indifferent genius's believe that the reading of a Romance or a Comedy is sufficient to acquire all the Eloquence which is necessary to the Bar. We are not excited by the same hopes of Glory as the Greeks and Romans were amongst whom Eloquence attained so much splendour because it was the way that conducted to the highest Honours even to the Soveraign power it self §. 2. When all the Qualities requisite to succeed in the Eloquence of the Barr concur in an Orator with all the perseverance of Application and is encouraged in it by a prospect of Interest and Ambition yet those little condescentions to which he must submit in a scrupulous and exact usage of the practick would be able to weary the spirit and to take away the power to form an Idea according to Art and Nature he must have a care to shun this default and to prevent it by an anticipated study of Eloquence where we must form the spirit before we abandon the Imagination to the barbarous terms of the practick §. 3. The Eloquence of the Barr is too much subjected to the divers Fantasies of Language which reign in this Age according to the different gusts which prevail and corrupt it by taking away the natural beauties in giving it false and adulterate There was a tedious kind of Eloquence which had once the vogue amongst the Romans which consisted in a long and perplexing Discourse But this gust changing with the Age one more judicious succeeded Nevertheless it is true that the Eloquence of the barr demands a Manner diffused and extended Subselia grand iorem et pleniorem vocem desiderant Cic. in Brut. But that Embarras of words to which these kind of Declamators usually abandon themselves alwayes displeaseth We are not now taken with things so little real and solid §. 4. Too great a care to appear regular exact and just in our Discourse is somtime very dangerous it wearies both the attention of those that speak and those that hear We ought to shun this fault and must not alwayes be so scrupulous to speak nothing but what is exact it suffices to have a care to maintain a certain equality and evenness for there is nothing more essential to him that speaks than to speak according to his Genius without force or constraint Besides those scrupulous Orators that speak with so much circumspection have nothing of great or elevated the care they take to speak things so correctly renders flat their spirit and they have not the power to move the heart by the greatness of their thoughts they expose our Language by this constraint and too much scruple to loose its force and abundance being too desirous to preserve its sweetness and delicateness §. 5. There is also another extremity to be avoided which is a too great negligence not only in the ornament of the words but also in the right order and disposal of things Those which have already established their Reputation and which are accustom'd to a long usage of the air of the Barr are most subject to fall into this Errour for when they arrive to above forty years of age and to great imployment they think then of nothing but of what is profitable and solid they abandon the ornaments of Eloquence for they have no time to spend in the thoughts of it And the care of Interest surmounts that of Glory and Ambition §. 6. There are some occasions notwithstanding where this negligence is pardonable and where the heat of a Discourse and the impetuosity of the Genius succeeds somtimes better than all our care the most exact words or all the Ornaments of Art The difficulty is to know and distinguish it when we have sufficient force of spirit and understanding to know it we need not be much troubled to surmount the scruples which may arise from the negligence of certain places in our Discourse which regularly ought not to have been neglected §. 7. There are also certain manners peculiar to the Barr which are known but to few Orators for that they are not discovered but by a great penetration of spirit a serious inquiry into the sourses and in studying with much meditation the great models of Eloquence which we have amongst the Ancients These are the extraordinary efforts of this Art which surprizeth the Judges and which works unforeseen and unexpected effects in their spirits Such was that which Cicero praises in one Canus Ruffius who being accused with much vehemence by Sisenna cryed out with a very touching and animated voyce to the Judges O ye Judges I am circumvented except ye succour me c. That shew of fear that he had to be surprized and the protection he so passionately demanded of his Judges touched them so much that they became favourable to him There are an infinite of like places in Demosthenes and Cicero but we must make reflection that these are not the glistering parts of an Oration or that splendour of words that works these effects These Charms of Eloquence are more in the things themselves than in the words whose beauty we cannot unfold nor give certain Rules to it for that they are inexplicable yet we cannot fail if we have a right judgment of a true discovery Somtime in these great Subjects of Eloquence we must imitate that Master-piece of the Painter who to express the grief of Agamemnon at the sacrifice of his Daughter drew him with his face covered despairing that his Art could express the sorrows of a Father after he had exprest that of his friends in a manner so vigorous These also are the expressions that Cicero requires in matters of importance Significatio saepe major erit quam oratio Cic. in Brut These places ought to be prepared by a passionate and tender Discourse and by all the most studied attractions of that Art to have that success that they ought to have §. 