sible of his failure, he will make another trial, and probably imagine, because he has pronounced the word in a lower or softer tone, that he has altered the inflection :-this, however, does not necessarily follow, for the same accent may be pitched very high or very low, and it may be uttered very softly or very forcibly. To avoid these mistakes, he must, during a time, use the following form of a question as a test. Did I say stránge or strange? By this he will be instinctively impelled to utter the same word, first with an upward, then with a downward accent, and to know by comparison in which manner he had previously uttered it. After some time, the ear will become familiar with these inflections of the voice, and the test may be laid aside. Having them now entirely at command, he must exercise his voice in carrying them as far as possible, from one extreme to the other, something in the manner of a singer running the gamut from low to high, and high to low. Let him also vary their motion, making them sometimes rapid and sometimes slow. Such an exercise on detached words will probably be thought a little ridiculous, but the student may rest confident of its utility. It will not only give him a clear feeling of the kind of tones he ought to use, but will add flexibility to his voice, and remove from it any unpleasant monotony: for what is called a monotonous voice, is not, in fact, a voice that never gets above or below one musical key, but one which is incapable of taking a sufficient compass in its inflections. As to rhythmus, lists of unconnected words, in pronouncing which there can be no danger of sacrificing sense to sound, seem to offer the best introduction to systematic practice on this subject; and accordingly the lists are arranged for this purpose among others, by keeping together, as much as possible, words of similar accentuation. In pronouncing these, the returns of accent will be regular, and the student is desired to mark each return by beating time gently with his hand, observing to make a pause of equal duration between each word, regulated by the beating of the hand. He may then, by degrees, accustom himself to vary the inflections of the voice according to the principles of modulative harmony, pronouncing two words with upward and downward inflections, and the next two with downward and upward, and so on with every four words, till the last four, on which, for the purpose of cadence, all those inflections may be reversed; or if the words are pronounced in series of three, instead of series of four, (which should sometimes be done for the sake of change,) the accents may be downward, downward, upward, till the last three, when they may be reversed, or, for the sake of greater cadence, may be down

ward, upward, downward. These directions, however, anticipate the precepts for modulating the voice which are to be furnished in the next chapter, and will perhaps be scarcely intelligible till the student has consulted it.

After the detached words of each exercise, a few sentences are furnished, for the purpose of calling the pupil's attention to an essential quality of good articulation which might otherwise be forgotten, namely, the complete interjunction of words that are parts of the same clause. In these sentences, the hyphens indicate where the interjunction should take place, and the absence of the hyphen signifies either a breathing pause, or a pause in the sense.

The simple aspirate, or h.

The pupil is warned to distinguish, on all occasions, between the name of the letter, and the sound intended by it. In the present case, the name of the letter contains nothing of the sound; which is only a forcible expulsion of the breath in uttering the word or syllable that begins with it. That the pupil may become secure both in the use of the aspirate, and, where necessary, in the omis sion, words beginning with pure vowels are mingled with those which should be aspirated. In some words, letter h is quite silent; namely, in heir, honest, honour, hospital, hostler, hour, humble, humour, and all the derivatives. These will be known by the letter not being in italic. In a few words, namely, those in which letter o follows wh, the sound generally denoted by h alone, is denoted by the two letters wh, which will be known by both letters being in italic. If the w is not in italic, it must have its proper sound, which must follow, and not precede, the forcible expulsion of breath signified by h; for example, whale is to be pronounced h-wale, wheat, h-weat, &c.

hall all aunt haunt who art heir hair hour hew huge whole whale wheat whim whig-heathen hydra honest humble human humour wholly honour whirlpool whimper hostler wholesome cohort coheir hothouse hartshorn--hereout herein hereon harangue behind perhaps inert inhale behest abhor-harmony artichoke humanize hudibras humourous heritage hospital vehement

cohobate behemoth--heteroclite hospitable --herculean annihilate--hieroglyphical incomprehensible hypochondriacal heliocentrical. he-had-learned-the-whole-art-of-angling by

heart.

be-honest humble and-humane hate-not-evenyour-enemies.

the-portrait-of-an-old-whig in-a-brown-wig. with-many-a-weary-step and-many-a-groan up-a-high-hill he-heaved-a-huge-round-stone.

