LECTURE ON THE IMPORTANCE OF

ELOCUTION.

Delivered at the Opening of the Elocution Class in the Free Church College 1867.

In lectures introductory to courses of elocution, and in prefaces to treatises on that subject, it has long been customary to dilate on the excellence of the ancients in delivery, and to lament its decline in modern times. I prefer, in my lecture to-day, to direct your attention to some practical observations on delivery-and to the possible removal of those obstacles which are in the way of an improvement in our public speaking. That such an improvement is wanted, is manifested in the complaints which are so general regarding the elocution of our pulpits. It is objected to many of our preachers, that they are not distinct in their utterance that their pronunciation is ungainly and provincial-that their modulation is not in accordance with the matter and sentiment of their discourse and that their manner and gesture are either tame, or ungraceful, or extravagant. My remarks do not embrace the subject of the composition of a discourse, except in so far as composition may be affected by the consciousness which the speaker may have of his power of wielding those instruments of delivery which can give effect to the varied styles of discourse.

At the outset of our treatise, then, we are to pay attention to the elementary part of elocution, articulation—as

on it depends that distinctness of speech which renders a speaker audible and useful. You are aware that indistinctness is a common objection to many candidates for ministerial charges; and though the objection is sometimes not in good faith, still it is one which is too often well grounded. It tends much to the edification of an audience, that the speaking should be easily heardand to those advanced in years, distinctness in their pastor is a great recommendation. Speakers really anxious to do their duty, do not spare themselves in their effort to be heard; but mere loudness of voice will not effect their purpose. Unless the sound is concentrated and properly directed, there is a waste of voice and energy. indistinct speaker should be taught to experience that tension or tightening of the glottis which gives out a compact sound-and at the same time, the machinery of the mouth should be brought into full play.*

The

* Shortly after the delivery of this lecture, the late Dean Ramsay sent me his pamphlet on the "Art of Reading and Preaching Distinctly." It contains the following passages:-"It appears to me very extraordinary, that although the story of Demosthenes speaking with pebbles in his mouth to correct defects of speech is a popular tradition, and familiar to every school-boy (and every school-girl too, I might say), the example should not have been more frequently urged, and the practice more frequently recommended, at any rate, as an experiment, under the consciousness of those failures in utterance by statesmen and by clergymen, which have conspired to injure the effects of their speeches and their sermons. I will give you the passage from the Life of Demosthenes by Plutarch, according to the translation of Dr Langhorne and William Langhorne, Tegg's ed., p. 591: “As for his personal defects, Demetrius the Phalarian gives us an account of the remedies he applied to them, and he says he had it from Demosthenes in his old age. The hesitation and stammering of his tongue he corrected by practising to speak with pebbles in his mouth, and he strengthened his voice by running or walking uphill, and pronouncing some passage in an oration or poem during the difficulty of breathing which that caused."

"Here, then, is an authentic account of a case where defect in utterance was actually experienced by a great orator, and also an account of a specific remedy adopted for its improvement. But at the same time I must observe that the Langhornes' rendering of the Greek of the words

Much can be done here with careful training—if the deaf man can be made to utter articulate sound, surely those with complete organism can be made to do so in perfection. “I see that you are speaking well,” I sometimes say to a pupil, when I perceive the formation of the vowels and consonants in the active organs-indeed, so significant is the organic movement, that it can be translated by the dumb. Indistinctness sometimes arises from too much prominence being given to the vowel sounds,

