haustible Store of Knowledge, by the help of indefatigable Study. For all the Variety of Words naturally flows from a Variety, and Abundance of Things: And how should we make others see while we are our selves in the Dark? Who is there now, that can support the Labour of fo stubborn Application, so persevering Industry, as is necessary to an Orator, whose Knowledge must not be less than universal? But here we ought to remember that all this Diligence in the Pursuits of Art can prove effectual to those alone that have the Talents of Nature: Those who have them not, do but fatigue and torture themselves in vain with scholastick Rules. Nor can the Art of Speaking any more fucceed to him that wants a Genius, than the Art of Singing to him that wants a Voice. 'Not but that a Man of a good Understanding, and of a well turn'd Head, may be capable of using the Advantage of Precepts, though his Genius be not altogether so particular and distinguish'd.

V.

True Eloquence being thus difficult in the Acquisition, Men have hop'd to recompence this Defect by the specious Appearance of a false Eloquence, fuch as was current in the Greek and Roman States, near the Time of their Dissolution, and owes its Existence to the Misfortunes and Servitude of those brave Nations. 'Twas with this Outside of Eloquence that the Sophifts, whose Lives are written by Philoftratus and Eunapins, laid themselves out, in publick, upon loose and empty Harangues; these Declaimers having scarce any other End but to aftonish and amuse the People. But this Eloquence

Nulla res

tanium ad

Eloquence being wholly unnatural, and being weaken'd and oppress'd by its fictitious Ornaments, all its Movements were wrong, it never touch'd the Heart, or made an Entry upon the Soul: All that it could perform, was to entertain the Sense with a thin and tastless Pleafure, and to afford a Kind of Pastime to the Idle and Impertinent. But true Eloquence commands a Passage to the Heart, it strikes and alarms the Soul, and makes it sensible of its Approach. False Eloquence is but a Chime of Words, that tinkles in the Ear, but never reaches the Understanding. True Eloquence is strong, vigorous, and masculine, not taken up with Flourish and Gaiety, or folicitous of vain Embellishments. For none but Counterfeit Beauties stand in need of a borrow'd Complexion; Those that are genuine and natural carry their own Graces with them. But since we are universally liable to mistake the false for the true, because the former offers it self unfought for to the Mind, while the latter is not to be found but upon strict Search and Study; we ought not to be surpriz'd if the Appearance should pass with us for the Reality, in Eloquence, as in all Things besides. Upon the whole, a Man who has any Degree of Sagacity will observe, That there are few accomplish'd in this Profession, and that, generally, what we call a Talent in Oratory, is no more than a Warmth of Fancy, and a Volubility of Speech.

VI.

digendum In our Times, Men do not train themselves proficit, up to Eloquence, by that which is the surest,

quantum and was heretofore the most common Way of

Jcriptio.

Cic. in

Brut.

arriving arriving at its height, the frequent use of Com- Nulla res position; in which they ought to labour with tantùm ad Affiduity and Constancy, if they would im- dicendum prove it into a settled Habit. It was by this proficit, quantum means that Demosthenes and Cicero attained to fcriptio. those Degrees of Perfection, which every one Cic. in fees and admires. Not to speak of the for- Brut. mer, who cloyster'd himself up so many quod miniYears to learn his Art; 'tis well known of me facithe latter, that he employ'd all his Leisure mus: est and Vacation from Business, in rhetorical enim magExercises; which gave him occasion to say, ni laboris, that an Orator's best Master is his Style or

Pen.

Caput eft

quod fugimus, quamplurimum

fcribere. Idem de Orat.

Stylus optimus dicendi Magifter. De Orat.

VII.

Men do not study to express Things accurately, or to draw the just Pourtraits of them: They are, for the most part, either deficient or redundant: The Medium, which ought always to be observ'd, is what they are seldom acquainted with; as being an imperceptible Point, and lying within the Nicety of a very few Rules, without which it is never to be hit. And as a skilful Painter knows how to give a different Air to the same Passion in various Subjects, so as not to express the Joy and Complacency of a Prince like that of a Valet, nor the Fierceness of a common Soldier like that of a General: So in the Motions of the Soul there are different Degrees, which an Orator should be able exactly to separate, that he may not confound and blend their Ideas; which Secret, after all, is not to be attain'd but by

one that is Master of his Profession. The want of this Rule, so little known and praCtis'd, is the Reason that Eloquence, when not in Perfection, is wont frequently to lay its Colours, either too weak or too strong. 'Tis of great Importance, out of that multitude of Ideas which present themselves to the Fancy, to make a prudent Choice; without fuffering our selves to be impos'd upon by false Appearances; which requires the most accurate Difcernment, the justest Observation, and the finest Sense. We ought, especially,

to confider, that in those Extremes, to which In omnibus the Heat of Genius may possibly carry us, too rebus vi- much is always more disgusting than too little: dendum, That Verbosity can never move with so good quatenus: Effect, as a sparing Sobriety of Speech; and Etsi enim fuus cuiq; that whatever is excessive, is, at the same modus eft, time, less probable than the contrary. This tamen ma-is what the Roman Orator so often repeats in gis offendit his Books of Rhetorick: For too much is an nimium

quàm pa- Evidence of Transport and Disorder, which rum. Cic. are Faults; whereas too little is an Argument de clar. of Moderation and Reserve, which are always

Orat.

Virtues. To be short, whatever is disproportionable is as false in Eloquence, as it is in Morals.

VIII.

After all, true Eloquence, which proceeds only upon Reality, consists in representing Things as they are. The most natural Turn of Speech is ever the most difficult; but then 'tis ever the most agreeable: Because this is an Art in which nothing but what is natural can please. And as the truest Penetration is to difcern Things as they are in themselves, fo the the truest Perfuafion is to make them be difcern'd by others, as they ought to be, by the proper Lights and Images of Eloquence. But in as much as Things are wont more forcibly to strike the Mind by their own immediate Presence, than by their Representations only, these Images, (which are no more than rhetorical Figures,) ought never to be brought into Play, but when they are stronger and larger than the Things themselves.

2

IX.

We ought fo to study our own Genius, as that we may be able to follow it without Violence: But this we omit; either by affecting fuch a manner as is wholly unfuitable to our Genius; or by straining and forcing it, with too rigid Application; or lastly, by giving it either a greater Port, or a more refined Sub- Phalereus tilty than it will bear. 'Twas thro' this De-Primus irclinaffe Efault, that the Athenian Eloquence began to loquentiam degenerate from the Grandour which once it dicitur. held under Lyfias, Eschines, and Demosthenes; Quintil. as Tully and Quintilian observe, upon Occafion Phalereus of mentioning Demetrius Phalereus, who, they mis quâm tell us, aim'd at a nicer Degree of Art, than his palestra natural Capacity could sustain, and was more inftitutus. fond of Sweetness than of Strength.

nontamar

Cic, in
Brut.

Succus ille & fanguis incorruptus usque ad hanc ætatem oratorum fuit, in quâ naturalis effet, non fucatus nitor. Id. ibid.

Suavis videri maluit, quam fortis, sed suavitate eâ quâ perfunderet animos, non perfringeret. Id. ibid.

A

Pronunciation, which is one of the most

important Parts of Eloquence, is one of those

C 2

that