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sense_n action_n body_n soul_n 2,300 5 5.5109 4 true
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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A42633 The art of well speaking being a lecture read publiquely at Sr. Balthazar Gerbiers academy. Gerbier, Balthazar, Sir, 1592?-1667. 1650 (1650) Wing G539; ESTC R29445 18,566 40

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requires such persons as are endued with requisite Organs to utter speech before the Art of wel speaking can be taught unto them since Art only serves to accomplish the appetite of Nature Now what I have told you is but very little of the excellency of well speaking for that it s in man an extreame sensible appetite and in this consideration it surpasseth as farre the first as the sensible Nature surpasseth the simple elementary Nature or that of the simple elements which are mixt Well speaking nay only speaking is a sensible vocall action I meane not the intellectuall speech which is likewise proper unto God as to Angels Speech is the cogitation of the intellectuall and is placed in the ranke of the skilfull objects as their Image is an intellectuall expression I meane that speech which you now heare proceeds from me the vocall word and though this kinde of speaking is sensible yet is it not one of those five Senses by us termed the Sight the Hearing the Smelling the Feeling and the Taste Speech then being a sensible thing though not a sence we doe perceive and know its excellency by that sence whereof speech is the object and by the nature of the object you may discover how that well speaking is as pleasing and icheth more the sences then all other sensible things in the universall world Speech hath its source in the bowels and hath the birth of its conception close unto the Lights its refined through the channell into its passage I meane the Throat and maketh not its issue by the Nostrils nor by the Eares nor by the Eyes but it rubs against and joynes it selfe unto the Pallate and is issued out by the very selfe same way as the Taste is which is the most delicatest most necessariest Sence in all Animals And this is worthy to be observed how that some instruments which doe serve for the Taste are likewise necessary to the production of the speech and what a rich instruction may we all reape hereby That meats over hot offend the Pallate too bitter distasteth it too flat stupifies it too sharp disturbs it too salt offends it too moyst hinders it too dry retards its operation and quite abolishes the taste By all which arguments we may gather that the too high speech hinders the too low profits not too disdainfull offends too sweet and amorous corrupts too harsh irritates for as it is most necessary to season that meat which is presented to the taste most exquisitely so it s also very necessary to be verst in the Art of preparing and seasoning our desire too much Eloquence is vaine ostentation savours of a Mountebank no Eloquence at all is just like green Fruits soure and unpleasing The taste is an equall sence with the feeling though according to our accompt we make them to differ which if they doe its only in this that the one is as a perfect and the other a more perfect thing for that the Taste is a sence more perfect then the universall feeling throughout all the body Now wherein I pray consisteth this perfection the Physitian will answer you That the perfection of feeling consists in the temperature to judge of all the extremities which it toucheth for were it excessively cold it would not be sensible of the cold matters which might touch the same and if it were extreamly hot it would not be moved by the hot objects the action here is made by some contr●riety to the object unto the power so that the sence which toucheth ought to be very temperate in it selfe for to discerne so many objects which it doth touch Above all the parts of Mans body the palme of the hand and the sole of the foot are most temperate and fittest to feel withall but above all the place where the taste is framed for that is the Physitian of the stomack the judge of the meat and the arbiter of all what is presented And since that Nature hath so mixt the taste and the speech thinke you not Lovers of vertue that it is a most faithfull advertisement fore-warning us how that all our discourses ought to be tempered and as health doth consist in the temperature of the body so likewise he that speakes well is temperate in his tongue and the temper of the tongue either in matter of discourse or of speech is true eloquence Therefore if it be ask'd why a man ought to be well instructed and well informed for to speake well I shall reply Why must the taste be temperate you will say that it is because of the nouriture which doth first passe by the essay of the taste and I will answer that as the nourishment of the body ought to passe by the proofe of the taste which in its selfe is a perfect and a temperate sence that so likewise the speech being a nourishment of the Soule as Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour said to the Devils Non insolopane vivit homo sed in omne verbo quod procedit exore Dei must passe by the Art of well speaking for that the words by which well speaking is framed are the food of the Soule And wonder not though I tell you more that notwithstanding speech and well speaking are all but words Verba votes as another saith yet those that speake a good word id est that speake well receive a sensible pleasure by their mouthes Of this I am certaine and have a thousand witnesses I say not that a man feeds on the good words of another for all that is but ayre and it s not only ayre whereon our mixt bodies doe nourish themselves but the words are tasted by themselves whereon you need but to examine a Poet hereon and doubtlesse he will tell you that he doth in a manner know and eate his words there being somewhat in them agreeing with the taste and certainly that person that hath spoken somewhat amisse cannot chuse but consequently remaine very much distasted And for the greater demonstration of the delicatenesse of speech I shall adde That since well speaking is conceived by so delicate a sence as the taste is and that the mouth where that sence resides gives it its birth nay that in its very birth and production it is received by another sence more delicate then the former to wit hearing Nam auditis per verbum so you need not to doubt of the delicacy of its temper since its that sence which judgeth of all the harmonious reasonances in the universall world Neither need we to dispute on the largenesse of its ample Spheres extent for that very often it doth not only heare that which it regardeth not but also those things which are not seene by the eyes of man neither need we to question its power both on the bodies sences and also on the soule of mortalls True it is that this sence is in the body of man and in that part of the head which we call the Eares but no sooner
