4. Be cautious not to extend arguments too far, and not to multiply them too much.

Such a practice serves rather to render a cause suspected than to give it weight; it both burdens the memory and detracts from the weight of that conviction which a few well-chosen arguments carry.

CHAPTER VIII.

RULES FOR AN ADDRESS TO THE PASSIONS.

[From Blair and Whateley.]

1. Good sense must determine whether the subject admit the pathetic, and if it does, in what part of the discourse it should be introduced.

2. If we expect any emotion which we raise to have a lasting effect, we must be careful to bring over to our side, in the first place, the understanding and judg

ment.

3. An important point to be observed in every address to any passion, sentiment, or feeling, is, that it should not be introduced as such, and plainly avowed.

The effect otherwise will be, in great measure, if not entirely, lost; for there is a wide distinction, in this respect, between an address to the passions and to the understanding.

4. It must be observed that there is a great difference between showing persons that they ought to be moved and actually moving them.

To every emotion or passion nature has adapted a set of corresponding objects; and, without setting these before the mind, it is not in the power of any orator to raise that emotion.

Hence the object of that passion which we desire to raise in others must be painted in the most natural and striking manner; it must be described with such circumstances as are likely to awaken the passion or feeling in the minds of others. But to accomplish this effectually, you must be moved yourself.

5. In order effectually to excite feelings of any kind, it is necessary to employ some copiousness of detail, and to dwell somewhat at large on the several circumstances of the case in hand.

In this respect there is a wide distinction between strict argumentation with a view to the conviction of the understanding alone, and the attempt to influence the will by the excitement of any emotion.

With respect to argument itself, indeed, different occasions will call for different degrees of copiousness, repetition, and expansion; the chain of reasoning employed may, in itself, consist of more and fewer links; abstruse and complex arguments must be unfolded at greater length than such as are more simple; and the more uncultivated the audience, the more full must be the explanation and illustration, and the more frequent the repetition of the arguments presented to them; but still the same general principle prevails in all these cases; viz., to aim merely at letting the arguments be fully understood and admitted; but all expansion and repetition beyond what is necessary to accomplish conviction, is in every instance tedious and disgusting.

On the contrary, in a description of any thing that is likely to act on the feelings, this effect will by no means be produced as soon as the understanding is sufficiently informed. Detail and expansion are here not only admissible, but absolutely necessary, in order that the mind may have leisure and opportunity to form vivid and distinct ideas.

It is related that a whole audience were moved to tears by a minute detail of the circumstances connected with the death of a youthful pair at the battle of Fontenay, though they had previously listened without emotion to a general statement of the dreadful carnage in that engagement.

It is not, however, with a view to the feelings only that some copiousness of detail will occasionally be needful; it will often happen that the judgment can not be correctly formed without dwelling on circumstances.

6. It is not, however, always advisable to enter into a direct detail of circumstances, which might warn the hearer or reader beforehand of the design laid against his feelings. It is often better to introduce only the

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eircumstances connected with the main object or event, and affected by it, but not absolutely forming a part of it.

Thus the woman's application to the King of Samaria, to compel her neighbor to fulfill the agreement of sharing with her the infant's flesh, gives a more frightful impression of the horrors of the famine than any more direct description could have done; since it presents to us the picture of that destruction of the ordinary state of human feeling, which is the result of long-continued and extreme misery.

Nor could any detail of the particular vexations suffered by the exiled Jews for their disobedience convey so lively an idea of them as that description of their result contained in the denunciation of Moses: "In the evening thou shalt say, Would God it were morning! and in the morning tho shalt say, Would God it were evening!"

Shakspeare, in the speech of Antony over Cæsar's body, has offered some excellent exemplifications of this rule.

7. Comparison is one powerful means of exciting or heightening any emotion; namely, by presenting a parallel between the case in hand and some other that is calculated to call forth such emotions; taking care, of course, to represent the present case as stronger than the one it is compared with, and such as ought to affect us more powerfully.

Men feel naturally more indignant at a slight affront offered to themselves, or those closely connected with them, than at the most grievous wrong done to a stranger; , therefore, you would excite their utmost indignation in such a case, it must be by comparing it with a parallel case that concerns themselves; i. e., by leading them to consider how they would feel were such and such an injury done to themselves.

And, on the other hand, if you would lead them to a just sense of their own faults, it must be by leading them to contemplate like faults in others; of which the celebrated parable of Nathan, addressed to David, affords an admira ble instance.

CHAPTER IX.

CONCLUSION OF A DISCOURSE.

1. It must vary with the strain of the preceding discourse. Sometimes it consists of the pathetic part. Sometimes, when the discourse has been entirely argumentative, it is fit to conclude with summing up the arguments, placing them in one view, and leaving the impression of them, full and strong, on the mind of the audience.

2. The conclusion should not be too abrupt; nor, on the other hand, so long as to excite the hearer's impatience, after he has been led to expect an end.

3. The great rule of a conclusion, and what nature obviously suggests, is, to place that last on which we choose that the strength of our cause should rest.

CHAPTER X.

GENERAL RULES AND HINTS TO DIRECT OUR REASONING.

[From Watt's Logic.]

1. Accustom yourself to clear and distinct ideas, to evident propositions, to convincing arguments.

Converse much with those friends, and those books, and those parts of learning where you meet with the greatest clearness of thought and force of reasoning.

The habit of conceiving clearly, of judging justly, and of reasoning well, is to be learned only by effort and practice. It should be commenced in early life.

2. Enlarge your general acquaintance with things daily, in order to attain a rich furniture of topics, whereby those propositions which occur may be either proved or disproved; but especially meditate and inquire, with great diligence and exactness, into the nature, properties, circumstances, and relations of the particular subject about which you judge or argue.

Consider its causes, effects, adjuncts, opposites, signs, &c., so far as is needful to your present pur

pose; extend your views, as far as possible, to every thing that has a connection with the subject.

3. In your investigations, always keep the precise point of the present question in your eye. Add nothing to it while you are arguing, nor omit any part of it. Keep the precise matter of inquiry as simple as may be, disengaged from other ideas.

4. In choosing arguments to prove any point, always take such as carry the greatest evidence with them. Care less about the number than the weight of your argu

ments.

Yet there are many cases in which the growing number of probable arguments increases the degree of probability, and gives satisfactory confirmation to the truth which is sought or advocated.

5. Prove your conclusion (as far as possible) by some propositions that are in themselves more plain and evident than the conclusion; or, at least, such as are more known to the person whom you would convince.

6. Neither impose upon yourselves, nor allow yourselves to be imposed upon by others, by mistaking a mere illustration for a convincing argument.

A too great deference paid to similitudes, and an utter rejection of them, seem to be two extremes, and ought to be avoided.

7. In your whole course of reasoning, keep your mind and the minds of others sincerely intent on the pursuit of truth, and follow sound argument wheresoever it leads you. Let not party spirit, nor any passion or prejudice, stop or turn aside the current of your reasoning in quest of true knowledge.

Maintain a true regard, therefore, to the arguments and objections on both sides of a question; consider, compare, and balance them well before you determine for one side.

When we espouse opinions through the influence merely of fear, hope, honor, credit, interest, or any other prejudice, and then seek arguments only to support those opinions, we have neither done our duty to God nor to ourselves.

The power of reasoning was given by our Maker