Thomas Sheridan

“ By that, attention is kept up without pain, and conviction carried to the mind with delight. Persuasion is ever its attendant, and the passions own it for a master. Great as is the force of its powers, so unbounded is their extent. All mankind are capable of its impressions, the ignorant as well as the wise, the illiterate as well as the learned."
Such is the nature, such the constitution, such the effects, of cultivated speech. Let us now examine the properties of written language. "That is wholly the invention of man, a mere work of art, and therefore can contain no natural power. ”

“ How exquisite that must have been when eloquence was at its height, may be gathered from the testimony of Cicero, who, in his Brutus, does not scruple to affirm, "That neither the fruits nor glory which he derived from eloquence, gave him so much delight as the study and practice of the art itself." ”

“ If language, when spoken, gives no pleasure, if it excites no emotions, it is in that case, for the mere purpose of information, far below that which is written; inasmuch as the reader of words can take his own time to make himself master of their meaning, and consider their force. But if public speaking in any country should in general rather give pain than pleasure, occasion satiety, instead of rouzing attention, and far from illustrating, should render the sentiments obscure, the people of that country will be necessitated to give their attention to written language ”

“ Should it be known in the world, that a design was set on foot at the universities, of introducing the study of the English language, and the art of speaking, upon a practicable plan, and in a systematic way, there would not be wanting all due encouragement to such an undertaking from many of their grateful offspring. What numbers of their illustrious sons, when they have entered into life, have had occasion to lament, that through the neglect of these necessary branches, the chief advantages of their education have been concealed from the world ”

“ But it would be a disgrace to learning to follow the fashion of those who say that they pursue not virtue, but only the pleasure derived from virtue, and to demand this meaner recompense from the noblest of all arts, whose practice and even whose possession is ample reward for all our labours. Wherefore let us seek with all our hearts that true majesty of oratory, the fairest gift of god to man, without which all things are stricken dumb and robbed alike of present glory and the immortal record of posterity ”

“ In all studies, which we followed in common with them, we have far excelled them: that they have excelled us in those which were peculiar to themselves, cannot be a matter of wonder. The chief points in which they differed from us, were the study of their native language, and oratory. And it can be indisputably shewn, that they possessed no advantage over us, but what arose, either immediately, or consequentially from their knowlege, skill, and practice; in grammar, rhetorick, and oratory. ”

“ That the English are the only civilized people, either of ancient or modern times, who neglected to cultivate their language, or to methodize it in such a way, as that the knowlege of it might be regularly acquired, is a proposition no less strange than true.
That the English are the only free nation recorded in history, possessed of all the advantages of literature, who never studied the art of elocution, or founded any institutions, whereby, they who were most interested in the cultivation of that art ”

“ When it is considered that articulate sounds or words are the types of ideas, and that written characters are the types of articulate sounds or words, it is evident that all the qualities of the latter must be circumscribed by the former, as the type cannot exceed its archetype. Accordingly we find, that the charms of style, in the writers of all ages and countries, have arisen from the beauty of the language spoken in those countries; and the beauty of language arose not from chance, but culture; for it is not time, but care, that will bring a language to perfection. ”

“ To mind what English his pupil speaks or writes, is below the dignity of one bred up amongst Greek and Latin, though he have but little of them himself. These are the learned languages, fit only for learned men to meddle with, and teach; English is the language of the illiterate vulgar: though yet we see the polity of some of our neighbours hath not thought it beneath the public care to promote and reward the improvement of their own language. Polishing and enriching their tongue, is no small business amongst them; it hath colleges and stipends appointed it ”

“ Till a new custom, therefore, shall have opened the way to skill in the art of speaking, so that it may be as easily and certainly attainable, by pursuing that road, as skill in the art of writing now is, by pursuing the others, the latter path must continue to be most frequented. And nothing can assist the new custom in its progress, but the same means that brought forward the old. The art of speaking, like that of writing, must be reduced to a system; it must have sure and sufficient rules to guide such as apply to the study of it ”

“ Since, therefore, nothing can be done without art, and all art is founded upon principles, and should be taught by rules, the first necessary step is, to trace the principles of elocution. Those once discovered, to establish upon them a system of rules, peculiarly adapted to the genius of the English tongue, whereby the art of elocution may be as regularly acquired as any other art now is, and a knowlege of English, so far as regards elocution, methodically obtained. ”

“ But should any nation be so unfortunately circumstanced, as from habit, or institution, to bestow all their labour and pains upon cultivating the artificial language, the invention of man, to the utter neglect of that which is natural, and the gift of God, it must be allowed, that they are in a wrong course; and that they must necessarily lose some of the greatest blessings that can be enjoyed by rational, social beings, and which can flow from no other source but that of cultivated speech. ”

“ A wise nation will therefore, above all things, apply themselves to advance the powers of elocution, to as high a degree as possible; and they will find their labours well rewarded, not only by opening a source of one of the highest delights, which the nature of man is capable of feeling in this life, but also by the extraordinary benefits and advantages thence resulting to society, which cannot possibly be procured in any other way. "It has pleased the All-wise Creator to annex to elocution, when in its perfect state, powers almost miraculous! ”

