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CHAP. VII.

RHETORICAL ACTION.

I USE the term action, not for the whole of delivery, according to the most extensive sense given to it by the ancients; nor yet in the most restricted modern sense, as equivalent to gesture merely; but as including also attitudes and expression of the countenance. While I shall have occasion often to refer to what has been taught in books on this subject, my chief design is to make such remarks as have been suggested by my own observation and reflections. To what extent these remarks should be carried, in so small a treatise on delivery, is a point on which I have doubted; and some perhaps may think that whatever is of practical importance might have been said in a briefer form.

That action, which Cicero calls "sermo corporis," is an important part of oratory, is too evident to demand proof. If any one doubts this, let him ask himself, how does a great painter give reality and life to his portrait ? How do children speak? How do the dumb speak? Action and attitude in these cases are the language of nature to express feeling and emotion.

There are two extremes respecting this subject, each of which deserves a brief notice, in this place, as being at variance with common sense.

The first is, that which encumbers a speaker with so much technical regulation of his movements, as to make him an automaton. It is a great mistake to suppose that a young student, before he can commence his efforts in oratory, must commit to memory a system of rules respecting gesticulation, just as arithmetical tables must be learned by the tyro in numbers. When a beginner in elocution shall be able to look at an assembly, without an unmanly flutter of spirits, and shall have acquired a good degree of ease, in the attitudes and motions of his body, then it will be time enough to rectify, one after another, the faults of his own manner, by attention to good models, and correct principles of action. This I am persuaded should be attempted gradually, rather than all at once; for the transforming influence of practice, is essential to any useful application of precepts. And these precepts too, when given to an individual, I am fully satisfied after much observation, instead of being confined to minute directions respecting his own gesticulation, should especially be adapted to instruct him in general principles. All attempts to regulate the attitudes and movements of his body, by diagrams and geometrical lines, without great skill in the teacher, will lead to an affected, mechanical manner. His habits are of prime importance. By these, good or bad, he must be governed in the act of speaking, for to think of his manner then will be the certain ruin of all simplicity. Let these habits be well formed, and be his own, so as to govern his movements spontaneously, and trust the rest to emotion.

The other extreme to which I alluded, is that which condemns all precepts and all preparatory practice too,

as mischievous in their influence, because no one can learn to speak, till he comes into the real business of speaking, as his profession.

On this I can make but one passing remark. Preparatory discipline of the faculties necessarily wants the stimulus of real business, in respect to every liberal art and valuable talent among men. Why then shall not such discipline be deemed useless in all other cases, as well as in elocution? Why shall we not neglect to learn any thing, which relates to practical skill in a profession, till we actually enter on that profession?

I now proceed to offer my remarks on Rhetorical Action, dividing the subject into two parts.

PART I. THE PRINCIPLES OF RHETORICAL ACTION.

The power of action consists wholly in its correspondence with thought and emotion; and this correspondence arises either from nature or custom.

SECT. 1-Action as significant from nature.

The body is the instrument of the soul, or the medium of expressing internal emotions, by external signs. The less these signs depend on the will, on usage, or on accident, the more uniform are they, and the more certainly to be relied on.

Expression of the countenance.

The soul speaks most intelligibly, so far as visible signs are concerned, in those muscles which are the most

pliant and prompt to obey its dictates. These are the muscles of the face; which spontaneously, and almost instantaneously respond to the impulse from within. Anger, for example, shows itself in the contraction of the brow, the flash of the eye, the quivering of the lip, and the alternate paleness and crimson of the cheek. Terror is expressed by convulsive heaving of the bosom, and by hurried respiration and speech. Joy sparkles in the eye, -sorrow vents itself in tears.

Now, why is it that these signs, invariably, and every where, are regarded as the stamp of reality? The reason is, they are not only the genuine language of emotion, but are independent of the will. A groan or shriek speaks to the ear, as the language of distress, with far more thrilling effect than words. Yet these may be counterfeited by art. Much more may common tones of voice be rendered loud or soft, high or low at pleasure. But not so with the signs which emotion imprints on the face. Whether anger, fear, joy,--shall show themselves in the hue of my cheek, or the expression of my eye, depends not at all on my choice, any more than whether my heart shall beat, and my blood circulate. So unequivocal is this language of the passions, and so incapable of being applied to purposes of deception, that all men feel its force, instinctively and immediately. They know that the hand or the tongue, which obey the dictates of the will, may deceive; but the face cannot speak falsehood.

I might add, that he whose soul is so destitute of emotion, as not to impart this expression to his countenance, or he whose acquired habits are so unfortunate, as to frustrate this expression, whatever qualities he may possess besides, lacks one grand requisite to true eloquence.

If the visible signs of passion are thus invariable, so that even a child instinctively understands the smile or the frown of its nurse, it is probably no visionary theory which supposes a correspondence, to some extent, between the habits of the mind, and certain configurations in the features of the face. Every one knows the difference between the cheerful aspect of innocence, the vivacity of intelligence, the charming languor of pity or grief, as imprinted on the countenance; and the scowl of misanthropy, the dark suspicion of guilt, the vacant stare of stupidity, or the haggard phrensy of despair. And it is reasonable to suppose that affections and intellectual habits, such as benevolence or malignity, cheerfulness or melancholy, deep thought or frivolity, must imprint themselves, just in proportion to their predominance, in distinct and permanent lines upon the face.

Attitude and Mien.

Here again, all distinctions, of any value, result from our knowledge of the influence which the mind has on the body. An erect attitude denotes majesty, activity, strength. It becomes the authority of a commander, the energy of a soldier in arms, and in all cases, the dignity of conscious innocence. Adam and Eve, in the description of Milton, on account of their noble shape and erect carriage, "seem'd lords of all." The leaning attitude, in its varieties of expression, may denote affection, respect, the earnestness of entreaty, the dignity of composure, the listlessness of indifference, or the lassitude of distease.

The air of a man too, including his general motion,

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