"Impromptu"; or, How to Think on Your Feet
Date: 2021-08-23T00:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Oratory

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Title: "Impromptu"; or, How to Think on Your Feet

Author: Grenville Kleiser

Contributor: Isaac Grant Thompson

Release date: August 23, 2021 [eBook #66125]
Most recently updated: October 18, 2024

Language: English

Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/66125

Credits: Al Haines

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK "IMPROMPTU"; OR, HOW TO THINK ON YOUR FEET ***

"IMPROMPTU"

OR

How to Think on Your Feet

BY
GRENVILLE KLEISER

With an Essay on
THE STUDY OF FORENSIC ELOQUENCE
By Isaac Grant Thompson

For the Exclusive Use of Grenville Kleiser's
Mail Course Students

FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY
NEW YORK AND LONDON
1910

COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY
FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY
Printed in the United States of America

TO THE STUDENT

I am constantly asked to make suggestions for developing alertness of mind and facility in formulating one's thoughts while actually addressing an audience.

I know of nothing more effective for this purpose than daily practise in impromptu speaking as described in this book. In hundreds of instances the results of this simple exercise have been little less than wonderful, not only in stimulating mental quickness, but also in developing resourcefulness, concentration, and self-confidence.

The rules for successful impromptu speaking are, tersely, these:

1. Think clearly.

2. Express yourself clearly.

3. Be yourself.

GRENVILLE KLEISER.

CONTENTS

"IMPROMPTU"
List of Subjects

SPECIMEN ONE-MINUTE SPEECHES
A Minute
Lincoln as a Speaker
Salesmanship
Providence
Bismarck
George Washington
A Dedication
Government by the People
Brevity
Public Speaking
Henry Clay
Woman and Speech
Boys
Votes for Women
Lincoln
The Value of the Public Speaking Club to the Business Man

THE STUDY OF FORENSIC ELOQUENCE

"IMPROMPTU"

"IMPROMPTU!"

The game of "Impromptu" is the outgrowth of an exercise devised by the author and used by him in The Public Speaking Club of America.

A number of cards, each bearing a separate subject, are placed in a hat. Then a member of the club stands up, selects one of the cards, announces the subject named on the card, and proceeds to speak on that particular theme for one minute. At the expiration of that time another member rings the bell.

This exercise can be carried on by two or more persons. It is surprizing how rapidly through this simple pastime one gains facility in speech and increased self-confidence. Many of these "maiden efforts" at impromptu speaking are necessarily very funny, and sometimes send the listeners into fits of laughter; but the basis of the exercise is serious, and there is disclosed new and unsuspected talent in the participants.

The ability to think and speak "on one's feet" is not usually a gift of nature, but is acquired through simple and regular practise. Curran, the distinguished Irish orator, was known in his early days as "Stuttering Jack." He has described his first experience in attempting to speak before a small debating club. On standing up, he trembled from head to foot, and when he saw all eyes fixt upon him—there were seven persons present!—he became almost petrified with fear. His friends cried "Hear him!" but altho his lips moved, not a sound came from them. He profited by his experience, however, since through study and practise he became one of the greatest orators of his day.

"Impromptu" implies ready, offhand, without previous study or preparation, and provides one of the best tests of a man's fund of thought and readiness in expression. In practising "Impromptu" the student is advised to set his mind rapidly to work the instant he reads the subject on the card chosen, to content himself with the first idea that comes to him, and to speak very deliberately. This will give the appearance of self-possession, while permitting his mind to reach out for fresh material. So rapidly does the mind work that, after a little practise, the speaker will be able to arrange his thoughts in a certain sequence, even in the few seconds that elapse between choosing his subject and uttering the first word.

A conscientious student will endeavor to make each succeeding effort better than the last. He will aim to keep strictly to his subject, to speak fluently, to employ the best possible language, and to express only those ideas that are worth while. Where circumstances render it necessary, one may practise the exercise by himself.

A list of subjects is offered here (which the student may himself supplement), together with specimen one-minute speeches prepared and delivered by the author's pupils. A man who has himself well in hand and knows precisely what he wants to talk about, can make a most interesting speech in the short space of one minute.

LIST OF SUBJECTS

LIST OF SUBJECTS

LIST I

1. Automobile, The.
2. Audiences.
3. After-dinner Speaking.
4. Adaptability.
5. Bachelors.
6. Battles.
7. Bores.
8. Boarding Houses.
9. Comedy.
10. Coffee.
11. Clubs.
12. Chicago.
13. Cause and Effect.
14. College Education.
15. Conversation.
16. Disappointment.
17. Decision.
18. Deep Breathing.
19. Debating.
20. Death.
21. Dignity.
22. Etiquette.
23. Endurance.
24. Emergencies.
25. Enemies.
26. Experiment.
27. Envy.
28. Equality.
29. Electricity.
30. Fishing.
31. Fire.
32. Friends.
33. Faces.
34. Flowers.
35. Farm, The.
36. Frankness.
37. Familiarity.
38. Gossip.
39. Golf.
40. Geniality.
41. Ghosts.
42. Honesty.
43. Horse, The.
44. Hospitals.
45. Industry.
46. Immigration.
47. Immortality.
48. Invention.
49. Inspiration.
50. Japanese, The.

LIST II

51. Laughing.
52. Marriage.
53. Mastication.
54. Meditation.
55. Manners.
56. Mob, The.
57. Money Making.
58. Newsboy, The.
59. Old Clothes.
60. Oratory.
61. Old Maids.
62. Positive Thinking.
63. Pride.
64. Pictures.
65. Poetry.
66. Personal Magnetism.
67. Progress.
68. Procrastination.
69. Pluck.
70. Prejudice.
71. Perseverance.
72. Resourcefulness.
73. Resolutions.
74. Real Estate.
75. Rainy Day, The.
76. Restaurants.
77. Railroads.
78. Relaxation.
79. Secrets.
80. Society.
81. Solitude.
82. Summer Vacation.
83. Smoking.
84. Socialism.
85. Self-denial.
86. System.
87. Simplicity.
88. Self-confidence.
89. Sociability.
90. Skyscrapers.
91. Suggestion.
92. Sunshine.
93. Theater, The.
94. Temperance.
95. Trees.
96. Truth.
97. Toasts.
98. Tragedy.
99. Walking.
100. Women.

LIST III

101. Abraham Lincoln.
102. Airships.
103. Anarchist, The.
104. American Humor.
105. Arbitration.
106. America a World Power.
107. Books.
108. Brotherhood of Man.
109. Business.
110. Bank Account, A.
111. Clothes.
112. Character.
113. Church, The.
114. Chivalry.
115. Criminal, The.
116. Charity.
117. Capital Punishment.
118. Conscience.
119. City Life.
120. Drama, The.
121. Devil, The.
122. Demagog, The.
123. Divorce.
124. Doctor, The.
125. Death Penalty.
126. Election of Senators.
127. English Literature.
128. Education.
129. Future of America.
130. Free Speech.
131. Fear.
132. Great Men.
133. Good Luck.
134. Humor.
135. Happiness.
136. Home Life.
137. Habits.
138. Health.
139. "I Will!"
140. Ideals.
141. Imagination.
142. Investments.
143. Jewelry.
144. Jury System, The.
145. Love.
146. Lawyer, The.
147. Leadership.
148. Murder Trials.
149. Mistakes.
150. Might and Right.

