I know not by what name to call it.

[*] It enables me to mimic exactly the voice of another, and to modify the sound so that it shall appear to come from what quarter, and be uttered at what distance I please.
"I know not that every one possesses this power.

Perhaps, though a casual position of my organs in my youth shewed me that I possessed it, it is an art which may be taught to all.

Would to God I had died unknowing of the secret! It has produced nothing but degradation and calamity.
"For a time the possession of so potent and stupendous an endowment elated me with pride.

Unfortified by principle, subjected to poverty, stimulated by headlong passions, I made this powerful engine subservient to the supply of my wants, and the gratification of my vanity.