1. The Head and Face. The hanging down of the head denotes shame, or grief; the holding it up, pride, or courage. To nod forward implies assent; to toss the head back, dissent. The inclination of the head implies bashfulness, or languor. The head is averted in dislike, or horror; it leans forward in attention. 2. The Eyes. The eyes are raised in prayer. They weep in sor row; they burn in anger. They are cast on vacancy in thought; they are thrown in different directions in doubt and anxiety. 3. The Arms. The arm is projected forward in authority. Both arms are spread extended in-admiration. They are held forward in imploring help; they both fall suddenly in disappointment. 4. The Hands. The hand on the head indicates pain, or distress; on the eyes, shame. On the lips, injunction of silence; on the breast, it appeals to conscience, or intimates desire. The hand waves or flourishes in joy, or contempt. Both hands are held supine, or clasped, in prayer; both descend prone, in blessing. They are clasped, or wrung, in affliction; they are held forward, and received, in friendship. 5. The Body. The body, held erect, indicates steadiness and courage; thrown back, pride. Stooping forward; condescension, or compassion; Bending, reverence, or respect. Prostration, the utmost humility, or abasement. 6. The Lower Limbs. Their firm position signifies courage, or ob stinacy. Bended knees, timidity, or weakness; frequent change, disturbed thoughts. They advance in desire, or courage; they retire in aversion, or fear. They start in terror; they stamp in authority, or anger; they kneel in submission, and prayer. 6. "The organs of the body must be attuned to the organs of the mind." The eye and gesture must often coincide in the same line of direction, producing, at times, the magical effect of making the audience see (by the eye of the mind) the location pointed out, and the scenery described. Take the follow ing example, and apply the above rule to its delivery: Yon eagle, ah! how joyously he soars up to the glorious heavens ; the bird of liberty; the bird of America! His throne is on the mountain top, And hoary peaks, that proudly prop The skies, his dwellings are. 7. The gestures must be appropriate to the sentiment, and follow, hand in hand, with the tracery of the thought. Let the following illustrations be recited with this view: 1. See through this air, this ocean, and this earth, 2. He scours the right hand coast, sometimes the left; Up to the fiery concave towering high. 8. First, then, there must exist in the mind the clearly de fined, great, good, or beautiful thought. 9. Second, there must be given the proper sound, look, and gesture to that thought. 10. Third, the breathing forth of the soul, through the whole outward man, all his powers harmoniously blended in action, gives "That charm to delivery, that magical art, That thrills like a kiss, from the lip to the heart." SPECIMENS FOR READING AND SPEAKING. The following brief, miscellaneous specimens, including a great variety both of style and sentiment, are inserted, to be used as models of expression in the various styles of reading and speaking. The student will here find the lively and pathetic, the tragic and comic, the sublime and beautiful, the pa triotic and devotional. Guided by the preceding rules, let teacher and pupils closely study the sense and style of each specimen, and dwell upon it until they can give each its natural expression. 1. Talking. Son. How big was Alexander, Pa, His spear an hundred weight? Father. O no, my son, about as large 'Twas not his stature made him great, 2. To the Sun-(Monotone.) O thou that rollest above, round as the shield of my fathers! Whence are thy beams, O sun, thy everlasting light? Thou comest forth in thy awful beauty; the stars hide themselves in the sky; the moon, cold and pale, sinks in the western wave. But thou thyself movest alone. 3. Liberty. But in Cato's judgment, a day, an HOUR of virtuous liberty is worth a whole ETERNITY in bondage 4. Man. What a piece of work is man; how noble in reason; how infinite in faculties; in form and moving how express and admirable; in action how like an angel; in apprehension how like a God! 5. Immortality. It must be so.-Plato, thou reasonest well! Else, whence this pleasing hope, this fond desire, 'Tis heaven itself that points out an hereafter, Eternity! thou pleasing, dreadful thought! 6. Triumph of Virtue. As some tall cliff that rears its awful form, Swells from the plain, and midway leaves the storm, 7. Praise God. To Thee, whose temple is all space, One chorus let all beings raise, All nature's incense rise. 8. What I Love. I love to set me on some steep, I love to see the big waves fly, Then burst upon the shore. 9. What I Hate. I hate to see a little dunce, I hate to see his shabby dress, With blacking on his hands and face, 10. Golden Rule. To do to others as I would That they should do to me, Will make me honest, kind and good, 11. Picture of Thought. The scene was enchanting; in distance away, With their mantles of verdure, and blossoms of gold; And the earth in her beauty, forgetting to grieve, Lay asleep in her bloom on the bosom of eve. 12. Tragic Thought. O, could my dying hand but lodge a sword 13. Beautiful Thought. As the goddess of music takes down her lute, touches its silver cords, and sets the summer melodies of nature to words; so an angel from the spirit-land comes to us in our sweetest slumber, and gently awakens our highest faculties to the finest thought and serenest contemplation. |