quarters. And it is not surprising that the results of declamation should
be unsatisfactory, considering the defective methods of conducting it,
which are still prevalent in not a few places. What can be expected of
declamation which consists in repeating on the stage a few
pieces,--injudiciously selected and imperfectly committed,--without
previous or accompanying vocal training? The remarks of Dr. Rush, on this
topic, though made more than a quarter of a century ago, are still to some
extent applicable. "Go to some, may I say all, of our colleges and
universities, and observe how the art of speaking is not taught. See a boy
of but fifteen treats sent upon the stage, pale and choking with
apprehension, in an attempt to do that, without instruction, which he came
purposely to learn; and furnishing amusement to his classmates, by a
pardonable awkwardness, which should be punished in the person of his
pretending but neglectful preceptor with little less than scourging. Then
visit a conservatory of music; observe there the orderly tasks, the
masterly discipline, the unwearied superintendence and the incessant toil
to produce accomplishment of voice; and afterward do not be surprised that
the pulpit, the senate, the bar, and the chair of the medical professorship
are filled with such abominable drawlers, mouthers, mumblers, clutterers,
squeakers, chanters, and mongers in monotony; nor that the schools of
singing are constantly sending abroad those great instances of vocal
wonder, who draw forth the intelligent curiosity and produce the crowning
delight and approbation of the prince and the sage."

This eminent writer's great work on the Philosophy of the Human Voice has
done much to correct the evil which he so graphically described. There are
now some schools and colleges to be found in which elocution is taught with
much skill and success. Among the disciples of Dr. Rush who have most
successfully cultivated the art of elocution in America, the foremost place
belongs to Professor William Russell, whose valuable and protracted labors