[Footnote 1: See Wallace A. Bacon, "The Elocutionary Career of Thomas Sheridan (1718-1788)," _Speech Monographs_, XXXI (1964), 1-53.] [Footnote 2: John Watkins, _Memoirs of the Right Honorable R. B. Sheridan_, (London, 1817), I, 43.] [Footnote 3: _Ibid._, p. 39.] [Footnote 4: _Ibid._, pp. 145-146.] [Footnote 5: _British Education: Or, The Source of the Disorders of Great Britain. Being An Essay towards proving, that the Immorality, Ignorance, and false Taste, which so generally prevail, are the natural and necessary Consequences of the present defective System of Education. With An Attempt to shew, that a Revival of the Art of Speaking, and the Study of Our Own Language, might contribute, in a great measure, to the Cure of those Evils. In Three Parts. I. Of the Use of these Studies to Religion, and Morality; as also, to the Support of the British Constitution. II. Their absolute Necessity in order to refine, ascertain, and fix the English Language. III. Their Use in the Cultivation of the Imitative Arts: shewing, that were the Study of Oratory made a necessary Branch of the Education of Youth; Poetry, Musick, Painting, and Sculpture, might arrive at as high a Pitch of Perfection in England, as ever they did in Athens or Rome._] [Footnote 6: James Boswell, _Private Papers of James Boswell_ (Mt. Vernon, New York, 1928-34), I, 129.] [Footnote 7: See Frederick W. Haberman, "English Sources of American Elocution," _History of Speech Education in America_, ed. Karl Wallace (New York, 1954), pp. 105-126.] [Footnote 8: See Wilbur Samuel Howell, _Logic and Rhetoric in England, 1500-1700_ (Princeton, 1956).] [Footnote 9: Charles Le Brun, _Conférence de Monsieur Le Brun sur l'expression generale & particulière_ (Amsterdam, 1698).] [Footnote 10: William Hogarth, _Analysis of Beauty_, ed. Joseph Burke (Oxford, 1955), p. 136.] [Footnote 11: John Dryden, "A Parallel of Poetry and Painting," in _Essays_, ed. W. P. Ker (Oxford, 1900), II, 145.] [Footnote 12: See G. P. Mohrmann, "The Language of Nature and Elocutionary Theory," _Quarterly Journal of Speech_, LII (1966), 116-124.] [Footnote 13: See studies reported in _History of Speech Education in America_.] BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE The text of this reprint of Sheridan's _Discourse_ is reproduced from a copy in the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library. A DISCOURSE DELIVERED IN The THEATRE at OXFORD, IN The SENATE-HOUSE at CAMBRIDGE, AND At SPRING-GARDEN in LONDON. By THOMAS SHERIDAN, M. A. Being Introductory to His COURSE of LECTURES ON ELOCUTION and the ENGLISH LANGUAGE. Ut enim hominis decus ingenium, fic ingenii ipsius lumen est eloquentia. Cic. de Orat. LONDON: Printed for A. MILLAR, in The Strand; J. RIVINGTON and J. FLETCHER, in Pater-noster-Row; J. DODSLEY, in Pall-Mall; and sold by J. WILKIE, in St. Paul's Church yard. M.DCC.LIX. TO THE TWO LEARNED UNIVERSITIES OF Oxford AND CAMBRIDGE, The following Discourse (As a small token of gratitude