THE ASPIRATE.

181

By a little observation, accent or emphasis will be found to consist in a forcible breathing,-& throwing forth of the breath with increased force, somewhat like a distinct effort. This action of the breath is called an Aspiration.

It is obvious on reading aloud the following:

Up the high hill he heaves the huge round stone. When the horn of the huntsman is heard on the hill. O'er high hills and hedges haste the hare and hounds.

Each word of these sentences beginning with an h requiring a distinct and forcible expression of the breath.

If, then, this aspiration be made before a word beginning with a vowel, it is pronounced, improperly, as if the word began with h. The word "ash" would then be pronounced as if written, hash; and the sentence, "I have eaten ashes like bread," would be falsely and irreverently rendered, "I have eaten hashes."

This error in practice is twofold, and great care is often required to avoid it.

The aspiration being the sound of the letter h, the first error is in aspirating a word beginning with a vowel; but a second error, of not less importance, is the omission of the aspirate when the word begins with h.

It frequently happens that the two faults go together. Persons who are in the habit of sounding the h where it is not to be found, as commonly omit it where it is. needful.

The subjoined instances, which may serve for requent exercise, will illustrate the preceding remarks:

The following also require the same careful pronunciation, the meaning depending on the sounding or omitting the aspirate equally with those beginning

These rules, though imperative, are dependent on time and custom. In old books, for instance, we read, an horse, an householder, an humble and contrite heart, implying that the h was not then aspirated. This was correct at that time; but custom, authorized by the decision of the most learned men of the present time, requires that we should now write and pronounce, a horse, a householder, a humble and contrite heart, and use the aspirate to each of them.

The exceptions are in the following words and their compounds, in which the h, though printed, is not to be sounded:-Heir, honest, honour, and hour, which are pronounced, eir, onest, onour, and our.

These words are printed with an before them instead of a; thus we read, an heir, an honest man, an honor, an hour. The a being a sign of the aspirate, the an a sign that it is to be omitted.

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184

10 BE READ FOR EXERCISE.

A PSALM OF LIFE.

TELL me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.

Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.
Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Finds us farther than to-day.

In the world's broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of Life,

Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
Be a hero in the strife!

Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act,—act in the living Present!
Heart within, and God o'erhead!

Lives of great men all remind us

We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us,
Footprints on the sands of time;
Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o'er life's solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.
Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labour and to wait.

Longfellow.

MODULATION AND TONE.

185

EVERY one has a certain pitch of voice which is most easy to himself and most agreeable to others. This may be called the natural pitch; it is that in which we converse, and must be the basis of every improvement we acquire from art and exercise. In order, therefore, to strengthen this middle tone, as it is called, we ought to read and speak in it as loud as possible, without suffering the voice to rise into a higher key. This, however, is no easy operation; it is not very difficult to be loud in a high tone, but to be loud and forcible without raising the voice into a higher key, requires great practice and management.

The best method of acquiring this power of voice is to practise the reading of strong, animated passages in a small room, and to persons placed at a short distance from us; for, as we naturally raise our voice to a higher key when we speak to people at a great distance, so we naturally lower our key as they to whom we speak come nearer.

Good readers, when necessary, can speak with such force in a low tone as to make an earnest whisper heard by a large audience.

It is of great importance not to pitch the voice too high at the beginning of any discourse; for while it is very easy to raise the voice to almost any pitch, it is exceedingly difficult to bring it down when once raised too high. As a rule, therefore, it is safer to begin under the common level of the voice than above it, taking care to enunciate every word clearly and distinctly.