LODGINGS

INGS FOR

SINGLE GENTLEMEN.

GEORGE COLMAN,

THE YOUNGER.

WHO has e'er been in London, that overgrown place, Has seen "Lodgings to Let" stare him full in the face. Some are good, and let dearly; while some, 'tis well known,

Are so dear, and so bad, they are best let alone.—

Will Waddle, whose temper was studious and lonely,
Hired lodgings that took Single Gentlemen only;
But Will was so fat, he appeared like a tun ;—
Or like two Single Gentlemen rolled into one.

He entered his rooms, and to bed he retreated;
But, all the night long, he felt fevered and heated;
And, though heavy to weigh, as a score of fat sheep,
He was not, by any means, heavy to sleep.

Next night 'twas the same!-and the next! and the next!

He perspired like an ox; he was nervous, and vexed; Week passed after week, till by weekly succession, His weakly condition was past all expression.

In six months his acquaintance began much to doubt him;

For his skin, "like a lady's loose gown,"hung about him. He sent for a Doctor, and cried, like a ninny,

"I have lost many pounds-make me well-there's a guinea."

The Doctor looked wise:-"a slow fever," he said;
Prescribed sudorifics,—and going to bed.

"Sudorifics in bed," exclaimed Will, "are humbugs! I've enough of them there, without paying for drugs!"

Will kicked out the Doctor:-but when ill indeed,
E'en dismissing the Doctor don't always succeed;
So, calling his host-he said-"Sir, do you know,
I'm the fat Single Gentleman, six months ago?

“Look ye, Landlord, I think,” argued Will with a grin,
"That with honest intentions you first took me in:
But from the first night-and to say it I'm bold-
I've been so very hot, that I'm sure I've caught cold!"

Quoth the Landlord,-"Till now, I ne'er had a dispute;
I've let lodgings ten years,-I'm a baker to boot;
In airing your sheets, Sir, my wife is no sloven;
And your bed is immediately-over my OVEN.'

"The OVEN!!!"-says Will;-says the host, "Why this passion?

In that excellent bed died three people of fashion. Why so crusty, good Sir?"-"Zounds!" cried Will in a taking,

“Who would not be crusty, with half a year's baking?”

Will paid for his rooms :—cried the host, with a sneer, "Well, I see you've been going away half a year." "Friend, we can't well agree;-yet no quarrel"-Will said :

:

"But I'd rather not perish, while you make your bread.”

Sratory.

INTRODUCTION.

THE following selections are nearly all abridged speeches, or extracts from speeches, and have been specially chosen for the practice of recitation. The limits of this work preclude the giving of entire speeches, and the student of oratory is therefore advised, in addition to studying and reciting these specimens of eloquence, to thoroughly examine, in their complete form, the best speeches of the greatest orators, ancient and modern, studying the construction of each speech, its development, the connexion of its several parts, its arguments, illustrations, and particular effects, language and style, together with its fitness for the purpose for which, and the assembly where, it was delivered. Many of our best speakers have been debaters rather than orators, as Lord Byron said of Fox: "Pitt I never heard-Fox but once and then he struck me as a debater, which to me seems as different from an orator as an improvisatore or a versifier from a poet." Burke said that Fox rose by slow degrees to be the most brilliant and accomplished debater the world ever saw." It is most important for the student of oratory to study the speeches of great debaters, but their speeches do not often afford passages so well adapted to the object for which this collection is designed as those here culled from the more finished orators.

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Many speeches have been incorrectly given in various books of selections, and the errors and altered passages have been copied from one collection into another-Lord Chatham's great speech and the extract from Canning being flagrant examples. The Editor of this work has taken the greatest care in copying from the best editions, and in abridging where necessary, has scrupulously avoided altering a single word.

Some of the following orations are imaginary, being the work of the historians, Sallust, Livy, and Quintus Curtius; that of Brutus is by Shakespeare; and the eloquent passage upon Marie Antoinette, so admirably adapted for oratorical recitation, was not delivered as a speech, but occurs in Burke's "Reflections on the French Revolution."

The passage chosen for elocutionary practice should be first carefully read for sense, then read aloud for expression and effect, afterwards committed to memory, and then delivered with action; in which last form every piece should be repeated many times.

But the most assiduous practice in reciting the eloquence of other men, however excellent and essential for improving the delivery, will not make an orator or debater. The student must learn to think; to think out his own ideas; to put them into good, clear, expressive language; and arrange them in natural and logical order.

For instruction in public speaking see "ORATORY MADE EASY," a Guide to the Composition of Speeches. By Charles Hartley, Professor of Elocution and Oratory. Price, 1s. Post-free for 12 Stamps. Groombridge & Sons, 5, Paternoster Row, London.

DEMOSTHENES TO THE ATHENIANS.

The beginning of the FIRST PHILIPPIC.

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HAD we been convened, Athenians! on some new subject of debate, I had waited, until most of the usual persons had declared their opinions. If I had approved of anything proposed by them, I should have continued silent: if not, I had then attempted to speak my sentiments. But since those very points on which these speakers have oftentimes been heard already are, at this time, to be considered, though I have arisen first, I presume I may expect your pardon: for if they on former occasions had advised the necessary measures, ye would not have found it needful to consult at present.

First then, Athenians! these our affairs must not be thought desperate; no, though their situation seems entirely deplorable. For the most shocking circumstance of all our past conduct is really the most favourable to our future expectations. And what is this? That our own total indolence hath been the cause of all our present difficulties. For were we thus distressed, in spite of every vigorous effort which the honour of our state demanded, there were then no hope of a recovery.

If there be a man in this assembly who thinks that we must find a formidable enemy in Philip, while he views, on one hand, the numerous armies which attend him; and, on the other, the weakness of the state thus despoiled of its dominions; he thinks justly. Yet let him reflect on this: there was a time, Athenians! when we possessed Pydna, and Potidea, and Methone, and all that country round: when many of those states now subjected to him were free and inde

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