A system of practical elocution and rhetorical gesture; comprising all the elements of vocal delivery, both as a science and as an art

Front matter

A

SYSTEM

OF

Introduction

The importance of a knowledge of the principles of Elocution, must be strongly impressed upon every reflecting mind ; since that, by the use of these principles, all our personal intercourse with each other is conducted, both of a private and public character. "We cannot speak to each other in the most simple manner in our private intercourse of business or friendship, without employing more or less of these principles, to effect our purposes. In every word, in every syllable, in every sound, is contained one or more of the elements constituting the basis of Elocution. And it may also be observed, by almost every reader of this introduction, that even in the humbler walks of life, a good elocution gives a very decided advantage over a bad or an awkward one.

If the intonations of a man's voice be smooth, flexible, and properly energetic. Ins intercourse in business will be greatly facilitated, and success will more likely and generally follow. For there is a vast amount of matter in sound, hardly to be conceived ; and it is the manna- of saying a thing, which gives it more effect, in many instances, than the thing itself. Hence, a good elocution gives a man greatly the advantage.

Again, when we look around us, and observe those who have become, or made themselves conspicuous in our own country, in the different professions, in church, and in state; we shall find, that in proportion as were eloquent, and had high powers of utterance, they became eminently successful, and are considered and looked up to as superiors in this respect, and consequently take the lead, and are catable also, to lead, and DO really lead the destiny of our country, and, in some respects, that of the world.

Eloquent men are not always the most learned ; nor are they the most profound in thought and reasoning. But when eloquence and erudition are united in the same individual, he becomes brilliant, and stands head and shoulder above his fellows. Look, for instance, upon Cicero and Demosthenes, of olden times ; upon Sir Robert Peel and Lord Brougham, of modern England ; upon Whitefield and Durbin, of the Toga, Clay and Webster, Calhoun and Preston, Randolph and Adams of our own country ; some of whom did, and the others novj can electrify assemblies, and throw them into a state of intense thought and feeling, in which they are almost unconscious of every thing else, save that thought and that feeling.

IV INTRODUCTION.

From this, then, we may naturally infer, that to become useful and to do good in this world, a good elocution is one of the most efficient means. And especially in a country like ours, where civil liberty secures to every one a freedom of thought and a freedom of speech, by which he is permitted to act in every way of usefulness, in any department of life, to which his genius, disposition, and education may incline him. Being governed only by the law of liberty and the law of love, force is never permitted to take the place of reason, and crime and corruption ?ieed not be suffered to go unpunished.

The institutions of our country, then, would seem to foster the very spirit of eloquence ; and it would seem almost a crime to check that spirit, or withhold aid in the promotion of its onward progression. Let us endeavor to make a nation of orators, by affording to every r man, woman, and child in our country, the theory and practice, or the means and the mode of acquiring the improvement, and an efficient use of this most important and powerful instrument of the mind — the voice.

When we look round upon the great theatre of life, what attracts our attention more strongly, than that spirit-stirring oratory which occasionally manifests itself in the corruscations from the moral horizon ? What more distinguishes one man from another, than the power of utterance, the power of speech to stir man's blood and start him into action ? Who is generally employed by Providence, to effect any great moral reformation, but the man who is able to wield the almost omnipotent power of a commanding vocal utterance ; the man who, Luther-like, makes himself feel what he says, and makes others feel what they hear '. Who is there that, is not willing to hear the man, who, Paul-like, has power to make an infidel-Felix tremble on his judgment seat ? Who is there that does not love to feel the power and truth of argumentation, and to luxuriate in the feelings which are inspired by eloquence ? Nay, there are none who delight not in being under the influence of the inspiring tones of a properly modulated intonation, and who do not love to feel the overwhelming power of eloquence.

From this, then, we may clearly conclude, that there is a demand, a general demand, which should be supplied. And what better method can be taken, than to place the means of supply within the reach of every man, of every gentleman and lady, of every common school district, of every academy, and of every college and university in our country.

