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terfield," one nce, as a speaker, > into the house of orable one; and felt acquaintance, that awe of the five hundred and and reason, and that all the nly required plain, common and that all the others only periods, whether they conveyed "s to hear, but not sense to judge. peak with little concern the first 1 with none at all the third. I gave out any thing, except my elocution without much vanity, that I had hot to talk nonsense."

Mid Lord Chesterfield experience the value is and graceful delivery; but on none more is speech on the bill for reforming the calenthough now forgotten, created at the time, at a sensation as any that had been delivered lls of Parliament, and procured for its author as Let us see what his lordship himself says on

use.

tever may be said at Paris of my speech on the bill for ation of the present calendar, or whatever applause it et with here, the whole, I can assure you, is owing to

and powers of eloquence, and from that moment applied myself to it. Ornaments are here your principal object; your business is to shine, not to weigh. Weight without lustre is lead *.” And in another place he writes thus :

"If you would either please in a private company, or persuade in a public assembly, air, looks, gestures, graces, enunciation, proper accents, just emphasis, and tuneful cadences, are full as necessary as the matter itself. Let awkward, ungraceful, inelegant, and dull fellows say what they will in behalf of their solid matter, and strong reasonings; and let them despise all those graces and ornaments which engage the senses, and captivate the heart; they will find, (though they will probably wonder why,) that their rough, unpolished matter, and their unadorned, coarse, .but strong arguments, will neither please, nor persuade; but, on the contrary, will tire out attention, and excite disgust. We are so made, that we love to be pleased, better than to be informed; information is, in a certain degree, mortifying, as it implies our previous ignorance: it must be sweetened, to be palatable.

"To bring this directly to you; know that no man can make a figure in this country, but in Parliament. Your fate depends on your success as a speaker; and, take my word for it, your success turns much more upon manner than matter. Mr. Pitt, (afterwards Lord Chatham,) and Mr. Murray, the solicitor-general, (afterwards Lord Mansfield,) are beyond comparison the best speakers. Why? only because they are the best orators. They alone can inflame or quiet the house; they alone are attended to in the numerous and noisy assembly, that you might hear a pin fall, while either of them is speaking. Is it that their matter is better, or their arguments are stronger than other people's? Does the house expect extraordinary information from them? Not in the least; but the house expects pleasure from them, and therefore attends; finds it, and therefore approves. Mr. Pitt, particularly, has very little parliamentary knowledge; his matter is generally flimsy, and his arguments are often weak: but his eloquence is superior, his action graceful, his enunciation just and harmonious, his periods are well turned, and every word he makes use of is the very best, and the most expressive that can be used in that place. This, and not his matter, made him paymaster, in spite of both king and ministerst."

The truth of this opinion which Lord Chesterfield entertained of Mr. Pitt, may be easily ascertained. His speech for the repeal of the Stamp Act in 1776, is perhaps one of the fairest specimens of his eloquence. Most, probably, who read this speech, will wonder at the effect which it is known to have produced in the house, yet the report is exact. But they should have seen the look of ineffable contempt with which he surveyed Mr. G. Gren*Chesterfield's Letters, by Gregory, p. 309. † Ditto, p. 294.

ville, who sat within one of him, and should have heard him say, with that look, "As to the late ministry, every capital measure they have taken has been entirely wrong.' They should also have seen him, when, addressing himself to Mr. Grenville's successors, he said, "As to the present gentlemen, to those at least whom I have in my eye, (looking at the bench on which General Conway sat,) I have no objection; I have never been made a sacrifice by any of them. Some of them have done me the honour to ask my poor opinion, before they would engage to repeal this act: they will do me the justice to own, I did advise them to engage to do it: but notwithstanding, (I love to be explicit,) I cannot give them my confidence: pardon me, gentlemen, (bowing to them,) confidence is a plant of slow growth."

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Those who remember the air of condescending protection with which the bow was made, and the look given when he pronounced these words, will recollect how much they themselves were at the moment both delighted and awed, and what they then conceived of the immeasurable superiority of the orator over every human being that surrounded him. In the passages cited, there is nothing which an ordinary speaker might not have said: it was the manner, and the manner only, that produced the effect. "To govern mankind," continues Lord Chesterfield, must not over-rate them; and to please an audience, as a speaker, one must not over-value it. When I first came into the house of commons, I respected that assembly as a venerable one; and felt a certain awe upon me: but upon better acquaintance, that awe soon vanished; and I discovered that of the five hundred and sixty, not above thirty could understand reason, and that all the rest were people; that those thirty only required plain, common sense, dressed up in good language; and that all the others only required flowing and harmonious periods, whether they conveyed any meaning or not; having ears to hear, but not sense to judge. These considerations made me speak with little concern the first time, with less the second, and with none at all the third. I gave myself no farther trouble about any thing, except my elocution and my style; presuming, without much vanity, that I had common sense sufficient not to talk nonsense."

