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on this head, has induced some to imagine, that our prose writings may be regulated by spondees, and trochees, iambuses and pæons, and other metrical feet.* But, to refute this notion, nothing further is necessary than its being applied to practice.

Although this musical arrangement cannot be reduced to a system, yet it demands a very considerable share of attention. It is chiefly owing to the neglect of it, that British eloquence still remains in a state of infancy. The growth of eloquence, indeed, even in those countries where she flourished most, has ever been very slow. Athens had been in possession of all other polite improvements long before her pretensions

* Some writers have also supposed that the English language would admit of the measures of Greek and Latin poetry. "It is impossible," says Mr. Goldsmith, "that the same measure, composed of the same times, should have a good effect upon the ear in one language, and a bad effect in another. The truth is, we have been accustomed from our infancy to the numbers of English poetry, and the very sound and signification of the words disposes the ear to receive them in a certain manner; so that its disappointment must be attended with a disagreeable sensation. In imbibing the first rudiments of education, we acquire, as it were, another ear for the numbers of Greek and Latin poetry, and this, being reserved entirely for the sounds and significations of the words that constitute those dead languages, will not easily accommodate itself to the sounds of our vernacular tongue, though conveyed in the same time and measure. In a word, Latin and Greek have annexed to them the ideas of the ancient measure from which they are not easily disjoined. But we will venture to say, this difficulty might be sur mounted by an effort of attention, and a little practice; and in that case we should, in time, be as well pleased with the English as with Latin hexameters.-Essays, vol. ii. Essay xix.

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to the persuasive arts were in any degree considerable : and the earliest orator of note among the Romans did appear sooner than about a century before Cicero. That great master of persuasion, taking notice of this remarkable circumstance, assigns it as an evidence of the superior difficulty of his favourite art. There may be some truth in the observation: but whatever the cause may have been, the fact is undeniable. Accordingly, eloquence has by no means made equal advances in our own country, with her sister arts: and though we have seen many excellent poets, and a few good painters, arise among us, yet our nation can boast of very few accomplished orators. This circmustance will appear more surprising, when it is considered that we have a profession set apart for the purposes of persuasion; a profession which is conversant in the most animating topics of rhetoric.

ri Among the principal defects of our British orators," their general disregard of harmony has been least ob served, It would be injustice, indeed, to deny that we have some oratorical performances tolerably musical; but it must be acknowledged that, for the most part, this i more the effect of accident than design, and rathes to be attributed to the power of our language, than to the skill of our orators.

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Archbishop Tillotson, who is frequently mentioned as having carried this species of eloquence to its highes perfection, seems to have no kind of rhetorical numbers and no man had ever less pretension to genuine oratory, than this celebrated preacher. If any thing could raise a flame of eloquence in the breast of an orator, there is no occasion on which it would be more likely

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likely to break out, than in celebrating departed merit: yet the two sermons which he preached upon the death of Dr. Gooch and of Dr. Whitcot, are as cold and languid performances as were ever produced on such an animating subject. It is indeed to be regretted, that he who abounds with such noble and generous sentiments, should want the art of displaying them to their full advantage; that the sublime in morals should not be attended with a suitable elevation of language. His words are commonly ill-chosen, and always illplace; his periods are th tedious and inharmonious as his metaphors are generally mean, and sometimes ridiculous. It were easy to produce numberle instances of the truth of this assertion. Thus in his sermon preached before the princess of Denmark, he talks of squeezing a parable, sharking, shifts, thrusting religion by, driving a strict bargain with God; and speaking of the day of judgment, describes the world as cracking about our ears. In justice to the oratorical character of this most valuable prelate, it must, however, be acknowledged, that there is a noble simplicity in some few of his sermons. His Discourse on Sincerity deserves to be mentioned with peculiar applause.

But to shew his deficiency in the quality of which I am now treating, the following quotation will be sufficient.

One might be apt to think at first view, that this parable was a; overdone, and wanted something of a due decornm; it being hardly credible, that a man, after he had been so mercifully dealt withal, as, upon his humble request, to have so huge a debt so freely forgiven, should, whilst the memory of so mach mercy was fresh upon him, even in the very next moment, handle his fellow servant, who had made the same humble requesto him which he had done to his

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lord, with so much roughness and cruelty, for so inconsiderable a sum. Tillotson's Sermons.

Not to mention other objections which might be raised against this period, it is harsh and unmusical throughout. The concluding members, which ought to have been full and flowing, are most miserably loose and disjointed. If the delicacy of Cicero's ear was so exquisitely refined, as not always to be satisfied even with the numbers of Demosthenes, how would it have been offended by the harshness and dissonance of so un Farmonious a sentence ?"*

Nothing tends to throw our eloquence at a greater distance from that of the ancients, than this Gothic arrangement as those wonderful effects which sometimes attended their elocution were, in all probability, chiefly owing to their skill in musical concords. It was by the charm of numbers, united with the strength of reason, that Cicero confounded the audacious Cataline, and silenced the eloquent Hortensius. It was this that deprived Curio of all power of recollection, when he rose up to oppose that great master of rhetoric; it was this that made even Cæsar himself tremble; nay, what is yet more extraordinary, made Cæsar alter his determined purpose, and acquit the man whom he had resolved to condemn.

It will not be suspected that too much is here attributed to the power of numerous composition, when we recollect an instance which Cicero produces of its wonderful effect. He informs us that he was himself a witness of its influence as Carbo was once haranguing

• See Mr. Mitford's Essay on the Harmony of Language, p. 201.

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the people. It was astonishing, says he, to observe the general applause which burst from the assembly when that orator pronounced the following sentence: "Patris dictum sapiens temeritas filii comprobavit." These words, perhaps, will not greatly affect a modern ear; and indeed it is probable that we are ignorant of the art of pronouncing the period with its genuine emphasis and cadence. We are certain, however, that the music of it consisted in the dichoree with which it is terminated; for Cicero himself assures us, that if the final measure had been changed, and the words placed in a different order, their effect would have been entirely destroyed.

The art of numerous arrangement was introduced among the Greeks by Thrasymachus, though some of the admirers of Isocrates attributed the invention to the latter. It does not appear to have been studied by the Romans until about the age of Cicero; and even then it was by no means universally received. The an-" cient mode of composition had still many admirers, who were such enthusiasts with regard to antiquity, that they adopted her very defects. A disposition of the same kind may perhaps prevent its being much cultivated in Britain; and while Tillotson shall maintain his authority as an orator, it is not to be expected that any great advances will be made in this species of eloquence. That strength of understanding, and solidity of reason, which forms so conspicuous a part of the national character, may also serve to increase the difficulty of reconciling us to a study of this kind; as at first glance it may seem to lead an orator from his grand and principal aim, and tempt him to make a sacrifice of sense to

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