The best method for securing fluency and flexibility of voice, and a pleasant flowing intonation, is to commence almost in the nursery, at least from two years and upward to train the voice concretely and discretely upward and downward through its whole compass, as also on the different modes of stress, especially that on long and short quantity, the former by the Loud Concrete and Median Stress, and the latter by the Radical Explosion.

INTRODUCTION. V

If children are thus trained in the alphabetic elements, especially the vowels, by the mother or father, the brother or sister, occasionally only, as a pleasant pastime ; the effect upon the voice, as it is developed by age and this pleasant exercise, will be found to be extended far beyond the most sanguine expectation.

The training should not stop here, but be continued in our common schools, and the exercises there made more particular and definite ; and the Elements of Expression, as they are developed in the following pages, should be applied in Reading and Declamation.

The application of the principles of Elocution, will then be greatly aided again, by a knowledge of the principles of Grammar, and the mind expanded by the study of Geography and Astronomy, and strengthened again by that of the combination of numbers or Arithmetic. Thus the powers of the mind and the powers of the voice may be trained in a healthful unity and harmony with each other, and the whole man will be developed in all his susceptibilities by these gymnastics of thought and speech.

Again, while the mind is still further expanded, and its powers strengthened in the delightful and steady trainings in our Academies and Colleges, by the study of History, ancient and modern ; — by the study of Astronomy, of Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, and Mathematics, in their several departments; — by the study of Intellectual and Moral Philosophy ; — by the study of the BIBLE, Grammar, Logic, Rhetoric, and, though last, yet not least, by Elocution in all-subduing eloquence, we shall have the man, we shall have the whole man, we shall have the finished man, full grown and of mighty strength, start, (like Minerva out of Jupiter's brain,) in full being and fully equipt, upon the theatre of action and contending life, with all the panoply of successful warfare, though not destructive, neither aggressive nor oppressive in its character, but full of peace, and love, and good-will.

The principles, by the application of which, speech becomes impressive and effective, are, like the established rules of art. to be considered and studied, not as the barriers of a flood, which in protecting from inroad, restrictively prevents the opportunities of further conquest, but as guides and escorts of art, to acquisitions of wider glory.

The high accomplishments of elocution are supposed, by too many, to be the unacquired gifts of nature or of genius, and to consist of -powers and graces beyond the reach of art. So seem the plainest operations of arithmetic to the savage ; or the knowledge of either of the professions to the untutored and humble peasant. Ignorance knows not what has been done ; and indolence thinks nothing can be done ; and both united prevent any effort, and encourage supineness and indifference.

But we would here say, that a full knowledge of the principles and practice of an art, enables an industrious and ambitious votary of truth,

VI INTRODUCTION.

to approach perfection ; and if he find no way made ready for him, he goes to work and makes one for himself. But the embodying of sense by sound, and the coloring of feeling by its expressive modes of intonation, are fixed in their constitution, by the decisions of the experienced. And hence, we have encouragement to say, that an impressive and effective delivery is within the reach of every one. And we would further state, that any adult of a sound mind without any insuperable impediment or deficiency in the organs of speech, can acquire the use of all the elements of an impressive intonation, and become interesting and fluent in speech and reading. And this may be done, too, without the aid of a teacher, in the following manner.

Let any one take this system of the exposition of the functions of the voice, and, in a room by himself, (or otherwise if he please.) read aloud, with firmness of voice, and a full determination to execute and accomplish all the directions given, every table, and every paragraph, from the beginning to the end. And when he shall have thus waded through the stream, two or three times ; he will be ready to exclaim, that it is surprising that this subject has been neglected for so long a time, and that the powers of the voice are so susceptible of improvement.

It will be found that the descriptions and directions contained in this course, are so simple, and the tables for exercise and examples so numerous, that the comprehension of the principles of elocution will be comparatively easy, and their production, and the application of them in practice, so clearly illustrated by the examples and tables, that there will be very little difficulty in making them our own. For when we practice any thing until it becomes easy and habitual, it then forms a part of ourselves ; for it is said, that we are but a bundle of habits. Thus, then, if we practice the elements of an impressive intonation into a habit, and have attached to each element its distinctive feeling ; then the feeling or emotion will urge the appropriate element, and the execution of any given element will excite the relative feeling. Hence, the expressive element and the feeling will mutually and reciprocally excite each other.