LIST IV

151. Millionaires.
152. Municipal Ownership.
153. Man's Chance at Fifty, A.
154. Modern Advertising.
155. Music.
156. Newspaper, The.
157. Negro, The.
158. National Ideals.
159. Originality.
160. Optimism.
161. Opportunity.
162. Pessimist, The.
163. Power of Silence, The.
164. Power.
165. Poverty.
166. Public Opinion.
167. Phrenology.
168. Pathos.
169. Patent Medicines.
170. Politics.
171. Prosperity.
172. Physical Culture.
173. Public Speaking.
174. Poverty and Crime.
175. Personality.
176. Panics.
177. Religion.
178. Reformers.
179. Self-criticism.
180. Strenuous Life, The.
181. Stock Speculation.
182. Selfishness.
183. Sympathy.
184. Suicide.
185. Self-culture.
186. Success.
187. Story-telling.
188. Specialist, The.
189. Survival of the Fittest.
190. Salesmanship.
191. Slang.
192. Shakespeare.
193. Sleep.
194. Trusts.
195. Travel.
196. Tramp, The.
197. Tipping the Waiter.
198. Unemployed, The.
199. Wealth and Happiness.
200. Woman Suffrage.

SPECIMEN
ONE-MINUTE SPEECHES

A MINUTE

In one minute a man can run about a quarter of a mile, if he is a good runner; a horse can trot about half a mile, if it is a good trotter, and can run about three-quarters of a mile if it is a thoroughbred. In the same period of time, the Empire State Express goes something more than a mile, and a racing automobile about two miles. As the earth turns on its axis, its surface, at the Equator, travels about seventeen miles a minute, and in its greater journey in its ellipse around the sun the earth rushes through space at the rate of a thousand miles a minute. In this country alone, about five times every minute, or once in every twelve seconds, the last good-bys are said and a soul solves the great mystery of eternity. The minute which is gone can never be recalled, while the next minute is fraught with uncertainty. We are sure—not of this minute, but of this instant only, of time. Then, while we may, let us say the loving word, do the kind act, suppress the unkind remark, encourage those who are struggling by the way—this minute.

LINCOLN AS A SPEAKER

President Lincoln owed his success as a speaker to his ancestry and parentage, his knowledge of human nature, and his mastery of English. His Puritan-pioneer ancestry endowed him with the great physical and mental vigor that characterized all his life; and his parents inspired him with the love of learning, the high moral sense and the devotion to truth, freedom and religion, that made him the man we so revere. His knowledge of human nature was due to his early life and studies, and is best illustrated by his use of stories. By them he could at need rebuke, explain, or encourage, for he had studied men till he knew them and their motives as he did his scanty library. His mastery of English was due to his study of the best models in our tongue, the Bible, Shakespeare, Milton, and Blackstone. These books he read until he had memorized their words and absorbed their spirit so thoroughly that when he came to clothe in words his own great and wise thoughts he spake as a master of English style. Lincoln's early environment was rough, but he made it subserve great and mighty purposes; and those of us who labor in his spirit may hope also to do great works.

SALESMANSHIP

What kind of a man should the salesman be, in order to be successful? The essential qualifications are, good health, good appearance, a thorough knowledge of what he offers for sale, and a general knowledge of his competitors' goods. Furthermore, he must know how to judge a customer, so as to present his thoughts in a manner to gain his confidence. He should also develop his sense of humor, in order to overcome the "hard knocks" that may be in store for him. He must be able to smile, no matter what happens. If he possesses these qualifications, together with the proper goods to sell, plus the capacity for work, work, work, then he will assuredly make a successful salesman.

PROVIDENCE

If genius is a mark of divine Providence made manifest in the preferred of human kind, the life of Lincoln shows clearly the power and guidance of God. Notwithstanding the adverse conditions surrounding his early life, he struggled upward, almost unknowingly, to the preeminent position of power and trust ordained for him, fully equipped to meet and master every problem. Like all God's ambassadors, his life ended when his life's great work was done, and returning to his long home, he left "Footprints, that perhaps another, sailing o'er life's solemn main, a forlorn and shipwrecked brother seeing, shall take heart again."

BISMARCK

Bismarck lived up to his claim that difference between nations could only be settled through "blood and iron." The key-note of his public policy was, to make Prussia the leading power of the Germanic States, and to create a United Germany with the King of Prussia as German Emperor. The first task was accomplished at Sadowa, in 1866, where the Austrian army was defeated. The second task—Paris capitulated according to terms dictated by him and King William was proclaimed "German Emperor" at Versailles on January 18, 1871. In the estimate of Europe and of the world, he then ranked as the greatest living diplomat and statesman. As Chancellor of the German Empire, he insisted above all that Germany should keep its place at the head of Europe as a military power. His theory was "As we shall attack nobody, we shall have peace, if we show ourselves so strong that nobody will attack us." It is in this theory that many men now repose their faith in the peace of the world.

GEORGE WASHINGTON

There is no individual whose life is more closely identified with the history of his country than George Washington. You all know the story of his life by heart. To-day, on the anniversary of his birth, it is proper and fitting for Americans to dwell upon the virtues of this great man. Washington's character was magnanimous. He was kind to the aged, and sympathetic toward his fellow men. Thomas Jefferson may have had Washington in mind when he wrote, in the Declaration of Independence, the words "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." He was a brave and courageous patriot, with the rare power of persuading men. Persuasion! Listen to his words to his soldiers after their disastrous defeat in the battle of Long Island: "The eyes of all our countrymen are now upon us, and we shall have their blessings and praises if happily we are the instruments of saving them from the tyranny meditated against them. Let us, therefore, animate and encourage each other, and show the whole world that a freeman contending for liberty on his own ground is superior to any slavish mercenary on earth." Gentlemen, do you feel the power of those inspiring words?

A DEDICATION

We have met here to-night to dedicate this beautiful church to the memory of the late Russell Sage, given by Mrs. Sage to the congregation of the First Presbyterian Church of Far Rockaway as a testimonial of his fidelity to the old church which this new one will replace. I, therefore, warmly congratulate you upon the interesting object which has caused you to assemble, in such numbers and spirit, as you have here to-night. This occasion is in some respects remarkable. Wise and thoughtful men who have led their race in finance have accumulated great wealth, and it is only the true Christian principle which this man possest, that has led to the erection of this magnificent church. They lend grace, glory, and honor to the object for which we have here assembled, and may God's blessing rest upon her, the donor of this gift, and upon him in whose name it is given, and upon you, and upon all the future congregations of this church forever. Animated by these sentiments may we earnestly strive to make this in the highest and truest sense, a temple of the living God.

GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE

The powers of our republican form of government originated with the governed. It is the theory of our fundamental law that the people choose their representatives, yet no fact is so true as that this object is deliberately thwarted of accomplishment. Nor is it less true that the primary cause of this condition may be traced to a sordid commercialism which pervades the body politic and stops not even at the threshold of government. But whatever may be known of alliances between predatory interests and party leaders, whatever may be known of corruption of public officials, it is beyond denial that a despotic influence invades alike political conventions and the halls of legislatures. Policies sacrificing the public welfare are dedicated by a bold and powerful coterie of men whose motives are governed, not by a sense of right, but by the false ethics of expediency and self-interest. Shall this system forever prevail, or shall the intelligence and conscience of the people be aroused to its iniquity, and the money-changers be driven from the temple of our government? There can be but one answer. Remembering with Lincoln—and with Hughes—that ours is a government of the people, and for the people, let us return to the pure ideal of the Constitution and secure a government by the people.

BREVITY

The feature of any address should be its brevity. Few people realize the importance of this, on account of their very great love for self. I often recall the story of the Rev. Dr. Joseph Channing, whose brother was an eminent surgeon in New York. One day a stranger called on the medical doctor in error, and after being admitted said, "I hope you are well, but you have changed considerably since I heard you preach." "Heard me preach?" said Dr. Channing. "Why, yes," preach?" said Dr. Channing. "Why, yes," answered the visitor; "aren't you the Dr. Channing that preaches?" "No; I am the doctor that practises," answered the eminent physician. And so do I.

PUBLIC SPEAKING

A course in public speaking is a most desirable training for the professional or commercial man. It will give him training to address a public meeting, but it will also greatly improve his conversational powers. It will make him careful in the selection of his words, their pronunciation and exact meaning; it will extend his vocabulary and give more power and intonation to his voice. It will also train his mind to quick thinking and to select without hesitation just such words as are best adapted to express his thoughts. Few people can speak out their ideas in a clear, concise manner, and fewer yet can ask a good, direct question that goes to the very heart of an issue. And yet, this ability to frame a concise question at the right moment is one of the most desirable attainments for a person that has much intercourse with his fellow men.

HENRY CLAY

Picture in your mind's eye a tall, gaunt, melancholic figure—a product of the wilderness—not handsome but of noble character, of commanding appearance, indomitable courage, and magnetic personality—picture this and you have a mental vision of Henry Clay. His voice was powerful, as his logic was keen and convincing. He was resourceful in sarcasm, wit and satire, which made him an opponent to be feared in debate. His time was contemporaneous with such giants as John Calhoun, the silver-tongued son of the South, and Daniel Webster, the favored orator of Massachusetts. It was the "Golden Age of American Oratory," but in the legislative councils of the nation Henry Clay towered above them all, admittedly America's most popular statesman. Notwithstanding this, the Presidency was denied him twice by an ungrateful republic, merely because he dared be right rather than be President. This is the spirit that should inspire our young men of to-day, and fit them for true leadership.

WOMAN AND SPEECH

"Let your women keep silence in the churches," is sometimes misunderstood to mean that women disobey a Bible injunction when they engage in public speaking. On the contrary, Saint Paul realized the demoralizing influences surrounding the Church of Corinth, and forbade female questioning. So far from commanding women to be silent, he specially commends the Greek woman Phoebe as minister in the Greek church of Cinchua. Most of the converts to Christianity were made by women who spoke and spoke well. The missionary movement in China, Japan, and India utterly failed until women who could speak persuasively were sent. Nearly all the work of the Salvation Army is done by women, and its leader in this country is a woman. Who are the women of influence in America to-day? They are those who can speak well—teachers, lecturers, social workers, and others engaged in professional and business pursuits. Who are the coming women of this country? Those who can speak their innermost convictions with certainty and power, help to solve great national problems, and give a message to the world that shall ring through the centuries!

BOYS

Boys, you will get out of life just what you put into it. A smile and a kind word will be repaid in kind. A sullen and grouchy disposition reaps similar fruits through life. Labor diligently with your studies; and play just as hard after school sessions. Many a man owes his success in life to the companions of his school days. Learn to lead clean and wholesome lives. Become thoroughly imbued with the love of country. Always salute her glorious flag, which ever waves for freedom and liberty. And strive to live all your days that they will end in peace and happiness.

VOTES FOR WOMEN

The persistence with which the women of the civilized world have advocated "Woman-Suffrage" has at last borne fruit. The phrase "Votes for Women" has become a general topic of conversation wherever men and women congregate, and has also become one of the leading political questions of the day. Professional politicians and the bosses are alike filled with fear and unrest, as they realize that women are in earnest and demand, not a privilege, but a right. It was Abraham Lincoln who said that no man was good enough to govern another man without that other man's consent. The women of this country say that no man is good enough to govern a woman without that woman's consent. They ask that they be given representation in the government on the same basis as the men.

"Votes for Women" means better laws, better education, and a better country in which to live. Victory is already close at hand. The fight, for fight it is, is almost won, and soon "Votes for Women" will no longer be a dream and a hope, but an accomplished fact!

LINCOLN

Lincoln's power lay in his common sense and clear judgment. He was unquestionably inspired. He was not a creature of circumstances, but surely one of God's elect. Studying his life, we see little amid his early surroundings to assist or guide him, save light from heaven. Yet he reached manhood strong and brave, overcame every obstacle, and so controlled his natural feelings and tendencies toward visionary dreams, that he developed all his faculties for the practical uses of everyday life. Fearless in his convictions, he zealously urged them upon his fellow men with the gifted powers of an orator. He reached the place of eminence for which he was destined, despite the bitterest opposition, because he was thoroughly equipped for every emergency. What was the secret of this man's greatness? It was inspiration from God.

THE VALUE OF THE PUBLIC SPEAKING
CLUB TO THE BUSINESS MAN

The question has been asked, "Of what practical value is the Public Speaking Club to the business man?" My answer is because it teaches him to think. There is no greater difficulty confronting the business man to-day than that of finding men to fill positions where initiative and original thought are necessary. The call comes from the business world everywhere, "Give us men of ideas—men of ability—men who have mastered the art of thinking for themselves." Our schools and colleges are engaged in the task of storing the mind with facts. This is a splendid work, but we need to go one step farther, we must teach men how to apply and develop and use this knowledge. It is not how much a man knows that makes him a successful business man; it is what he thinks and does. Success is not measured by the size of a man's hat. The educational problem of the hour is not one of better schools and larger public libraries; it is the practical development of the mind; it is the awakening of the creative powers of thought, the birth of new ideas; it is training men how to put these ideas into concrete form, how to present and express them in such words and with such power that they shall carry conviction to the hearts of their fellow men.

THE STUDY OF FORENSIC ELOQUENCE

THE STUDY OF FORENSIC ELOQUENCE

By ISAAC GRANT THOMPSON

There is another essential, aside from the knowledge of the law, for the successful court lawyer—that is eloquence; the sort of eloquence which Blair defines to be "the art of speaking in such a manner as to attain the end for which we speak." Most young men, who study with a view of coming to the bar, have an ambition, more or less strong, to become advocates—to be able to convince judges and persuade juries by the power of their logic and the graces of their style and utterance; but a visit to our courts is but too likely to show how lamentably the great majority of them fail of achieving their desire.

Lack of perseverance in performing the labor necessary to the student of elocution, or ignorance of the method to be pursued; or, in many cases, a notion that orators, like poets, "are born, not made," has served to make the number of eloquent advocates very small indeed.

