SPEECH AND SONG. 105 



the great business of life, the making of speeches. In this system 

 of education the development of the voice naturally held a large 

 place, and the phonascus, or voice-driller, was an indispensable 

 accessory, not only of every school of oratory, but of many formed 

 orators. Of the methods of the phonascus we know little, but we 

 find hints in some of the classical writers that, like certain of his 

 professional brethren in more recent days, he was not disinclined 

 to magnify his office. Seneca, in one of his letters, warns his 

 friend against living, vocally speaking, in subjection to his pho- 

 nascus, and implies that he might as well keep another artist to 

 superintend his walking. In our own day the phonascus still sur- 

 vives in public life, though perhaps more as a luxury than an 

 acknowledged necessity. A celebrated novelist, dramatic author, 

 and orator, who passed over to the great majority many years 

 ago, used always to put himself under the guidance of a vocal 

 mentor before delivering a speech. Every tone, every pose, and 

 every gesture was carefully prepared and industriously practiced, 

 under the direction of Mr. Frederick Webster, brother of the cele- 

 brated comedian, Benjamin Webster. That the elaborate train- 

 ing of the ancients was eminently successful is shown by the pow- 

 ers of endurance which it is clear they must have possessed. They 

 habitually spoke for five or six hours, and even longer, and, in 

 order to appreciate their staying power, it must be remembered 

 that they spoke in the open air, amid all the tumult of the forum, 

 which was capable of holding eighty thousand people, and with 

 an amount and vigor of action of which the gesticulations of an 

 Italian preacher are but a pale reflex. Long-windedness was at 

 one time cultivated as a fine art by Roman orators, when they had 

 to plead before a judge whom they supposed to be in favor of the 

 other side. These prototypes of our modern obstructionists were 

 aptly termed moratores, or delayers, because they postponed as far 

 as possible the passing of the sentence. The abuse finally reached 

 such a height that a law had to be passed limiting the length of 

 pleadings in public cases to the running out of one clepsydra. It 

 is impossible to say exactly what period of time this was equivalent 

 to, as the water-clocks of the Romans were of different sizes, and the 

 rapidity of flow must have varied under different circumstances ; 

 from twenty minutes to half an hour may, however, be taken as 

 roughly representing the average length of a speech under this 

 strict system of "closure." On the whole, I think we use the 

 voice in public even more than the ancients, and there is, there- 

 fore, all the more reason for its being properly trained. Good 

 speaking is nowadays important, not only from the artistic but 

 from the business point of view ; and, even for " practical men," it 

 can not be a waste of time to acquire so valuable a faculty. These 

 arguments may perhaps seem superfluous, as the proposition they 



