[[Listen]]
Sir William Harcourt is one of few left belonging to the old school. There is the traditional Parliamentary style—a studied form of oratory—deliberate, lofty, and impressive; the manner that is followed at a considerable distance by some of the younger men. We find in Sir William Harcourt's speech a series of words almost on the one note, uttered in a restrained tone and finishing at each phrase with a characteristic turn of the voice—perhaps, also, a suppressed laugh or a "humph," the meaning of which can never be mistaken. The voice is not so strong as it used to be, but the fine old type of English oratory is still there. The diagrams relating to Mr. Arnold-Forster and Sir William Harcourt, though probably not quite correct in the matter of pitch, give an idea of the modulation.
John Burns.
[[Listen]]
Rt. Hon. Jos. Bryce
[[Listen]]
Mr. John Burns speaks well within a third, and delivers most of his breezy remarks somewhere about C and D with a musical organ of resonant and robust quality. Sir Fortescue Flannery has a quiet but distinct, full-toned, pleasant voice, which modulates little apart from a pronounced drop at the end of each phrase or sentence. Mr. Bryce's conspicuous quality as a speaker, qua speaker, lies in the successful way in which he plans his discourse. Exordium, proposition, division, narration, confirmation, refutation, peroration—he seems to be conscious of all these rhetorical parts in his most casual intervention in debate. His delivery is detached. The frequent pause, cutting off sharply each phrase, is reminiscent of the professor's rostrum. No doubt this device helps the understanding, though it runs the risk of being inelegant. Mr. Bryce talks on D, with constant falls to A. His voice has a good ring and an accent belonging to the North.