PRINCIPLES OF ELOCUTION.

569. RHETORICAL ACTION-respects the atti-correspond. An erect att.tude, and a firmness tude, gesture, and expression of the countenance. of position, denote majesty, activity, strength; Words cannot represent certain peculiarities; the leaning-affection, respect, earnestness of

they depend on the actor. Simplicity, or a strict adherence to the modesty of nature-correctness-or adaption to the word-and beauty, as opposed to awkwardness-are the principal marks of good action. Beauty belongs to objects of sight. Action should be easy, natural, varied, and directed by passion. Avoid affectation and display; for they disgust. The best artists are famous for simplicity, which has an enchanting effect. Profuse decorations indicate a wish to supply the want of genius by multiplying inferi-or beauties. There is in every one an indiscribable something, which we call nature, that perceives and recognizes the inspirations of nature; therefore, after bringing your voice under your control, if you enter fully into the spirit of the composition, and let your feelings prompt and govern your action, you The victory is half won when you fully feel and realize what you read or speak. Resolve to acquire the power, the witchery, the soul of elocution-that lightning of ancient times which poured a blaze of light on the darkest understanding, and that thunder which awakens the dead.

entreaty. dignity of composure, indifference, disease. The air of a person expresses a language easily understood. The husbandman, dandy, gentleman and military chief bespeak the habits and qualities of each. The head gently reclined, denotes grief, shame; erect-courage, firmness; thrown back or shaken-dissent; forward-as sent. The hand raised and inverted-repels, more elevated and extended-surprise, astonishment; placed on the mouth--silence; on the head, pain; on the breast-affection, or appeal to conscience; elevated-defiance; both raised and palms united --supplication; gently clasped thankfulness; wrung-agony.

Lo! Fancy's fairy frost-work melts away: Snatch the rich relics of a well-spent hour? These, when the trembling spirit takes her flight, Pour round her path a stream of living light, And gild those pure and perfect realms of rest, Where VIRTUE--triumphs, and her sons are blest. ted by true science, and art, remains in unVarieties. 1. Costume, when once regulachangable good taste; comfortable, convenient, as well as picturesque and becoming. 2. In 1756, a white headed old woman-died in London, whose hair sold for 244 dollars to a ladies' periwig maker. 3. In some countries, intellect has sway; in some-wealth; and in others beauty and rank; but the most goodness combined with truth in practice. powerful influence in the best societies, is 4. Merit in the inheritor, alone makes valid an inheritance of glory in ancestry. 5. Why does new sweet milk become sour-during a thunder storm? 6. Why can no other nation make a Chinese gong? 7. Is not the principles of human nature? 8. How prone American government founded upon the true many are, to worship the creature more than the Creator! 9. When apparent truths are taken, and confirmed for real ones, they become fallacies. 10. Actions-show best the nature of the law of life; and deedsshow the mon.

571. Look your hearers in the face-give yourself, body and soul, to the subject-let not the attention be divided between the manner and matter. Practice in private to establish correct habits of voice and gesture, and become so familiar with all rules as not to think of them when exercising. The head, face, eyes, hands, and upper part of the body are principally employed in oratorical action. The soul speaks most intelligibly in the muscles of the face, and through the eye, which is the chief seat of expression; let the internal man, and the external | That there's no living with thee, or without thee.

PRINCIPLES OF ELOCUTION.

572. The emphatic strokes of the hand accom-
pany emphasis; its elevated termination suits high
passion; horizontal-decision; downward move-
disapprobation. Avoid excess, violence
ment
and constancy of action; gentleness, tranquillity
and dignity prevail more. What is the appro-
priate gesture in this? "Light are the outward
signs of evil thought; within, within twas there
the spirit wrought." Middle finger of the right
hand points to the body-its fore-finger gently laid
in the palm of the left, in deliberation, proof, or ar-
gumentation-sometimes it is pressed hard on the
balm. The left hand often acts with great signifi-
cancy with the right; rarely used alone in the
principal gestures, except when something on the
left hand is spoken of, as contradistinguished from
something on the right, and when two things are
contrasted, Motion of the hands should corres-
pond with those of the eyes. Rules say, "Do not
raise the hands above the head;" but if natural
passion prompts them-it will be well done; for
passion knows more than art.

