meaning of the word itself may sometimes be completely changed. Take the following examples ::

Col'-league, a partner.
Con'-duct, behaviour.
Des'-cant, a song or tune.
Ob'-ject, ultimate purpose.
Ref'-use, worthless remains.
Proj'-ect, a scheme; a plan.

Col-league', to unite with.

Con-duct', to lead.

Des-cant', to comment.

Ob-ject', to oppose.

Re-fuse', to deny.
Pro-ject', to fit out.

Nor is this all-by an indistinct or improper articulation or mal-pronunciation even the sense of the passage itself is liable to be altogether perverted or changed. Take the following examples :

He built him an ice house.

He built him a nice house.

We travelled o'er fields of ice and snow.

We travelled o'er fields of vice and snow.

An improper repetition of a final consonant at the beginning of the following word is a common error; for example :

My brothers ought to owe nothing.
My brothers sought to own nothing.
He was called by his father's name.
He was scalled by his father's name.
A great error often exists.

A great terror often exists.

My heart is awed within me.'
My heart is sawed within me.

He is content in either situation.

He is content in neither situation.

He was trained in the religion of his father.

He was strained in the religion of his father.

Great care is required, especially in the rapid utterance of words, to prevent the conclusion of one word, or syllable, being mixed with the sound that follows it, indistinctly uttered, or entirely lost. Take as an illustration the words :

The plain answer-not play nanswer.

A ripe pear-not ri pear.

Both those-not both ose.

Those streets-not those treets.

Begin nobly-not begin obly.

Goodness enters in the heart—not goodness centres.

False sighs sicken—not fal' sigh' sicken.

In peril's darkest hour-not in peril's darkest tower.
Songs of praises-not song sof praises.

We are apt to shut our eyes-not we are rapt to shut tour rise.

It strikes with an awe-not it strikes with a naw.

A reader made easy—not a redermadezy.

The scenes of those dark ages—not the scenes sof those dark

cages.

Dry the orphan's tears-not dry the orphan stears.

I saw

not saw'r-a man who told me all about it. The bird was fluttering-not flutt'rin'-over her nest. The visitors were very numerous--not num'rous.

My political-not p❜litic'l-opinions-not uppinions—are liberal-not lib'rul

He was a sincere friend to liberty-not libe'ty.

A certain not surtin-man had two sons.

The creation-not creash'n-and preservation-not preservash'n of life.

Ethiopian change his skin-not his kin.

The leopard his spots-not his pots.

Save me for Thy mercy's sake-not mercy sake.

With solemn march goes slow-not solemn arch goes low.
Achieve fame-not achee fame.

Go over-not gover.

Have less zeal-not less seal.

I saw his beard descending-not beer descending.

Look on this spot-not this pot.

The dews of evening-not the Jews.

Is that thine own act ?—not thy known act.
His cry moved me-not his crime moved me.

A fatal error-not a fatle herror.

A person of eminence-not a purson of emenunce.
A bunch of violets-not voilets, or vieluts.

It was perfection—not pefection.

He was most honourable-not honourubble.
It is needful for sobriety-not sobriutty.
Has he ability-not abilety.

Potato-not puttata.
Innovate-not innuvate.

A public house-not public kouse.

Care is also required to watch the TERMINATIONS OF WORDS in which the following appear: ment-ness-tion—sion-ture, as these frequently get changed into mint-niss—shin―tshur, &c., &c.

5. GIVE SPECIAL ATTENTION TO YOUR H's.-Poor letter H often gets badly treated, sometimes by being put where it ought not to be, and at other times completely left out in the cold. It is therefore evident that special care is needful to know when and where not to place the aspirate. How painful it is to hear anyone speaking of his "'ouse" or his "'orse," or telling one "ow 'ard it his to find a good 'orse." A smile will surely be raised if anyone is heard to say that he left "is master's 'ouse to go 'ome and found it very 'ard work to get the 'orse halong." We remember once hearing a phrenological lecturer talk about "the hinterllectual horgans and the hannimal perpensities," and "'ow the heternal 'Eavens were witnesses to the laws of the Halmighty." Some people use the aspirate where it ought not to be at all. Can any be forgiven for saying "I will hend it," for end-hand for and—hart for art— hearth for earth? &c.

