Orators indeed, as well as Poets, must be born fo, or they will never excel in their respective Arts: But that Part of Oratory which confifts in a decent and graceful Pronunciation (provided there be no Defect in the Organs of Speech) may be attained by Rule, Imitation, and Practice; and, when attained, will give a Beauty to your Speech, a Force to your Thoughts, and a Pleasure to the Hearers, not to be expressed; and which all will admire, but none can imitate, unless they are firft prepared for it by Art and Nature.

In fine, the great Advantage of a juft Pronunciation is, that it will please all, whether they have no Taste, a bad Taste, or a good Tafte.

But as under the Word [Pronunciation] the Ancients comprehended Action as well as Elocution; and as a few general Rules concerning that may be of ufe to fuch as speak in Public, it may not be improper here briefly to fubjoin them.

The Action then should be as eafy and as natural as the Elocution; and, like that, must be varied and directed by the Paffions.

An affected Violence of Motion is as difguftful as an affected Vehemence of Voice; and no Action, as bad as no Emphafis : Which two Faults commonly go together, as do the other two, juft before mentioned.

Those Parts of the Body that are to be principally employed in Oratorical Action, are the Head, the Face, the Eyes, the Hands, and the upper Part of the whole Body.

1. The Head. This fhould generally be in an erect Pofture; turning fometimes on one Side, and fometimes on the other, that the Voice may be heard by the whole Audience, and a Regard paid to the feveral Parts of it.

It should always be on the fame Side with the Action of the Hands and Body, except when we exprefs an Abhorrence, or a Refufal of any thing, which is done by rejecting it with the Right-hand, and turning away the Head to the Left; as in that Sentence-Dii talem terris avertete peftem-where such an Action is very proper in pronouncing the Word avertete.

2. The Countenance. In this is the Seat of the Soul, and the very Life of Action. Every Paffion, whilft uttered with the Tongue, fhould be painted in the Face. There is often more Eloquence in a Look than any Words can exprefs. By this we are awed, charmed, incenfed, foftened, grieved, rejoiced, raifed, or dejected, according as we catch the Fire of the Speaker's Paffion from his Face. In fhort, there is not End in recounting the Force and Effects of this dumb Oratory; which Nature only teaches, and which Perfons of low

Paffions

Paffions lofe all the Advantages of. Look well upon a good Piece of Painting where the Paffions are ftrongly expreffed, and you will conceive the Power of it.

3. The Eyes. These should be carried from one Part of the Audience to another, with a modeft and decent Respect; which will tend to recall and fix their Attention, and animate your own Spirit by obferving their Attention fixed. But if their Affections be ftrongly moved, and the obferving it be a Means of raifing your own too high, it will be neceffary then to keep the Eye from off them. For though an Orator should always be animated, he should never be overcome by his Paffions.

The Language of the Eye is inexpreffible. It is the Window of the Soul; from which fometimes the whole Heart looks out at once, and fpeaks more feelingly than all the warmeft Strains of Oratory; and comes effectually in Aid of it, when the Paffion is too strong to be uttered.

4. The Hands.

The Left-hand fhould never be used alone; unless it be to attend the Motion of the Head and Eyes in an Address to the Audience on the Left-fide.

The Right-hand may be often used alone.

When you speak of the Body, you may point to it with the middle Finger of your Right-hand.

When you speak of your Soul or Confcience, you may lay your Right-hand gently on your Breast.

It should be often difplayed with an easy Motion to favour an Emphafis; but feldom or never be quite extended.

All its Motions fhould be from the Left to the Right.

Both the Hands difplayed, and the Arms extended, is a violent Action, and never juft or decent unless the Audience be noify, and Part of them at a Distance from the Speaker, and he is labouring to be heard; and then they should never be extended higher than the Head, unless pointing at something above the Audience. *

The Motion of the Hand fhould always correfpond with thofe of the Head and Eyes; as they fhould with the Paffions expreffed.

In deliberate Proof or Argumentation, no Action is more proper or natural, than gently to lay the firft Finger of the Right-hand on the Palm of the Left.

Of what great ufe the proper Motion of the Hand is in affifting Pronunciation, and how many Paffions may be ftrongVOL. I.

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ly

*See Raphael's Cartoon, reprefenting St. Paul preaching at Athens.

ly indicated thereby, when attended with that of the Head and Eyes, is not eafy to be defcribed, but is foon obferved in common Converfation.

Lastly, The Pofture of the Body.

This fhould be ufually erect; not continually changing, nor always motionless: Delining in Acts of Humiliation; in Acts of Praife and Thankfgiving, raised.