Our thoughts are boundless, tho' our frames are frail,
Our souls immortal, though our limbs decay:
Though darken'd-in this poor life, by a vail
Of suffering, dying matter, we shall play
In Truth's eternal sunbeams; on the way
To Heaven's high capitol-our car shall roll;
The temple of the power, whom all obey;
That is the mark-we tend to, for the soul

Can take no lower flight, and seek no meaner goal.

573. Keep the hands out of your pockets-don't
finger your watch-key or chain-let your business
influence you. Feel your subject thoroughly and
speak without fear: have a style and manner of
your own, for an index to yourself. Expression
is the looking out of the soul, through the eyes,
which are its windows, into the natural world.
The body should generally be erect: not constant-
ly changing, nor always motionless-declining in
humiliation-rising in praise and thanksgiving;
should accompany motion of the hands, head, and
eyes; never turn your back on the audience. Do
not appear haughty, nor the reverse; nor recline
the head to one shoulder-nor stand like a post;
avoid tossings of the body from side to side, rising
on tip-toe, writhing of the shoulders. Study well
the engravings; their position, gracefulness and
awkwardness: some are designated for both-dis-
criminate, which to imitate, which to avoid-refer
within, to your own nature, for dictation - and
never adopt any gesture that you do not make
your own by appropriation. All gestures must
originate within. Let everything you do and say
correspond.
The Muse of inspiration-plays

O'er every scene; she walks the forest-maze,
And climbs the mountain; every blooming spot
Burns with her step, yet man-regards it not!
She whispers round; her words are in the air,
But ost, unheard, they linger-freezing there,
Without one breath of soul, divinely strong,
One ray of heart-to thaw them into song.

574. Some of the sources of faults in action, are
anmanly diffidence. which makes one appalled at
nis audience, or makes him fear to stir, lest he
make a mistake; and servile imitation-whence is
a want of action, excess or awkwardness, or un-
due regard to improper models. Do not become
an artificial, made-up character, a compound of
affectation and imitation, a poor creature of bor-
rowed shreds and patches: preserve your own
identity.

Of those few fools who with ill stars are curst,
Sure scribbling fools, call'd poets, fare the worst:
For they're a set of fools which Fortune makes,
And after she has made them fools, forsakes.

In man or woman, but far most in man,
And most of all-in man that ministers
And serves the altar, in my soul-I loathe
All affectation. Tis my perfect scorn;
Object of my implacable disgust.
What!-will a man play tricks, will he indulge
A silly-fond conceit of his fair form
And just proportion, fashionable mien,
And pretty face, in presence of his God?
Or, will he seek to dazzle me with tropas,
As with the diamond on his lily hand,
And play his brilliant parts before my eyes
When I am hungry for the BREAD OF LIFE?
He mocks his Maker, prostitutes and shamer
His noble office, and, instead of truth,
Displaying his own beauty, starves his flock.
Therefore, avaunt all attitude and stare,
And start theatrie, practie'd at the glass!
I seek divine simplicity-in him,
Who handles things divine; and all-besides,
Tho' learn'd with labor, and tho' much admir'd
By curious eyes, and judgments ill-inform'd,
To me is odious-as the nasal twang
Heard at conventicle, where worthy men,
Misled by custom, strain celestial themes

Through the press'd nostril, spectacle-bestrid.

Anecdote. Indian Virtue. A married
woman, of the Shawanee Indians, made this
beautiful reply to a man whom she met in
the woods, and who implored her to love and
look on him. "Oulman, my husband," said
she, "who is forever before my eyes, hinders
me from seeing you, or any other person."
So dear to Heaven-is saintly chastity,
That when a soul is found sincerely so,
A thousand liveried angels-lackey her,
Driving far off-each thing of sin, and guilt
And, in clear dream, and solemn vision,
Tell her of things, that no gross ear can hear,
Till oft converse-with heavenly habitants
Begins to cast a beam-on the outward shape,
The unpolluted temple of the mind,

And turns it, by degrees, to the soul's essence,
Till all be made immortal!

