to the hissing or rasping vocality of hate, malice, and sneer, or the hollow moan of pain and distress.

Aspiration is usually the audible sign of excessive, uncontrolled feeling; but is sometimes the betrayal of the effort to control; as in the form of speech called Suppressed Force (Suppressed Abrupt Force, page 246, Suppressed Smooth Force, page 259,) which is always aspirated in some degree. Any emotion, in excess, tends to lessen the expiratory control,-producing all the shades of Aspiration, from a just perceptible tinge to the unmixed whisper.

In practicing for command of Aspirated Quality, do not start with voice, trying to tint it with a given degree of breathiness. Rather select a passage that requires the quality, and begin by reading it in the pure whisper. Repeat it, in whisper tinged with vocality. Again repeat, with a slight addition of vocality; and so on, until you arrive at the blend that satisfies your conception: repeat this over and over. After resting yourself with other practice, return to the example, and endeavor, at the first trial, to achieve the exact blend that pleases you. If you fail, as is probable, do your first work over. A few examples, well mastered, will give you full command of this quality.

EXAMPLES OF ASPIRATED QUALITY.

Pectoral Resonance.

Death is here, and death is there,
Death is busy everywhere.

All around, within, beneath,

Above, is death; and we are death.
Death has set his mark and seal

On all we are, and all we feel.
First our pleasures die, and then

Our hopes, and then our fears, and when
These are dead, the debt is due,

Dust claims dust, and we die too.

-Shelley.

Orotund Resonance, Effusive; here and there, slightly Expulsive.

Of old hast thou laid the foundations of the earth; and the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure; yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end.

Orotund and Pectoral Resonance.

-Psalm CII.

I had a dream, which was not all a dream.
The bright sun was extinguished, and the stars
Did wander, darkling, through the eternal space
Rayless and pathless, and the icy earth

Swung blind and blackening in the moonless air;
Morn came and went-and came, and brought no day.
And men forgot their passions, in the dread
Of this, their desolation; and all hearts
Were chilled into a selfish prayer for light.

Pectoral Resonance.

-Byron-Darkness.

O the famine and the fever!
O the wasting of the famine!
O the blasting of the fever!

All the earth was sick and famished;
Hungry was the air around them,
Hungry was the sky above them,
And the hungry stars in heaven

Like the eyes of wolves glared at them!

-Longfellow-Hiawatha.

Pectoral, Guttural, and Orotund Resonance.

I loathe ye with my bosom! I scorn ye with mine eye!
And I'll taunt ye with my latest breath, and fight ye till I die!
I ne'er will ask ye quarter, and I ne'er will be your slave:
But I'll swim the sea of slaughter till I sink beneath its wave!
-G. W. Patton-The Seminole's Defiance.

Oral, Pectoral, Guttural, and Orotund Resonance.

But you, wretch! you could creep through the world, unaffected by its various disgraces, its ineffable miseries, its constantly accumulating masses of crime and sorrow;-you could live and enjoy yourself, while the noble-minded were betrayed,-while nameless and birthless villains trod on the neck of the brave and long-descended:-you could enjoy yourself, like a butcher's dog in the shambles, battening on garbage, while the slaughter of the brave went on around you! This enjoyment you shall not live to partake of. You shall die, base dog!-and that before yon cloud has passed over the sun!

-Scott-Rob Roy.

Natural and Orotund Resonance; a tinge of Pectoral, here and there.

He who hath bent him o'er the dead,
Ere the first day of death is fled,

The first dark day of nothingness,

The last of danger and distress,

(Before decay's effacing fingers

Have swept the lines where beauty lingers,)
And marked the mild, angelic air,

The rapture of repose that's there,

The fixed yet tender traits that streak
The languor of the placid cheek,
And-but for that sad, shrouded eye,
That fires not, wins not, weeps not, now,
And but for that chill, changeless brow,
Where cold Obstruction's apathy
Appalls the gazing mourner's heart,
As if to him it could impart
The doom he dreads, yet dwells upon;
Yes, but for these, and these alone,
Some moments, ay, one treacherous hour,
He still might doubt the tyrant's power;
So fair, so calm, so softly sealed,
The first-last-look, by death revealed!
-Byron-The Giaour.

Orotund Resonance, Expulsive and Explosive; a strong tinge of Pectoral in the last sentence.

(Iago.
Othello.

Your mind, perhaps, may change.)

Never, Iago! Like to the Pontic sea,

Whose icy current and compulsive course
Ne'er feels retiring ebb, but keeps due on
To the Propontic and the Hellespont,

Even so my bloody thoughts, with violent pace,
Shall ne'er look back, ne'er ebb to humble love,
Till that a capable and wide revenge

Swallow them up. Now, by yond' marble heaven,
In the due reverence of a sacred vow,

I here engage my words.

-Shakespeare-Othello.

GUTTURAL QUALITY.

Harsh, severe feeling produces rigor in the adjustment and action of the whole muscular system, and especially in the apparatus of breathing and utterance, so that the voice stream is cramped and squeezed. The resulting tone is rasping, grating, sometimes even rattling, and is called Guttural Quality, or simply the Guttural. Some authorities regard it as a separate, distinct, and independent quality, 'a real voice,' while others consider it as a variant of Aspirated Quality; and in fact, it is always, or nearly always, aspirated.

It is the voice of Hostility. Denunciation, sneer, sarcasm, disdain, truculence, hate, revenge, disgust, and horror, find their congenial resonance in the snarling Guttural.

With many persons, it is a difficult matter to take the first step in the intentional production of the Guttural. Repeated effort ends in failure, and consequent discouragement, with the additional ills of hoarseness and throat irritation. Yet the same persons, in all probability, daily employ the quality, unaware, in colloquial expressions; as, in deterring a child from mischief or danger, or in commenting on offenses against law, order, morality, or social usage.

Almost any one can make a good beginning toward the command of Guttural in this way: Imagine yourself to be extremely thirsty; take a sip of water, and, after swallowing it, smack the lips, and utter an 'Ah-a-a-ah!' of hearty relish. If done in tolerable imitation of genuine gusto, you will have produced a low-pitched, rather open and loose, but distinctly Guttural form of voice. Repeat, until you have located the place and recognized the act, of throat resistance.

Next, try to shape each tonic,-or, better, restrict yourself for a time to ã, ŭ, and û,-with the same throat resistance as in the experiment, and with very little force. If there is throat irritation, practice only a little at a time, but at frequent intervals. Use will both strengthen the throat and give you the knack of securing the effect in the easiest

way.

Next, assuming the mental attitude of disgust, pronounce each tonic with a light radical and a slow falling slide, increasing the force to the end and stopping abruptly (Final Stress); at the same time narrowing the throat at the point already located. As you succeed in producing the roughness of the Guttural, increase the force and rapidity of the slide. If the throat becomes sore or tender, practice in short periods.

It may appear strange, but strong Guttural practice is an excellent means of acquiring and improving the Orotund, if open-throat gymnastics and orotund examples are used after it. The throat and voice seem to rejoice and luxuriate in the release from constraint.

Assuming the mental attitude of detestation, practice the following words with strong falling slides, as Guttural exclamations:

Murder! Accursed! Cursed! Horror! Shame! Detestable! Traitor! Gehenna! Villain! Gorgon! Hell! Boil him! Hate! Revenge! Remorseless! Kill! Rebellion! Fool!