E-text prepared by Roy Brown
Edited by
1901
"Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you, trippinglyon the tongue; but if you mouth it, as many of our players do, I hadas lief the town-crier spoke my lines."—Hamlet. SHAKESPEARE.
London:
S. H. Bousfield & Co., Ld.,
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Printed by H. Virtue And Company, Limited.
City Road.
Many things go to the making of a successful recitation.
A clear aim and a simple style are among the first of these: thesubtleties which make the charm of much of the best poetry are lostin all but the best platform work. The picturesque and the dramaticare also essential elements; pictures are the pleasures of the eyes,whether physical or mental, and incident is the very soul ofinterest.
The easiest, and therefore often the most successful, recitations arethose which recite themselves; that is, recitations so charged withthe picturesque or the dramatic elements that they command attentionand excite interest in spite of poor elocution and even bad delivery.The trouble with these is that they are usually soon recognized, andonce recognized are soon done to death. There are pieces, too, which,depending upon the charm of novelty, are popular or successful for atime only, but there are also others which, vitalised by moreenduring qualities, are things of beauty and a "joy for ever."
But after all it is not the Editor who determines what are and whatare not successful recitations. It is time, the Editor of Editors,and the public, our worthy and approved good masters. It is thepublic that has made the selection which makes up the bulk of thisvolume, though the Editor has added a large number of new and lessknown pieces which he confidently offers for public approval. Themajority of the pieces in the following pages are successfulrecitations, the remainder can surely be made so.
True Patriotism is the outcome of National home-feeling andself-respect.
Home-feeling is born of the loving associations and happy memorieswhich belong to individual and National experience; self-respect isthe result of a wise and modest contemplation of personal or Nationalvirtues.
The man who does not respect himself is not likely to command therespect of others. And the Nation which takes no pride in its historyis not likely to make a history of which it can be proud.
But self-respect involves self-restraint, and no man who wishes toretain his own respect and to merit the respect of others would thinkof advertising his own virtues or bragging of his own deeds. Norwould any Nation wishing to stand well in its own eyes and in theeyes of the world boast of its own conquests over weaker foes orshout itself hoarse in the exuberance of vainglory.
Patriotism is not to be measured by ostentation any more than truthis to be estimated by volubility.
The history of England is full of incidents in which her children maywell take an honest pride, and no one need be debarred from taking apride in them because there are other incidents which fill them witha sense of shame. As a rule it will be found that the sour