breath is only partially acquired, appears to have been unknown to the French tragedian."

Dr. Shuldham's closing remarks in this chapter are well worthy of being quoted. "We see," he observes, "what an important part respiration plays in the art of speaking. Its rules are the only ones which should never be violated. The actor once launched forth in a passage full of movement, carried away by emotion, by anger, by tears, may forget the laws of punctuation, set aside full stops and commas, but he must always be master of his breath, even at the very time when he seems to lose it. A good actor has no right to be out of breath, except for dramatic effect. Talma had reduced all these rules to one emphatic maxim: The artist who fatigues himself is but an indifferent artist.'"* * Dr. Shuldham, pp. 50–53.

LECTURE VI.

Testimony of the late Rev. A. S. Thelwall-Quotation from the Rev. J. Howlett's Work on "Reading the Liturgy"-"The Great Secret" of Respiration, and the history of its transmission-Extracts from the recent Works of Mr. Sergeant Cox and Professor Frobisher-Sanitary advantages resulting from the Mode of Respiration here described-Testimony of George Catlin, the North American traveller— Emmanuel Kant and De Quincey-Causes and cure of "Clerical Sore Throat"Dr. Shuldham-Dr. Abbotts-Control of the Breath in Expiration-Opinions of Professor Hullah and Mr. Kingsbury-Summary rules for the management of respiration in Public Reading, Speaking, and Singing.

OW, then, I come to a subject of paramount importance in every way, the right mode of managing the breath in speaking or reading. Nothing can be more hurtful to the pure quality of the voice, and nothing scarcely more injurious to the larynx and the lungs, than the habit of gasping in the air without any system or method by the open mouth. Take this as a golden rule, that the breath should, not merely when reading or speaking, though then I hold it indispensable, but at all times, and under all circumstances, be taken into the lungs only through the nostrils. I assure you most earnestly that if there be any tendency to disease or weakness of the lungs or of the larynx, trachea, or bronchial tubes, the observance of this rule is of vital importance to health-nay, I am sure I am not going too far when I say it is in some extreme cases a matter almost of life or death. Believe me, that almost all the injury which clergymen and public speakers do themselves in the discharge of their duties in the church or on the platform, arises from this very common, but most erroneous, habit of gasping or pumping in the air through the open mouth.

This habit of taking in the air only through the nostrils has very great and very many advantages, and I have also reason to know, that this great but simple rule in respiration has not only been regarded in the light of a grand secret, but actually sold as such by some teachers of elocution under a promise-nay, in some cases under an oath of secrecy, as if it were peculiar to themselves. I cannot do better here than read you a letter on the subject in my possession, written in the year 1861, by my late friend, the Rev. A. S. Thelwall, who was the first appointed Lecturer on Public Reading and Speaking in this College, and who ful

filled all the duties of his office here, from his appointment by the Council in the beginning of the year 1850, till his death fifteen years ago. The letter places the matter in its true light, and contains so many excellent hints that I make no apology for reading it to you in full.

"The importance of the habit of taking in the breath only through the nostrils, on which Mr. Brock insists in his letter of October 2, cannot be well overrated; but I beg leave to observe, that though Mr. Broster might make a great secret of it, and exact a promise, if not an oath of secrecy, from those to whom he imparted it, the rule itself, for more than half a century, has been no secret. It was insisted upon by my late father, and imparted by him to all his pupils from the year 1802, when he first began to give instruction on elocution, really scientific, both by public lectures and by private lessons. I myself learned from him to form the habit at that early period, and I have adhered to it (and felt the very great advantage of so doing) ever since. I have imparted it to several of my brethren in private; and in my Lectures at King's College (commencing in the beginning of the year 1850), I have always given it great prominence; and I have explained the importance of it very fully, on what every medical man would acknowledge to be scientific principles. Moreover, I have openly expressed my conviction that this was the rule, which (as a great secret, and even under an oath of secrecy) was sold at a considerable price, not by Mr. Broster only, but (as I understand) by more than one teacher of elocution besides. Some medical men, looking at the subject on merely medical principles, and in a medical point of view, have seen the importance of the same rule, and enjoined the strict observance of it upon their patients; so that, in the medical profession, it has certainly been no secret.

"I would add that (excellent and important as this rule is) there are other rules connected with it which need to be observed in order to insure the full benefit of it,—such as the taking and keeping of that position which is most favourable to the free and full inflation of the lungs; and taking advantage of every legitimate pause to take in a fresh supply of air; for, in whatever way the speaker may take in his breath, if he goes on speaking to the end of it, his speech will become both laborious and inaudible. Moreover, if he be not carefully attentive to distinct articulation, the best mode of managing the breath will not suffice to make him intelligible to any large portion of his congregation.

"In short, it ought to be well understood, that really good speaking depends on constant attention to various rules, and to a great number of minute particulars. And at least nineteen persons out of every twenty require judicious instruction and careful training-and persevering application on their own part,-in order to make them good readers. I know by my own experience and observation that all these three things are indispensable-except in some very extraordinary cases. And it is a well-known historical fact, that the greatest orators have attained to excellence only by great exertions and persevering toil. So that, while it has been said, 'Poeta nascitur, non fit,' it might almost be said, on the contrary, Orator fit, non nascitur.' He must, indeed, have some

thing in him for instruction and labour to work upon; but Demosthenes was not born a rhetorician.—I remain, &c.,

*

"A. S. THELWALL.”