We would take pleasure, here, to state, that the world is indebted to Dr. Rush for laying the foundation of a correct and Philosophical Elocution. The functions of the voice, in the production of Speech, Song, and Recitative, was never understood until he developed it, in his invaluable work on the Philosophy of the Human Voice. The world will ever be under obligation to him for his description of the concrete function of the voice, by which the different elements of expression are rendered cognizable, and by which the passions, sentiments, and emotions of the heart, are exhibited in their diversified modes of being, and different degrees of intensity.

INTRODUCTION. VU

The several works already published on this subject have been examined, and it is thought that neither of them is sufficiently practical on the Elements of Expression — the fundamental principles of an impressive Elocution. Barber, Walker, Steel, Porter, Russell, Comstock, Caldwell, and several others, have been carefully consulted, and they certainly possess their respective degrees of merit, but are deemed deficient in the description and clear distinctions of the several elementary functions of the voice, and of the^ practical trainings on the same.

It will be very seldom found, in the course of the following pages, that reference is made to the author from whom any quotation or any useful hint has been taken. It would have encumbered both the work and the mind of the reader, if reference had been made so frequently as would have been necessary. It was, therefore, originally designed to make a general acknowledgment. And here it may be proper to say, that great pleasure is taken in making the grateful acknowledgment.

Notwithstanding the many selections that have been made, from those above named and a few others, for it was designed to select the very best of each, and combine it with what is new, and thus make an improved whole suited to the present demand or wants of the common people. Yet the general plan of arrangement ; — the alphabetic division ; — the description and arrangements of the vowel and consonant elements ; — the numerous tables for exercise and illustration; — the tracing of the functions of the voice on the alphabetic elements to their legitimate effects in the coalescence of the different elements ; — the nature and cause of the pitch of the voice ; — and the giving to the whole work an eminently practical character, &c. may all be regarded as original.

The difficulty of setting forth with clearness a subject which has, heretofore, been so much overlooked and neglected, and which must be new to a very large portion of our citizens, has been considered, and continually kept in view ; yet it is believed that this entire matter has been set forth, in so clear and simple a manner, that any person of ordinary capacity and perseverance may master it, without an Instructor.

The description of each principle and function, the frequent repetition of the same, and the repeated illustrations of them by numerous and diversified examples, will, the author flatters himself, render it easily attainable by every one who will but put forth the effort a little while.* Let any one undertake and persevere, only a half an hour per day> for

* It will be found that many repetitions of the same thing, will occur at different places throughout this work ; but we would remark that this was necessary, partly in - order to show the relation of matters and principles that were unavoidably separated by arrangement, and partly to impress them more indelibly by those repetitions.

Vlll INTRODUCTION.

three months, and he will find ample encouragement to prosecute the subject until he shall have completely mastered it.

The history of the world is full of testimony to prove how much depends upon industry ; not an eminent orator has ever lived but is an example of it. Yet, in contradiction to all this, the almost universal feeling appears to be, that industry can effect nothing ; that eminence is the result of accident ; and that every one must be content to be just what he may happen to be. Thus multitudes, who come forward as teachers and guides, suffer themselves to be satisfied with the most indifferent attainments, and a miserable mediocrity, without so much as inquiring how they may rise higher, much less making any attempt to rise.

Multitudes would be ashamed to practice any other art in public, without having first served an apprenticeship to learn it. If any one would sing, he employs a master, and is drilled in every elmentary principle ; and only after the most laborious process dares to exercise his voice in public. This he does, though he has scarce any thing to learn but the mechanical execution of what lies before his eyes in visible forms. But the extemporaneous speaker, who is to invent as well as to utter, to carry on an operation of the mind, as w T ell as to produce sound in certain appropriate modes, enters upon the work without any preparatory discipline.