are they strucken with some noyse but that this sence is so powerfull that it formes and communicates both its species and Images unto all the inferiour sences and having once got a footing in the Common-wealth of mans fancy or cogitation it s the sence which moves stirres imbroyles and commands all our passions unto their materiall being and to say more even from their off spring and formall being But on what grounds or consequences doth this little parcell of sence move and stirre all the body since it imployes not it selfe in the body of all Animals as feeling doth Certainely no otherwise but by the speech and by a pronounced discourse and this we ought more to admire that the Soule as substantially intelectuall should only produce though without it selfe Spirituall and intelectuall things and that likewise the Soule which receives all things should only receive proportionable ones as Spirituall accidents but because the Soule in this state only receives by the meanes of the sences that is to say such things which one man may communicate to another for doubtlesse God may agitate immediatly in the Soule of man without the sences All what she receives for her Spirituall food was at first sensible as being made so by its passage through the severall Organs and therefore it must of necessity follow that one Soule agitating towards another and producing some sensible thing must be so Spirituall or approach so neare unto a Spirituall being that it may even reach the Soule and as it were touch it for that it belongeth not to that part which receives for to agitate but only to receive and to suffer Now that which my Soule can produce and forme of it selfe for to agitate towards another Soule during this materiall condition different to that which shall be hereafter of the Spirituall bodies is nothing else but a speech and a well composed discourse Observe I pray and consider what I tell you the Soule doth not agitate towards another but by well speaking for that she cannot doe any other thing One man touching anothers body with his may beget some alteration therein but this happens not unto the Soule one may looke on another mans body but that only terminates it selfe on its superficies but let him doe what he will he can only pretend to agitate on the intelectuall Soule of another by the speech which proceeds from his mouth it s that which shakes a man moves alters changes turnes and windes him and leades him to that which the agitating Soule pretends unto This is that only sence and that only part of the body to wit the mouth which by the Art of well speaking animates and excitates another mans Soule I say not that man is insensible of what he seeth toucheth smells and tastes for I know that man is a sensible Animall and that the Soule which by the meanes of the sences attaineth to the knowledge of things makes use of the severall actions of the sences even for its owne instruction and all those other parcells doe only tend directly immediatly and totally for to move the body but another mans speech and his formed discourse is framed by the Tongue for to expresse the Soules meaning and by its passage through the Eares it tends to informe and instruct the Soule Now if it happens that the bodies be first moved and distempered by the hearing of another mans discourse it is because the Soule being either incitated or appeased by good words doth afterwards by a straiter union and more entire communication between the one and the others Soule and Body reconcile or separate it selfe and hence it proceeds that mans body is sometimes distempered that his blood is over heated that his heart beats and panes and that his Eights do I well beyond measure Finally speech is only proper unto Man and in no wayes unto Beast which argueth that speech is only to expresse the Soule and what regards the Soule instructing the same and nourishing it according to the lesson hereon read by the Master of true Eloquence Jesus Christ I say that lesson which he read to the enemy of Mankinde who willing his great Master to change stones into bread it was answered that Man lived not only by bread but by every word c. and by this terme Man the Soule of man is meant which makes the man Bread is directly and immediatly proper for the bodies subsistance but speech is the substantiall proper and sole food for the Soule and not all kinde of speeches neither but the divine Word that which comes from God which informes us of his Will which instructs us in the knowledge of his Mysteries and serves to conduct us to him And in this manner the Saviour of our Soules and the Master of true Eloquence spake and he spoke not only well but also did well for it is said of his miraculous workes that never any man had cured those that were borne blinde And as concerning his Eloquence we finde thus that never any man spake so well nor in such termes for that they were all words of eternall saving life And since we have now attained to the highest degree of perfection in this Science we may say that well speaking proceeds either from an earnest desire or from an extreame reasonable appetite Man desires to be known for what he is and nothing vexeth him more then that he should be misconstrued or taken for what he is not and hence proceeds the usuall saying What or for whom doe you take me for a Sot a Beast a brutall a Knave or a man bereaved of his sences To be poore and to be thought so sick old or young are things which should not trouble us though its very lawfull for us to desire the contrary as to wish for meanes without superflulty as for to be poore or rich in health or sicknesse those are things which concerne the exteriour our interiour is that which troubles us Nature hath given unto man and placed in man no other signe nor a more certaine proofe of his being a man then that amongst men he is able to discourse The Beasts they goe gnaw chew eate run see and the like and some labour with their bodies since we make use of them to Till our grounds carriages and such like actions and functions in the which they excell and farre surpasse men For the Eagle hath a more sharpe eye and excels in sight a Hound a stronger scent a Cat a more subtile eare and so surpasseth man in hearing and the like Man he only speakes the Beasts have a kinde of a feigned naturall voyce and understand one another each in their severall kinds Parets and such like will by Art utter some words and not by reason for that speech appertaines only to God from whom we received it and to the intelectuall creatures as to Angels and unto men yet its disputable whether there be a Spirituall and intelectuall reason in man for that man