The most universal idea seems to prevail, that industry can effect nothing; that every one must be content to remain just what he happens to be, and that eminence is the result of accident. For the acquirement of any other art, men expect to serve long apprenticeships; to study it carefully and laboriously; to master it thoroughly. If one would learn to sing, he attends a master and is drilled in the elementary principles; and it is only after the most careful discipline that he dares to exercise his voice in public. If he would learn to play a musical instrument, how patiently and persistently does he study and practise, that he may draw out, at will, all its various combinations of harmonious sounds, and its full richness and delicacy of expression. "And yet," adds a learned writer, "a man will fancy that the grandest, the most complex, the most expressive of all instruments, which is fashioned by the union of intellect with power of speech, may be played upon without study or practise. He comes to it a mere tyro, and thinks to manage all its stops, and command the whole compass of its varied and comprehensive power; he finds himself a mere bungler in the attempt, wonders at his failure, and settles it in his mind forever that the attempt is vain"—that it can be done only by genius.

Nothing can be more mischievous and unfortunate to the student than for him to fall into such an error—to hold the opinion that excellence in speaking is a gift of nature and not the result of patient and persistent labor and study. If all men had entertained and acted upon such an opinion, those who have won fame and honor by their eloquence would have remained mute and inglorious. Never would Demosthenes have charmed an Athenian audience, nor Cicero have hurled his denunciations against Cataline. Lord Chatham would have remained simple William Pitt, and Erskine live an ordinary English barrister. Curran would have been "Orator Mum" to the end of his days, and Choate died "unwept, unhonored, and unsung."

Men who believe that eloquence is the result of genius, and not of labor, are like the dwellers in the East, as described by Sir Joshua Reynolds in his address to the pupils of the Royal Academy. He says: "The travelers into the East tell us that when the ignorant inhabitants of those countries are asked concerning the ruins of stately edifices yet remaining among them, the melancholy monuments of their former grandeur and long-lost science, they always answer: 'They were built by magicians.' The untaught mind finds a vast gulf between its own powers and those works of complicated art, which it is utterly unable to fathom; and it supposes that such a void can be passed only by supernatural powers." What Sir Joshua says of painting is true of oratory. Those who know not the cause of any thing extraordinary and beyond them may well be astonished at the effect; and what the uncivilized ascribe to magic others ascribe to genius—two mighty pretenders who, for the most part, are safe from rivalry only because by the terror of their names they discourage in their own peculiar sphere that resolute and sanguine spirit of enterprise which is essential to success. But as has been well said, "all magic is science in disguise," and it is our object to proceed to take off the mask—to show that the mightiest objects of our wonder, so far as eloquence is concerned, are mere men like ourselves, have attained their superiority by steps which we can follow, and that we can walk in the same path even tho there remain at last a broad space between us.

Lord Chesterfield was not very far wrong when, in his letters to his son, he told him that any man of reasonable abilities might make himself an orator; not an orator like Cicero's magnificent myth, who should have "the acuteness of the logician, the wisdom of the philosophers, the language almost of poetry, the memory of lawyers, the voice of tragedians, the gesture of the best actors"; such orators, we admit, must be nascitur, non fit—born, not made—and they are rarely to be found; but orators like Pitt and Fox, like Mansfield and Erskine, like Pinckney and Choate—orators who can "sway listening senates," who are stormy masters of the jury-box.

Chesterfield was perhaps an illustration of his own theory, for he said that he at one time determined to make himself the best speaker in Parliament, and set about a severe course of training for it; and we have the opinion of so able a judge as Horace Walpole that he was the first speaker of the House. Every schoolboy can tell you of the gigantic labors of Demosthenes in training himself for a public speaker. It will be refreshing for any student who desires to improve himself in speaking to turn to Plutarch's life of Demosthenes, and read of his early struggles with obstacles which would have discouraged at the threshold the great majority of mankind. Laughed at and interrupted by the clamor of the people in his first efforts, by reason of his violent and awkward manner, and a weakness and stammering in his voice, he retired to his house with covered head and in great distress, yet not disheartened. At one time he complained to Satyrus, the player, "that tho he was the most laborious of all the orators, and had almost sacrificed his health to that application, yet he could gain no favor with the people." Satyrus seems to have been a judicious adviser, and proceeded to correct his faults, as Hume says he who teaches eloquence must—by example. He requested Demosthenes to read some speech from Euripides or Sophocles. When he had done, Satyrus pronounced the same speech with so much propriety of action that it appeared to the orator quite a different passage. "He now understood so well," says Plutarch, "how much grace and dignity of action adds to the best oration, that he thought it a small matter to premeditate and compose, tho with the utmost care, if the pronunciation and propriety of gesture were not attended to. Upon this he built himself a subterranean study, whither he repaired every day to form his action and exercise his voice; and he would often stay there two or three months together, shaving one side of his head, that if he should happen to be ever so desirous of going abroad, the shame of appearing in that condition might keep him in." The contemporaries of Demosthenes esteemed him as a man of but little genius, and concluded that all his eloquence was the result of labor. Certain it is that he was seldom heard to speak extempore; and tho often called upon in the assembly to speak, he would not do it unless he came prepared. It is undoubtedly true, that nature had sowed in Demosthenes the seeds of a great orator; but they were brought to perfection only by the most patient labor and severe discipline—labor and discipline that would make any student of the law, of ordinary judgment and sense, the equal of Pinckney, of Wirt, or of Choate.

Think of the eloquence of Cicero! How wonderful the grandeur and magnificence of his style; how copious and elegant his diction; how various and comprehensive his knowledge; surely, we say, like the dwellers in the East, this is the work of magic—of genius. But when we take off the mask we find that it is mainly the result of careful, unflagging, untiring study and practise. Middleton says: "His industry was incredible, beyond the example or even conception of our days; this was the secret by which he performed such wonders, and reconciled perpetual study with perpetual affairs."

Nor were these orators of antiquity singular in their devotion to the art of speaking. All the great orators of modern times have emulated their greatness by emulating their love of labor. Lord Chatham, who has been justly regarded as the most powerful orator of modern times, was from his early youth a most laborious and devoted student of oratory. His biography says of him: "At the age of eighteen, Mr. Pitt (afterward Lord Chatham) was removed to the University of Oxford. Here, in connection with his other studies, he entered on that severe course of rhetorical training which he often referred to in after life as forming so large a part of his early discipline. He took up the practise of writing out translations from the ancient orators and historians, on the broadest scale. Demosthenes was his model; and we are told that he rendered a large part of his orations again and again into English, as the best means of acquiring a forcible and expressive style.... As a means of acquiring copiousness of diction and an exact choice of words, Mr. Pitt also read and reread the sermons of Dr. Barrow till he knew many of them by heart. With the same view he performed a task, to which, perhaps, no other student in oratory has ever submitted. He went twice through the folio dictionary of Bailey, examining each word attentively, dwelling on its peculiar import and modes of construction, and thus endeavoring to bring the whole range of our language completely under his control. At this time, also, he began those exercises in elocution by which he is known to have obtained his extraordinary powers of delivery. Tho gifted by nature with a commanding voice and person, he spared no effort to add everything that art could confer for his improvement as an orator." His success was commensurate with his zeal. Garrick himself was not a greater actor, in that higher sense of the term in which Demosthenes declared action to be the first, and second, and third thing in oratory. The labor which he bestowed on these exercises was surprizingly great. Probably no man of genius since the days of Cicero has ever submitted to an equal amount of drudgery.