What hours and days would he spend in giving facility to his fingers, in attaining the power of the sweetest and most expressive execution, were he learning to play for public exhibition ? Should he, for instance, be devoting himself to the organ, what months and years would he labor, that he might know its compass, and be master of its keys, and be able to draw out, at will, all its various combinations of harmonious sound, and its full richness and delicacy of expression ! And yet, he will fancy that the grandest, the most various, and the most expressive of all instruments, which the infinite Creator has fashioned by the union of an intellectual soul with the powers of speech, may be played upon without study or practice ; he comes to it a mere uninstructed Tyro, and thinks to manage all its stops and movements, and command the whole compass of its varied and comprehensive powers. He finds himself a bungler in the attempt, is mortified at his failure, and settles it in his mind, that the attempt is vain.

But, we say, be encouraged ; success, in every art, whatever may be the natural talent, is always the reward of industry and pains. And the instances are many, of men of the finest natural genius, whose beginning has promised much, but who have degenerated wretchedly as they advanced, because they trusted to their gifts, and made no efforts to improve. That there have never been other men of equal endowments with Demosthenes and Cicero, none would venture to suppose, •

INTRODUCTION. IX

but who. if they had devoted themselves to their art as they did, would have become equal or superior to them in excellence ? If these great men had been content, like others, to continue as they began ? and had never made their persevering efforts for improvement, what would their country have been benefited from their labors and genius, or the world have known of their fame? They would have been lost in the undistinguished crowd that sunk to oblivion around them. What would be the present condition of Brougham and of Peel. — of Webster and of Clay, — of Calhoun and of Preston, — of Bascom and of Bethune, if they had contented themselves with but ordinary attainments ? Instead of standing on the very pinnacle of fame, as they now do, they would be mixing with the commingling mass below, a place assigned them by supineness or want of perseverance. For the same reason that men can learn to sing, or play a musical instrument, or become expert in any handy-craft, they may learn to manage the voice in speech, to secure an impressive intonation.

Science, as we usefully regard it, does no more than lay down for art those directive rules which sagacity has drawn from observation and trial; and, though it may not always ennoble what it touches, it takes from it the characteristic of brutality, which is defined to be the instinctive execution of what is not understood by the agent. For boxing, low, yet skilful as it is, may be called the science of brachial defence ; and believe me. reader, that the elementary trainings in its positions and motions, carries not more superiority over the untaught arm, than the definite rules of Elocution, founded on a knowledge of the elements of the voice, will have over the best spontaneous achievements of passion.

It is not intended, here, to say, that instruction can create the essential powers of a speaker ; but we know it can improve and direct them.- Passion, says a writer, knows more than art. It may know more than art ; but art sometimes knows better than passion. The display of the passions on memorized discourse, is not always addressed to those who are under the sympathetic influence of those passions. When it is so, or when, at moments, the speaker can raise that sympathy, all is right that passion does. When, however, we are in that state of deliberation which contemplates what passion should be, there arises such comparisons between what we feel ourselves, and what we ought to feel, that we are obliged to call up, from taste, some ideal rule to settle an uncertainty of opinion.

We, from a well-devised practical system of Elocution, look for no more than we are every day receiving from established arts. All men speak and reason, for these acts, as far as we know, are as natural as passion ; but the arts of Grammar, Logic, Rhetoric, and Elocution, teach us to do these things in the best manner. For the systematizing of the 1*

X INTRODUCTION.

principles of an art, signifies the teaching of the best manner of execution in said art.

Again, there is a will in man, with a system of muscles which the common calls of exercise render obedient to that will, and which thereby produces motion in every direction not forbidden by the nature of the joints. Now, there is scarcely a boy of any physical activity or enterprise, who does not, on seeing a circus rider, desire to imitate him ; to catch and keep the centre of gravity through all the varieties of balance and motion. Yet, this will not prevent his fall, on a first trial, however natural the tie between his will and all his muscles may be. The truth is, that, without long experience, he knows not what is to be done ; or if he knows, he is unable to effect it. With some analogy to this case, there are many persons, not destitute of feeling or passion, who have a pretty fine command of the voice on the common occasions of life, but who betray a faltering tongue if they attempt to imitate the varied powers of the long-practised speaker. When the voice is prepared by elementary training, the feeling which prompts the expression will find the pliant and strengthened organs ready to furnish a satisfactory and elegant accomplishment of its designs.