8. Nothing hath so much power on the spirit of his Judges Melior moderatio et nonnun quam etiam patientia bonus altercator vitio ira cundiae carcat Quint. l. 6. c. 4. as the opinion of a general probity and especially a moderation in the affairs which wound his own Interest or that of his Party An affair becomes suspected when it is mannaged with transportation and Choller may ruine the most just Cause for we are apt to believe that Cause to be unjust which useth only passion for its defence Moderation above all other vertues knows the best how to regulate the outward motions and wherewith we are the most sensibly touched And indeed they must have a very ill opinion of their Judg who think him capable to take pleasure in their Choller and in their ill humour §. 9. Loci inanes nec erudita civitate tollerabiles Cic. Nothing so ill consists with the Eloquence of the Barr as that fruitles cumber of Common Places wherewith our Pleaders swell their Discourse beyond proportion and serves only to weary the
grace to his gesture and an agreement to to his discourse such as he pleased and all these in such a degree as never had Orator an equal power to him to raise attention and as never any person was more Master of what he said nor of the manner wherein he spoke he could give to the Spirits of his audience what impressions he pleased The greatest places where he Preached was too little to hold the concourse of those that followed him Though this great facility he had in speaking betrayed him into a neglect of preparing himself yet by the mere power of his action in the most indifferent and neglected discourses he could impose upon the People by his manner of speaking the most common things that he said were listend to with the same applause and admiration as those which were the most extraordinary things the choisest Preachers could say He had certainly been the most accomplished Preacher that ever was had his judgment and his capacity answered to his other Talents and if he had not been so excessive in his action which was too significant and besides had not all the gravity that the sanctity of the place required §. 4. These natural Talents sometimes exert themselves in so much splendor that they rob if it be lawful so to speak the word of God of that esteem veneration which we ought to have for it they often procure themselves attention not for that it is on Gods account they speak Non in sapientia verbi ne vacuetur crux Christi 1 Cor. 3. but because they speak agreeably because they are Eloquent Preach novelties or bear some Character of dignity or advancement in the Church or for some other outâ—ard qualities like the People of Jerusalem who went to hear Ezekiel because he was Eloquent For this reason it was that Saint Austine went first to hear Saint Ambrose before he was converted The Preacher ought to shun as a thing too humane and too sensual the giving place in his discourse to the curiosity of the people which he may easily do in taking the resolution to profit rather than please He cannot faile too of success if he know how to speak of good things and to speak them with judgement and knowledge § 5. I do not intend that it is necessary for all those that are called to the ministry to have all those great qualities that I have numbred 't is good that in the Church there should be men of different capacities to be accommodated to those of their Auditors which are so various It suffices to a Preacher that preaches to the common People to know the principal duties of Christianity An indifferent Preacher is sufficiently qualified to entertain Religion and make it subsist in a Village maugre the ignorance and stupidity that reigns amongst us for that mediocrity of genius may always be in an estate to instruct especially if it have joyned with it any Talent inspeaking and though he want the Genius to raise deep concernments yet he may be numbred amongst those Preachers who have the power to make a great noise by an animated manner of speaking which oftentimes works the same effect upon the hearts of the People as the Drums and Trumpets do upon the Souldiers in a Battel The noise astonishes them and makes them run with precipitation upon the Enemy without any reflection whither they go It is not the impulse of Reason which moves the grosser Spirits and awakens them to their duty for they understand it not but it is the emotion and ardeur with which they speak and the loudness of their Exclamations which makes the impression it is not the things themselves that move but the manner of delivering them because the manner is sensible and the things are not It is also manifest that the People judge not so much by the reasons as hath been said as by the tone of the voice they beleive him that speaks most loud and with most confidence and it is to this boldness that they owe the success of their perswasions for the truth is