A fourth rule, and one which should be rigidly observed, is this:

WHENEVER A FAULT IS POINTED OUT, IMMEDIATELY SET ABOUT CORRECTING IT, NOT WAITING TO BE TOLD AGAIN, AND AGAIN.

I shall now explain what is meant by ACCENT, before I give any further rules.

ACCENT is a strong and firm enunciation of a consonant after a vowel in the same syllable. It is heard in such words as men, met, top, beset, befit, dispel, enact, desist. In each of

these words there is one consonant which is uttered with a firmer compression, or contact, of the proper organs, than either of the others, thus giving to that consonant a superior prominence and effect; and it follows a vowel which immediately precedes itself in each of the syllables where the accent falls. Thus, in men, the accent is on n; in top, it is on p; in dispel, it is on 7; and in enact, it is on c. In consequence of this firmer compression of the organs in sounding the accented consonant, some delay is occasioned; hence, although the vowel which precedes it is short, the syllable, taken as a whole, may require as much time for its pronunciation as it would if the preceding vowel were long, and the consonant unaccented.

It is usual with writers on this subject to speak of vowels as being accented. Thus they would say, that in the word abode, an accent is placed on the last vowel, and on the last syllable; yet all that can be properly affirmed of that vowel is, that the o is long, or protracted in the utterance of it. Το show the difference between a syllable which is long because the vowel which it contains is long, and one which is long because the consonant which follows the vowel is accented, take the two words late and let. The vowel sound in both words is precisely the same, only it is long in the first, while it is short in the second. In the first word it is pronounced slowly, in the other rapidly; in the first, the final consonant is slightly enunciated; in the other it is enunciated strongly, with a firmer compression of the organs. The same thing holds true of mane, men; tale, tell; bought, bot; pool, pull; seen, sin.* A striking difference in the sounding of those consonants which have the accent, and in those which do not have it, is observable in all these contrasted words; and a consonant after

*The sounds which are heard by the ear, not the letters which meet the eye, are to be regarded in all these examples.

a long vowel in a syllable is always distinguished, in the like. manner, from one which is accented.

From the foregoing remarks we derive the following particulars. An accented syllable, strictly speaking, is one which contains an accented consonant—a long syllable is one which contains either a long vowel or an accented consonant -a short syllable is one which has neither a long vowel, nor any accent; that is, its vowel is short, and it has no accent; -and lastly, the vowel in every accented syllable is short, although the syllable itself is long.

When a reader huddles together words and syllables, he does it by clipping particular letters; that is, he drops them, or leaves them out, in his pronunciation. This huddling of words and syllables stands opposed to reading distinctly. In order to read distinctly, therefore, no letter should be clipped, but should be completely sounded.

A reader never clips a long vowel, nor a vowel that is followed by an accented consonant; and he seldom clips the consonant which begins a syllable. The vowels which he clips, sinks, or confounds, are those which are short, and which belong to a syllable that has no accent; the consonants which he clips are those which terminate a syllable. In ivory, for example, the vowel of the middle syllable is the one which is liable to be sunk in reading that word; in reputation, it is the sound of the second syllable, that is thus exposed. In treason, covert, rover, it is the last consonant in the last syllable of each word, that persons are most prone to clip. If a person will clearly enunciate every short vowel of an unaccented syllable, and the final consonant of every syllable, he will be sure to read distinctly. This being the case, there are but two chief points to be mastered in order to read with distinctness, and clearness; and these may be expressed in the two following rules:

CLEARLY ENUNCIATE, OR PRONOUNCE, THE SHORT VOWEL

IN EVERY UNACCENTED SYLLABLE.

CLEARLY ENUNCIATE, OR PRONOUNCE, THE FINAL CON

SONANT OF EVERY SYLLABLE.

Besides the clipping, or sinking, of a short vowel, there is a great proneness among indistinct readers to substitute one vowel sound for another. Thus, for calculate they will read calkelate; for barbarous, barberous; for stimulate, stimelate; for victory, victery; for exasperate, exaspurate. A reader of

good taste will give every vowel, however short it may be, its true sound, and its due amount of force; but in doing this he will not, like some, turn a short syllable into a long one. -Stimulate, emulate, garrulous, should be so pronounced as to give the syllable u in each word the short sound of the vowel, the long sound of which is heard in tune, music, duty. So in petulent, virtuous, arduous, natural, and many similar examples, the correct sound of the u should be given without inserting the y before it, so as to pronounce them petyulent, virtyuous, ardyuous, natyural. The latter pronunciation is contrary to polite usage in England, and is a corruption of the English language. Give the u its correct sound, and nothing more is demanded by the ear, in all similar cases.-Every and ivory should be so pronounced that the second syllable of the one may be readily distinguished from that of the other. These are only a few specimens of what is continually occurring in regard to vowel sounds.

