PN 4111 .H33 I860 Copy 1 L imm;m LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. «tar. p/v^wi lHE SPEAKER AT HOME. the future orator as he studies the great master- pieces of ancient and modern eloquence. He, too, must feel that his vocation, in the strictest sense of the term, is the same ; and though he may never hope to attain to the goal of excellence at which ■ others have arrived, he will yet rejoice to walk as a humble follower in their footsteps ; and in this spirit hinderances and discouragements, and even a keen sense of his own disqualifications, will but add zest to the struggle — Labor ipse voluntas will be the motto for a man like him.* The more we study the history of oratory the more shall we be convinced that natural facility of speech oftener results in mediocrity than in excellence. The greatest men in this as in every other art have been the men who have laboured most. The painter, the musician, the scholar, or the divine, all, in fact, who have attained to eminence in their particular spheres of life, know within themselves that they are distinguished from those with whom they first competed, not so much by superior genius as by greater energy and perseverance. It is true that, just as some persons of great wealth would fain have their fortune attributed to anything rather than their own exertions, so it may gratify a petty vanity in some men to conceal the steps by which they have risen. Unfortunately, this vanity is very general ; we see it at work in our schools, our universities, and in public life ; making success, if attributed to plodding industry, to be spoken of with a sneer, if to innate genius, to be regarded with unqualified * " I was not swaddled, and dandled, and rocked into a legislator ; nitor in adversum is the motto for a man like me." — Burke's Correspondence. THE SPEAKER AT HOME. 97 admiration. Thus it happens that the world is misled, it accords to the few a monopoly of that which be- longs to the many ; while some of its brightest lights, though set upon a candlestick, had far more advantageously been placed beneath a bushel. In one of his earlier contributions to the " Edin- burgh Review/' we find Lord Brougham expressing a very strong opinion as to the labour absolutely indispensable to make a good speaker. The quota- tion itself will be my best apology for giving it at length. He says : — " A corrupt and careless eloquence so greatly abounds that there are but few public speakers who give any attention to their art, excepting those who debase it by the ornaments of most vicious taste. Not, indeed, that the two defects are often kept apart ; for some men appear to bestow but little pains upon the preparation of the vilest composition that ever offended a classical ear, although it displays an endless variety of far-fetched thoughts, forced metaphors, unnatural expressions, and violent per- versions of ordinary language. In a word, it is worthless, without the poor merit of being elaborate, and affords a new instance how wide a departure may be made from nature with very little care, and how apt easy writing is to prove bad reading. " Among the sources of this corruption may clearly be distinguished, as the most fruitful, the habit of extempore speaking acquired rapidly by persons who frequent popular assemblies, and, be- ginning at the wrong end, attempt to speak before they have studied the art of oratory, or even duly stored their minds with the treasures of thought and of language, which can only be drawn from assiduous H 98 THE SPEAKER AT HOME. intercourse with the ancient and modern classics. The truth is, that a certain proficiency in 'public speaking may be attained, trith near!// infallible certainty, by any person mho chooses to give him- self the trouble of frequently trying it, and can harden himself against the pain of frequent failure. Complete self-possession and perfect fluency are thus acquired almost mechanically, and with no reference to the talents of him who becomes possessed of them. If he is a man of no capacity, his speeches will of course be very bad ; but, though he be a man of genius, they will not be eloquent : a sensible re- mark, or a fine image, may frequently occur, but the loose, and slovenly, and poor diction, the want of art in combining and disposing his ideas, the inability to bring out many of his thoughts, and the utter in- competency to present any of them in the best and most efficient form, will deprive such a speaker of all claims to the character of an orator, and reduce him to the leveLof an ordinary talker. Perhaps the habit of speaking may have taught him something of arrangement, and a few of the simplest methods of producing an impression ; but beyond these first steps he cannot possibly proceed by this empirical process, and his diction is sure to be much worse than if he had never made the attempt — clumsy, re- dundant, incorrect, unlimited in quantity, but of no value. Such a speaker is never in want of a w