Varieties. 1. Children learn but little
from what they read, while the attention is
divided between the sense and making out
the words. 2. Few parents and teachers are
aware of the pre-eminent importance of oral
over book instruction. 3. Truths, inculcated
without any sense of delight, are like seeds,
whose living germ has been destroyed; and
which, therefore, when sown, can never come
to anything. 4. The idea of the Lord, com-
ing into the world, to instruct us, and make
us good, is an idea particularly delightful to
young children, as well as to those of riper
years. 5. We were not created to live on
the earth, one moment in vain; every moment
has a commission, connected with eternity;
and each minute, improved, gives power to
the next minute, to proceed with an acceler-
ated ratio and impulse.
Let talkers talk; stick thou to what is best,
To think of pleasing all, is all a jest.

PRINCIPLES OF ELOCUTION.

575. Stability of position, facility of change, and general grace of action, depend on the right use of the feet: [see the engravings of them.] the motions of children are graceful, because prompt ed by nature see how the different passions affect their countenances; what a pity they are not kept on in this way, without being led by their teachers into captivity to bad habits. Keep your mind collected and composed; guard against bashfulness, which will wear off by opposition. One generally has confidence in doing anything with whose manner he is familiar. Assurance is attained by-1, entirely mastermg your subject, and a consciousness that what you have to deliver is worth hearing-2, by wholly engaging in it, mind intent on it, and heart warmed with it: never be influenced by approbation or disapprobation; master yourself; but how can you unless you know yourself?

riding in a stage-coach, with another, ob-
Anecdote. Somewhere. One gentleman
served to him," Sir, I think, I have seen
you somewhere." "I presume you have, Sir,"
ry often."
replied the other; "for I have been there ve-
Brute force-may crush the heart, but cannot kill;
But it will speak at length, and boldly tell
The mind, that thinks, no terrors can compel;

Our race so long has grop'd through, since man fell
The world its weakness, and its rights; the night
Must, will, ere long, retire from Truth's fast dawu
From his imagin'd Eden of delight,
ing light.

Varieties. 1. Mind may act on mind, though bodies be far divided. 2. A bold man, or a fool must be he, who would change his

But those, which slide along the grassy sod,
And sting the luckless foot, that presses them?
There are, who, in the path of social life,
Do bask their spotted skins-in Fortune's sun,
And sting the soul-ny, till its healthful frame
Is chang'd to secret, festering, sore disease-

Think'st thou there are no serpents in the world, lot with another. 3. A wise man,-scorneth

So deadly is the wound.

nothing, be it ever so small or homely. 4. Mind is a perpetual motion; for it is a running stream, from an unfathomable source, the depth of the DIVINE INTELLIGENCE. 5. Nature is the chart of God, mapping out all his attributes; Art-the shadow of his wisdom, and copieth his resources. 6. In a be forgotten in the morning. 7. A letter dream, thou mayest live a lifetime, and all timely writ, is a rivet to the chain of offeetion. 8. As frost to the bud, and blight to the blossom, even such is self-interest to friendship. 9. Confidence - cannot dwell where selfishness is porter at the gate. 10. Those hours are not lost, that are spent in ly modeled, by the cast of the minds that surcementing affection. 11. Character-ismainround it. 12. The company a man choos eth, is a visible index of his heart.

1

576. Look at the limbs of a willow tree, gently and variously waving before the breeze, cutting curved lines, which are lines of beauty; and cultivate a graceful, easy, flowing and forcible gesticulation. Adapt your action, as well as vocal powers, to the occasion and circumstances-the action to the word, and the word to the action. A young speaker may be more various than an old Do not act words instead of ideas; i. e, not make gestures to correspond, when you speak of anything small, low, up, large, &c. Let the voice, countenance, mien, and gesture, conspire to drive home to the judgment and heart, your impassioned appeals, cogent arguments, strong conclusions, and deep convictions. Let Nature, guided by

one.

science, be your oracle, and the voice unso-
phistocated feeling your monitor. Fill your soul
with the mighty purpose of becoming an orator,
and turn aside from no labor, shrink from no ef-
fort, that are essential to the enterprise. Self-
made men are the glory of the world.

