The Standard Speaker

Browning; and nearly all from Knowles, Croly, Horace Smith, and others, together with the comic dialogues from Morton, Mathews, and Coyne, having been selected or adapted for this collection.

It will be seen that the oratory of the ancients has supplied an unusual number of exercises. A certain novelty has, however, in many instances, been imparted here, by original translations. We have had little, in modern times, to surpass the Philippics of Demosthenes or the fiery invective of Æschines. The putative speeches from Livy, Tacitus, and Sallust, have been newly translated or adapted. In two or three instances, the translation has been so liberal that a nearer relationship to the original than that of a paraphrase has not been claimed. The speeches of Brutus, Caius Marius, Canuleius, Virginius, and others, have been expanded or abridged, to serve the purpose of declamation. The two speeches of Spartacus, that of Regulus, with several others, are now, for the first time, published. The extracts from that strangely depreciated work, Cowper's Homer, have the vivid simplicity and force of the original, and are among the most appropriate exercises for elocution in the whole scope of English blank verse.

Throughout the present volume, in deciding upon the insertion of a piece, the question has been, not “Who wrote it?" or, “What country produced it?" but," Is it good for the purpose ?" Like other arts, that of eloquence is unhedged by geographical lines ; and it is as inconsistent with true culture, to confine pupils to American models in this art, as it would be in sculpture or painting. While exercising great freedom of range in selection, however, it has been the editor's study to meet all the demands of a liberal patriotism ; to do justice to all the noblest masters of eloquence, and to all schools and styles, from which a grace may be borrowed; and, above all, to admit nothing that could reasonably offend the ear of piety and good taste.

The Introductory Treatise embodies the views, not only of the editor, but of many of our most experienced and distinguished teachers, in regard to the unprofitable character of those “ systems” which profess to teach reading and speaking by the rule and plummet of sentential analysis or rhetorical notation. Of these attempts the pupil may well exclaim, in the words of Cowper,

“ Defend me, therefore, common sense, say I,
From reveries so airy, from the toil
Of dropping buckets into empty wells,
And growing old in drawing nothing up!"

The preceptive portion of the Treatise presents no particular claim to originality; the object being merely to give a summary of all the discoveries and hints that can be serviceable to the student, in the development of his vocal and elocutionary powers.

CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTORY TREATISE.

Page
25, 26

. 30
. 30
. 30

. 30
. 30

Quotation from Holmes,
15 Distinctness to be Studied, .

. 15 Unemphatic Words, .

. 15

Solemn Reading,

Modulation of the Voice, .

Illustration from Milton, .
. 16

from Shakspeare,

. 16

Middle Key,

. 16 High Key,

. 16 Illustration from Shakspeare,

Curious Fact in Sound,

16 Burke's Voice,

Chatham's Voice, .

. 30

System of Marks,
Walker's Elements,
Inflections of the Voice,
Rules of Inflection,
Illustration from Pope,

from Shakspeare,
Rush on the Voice,

ial Rules,
Insufficiency,
ly's Objections,
pe of Walker's Method,
wn Admission,
und Kean,
tion the Secret,
ical Hints,
Quincy Adams,
ions of Elocution, .
ulation,
anciation,
its in Pronunciation,
ortance of Dictionaries,

Books