2 62 
EDUCATION. 
from a defeCl or a fault in their mode of elocution. It 
is therefore become a very defirable objeCl in education 
to enable boys to fpeak well. It the boy is defigned for 
the church, or tne law, u o auiuiumj tc j ie 
is defigned for no particular profeflion, yet a clear u!!u 
correCt utterance is a valuable acquifition. A part of the 
time fpent at fchool fhould always be devoted to the 
purfuit of this ufeful, elegant, and manly, accomplifh- 
ment. The proper mode, then, of purfuing it, is all that 
claims our prefent examination. At the age of thirteen, 
provided the boy is fufficiently advanced in the daffies, 
lie fhould enter on the art of fpeaking. There are many 
books written on it, and many rules are ufually given to 
the (Indent, previoufly to his entrance on the practice. 
Natural fenfe and natural fade, a good ear, and well- 
fornied organs of fpeech, under the guidance of a fkilful 
jnflrudtor, will effectually accompliili this purpofe, with¬ 
out any painful attention to dry and unentertaining rules 
of art, which often give an appearance of difficulty to 
purfuits in themfelves eafy and pleafant. 
Once in every week, fcholars of the ;lge and qualifica¬ 
tions already fpecified, fhould rehearfe, in the hearing of 
all the boys in a fchool, feated in form as auditors, fome 
celebrated paflage from Demofthenes, Plato, Homer, Ci¬ 
cero, Livy, Virgil, Milton, Shakefpeare, Pope, or Addi- 
fon. We totally difapprove the pradtice of fchool-boys’ 
fpeaking their own declamations; unlefs it be occafionally, 
and as an honorary reward for a good compofition. A 
fine piece of writing contributes greatly to facilitate a 
fine utterance. Few boys can write fuch a Latin or Eng- 
lifli declamation as is proper to difplay, to advantage, the 
graces of elocution. It may alfo be noted, that learning 
by heart the mod beautiful paffages of the fined authors, 
is a very great collateral advantage attending the dudy 
of the art of fpeaking. - The fird objeCt is, to habituate 
the fcholar to fpeak flowly and dirtinCtly. Let fome 
months be employed in obtaining thefc primary and im¬ 
portant points ; for a flow and diftindt utterance is a va¬ 
luable attainment. One of the bed methods of intro¬ 
ducing it, is, to infid, during the exercife, that every 
fyllable, but efpecially the lad, fhall clearly, and alntod 
feparately, drike the ear. Boys are apt to drop the lad 
fyllable. They mud not however dwell upon it too 
long. Caution is neceffary, to prevent the flow and dif- 
timll manner from degenerating to the heavy and the 
fluggifh. But this feldom happens. Boys of parts are 
generally too voluble : they oftener want the bridle than 
the fpur. During this procefs, all monotony, and, indeed, 
all difagreeable tones whatever, mud be carefully cor¬ 
rected. For if they are differed to grow into a habit, the 
difficulty of removing them becomes great indeed. When 
a flow and didinft utterance is thus obtained, the graces 
of elocution will claim the pupil’s attention. And here 
let the inftrudtor carefully avoid teaching a bold, an af- 
fedted, and a theatrical, manner. Modedy, whatever 
fome injudicious parents may think, is one of the mod 
becoming graces of a boy. When he fpeaks in public, 
it is one of the fined rhetorical ornaments that can be 
ufed. The bed writers on the fubjedt of rhetoric have 
preferibed the appearance of modedy, even in men. It 
is not therefore wonderful, that the want of it in boys 
(and it mud always be wanting where a theatrical man¬ 
ner is adopted) fhould give difgud. A loud rant, and a 
violent tone of voice, can never pleafe in a boy, unlefs, 
indeed, he is adting a play. But as few' boys are fent to 
fchool to be prepared for a theatrical life, the theatrical 
manner ought to be exploded from the fchools. The 
claffical manner fhould alone prevail in every feminary 
devoted to ancient learning ; for there, if ancient learn¬ 
ing is properly underdood and cultivated, tade and grace 
in fpeaking mud prevail. 
