To the last penny: 'tis the king's: My robe,
And my integrity to Heaven, is all

I dare now call mine own. O Cromwell, Cromwell!
Had I but served my God with half the zeal
I served the king, he would not in mine age
Have left me naked to mine enemies!

Henry VIII.

QUESTIONS

1. Write out the definition of "Enunciation".

2. Give a definition of "Fault".

3. Have you any faults?

4. What are they?

5. What is the effect of a shouting voice on the hearer?

6. Define the word "Vehemence".

7. What effect will an over-strained voice have on the hearer?

8. Can you describe what we mean by a "peculiar tone"?

9. Is speaking too low as bad a fault as speaking too high?

10. Will the low voice inconvenience the speaker?

11. What effect will it have on the hearer?

12. What do we mean by "a thick, rapid, and mumbling enunciation"?

13. Who was considered the greatest orator in Greece?

14. Write a short essay on Demosthenes.

15. Where would you look for material for the essay?

16. Did Demosthenes have any impediments in pronunciation?

17. Name them.

18. How did he cure the first?

19. How did he overcome the second?

20. How did he correct the third?

21. What is it we are most guilty of in these faults?

22. What should we always have regard to?

23. What is a good commentary?

24. What great mistakes do gloomy and melancholy people fall into?

SEVENTH LESSON

HOW TO REMEDY THE FAULTS OF ENUNCIATION

After enumerating the many faults in enunciation, we must overcome them.

While this study is to be of benefit to each of us individually, we should be able to convey our knowledge to others.

The first thought is, "Have I any faults?" such as we mentioned in the last lesson?

If so, I must know the remedy and apply it. This is the only way one can be sure of himself in speaking and reading correctly, also acting in the "spoken" and "silent drama."

If unable to detect any fault in yourself, don't hesitate to ask the advice of some one in whom you have confidence, or whose judgment you respect.

This will mean a great help now, and in the future. If you were sick, you would call a physician; a voice that is pitched too high or too low is a sick voice, if I may use the term, and it needs attention.

Teacher-What is the remedy?

Pupil-Begin what you have to say in an even moderate tone, this will enable you to command it, and when necessary to raise, or lower.

Teacher-This you may do with comparative ease as the subject may require.

Remember that practice makes perfect, and if you are serious, you will soon note the improvement.

But you must practice reading aloud.

Don't hesitate to confess your ignorance in regard to things which are not perfectly plain.

Listen and learn.

There will be some who will prate about the work you are doing. Just be silent, and they will soon cease.

Be ashamed of nothing but your own errors.

We spoke of that "thick, hasty, confused and mumbling voice."

How would you remedy that?

Pupil-The remedy is very simple and easy to put into practice. Accustom yourself, both in reading and speaking, to pronounce each word distinctly. Read aloud, but don't hurry. You can commence very low, and then increase. But read aloud!

This is one of the best remedies, if I may so speak. To be a perfect reader or speaker-don't hurry.

Teacher-Watch a good speaker, observe with what deliberation he reads or speaks. Note the full sound he gives to every word. I do not mean to emphasize every word, but give it the full sound.

Demosthenes had this habit. It was with great difficulty that he cured himself of this faulty enunciation, but he did it. So can you.

He not only had a rule to work by, but he put into practice what he had learned.

The effort is with you, it means work at times, but it's worth it.

There is that habit of "speaking and reading too fast." How will one overcome this?

Pupil-Attend diligently to the sense, weight and propriety of every sentence that is read, and every emphatic word in it. Teacher-This will not only be a great advantage to yourself, but also a double one to your hearers, as it will give them time to do the same.

Remember, you can never arouse the attention of your audience, until they see that your own is fixed.

A solemn pause after a weighty thought is very beautiful

and striking. It gives as much grace to speech as it does to music.

A very important thought that we must not overlook is that you are reading or speaking to persons of slow and unready conception. (I mean by that, power of understanding.) They have to grasp thoughts in a few moments on which you have probably spent days and weeks.

Never measure your hearers apprehension with your own.

But it is your duty to be so familiar with your subject, and the manner of delivering it, that you make them see with your eyes, and hear with your ears.

Be very deliberate in uttering your words and sentences, that their meaning may not be lost.

The ease and advantage that will arise both to yourself and your hearers by a full, free and deliberate enunciation is hardly to be imagined.

It means success at all times.

Let us for a moment consider the possibilities of the future! You may think "I will never have use for this; I do not intend to be a public speaker or reader."

You do not know what the future may have in store for you. Now is the time for preparedness.

Success in the future means an increase of knowledge now. The door of success, wealth, respectability, influence and honor is thrown wide open to all.

Let us now return to the "faults and how to remedy them." We spoke of that "uneven, desultory voice." How will we overcome this?

Pupil-We must not begin our sentences too high, or too low, as it will necessarily lead us to an unnatural and improper variation.

We must pay particular attention to the nature, and number of stops, and the length of the sentence.

We should ever keep our mind intent on the sense, the subject, and the spirit of the author.

Teacher-This same advice is applicable to the avoidence of that uniformity of tone, or monotonous tone that we so often hear in enunciation.