indefinable pleasure in the mere sounds uttered by a grand voice as we experience in listening to the rich tones of an old violin. It is the quality, range, and power of the organ that is the natural gift; all the other accessories to good oratory are to be acquired in varying degrees of perfection by patient, untiring, well-directed labour. In this sense, and in this sense only, the "orator is made." Let no one, then, who aspires to become a good reader and speaker be discouraged by the consciousness of having a voice of but moderate, or even poor quality and power. We cannot all be Burkes or Brights, but by a careful observance of the essentials of correct speech, already pointed out, as well as a clear conception and assiduous practice of the canons of rhetoric now to be briefly laid down, an astonishing measure of excellence may with certainty be attained. Let it be borne in mind that the ease and perfection with which a prima donna pours forth her wondrous tones are the result of continuous practice many hours a day, extended over several years; that, in short, what seems the perfection of nature is but the triumph of art. We now proceed to discuss briefly the canons of rhetoric, by which is meant those observances in the delivery of continuous speech which add point, force, and feeling to its meaning. And we cannot do better at the outset than advise the student to "read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest" Hamlet's address to the players: "Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you," &c. EMPHASIS. Emphasis is the stress of the voice upon the salient or telling words of a sentence. It stands in the same relation to the words of a clause that accent does to the syllables of individual words, and the two, skilfully combined, form a kind of rhythm even to prosaic speech. The force of emphasis is enhanced by a pause before and after the emphatic word, as well as by an alteration in the pitch of the voice. Emphasis not only interprets and intensifies the right meaning of an expression, but when misplaced, it may be made to convey an entirely erroneous signification. If, for instance, in the sentence "Saddle me the ass, and they saddled him the ass," the word him is emphasised, the result will be, to say the least, not complimentary to the speaker. Sometimes it is necessary to make a whole clause stand out in bold relief; this is readily accomplished by a monotonous emphasis of tone and pause upon each of the words alike. The reading aloud of the simple, vigorous English of the Bible and Prayer-book will furnish choice examples of the use of emphasis, both continuous and in various degrees of force. Take, for instance, the touching narrative given in 2 Samuel xii. 1-7, in which Nathan leads on David to be his own judge by the simple story of the poor man's ewe lamb. After marking the emphasis throughout, note the doubled force required on the word die, in David's words, "The man that hath done this thing shall surely die"; and then again the trebled force required on thou in Nathan's climax, "Thou art the man." The emphasis should undoubtedly be equally distributed throughout, the particles alone excepted, in reading some of the Commandments and similar impressive passages, such as Thou shalt do no murder.* Jacob lifted up his voice and wept. Go, and sin no more. And now abideth these three, Faith, Hope, Charity. Instances might be multiplied indefinitely of this distribution of emphasis, and also of its incidence with doubled force upon strongly contrasted words and offensive and satirical epithets. Notice, for instance, the force required upon the words you and my in Hamlet's rejoinder to his mother's censure: Queen. Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended. Hamlet. Madam, you have my father much offended. Again, in the repetition of the word dog in Shylock's speech to Antonio, and also on the word honourable in Mark Antony's funeral oration over Cæsar's body. The following dialogue, which occurred in the Court of Queen's Bench some years ago, is well deserving of quotation here. Cooke, the musician, was being cross-examined as a witness by Sir James Scarlett, in an action for piracy of an arrangement of "The Fine Old English Gentleman" " : Sir James. Now, sir, you say that the two melodies The writer will never forget the impression made upon his young mind by listening, Sunday after Sunday, to the reading of the Commandments by the late Dean Hook, then Vicar of Leeds. The portly figure, the white robes, the uplifted hand, the commanding voice, all combined to give the impression of the Divine Lawgiver uttering his stern behests, and prepared also to administer vengeance upon the offender. are the same but different: now what do you mean by that? Cooke. I said that the notes of the two copies were alike, but with a different accent; the one being in common time, the other in 6-8 time, and that, consequently, the position of the accented notes was different. Sir James. What is musical accent, sir? Cooke. My terms are one guinea per lesson, Sir James. Sir James. Never mind your terms, sir; I ask you what is musical accent? Can you see it? Cooke. No. Sir James. Can you feel it? Cooke. A musician can. Sir James. Now, pray sir, don't beat about the bush, but explain to his Lordship and the gentlemen of the jury, who are supposed to know nothing about music, the meaning of what you call accent. Cooke (measuredly). Accent in music is a certain stress laid upon a certain note, in the same manner as you lay emphasis upon any given word for the purpose of being better understood. Thus, if I were to say, "You are an ass," it rests upon the word ass; but if I were to say, "You are an ass," it would rest upon you, Sir James. The Judge (gravely). Are you satisfied, Sir James. TIME. Time, or speed, of utterance is an incident of pleasing diversity and expressiveness in delivery. About one hundred and twenty words per minute may be taken as the average rate of practised public speakers; but this is frequently exceeded, at the expense, however, of clearness and right understanding. The time of syllabic utterance depends upon the length of the vowel sounds, and the varied degrees of effort requisite to form distinctly the different consonant combinations, some of them occupying twice as long as others. The time of sententional delivery is a matter for the speaker's taste, and depends in principle upon the logical bearing of the clauses to each other, and the nature of the subject matter. As a rule, parenthetical and explanatory clauses are delivered in quicker time than the principal statement. Narrative is for the most part uniform, the pace being altered according to the sentiments uttered, and the impressiveness which is desired to be produced. PAUSE. Breaks in delivery are of two kinds-grammatical stops and rhetorical pauses; the former are necessary to the sense, the latter for effect. Not a quarter of the stops used in speaking occur in print, and it is one of the last steps of advance a reader acquires to know when and where to pause when there are no marks of punctuation. Most young people who have merely mastered the difficulties of pronunciation read too rapidly; they hurry on as though speed is synonymous with excellence. The old adage Read loud and slow; all other graces cannot be too deeply impressed upon them. To remedy |