An essay upon the action of an orator, as to his pronunciation & gesture useful both for divines and lawyers, and necessary for all young gentlemen, that study how to speak well in publick / done out of French.

CHAP. XI. Of the Pronunciation of Words and Sentences.

SEntences commonly consist of two principal Parts, that are link'd to∣gether with certain Particles; which the Grammarians call Causals, Copula∣tives, Conditionals, Comparatives, Rela∣tives or Adversatives: But they are not All of the same measure and length.

For there are some Sentences very short; each part of which is but a sim∣ple expression and consists only of one single Proposition; as these of Malherbe.

He died young, but he died happy. His Friends have not had him long, but his Death is the greatest Trouble and Grief they ever had for the Love and the Loss of him. He has

enjoyed the Sweets of the World on∣ly for a little while, but he never tast∣ed the Bitters on't. He has not taken a long Walk, but he went only upon Flowers. Whatever Life has of Rug∣ged, or of Harsh, Piquant and Unea∣sie, was to come in those years which he has not lived to see.

Those Periods may not only be pronounced with one Breath; but can hardly be pronounced o∣therwise, without prejudice to the ex∣pression.

There are some Sentences again, lon∣ger; as those in the same Author.

Look upon the World as a Place where you will be losing something every Day, till you have lost All and have no more to lose; and with those Meditations prepossess your dear Soul, that, having its Original from Hea∣ven, it will one Day have the happi∣ness to return thither.

And those may be pronounced all at a Breath too, if the Voice be naturally good for any thing: and however, you ought also to do it as well as you can; for a Period so pronounced looks rounder, and ap∣pears

with more Beauty and Force, than it would do upon several Breath∣ing's by fits. For this purpose, you must make it your main Bus••ness to acquire a long-winded Habit by Study and Exer∣cice: but that must be done by degrees: For Nature is not chang'd in an instant from a short Breath to a long one. Na∣ture indeed is absolutely necessary in the matter; but Art also can do much towards the accomplishing of this end: and we read in the Bibliotheca of Photius, that Demosthenes, who had naturally a very short Breath; finding that he had need of a very long one to speak upon Publick Occasions, gave Neoptolemus the Stage-player, and a great Actor of Comedy, a thousand Drachms to teach him this Art; which he became Master of at last to perfection by the force of Practice and by exercising himself upon all the difficulties of Respiration. You must likewise exert your Faculties, as he did, and neither spare any time, nor pains, nor cost, to make your self long-winded and an Orator.

There are other Periods that have a longer Train yet, and take a larger Tour than either of the former; which you cannot pronounce without taking your Breath once or twice; as this of St. Bernard for instance.

As it is prejudicial to one's Health to take Food and not to digest it, because Crude and Indigested Meats create ill Humours, and do not nourish, but clog and corrupt the Body: So when the Stomach of the Soul, that is, the Memory, is fill'd with a great deal of Knowledge; if this Knowledge be not well digested by the warmth of Charity; if it do not diffuse it self after that through the Arteries and Marrow of the Soul and pass into the Manners and Actions of Men; and if it does not become good it self upon knowing what is good, and what goes to the making of a good Life; does not this Knowledge turn into Sin, as that Nu∣triment does into bad Humours?

You must pronounce the first part of that Period without ever taking Breath for't; but you cannot pronounce the

second in the same manner: So that you ought rather to make a pause upon't, than force your Voice to an Absurdity and run your self quite out of Breath; which would be very ungenteel and in∣decent. Only you must take care by the Way to stop in proper and conveni∣ent Places: that is to say, after two Points, a Colon, or a Semi-colon, or at least after a Comma; for to do it otherwise, or oftner, would be a thing extremely disagreeable. Nothing is more unto∣ward, and uncourtly than to break off in the middle of a Word or an Expres∣sion.

