72. His kindness overwhelms me.

73. They were wrenched by the hand of violence from a

congenial soil.

74. He barbed the dart by which he fell.

75. Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.

76. Whose mouth speaketh vanity.

77. The culprit was hurled from the Tarpeian rock. 78. Are the goods wharfed?

79. The heights, depths, and breadths of the subject. 80. Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow.

81. Thrice he walked by their oppressed and fear-surprised

eyes.

82. A sudden day of joy, that thou expect'st not, nor I look'd not for.

83. Think'st thou we shall ever meet again?

84. I heard thee say but now,

"Thou lik'dst not that."

85. The lordly lion leaves his lonely lair.

86. He was long, lean, and lank, and laughed loudly. 87. How sweetly slow the liquid lay

In holy hallelujahs rose.

88. Ruin seize thee, ruthless king.

89. Around the hearth the crackling faggots blaze. 90. Approach thou, like the rugged Russian bear, The armed rhinoceros, the Hyrcan tiger.

91. The master current of her mind

Ran permanent and free.

92. Round and round the rugged rocks

The ragged rascal ran.

Examples not unlike the foregoing can be found on every page of many books. The teacher should not fail

to direct the special attention of the learner to their execution, whenever they occur in his reading exercises. A vicious articulation is sometimes more apparent in the current of discourse, than in the pronunciation of single syllables or words. This is not unfrequently induced by the animal and intellectual temperament; and the habit, if it has been otherwise formed, is always rendered more inveterate where there is a sluggish action of the mind, or an excess either of vivacity or of sensibility. In the one case, the sounds proceed from the organs of speech half-formed, and indicate to every one that the reader or speaker is too slothful to make the necessary effort for distinct enunciation; while in the others the confusion arises from too much haste. In either of these cases, after all the practice recommended in this and in succeeding sections, additional exercises may be found necessary; and these may consist simply in reading aloud an hour each day, in a slow and distinct manner, and in the presence of some one who will notice and correct the slightest tendency to let fall a consonant or a syllable from the organs of speech unfinished, or to hasten the rate of utterance beyond that of the utmost deliberation. An attention to this whole matter is the more important, as our language furnishes none of those expedients for preventing difficult collisions of sound, or for facilitating their articulation, which the Greek afforded and in which several of the modern languages abound.

SECTION III.

OF THE TIME OF THE VOICE.

TIME means the same with quantity; and syllables are considered as long or short, according to the time given

them in utterance. When, however, time is spoken of with reference to the utterance of a sentence or of a discourse, it is designated as slow or quick. The power to prolong the sound of syllables capable of quantity is of infinite importance to the effect of delivery, at the same time that it may be considered an elegant accomplishment in the speaker.

In music there are terms to express the nicest shades of quantity, from the demi-semiquaver to the semibreve. In elocution, the same phenomena exist, though we have no terms to express them. Every elementary sound however, or every syllable, is not equally capable of protraction. The short vowels, for example, cannot be prolonged like the long vowels; and when one of these standing alone is followed by a mute, the syllable is of the shortest kind. Thus ak, ap, at, ac-count, ap-point, at-tic. These are called Immutable syllables. If however, even in this situation, the short vowel is preceded by a tonic consonant, it is lengthened somewhat. Thus trap, des-truc-tion, gratitude. These, with syllables ending in b, d, g, or j, as also those ending in the aspirates, are called Mutable syllables. But if the syllable terminates with a long vowel, or with any tonic consonant except b, d, g, j, it may be prolonged, or shortened, to any desired extent; and hence they are called Indefinite syllables.

Quantity, although most obviously a distinct element, and deserving of this separate consideration, yet can never be represented free from combination with other elements. Hence we shall not present any exercises for practice under this head; but having now obtained a distinct idea of its nature, without delaying at this point to set forth its useful

applications, shall pass to consider another of the attributes of good delivery.*

SECTION IV.

OF STRESS.

EVERY Sound capable of prolongation, uttered without excitement, and in a natural manner, commences full and somewhat abrupt, and gradually decreases in fulness, till it becomes a mere breathing. Though this movement of the voice may be varied almost at pleasure, yet it has suggested the designation of the Radical movement as applicable to the first part of the sound; while the last part-the gradual decrease and final termination of the sound-has been called the Vanishing movement of the voice. And these designations continue the same, on whatever part of the sound the principal force of the voice is laid. This force of voice however is called STRESS; and, when given at the opening of the sound, is called Radical stress, because given on the radical part of the vocal movement. The stress may be given so as to fall on the middle of the movement, when it is called the Median stress; or it may fall at the vanish, that is, at the close of the sound, in which case it is called the Vanishing stress. A command of the several functions here described, is of the utmost importance to the speaker, since they each have their peculiar significancy, and since, with few exceptions, some one of them must enter into the pronunciation of every syllable forcibly uttered. We shall therefore propose some exercises which,

*The exercises proposed in the next section on Stress are equally well adapted to the improvement of the voice, as regards Quantity.

while they illustrate this subject, will give the learner the command of quantity, and lay a foundation for general improvement in all the vocal powers.

Radical Stress.-This is the kind of stress heard in the successive strokes upon the keys of a piano. It may also be given by the voice, on both the long and the short vowels; and is the only kind of stress which the Immutable syllables can take. The exercise, however, on sounds or syllables of short quantity, we shall reserve for another section; and here use only such as combine both stress and quantity. And we shall use, for this purpose, the simple elements, and the simplest combinations; because, though we might employ short words, we could scarcely find words embracing all the various elementary sounds, and thus the learner would lose the improvement in articulation, which we purpose to combine with the exercises of this and several of the following sections. Let the learner then refer to Table I; and striking each of the long vowels successively full at the opening, let the voice gradually die away till it becomes inaudible. This will exhibit the simplest modification of quantity; and may perhaps be represented with sufficient accuracy to the eye thus:

Let this exercise be continued till the learner has acquired perfect smoothness of voice, and the command of the equable movement which decreases gradually till it dies away in silence. When all the beauties of this vanishing movement are developed in execution, the ear is scarcely less delighted than in listening to the higher excellences of music. This function of the voice should then be carefully cultivated; and to aid in its further training, and at the same