the Soul is not ordinarily moved than by what first vigorously strikes the sense But after all this these popular Preachers must be let to understand that they become ridiculous when they strive to be numbred amongst the fine Spirits and endeavour rather to please than to edifie it suffices in Preaching to the People to propose simply to them the great verities of Religion and the sanctity of its morals without labouring so much for Forms and Ornaments which oftentimes serve only to burthen the Preacher as well as his Audience § 6. The most part of Preachers are rendred very ignorant by mingling themselvs too much in the commerce of the world neglecting to apply themselves with that diligence that is required to the work of the Ministry 't is this reduces them â—oa necessity to copy one from another to furnish themselves with matters for their Sermons They take not the pains to fetch it from the Sources nor indeed have they any knowledge of them this is the cause that they use such ill Reasons to perswade to vertue for they have not a capacity for good reasons nor the Art to make them understood when they have them They usually ruine themselves by this copying from other men and extinguish their own Genius by striving to assume that of others From hence I may say all those deformities which are so ordinary amongst them first receive their birth that which makes so many ill Preachers is the false method they choose they ought not to serve themselves with the designs nor the thoughts of others till they be able to transform them and make them proper to their own Spirits §. 7. This Eloquence only becomes solid in a great capacity nor can any hope to be fortunate in this Art who has not before replenished his mind with all the knowledges necessary to treat the word of God with dignity The most important is that of Divinity without which a Preacher cannot with that confidence and authority give clear resolutions in the subjects whereof he treats It is a great weakness in him that preaches when he cannot determine precisely what is of Faith and what is not or to hesitate when he should decide But we know that there is nothing more great necessary or agreeable in this Eloquence of the Pulpit than Divinity which is the Science of Religion and there is nothing more miserable and disgusting when it is not treated with that sufficiency and dignity with which it ought to be §. 8. A too frequent commerce with the Schoolmen brings a much greater prejudice than advantage to the Preacher when he knows not how to make use of it as he ought and wants Wisdome or a necessary precaution in the reading of them for there is nothing so contrary to Eloquence as the learning of the Schools and I am perswaded that the Lecture of Thomas Aquinas how solid and
For the too much is alwayes a mark that we are transported beyond our selves which is a great fault but the too little may seem a mark of Moderation and Reserve which is alwayes a Virtue §. 8. We think it not enough to bestow our Cares in the study of our natural disposition to follow its inclination without committing some constraint in affecting Manners which becomes us not and in forcing through violent studies wherewith we become overburdened or in fine in imposing an air of Greatness or of more Art than we are able to sustain this began as Cicero notes first to make Eloquence degenerate from that Grandeur which it had in Athens under Pericles Lysias Eschenes and Demosthenes for that Demetrius Phalerius affected more of Art than his Genius could bear Phalereus non tam armis quam Palaestra inslitutus Cicero in Brut. §. 9. The Pronunciation which is one of the most important parts of Eloquence is yet one of the most neglected It renders Eloquence sensible to the people by the composition of the exteriour part and which hath the Art to impose by the appearances when it wants the power to touch by its effects If its virtue be so great as to make impression in Subjects feigned and supposed as it doth upon a Theater in a Comedy what can she not do when things true are her object But this admirable Art becomes unprofitable to those which speak in publick because of the little care they have to use and apply it 't is true he must have much of the natural in him who succeeds well in this Art but where he wants that application may supply The Eloquence of Demosthenes became admirable by his pronunciation though he had not any natural disposition and he was obliged for his success to the pains that he took to obtain it But because we are soon weary of these constraints we cannot resolve to give our selves the pain that is required to form our selves to this exeroise whereby we lose that great advantage that the pronunciation gives to an Orator by giving a certain agreement to his person and by the passionate expressions which it inspires even into his Eyes and Visage Also we may truly say that nothing frustrates more the ordinary effects of Eloquence than the little care we have of the exterior part whose faults become so much more sensible as they are above in delicacy the other pleasures we receive from Eloquence which being an Art to please by the profession which it makes hath nothing more opposed to it than that which is violent and disagreeable in the action §. 