member of our Church accordingly, the difficulty of reading the Liturgy with spirit, or even with propriety, is greatly enhanced by the long-established and inveterate faults to which almost every one's ears are become familiar; so that such a delivery as would shock any one of even moderate taste, in any other composition, he will, in this, be likely to tolerate, and to practise. Some, c. g. in the Litany, read, "have mercy upon us, miserable sinners;" and others, "have mercy upon us, miserable sinners;" both laying the stress on a wrong word, and making the pause in the wrong place, so as to disconnect "us" and "miserable sinners;" which the context requires us to combine. Every one, in expressing his own natural sentiments, would say, "have mercy upon us miserable sinners." Many are apt even to commit so gross an error, as to lay the chief stress on the words which denote the most important things; without any consideration of the emphatic word of each sentence: e. g. in the Absolution, many read, "let us beseech Him to grant us true repentance;" because, forsooth, "true repentance" is an important thing; not considering that, as it has been just mentioned, it is not the new idea, and that to which the attention should be directed by the emphasis; the sense being, that since God pardoneth all that have true repentance, therefore, we should "beseech Him to grant it to us."

In addition to the other difficulties of reading the Liturgy well, it should be mentioned, that prayer, thanksgiving, and the like, even when avowedly not of our own composition, should be delivered as (what in truth they ought to be) the genuine sentiments of our own minds at the moment of utterance; which is not the case with the Scriptures, or with anything else that is read, not professing to be the speaker's own composition.

But the department of education I am speaking of, instead of being entrusted to such persons as usually conduct it, is one which calls for the assiduous attention of some one well-qualified in point

Different modes of teaching the different points of

good elocution.

of good taste and sound judgment. Let young persons be accustomed much to reading aloud to a parent or other teacher thus qualified, and who shall be ready to point out and correct any faults they may commit; and let this be done in strict conformity with the principles above laid down. Let the instructor, accordingly, remember that the pupils' attention is then, and then only, to be called to the sounds uttered, when the fault is one which he would wish corrected (and which indeed he should be ready to correct) in the utterance of ordinary conversation. E. G. many young persons have habits,-and such as, not seldom, grow up with them,either of an indistinct pronunciation, which makes the vowels aud ble, while the consonants are slurred," or of dropping the voice

12 A useful maxim as to this point, is, to "take care of the consonants, and the vowels wil. take care of themselves."

toward the close of each sentence so as to be nearly inaudible, or of rising into a scream, or of too rapid and hurried an utterance, or of some provincial vulgarity, &c. All such faults should,—as has been said,-be corrected not in reading only, but in ordinary speaking.

But on the other hand, all those faults of delivery, which, though common in reading, do not occur in ordinary speaking, constitute a distinct class, and must be carefully indeed corrected, but in a totally different manner. For hardly any one in ordinary conversation speaks as if he did not understand, or did not really mean, what he is saying. In reference therefore to correct reading, (in respect of the sense,) and impressive reading,—such as shall convey the true import, and full force, of what is said,-the appeal must be made to the learner's own mind; and his attention should be drawn from the sound, to the sense of what he is reading. And the instructor should give admonitions, when needed, not, as in the other case, by saying "You have pronounced that word wrong; pronounce it so and so:" or "You read too quick," &c.; but "Read that passage as if you understood it read this suitably to a command, that, to an interrogation, &c.: express the scorn-the exultation-the earnestness, &c., of that passage, as if you were expressing such a feeling of your own in your own words," &c.

That such an exercise as this, under a judicious guide, will have most beneficial results, I am convinced from experience. And if the study of Elocution, thus conducted, were made, as it manifestly ought to be, an indispensable part of a liberal education, I have no doubt that good reading would be no longer the exception, but the rule. For though the method I have been recommending, will not, as I have said, so readily and so easily accomplish its object, as the opposite method does its own object, on the other hand this latter is in reality no benefit at all, but a great evil; while, on the other plan, the student is at least put on the right course, and will be in the way of indefinitely improving himself in after-life.