Let us, therefore, endeavour to point out some of the special features of this letter. In the great majority of words where it occurs, either in the beginning, middle, &c., it should be aspirated. But while this is the case, great care should be taken not to make it too decided-light, not forced-though distinct to the ear.

'Twas whisper'd in heaven, 'twas mutter'd in hell.

In the following words h is silent :-Heir, heiress, heirloom; herb, herbage; honest, honesty, honestly; honour, honourable, honourably; hospital, hospitality; hostler; hotel; hour, hourly; humour, humourist; and their other derivatives. The h in the following words is also silent :-Asthma, dishabille, isthmus, rhapsody, rhetoric, rheumatism, Rhine, rhinoceros, rhomb, rhubarb, rhyme, rhythm, Thames, Thomas. Also in such words as ah, catarrh, Micah, Sarah, &c.

Many fall into the habit of omitting the aspirate not only at

the beginning of words, but after the w, as in where, &c.; and in the middle of words, as in fore-head, which gets changed into for-ed; in abhor, behold, exhaust, inhabit, unhorse.

То any who feel doubtful about the matter it will be a good plan to practise words such as :

6. PRACTISE THE HABIT OF READING ALOUD.-This should be done in your own room, or in some place where you can be safe from intrusion. There are many reasons to be advanced for this. Indeed, it will be attended with many advantages. 1. The mere reading aloud of a really good piece of writing, whether in prose or poetry, will accustom your ear to the sound and flow of good language, and you will realise gradually the style with which our best authors have clothed their thoughts. 2. It will of necessity elevate your own conceptions of the beautiful, and thus aid in improving your taste in a variety of ways. 3. By thus going over, from time to time, the language and thoughts of others in the best possible manner, you will of necessity gradually acquire an easy habit or style of delivery, until it will become so natural that, should you be called upon to deliver your own thoughts, you will be at no loss for words to do so with comfort to yourself and pleasure to those who may hear you. 4. It will also prove to be a healthful preparation of the voice for more public use. The voice, like any other organ of the body, can be strengthened by proper exercise, and thus it will get trained for the special demands which all public efforts will make upon it. Indeed, we may add that whatever you intend to read in public should be thus, first of all, well studied and read in private. By doing this you will get to know definitely what you have to express; and, as one well remarks, "you will give forth no uncertain sound, and your manner will have the freedom of memoriter delivery, with

out the disadvantage of its constraint upon the mind. Your whole attention will be concentrated on the object of your reading, the effective consequence of the matter and spirit of the composition. The presence of the book before you will be necessary chiefly to give you confidence, and prevent the possibility of rambling. The eye, assisted by memory, will take in clauses, and even sentences, at a glance, so that it may be freely raised during utterance."

7. While you are thus seeking to clearly understand and speak every word correctly, be cautious not to run into the opposite extreme of MOUTHING YOUR WORDS after the pedantic and foolish style of some who wish to impress you with the idea that by so doing they are improving the Queen's English. Can anything be more ridiculous or absurd than the attempt to recite, speak, or read after the following stilted style?

C-anst thou m-inister to a m-ind diseased,

P-luck from the m-emory a r-ooted s-or-row.

Neither must you overlook the danger of dropping into the sing-song style so often to be noticed in those who have not given proper care to the character of their delivery. The best preservative from both these extremes is for you to seek to be yourself. In other words, aim to be natural. If you succeed in this you will be sure to succeed altogether, and for this reason when we look on some beautiful work of art in one of our museums, we are led to exclaim, How natural!" Now, what do we mean by this? Why, nothing more than that the appearance is such as, in our opinion, it should be. This arises from the fact that there is no violent contortion of the features; no forced attitude; no special mark of any kind; but it stands before us just as the natural thing should. It is so with the reader or speaker who seeks to be natural. We seem to hear him thinking aloud, and his thoughts flow forth to us in the same order and in the same clearness as they spring up in our own mind, and so long as this continues we are charmed. But the moment an odd expression or a far-fetched action is observed, we instantly feel that the beauty of the thing has gone. Shakespeare has so well advised, however, on this point, that we cannot do better than quote what he says:

"Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounce it to you,

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