Lord Mansfield, equally famous as an advocate and judge, affords us another example of unwearying patient discipline. He studied oratory with the greatest fervor and diligence. He read everything that had been written on the subject of the art; he made himself familiar with all the great masters of eloquence in Greece and Rome, and spent much of his time in translating their finest productions as the best means of improving his style. During his study of the law at Lincoln's Inn, he carried on the practise of oratory with the utmost zeal, and was a constant attendant and speaker in a debating society which he had joined. One day, says his biographer, he was surprized by a friend, who suddenly entered his room, in "the act of practising before a glass, while Pope (the poet) sat by to aid him in the character of an instructor." Such are the arts by which are produced those results that the uninitiated ascribe to genius.

Sheridan was one of the most brilliant orators of modern times, and yet his maiden speech in Parliament, delivered when he was nearly thirty years old, was a failure. Woodfall, the reporter, used to relate that Sheridan came up to him in the gallery, when the speech was ended, and asked him, with much anxiety, what he thought of his first attempt. "I am sorry to say," replied Woodfall, "that I don't think this is your line; you would better have stuck to your former pursuit." Sheridan rested his head on his hand for a few minutes, and then exclaimed, with vehemence: "It is in me, and it shall come out of me." Quickened by a sense of shame, he now devoted himself, with the utmost assiduity, to the cultivation of his powers as a speaker. Seven years after he brought forward, in the House of Commons, the charges against Warren Hastings, relating to the princesses of Oude, in a speech of such brilliancy and eloquence that the whole assembly, at its conclusion, broke forth into expressions of tumultuous applause, and the House adjourned to recover from the excitement produced by it. Pitt said, "An abler speech was perhaps never delivered," and Fox and Windham, years after, spoke of it with undiminished admiration. As Sheridan had said to Woodfall, it was in him and it did come out, but it was wrought out by patient toil and study. Moore paints him at his desk at work on this very speech—writing and erasing with all the care and painstaking of a special pleader. Indeed, it transpired after his death that his wit was most of it studied out before hand. His commonplace book was found to be full of humorous thoughts and sportive turns, written first in one form and then in another—the point shifted from one part of the sentence to another to try the effect. How little did his delighted hearers imagine, as some playful allusion, keen retort, or brilliant sally flashed out upon them from his speeches, in a manner so easy, natural, and yet unexpected, that it had been long before laboriously molded and manufactured. Johnson tells us that Butler, the author of "Hudibras," had garnered up his wit in the same way. How conclusively do these examples illustrate the truth of Sir Joshua Reynolds' remark, that the effects of genius must have their causes, and that these may, for the most part, be analyzed, digested, and copied, tho sometimes they may be too subtle to be reduced to a written art.

Charles James Fox rose, says Mr. Burke, "by slow degrees, to be the most brilliant and accomplished debater the world ever knew," and Fox himself has told us the secret of his skill. He gained it, he says, "at the expense of the House," for he had frequently tasked himself, during an entire session, to speak on every question that came up, whether he was interested in it or not, as a means of exercising and training his faculties.

Curran, the Irish orator and advocate, was known at school as "stuttering Jack Curran"; and, while studying at an Inn of Court, the members of a debating society to which he belonged called him "Orator Mum," in honor of his signal failure as a speaker. But he made up his mind to become an orator, and was not to be put down by obstacles. He spent his mornings, as he states, "in reading even to exhaustion," and the rest of the day in the more congenial pursuits of literature, and especially in unremitting efforts to perfect himself as a speaker. His voice was bad, and his articulation hasty and confused; his manner was awkward, his gestures constrained and meaningless, and his whole appearance calculated only to produce laughter. Such is the picture of him left us by his biographers. Surely, one would think, an orator could never be made out of such materials. Yet all these faults he overcame by severe and patient labor. Constantly on the watch against bad habits, he practised daily before a glass, reciting passages from Shakespeare, Junius, and the best English orators. He frequented debating societies, and unmindful of the ridicule that greeted his repeated failures, he continued to take part in the discussions. At last, he surmounted every difficulty. "He turned his shrill and stumbling brogue," says one of his friends, "into a flexible, sustained, and finely-modulated voice; his action became free and forcible; and he acquired perfect readiness in thinking on his legs"; in short, he became one of the most brilliant and eloquent advocates that the world has ever produced. Well might one of his biographers say: "His oratorical training was as severe as any Greek ever underwent."

The biographies of Pultney, of Burke, of Pitt, of Erskine, of Grattan, of Brougham—of all the great orators of England—contain records of the same careful training and discipline in the art of speaking.

Nor have American orators found the path to success less difficult. Rufus Choate—who was, perhaps, the most accomplished advocate America has yet produced—was a noble illustration of what systematic culture and discipline can do. He was, in the truest sense of the term, a made orator. Forensic rhetoric was the great study of his life, and he pursued it with a patience, a steadiness, a zeal, equal to that of Chatham or Curran. He trusted to no native gift of eloquence, but practised elocution every day for forty years as a critical study. Everything that could be prepared, was prepared; every nerve, every muscle, that could be trained was trained; every power that daily practise could strengthen was invigorated. So thoroughly imbued was he with a zeal for oratory, that it formed the subject of his almost daily conversation, as it did of his daily practise; and his biography will rouse an ambitious student as the sound of the trumpet does the war-horse.

Daniel Webster may, perhaps, be considered to have been as nearly a natural orator as any this country has produced; and yet the students are few indeed that cultivate the art of oratory so laboriously as he did. Even his genius was mainly "science in disguise." He himself told the late Senator Fessenden that those figures and illustrations in his speeches, which had become so famous and been so often quoted, were, like Sheridan's wit, the result of previous study and preparation; and that that passage in his speech, wherein he describes the glory and the power of England—a passage known and quoted the world over—was conceived and fashioned while he was standing on the American side of the Niagara River, listening to the British drum-beats on the Canada shore.

From these examples we may learn that all truly noble orators in every age have trusted, not to inspiration, but to discipline; that great as were their natural abilities, they were much less than the ignorant rated them; that even the mightiest condescended to certain rules and methods of study by which the humblest are able to profit. It is good for the student to read of the studies and labors, the trials and conflicts, the difficulties and triumphs, of such men. It is to the ambitious student as the touch of mother earth was to Antæus in his struggle with Hercules—renewing his strength and reviving his flagging zeal. It rouses him to severer self-denial, to more assiduous study, to more self-sustaining confidence, and leads him to feel, like Themistocles of old, that "the trophies of Miltiades will not let me sleep." These examples will teach him that God has set a price on every real and noble achievement; that success in oratory, as in everything else worth succeeding in, can be purchased only by pain and labor; and lastly and mainly, that those who would follow in their steps must give their days and nights to study, and emulate their greatness by emulating their love of labor.

Having endeavored to show that eloquence is not so much the result of natural gifts as of persevering and persistent labor, we now proceed to offer some suggestions as to the best means of improvement in forensic eloquence.

