Clack REFLECTIONS on ELOQUENCE: Illuftrative of a beautiful Frontispiece, reprefenting ROLY HYMNIA, the Mufe of SONG and RHETORIC. High o'er the rest I see the goddess rise, FLOQUENCE may be defined to be PARNELL. not only in orations, but in hiftory, and even in philosophy and divinity. This definition of eloquence includes all the kinds of it; whether they are calculated to inftruct, to persuade, or to amufe. But as the most important fubject of difcourfe is action, or conduct, the power of eloquence appears principally when it is employed to influence conduct, and to excite to action. As it is chiefly with reference to this end, that Eloquence becomes the object of art, it may be defined, in this view of it, the art of perfuafion. Thus Claudio, in Meafure for Mea A & fure, fure, refts all his hopes of life in the fions may be too powerful for the eloquence of his sister Ifabella: Acquaint her with the danger of my ftate; Implore her, in my voice, that she make friends To the strict deputy; bid herself affay him; I have great hope in that: for in her There is a prone and speechless dialect, And well he can perfuade. judgment. Conviction, nevertheless, is always one avenue to the inclination, or heart; and it is that which an orator mult attempt to gain: for no perfuafion is likely to be perma nent, which is not founded on conviction. But, in order to perfuade, an orator must go farther than merely fider man as a creature moved by producing conviction: he muft conmany different fprings, and must act upon them all. He must addrefs himfelf to the paffions: he must paint to the fancy, and touch the heart: and hence, befide folid argument, and clear method, all the conciliating and interefting arts, both of compofition and pronunciation, must enter into the idea of eloquence. To influence and perfuade, the moft effential requifites are, folid argument, clear method, and a character of probity confpicuous in the fpeaker, united to fuch graces of ftyle and utterance, as fhall attract attention. Good fenfe is the foundation of all. No man can be truly eloquent without it: for none but fools can be perfuaded by fools. To perfuade a man of fenfe, he must first be convinced; which can be done by no other method, than that of fa- The better reafon, to perplex and dash tisfying his understanding of the reafonableness of what is propofed. Convincing and perfuading, though they are fometimes confounded, import, notwithflanding, different things, which it is requifite, in courfe, to diftinguish from each other. Conviction affects the understanding only; perfuafion, the will and practice. It is the business of the philofopher to enforce conviction of the truth: it is the business of the orator to perfuade his hearer to act agreeably to it, by engaging the affections on its fide. Conviction and perfuafion do not always go together. They ought, indeed, to go together; and they would do fo, if our inclinations regularly followed the dictates of our underftanding. But as human nature is conflituted, a perfon may be convinced, that virtue, juftice, and public fpirit, are laudable, while, at the fame time, he is not perfuaded to act in conformity to their dictates. The inclination may revolt, although the understanding is fatisfied: the paf It may be objected to eloquence, perhaps, that it is an art which may be employed in perfuading to ill, as well as to good; To make the worse appear Matureft counfels. MILTON. Unquestionably, eloquence may be thus ill-employed; and fo, in like manner, may reafoning, which has been too often employed to lead men into error. But who would think of forming an argument, on this account, against the cultivation of our reafoning powers? Not only reason and eloquence, but every art that has been cultivated by mankind, may be abufed, and may prove dangerous in the hands of unprincipled men; but it would be abfolutely ridiculous to affert, as a confequence, that they ought not to be ftudied. Let Truth and Virtue have the fame arms that are put into the hands of Vice and Falfehood, and the former are the most likely to be victorious. Eloquence is not an invention of the fchools: Nature teaches every man to be eloquent, when he is much in earnest. Let him be placed in fome critical fituation; let him have fome important intereft at stake; and he The will fcarcely fail to adopt the moft tions; we love, we deteft, we refent, effectual means of perfuafion. as he infpires us, and are excited to determine, or to act, with energy and vigour. Debate, in popular anemblies, opens the moft illuftrious field to this fpecies of eloquence, and the pulpit alfo admits it. art of oratory propofes nothing more than to proceed in that track which Nature has first pointed out; and the more exactly this track is followed, in the greater degree that eloquence is properly cultivated, the more we shall be guarded against the abufe which bad men make of it, and enabled to diftinguish between true eloquence and the mere tricks of fophiftry. The first kind of eloquence is that, the only aim of which is to please the auditors. This is the lowest degree of the art; and fuch, in general, is the eloquence of panegyrics, inaugural orations, addreffes to great men, and other harangues of the fame nature. This ornamental kind of compofition is not to be totally rejected. It may innocently entertain the mind; and it may be blended, at the fame time, with very useful fentiments. But, unquestionably, where the oration has no other aim than merely to fhine and to please, there is great danger that art will be