fragments of several speeches, or take the framework of one and construct
upon it a speech which will enable him to make a new departure. A writer
sometimes, after years of practice, finds it difficult to begin the
composition of some simple reception or commemorative address; but the
reading of a meagre outline, not one word or idea of which may be directly
used, serves to break the spell of intellectual sloth or inertia, and
starts him upon his work briskly and hopefully.

The field covered by the present volume is not entirely unoccupied. One of
the earliest publications in this line is an anonymous English work, very
dignified and conservative. The speeches it furnishes are painstaking, but
a trifle heavy, and savor so much of English modes of expression, as well
as thought and customs, as to be poorly adapted to this country. Two works
have appeared in this country, also, one being intended apparently for
wine parties only; the other, while containing a number of gem-like little
speeches, fails to give the aid which is sought by the ordinary tyro, and
is calculated rather to discourage him; giving him the impression that it
is more difficult to become an acceptable after-dinner speaker than he had
ever supposed. While a few of the best things in the latter volume are
availed of, a different method is pursued in the present work. Outlines
of speeches are preferred to those which are fully elaborated; and the
few plain rules, by which a thing so informal and easy as an after-dinner
speech may be produced, are so illustrated as to make their application
almost a matter of course. Good-humor and brevity, an outline and a
story--what more is needed, unless it be that serene self-confidence which
enables a speaker to say even foolish and absurd things, with the assurance
that all goes down at a public dinner? What if you are not the most
brilliant, humorous, and stirring speaker of the evening? Aim to fill your
place without discredit; observe closely those who make a great success;
the next time you may have a better outline or more telling story, and