THE SIEGE OF BELGRADE. (Alliterative use of the Elements.) An Austrian army, awfully arrayed, For fame, for fortune, fighting furious fray! Infuriate, indiscriminate in ill, Kindred kill kinsmen, kinsmen kindred kill! Labor low levels loftiest longest lines Men march 'mid mounds, 'mid moles, 'mid murderous mines; Now noisy, noxious, noticed nought Of outward obstacles opposing ought. Poor patriots, partly purchased, partly pressed; Quite quaking, quickly quarter, quarter quest, Truce to thee, Turkey, triumph to thy train! Vanish vain victory, vanish victory vain! Why wish ye warfare? Wherefore welcome were Xerxes, Ximenes, Xanthus, Xaviere? Yield, ye youths! ye yeomen, yield your yell! Zeno's Zapater's Zoroaster's zeal, And all attracting, arms against acts appeal. It is a fact familiar in the experience of most teachers, that after the utmost care in the sytematic cultivation of the utterance of young readers, by regular analytic exercises, such as the preceding, the influence of colloquial negligence in habit is so powerful, that the same individual who has just articulated with perfect exactness the elements on a column, while he is kept mechanically on his guard against error by express attention to details, will immediately, on beginning to read a page of continuous expression of thought, relapse into his wonted errors of enunciation. To correct this tendency no resort is so effectual as that of studying analytically a few lines previous to commencing the usual practice of a reading lesson. The attention must first be turned to the words as such, as forms of articulation, then to their sounds in connection with their sense. The following will be found useful modes of practising such exercises as are now suggested. Begin at the end of a line, sentence, or paragraph, so as to prevent the possibility of reading negligently, then, 1st, articulate every element in every word, separately and very distinctly, throughout the line or sentence; 2d, enunciate every syllable of each word, throughout the line or sentence, clearly and exactly; 3d, pronounce every word in the same style; 4th, read the line or sentence from the beginning forward, with strict attention to the manner of pronouncing every word; 5th, read the whole line or sentence with an easy fluent enunciation, paying strict attention to the expression of the meaning, but without losing correctness in the style of pronunciation. This is, apparently, a merely mechanical drill; but its effects are strikingly beneficial in a very short time. The habits of classes of young readers have thus been, in some instances, effectually changed within a very few weeks from slovenliness and indistinctness to perfect precision and propriety, united to fluency and freedom of style. To adults, also, the practice of such exercises as have been mentioned proves in the highest degree useful, as an effectual means of correcting erroneous habit, and of acquiring that distinctness of utterance which is so important in the exercise of public speaking, or in that of private reading for social and literary purposes. An exercise of great practical value, as regards the formation of habits in enunciation, is to select from every reading lesson, before and after the regular consecutive reading of a piece, all words and phrases which contain difficult combinations, and repeat them often. PRONUNCIATION. A full statement of the rules of usage in pronunciation, as regards the accent of polysyllables, does not properly fall within the scope of this work, which is designed rather for the cultivation of the voice and the discipline of the organs than as a manual of orthoëpy. The most important classes of errors in pronunciation have been already indicated. But this branch of the subject is discussed at greater length in several of the other elocutionary treatises prepared by the author of the present volume. A profitable daily exercise would be the reading aloud of those words in either of our standard national dictionaries in which the various authorities are found to differ, and to adopt as correct the pronunciation in which the greater number of orthoëpists agree. CHAPTER III. MODE OF UTTERANCE. EVERY Sound of the human voice is characterized by one of three modes of utterance, or delivery of the breath. The utterance may be fully vocalized in resonant sound, or it may be entirely aspirated as in a whisper, and it may apply to any degree of force, pitch, movement, etc. The three modes of utterance are 1. Effusive, in which the breath is gently effused or breathed out, without voluntary or conscious effort or impulse; as in all tranquil emotions, or where the depth of feeling overcomes the ordinary activity and variety in the expression,-in solemnity, reverence, melancholy, gloom, etc. Refer to examples of these feelings in the succeeding pages, for practice. Read aloud, also, with similar effusive utterance, the table of Tonic Elements, page 7. 2. Expulsive, which demands more of energy and impulse in the action of the vocal organs than in effusive utterance. It is used with all degrees of force, from the utterance of some quiet, moral sentiment or poetic description to the greatest energy of impulsive feeling. Illustrations will be found on pp. 73-75. Repeat, also, the table of Subtonic Elements energetically, on page 11. 3. Explosive, which is abrupt, and at times violent in percussive effect as the sound strikes the ear. The power to produce the breath or voice with this clear, incisive percussion is one of the results of practice. Very few have the power to produce, at will, the distinct ictus of the unimpassioned explosive, as in the quiet uses of the Radical Stress, or the abrupt shock of the louder utterances of explosion. Examples will be found on pp. 77, 78. Repeat, also, with explosive utterances, the table of Atonics. Finally, review the three tables, giving each table with the three modes of utterance. CHAPTER IV. QUALITY OF VOICE. WHISPERING. THE progressive discipline of the organs, for the purposes of utterance, comprises the practice of every stage of audible voice, from whispering to shouting and calling. We proceed now to the first stage of utterance, that of whispering, which is the nearest in style and effect to breathing, and forms the extreme of "aspirated" or breathing "quality." Whispering differs from even the "explosive," or strongest form of the breathing exercises, in being articulated as a mode of speech, and in taking on, to a certain extent, the qualities of "expression; " thus we not only use the whisper for secret communication, but for the utterance of excessive fear, or of deep awe, suppressed anger, or any other naturally violent emotion when it is kept down by some overawing restraint. Whispering, therefore, as a discipline of the organs of voice, carries on to a greater extent, and with more special effect, all the beneficial results of the exercises in full, deep, and forcible breathing. The whisper, even in its gentlest or "effusive" form, should, as a vocal exercise, be practised on the scale of public speaking, that is to say, with a force sufficient to create full and distinct articulation and intelli. gible utterance in a large hall, or any similar apartment. In this form it is sometimes termed "the stage whisper." The function of whispering on this scale demands the full expansion of the chest, a deep inspiration, a powerful expulsion of the breath, the practice of frequent pausing and renewing the supply of breath, without which a forcible whisper cannot be sustained. It trains the student to close attention |