“ And that there are many who can produce excellent compositions both in Latin and English, who can neither read aloud, or repeat those very compositions with tolerable propriety, much less with grace. Of these facts, I dare venture to say, there is not one of my hearers who cannot immediately suggest to himself sufficient instances. The natural consequence, indeed, of neglecting the art of elocution, is that of reducing a living language at best to the state of a dead one. For in just and true elocution alone, consists the life of language ”

“ Sheridan did no more than echo a common complaint when he worried over the "many bad consequences" attending a neglect of the English language; countless writers addressed themselves to a determination of phonology and pronunciation in the attempt "to methodize" the language. Furthermore, the example of ancient oratory spoke loudly to a people striving to perfect both the individual and social institutions. Any educated man was expected to be able to express himself well in public, particularly if his vocation found him "in the pulpit, the senate-house, or at the bar." ”

“ But who in these countries ever heard of a master for the improvement of articulation, for teaching the due proportion of sound and quantity of syllables in English, and for pointing out to his pupils, by precept and example, the right use of accents, emphases, and tones, when they read aloud, or speak in public? If this has never yet been done, surely it is a great omission, when we reflect of how much more importance the one art is than the other ”

“ From the first time that a Latin grammar is put into our hands, we are taught to believe, that a complete knowlege of Latin and Greek will of course give a complete knowlege of English; that reading the ancient writers upon oratory will furnish us with all the powers of elocution; that the same master who instructs pupils in the one, can also teach the other ”

“ In the one, not only the sense of hearing may receive the highest gratification, from sounds the most pleasing, and congenial to the organs of man; but the sight also may be delighted with viewing the noblest work of the Great Mechanist put in motion, to answer the noblest ends: and, whilst the charmed ear easily admits the words of truth, the faithful eye, even of the illiterate, can read their credentials, in the legible hand of Nature, visibly characterized in the countenance and gesture of the speaker. ”

“ The refiners of those living languages justly gave great attention to sound and pronunciation, in the regulations which they established; the English, who from the nature of their constitution and public worship, had infinitely more occasion for the refinement and regulation of their tongue in that respect, left theirs wholly to chance. Nor are we to wonder at this, when we consider that we have made no alteration in our institutions, with the alteration of times and circumstances. ”

“ Sheridan dreamed that the study of elocution, with a voice "far sweeter than the syren's song," would so entrance young students that they would linger long in native academic groves, avoiding the baneful influence of travel abroad "at the most unfit and dangerous season of life." Thus, individual and social perfection had to be predicated upon the study of spoken English, and Sheridan implied that to slight this study was to offer an affront to the divine plan for earthly progress. ”

“ Accordingly, the bad fruits of this neglect are every day perceived. Each man's experience will tell him, how few public readers, or speakers, he has heard acquit themselves well; and even of those few, those very few, who have acquired any name in that way, it would be found, upon a critical inquiry, that they have, for the most part, but a comparative excellence; and that their superiority over others arises from pre-eminence in the natural faculties of speech, and an happier construction of the organs, rather than any skill, or mastery, in the art of elocution. ”

“ Now at the best, supposing the ideas of the properest sounds, were always to be associated by the silent reader, the effect of any composition must be much weaker than if it were spoken, as far as ideas fall short of realities. But if, through ignorance in the art of speaking, or through vicious habits, he annexes the ideas of wrong sounds and tones to the words, it is impossible he can perceive the true force and beauty of the composition, so far at least as they depend upon sound and tone. ”

“ One would imagine, that in a country where the ancients are admired, revered, nay, almost adored, that we should certainly follow their example, and adopt all their wise institutions, so far at least as they coincided with the spirit of our government, and were of equal necessity to the well being of the state. But on the contrary, we seem to have made it a law, that we should sit down contented with seeing and admiring their excellence, but that we should never attempt to use the means, by which alone we might be enabled to rival them. ”

“ Indeed, nothing but such an uncontrolable power, could possibly have made a civilized and enlightened people continue, for such a length of time, in a course so opposite to all the rules of common sense. For upon farther examination it will appear, that even the written language, to which they solely apply, can never reach the perfection whereof it is capable, nor answer its noblest purposes, without the previous cultivation of that which is spoken. ”

“ Would it not be a strong inducement to such noblemen or gentlemen to apply more closely to such a study, if, at the same time, they were practised and perfected in an art, which alone could enable them to display to advantage their superior knowlege in the constitution and laws of their country, to their own honour and credit, and support of that constitution, and those laws? ”

“ But written characters have, in themselves, no sort of virtue, nor the least influence on the mind of man: and the utmost extent of their artificial power can reach no farther, than that of exciting ideas of sounds, which belong to spoken words, for which those combinations of letters stand, and consequently cannot produce equal effects with the sounds themselves.
To instruct our youth in the arts of reading and writing, there are many seminaries established every-where throughout this realm; and, accordingly, all of a liberal education are well versed in them. ”

“ Speech makes use of sound, and reaches the mind through the ear: writing makes use of characters, and conveys knowlege through the eye. The ideas that rise in the mind of the speaker, together with the operations, affections, and energies, of the mind itself, are manifested and communicated in speech, by articulate sounds, combined, or separated in various proportions; by rests of the voice in certain places; by accents, emphases, and tones. The same is attempted in writing, by different combinations of letters, according to stated rules, and by certain points, stops, and lines. ”

“ When our system of education was first established on the revival of literature, by means of the introduction of the languages of Greece and Rome, men's thoughts were wholly turned to books, and consequently to written language. ”