T ord, and hardly ever has one that is worth having. ' Sine hale quidem conscientid/ (says Quintilian, speaking of the habit of written composition,) ' ilia ipsa ex- tempore dicendifacultas, inanem modo loquacitatem dabit, et verba in labris nascentia.' " It is a very common error to call this natural THE SPEAKER AT HOME. 99 eloquence ; it is the reverse, it is neither natural nor eloquence. A person under the influence of strong- passions or feelings, and pouring forth all that fills his mind, produces a powerful effect upon his hearers, and frequently attains, without any art, the highest beauties of rhetoric. The language of the passions flows easily, but it is concise and simple, and the opposite of that wordiness which we have been de- scribing. The untaught speaker, who is also unprac- tised, and utters according to the dictates of his feelings, now and then succeeds perfectly ; but in these instances he would not be the less successful for having studied the art, while that study would enable him to succeed equally in all that he delivers, and give him the same control over the feelings of others, whatever might be the state of his own. Herein, indeed, consists the value of the study : it enables a man to do at all times what nature only teaches upon rare occasions." That the same labour was recognized by the an- cients as indispensable, both in the acquirement of oratorical power and for each particular exercise of it, is too generally known to need more than a pas- sing notice. Plato,* of whom it was said that " if the Father of the Gods had spoken in Greek, he would have used no other language than Plato's," continued this elaborate preparation up to his eigh- tieth year, and a note-book was found after his death in which the opening words of the treatise "De Republics, " were found written in several different arrangements, the words being, K4 THE SPEAKER AT HOME. worst signs of modern taste, an evidence of the almost utter extinction of true eloquence in England, has been shown in the elevation of this spurious rhetoric to the pulpit. Its chief apostle has, like his more avowedly histrionic brethren, had exaggerated praise and popularity for a very brief period ; we sincerely hope that such a false and superficial style may, now that the first fashion has passed away, find few admirers and still less imitation. Rapidity of speech is not only the result of actual hurry, and irrespective of the language, but, in England at least, is favoured by a peculiarity of the language itself. The principle of accentuating strongly one syllable of every word is susceptible of much abuse and exaggeration. For an excess of stress on the accented part, or a neglected enunciation of the unaccented members, produce the same evil result; the sentence becomes, what often strikes foreigners very disagreeably, a string of audible ac- cented syllables standing out from an inaudible mass of inarticulate sounds. We ourselves learn to supply this deficiency from habit and memory ; but it is none the less reprehensible on that account. To this defect of speech much attention has been given, and perhaps it has attained an undue prominence from the neglect of cautions equally essential. At the same time no fault is so common or so little re- prehended by society. The omission of aspirates is reckoned a disqualification for the company of gen- tlemen ; while a loose and languid utterance, which articulates none but the accented syllable, and com- pletely drops the terminal letters of every word, is, in some quarters, held evidence of good breeding. Another physiological deduction from a review of THE SPEAKER AT HOME. 165 the mechanism of speech is that many of the actions of muscles involved in the articulation of long com- binations of simple sounds are not only complex but contradictory. Some even require the mouth and tongue to fall back to the position of rest before the proper sound can again be framed. Ignorance, or inattention to this fact, is a fertile cause of imperfect speech. Its least severe form is far from uncom- mon, where the speaker seems to grudge every atom of movement required : the mouth is hardly opened, the teeth remain close together, and the sounds formed within are pent up from want of freer means of exit. The general result is indistinct- ness combined with a whistling sort of intonation which men of other nations notice as a common characteristic of English speech. They usually refer it, with partial truth, to the nature of the lan- guage itself; though much more is probably due to temperament, carelessness, and the lamentable neg- lect of instruction into which we have fallen on the subject. Imperfections of this character, carried to their highest degree, terminate in stammering. It is now a well-ascertained fact that scarcely any instances of this common infirmity depend on struc- tural defect or malformation of the vocal organs. A very exceptional shortness of the frcenum of the tongue, nearly always discovered during infancy, and some thickness of utterance, dependent on abnor- mal enlargement of the tonsils, are the most obvious possible causes. All varieties of hoarseness should be excepted, because, though they more or less com- pletely destroy the musical character of the speaking note, they in no way interfere with articulation, or prevent the speaker from being perfectly intelligible. 