The false intonation thus cherished in academies and colleges, reäppears in professional life, in the dry, mechanical modulation of the lawyer, the heavy and somnolent tones of the clergyman, and the inexplicable dumb show and noise' of the popular declaimer. The office of elocution is to enable the student to detect and avoid the various forms of error in general usage, and in the habits of the individual, to assist him in throwing off the load of unmeaning and unnatural custom, and to give him direct access to the hearts of others, by the true and full expression of his own. But even if there were no obstructions to progress, such as those which have been described,-did every student actually enjoy the advantage of starting on his mental career, unembarrassed by any hinderance of habit or circumstance,— the very growth and expansion of his intellectual character, would be ever making new demands for a commensurate power of expression. A mind furnished with all possible accumulations of thought,-to him who cannot give them utterance, is but the locked coffer, without its key.'-Every step up the steep of knowledge, calls forth, in the rightly constituted mind, a new fountain of emotion, a new world of association for scope to the inventive faculty, and therefore de may be very plausible: its injurious effect on the branch of education which is concerned in it, is obvious. So indifferent is the community, as yet, to this important part of education, that when Mr. J. E. Murdoch, the most accomplished elocutionist in the United States, made the most arduous efforts to establish a permanent seminary for elocutionary instruction, his exertions met with no adequate support; so that, after presenting to the city of Boston one of the noblest opportunities ever offered for oratorical training, he has been permitted to tranfer his admirable talents to the sphere of the stage. The youth who desires the benefit of culture in elocution, must rely on his own diligence. The transient and imperfect aid to which our literary institutions now limit him, can effect but little. To communities such as ours, in which public speaking is so frequently the indispensable duty of individuals, an ample provision for instruction in the art of elocution, might be justly expected to exist. But its absence necessarily devolves on students individually the greater exertion, in self-culture. mands a new power of utterance. Fidelity to the duty of self-cultivation, requires of the student that he wrestle for the noblest achievements of self-mastery, in the acquisition of that power by which his organic constitution may become the worthy minister of his mind, and yield it a free and adequate utterance to others, of whatever sheds light on his own path, or imparts a new throb of life to his own heart. But the obligation becomes inexpressibly enhanced, when we transfer it to the highest subjects of thought, and the purest movements of benevolent feeling. It is among the ordinations of Infinite wisdom, that, of all parts of man's organic structure, those which are employed in the functions of voice, are the most susceptible of culture and discipline. Look at the difference between the tunehummings of the little boy, and the wonderful and impressive execution of the consummate vocalist. A similar transition may be made in speech, by every human being who has sufficient force and steadfastness of will to insure the requisite diligence in practice. The sense of duty, applied in this direction, will work its wonted wonders; and every day's observation furnishes to the elocutionist the most striking examples of individuals commencing a course of self-culture, under immense disadvantages of neglected habit and false training, yet achieving, within a few months, a complete triumph over all such obstacles, and becoming animated, correct, and impressive speakers. The claims of liberal education, on all who have enjoyed its benefits, seem to demand the perceptible fruits of mental culture in the student's acts of communication with his fellowmen. Rudeness of speech is a venial thing in the uneducated; but it is utterly unjustifiable in those who sustain to general society the weighty responsibilities which rest upon the scholar. To him who enjoys the stores of mental wealth, Humanity says, 'Be not a niggard of thy wealth: be not a niggard of thy speech, which may impart that wealth, without impoverishing thyself.' To the occupant of the pulpit, the beseeching voices of ignorance, of suffering, of degradation, all are lifted up, pleading for light, for sympathy, for renovation, in tones that would seem to make man desire the possession of angelic powers to put forth on their behalf. The offer of aid comes, too generally, from a voice that, as far as the music of emotion is concerned,-bespeaks heartless indifference, listless apathy, utter inability to assist, or entire ignorance of the facts of the case. - Aside from such considerations, however, the importance of culture and skill in address, as an indispensable qualification for the right discharge of the public duties of the profession, is a subject which, at present, demands the earnest attention of students of theology. The public voice is loud and urgent on this point: the dissatisfaction with the deplorable deficiencies of manner which are so prevalent in the pulpit, is uttered with no sparing tone. Students, if they mingled more at large with the world, would hear expressions on this subject, which might