Low pitch may be said to begin a third below the mean pitch; high pitch, a third above it; so that where middle pitch as-cending ends, high pitch begins; where middle pitch de-scending ends, low pitch begins; the range of each depending, of course, on the compass of the speaker's voice.

RULES AS TO PITCH.

1. The MIDDLE is the proper pitch for narration, description, when they are not particularly animated; for statement, moral reflection, and calm reasoning.

2. HIGH PITCH is the representative of elevated feeling, and impetuous, impulsive passion; joy, exultation, rage, invective, threat, eagerness, all speak naturally in high pitch: it is also proper to stirring description, or animated narration.

3. Low PITCH is the natural expression of deep-seated feeling; and concentrated passion, nursed in the inmost recesses of the heart: it is the tone of grief, brooding thought, suppressed rage, very solemn reflection, melancholy, secret hate, remorse; also, in its softest and deepest expression, of love and veneration.

TIME.

All speech, like music, is either in common or triple time: the difference is that in music the same time is maintained throughout a whole piece or passage; while in speech and in composition the time varies arbitrarily and capriciously.

Thus the first of the two following sentences from Hazlitt is in common time; the time marked by a horse's hoofs in walking or trotting; the second in triple time, the time marked by a horse's canter,

There is a well-dressed and an ill-dressed mob, both of which I hate.

The rapid affectation of the one is to me even more intolerable than the gross insolence of the other.

The beauty of a reader's style is very much enhanced by the due marking of these changes of time, which give variety to the composition as well as to the delivery. What I have said before, on accentuation, applies here.

Another important accident in TIME is movement: that is, the rapidity or slowness of our delivery must accord with the character of the feeling or passion expressed,-whether impetuous or concentrated; of the action or scene described, whether stirring or tranquil,-or of the sentiment that pervades the language; whether it be elevated, impulsive, glowing, and transient, or deep, solemn, and enduring. A joyful passage, either expressive of light, happy buoyancy of feeling, or descriptive of a scene of merriment and delight, will therefore require to be read allegro, or in a quick, brisk, lively movement; deep feeling, or tranquillity of mind or scene, on the other hand, must be given adagio, or slowly; while ordinary passages, unmarked by expression, are to be given andante, in middle time, or movement.

A piece of verbal composition is, in fact, to be regarded by the reader, in some sort, as a piece of music; and is to have its appropriate pitch, time, and accentuation.

There are three highly important accidents of elocution to be attended to, on which, more than on

any other, the expression of meaning in reading or speaking depends, viz.

PAUSE-CADENCE- EMPHASIS.

PAUSE.

As a principle, it must be laid down that grammatical punctuation, or printer's stops, for it is nothing more are not a sufficient guide in reading aloud; either

1. For the just division of sense by separation of the several members of a sentence according to their near or more remote connexion with each other; or,

2. To afford the reader convenient resting-places for the supply of exhausted respiration, so as to enable her to read easily and without fatigue.

This last is one of the most important purposes of pause; I mean the economy of respiration.

To prove the insufficiency of the printer's pauses, I give an example, the first on which my eye lights in a printed book:

A dinner party made of such elements is the last triumph of civilisation over barbarism.

Here we see there are no stops; but there ought to be, in reading, several short pauses in this sentence. I mark it thus, with musical rests.

A dinner party made of such elements is the last triumph of civilisation over barbarism.

Another example without stops, but with necessary pause:

The whole force of conversation depends on how much you take for granted.

To prove this further, let the pupil read aloud the three following sentences, without pause of any kind; for there is no grammatical pause marked in them as printed in the several books from which they are taken.

1. Nothing is more prejudicial to the great interests of a nation than unsettled and varying policy.

2. You do not expect from the manufacturer the same despatch in executing an order that you do from the shopkeeper and warehouseman.

3. There is no doubt that the perception of beauty becomes more exquisite by being studied and refined upon as an object of art.

The reader will feel that in each of these sentences some pause is required, both for her own ease, and to assist the ear and understanding of the auditor, who is otherwise liable to be confused by a jumble of rapidly-uttered phrases thrown together without mark or division of sense and relation.

Now the pauses in reading which would be required in these sentences would be as follows, marked with musical rests, instead of grammatical punctuation. Let the pupil read and mark the rests and pauses thus:

1. Nothing is more prejudicial to the great interests of a nation than unsettled and varying policy.

2. You do not expect from the manufacturer the same despatch in executing an order that you do from the shopkeeper and the warehouseman.

3. There is no doubt that the perception of beauty becomes more exquisite by being studied and refined upon as an object of art.

Some rules of pausing, then, in reading are required beyond, and in addition to, the mere grammatical pause.

Now pause is regulated by division of sense; and the division in sense is marked by certain grammatical signs and accidents.

In practice, then, it would be found advantageous to the reader, and to the hearer, to adopt a short pause(), equal to about a comma's rest, between the subject and the predicate; that is between the thing, or the proposition mentioned, and what is said of it: as

The prejudices of mankind too frequently obscure their judgment.

To act virtuously is to act wisely.

To judge correctly of others we should first well know

ourselves.

So, when by inversion the predicate precedes the subject, there must be a short pause after the predicate; as,

Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof.

The wisest of men was Solomon.

The most splendid temple of art is the Crystal Palace.