In fine, there's another sort of Pe∣riods, that the Rhetoricians call Spiritus; which have not the same Order, Scope and Composition of those Sentences that are properly called Periods, but only couch and contain a great number of Articles, simply propounded all in the same manner; as this of the afore∣said Father again for an Example:

Let your Spirit rest upon those Pre∣lates who fear nothing but God, and Hope nothing but God: Who being

sent into Provinces, go not after Gold, but follow Jesus Christ: Who do not believe their Missions to be for a Money-Bank, but seek the Fruits of their labour for God, and not Presents for themselves: Who are, a John Bap∣tist to Kings and Princes; a Moses to Aegyptians; a Phineas to Fornicators; an Elias to Idolaters; an Elisha to Niggards; a Peter to Liars; a Paul to Blasphemers; a Christ to Mercena∣ries and Mony-changers: Who do not despise the People, but instruct them: Who do not flatter the Rich, but rebuke them: Who do not oppress the Poor, but relieve them: Who do not dread the Men••ces of Princes, but contemn them: Who do not go into their Assemblies in Trouble, nor come out again in Anger: Who do not rob Churches, but reform them: Who do not pick People's Pockets, but comfort their Hearts and correct their Vices: Who take care of their own Reputa∣tion, and bear no Malice to another's: Who love Prayer and apply them∣selves to Devotion: And who, in all Affairs of the World, have more confidence in their Prayers, than in

their Industry and Labour, whereby their Discourses may be Edifying; whereby their Lives may be Just; whereby their Presence may be Agree∣able; whereby their Memories may be Blessed: Who render themselves A∣miable, not by Words but by Deeds; and Venerable, not by Pomp or State, but by their Actions: Who are Hum∣ble with the Humble, and Innocent with the Innocent; but rebuke the hard-hearted with boldness and seve∣rity; who reprimand the Wicked with Authority, and who render to the Proud according to their Deserts: Who neither inrich themselves, nor their Parents, nor their Officers with the Portion of the Widow and the Patrimony of the Crucifi'd; but who give gratis that which they received gratis, and do Right out of meer good Will to them that suffer Wrong: Who testifie, in fine, they have received the divine Spirit, as the seventy Judges did the Spirit of Moses; who both absent and present endeavour to please you and to please God; who return home to you now wearied, but not la∣den

with the Spoyls of Nations; and who do not glory in having brought away with them the most curious and pretious things of the Countries whi∣ther they were sent, but in leaving behind them Peace to Kingdoms, Laws to Barbarians, Quiet to Monasteries, Order to Churches, Discipline to the Clergy and a People Just to God.

In such Periods as those, you are upon no force at all to strein your Lungs; for you may take your Breath as often as you shall have occasion, and make an equal pause at every Article they con∣tain; there being no manner of Reason why you should not make a stop upon one as well as another. So much for what concerns the Breath and its Pauses; when and where it is to be taken up∣on all sorts of Periods. As for what remains to be said of it, I think the Orator would do well to observe the following Rules.

You must not distinguish the parts of a Period, as if there were more Periods then one in a Sentence; and yet you must make some Distinction too, that the

Auditor may more easily discover the several Clauses of it one from another: But this is to be done especially, when the Period is longer than ordinary; o∣therwise the Mind and the Memory of those that hear you, and perhaps your own faculties too, would be confounded: and the Period, tho' never so well turn∣ed, would perplex the Pronunciation and appear embarassed by the length of it. However when there are several Clauses in a Sentence, and every one of them requires a peculiar distinction for some reason or other, you would do well to distinguish them by the Pronunciation, but without taking your Breath for all that; except there be so many of 'em, that one single Respiration cannot serve all their Turns, nor reach the end of the whole Period. Cicero without doubt observed that upon this Period of his Oration for the Manilian Law.

What a shameful thing 'tis, Sirs, that he who Massacred such a vast Number of our Citizens in one Day throughout all Asia, in so many Cities there, at a Word's Warning and upon one single Dispatch; has not only not condign'd

Punishmennt yet for so barbarous a Crime, but has reigned now three and twenty Years since that Butchery: and reigned too with so much Insolence, that he neither lurks for it in the King∣dom of Pontus nor in the obscurity of Cappadocia; but Hectors in the Inhe∣ritance of his Fore-fathers, braves you in your own Revenues, and appears in the open Light of all Asia.

