Jones_art of the Orator

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The original of tiiis book is intine Cornell University Library.

There are no known copyright restrictions inthe United States on the use of the text.

http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924027198872


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Cornell University LibraryPN 4171.J76Art of the orator.

3 1924 027 198 872

THE ART OF THE ORATOR


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THE ART OFTHE ORATOR

BY

EDGAR R. JONES, M.P.

WITH A FOREWORDBY

THE RIGHT HON, D. LLOYD GEORGE, M.P.

LONDONADAM AND CHARLES BLACKIQI2

'I'


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FOREWORD/ ONCE heard Mr. Gladstone say, that in a con-flict between the platform and the press for thedirection of public opinion in this country, anefficient platform would surely win. Whetherthat be so or not, the influence of the spokenword must always be great in the governmentof all democratic communities, and in everysphere of activity, however exalted, it mustcontinue to inspire men, andfashion their lives.Every aid to the efficient discharge of so im-portant a function must be welcome. Theexperience and skill acquired by Mr. EdgarJones in the practice of this great art givesvalue to a contribution from his pefi on thesubject. His original and ingenious treatmentof it makes it well worth perusal by all thosewho wish to acquire proficiency in the art ofpublic speaking.

D. LLOYD GEORGE.


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PREFACEIt is with some apprehension that a public manventures to pubUsh a volume on oratory underhis own name ; he obviously lays himself opento taunts and to accusations of presumption.But it is not in the capacity of a practitioner

that I have approached the subject. If thereis anything due to experience in the book, it isan experience of failure and a poignant recol-lection of mistakes.

In my college days I combined a study ofmental and moral science with that ofpedagogy,and years ago it struck me as peculiar thatthere should be a whole library of textbooksthat endeavoured to base ideal methods ofteaching a class on the principles of mentalactivity found in the treatises on psychology ;whereas, so far as I knew, no similar scientificattempt had been made during recent years to

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viii PREFACEbase the methods of addressing an audience onthe laws of psychology.The properly trained pedagogue starts from

the question, " How does the child begin toacquire ideas?" Why should not the oratorbegin with the parallel question, " How doesthe mind of an adult acquire an idea ?" As ahumble student, wondering what the pursuitwould yield, I took up some of my oldpedagogic textbooks, and then settled down toa feeble imitation.As the reader will observe, I borrowed the

psychology from the standard textbooks, andmainly from those I was most acquainted with.I have quoted largely because there may bemany readers who are not acquainted with, andmay never become acquainted with, psycho-logical treatises.

I have merely patched things together. Itmay be fairly readable for the ordinary reader,ifhe takes time and tries to pick up the technicalterms as he goes along. For the expert itwill serve as an indication of what may bedone along these lines. It is only a firstattempt ; and if it may serve as a basis forlectures in some of our institutions, such as


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PREFACE ixtheological colleges, and lead to a develop-ment similar to that in pedagogy, the volumewill have served its purpose.They are notes for reflection, illustration, and

expansion. Later on, if leisure permits, Imay fiU out the outline with explanation andillustration.Having used psychology for guidance as toprocedure before the audience, I turned to logic

for light as to preparation, and found someilluminative and helpful passages in Mill and afew other authors.For those who had not, as boys have nowa-

days, systematic school instruction in thetheory of composition, I have added the notesI used in my old lecturing days. The ordertaken, therefore, is found in three successivequestions: (1) How can I move the audiencein the direction I desire ? (2) How should Iprepare my matter when endeavouring toachieve that result ? (3) How should Iarrange my words, phrases, and sentences,in the exposition of that matter ? I haveblundered through the whole in a spirit ofinquiry, and remain a timorous student onthe threshold of a great subject.


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X PREFACEOne objection is sure to be raisedthe

hackneyed conservative objection that theoryis of no use, because the orator is born such,or made such by practice. That applies to thetheory underlying every art, and has no weightwith anyone of consequence. . The bearing oftheory on practice is dealt vdth in the text.The author's hope is that the theory under-

lying the art of the orator may soon receivemuch more attention than it has received upto the present. EDGAR R. JONES.March 25, 1912.


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co:n^tentsCHAPTER I PAQE

Introductory - - - - 1

The ProblemCHAPTER II

CHAPTER IIISE Scientific Bases -


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xii CONTENTS


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THE ART OF THE ORATORCHAPTER I

INTRODUCTORYThe orator was in ancient times a greaterman than the warrior. By his skill the cityor tribe was roused to war or persuaded topeace. Knowledge was spread, Christianitywas estabhshed, almost entirely by the spokenword. The Bible was not extensively read bythe masses of the people until the seventeenthcentury, and news was not widely disseminatedby weekly or daily journals until the eighteenth Effect ofcentury. The talker was the medium for con- onveying information of all kinds. To-day the ^^ ^^'writers and printers surpass the talkers in manyways. Children in school learn from booksand papers. There are lessons through thepost ; sermons, political speeches, and lectures,can be read a few hours after they are de-

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2 THE ART OF THE ORATORlivered. News of events, descriptions of enter-prise, scientific discoveries, developments ofknowledge, and affairs of State, reach theremotest hamlet and the feeblest invalid.But in spite of all these developments, thewritten word has not lessened the demand forthe spoken word. The speaker is necessarywhenever something has to be driven home.The teacher has to be trained in the art ofassisting the child to deal with the printedlessons ; the preacher is trained to drive thewritten truth into effective contact with thehearts of men ; the significance of news, andprogress, and effort, has to be impressed uponthe mind by the living voice and features of acompetent speaker. So we find that there ismore scope for the art of the orator to-daythan ever before, and those who become intel-ligent, well-informed readers of the variousproductions of the Press swell the audiencesthat are gathered together by the charm ofeloquence.

A new It is not the same type of eloquence as thattype of Jr ^elo- of ancient days. The ancient orator had toquence. ^^^j with audicuccs who knew little of the

details of the subject. He had to supply the


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INTRODUCTORY 3information in as simple and minute andpatient a way as he could devise. Now, onmost subjects, the audiences are weU informedconcerning the mass of details. The speakercan assume the existence of a certain "mentalcontent " in his hearers, and can thereforeconcentrate more directly on his argumentsor generahzations. One is tempted to saythat therefore the standard of speaking hasbeen raised ; but on reflection one recognizesthat that is not the exact way to put it. Toovercome, as Demosthenes did, the limitedknowledge of the citizens who had never beenoutside the walls of Athens, and to succeed inleading their thoughts from fact to principle,and from principle to judgment, on great anddifficult issues ; to be so skilful as Cicero wasin converting the crude prejudices of Romansenators into great moral principles thatmoved to action ; ^; to be so graphic andpictorial as Hugh Latimer for the purposeof giving ignorant, material-minded medisevalsa clear idea of Christian doctrinethose wereachievements that must for ever remain in therecords of oratory as unsurpassable triumphs ofgenius. The modern speaker has new advan-


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4 THE ART OF THE ORATORtages and new difficulties. He may performhis task as successfully as the ancients didtheirs, but, because the task is a different one,we cannot compare the standards ; hence wemust not say that the standard has beenraised, but that it has been changed.

Modern There is one respect in which we compareneglect in , -^

*,teaching unfavourably with the ancients. They studied

the art of public speech seriously, and theytaught it systematically in their academiesbut we do not provide regular instruction inmany of our colleges or schools. Surely thisis a remarkable state of things. Our secondaryschools and colleges send out thousands ofyouths with a general education that enablesthem to enter with a certain amount of confi-dence into most of the general activities oflife, but with a lamentable lack of confidence,due to lack of training, in the art of persuadingtheir fellows. That this is a misfortune in ademocratic age everyone must admit. Menand women are now organized in social classesand industrial tribes. Every village, and church,and chapel, has its circles, and guilds, andsocieties ; every industry has its association ofemployers, and its trade union ; every pro-


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INTRODUCTORY 5fession has its council or union. The mostskilful speaker inevitably becomes the leader,and if his influence is a bad one he moves themass along the undesirable road. Next to theacquirement of the manual or business skillthat wins a livelihood, the capacity to enlightenand to influence by speech stands as the mostimportant in the modern State.

Several colleges and schools devote theirenergies to much less fruitful studies thanthe rhetorical art. English reading, composi-tion, poetry, mental and moral science, andmany other studies, might be co-ordinated, andbe worked in as part of a scheme of rhetoric.But the claims of the art must be pressedfurther than that. There should be lecturesand demonstrations similar to those that havebeen gradually developed in the colleges fortraining teachers ; and then, as has happened ineducation, a library of specialized treatises willbe built up until there has been establishedsomething like a scientific treatment of methodand aim. This volume attempts, as a modest Objectbeginning, to treat the problem of the speaker book.and the audience as educational textbooks havetreated that of the teacher and the class. In


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6 THE ART OF THE ORATORdoing so, the model of the teachers' handbookswill be sometimes closely followed, and thescientific bases will be similarly dealt with.

