intercepting the breath at that point, modifies the sound into that of th; and the least retraction of the tongue from the precise point of the true formation, causes the middle of the tongue to ascend towards the arch of the palate, and modifies the current of breath into the sound of sh. No element of speech is so often and so variously faulty as S, and yet there is rarely much trouble required to correct its irregularities. Among the most common imperfections of this sound, we may note four leading varieties, which are sometimes found as marked and separate blemishes, and often in some degree of combination, which renders the precise nature of the peculiarity less evident, at the same time that the existence of a defect is manifest and unquestionable.

The first fault of S which we would notice, is that caused by the contact of the tip of the tongue with the teeth, or its projection between the teeth. This produces the sound of Th. Some people reckon this a fascinating charm,— especially in maiden mouths,‚—a mark of guileless innocence and simplicity; because, forsooth, the "thame thweet thort of thound" is often heard in the innocent prattle of childhood. There can be but one opinion as to its puerility ; it must therefore be an unbecoming habit in those who have outgrown the years of childishness.

Another form of defect arises from the flat expansion of the tongue over the lower teeth. This is a lazy-looking and peculiarly unprepossessing fault. It is too much allied to the aspect of imbecility to be tolerable from any other

cause.

In a third form, the point of the tongue is depressed behind the lower teeth, and the breath hisses between the elevated middle of the tongue and the palate. In this case, the teeth are too much apart to allow of sufficient sharpness in the sound; and the lower lip is therefore frequently employed to direct the stream into a narrower channel, by rising upwards, or folding itself inwards, to meet the upper teeth. By these means a very close resemblance to the sound of S is produced; and if we could not see its mechanism, we might often be inclined to pass it without notice, but it is so conspicuously deforming to the mouth that we are glad to turn our eyes from the speaker's face. These defects are commonly called, indiscriminately, by the general name, LISPING.

Another cacophonic substitution for S is a hissing over the sides of the back of the tongue, something like, but with less free apertures than, the breath form of L, which is heard in Welsh, represented in that language by Ll. This is a cluttering disagreeable sound; and it is generally accompanied by other faults of lingual action. The inarticulate confusion of speech which results, is commonly called "thickness."

With reference to the method of correcting these and other imperfections, we would be less careful to mark out the exact cause of the defect, than to illustrate and clearly point out the true mechanism of the sound which is defective; and, by varied experiments, and exercises on analogous and kindred formations, to induce the organs to fall into the unaccustomed position, perhaps unconsciously and unexpectedly at first on the part of the pupil. In this way, the association between the letter and the malformation will gradually be broken,

and the new form of articulation may in a very short time be fixed into a habit.

The analogy between the articulative actions of R and S is generally of much service in leading the tongue to the position for the latter element. A whispered R may be modified into S, by bringing the teeth as close as possible without actual contact, and depressing the tip of the tongue to a horizontal position, during the flow of the breath. Sometimes mechanical assistance facilitates the acquisition of the S: a paper cutter held between the teeth furnishes a convenient ledge on which the point of the tongue may lie until it acquires the power of moulding itself to the required shape.

We have hitherto described only the articulating position of S,—but the element is not finished without the retraction of the tongue from that position. The forcible practice of this part of the articulation will greatly tend to give ease and rapidity in executing the S, and in managing the tongue in the various evolutions of general speech. Let the S, when the sound is tolerably correct, be prolonged to the limit of expiration, and by this exercise its sharpness will be increased, and any wasteful issue of breath checked. Each prolonged hiss should have the articulative finish, by abruptly drawing in the tongue. The breath compressed within the mouth will then be emitted explosively; but it must be altogether voiceless.

Another highly improving exercise consists in stopping the hissing sound of S, by repeated appulses of the tongue against the palate-producing the combination St-St-St, &c. The action of the tongue from S to T should be backwards and upwards :—a common heaviness of speech arises from striking the tongue forward to the gum or teeth, or from simply pressing it upward, without a change of position. In the combination st (and sts, which the quick reiteration of st produces also) there are few persons who exhibit distinctness and lightness of articulation. A little practice of the lingual exercises prescribed in our pages will give facility to all who desire that their speech shall be something more than a mere brute instinct, by which," as Dr Rush remarks, some persons only bleat, bark, bray, whinny, and mew,- -a little better than others." Some difficulty may be found at first in managing these alternations of s and t, from the little space within which the tongue has to make so decided an action. The student will be inclined to a most destructive waste of breath in

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the effort to give T its articulative finish; but let him patiently persevere, uttering as long a series as he can, with each expiration, and he will insensibly, yet steadily, improve.

