PREFACE.
When we first began to speak in public, we felt the need of a manual that would point out the hindrances likely to be met with, and serve as a guide to self-improvement. Such help would have prevented many difficult and painful experiences, and have rendered our progress in the delightful art of coining thought into words more easy and rapid. In the following pages we give the result of thought and observations in this field, and trust it will benefit those who are now in the position we were then.
We have freely availed ourself of the labor of others, and would especially acknowledge the valuable assistance derived from the writings of Bautain, Stevens and Holyoake. Yet the following work, with whatever merit or demerit it may possess, is original in both thought and arrangement.
We have treated general preparation with more than ordinary fullness, for although often neglected, it is the necessary basis upon which all special preparation rests.
As the numerous varieties of speech differ in comparatively few particulars, we have treated one of the mostcommon—that of preaching—in detail, with only such brief notices of other forms as will direct the student in applying general principles to the branch of oratory that engages his attention.
We are not vain enough to believe that the modes of culture and preparation pointed out in the following pages are invariably the best, but they are such as we have found useful, and to the thoughtful mind may suggest others still more valuable.