Theory g^^. g^^ ^j^g outsct there arises the samepractice, question as has to be answered by the educa-

tionist : What is the bearing of theory uponpractice ? Is not the great orator bom, andnot made ? The evidence of experience isdead against the idea that an orator is suchby nature alone. Demosthenes and many, ifnot most, of the greatest orators of the ageshad to practise hard, and struggle for yearsagainst natural defects. Of course there wasa natural aptitude and tendency to be eloquentin those men ; but without practice and oppor-tunity, and circumstances to develop their in-herent quality, they would not have becomemasters of the crowd. It was practice com-bined with a sound instinct that fashionedtheir oratory.

It is only the genius, the exceptional manof a generation, whose instincts are beyondrules and conventions. The average man oftalent wants more than indiscriminate practice.Indeed, the pulpits and public places of to-dayare filled with men who have stereotyped wrong


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INTRODUCTORY 7methods, bad manner, and unbearable defects.Theory can help here. Its function may bemade clear by analogy with the relation of thescience of astronomy to the art of navigation.Why should the sailor have to study the prin-ciples underlying the art ? The principles do notenable him to manage a ship, neither does themost detailed knowledge of nautical almanacs,charts, etc. So it can be said that the merestudy of theoretical principles will not enablean author to write or an orator to speak withfacility. Ships were sailed, and speeches weresuccessful, long before there was any study ofprinciples. But the knowledge that the sailoracquires enables him to sail his ship muchmore successfully than he could without thatknowledge. It enables him (1) to get moredirectly to his destination; (2) to know thelocation of rocks, shallows, currents, etc., andto avoid them ; (3) to get along with theconfidence bred of intelligence. Similarly,the study of principles enables the writerand speaker (1) to convey his thoughts toothers with greater cogency and directness(2) to avoid errors of grammar, style, andmanner ; (3) to have confidence. The essential


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8 THE ART OF THE ORATORimportance of these will be brought out later.The creation of confidence is a condition ofsuccess for the orator. There is, of course, aconfidence that arises from temperament andfrom constant practice, and can only comewith practice. But that is a blustering con-fidence, which is often more conducive to thedevelopment of an insufferable bore than anattractive orator. The confidence that leadsto power is that of the man who has hadenough practice to know what he can do, andis in addition conscious that he is conversantwith the high canons of the art, and consciousof the intellectual quality of his ideas and ofthe logical cogency of his argument. Confi-dence of such a character has a remarkablysubtle efifect on an audience, and later on thenature of the effect will be analyzed.


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CHAPTER IITHE PROBLEM

Most modern books that deal with the subject Secon-give admirable advice to the speaker. He is matters.told how to manage the voice, how to hold hishands, how to practise elocutionary exercisesand gesture. He is in some books advised topractise before a full-length mirror. All thiscounsel is helpful in its way. But the properthing for anyone who wishes to perfect hisvocal mechanism, or to correct defectivegesture is to go to a teacher of elocutionfor practical exercises under supervision. Theaverage man or woman has no need to do that.If a person has been properly taught inschool to read and speak distinctly, and toproduce voice properly, he requires no furthertraining ; and the school during early years,when learning the alphabet and syllables, is

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10 THE ART OF THE ORATORthe place where enunciation and articulationshould be properly acquired.

of sub^ There is a fatal error in thinking that onejective can cultivate the art of the orator by culti-methods. . 'vating oneself There is a fallacy in such a

subjective treatment of the art that leads tofailure. Elaborate elocutionary exercises, in sofar as they improve the strength, or pliabiUty,or distinctness, of the voice, or in so far as theyremove eccentricities or defects of manner, arecertainly good ; but if the speaker produceshis voice, and varies his expression, and moveshis arms, and adjusts his features, according topremeditated ideas, then failure will probablyfollow.

Contrast Such 'premeditation is essential for thebetween ^actors reciter or the actor. His task is to interpretandspeakers, a work of art. He has to mtensify passion,

heighten imagination, and elevate Nature bythe charm of Art. You expect a tone andmovement of voice, and an original dramaticattitude of body, different from the common-place manner of the street. You lay yourselfout for an imaginative, unreal, make-believeperformance. You know that the passion isartificial. But so long as your mood is


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THE PROBLEM 11satisfied by the idealistic representation, youare captivated by the art of the reciter oractor. There is no need to pursue the subjectof dramatic reahsm and idealism, and of theexact relation between the natural and theartistic ; our purpose is served, so far as actorsare concerned, by a rough statement such asthe above.The task of the speaker is very differentfrom that of the reciter and actor. Thespeaker has to be above everything elsenatural and real. He has not to deal with thesubjective consideration of how to representthrough his voice and manner the conceptionsand emotions arranged by the poet or drama-tist ; he has to deal with an objective con-sideration ; he has to study the mind andemotions of an audience, and has to discoverhow to work upon them so as to produce agiven effect. The actor's art is representa-tive ; but the orator's is creative, hke that ofthe dramatist.Many speakers are spoiled by studying and

practising their art from the subjective insteadof from the objective point of view. Theymanage their voice and their movement to


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12 THE ART OF THE ORATORsatisfy themselves, and thus carry a trace ofartificiahty and unreality which is fatal withmost audiences.

Two This matter is very serious and importantpreachMs. ^^^ prcachcrs. Of course there may be some

preachers whose view of their purpose is thatthey should compose a sermon which is anidealistic expression of spiritual things, just asa poem or drama is composed by the drama-tist ; and that they should then deliver thatcomposition as the actor delivers his piece.Those who hold that view may be classed withthe actors for elocutionary purposes. Thisbook deals with the preacher who is engagedin the practical task of directly influencing theconduct of men and women from day to day.Such a preacher has a message to deliver, as aman to other men. If there is any suggestionof artificiality or unreality about his delivery,then his message lacks its proper effect. Halfthe bad preaching of the country is due to theself-consciousness of preachers, who are talkingto the looking-glass, who have practised tones ofvoice that please their own earstones whichthey regard as cleverly produced, but whichsound hoUow to the ears of the congregation.


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THE PROBLEM 13Likewise with gesture or attitude. Any Defects of

appearance of a studied attempt to look im- tion.pressive, or to pose well, or to be dramatic,detracts from the effect. A speaker may athome practise gesture in order to become freefrom awkward movements, or to make easeand gracefiilness natural to gesture ; but heshould not so practise just before a particularaddress : otherwise, self-conscious, as he mustthen be, there will be danger of affectation orartificiality. All raising or sinking of thevoice, and all movements of the body, mustcome naturally and freely, and the audiencemust feel that they are natural and inevit-able.

This " inevitableness " in the relation of formto matter is the secret of style in poetry andthe gift of genius. Many critics, while recog-nizing the " inevitable " character of therhythm and rhyme of certain poems, havefound some difficulty in analyzing this vagueepithet " inevitable " into definite parts andfeatures. Irregular versification like Shelley'sconfounds him who looks for the secret inthe formal rules of prosody. The effect ofthe long-breathed blank -verse periods of


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14 THE ART OF THE ORATORThe value Milton cannot be explained by the rules that

pause, pgj^j^j^^ g^j^ admiration of Dryden's heroics.Perhaps the secret lies in " pause," and the

variety that pause makes in the rhythmic beats.Anyone reading one of the great masterpiecesof poetry can produce astonishing effects by askilful use of pause and beat, without raisingor lowering the pitch of voice very much.The " inevitableness " that is essential in thesphere of oratory lies in an alternation of pauseand beat. Let any person try to dehver afragment from one of the classic speeches ofBright in an ordinary conversational style,after a careful study of "pause" and " rhythmicbeat," and he will see how unnecessary is anyundue lowering or elevation of tone, orartificial trick of gesture, to powerful dramaticeffects. The natural modulations and gesturesof the person himself, provided they are underjudicious control, combined with the move-ment that makes the sentences come forth aspart of himselfthose are the fundamentalelements of form. It may of course bepossible for the exceptional person, born withthe genius for dramatic delivery, to practiseelaborate forms, and, like the great actor, make


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THE PROBLEM 15everyone feel that there is sincerity in everymove of an eyelash ; but only such a borndramatist can attempt this with safety. If heis a man talking to other men, he must do sowith his usual pause, etc., as in reading poetry,with rhythm, voice, and manner, magnified andintensified according to the size and circum-stances of the audience. But the fuller dis-cussion of the equipment of the orator mustnot be anticipated. The matter that is beingemphasized here is the danger that hes in thesubjective point of view.