10. Those which make profession to speak in publick are not so careful to put in use their Logick either by a pure negligence to instruct themselves in it or by a natural debility to practise it or in fine by a very blameable regret they have to put themselves in pain of a little Meditation in which the Discourses of Ceremony or of Interests of State with those of Religion have not any part and those which are purely for pomp and preparation are ordinarily those wherein Logick finds its self most defective for that they are too wandring or too abstract for the general matters whereof they treat Logick is the first Rule of Discourse and the universal Organ of Speech to discourse without this Instrument 't is but to beat the Air and make a noise we canot say any thing that 's judicious or supportable without it How oft do we abandon it and when we put it into use how many extravagances do we commit either by the confusion of the expressions wherewith we perplex it or in fine by the Idea we form of false Reasonings to supply the want of the true Reason which cannot inhabit but in a Spirit fine and penetrating The rareness of such a Character is the reason that we find Eloquence so defective in the most part of those which make profession of it for that the Reasonings on which they establish it are either too mysterious or too common or altogether false and Chimaerical and if we examine things well we shall find that commonly in the usage of Eloquence in this age there is no defect so essential as that of Reasoning to which we have no great care to form our selves This is not so much obtained by the study of Logick which we learn at the Colledge as by the reading Aristotles Rhetorick and by the frequent commerce we must have with good Books the reading whereof imprints upon the spirit a justness of apprehension which cannot be acquired without it A right judgment is sometimes a Gift which comes purely from Nature but when we have it not we must labour to find it in Books whereof we must be careful to make a good choice for we may meet with some Books which instead of rectifying may quite destroy our judgments We must therefore take counsel of the most knowing persons upon what we are not able to understand our selves The neglect of this is the reason why so few persons are capable and young men yet more than others for that their experience and the usage of things have not yet form'd their Spirit But though the want of Logick be the most ordinary defect of those that speak in publick yet it is a thing whereof there alwayes appears the least want for none but men of the finest spirits whereof there is alwayes the fewest are capable of that knowledge not but that the people perceive very well the natural order of Discourse and all that there is of Logick in it without knowing it but their Light reaches not so far to see what is false in his Reasonings or defectuous in the order and pursuit of his Design Upon which we may make three Orders of Spirits the first of those which attend only to the Words to judge of their Beauty the second of those which go further and who judge of the Thoughts the third of those which go even to judge even of the whole Design Order and Proportion of the Parts which last is not known but by the most intelligent There are some Orators who leave not their Auditors liberty to examine the bottom of their Discourse by a certain Charm of Words and of Thoughts wherewith they surprize them There are some others which quite blind us by the agreeable manner of expressing things I have known a person of this sort who alwayes pleas'd though his Discourse was very little correct either in the Order or Reasoning but after all he pleas'd none but Women and the Ignorant the more understanding esteem'd him not §. 11. When we apply our selves to the study of Eloquence we are accustomed to mistake by the false measures we take of it or of its Subject or of those to whom we address our selves For an Orator who hath a great elevation of Spirit many times takes too great a pleasure in pursuing his own Fancy without giving any care to proportion
his Discourse to the Subject or to measure the capacity of those to whom he speaks it is much more easie to abandon our selves to the impetuosity of our Genius than to regulate our selves according to the Circumstances of the things we speak of for one is the effect of Imagination the other the effect of Judgment which is a Gift more rare Also it is no marvel if those that speak in publick are so subject to this Disorder out of which spring so many Indecencies and choquant Disproportions which are jumbled together in our ordinary discourses which are made publick as the assuming of an air of greatness in the most trivial affairs and affecting grand expressions in the most petty Subjects making ostentation of the beauty of his Spirit to the people and before a gross and stupid Auditory and being ardent and pathetick in Subjects which deserve it not Eloquence ceases to be true Refert cognoscere qui sunt audientium mores quae publica recepta persuasio Fab. l. 3. c. 7. when it hath no proportion with the capacity of those to whom it is addressed The diversity of Ages Ut gubernator ad incursus tempestatum sie agenti ad varieta tem causarum ratio mutanda Quintil. l. 10 cap. 7. Sexes and Conditions and of Lights acquired or natural ought to oblige the Orator in different manners to proportion it to the Spirits of these different estates §. 