AN

ILLUSTRATION

OF THE

INCIPLES OF ELOCUTION;

DESIGNED FOR THE USE OF SCHOOLS.

BY REV. WILLIAM B. LACEY, A. M.
RECTOR OF ST. PETER'S CHURCH, ALBANY.

culty of expressing one's Ideas with Perspicuity, Energy and
ess, is one of the brightest Ornaments, and most efficient Conser-
a free and happy People.

ALBANY :

PRINTED BY WEBSTERS AND SKINNERS,

1829,

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW-YORK, TO WIT:

BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the sixth day of June, in the fiftysecond year of the independence of the United States of America,

L.S. A. D. 1828, Messrs. WEBSTERS & SKINNERS, of the said district,

have deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof they claim as proprietors, in the words following, to wit:

'An Illustration of the Principles of Elocution; Designed for the use of Schools. By Rev. William B. Lacey, A. M. Rector of St. Peter's Church, Albany. The Faculty of expressing one's Ideas with Perspicuity, Energy and Gracefulness, is one of the brightest Ornaments, and most efficient Conservators, of a free and happy People."

In conformity to the t of the Congress of the United States, entitled "An act for the encouragement of earning, by securing the copies of maps, charts and books, to the authors and propri tors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned;" and also to the act entitled "An act supplementary to an act entitled An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned,' and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints." RICHARD R. LANSING,

Clerk of the District Court of the U. States, for the N. District of New-York.

T. ROMEYN BECK, M. D.

PROFESSOR OF THE INSTITUTES OF MEDICINE,

AND

LECTURER ON MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE,

IN THE

COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF THE

WESTERN DISTRICT OF THE STATE

OF NEW-YORK,

PRINCIPAL OF THE ALBANY ACADEMY, &c. &c.

THIS HUMBLE EFFORT,

TO ASSIST IN THE ACQUISITION OF

A SCIENTIFIC AND IMPRESSIVE ELOCUTION,

IS,

FROM A REGARD FOR HIS DISTINGUISHED TALENTS,
LITERARY ATTAINMENTS, AND MORAL WORTH,

RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED,

BY THE

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PREFACE.

A few weeks since, I was requested to assist in drawing up a system of instruction for "The Albany Female Seminary," and to indicate the books suitable for its prosecution. In complying with this request, I soon discovered-or thought I discovered--the want of a proper Manual for teaching Children the science and art of Elocution. This circumstance I mentioned to some learned and judicious friends, who assured me there is no work happily adapted to this object, either in this country or in Great Britain. This information induced the following Essay.

In it, I have designed to exhibit all the fundamental principles of Elocution, arranged, if not with philosophical accuracy, at least with sufficient method to render the comprehension of them easy. These principles are stated in the plainest language, and with as much brevity as possible. Instead of running into a perplexing detail of the elements of Taste, the discussion is confined to the admitted principles of good Reading, leaving something by way of expansion, to be attempted in another work.

The selections are confined simply to the illustration of rules; and this, I am confident, is the best way to teach the art of reading. Children in the first instance should be possessed with princi