speaker may render his voice louder, without altering the key; and we shall always be able to give most body, most perfevering force of found, to that pitch of voice, to which in conversation we are accustomed. Whereas, by setting out on our higheft pitch or key, we certainly allow ourselves less compass, and are likely to strain our voice before we have done. We shall fatigue ourselves, and speak with pain; and whenever a man speaks with pain to himfelf, he is always heard with pain by his audience. Give the voice therefore full strength and swell of found; but always pitch it on your ordinary speaking key. Make it a constant rule never to utter a

forming his Delivery, are, first, to speak so as to be fully and easily understood by all who hear him; and next, to speak with grace and force, so as to please and to move his audience. Let us confider what

is most important with respect to each of

thefe..

In order to be fully and easily under

food, the four chief requisites are, A due

degree of loudness of voice; Distinctness; Slowness; and, Propriety of Pronuncia

tion.

The first attention of every public speak

er, doubtless, must be, to make himself be heard by all those to whom he speaks. He mult endeavour to fill with his voice the space occupied by the assembly. This power of voice, it may be thought, is wholly a natural talent. It is so in a good measure; but, however, may receive conderable afsistance from art. Much depends for this purpose on the proper pitch, and management of the voice. Every man has three pitches in his voice; the high, the middle, and the low one. The high, is that which he uses in calling aloud to fome one at a distance. The low is, when he approaches to a whisper. The middle is, that which he employs in common converíation, and which he should generally de in public difcourse. For it is a great miitake, to imagine that one must take the heghett pitch of his voice, in order to be weil heard by a great afsembly. This is confounding two things which are different, loudness, or strength of found, with the key, or note on which we speak. A

• On this whole subject, Mr. Sheridan's Lectures on Elocution are very worthy of being confulted; and several hints are here taken from

without pain to yourselves, and without any extraordinary effort. As long as you keep within these bounds, the other organs of fpeech will be at liberty to difcharge their several offices with ease; and

you will always have your voice under com

mand. But whenever you tranfgrefs these bounds, you give up the reins, and have no

longer any management of it. It is an

useful rule too, in order to be well heard, to fix our eye on fome of the most dislant perfons in the assembly, and to confider ourselves as speaking to them. We naturally and mechanically utter our words with fuch a degree of strength, as to make ourselves be heard by one to whom we address ourselves, provided he be within the reach of our voice. As this is the cafe in common conversation, it will hold alfo in public speaking. But remember, that in public as well as in conversation, it is poffible to offend by speaking too loud. This extreme hurts the ear, by making the voice come upon it in rumbling indistinct masses; befides its giving the speaker the difagreeable appearance of one who endeavours to compel affent, by mere vehemence and force of found.

In the next place, to being well heard, and clearly understood, diftinctness of articulation contributes more, than mere loudnefs of found. The quantity of found neceffary to fill even a large space, is smaller than is commonly imagined; and with diftinct articulation, a man of a weak voice will make it reach farther, than the strongest voice can reach without it. To this, therefore, every public speaker ought to pay great attention. He must give every found which he utters its due proportion, and make every fyllable, and even every letter in the word which he pronounces, A 4

دما

be heard distinctly; without flurring, whifpering, or fupprefling any of the proper founds.

In the third place, in order to articulate distinctly, moderation is requifite with regard to the speed of pronouncing. Precipitancy of speech confounds all articulation, and all meaning. I need scarcely observe, that there may be also an extreme on the opposite side. It is obvious, that a lifeless, drawling pronunciation, which allows the minds of the hearers to be always outrunning the speaker, must render every difcourse infipid and fatiguing. But the extreme of speaking too faft is much more common, and requires the more to be guarded againft, because, when it has grown up into a habit, few errors are more difficult to be corrected. To pronounce with a proper degree of flowness, and with full and clear articulation, is the first thing to be studied by all who begin to speak in public; and cannot be too much recommended to them. Such a pronunciation gives weight and dignity to their difcourse, It is a great afsistance to the voice, by the pauses and rests which it allows it more eafily to make; and it enables the speaker to swell all his sounds, both with more force and more mufic. It assists him also in preserving a due command of himself; whereas a rapid and hurried manner, is apt to excite that flutter of spirits, which is the greatest enemy to all right execution in the way of oratory. " Promptum sit os," says Quinctilian, non præceps, moderatum, non lentum."