12. It must be known in general to distinguish the divers Characters of Eloquence for to serve himself according to the necessity of the Subject whereof we treat lest we fall into confusion And we must be especially careful of this confusion because nothing is capable to succeed in this Art out of its place The grand Air of Eloquence ought to be in great places and iâ— great Assemblies where we find a general concourse For we must speak to persons of great quality in that kind of Discourse which hath most of esteem extention and grandeur of expression This Character ought to be used in the most elevated Subjects and in the most important matters as it ought to be simple Tenues causae tenue dicendifilum requirunt Orat. Oratio poscitur austera si accuses fusa si laudes Quintil. l. 9. c. 4. Loquendi accurata sine molestia diligens Elegantia Cic. in Brut. natural and without affectation of expression in lesser Subjects Praises demand a Stile elevated and diffused Accusations serious and austere in fine Eloquence hath arrived to its utmost perfection when it knows to adapt words proportionate to things and to conserve the care to unfold her self without difficulty or scruple There remains two things especially to be avoided the cold Stile and the Boyish for the first renders the Discourse dry and insipid by the faint languor and lowness of its expression the second renders it distastful and tedious by its affected amplifications wherewith they weary the patience of the Auditor §. 13. Thought that Longin confounds in some fashion the cold Stile and Boyish whereof I have spoken we may alwayes distinguish them in this manner in the affectation of a cold Stile we use great expressions in Subjects which demand little and in the Boyish we use little and low expressions in things that demand great But our Language is become so modest reserved and scrupulous that it rejects all expressions too strong and glistering Metaphors too hardy and the too frequent points in a cold stile as it does in the Boyish the little exultations in serious matters and the too languishing amplifications in those places of discourse which ought to be serious and concise §. 14. It is impossible to be happy in an elevated Stile when we are not entirely perswaded that it is formed of the things themselves which we have to speak of the great images which we have conceived and of the elevation of our Genius more than that of Expression the vain splendor of words or that train of studied Periphrases This is that which in Discourse in some manner is like that load of Flesh in the Body of man which serves only to charge imbarrass it with an unprofitable weight for when this elevated Stile is unnatural it degenerates into a Character low and reptile for it cannot sustain it self Pindar and Sophocles elevated themselves so high by the grandeur of their expression that they could not without much pain pursue it And when they could not bear up that elevation which is not natural for that it is not alwayes in the things they speak of they sometimes abase themselves even to a contempt and become not knowabl even to themselves This is a fault not to be pardoned for there is a presumption of appearing great without being so and a desire to elevate themselves without being able to sustain themselves in that height The Secret is to study how to think of things worthily Oratio sententiis debet esse ornatiorâ—â— quam verbis Fab. and serve our selves of no other words than of those which are capable to answer to the dignity of the Subject whereof we speak §. 15. As the great defect of the wiser sort of men is the negligence they have to measure themselves upon the capacity of the Subject or their Auditory That of the lesser Genius's is a too scrupulous care and a too affected Diligence to attach themselves more than is required to finish in particular certain parts of the Discourse they have enterprized to which they have some peculiar affection This is a pure effect of their little judgment to tie themselves to one part of a Design for they are not able nor so happy as to form a Design all entire These narrow Spirits suffer themselves to be surpriz'd into a false Principle which they would authorize by the Authority of Tyrius Maximus who pretends that Art hath alwayes something more perfect than Nature and that we cannot find any natural Beauty that can be so perfect as some of their artificial Statues I pretend not to enter into a Discussion of that Principle with this Philosopher But Eloquence being the true Art to please which she cannot do without an imitation of Nature that Maxime of those little Spirits which give so much to Art is not a very sure mean to perswade I pretend not only that Rule is false but that their too Boyish Attachment to Precepts which they have learned in their youth hath form'd in them a very vicious Idaea of Eloquence We need not then consult the Agamemnon of Petronus to comprehend the ridiculousness of that Eloquence which hath nothing of natural in it for that it fastens it self too much upon the exterior Ornaments which they would have to pass for that which is most essential The true foundation of Eloquence is a good Judgment which as it is the quality most necessary to speak in publick so it is the most rare we need not be astonished that we find so few
