language. All this we must allow to be natural, if we suppose him to be serious. For every man who speaks without affectation, has a style and a manner peculiar to himself. A person of learning and eloquence, recapitulating on any solemn occasion the speech of a clown, would not be thought in earnest if he did not express himself with his wonted propriety. It would be difficult, perhaps he would find it impossible, to imitate the hesitation, barbarisms, and broad accent of the poor man; and if he were to do so, he would affront his audience, and, instead of being thought a natural speaker, or capable of conducting important business, would prove himself a mere buffoon. Now, an historian is a person who assumes a character of great dignity, and addresses himself to a most respectable audience. He undertakes to communicate information, not to his equals only, or inferiors, but to the greatest and most learned men upon earth. He wishes them to listen to him, and to listen with pleasure; to believe his testimony, and treasure up his sayings as lessons of wisdom to direct them in the conduct of life, and in the government of kingdoms. In so awful a presence, and with views so elevated, what style is it natural for him to assume? A style uniformly serious and elegant, clear, orderly, and emphatical, set off with modest ornaments to render it pleasing, yet plain and simple, and such as becomes a man whose chief concern it is to know and deliver the truth. The moralist and the preacher are in familiar circumstances, and will naturally adopt a familiar style; only a more sublime and more pathetic energy, and language still plainer than that of the historian, though not less pure, will with reason be expected from those who pronounce the dictates of divine wisdom, and profess to instruct the meanest as well as the greatest of mankind in matters of everlasting importance. We may, therefore, repeat, and lay it down as a maxim, "That language is natural when it is suited to the speaker's condition, character, and circumstances." And as, for the most part, the images and sentiments of serious poetry are copied from the images and sentiments, not of real, but of improved, nature; so the language of serious poetry must (as hinted already) be a transcript, not of the real language of nature, which is often dissonant and rude, but of natural language improved as far as may be consistent with probability, and with the supposed character of the speaker. If this be not the case, if the language of poetry be such only as we hear in conversation, or read in history, it will, instead of delight, bring disappointment; because it will fall short of what we expect from an art which is recommended rather by its pleasurable qualities, than by its intrinsic utility; and to which, in order to render it pleasing, we grant higher privileges than to any other kind of literary composition, or any other mode of human language. From his "Essays." Dublin, 1778. WILLIAM ENFIELD (1741-1797) W He was ILLIAM ENFIELD was born at Sudbury, England, March 29th, 1741, and educated for the ministry of the Unitarian Church. celebrated as a pulpit orator and teacher, and the University of Edinburgh gave him the honorary degree of LL.D. He wrote "Institutes of Natural Philosophy, Theoretical and Experimental » (1783), and published other works which added to his reputation. It is, however, by virtue of his modest little "Speaker," published in 1775, that he survives his century. It passed through many editions, and is still bought by collectors of works on oratory and rhetoric. The taste it shows is of a high order, and in the essay on "Elocution," prefixed to it, Enfield may be said to have founded the modern science of voice culture. He died at Norwich, November 3d, 1797. M AN ESSAY ON ELOCUTION -"Id affert ratio, docent literæ, confirmat consuetudo legendi et loquendi.» UCH declamation has been employed to convince the world of a very plain truth, that to be able to speak well is an ornamental and useful accomplishment. Without the labored panegyrics of ancient or modern orators, the importance of a good elocution is sufficiently obvious. Everyone will acknowledge it to be of some consequence, that what man has hourly occasion to do, should be done well. Every private company, and almost every public assembly, afford opportunities of remarking the difference between a just and graceful, and a faulty and unnatural, elocution; and there are few persons who do not daily experience the advantages of the former and the inconveniences of the latter. The great difficulty is, not to prove that it is a desirable thing to be able to read and speak with propriety, but to point out a practicable and easy method by which this accomplishment may be acquired. Follow nature, is certainly the fundamental law of oratory, without regard to which all other rules will only produce affected declamation, not just elocution. And some accurate observers, judging, perhaps, from a few unlucky specimens of modern eloquence, have concluded that this is the only law which ought to be prescribed; that all artificial rules are useless; and that good sense and a cultivated taste are the only requisites to form a good public speaker. But it is true in the art of speaking, as well as in the art of living, that general precepts are of little use till they are