hour, to the exercise of singing 'bass'. The effect is usually felt, in such cases, to be altogether enfeebling. Yet the same individual will sustain, without fatigue, his wonted form of vocal exertion, for a whole evening. The average voice of conversation and unimpassioned reading or speaking, is in the 'tenor' or middle range of notes; that of solemn and deep emotion, in public address, is relatively as low as 'bass.' The latter is properly the prevalent style of the pulpit, which demands the strong and impressive utterance of passages naturally pitched on a low key; while conversation, in consequence of the limited space which it requires the voice to fill, admits the easier task of vocal exertion on a low pitch, united with a softened force.

Persons conversant, to any extent, with the nature of the process of 'phonation,'* will at once perceive the peculiar necessity of vocal training for the preacher, as it arises from the special form of utterance connected with his professional functions. Any ear, however, can readily detect the helpless and inexpressive hollowness into which the preacher's voice so often falls in the strains of deep feeling,-a fault against which due cultivation and practice would be an infallible safeguard.

The dreaded reaction of nature, on Monday, after the excessive exertions of the Sabbath,-a thing which preachers of delicate or susceptible organization so often anticipate with a sense of coming misery, is, no doubt, caused, in part, by the unreasonable extent of exertion encountered in repeating the effort of public speaking twice, or even thrice, on the same day. But the chief cause of exhaustion is usually to be traced to the state of the larynx and the bronchial tubes, induced by the frequent repetition and long continued use of the lowest notes of the voice, which of necessity cause the expenditure of a comparatively large supply of breath, in their production and formation.

A rigorous course of vocal exercise, serving, for the organs of speech, the same purpose with powerful gymnastic disci

*The formation of vocal sound.

pline for the limbs, is the only security for the long continued possession of strength of utterance, especially if exerted on low notes. The parts so severely taxed must be protected by exercise adapted both to indurate and supple the muscular apparatus, so as to impart, at once, vigor and flexibility to the

voice.

The unreflecting observer often contents himself, in view of the professional difficulty now referred to, with prescribing to the preacher the habitual use of a higher key of voice, in his public performances, as a sufficient security against injurious effects. But it is forgotten, in these instances, that the preacher, if true to his office, must habitually use the natural and proper tones of deep and solemn emotion; and, although it is certain, that evils not unfrequently arise from the undue prevalence of one strain of feeling and of utterance, yet it is not less so, that the very themes on which the preacher discourses, require, for the most part, a deepened note of voice.

There is, in fact, no alternative, in most cases, but due practice and training, as a security against those fatal inroads of disability and disease, which are so frequent among the members of the clerical profession. Powerful constitutions and cheerful tempers enable individuals to bear much injury without sinking under it. The cerebral and nervous systems (not to speak of the muscular frame) of some men, enable them even to bid defiance to the effects of habitual intemperance, and to attain, in spite of these, to a vigorous old age,as in the case of the Scottish highlander, whose daily potations would destroy most Americans, in a few years, or even months. But no sound-minded person thinks of quoting such cases as authority for indulging in such practices. The case is similar, as regards the tear and wear of vocal exertion: if not counteracted by rational preventives, it cuts off, silently but surely, its annual multitudes of victims. The seasonable precautions which a proper early education would prescribe, might obviate all such evils. But, as matters are, this result is left to the choice of the adult student, at a stage when the remedy, if not speedily applied, may prove too late.

'Inflection.'