This has a bad effect in other ways than Prepara-those sketched above. Detailed and extensive of notes.suggestions are given in some publications asto methods of preparationwhether loosenotes are better than copybooks, whether type-written papers are best ; how to memorize, howto invent mnemonics, and how to use variousdevices. Such hints certainly have somevalue, but some of them are trivial, and thepractice of speakers varies considerably.Methods of sketching outlines and memor-izing are taken in the schools where Englishand composition are properly taught. Thehigher questions affecting preparation are


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16 THE ART OF THE ORATORdiscussed below. The mistake made by manyspeakers is that of adopting a method for itsown sake. Too many sermons and speechesare drafted, according to a system that lookswell on paper and satisfies the composer's eye.Compositions are written, and the writer'scritical judgment is the sole criterion ; thenthese compositions are hopeless failures in thepulpit or on the platform. PhiUips Brooks hasput the point clearly for the preacher:" Whatever is in the sermon must be in thepreacher first ; clearness, logicalness, vivacity,earnestness, sweetness, and light, must bepersonal qualities in him before they arequalities of thought and language in what heutters to his people." And again : " Men usedto talk of ' sermonizing.' They said that somegood preacher was a fine ' sermonizer.' Theword contained just this vice : it made asermon an achievement to be attempted andenjoyed for itself apart from anything that itcould do, like a picture or an oratorio, like theVenus of Milo or the 'Midsummer Night'sDream.'"The point to understand is that in prepara-

tion, as in delivery, one has to have the


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THE PROBLEM 17audience, and the purpose to be achieved, ;before the mind. The task must be approached 'from the objective, not the subjective, point of 'view. The question that arises may be putthus : Here is an audience that has to bemade like clay in the hands of the potter.How is such a mastery to be obtained ? Somehave done it by carefully-written addressesread out word by word, or memorized anddelivered with effect. Some have succeededby trusting to the word-inspiration of themoment. Some have used fuU notes, somenone at all. Some have had to prepareelaborately ; others prepared but scrappily.Some have conquered by rolling periods ofJohnsonian strength, some by literary gracesome, like Cromwell, by rugged, jagged phrasesblurting out the cruel truth. All of themconquered because they were men in livingtouch with the circumstances and thought ofthose to whom they spoke.Some of them had the assistance of a fine Physical

appearance and wonderful voice, like Pitt and teristics.Gladstone ; but most of them laboured underserious physical disadvantages in this respect.Demosthenes was a stammerer with a painful


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18 THE ART OF THE ORATORhusky defect of voice. Hooker's voice wasweak, and his mannerisms were painful. Theyounger Pitt's voice sounded as if he spokethrough a muffler. Curran was a stutterer.Sheil squealed. Gladstone's description ofNewman, one of the most influential of pulpitorators in history (quoted by Holyoake), givesin a definite, concrete form the whole case weare now considering

" Dr. Newman's manner in the pulpit wasone which, if you considered it in itsseparate parts, would lead you to arrive ata very unsatisfactory conclusion. There wasnot very much change in the inflection ofhis voice ; action there was none ; his sermonswere read, and his eyes were always on hisbook ; and all that, you will say, is againstefficiency in preaching. Yes ; but you takethe man as a whole, and there was a stamp anda seal upon him, there was a solemn musicand sweetness in his tone, there was a com-pleteness in the figure, taken together with thetone and with the manner, which made evenhis delivery such as I have described it,and though exclusively with written sermons,singularly attractive."


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THE PROBLEM 19The meaning of the example is that

successful oratory does not, after all, dependupon the physical or other accompaniments.All these things are secondary and accidental.Of course, a good voice and a fine appear-ance help to a considerable extent : butthey are not essential. Success is basedupon great fundamental psychological andethical principles. The structure of thehuman brain and the mysteries of the humanheart are at the bottom of everything. Hewho understands human nature, and how towork upon it, becomes the master in spite ofvocal or bodily defects. The genius hasinstinct to guide him : let the average manseek guidance from knowledge.What is the problem that the orator has to Camp-

bell'ssolve ? Campbell affirms that he has to do one analysis.or more of the following things :

1. Enlighten the understanding.2. Please the imagination.3. Mo^e the passions.4. Influence the will.

The conditions underlying each of those prob-lems must form the subjectof any inquiry into


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20 THE ART OF THE ORATORthe scientific bases of the art of oratory, andthose conditions must be considered in relationto different types of audiences and different setsof circumstances.


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CHAPTER IIITHE SCIENTIFIC BASES

I. Presentation.It is obvious that a speaker has first of all tobe clearly, rightly, and immediately under-stood. The rules of composition that must beobserved for that purpose are dealt with inChapter V. But there are a few elementaryfacts of psychology relating to mental condi-tions and processes which the speaker mustpay attention to. Indeed, the serious studentof the art of oratory should carefully study agood manual of psychology, and look out, ashe does so, for the light that is thrown uponthe art.

It will be sufficient here to note the mainpoints that bear most directly on our subject,

jj^^ ^^^The speaker's task would be fairly simple if mind* ... acquiresthe mind of the audience, which is the material an idea.21


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22 THE ART OF THE ORATORhe has to work upon, were unformed andpassive, Uke the marble of the sculptor ; or, toput it in another way, if the mind of eachhearer were a tabula rasa, like a sheet of whitepaper upon which certain ideas had to bewritten. Locke, the philosopher, assumed thatthat was the mental condition of childhood,but the theory has long ago been abandoned.We have to start with the clearly establishedprinciple that the mind, even of the chUd, hasa certain "content," and that the minds ofthose to whom a speech is made differ fromone another in the nature of this "mentalcontent." But we are using now a technicalphrase that may not be understood. Let ussee how the mind acquires an idea. We cannotdo better than quote Professor Ward's illustra-tion of the process : " Suppose that in a fewminutes we take half a dozen glances at astrange and curious flower. At first only thegeneral outline is noted ; next the dispositionof petals, stamens, etc. ; then the attachmentof the anthers, form of the ovary, and so onthat is to say, symbolizing the whole flower asp' {ah) s' (cd) o' (xy), we first apprehend, say,(y. . .s'...o'),theny(a6)/(. . .)o'(.. . ),


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assimila-

THE SCIENTIFIC BASES 23or p' {a . . . ) s' {c . . . ) o' {x . . . ), andso forth."The first glance was but a vague, undefined Dis-outhne, consisting of one or two broad out- tiou andstanding features. At the second glance some y^additional details were filled in, and at everyfurther glance more details. The first vagueoutline makes it possible for us to discriminatecertain details. These become assimilated tothe outline already in consciousness, and thusa newer and ftdler outline is formed. Thisnew outline makes it possible for us to dis-criminate further details ; these in turn becomeassimilated. A still fuUer outline results, whichleads to further discrimination and assimilation.This capacity for the differentiation of par-ticulars, and a consequent advance in know-ledge based upon the knowledge alreadyacquired, explains why the expert botanistsees so much more when examining a simpleflower than the ordinary unobservant, untrainedperson.The general laws of consciousness are typified

by the above process. In Professor Ward'swords : " The whole field of consciousnesswould thus, like a continually growing picture,


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24 THE ART OF THE ORATORincrease indefinitely in complexity of pattern,the earlier presentations not disappearing,like the waves of yesterday in the calm ofto-day, but rather lasting on, like old scarsthat show beneath new ones." Now, perhaps,the meaning of the " mental content " is clear.There is a background of ideas in the mind ofevery member of the audience. The capacityof the audience to understand an address on asubject depends upon that background, and

Questions the speaker must never forget that. Whatfor the J , T .speaker, docs the audiencc know about this ? Whatdoes the audience know about a subject alliedto this, which I can use as an illustration?What is the general intelhgence of theaudience ? What is the mental atmospherein which the audience Hves ? What do theythink and talk about during the months andweeks ? What " mental content " is there ?Those are the questions that must be presentto the mind of the speaker who wants to beunderstood. Many are the good tales amongstparish politicians ofthe noble Earl or the famousbarrister from London who spoke to the rusticmind with as much effect as to the beams andrafters. Very funny are the jokes amongst


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THE SCIENTIFIC BASES 25preachers, of the great city man who sentall the country-folk to sleep. Men have nobusiness to take the thought and phrases ofthe town circle to the village circle, which ismade of different thoughts and phrases. Thegreat orator adapts himself to every circlehe discovers the secret of the maze, and gets toits centre, while others wander aimless andlost in the outer passages.