It is ufual in many fchools to act Englifii plays. The 
exercife may poliibly improve the boys in utterance, 
but there are many inconveniences attending it. The 
various preparations, and the rehearfals, break in greatly 
upon the time which ought to he fpent in claffical and 
grammatical dudy. Nor is the lofs of time the only 
evil. The boy’s attention becomes engroffed by his part, 
which he is to perform before a large and mixed audience. 
-'-rr‘ f~- *J— J ' r --7 -- 1 -- r- r , ~n 7-rv n _ 
fpire .to captivate his imagination, and to make him lay 
alide his lexicon and grammar. Some moral corruption 
may alfo arife from feveral cirpumdances unavoidable in 
the reprefentation. The theatrical mode of fpeaking, 
too, which has been acquired by it, has feldom pleafed 
good judges. Perhaps fome improvement may arife from 
acting a play of Terence or Sophocles ; but it cannot be 
defirable, that a boy fhould acquire that love and habit 
of declaiming, which may introduce him to fpouting- 
clubs or difputing focieties. Nor can it be fuppofed, 
that elegance of dile, of fentiment, or of utterance, is of¬ 
ten found in fuch unfeledted atfbciations. 
Having rejected the forward, the pompous, and the 
declamatory, dyle, the pupil (hould aim at the claffical: 
we mean a clear, didindt, emphatic, and elegant, utter¬ 
ance, without affectation. To a vulgar and an illiterate 
audience, however, vehemence of action, and loudnefs of 
voice, often appear more truly eloquent than the grace¬ 
ful oratory of an Athenian. To (peak well, depends 
more on the corporal endowments, than many other ac- 
complifhments. Whatever learning and judgment the 
mind may have acquired, yet unlefs nature has formed 
the organs of fpeech in perfection, and unlefs die has 
given a confiderable degree of bodily drength to the ftu- 
dent, he will feldom become a didinguiflied fpeaker. Art 
and care may, however, affid him ; and, if they enable 
him to fpeak flowly and diflindtly, they will have done 
him great fervice. To conftitute a didinguiflied orator. 
Nature mud have done much more than have furniflied 
perfect organs of fpeech. She mud have given exquifite 
fenfibility. This, with cultivation under an indruCtor, 
who likewife poffeffes both fenfibility and perfect organs, 
will infallibly produce that noble accomplifliment which 
has charmed mankind, and occalioned fome of the greateft 
events in their hidory. This invaluable acquifition fhould 
therefore be feduloufly purfued by all who are defigned 
to fill that office, which is inftituted to indruct their fel¬ 
low-creatures in moral and religious truth. The negleCt 
of this important part of education has brought the regu¬ 
lar profeffors of religion into contempt among the lower 
orders of the people ; among thofe who, for want of other 
opportunities, Hand mod in need of inftrudtion from the 
pulpit. It has given a great advantage to the fedtaries, 
and perfons irregularly educated, who fpare no endea¬ 
vours to acquire that forcible and ferious kind of deli¬ 
very, which powerfully affedls the devout mind. The 
confequence is natural, though lamentable. Tabernacles 
are crowded, and churches deferted. This is the fird 
and mod to be regretted evil of a partial or inadequate 
progrefs in the powers of elocution. The next is the 
depravation in the prefent date of the eloquence of the 
bar. With forrow be it fpoken, that this profeflion has 
greatly degenerated from that liberal oratory which im¬ 
mortalized a Cicero, and which was defigned to defend 
the caufe of the fatherlefs and the widow, and to protect 
the injured, by lending truth the afildance of abilities. 
Indead of this noble exertion of the oratorical powers, 
W'e now too commonly fee indelicacy and want of candour 
mark the modern pleader. The unmanly advantage too 
which he takes of his fituation, to make free with refpedt- 
able characters, often degrades him below the rank of a 
fcholar, a man of humanity, a Chridian, and a gentleman. 
A good education commonly infpires a good tajle; or 
that delicate faculty which is fenfibly delighted with all 
that is beautiful and fublime, and dilguded with all that 
is coarfe or inelegant. To read without tade, is like tra¬ 
velling through a delightful country, without remarking 
the richnefs and variety of the profpeCts. From fuch ail 
excurfion, more fatigue mud arife than pleafure. In¬ 
deed, the dallies^arc entirely the objects of tafte ; and he 
who 
