HARSHNESS, AMENITY.

The too bold speaker is apt to add to the bad effects of apparent indifference to the presence of his hearers, that of a repulsive harshness of voice and aspect, - a fault at variance with everything like persuasive or genial effect. Sternness and asperity of expression preclude the speaker from access to the heart, and seal the mind to his influence. Yet inadvertent habit, in the absence of culture, has sometimes stamped such a manner on the preacher.

The energy of such speakers soon becomes vehemence and their vehemence, apparent anger. No wonder that they should displease, rather than win their hearers Faults of this description are usually matters of utter un consciousness to the individuals who commit them. They are often the results of mere constitutional austerity and ill-regulated force of expression. Ten minutes of the so much derided practice before the looking-glass, would reflect so faithfully to such speakers the visible image which they present, that they could not tolerate its associations; and the reform of mien and aspect would unavoidably extend its softening influence to the voice.

An insipid, simpering, blandness of manner, is certainly a very undesirable trait in any speaker. It is peculiarly silly or ridiculous in a preacher; he is the ambassador of Divine truth; and, if he understands his office, is clothed with a higher dignity than can be conferred by man. His office entitles him to speak as one having authority.

But the spirit of love which should breathe from the preacher's lips, will diffuse its genial amenity over his whole manner. His tones, his features, his action, will invite, will intreat, will persuade, will win his hearers, and attract them to his subject. The humane and benev. olent spirit of his office, will be legible in every trait of his address

THE CULTIVATION OF FORCE.

Modes of cultivating Force.

The cultivation of elocution with a view to the acquisition of due force of manner, a style free from all the faults of feebleness and tameness, requires a proper attention to health and vigor of body, as an indispensable condition of energetic expression in utterance and action. The weak and constrained speaker may become effective and free, by due exposure and exercise. The flaccid muscle, and the enfeebled nerve, will thus acquire tone; the voice will become sonorous; the arm energetic; the attitude firm; the whole manner impressive.

The sedentary life of the student and the preacher, subjects them to weakness of body and languor of spirits, and predisposes them to feebleness in voice and action. They need double care and diligence, for the preservation of that healthy tone of feeling, which alone can ensure energy of habit in expressive utterance.

To such measures should be added a constant resort to all the genuine sources of mental vigor; the attentive study of the effects of force in all its natural forms, in the outward phenomena of the universe; in the varied shapes which it assumes in all the expressive arts, particularly in music, sculpture, and painting, and, most of all, in written language.

The express discipline of the voice, with a view to the acquisition of organic force and vocal power, in the modes prescribed in the volume on Orthophony, will fully reward the student, by the command which it will give him over his organs, and the fulness and energy which it will impart to his tones. The daily practice of vigorous declamation, aided by the study of the principles of gesture, as laid down in the Elocutionist,† will enable the profes* See preface to the present work.

† Ibid.

sional speaker to acquire that force in action, which is an indispensable part of effective and impressive delivery.

Modes of subduing excessive Vehemence.

The only effectual means of correcting faults of exces sive force, such as violence, undue boldness, harshness of manner, and similar qualities, must be sought in an entire revolution of taste and habits. The speaker whose style is marked by such blemishes, must learn to perceive the appropriateness and moral beauty of gentleness, dignity, calmness and composure of mien and action, moderation of voice, and amenity of manner, in him whose office is sacred in all its associations, and whose habitual expression should breathe the spirit of humanity and love.

The unseemly vehemence which degrades the pulpit. to the level of the popular arena, implies a grievous error of judgment not less than of taste. It involves a fatal defect in the whole mental structure and character of the speaker himself. The sense of fitness and of beauty, must, to such individuals, be a matter of acquisition; it can be attained only by means of attentive study and close observation. Discipline must, in such instances, be applied as a corrective to taste and tendency; eloquence should be studied in its power to soften and subdue; the heart should be subjected to the calm and gentle influence of nature, the tranquil beauty of art, and the tender breathings of such poetry as that of Cowper; the spirit should be moulded by the softening touch of refining intercourse in elevated social life; a genial sympathy with humanity should be acquired by habitual benevolent communication with its sufferings and depressions. The speaker's whole manner may thus be formed anew, and acquire that moderation and that mildness which are the characteristics of genuine eloquence.

FREEDOM, CONSTRAINT, RESERVE.

An indispensable trait of manliness, not less than of eloquence, is entire freedom of manner, arising from due self-reliance, and, at the same time, that self-forgetfulness which is naturally caused by a speaker's interest in his subject. A modest estimation of his own powers, a proper respect for others, and a profound feeling of the importance of his subject, are not incompatible with perfect ease and self-possession. Embarrassment and constraint, indeed, are not unfrequently owing to that vacillation of attention, which allows the speaker's mind to vibrate between the duty before him, and the consciousness of his personal relation to it. The unity of his mental and bodily action, would remain unimpaired, were his whole mind absorbed in his theme: the disturbing selfconscious reference would thus be precluded; and his manner would be concentrated in earnest, impressive utterance.

Freedom, self-possession, and ease of manner, would seem to be the natural condition of man addressing man; and these traits would be the spontaneous concomitants of public discourse, if education in early life, were properly regulated. But this advantage is not enjoyed, in the present forms of school routine. The exercise of declamation, which is the only training prescribed for boys, is too formal and ceremonious in its style, to lead to free, unembarrassed manner in address. The subject of his declamation is usually too abstract and general, or of too conventional a character, to permit the young speaker to identify it with the workings of his own mind. The exercise is accordingly performed in the spirit of mechanical routine, as a task to be undergone, as an unmeaning ceremony.

The unnatural position of the juvenile speaker, embarrasses him; and his whole style is constrained and awk

ward. His voice is smothered by his conscious inability to utter aright the sentiments which he is expressing : his emphasis is quelled by the conviction that his feelings are unnatural to him: his tones, uninspired by genuine emotion, deviate into an arbitrary chant: his action becomes, from the consciousness that he is performing a part, forced and unnatural. The inevitable result of such processes, is, that the habits of the boy are moulded into forms which indicate constraint as inseparably associated with the act of declaiming. At no subsequent stage of education is this association broken up; and it continues to hang, as a visible load, on the habitual manner of the professional speaker.

The injurious effects of misdirected education, in this particular, are frequently perceptible in the elocution of the pulpit. The preacher often seems, in consequence of these, to be going through an irksome process, from which it would be a grateful relief to be set free. His suppressed voice, his imperfect utterance, his reserved. tones, his constrained mien and posture, his confined, angular, hesitating, awkward, half-executed gestures, all seem to indicate the prisoner of restraint, rather than the voluntary speaker.

A little preparatory training would save the young preacher from this process of suffering and exposure, and enable him to deliver his message with, at least, the due degree of composure and self-possession. The reserve which diffidence throws over the speaker's manner, is utterly at variance with that spirit of sympathy and communication, which is the true source of speech. Earnest and impressive address is incompatible with a manner which seems to withhold rather than impart the thoughts and feelings of the speaker, to suppress rather than to give utterance to his emotions. The preacher then becomes the messenger who keeps back rather than delivers his message: the man is virtually unfaithful to his trust. His audience leave him unimpressed with the spirit of the