It is not only the general mental content Wrong1 1 i> 1 ' 1 arrange-which is 01 such importance, but the process ment of

of the presentation of new ideas to that alreadyexisting state of consciousness is equally im-portant. The mutual working of the processesof discrimination and assimilation must deter-mine the procedure of the speaker. Failureafter failure is due solely to a disregard of thisfundamental process of the mind. Speakersbegin with the detailsdetails that are veryvaluable, that are intrinsically of great interestto the audience. They pile them on, one afterthe other, until the attention of the audienceis entirely lost, and a speech which has costmonths of hard and clever original work hasa most disappointing effect. The fault is notin the audience ; the speaker has proceeded


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26 THE ART OF THE ORATORcontrary to the natural laws of thought, withthe natural consequences of so doing.

If the reader wiU consider once more thesymbolic outline given above, he will see whatthe natural method should be. The essenceof it is system. Promiscuous, badly-arrangedfacts or arguments cannot be grasped by themind without difficulty. There are speakerswho are very systematic, but their system is afalse one. Some, for instance, have an ideathat it is dramatic to keep back the purpose ofthe discourse until it emerges with a surpriseat the end. Of course, such a device may dofor three to five minutes, but to go on forfifteen or thirty minutes with an audiencewondering what you are driving at is fatal.

The In a proper psychological scheme, a broad out-pyscho- line of the subject would be given first of allorden then a bare statement of the aim of the address

would foUow, with a hint of its divisions, andhow part dovetails into part. That is theproper procedure, which accords with themovements of the mind. Like the exampleof the flower symboHzed by Professor Ward,the audience at first glance, as it were, shouldsee the main feature in broad outline ; then


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THE SCIENTIFIC BASES 27each act of attention to the speaker should fillin the outline steadily and regularly, eachassimilation of ideas making discriminationpossible and easy, and that in turn enablingfurther assimilation to take place. The build-ing up of an address on right hnes is, therefore,not analogous to the spectator's sight of thebuilding of a house in the old style, startingfrom the bottom and putting brick on brickbut rather to what the spectator sees in thenewer style, where the whole framwork ofsteel is first erected complete, and the bricksare filled into the frame. But the betterillustration of the process is that of themaking of a picture, given by Professor Ward,or it may be developed on the analogy of awater-colour picture. The artist in water-colour covers his paper or board with a firstwash of colour as the background of his picture.Then he washes part with the next faint colourthat comes into the picture. Then on top ofthat, in parts, another colour, and another, untildetail begins to form, and smaller and smallerdetails are put on, colour upon colour, untilthe picture is complete.What a gain to audience and to speaker


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28 THE ART OF THE ORATORThe would it be if the latter always proceeded withgraphic , . . . . . , .style. the conscious intention oi painting his subject

on the minds of his hearers like a picture ! Itwould certainly do no harm. The graphicstyle is always very successful, and it wouldcertainly train the speaker to proceed accordingto the canons of his art as they are being laiddown here. He would be very careful, whenhe came to difficult details, to go deftly andslowly and patiently, hke the artist when usinghis smallest brush, giving time for the assimi-lation of one thing before expecting the dis-crimination of another, letting the one colourdry before putting on the next.The speaker who pursues this course acquires

in time the faculty of being able to projecthimself into the mind of the hearer : he isable to watch the subject grow on theaudience, as the artist watches his on thepaper. He knows when to stop, knows atonce if he has made a false move, works withvigilance and skill according as the circum-stances demand.Up to the present only the simplest possible

form of conscious processes has been taken,one that rarely occurs in practice in such a


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THE SCIENTIFIC BASES 29clearly defined way. It is, nevertheless, the fform that is the foundation of every process ofthought, and it is typical of every process, so \it has been rightly used as an illustration ofthe first elementary principle.

II. Association.So far, it is only the simple direct presenta-

tion of an object to one of the senses that hasbeen dealt w^ith. It is very rarely that onlyone sense is involved. The Laws of Associ-ation are in constant operation.

" Let us suppose that we are looking at the Example11 mi ... , ofasso-picture on the wall. There it is in what we ciation.may call the focus of vision. But it suggests

certain thoughts which are also present toconsciousness, and thus we see dimly the wallon which it hangs, and much besides in whatwe may call the margin of vision. Realize foryourself by actual observation how much youdo see indistinctly in this way. Furthermore,though we may pay little attention to them,there are other things present in what we mayterm the margin of consciousnesssounds suchas the ticking of the clock and the flicker ofthe fire flame, scent such as that of the flowers


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30 THE ART OF THE ORATORin the vase, pressure from the position of thebody, and that general feeUng which we calleither ' freshness ' or ' fatigue.' We are aptto consider only that on which our attention isspecially fixedthat which is in the focus ofconsciousnessand to neglect the other ele-ments which lie in the margin of consciousness.And I would again urge you to reahze foryourself by actual observation, without whichyou can do nothing of value in psychology,how much there is in the margin of conscious-ness of which you are not fully conscious, butmerely subconscious. The first result of ouranalysis of a state of consciousness is, therefore,the distinction between what is focal andwhat is merely marginal. It is the focalelement to which we attend ; indeed, we maysay that attention is the clear, accurate, anddecisive focussing of the central element inconsciousness, or, otherwise stated, that atten-tion differentiates the focus from the margin."*There are several of the fundamental pro-

cesses of thought included in the abovequotation.

* Professor Lloyd Morgan's "Psychology forTeachers'" (Longmans), p. 3.


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THE SCIENTIFIC BASES 31There is that which makes association and Reten-

subconsciousness and assimilation and differ-entiation possible at all-the power of reten-tiveness. An idea or impression gets registered,so to speak, in the mind ; it fades away withthe lapse of time, but it is retained somehow.It is not necessary here to ask how it isretained, and if it were necessary no one couldexplain at present ; it is one of the mysteriesof science. Everything depends upon thispower of retention, and the person in whomit is impaired is one of the most patheticspectacles in the world. Apparently the lossof the power is due to physiological causes,and is a matter for medical science.

There is a common mistake that may be Memorymentioned here. Books and methods areadvertised that profess to give men a systemwhich improves the memory. Speakers whohave a difficulty in learning a sermon orwritten speech, or in remembering the pointsof an address, may be tempted to spend timein endeavouring to cultivate some such system.It is desirable therefore to understand clearlythat the power of retention as such is notdependent upon the method and arrangement


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32 THE ART OF THE ORATORof ideas. If impressions and ideas comehiggledy-piggledy, they are retained quite assurely as the well-ordered presentations ; theintensity with which they are registereddepended mainly on physiological conditionsand on the general health. Impressions arenaturally more faint when we are very tired,or half asleep, or indifferent to what is goingon. The advantage in connection with ideasacquired systematically comes when we wish

Con- to reproduce them. It is not the power ofditions of . . i i irecall. retention that varies so much, but the powerof recall. Ideas retained in a loose, discon-nected way are difficult to recall.Now, the conditions of the reproduction of

what the mind has registered are sometimesvery simple, and sometimes very complex andartificial. The simple natural process ofremem-bering without effort is governed by the Lawsof Association. If two impressions or ideascome together into the focus of consciousness,then subsequently, when one comes, the othercomes also. We see a certain bird, and weremember its note, or we hear the note and

Links of remember the appearance of the bird. Thetion. association links are very important factors in


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THE SCIENTIFIC BASES 33mental processes. We get into the habit, whenone thing happens, to expect another which hasbeen associated with it in the past.

These psychological principles are of im-mense importance, not only for the speaker'sown training in preparing and delivering ad-dresses, but for the speaker's consideration indealing with his audiences. He would find itvery interesting and profitable to read a fullexposition of these " laws " in some of thestandard manuals of psychology. A bare indi-cation of their names must suffice here. The" association " takes place at the moment ofregistration. The links of association areretained with the retention of the impressionsor ideas ; so that, when a sound is recalled, anassociated colour, or shape, or taste, or touch,is also recalled. Further than that, notmerely two or three impressions or ideas, but awhole range of general consciousness, with theundefined margin, is recalled. Let us returnfor a moment to the illustration of the pictureon the wall. The point of the illustration wasthat the apparently simple act of looking at apicture on a wall was not a simple act at all.There was a whole field of consciousness affect-

3


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34 THE ART OF THE ORATORing smell, touch, sound, and complications withthe mental content, and various associationlinks. But there was an act of attentionwhich gave a focus, around which the fieldradiated outwards in decreasing intensity.Those were the conditions of presentation toconsciousness, and the new point to be graspednow is that those wUl also be the conditions ofrecall. If the occasion is reproduced, it willbe reproduced as it was retained. The focuson presentation wiU be the focus in represen-tation. That which is attended to is moreclearly reproduced than that which is notattended to, but it is reproduced with themargin.The margin and background give a setting

of interest and sympathy to the new associa-tions, and the speaker who arouses that interestor sympathy finds it much easier to get intotouch with associations that will readily appealto the mind of the hearer.The significance of these laws of association

for the speaker's purpose is that things canoften be made clear by a suggestion whichlinks on by association to some existing know-ledge or interest which could not be explained


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THE SCIENTIFIC BASES 35in any other way. That is why poetry is more Use \valuable than prose. The great poet through gestion. )images and figures of speech, by means ofsuggestion, can find expression for emotions,and handle subjects of thought and passionthat cannot be expressed in cold matter-of-factprose. Prose that aims at logical relevancy anda purely intellectual appeal is limited in itsscope, but the poet can work upon the wholeunlimited field of consciousness, with its endlesspossibility of effective combinations and associa-tions. The sphere of logical interest is verylimited, but the general interests that are boundup by the innumerable links of association arewonderful in extent and variety.

