executed; which, though not expressive of any particular passion, shall not be inconsistent with the expression of any passion; which shall always keep the body in a graceful position, and shall so vary its motions, at proper intervals, as to see the subject operating on the speaker, and not the speaker on the subject. This it will be confessed, is a great desideratum; and an attempt to this, is the principal object of the present publication.

The difficulty of describing action by words, will be allowed by every one; and if we were never to give any instructions, but such as should completely answer our wishes, this difficulty would be a good reason for not at tempting to give any description of it. But there are many degrees between conveying a precise idea of a thing and no idea at all. Besides, in this part of delivery, instruction may be conveyed by the eye; and this organ is a much more rapid vehicle of knowledge than the ear. This vehicle is addressed on the present occasion; and plates, representing the attitudes which are described, are annexed to the several descriptions, which it is not doubted, will greatly facilitate the reader's conception.

Plate I, represents the attitude in which a boy should always place himself, when he begins to speak. He should rest the whole weight of his body on the right leg; the other just touching the ground, at the distance at which it would naturally fall, if lifted up to show that the body did not bear upon it. The knees should be straight, and braced, and the body though perfectly straight not perpendicular, but inclining as far to the right as a firm position on the right leg will permit. The right arms must then be held out with the palm open, the fingers. straight and close, the thumb almost as distant from them as it will go, and the flat of the hand neither horizontal nor vertical, but exactly between both. The position of the arm perhaps will be best described by supposing an oblong hollow square formed by the measure of four arms, as in Plate I, where the arm in its true position forms the diagonal of such an imaginary figure. So that, if lines were drawn at right angles from the shoulder, extending downwards, forwards, and sideways, the arm would form an angle of forty-five degrees every way.

When the pupil has pronounced one sentence in the position thus described, the hand, as if lifeless, must drop

down to the side, the very moment the last accented word is pronounced; and the body without altering the place of the feet, poize itself on the left leg, while the left hand raises itself into exactly the same position as the right was before, and continues in this position till the end of the next sentence, when it drops down on the side as if dead; and the body, poizing itself on the right leg as before, continues with the right arm extended, till the end of the succeeding sentence, and so on from right to left, and from left to right alternately, till the speech is ended.

Great care must be taken that the pupil end one sentence completely before he begin another. He must let the arm drop to the side, and continue for a moment in that posture in which he concluded, before he poizes his body on the other leg, and raises the other arm into the diagonal position before described; both which should be done before he begin to pronounce the next sentence. Care must also be taken, in shifting the body from one leg to the other, that the feet do not alter their distance. In altering the position of the body, the feet will necessarily alter their position a little, but this change must be made by turning the toes into a somewhat different direction, without suffering them to shift their ground. The heels, in this transition, change their place, but not the toes. The toes may be considered as pivots, on which the body turns from side to side.

If the pupil's knees are not well formed, or incline inwards, he must be taught to keep his legs at as great a distance as possible, and to incline his body so much to that side, on which the arm is extended, as to oblige him to rest the opposite leg upon the toe; and this will, in a great measure, hide the defect of his make. In the same manner, if the arm be too long, or the elbow incline inwards, it will be proper to make him turn the palm of his hand downwards, so as to make it perfectly horizontal. This will infallibly incline the elbow outwards, and prevent the worst position the arm can possibly fall into, which is that of inclining the elbow to the body. This position of the hand so necessarily keeps the elbow out, that it would not be improper to make the pupil some time practice it, though he may have no defect in his make; as an occasional alteration of the former position

to this, may often be necessary, both for the sake of justness and variety. These two last positions of the legs and arms, are described in Plate II.

When the pupil has got the habit of holding his hand and arm properly, he may be taught to move it. In this motion he must be careful to keep the arm from the body. He must neither draw the elbow backwards, nor suffer it to approach to the side, but while the hand and lower joint of the arm are curving towards the shoulder, the whole arm, with the elbow forming nearly an angle of a square, should move upwards from the shoulder, in the same position as when gracefully taking off the hat; that is, with the elbow extended from the side, and the upper joint of the arm nearly on a line with the shoulder, and forming an angle of a square with the body ;-(see Plate HI.) this motion of the arm will naturally bring the hand with the palm downwards, into a horizontal position, and when it approaches to the head, the arm should with a jerk be suddenly straightened into its first position, at the very moment the emphatical word is pronounced. This coincidence of the hand and voice, will greatly enforce the pronunciation; and if they keep time, they will be in tune as it were to each other, and to force and energy, add harmony and variety.

As this motion of the arm is somewhat complicated, and may be found difficult to execute, it would be advisable to let the pupil at first speak without any motion of the arm at all. After some time he will naturally fall into a small curvature of the elbow, to beat time, as it were, to the emphatic word; and if in doing this, he is constantly urged to raise the elbow, and to keep it at a distance from the body, the action of the arm will naturally grow up into that we have just described. So the diagonal position of the arm though the most grace. ful and easy when the body is at rest, may be too dfficult for boys to fall into at first; and therefore it may be necessary, in order to avoid the worse extreme, for some time to make them extend the arm as far from the body as they can, in a somewhat similar direction, but higher from the ground, and inclining more to the back. Great care must be taken to keep the hand open, and the thumb at some distance from the fingers; and particular atten tion must be paid to keeping the hand in an exact line