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life and activity of imagination,-that faculty which, in our prevalent modes of culture, is left nearly dormant, but which, by its tendencies, decides the character of the orator, not less. than of the poet; the power of expression, in every man, being as his ability to find a vehicle or a mould for his thought, which must otherwise be without form and void.'

Elocution, in its details of exercise and of tuition, furnishes, in ample abundance, to the diligent student, the means of acquiring and cherishing expressive power in voice and action. It enables him, by analysis, to detect the peculiar nature of every tone of feeling,-to trace the effect of life and warmth in every element, to sympathize with these, and to acquire them as habits of utterance and gesture. A few exercises, attentively performed, will enable him to recognize the breathing warmth of a full-hearted utterance, the vivid force and fire of genuine emotion, the flash of the kindled eye, the sweep and energy of a gesture which springs from the inmost

soul.

SERENITY OF MANNER.

The tendencies of constitution and habit, in some individuals, incline them to speak, on all occasions, under a strong impulse of emotion; so that their manner never possesses the dignity of repose. Speakers of this class seem to demand excitement, as a condition of eloquence, and, when interested in their subject, are apt to flash out abruptly into intensity of utterance and action: they do not possess the power of holding emotion in check, and of rising equably, from the ordinary level of their subject to the higher strains of impassioned style: their delivery is consequently irregular, abrupt and unequal. The beautiful symmetry and perfect unity of manner, which tranquillity and self-possession impart, are want

schools of eloquence; and it is much to be regretted that their usual accompaniments, and the general impression of society, debar any class of public speakers from resorting to them.

ing in the delivery of such speakers; and their effect on their hearers is correspondent: it resembles that of the fitful gleams of lightning between successive clouds, rather than the growing brightness which 'shineth more and more unto the perfect day. When the flash and the peal are over, there remains but the cold pattering of rain.'

A general composure and serenity of manner are by no means incompatible with the natural vicissitudes of emotion and expression. But abrupt changes are comparatively rare, in the natural progress of thought and feeling: they are the exceptions, not the rule of speaking. Some preachers, however, whether from impulsive habit or incorrect ear, incline to sudden wrenchings of the voice and jerkings of the arm, which startle rather than impress an audience.

Others destroy the repose and dignity of their manner by perpetual restlessness of body, and hacking reïteration of gesture they seem to mistake excitement for earnestness, and mere animal vivacity for the inspiration of genuine emotion. A due restraint on personal tendencies, and a just reserve of manner, are the basis of all true effect in elocution.

Mere liveliness of tone and action possesses, at the best, but the humble merit of the wakeful talker. It may, in fact, serve to dissipate rather than to deepen impression. The appropriate effects, even of earnestness, vehemence, and fervour, are dependent on the relief which they derive from a prevalent repose. Arbitrary and abrupt variation disturbs the current of attention, on the part of the hearer. The equable speaker leaves the mind of the audience unruffled and calm, reflecting distinctly every thought which his eloquence calls up: the abrupt speaker breaks and shivers every successive mental image, by the agitation attending his abruptness of manner. The serene and tranquil effect of appropriate expression, as a characteristic habit, gives the preacher easy access to the mind, and enables him to hold up steadily before the attention the mental objects on which he would have his hearers dwell.

There are, indeed, many subjects and many occasions on

which a quiet, unexcited utterance, breathes the genuine spirit of expressive eloquence. The themes of pulpit discourse are not unfrequently of this character; and, in the management of some, an unequal, irregular, and restless manner in the speaker, would jar upon the ear, with the disturbing effect of discord in music.

The preacher may ever derive impressive lessons from the study of symmetry and harmony, as they reveal themselves in the beautiful and majestic forms and aspects of nature, and in the graceful proportions of every masterpiece of art.

Different subjects require a difference of style in elocution, as in all other arts. But the prevalent mood and spirit of sacred eloquence, should be calmness and serenity. Force and fire of manner will then have their value, in their place. But the transition, even to such effects, is not necessarily violent or abrupt.

