It deserves also to be again mentioned, that even on the most important words, all voluntary effort is restricted to the ACCENTED SYLLABLE of each. (Vide the preceding chapter.)

We thus find a wonderful provision of nature for diminishing the labor necessary for speech. A strong action of the vocal muscles alternates regularly with a weaker one; and the alternation is between fatiguing excitement and effort, and comparative rest.

Take for example the following sentence.

"True eloquence must exist in the man, in the subject, and in the occasion."

When divided according to the natural grouping of words in deliberate speaking, and also according to what in the second part we shall term the phrases in delivery, it will stand thus:

We thus perceive that although there are twenty syllables in the sentence, but six of them are accented, while it is upon these alone that strong vocal efforts are made.

One more example will be sufficient for our present purpose, as most of our extracts for practice will hereafter be divided. We remarked above, that adverbs and other dependent words are naturally connected with more important words, and that their accent, when they have one, is weaker. Yet when delivery is slow and deliberately emphatic, the principle, though it still holds true, is less observable. In the following example, we shall not attempt to exhibit this slight distinction.

"The injustice of England has driven us to arms; and blinded to her own interest for our good, she has obstinately persisted, till independence is now within our grasp."

Arranged according to the grouping and phrasing of earnest speaking, this will stand as follows:

It must not be inferred from our remarks, that this part of delivery is necessarily to be learned by inspecting a passage which we are preparing to speak, and dividing the words into two classes according to their grammatical nature. In practice, the subject is attended with no difficulty. The act of grouping being a natural one, is readily made habitual by efforts to speak deliberately and with natural ease. We shall proceed to explain its connection with audibility and the easy play of the breath in speaking. It will also be seen how the principle removes all the difficulty that has formerly been felt in determining where to make pauses, when, as so often happens, they are required for the sake of taking breath, and in situations where there is no mark of punctuation.

In the preceding chapter, the remarkable fact has been stated, that provided the articulation is reasonably perfect, and the key of the voice is sustained, the unaccented syllables of polysyllabic words will be heard by the largest audiences, provided the speaker makes sufficient effort to render the accented ones audible. The same is true of groups of words. Even when these are rendered very long by strong emphasis, the same provision is made by nature.

From ignorance of this fact, speakers sometimes fatigue themselves unnecessarily. In the case of those who contract

a disease of the throat or lungs from the mere act of speaking, the immediate cause is liable to be some unnecessary exertion, or the habit of not taking breath. with that frequency which the grouping of the words permits.

In strong delivery before a large audience, a natural and easy speaker will sometimes take breath before every group. This taking breath is more or less unconscious on his part, and not readily perceptible to spectators; but if from bad habits he omits this natural act, he will either be feeble and inexpressive, or will speak with great and painful labor.

In rapid utterance, breath is not taken so often, but only at the end of phrases of a sentence, instead of between the groups of words. Yet even in this case, the issuing flow of the breath is momentarily CHECKED after each group, and a new impulse given to it upon the succeeding one. Unless this be done, we cannot even individualize words by accent, or exhibit any natural speech. Persons who are constitutionally deficient in physical strength or animation, or who are in feeble health, must pay careful attention to free respiration in speaking. By cultivating a habit of taking breath deeply and frequently, and at the same time checking the issue of it after every group, the chest will be kept always full, and the feeblest voice will fill the largest room.

It is between the groups of words, that rhetorical and emphatic PAUSES occur; and it will be found on trial, that pauses of the greatest length may be made after any group of words, (except between an adjective and substantive,) without injury to the sense of the sentence.

It is important to notice, that pauses between the groups are not ordinarily for the sake of rest after the effort which has just been made, but in the way of preparation for the distinct and expressive utterance of the next group.

It is solely by regulating the succession of the groups of words, that a speaker adapts his voice to the extent of his audience or the size of a room, in SLOWNESS..

In the same way likewise, is a voice adapted to the ECHO of

a room.

Finally, a harmonious or a varied RHYTHм depends on the management of the groups.

When we come, in the second part of our work, to treat of Emphasis, and of Rhetorical Groups and Phrases, we shall find that the groups of words actually uttered with one impulse of the voice, are frequently very long. Those of great length, however, receive an impulse of the voice on an emphatic word, which is proportioned to the length of the group, and which makes them as fluent and facile in enunciation as shorter ones,

Before leaving this subject, a very important caution must be given, not to suffer the above or any subsequent directions to be so put in practice, as to interfere with the smooth and graceful flow of words in discourse.

Those who practise articulation and other requisites of distinct enunciation, are liable to acquire a broken and irregular flow of utterance. On the contrary, great care must always be exercised to give to the slowest speaking, and that which most abounds in rhetorical pauses, a tone of continuity, that carries the minds of the hearers constantly onwards. (Vide the conclusion of the subsequent section, on Continued Emphasis.)

DISTINCT SEPARATION OF SYLLABLES.

Distinctness (as is indicated by the derivation of the word) is different from Articulation.

When a speaker is indistinct in the general run of his delivery, his words and syllables are not sufficiently separated from each other. One syllable, or word, or group, is not finished before the other is begun.

In very slow speaking, this complete separation is necessary, to keep the rate of delivery equable and easy.

In most cases, a speaker will be sufficiently distinct to be intelligible, if he keep the groups well separated from each other; but in slow delivery, grace or beauty, and often pointed expression, require that he separate also the words of the groups, and even to some extent the syllables of words from each other.

Some of the faults of articulation which have been already mentioned, should in strict propriety be placed under this head. They are those in which vowels are omitted, and words shortened by dropping them; e. g. hist'ry for history, cons'quence for consequence.

SUSTAINED EXPRESSION.

When first beginning to practise speaking, some experience great difficulty in keeping the requisite expression uniform and consistent as long as is necessary. The voice is apt to flag after the utterance of a few sentences, or even after a few words. The speaker begins with natural animation and a suitable expression, as also with a key and force adapted to the room, but soon loses this propriety of manner. When the voice flags, so likewise does the gesture, in respect to earnestness and significancy.