unfolded and applied to particular cases. To discover and correct those tones and habits of speaking which are gross deviations from nature, and, as far as they prevail, must destroy all propriety and grace of utterance; and to acquire a habit of reading, or speaking, upon every occasion, in a manner suited to the nature of the subject, and the kind of discourse or writing to be delivered, whether it be narrative, didactic, argumentative, oratorical, colloquial, descriptive, or pathetic, must be the result of much attention and labor. And there can be no reason to doubt that, in passing through that course of exercise which is necessary in order to attain this end, much assistance may be derived from instruction. What are rules or lessons for acquiring this or any other art, but the observations of others, collected into a narrow compass, and digested in a natural order, for the direction of the inexperienced and unpracticed learner? And what is there in the art of speaking which should render it incapable of receiving aid from precepts ? Presuming, then, that the acquisition of the art of speaking, like all other practical arts, may be facilitated by rules, I shall lay before my readers, in a plain, didactic form, such rules .respecting elocution as appear best adapted to form a correct and graceful speaker. A LET YOUR ARTICULATION BE DISTINCT AND DELIBERATE GOOD articulation consists in giving a clear and full utterance to the several simple and complex sounds. The nature of the sounds, therefore, ought to be well understood; and much pains should be taken to discover and correct those faults in articulation, which, though often ascribed to to some defect in the organs of speech, are generally the consequence of inattention or bad example. Some persons find it difficult to articulate the letter ; others, the simple sounds expressed by r, s, th, sh; but the instance of defective articulation which is most common, and, therefore, requires particular notice, is the omission of the aspirate, h. Through several counties in England this defect almost universally prevails, and sometimes occasions ludicrous, and even serious mistakes. This is an omission which materially affects the energy of pronunciation; the expression of emotions and passions often depending, in a great measure, upon the vehemence with which the aspirate is uttered. The h is sometimes perversely enough omitted where it ought to be sounded, and sounded where it ought to be omitted; the effect of which will be easily perceived in the following examples: "He had learned the whole art of angling by heart;» «Heat the soup." These and other similar faults may be corrected by daily reading sentences so contrived as frequently to repeat the sounds which are incorrectly uttered; and especially by remarking them whenever they occur in conversation. Other defects in articulation regard the complex sounds, and consist in a confused and cluttering pronunciation of words. The most effectual methods of conquering this habit are: to read aloud passages chosen for the purpose, such, for instance, as abound with long and unusual words, or in which many short syllables come together; and to read, at certain stated times, much slower than the sense and just speaking would require. Almost all persons who have not studied the art of speaking have a habit of uttering their words so rapidly that this latter exercise ought generally to be made use of for a considerable time at first; for where there is a uniformly rapid utterance it is absolutely impossible that there should be strong emphasis, natural tones, or any just elocution. Aim at nothing higher till you can read distinctly and deliberately.- Will follow in their proper places. LET YOUR PRONUNCIATION BE BOLD AND FORCIBLE Even N INSIPID flatness and languor are almost universal faults in reading. AN public speakers often suffer their words to drop from their lips with such a faint and feeble utterance that they appear neither to understand nor feel what they say themselves, nor to have any desire that it should be understood or felt by their audience. This is a fundamental fault; a speaker without energy is a lifeless statue. In order to acquire a forcible manner of pronouncing your words, inure yourself, while reading, to draw in as much air as your lungs can contain with ease, and to expel it with vehemence in uttering those sounds which require an emphatical pronunciation; read aloud in the open air, and with all the exertion you can command; preserve your body in an erect attitude while you are speaking; let all the consonant sounds be expressed with a full impulse or percussion of the breath, and a forcible action of the organs employed in forming them; and let all the vowel sounds have a full and bold utterance. Continue these exercises with perseverance till you have acquired strength and energy of speech. But, in observing this rule, beware of running into the extreme of vociferation. This fault is chiefly found among those who, in contempt and despite of all rule and propriety, are determined to command the attention of the vulgar. These are the speakers who, in Shakespeare's phrase, "offend the judicious hearer to the soul, by tearing a passion to rags, to very tatters, to split the ears of the groundlings." Cicero compares such speakers to cripples, who get on horseback because