But the most frequent and the principal use of pauses, is to mark the divisions of the sense, and at the same time to allow the speaker to draw his breath; and the proper and graceful adjustment of such pauses, is one of the most nice and difficult articles in delivery. In all pub - lic speaking, the management of the breath requires a good deal of care, so as not to be obliged to divide words from one another, which have so intimate a connection, that they ought to be pronounced with the same breath, and with out the least separation. Many a sen. tence is miserably mangled, and the force of the emphasis totally lost, by divisions being made in the wrong place. To avoid this, every one while he is speak ing, should be very careful to provide a full supply of breath for what he is to utter. It is a great mistake to imagine, that the breath must be drawn only at the end of a period, when the voice is allowed to fall. It may easily be gathered at the intervals of the period, when the voice is only suspended for a moment; and, by this management, one may have always a sufficient stock for carrying on the longest sentence, without improper interruptions.

any one, in public speaking, shall have formed to himself a certain melody or tune, which requires rests and pauses of its own, distinct from those of the sense, he has, undoubtedly, contracted one of the worst habits, into which a public speaker can fall. It is the sense which should always rule the pauses of the voice: for wherever there is any sensible suspension of the voice, the bearer is always led to expect something corresponding in the meaning. Pauses in public discourse, must be formed upon the manner in which we utter ourselves in ordinary, sensible conversation; and not upon the stiff, artificial manner which we acquire from reading books according to the common punctuation. The general run of punctuation is very arbitrary; often capricious and false; and dictates an uniformity of tone in the pauses, which is extremely disagreeable: for we are to observe, that to render pauses graceful and expressive, they must not only be made in the right place, but also be accompanied with a proper tone of voice, by which the nature of these pauses is intimated; much more than by the length of them, which can never be exactly

measured. Sometimes it is only a slight and simple suspension of voice that is proper; sometimes a degree of cadence in the voice is required; and sometimes that peculiar tone and cadence, which denotes the sentence finished. In all these cases, we are to regulate ourselves, by attending to the manner in which nature teaches us to speak when engaged in real and earnest discourse with others.

When we are reading or reciting verse, there is a peculiar difficulty in making the pauses justly. The difficulty arises from the melody of verse, which dictates to the ear pauses or rests of its own; and to adjust and compound these properly with the pauses of the sense, so as neither to hurt the ear, nor offend the understanding, is so very nice a matter, that it is no wonder we so seldom meet with good readers of poetry. There are two kinds of pauses that belong to the music of verse; one is, the pause at the end of the line; and the other, the cæsural pause in the middle of it. With regard to the pause at the end of the line, which marks that strain or verse to be finished, rhyme renders this always sensible, and in some measure compels us to observe it in our pronunciation. In blank verse, where there is a greater liberty permitted of running the lines into one another, sometimes without any suspension in the sense, it has been made a question, Whether, in reading such verse with propriety, any regard at all should be paid to the close of a line? On the stage, where the appearance of speaking in verse should always be avoided, there can, I think, be no doubt, that the close of such lines as make no pause in the sense, should not be rendered perceptible to the ear. But on other occasions, this were improper for what is the use of melody, or for what end has the poet composed in verse, if, in reading his lines, we suppress his numbers; and degrade them, by our pronunciation, into mere prose? We ought therefore, certainly to read blank verse so as to make every line sensible to the ear. At the same time, in doing so, every ap pearance of sing-song and tone must be carefully guarded against. The close of the line, where it makes no pause in the meaning, ought to be marked, not by such a tone as is used in finishing a sentence, but without either letting the voice fall or elevating it, it should be marked only by such a slight suspension

of

of sound, as may distinguish the passage from one line to another, without injuring the meaning.

The other kind of musical pause, is that which falls somewhere about the middle of the verse, and divides it into two hemistichs; a pause, not so great as that which belongs to the close of the line, but still sensible to an ordinary ear. This, which is called the cæsural pause, in the French heroic verse, falls uniformly in the middle of the line; in the English, it may fall after the 4th, 5th, 6th, or 7th syllables in the line, and no other. Where the verse is so constructed, that this cæsural pause coincides with the slightest pause or division in the sense, the line can be read easily: as in the two first verses of Mr. Pope's Messiah,

Ye nymphs of Solyma! begin the song;
To heavenly themes, sublimer strains belong;

But if it shall happen that words, which have such a strict and intimate connection as not to bear even a momentary separation, are divided from one another by this casural pause, we then we feel a sort of struggle between the sense and the sound, which renders it difficult to read such lines gracefully. The rule of proper pronunciation in such cases is, to regard only the pause which the sense forms, and to read the line accordingly. The neglect of the caesural pause may make the line sound somewhat unharmoniously; but the effect would be much worse, if the sense were sacrificed to the sound. For instance, in the following line of Milton,

-What in me is dark, Illumine; what is low, raise and support,

I sit, with sad civility I read ;

parate "sad" and "civility." The sense admits of no other pause than after the 2d syllable, "sit," which therefore must be the only pause made in the reading.

I proceed to treat next of Tones in pronunciation, which are different both from emphasis and pauses; consisting in the modulation of the voice, the notes or variations of sound which we employ in public speaking. How much of the propriety, the force and grace of discourse, must depend on these, will appear from this single consideration; that to almost every sentiment we utter, more especially to every strong emotion, nature hath adapted some peculiar tone of voice; insomuch; that he who should tell another that he was very angry, or much grieved, in a tone which did not suit such emotions, instead of being believed would be laughed at. Sympathy is one of the most powerful principles by which persuasive discourse works its effect. The speaker endeavours to transfuse into his hearers his own sentiments and emotions; which he can never be successful in doing, unless he utters them in such a manner as to convince the hearers that he feels them. The proper expression of tones, therefore, deserves to be attentively studied by every one who would

be a successful orator.

