TO THE

REV. J. R. MAJOR, D.D.

HEAD MASTER OF

KING'S COLLEGE, LONDON.

THIS WORK ON ELOCUTION BY THE LATE

WILLIAM HERBERT,

IS,

WITH HIS KIND PERMISSION,

MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED

BY

HIS MOST OBEDIENT AND OBLIGED SERVANTS,

THE PUBLISHERS.

PREFACE.

This work on ELOCUTION, was written some years back by the late Mr. William Herbert, many years Librarian to the Corporation of the City of London, to supply the deficiency, which was then felt, of some better method than that generally in use, for imparting, more especially to youth, the proper principles upon which all correct speaking is founded.

That this work has remained unpublished until now, is not, it is believed, because the deficiency has been made good, for it is said still to exist in full force; but from the fact, that Mr. Herbert being essentially an antiquarian, and engaged for many years upon his last published work "THE TWELVE GREAT LIVERY COMPANIES OF LONDON,"(an antiquarian work of great labour and research) it was laid aside, until his declining years rendered all literary employment impracticable.

His survivors, to whom the work has passed, naturally felt a desire that it should be put to the uses intended, but fearing that their view of its merits might be partial, before doing so, submitted it to the judgment of the Rev. J. R. MAJOR, head master of KING'S COLLEGE, LONDON: the favourable opinion which he has been

pleased to express of it, (and which they take the liberty of quoting below) removed all hesitation upon the point, and they sincerely trust it may prove as eminently useful as they feel confident its author intended it to be.

"I have looked through the " MS." work on School "Elocution, and consider it much superior to any which "has yet appeared on the subject, in a clear and "methodical arrangement. The extracts are well se

lected and more varied than usual; the disposition of "them also under different heads is original, and gives "interest to them."

It remains only to say, that every care has been used in preparing it for the press, and the publishers now send it forth, that its merits may be more fully tested by a discerning public.

8, Royal Exchange,

May 1853.