Learning by rote.

It is almost superfluous to remark, how utterly at variance with all that I have been here recommending, is the practice of setting children to learn by heart and recite, before they are able to understand, poems, chapters of the Bible, collects, &c., to which they attach little or no meaning, while they repeat the words by rote. A habit of reading in an artificial tone, offensive to those of good taste, and tending to impair the force of what is so read, is one natural result-though far from the worst13– of such a practice. If any who have been thus brought up are found, in after-life, to have a good elocution,-and, I may add, to have their intellectual and moral powers unimpaired, this must be, not in consequence of such a training, but in spite of it.

13 See Appendix [0].

13

CHAP. III. Considerations arising from the Differences between Reading and Speaking.

$1.

SOME additional objections to the method I have recommended, and some further remarks on the counterbalancing advantages of it, will be introduced presently, when I shall have first offered some observations on Speaking, and on that branch of Reading which the most nearly approaches to it.

When any one delivers a written composition, of which he is, or is supposed to profess himself, the author, he has peculiar difficulties to encounter, if his object be to approach as nearly as possible to the extemporaneous style. It is indeed impossible to produce the full effect of that style, while the audience are aware that the words he utters are before him but he may approach indefinitely near to such an effect; and in proportion as he succeeds in this object, the impression produced will be the greater.

Comparative advantages of written and extemporary addresses.

It has been already remarked, how easy it is for the hearers to keep up their attention,-indeed, how difficult for them to withdraw it, when they are addressed by one who is really speaking to them in a natural and earnest manner; though perhaps the discourse may be encumbered with a good deal of the repetition, awkwardness of expression, and other faults, incident to extemporaneous language; and though it be prolonged for an hour or two, and yet contain no more matter than a good writer could have clearly expressed in a discourse of half an hour; which last, if read to them, would not, without some effort on their part, have so fully detained their attention. The advantage in point of style, arrangement, &c., of written, over extemporaneous discourses, (such at least as any but the most accomplished orators can produce,) is sufficiently evident:" and it is evident also that other advantages, such as have been just alluded to, belong to the latter. Which is to be preferred on each occasion, and by each orator, it does not belong to the present discussion to inquire; but it is evidently of the highest importance, to combine, as far as possible, in each case, the advantages of both.

A perfect familiarity with the rules laid down in the First Part of this Treatise, would be likely, it is hoped, to give the extemporaneous orator that habit of quickly methodizing his thoughts on a given subject, which is essential (at least where no very long premed

14 Practice in public speaking generally practice in speaking on the particular subject in hand, and (on each occasion) premeditation of the matter, and arrangement, are all circumstances of great consequence to a speaker.

Nothing but a miraculous gift can supersede

these advantages. The Apostles, accordingly, were forbidden to use any premeditation, being assured that it "should be given them, in that same hour, what they should say ;" and, when they found, in effect, this promise fulfilled to them, they had experience, within themselves. of a sensible miracle.

15

itation is allowed) to give to a speech something of the weight of argument, and clearness of arrangement, which characterize good Writing. In order to attain the corresponding advantage,-to impart to the delivery of a written discourse, something of the vivacity and interesting effect of real, earnest, speaking, the plan to be pursued, conformably with the principles I have been maintaining, is, for the reader to draw off his mind as much as possible from the thought that he is reading, as well as from all thought respecting his own utterance; to fix his mind as earnestly as possible on the matter, and to strive to adopt as his own, and as his own at the moment of utterance, every sentiment he delivers;-and to say it to the audience, in the manner which the occasion and subject spontaneously suggest to him who has abstracted his mind both from all considerations of himself, and from the consideration that he is reading.

§ 2.

Most men

speak well in

common discourse.