After these fundamental attentions to the pitch and management of the voice, to diftinct articulation, and to a proper degree of flowness of speech, what a public speaker muft, in the fourth place, study, is Propriety of Pronunciation; or the giving to every word, which he utters, that found, which the most polite usage of the language appropriates to it; in oppofition to broad, vulgar, or provincial pronunciation. This is requifite, both for speaking intelligibly, and for speaking with grace or beauty. Instructions concerning this article, can be given by the living voice only. But there is one observation, which it may not be improper here to make. In the English language, every word which consists of more fyllables than one, has one accented syllable. The accent reits sometimes on the vowel, sometimes on the confonant. Seldom, or never, is there more than one accented syllable in any English word, how

ever long; and the genius of the language requires the voice to mark that syllable by a itronger percussion, and to pass more flightly over the rest. Now, after we have learned the proper feats of these accents, it is an important rule, to give every word just the fame accent in public speaking, as in common discourse. Many persons err in this refpect. When they speak in public, and with folemnity, they pronounce the syllables in a different manner from what they do at other times. They dwell upon them, and protract them; they multiply accents on the fame word; from a mistaken notion, that it gives gravity and force to their difcourse, and adds to the pomp of public declamation. Whereas, this is one of the greatest faults that can be committed in pronunciation; it makes what is called a theatrical or mouthing manner; and gives an artificial affected air to speech, which detracts greatly both from its agreeableness, and its impression.

I proceed to treat next of those higher parts of Delivery, by studying which, a speaker has something farther in view than merely to render himself intelligible, and seeks to give grace and force to what he utters. These may be comprised under four heads, Emphasis, Pauses, Tones, and Geftures. Let me only premise in general, to what I am to say concerning them, that attention to these articles of Delivery, is by no means to be confined, as fome might be apt to imagine, to the more elaborate and pathetic parts of a discourse; there is, perhaps, as great attention requifite, and as much skill displayed, in adapting emphases, pauses, tones, and gestures, properly, to calm and plain speaking: and the effect of a just and graceful delivery will, in every part of a fubject, be found of high importance for commanding attention, and enforcing what is spoken.

First, let us confider Emphasis; by this is meant a stronger and fuller found of voice, by which we diftinguish the accented syllable of some word, on which we design to lay particular stress, and to show how it affects the rest of the sentence. Sometimes the emphatic word must be diftinguished by a particular tone of voice, as well as by a stronger accent. On the right management of the emphasis, depends the whole life and spirit of every discourse.. If no emphasis be placed on any words, not only is discourse rendered heavy and lifeless, but the meaning left often ambiguous. If the emphasis be placed wrong,

we

we pervert and confound the meaning wholly. To give a common instance; such a fimple question as this: "Do you ride to town to-day?" is capable of no fewer than four different acceptations, according as the emphasis is differently placed on the words. If it be pronounced thus: Do you ride to town to-day? the answer may naturally be, No; I send my fervant in my stead. If thus; Do you ride to town to-day? Answer, No; I intend to walk. Do you ride to town to-day? No; I ride out into the fields. Do you ride to town to-day? No; but I shall to-morrow. In like manner, in folemn discourse, the whole force and beauty of an expression often depend on the accented word; and we may present to the hearers quite different views of the same sentiment, by placing the emphasis differently. In the following words of our Saviour, observe in what different lights the thought is placed, according as the words are pronounced. Judas, betrayeft thou the Son of Man with a kiss ?" Betrayeft thou makes the reproach turn, on the infamy of treachery. -Betrayeft thou makes it rest, upon Judas's connection with his master. Betrayest thou the Son of Man-rests it, upon our Saviour's perfonal character and eminence. Betrayeft thou the Son of Man with a kijs? turns it upon his prostituting the fignal of peace and friendship, to the purpose of a mark of destruction.

In order to acquire the proper manage ment of the emphasis, the great rule, and indeed the only rule possible to be given, is, that the speaker study to attain a just conception of the force and spirit of those fentiments which he is to pronounce. For to lay the emphasis with exact propriety, is a conftant exercise of good sense and attention. It is far from being an inconfiderable attainment. It is one of the greatest trials of a true and just taste; and muft arife from feeling delicately ourselves, and from judging accurately of what is fittest to strike the feelings of others. There is as great a difference between a chapter of the Bible, or any other piece of plain prose, read by one who places the several emphases every where with tafte and judgment, and by one who neglects or mistakes them, as there is between the fame tune played by the most masterly hand, or by the most bungling performer.

