made against students who try to correct the faulty pronunciation of their own tongue, though the charge is never made against students attempting to speak a foreign language with proper accent or pronunciation. The explanation may lie in the fact, that the ambition to speak correctly is as yet chiefly felt by the world of fashion, and by those who ape it. A better state of matters, however, already appears, and many of our clergymen and teachers are setting a good example in taking pains to acquire a good pronunciation, and their example will eventually demonstrate the folly of the charge of conceit and affectation.

A list of the chief vowel sounds has been given on page 25, which ought to be carefully committed to memory, and exercises marked and pronounced by the pupils, as indicated on page 26.

It ought to be borne in mind by a reader that his hearers are generally sympathetic, and that they are rather more interested in his success than in his failure. In some kinds of public speaking, audibility and distinctness of voice are all that are demanded in order to secure attention. Now, to be heard clearly, one must avoid speaking in too loud or too low a tone. It is a good rule, in fixing the degree of loudness, to look at the remotest hearers and to speak so as to be heard by them. A common fault, how

ever, is speaking too loudly, especially in rooms where an echo prevails. There are, no doubt, some rooms totally unfit for the purposes of Elocution, where the echo is so strong that the speaker must give up all hope of speaking effectively, and must set himself to the task of merely uttering the words audibly. In

such a case, the tone must be low, firm, and clear, and the articulation very deliberate. Under such circumstances an indifferent reader is often better heard than a good one. Surely it is a matter for regret so little attention has been given to acoustics, that some of our finest churches and halls are rendered useless for the purposes of effective speech.

The degree of echo in a room is useful just in so far as it strengthens, enriches, and beautifies the tones of a speaker; while for the singer the echo may be very much stronger. A very slight echo is sufficient for speech, and beyond that degree it is highly obstructive,· and every effort should be made to deaden it. The introduction of cushions, curtains, cloth-lined doors, and matting, is found in many cases sufficient, but in others internal alteration must be made.

Fourth Principle.

BE NATURAL.

Perhaps the strongest prejudice against the study of Elocution is found in the common objection that the student's manner will become artificial, conceited, and unnatural. Of all the minor pests which afflict society, doubtless "the spouter" is the most unbearable. Anyone who has endured the pain of listening to a recitation or reading of this order, might almost be excused for falling into the error of condemning the study of Elocution in order to avoid the chances of future torture. But our pain is caused just because the reader is ignorant of the first canons of this art. If the reader utters a single tone unwarranted by the thought or feeling passing through his mind, it will instantly

sound unnatural to his audience; and if he is concerned only with the effect he is attempting to produce, he will manage to produce disgust. He must express only his own thought and feeling regarding a passage. The temptation to do otherwise is often very strong. One hears a passage read with an expressiveness which he admires; and he imagines that if he can reproduce the sounds of that interpretive voice, his rendering also must be expressive. But alas! clearly and painfully to his hearers, and often even to himself, it appears as an imitation only. And why? Because he has not been natural. Had he tried to catch the spirit, the earnestness, or the delight with which his model spoke, and had he left each word to be uttered according as his own mind was affected thereby, then indeed a different reading would have been given, which if less powerful than the original, would be free at least from conceit and affectation. All such imitation must be avoided, as a violation of the principle " Be Natural”. The reader's individuality, reflected in his voice, is the only power by which he can produce effective utterance-all superficiality either passes by as mere sound, or offends against good taste.

But it is even a worse offence to be unnatural in gesture. Young pupils have a strong disinclination against using any gestures; and the skilful instructor respecting this feeling, generally dispenses with this means of interpretation. As a general rule, no gesture should be used if the voice alone can express the idea: and as in the early stages of study, the thoughts, at the moment of utterance, are both few and feeble, gesture is quite unnatural. But after some skill in the use of the voice

has been attained, it will occur to the reader that he cannot express all the meaning without employing action. Let him watch accurately the places where his passage seems to demand gesture, and he will soon begin to realise and execute those actions which are most natural and appropriate. Of all actions, those employed for grace or embellishment are most difficult, and should not be attempted until the speaker has attained the free use of explanatory and interpretive gesture. The use of gesture, however, for Elocution, can only be perfected under careful professional instruction; and where the reader has not made it a special feature of study, it would be wise in the majority of cases to shun its use, at least in public.

In every tone then, and in every accompanying gesture, the student must be natural. In attempting to apply this principle, a conversational matter-of-fact tone, even when uttering the sublimest or most pathetic words, is often adopted. This too is an offensive violation of the law, which insists that dignity and grandeur of sound must ever be the natural interpreters of grand and dignified thought.

Fifth Principle.

BE ARTISTIC.

A critic sometimes esteems it a compliment to remark regarding some eminent public speaker, that his elocution is all natural, or that he uses no art at all: some readers take considerable credit to themselves in declaring that their elocutionary efforts are produced by nature, and they profess to have no help from "art". Now let us clearly understand that

no speaker or reader attains any efficiency without art. He knows the effect which each idea has upon his mind, and the different tone, loudness, pitch, &c, which it will probably evolve in delivery; and as he proceeds in his speech or reading, he chooses, with the nicest discrimination, those sounds which his past experience suggests as the fit interpreters of each idea. And what is this but art? Nay is it not the truest kind of art, for the artist is often quite unconscious of exercising it! And however paradoxical it sounds, it is a truth that if one follow Nature he becomes an artist, for he learns the laws of Nature, and how to apply them skilfully. When, for example, he observes that Nature enhances her effects by contrast, he becomes an artist by working after the same principle. Thus does the true reader follow Nature, and thus he will strive to apply her laws. When he discovers that no thought or sentiment, however profound or intense, can occupy the mind without calling up subsidiary ideas, he will apply the principle to his reading, by carefully watching for those places which warrant a change of voice, even in passages which seem to express only one overpowering idea. He will, in short, see that his reading be relieved by "lights and shadows". However strong, turbulent, and vivid are his thoughts and feelings, in striving to be artistic, he will so control and modify their expression that all unnecessary abruptness and harshness will disappear, and

even

"In the very torrent, tempest, and (as I may say), whirlwind of his passion, he will acquire and beget a temperance that may give it smoothness."