It is necessary, without doubt, that the Orator should enliven his compositions with that ardour of soul which indicates and awakens sensibility.

If his writings be destitute of those glowing ideas, which proceed from the heart, his most emphatic language will only be insipid jargon.

'The dull writer is a wretched author.' This maxim of Boileau is incontestable.

But, if, by the term ardour, be understood, the fermentations of a roving brain, paradox united to a depraved taste, unceasing apostrophes, exclamations, obscure hyperboles; in a word, a style inflated with extravagant metaphors; ah! guard against such digressions, O young Orator, who hast received from nature the inestimable gift of genius. Be assured that genuine enthusiasm is no other than reason warmed by the voice of the passions, and that Eloquence is not a delirium.*

*** Ancient Eloquence,' says Mr. HUME, i. e. the sublime • and passionate, is of a much juster taste than the modern, or the argumentative and rational; and, if properly execu'ted, will always have more command and authority over mankind. The ancients, upon comparison, gave the pre'ference to that kind, of which they have left us such ap'plauded models. Lysius, and others, were esteemed in "their time but, when compared with Demosthenes and 'Cicero, were eclipsed like a taper when set in the rays of " a meridian sun. Those latter Orators possessed the same

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Do you ask, what is frigid? It is whatever is exaggerated; whatever is destitute of judgment ; whatever pretends to wit; whatever is written

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elegance, and subtlety, and force of argument, with the ⚫ former; but what rendered them chiefly admirable, was 'that pathetic and sublime, which, on proper occasions, they threw into their discourse; and by which they com'manded the resolutions of their audience,' HUME'S Essays, No. xii. p. 123.

'The vehement style, (says Dr. BLAIR,) always implies strength and is not, by any means, inconsistent with simplicity: but its predominant character is distinguishable 'from either the strong or the simple manner. It has a pe'culiar ardour; it is a glowing style; and the language of a man, whose imagination and passions are heated, and strongly affected by what he writes: who is therefore negligent of lesser graces, but pours himself forth with the rapidity and fulness of a torrent. It belongs to the higher 'kinds of oratory; and, indeed, is rather expected from a man who is speaking, than from one who is writing in his closet. The orations of Demosthenes furnish the full and perfect example of this species of style." BLAIR's Lectures, Lect. xix, p. 396.

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Dr. BLAIR elsewhere says, "There it a still higher de'gree of Eloquence, wherein a greater power is exerted over the human mind; by which we are not only convinced, 'but interested, agitated, and carried along with the speaker ; ' our passions are made to rise together with his; we enter into all his emotions; we love, we detest, we resent, according as he inspires us; and are prompted to resolve, or 'to act, with vigour and warmth. Such high Eloquence is always the offspring of passion. By passion, I mean that 'state of the mind in which it is agitated and fired, by some object it has in view. A man may convince, and even per'suade others to act, by mere reason and argument. But

without interesting; and, especially, nothing is more frigid than a counterfeit ardour.

The genuine talent for Eloquence is distinguished among very different styles. The Orator possessed of it is always simple without ever appearing vulgar. He shuns whatever is tumid or loose, or affected, or obscure; and he knows, at times, how much to touch the soul, and to charm the ear. Master of his expressions, as he is of his thoughts, he rises, he is melted, he is inflamed, when his subjects require excellence,

that degree of eloquence which gains the admiration of mankind, and properly denominates one as an Orator, is never found without warmth, or passion. Passion, when in 'such a degree as to rouse and kindle the mind, without throwing it out of the possession of itself, is universally 'found to exalt all the human powers. It renders the mind

infinitely more enlightened, more penetrating, more vigo'rous and masterly, than it is in its calm moments. A man * actuated by a strong passion, becomes much greater than he is at other times. He is conscious of more strength and 'force; he utters greater sentiments, conceives higher designs, and executes them with a boldness and felicity, of ⚫ which, on other occasions, he could not think himself capable. But chiefly, with respect to persuasion, is the < power of passion felt. Almost every man, in passion, is 'eloquent. Then he is at no loss for words and arguments. • He transmits to others, by a sort of contagious sympathy, the warm sentiments which he feels; his looks and ges⚫tures are all persuasive; and nature here shews herself in'finitely more powerful than all art. This is the foundation of that just and noted rule; Si vis me flere, dolendum < est primum ipsi tibi.' BLAIR's Lectures, vol. ii. p. 7.

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sensibility, or fervour. To avoid in his discourses the tone of declamation, he meditates a long time before he writes; for it is the effect of meditation to retrench the superfluity of words. The sacrifices, which he offers to taste, do not enervate his energy; they yield fresh pleasure to the auditor, who is capable of admiring a natural and true expression of genius, in a judicious and correct phraseology.*

This excellence, so rare, and so deserving of universal approbation, loses, however, all its estimation in the eyes of those, whom a counterfeit energy dazzles, and who deviate from the language of nature.

We know that Seneca found the eloquence of Cicero too simple, and, that his disciple Nero gilded the statues of Lysippus.t

*First follow Nature, and your judgment frame 'By her just standard, which is still the same; "Unerring Nature, still divinely bright, 'One clear, unchang'd, and universal light, 'Life, force, and beauty, must to all impart, 'At once the source, and end, and test of art. 'Art from that fund each just supply provides, • Works without show, and, without pomp, presides.' POPE'S Essay on Criticism, 1 69.

+ Plin. 34 c. 8.

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SECTION XXVI.

OF EPITHETS.

TYLE loses its fulness and energy, when words are environed with cumbrous epi

thets.

It hath been remarked, that, in the philosophical analysis of languages, the substantive is nothing, as it were, because abstract, and the adjective every thing, because it is sensible. But it is not so in Eloquence, where, frequently, the Epithet not being required by the accompanying word, oppresses the period, without strengthening the thought.*

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Feeble writers,' says Dr. BLAIR, employ a mul⚫titude of words to make themselves understood, as they think, more distinctly; and they only confound the reader. They are sensible of not having caught the precise expression, to convey what they would signify; they do not, in'deed, conceive their own meaning very precisely themselves; and, therefore, help it out, as they can, by this and the other word, which may, as they suppose, supply the • defect, and bring you some what nearer to their idea: they

are always going about it, and about it, but never just hit 'the thing. The image, as they set it before you, is always 'double; and no double image is distinct. When an author : tells me of his courage in the day of battle, the expression is precise, and I understand it fully. But if from the de'sire of multiplying words, he will needs praise his courage

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