N462 Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1857, by in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of Ohio. Stereotyped at the Franklin Type Foundry. PREFACE. THE Elementary Treatise embraced in this volume embodies the views of the compiler on elocutionary instruction. These views are the result of careful study and observation, and long experience as a practical teacher of he subjects discussed. The primary object in the preparation of this work has been to place in convenient form for use, those principles, rules, illustrations, and exercises, which, for purposes of instruction, have been found best calculated to make good readers, and easy, graceful, and correct speakers. It is hoped that this system of instruction, which has been long and successfully pursued by the compiler, may, in the hands of others, prove a valuable aid in the cultivation of the voice and the art of reading and speaking. The leading feature of this treatise, and that claimed as distinguishing it from other similar works, is the importance given to the subject of VOCAL CULTURE, without a proper attention to which success in elocution and oratory is unattainable. The rules and exercises in this department will be found full and complete. The selections for reading and declamation have been made with reference to their fitness to exemplify the principles discussed in the elementary portion of the work, or to illustrate the various styles of reading, declamation, and oratory. 5 73. Inspiration of the Bible..207 | 82. 74. Poetical Selections.......208 83. 75. Varieties in Prose.. ..209 84. 77. Telescope and Microscope 212 85. 78. The Unseen Battlefield...215 86. 79. Varieties in Prose... . . . .216 87. ..203 205 ..229 106. .260 124. 132. Bernardo Del Carpio....293 | 144. Soliloquy of a Drunkard's 134. Varieties in Verse......296 146. |