Socrates used to say that "all men are sufficiently eloquent in that which they understand"; but it would have been nearer truth to say that no man can be eloquent on a subject that he does not understand; nor on a subject that he does understand, unless he know how to form and polish his speech. The two essential things to the orator are something to say and a knowledge of how to say it. There is no art that can teach one to be eloquent without knowledge. Attention to style, diction, and all the arts of speech, can only assist the orator in setting off to advantage the stock of materials which he possesses; but the stock, the materials themselves, must be brought from other quarters than from rhetoric. In the first place, the advocate must have a profound knowledge of the law. On this depends his reputation and success, and nothing is of such consequence to him or deserves more his deep and serious study. In no other profession is superficial knowledge sooner detected or more ruthlessly exposed, and however brilliant as a speaker one may be, if it but become known that he is not well grounded in the law, few will choose to commit their cause to him. Besides a knowledge of the general principles of law, another thing highly material to the success of every advocate is a diligent and careful attention to every cause that is intrusted to him, so as to be thoroughly master of all the facts and circumstances relating to it, Cicero has left a very instructive record of the method pursued by him in the preparation of a cause for trial, and which we commend to the careful consideration of every student and lawyer. He tells us, under the character of Antonius, in the second book De Oratore, that he always conversed at full length with every client who came to consult him; that he took care there should be no witnesses to their conversation, in order that his client might explain himself more freely; that he was wont to start every objection, and to plead the cause of the adverse party with him, that he might come at the whole truth and be fully prepared on every point of the business; and that after the client had retired he used to balance all the facts with himself under three different characters: his own, that of the adversary, and that of the judge. He censures very severely those of the profession who decline to take so much trouble; taxing them not only with shameful negligence, but with dishonesty and breach of trust. Quintilian likewise urged the necessity of carefully studying every cause, again and again recommending patience and attention in conversation with clients. "For," said he, "to listen to something that is superfluous can do no hurt; whereas to be ignorant of something that is material may be highly prejudicial. The advocate will frequently discover the weak side of a cause, and learn at the same time what is the proper defense, from circumstances which to the party himself appeared to be of little or no moment." It is said of Rufus Choate, that he began to study a case the moment it was brought to him, and that he continued to study it till the day of trial.

Besides the knowledge of the law, the advocate must make himself acquainted with the general principles of logic. He must learn how to reason; how to draw conclusions from premises; how to found an argument. Without a knowledge of these things, no matter how copious his diction or elegant his delivery, his speeches will be little more than "sounding brass and tinkling cymbals."

The object of the advocate is chiefly to convince, and to do this he must satisfy the understanding. Solid argument and clear method must, therefore, be used. Nothing can be more erroneous than the idea that mere declamation is eloquence. It may have the show, but never can produce the effect; it "may tickle the ear," but it will never lead a judge to pass that judgment or a jury to adopt that side of the cause to which we seek to bring them. "There is no talent, I apprehend," said Dugald Stewart, "so essential to a public speaker as to be able to state clearly every step of those trains of thought by which he himself was led to the conclusions he wishes to establish." Especially is this true at the bar—the eloquence suited to which is of the calm and temperate kind, connected with close reasoning. Let the advocate take for his motto the advice of Quintilian, "To your expression be attentive; but about your matter be solicitous."

There was much wisdom in the remark of Sir William Jones, that "an elegant method of arranging the thoughts is powerful to persuade as well as to please." William Pitt, being asked how he acquired his talent for reply, answered at once that he owed it to the study of Aristotle's logic in early life, and the habit of applying its principles to all the discussions he met with in the works he read and the debates he witnessed. So it is said of Rufus Choate, "he was a thorough master of logic. He had studied it, not only in detail and immediate application of style and arrangement, but in its essence and origin."

The treatise best calculated to give the student an insight into the rules and principles of logic is that by Dr. Whately. The book recommended for the strengthening of the reasoning faculties is Chillingworth's "The Religion of Protestants a Safe Way to Salvation," which was written in answer to the arguments of an adversary, and which has for years been considered the most perfect specimen of logical argument. Locke, than whom there could not be a more competent authority, proposes "for the attainment of right reasoning, the constant reading of Chillingworth"; and Lord Mansfield pronounced it the "perfection of reasoning."

Law and logic are the immediate and foundation studies of the advocate, but they are not all. Besides these he must drink deep at the fountains of science, philosophy, history and belles-lettres. These are the handmaids of oratory. They enlarge and liberalize the mind, embellish the style and afford illustrations, ideas, arguments, phrases, words, and last, tho not least, intellectual enthusiasm. There are few occasions, indeed, on which an advocate will not derive assistance from a cultivated taste and extensive knowledge. Their illustrations, allusions and principles, woven in with the weightier matters of the law, will make a pattern which will not fail to please and interest—will throw around the dry and uninteresting legal principles a freshness and charm that will fix the attention and fascinate the hearer.

But perhaps the chief benefit to be derived from their study is the improvement they afford to style and language. Cicero remarked in the third book De Oratore, that "all elegance of language, tho it receive a polish from the science of grammar, is yet augmented by the reading of orators and poets." From this source have all great orators drawn their copious and elegant diction and their polished and graceful style. Erskine is represented by an excellent authority as having spoken the finest and richest English ever spoken by an advocate. For two years prior to his call to the bar, he devoted himself exclusively to the study of literature, and probably no two years of his life were so profitably spent. In addition to his reading in prose, he devoted himself with great ardor to the study of Milton and Shakespeare. His biographers tell us that he committed a large part of the former to memory, and became so familiar with the latter "that he could almost, like Person, have held conversations on all subjects for days together in the phrases of the great English dramatist." Here it was that he acquired that fine choice of words, that rich and varied imagery, that sense of harmony in the structure of his sentences, that boldness of thought and magnificence of expression for which he was afterward so much distinguished. He could have drawn these things from no richer source. To use the words of Johnson, slightly varied, he who would excel in this noblest of arts must give his days and nights to the study of Milton and Shakespeare.

"Hither, as to a fountain,
Other suns repair, and in their urns
Draw golden light."

Lord Chatham read and reread Dr. Barrows' sermons until he knew many of them by heart, "for the purpose," as he himself said, "of acquiring copiousness of diction and an exact choice of words." William Pitt, his son, obtained his remarkable command of the English tongue from the same source, in connection with Shakespeare and the Bible; the latter he studied not only as a guide of life, but as the true "well of English undefiled." No wonder that his contemporary, Fox, should have said of him, "He always has the right word in the right place."

William Pinckney has himself unlocked the secret of his intellectual affluence and elegant diction. He says that he made it a rule from his youth never to see a fine idea without committing it to memory. Rufus Choate, in speaking of this fact, said "the result was the most splendid and powerful English spoken style I ever heard." Choate pursued a plan equally commendable. During the greater portion of his life he made it a practise to read aloud every day a page or more from some fine English author. This he did for the improvement of his expression. He was a most indefatigable student of words, and made the whole round of literature tributary to his vocabulary.

The following extract from the address of Lord Brougham to the University of Glasgow will be a sufficient guide, with what has been already said, to the selection of those authors that will tend most to improve the style and diction: "The English writers who really unlock the rich sources of the language are those who flourish from the end of Elizabeth's to the end of Queen Anne's reign; who used a good Saxon dialect with ease, but correctness and perspicuity—learned in the ancient classics, but only enriching their mother tongue where the Attic could supply its defects—not overlaying it with a profuse pedantic coinage of words."

