Was it not the indignant countenance, the animated tone, and the judicious action of Cicero, which communicated fuch commanding influence and powerful weight to his arguments, when he confounded the audacious Catiline? And was it not the dignified air, and the perfuafive mildness of Maffillon, which added to his religious inftructions fo much force, when he drew from the haughty Louis XIV. a confeffion of the power of facred eloquence?

He who afpires to the reputation of a good public fpeaker, muft make judgment the rule of his conduct; for no attainments can secure praise or advantage without it. Even correctnefs itself must not be carried to an extreme; the flights of imagination must be reftrained by discretion, and propriety must give laws to every effort. Thus will he take the fureft road to eminence; he will reach the fublime, without being bombastic or extravagant; he will be bold, not rash; serious, but not fevere; gay, not licentious; and copious without redundance. An adherence to the proper rules of the art will be the fafeft guide to genius, will improve every natural endowment, and will add the advantages of experience to the gifts of nature.

The eloquence of the moderns has rarely reached the standard of excellence, which was attained by the ancients. The character of each is widely different. In Greece the public fpeaker was bold, impetuous,

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impetuous, and fublime. In Rome he was more declamatory, verbofe, flowery, and pathetic. Fene-. lon has thus ingeniously difcriminated the powers, of the two great orators of Greece and Rome. "After hearing an oration of Tully, How finely and eloquently has he expreffed himfelf!' faid the Romans. After Demofthenes had spoke, 'Let us rife and march against Philip,' faid the Athenians." In England the public fpeaker is temperate and cool, and addreffes himfelf more to the reafon of his audience, than to their paffions. There is ftill great fcope for the difplay of genius in the pulpit, at the bar, and in the houfes of Parliament; and the path of fame is still left open to rifing orators. The rules laid down by the ancients, as the principles involved in thofe rules are of general utility, may be ftudied to great advantage, although much judgment is neceffary for their proper application; and attention must be paid to modern tafte and modern manners.

Many diftinguifhed examples of eloquence may be held up to the obfervation of the young orator; but he muft avoid too clofe an imitation, even of the most eminent. Let him ftudy the most efteemed works of his predeceffors; let him frequently revolve, and even commit to memory, their productions, and repeat them with fuitable voice and action; and let him rather in his own compofitions endeavour

d I have heard that the Marquis of Wharton formed his fon, the Duke, to be one of the greateft, and at the fame time one of

the

endeavour to catch a portion of their fpirit, than tread fervilely in their fteps. Demofthenes was vehement, abrupt, energetic, and fublime. Cicero was dignified, luminous, and copious. Chatham united the energy of the one to the elegance of the other. Mansfield was perfuafive, delightful, and inftructive. Burke was flowery, vivid, and fluent. Let the orator ftudy to combine in his compofitions their united excellence. Let him not, to ufe the appofite and beautiful illuftration of Quintilian, resemble the stream, that is carried

the readiest speakers that ever was in England, by making him get by heart whole Orations of Demofthenes, and repeat them with all the graces of action and pronunciation. Monboddo, vol. iv. P. 244.

e Demofthenes was his great model in fpeaking; and we are told that he tranflated fome of his Orations by way of exercise feveral times over.

Many defcriptions are given of the eloquence of Lord Chatham: but of them all, whether written by Mr. Burke, Wilkes, the author of Junius, Frederic of Pruffia, the Abbé Raynal, or Lord Chesterfield, that written by the left ftrikes me as the clearest, and perhaps the most accurate. "His eloquence was of every kind, and he excelled in the argumentative, as well as the declamatory way. But his invectives were terrible, and uttered with fuch energy of diction, and such dignity of action and countenance, that he intimidated those who were the most willing and the least able to encounter him. Their arms fell out of their hands, and they shrunk under the afcendant, which his genius gained over theirs." Life of Chatham, vol. iii. p. 378, &c.

"It is a traditionary tale of his country, that almost in infancy the great Lord Mansfield was accustomed to declaim upon his native mountains the most celebrated fpeeches of Cicero and Demofthenes, and his own inimitable Translations." Lives of eminent Lawyers, p. 32.

through a channel formed by art for its courfe; but rather let him imitate the bold river, which overflows a whole valley; and where it does not find, can force a paffage by its own natural impetuofity and ftrength.

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CLASS

CLASS THE THIRD,

HISTORY,

CHAPTER I.

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The Study of Hiftory in general.

CURIOSITY is one of the strongest and most active principles of human nature. Throughout the fucceffive stages of life, it feeks with avidity for thofe gratifications, which are congenial with the different faculties of the mind. The child, as foon as the imagination begins to open, eagerly liftens to the tales of his nurfe: the youth, at a time of life, when the love of what is new and uncommon is quickened by fenfibility, is enchanted by the magic of Romances and Novels: the man, whose mature judgment inclines him to the purfuit of truth, applies to genuine Hiftory, which even in old age continues to be a favourite object of his attention; fince his defire to be acquainted with the tranfactions of others has nearly an equal power over his mind, with the propenfity to relate what has happened to himself.