Having given this advice he hastens to warn them against the opposite extreme:  “But if you mouth it.”  He wants no boisterous notes of artificial passion:  he would as lief the town-crier spoke his lines.  The office of that humble functionary demands not the graces of finished elocution, only strong lungs with which to shout; hence a piece of delicate pathos or varied passions would probably receive scant justice at his hands.  But even the town-crier is tolerable—­he is nature’s product—­ compared with the workmanship of nature’s journeymen—­those who strut and bellow.  “They imitate humanity so abominably” that their delivery touches the extremest limit of all that is reprehensible in elocution.

[Side note:  Gesture]

“Suit the action to the word, the word to the action.”  Here we have the fundamental law for the use of gesture.

Gesture is not an artificial action standing apart from, or added to, the words.  It is thought seeking spontaneous, visible, outward expression through the movements of the hand or eye or features just at the moment when that same thought is receiving articulate birth on the tongue.  Its purpose is to make the words grow large, as it were; to expand and emphasise their meaning; hence the wisdom of the advice—­“Suit the action to the word, the word to the action.”  If the action distract the listeners’ attention from the word its purpose is defeated.

Now that we have an idea of what elocution is, and analysed the wisest set of rules ever framed for its government, we turn to the mechanical agencies by which it is produced—­breathing, resonance, inflection.

[Side note:  How to inhale]

When a person draws in the air through the mouth, the cold, unpurified stream strikes directly on the back of the roof, causing dryness and irritation.  To avoid this the preacher, except when actually engaged in speaking, should inhale through the nose.  The advantages of so doing are considerable.  The air inhaled through the nasal organs is drawn over the roof of the mouth and soft palate, and thus warmed by contact with the blood-vessels; so that it is rendered innoxious by the time it reaches the throat.  Again, any particles of dust or other impurities it might contain are caught by the filterers or hairs situated in the nasal cavities for that purpose.  Thus it reaches the tender vocal chords both warmed and purified.  To these may be added another advantage:  it is more becoming to inhale with closed lips—­the picture of a speaker gasping open-mouthed is not a graceful one.

[Side note:  How use the lungs]

We now come to the important question—­How shall I increase my vocal powers?  As is well known, there are two methods of inhaling and expelling the air from the lungs.  One is by means of the rising and falling of the ribs.  This is called “the costal method.”  The other is by the contraction and distention of the midriff or diaphragm.  The diaphragm is the movable floor