166 THE SPEAKER AT HOME. We have already mentioned that the cases of mutes are entirely dependent on absence of the sense of hearing, there being abundant observations to prove that there is no physical deficiency in the apparatus of speech. But there is another element involved in this question ; and physiology here gives us valuable assistance, by showing the intimate dependence of good articulation on the brain and nervous centres. It may appear somewhat paradoxical to state that we all stammer more or less ; but it is nevertheless true : and any cause sufficient to destroy the concert and co-ordination of the very numerous parts acting under the control of the will at times produces this result. The commonest cause is the emotion of fright ; hence one of the conventional modes of representing fright on the stage consists in sudden stammering. Anger also is far from an uncommon cause, surprise and sudden joy are less common ; in a few persons sleepiness is sufficient to produce it ;* and the more advanced stages of alcoholic intoxica- tion usually exhibit the symptom. In some forms of paralytic disease, where the nerves of the tongue and fauces are involved, stammering is a prominent feature ; it may then occur after what is popularly termed " a stroke" even in the most articulate speaker. * The converse fact is also remarkable, for there are many persons, who, being habitually loose and careless speakers in ordinary conversation, rise, under excitement sufficiently powerful, into an accurate and forcible elocution. In this manner the fiery Celt of the Highlands, as Sir Walter Scott mentions, only speaks pure and articulate English when roused by the vehemence of rage. In the latter case the ex- cited brain stimulates the organs to an energy beyond their usual limit, while in the former the volition so far exceeds the power of execution as partially to overwhelm it. THE SPEAKER AT HOME. 167 But the inveterate stammering which of itself amounts to a morbid condition is rather different in its history. It is usually commenced insensibly and unnoticed at an early period of life; in great measure it depends on the child finding more than ordinary difficulty in mastering certain articulate combina- tions. If to this there be added a nervous and irrit- able temper of mind, the attempts at overcoming the impediment give rise to unsystematic and ill-con- trolled efforts. By degrees the co-ordination of the organs of speech, which from the first has been im- perfectly acquired, becomes more and more impaired, and the unsuccessful straining gains a spasmodic character. At this stage a painful consciousness of defect usually springs up in the mind of the sufferer, and there is added the additional evil of hurry and nervousness. In this manner, unless some control- ling influence be early employed, the fault will in- fallibly become confirmed by time, and ultimately all but incurable. We believe this to be the history of far the greater number of such cases ; others probably depend on example and imitation from the society of stam- merers ; and a few are connected with a real morbid condition of the nervous centres, known medically as Chorea, popularly as St. Vitus's Dance. This view of the habitual origin of stammering is confirmed by the existence of varieties in the defect. Every one will have noticed some of these differences, and the dissimilar character of spasm in the several instances. A distinction may be made according to the situation of the impediment. This is in the first kind at the glottis or upper opening of the windpipe, and produces what is really a very ex- 108 THE SPEAKER AT HOME. aggerated form of hesitation ; for by the closure of this organ the musical note and current of air issuing from the larynx are entirely intercepted; the syl- lables pronounced cease suddenly, and involuntary silences result. A similar effect is often produced as completely in the labial form of stammering, and occasionally in severe instances of the other forms. In a second kind the tract immediately above the glottis, usually termed the " isthmus of the fauces," is implicated. The posterior part of the mouth and upper region of the throat being spasmodically con- tracted, a guttural and aspirate sound issues, either alone or as an affix to words not requiring it. This difficulty will be specially felt in pronouncing the words containing the aspirate, the letter g, the com- pounds ch, gh, and the letter k in some combinations. In another and very common form the dorsum of the tongue with the palate or the teeth are the ob- stacles. The number of letters to whose formation these organs contribute being comparatively large, the defect introduced into speech is prominent and frequently recurring ; it causes the more remark as the continued or imperfect pronunciation of letters in these groups gives rise to protracted hissing and buzzing sounds ; just as in the previous instance there was a near approach to the voice of some lower animals.