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HINTS

ON MODES OF PERSONAL PRACTICE,

IN THE USE OF THIS VOLUME.

INDIVIDUALS who have not convenient access to instruction, and are desirous of prosecuting the study and practice of elocution, as a matter of self-cultivation, may be aided by the following suggestions.

1. The preliminary condition to success in the cultivation of any branch of practical oratory, is a healthy condition of the bodily frame. Elocution, as the exterior part of eloquence, is altogether dependent on the vigour and flexibility of the muscular system. Flaccid, rigid, and clumsy muscles render expression by voice and action impracticable. Muscular energy and pliancy demand habits of free exposure to the open air, and the vigorous use of the arms and limbs, in daily exertions of adequate force.

No man can be effectively eloquent without energy; and the attaining of energy is, to the student and the sedentary man, a thing comparatively arduous. Several hours-not one, merely,-of every day, are due to the renovation of the body; and the student who tries to evade this condition, although he may do well, apparently, for a few years, usually sinks into debility, or contracts a decided-perhaps a fatal-bronchial affection. The sedentary man who is, at the same time, a public speaker, needs a double allowance of air and exercise, to counteract the injurious tendency of the union of two modes of life, naturally incompatible. The nervous excitation, and the cerebral exhilaration, arising from continued intellectual action,-by the deceptive inspiration which they impart, often lead the student to slight physical exercise, as a thing unnecessary. A few years,-sometimes even a few months,-are sufficient to undeceive the individual, and disclose all the accumulation of unsuspected injury to which he had been subjecting himself. The student is ever prone to forget that the body is a machine designed for action, and one which he is bound to keep in use, and so to keep in repair,-under a penalty not less severe than is attached to a desecration.. The statistics of elocution, however, if faithfully recorded, would not show a result, usually, of one sound voice in ten, among young men who are addicted to sedentary and studious habits.

An individual who wishes to acquire or retain the power of speaking or reading with true effect, must, in the first instance, be willing to assign a considerable portion of every day to invigorating exercise and exposure.

2. It is, farther, an indispensable prerequisite to effective elocution that the student accustom himself to activity, as a habit both of body and mind. Expression, in elocutionary forms, is action: it is a thing utterly

incompatible with listlessness, indolence, or languor. Eloquence,-of which elocution is but the audible and visible part,-implies a tendency to perceptible effect. 'Wisdom' may be the repose of minds.' But eloquence is not. The true orator has always defined eloquence as action. Eloquence is not-in its effective form,-the placid lake, whose charm is its serenity. It is the river 'moving in majesty,' or sweeping to its destination, and carrying with it whatever it encounters in its course.

The eloquence of calm thought and mild persuasion, has doubtless its time and place. But even this demands its appropriate utterance and action. Deprived of these it will lose its power. The discipline to which the student, as a scholar, so long subjects himself,-the passive and receptive state of mind to which he is habituated,-entail a tendency to inaction, as regards manifestation and expression. When he assumes, therefore, the duties of a profession which devolves on him, in frequent recurrence, the act of public speaking, he is usually unprepared for this altogether new career, in which his success depends not on his power of reception or acquisition, but of impartation and utterance. He must undergo a change of habit, as regards both mental and bodily exertion, to render him capable of accomplishing the purposes of active life and professional duty. He must become habituated to the glow of action, and the impulse of feeling; he must learn to cherish the inspiration of ardour and positive exertion, and to relish the pleasure of impelling other minds,-of compassing an object and carrying a point. His speech must become fraught with the spirit of eloquence, in the earnestness of its tones, and the energy of its accompanying action; that he may possess the power of moving his hearers and carrying them with him. Such exertion will often demand all the spirit and enthusiasm of heroie enterprise.

The student of elocution, then, must bring to his practice a stirring ambition that shall not suffer him to subside into languor and indolence, or irresolution and inaction. His daily physical exercise must be carried to such extent as to yield the natural and healthful pleasure of exertion, and to create an earnest desire for it, and an habitual tendency towards it.

3. But the successful practice of elocution demands more than merely high-toned health and habitual activity. Expression by voice and action requires that natural result of healthful habit, which we designate, in popular language, by the phrase 'high animal spirits.' This is one of Nature's laws of expression. The individual in private society, not less than the public speaker, needs animation, as a condition of oral communication. The child, under the inspiration of vivid emotion, becomes an eloquent monitor to the man, as regards the impartation of feeling. The student of elocution, to be successful in his endeavours, needs all the aids arising from the inspiring influences of health and activity and animation. It is from the superabundant life of his own heart that he is to impel and inspire the feelings of others. Expression, in its best forms, is often something struck out in the glow of emotion. The most eloquent tones of the human voice, and the most impressive forms of attitude and action, are those which spring from the most vivid state of the soul, under a powerful inspiration.

4. A high tone of the animal spirits, and a quick sensibility of heart need, however, the associated aid of a plastic, and, at the same time, a powerfully active imagination. Poetry is not such to the man who receives it into a hard or a dormant fancy. To such an individual, its no

blest workings are but so many forms of falsehood. Let him attempt to give it voice, and his dry inexpressive tone reveals the fact that it has no power over his being. The highest expressive action of the human mind, is that in which eloquence, in its sublime inspiration, passes into the form of poetry. The art of elocution recognizes this fact, and presents to the student, as the noblest of all its exercises, the fitting recitation of sentiment imbodied in verse, or in those forms of prose which bespeak the presence of the spirit, if not the letter, of poetry.