they cannot walk; they bellow because they cannot speak. ACQUIRE COMPASS AND VARIETY IN THE HEIGHT OF YOUR VOICE THE monotony so much complained of in public speakers is chiefly owing to the neglect of this rule. They commonly content themselves with one certain key, which they employ on all occasions, and upon every subject; or if they attempt variety, it is only in proportion to the number of their hearers, and the extent of the place in which they speak; imagining, that speaking in a high key is the same thing as speaking loud; and not observing, that whether a speaker shall be heard' or not depends more upon the distinctness and force with which he utters his words than upon the height of the key in which he speaks. Within a certain compass of notes, above or below which articulation would be difficult, propriety of speaking requires variety in the height, as well as in the strength and tone of the voice. Different kinds of speaking require different heights of voice. Nature instructs us to relate a story, to support an argument, to command a servant, to utter exclamations of rage or anger, and to pour forth lamentations and sorrows, not only with different tones, but with different elevations of voice. Men, at different ages of life, and in different situations, speak in very different keys. The vagrant, when he begs; the soldier, when he gives the word of command; the watchman, when he announces the hour of the night; the sovereign, when he issues his edict; the senator, when he harangues; the lover, when he whispers his tender tale, do not differ more in the tones which they use than in the key in which they speak. Reading and speaking, therefore, in which all the variations of expression in real life are copied, must have continual variations in the height of the voice. To acquire the power of changing the key in which you speak at pleasure, accustom yourself to pitch your voice in different keys, from the lowest to the highest notes on which you can articulate distinctly. Many of these would neither be proper nor agreeable in speaking; but the exercise will give you such a command of voice as is scarcely to be acquired by any other method. Having repeated this experiment till you can speak with ease at several heights of the voice, read, as exercises on this rule, such compositions as have a variety of speakers, or such as relate dialogues; observing the height of voice which is proper to each, and endeavoring to change it as nature directs. In the same composition there may be frequent occasion to alter the height of the voice, in passing from one part to another, without any change of person. This is the case, for example, in Shakespeare's "All the world's a stage," etc., and in his description of the Queen of the Fairies. PRONOUNCE YOUR WORDS WITH PROPRIETY AND ELEGANCE T Is not easy to fix upon any standard by which the propriety of pronunciation may be determined. A rigorous adherence to etymology, or to analogy, would often produce a pedantic pronunciation of words, which in a polite circle would appear ridiculous. The fashionable world has, in this respect, too much caprice and affectation to be implicitly followed. If there be any true standard of pronunciation, it must be sought for among those who unite the accuracy of learning with the elegance of polite conversation. An attention to such models. and a free intercourse with the world, afford the best guard against the peculiarities and vulgarisms of provincial dialects. The faults in pronunciation which belong to this class are too numerous to be completely specified. Except the omission of the aspirate already mentioned, one of the most common is, the interchange of the sounds belonging to the letters v and w. One who had contracted this habit would find some difficulty in pronouncing these words: "I like white wine vinegar with veal very well." Other provincial improprieties of pronunciation are: the changing of ow into er, or of aw into or, as in fellow, window, the law of the land; that of ou or ow into oo, as in house, town; ¿ into oi, as in my; e into a, as in sincere, tea; and s into z, as in Somerset. These faults, and all others of the same nature, must be avoided in the pronunciation of a gentleman, who is supposed to have seen too much of the world to retain the peculiarities of the district in which he was born. PRONOUNCE EVERY WORD CONSISTING OF MORE THAN ONE SYLLABLE WITH ITS PROPER ACCENT AS, WHEN any stringed musical instrument receives a smart percussion its vibrations at first produce a loud and full sound, which gradually becomes soft and faint, although the note, during the whole vibration, remains the same, so any articulate sound may be uttered with different degrees of strength, proportioned to the degree of exertion with which it is spoken. In all words consisting of more syllables than one, we give some one syllable a more forcible utterance than the rest. This variety of sound, which is called accent,* serves * "Accent" in the classical languages (as in Chinese) is the musical rise and fall of the voice. The English ear cannot appreciate it without special training. In the word "pity," the natural English accent on the first syllable is acute. Both syllables can be short "by position'" but the word is naturally a "trochee," - that is a long syllable followed by a short (—v). W. V. B. |