We have a great many words in our language which contain an preceded by another consonant without a vowel between; and instead of a vowel we use merely a simple breathing between the two letters, as we pronounce them. Again, we have many words which contain a vowel between two consonants in a short syllable, as those words are written, but in pronouncing them we merely use the same simple breathing. Of the former class of words the following may serve as examples. Able, addle, ruffle, wriggle, ankle, apple, brittle, dazzle. But many persons, and their number has much increased in late years, pronounce these and similar words, as though a short e were between the two letters in question; thus, they say abel, addel, appel, cattel, dazzel, &c. Of the other class of words take the following specimens:-heaven, often, even, evil, stiffen, glisten, parcel. The correct pronunciation of these words is heav'n, oft'n, ev'n, ev'l, stiff'n, glist'n, pars'l, with only a simple breathing between the two consonants which are marked with a comma above the line; yet many readers and speakers give each of the vowels alluded to its distinct sound. The error pointed out, in both cases, is a gross provincialism, and seems to have been introduced among us by those who did not speak pure English as their mother tongue. But the English language should be taught in our schools in its purity; and all provincialisms and foreign accents should be carefully excluded.

In some parts of our country the letter v, in reading and spelling, is substituted for w, and w for v; as weal, for veal, and vent, for went. This is too gross a vulgarism to receive any favor. Again, there are those who suppress the aspirate in nearly all words which are spelt with wh at their beginning. Thus, whale, wheat, which, white, whence, are pronounced wale, weat, wich, wight, wence. This is an error, too, which should be avoided by all who make pretensions to speak good English.

Most persons are prone to give the letter r too faint an articulation. In the words liberty and government, this fault is particularly noticeable. Many readers almost entirely sink this letter in pronouncing these two words. In some words it is made to do little more than to lengthen the vowel which precedes it; as in bar, star, more. But this letter should never be so suppressed as to be inaudible; the consequence of doing so, is a feeble and indistinct utterance of other letters with which it stands connected. On the other hand, our ears do not tolerate that full vibration of the letter which is given it by foreigners. It should have a distinct enunciation, and a little more.

Some persons deem it polite to give the pronoun my the short sound of e. Thus, in the passage,

My God, my king, thy various praise
Shall fill the remnant of my days,

they would read it,

Me God, me king, thy various praise
Shall fill the remnant of me days.

But such a pronunciation appears affected, and is wholly anomalous. We might just as well call i, e, and thy, the. Besides this, my is a possessive, or adjective, pronoun, while me is a personal pronoun; but this mode of pronunciation destroys the distinction between them.

CHAPTER II.

INFLECTIONS.

WHEN a person sings, he sometimes keeps his voice on the same level through several successive syllables, and some

times raises or depresses it to the amount of a semitone, or of one or more full tones; so that the interval between one note and another is never less than a tone or semitone; and however long the voice dwells on a particular note, it maintains just that elevation until it passes on to another. But when a person reads or speaks, the voice never dwells on any syllable, whether high or low, without ending somewhat higher or lower than it begun it; that is, the voice, while pronouncing that syllable, turns either upward or downward. But this upward or downward turn of the voice on the same syllable never amounts to a tone, or even a semitone. In singing, the voice leaps, as it were, from note to note; but, in speaking, there is something like a continuous wave of the voice, except where it is interrupted by those pauses which the sense, or the convenience of respiration, demands.

These turns of the voice are called slides, or inflections; and they are called upward or downward slides or inflections, according to the upward or downward tendency of the voice.* In the sentence, "He must soon be better', or worse," the rising slide is used on the word better, and the falling slide on worse; the former is denoted by this mark ('), and the latter by this one (`).

Sometimes when the voice turns upwards on a syllable, in the manner just described, it again turns downward as much as it rose. This upward and downward turn of the voice on the same syllable, is called a circumflex, and is thus marked (^). In the expression, "I will do it if you desire me," meaning that I would not do it if another desired it, there is a circuinflex on you.

Sometimes, too, when the voice turns upward on a syllable, producing the upward or rising slide, it again turns a little downwards, but not so much as it rose. This is called the

secondary upward, or rising slide. Again, when the voice has turned downward on a syllable, producing the falling, or downward slide, it sometimes turns up again, though less than it fell. This is called the secondary downward, or falling slide. The former is thus marked ('); the latter thus, ('). It requires more critical attention to perceive these secondary slides than it does to perceive the primary ones; but much of what constitutes good reading depends on using them with propriety.

* Rising and falling are quite as often used as upward and downward slides. Both are also called primary slides or inflections, to distinguish them from the secondary ones mentioned farther on.