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exercises, in which thesis and antithesis may be dealt with after the manner of dialectic and oratorical attack and defence. A training like this is calculated to engender a facility of expression, adequate in some degree to the embodiment of every thought; and if this facility be not practically requisite, as it is not necessary to make every one an accomplished public speaker, the training would still prove of incalculable value in turning out more felicitous and elegant conversationalists in the ordinary intercourses of life.

Reading a manuscript has seldom or never the impulsive energy and living force of speaking; and committing the manuscript to memory, and reciting it, besides being a somewhat laborious process, does not generally produce a very effective consummation. We recommend previous thinking and extempore speaking as the only causes which can result in the living fire and energy of eloquence.

"The thoughts of one who is reading anything very familiar to him are apt to wander to other subjects, though perhaps such as are connected with that which is before him. If, again, it be something new to him, he is apt (not indeed to wander to another subject, but) to get the start, as it were, of his readers, and to be thinking, while uttering each sentence, not of that, but of the sentence which comes next. And, in both cases, if he is careful to avoid these faults, and is desirous of reading well, it is a matter of no small difficulty, and calls for a constant effort to prevent the mind from wandering in another direction, viz., into thoughts respecting his own voice, respecting the effect produced by each sound, the approbation he hopes for from the hearers," &c.*

It is significant that the speeches of Cicero himself were * Whately's "Rhetoric."

written after they were delivered. It is indispensable in a great speaker to be a great thinker-to possess a noble intellect, owing something to nature, and much to schools. Eloquence, a motive power strong enough to overturn the world, is far too valuable an acquisition to be had for the mere wishing. How indefatigable and resolute were the exertions of the great Greek orator before he ventured on a single philippic; and what a splendid intellect, and what a determined will, were, in obscurity and self-denial, brought to bear upon the toil of the student under the most approved Elocution-masters of the age, before the forum rang with the voice of Cicero. And all our modern orators, from Sheridan and Pitt to Gladstone and Disraeli, have afforded specimens of the power of utterance allied with the culture and might of mind. Facility and force of verbal expression can elevate the intellectual gymnast into a demigod, while it can only render the intellectual weakling the more contemptible and ridiculous.

Wit should be introduced into public speaking with much judiciousness and caution. "As for jest," says Lord Bacon," there be certain things which ought to be privileged from it; namely, religion, matters of state, great persons, any man's business of importance, and any case that deserveth pity. Yet there be some that think their wits have been asleep, except they dart out somewhat that is piquant and to the quick: that is a vein which should be bridled."

There is a certain nervousness and diffidence in a young orator's debut, which, in the majority of instances, a few appearances before the public in the capacity of a speaker are sufficient to eradicate. The orator should never make his public appearance, till, on the subject on which he is about to speak at least, he has a pretty well-founded con

sciousness that he knows more than any individual member of his audience. If he does not, there is no occasion for his speaking at all; and if he does, the consciousness should do much to dispel his diffidence. It may be expedient to use the most summary notes to give the oration greater logical sequency, but no portion of a speech should be in writing before the speaker, with the exception of such matter as dates and statistics.

E

POETICAL EXTRACTS.

"FLOWER OF YARROW."

(With Elocutionary annotations.)

I. QUATRAIN.

Simple narrative-last two lines adversative, pronounced in a lower tone.

II.

Sorrowful reproach-Lady Scott accuses her lord of accomplishing the death of their daughter, rather than that she should be the bride of Pringle of Torwoodlee.

III.

Melancholy narrative.

IV.

Bitter disappointment, mingled with a fond and melancholy yearning.

V.

The same as IV., with something more of deliberation and firmness to imply resolve.

Sedate narrative.

VI. AND VII.

VIII.

The two interrogations are put with an expression of suddenness and spasmodical effect, the first in the high, the second in the low key of exclamation-last two lines animated narrative, with imitative modulation on 'shriek," i.e., pronouncing the word in such a prolonged and emphatic manner as to make it suggestive of the act of shrieking—an artifice of no inconsiderable effect in rhetoric when introduced with propriety.

IX. AND X.

First two lines of each quatrain anxious interrogation, commencing with a verb, and having the rising inflection-second two lines mournful response.

XI.

First line anxious interrogation-second, third, and fourth eager and impassioned supplication.

Jubilant narrative.

XII. AND XIII.

XIV.

Simple narrative, mingled with an expression of wonderment.

XV.

First two lines slow-broken, with an expression of bewilderment-second two lines simple narrative, with an expression of languor.

Jubilant narrative.

XVI.

XVII. AND XVIII.

Animated description.

XIX.

First two lines simple narrative-second two lines with an expression of tenderness and embarrassment.

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LORD PRINGLE came- -before his eye

The monks and maidens kneel'd in fear;

But Lady Tushilaw stood by,

And pointed to her Mary's bier!

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