practice of declaiming extemporaneously, as to offer suitable directions for the cultivation of that useful art. We hasten, therefore, to direct attention to the following precepts; not, however, as embracing every item of instruction applicable to the case, but simply as embodying the most prominent and available guidance in this line of intellectual exertion.

In delivering these instructions, it is of course assumed, that the party receiving them has an earnest desire to become a good extemporaneous speaker, and is, therefore, willing and ready, as far as may be practicable, to follow them out in a spirit of zeal and perseverance. This is an indispensable preliminary to any sort of success in the matter; for no idle aspirations, no lazy wishes, unaccompanied by resolution and industry, can ever achieve a position worth occupying in the arena of public debate.

The first rule which we shall here lay down, as conducive, if rightly followed, to skill in the use of extemporaneous language, is-Endeavor always to think clearly and methodically.

Thinking and speaking, as before intimated, are things correlative. They stand in the relation of cause and effect. When, therefore, it is the settled habit of the mind to think in an orderly and perspicuous manner, it follows naturally that the tongue, which is under the guidance of the mind, should utter words in a corresponding style.

In order to the efficient application of this rule, let the young speaker often assume, as an intellectual gymnastic, some debatable subject for the exercise of his mental powers. Let him then deal with it as with

a thing of reality, a question of real life. Let him acquire an interest, an enthusiasm, if possible, in its management. Let him survey it as a whole, study it in detail, detect its deficiencies, bring out its excellencies, and hold it up to the light in all possible aspects. Let him consider in how many ways the point which he wishes to make can be presented and defended, and, among these, which is the most likely to be fully understood, and fairly appreciated.

When all this is done in the mind, let him try the experiment of putting the whole process into extemporaneous language. The result will be the measure of his proficiency in the art; and, if rightly regarded, cannot fail, at every repetition of the exercise, to prove a healthful stimulus to renewed exertion.

The second rule is-Be in the constant habit of seeking the best possible language for the expression of your ideas, even in ordinary conversation.

As the best school of practical morals is the society of moral people, so the best exercise in oral expression is conversation with refined and educated persons. The converse of this statement is also painfully true. "Evil communications corrupt good manners," says the Apostle; and some one has aptly added-" and good language too!"

He, therefore, who aims to be a good deliberative orator, must be ever equally on the alert to catch what is choice and correct, and to avoid what is vulgar and inaccurate, in his daily intercourse with others. It is not enough to exercise particular care on particular occasions. It must be a thing of habit, growing out of a settled purpose to be superior in the power of speech

The third rule is-Read often and carefully the best specimens of deliberative eloquence.

An intelligent application of this rule requires that the student should become familiar with many particu lars bearing upon what he reads. What is the precise nature of the proposition which the speaker advocates or opposes? What are his own personal relations to it? What is the character or constitution of the body whom he addresses? What the time, the place, the circumstances, wherein the speech was delivered? All these and other kindred inquiries he should make, in order to put himself duly in sympathy with the parties originally and really interested in the case.

Then let him observe accurately the speech itself; its opening, the order and relative force of the several arguments adduced, the skill displayed in evading or obviating objections, the pertinency of the illustrations, the facility and naturalness of the transitions from one topic to another, the closing remarks or peroration, and, throughout the whole, every grace and every elegance in the structure of individual sentences or passages.

The fourth rule is-Exercise your powers often in the practice of written composition.

Writing," says Lord Bacon, "makes an accurate man," and this is the testimony of every scholar. The rule, however, which we are now commending, has several modes of application. If the student is acquainted with any language other than his vernacular, one of the easiest applications of the present rule is the translating of passages out of that foreign language into his own. Every sentence thus translated is an ex

ercise, however brief, in English composition; a fact which accounts for the greater facility in the use of language, which boys who have studied, even for comparatively short periods of time, the Latin and Greek languages, than is found in the possession of those who are without that advantage.

He, however, who knows no other than his native. tongue, may adopt, with the greatest benefit, a custom, commended and adopted by Cicero and other great speakers, in their youth,-that of reading carefully a passage from some great oration or other literary composition, getting the substance of it fairly in the memory, and then putting it again into language the best you can command. There is, also, another way of reaching the result contemplated in this exercise, which the author of these observations has often found singularly efficient, in the prosecution of his duties as a practical educator. It is simply to place before the learner a given passage from a writer of established reputation, and then to require him to express, in words other than those of the author, the same idea; that is, neither more nor less than what is found in the passage assigned. This is an admirable method of acquiring precision of style, on which depends, in great measure, every other excellence of composition.

But a higher application of the present rule for the cultivation of skill in speaking, is that which obliges the young orator to engage frequently in the practice of original composition. In this, if he would be proficient, he must study to bring into actual and appropriate use those essential principles and precepts which, under the imposing names of Grammar and Rhetoric,

all terminate at last in justifying that brief definition of a good style," proper words in proper places."

By the due application of this rule, whether in one or in all of the ways above indicated, the mind becomes habituated to close and accurate thinking, familiar with various forms of expression, and ready, when the occasion demands, to display its resources in fluent and forceful language.

The fifth and last general rule which we shall here give for acquiring superiority in extemporaneous speaking, is Be always diligent in the acquisition of knowledge.

The aim of this rule is especially to reach the case of those who, relying upon a certain natural readiness of utterance, are but too apt to fall into the deplorable habit of undertaking to speak without having any thing in particular to say. He that fails from this cause, deserves to fail; for he equally deceives himself and his audience; mistaking sound for sense, and raising expectations which he is not able to satisfy. A glib tongue in an empty head is no common calamity.

There is no kind of knowledge, as before intimated, which may not be useful to the deliberative speaker. Such is the variety of the questions which he may find it necessary or desirable to discuss, that no mental treasures, however extensive or diversified, can exceed the limits of his actual wants.

It was no mere fancy that led the ancients to adopt the principle, that the genuine orator should be com petently acquainted with every department of knowledge. Not that, even in their day, the orator could be