* In this form of the infirmity the group of Z, d, and t, with their compounds th and dh, form the great difficulty to some, and the letters s, z, sh, amdj, with the soft ch, to others. * It is a curious and somewhat ludicrous fact that a stam- merer sometimes attracts the notice of dogs, who look upon these singular sounds as voluntary, and receive them accord- ingly- THE SPEAKER AT HOME. 169 Lastly, there is the labial form of stammering, in which the nose may or may not be implicated. The purely labial letters b and p, and the labio- dentals, v, f, form the obstacles in the first place, and the nasals m and n, in the second. In the former, as we have said above, there is total silence by closure of the lips during the spasm ; and in the latter the pent-up air is sent with a humming noise through the nasal passages. It is, of course, possible for two of these forms of defect to coexist in the same person; but, as a general rule, it will not be difficult to refer each case to one of the classes given above. And a re- cognition of the faulty parts leads easily to simple methods of cure or of alleviation. One other form of imperfection in speech requires notice before concluding. This is the unintentional use of the " falsetto" by adults. It is not quite certain what is the exact mode in which this variety of note is at any time produced. But its effect is the utterance of soft, very reedy tones, about an octave above the usual pitch of the male voice. Arguing from the analogy of the harmonics on stringed instruments which are of similar quality, it would seem to be due to the formation of more nodal points in the vocal chord than are required for the fundamental note. Most male voices have a few such notes, and bass singers usually more than tenors. It is some- times a voice of very fine musical character, and, though considered rare, always takes one part, the alto, of cathedral music : in the older school of English and Italian madrigal composition it is so 170 THE SPEAKER AT HOME. freely used as to raise the suspicion that it was commoner, or more cultivated, formerly than at the present day. Even alto singers, however, in ordi- nary conversation and in public speaking, use the lower and more natural notes of their voices. And the defect which we are now considering consists either in the entire or partial use of a falsetto note as the speaking tone. Most men can intentionally do this for a short time ; and it is evidently intended in some of the old comedies to be used on the stage as a means of counterfeiting the female voice. But when involuntary the habit is incorrect and very unpleasant. It is, indeed, the correlative of stam- mering, and probably depends on some lack of co- ordination in the laryngeal muscles, just as stammer- ing does upon the same defect in the muscles of the tongue and mouth. Usually it commences at the time when the boy's voice " breaks" — a time when rapid increase in size and development of the larynx cause the pitch to descend an octave within the course of a year or two. Its causes seem ultimately to rest in a slow and imperfect performance of this change, and also very frequently in a want of that sensitiveness to the pitch of sounds which goes by the name of u musical ear." For it is to be noticed that persons suffering from this imperfection are often no more aware of the rapid transition of the voice from one register to the other than are the lower orders in London of the difference between the v and w, or between aspirated and unaspirated words. It is, however, like speech itself, only an acquired habit. It may be conquered by constant warning and perseverance until the correct method has be- come automatic. 171 APPENDIX. Rev. and dear Sir, ^N accordance with the suggestion con- tained in page 43 of " The Speaker at Home/' I hasten to make one or two observations which have occurred to me during its perusal, as bearing upon one part of your subject, viz. the management of the voice in speaking. Too much praise cannot be accorded to you for calling the attention of the clergy and public speakers to this most important subject ; for it is one — singu- larly enough — that has not received the meed of at- tention it so much deserves, seeing that in it lies one of the most important means upon which the success or failure of the public speaker depends. I need not refer to the universally acknowledged value of correct principles of action in the cultiva- tion of the voice to those who devote themselves to the art of singing ; and it appears to me that much may be done