more easy pronunciation in the room, or wholly omits it, and only pronounces the remaining letters of the word; and this he afterwards does · habitually, never using any endeavours of his own to alter a pronunciation which he finds easy to himself. The parent, by being accustomed to it, understands perfectly the child's meaning, in this faulty manner of pronouncing; and, too often, far from endeavouring to correct it, encourages him to proceed in it, by talking to him in his own childish way; for which he acquires a sort of fondness, accounting the blemish a prettiness."*

In order, then, to secure a good articulation, a person should, when young, acquire a perfect mastery over the vowel and consonant sounds of the language; and, by gradation, proceed to the mechanical, significant, and impressive style of reading.

FORMATION OF THE VOICE.

Voice is the sound produced in the larynx when the air passes through it, and though many other parts assist in the modification, yet, properly speaking, it is the larynx only which can be considered as the organ of the voice. The aperture of the larynx, at the top of the trachea or windpipe, is termed the glottis, and the cartilage that covers it like a valve, while food is passing over it into the stomach, is termed the epiglottis. By the opening

VOL, I.

*Sheridan's "Lectures."

C

or closing of the glottis, inarticulate sounds only are produced, and these are more or less shrill according to the extension or contraction of the aperture. These sounds are rendered articulate by the disposition of the throat, palate, teeth, tongue, lips, and nostrils.

Vocal or speaking sounds are divided into two kinds, Vowel and Consonant sounds. Vowels are different from vowel sounds. The former are either sounds or signs of sounds, whereas the latter are sounds only. The vowels are five in number, namely, a, e, i, o, and u. The vowel sounds are subdivisions of these and are fifteen in number. The following is a scheme of

In the exercise of the above scheme of vowel sounds, the pupil should begin each sound with the mouth opened to its full extent, and then contract the opening of the lips to the size required, prolonging the vowels when possible.

The

The first three sounds of a, viz., in all, ale, and arm, are all capable of being prolonged. sound of e in eel is the only one of this letter that allows of prolongation. With regard to the letter i, it presents greater difficulty than perhaps any other letter, certainly more than any of the vowel sounds of the language. It seems to be composed of two sounds-a in arm, and e in eel. It does not, however, form its own sound by giving the combined sound of these two vowels, but is heard in the transition from one to the other. It may, therefore, be considered incapable of prolongation, without, at least, falling into the sound of the latter vowel e. E.g., in the word isle, if the i were prolonged, it would be sounded aeele. To correct the vulgar sound of this letter, as in póssubble for possible, it is good to place the accent on the syllable beyond the place of the accent, as possíble. This must serve, of course, merely as an exercise. With regard to the second sound of i, avoid the common provincialism of using the second sound of e instead, as in feelial for filial, Pheneecian for Phenician, &c. The first sound of o may be considered compound, as in the example of old prolonged, gradually passing to the sound of oo in

ooze. This arises from the position of the lips in the act of articulation. At the commencement of the sound of o, the mouth is opened to its full extent; and as you gradually approach the consonant sound, it is contracted to a very small compass, so that the sound of oo necessarily ensues.

In the above vowel sounds, four may be reckoned compound, independendently of those which are diphthongal. They are the following:

A in awe gradually passing to the sound of

E in err.

E in eel.

EXERCISES ON THE VOWEL SOUNDS.*

In this exercise let the pupil first sound the model word, and then let the same vowel sound be heard in the letter or letters in Italics. The apostrophe, where it is marked, indicates a slight insertion of the letter e.

ALL.-Awe, fall, wall, salt, pause, sauce, caught, groat, aught, nought, falcon, water, thraldom.

ALE.-Fate, bait, prey, vein, steak, angel, hasten, neighbour, arraign, convey, aorist, placable, halfpenny, denominational.

ARM.-Bar, star, farther, clerk, heart, hearth, partial, partner, margin, c'ar, c'ard, g'uard,

*These exercises are principally taken from Mr. Smart's "Practice of Elocution."

AND.-Pat, gas, bade, plaid, acrid, patent, baron, abrogate, raillery, charity, companion, imagine, inhabit, enamel, fantastic.

ERR.-Term, irk, mirth, myrrh, g'irth, g'irl, earl, dearth, hearse, were, merchant, vernal, virgin, virtue, early, learning.

EEL-Glebe, mean, key, grieve, quay, pique, treaty, people, demesne, impregn, critique, conceit, profile, deify, serpigo, antæci, apotheosis.

END.-Pet, get, bread, said, again, friend, preface, special, wainscot, heifer, leopard, leonard, meadow, breakfast, panegyric.

ISLE.-Time, type, sign, buy, height, sk'y, k'ind, g'uile, g'uide, g'uise, ally, condign, beg'uile, indict, satiety, maniacal, hypochondriacal.

IN.-Pit, wind, give, sieve, cygnet, visor, women, vineyard, pretty, busy, spirit, dynasty, situate, miracle, tyranny, capricious, litigious, implicit.

OLD.-Dome, rogue, most, clothe, roll, sew, beau, oats, dough, glow, sojourn, yeoman, hautboy, prorogue, bureau, poetry, towardly, frowardly, poul

terer.

OBJECT.-Not, wan, cough, trode, yacht, chaps, wrath, gone, shone, hostile, jocund, knowledge,* torrid, monologue, quality, laudanum.

OOZE.--Move, prove, lose, tomb, cool, loo, brute, fruit, wound, shoe, improve, behove, recruit, imbrue, monsoon, canoe, gamboge.

*This word is gradually coming to be pronounced with the sound of o in old.