The systematic cultivation of the voice, is in no respect more important to true and effective expression, than in its proper inflection, or, in other words, its transits upward and downward on the scale, in accommodation to the variations of thought and feeling, whether in emphatic words, or the successive clauses of a sentence. The utterance of unpractised and unskilful readers, is usually marked by the absence of inflection, and, consequently, a prevailing monotony; or by mechanical inflections, which never rise or fall beyond a certain note, and which necessarily give a measured correspondence of parts to all sentences, alike; gliding up at one clause and down at another, in a regularly alternating see-saw of sound, which destroys the natural variety of thought and emotion. This uniformly recurring verbal melody, resembles, in effect, the singing of all the hymns in a book to the same tune. Another common fault in inflection, is that of overdoing it; so that the upward and downward slides are rendered mechanically and disagreeably prominent, projecting themselves upon the ear, as the jagged rocks of wild scenery upon the eye; or that of exaggerating every inflection into a double form, comprising both slides in every distinctive or emphatic accent. This style destroys all repose and dignity of voice, by its jerking turns and reduplications, and its over anxious emphasis. Another error, still, converts all poetry into prose by substituting the pointed and marked inflections of common discourse, for the reduced and melodious ones of verse. This fault seems to extract the appropriate feeling from a hymn, and to bring it down from devotional elevation to mere practical associations of utility, such as are appreciated by the understanding, rather than felt in the heart. But the most prevalent of all faults in inflection, is that of varying the voice by a certain personal melody of tone, habitual to the reader alone; sliding upward or downward or waving and undulating, at the dictate of a false ear, without any regard to the expression of thought or feeling, and in obedience to no law but the accus

tomed gait of the individual's peculiar style of utterance, contracted at school. This fault constitutes what is termed, in popular language, a tone.' It marks the man, but does not express his meaning. Its effect resembles that of singing 'out of tune,' and adding to false intonation a vitiated melody. Whatever may be the sentiment which such a speaker utters, its effect is neutralized, more or less, by this trick of habit. Yet it is a fault from which few speakers comparatively are exempt. Some exemplify it more conspicuously; others, less so but it is an error in elocution which holds possession of the pulpit, to the exclusion of the genuine expressive utterance that nature prompts, and which alone can elicit a true personal sympathy.

A degree of attention, no greater than is usually given, in the cultivation of vocal music, to the mastering of the gamut, would cure all the faults which usually disfigure the inflections of pulpit elocution, and would enable the preacher to speak with effect both to head and heart, in the appropriate language of inflection. The simple and complex* slides of the voice upward and downward on the scale, are the only proper means of drawing intellectual distinctions, of indicating the constituent and relative parts of a sentiment, as these are subdivided and arranged in the consecutive clauses of a sentence, or of conveying those emotions which predominate in the heart of the speaker, and which he wishes to transfer to those of his audience.

'Inflection,' whether it is exemplified in the form of the 'slide' or the 'wave,' may be analyzed scientifically, in the manner exhibited in Dr. Rush's work on the voice, by the application of the musical scale; or it may be studied practically, by attentive observation of the actual turns of voice, in the exercises of reading and speaking. But, in either case, it requires a close and penetrating application of the attention to nice and exact distinctions of sound. It cannot be mastered by ordinary inspection or transient notice. But the due

*The complex or double slide of the voice Dr. Rush terms the 'wave.

study and practice of this part of elocution will be richly rewarded, in the acquisition of a skilful and effective control over the true 'melody' of speech and reading, and, consequently, over that music of the voice which plays, at the will of the orator, the tune of thought or that of feeling. Inflections are, always, the vocal exposition of a sentence: they are the interpreters of speech and enforce its meaning; without them, reading is but the senseless syllabication of the juvenile learner, in his unpractised steps, when the spirit of a passage is merged in the mere sound of words as such. The voice of the skilful reader, aided by appropriate inflections, strikes a thought home to both head and heart, and awakes in the soul every kindred association. Inflection is, in all cases, one of the most useful and effectual instruments of true eloquence. It is the purest and most brilliant of all the ornaments which a consummate elocution confers on the voice. It is the appropriate language of a cultivated intellect and a discerning spirit; and it is, not less distinctively, the melody into which emotion breathes the life and power of expression.*

'Movement.'

Another distinguishing trait of a cultivated voice, and one which is of the utmost moment to the preacher, is the complete control which it ensures over the 'movement,' or rate of time observed in utterance, as adapted to different emotions. A slight observation is sufficient to enable any ear to detect the common faults, in this particular, which are exhibited in the pulpit. Some preachers, desiring to secure a plain, familiar style of expression, resembling that of conversation, run into the error of too great rapidity. A similar result is produced by the constitutional vivacity of others. In

* The various forms of inflection will be found scientifically arranged and designated in Dr. Rush's Philosophy of the Voice. They are exemplified in technical detail, in the volume on Orthophony, formerly mentioned, and practically applied to an appropriate selection of passages in the American Elocutionist.