by the speaker, if not towards enchain- ing an audience, at least in the acquirement of a power of transmitting his ideas to each individual of a large assembly, even in the most remote corner of a large edifice ; and it is to this branch of the sub- ject I shall confine my remarks, as being the one least of all touched upon in your little work, but which seems to me to be one, which, when treating of 172 APPENDIX. public speaking, demands no small degree of atten- tion. One of the great mistakes public speakers make is loud speaking, as if, by applying all the force, not only of the vocal organs, but also all the bodily effort that can be mustered, they could in the slightest degree aid the conveyance of articulation ; when experience so clearly proves that, on the con- trary, it is by the total suppression of bodily effort beyond an easy gesticulation, and, in its stead, em- ploying the concentrated force obtained from the co-operation and combined action of the several vocal organs in their own strength, that can even so plant the articulation that the production of it is more a matter of ease than effort, and the convey- ance of it a natural consequence. Now, the two essentials to conveying words to the whole of a large audience are, a prow.pt co-ope- ration of the several vocal organs, and the power of sustaining that combination when required ; or, in other words, the co-operation of the several organs, so as to produce the most brilliant, firm, elegant, and round vocal tone, added to a clear articulation, with the promptitude necessary to rapid speaking, and at the same time to possess the power of controlling it when obtained, so as to fit it to long or short sylla- bles. To do this effectually it will be absolutely necessary to pay great attention to the pronunciation of the vowels ; for I am of opinion that however ex- pedient it may be that the consonants, in all their variety, should be pronounced with every attention to exactness, yet the grand source from whence the speaker should derive his power of transmitting speech is the proper fitting of the vowels, each in a APPENDIX. 173 perfect mould formed for it within the mouth. The outlay of a little trouble upon this matter at first will at once convince you that there is a practical reason why physiologists all agree that the vocal organs have a power to mould or concentrate a vi- brating column of air. Indeed, I have had abun- dant evidence of its being palpably felt, and it is to the attainment of this power that I will more parti- cularly direct your attention. In a work of mine on " The Structure and Man- agement of the Vocal Organ,"* I have endeavoured to explain this, but with what success in writing I will not venture to say ; but this I can affirm, that my pupils never fail in producing and feeling it, and that too in the course of a very few lessons. Now there are five vowels — these are all I think necessary at first — which should be diligently prac- tised until the mould for each one becomes automatic ; and the plan of procedure I would recommend is, to begin by reading aloud several times the same pas- sage deliberately, as in speaking or reading to an audience, each time varying the pitch or tonic of the voice — in fact, intoning — and you will soon discover which pitch appears the most comfortable and tires you the least. You should then read the passage in the pitch you have found the easiest, giving to your reading the inflections which your mind suggests as being the best adapted to the subject. Sing now the vowel a, as pronounced in the Italian language, upon the same pitch, and also, upon the semitones im- mediately above and below it, to the extent to which you usually carry the inflections of your voice when reading or speaking, and upon each of these sounds * Published by Messrs. Cocks and Co. New Burlington St. 174 APPENDIX. endeavour to mould or fit the tone and articulation in its proper place in the mouth, in such a manner that the vibration of the vocal ligaments is free, the tone brilliant, and the articulation clear, bearing in mind that it is your aim to aid its conveyance or travelling properties by & forward or outward pro- nunciation. After a few trials the mouth will be found to " lay hold of" the tone, and you will have little difficulty in sustaining it. An hour's practice at this every day will soon establish in your mind the note upon which you feel the sensation of " laying hold of the tone" in the most certain manner. This tone should then be made the base of operation, and should be practised until it can be produced at pleasure. The base or foundation tone having been formed it will now be necessary to pass to the semitone above it, and, as another exercise, to the semitone below it, singing the two notes in one breath, so as to carry with you, to the next note, the sensation and mould- ing which you have experienced in the note which is your base of operation. When this can be done with ease, and the same quality of tone and articu- lation produced upon both the notes, this practice should be extended to the entire range of semitones in the compass of the usual inflections of voice in reading.