A prevalent serenity of manner leaves the speaker at liberty so to modulate his voice and control his action, that his very transitions are felt to be as appropriate as they are striking; while an agitated and hurried utterance, jerking incessantly into unnatural changes of pitch, and force, added, perhaps, to ceaseless motion and gesticulation,-destroys even the effect of variation itself, and ends in discomposing rather than impressing the mind.

The manly composure of manner which properly belongs to all forms of public address, but especially to the style of the pulpit, is quite incompatible with a very common fault into which some preachers are habitually betrayed by nerVous excitement. This fault evinces itself in an overstrained expression on the features, which is legible in the wrinkling or knitting of the brow, in the upraising of the eye-brows, and in the staring projection of the eye. Such effects are unavoidably associated, in the mind of those who are addressed, with a feeling of pain or repulsion. Habitual serenity of mien and aspect, does not forbid the occasional expression of even the strongest emotion. But it cannot be reconciled with a continued stare or frown, which seems inconsistent with de

corum or self-possession. Offences of this description might all be easily put down by an occasional glance at a mirror, when the student is at practice. Without such recourse, or the admonition of a friend, the unconscious habit must continue an obstacle to the speaker's success in attaining to persuasive manner.

TRUE AND NATURAL MANNER.

Eloquence, in whatever form, and, most of all, in addresses from the pulpit, demands, as a condition of its effect, a conviction, on the part of the hearer, of the perfect sincerity of the speaker. The slightest indication of artifice, or, even, of mere art, becomes an effectual barrier between the orator and his audience; as it betrays the fact that he is not in earnest in his communication, or, at all events, that he is not expressing himself with the directness and simplicity which a deep conviction of his sentiments ought to inspire.

Artifice and affectation are utterly incompatible with the 'simplicity and godly sincerity' which the Scriptures ascribe to the preacher. But the fact of having been accustomed, during the period of early training, to utter sentiment by rote, in the unmeaning and uninteresting routine of school declamation, has, in most instances, untuned the ear for the genuine effects of voice, and reconciled it to false intonation, just as it has misled the eye, and accustomed it to a mechanical and artificial style of gesture. The living effect of tone and natural manner, is thus irrecoverably lost, and, with it, the speaker's power over the heart: his conventional tone, attitude, and action, all plainly indicate that it is the clergyman, not the individual, who is addressing us. The style, in such cases, is, at best, too obviously of that secondary gradation of art, which knows not how to 'conceal art.'

We can trace the absence of single-minded purpose, in every speaker whose voice evidently assumes a new and factitious character, when he begins to read or speak in public;

we feel the fact in the false hollowness and affected swell of utterance, which some preachers always assume in the pulpit; we perceive it in their studied precision of enunciation, forced emphasis, mechanical inflection, chanting tone, and arbitrary variations of voice, and in their premeditated and elaborate motions of the arm. The whole machinery of effect is thus, as it were, perpetually thrust on ear and eye, at the expense of the great business of the hour. It is impossible, under such circumstances, for the hearer to derive the proper impression from the subject, or to enter into sympathy with the speaker; and it is well if the result of the whole discourse is not, unavoidably, a state of dissatisfaction and disgust with the manner of the preacher, rather than any just influence from his sentiments.

Earnest and warm feeling will not allow the speaker to wait for niceties of elocution, in the act of speech. The preacher who feels that the decision of a soul may be hanging, for the moment, on the accents that fall from his lips, will not be found stopping to adjust his inflections, and mould his gestures. It is quite a false impression, which is current regarding the practice of elocution, that it consists in acquiring certain fixed modes of voice, putting on a certain air, or practising set actions, which, after a given time, will become natural by habituation, but which must necessarily be awkward, at first. There is no such thing as speaking naturally by rule and study, applied during the act of speech. All, then, must be left to the guidance of feeling and intuitive perception, and the influence of unconscious tendencies of taste, previously disciplined by critical and reflective judg

ment.

True elocution allows no artificial processes of expression : it cuts off all false habit. The operation bears no analogy to that of the dentist, who extracts the natural implements and substitutes artificial ones. It is a process of retrenching · acquired faults, and recovering original and natural tendencies, which had been lost, through neglect or misdirection. Elocution, as a science, enables the student to analyze, and

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