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PREFACE.

THE following Work was undertaken almost from necessity. In his professional practice, the Author daily felt the want of collected material to exemplify principles, and to furnish pupils with the means of private exercise upon them. When a defective articulation was to be corrected, a dialectic vowel-habit anglicised, a cold and inexpressive, a monotonous or an extravagant delivery, to be naturalized, it was by no means enough to point out the nature of the error, and exemplify the mode of utterance to be substituted: habit was to be overcome, and a new habit was to be cultivated to supplant the old. Permanent improvement could only be effected by continuous practice, for which sufficient material could not be obtained without more labour than pupils can generally bestow. Written exercises were necessarily brief, and too much was left to private industry in collecting the means of improvement. Principles, orally imparted, were, of necessity, too briefly explained in the very short course to which Elocutionary instruction is generally limited; and the student's memory could not be expected to retain them fully and with practicable correctness. It became, therefore, necessary that a text-book of Principles and Exercises should be in his hand.

In the preparation of this Work, the Author has endeavoured to write-not merely for the use of pupils, to whom a defective description in the book may be orally supplemented in the class-room, but-for those to whom such additional instruction is not, and can not be, available. How far he has succeeded in this, remains to be proved. He has studied to preserve the utmost simplicity of arrangement, and to avoid overloading principles by unnecessary rules. He has not followed in the steps of any preceding writer, either as to his Theory, or his plan of developing it; but he has observed Nature for himself, and recorded his observations after his own fashion. The science of Elocution seemed to him to want an A B C, and he has endeavoured to supply the deficiency.

Directions as to the mode of using the Book are not necessary in this place, as these may be fully gathered from the body of the Work; but a few general observations on this subject may not be superfluous.

The theories of Respiration, of Voice, of Vowel Formation, and of Inflexion, should first be studied; and the Exercises appended to each should be practically mastered. Any defect of Vowel Quality, or of Articulation must next be perfected by special exercises on the defective elements. Then, the theory of Articulation should be read, and the exercises on Articulation, Quantity, Accent, Rhythm, and Verbal Groupings, should be practised with the careful

Α

NEW ELUCIDATION

OF

THE PRINCIPLES OF SPEECH

AND

ELOCUTION;

A FULL THEORETICAL DEVELOPMENT,

WITH NUMEROUS

PRACTICAL EXERCISES,

FOR THE

CORRECTION OF IMPERFECT, OR THE RELIEF OF IMPEDED UTTERANCE,

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W. P. KENNEDY, ST ANDREW STREET;
GLASGOW: D. BRYCE; ABERDEEN: G. DAVIDSON ;
LONDON: HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND CO. ;
DUBLIN: J. M'GLASHAN.

MDCCCXLIX.

BODL

EDINBURGH: PRINTED BY THORNTON & COLLIE,

19 ST DAVID STREET.

PREFA CСЕ.

THE following Work was undertaken almost from necessity. In his professional practice, the Author daily felt the want of collected material to exemplify principles, and to furnish pupils with the means of private exercise upon them. When a defective articulation was to be corrected, a dialectic vowel-habit anglicised, a cold and inexpressive, a monotonous or an extravagant delivery, to be naturalized, it was by no means enough to point out the nature of the error, and exemplify the mode of utterance to be substituted: habit was to be overcome, and a new habit was to be cultivated to supplant the old. Permanent improvement could only be effected by continuous practice, for which sufficient material could not be obtained without more labour than pupils can generally bestow. Written exercises were necessarily brief, and too much was left to private industry in collecting the means of improvement. Principles, orally imparted, were, of necessity, too briefly explained in the very short course to which Elocutionary instruction is generally limited; and the student's memory could not be expected to retain them fully and with practicable correctness. It became, therefore, necessary that a text-book of Principles and Exercises should be in his hand.

In the preparation of this Work, the Author has endeavoured to write-not merely for the use of pupils, to whom a defective description in the book may be orally supplemented in the class-room, but-for those to whom such additional instruction is not, and can not be, available. How far he has succeeded in this, remains to be proved. He has studied to preserve the utmost simplicity of arrangement, and to avoid overloading principles by unnecessary rules. He has not followed in the steps of any preceding writer, either as to his Theory, or his plan of developing it; but he has observed Nature for himself, and recorded his observations after his own fashion. The science of Elocution seemed to him to want an A B C, and he has endeavoured to supply the deficiency.

Directions as to the mode of using the Book are not necessary in this place, as these may be fully gathered from the body of the Work; but a few general observations on this subject may not be superfluous.

The theories of Respiration, of Voice, of Vowel Formation, and of Inflexion, should first be studied; and the Exercises appended to each should be practically mastered. Any defect of Vowel Quality, or of Articulation must next be perfected by special exercises on the defective elements. Then, the theory of Articulation should be read, and the exercises on Articulation, Quantity, Accent, Rhythm, and Verbal Groupings, should be practised with the careful

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