well startle them. It is a general complaint, among congregations of every denomination, that the style of pulpit elocution is miserably low and defective. To hear a sermon is not unfrequently spoken of as a matter of endurance, on the score of manner. It is not transcending the strictest limit of truth, on this subject, to say that society has become impatient and clamorous in regard to it. Elocutionists are well aware of the fact, that not a few religious societies, in various denominations, request of their ministers to put themselves under training, with a view to the remedy of defects of manner, which are so great as to prove obstacles to professional usefulness. The desecrating effects of the practice, so frequent in American churches, of dismissing incumbents from their charge, are, in very many instances, to be traced to an uninteresting and unimpressive manner of preaching, as their original source. Of a hundred dismissions, not one can usually be found to have happened in the case of an earnest and eloquent preacher. No congregation considers itself as ex cepting the item of qualification for the pulpit, in their stipulations with the individual whom they receive as their pastor; and it is a prevalent impression, that no society can flourish under the charge of one who is an indifferent speaker. The world assumes due preparation for the duties of the pulpit, as a part of professional education. But, of all the theological institutions in the United States, there is not perhaps, one, which, by adequate arrangements to that effect, enables its students to receive the benefit of an express course of training in the art of speaking.* The mere opportunity of declaiming in turn, or some other expedient not more efficacious, is all that is usually enjoyed by way of preparation for one of the most important acts that man can be called to perform in presence of his fellow-men. Theologians have slumbered over this great question: and the result is just what might be expected. The duties of the pulpit are, for the most part, miserably performed; and the church and the world have to abide the consequences. Nor can the fact cease to be otherwise, while it is the fixed custom, at professional institutions, to devolve on one man the unreasonable load of labour inseparable from the double duty of teaching students to speak, as well as to write. But, say some, why make so much of this affair of external manner? Admitting that a persuasive speaker always wins us, that an earnest one impresses us, and that a dull one wearies us, why go through a long course of discipline to arrive at an earnest or a persuasive style of speaking? Does ment. * A similar deficiency, as to instruction and practice in elocution, exists in most of our universities. Harvard, the wealthiest of them all, is unable to afford her students the benefit of adequate aid in this departThe miserable arrangement of mingling the duty of hearing Declamation with that of attending to recitations in History and Political Economy, is all that this ancient and venerable institution is yet able to effect, in the way of providing instruction in the strictly useful art of speaking. The present incumbent who has charge of the laborious duty in question, does all that taste and talent can effect in such circumstances. But the load of exertion imposed, in his case, is more than any one man can sustain. it not all depend on earnest feeling or affectionate interest? Is anything more than earnestness or warmth required, to produce this effect? If a man really is in earnest, he must make people feel; it cannot be otherwise. So argues the merchant, who, never in his life, perhaps, wrote twenty pages of consecutive thought which he afterwards read or spoke in a public assembly: so argues, sometimes, the lawyer, who, in his busy life, is mingling continually with men in practical affairs, exciting and excited by the usual stimulants to communication,-interest, argument, professional repute; but who seldom has been subjected to the discipline of successive days of seclusion, and silence, and profound meditation on a vast theme, and then called from this life-quelling process to the life-exhausting one of public speaking, once a week,-three times, perhaps, on the same day, on themes which, by their very depth and solemnity, exhaust the cerebral and nervous systems, and, by the deep tones which they naturally require, equally exhaust the powers of utterance. The vicissitude which the clergyman is called to undergo, in passing from the process of the study to that of the pulpit, is one in which he makes an instantaneous transition from the sedentary and passive habits of the student, to the active and energetic exertions of the public speaker. The seclusion and stillness of the week, and the intensity of his daily mental action, have disqualified him, corporeally, for the function of vigorous and impressive utterance, on the broad scale of regular public address. To him the act of professional speaking, or still more, that of professional reading,-is peculiarly exhausting. Hence he is more frequently subjected to an impaired state of health, than one who, like the barrister, is less confined to the act of intense thought. To him it is doubly important that he should know how to use his voice skilfully,-effectively to others, and yet with ease to himself. The sedentary form of life to which he must ever be closely limited by the nature of his professional preparation, exposes |