Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

THE STANDARD

SPEAKER AND ELOCUTIONIST.

UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME.

KIRTON'S STANDARD RECITERS.

The Standard Temperance Reciter.
The Standard Band of Hope Reciter.
The Standard Popular Reciter.
The Standard Sunday School Reciter.
The Standard Comic Reciter.

SPEAKER & ELOCUTIONIST

A POPULAR AND COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE

TO THE

Art of Reading and Elocution,

ILLUSTRATED BY

CHOICE PROSE AND POETICAL PIECES, FROM THE
BEST ORATORS, SPEAKERS, PREACHERS, ETC.

SUITABLE FOR SCHOOL, HOME, OR PUBLIC USE.

BY

JOHN W. KIRTON, LL.D.,

AUTHOR OF "BUY YOUR OWN CHERRIES," "HAPPY HOMES, A
HOW TO MAKE THEM," &c.

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

WARD, LOCK AND C O.,

WARWICK HOUSE, SALISBURY SQUARE, E.C.

[blocks in formation]

PREFACE.

A FEW words may be needful in explanation of the motives which prompted the preparation and issue of this new Exposition of the art of Elocution and Public Reading.

All will, we presume, be prepared to admit that there is room for improvement in both these subjects. A radical defect must therefore exist somewhere for which it is desirable that a remedy should be found. It is also equally certain that if we are ever to have a race of Orators who, like some of the Ancients, "shook distant thrones, and made the remote extremities of the earth tremble," we must endeavour to instil into the minds of all who aspire to this great distinction that there is no royal road to success, but that in the Science of Elocution there are rules which must be observed, and laws which must be obeyed, if perfection is to be attained, and success assured.

Now it will be evident to all who have had any experience either in consulting, or seeking to reduce to practice, the lessons taught in most of the well known works on the art of Elocution, that they are of very little real service in the time of need. In most cases instead of being "Helps" they actually become "Hindrances,”—often completely frightening those who earnestly desire to improve the gift with which Nature has endowed them. This arises from the fact that such works are loaded with a mass of useless material, and encumbered with a host of tedious methods by which proficiency is supposed to be attained. Hence if it is remarked that to speak or read well, will require study and preparation, at once evidence of positive aversion is manifested by those who, if wisely directed, would be found to profit by good advice.

It has been the author's endeavour to rectify this serious

« AnteriorContinuar »