20 MARCH 1880, Page 22

The Voice, and Public Speaking. By J. P. Sandlands, MA.

(Hodder and Stoughton.)—This is described as "a book for all who read and speak in public," and has a very well-defined purpose. The orator is, like the poet, born, not made; but there is a, great mass of speakers who are not orators, but either tolerable or intolerable, according as they know, or do not know, the art which they practise.. "Breathing," "the Month," "the Voice," "Articulation," "Pro- nunciation," "The Key-tone," Word-grouping," "Nerve-force," "Action," are the subjects of Mr. Sandland's chapters, and ho treats them with a diretness and a, brevity which deserves all praise. Sometimes he reckons on a knowledge or a power in his readers which all will not possess. His chapter on "The Key-tone" will be unintelligible to those who have no ear, while some will wish. that his French extracts had been translated.