much of spirit and ornament as Panegyricks and Funeral Orations contain little that 's very solid and generally owe their success to the pronunciation We may discover the truth when they come to the Press which I advise those that make them not to publish When they want that heat of action which first gave them life they make no longer any impression There are Images in Eloquence as there is in painting which somtime must be shown to the view ar a distance and somtime near at hand §. 22. There is required in Eloquence less of Genius to invent things than to place them in order For that place which we must assign to have them dispos'd where they ought to be will cost more than the pains we are at in cogitation and invention for every reasonable spirit may have reasonable thoughts but it is not so easie to give to our thoughts that grace which renders things agreeable and which makes them to be admir'd This is it in which consists Eloquence I mean not that Eloquence of words which we ordinarily know but too much but the Eloquence of things which we seldom well understand and have little knowledg of and the perfect attainment of which we cannot hope than from an happy Nature We may know the price of this Art by the great difference in the same things diversified This right disposal of things ordinarily makes the beauty of an Oration and though this Air be usually the bounty of our Nature yet we have means to acquire it when Nature hath denyed it as a frequent use of Composition under a good Master or an intelligent friend and a diligent commerce with ancient Authors it is from them that we learn that justness which gives to the Spirit that agreeable variety and which the spirit communicates to all its thoughts and Imaginations when we have a Genius for it §. 23. There is not according to the sentiment of Cicero any true Eloquence Eloquentiam quae admirationem non habet nullamjudico Cic in Brut. but that which doth attract an admiration and there is nothing more capable to render it admirable according to the judgment of that great man than the pictures that it makes of manners and those motions that it excites in those divers passions which it toucheth This cannot be effected without a perfect knowledg of the heart of man which ought to be the soveraign Science of the Orator The Portraicts that he makes of manners cannot be false if he know well the principal which is the heart and he will know without doubt how to move with success the most hidden Parts of the soul that is to say the Passions by the same knowledg of the heart which is the sourse The little cares that the most part of those that speak in publick have to know the depth of that abysm which appears so difficult to descend is the cause that we have so few successful Orators For this cause those who make profession of Eloquence ought to make very serious Reflections for all being well considered no man is properly eloquent who knows not the heart of man and all its intricate Maeanders to expose them to the people §. 24. Quis ignorat eloquentiam descivisse a veteri gloria no inopia hominum sed desidia juventutis parentum negligen tia et inscitia precipientium The evil Education of Youth caused by the extream luxury and delicateness of this Age by the indulgence of Parents by the little experience of Masters and by the ignorance of the most part of those with whom we converse is one of the most certain Causes that there is so little success in this Art it being one of the greatest obstacles to Eloquence We conduct our Youth through false and unequal paths and through very unskilful methods who being corrupted even in their principals it is no wonder if their success be so little happy and their purfuits unprofitable §. 25. I do not affirm that there are not yet some sparks of wit remaining which eminently shine in some of the Orators of this Age who cease not to merit applause and reputation but because Eloquence purely natural cannot atchieve any thing without the succour of Art as may be usually observed either by the false principles which we assume or the little application of those who make profession of it it cannot arrive to merit the general admiration of the people by the marveilous effects which it would produce upon their hearts if it were accomplished I have thus finished the Reflections as may be made upon the use of the Eloquence of this Time considered in general and upon that which may hinder its effects in those occasions which it hath to make appear its power over hearts Those that follow are Reflections upon the use of Eloquence in particular and the two principal Species of it The Eloquence of the Barr and that of the Pulpit wherein I have remarked the abuse which may be committed in the one and in the other and the means to succeed with moderate felicity in both REFLECTIONS UPON THE Eloquence OF THE BARR ELoquence in General may be reduced to two Species Whereof one is occupied in Interests of State The other in those of Religion also one is prophane the other Sacred The first hath a vaster Cariere than we are able to think she is not bufied only to sustain an Ordinance nor to defend a Law she exerciseth her self in rhe Campaign as well as in the Cabinet she presides over States and is imploy'd in Councils of War she rules in the Camp and hath the greatest part in the Government and Ministry of Kingdomes But because she is at all times more particular in Cabinets where we cannot penetrate to come to the knowledg of her where she passeth for a Mistery and is no where so publick as at the Barr I 'le confine my self to the state which she holds there being the place where she appears with most advantage §. 