organic action, the only difference being that the intervals between the vocal tones are of the major kind in laughter, and of the minor kind in crying. It is the same with the more delicate varieties of tremor: a quiver of the voice may express the most opposite sentiments, from sympathetic tenderness to contemptuous sneering.

Even descriptive language, to be naturally delivered, should be accompanied by a degree of sentimental expressiveness. Reading is thus more than the mere pronunciation of words; it must be sentient utterance; showing how the reader is affected by the incidents he describes, and conveying in his tones an emotional comment on every statement. Otherwise, reading is mechanical only, and lifeless.

XVII. ACTION.

There are three distinct languages, in all of which the speaker has simultaneously to deliver himself: the language of speech, the language of tone, and the language of action. The most far-reaching of these is the language of action; the most limited in the sphere of its influence is the language of speech. This is artificial; the others are natural. Each of these languages is mighty within its own province, but, when the influences of all are effectively combined, their power is irresistible. It is the speaker's fault when the attention of his audience flags, when his words are absorbed in the rustlings and shufflings of uninterested hearers. The trident of oratory can command attention, even from the listless, and still the vexatious murmurs of unconcern. A flash from one of nature's batteries, a look, a tone, a movement of the hand, a pause in the current of sound, will arouse the dull and arrest the wandering mind. There is no other such power in nature as that which the consummate orator wields, alike over sense and soul.

The tendency to gesticulate is so natural that the most difficult thing in oratory is to refrain from motion. If speakers could stand still they would, at least, not offend: they would simply fall short of the effect which appropriate action would add to their delivery. But, as a general rule, they neither use action nor let it alone. They shift and fumble, and move to no purpose. They are not dumb where they might be eloquent; but they hum and haw in motion, and fidget the eye with constrained and unnecessary transitions. Gesture is a language, and although it may be foreign to our temperament to use it with volubility or with emphasis, we should still, in however limited a degree, employ it as a language.

The object of action in connection with speech is not to communicate thought, but to express earnestness, and full possession by the thought or sentiment conveyed by words. Action is wasted in merely painting the purport of the accompanying language. This fault is very common. Indeed, the idea which speakers seem generally to entertain of the office of gesticulation is, precisely, this superfluous one of verbal corroboration. A thoughtless interpretation of the maxim "suit the action to the word " appears to justify this error; but "to the word " does not mean to the grammatical word, but, to the language-to the whole Imitative action, so far from being suitable to language, is only appropriate in ridicule and mimicry. The hearer's understanding is insulted when action is converted into a dictionary.

utterance.

The scope of action is circumscribed in many cases. At the Bar, for instance, the proximity of speaker and hearer confines gesture almost to the colloquial style, in which the hand is the principal agent. But the eye is not silent. It holds the juror, as the Ancient Mariner held the wedding guest, and "he cannot choose but hear." In the pulpit, the orator has a wider field for action, as the arm, the "oratorical weapon," may be fully unfolded, and the auditors are dispersed over a greater area. But the freedom of the lower limbs is wanting to produce the full effect of corporeal expression. On the platform, the speaker's power is extended, and the whole person contributes to expressiveness: only the influence of change of position is limited. On the stage, there is no limit; the suggestive rhythm of free movement, added to the other powers in their highest degree, completes the measureless possibilities of dramatic art. Unfortunately, the stage can seldom be referred to for models; but if a player can, as a general

rule, exhibit a mechanical delivery which is free from offensive blemishes, why should not every public speaker be equally cultivated in this respect? Defects are the badge of negligence only, and, therefore, removable by proper study.

Some persons may be apt to think that such "small matters as constitute the bulk of the principles in this volume are unworthy of attention, because the mind of the speaker cannot occupy itself with them in delivery; but one who is duly informed on such points, and who has made their application habitual, does not require to think of them at all. Of the two proverbial ways of doing everything - a right and a wrong way - the one is generally quite as easy as the other; so that excellences come to be performed as unconsciously as faults are committed. When we read all the minutenesses which Quintilian recommends to form an accomplished speaker, and compare the effects produced by oratory in our own day with the recorded influence of the artistic orators of ancient Greece and Rome, we have good ground for suspecting that a want of attention to these minutenesses may be, in reality, the chief reason for the difference. He who cannot condescend to "small matters " in preparation will never be great in achievement; for nothing is trivial in which principle is involved.