learner propose to himself in a familiar manner, this question: Do I say ā, or ā? and he will perceive a difference in the successive modes of uttering this vowel. In the first, the movement is upward, and in the latter it is downward. And now if he shall attempt to repeat the vowel elements, he will find that the voice will naturally fall into the one or the other of these modes of utterance; that is, it will either rise or fall on each successive effort. And the result will be the same, if he shall attempt to pronounce syllables or words.

Having satisfied himself of the existence of a rise or fall in these cases, let him repeat the same question with different degrees of earnestness; and he will find that the rise and fall will become greater, as the energy with which he proposes the question increases. The space in all these cases between the radical and vanish is called a concrete interval. And these movements, according as they are upward or downward, are called upward or downward Slides of the voice.*

The slides of the voice which occur mostly in speech, are those of the semitone, of a full tone or second, of the third or two full tones, of the fifth, and of the octave; all of which, except the first, may be represented by the aid of the musical scale.

* Called in our old books on Elocution rising and falling Inflections.

1. The slide of a Semitone.-This is heard in the complaints of children, and is also the element which gives the peculiar expression to the language of grief, or of pity. It should be at the command of every speaker, and yet there is danger of using it too freely. It can be caught by the experienced ear, in the attempt to imitate the tender emotions, and can then be readily transferred to any desired syllable or word; but the exercise will be most successful if confined to passages expressing complaint, grief or pity. This element, when extended beyond mere words or phrases, is called the Chromatic melody.

2. The slide of the Second.-This is the slide employed in the reading of simple narrative, and in unimpassioned discourse, and when used continuously constitutes the Diatonic melody.

3. The slides of the Third, Fifth, and Octave.—Exercise on these several functions of speech, after the extent of each shall be determined, is peculiarly important; and the exercise may extend to both the upward and downward movements. The upward movement may be given either with the radical or vanishing stress; the downward usually though not always requires the radical.

The musical scale will suggest to the learner the means of measuring the extent of a slide, by fixing in the mind the radical and vanishing points and thus determining the

Downward

Octave.

interval. It will also enable him to fix beforehand the extent of the slide which he wishes to practice. Suppose it to be a Third, he will rise two notes above the key-thus fa-sol-la, or do-re-mi, discretely; and then, instead of going up by skips, will rise on the sound fa or do concretely up to the place of la, or mi; and thus fix for himself the limit of the desired slide. Then it may be repeated on one of the vowel elements, or on any syllable or word at pleasure. The same, if it be a fifth or an octave. And when he has learned to determine these points, he is prepared for practice on this branch of the subject; and practice obviously is all that is necessary to enable the learner to extend the slides from any one point to another within the compass of his voice.

For practice on these slides, both upward and downward, we would recommend to the learner,

1. To use the long vowel elements of Table I.

2. To use the words employed in the same Table to illustrate these elementary sounds; thus, ale, all, arm, &c. This table of words may be extended at pleasure.

3. It is recommended to the learner, to apply these slides to words, as they occur in current discourse. In the following exercises, the acute accent is used to denote the rising slide, and the grave accent- the falling. And whenever this latter inflection occurs, it is to be specially borne in mind, that the downward movement does not commence on the same line of pitch with the current melody, but always on a line above it.

1. Will you gó-or stày? Will you ride-or wàlk? Will you go to-day-or to-morrow?

2. King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest.

3. Armed, say you? Armed, my lord. From top to toe? My lord, from head to foòt.

4. By hónor, and dishonor; by évil report and goòd report; as decéivers, and yet true; as únknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold we live; as chástened, and not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as póor, yet making many rìch; as having nóthing, and yet possessing àll things.

5. Whither shall I tùrn? to what place shall I betàke myself? Shall I go to the cápitol? Alas! it is overflowed with my brother's blood! Or shall I retire to my house? Yet thère I behold my mother plunged in misery, weeping and despàiring!

6 And though I have the gift of pròphecy, and understand all m'ysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove moùntains, and have not chárity, I am nothing.

7. The man who is in the daily use of ardent spírit, if he does not become a drunkard, is in danger of losing his health and character.

8. True charity is not a meteor which occasionally gláres; but a luminary, which, in its òrderly and règular course, dispenses a benignant influence.

9. Caesar, who would not wait the conclusion of the consul's speech, generously replied, that he came into Italy not to injure the liberties of Rome and its citizens, but to restòre them.

10. If any man sín, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiàtion for our sin; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

'11. These things I say now, not to insult one who is fallen, but to render more secure those who stand; not to irritate the hearts of the wounded, but to preserve those who are not yet wounded, in sound health; not to submerge him who is tossed on the billows, but to instruct those who are sailing before a propitious breeze, that they may not be plunged beneath the waves.

12. But this is no time for a tribunal of jústice, but for showing mercy; not for accusátion, but for philanthropy; not for tríal, but for pardon; not for sentence and execution, but compassion and kindness.

13. If the population of this country were to remain stationary, a great effort would be necessary to supply each family with a Bible.

The teacher, or learner, can multiply these examples at pleasure; and the subject should not be passed over, till the ear of the learner can distinguish instantly between the rising and the failing slide, as it occurs in speech; nor till he can execute them at pleasure.

The learner need scarcely be reminded, though we treat the different functions of the voice separately and devote to them different sections in our Manual, yet that in speech they are often united. Thus, the slides can never be given without involving quantity, and some one of the different kinds of stress. But though so closely allied, still they are entirely distinct elements.

Before leaving this subject, we proceed to notice some of the practical uses of the slides, and the rules which direct their employment.

I. THE DIATONIC SLIDES.

These are slides through a single tone only, and are not used for purposes of Expression. These slides distinguish speech from song, and in discourse belong to the utterance of every syllable, which does not take in a wider concrete interval for the purpose of Emphasis or Interrogation. In the simple melody of speech, the rising slide greatly predominates over the falling; as the latter occurs only at the close of sentences, or members of sentences, nor always there. Rules then are only requisite to determine the slide before pauses. These have been multiplied by writers on Elocution; but, reserving the rules for Emphasis and Interrogation for another place, it is believed that the rules for the Diatonic Slides may be briefly summed up thus:

RULE I. The proper Cadence, at the close of a complete sentence, requires that the last syllable, and in some