'hesitation and stammering' does not at all adequately express the force of the original. In the Greek the words are ἀσάφειαν καὶ τραυλότητα. My much-valued and very learned friend, Dr Hannah, of Trinity College, Glenalmond, gives me the translation "indistinctness and lisping." He thinks that doάpelav may fairly include a thick mumbling utterance, whilst Tρavλóτητa implies the defect in speech which shows a tendency to pronounce one letter for another -as we find persons putting / for t, or l for n, as by a lisping person we have heard "cattle" called "callel,' "Newton" called "Lewtell." Neither of the words convey the idea of stammering which was expressed by the Greek word, Baußaivw or BaTTapisw; nor indeed would such a process at all affect real stammering. It is evident, therefore, that the defect under which Demosthenes actually laboured, the defect of indistinct and thick utterance, he cured, or materially improved, by speaking with pebbles in his mouth; and the practice may be strongly recommended to every preacher, for there is hardly a speaker who would not be improved by it, and in some a positive defect might be cured by it. The method I would recommend is this Take three ordinary-sized nuts into the mouth-nuts are better than pebbles, which are heavy, and may break the teeth; with the nuts in the mouth read a page or half a page of any book, making the words as distinct as you can under the disadvantage of the mouth being so occupied. Immediately after, read the same page just as you read it before, only without the nuts. After every such experiment you will be astonished at the faculty of clear enunciation which you have gained by the exercise. You will, in fact, feel almost the consciousness of possessing a new power over the organs of speech. The consonants will come out more clear and defined. This practice, repeated daily for as long or short a time as may be required, and taken as an exercise of the voice occasionally, will assuredly improve any speaking, however excellent in respect of its clearness; and it may correct very serious defects in some speakers. I venture to speak confidently, because I speak from experience of my own, and of others who have tried the experiment."

and from the consequent neglect of some of the consonants by the loose pronunciation of the labials and dentals. This is what is called by Quinctilian a swallowing of the word and those who have this fault in utterance have much difficulty in making themselves intelligible when they speak in churches or halls with arched roofs, or in rooms which have an echo. I do not disguise here that this kind of indistinctness is sometimes the result of a short elocutionary course-for the vowel sounds being those in which students are most defective, and being at the same time the most euphonious sounds, occupy the attention of the teacher most at the outset of a course. When there is a tendency to this fault, which is sometimes owing to the formation of the mouth, the efforts of the teacher should be directed to the enforcement of a more stringent utterance of the consonant sounds, even though by this something of the melody of voice is lost. "Look to your consonants and the vowels will take care of themselves," is a direction which has been given by some-and the direction is good with regard to southern speakers, whose vowel sounds are given with great fulness; but while applicable to some of our northern speakers, it would as a general rule be injurious to the majority of them, as the vowels are given by them with too much attenuation. Another kind of indistinctness arises from the slurring over of the unaccented syllables both at the beginning and the end of words—such as in convenience, apply, circumstances, fuel-which are pronounced by many cunvenience, upply, circumstances, fule. The imperfect enunciation of the small connectives and auxiliaries, is a very common form of indistinctness-and, for instance, is pronounced un -thus, men and women, is sounded menunwomen-he can go-hecungo. Affected speakers, I know, often give undue prominence to such words-subjecting themselves

to the remark that they set every word upon a "creepie," but a true proportionate utterance of such words does not exclude their just sound. And, naturally, here I pause for a moment to take notice of the aversion which many students have to being corrected in these minute matters. In the midst of a declamatory piece which a student is giving with a fervour which carries him beyond all elocutional nicety, it is provoking to him to be interrupted and set right on the pronunciation of a small connective— more especially if the declamation is his own composition. In cases of this kind, there is some tact required from the teacher his correction and interruption should be well timed, and frequently given at the close of the exercise. This bar to the study of elocution-the idea which a student has as to its being a finical accomplishment, would be removed by a correct style being insisted on in schools; a habit of distinct articulation would be formed, and the student be enabled at once to proceed to the higher flights of oratory. The more that the study of delivery is connected with that of rhetorical composition, the more acceptable will it be to advanced students. Now even in the inculcation of mere sounds, there may be pointed out a connection with the laws of rhetorical composition. In the practising of the exact sounds of our vowels, the vocalic range is enlarged, and a pleasing variety is given to a spoken discourse. The variety of vowel sounds is perceivable in our best poetry-and only a correct reader can do justice to it in delivery, as he alone can give that shading of sound which constitutes the variety. There are six sounds of our first vowel, for instance, but many of our speakers employ only three. This enlargement of vocalic sound is connected with rhetorical composition which makes the sound an echo to the sense, and which lays down laws as to the easy flow of words and sentences.