W.

This letter, when at the beginning of words and syllables, denotes a consonant which is accomplished by a forcible action of the lips when in the position to utter the vowel generally denoted by oo. But the pupil will take notice that the sound is not always present where the letter appears even at the beginning of words, as will be observed in the following exercise in those words which have not the w in italic. On the other hand, he will find some words without the letter w, where the letter in italic or capital shows that the sound should nevertheless be heard, as in choir, pronounced kwire, and in one, pronounced wun. A capital letter will be used instead of an italic when two sounds are included, as in the last instance, where w and short u are included in the letter o. If a word should exhibit neither a capital nor an italic letter, the sound which is the subject of the exercise is to be understood as not at all present in that word.

way waft One Once who woo wain vane wine vine hood wood wolf womb wo ooze whose woos swoon suite buoy quake choir thwart -woman wolsey wooer wormwood wayward forward froward quorum quagmire cuirass weather whether. a-wight well-versed-in-waggery. give-me-free-air or-i-soon-shall-swoon. he-wooed-a-woman who-would-never-wed.

y.

This letter also denotes a consonant when it stands at the beginning of words and syllables. It is accomplished by a forcible action of the jaw from the position which it takes when sounding e. This consonant is frequently denoted by i and e in particular situations, and letter u always includes it when pronounced you. This will be understood in the exercise whenever that letter is in capital, or whenever other letters in capital are sounded you.

yawn yell he ye yean hear ear year yield you U Use huge nEW dUke tUne- -yearly youthful yewtree Useful HUmour spaniel million genii poniard asia nausea roseate indian odious tUlip duty tUEsday fEOdal.

ye-are-stUdious-to-vitiate.

the-nEW-tUne sUIts-the-dUke.

youth with-ill-HUmour is-odious. last-year i-could-not-hear with-either-ear.

s and z.

The consonants properly denoted by these letters are formed by touching the upper gum with the tip of the tongue,—using, for the former, an utterance of breath, which forces its way at the tip, and produces a hissing,—and, for the latter, an utterance of voice, which forces its way in a similar manner, and produces a buzzing noise. It should be remembered that letter s is always vocal when, in forming a plural, or the third person of a verb, it comes after a vocal sound. The other cases in which it is vocal are frequent; but they must be gathered from practice, aided by a pronouncing dictionary. The r in capital among the examples under s, includes the sounds of k and s, and among the examples under z, the sounds of g and z.

S.

gas mass dose mace griefs laughs months verse

dupes packs laX styX hosts fists ghosts soil cell scene schism psalm--apsis thesis question tacit pincers flaccid sceptre schedule psalmist psyche hasten chasten--preside desists design obese verbose rescind dissuade finance-heresy poesy chersonese precedent vaccinate siccity scymitar scintillate.

when-ajaX-strives-some-rock's-vast-weight-to

throw.

the-sophist's-shrewd-suggestion.

guessing-the-design-was-perceived he-desisted. see-the-snakes-that-they-rear how-they-hiss in-the-air.

to-have-a-thousand with-red-burning-spits

come-hissing-in-upon-them.

thou❜rt-not-thyself

for-thou-exist'st-on-many-thousand-grains

that-issue-out-of-dust happy-thou-art-not for-what-thou-hast-not still-thou-striv'st-to-get and-what-thou-hast forget'st thou-art-not-cer

tain

for-thy-complexion-shifts-to-strange-effects

after-the-moon.

2.

maze blaze as has is was ways views seas songs caves moves baths oaths bathes breathes balls domes pains bars babes plagues-commas dramas dances prices prizes houses scissors noisy brazen mizzen raisin cousin puzzle weaselabsolves observes hussars eXert eXist eXempt