St is common in English, both as a final and as an initial combination. Such awkward clusters of consonants as in the following words are, therefore, of frequent occurrence:-fits and starts, tastes and distastes, states, statists, statistics.

To enable him to enounce these clearly, and without any harsh interruption of continuity, the student should practise the following Table :Est-ste, ist-stist, ast-sta, est-stest, ast-stast, ust-stust, ost-stost, ost-sto, oost-stoo.

Similar combinations of S with P and K are likewise very common; but they do not present so great a difficulty as the preceding, because the obstructive element is produced by the action of a different part of the mouth from that which forms the S.

The following also should be practised until fluency is obtained :—

Ast, est, ist, ost, ust; asp, esp, isp, osp, usp; ask, esk, isk, osk, usk.

Note. In this exercise the explosive finish of the T, P, and K must not be allowed to coalesce with the next vowel. In the most rapid iteration, the syllables must be ast, ast, ast, &c. and not astastast, &c.

Esp-spe, isp-spisp, asp-spa, esp-spesp, asp-spasp, usp-spusp, osp-sposp, osp-spo, oosp-spoo.

Esk-ske, isk-skisk, ask-ska, esk-skesk, ask-skask, usk-skusk, osk-skosk, osk-sko, oosk-skoo.

S and Th present an articulative difficulty when they meet without an intervening vowel. The action of the tongue from one to the other is exceedingly limited-but it must be firm and decided, to render the combination distinct. The change from the position of S to that of Th, consists in tapering and advancing the tip of the tongue. The whole tongue must not be pushed continuously forward, but the mere tip should just touch the teeth-as high as possible-by a rapid and distinct motion; the change from the one position to the other being accompanied by the audible, articulative finish of the first element. Let the student endeavour to produce a long series of these articulations—thus: s-th-s-th-s-th-s-th-s-th-s-th-s-th, &c.

Then let him prefix and subjoin a vowel to the combinations—thus :

When these have been sufficiently practised, the following arrangement of syllables containing S and Th alternately initial, should be mastered. The perplexing difficulty they present, renders them well worthy of the student's care for in overcoming this difficulty a great degree of organic power is gained, which must produce a beneficial effect upon articulation generally. Pronounce the combinations as words, with varying accents; and repeat each of them several times with the same expiration.

tha sa,
sa tha,

tha sa tha,

sa tha sa,

tha sa sa tha,
sa tha tha sa,

}

with ĕ I ō oo.

When S final comes before S initial, as in "The Alps sublime," the neat articulation of the double consonant requires a little art. Practise the following.

ace say,

ass sass,

ece see, ice sigh,
iss sis,

ess cess,

The difficulty of doubling articulative actions without awkward hiatus has led many Elocutionists to advise the omission of one in such combinations. Whoever could rest satisfied with saying "the Ethiopian's kin and the leopard's

pots," when he meant "the Ethiopian's skin and the leopard's spots," may follow the tasteless counsel; but we trust all others will rather spend an hour or two in drilling their organs into the necessary lightness of action, or else— be distinct, even at the expense of hiatus.

S is an extremely difficult articulation to Stammerers. In general, they have no difficulty in producing the hissing sound; they can take the articulative position, but they cannot add to that the necessary action which must finish the element. The hissing is thus continued till the lungs are almost exhausted; -and the Stammerer cannot stop the destructive waste. The fault here lies mainly with the glottis, which, in a non-vibrating position for the S, will not take the vocalizing posture for the succeeding vowel with sufficient readiness; and the chest aggravates the impediment which this occasions, by bearing down heavily upon the lungs, while probably the ungovernable jaw adds its share also to the difficulty. General practice on the actions of the various organs implicated in the stammer, is the only sure ground of cure. When the power

of government over these has been in some degree acquired, exercises on the difficult articulation will be of much service; but until the chest and glottisor, as we may call them, the producing organs, are brought under voluntary control, it will be of little use to practise the merely modifying actions of articulation. Partial and temporary relief may be obtained by simple articulative practice, but to give a rational ground of hope for permanent benefit, the exercises must begin with the deeper and more occult principles of respiratory and vocal government.