Man-is a harp, whose chords elude the sight;
Each yielding harmony, disposed aright:

The screws reversed,

A drainless shower

Of light-is poesy; 'tis the supreme of power;
Tis MIGHT-slumbering on its own right arm.
A generous mind, though sway'd awhile by passion,
Is like the steely vigor of the bow,

Still holds its native rectitude, and bends
But to recoil more forceful.

Great minds, like Heaven, are pleased in doing
Though th' ungrateful subjects of their favors [good,
Are barren in return.

Ten thousand thousand strings at once go loose, - Cowards are scar'd with threat'nings; boys are
Lost, till he tune them, all their power and use.

I have read the instructed volume, Of human nature; there, long since, have learned, The way to conquer men-is by their possions: Catch-but the ruling foible of their hearts,

And all their boasted virtues-shrink-before you. 577. EDUCATION-is a companion, which no misfortune can suppress, no clime des troy--no enemy alienate--no despotism enslave. At home-a friend, abroad-an introduction; in solitude a solace, in society, an ornament. It lessens vice, it guards virtue; it gives, at once, a grace and govern

ment to genius. Without it, what is man? a splendid slave! a reasoning savage! vacillating, between the dignity of an intelligence derived from God, and the degradation or brutal passion.

It is a note

Of upstart greatness-to observe and watch
For those poor trifles, which the noble mind-
Neglects, and scorms.

Into confessions; but a steady mind
Acts of itself, ne'er asks the body counsel.
[whippd
The mind is full
Of curious changes, that perplex itself,
Just like the visible world; and the heart-ebbs
Like the great sea; first flows, and then retires,
Through sunshine-and in rain, from good to iz
And on the passions doth the spirit ride,

Till, in the grave, that universal calm,
Then to deep vice, and so on-back to virtue;
We sleep--the sleep of death.
Virtue, while 't is free from blame,
Is modest, lowly, meek, and unassuming;

Beneath the studied pomp of boastful phrase,
Not apt, like fearful vice, to shield its weakness
Which swelis, to hide the poverty it shelters:
But, when this virtue-feels itself suspected,
Insulted, set at nought, its whiteness stain'd,
And rates itself-above its real value.
It then grows proud, forgets its humble worth,

A brain of feathers, and a heart of lead.

PRINCIPLES OF ELOCUTION.

578. SUGGESTIONS. The author is aware, from experience, that there are many things tending to discourage a new beginner in deciamation; one is, a consciousness of his own awkwardness; which teaches us the importance of knowing how to do a thing, before attempting it in the presence of others. Let him select a short, and ordinary piece, first, and commit it perfectly to memory, and be sure that he understands every word of the author. Never appear in an improper dress; let your clothing be clean and neat, and properly adjusted to the body; neither too loose, nor too tight. Never be influenced, one way or another, by what your companions may say, or do; be your own master, and feel determined to succeed; at the same time, you may be as modest and unassuming as you please, the more so the better: let your subject and object be to you ALL IN ALL.

Applause-
Waits on success: the fickle multitude,
Like the light straw, that floats along the stream,
Glide with the current still, and follow fortune.
Men judge actions-always by events:
But, when we manage, by a just forsesight,
Success-is prudence, and possession--right.

579. OUR BOOK. In this abridged outline of the Principles of Elocution, the author has endeavored to appreciate the age and state of those, who will be likely to read, or study the work; for it is designed for both purposes; and if the reader, or student, shall experience a tithe of the pleasure in rightly using it, as the author has in writing it, his aspirations will be fully realized. The more these subjects are examined, and their principles applied to practice, the more will it be seen and feit, that no one can become a GOOD ELOCUTIONIST, unless he studies BODY and MIND, MATTER and SPIRIT; and makes the results his own, by actual appropriation; science and art, theory and practice, must go hand in hand, to develop and perfect us for EARTH

OF HEAVEN.

If you did know-to whom I gave the ring,
If you did know-for whom I gave the ring,
And would conceive for what I gave the ring,
And how unwillingly-I left the ring,

When nought would be accepted-but the ring,

of the prevalence of the pride of science in
the literary world. 3. The true christian has
no confidence in mere feelings, or in that
sort of good, which, being without truth, its
appointed guide and protector, is transient
and inoperative.

