elocution emerged as a formal discipline during the eighteenth century. one of its important figures was thomas sheridan, actor and father of richard brinsley sheridan. thomas sheridan's lectures on elocution, collected in "lectures on elocution" (1762) and his "lectures on reading" (1775), provided directions for marking and reading aloud passages from literature. another actor, john walker, published his two-volume "elements of elocution" in 1781, which provided detailed instruction on voice control, gestures, pronunciation, and emphasis.