The great masters of oratory should be studied most carefully and diligently; Erskine, Burke, Pinckney, Webster, and, above all, the legal orations of Cicero are the best models for a young lawyer. Read Bolingbroke for specimens of the splendid and ornate; Fox and Pitt for the classical and argumentative; advantage may likewise be derived from the letters of Junius.

In pursuing these studies, the motto must be multum haud multa—much, not many. No real advantage and improvement will be gained from a rambling, desultory course of reading. There is a whole sermon in that saying of Hobbes, of Malmesbury, "If I had read as many books as other persons, I should probably know as little." The wisest and best informed teach us, both by counsel and example, to read a little and that well; to count not by the books we have read, but by the subjects we have exhausted. Swift said that the reason a certain university was a learned place was that most persons took some learning there and few brought any away with them, so it accumulated. Such is the effect of a proper course of reading—everything adds and nothing takes away.

We are not counseling an imitation of the men of one book, but the pursuit of one system. Choose those authors most suited to the object in view and know them.

The advocate should make choice of his book, Shakespeare, Milton, Bacon, Burke, Erskine, Bolingbroke, and make that his chief study. One sterling author to call my own, ever most conspicuous and most at hand, read, reread, "marked and quoted," will do much to form the mind, to teach one to think, to give precision of expression, purity of taste, loftiness of views and fervency of spirit. No better selection can be made by the advocate than the works of Edmund Burke. "Among the characteristics of Lord Erskine's eloquence," observes one of his recent biographers, "the perpetual illustrations derived from the writings of Burke is very remarkable. In every one of the great state trials in which he was engaged, he referred to the productions of that extraordinary person as to a text-book of political wisdom—expounding, enforcing and justifying all the great and noble principles of freedom and of justice." "When I look," says Lord Erskine himself, "into my own mind and find its best lights and principles fed from that immense magazine of moral and political wisdom which he has left an inheritance to mankind for their instruction, I feel myself repelled by an awful and grateful sensibility from perpetually approaching him." Take, then, the words of this sublime philosopher and orator, bind them up in one thick volume, on which write wisdom in gold letters, and begin to read it through every New-year's day.

Another means of acquiring a command of language is translation, and it is commended alike by the precepts and example of the great masters. Two thousand years ago Cicero stocked his vocabulary by this plan, translating from the Greek into Latin. Chatham translated the orations of Demosthenes again and again into English. Mansfield declared that there was not one of the orations of Cicero that he had not translated more than once. Pitt pursued the same plan for ten years, and to this he ascribed his extraordinary command of language, which enabled him to give every idea its most felicitous expression, and to pour out an unbroken stream of thought hour after hour without once hesitating for a word or recalling a phrase, or sinking for a moment into looseness or inaccuracy in the structure of a sentence. Choate was a most indefatigable translator. This exercise he persevered in daily, even in the midst of the most arduous business. Five minutes a day, if no more, he would seize in the morning for this task. Tacitus was his favorite author. He attended chiefly to the multiplication of synonyms. For every word he translated, he would rack his brain and search his books till he got five or six corresponding English words. This is the true way to translate when style and diction is the object. Turn the passage read into regular English sentences, aiming to give the idea with great exactness and to express it with idiomatic accuracy and ease. This plan of translating is infinitely better than the plan sometimes advised of taking some passage of classic English, getting the ideas from it and then expressing them in the best manner possible. In this latter method, the author has already selected the most appropriate words, and if the student use the same words he will receive no profit, or if other words, it is prejudicial, as it accustoms one to use such as are less eligible.

The student of advocacy can not give too much attention to the culture of expression. Orators in every age have made it a specific study. Cicero says, "The proper concern of an orator, as I have already often said, is language of power and eloquence accommodated to the feelings and understanding of mankind." Language and its elements, words, are to be mastered by direct, earnest labor. A speaker ought daily to exercise and air his vocabulary and add to and enrich it. The advocate does not want a diction gathered from the newspapers, caught from the air, common and unsuggestive; but one whose every word is full freighted with suggestion and association, with beauty and power. It is a rich and rare English that one ought to command, who is aiming to control a jury's ear.

Chesterfield, in his letters to his son, said, "Manner is of as much importance as matter"; and that this has been the opinion of all great orators may be gathered from the vast labor expended by them on the cultivation of expression and delivery. How much stress was laid upon this by the greatest of all orators, Demosthenes, appears from a noted saying of his related by both Cicero and Quintilian, when, being asked what was the first point in oratory, he answered, action; and being asked what was the second, he answered, action; and afterward what was the third, he still answered, action. And Plutarch said of him that "he thought it a small matter to premeditate and compose, tho with the utmost care, if the pronunciation and propriety of gesture were not attended to." Esteeming delivery of such vast importance to the orator, there is no wonder that he should have labored for months together in his subterranean study to form his action and improve his voice.

To the superficial thinker, the study of gesture and of the management of the voice may appear to be but "vanity of vanities"—gaudy tinselry and worthless decoration; but the experience of all time has proved that they are powerful to persuade and strong to convince. We all know how much meaning—how much expression—how much power there may be in a look, in a tone of the voice, or in a motion. The impression they make on others is frequently much stronger than any that words can make. They are the language of nature, and are understood by all far better than words, which are only the arbitrary conventional symbols of ideas. The speaker who should use bare words, without aiding their meaning by proper tones and accents, would make but a feeble impression, and leave but a misty and indistinct conception of what he had delivered.

It is surprizing, indeed, to see how perfectly persons practised in the art of gestures can communicate even complicated trains of thought and long series of facts without the aid of words. This fact was known and appreciated by the ancient Greeks and Romans, who made the subject a study far more than have subsequent nations. Cicero informs us that it was a matter of dispute between the actor Roscius and himself whether the former could express a sentiment in a greater variety of ways by gestures, or the latter by words. During the reign of Augustus, both tragedies and comedies were acted by pantomime alone. It was perfectly understood by the people, who wept and laughed, and were excited in every way as much as if the words had been employed. It seems, indeed, to have worked upon their sympathies more powerfully than words; for it became necessary, at a subsequent period, to enact a law restraining members of the Senate from studying the art of pantomime—a practise to which, it seems, they had resorted in order to give more effect to their speeches before that body.

There have been volumes written on this subject of delivery, but they are little better than a "vexation of spirit." The tone of the voice, the look, the gesture, suited to express a thought or emotion, must be learned from experience and the example of living speakers and masters. Curran and many others have made it a practise to speak before a glass, that they might themselves judge of the propriety of their gestures, and correct those at fault. A more condensed or sensible treatise on this subject can not be found than Hamlet's direction to the players:

"Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounce it to you—trippingly on the tongue; but if you mouth it, as many of our players do, I had as lief the town crier spoke my lines. Nor do not saw the air too much with your hand; but use all gently, for in the very torrent, tempest, and (as I may say) whirlwind of your passion, you must acquire and beget a temperance that may give it smoothness. Oh, it offends me to the soul, to hear a robustious, periwigpated fellow tear a passion to tatters, to very rags, to split the ears of the groundlings, who, for the most part, are capable of nothing but inexplicable dumb shows and noise.... Be not too tame, neither, but let your own discretion be your tutor; suit the action to the word, the word to the action; with this special observance, that you o'erstep not the modesty of nature; for anything so overdone is from the purpose of playing, whose end, both at the first and now, was, and is, to hold, as 'twere, the mirror up to nature; to show virtue her own feature, scorn her own image, and the very age and body of the time, his form and pressure. Now, this overdone, or come tardy off, tho it make the unskilful laugh, can not but make the judicious grieve; the censure of which one must, in your allowance, o'erweigh a whole theater of others."