'Tis proper to make a pause upon eve∣ry Period, but it must be a very short one upon short ones, and a little longer upon long ones: For, over and above that it very much conduces to the better di∣stinguishing of Periods among them∣selves, and does not a little assist the Ʋnderstanding and the Memory of the Hearer; it is almost incredible how it also reinforces the Lungs, the Breast and the Arteries of the Speaker: And if you do but practice this Rule you will find the benefit and advantage of it by Ex∣perience. I would advise you also to take care to begin the following Period always a degree lower than you con∣cluded

the first; which will both con∣tribute to the variation of your Voice and to the reinforcement of your Organs. Sometimes on the contrary, 'tis better to begin it with a Tone a little higher than the Cadence of the last, according as the Orator shall best judge of the Na∣ture and the necessity of the Subject: which will serve also to vary even the variation of the Voice it self; for you must not do't always on the same fashion or in the same Key.

There's another Observation yet which I have to make here. 'Tis this. When you have a Period to Pronounce that requires a great contention or eleva∣tion of the Voice, you must moderate and manage your Voice with good Conduct upon those Periods that precede it; lest by employing the whole force of it upon those, you be spent and constrained at last to pronounce this languidly, which re∣quires more of vigour, vehemency and ef∣fort. 'Tis this Government that Roscius and Esopus, two of the famousest Actors the Romans ever had, very well observed; as Tully takes notice in his third Book of

the Orator. For Roscius did not rehearse these Verses.

The brave Warrior's noble Choice and Shield, Is Honour, not the Booty of the Field.

with all the vehemence of Action and Gesturo, that he might have done; but altogether simply, with moderation and conduct, to the end that falling imme∣diately upon this exclamatory Period;

What is't I see! he comes Arm'd, Even into our very Temples!

he might act it more earnestly, repre∣sent it more strongly, and accent it with greater Admiration and Astonishment. And Esopus did not pronounce these Words,

Where shall I find Relief? Or whither shall I fly?

with all the contention of Voice and Ac∣cent within the compass of his Power; but softly or languidly, and without any

immoderate Action at all; having a re∣gard all the while to what immediately follows;

But, O Father, O Country, O House of Priam!

which he could not have spoken with all necessary Exclamation, if he had al∣ready spent himself and as it were ex∣hausted his Voice beforehand upon a former Emotion and Violence. Thus Painters represent some Parts of a Piece with Shades and Distances, to set-off o∣thers with greater light and advantage and to make them bear so Masterly, that one would almost swear they stood out of the Picture and have Life.

From Periods and perfect Sentences, I come now to Words. First, you must observe to pronounce them according to common custom and the ordinary Conver∣sation of those that speak well. In eve∣ry Country or Province, there are cer∣tain vicious Pronunciations and Dialects, that are peculiar to particular People; either for the quantity of Syllables, as we find where they pronounce the first Syl∣lable

of VALET, of HABIT, of PAPIER, long, and the first of Te∣ste, of Paste, &c. short; or, for the sound of Vowels, as there are some Peo∣ple make use of an e Open, or Neuter, instead of an e Shut and Masculine, in the Words MERE, PERE, FRERE; or, for the Elision of an e, where it ought not to be left-out, as there are some say PARL'IL, instead of PARLE-T-IL; or, for the Addi∣tion of an e at the beginning of a Word, where it ought not to be us'd, as there are some Places where they both say and write L' ESPLENDEƲR, L' ESCANDALE, L' ES∣PHERE; or, for the s which some People insert where it ought not to be inserted, writing and pronouncing CONSTRAINDRE for CON∣TRAINDRE; and which they omit again where it ought not to be omitted, as in JƲSQƲES and PRES∣QƲE, pronouncing them JƲQƲE and PREQƲE; or, for the Letter h, which some do not pronounce with an Aspiration, where it ought to be pronounced harshly; as they that say

