel angels is still more magnificent:

At which the universal host up sent

A shout, that tore Hell's concave, and beyond
Frighted the reign of Chaos and old Night.

Par. Lost, b. i., 541.

The second requisite in a reader or speaker, is A

CORRECT ARTICULATION,

"A good articulation," observes Sheridan, "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."

Correct articulation is the most important exer

cise of the voice. A person possessed of this great requisite will afford more satisfaction and delight to his audience than one who is deficient therein, though the latter may bellow with all his lungs, for his voice, in the vociferation, will be spent on air, and only a confused mass of sound will strike the ears of his auditors.

With regard to articulation, "the words," says Austin," are not to be hurried over, nor precipitated syllable over syllable; nor, as it were, melted together into a mass of confusion; they should be neither abridged nor prolonged, nor swallowed, nor forced, and, if I may so express myself, shot from the mouth. They should not be trailed, nor drawled, nor let to slip out carelessly, so as to drop unfinished. They are to be delivered out from the lips, as beautiful coins newly issued from the Mint, deeply and accurately impressed, perfectly finished, neatly struck by the proper organs, distinct, sharp, in due succession, and of due weight."

The difficulty of acquiring a correct articulation is unusually difficult in the English language, from the frequent concurrence of consonant combinations, as well as of aspirated and unaspirated syllables. This difficulty is not found so often in other languages. The constant assimilation of consonant sounds in Greek, for instance, prevents a great deal of harshness that would otherwise occur, and many of the modern languages have contrivances for obviating the same difficulty. But this

very harshness in our language constitutes one of its greatest excellences, and upon it depend the energy and vigour for which it is remarkable.

It is considered a disgrace for a gentleman to be guilty of false spelling, by either adding, omitting, or changing letters contrary to custom, and still it is found to be no disgrace to omit letters in speaking, or even syllables, or so to huddle his words together as to become unintelligible to the hearers. Hence it happens that as written language is taught by rule, and spoken language is left to chance, imitation, and habit, faults innumerable in articulation, once contracted, are suffered to gain strength, and at length become incurable. This arises partly from want of attention in early years, and partly from want of skilful persons to remedy the evil.

"Parents do not think it necessary to assist their infants in their first attempts to articulate words, or to make them proceed regularly in the formation of such sounds only as are most easy, and require least exertion of the organs; but, by suffering them to try to pronounce any words whatsoever, or even often urging them to speak such as are too difficult, they give a wrong bias to their weak tender organs, which it would require much pains to set right. Hence often arise stuttering, lisping, and a total inability to pronounce certain letters. The child being urged to utter a sound, which he finds either difficult or impossible, of course hesitates, or substitutes another letter of