To do justice to such strains, the student must bring to his work the utmost pliancy and glowing activity of imagination, to enable him to take on and give off, with correspondent effect, the thick-coming fancies' of the poet. He must possess the power of assimilating his own mood of mind to that of the creative artist under whose inspiration he is working. Every central point of thought must be thrown out, in tone and action, in a style which clusters round it the whole investing imagery of the poet's soul and the speaker's heart. Poetic utterance requires that imagination should people the world of feeling, not less than that feeling should animate and awaken the world of fancy. Eloquence, when it is truly such, partakes largely of the character of poetry: the most eloquent passage of writing is that which is essentially the most poetical.

The student of elocution, then, if he would be successful in his art, must cherish whatever tends to impart life and power to the imaginative faculty. Nature and art, and poetry, in particular, are the great schools of imagination. But no influence is more immediate, in this respect, than the attentive practice of elocution itself. A true poetic recitation breathes into the soul, at once, the conception of the poet, the music of his verse, and the charm of a harmonized living voice, to which the heart strings are formed to thrill.

5. The effects resulting from the practice of elocution, are equally favourable, as regards the best influence on the health and vigour and activity of the organic frame, and on the habitual tone of feeling. The erect and expansive attitude of body, and the free and forcible action of all its parts, in the full expression of posture, motion, and gesture, tend to impart vigour and pliancy, not less than freedom and grace; while the unembarrassed and active play of heart and lungs conveys fresh life and power to all parts of the system, from the energy imparted to the muscles of the chest and throat. A highly animated condition of the whole interior of the bodily frame, is a necessary consequence of the vivid and genial emotions which inspiring sentiment and impressive utterance produce.

6. The various modes of exercise, in detail, which are most conducive to healthful vigour and organic energy, may be found described in the volume on Orthophony, which is more immediately occupied with this branch of elocutionary training. The student, when he has rendered himself expert in these, or others of a similar description, may, with advantage, proceed in the course of cultivation, as developed in that work, and in the American Elocutionist. To the study of these volumes, the exercises commencing at the 125th page of the present work, will form a useful sequel. Students who have not convenient access to the works now mentioned, will, it is thought, find, in the exercises presented in the following pages, a course of practice sufficient for immediate purposes. 7. The practice of the elementary exercises, should be persevered in, till every point, successively, is mastered, and the results of cultivation

are fully obtained in a perfectly pure, clear, round, and full Tone of voice; a perfectly distinct and well-marked, but fluent Enunciation; the power of giv ing forth, at pleasure, any degree of Force, from whispering to shouting and calling; every species of Stress; the ability to exemplify any Pitch of voice, from the lowest to the highest; a perfect command of Inflections,' in all their forms; an entire control over Movement, from the slowest to the lively rate; an exact observance of Time and Rhythm;' every degree of effect in Emphasis, from the most delicate to the boldest; a perfect mastery of Expression," in all its moods, and of Variation,' through all its modifications.

8. A separate course of practice, in the reading of the Scriptures and of hymns, should, after the previous training, be pursued, with the aid of close analysis and frequent repetition, as exemplified in the following pages.

9. The miscellaneous exercises' should all be thoroughly analyzed, previous to practising them, and the style of reading penciled, if necessary, on the margin, opposite to every passage which needs more than usual attention to 'expression' and variation.

10. The next step in the student's progress, should be the reading of passages selected from various authors, and exemplifying all the varieties of style in narrative, descriptive, didactic, and oratorical composition in prose, and of epic, lyric, and dramatic poetry.

11. The next step in preparatory training should be the reading of sermons, with strict regard to the due loudness and slowness of voice required in public reading;-with a watchful attention to inflection, emphasis, and pauses, as the vehicles of distinctive thought; and to expression' and variation' as the means of effect in sentiment and emotion. The best security for due closeness of attention to particulars, is the preparatory use of the pencil in marking, on the margin and between the lines, every important point in the management of the voice.

12. The student should now adopt the practice of reading matter of his own composition, in the form of essays, lectures, and sermons.

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13. As a preparation for applying the principles of Gesture, passages from the ELEMENTARY' and the MISCELLANEOUS EXERCISES,' may be committed to memory, and practised in the forms of declamation and recitation.

14. The next step, in preparatory practice, should consist in speaking on given subjects, after close and thorough premeditation, so as to develope a train of thought in well-digested forms, leaving the language and expression, in their details, to the suggestion of the moment.

15. The last stage of elocutionary practice, may be left to exercises in strictly extemporaneous speaking, in the form of discourses pronounced on texts selected ad aperturam libri, as a preparation for the customary remarks on passages of Scripture, at prayer-meetings. When students can conveniently meet, in classes, the practice of extemporaneous discussion and debate, may be advantageously adopted, as a means of cultivating propriety and fluency in elocution.

INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS.

ON THE

STUDY OF ELOCUTION.

STUDENTS of theology are not always aware of the immense importance of a perfect command of voice, and of an intimate knowledge of the rules and principles of elocution, as the only rational means to that end. A teacher in this branch of education, therefore, has often to consume much time in soliciting attention to his subject; and his arguments. are not unfrequently regarded as the pleading of one whose personal interests are at stake in the question.

The author of the following treatise, labours, in common with other instructors in his department, under this disadvantage, and has found it useful to appeal, on this ground, to the testimony of individuals already engaged in the duties of the sacred profession. He was desirous, therefore, previous to commencing the task of compiling this volume, to obtain, from those whose professional position and opportunities. might give sanction to their opinions, their views on the advantages of specific study and practice in elocution, as a part of professional training for the services of the pulpit.

Several clergymen to whom the author made application, on this subject, expressed a warm interest in the object in view, and their readiness to render it their personal aid. The urgency of professional duties, however, in some instances, and unforeseen hinderances, in others, have prevented the

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