gt. Pray. Thas. C. Kuchlard 6-6-30 PRELIMINARY. IN a Lecture on Education, delivered at the Royal Institution, London, J. R. Seeley, A.M., Professor of Modern History in the University of Cambridge, places Elocution in the foremost rank. He says: "The first thing is that boys should be taught elocution. To this I attach great importance. It is more than one hundred years since Bishop Berkeley propounded the question, whether half the learning and talent in England were not lost because elocution was not taught in schools and colleges? The same question might be repeated now; and it is not merely for its practical use in after life to those whose profession demands public speaking, that I desire to see elocution made a part of education, but because by this means, more than any other, may be evoked in the minds of boys a taste for poetry and eloquence.' I venture to hope that this Manual may prove of service to those who may desire to follow the above advice, either as teachers or learners. GESTURE. Easy, graceful, and appropriate gesture adds greatly to the effect of a good delivery; but excess and formality in action are vices as much to be avoided as pedantry and over-emphasis in speech. In vitium ducit culpæ fuga si caret arte.' ‘The happy mean can only be acquired by practice, on a good system.' Nature and art must go hand in hand. Ego nec studium sine divite venâ, Nec rude quid possit video ingenium; alterius sic GEORGE VANDENHOFF. January, 1878. |