GESTURE AND ATTITUDE. 21 ments of a very elevated or patriotic character have to be delivered, as is frequently the case in the perorations of the orators of antiquity. It must be remembered, also, that the eyes, and the countenance generally, should be directed upwards, following, as it were, the lead of the hand. But, in directing the attention of any person to an object supposed to be visible, the eye will first merely glance towards it, and then fix itself on the person addressed, while the finger continues to point. The position represented in diagram 4 would be proper in delivering such passages as follow: Hail, holy light! offspring of heaven first-born. Rise, O, ever rise! MILTON. Rise like a cloud of incense from the earth! COLERIDGE. O, liberty!-0, sound once delightful to every Roman ear! O, sacred privilege of Roman citizenship!- once sacred, now trampled upon! CICERO. Diagram 5.-Figures a and b in this diagram represent two speakers in a dialogue; the former in an attitude of entreaty, and the latter of denial. The positions may be applicable to passages like the following: Dreib DIAGRAM V.-ENTREATY AND DENIAL. Diagrams 6, 7.-Diagram 6 shows one of the positions in which a speaker may stand who is being addressed by another. It also shows a position of the opposite speaker-such a position as he would be likely to assume in putting an interrogatory, or describing an event. A speaker who delivers himself singly to an audience, and one who addresses another speaker in view of an auditory, are under very different predicaments. The first has only one object to GESTURE AND ATTITUDE. 23 address; the latter has two; for, if a speaker were to address the person to whom he speaks, without any regard to the point of view in which he stands with respect to the audience, he would be apt to turn his back on them, and to place himself in ungraceful positions. In a dialogue, each speaker should stand obliquely, for the most part, except in passages not directly addressed to the other. The party to the dialogue who is listening should, as a general rule, let his arms hang naturally by his sides, or with hands approaching (as in diagram 7), unless what is said by the other is of a character to excite agitation or surprise; or he may, with propriety, occasionally stand with arms folded (see diagram 7), or with the right hand in the left breast, or the reverse, as shown in diagram 6. Where more than two speakers are introduced, as in some extracts from plays, the speakers should be arranged in a picturesque manner, agreeably to the laws of perspective; and it is in these scenes that the positions of repose, represented in diagram 7, and by one of the figures in diagram 6, may be most properly introduced. After all that art can do to devise rules, it may be said, in regard to vocal delivery as well as to gesticulation, that all constraint upon nature produces affectation, and, of course, destroys true feeling. No general practical rules for gesture, says Sheridan, can be laid down. "The chief end," he adds, "of all public speakers, is to persuade; and, in order to persuade, it is, above all things, necessary that the speaker should at least appear himself to believe what he utters; but this can never be the case where there are any evident marks of affectation or art. On the contrary, when a man delivers himself in his usual manner, and with the same tones and gestures that he is accustomed to use when he speaks from his heart,-however awkward that manner may be, however ill regulated the tones, he will still have the advantage of being thought sincere." "Nature. can do much without art; art but little without nature. Nature assaults the heart; art plays upon the fancy. Force of speaking will produce emotion and conviction; grace only excites pleasure and admiration. As the one is primary, and the other but a secondary end of speech, it is evident that, where one or the other is wholly to take place, the former should have the preference." Where the two are combined, the accomplished orator is formed. RHETORICAL PAUSES. 25 RHETORICAL PAUSES. The place of the pause is immediately before each of the words printed in italics in the following examples. RULE I.-Pause after the nominative when it consists of more than one word. EXAMPLES. The fashion of this world passeth away. The pleasures and honors of the world to come are, in the strictest senso of the word, everlasting. RULE II. When any member comes between the nominative case and the verb, it must be separated from both of them by a short pause. EXAMPLES. Trials in this state of being are the lot of man. Money, like manure, does no good till it is spread. RULE III. When any member comes between the verb and the objective or accusative case, it must be separated from both of them by a short pause. EXAMPLES. I cannot recall without remorse the incident to which you allude. We witnessed with delight the reconciliation of the friends. RULE IV.- Words or phrases in apposition, or when the latter only explain the former, have a short pause between them. EXAMPLES. Hope, the balm of life, soothes us under every misfortune. RULE V.-Who and which, when in the nominative case, and the pronoun that, when used for who or which, require a short pause before them. EXAMPLES. Death is the season which brings our affections to the test. Nothing is in vain that rouses the soul: nothing in vain that keeps the ethereal fire alive and glowing. A man can never be obliged to submit to any power, unless he can be satisfied who is the person who has a right to exercise it. RULE VI.-Pause before that when it is used as a conjunction. |