lows that the lungs must be well supplied with air before speech is commenced, and that they must be kept so supplied during the whole progress of speech. The very common fault of dropping the voice feebly at the end of a sentence, arises in a great measure from a faulty habit of respiration: and many personal inconveniences, sometimes painful and serious, accrue to the speaker, from insufficient, too infrequent, or ill-managed respiration.

10. The amount of air ordinarily inspired for vital wants is quite insufficient for vocal purposes.

11. The lungs are supplied with air by the expansion of the cavity of the chest ; and they are made to yield the air they contain by its contraction, and the pressure of its walls or base.

12. The cavity of the chest is conical in form, tapering from its muscular base, the diaphragm,—by the ribs and clavicle to the windpipe.

13. The chest is expanded by the bulging of the ribs, the raising of the clavicle (or breast-bone,) and the descent or flattening of the diaphragm. Expiration may be produced either by means of the bony frame-work, or of the muscular base of the chest. The latter is the correct mode of vocal expiration; the former is exhausting and often injurious in its consequences.

14. Too much importance cannot be attached to the formation of a habit of easy respiration. The walls of the chest should not be allowed to fall in speaking, but the whole force of expiration should be confined to the diaphragm. Clavicular respiration is the prevailing error of those who find speaking or reading laborious. When the respiration is properly conducted, vocal exercise should be unfatiguing even though long continued ; and the longer it is practised the more should it be conductive to health.

15. The inspirations in public speaking must be frequent, full, and noiseless. Audible suction of air is as unnecessary as it is ungraceful. To avoid this fault let the passage to the lungs be but open, and expand the chest; the pressure of the atmosphere will inflate the lungs to the full extent of the cavity created within the thorax.

16. The common Scotch bagpipe gives an excellent illustration of the comparative efficacy of a partial, and of a complete inflation of the lungs. See the piper, when the bag is only half-filled, tuning the long drones! how his arm jerks on the wind-bag!—and hear the harsh and uneven notes that come jolting out from the pressure! Then see him, when the sheep-skin is firmly swelled. beneath his arm!-how gently his elbow works upon it! while the clear notes ring out with ear-splitting emphasis. Let the public speaker learn hence an important lesson. He but plays upon an instrument. Let him learn to use it rationally-in consciousness, at least, of the mechanical principles of the apparatus. For, as the instrument of speech is more perfect than anything the hand of man has fashioned, it surely must when properly handled, be "easier to be played on than a pipe!"

17. There is an important point of difference, however, between the human speaking machine and artificial wind instruments like the bagpipe or organ. These latter have separate passages for the entrance and exit of the air, while the instrument of speech has but one channel by which the air is received and delivered. Through the aperture of the glottis,* all the breath must pass both in inhalation and exhalation. These acts must therefore be alternate, and cannot possibly take place at the same time; while, in playing on artificial instruments, the air is both drawn in and expelled simultaneously by separate apertures.

18. Speaking expends breath, and pausing must therefore be regularly alternate with utterance, to supply the waste of breath.

19. The speaker should take advantage of every cessation of the outward stream of air to replenish the lungs. He must not exhaust his stock before he takes a further supply, but he must aim at keeping up a constant sufficiency, by repeated inhalations. This is the principle

*The GLOTTIS is the narrow aperture of the trachea or windpipe, situated behind the root of the tongue. Its action in closing or opening the passage to the lungs may be felt in coughing. The effort that precedes the cough shuts the glottis, by contact of its edges; and the explosive ejection of breath in the cough arises from the sudden opening of the glottis by the separation of its edges.

which the bagpipe teaches. The most momentary pause will be found long enough to give opportunity for adding to the contents of the chest, easily and imperceptibly.

20. In addition to the power and ease that are gained by this principle of managing the respiration, it has the further advantage of securing to the speaker a good carriage of the bust, and also, in no slight degree, of contributing to give the young orator a feeling of confidence in addressing an audience. Fear naturally collapses, and courage expands the chest; and the cultivation of the habit of keeping the chest expanded in speech imparts courage, and prevents that perturbation of the breathing which bashfulness and diffidence occasion to the unpractised speaker.

IÍI. RESPIRATORY EXERCISES.

