Henry Ward Beecher

Henry Ward Beecher’s method was to practise vocal exercises in the open air, exploding all the vowel sounds in various keys.  This practise duly produced a most flexible instrument, which served him throughout his brilliant career.  He said: 

“I had from childhood impediments of speech arising from a large palate, so that when a boy I used to be laughed at for talking as if I had a pudding in my mouth.  When I went to Amherst, I was fortunate in passing into the hands of John Lovell, a teacher of elocution, and a better teacher for my purpose I can not conceive of.  His system consisted in drill, or the thorough practise of inflections by the voice, of gesture, posture and articulation.  Sometimes I was a whole hour practising my voice on a word—­like justice.  I would have to take a posture, frequently at a mark chalked on the floor.  Then we would go through all the gestures, exercising each movement of the arm and throwing open the hand.  All gestures except those of precision go in curves, the arm rising from the side, coming to the front, turning to the left or right.  I was drilled as to how far the arm should come forward, where it should start from, how far go back, and under what circumstances these movements should be made.  It was drill, drill, drill, until the motions almost became a second nature.  Now, I never know what movements I shall make.  My gestures are natural, because this drill made them natural to me.  The only method of acquiring effective elocution is by practise, of not less than an hour a day, until the student has his voice and himself thoroughly subdued and trained to get right expression.”

Lord Bolingbroke

Lord Bolingbroke made it a rule always to speak well in daily conversation, however unimportant the occasion.  His taste and accuracy at last gave him a style in ordinary speech worthy to have been put into print as it fell from his lips.

Lord Chatham

Lord Chatham, despite his great natural endowments for speaking, devoted a regular time each day to developing a varied and copious vocabulary.  He twice examined each word in the dictionary, from beginning to end, in his ardent desire to master the English language.

John Philpot Curran

The well-known case of John Philpot Curran should give encouragement to every aspiring student of public speaking.  He was generally known as “Orator Mum,” because of his failure in his first attempt at public speaking.  But he resolved to develop his oratorical powers, and devoted every morning to intense reading.  In addition, he regularly carried in his pocket a small copy of a classic for convenient reading at odd moments.

It is said that he daily practised declamation before a looking-glass, closely scrutinizing his gesture, posture, and manner.  He was an earnest student of public speaking, and eventually became one of the most eloquent of world orators.