The greatest and most material instruction which can be given for this purpose is, to form the tones of public speaking upon the tones of sensible and animated conversation. We may observe that every man, when he is much in earnest in common discourse, when he is engaged in speaking on some subject which inte rests him nearly, has an eloquent or persuasive tone and manner. What is the

"All that passes in the mind of man may be "reduced to two classes, which I call, Ideas and "Emotions. By Ideas I mean all thoughts which "rise and pass in succession in the mind: By "Emotions, all exertions of the mind in arrang"ing, combining, and separating its ideas; as "well as all the effects produced on the mind it"self by those ideas, from the more violent agi"tation of the passions, to the calmer feelings "produced by the operation of the intellect and "the fancy. In short, thought is the object of "the one, internal feeling of the other. That "which serves to express the former, I call the "Language of Ideas; and the latter, the Lan

guage of Emotions. Words are the signs of the one, tones of the other. Without the use of "these two sorts of language, it is impossible to "communicate through the ear, all that passes "in the mind of man."

Sheridan on the Art of Reading.

reason

so phlegmatic, as not to accompany their words with some actions and gesticulations, on all occasions, when they are much in earnest. It is therefore unnatural in a public speaker, it is inconsistent with that earnestness and seriousness which he ought to shew in all affairs of moment, to remain quite unmoved in his outward appearance and to let the words drop from his mouth, without any expression of meaning or warmth in his gesture.

The fundamental rule as to propriety of action, is undoubtedly the same with what gave as to propriety of tone. Attend to the looks and gestures, in which earnestness, indignation, compassion, or any other emotion, discovers itself to most advantage in the common intercourse of men; and let these be your model. Some of these looks and gestures are common to all men ; and there are also certain peculiarities of manner which distinguish every individual. A public speaker must take that manner which is most natural to himself. For it is here just as in tones: it is not the business of a speaker to form to himself a certain set of motions and gestures, which he thinks most becoming and agreeable, and to practise these in public, without their having any correspondence to the manner which is natural to him in

private. His gestures and motions ought all to carry that kind of expression which nature has dictated to him; and, unless this be the case, it is impossible, by means of any study, to avoid their appearing stiff and forced.

However, although nature must be the ground-work, I admit that there is room in this matter for some study and art. For many persons are naturally ungraceful in the motions which they make; and this ungracefulness might, in part at least, be reformed by application and care. The study of action in public speaking, consists chiefly in guarding against awk. ward and disagreeable motions, and in learning to perform such as are natural to the speaker, in the most becoming manner. For this end, it has been advised by writers on this subject, to prac tise before a mirror, where one may see and judge of his own gestures. But I am afraid, persons are, not always the best judges of the gracefulness of their own motions; and one may declaim long enough before a mirror, without correcting any of his faults. The judgment of a friend, whose good taste they can trust,

will be found of much greater advantage to beginners, than any mirror they can use. With regard to particular rules concerning action and gesticulation, Quinc tilian has delivered a great many, in the last chapter of the. 11th Book of his Institutions; and all the modern writers on this subject have done little else but translate them. I am not of opinion, that such rules delivered either by the voice or on paper, can be of much use, unless persons saw them exemplified before their eyes *

I shall only add further on this head, that in order to succeed well in delivery, nothing is more necessary than for a speaker to guard against a certain flutter of spirits, which is peculiarly incident to those who begin to speak in public. He must endeavour above all things to be recollected, and master of himself. For this end, he will find nothing of more use to him, than to study to become wholly engaged in his subject; to be possessed with a sense of its importance or serious

* The few following hints ouly I shall adventure to throw out, hoping they may be of service. When speaking in public, one should study to preserve as much dignity as possible in the whole attitude of the body. An erect posture is generally to be chosen: standing firm, so as to

have the fullest and freest command of all his mo

forwards towards the hearers, which is a natural

tions; any inclination which is used, should be expression of earnestness. As for the countenance, the chief rule is, that it should correspond with the nature of the discourse, and when no particuis always the best. The eyes should never be fixed lar emotion is expressed, a serious and manly look close on any one object, but move easily round the audience. In the motions made with the hands, consists the chief part of gesture in speaking. The Ancients condemned all motions performed by the left hand alone; but I am not, sensible that these are always offensive, though it is natural for the right hand to be more frequently employed. Warm emotions demand the motion of both hands corresponding together.

But whe

ther one gesticulates with one or with both hands, it is an important rule, that all his motions should be free and easy. Narrow and straitened movements are generally ungraceful; for which reason, motions made with the hands are directed the elbow. to proceed from the shoulder, rather than from Perpendicular movements too with the hands, that is, in the straight line up and down, which Shakespeare, in Haullet, calls, ing the air with the hand," are seldom good.

saw

Oblique motions are, in general, the most gracelikewise avoided. Earnestness can be fully expressed without them. Shakespeare's directions on this head are full of good sense; use all gently," says he, "and in the very torrent and tempest of passion, acquire a temperance that may give it "smoothness,"

ful. Too sudden and nimble motions should be

ness;