You notice here, that Mr. Thelwall speaks of this mode of conducting the process of respiration having for a long time been kept and sold as a great secret by certain teachers of elocution. The late Rev. J. H. Howlett, who was for many years Chaplain of Her Majesty's Chapel at Whitehall, and an excellent reader, published shortly before his death an admirable little work on clerical elocution, entitled "Instructions on Reading the Liturgy," and in the preface to it, at page 21,* occurs the following passage:"A suggestion for diminishing the exhaustion produced by loud speaking, reading, and preaching has lately been brought into public notice, and is so very important that it ought to be made known to all who wish to acquire the best management of the voice, and it is this, inhale always through the nostrils, instead of through the open mouth. The breath, when drawn through the mouth, absorbs the saliva, and renders the palate and fauces dry and clammy. This unpleasant effect is commonly felt on awaking in the morning by those who sleep with their mouths open, either through a cold in the head, peculiar position in bed, or through natural obstruction in the nostrils. In the case of the speaker, reader, or preacher, the dryness of the mouth renders more exertion necessary and increases the fatigue. The cause of this fact was for many years not duly noticed, and the knowledge of it was the great secret, which became very profitable to a late eminent and successful teacher, who communicated it only under solemn promise that it would not be revealed." Mr. Howlett was one of my old and valued friends, and in the course of conversation once gave me the history of the origin and transmission of this "secret" in elocution, which, as I have never yet seen it in print, may not be uninteresting to you, if I take the opportunity of relating.

In the early part of the present century, there was a very eminent tragedian of the name of George Frederick Cooke, who at one time seemed likely to be a formidable rival even of John Kemble himself. Among other qualifications for success in his profession, Cooke possessed a singularly powerful, melodious, and expressive voice, which, even after great exertion on the stage, never showed any signs of hoarseness or symptoms of flagging, and this, too, although it was notorious he led a life by no means characterised by prudence or temperance. Eventually, the scandal his irregular life created drove him to America, where he died. His conduct had alienated nearly all his old friends; but in his last illness he was attended and kindly cared for by a brother-actor of the name of Broster. Cooke, shortly before his death, while lamenting his lack of means to leave any pecuniary bequest as a proof of his gratitude for ali Broster's care and kindness, told him that he yet thought he could leave him something, which, if well "worked," would be the means of bringing him a large remuneration. He then communicated to Broster the secret, telling him that he had found by

* "Instructions on Reading the Liturgy." By the Rev. J. H. Howlett. T. Murby, 32 Bouverie Street, Fleet Street.

always carrying on respiration through the nostrils he avoided any sense of fatigue to the vocal organs, however arduous his performance, and believed it was the means by which he had been able to preserve all the power and compass of his voice. He then advised Broster to return to England, and adopt the profession of a teacher of elocution, and only communicate the secret to his pupils on the payment of a large fee and a solemn promise, if not an oath, that it never would be divulged by them. As soon as Cooke was dead, Broster followed his friend's advice, and came to this country and announced himself "Professor of Elocution," soon had a large clientèle, realised a handsome income, and eventually was able to retire upon an independence to the Isle of Wight, where he died. One of the students in my class here last year told me a curious circumstance connected with Broster, which I think will amuse you. My pupil said he had been mentioning to a very old friend, the widow of a clergyman, the account I had given him of Broster and his success, and which I have just now been relating to you, when she said, "Well, the next time you go to King's College, you can tell your Lecturer something more about Broster which he may not know. When my husband was a very young man, more than sixty years ago, and about to enter into holy orders, he went to Broster for the purpose of receiving from him lessons in elocution, when, before the secret was disclosed, Broster not only made him pay the heavy fee he demanded, and give the required pledge that it should never be revealed, but made him sign a bond that in the event of his ever becoming a Bishop he should pay a further fee of a hundred guineas, and this was a course, Broster said, which he adopted with all his clerical pupils!" Shortly before his death, Broster imparted the secret to his friend, John Thelwall, who had been just then acquitted of a charge of sedition. Thelwall, therefore, relinquished the troubled career of a political agitator in those stormy times, and betook himself to the more quiet life of a lecturer and teacher of elocution, and became very eminent and successful in his new vocation. He communicated the secret to his son, the late Rev. Algernon Sidney Thelwall, who on his father's death carried on his profession, and, as I told you, was the first lecturer on Public Reading and Speaking ever appointed in this College. From the first session he lectured within these walls, he disclosed what was once guarded so rigidly to all his pupils, freely and unreservedly, deeming, as he said, this mode of always carrying on respiration to be so exceedingly important, not only as regarded elocution, but general health, that he desired to make it as widely known as possible. It was from Mr. Thelwall that I first acquired it; and there is not a single advantage which he said would follow from adopting the practice that I cannot most heartily confirm.

In a very

Indeed, the matter has now quite ceased to be a secret. useful work written by Mr. Serjeant Cox, entitled "The Art of Writing, Reading, and Speaking,” ,”* I find in a passage treating on the right management of the breath, at p. 96 of the second edition, the following remarks:-"There is an art in breathing properly, and it consists in breathing always through the nostrils, and not through the mouth. The * Published by Horace Cox, Wellington Street, Strand.