It is upon these interests that art in everyform can work. The poet plays upon themwith magical effect. So does the great orator,the man who moves the masses to tremendousrevolution. It is not syllogisms that rouse a 'nation to action, but figures of speech. These [and the emotional aspect are dealt with later, *and examples may be found in psychologicaltextbooks of the different ways of moving themind by association, and suggestion by re-semblance, similarity, contiguity, and contrast.


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36 THE ART OF THE ORATORIII. Attention.

At this stage the effect of the processes ofassociation on attention needs to be noticed.There are different kinds of attention.

(1) Immediate or Primitive Attention.When the object of attention is interesting initself, and does not derive its interest fromother objects with which it has been associated.Attention is in these cases involuntary, andwithout any sense of effort ; it is passive, amere natural response to the impulse, like thewithdrawal of a finger which is pricked.

(2) Derived or Apperceptive Attention.When the object of attention is interestingbecause of something else with which it isassociated. This form of attention may beinvoluntary, where the associations are strongenough to arouse attention ; or it may bevoluntary, where there is some active effort toattend.

(3) Passive Voluntary Attention.Whereone has got into the habit of attending, untUthere is no sense of effort, in spite of the factthat one is actively engaged, perhaps with somestrain in giving the attention.


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THE SCIENTIFIC BASES 37The form (1) hardly ever enters into the

relations between speaker and hearer. Theinvoluntary form of (2) is given to the speakerwhen the audience is interested because of theoccasion or circumstances. There are timeswhen an audience hangs upon the words of thepoorest of speakers on the driest of subjects.The syllables of kings are like the thunderboltsof peasants. Such attention roused because ofthe associations does not caU for the seriousexercise of the orator's art. The only remarknecessary to make is that a distinguished oratoris sometimes less successfiil under such circum-stances than the plain blunt man of clumsywordsbecause the orator does not carefullyconsider what the circumstances involve. Effect ofWhenever attention is vouchsafed, the plainer stances.and more direct and simple the statement, thebetter. He who strains his power to secure anattention already given for other reasons isdoing the wrong thing, and the consequencesare sure to be bad. There is, however, oneother phase of this case. The orator may regardthe occasion, when people are eager to listen toan5i;hing he may say, as an opportunity forhim to give a great classic oration that satisfies


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38 THE ART OF THE ORATORthe highest canons of his art. A funeral, acommemoration, or some such formal occasion,has always been the chance for the classicoration, and the production of rhetorical styleas such. The only problem to be decided ishow far the involuntary attention can becounted upon.

Volun- Again, when an audience is anxious to knowtary "effort to the facts ofsome subject, voluntary eiFort with a

sense of strain can be obtained. This is foundin the college lecture-room, the PhilosophicalSociety, classes of all kinds, company meetings,and sometimes in political or other publicmeetings. But it is very easy to lose thisvoluntary attention, and the art of the goodspeaker who knows his business can be nowheremore valuable than in this direction. Anyonewho has watched a trained, experienced, cleverteacher handle figures and difficult facts knowswhat an astonishing difference there is from theway of the clumsy amateur.

Anec- But the great problem of the speaker is withiliustra- the indifferent or hostile audience, with a class"'"^" that is not keen on work, a jury that has half

made up its mind, or an unsympatheticmeeting. He cannot hope for voluntary


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THE SCIENTIFIC BASES 39attention to his statement of the subject for itsown sake, so he has to be aided by the laws ofassociation. He has to make allusions, com-parisons, or analogies, and has to use figures ofspeech that wUl be interesting, in order thus toget attention to his speechthat is, he has toaim at involuntary apperceptive attention. Theclever speaker has sometimes to deal with asingle disagreeable person in this way. He willhit upon an illustration or allusion that catchesthe interest of the disturber. That is oftenhow " he who came to scofF remains to pray."It is for this purpose that anecdotal illustrationsand stories are useful. But an illustration or Useless

Q.6V1PP4story that does not directly contribute to theelucidation of a point, one that has no con-nection with the subject, and is dragged in forits own sake, should be avoided. The interestthat is aroused by such means is only a fictitiousinterest with a tendency to distract and dissipateattention. Many a speaker, labouring underdifficulties with an audience, has ventured uponan amusing tale, to his complete undoing,because the audience could not be got back tothe subject after the disturbanceofthe irrelevantjoke. The rule to be observed in the employ-


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40 THE ART OF THE ORATORment of devices for arousing interest is thatthe interest must be a true apperceptive interest,which means that an idea has been so presentedto the mind that it becomes assimilated to theexisting mental content.The involuntary apperceptive attentionwhich

the successful orator secures is a great tributeto his art. It means that he, in a sense, compelshis audience to listen to him because he is, ina way that they cannot resist, linking histhoughts on to their thoughts.Having enunciated the principle governing

the relation of the laws of association to atten-tion, it is possible to explain why anecdotes,long stories, and formal jokes, are out of placein certain assemblies ; they are out of placewherever voluntary attention is vouchsafed bythe audience. Where direct volimtary atten-tion is possible, it is sheer foUy to resort to thedevices for securing the indirect involuntaryattention. The man who wants to know thefacts is impatient at jokes and anecdotes. TheHouse of Commons is an assembly that willlisten to relevant facts of immediate interest,and, because it wants to attend to such facts,an ordinary platform joke or story sounds


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THE SCIENTIFIC BASES 41quite incongruous there. Voluntary attentionis what the speaker has to aim at securing, buthe must know when he has got it, and proceedaccordingly.The greatest and final achievement of the

speaker in the intellectual sphere* is to somaster an indifferent, a lethargic, or a hostileaudience that, beginning with involuntary atten-tion, secured through the laws of association,he gets the audience to settle down, to givehim their attention, until bit by bit they fallinto the habit of listening to him. This is the . ,passive voluntary attention ; the audiencevoluntarily attend, though without any senseof active efibrt, by yielding passively to themasterful power of the orator over them. A Bacon'sstriking example of this is to be found inovCT^"^Ben Jonson's description of Bacon's power as ^**^"^^'n-a speaker : " There happened in my time onenoble speaker who was full of gravity in hisspeaking ; his language, where he could spareor pass by a jest, was nobly censorious. Noman ever spake more neatly, more pressly,

* It must be remembered that here, for purposes ofdiscussion, the important function of appeals to emotionis left out of consideration.


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42 THE ART OF THE ORATORmore weightily, or suffered less emptiness, lessidleness in what he uttered ; no member of hisspeech but consisted of its own graces. Hishearers could not cough or look aside fromhim without loss : he commanded when hespoke, and had his judges angry and pleasedat his devotion. No man had their affectionsmore in his power ; the fear of every man thatheard him was lest he should make an end."

Regular 'j'jjg succcssful preacher or lecturer who isaudience. ^Gather- addressing the same people regularly for monthsstrangers. Or years can gradually create a taste or a mental

content. He knows to-day what the auditorslearned yesterday. Thus he can steadily edu-cate his people upto the pointofbeing interestedin more and more academic and classic compo-sitions. Once he has attained the position ofbeing able to attract the people for the purposeof listening to his oratory, he can graduallylead them along the way of pure rhetoric,which it would be disastrous for him to attemptwith a strange audience that has not the samemental content and association as his regularhearers. Many a great man has grievouslydisappointed a huge crowd of enthusiasticstrangers, because of his neglect to bear in


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THE SCIENTIFIC BASES 43mind this difference between his own regularaudience and the gathering of strangers.

