port. Among the numerous colleges with which our country abounds, there is not, perhaps, a single one endowed with a professorship of Elocution! And among our numerous public speakers, how small a number can deliver a discourse without having half the body concealed by a desk or table! The orators of classic Greece never ensconced themselves behind elevated desks, nor "stood upon all fours," as some of our public speakers do they were masters of their art. Hence they needed no screen to conceal uncouth attitudes and awkward gestures from the scrutinizing eye of criticism; nor had occasion to present the crown of the head, instead of the face, to the audience, to hide the blush of ignorance: they exposed the whole person to the audience; they stood erect, in all the dignity of conscious worth; their attitudes were fit models for the statuary; their gestures were replete with grace and expression; their elocution defied criticism. Let us endeavour to restore Elocution to its former place in the department of useful instruction. Nothing is wanted but a correct medium, laudable ambition, and common industry, to enable our American youth to rival those ancient orators whose eloquence, it is said, "shook distant thrones, and made the extremities of the earth tremble." ANDREW COMSTOCK. Philadelphia, November 20, 1841. NOTE. * See Figure 1, page 70. The Figures which illustrate the subject of this work, were drawn and engraved by Croome and Minot; the Diagrams were engraved by Mumford. Positions of the Feet and Lower Limbs Positions, Motions, and Elevations of the Arms Postures and Motions of the Hands... The Head, the Eyes, the Shoulders, and the Body. The Preparation, Transition, and Accompaniment of Gesture. 113 The Frequency, Moderation, and Intermission of Gesture.... 123 The Qualities of Gesture, and the Gesture suited to different Account Current.. Adams and Jefferson.... An Address to a Young Student Antony's Oration over Cæsar's Body. Apostrophe to Light..... Apostrophe to the Queen of France Battle of Warsaw Battle of Waterloo Anonymous 358 Wirt 353 .Knox 356 Shakspeare 250 Shakspeare 249 Happy Freedom of the Man whom Grace makes Free. Cowper 279 Hymn to the Deity... . Burke 230 Industry necessary to the Attainment of Eloquence.... Ware 333 De Witt Clinton 364 Lines supposed to have been written by Alexander Selkirk, dur- |