* If this exercise be clearly understood and felt, * The advantages to be derived from singing these vowels will be at once obvious. The prolongation of the vowel sounds so much beyond their ordinary speaking value will materially assist you in forming a proper and effective mould for each one in the mouth. The vocal organs having taken their position, and you are endeavouring to maintain or sus- tain it, the prolongation of it gives you time, not only to APPENDIX. lib there will be very little difficulty in changing the vowel a to i (Italian pronunciation) ; and so on with all the others, fitting each vowel in like manner : in fact, allowing the base or foundation of the vocal tone to remain the same, and simply varying the ornamentation or change of vowel according to your own desires. This, then, at once establishes the power of transmitting these five vowels to the re- quired distance; after which the numerous modifi- cations of them, and their relation to consonants, may be readily got over. Do not suppose that this is to be effectually accomplished without some trouble. But be assured that the careful devoting of a portion of each day to the practice of such exercises as these will soon bring the muscular organs of the voice under control. This control really consists in the total subjection of the physical powers of the vocal organ to the direction of the mind, and hence those varied and pleasing inflections of the speaking voice which, when combined with fluent and carefully constructed sen- tences and an earnestness of purpose, produce that elegant and eloquent delivery that becomes almost irresistible. The " stirring tones of earnestness" are, no doubt, always in a degree efficacious in arresting the atten- tion of an audience ; but how much more powerful would the effect of these " stirring tones" be had they been previously cultivated with a due regard to ascertain the exact amount of concentrating capacity and pro- pelling power you have gained, but also to study, test, and feel each of the articulate positions with such certainty, that they may eventually be changed, varied, or modified, with the rapidity required in^ speaking, without losing in the slight- est degree their clearness and brilliancy of expression. 176 APPENDIX. their individual beauty and the power of convey- ing, in combination, an articulation at once clear, expressive, and unmistakable. The natural constitution of the vocal organs differs in each individual. In some persons the organs are free and flexible in their action and easy of control, that is, they are susceptible of the most delicate im- pressions ; and in such cases the mind of the speaker, being thoroughly engrossed with the sentiment he wishes to convey, will doubtless attract the hearer's attention and impress his mind with similar emotions. But what is to be said of the organs which, on the contrary, are stiff, hard, and unwieldy, and whose owners have difficulty in correctly intoning two sim- ple sounds ? In such cases there might be even a greater de- gree of" evident feeling" experienced by the speaker or singer, but it has no effect upon the organs, they will not answer to the dictation of the mind ; in fact, it is a rusty engine that must be cleaned and oiled before it can be made to work. Force it, and you will break it ; use it kindly and coaxingly, and you may bring it under subjection. My own experience in the teaching of singing has been, that I have seldom questioned the student's desire to effect what was proposed for him, but have invariably found the power of volition insufficient to control the muscular portion of the organs, in con- sequence of their habitual rigidity and obstinacy in refusing to work with freedom. I therefore believe it to arise from the almost universal habit of a forced preparation to sing, which at once confines the ope- ration of the organs or fixes them so tightly that the volition (however powerfully exerted) fails to in- fluence them. APPENDIX. 177 In illustration of this I can instance numerous cases, in which not only the natural compass of the voice has been lessened, but the quality of tone im- paired, by the obstinate resistance of the vocal organs to anything like elasticity, and have afterwards found, by adopting even the most simple measures to relieve the oppression — such as making the pupil walk round the room, and, whilst walking, attempt to sing the same exercise that had so often failed — and this trifling act has so drawn off the forced pre- paration that the upward scale has been extended instantaneously as many as four or five notes, and the downward scale in like proportion, to the great delight both of myself and pupil. Of the necessity of a very spare use of the breath, I will give one or two illustrations ; and they