The Stammerer should practise the prolonged S, as before described, till he can form the sound with a very economical expenditure of breath. He should then give out a long series of very short articulated hisses-drawing the tongue smartly and completely back in the mouth, to finish each of them. Then let him stop the S by the various articulative actions which combine with it, adding the vowels to them for a subsequent exercise. By patient practice, difficulty after difficulty in execution will gradually give way, and he will be able to enounce this element with easy fluency.

The English language has been called the "hissing tongue," as if it, much more than its neighbour languages, abounded with this serpent sound. The removal of S from some of our combinations might certainly add to the euphony of our speech; but a comparison either of its letters or its sounds with those of the French, Italian, and Spanish languages, will show that the English is far from having the unenvied distinction. We have taken the trouble to compare some passages of equal length in these four languages, to ascertain, the number. of the hissing elements S and Z, actually pronounced in them, and the following is the result. In a French, Spanish, and English translation of the same passage there were found to be in the French, 60 of these sibi

In the French paragraph there were 93 sibilant LETTERS, while in the

English one there were only 77.

Still further to test this, we took a passage in Italian, containing the same number of words as in the Spanish portion, and found, even in this smooth euphonic tongue, a preponderance of 5 of these sibilants over the number contained in our decried English: which is thus proved to be more hissed at than hissing!"

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S initial combines with P, T, K, F, M, N, L, W, Y, as in sport, store, scope, sketch, square, sphere, smile, snow, slow, swear, sue. It enters into combination with no initial articulation in English utterance. In such words as psalm, psychology, &c. the p is therefore silent.

EXERCISES.

Initial.-Sea, sebacious, seethe, seize, cease, seat, seed, scene, seal, sear, seek, sip, sibilant, symbol, symmetry, sift, sieve, sister, scissors, scission, sit, sinew, scintillate, since, silly, silk, sickle, signify, sink, single, say, sapient, sable, same, safe, saviour, sage, sane, sail, saleable, sake, sago saint, salient, separate, semblance, seminary, cemetery, cephalalgy, seven, saith, sessile, says, session, sedge, settle, said, send, sentence, sense, sensual, celery, serry, serrated, second, segregate, sect, segment, sash, sarcasm, sardonyx, sarse, salve, saunter, sir, serpent, sermon, serf, servant, sirs, search, serge, circle, circuit, certain, sup, suburb, subtile, some, suffer, southern, sustenance, subtle, suttler, sudden, sun, sully, surd, surge, surly, surrogate, surf, surcle, suck, suggest, saw, sauce, saws, salt, solder, sawed, sawn, sop, sob, somnolent, soft, sot, sod, sonnet, solecism, sorrel, sorrow, soften, sorcery, sore, sword, source, sores, sow, soap, sober, sofa, sown, soul, soldier, sojourn, soho, soup, soothe, soot, soon, sigh, cipher, scythe, size, sight, side, sign, silent, sire, sow, south, souse, sows, sound, sour, soy, soil, samphire, saffron, sapphire, savage, sassafras, saginate, Saturday, saddle, sanative, salad, salique, saraband, sacrament, sagamore, sagathy, satchel.

Sp.-Speak, speech, speed, spear, spit, spin, spill, spirit, spathe, space, spade, spake, sped, spend, spell, spelt, speck, spasm, spatter, span, sparrow, sparse, spark, sperm, spirt, disperse, sputter, sponge, spurs, spurge, spurn, spawn, sport, spoke, spoon, spy, spice, spite, spied, spine, spire, spike, spouse, spout, spoil.

Spr.-Sprain, sprat, sprawl, spray, spread, sprig, spright, spring, sprinkle, sprit, sprout, spruce, sprung, express, disprove. Spl.-Splash, splay, spleen, splenetic, splendent, splice, splint, splutter, displease, explain.