vivid emotion. His voice takes, in a word, the hue of every subject over which it passes, and tinges his whole utterance with the coloring of the heart. He knows how to restrain expression, and how to give it free scope, how to call home the energy of the voice, and how to throw it out. His extensive and varied discipline on expressive tone, renders it easy for him to pass from the level and tranquil moods of utterance to those which are imbued with passion. His tones, therefore, spring directly from feeling, and are as free from any arbitrary trait as they are from morbid chill and reserve.

The diligent student of elocution recovers, in short, that power of instantaneous sympathy and of vivid expression, which characterized him at that early stage of life, when the freshness and fullness of his tones indicated a heart unmodified by conventional and arbitrary influence. The power which he has thus recovered, his mature mind and reflective judgment enable him to apply to those deeper and richer sources of thought, which his intellectual culture has opened up to him. The still higher sphere of thought and feeling to which the preacher's vocation transfers him, he enters with a preparatory training, which, if it does nothing else, frees him, at least, from the embarrassing consciousness that he has not acquitted himself fully and honorably, as far as human abilities may go, to a part of the peculiar duties which are to be devolved upon him, by his professional relation.

ELEMENTARY EXERCISES FOR THE VOICE.

THE following exercises are designed for the practical application of the principles discussed in the foregoing remarks they consist, accordingly, of examples selected with reference to those parts of elocution which are immediately applicable to the training of the voice for the purposes of the pulpit. To students who had already acquired a knowledge of the general principles of elocution, from the manuals formerly mentioned, or from any similar source, the exercises now presented will suit the purpose of special application to professional uses; and to persons who had not previously made elocution a particular study, they will serve as a partial substitute for a more extended course of elementary discipline.

ARTICULATION.

The Fundamental Sounds of the English Language.* "Tonic" Elements.

[So classed by Dr. Rush, from their susceptibility of "intonation."]

Simple.

†A-ll, A-rm, A-n, Ai-r, E-rr, E-nd, I-n, E-ve, O-r, O-n, U-p, Oo-ze, L-00-k.

* The inadvertency of attention, or the ascendency of erroneous habit, being the principal causes of indistinct enunciation, the rigorous practice of the above elements, becomes, even to professional speakers, a useful exercise, as a means of securing attention to details.

†The Italic letters contain, in each instance, the element of sound, which is the object of direct attention. Each element should be repeated after the pronunciation of the word in which it occurs.

Compound.

A-le, I-ce, O-ld, Ou-r, Oi-l, U-se (the verb,) U-se (the noun).*

"Subtonics."

[So denominated by Dr. Rush, because of their inferior susceptibility of intonation, when compared with the "tonic" elements.]

L-u-ll, M-ai-m, N-u-n, R-ap, Fa-r,† Si-ng, B-a-be, D-i-d, G-a-g, V-al-ve, Z-one, A-z-ure, Y-e, W-oe, Th-ine, J-oy.

"Atonics."

[So called from their deficiency as to capacity for intonation.] P-i-pe, T-en-t, C-a-ke, F-i-fe, C-ea-se, H-e, Th-in, Pu-sh, Ch-ur-ch.

Combinations.

Bl-ame, Cl-aim, Fl-ame, Gl-are, Pl-ace, Sl-ay, Spl-ay, Br-ave, Cr-ave, Dr-ain, Fr-ame, Gr-ain, Pr-ay, Spr-ay, Tr-ace, Str-ay, Shr-ine, Sm-all, Sn-arl, Sp-ace, St-ay, Bo-ld, E-lf, E-lk, E-lm, He-lp, Fal-ls, Fau-lt, E-lve, Mai-m'd, Glea-ms, A-nd, Gai-ns, Ba-nk, Da-nce, A-nt, Ba-rb, Ba-rb'd, Ha-rd, Ha-rk, Ma-rk'd, A-rm, A-rm'd, Ea-rn, Ea-rn'd, Hea-rse, Du-rst, Ba-rs, Ma-rt, Ca-rve, Ca-rv'd, Cha-sm, Rea-s'n, A-sp, Va-st, Pa-ss'd, Ma-kes, A-ct, Wa-k'd, Wa-ft, Qua-ff'd, A-pt, Su-pp'd, O-p'n, Ta-k'n, Sad-d'n, Gra-v'n, Brigh-t'n, Ca-ll'st, A-rm'st, Ca-nst, Du-rst, Mi-dst, Hea-rd'st, A-rm'dst, Lea-rn'dst, A-ble, Trou-bl'd, Am-ple, Top-pl'd, Cra-dle, Bri-dl'd, Ma-rl, Wo-rld, Ri-ngs, Ha-ng'st, Wro-ng'd, Wro-ng'dst.§