are these : — The near approximation of the vocal ligaments at the commencement of speaking or singing would be likely to be prevented if a stream of breath either too copious or too impulsive were forced between them, and thus their freedom in vibrating would be partially checked ; besides, a large portion of the emitted air would pass out without its being acted upon by the vibrations of the vocal ligaments, and thus a whistling sound would be intermingled with the vibrations, causing what is generally known by the term " huskiness. ,, Just as if we allow the entire pressure of a gasometer to have its full force upon a small jet burner, the flame will be irregular and buzzing, whilst, if the pressure be regulated accord- ing to the capacity of the jet, a brilliant flame of per- fect outline will be the result. Let it not be understood that I by any means N 178 APPENDIX. accept the notion that a good singer must necessa- rily be a good speaker, or vice versa. Certainly not ! But this I do believe — that if the speaker were to cultivate his voice for speaking with equal care and system that the singer cultivates his for singing, both will ultimately reap the same advan- tages in their separate spheres of action. The limits of a communication such as the pre- 1 sent precludes my saying more than this — that should I by these few remarks have succeeded in drawing closer the relation between singing and public speak- ing or reading, and in showing the necessity of a systematic cultivation of the voice, I shall rejoice that I have been thus enabled to direct attention, even in so slight a degree, to the consideration of so important a matter. Believe me to remain, dear Sir, Yours faithfully, Fred. Kingsbury. 18, Cecil Street, Strand. P. S. In support of my whole theory I might appeal to the fact of a singer, possessed of no extraordinary phy- sical or mental qualifications, being able to make himself distinctly heard in the extreme parts of a very large edi- fice, and that too without any perceptible or painful effort ; also to the well-known fact that where the voice is cultivated to a high degree of artistic excellence, it will often be heard to rise clearly and distinctly above the sound of a band and chorus. This superiority is un- doubtedly gained by the tone and travelling properties of the voice being properly cultivated. APPENDIX. 179 Nov. 20, 1859. 1" ORD * presents his compliments to the Rev. J. J. Halcombe, and is happy to comply with the re- quest which is contained in the note on p. 47 of " The Speaker at Home." Having often heard that the longer a member sits in the House of Commons without speaking, the harder it is for him to make a beginning, I determined to lose no time in delivering my maiden speech. It had not, until last election, been my intention to enter Parlia- ment ; so that I had never " got up" any political sub- jects. It was therefore necessary, before any speech could even be planned, that I should take a subject and study, so as to form definite opinions upon it. The fol- lowing plan I adopted. Having chosen for my topic, I read all the debates and pamphlets which could throw any light upon it, and wrote very numerous notes while reading. When this part of the labour was accomplished, I reviewed the notes, and arranged them under heads, in an order which had suggested itself to my mind. I then cast out all that appeared to be irre- levant, and whatever did not make straight for the point at which I wished to aim. To make a short schedule of the various heads, together with memoranda of some embellishments and illustrations was my next care. And when this schedule was clearly imprinted on my mind, I frequently spoke the speech over to myself whilst out walking, in order to accustom myself to various modes of expression. Then I wrote out the whole speech, bestowing particular attention upon the Exor- dium and on the Peroration. And lastly, I learnt these * The blank spaces have been left in accordance with a request to that effect made by the writer of the above in a subsequent letter. 180 APPENDIX. two parts by heart, but never looked again at the rest of the speech. The same plan (leaving much more to the chances of the critical moment) I have found to answer on less important occasions. T^HE following incident will illustrate the advantage of speaking naturally and not straining the voice. A clergyman, on first preaching in a large London church, had requested a friend to seat himself at the extreme end of the church, to tell him whether he succeeded in making himself heard. His friend reported that in the prayer before the sermon, when he spoke without the least effort, and in an earnest but subdued voice, he was perfectly audible ; but that during the sermon, when he evidently exerted himself to the utmost, scarcely a word was distinguished. THE END. CHISWICK PRESS :— PRINTED BY CHARLES WHITTINGHAM, TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS ■■■■■II #■ 027 249 843 A