and the sentiment which he is uttering. Mannerism is usually the predominance of one trait, which has more or less exclusive character attached to it. The vehement mannerist, accordingly, when addressing the sufferer whose heart is well-nigh crushed under the weight of calamity, jars the whole sympathetic nature of his hearer, by the inappropriate and revolting violence of his tone and action. His very consolations may assume the expression of scolding. The feeble mannerist, when employed to arouse an assembly from spiritual supineness, soothes them to sleep by his lifeless humming tone, and the sway of his waving, spiritless action.

One of the most obvious traits of mannerism, and one which nothing but the assiduous practice of elocution can do away, is that mode of utterance which is, in popular phrase, called “a tone." The fault implied by this term, consists in the continual recurrence of a particular mode of voice, in emphasis, inflection, cadence, or "expression,"* but, more frequently, in the "melody," or peculiar notes, which characterize a speaker's vocal habits.

This species of mannerism in speech, has been expressly designated by Dr. Rush, the great analyst of elocution, as a "drift" or obvious tendency of voice, in the effect of one repeated trait of utterance, on the ear. Every passion, or strain of emotion, has a distinctive "drift," a tendency to repeat certain qualities of expression; and the effect arising from change of direction in "drift," by the natural shifting of the vocal current, with every new emotion, in successive passages, consti

* The peculiar effect of feeling, or emotion, un the voice; as when we speak of the tone of anger, or of pity.

†The effect of sound as depending on the succession of notes which the voice executes in a given strain, clause, or phrase. Thus, awe is characterized by the recurrence of low notes, and inclines to monotony ; joy, traverses the scale, from low to high, and from high to low, and is marked by variety; interrogation slides up the scale; and the cadence of a sentence glides downward.

tutes a marked peculiarity of animated, true, and expressive style, alike in conversation, in reading, and in public speaking.

The fault of mannerism in utterance, substitutes, for this appropriate variation of voice, an arbitrary recurrence of sound, not authorized or required by the nature of the emotion which, in a given passage, ought to set the key and guide the style. The reader, in consequence of this fault, utters not the meaning and spirit of his author's language, but the song of his own arbitrary and accidental habit. He does not change the character of his utterance, with the varying sentiments of the composition; but while the most striking changes of feeling are obviously indicated in the phrases which he is enunciating, he continues to repeat his identical melody, with no attempt at variation. He goes on executing, with undeviating precision, one and the same inflection at every comma, and one and the same cadence at every period, — be the sense or the feeling of the sentence what it may. His voice is like a hand-organ set to but one tune: it may be kept going by the hour, the day, or the year; yet it will give out but the same succession of sounds.

A ready ear may catch a preventive lesson, as regards this fault, by listening to the natural variations of voice, in conversation, and thus enable the reader to mould his utterance to diversity of effect. But empiric methods imply no definite and certain aims, and consequently no sure results. The reader or the speaker who aims at the style of conversation, as his model, if he succeeds in bringing his vocal habits out of mechanical and unmeaning "drift," if he frees himself from the formalities of a mere "reading tone," - is apt, on the other hand, to acquire that characteristic "drift" of mere conversational style, which is, literally, a "talking tone," - too versatile, too vivacious for the dignity of public reading or speaking, and fit only for easy and careless communication by the fireside.

vary

The power of applying musical distinctions to the ing sounds of the voice, will be of great service to the reader, by rendering his ear discriminating as to vocal effect. But the modes of voice which come under the special cognizance of elocution, must be studied by themselves, in exact detail, by all who wish to acquit themselves thoroughly to the duty of public speaking. The close analysis which Dr. Rush has exemplified in his Philosophy of the Voice,* enables every student who is willing to take the pains, to become expert in the discrimination and execution of every point of vocal expresssion. The application of the elementary distinctions exhibited in that treatise, will effectually remove every trait of factitious manner from vocal habit in elocution.

INDIVIDUALITY OF MANNER.

Mannerism in delivery not unfrequently passes for the real excellence of individuality in style, a trait which, so far from possessing any artificial character, is the expression of spontaneous life and eloquence. But this feature of expressive power, is, like many others, depressed by the deadening influence of formality and routine in education. Boys at school are left to sink into one uniform mould, in their habits of utterance and action: their exercises possess so little life and interest to their minds, that to perform such tasks with natural spirit, and as a part of their own mental action and experience, is impossible. Juvenile declamation, accordingly, wears, in most instances, the second-hand air of a thing done as others do it, and because others do it. It is allowed to

* The manual of Orthophony, mentioned in the preface to the present volume, contains a practical exposition of Dr. Rush's system.

consist of a certain unmeaning loudness of voice, a sing-' ing and swelling utterance, and a given upraising of the hand, — all bearing the stamp of prescription, and habit, and average style. The formality, indeed, of the usual staple of language in declamation, seems, of itself, to prescribe just such uniform manner in every speaker: there is nothing in it which speaks to the heart of the individual, and brings out the inner man, with his own peculiar tones, and looks, and actions.

Could teachers and parents be content to let boys utter their own sentiments in their own language, the result of exercises in speaking would be very different from what it is. Boys would, in that case, speak as boys, not as "potent, grave, and reverend" seniors. Every juvenile speaker would give his heart to his work, and would bring out his own manner. The teacher would then take his true place as a friendly guide, prompter, and aid, not as a cool critic and ex-post-facto executioner: he would assist the pupil in bringing out his native impulses of thought and feeling, in forms adapted to his own nature. Speaking would thus become a spontaneous and pleasurable function of the individual; habit would grow into natural and accordant forms, revealing the genuine mental life that lay under them.

The prevalence of neglect and perversion, in our customary modes of education, suffers every youth, as he enters a place of instruction, to be cast into the academic mould, and come out precisely like the rest. He carries with him, accordingly, into subsequent stages of life, the impress which he has thus received: the school tone, somewhat deepened and amplified, and the school gesture, somewhat strengthened, may clearly be traced in the man, even at the bar and in the pulpit.

The effects of neglect and of erroneous training, are conspicuous in the prevalence of uniformity of manner among clergymen. The act of delivering a discourse is apparently, in many cases, a process of repeating certain

prescribed tones and gestures which every individual is expected to go through very much like all others. The natural diversity of temperament and character, is not, — to judge by appearances, - considered an appropriate element of effect.

A' good speaker, it is true, will always merge himself in his subject, and never obtrude himself at its expense. But thought, even the most abstract, when it passes into expression, is, like the purest water, naturally subjected to the tinge of the channel through which it flows. The individuality of the man should never be lost in the formal function of the speaker. There is no law of necessity that every sermon should be a succession of low and hollow tones, false inflections, mechanical cadences, and stereotype gestures; — the whole manner so proverbially unnatural, that, among juvenile classes at school, when one pupil would sum up, in one expressive word, his criticism on a fellow-pupil who has spoken in a heavy, uniform style, he says of him, "He does not speak, he preaches."

The study of elocution, if it were duly attended to, as a part of early education, would enable the young speaker to recognize and trace the natural differences of manner, which ought to exist in individuals, in their modes of applying the same general principles. The genuine characteristics of expression, are so numerous and varied, that they afford vast scope for the natural diversity of action, in different mental and physical constitutions. The elements of effect, blended in one expressive tone, amount sometimes to more than six or eight, even in the unstudied utterance of a person utterly illiterate. The temperament and tendency of an individual, therefore, may well be expected to cause him to lean to one more than others among these elements.

The enunciation, for example, of the phrase in devotional address, “O Lord!" may receive its reverential effect in the utterance of one speaker, from its deep and