and shews the laws of that action.

Their effect is to

produce such a movement of the organ of voice, as shall not disturb the influx and efflux of air required, at stated intervals, to renovate the vital fluid.

If these principles of physiology are sound, as I am persuaded they are, then, it is of great importance that the method of teaching reading and public speaking, here insisted upon, be adopted: not merely because a correct prosody is graceful and harmonious, but because, the observation of measure in speech is necessary to the exercise of its functions with safety to the health, and often to the lives, of those who follow it as a profession. If I might venture to refer to personal experience, I might say that it is a matter of surprise to my acquaintance, that I am able to endure, without destruction of health, the amount of forcible speaking which I daily practice, but perhaps, the preceding observations may account for it in a satisfactory manner.

The law of speech, which I have here explained, is one of a series of laws, bearing a common relation to one another, and to the vital functions of the body. It will be found, in addition to the facts already stated, that the pauses which are marked out in the exercises, cannot be neglected without injury to the harmony and the sense. In other words, that speaking which is regulated by measure, and the consequent exact observation of the rests, is most agreeable and most intelligible. If a frequent omission of pauses is made, the sense will be involved in obscurity. Here too, we see the beautiful result of those related laws of the living system, by the combined effect of which, a series of different, complicated and often apparently interfering functions, proceed for the

to

benefit of the whole system. Measure is most easy the speaker; by a beautiful law of relation it constitutes a prosody grateful to the hearer; but the sensorial functions (what they are we pretend not to divine) are in their turn related to the vital ones; for the speaking which is easy and harmonious, is also most intelligible. The pauses which are required for easy respiration, for the harmonious flow that delights the ear, disentangle the sense and enable the mind to perceive the relations of thought with facility and clearness. But there are objectors, we may be sure, who will urge, that if this system were true, it would be natural to speak in perfect measure. All persons who speak agreeably and smoothly, and we now and then hear such, do speak for the most part by measure. But we admit, most do not; and we assert that all who do not, speak with great inconvenience and exhaustion to themselves. We maintain against all the admirers of natural faults, and the decriers of artificial excellence, that it is not natural to do any thing well, which is liable to disturbance, from ignorance, and the irregularity of the will, and, consequently, from faulty habits. The action of the organ of voice is voluntary, but the circulation is not, hence the one is liable to disturbance from the causes just stated, which is not the case with the other. Simplicity in thought and expression is not natural. The power of saying just what is proper in an argument and no more, is not natural; ease and grace of execution in any art, is not natural ; the art of speech among the number. The fine arts do not look to what is natural but to what is agreeable. Their principle is founded on the approbation of taste, not on the habits of the multitude. In all matters where

choice is exercised it is not the concern of philosophy to defend what is, but to shew what ought to be.

We invite the reader to go into a school of young persons with this grammar in his hand; let them be called upon to read some of the pieces it contains, out of another book. He will soon be made sensible of the importance of marking the accent and pauses, by the frequent violations of them, which he will instantly hear. He will see how important they are as fundamental points, in the art of reading, to easy, harmonious, and intelligible delivery. The habit of reading with attention to them, is very rare, though health, ease of speaking, and a clear picture of the sense of what is read, require it. We therefore, have thought it best to teach the mode of reading, as writing is taught, by "setting copies" for the pupil. Those copies will enable him, if he is attentive, to score for himself; they will fix the habit of right reading, -a habit he will never lose-and which will be found of immense importance to future health and comfort.*

QUESTIONS TO RECITATION ELEVENTH.

1. What constitutes a measure in speech? 2. What is meant by an imperfect measure?

* Some years ago I published a book of scored exercises; 2000 copies were sold. I am assured by numerous Teachers in Philadelphia, who have used them, that they have led to a great reformation in the reading of their schools. They compel young persons to read deliberately, and mind their stops.

3. Demonstrate with the voice the measure of a sin

gle syllable.

4. One of two syllables.

5. One of three.

6. One of four.

7. One of five.

8. What is the greatest number of syllables which can be crowded into a measure?

9. How is rythmus defined?

10. What are the measures on which verse is based? 11. How is verse distinguished from prose'

12. What constitutes an agreeable rythm?

13. The student is required to score the first section of the apostrophe to the Queen of France, Elocutionist, page 12, and the three sections of Gray's Elegy, Elocutionist, page 260.

RECITATION TWELFTH.

EMPHASIS.

HAVING now given an account of the elements of speech, which may be called the working materials of the reader and speaker, we proceed to show their application, in expressing in a forcible manner, the sentiments and emotions of the mind. Nothing will demonstrate more clearly, the importance of elementary investigation, than the fact, that all those powers of the voice which it has enabled us to record, are employed in emphasis: sometimes singly, but oftener in combination: for we must here observe, that though in describing the separate powers, we speak of them as such, yet in the expression of our sentiments, they are almost always combined. There is a natural tendency to crowd elements together when words are employed emphatically. They are, then, frequently, the symbols of our feelings, and the different functions of the voice are summoned, not in the order we have described them, but in every possible combination, in order to give utterance to those feelings. We shall speak, however, in the first place, of the effects of the different elements separately, in producing emphasis.

Emphasis is that employment of the voice by which some syllables, and consequently the words which they constitute, or of which they make a part, are rendered specially impressive, by means of increased stress, peculiar quality of voice, quantity, or change of pitch, or by