It should always accompany the Motion of the Hands, Head, and Eyes, when they are directed to any particular Part of the Audience; but never fo far as to let the Back be turned to any Part of it.

But let it fuffice juft to hint at thefe Things. They who defire to fee them more largely treated of, may confult Quintilian de Inftitutione Oratoriâ, lib. xi. cap. 3.

After all, with regard to Action, the great Rule is (the same as in Pronunciation) to follow Nature, and avoid Affectation. The Action of the Body, and the feveral Parts of it, must correfpond with the Pronunciation, as that does with the Stile, and the Stile with the Subject. A perfect Harmony of all which compleats the Orator.

Those who defire to be more particularly acquainted with this Subject, and the feveral other Branches of Oratory, I would advise not to trust altogether to the Rules of modern Writers, but to repair to the Fountain Head; and converfe with the great Masters and Teachers of this Art among the Ancients; particularly Dionyfius of Halicarnaffus, Cicero, Quintilian, and Longinus.

LESSONS

[5]

LESSONS for READING.

LESSON I.

On the Duty of Children to Parents.

HE Courfe and Compafs of God's Providence, and. his Methods of establishing and evidencing the Meafures of reciprocal Duty, is no where more remarkable than in the mutual Obligations between Parents and their Children. The Child comes into the World naked and helplefs, and from himself more deftitute of the natural Means of Security and Support, than almoft any of the inferior Creatures. In this Exigency the Paternal Care and Tenderness fteps in to his Relief, fupplies all his Neceffities, and relieves all his Wants; bears with all his untowardly Difpofitions, at an Age when he is neither capable of being corrected or convinced; and not only provides the propereft Food for him, when he is incapable of providing any for himself, but likewife adminifters it when he is incapable of feeding himfelf; bears with all Degrees of his Folly and Impertinence, liftens to all his trifing and idle Enquiries, not only with Patience, but with Pleafure, till they gradually conduct him to Health, and Strength, and Knowledge. But the Child is not long arrived at this Perfection of his Nature, before his Parents begin to fall gradually into the fame Infirmities thro' which they but lately conducted and fupported their Children, and to need the fame Affiftance which they lately lent. And first they begin to grow fickly, and then they call for the Aid of that Health which they cultivated and took are of in their Children. The lofs of Chearfulness and Good-humour commonly fucceeds the lofs of Health; the old Parents are uneafy,

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eafy, and fret at all about them. And now is the Time for Children to return all that Tenderness and Patience to their Parents Peevifhnefs, without Sournefs or Reproof, which their Parents had long lent them in all their childish Perverfeness, at an Age when they were not capable of being corrected. In the next place, the old Parents grow troublefomely talkative, and (as Youth is too apt to think) impertinent, and dwell eternally, upon the Obfervations and Adventures of their Times and early Years. Remember, you also had your Time of being talkative and impertinent, and your Parents bore with you, but with this Difference, you asked them filly and trifling Questions, and they now tell you wife and useful Obfervations. But they are troublesome because they tell them too often. The Answer to this is very obvious; if your Parents bore your Folly, you may well bear their Wifdom; and although perhaps they talk more than is necessary to inform you of prefent Things, yet their Conversation turns moftly upon Things paft, perhaps paft many Years before you came into the World, and confequently fuch as they must know a thousand times better than you. Or though they should talk more than is neceffary to inform you, they do not talk more than is neceffary to inform your Servants, or your Children, who are now come to an Age of asking many Questions; and therefore Providence hath well appointed, that their Grand-father or their Grand-mother are now in an Humour to answer them all, and to fupply them with a Store of useful Obfervations which they want, nay, which they want to hear over and over again, which they want to have inculcated a thousand times, and which, without this Affiftance, would require a Course of Years to acquire for themfelves. So that the Humour of Talkativeness, which is commonly thought fo troublesome in old People, hath its Ufe, and is moft excellently appointed by Almighty God. But fay it were not, the Children in bearing with it, do but barely return their Parents what they long fince owed them. In the next place, the Strength of the old Parents fails them, and they cannot walk without a Support; but fure, you will not let them want one! How many Years did they bear you in their Arms? How many more did they lead you where you would be, and faved you from Falling and from Danger? And will you now fuffer those old Limbs to totter and fall to the Earth, which fo often fupported and faved yours when they were weak and tender, and unable to fupport and fave themfelves? Certainly you will not, you cannot once be guilty of fo much Cruelty and Ingratitude. In the laft place, the Understanding of the old Parents begins to fail, and