he Speaker. Attributes of the speaker himself will aid
or mar his speech. Among those which help are sincerity, earnestness,
simplicity, fairness, self-control, sense of humor, sympathy. All
great speakers have possessed these traits. Reports upon significant
speakers describing their manner emphasize them. John Bright, the
famous English parliamentarian of the middle of the last century, is
described as follows:

His style of speaking was exactly what a conventional
demagogue's ought not to be. It was pure to austerity; it was
stripped of all superfluous ornament. It never gushed or
foamed. It never allowed itself to be mastered by passion.
The first peculiarity that struck the listener was its superb
self-restraint. The orator at his most powerful passages
appeared as if he were rather keeping in his strength than
taxing it with effort.

JUSTIN MCCARTHY: _History of Our Own Time_

In American history the greatest speeches were made by Abraham
Lincoln. In Cooper Union, New York, he made in 1860 the most powerful
speech against the slave power. The _New York Tribune_ the next day
printed this description of his manner.

Mr. Lincoln is one of nature's orators, using his rare powers solely
to elucidate and convince, though their inevitable effect is to
delight and electrify as well. We present herewith a very full and
accurate report of this speech; yet the tones, the gestures, the
kindling eye, and the mirth-provoking look defy the reporter's skill.
The vast assemblage frequently rang with cheers and shouts of
applause, which were prolonged and intensified at the close. No man
ever before made such an impression on his first appeal to a New York
audience.

Shakespeare's Advice. Some of the best advice for speakers was written
by Shakespeare as long ago as just after 1600, and although it was
intended primarily for actors, its precepts are just as applicable to
almost any kind of delivered discourse. Every sentence of it is full
of significance for a student of speaking. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark,
is airing his opinions about the proper manner of speaking upon the
stage.

HAMLET'S SPEECH

Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you, trippingly on
the tongue; but if you mouth it, as many of your players do, I had as
lief the town-crier spoke my lines. Nor do not saw the air too much
with your hand, thus, but use all gently; for in the very torrent,
tempest, and, as