ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author focuses on the therapeutic aspects of John Thelwall's elocutionary practices. He shows that his contributions to elocution are worthy of study on their own terms and deserve to be treated as more than a forced or unfortunate departure from his political and literary work. The author organizes his elocutionary contributions to speech therapy around some conceptual frameworks that underpin them. Thelwall's elocutionary writings used a number of conceptual frameworks including those of mechanism, materialism, mentalism and moralism. Thelwall used materialist arguments to counter the idea that a vital or superadded element is needed to distinguish living from dead matter. Thelwall's mentalist framework was further used for the design of therapies for 'correcting and regulating the mental and moral habits of the pupil. Some therapies, Thelwall depicted as moral teachings. He emphasized that oral discourse was an effective means for performing moral acts.
