xercises a modifying influence on the preceding vowel."

Before that, he used to say "have" quite intelligently. Afterwards, when
he came to the word he would stop dead, collect his thoughts, and give
expression to a sound that only the context could explain.

Putting aside the sufferings of the early martyrs, few men, I suppose,
have gone through more than I myself went through in trying to I attain
the correct pronunciation of the German word for church--"Kirche." Long
before I had done with it I had determined never to go to church in
Germany, rather than be bothered with it.

"No, no," my teacher would explain--he was a painstaking gentleman; "you
say it as if it were spelt K-i-r-c-h-k-e. There is no k. It is--." And
he would illustrate to me again, for the twentieth time that morning, how
it should be pronounced; the sad thing being that I could never for the
life of me detect any difference between the way he said it and the way I
said it. So he would try a new method.

"You say it from your throat," he would explain. He was quite right; I
did. "I want you to say it from down here," and with a fat forefinger he
would indicate the region from where I was to start. After painful
efforts, resulting in sounds suggestive of anything rather than a place
of worship, I would excuse myself.

"I really fear it is impossible," I would say. "You see, for years I
have always talked with my mouth, as it were; I never knew a man could
talk with his stomach. I doubt if it is not too late now for me to
learn."

By spending hours in dark corners, and practising in silent streets, to
the terror of chance passers-by, I came at last to pronounce this word
correctly. My teacher was delighted with me, and until I came to Germany
I was pleased with myself. In Germany I found that nobody understood
what I meant by it. I never got near a church with it. I had to drop
the correct pronunciation, and painstakingly go back to my first wrong
pronunciation. Then they would brighten up, and tell me it was round the
corner, or down the next street, as the case might be.

I also think pronunciation of a foreign tongue could be better taught
than by demanding from the pupil those internal acrobatic feats that are
generally impossible and always useless. This is the sort of instruction
one receives:

"Press your tonsils against the underside of your larynx. Then with the
convex part of the septum curved upwards so as almost-