The student who shall follow these directions, which are as applicable to the speaker as to the player, will not go very far wrong.

The first consideration of a speaker must be to make himself heard by all those to whom he speaks. This, tho often neglected, is of the first importance, and is a matter that rests mainly in the management of the voice, and not in the strength of lungs. Nor is it, as many suppose, a natural talent, for the voice is susceptible of the greatest culture, and may be formed after almost any model. To make oneself audible, it is not necessary that the voice should be pitched on a high key. Strength of sound does not depend upon the key or note on which one speaks, but on the proper management of the voice. A speaker may render his voice strong and full while speaking in a middle or conversational tone, and will be able to give the most sustained force to that pitch, as it is the one to which in conversation he is accustomed. The conversational key is the one that the advocate should, with rare exceptions, adopt; otherwise he will exhaust himself and be heard with pain by his audience. Grattan tells us that he heard Lord Chatham speak in the House of Lords; and it was just like talking to one man by the buttonhole, except when he lifted himself in enthusiasm, and then the effect of the outbreak was immense; and of Harrison Gray Otis it is said that when you met him in the street and heard him talk, you heard the orator Otis almost as much as if he were in Faneuil Hall talking about politics.

In the next place, the student of advocacy must study to articulate clearly and distinctly. On this, as much as on the quantity of sound, depends the capacity to make oneself heard.

We need say nothing with regard to emphasis, pauses, tones and gestures. Every one who goes about his work in earnest will devote proper attention to these matters, and will gain more from experience and observation than from the rules laid down in the books. One thing seldom laid down in the books is of the highest importance to the advocate: that is, to study always to feel what he speaks. Unless he do this, his oratory will be little more than an empty and puerile flow of words. "The author who will make me weep," says Horace, "must first weep himself." "In reality," adds Henry Fielding, "no man can paint a distress well which he doth not feel while he is painting it; nor do I doubt but that the most pathetic and affecting scenes have been writ with tears." In Shakespeare's Richard II, the Duchess of York thus impeaches the sincerity of her husband:

"Pleads he in earnest? Look upon his face,
His eyes do drop no tears; his prayers are jest;
His words come from his mouth; ours, from our breast;
He prays but faintly and would be denied;
We pray with heart and soul."

No kind of language is so generally understood, or has such force and weight, as the language of feeling. The advocate must be in downright earnest before he can impress his hearers.

It only remains for us to add, that the student of oratory must exercise himself continually in both writing and speaking. Writing is said by Cicero to be "the best and most excellent modeler and teacher of oratory"; "for," he continues, "if what is meditated and considered easily surpasses sudden and extemporaneous speech, a constant and diligent habit of writing will surely be of more effect than meditation and consideration itself." Write with as much pains as possible, and write as much as possible. It is even as Quintilian said: "It is not writing rapidly that you come to write well, but by writing well you come to write rapidly." In mental culture, as in the culture of the earth, the seed sown in the deepest furrows finds a more fruitful soil, is more securely cherished and springs up in its time to more exuberant and healthful harvest. Without this discipline, the power and practise of extemporaneous speech will yield only an empty loquacity—only words born on the lips. In this discipline, deep down there are the roots, there the foundations; thence must the harvest shoot, thence the structure ascend; there is garnered up, as in a more sacred treasury, wealth for the supply of even unanticipated exactions. Thus, first of all, we must accumulate resources sufficient for the contests to which we are summoned. In writing, seek for the best; do not eagerly and gladly lay hold on that which first offers itself; apply judgment to the crowd of thoughts and words which fill your mind and retain those only of which your judgment deliberately approves. Nor should every word be allowed to occupy the exact spot where the order of time in which it occurs would place it. Seek rather by a variety of experiments and arrangements to attain to the utmost power and eloquence of style. There is nothing like the pen to correct vagueness of thought and looseness of expression. Every argument, every speech should, so far as possible, be carefully written out. It is not necessary, nor is it even advisable, to commit it to memory, save in rare instances. The mind should be left untrammeled by any set speech to take advantage of the inspiration of the moment. But the simple act of carefully composing and writing down an argument will fix in the mind the general order and sequence of facts and illustrations, and will greatly aid in a clear and forcible arrangement. The night before Alexander Hamilton delivered his celebrated speech, which more than anything else led to the establishment of a liberal and more just law regarding libel and slander in the State of New York, he wrote the argument all out and then deliberately tore it up.

Besides frequent practise in writing, the student must have constant practise in speaking, which is of more real value than all the precepts of the masters.

It is sometimes said that men by speaking succeed in becoming speakers, but it is just as true that men by speaking badly succeed in becoming bad speakers. It is frequently the case, that students do nothing more in practise than to exercise their voice, and not even that skilfully—and try their strength of lungs and volubility of tongue. Such practise is but a waste of breath. The student should make it a cardinal rule always to do his best even while practising in his room; to speak on subjects that he has deliberately considered, and in such a style as he would adopt were an audience before him. Of course, that kind of speaking will be most advantageous to the advocate which is most in accordance with the business of his life. Prominent advocates in every age have, while developing their powers, made it a practise to propose a case similar to those brought in the courts, and to make arguments thereon as nearly as possible as they would were it an actual case in court. Cicero followed this plan two thousand years ago, as he himself has told us, and Curran and Choate were both indefatigable in this practise.

Such are the means, such the labors by which the student may make himself an advocate. It is not the work of an hour or a day or a year, but of years—years of application and of industry—of patient plodding and painful study. It is not by starts of application and intermittent labor that anything valuable can be achieved. It is the outgrowth of well-directed and persistent effort. In nothing more than oratory are the lines of the poet true:

"The Father of our race Himself decrees
That culture shall be hard."

It has been the glory of the great masters of the art to confront and to overcome; and all the wisdom of these latter days has discovered no other road to success. These suggestions apply not only to the lawyer, but to every man who would become an efficient public speaker and a leader of men.

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Table of Contents

- "IMPROMPTU"

- "IMPROMPTU"

- "IMPROMPTU!"

- LIST OF SUBJECTS

- SPECIMEN ONE-MINUTE SPEECHES

- A MINUTE
- LINCOLN AS A SPEAKER
- SALESMANSHIP
- PROVIDENCE
- BISMARCK
- GEORGE WASHINGTON
- A DEDICATION
- GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE
- BREVITY
- PUBLIC SPEAKING
- HENRY CLAY
- WOMAN AND SPEECH
- BOYS
- VOTES FOR WOMEN
- LINCOLN

- THE VALUE OF THE PUBLIC SPEAKING CLUB TO THE BUSINESS MAN

- THE STUDY OF FORENSIC ELOQUENCE

- THE STUDY OF FORENSIC ELOQUENCE

- THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG™ LICENSE