teachers of these schools should labor to improve themselves. They should feel, that, to them, for a time, are committed the future orators of the land. We had rather have a child, of either sex, return to us from school, a first rate reader, than a first rate performer on the piano. We should feel that we had a far better pledge for the intelligence and talent of our child. The accomplishment, in its perfection, would give more pleasure. The voice of song is not sweeter than th voice of eloquence. And there may be eloquent readers, as well as eloquent speakers. We speak of perfection in this art, and it is something, we must say in defence of our preference, which we have never yet seen. Let the same pains be devoted to reading, as are required to form an accomplished per former on an instrument; let us have our formers of the voice, the music masters of the reading voice, as the ancients had; let us see years devoted to this accomplishment, and then we shall be prepared to stand the comparison. It is, indeed, a most intellectual accomplishment. So is music, too, in its perfection. But one recommendation of the art of reading, is, that it requires a constant exercise of mind. It demands con tinual and close reflection and thought, and the finest discrimi nation of thought. It involves, in its perfection, the whole art of criticism on language."

ON QUANTITY, OR THE PROLONGATION OF THE VOCAL ELEMENTS. i

All well informed individuals know the meaning of quantity in vocal music. In elocution, it seems not to be equally well understood. In speech, as well as in song, it consists in pro longing the vocal elements, which are usually called the vowe! sounds, without elevating the voice upon them. It is decidedly the most important part of expression. It is emphasis by time. It should not be given, except upon words or sentences of unusual importance. Solemn subjects, prayers, every thing of deep pathos, all pieces, whether in prose or poetry, relating to the great and imperishable interest of man, as a being who has entered upon an interminable state of duration, such as St. Paul's description of the resurrection, Montgomery's Grave,

Thanatopsis, Adam and Eve's Morning Hymn, and our Lord's Prayer, should be read or recited with quantity.

In giving quantity, singing and drawling must be avoided. There should be no admixture of either. Pure speech should be preserved. Shakspeare warns us against "mouthing our words," by which he doubtless means, drawling. Half a century since, public speakers and readers were more in the habit of degenerating into singing or drawling, or both, than now. But whoever will be at the trouble, to become theoretically and practically acquainted with elocution, will see, that our cotemporaries are not entirely free from such faults. Those who read and partly sing at the same time, do neither well. It is related of Cæsar, that a person read with such a degree of song before him, that he inquired: "Do you read, or sing?"

The sound of an agreeable voice is made by inhaling the air into the recesses of the lungs, and throwing it skilfully through the lips and nostrils.

In pronouncing an element, a certain amount of time is unavoidably consumed. It is easy to perceive that in the word name, we necessarily give the letter a, a longer sound than in man. In name, the e is silent. It has therefore three sounds. The word man, too, has three sounds. The only difference is in the word name, the a has a long sound; in man, short. In pronouncing either of the words, the organs of speech assume three distinctive positions. Nearly all words are susceptible of quantity, to some extent. It can, however, much more easily be given upon words, the vocal sounds of which are long, as in ale, all, eve, isle, old, ooze. It is peculiarly improper to attempt to give quantity to syllables, the time of which cannot be extended, without changing their elementary and natural sounds. Act, pit, end, art, flood, memory, are of this description.

The syllables and words marked in italic, in the following examples, require quantity.

"Oh! happiness, our being's end and aim."

"Green be thy fields, sweetest isle of the ocean."
"Roll on, thou dark and deep blue ocean, roll."
"Hail holy light." "We praise thee, O Lord."

"O, thou that roll-est above." "The curfew tolls." "Sorrow breaks seasons and re-po-sing hours, Makes the night morn-ing, and the noon-tide night."

"And every turf beneath their feet,

Shall be a sol-dier's sepulchre."

"When I am forgotten, as I shall be,

And sleep in dull, cold marble."

"Roll on, ye dark, brown years; for ye bring no joy in your course.

"On the cold cheek of death, smiles and roses are blending, And beauty immortal awakes from the tomb."

"Yet a few days, and the all-be-hold-ing Sun shall see no more, in all his course."

“Oh! flowers, that never will in other climate grow."

"High on a throne of royal state."

"Join voices, all ye living souls."

Hail, universal Lord."

"O, my mother Earth, take home thy child."

"Come to the bridal cham-ber, Death."

"So let it be with Cæsar."

"Here comes his body, mourned by Mark Antony."

"The roll-ing surf, as it breaks over the reef, will resound to him a deep and sol-emn requiem."

"Hear'st thou the groans that rend his breast?"

"Fare-well awhile; I will not leave you long."

"Could we but climb where Moses stood, And view the landscape o'er,—

Not Jor-dan's stream, nor death's cold flood,
Should fright us from the shore."

"I heard many angels round about the throne, saying with a loud voice, wor-thy is the Lamb that was slain."

"Be-hold! I show you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised in-corruptible, and we shall be changed."

"And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened, and an-other book was opened, which is the book of Life; and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works."

"And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man, coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory."

"Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us, this day, our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from e-vil: For thine is the king-dom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen."

"Soaling yonder peak,

1 saw an eagle wheeling near its brow;
O'er the abyss, his broad ex-pan-ded wings
Lay calm and mo-tionless upon the air,
As if he floated there with-out their aid,
By the sole act of his unlorded will,
That buoy'd him proudly up. Instinctively
I bent my bow, yet kept he rounding still
His airy circle, as in the de-light

Of measuring the ample range beneath,

And round about; absorb-'d, he heeded not

The death that threatened him. I could not shoot.

'Twas lib-erty. I turned my bow aside,

And let him soar away."

Some of the sub-vocal elements, in certain combinations, ad

mit of quantity; the aspirates, seldom. Quantity upon the subvocals and aspirates, is inadmissible at the beginning of syllables. In reading or reciting sublime pieces, or solemn passages of Scripture, care must be taken not to give quantity to every syllable, nor the same long quantity to every word. Words require a greater or less degree of quantity, according to their real or comparative importance. To avoid monotony, and that disagreeable tone which consists in a recurrent melody, the voice must not be permitted to rest, for many moments, on the same pitch. It must be constantly undergoing such changes as sentiment demands, in the rising, falling, and circumflex inflections.

Quantity cannot be given, without considerable compass of voice. The term, in its most extended sense, implies volume or fulness of sound. In elocution, as in music, a sound may be either loud or soft on the same note. Speakers and readers who wish to excite the admiration of their hearers, would do well to increase their compass of voice, instead of raising their key. Quantity, in its perfection,

"Comes o'er the ear, like the sweet south, Which breathes upon a bank of violets, Stealing and giving odor."

The other elements of expression, are pitch, force, and quality, or kind of voice; each of which, is of consequence, because every syllable must be sounded, either on a higher or lower key; it must have more or less force, and have some one quality of voice, as well as consume more or less time in its utterance. It is, however, deemed unnecessary to bestow special attention upon any of the elements of expression, in this work, except quantity.

It is believed that teachers who introduce this book into their schools, academies, or colleges; and gentlemen who may peruse it, will exercise good taste enough to pitch the voice, and give it that quality and degree of force which circumstances, sentiments, or pieces may require.

The different combinations of the four elements, which are here mentioned, and the most important of which, it need not. be repeated, is quantity, produce all the varieties of expression, of which the voice is capable.

Emphasis, the laws of which should not be, by any means, disregarded, is produced by combining force and pitch. It