American manners and institutions, and in this line of oratory our country is unsurpassed. The wide range of subject permitted and the flexibility of the occasion are accountable to a large extent for its universal popularity. Prospective speakers for post-prandial occasions will derive much assistance from a perusal of the first three volumes. Although the Committee of Selection have aimed to include the brightest efforts of noted after-dinner speakers, the name and reputation of the speaker have not been allowed to rule exclusively. The question of prime importance related to the speech itself. More than one thousand speeches, delivered on many different occasions, were carefully considered, and the speakers themselves were consulted whenever this was possible.
Many suppose that the best after-dinner speeches are the result of impromptu efforts. This, however, is rarely the case. The great post-prandial orators make the most careful preparation. They endeavor to crowd into the limits of five or ten minutes an eloquent epitome of thought, argument, fact, fancy, and humor. Emerson is said to have put into an after-dinner speech the best philosophy of a long essay. The speeches of Chauncey M. Depew, Horace Porter, and other typical after-dinner speakers abound in terse wit and sparkling humor that are not to be found in their more elaborate addresses. That "brevity is the soul of wit" is most apparent in post-prandial eloquence.
Poets, artists, philosophers, novelists, scientists—men noted for their brilliant wit, rollicking humor, or sound common sense, have given to the world some of their best utterances at society or public dinners. Explanatory and editorial comments relative to the occasion have been placed before each speech. In many cases the introductory speech of the presiding officer is given in full. These presentation remarks are the choicest specimens of introductory eloquence and serve to show how the best presiding officers introduce speakers to audiences.
The Publishers are indebted to the New England Societies of New York, St. Louis, Pennsylvania, Brooklyn, and other cities; to the Lotos Club, of New York; the Sunset Club and Hamilton Club, of Chicago; the Savage Club, of London; the Harvard Alumni Association, of Boston; the
