13 AUGUST 1870, Page 22

The Cultivation of the Speaking Voice. By John Hollah. (Clarendon

Press.)—Mr. Hash is quite right when he says that Englishmen tiller their words, a matter quite apart, of course, from the choice of words and the fluency of speech, worse than does any civilized nation. This is a sort of fault for which only little can be done by written instruction. But what can be done, Mr. Hullah's handbook is likely to effect. Any one who has to speak in public may get valuable hints from it, first in terse, vigorous language, (as, e.g., when Mr. Hullah says of public read- ing, that a small volume or sermon is "best carried in the hand, or still better, in the head.") It will be equally or more useful to professional instructors whose teaching is now often merely empirical.