The Canadian Elocutionist | Page 3

lower the language the slower should be the movements and vice versa, observing Shakespeare's rule: "Suit the action to the word, the word to the action, with this special observance--that you o'erstep not the modesty of nature." Study repose, without it, both in speech and action, the ears, eyes, and minds of the audience, and the powers of the speaker are alike fatigued; follow nature, consider how she teaches you to utter any sentiment or feeling of your heart. Whether you speak in a private room or in a great assembly, remember that you still speak, and speak naturally. Conventional tones and action have been the ruin of delivery in the pulpit, the senate, at the bar, and on the platform.
All public speaking, but especially acting and reciting, must be heightened a little above ordinary nature, the pauses longer and more frequent, the tones weightier, the action more forcible, and the expression more highly coloured. Speaking from memory admits of the application of every possible element of effectiveness, rhetorical and elocutionary, and in the delivery of a few great actors the highest excellence in this art has been exemplified. But speaking from memory requires the most minute and careful study, as well as high elocutionary ability, to guard the speaker against a merely mechanical utterance. Read in the same manner you would speak, as if the matter were your own original sentiments uttered directly from the heart. Action should not be used in ordinary reading.
Endeavour to learn something from every one, either by imitating, but not servilely, what is good, or avoiding what is bad. Before speaking in public collect your thoughts and calm yourself, avoiding all hurry. Be punctual with your audience, an apology for being late is the worst prologue. Leave off before your hearers become tired, it is better for you that they should think your speech too short than too long.
Let everything be carefully finished, well-polished, and perfect. Many of the greatest effects in all arts have been the results of long and patient study and hard work, however simple and spontaneous they may have appeared to be.
Remember, that the highest art is to conceal art, that attention to trifles makes perfection, and that perfection is no trifle.
CONTENTS
PART I.
I.--PHYSICAL CULTURE.
Calisthenics?Walking?Sitting?Kneeling
II.--BREATHING EXERCISES.
Directions for Breathing
III.--ARTICULATION.
Articulation
IV.--ELEMENTARY SOUNDS, ETC.
Elements?Pronunciation and Accent
V.--QUALITIES OF VOICE.
I. Pure?II. Orotund?III. Guttural?IV. Tremor?V. Aspirate?VI. Falsetto
VI.--FORCE.
I. DEGREES.?I. Gentle?II. Moderate?III. Heavy
II. VARIATIONS OF FORCE, OR STRESS.?I. Radical?II. Median?III. Vanishing?IV. Compound?V. Thorough?VI. Semitone?VII. Monotone
VII.--TIME.
I. Moderate?II. Quick?III. Slow
VIII.--PITCH.
I. Middle?II. High?III. Low?IV. Transition
IX.--PAUSES, INFLECTIONS, ETC.
I. Rhetorical pause?II. Emphasis?III. Climax?IV. Inflection?V. Circumflex or Wave
X.--PERSONATION.
I. Personation?II. Expression
XI.--GESTURE.
I. Position of the Hand?II. Direction
XII.--INTRODUCTION TO AUDIENCE.
I. Introduction?II. Advice to Students
XIII.--GENERAL EXAMPLES FOR PRACTICE.
PART II.
SELECTIONS FOR READING.
A Child's First Impression of a Star... N. P. Willis.?A Legend of Bregenz... Adelaide A. Procter.?A Modest Wit?A Prayer... James Russell Lowett.?A Slip of the Tongue?A Tarryton Romance?Advice to a Young Lawyer... Story.?An Autumn Day... Bryant.?An Order for a Picture... Alice Cary.?Ask Mamma... A. M. Bell.?Aunty Doleful's Visit?Baby's Visitor?Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata?Bells Across the Snow... Frances Ridley Havergal.?Brutus on the Death of Caesar... Shakespeare.?Calling a Boy in the Morning?Cataline's Defiance... Rev'd. George Croly.?Christ Turned and Looked upon Peter... Elisabeth B. Browning. Cuddle Doon... Alexander Andersen.?Curfew Must not Ring To-night?Dios Te Guarde?Domestic Love and Happiness... Thomson.?Drifting... T. Buchanan Read.?Elizabeth... H. W. Longfellow.?Eve's Regrets on Quitting Paradise... Milton.?Experience with European Guides... Mark Twain.?Fashionable Singing?First Experience?Gertrude of Wyoming... Campell.?Ginevra... Rogers.?God, the True Source of Consolation... Moore.?Good-Bye... Whyte Melville.?Guilty or Not Guilty?Hagar in the Wilderness... N. P. Willis.?Hannah Binding Shoes... Lucy Larcom.?Highland Mary... Burns.?Home Song... H. W. Longfellow.?How We Hunted a Mouse... Joshua Jenkins.?How Women say Good-bye?I Remember, I Remember... T. Hood?I'll Take What Father Takes... W. Boyle.?In School Days... Whittier.?Jimmy Butler and the Owl?Keys... Bessie Chandler?King John... Shakespeare.?Landing of Columbus... Rogers.?Little Bennie... Annie G. Ketchum.?Little Mary's Wish... Mrs. L. M. Blinn.?Love in Idleness... Shakespeare.?Makin' an Editor Outen 0' Him... Will. M. Carleton.?Malibran and the Young Musician?Marmion and Douglas... Sir W. Scott.?Mary Maloney's Philosophy?Mary Stuart... Schiler.?Memory's Pictures... Alice Cary.?My Trundle Bed?Nay, I'll Stay With the Lad... Lillie E. Barr.?Never Give Up?Niagara... John G. C. Brainard.?No Kiss?Ocean... W. Wetherald.?On His Blindness... Milton.?On the Miseries of Human Life... Thomson.?Only Sixteen?Oration Against Cataline... Cicero.?Over the Hill from the Poor-House... Will M. Carleton.?Papa Can't Find Me?Passing Away... Pierpont.?Paul's Defence before Agrippa... Bible.?Per Pacem ad Lucem... Adelaide A. Procter.?Poor Little Joe... Peleg Arkwright.?Poor Little Stephen Girard... Mark Twain.?Prayer... Tennyson.?Reading the List?Reflections on the Tomb of Shakespeare... Irving.?Rock of Ages... F. L. Stanton.?Roll Call?Romeo and Juliet... Shakespeare?Sandalphon... H. W. Longfellow.?Santa Claus in the Mines?Satisfaction?Saved... Mary B. Sleight.?Scene at Niagara Falls... Charlei Torson.?Scenes from Hamlet... Shakespeare.?Scenes from Leah the Forsaken?Scenes from Macbeth... Shakespeare.?Scenes from Pizarro... Sheridan.?Scene from Richelieu... Sir Edward Lytton Bulwer.?Sim's Little Girl... Mary Hartwell.?Slander?Somebody's Mother?Song of Birds... H. W. Longfellow.?Sonnet... James Ritttell Lowell.?St. Philip Neri and the Youth... Dr. Byrom.?Temperance... Rev. John Ireland.?The Ague?The Approach to Paradise... Milton.?The Armada... Macaulay.?The