IV. Memory.The regular speaker relies a great deal upon

the memory of his hearers. He often finds itnecessary, for the development of a theme, torecall some points in a previous discourse. Instimulating recall, he will find it very helpfulto remember the laws of association, and toadopt one of the methods of suggestion byresemblance, similarity, contiguity, or con-trast. Merely to suppose that an audience'remembers a particular illustration or argumentis not of much use. A reference to it, accom-panied by some suggestion that will reach aUnk of association, is the effective way ofproceeding.But these remarks are bordering upon thequestion of imagination. So far the task of

enlightening the understanding, or securingattention for information and instruction, hasalone concerned us. It may suffice, therefore,to conclude this section on memory by aquotation from Stout's "Manual ofPsychology,"p. 423,which will put for the reader from another


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44 THE ART OF THE ORATORStout's point of view what is involved in the variousof repro- processes of association and reproduction : " Iuction. ggg ^ j^^^ ^YiQ reminds me of the Duke of

Wellington by some resemblance in his personalappearance. I have never had occasion beforeto think of this man and the Duke in any-kind of connection with each other. The idealrevival seems to give rise to a completelynovel combination instead of reproducing apast combination. If this were really so, wecould not properly speak of association ashaving anything to do with the matter.dissociation must at least imply that revivaldepends on objects having somehow cometogether in previous experience. In fact, acloser analysis shows that this actually is soin the example chosen, and in all instances ofso-called association by similarity. What isreally operative in calling up the idea of theDuke of Welhngton is the personal appear-ance of the man in so far as it resembles thatof the Duke. The experience I have now inlooking at the man is partially the same incharacter as the experiences which I have pre-viously had in looking at the Duke's portraits.The mental disposition left behind by these


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THE SCIENTIFIC BASES 45experiences is partially re-excited, and in eon-sequence it tends to be re-excited as a whole.But this re-excitement of the whole in con-sequence of the re-excitement of the part isdue to continuity of interest, and not to anyessentially distinct principle. The principle ofcontinuity alone is operative, but it operatesin a very different manner, and produces a verydifferent resultreproduction by similarityand reproduction by contiguity, respectively.Reproduction by similarity is most aptly de-scribed by reference to its effect. It ought tobe called reproduction of similars rather thanreproduction by similarity. Reproduction bycontiguity may be called, by way of distinction,repetitive reproduction. Both repetitive repro-duction and the reproduction of similars are, ina sense, cases of reproduction by similarity.Neither involves complete identity. Smokereminds me of fire because of preformedassociations. This is repetitive reproduction.But the smoke I now see may have featuresof its own in which it differs from previousexperiences : it may be more voluminous,lighter or darker in colour, and so on. Inother words, there need only be similarity.


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46 THE ART OF THE ORATORnot complete identity. The points of dif-ference do not contribute to bring about thereproduction. The partial identity is aloneoperative in this ; but the specific dififerencesnone the less play a positive part in the pro-cess. Though they do not help to bring aboutthe reproduction, they modify the nature ofwhat is reproduced."

V. Imagination.There are several different processes included

under the term Imagination. There is theReproductive formthat is, the recall andreproduction by memory of the image of thepast impression. The speaker's success insecuring such a recall depends upon his powerof suggestion according to the Laws ofAssociation.Then there is a form of imagination whichextends and builds up our knowledgethe

Productive or Constructive form, which enablesus to recombine and rearrange the imagealready in the mind, so as to form new images.The process is somewhat similar to that ofdiscrimination and assimilation. The imageswe have in consciousness enable us to distin-


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THE SCIENTIFIC BASES 47guish some new element in the picture, andwe then build up a fuller and newer image ;this enables a further discrimination to takeplace. The significance of this for the speaker Dangersis that, while he is graphically portraying a patoryscene, his audience is engaged in building out ^&*'^-of the details, as he brings them forth, picturesin the mind perhaps very diiferent from theone that he wishes to have imaged there. Itis important therefore to bring forth the detailsin the order that leads most directly to thecombination desired, and to give the audiencethe minimum of temptation to anticipate thecompletion of the image by a strange anddisconcerting one. In dreams, reverie, andphantasy, images are constructed which haveno corresponding object in real experience.This unreality is often pleasurable, hence thefondness for fairy tales, etc. ; but to convey animpression of such unreality when aiming atreal substantial images is fatal.The speaker has also to bear in mind that

the capacity of his hearers to buUd up certainimages is limited by their experience ; thematerial for building is rather limited in themind of the country hind, who has seen


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48 THE ART OF THE ORATORnothing and read of nothing outside the furrowhe ploughs. The slum-hred audience cannotproperly build up the image of snow-cappedmountain and glacier gorge. So, while theaid of imagination for extending knowledgecan be great, it must not be stirred to activityunless it can be kept within straight channels.The relation of imagination to thought andlanguage is put as follows by Stout

" An idea can no more exist without animage than perception can exist without sen-sation. But the image is no more identicalwith the idea than sensation is identical withperception. The image is only one constituentof the idea ; the other and more importantconstituent is the meaning which the imageconveys. There are some people, especiallythose who are much occupied with abstractthinking, who are inclined to deny that theyhave any mental imagery at aU. They arealmost or quite unable to visualize objects,and their general power of mentally revivingauditory and tactile experiences may also be

Verbal rudimentary. The images which with themmark the successive steps in a train of ideasare mainly or wholly verbal. The words and

images.


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THE SCIENTIFIC BASES 49their meaning are all that are present in suchcases. Images resembling features or con-comitants of the object thought about areabsent. But it is inaccurate to say that suchpersons think without images, for the verbalimage is just as much an image in the psycho-logical sense as a visual picture of theobject is."*There is no doubt that to the average personimaginative pleasure is most readUy affordedwhen the speaker skilfully conjures in his mindimages of things, giving him time and everyassistance, by a graphic style, to visualize thethings. But there are other speakers whohave not this graphic style, and are not ;really successful in stimulating the visualizingcapacity of the audience. These have to fallback upon the " verbal images." They worktheir imaginative effect by clever turns ofphrase, epithets, powerful adjectives, and theroll of mighty syllables. Gladstone is the Glad-great example of this. What a spell he cast character-upon his audience ! How they enjoyed the '**"''tramp of his adjectives and the march of hisspread-eagle sentences ! Many a man caught* Manual of Psychology," p. 354.

4


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50 THE ART OF THE ORATORthus in the "verbal eloquence," raised uponthe rungs of words along the ladder of verbalimagination into heights of uncontrollableenthusiasm, has afterwards failed to accountto others for the effect, and failed to point toany definite fact or statement, but has alwaysdismissed such failure by repeating his assurancethat it was grand to hear. Another master ofpowerful words and long, roUing sentences wasMilton ; but his style worked upon the " mentalimages." Gladstone's effect was not MUtonicin this respect, but Johnsonian.The man who can work upon the " mental

may be described as the " poetic orator," andthe one who works upon the " verbal " mayby contrast be called the " prose orator." Butthese are only comparative, not absolute dis-tinctions. The point to observe here is thatboth forms exist, and one man's style empha-sizes one side more than the other. He whocan handle either effectively achieves success.

^Esthetic Again, there is the aesthetic side of imagina-tion. As to this, it has been suggested beforethat some preachers may not be concerned, sofar as method as distinct from matter goes,about theological or Scriptural instruction as

aids.


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THE SCIENTIFIC BASES 51such, but that they sometimes aim at appealingto the artistic instincts of the people. It isoften good tactics for an advocate to ticklethe fancy of a jury to make up for his badcase ; and certainly a politician has constantlyto win his way by conquest of imagination.

It is, of course, possible to set about thegiving of instruction in such a way as todelight the imagination, without affecting thecogency and clearness of the presentation ofthe instruction. Indeed, the creation of amental background of sympathy is almostindispensable for the easy working of theapperceptive processes that we have been con-sidering.The speaker must carefully balance the

nature of the occasion, and the subject, indeciding how far he should depart from plain,direct, matter-of-fact prose. The instinct ofthe speaker must be the guide to determinethe proportion and frequency of the purplepatches. Every notable speech has suchpatches. The conventional demand of audiencesfor perorations to speeches illustrates the claimsof imagination.What those claims involve cannot be fully


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52 THE ART OF THE ORATORdescribed here ; they are the claims of art ingeneral. Skill in phrasing, in choosing words,in handling figures of speech, in arranging thematter, and skilful form generally, createsadmiration, like all kinds of skUl. The manip-ulation of images and tropes, with a similareffect to the poet's, acts upon the aesthetictastes as poetry acts. Beauty of physicalappearance, quality of voice, striking gesture,and the general arts of the orator, as with theactor, have their effect on the imagination.The details of the qualities that make for

success in the sphere of imagination wiU bedealt with in connection with figures of speech.For the present the matter may be summedup by saying that the provision for appealingto the imagination is in the art of speechsimilar to the drapery and ornament of paint-

Drapery ing, sculpture, and architecture. There arement^ elaborate discussions on drapery and ornament,

and the serious student who desires to get afull knowledge of the principles would do wellto read up the subject. There he would learnthe merits of simplicity or profusion of orna-ment, the principles by which drapery sets offthe outlines of form or hides some essentials,


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THE SCIENTIFIC BASES 53and the dangers of making the ornamentationconfusing to the central theme. All thesequestions are general to art in every form.There is no doubt that the drapery of imageryand the ornaments of style do assist in themaintenance of attention and interest, and increating that background of sympathy which,as has been explained above, is so essential tothe task of plain instruction or mental en-lightenment. The principle that was laiddown in that connection operates here also.The speaker must not rely upon interest in thedrapery or ornament. That will distract, andwill defeat his purpose. The interest must bean apperceptive one, an interest which is linkedby association with the subject and with somealready existing interests in the mind of thehearer. The consequence of this considerationis that the kind of drapery or ornament whichwould be truly " apperceptive " for one audiencewould not be so for another. Images andgraces of speech that find a quick responsefrom a cultured audience fail in their effectwith the uncultured, whereas the ornamentsthat would delight the latter may leave theformer unmoved. It is this test of what is


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54 THE ART OF THE ORATOR" apperceptive " for the particular audienceaddressed which governs imagination as wellas understanding.