The advantage of this NATURAL MANNER-i. e. the manner which one naturally falls into who is really speaking, in earnest, and with a mind exclusively intent on what he has to say-may be estimated from this consideration; that there are few (as was remarked in the preceding chapter) who do not speak so as to give effect to what they are saying. Some, indeed, do this much better than others. Some have, as I observed above, in ordinary conversation, an indistinct or incorrect pronunciation,—an embarrassed and hesitating utterance, or a bad choice of words: but hardly any one fails to deliver (when speaking earnestly) what he does say, so as to convey the sense and the force of it, much more completely than even a good reader would, if those same words were written down and read. The latter might, indeed, be more approved; but that is not the present question; which is, concerning the impression made on the hearers' minds. It is not the polish of the blade that is to be considered, or the grace with which it is brandished, but the keenness of the edge, and the weight of the stroke.

There is, indeed, as I have said, a wide differerence between different men, in respect of the degrees of impressiveness with which, in earnest conversation, they deliver their sentiments; but it may safely be laid down, that he who delivers a written composition with the same degree of spirit and energy with which he would naturally speak on the same subject, has attained, not indeed, necessarily, absolute perfection, but the utmost excellence attainable by him. Any attempt to outdo his own Natural manner, will inevitably lead to something worse than failure.

15 Accordingly, it may be remarked, that, (contrary to what might at first sight be supposed,) though the preceding parts, as well as the present, are intended for general application, yet it is to the extemporary speaker that

the rules laid down in the former Part (suppos ing them correct) will be the most peculiarly useful: while the suggestions offered in this last, respecting Elocution, are more especially designed for the use of the reader.

On the contrary, it can hardly be denied that the elocution of most readers, even when delivering their own compositions, (suppose, in the Pulpit,) is such as to convey the notion, at the very best, not that the preacher is expressing his own real sentiments, but that he is making known to his audience what is written in the book before him and, whether the composition is professedly the reader's own, or not, the usual mode of delivery, though grave and decent, is so remote from the energetic style of real Natural Speech, as to furnish, if one may so speak, a kind of running comment on all that is uttered, which says, "I do not mean, think, or feel, all this; I only mean to recite it with propriety and decorum :" and what is usually called fine Reading, only superadds to this, (as has been above remarked,) a kind of admonition to the hearers, that they ought to believe, to feel, and to admire, what is read.

Natural

manner not to be con

founded with the familiar.

§ 3.

It is easy to anticipate an objection which many will urge against, what they will call, a colloquial style of delivery; viz. that it is undignified, and unsuitable to the solemnity of a serious, and especially, of a religious discourse. The objection is founded on a mistake. Those who urge it, derive all their notions of a Natural Delivery from two, irrelevant, instances; that of ordinary conversation, the usual objects of which, and consequently its usual tone, are comparatively light; -and, that of the coarse and extravagant rant of vulgar fanatical preachers. But to conclude that the objections against either of these styles, would apply to the Natural delivery of a man of sense and taste, speaking earnestly, on a serious subject, and on a solemn occasion, or that he would naturally adopt, and is here advised to adopt, such a style as those objected to, is no less absurd than, if any one, being recommended to walk in a natural and unstudied manner, rather than in a dancing step, (to employ Dr. A. Smith's illustration,) or a formal march, should infer that the natural gait of a clown following the plough, or of a child in its gambols, were proposed as models to be imitated in walking across a room.. Should any one, on being told that both tragic-acting and comic-acting ought to be a natural representation of man, interpret this to mean, that Tragedy ought to be performed exactly like Comedy, he would be thought very absurd, if he were supposed to be speaking seriously. It is evident, that what is natural in one case, or for one person, may be, in a different one, very unnatural. It would not be by any means natural to an educated and sober-minded man, to speak like an illiterate enthusiast; or to discourse on the most important matters in the tone of familiar conversation respecting the trifling occurrences of the day. Any one who does but notice the style in which a man of ability, and of good choice of words, and utterance, delivers his sentiments in private, when he is, for instance, earnestly