On many occasions did Lord Chesterfield experience the value of well-turned periods and graceful delivery; but on none more peculiarly, than in his speech on the bill for reforming the calendar. This speech, though now forgotten, created at the time, perhaps, as great a sensation as any that had been delivered within the walls of Parliament, and procured for its author as liberal applause. Let us see what his lordship himself says on the subject.

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"Whatever may be said at Paris of my speech on the bill for the reformation of the present calendar, or whatever applause it may have met with here, the whole, I can assure you, is owing to

the words and to the delivery, but by no means to the matter: which, as I told you before, I was not master of. I mention this again, to shew you the importance of well-chosen words, harmonious periods, and good delivery; for, between you and me, Lord Macclesfield's speech was, in truth, worth a thousand of mine. It will soon be printed; and I will send it to you: it is very instructive *"

Do not these remarks of Lord Chesterfield sufficiently account for the indifference and apathy with which the speakers of the present day are listened to? Whatever sound sense and correct reasoning may characterize many of the matter-of-fact speakers in both houses of parliament, do we ever witness an attempt to embellish these by elegant language and graceful delivery! If we except Mr. Canning, in the commons, and, perhaps, my Lord Grey, in the lords, shall we be able to name a member of either house who much exceeds mediocrity? How immeasurable a proportion of them sink far below it! To Mr. Canning we acknowledge that we have frequently listened with feelings of unmixed delight. He alone, of all whom we have heard, bears any resemblance to the picture which Milton has drawn of the orator of ancient times :

"Comely, and in act

Rais'd, as of some great subject to begin. "As when of old some orator renown'd

"In Athens, or free Rome, where eloquence

"Flourish'd, since mute, to soine great cause address'd,
"Stood in himself collected, while each part,

"Motion, each act, won audience, ere his tongue."

Much of what has been said with respect to Parliament, will also apply to the bar, though not in the same degree. We admit that there is a great difference between the nature of judicial eloquence in ancient and modern times. In the days of Demosthenes and Cicero, the statutes were few, simple, and general, and the decision of the causes was trusted, in a great degree, to the equity and common sense of the judges. The judges too, were much more numerous than they are amongst us, and formed a sort of popular assembly. When Socrates was condemned, we are informed that no fewer than two hundred and eighty voted against him; and Cicero, in his celebrated defence of Milo, addressed no less than fifty-one judges. With us on the contrary, the field of speaking is in some measure, limited to precise law and statute; the advocate has always lying before him the line, the square, and the compass. Besides, he addresses himself to one, or at most a few judges, and these too persons of age, gravity, and authority of character; and who, from having been intimate, when at the bar, with all the sophistry of pleading, are not to be won by oratory.

*Letters, p. 315.

But there are many occasions, and those too of the greatest importance, where the advocate is freed from the bonds of this restraint. In civil actions, and wherever compensation for an injury is to be given in damages, he addresses not the judge, but the jury. This jury, composed of men selected from the common employments of life, and little conversant with the arts of eloquence, is peculiarly exposed to the ingenuity and skill of the pleader.

Here then an unbounded scope is given to the exertions of oratory; and here again how little is it cultivated! The advocate who at this day possesses the most extensive influence over the minds of juries, is, we think, unquestionably Mr. Serjeant Vaughan, who is, nevertheless, far from a perfect orator. It has been his fortune, in more cases than one, to triumph alike over law and equity, the opinion of the judge, and the common sense of the jury.

To what then is this success to be attributed? To the manner undoubtedly, in a great degree, of Serjeant Vaughan; to his eloquent delivery, and the impressive earnestness which he exhibits, and which leads others to believe that he is himself convinced of the justice of the cause which he supports.

From the great and important advantages which an eloquent and graceful speaker has been shown to possess over those who are deficient in these accomplishments, it would appear unnecessary to urge the cultivation of acquirements, which are of such high and inestimable value. To the unprejudiced, and those who are open to instruction, it is unnecessary; for they cannot but see, that as long as an influence over the mind of others is a desirable object, and oratory is the means by which we may best obtain it, the acquisition of oratory's most essential part must be desirable. To the prejudiced and obstinate it is unnecessary; for they who despise the powers of persuasion, will reject advice, offered through their medium. We shall, therefore, conclude our observations on this subject with a remark of the most elegant and accomplished gentleman of modern times, and who possessed in the highest degree, all those graces, the cultivation of which he so earnestly recommends.

"I know a young man," says Lord Chesterfield," who, being just elected a member of Parliament, was laughed at for being discovered through the key-hole of his chamber-door, speaking to himself in the glass, and forming his looks and gestures. I could not join in the laugh, but, on the contrary, thought him much wiser than those who laughed at him; for he knew the importance of those little graces in a public assembly, and they did C.

not*"

*Chest. Letters, p. 296.

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