Pronunciation, therefore, was skilfully and carefully taught in Delsarte's school. The professor's first care was to correct any tendency to lisp, which he did by temporarily substituting the syllables te, de, over and over again, for the faulty R. This substitution brought the organ back to the requisite position for the vibration of the R.
This process is now in common use; but I cannot say whether it was employed before Delsarte's day. He obtained very happy results from it.
E mute before a Consonant.
Delsarte did not allow that absolute suppression of the E mute before a consonant, which seems to prevail at present, and which produces so bad an effect in delivery. As the evil, at the time of which I speak, was yet comparatively unknown, he did not make it a case of conscience; but if he never lent himself to this ellipsis, he, "the lyric Talma," "the exquisite singer," as he has frequently been called, should we not regard his abstinence as a condemnation from which there is no appeal? I do not believe, moreover, that either Nourrit or Dupré authorized by their example a habit so contrary to the rules of French versification, so disagreeable to the well-trained ear and so opposed to good taste. Such young singers as have yielded to it, have only to listen to themselves for one moment to abandon it forever.
It is certain that E mute can in no instance be assimilated to the accented E; but to suppress it entirely, is to break the symmetry of the verse, to put the measure out of time. It is unmistakable that the weakness of the vowel, or mute syllable, concerns the sound, not the duration. Let it die away gently; but for Heaven's sake, do not murder it! Voltaire wrote: "You reproach us with our E mute, as a sad, dull sound that dies on our lips, but in this very E mute lies the great harmony of our prose and verse." Littré recognizes two forms of the E mute: the E mute, faintly articulated as in "àme;" and the E mute sounded as in me, ce, le;but he does not allude to an E which is entirely null.
Once more, then, that there may be no misunderstanding, let me say that the word mute added to the E, has but a relative sense, in view of the two vowels of the same name and marked with an acute or a grave accent.
One fact throws light on the question: did any author ever make a character above the rank of a peasant or a lackey, say:
"J'aime' ben Lisett' J'crois qu'ell' m'en veut!"
Take an example from Voltaire (tragedy of the Death of Caesar): "Voilà vos successeurs, Horace, Décius." Evidently, if the E mute had not been counted, the second hemistich of the Alexandrine verse would have had but five syllables instead of six.
Would any one like to know how the heresiarchs of the E mute would manage?