is the light touch which needs to be given to
whatever is implied, has been anticipated, should be taken for granted,
etc.,--the light touch which conveys the impression that the mind of the
reader does not come down upon the parts receiving the same, those parts
saying themselves, so to speak, but is occupied with the main current
of thought. Any untrained voice can emphasize, but only a trained or a
naturally unperverted voice can give the light touch successfully. Yet
it is possible for the heaviest, clumsiest voice to be trained to the
light touch, to delicacy of tint, just as one who is clay-fisted may, in
time, attain to some delicacy of manipulation. The voice and the hand
have wonderful possibilities, rarely realized; the former, when
converted from the error of its ways, being, indeed, the most expressive
organ of the soul; the latter being 'the consummation of all perfection
as an instrument.'

One great secret in forcible speech is, that all the force be thrown
upon the vowels--the inarticulate elements. While sounding them, the
organs of speech are apart, and if the lungs are kept well inflated, the
throat is open, and no friction results; while articulating the
consonants, certain two of the organs of speech are in contact, and the
throat is more or less closed. If force be thrown upon the consonants,
the articulate elements, or certain of them, such as _r_ and _k_, for
example, there is more or less friction in the throat. In uttering
forcibly the word 'struck,' for example, all the force should be thrown
upon the _[)u]_, the consonants _str_ and _k_ being about the same as in
ordinary utterance.

The music of speech is chiefly in the vowels. But the consonants must,
of course, be distinctly articulated and not be drowned in the vocality.

Sir Henry Taylor writes to Lady Taunton, May 23, 1862 (Correspondence,
edited by Edward Dowden), of Tennyson's reading: 'As to his reading, he
is a very deep-mouthed hound, and the sound of it is very grand; but I
rather need to know by heart what he is reading, for otherwise I find
the sense to be lost in sounds from time to time; and, even when I do
know what the words are, I think more of articulation is wanted to give
the consonantal effects of the rhythm; for without these effects the
melodious sinks into the mellifluous in any ordinary utterance; and even
when intoned by such an organ as Alfred's, if the poetry be of a high
order, the rhythm so sounded loses some