In all prepared discourses, it would be of great use, if they were read over or

rehearsed in private, with this particular view, to search for the proper emphases before they were pronounced in public; marking, at the same time, with a pen, the emphatical words in every fentence, or at least the most weighty and affecting parts of the discourse, and fixing them well in memory. Were this attention oftener bestowed, were this part of pronunciation studied with more exactness, and not left to the moment of delivery, as is commonly done, public speakers would find their care abundantly repaid, by the remarkable effects which it would produce upon their audience. Let me caution, at the same time, against one error, that of multiplying emphatical words too much. It is only by a prudent referve in the use of them, that we can give them any weight. If they recur too often; if a speaker attempts to render every thing which he says of high importance, by a multitude of strong emphases, we foon learn to pay little regard to them. To crowd every sentence with emphatical words, is like crowding all the pages of a book with italic characters, which, as to the effect, is just the fame with using no such distinctions at all.

Next to emphafis, the Pauses in speaking demand attention. These are of two kinds; first, emphatical pauses; and next, such as mark the distinctions of fenfe. An emphatical pause is made, after something has been faid of peculiar moment, and on which we want to fix the hearer's attention. Sometimes, before such a thing is said, we usher it in with a pause of this nature. Such pauses have the same effect as a strong emphasis, and are subject to the same rules; especially to the caution just now given, of not repeating them too frequently. For, as they excite uncommon attention, and of course raise expecta. tion, if the importance of the matter be not fully answerable to fuch expectation, they occafion disappointment and disguft.

But the most frequent and the principal use of pauses, is to mark the divisions of the sense, and at the same time to allow the speaker to draw his breath; and the proper and graceful adjustment of such: pauses, is one of the most nice and difficult articles in delivery. In all public speaking, the management of the breath requires a good deal of care, so as not to be obliged to divide words from one another, which have so intimate a connection, that they ought to be pronounced with the fame

fame breath, and without the least separation. Many a fentence is miferably mangled, and the force of the emphasis totally lost, by divisions being made in the wrong place. To avoid this, every one, while he is speaking, should be very careful to provide a full supply of breath for what he is to utter. It is a great mistake to imagine, that the breath must be drawn only at the end of a period, when the voice is allowed to fall. It may easily be gathered at the intervals of the period, when the voice is only fufpended for a moment; and, by this management, one may have always a fufficient stock for carrying on the longest sentence, without improper interruptions.

If any one, in public speaking, shall have formed to himself a certain melody or tune, which requires rest and pauses of its own, diftinct from those of the sense, he has, undoubtedly, contracted one of the worst habits into which a public speaker can fall. It is the sense which should always rule the pauses of the voice, for wherever there is any fenfible suspension of the voice, the hearer is always led to expect fomething corresponding in the meaning. Pauses in public difcourse, must be formed upon the manner in which we utter ourselves in ordinary, fenfible conversation; and not upon the stiff, artificial manner which we acquire from reading books according to the common punctuation. The general run of punctuation is very arbitrary; often capricious and falfe; and dictates an uniformity of tone in the pauses, which is extremely disagreeable: for we are to observe, that to render pauses graceful and expreffive, they must not only be made in the right place, but alfo be accompanied with a proper tone of voice, by which the nature of these pauses is intimated; much more than by the length of them, which can never be exactly meafured. Sometimes it is only a flight and fimple fufpenfion of voice that is proper; fometimes a degree of cadence in the voice is required; and fometimes that peculiar tone and cadence, which denotes the sen tence finished. In all these cafes, we are to regulate ourselves, by attending to the man ner in which nature teaches us to speak when engaged in real and earnest dif

course with others.

In

ear pauses or rests of its own; and to adjust and compound these properly with the pauses of the sense, so as neither to hurt the ear, nor offend the understanding, is fo very nice a matter, that it is no wonder we so seldom meet with good readers of poetry. There are two kinds of pauses that belong to the music of verse; one is, the pause at the end of the line; and the other, the cæsural pause in the middle of it. With regard to the pause at the end of the line, which marks that strain or verse to be finished, ryhme renders this always sensible, and in some measure compels us to observe it in our pronunciation. blank verse, where there is a greater liberty permitted of running the lines into one another, sometimes without any fufpension in the sense, it has been made a question, Whether, in reading such verse with propriety, any regard at all should be paid to the close of a line? On the stage, where the appearance of speaking in verse should always be avoided, there can, I think, be no doubt, that the close of fuch lines as make no pause in the sense, should not be rendered perceptible to the ear. But on other occafions, this were improper: for what is the use of melody, or for what end has the poet composed in verse, if, in reading his lines, we fupprefs his numbers; and degrade them, by our pronunciation, into mere prose? We ought, therefore, certainly to read blank verse fo as to make every line sensible to the ear. At the fame time, in doing so, every appearance of fing-fong and tone must be carefully guarded againft. The close of the line, where it makes no pause in the meaning, ought to be marked, not by fuch a tone as is ufed in finishing a fentence. but without either letting the voice fall or elevating it, it should be marked only by such a flight fufpenfion of found, as may diftinguish the passage from one line to another, without injuring the meaning.