forced into oftentation, and that the compofition, instead of being pleafing, will become languid and wearifome. A fecond and higher degree of eloquence is, when the orator aims not merely to please, but to inform, to convince, and to inftru&t; when his art is exerted in removing prejudices against himself and his caufe, in felecting the most proper arguments, ftating them with the greatest force, arranging them in the best order, expreffing them with propriety and beauty, and difpofing him, confequently, to embrace that fide of the caufe for which he is pleading. Within this compafs, the eloquence of the bar is principally employed. But there is a third, and still higher degree of eloquence, in which a greater power is exerted over the human mind; by which we are not only convinced, but are interested, agitated, and carried along with the fpeaker. By this, our paffions are made to rife with his; we enter into all his emo He is con This laft degree of eloquence, it is to be observed, is conftantly the offfpring of paffion. By paffion is to be understood that fate of the mind in which it is agitated, and fired, by fome important object in view. A man may convince, and even perfuade others to act, by mere reafon and argument. But that degree of eloquence which gains the admiration of mankind, and properly constitutes an orator, is never found without warmth or paffion. Paffion, when in fuch a degree as to roufe and kindle the mind, without throwing it out of the poffeffion of itfelf, is univerially found to exalt all the human powers. It renders the mind infinitely more enlightened than it is in its calm moments; more penetrating, vigorous, and mafterly. A man, actuated by a ftrong paffion, becomes much greater than he is at other times. fcious of more energy and vigour; he utters greater fentiments, conceives higher defigas, and executes them with a boldnefs and fel.city, of which, on other occañons, he would not think himself capable. But it is principally with ref ect to perfuafion that the power of paffion is felt. Almost every man, in paffion, is eloquent; with the referve, that he retains that entire poffeffion of himself, the lofs of which conftitutes what is called, a man in a paffion. In passion then, warmed, animated, elevated, but fill himself, the orator is at no lofs for words and arguments. He tranfmits to others, by a kind of contagious fympathy, the warm fentiments which he feels: his looks and geftures are all perfuafive; and here nature fhews herself infinitely more powerful than art. The orator who would affect his hearers, muft firft be affected himself. From When Atreus' fon harangued the lift'ning train, From this effect of enthufiafm, or the power of language, and all the warmth of any kind, in public speak- graces of pronunciation and delivery. ers, it is evident, that all laboured In a word, the contrast between mere declamation, and affected ornaments juft and fenfible speaking, and the of ftyle, that evince the mind of the fafcination of perfuafive eloquence, is orator to be cool and unmoved, are thus finely pictured by Homer: inconfiftent with perfuafive eloquence. Hence, all studied prettineffes, in gefture or pronunciation, detract greatly from the weight of a speaker. Hence a fpeech that is read moves us lefs than one that is fpoken, as having lefs the appearance of coming warm from the heart; and hence, to call a man cold, is the fame thing as to fay, that he is not eloquent. Juft was his fenfe, and his expreffion plain; His words fuccinct, yet full, without a fault; He spoke no more than just the thing he ought. But when Ulyffes rofe, in thought pro found, His modeft a eyes he fix'd upon the ground. As one unfkill'd or dumb, he feem'd to ftand, Eloquence thus appears to be high talent, and of great importance in fociety; requiring both natural genius, and great improvement from art. Confidered as the art of perfuafion, it requires, in its loweft ftate, foundness of understanding, and confiderable acquaintance with human nature; and, in its highest degrees, it requires, moreover, ftrong fenfibility of mind, a warm and lively imagination, joined with correctnefs of judgment, an extenfive command of Sketch of the Office of CHANCELLOR of the UNIVERSITY of Oxford. S this month has been diftinguish- by calling of courts, and to punish ed by the folemnities which delinquents.-The chancellors were accompany the admiffion of a new anciently tiled rectors (a name 'ftill chancellor into the university of Ox- given to the fame office in the Scotch ford, fome account of this office may Universities) and mafters of scholars, not be unacceptable, especially as the and alfo rectors and matters of schools. nature of it has been grossly mifre- The word chancellor was introduced prefented; fome fancying that it is an in the time of Theodofius, Arcadius, office of great emolument, and others and Honorius; and he was then a one of great bufinefs; neither of which private judicial officer, employed in is the cafe. writing and recording fuch judicial edicts as related to the office; and from doing this in a place inclosed with lattices (cancelli) he was termed cancellarius. By the conftitutions of the univerfity, the chancellor is a magiftrate of high honour, power, and dignity, commonly one of the principal nobility, or of the highest prelates. He is elected by the convocation, and his office is for life. It is his business to fuperintend the government of the whole univerfity, to maintain its privileges and liberties, to call affemblies, to hear and determine controverfies |