It will probably be true to say that it isvery rarely that speakers set themselves outto satisfy imagination alone. Imaginationplays only a secondary part as a rule ; it isonly an aid, and not an end. As an aid, itmust be sparingly used, and carefully dealtwith when the object in view is that of clearexposition and an appeal to the understandingbut when the object is to excite passion ormove the will, then its aid is almost unlimitedin possibility. Figures of speech, as will beseen below, are the product of, and are workedupon imagination ; and the part played byfigures of speech in the higher purposes oforatory is unlimited in extent.

VI. Judgment and Belief.On the intellectual side the speaker has to

get his audience to form the judgment thathe wishes to have formed, so it is necessaiy torefer to the process of the formation of judg-ments. You have a concept " iron " and a


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THE SCIENTIFIC BASES 55concept " hard " ; then you connect bothtogether and become definitely conscious ofa relation between the two concepts, and youform the judgment " Iron is hard." Thisjudgment having been formed, gives rise toa new concept, "hard iron," which enablesyou to go on. The lawyer who is hoping toget a certain verdict from a jury has to bearin mind this process, viz.that the jury formjudgment after judgment in a cumulative Cumula-series, one growing out of the other until the of judg-time for the further judgment arrives. If a'^*"juryman has commenced wrongly, and if earlyin the case he has formed a certain judgmenton a vital portion of evidence, the danger isthat from that point on he will use thatjudgment to discriminate and assimilate furtherand further against that lawyer's case. It istherefore of supreme importance that the juryshould be favourably impressed at the verybeginning, that the wheels of their thoughtshould be started on the particular rails thatit is hoped to have them run. The samething applies to almost every audience. Thefirst two sentences may so secure the approvalof an audience that they start by trying to


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56 THE ART OF THE ORATORdiscriminate further points to applaud ; whereas,on the other hand, if the first few sentenceslack interest, and the hearers form a poorjudgment of the speaker, they proceed todiscriminate further weaknesses. This evolu-tionary character of thought processes is toolittle kept in mind by the speaker. He is tooprone to proceed as if the audience can bekept right by an occasional funny story orlucid passage here and there.Then there is the difficulty of carrying

the audience with you. This is due to failureon the part of the audience to form series ofjudgments rapidly and clearly enough. Twoor more concepts or ideas may be presented to

Relation the mind, but no clearjudgment of the relationmentsf ^^^ formed without difficulty. There is the

difficulty with words that are imperfectlyimderstood by the audience, the tendency toadopt opinions of others without exercisingthe mind about them at aU, and the constanttendency to exaggeration due to the influenceof feeling on the mind. All these thingsmilitate against clearness in judgments. Theordered movement from judgment to judgmentbrings us to the consideration of the need for


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THE SCIENTIFIC BASES 57attending to the relation between the judg-ments. This is the process of reasoning. Itis of course the essential process in argumen-tative speeches. Textbooks on logic shouldbe studied by the student who desires to enterdeeply into the methods of reasoning. In-ductive reasoning is of special interest. It isby induction generally that an audience is ableto proceed safely from judgment to judgment,and conclusion to conclusion. The dangersthat are always present are those of hastyinductions. They are more frequent and moreawkward difficulties than those connectedwith deduction. The average man is able tokeep fairly close to a good deductive processof reasoning ; but an inductive process is fullof traps and snares for him.Judgment and reasoning are mixed up with

belief. You cannot associate " iron " and" hardness," and then proceed to the judgment" Iron is hard," without beUeving first of allthat iron possesses the property of hardness.

This question of the relation between know-ledge and belief constitutes a whole body ofpsychological controversy. At present onlya few plain practical points interest us.


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58 THE ART OF THE ORATORBelief. First of all there is the obvious fact that the

speaker must be believed. Once the confidenceof an audience is so lost, or the prejudice is sogreat, that they will not believe what is said,then things have reached a sorry pass. Thepropositions you affirm must be believedbefore you can get the audience to proceed tothe judgment you wish to have formed. Thisdifficulty of knowing whether the propositionsare accepted is considerable under certaincircumstances. Belief depends very much ona variety of circumstances largely emotional.People are in a mood for belief, doubt, oractive disbelief, and the mood may vary fromminute to minute. The art of the orator is tokeep them in a mood that is partial to belief sofar as the judgments vdll go. How this predis-position to a favourable mood is to be securedis discussed in Section VII. It is important thatthis purely psychological form of belief shallnot be confused with other forms connotedby the term. All that this means is that onceyou know a thing to be so you believe it, andyou cannot affirm the knowledge as an expressjudgment until you believe. Belief in thissense may therefore be defined as " Knowing


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THE SCIENTIFIC BASES 59it to be so." The securing of this beUef by theorator must be by making the thing perfectlyclear to the mind, by dovetailing it to themental content, to the knowledge alreadyexisting. Belief comes inevitably, and mustcome when that apperceptive process iscomplete.The orator is sometimes, however, in the

position that he has not enough evidence toproceed a priori from point to point, nor tobring about a proper mental process of pureapperception. He has to secure belief ontrust, as it were. He has to create such animpression that the audience will believe state-ments because he makes them.The only point for us here is that belief

must be present at every step ; and evenif doubt hangs for some time during a speech,the speaker may get his audience round, butdisbelief is fatal to any success.How far can the orator draw upon the What isimagination of his audience and yet bebelieved ? First of all, there must not beany explicit contradiction : a thing cannot beimagined as both black and white. Then,without going into the possibilities and limi-


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60 THE ART OF THE ORATORtations of fictitious construction, some prac-tical points for the orator can be found in thefollowing passage : " Belief depends on sub-jective tendencies, just because these tendenciescannot work themselves out without it. Endscan only be realized by the use of means ; butin order to use means we must have somebelief in their efficacyhence the impulse topursue an end is also an impulse to formbeliefs which will make action for the attain-ment of the end possible. But it is not withinthe range of our arbitrary selection to deter-mine what means will lead up to a given end,and what will not. This depends on thenature of the real world in which we live.There must therefore in the framing of a beliefbe always some endeavour to conform to con-ditions other than, and independent of, our ownsubjective tendencies. . . . Our thinking, tobe effective, cannot be free ; we can no moreattain our ends without submitting to controlindependently of our wish or wiU than we canwalk independently of the resistance of theground on which we tread. . . . Fear, ortimidity, or gloomy suspicion, favours belief indisagreeable alternatives. . . . There is much


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THE SCIENTIFIC BASES 61in the religious superstitions of savages whichshows manifest traces of this influence of fearupon behef. . . . Ideal construction is . . .a social product ; hence the beliefs of the indi-vidual are to an immense extent shaped anddetermined by the beliefs current in the com-munity in which he lives,"*The direct points for the orator are: (1) That Theoi'3i1ior she must have regard to the superstitions, use of

prevailing sentiments, degree of education, andconditions of Ufe of his audience. Thingsreadily believed by a country audience wouldbe laughed aside as incredible by the cityaudience, or vice versa.

(2) Belief will be active in so far as theremarks are of direct practical interest to theaudience. Airy generalities are not so fullyaccepted as concrete facts closely related tothe prevaihng interests of the audience.

(3) The end must be shown to be desirablefirst, and until the audience believes it to bedesirable it v(dll be futile to discuss the means ;but once the desirability is accepted, then themeans are of interest, and the orator has simply

* Stout, " Manual of Psychology," book iv.,chap. viii.


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62 THE ART OF THE ORATORto take them in the logical and psychologicalorder, until he has secured the belief that theyare the best means for attaining the end.

(4) The orator has a twofold problem in theabove : he had to try to discover the subjectiveconditions of the audience rather than his own,and the objective conditions of the audiencerather than his own. Action that may be easyfor him may be impossible for the audience.Too often are the poor lectured from thestandpoint of 10,000 a year.