The other kind of musical pause, is that which falls somewhere about the middle of the verse, and divides it into two hemistichs; a pause, not so great as that which belongs to the close of the line, but still fenfible to an ordinary ear. This, which is called the cæfural pause, in the French heroic verse falls uniformly in the middle of the line, in the English, it may fall after the 4th, 5th, 6th, or 7th fyllables in the line, and no other. Where the verse is fo constructed that this cæfural pause coincides with the flightest pause or divifion in

the

the fenfe, the line can be read easily; as in the two first verses of Mr. Pope's Meffian,

Ye nymphs of Solyma! begin the fong;

To heavenly themes, fublimer ftrains belong;

Bat if it shall happen that words, which have fuch a strict and intimate connection, as not to bear even a momentary feparation, are divided from one another by this cæfaral paufe, we then feel a fort of struggle between the fenfe and the found, which renders it dificult to read fuch lines gracefully. The rule of proper pronunciation in such cafes is, to regard only the paufe which the fenfe forms; and to read the line accordingly. The neglect of the cafural pause may make the line found fomewhat unharmoniously; but the effect would be much worse, if the sense were facrificed to the found. For instance, in the following line of Milton,

What in me is dark,

lumine; what is low, raife and fupport.

The sense clearly dictates the pause after " illumine," at the end of the third fyllable, which, in reading, ought to be made accordingly; though, if the melody only were to be regarded, "illumine" should be connected with what follows, and the pause not made till the 4th or 6th fyllable. So in the following line of Mr. Pope's (Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot):

I fit, with fad civility I read :

The ear plainly points out the cæfural pause as falling after " sad;" the 4th fyllable. But it would be very bad reading to make any pause there, so as to separate "fad" and "civility." The sense admits of no other pause than after the second fyllable "fit," which therefore must be the only pause made in the reading.

I proceed to treat next of Tones in pronunciation, which are different both from emphasis and pauses; confitting in the modulation of the voice, the notes or variations of found which we employ in public fpeaking. How much of the propriety, the force and grace of discourse, muft depend on these, will appear from this fingle confideration; that to almost every fentiment we utter, more especially to every strong emotion, nature hath adapted fome peculiar tone of voice; infomuch, that he who should tell another that he was very angry, or much grieved, in a tone which did not fuit fuch emotions, instead of being believed, would

be laughed at. Sympathy is one of the most powerful principles by which perfuafive difcourse works its effect. The speaker endeavours to transfuse into his hearers his own fentiments and emotions; which he can never be fuccefsful in doing, unless he ut. ters them in fuch a manner as to convince the hearers that he feels them *. The pro per expreffion of tones, therefore, deferves to be attentively studied by every one who would be a fuccefsful orator.

The greatest and molt material inftruction which can be given for this purpose is, to form the tones of public speaking upon the tones of fenfible and animated converfation. We may observe that every man, when he is much in earnest in common difcourse, when he is engaged in speaking on some subject which interests him nearly, has an eloquent or perfuafive tone and manner. What is the reason of our being often fo frigid and unperfuafive in public difcourse, but our departing from the natural tone of speaking, and delivering ourselves in an affected, artificial manner? Nothing can be more abiurd than to imagine, that as foon as one mounts a pulpit, or rises in a public afsembly, he is instantly to lay afide the voice with which he expresses himself in private; to aflume a new, ftudied tone, and a cadence altogether foreign to his natural manner. This has vitiated all delivery; this has given rise to cant and tedious monotony, in the different kinds of modern public speaking, especially in the pulpit. Men departed from nature; and fought to give a beauty or force, as they imagined, to their discourie, by substituting certain studied musical tones, in the room of the genuine expressions of fentiment, which the voice carries in natural discourse. Let every

* "All that passes in the mind of man may be "reduced to two claffes, which I call, Ideas, and "Emotions. By Ideas, I mean all thoughts "which rife and pafs in fucceffion in the mind: "By Emotions, all exertions of the mind in ar" ranging, combining, and feparating its ideas; " as well as all the effects produced on the mind "itself by those ideas, from the more violent "agitation of the paflious, to the calmer feelings " produced by the operation of the intellect and "the fancy. In short, thought is the object of "the one, internal feeling of the other. That "which ferves to express the former, I call the Language of Ideas; and the latter, the Lan guage of Emotions. Words are the figns of the one, tones of the other. Without the ufe " of these two forts of language, it is impoffible "to communicate through the ear all that palies in the mind of man." SHERIDAN on the Art of Reading.