requires, that these distinctions should be practically understood. And if any one, who has given no attention to this point, thinks it too easy to demand attention, he may be better satisfied by a single experiment. Let him take this line of Shakspeare,

O, you hard hearts, you cruel men of Rome !

and read it first in a voice barely audible. Then let him read it again and again, on the same pitch, doubling his quantity or impulse of sound, at each repetition, and he will find that it requires great care and management to do this, without raising his voice to a higher note.

As it is a prime requisite in a public speaker, that he be heard with ease and pleasure, the importance of his being able to swell his voice to a loud and full sound, without raising his pitch, must be apparent. As a general rule, that voice is loud enough, which perfectly fills the place where we speak; or, in other words, which perfectly reaches the hearers, with a reserve of strength to enforce a passage, in which sentiment demands peculiar en

ergy.

The inconvenience of a feeble voice in a public speaker is great. He will either fail to be heard at all, or will be heard with so much difficulty, that his auditors are subjected to the drudgery of a laborious listening to spell out his meaning.

Besides, there are circumstances, of no uncommon occurrence, by which this inconvenience is specially aggravated. Among these may be mentioned the injudicious structure of buildings, the chief design of which is adaptation to public speaking, such as legislative and judicial

halls, and Christian churches. The purposes of these buildings is sometimes nearly frustrated by immoderate size; by extreme height of the ceiling; and in churches particulary, by the multiplication of ill-formed arches, so constructed as to return a strong broken echo,-by the bad arrangement of galleries, and the sounding-board, adjusted close to the speaker's head.

Sometimes too, even the secular orator, and much oftener the preacher, is called to speak in the open air; or on the other extreme, to speak in a private apartment, so crowded as hardly to admit of free respiration. In such cases the common disadvantages of a feeble voice are much increased.

If the inquiry be made, on what does strength of voice depend?—I answer,

First, it depends primarily on perfect organs of speech. As it is important for the professed speaker to know something of these wonderful organs, with the preservation and use of which he is so much concerned, a brief enumeration of them may be proper here.

Of these, the lungs have the first place. Mere vigor in this organ, is not of course attended with vocal power, but the latter cannot exist without the former. Other things being equal, he who has the best conformation of chest, and the most forcible action of lungs, will have the strongest voice. Fishes, and those insects that have no lungs, have no voice.

Next is the trachea, that elastic tube, by which air passes to and from the lungs; to the length of which in some birds, is ascribed the uncommon power of their voice. At the upper end of this, is the larynx, a cartillaginous box,

of the most delicate, vibratory power, so suspended by muscles as to be easily elevated or depressed. The glottis is a small aperture, (at the top of the larynx,) by the dilatation or contraction of which, sound becomes more acute or more grave. To secure this aperture from injury, while food passes over it, to the stomach, it is closed by a perfect valve, called the epiglottis.

These are organs of sound, but not of speech, without the aid of others adapted to articulation,-namely, the tongue, the palate, the nostrils, the lips and teeth. My limits do not allow me to examine minutely the wonderful adaptation of these latter organs to their end, nor the mode of their action in forming articulate sounds. Such an examination is unnecessary to one who has patience to make it himself, and to others, it would be useless.

Secondly, next to the importance of good organs, in giving strength of voice, is the proper exercise of these organs. The habit of speaking gave to the utterance of Garrick so wonderful an energy, that even his under key was distinctly audible to ten thousand people. In the same way the French missionary Bridaine brought his vocal. powers to such strength, as to be easily heard by ten thousand persons, in the open air; and twice this number of listening auditors were sometimes addressed by Whitefield. The capacity of the lungs to bear the effort of speaking with a full impulse, depends much on their being accustomed to it. If I were to give directions to the student, as to the means of strengthening his voice by exercise, they would be such as these.

(1) Whenever you use your voice on common occasions, use as much voice, as propriety will permit. The

restriction here intended must be applied by common

sense.

(2) Read aloud, as a stated exercise. [See 3. p. 31.] This was a daily practice of the first statesmen and generals of Rome, even in the midst of campaigns, and public emergencies; and it was by such a habit of reading and declamation in private, that the sons of these men were trained to a bold and commanding oratory. An erect, and commonly a standing posture, in such exercises, gives the fullest expansion to the chest and lungs.

(3) In public speaking, avoid all improper efforts of the lungs. These arise chiefly from speaking on too high a key, a fault noticed above; from extreme anxiety to accommodate delivery to hearers who are partially deaf; and from attempts to go through a long discourse, with such a degree of hoarseness as greatly augments the labor of the lungs.

Thirdly, to preserve the lungs, and give strength to the vocal powers, it is necessary to avoid those habits by which public speakers are often injured;-such as,

(1) Bad attitudes of study, especially of writing, which cramp the chest and obstruct the vital functions.

(2) Late preparations, by which the effort of public delivery immediately succeeds the exhaustion of intense and long continued study.

(3) Full meals immediately before, and stimulating drinks immediately before or after speaking.

(4) Inhaling cold air by conversation, and sudden change of temperature, when the lungs are heated by speaking.

There is one general precaution, I may add, that

comprises and in some measure supersedes all others on this subject, namely, that strength of the vocal powers is to be promoted only by sustaining the general vigor of the constitution. The fatal prevalence of pulmonary disease, among literary men, especially ministers of the gospel, is commonly ascribed to their peculiar labours in public speaking. But with much more reason might it be ascribed, chiefly, to their habits as men of study. The general intelligence and spirit of the age render high acquisitions and efforts indispensable, in order to distinguished usefulness. Years of preparatory study, devoted to intense reading and thought, often impair the tone of health, so that the superaddition of professional exertions soon finishes the work of prostration. The young preacher, of ardent feelings, is eminently in danger of falling an early victim to the combined influence of these causes. Besides the weekly composition of sermons, a labour that has no parallel in any other profession, an accumulation of pastoral duties, new, and vast in importance, press him down from day to day, till he sinks, under this load of duties, into the grave; or drags on the precarious existence of an invalid, with broken lungs, and emaciated frame.

1

Now the case is summed up in a few words. The public speaker needs a powerful voice. The quantity of voice which he can employ, at least, can employ with safety, depends on his strength of lungs; and this again depends on a sound state of general health. If he neglects this, all other precautions will be useless.*

* The foregoing suggestions on strength of voice, are only an outline of the more particular and extended illustration given to this part of the subject in my Lectures on Delivery.