Anecdote. A Wise Decision. Eliza Ambert, a young Parisian lady, resolutely discarded a gentlman, to whom she was to have been murried, because he ridiculed religion. Having given him a gentle reproof, he replied, "that a man of the world could not be so old fashioned, as to regard God and religion" Eliza started; but, on recovering herself, said, "From this moment, sir, when I discover that you do not regard religion, I cease to be yours. He, who does not love and honor God, can never love his wife, constantly and sincerely."

Yes, love indeed is light from Heaven;
A spark of that immortal fire
With angels shared, by Alla given,
To lift from earth our low desire

Devotion wafts the mind above,
But Heaven itself descends in love;
A feeling from the Godhead caught,
To wean from self each sordid thought;
A ray of him who form'd the whole;

A glory circling round the soul!,

Varieties. 1. Neglect not time present; despair not of time past; never despair. 2. Infamy-is where it is received. If thou art a mud wall, it will stick, if marble, it will rebound. If thou storm at it, it is thine; if thou contemn it, it is gone. 3. Ridicule seems to dishonor, worse than dishonor itself. 4. It is heaven, on earth, to have the mind move in charity, rest in Providence, and turn on the truth. 5. A long life may be passed without finding a friend, in whose understanding and virtue, we can equally confide, and whose opinion we can value at once for its justice and sincerity. 6. A weak man, however honest, is not qualified to judge. 7. A man of the world, however penetrating, is not fit to counsel. 8. What is the great, essential evil of intemperance? The voluntary extinction of reason. 9. What breaks the heart of the drunkard's wife? It is not, that he is poor; but, that he is a drunkard. 10. How shall we arrest, how suppress this great evil? To rescue men, we must act on them

You would abate the strength of your displeasure. inwardly, and outwardly; by giving strength

As travelers-oft look back, at eve,
When eastward-darkly going,
To gaze-upon that light-they leave,
Still faint behind them-glowing,-
So, when the close of pleasure's day-
To gloom hath near consign'd us,
We turn--to catch one fading ray
Of joy, that's left behind us.

Miscellaneous. 1. A wise man-is willing to profit by the errors of others; because he does not, under the impulse of pride, condemn and despise them; but, while his judg. ment-disapproves, his heart-pities them. 2. It is the constant tendency of man, when in a perverted state of the will, and according to the state of such perversion, to make the reason, or understanding, everything, and to pay little or no attention to the state of the affections; and also to regulate his actions more by external, than internal considerations; this state and tendency is the cause

within, to withstand the temptation, and re
move the temptation without.
Thou sun, (said I.) fair light!

And thou enlightened earth, so fresh, and gay;
Ye hills, and dales, ye rivers, woods and plains,
And ye, that live and move, fair creatures, tell,
Tell if you know, how came I thus; how here?
Flowers are the alphabet of angels, whereby
They write on hills, and fields, mysterious truths.
Riches, like insects, when concealed, they lie,

Wait but for their wings, and in their season, fly.

N. B. The latter part of the work is much abridged, and por tons of the original matter omitted, to make more room for the Readings and Recitations, and still keep the book, within what are deemed proper limits: this will rationally account for its in coherency, 23 well as brevity. One more lasi word to the pupil FEEL RIGHT - THINK RIGHT, AND ACT RIGHT, AND YOU SHALL BECOME ALL THAT YOU ARE CAPABLI of, AND ALL THAT YOU CAN DESIRE.

READINGS AND RECITATIONS.

Notes. In these exercises, there is a continual recurrence of the preceding principles, and all designed for thinkers and soorkers. As there are no such things as TIME and SPACE be senging to the mind, the nearer we approach to their annihilation, the more readily can we memorize: for which reason small type are used; and also variety, for the purpose of assisting in the preservation of the sight, and maintaining our independence of spectacles: in consideration of which, it should be observed, that ooks must be read, by varying their distances from the eyes; sometimes quite near, at others farther off; also practice the sight In looking at surrounding objects, in their proper positions from earest to farthest.

580. ІммоRTALITY OF THE SOUL. Among various excellent arguments for the immortality of the soul, there is one drawn from the perpetual progress of the soul to its perfection, without a possibility of ever arriving at it.

