INTRODUCTION TO AN AUDIENCE.
The speaker should present himself to the audience with modesty, and
without any show of self-consequence, and should avoid everything opposed
to true dignity and self respect; he should feel the importance of his
subject and the occasion. He should be deliberate and calm, and should take
his position with his face directed to the audience.
A bow, being the most marked and appropriate symbol of respect, should be
made on the last step going to his place on the platform. In making a
graceful bow, there should be a gentle bend of the whole body, the eyes
should not be permitted to fall below the person addressed, and the arms
should lightly move forward, and a little inward. On raising himself into
an erect position from the introductory bow, the speaker should fall back
into the first position of the advanced foot. In this position he commences
to speak. In his discourse let him appear graceful, easy, and natural, and
when warmed and animated by the importance of his subject, his dignity and
mien should become still more elevated and commanding, and he should assume
a somewhat lofty and noble bearing.
ADVICE TO STUDENTS.
The student must ever bear in mind that there is no royal road of attaining
excellence in Elocutionary art without labour. No matter under what
favourable circumstances he may have been placed for observing good
methods, or how much aid he may receive from good teachers, he never can
make any _real_ improvement, unless he does the work for himself, and
by diligence and perseverance he may achieve a great measure of success,
and free himself from many blemishes and defects.
As the highest attainment of art, is the best imitation of nature, to
attain to excellence in art the student must study nature as it exists in
the manner of the age,--
"And catch the manners, living as they rise."
The rules of every science, as far as they are just and useful, are founded
in nature, or in good usage; hence their adoption and application tend to
free us from our artificial defects, all of which may be regarded as
departures from the simplicity of nature. Let the student, therefore, ever
bear in mind that whatever is artificial is unnatural, and that whatever is
unnatural is opposed to genuine eloquence.
Good reading is exactly like good talking--one, therefore, who would read
well or who would speak well, who would interest, rivet the attention,
convince the understanding, and excite the feelings of his hearers--need
not expect to do it by any extraordinary exertion or desperate effort; for
genuine eloquence is not to be wooed and won by any such boisterous course
of courtship, but by more gentle means. But, the pupil must not be tied
down to a too slavish attention to rules, for one flash of genuine emotion,
one touch of real nature, will produce a greater effect than the
application of all the studied rules of rhetorical art.
"He who in earnest studies o'er his part,
Will find true nature cling around his heart,
The modes of grief are not included all
In the white handkerchief and mournful drawl."
Before attempting to give a piece in public the pupil must practice it well
in private, until the words and ideas are perfectly familiar, and it must
be repeated o'er and o'er again, with perfect distinctness and clear
articulation,--for more declaimers break down in consequence of forgetting
the words of their piece, than from any other cause, and the pupil must
practice assiduously until there is no danger of failure from this source.
Do not be discouraged if your early attempts are not very successful ones,
but persevere; the most renowned actors and orators were not at all
remarkable in the commencement of their career, they all, with scarcely an
exception, attained to eminence by untiring perseverance.
Never rest satisfied with having done as you think--"well"--but be
constantly trying to improve and to do better, and do not let the flattery
of injudicious friends lead you to imagine you have a remarkable genius for
oratory or for reading--such a foolish notion will be productive of great
harm and effectually stop your further improvement, and those who are led
to believe they are great geniuses and above the necessity of being guided
by the rules suited for more commonplace mortals, rarely, if ever, attain
to eminence, or become useful members of society.
Do not rely too much on others for instruction or advice as to the way of
reading or speaking a passage, think for yourself, read it over carefully
until you have formed a definite opinion as to how it ought to be
delivered, then declaim it according to your own idea of its meaning and
character.
Avoid everything like affectation; think of your subject and its
requirements, not of yourself, and do not try to make a great display. Let
your tone, look and gestures be all in harmony--be deliberate, yet earnest
and natural; let nature be the mistress with art for her handmaiden.
Do not be such a slavish imitator of others, that it can be said of you, as
it is of many--"Oh! I know who taught him Elocution. Every gesture and
every movement is in accordance with some specific rule, and a slavish
mannerism that never breaks into the slightest originality, marks his whole
delivery, and all of ----'s pupils do exactly the same way."
Remember always that the GOLDEN RULE of Elocution is:--
BE NATURAL AND BE IN EARNEST.