Let then the student of Elocution determine that the whole force of his mind shall be engaged with the thought or feeling he is expressing, and he lays a strong foundation whereon all forms of beauty may afterwards be reared.

Second Principle.

RELATE ONE THOUGIIT TO ANOTHER.

It must be borne in mind that there is a certain relative importance of ideas, and the business of the reader is to discover the proper relation. Beginners give

equal importance to almost every word, until they learn that many ideas pass through the mind apparently unconsciously, whilst others rouse its intense attention.

"The war-note of the Saracen

Was on the winds of France."

Here the words "of" and "on" are usually made prominent by young readers, chiefly because the rhythm is the only or the strongest idea in their minds. Now the pupil ought to be invited to discover the most important idea in the mind of one uttering such a sentence, and also to notice the ideas which would pass through the mind almost unobserved. This done, let him "think the sentence aloud," still, however, paying no attention to the vocal sound, until it has been evolved. He may then reflect how far the tones employed were successful in faithfully interpreting his ideas. It is not here asserted that the reader must never concern himself with the sound of his own voice. On the contrary, it is of moment that he acquire the habit of judging whether or not his .ones declare his ideas; yet he will never become an expressive reader until he causes the

idea to evolve the tone, which may afterwards be approved or condemned by his ear.

There can be no doubt that a strong temptation is presented to young pupils to follow only the rhythm of verse. The most effectual means to check this tendency, is to get the pupil to transpose the verse into prose, whose homely dress is almost magical in causing the relative importance and connection of the ideas to be recognised.

"She had a rustic woodland air
And she was wildly clad."

The strong emphases on "had," and "she," in this couplet, disappear in such a common-place paraphrase as, "She had the look of a country girl, and she was clothed in a rude manner." By such a change the words unduly emphasised would fall into their natural place, and, on again reading the couplet, the young pupil would find no difficulty in avoiding the rhythm.

On the other hand, the beauty of the rhythm is not to be wantonly sacrificed. Let it be kept as an accompaniment adding grace and charm, but by no means let it take the chief place as the main idea to be expressed. Rhythm, like the drum of an instrumental band, becomes ridiculous when heard too strikingly. For pupils in this stage, the reading of verse printed in prose form has been found of great service, and accordingly a large proportion of the poetical selections has been arranged thus in the Text Book.

The object of the exercises under the Second Principle, is to enable the pupil to give effect in his voice to those modifications which one idea makes upon another. Before any progress in Elocution can be

made, a habit of calling up an idea vividly, and in the due relation in which it is presented, must be acquired. No means has been found more effective than the following, in securing this peculiar mental training.

Let a passage be selected from the best authors by the pupil, and committed to memory. This passage is not to be recited till the mind has retained it long enough to become familiar with all the ideas it contains. The mere recitation is of comparatively little value at this stage; but immense benefit is derived. from the power of every true piece of compositionespecially of poetry—to quicken the mind and rouse the imagination. No harsh criticism of his many elocutionary faults must be passed on the pupil, if he make the slightest effort towards expression. Judicious praise rather, where any really interpretive sounds have been uttered, will encourage the tyro to throw off that natural reserve which is often the chief hindrance to progress in Elocution.

Perhaps it may be well to state here, that with admirable exceptions, school-examination recitations are productive of evil, and often create a false taste and style in the pupils. It is lamentable to observe how a pert boy or girl receives applause and praise for throwing aside youthful modesty, and reciting in a certain loud, smart, affected voice! A true reader always calls forth the appreciation of his hearers, but when the reader is a child, how few are capable of judging of the value of the reading! Indeed the expressive reading of a child differs so widely from conventionally "fine" reading, that there is little cause for wonder when it is passed by unobserved.

Practice under this principle of relating thought to thought, will remove the common habit of reading clause after clause in a broken or detached manner, in which the reader resembles a person measuring ribbon, and endeavouring to snip it off accurately into equal lengths. The voice is lifted, or worse still depressed to the same pitch at each comma throughout the entire passage, a pause of the same duration at every comma is observed, and consequently the most trival word is made of equal moment with the most important. To avoid this fault the pupil must acquire the habit of letting the eye travel in advance of the voice, and of noting how each word is qualified in its meaning by the context. Then most assuredly not two clauses will be read exactly in the same manner; but by a continually varying time, pitch, loudness, and pause, the words will be presented in the due relation in which the mind evolved them.

Third Principle.

REMEMBER YOUR AUDIENCE.

Some one advised beginners to regard their hearers as so many cabbages! The advice is good if it only means that one is not to allow the presence of an audience to disconcert one's thought; but it is by no means good advice if that is meant as the only way in which to regard an audience. The natural timidity, fear, or terror experienced in facing a number of people may be overcome in one of two ways,through sheer impudence, or by a brave humility,-by thinking so much of self that you think little of your audience, or by thinking so much of your subject that

you forget self. Where the former method is adopted, the speaker becomes a mere "spouter" who certainly has need of all the assurance he can muster, because his chief thought and that of his audience is with himself.

In obedience to this principle, the pupil will make every endeavour to get rid of any false or local pronunciation, which, because it is offensive to the ear of his audience, will be obstructive of their sympathetic attention. A correct pronunciation should be attained as early as possible in the study of Elocution, only let it be remembered that it is impossible, in most cases, to study proper expression and pronunciation at the same time.

If the fundamental principle-that there ought to be no attention given to the voice when reading-is a just one, it follows that all exercises in pronunciation must be separate from exercises in expressive reading. When a pupil has become aware of his faulty pronunciation-this salutary knowledge is sometimes not easily acquired-what are the best means to correct it?

Ist. By diligent reference to a good dictionary.

2nd. By noting the points of difference between good speakers and himself.

3rd. By earnest study of some standard works on the subject, and in some cases by receiving private lessons for pronunciation. A most invaluable aid to students are the works of Prof. A. Melville Bell, especially "The principles of Speech and Dictionary of Sound," (Wm. Mullen, Belfast).

A very false and foolish charge of affectation is often