But we soon parted, and forever: yet I believe, neither has since suffered any inconvenience from our sociability, while I very agreeably received much satisfactory information.

-

Regarding then the restoration of Gothic Architecture, may we ask, whether the time will ever come, when the art of analytic speech, now the humble topic of a small fraternity, may so far obtain a hearing from the world, that some influential patrons will, as happened with that once o'er-shadowed art, draw ours too from obscurity?-Will the time ever come, when our School of Nature and Inquiry may say, and it shall be understood, -that Mrs. Siddons derived her great dignity in Tragedy, from a well directed use of the Diatonic Melody, more than from any other means of intonation; and that Barry, in characters of tenderness, owed his superiority over Garrick, to his delicate execution, and appropriate use of the Semitonic Wave? Will it come, when on the authority of our principles, it will be believed, if I say, that the later Booth, although rejected or undervalued, perhaps through some business calculation, by London Managers, yet apart from the ranting scenes of the poet, had in his better days, with least of the vocal vices of the stage, and hardly an affectation, one of the most elegant and appropriate intonations I have ever heard? And finally, will not the time come, when in some future system of speech, raised upon the foundation here laid in Observation, principles may take the place of authority: and the name of Master being no more bandied, and kept up, by contentious opinion, may be superseded by acknowledged precept, and then be forgotten?

Philadelphia, January 1, 1855.

PREFACE

TO THE

THIRD EDITION.

THE 'Philosophy of the Human Voice' was first published, nearly eighteen years ago: and as the lapse of time has afforded. ample opportunity for determining, how far its descriptions accord with the phenomena of Nature; it may not be uninteresting to the reflective student of elocution, to have a short account of its reception, and of its progress within this period.

Two editions have been published; one of five hundred copies, in January, eighteen hundred and twenty-seven; the other, of twelve hundred and fifty copies, in June, eighteen hundred and thirty-three. And although the work has been out of print for six years, the present edition is not perhaps essential to its preservation: there being already abroad, print enough to furnish a revival-copy, when the humor of those who hold the great seals of patronage, may choose to give it a place in their encyclopedia of knowledge, and their schools of practical instruction. It is rather at the call, and for the sake of those few friendly Samaritans, who are disposed to take charge of it, while the Priest and Levite of learning pass along on the other side, that I have with some inconvenience, at this time, undertaken to republish it.

The amount of good-will thus far extended to the work, may scarcely deserve the name of patronage: but it is rather more than was expected, and will perhaps be sufficient to keep it from

oblivion. Upwards of twenty individuals with various qualifications, have been occupied in teaching its principles. The greater part of these have lived in the Northern section of the United States. South and West of the Susquehanna, it is little known. All the individuals alluded to, have respectively taught the work, with a full, or a limited understanding of it, and a varied ability to apply it in practice. Some have been resident and some. traveling teachers: the latter giving lectures, or temporary school-instruction, in towns and villages. It may well be imagined, that teaching a system uninviting at least, if not repulsive, from its novelty, would be but an unprofitable labor: and such appears to have been the case with those who have thus far been occupied in its promulgation.

As this work professes to set forth the universal principles of speech, the subject at least, is not beneath the notice of the, philologist of any age or nation. But as regards its foreign relationships, the Philosophy of the Human Voice' has been obliged to come under that old interrogative condemnation of —‘who reads an American book?'

To the scientific in two or three parts of Europe, it is known, by an occasional whisper, that such a book exists. Two individuals, Dr. Barber, and the Reverend Samuel Wood, have been the first to speak aloud of it in England: but with what success, I am not informed. It lies all-dusty on the shelves of many of the Public libraries of Europe; and is in the possession of some of those who give fashion to the science of the times. But it has never yet received a strictly investigating notice: no examination by a qualified and authoritative ear, which might decide whether what is offered as the truth of Nature, is that very truth. And, as in preparing the work for others, the author was, by circumstances, the solitary pupil of his own instruction; so with hope-deferred, to correct its faults by the aid of competent counsel, he has been obliged, in the variations and enlargement of each successive edition, to assume the office of an insufficient and perhaps partial critic over himself.

By far the greater number of the pupils and friends of this system, have been of that class, which the Rank and Fashion of

Science calls the humble and Unknown; Persons of no account; though long noted for sometimes doing new and most excellent things, and for very frequently, first helping them along.

Of the infinitude of demagogues in our country, from the candidate for Presidency, down to him who works the plot of Nomination; and who all, in one debasing brotherhood, but with a varied personality, are at the same time, corrupting their voices, their intellect, their moral principles, and their republican government :-of all these, I have not heard of one, who has had time or repose enough, to inquire even whether this work might not, if so ill-used alas! imbue his speeches with a more impressive sophistry, and graceful vocal-cunning, to allure, to blind, and to mislead the people.

Of the many Actors whom I have known and heard of, none seem to have the least idea of such a thing as a philosophy of the voice; or that the department of speech which this book particularly regards, requires the improving aid of science; or indeed, that success in their art can be effected by anything else than some mysterious power of genius. One individual, but not till he had left the Stage, has formed an association in Boston, for teaching the principles of this philosophy.

. Here and there, a young Lawyer, with that generality of temperament, and inkling of taste, which in this country at least, is rather a drawback to advancement in the profession, has looked into this subject, tried a few lessons, and then abandoned his purpose.

The clergy have more generally regarded the system with a favorable ear have studied and patronized it.

I have known one physician only, who comprehended the design, and studied the details of this work; but he is deceased. Why it has found no favor with the Medical Faculty, at least as a subject of physiology, is perhaps to be solved by the factsthat it is strictly observative; that it rejects all notions, and quarrelsome theories;-has not yet come into popular use; and is the contribution, such as it is, of a physician.

Musicians and singers, together with a certain class of amateurs and critics, who either to confer or receive patronage,

hover about them, have given no attention to this subject. Of a large number in each of these classes, I have found none able to appreciate our history; or to understand how speech and music might be but different branches of the same art. To this I may add the remarkable circumstance, that while musicians and singers, possessing by the long habit of practice, if not by natural ear, the most precise discrimination of tunable sounds, are unable to recognize the peculiar music of speech, and even to understand the mere meaning of this work; there is a class, — the Society of Friends, who, by the strictest discipline, shun all the graces of Art, who never cultivate the ear either by instrument or voice, but fantastically corrupt it in their public discourse; yet these, when addressed by the system, have formed a large proportion of its pupils, and have comprehended its design, though they may not have always been able, vocally to execute its rules.

A few teachers of Psalmody appear to have read the work: and as far as they have found its discriminations and terms applicable to their purpose, have adopted them in their Manuals of instruction.

On the whole, very few of those who hold the scientific influence, whatever that may be, of this country, have regarded it, either with curiosity or favor. But what makes their case remarkable is, that in their own want of understanding, they always imagine the deficiency to be on the side of the Author. One says, it is a sealed book; another, that it might as well have been written in Hebrew. An eminent leader of opinion, on this side of the water, says, it is not worth reviewing: while on the other side, one of the very highest rank, in British periodical criticism, declares, in the frank confession of an ineffable superiority, that it quite surpasses his comprehension.' One, not contented with his own single incompetence, takes me into his company, by saying, that I do not understand it myself: while to a high-placed medical professor, the work appeared to be altogether so unintelligible, that he recommended one of his friends to read it, as a fine example, that is a case, of the incoherent language of insanity.