attention to the manner of using the voice, since they are in constant
practice, it might be perfected in its modulation. For want of culture in
the elocutionary art, many teachers are greatly deceived, thinking their
pupils read and declaim well when they do not.

In the management of declamation much care should be taken in the selection
of the pieces. It is best for the pupil, in the first place, after proper
advice, to exercise his own taste in the selection of his piece, which
should then be submitted to the teacher for approval. If the selection is
very appropriate, the pupil should be commended and told why the piece is
considered suitable. If the selection presented is not suitable, the pupil
should be informed on what ground it is objected to, so as to aid his
judgment in another attempt. If the pupil has made proper effort without
success, he should be assisted by the teacher. It is very important that
the selection should be suited to the capacity and progress of the pupil.
Beginners should take simple pieces, and not be allowed, as is sometimes
the case, to murder a passage from Paradise Lost, or Macbeth. Sometimes a
fault is committed on the part of the teacher, by permitting a pupil to
confine his selections to one favorite class. I have observed in certain
schools, that one particular boy would always appear in a comic piece,
another in a tragic, and so on. It would be better for the teacher to
require each pupil to speak a variety of pieces, so as to secure a more
general and comprehensive culture than would result from practice on a
single class of selections.

The choice of the piece should be determined upon a considerable period
previous to the day appointed for the public performance of the stage, so
as to afford ample time for preparation. The piece should be accurately
committed to memory, without the variation of a syllable. It should be made
familiar, so that in the delivery no effort will be required in recalling