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ELEMENTS OF ELOCUTION

AND

CORRECT READING.

THE

ELEMENTS OF ELOCUTION

AND

CORRECT READING.

In Three Parts.

1. INFLECTIONS OF THE VOICE.
2. EXPRESSION OF SENTIMENT.
3. READING OF SUBJECTS.

WITH

SUITABLE EXERCISES

FOR SIMULTANEOUS INSTRUCTION AND INDIVIDUAL
PRACTICE;

AND

AN APPENDIX

ON THE READING OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES.

BY THE

REV. CHARLES RICHSON, M.A.,

CANON OF MANCHESTER.

LONDON:

THE DEPOSITORY OF THE NATIONAL SOCIETY,
SANCTUARY, WESTMINSTER.

1860.

MANCHESTER: CAVE AND SEVER, PRINTERS, HUNT'S BANK.

THE

PREFACE.

THIS Work makes no pretension to supply Rules and Exercises which will produce the finished Elocutionist; indeed, it has been repeatedly asserted with truth, that no rules or artificial system can be effectual for such a purpose, and that a studied system of Elocution always results in an offensive affectation and mere display.

But if assistance cannot supply the place of natural power, it may occasionally render good service, where such power is not entirely wanting; and in the present instance, although rules and directions can never supply either voice, sentiment, or emotion, they may aid in the removal of defects, the explanation of right principles, and the discipline of correct practice.

No one will deny that carelessness, monotony, hurry, indistinctness, and want of expression, are inconsistent with good natural reading; nor that such are too commonly the characteristics of school-reading badly taught, and even of the reading of many persons occupying positions wherein correct and expressive enunciation are of great importance. Much has been done already, and many publications issued, to assist in the removal of these defects, but a work still appears to be wanting for elementary schools, clear in the enunciation of its principles, systematic in its arrangement, and generally available from the cheapness of its price. The object of this work is to supply that want,

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