L' HAZZARD, L' HA∣RANGƲE, L' HALEBARDE. There are also many more Corruptions crept into vulgar Heads, and talkt into custom among the common People in City as well as Country; not excepting even that where the Court is kept: For you shall meet with a false Pronunciati∣on now a days at Paris, as well as you might have done formerly at Athens. But a Man that speaks in Publick ought carefully to avoid all those faults above∣mention'd, for fear of being laugh'd at and treated with the contempt of a fleering Auditory; which was the Sophi∣ster Pausanias's Misfortune, of whom Philiscus writes that he spake coarsely, and pronounced his Words very gross and corrupt; making long Syllables short, and short ones long: for though he was an eloquent Person in all other respects, a ready Wit, and famous for speaking off Hand; he was compared yet for his unhandsome Pronunciation, to a Cook that could not dress good Meat well when he had it in his Hands, and made but a very bad Dish of the best in the Mar∣ket. For this purpose; he must con∣verse

as much as possible with Persons that speak better than himself; observe their Pronunciation so nicely as to make it his own; and not only not be asham'd to ask their advice, upon a doubt, how to pronounce such and such Words; but desire them also to set him right at every turn, if he chance to blunder and be out in the Pronunciation of other Words, where he makes no scruple at all: so that by little and little he may polish his Speech to that perfection at last in good Conversation and Private Dis∣course, that not a Word which drops from his Mouth shall fall into Contempt or disoblige his Hearers in Publick.

My next Observation is this; that he must pronounce emphatical Words with an emphasis and a distinction: Whether it be to affirm strongly; as, certainly, assuredly, infallibly, undoubtedly, necessa∣rily, absolutely, expressly, manifestly, are Words of a very strong and positive Pronunciation: or, to Praise and Extol; as, admirable, incredible, incomparable, ineffable, inestimable, glorious, glittering, pompous, triumphant, illustrious, heroick,

august, majestick, adorable, are terms of Honour that must be pronounced with a magnificent Tone: or to dispraise and detest; as cruel, heinous, wicked, de∣testable, abominable, execrable, monstrous, which are all to be pronounced with a most Passionate and loud Voyce: or, to complain and lament; as, unfortunate, miserable, fatal, mournful, pitiful, deplo∣rable, lamentable, are all sorrowful Words and require a melancholy Accent. He must also lay more stress upon Words of Quan∣tity; as, grand, high, sublime, profound, long, large, innumerable, eternal; as well as upon Words of Ʋniversality; as all the World, generally, every where, al∣ways, never: Here the Pronunciation must be pois'd to a certain gravity and height of Accent. As for those terms of extenuation and slight; as, pittiful, insignificant, little, low, mean, despica∣ble, feeble, he must pronounce 'em with a very low, lessening, abject Voyce, and an Accent of the greatest scorn and dis∣dain. For the purpose: If a Divine a Preaching, should bring-in a Soul la∣bouring under the sense of many great Infirmities, and saying: When I search'd into the Faith of my Heart, I found it so

weak, so imperfect, so languishing, &c. To speak that Resentment with an elevated Tone or any great Contention of the Voyce, would be a ridiculous Pronun∣ciation, and contrary to the very Na∣ture of things, as well as the Rules of Sence, Reason and Reflection. For those Words of weak, imperfect, languishing, require a doleful Accent, an Accent of Moan, and a low as well as a slow Voyce. This Distinction of the Pronunciation, besides that it is more agreeable to the things signified by such Words, will serve over and above for the variation of the Voyce, which the Orator must always make it his Business to ob∣serve.

To conclude this Discourse: I shall add, that you must keep-up your Voyce still to an audible height upon the Pro∣nunciation of the last Words of the Pe∣riod; so that they may be as well, not to say better heard than the rest: But this is to be done chiefly, when those final Words are composed of Syllables that make but a weak and a dull Sound of themselves. For if your Period were to

conclude with these Words, une splen∣deur éclatante et incomparable; though you should not raise your Voyce upon 'em, nor make 'em ring half so loud a peal as you might in the Ears of your Auditors, they would not fail yet of being heard well enough for all that, be∣cause of the great and strong Sound which the Letters a and o make of themselves in that expression. But if your Sen∣tence were to end with these Words, Ce n'est q'une figure, une type, & une si∣militude; and you should pronounce 'em faintly, they would die in your own Mouth and never reach the Ear of your nearest Auditor under your Nose, be∣cause the Letters e, i, and u have so little of Sound in themselves, and appear very low and flat off the Lip. This Praecept upon the Pronunciation of the last Words of Sentences ought to be as much taken notice of and practic'd as any other; for most of our Publick O∣rators now a days commonly fail in this Point.