and, with sufficient industry, what the pupil has deemed unattainable, will finally become second

nature.

Through the inability to inspire inaudibly, the finest artistic achievements have fallen short of the attainable effect, and the greatest artists have lacked the highest degree of perfection. Two of our most famous artistic celebrities were afflicted with the defect of audible inspiration, which they preserved to the last. And strange to say, even in these cases the world has held fate responsible for the defect. People say, "What an artist would this man be if that defect were only absent! which is like saying, "If this man hadn't a hump!" We cannot get rid of a hump, but we can of audible breathing. In such cases, therefore, we ought not to bestow pity, but to express condemnation. It is the duty of the actor and the orator to learn how to use the vocal organs, and no one has a right to plead natural defects; for, if they really exist, then such a person has no business to appear before the public.

The failure to comply with what the foregoing pages have taught, produces results more or less. unpleasant to the hearer; the non-fulfilment of what is urged in the present section acts like a shaft which rebounds back to the breast of the archer; for, besides the torment occasioned to the listener, the ruin of the vocal cords of the artist is the inevitable result, and cases in which this does not occur must be looked upon as rare exceptions.

In the heading of this section we have said that inspiration should be noticeable only as far as is absolutely necessary. This necessity presents itself to the concert singer less frequently than to the dramatic singer or speaker. The concert singer must mainly strive for the production only of the most

perfect tone-formation (which, as we have seen, is attained chiefly by diaphragmatic and rib or sidebreathing); whereas the dramatic actor must bring before the spectator's eyes, people in the most different states of emotion.

The outburst of emotion, however, whether powerful or weak, requires in nature a swelling of the breast (the seat of emotion), which becomes outwardly visible through the lungs filling themselves with air. This swelling of the breast should also be visible in dramatic acting; but let the scholar be careful not to attempt to accomplish this by raising the shoulders. This would be a movement which we have already expressly condemned. There should be an outward and forward movement of the breast, and the shoulders should be drawn slightly back, but not upward. The ordinary conversational tone in speech and song is produced by simple diaphragmatic breathing (without visible motion of the breast); but every inward excitement, even when only very slight, is manifested at once by the activity of the breast, which becomes more marked as the excitement is greater.

SECTION 13.

CASES IN WHICH THE BREATHING IS Audible.

There are cases in which audible breathing is not only permissible, but becomes a necessity. If, for instance, an oppressed chest seeks relief by a deep sigh, this is done with a loud and slow evacuation of the lungs. A person, after much walking or running, after extraordinary muscular exertion, will breathe audibly. A sudden fright checks breathing; the renewed escape of air will be audible. A painful, loud, prolonged Oh! Ah! Yea! Nay! will immediately after its formation change into perfect aspiration, and so close. We may also remark that the dramatic performer and orator requires much more air than he would believe for such exclamations, if he desires to prevent their being weak and without cffect.

This fault is noticeable in all those who try to finish these exclamations with the small quantity of air which may have been left in the lungs, and who do not know that for such short exclamations, as well as for all others, the lungs must always previously be put into a "state of readiness."

Let us now consider several variations of breath

ing, in which audible inspiration and expiration are

necessary.

They are the following:

1. Yawning.

2. Sighing.

3. Panting.

4. Sniffing.

5. Hawking.

6. Aspirating.

7. Snoring.

8. Sobbing.

9. Coughing.

10. Sneezing.

11. Loud laughter.

12. Weeping.

Through external causes, these variations appear of their own accord; in art, however, where all outward causes are absent, and imagination must supply their place, such changes are very difficult of production. Hence the unnatural laughter and weeping of beginners on the stage, and even of actors who have been on the stage for many years. It is, therefore, absolutely necessary to learn the physiological process required in these modifications of breathing.

1. Yawning consists in a deep and long inspiration, followed sometimes by a short, often by a long, loud expiration. The mouth, as well as the glottis, must be opened widely.

2. Sighing is a slow, deep, and often intermissive inspiration, taking place usually through the mouth, frequently, also, through the nose, followed by a long, slow, at times trembling, and audible expiration.

3. Panting is a short, violent inspiration and expiration.

4. Sniffing consists in short and rapidly succeeding inspirations through the nose, while the mouth is kept closed by the tightly compressed lips.

5. Hawking results when we drive air quickly and powerfully through the glottis, partly with open, partly with closed mouth. It is produced by slow expiration; oftener, however, by jerks.

6. Aspirating is a hollow, monotonous and gentle expiration through the mouth, either slow or coming in short puffs.

7. Snoring results from a vibration of the softpalate in inspiration and expiration through the mouth. It can also be produced by breathing through the nose, the mouth remaining closed, but not as easily, and certainly not as loud, as the other