Ebook A Practical Manual of Elocution

Eloquence, or even oratory, does not however consist wholly in a good elocution. Elocution concerns only the external part of oratory, and may be considered both as a science and as an art. As a science, it teaches the prin ciples from which are deduced rules for the effective deli very of what is eloquent in thought and language as an art, it is the actual embodg'ng in delivery of every aecom plishment, whether of voice or of gesture, by which ora torical excitement is superadded to the eloquence of thought and language. In this last sense, it implies the culti vation of every external grace with which the delivery of language should be accompanied, whether in reading, In recitation, or in spontaneous utterance. As a science, then, it relates to the knowledge and the taste necessary to direct in the correct delivery of what is forcible in thought and expression and as an art, to the ability practically to exe cute that which is dictated by a well-instructed taste. This presents the general subject in a twofold light; and clearly points out the double office of a teacher of elocution, and the twofold excellencies of a perfect text-book in this interesting branch of study. It should give the taste to direct, and the power to execute.