Bold commencement.-" And dar'st thou, then,

To beard the lion in his den,—

The Douglas in his hall?" (R. f. a. s.)

At the opening of a new paragraph, or the commencement of a new branch of a subject, or a new train of thought, the same principle applies as at the beginning of a piece.

Paragraph exemplifying the Retiring Movement." I will not farther encroach on the patience" of this assembly, than merely to express my thanks for the kind attention with which I have been favored."

Advancing Movement.-"Wilt thou now, Verres, say that any thing false, that even any thing exaggerated, has been advanced against thee?"

A very common fault in attitude, in academic declamation, is the awkward habit of keeping the left foot advanced, instead of the right. The left foot may properly be advanced when the speaker is addressing a hearer or a group on his left; and the left hand may then be properly allowed the principal action. But as the right hand usually plays the principal part in gesture, as in other forms of action, the law of anatomic motion in the human body, obviously requires the natural, symmetric correspondence of hand and foot. The advance of the left foot. necessarily curtails all the gestures of the right arm, in consequence of the comparative withdrawal of that arm. The Roman orator holding the long and cumbrous folds of a large part of his toga on his left arm, was necessarily subjected to this disadvantage, by the law of established custom, which did not permit him to drop this encumbrance till he came to the impassioned utterance of his peroration. But this circumstance is no plea for voluntarily incurring an impediment to freedom of action in modern declamation. True eloquence, in its irrepressible earnestness, approaches those whom it addresses; and

*The movement of the feet, like the action of the hand, naturally accompanies the utterance of the emphatic word of a sentence, and is in strict time with its accented syllable.

the appealing arm and hand, stretched toward the audience, bespeak this fact. But the advance of the left foot instead of the right, shortens the reach of the right arm, and witholds or enfeebles all effect of its action, unless when both hands are employed in the same form of gesture, as in earnest appeal or entreaty addressed to large numbers.

Another very common fault in attitude, is that of standing with both limbs straight and both knees braced, in consequence of the fault before mentioned, of planting the weight of the body on both feet equally, instead of chiefly on one. The speaker thus takes the stiff and rigid attitude of the soldier, and loses utterly the air of natural freedom of position and movement. The true posture of the limbs, in the attitude of address, while it possesses manly firmness of support, by the braced position of the knee of the sustaining limb, leaves the knee of the other slack and free, by an easy inclination forward. Any requisite change of position is then easily effected by moving the foot corresponding to the limb which is thus free, and ready for movement; while the fault of standing with both limbs straight and rigid, always renders every change of attitude formal and unnatural.

Example of Faulty Attitude.

Example of Correct Attitude.

L L

ACTION. The natural and appropriate expression of senti ment, when thought is impressive and feeling is animated, extends not only to increased force of utterance, and to change of posture; but, by a law of our constitution, connecting inward emotion with visible organic effect, a definite and some

times, forcible action of the arm and hand spontaneously accompanies utterance, and indicates the excitement of mental energy. In sincere and earnest speaking, such action is comparatively frequent and varied, unless in the case of persons of cold and sluggish temperament and inexpressive habit. Contemplative and reflective thought, and profound abstraction, or any other state of mere intellectual activity, do not incline to outward expression by bodily action; as such conditions of mind affect, chiefly, the invisible organ of brain. But feeling and will naturally impel the nervous and muscular systems to visible and effective motion, which tends to excite sympathy and thought in the beholder. The character of this motion is as various as the different states of human feeling, whether vivid or reserved, bold or subdued, attractive or repulsive, gentle or violent.

The speaker, accordingly, who omits action, becomes cold and lifeless in his style, and fails of producing any vivid effect on his hearers; while he who obeys the laws of the human constitution, in the union of body and mind, and adds the natural living effect of action to that of speech, secures earnest attention and lively sympathy, and thus deepens the impression of every thought which he utters.

The action to which we now refer,-that of the arm and hand, principally;-is, both technically and customarily, termed gesture, although that word, by its etymology, applies not improperly to the whole bearing of the body, in posture and motion.

The natural effect of gesture, as connecting the eye with the mind, and action with feeling, becomes as it were a species of language, which, like all other definite and intelligible forms of expression, may be read and studied and spoken, in all its various modes. The attentive analysis of gesture becomes, therefore, an important means of success in interpreting and applying this form of universal language. The following general observations on this subject, may serve to prepare the student for the examination of details and for the performance of practical training exercises.

1. The style of gesture, and the comparative frequency of its occurrence, depend wholly on the nature of the speaker's subject, and the rhetorical character of the expression which he uses. This remark applies as forcibly to the manner of speaking the opening sentences of any composition as to that of the whole piece. A bold style of opening demands forcible and frequent gesture: a quiet and subdued introduction needs little or no aid of action.

2. The style of speaking, in a plain prose address of a didatic character, requires but few and slight gestures; as such forms of composition appeal chiefly to the silent reflective action of the reason, in matters requiring merely the exercise of the judgment or the understanding,-not that of feeling or imagination, to which action is indispensable.

3. An address or discourse on moral topics, requires a style of action more energetic, more frequently occurring, and extending through larger spaces. Subject and language, in such forms of communication, are more dependent on the effects of feeling and imagination, and consequently of gesture.

4. Political addresses, appeal yet more vividly to feeling and imagination, and abound, comparatively, in forcible, frequent, and expansive gesture.

5. A literary or a moral discourse, if argumentative in its form, approaches the style of political address, in the force, frequency, and freedom of gesture,-if poetic in its spirit, and figurative in language, it will incline to still more impassioned modes of action.

6. The appropriate recitation of a piece composed in the form of verse, depends necessarily on the imaginative and impassioned associations in which poetry abounds, and which lead to vivid and graphic expression. The recitation of poetic pieces, accordingly, requires a more vivid, intense, and varied style of action than belongs, usually, to prose declamation.-"Poetic" prose, however, as it abounds in imagery and graphic effect, requires a corresponding poetic character in gesture.

7. Purely poetic compositions require, in epic forms, a grave

and majestic style of action,-large in space, lofty, slow, and sweeping; in lyric verse, which is comparatively vivid, abrupt, and varied, a corresponding vividness and variety in the character of gesture; in serious dramatic pieces, a style yet more intense, graphic, and imaginative, than that of lyric composi tion, and yet possessing much, sometimes, of epic grandeur and dignity. Comedy and humorous lyric poety, are nearly the same in expressive style of gesture,-free, graphic, playful, and, sometimes, even mimetic, in their spirit of mirthfulness.

The common faults of declamation as regards gesture, are either the omission of action, or the ceaseless recurrence of it :-sometimes they consist in feeble, confined, angular movements and positions of the arm and hand.

The character of Gesture, as dependent on that of Emotion.

Gesture, being the natural visible expression of emotion, may be systematically studied with as definite certainty as the artist attains in drawing or in sculpture. It is only the ignorance arising from inattention that can produce the impression which is not unfrequently uttered by persons intelligent and thoughtful on other subjects, that, although the cultivation and regulation of the voice may justly require a studious attention, the character of gesture is a spontaneous product of intuition or of instinct, and therefore does not admit of study or investigation. Were this arbitrary assumption a truth, then the world could never have possessed an historic painter or a sculptor, whose noble productions all result from the most profound and studious application to the effects of attitude and action as the genuine language of emotion. All great actors,--men whose professional business is the truthful delineation of human character, in its living and most vivid aspects, have been the most attentive. and critical observers of this department of expression, and to this faithful study of nature have owed much of their success in personation.

The principal features of expressive gesture, however, do not