* For explanation of the few points of difference in arrangement, between the above table and that of Dr. Rush, see statements in the volume on Orthophony.

†The five elements at the beginning of the above table, may, from their comparative approach to vocality, be termed, "pure subtonics."

The combination of elements is, in every case, indicated by italics. Every combination should be repeated separately, after pronouncing the word in which it occurs.

§ For a list of common errors in articulation, see American Elocutionist.

The elementary sounds and combinations contained in the preceding tables, should be repeated till they can be enunciated with perfect exactness and well-defined character, in the full style of public speaking.

Distinctness of enunciation will be much promoted by a careful, slow, exact, syllabic and literal analysis of selected words, read with special precision and force, for the purpose of practising a clear, firm, well-marked articulation. This exercise is rendered still more conducive to its intended effect, if lines or sentences are read in inverted order, so as to detach them from their ordinary associations of sound.

A useful exercise for the purpose of securing a critical knowledge of orthoëpy, and a strict accuracy of habit in pronouncing, is to read aloud several columns, daily, from Worcester's edition of Johnson and Walker's dictionaries, as combined by Todd, and by Smart,* while close attention is paid to observe whether the sounds of the voice correspond precisely to the notation of the orthoëpy.

A copious list of words commonly mispronounced, even in the pulpit, formed a part in the original plan of the present work. But the extent of the list rendered it impracticable to introduce it without swelling the size of the volume beyond its limited extent. It may be sufficient, perhaps, to refer here to the tables presented in the Elocutionist, as a specimen of the classes of words which are most liable to mispronunciation, and as an indication of the importance of the exercise suggested in regard to the use of the dictionary.

The pulpit, in our day, and in this country, is so generally regarded as the standard of accuracy in pronunciation, that more than usual attention to this branch of elocution is justly required of ministers. But some young preachers, in particular, are too prone to shrink from their

*Worcester's Universal and Critical Dictionary, published by Hickling, Swan, & Brewer.

ments.

proper responsibleness as scholars, and to accommodate their own style to mere popular usage, while others, from a fastidious anxiety about bare exactness, adhere to the letter of the law of nicety, and even transcend its requireHence we hear, in some American pulpits, the pronunciations-airth, maircy, pairfect, from speakers who follow literally Walker's notation of orthoëpy, but do not pay attention to his own qualification of it. The former class of errors, however, that which arises from accommodation to mere negligent common usage, — is the more prevalent, and particularly in New England. Hence the many broad and obsolete and peculiar sounds which characterize the pulpit pronunciation of this region.

It would seem to be an axiom of education, that in an extensive country like the United States, all young persons should be everywhere trained to do their part in preserving the unity of language and the refinement of custom. A liberal education should enable every young man to fill with propriety the office of public speaker, in any part of his native country. But the fact is quite otherwise. Our young New England clergy usually carry with them their marked local peculiarities of usage in pronouncing, and throw an unnecessary impediment in the way of their own acceptance as speakers elsewhere. A few months or years, it is true, usually suffice to rub off such points. But a seasonable attention would prevent their existence.

The pulpit orators of our Middle and Western States, are very generally chargeable with gross negligence and improprieties in pronunciation, which a little study in early years would have sufficed to correct. The pulpit cannot command the respect of any but the illiterate, while it tolerates a slovenly inaccuracy and low taste, in the use of language, or in the manner of pronouncing the most ordinary forms of expression. The minister, as an educated, or, at least. a reading man, should ever feel that he is looked to as a model in this particular, and that