(5) Let the orator meditate carefullyuponthedependence of action on belief, and he will seehow essential the above points are when aspeech is intended to influence conduct.

Gesture and other emotional features play agreat part in generating belief, and it is toemotion we now turn.

VII. To Move the Passions.It is in connection with the passions that

the orator's special gift is of greatest value.The fairly clear, pleasant-voiced essayist can dovery well, so far as pure understanding goes.What is mainly required in order to instructpeople is that the matter should be understood,


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THE SCIENTIFIC BASES 63and attended to, and believed, and remembered.But if it is necessary to go one stage further,

j ^^^and to persuade an audience to some line of^conduct or course of action, or to give a certain

decision, then the matter must be made ofinterest, and it must be felt. It is for the task ,of persuading or dissuading that the art has tobe exercised upon feeling.The interesting side of our experience is Effect ofmade up of our pleasures and pains. This attentfon!fact has a bearing on intellectual activity.The question of voluntary attention, and ofits conversion into a passive attitude ofattention, has been dealt with above as a purelyintellectual process ; but in practice it israrely so. Almost everything depends onfeeling. A virave of pleasurable emotion willmake the attention more active, images willbe recalled more easily, and thought processeswill move with greater liveliness. On theother hand, a wave of painful aversion has theopposite effect. Hence, added to the methodof procedure for securing attention must bethe arts that create the proper undercurrentsof feeling. An idea has to be floated in themind of the hearer like a paper boat on a pool


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64 THE ART OF THE ORATORand there is always the danger of an upset.The speaker must bear in mind the psycho-logical fact that strong feeling of anykind inter-feres with mental processes. He may do well toremember, when he himself is labouring underviolent emotion, that it must be restrained ifhe wishes to have the mental capacity fordoing justice to a great occasion in a speech orsermon. An audience that has been frightenedby some accident or fearful noise is in no statefor listening to an address. The orator mustalways restrain the strong passions of hisaudience until he is drawing to a close ; hemay let them loose then ; but once a crowd haslost control of its feelings, speaking is of novalue at all. Many a misguided speaker at,for instance, a meeting of men on strike hasstarted off to excite the men, only to find thatin a few minutes they get beyond his andeveryone's control. It is also foolish to givethe audience shocks. Once they have had astrong shock, the whole balance of the mindhas been upset. Similarly it is a mistake touse an anecdote which is likely to affect thefeelings very violently. Such things throwthe mind out of gear for attention to anything


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THE SCIENTIFIC BASES 65requiring intellectual cogency. Of course itmust be clearly understood that pain, grief,sorrow, anger, are in a moderate degree pleasur-able. The common expression of "feelingbetter " after giving vent to one's feelings is anillustration of this. The tale that movesan audience to gentle tears or the facts thatbring out a cry of shame are in moderationpleasurable. They are powerful in establishingthe bonds of sympathy between the speakerand his audience. It is by means of feelingthat a crowd can be moulded into an entity.By laughter, enjoyment, tears, groans, theindividuals become a cohesive mass. Thefirst task of the orator with a large crowd is todissolve it into a single whole. So long asdifferent individuals are assuming differentattitudes and different forms of attention, anoratorical triumph is not possible. Once theindividuals are got to laugh together or crytogether they are in the speaker's hand ; hehas them bound to him with the cord ofsympathy, he can sway them as one man anddeal with them as one mind.Some psychologists describe this solvent conta-

effect of sympathy as a contagion of feeling, feew.


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66 THE ART OF THE ORATORThe spreading of that contagion must be theorator's first business. His triumph is foimdwhen people have left the meeting and beginto reflect, and discover that they have beenapplauding and lending their hearts to aspeaker with whose sayings they profoundlydisagree. " Those who came to scoff remainedto pray "there is the consummation of theart. Essays, pamphlets, paper rhetoric of anykind, can never achieve this. It is by themagnetism of feeling over the feelings ofothers that converts are made. The prejudicedmind cannot be opened to reason by coldwritten prose ; but its doors can be burnt awayby the heat of passion, and entrance can thenbe secured for the reasonable statement of theother point of view.

Physical It will be rccognizcd that physical accom-tations. panimcuts play a great part in the sphere of

emotion. There are two ways of stimulatingfeeling: (1) By direct sense impressions, orassociation, or memory, or imagination ; (2) byshowing the feeling yourself The latter com-prises the whole art of the actor. He studiesthe physical accompaniments that wiU set forththe passion that the playwright has dramatized.

V


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THE SCIENTIFIC BASES 67The question of realism in his art is one oflong and keen dispute, and will never besettled. But the speaker has no need to beconcerned with that dispute. He must not Sincerity,feign passion, he must not merely act ; as wesaw earher, the speaker must be sincere. Ifhe is genuinely moved by passion, he must letthe usual natural physical accompanimentsreveal that passion. The gestures must bestimulated by, and only by, the sheer con-straining influence of a moving emotion ; theymust be inevitable, so inevitable that theaudience does not notice them ; they mustbe so of a piece with the emotional incidentin the address that there is nothing incon-gruous or obtrusive about them. Whengenuine emotion thus reveals itself with per-fect spontaneity and naturalness, the feelingsof the audience are stirred. Often a wave ofthe hand, when words have choked with a sobin the throat, breaks down a whole hall ofstrong men. The silent sorrow of a sincereface moves a crowd, when words cannot beframed. The face, eye, arms, and body, of therighteously indignant man can win a lostcause. And above all these is the voice which


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68 THE ART OF THE ORATORwill win its victories if left alone to expressthe emotion in its own way. But once morelet us emphasize the point that the faintesttinge of artificiality, or design, or acting, isfatal. The speaker has by his mannerandthus alone can it be doneto convey one vitalfundamental impression : that of sincerity.Sincerity means that the man is speakingbecause he must, wants you to believe becausehe believes, wants you to act because hestrongly desires it. This revelation of sincerityis a condition precedent to the creation of thesympathy that has been seen to be so impor-tant.

Effect of There are, however, two very importantstimiila- Considerations in this connection. The speaker

must not allow his feelings to run riot, andmust not allow the physical accompanimentsto run to excess. As has been stated already,the effect of the first wUl be twofold : it willunfit him for thinking cogently and for pre-senting his thoughts in effective order, and itwill likewise vmsettle the minds of his hearers.There is also another effect, based upon thepsychological fact that over-stimulation mayconvey a pleasure to the ear for a time, but if

over-stimition.


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THE SCIENTIFIC BASES 69it is prolonged it may become unbearablypainful. So one might cite examples for allthe senses. Pleasure palls if long continued,and surfeit of high literary or artistic delightbecomes objectionable.

This partly physiological, partly psychologicalconsideration is of importance to the speaker.When under a powerful emotion he raises hisvoice, it may stir the audience to its depthsbut if he keeps his voice at a shouting pitch,or in a strained tone very long, it graduallybecomes objectionable, pain takes the place ofpleasure, and attention is dissipated. Howmany speakers with good voices there are whoshout too much, and keep too long on a harshnote ! There must be variety of tone thatwill relieve the ear and keep fresh and un-dimmed its capacity for listening with pleasure.

Similar remarks apply to gesture. If thesame motion of the arms or body is continuedit becomes monotonous and non-pleasurable.They also apply to images, long illustrations,analogies, and close syllogistic reasoning. Themind must not be kept on the stretch toolong. Laughter that is too continuous orfrequent loses its freshness : and pathos that


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70 THE ART OF THE ORATORmoved with effect becomes morbid and mostobjectionable if prolonged.

Effect of The second consideration follows upon thestimuia- other. Gesture, voice, and the physical accom-tion. paniments or expression of passion, should not

be too perfunctory. There are speakers whoare immobile, who while uttering words thatare strong in passionate phrases do so insuch a cold, mechanical fashion that the audi-ence is stirred by no feehng, and but httlesympathy with the speaker or his subject isgenerated.Between this extreme of restraint and theother extreme of uncontrolled expression comes

the happy mean which the instinct of geniusis able to strike. When an attempt is madeto write an explanation, or to frame rules ordefinitions concerning this artistic mean, wecome upon the eternally controversial questionof reahsm in art. But since we have ruledout the conscious art of the actor, and havefounded ourselves on the basis of siacerity, wecan avoid that question. It will suffice tomake one practical observation to sum up onthis point. The orator while moved by passionmust allow free play to the gestures, and voice,


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THE SCIENTIFIC BASES 71and manner, naturally prompted by his emo-tion ; but they should be restrained, not somuch and in such a way as to stiffen or tostultify them, but sufficiently to intensifythem.The restraint to put on is that which con-

centrates the pent-up force into tenfold power.The audience should alwa

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