SPEECH AND SON-G. 107 



force. Mr. B right's use of his voice always gave one the impres- 

 sion of a large reserve of power. There seemed to be no effort in 

 his delivery, even when speaking to a mighty concourse of people, 

 and yet his voice was 



"To the last verge of the vast audience sent, 

 And played with each wild passion as it went." 



One element of success in this matter is no doubt the art of com- 

 pelling an audience to listen. As Montaigne, in his quaint old 

 French, says : " La parole est moitie" a celuy qui parle, nioitie* a 

 celuy qui l'escoute ; celuy cy se doibt preparer a la recevoir, selon 

 le bransle qu'elle prend: comme entre ceulx qui jouent a la paulme, 

 celuy qui soubstient se desmarche et s'appreste, selon qu'il veoid 

 remuer celuy qui luy jecte le coup et selon la forme du coup." * 

 Every speaker should know the exact limits of his own vocal pow- 

 ers, and he must be careful never to go beyond them, for the sake 

 of his hearers no less than his own. He must learn to judge in- 

 stinctively of distance, so as to throw his voice to the farthest part 

 of his audience. A speaker, and, I may say, a singer also, should 

 not hear his own voice too loudly. Artistes and orators are often 

 very much disappointed, and think their voice is not traveling 

 well when they themselves do not hear it very distinctly. The 

 fact is that when the speaker does not hear his voice this proves 

 that it reaches to a distant part of the room, and that there is very 

 little rebound. Here I may remark that we never hear our voices 

 as other people hear them. Our own voices are conveyed to the 

 auditory nerve, not only through the outside air, but more directly 

 from the inside, through the Eustachian tube, as well as through 

 the muscles and bones of the mouth and head ; the singer not only 

 hears his own voice from a different quarter, as we may say, but 

 he hears besides the contraction of his own muscles. The fact is 

 well illustrated by the phonograph : a listener can recognize other 

 people's voices, but if he speaks into the phonograph, and after- 

 ward reproduces his own voice, it does not sound at all like itself 

 to him, because he does not hear it in the manner he is accustomed 

 to, and because he hears it stripped of the various accompanying 

 sounds which are usually associated with it to his ear. 



The acoustic peculiarities of the place in which he has to speak 

 must, if possible, be carefully studied beforehand by the orator. 

 Public buildings, however, vary so greatly in their size and con- 

 struction that it is impossible to lay down any general rules for 

 the guidance of speakers in this matter. Each hall, church, court, 

 and theatre has its own acoustic character, which can be learned 



* Speech belongs half to the speaker and half to the hearer ; the latter should prepare 

 himself to receive it, according to the impetus it obtains. As with tennis-players, the one 

 to whom the ball is served poses and makes ready according to the motions of the server 

 and the form of the service. 