How can it enter into the thoughts of man, that the soul, which is capable of such immense perfections, and of receiving new improvements to all eternity, shall fall away into nothing, almost as soon as it is created? Are such abilities made for no purpose? A brute arrives at a point of perfection that he can never pass: in a few years, he has all the endowments he is capable of; and, were he to live ten thousand more, would be the same thing he is at present.

Man does not seem born to enjoy life, but to deliver it down to others. This is not surprising to consider in animals, which are formed for our use, and can finish their business in a short life. The silk-worm, after having spun her task, lays her eggs, and dies. But a man can never have taken in his full measure of knowledge, has not time to subdue his passions, establish his soul in virtue, and come up to the perfection of his nature, before he is hurried off the stage.

Would an infinitely wise Being-make such glorious creatures for so mean a purpose? Can he delight in the production of such abortive intelligences, such short-lived reasonable beings? Would he give us talents, that are not to be exerted? capacities that are never to be gratified?

How can we find that wisdom, which shines through all his works, in the formation of man, without looking on this world as only a nursery for the next, and believing, that the several generations of rational creatures, which rise up and disappear, in such quick successions, are only to receive their first rudiments of existence here, and afterwards, to be transplanted into a more friendly climate, where they may spread, and flourish-to all eternity?-Addison.

VIRTUOUS FRIENDSHIP.

Is aught so fair,

In all the dewy landscapes of the spring,
In the bright eye of Hesper, or the morn;
In nature's fairest forms, -is aught so fair
As virtuous friendship? as the candid blush
Of him who strives with fortune to be just?
The graceful tear, that streams for others' woes?
Or the mild majesty of private life,
Where peace, with ever-blooming olive, crowns
The gate? where honor's liberal hands effuse
Unenvied treasures, and the snowy wings
Of innocence and love, protect the scene?
That-I spent,-that-I had;
That-1 gave,-that--I have;
That left,-that-I lost

591. FANCIED INFALLIBILITY. When man has looked about him, as far as he can, he concludes there is no more to be seen; when he is at the end of his line, he is at the bottom of the ocean; when he has shot his best, he is sure none ever did, nor ever son is the certain measure of truth; his own can shoot better, or beyond it; his own reaknowledge, of what is possible in nature; though his mind and his thoughts, change every seven years, as well as his strength and every week or every day, yet he is sure, or at his features: nay, though his opinions change least confident, that his present thoughts and conclusions are just and true, and cannot be deceived.

OUR TOILS AND THEIR REWARD.

He, who ascends to mountain-tops, shall find

He, who surpasses, or subdues mankind, [snow,
The loftiest peaks, most wrapt in clouds, and
Though high above, the sun of glory glow,
Must look down on the hate, of those below.

And far beneath, the earth and ocean spread;
Round him, are icy rocks, and loudly blow

Contending tempests, on his naked head, [led. And thus, reward the toils, which to those summits

with all its attendant planets, is but a very 582. PARTS OF THE WHOLE. This sun, little part of the grand machine of the universe; every star, though no bigger in appearance than the diamond, that glitters on a lady's ring, is really, a vast globe, like the sun in size, and in glory; no less spacious, no less luminous, than the radiant source of the day: so that every star is not barely a world, but the centre of a magnifi cent system; has a retinue of worlds irradiatractive influence, all which are lost to our ted by its beams, and revolving round its atsight, in unmeasurable wilds of ether.

SHE WALKS IN BEAUTY.

She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes, and starry skies;
And all that's best, of dark and bright,
Meet in her aspect, and her eyes:
Thus mellowed to that tender light,

Which heaven, to gaudy day denies.
One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impaired the nameless grace,
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o'er her face;
Where thoughts, serenely sweet, express
How pure, how dear, their dwelling place
And on that cheek, and o'er that brow.
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days, in goodness spent,
A mind at peace, with all below,
A heart, whose love, is innocent!
Men-are made to bend

Before the mighty, and to follow on
Submissive, where the great may lead the grant
Whose might is not in crowns and palaces,
In parchment-rolls, or blazon'd heraldry,
But in the power of thought, the energy
Of unsupported mind, whose steady will
No force can daunt, no tangled path divert
From its right onward purpose.

Will he be ille, who has much t' enjoy?