21. To gain the power of fully and quickly inflating the lungs the following exercise will be useful. Prolong the simple vowel sounds musically to the full extent of expiratory power: silently replenishing the lungs and recommencing the sound as expeditiously as possible. The voice should begin softly, swell out vigorously, and then "knit sound to silence," by the most gentle termination. Thus :

After a little practice, the sound should be continued clearly for the space of from 25 to upwards of 30 seconds. This exercise is equally advantageous to the singer as to the speaker.

22. The same principle of exercise in connexion with articulation may be obtained in counting. Pronounce the numbers from one to a hundred, deliberately and distinctly, with as few breathings as possible. Note the numbers after which the breath is inspired, and compare the results of the exercise at different times.

23. This kind of respiratory exercise will be found of the highest utility in cases of CONTRACTED CHEST or WEAK LUNGS. Persons engaged in sedentary occupations, the dyspeptic, and the convalescent, would find in this an exercise of the most salutary nature, without leaving the office or the chamber.

24. To gain the power of keeping the chest expanded and the lungs well filled, by frequent and imperceptible inspirations, the following exercise will be of service: After due preparatory elevation of the chest, pronounce a long series of numbers with a gentle and instantaneous expansion of the chest before each number; and continue the exercise for some minutes at a time, without a single pause for breathing. This may be found difficult and laborious at first, but practice will speedily impart facility.

25. To strengthen weak respiration, the practice of energetic reading in a strong loud whisper, or "gruff” voice, will prove beneficial. Above all, exercise in the open air will be found of advantage. The ancient rhetoricians practised declamation while walking or running up a hillside before breakfast, or standing by the sea-shore, face to the wind, and endeavouring to out-bellow the tempest.

26. Respiratory exercises should not be practised immediately after a full meal. The distension of the stomach prevents the free play of the diaphragm. The public speaker should therefore be sparing before any important. oratorical effort, and defer making up the deficiency until he has made his bow to the audience.

IV. PRINCIPLES OF VOCALIZATION.

*

27. VOICE is the name given to that sound which is formed in the larynx, by the passage of the compressed air from the lungs, through the contiguous edges of the glottis. It being important that the student should clearly understand the mechanical formation of voice, we offer the following simple and homely illustrations.

28. The principle on which vocal sound is formed is the same as that by which a blade of grass or a slip of ribbon is made to produce a sound by being placed between the lips while the breath is strongly impinged against them.

* The LARYNX is that cartilaginous box-like structure which surmounts the trachea, causing the protuberance in front of the neck, known as "Adam's apple." Its aperture is a lengthened slit, the upper extremity of which is called the superior glottis, and the lower the inferior glottis.

But the most perfect imitation of voice, as well as the most exact imitation of the laryngeal aperture-the glottis -is obtained by the approximation of two fingers, say the fore and middle fingers of the left hand, holding them nearly to the middle joints in the right hand, and forcing the breath between their moistened edges. The aperture thus obtained between the fingers, from the knuckles to the next joints, is of about the same size as that of the glottis ; and the sound produced by the vibration of its edges, remarkably resembles glottal voice, and exemplifies many of the vocal principles. Comparative openness of the aperture produces grave sounds, and contraction, acute sounds: slackness of its edges causes huskiness or whisper. and tension gives clearness, and purity of tone. A knowledge of these principles should assist the speaker in correcting habits of defective or impure sonorousness of voice.

29. Variations of pitch in the voice are thus produced by variations in the condition and dimensions of the glottis. Something, too, depends on the elevation or depression of the whole larynx; as we see coarsely exemplified by singers, who toss the head upwards, or burrow the chin in the chest, as they squeak or croak at the extremities of the voice. In running over the vocal compass, the larynx may be felt descending with the gravity of the tones, and ascending with their acuteness. The head. of course, should be quiescent. A sympathetic motion of the head or eye-brows is a common but offensive accompaniment to the movements of the voice among untutored speakers.

[Exercises on the vocal movements-speaking tones will be found under the head of Inflexion.]

30. The voice may be formed by a soft and gradual vibration, or by an abrupt and instantaneous explosiveness of sound. The latter mechanism of voice is often employed in energetic, emphatic speech; and the orator should be able, at will, to adopt it with any degree of force from piano to forte. The pronunciation of the vowel sounds with something of the effort of a cough,*

* This exercise ("coup de la glotte") is recommended to singers in the excellent and philosophical Treatise on the Art of Singing, by M. Garcia, of Paris.