1. At the Barr we give no time to the study of Eloquence but what we gave in the first studies of our Youth which are ordinarily too precipitate too confused or too superficial This renders us unable to form any just or reasonable Idea of it Besides the great advantages that the Greeks and Romans had by the force of their Genius and by their great natural dispositions they had to speak they made Eloquence their continual study during their lives they travel'd all the World to understand the most choyce Masters of this Art they laid out a long time and study to form their spirits upon the great models which they went to seek out of other Countries they did not occupy themselves as if they were to gain nothing by it they placed their pleasure their hopes their fortune and all their ambition in the study of it for ir was then able to elevate them to the greatest Honours But the young men of these Times with a very
patience of the Judg and make him distast that which may be good in the rest They are ordinarily the young men that are most subject to this default they wander about because they want force of spirit to enter immediately into the matter We should render them a great service if we could make them resolve to leave that length and circuit of Discourse which is so much contrary to decorum and becomes odious and insupportable A Discourse spun out with these childish amplifications becomes languishing it only makes the Judges yawn and lulls them into a slumber §. 10. It is also the delight of young men to glister in all they say But true Eloquence seeks not after that vain splendour which is only proper to dazle the spirit We alwayes fall into errour when we study too much to please That Lawyer which relies more upon a passage of Seneca for defence of his Cause than upon good Reason very much deceives himself those glistering passages have not any force to perswade they serve only to waken the spirit of the Judge when it is weary §. 11. We seldome take any care of the exteriour part which relates to action which Cicero calls the Eloquence of the Body whose perfection consists in the gesture and pronunciation because we do not enough comprehend the necessity and importance thereof Quintilian only hath given us any precepts of it which Aristotle and Cicero have omitted possibly believing that it was a gift only of Nature which could not be reduced into Art or Method and have contented themselves only to note us the importance of it which they have done in several places of their works This right pronunciation is so important that we cannot neglect it without renouncing what is most powerful and perswasive in Eloquence It is that which rules most in Discourse and which irresistibly invades the soul and in which consists the greatest force and ornament The great Talent of Hortensius who equall'd Cicero in Reputation was the skilful mannagement of the action He was so admirable in an ardent manner of speaking that Roscius and Aesop the most famous Comedians of that time went alwayes to hear his Orations to learn from him their measure Having so little care to form our selves to this action we need not be astonished that we see so few tracts of that Eloquence which wrought so many wonders in the Times of Cicero and Demoit henes who alwayes endeavour'd to express in themselves by their ardour and vehemence those passions which they intended to excite in the Spirits of their Auditors It is true we have seen Orators some years past who gave weight to all their Reasons by the force wherewith they animated their Discourse but after all their ardency was so ill mannaged that what they said lost its grace by the desire they had to be too passionate for when once the fire mounted to their faces we could understand no more their pronunciation became so confus'd by their excessive transport Some others appear too cold they shew in their greatest affairs little of that emotion which is necessary to enflame the spirit of the Judges which are not at all touched in these great Subjects but by great movements We may say to these languishing Declamators that of Cicero against Calidius who spoke things very touching with an air of tranquility An ista si vera essent sic a te dicerentar All those which speak at the Barr are subject to add to the evil pronunciation which they learn'd at the Colledg One constant and disagreeable tone and an impression of the accent in the penultima syllables which occasions rather laughter than perswasion §. 12. The Subjects which furnish the present condition of the Bar having nothing of great or elevated cannot give to Eloquence those advantages which is found in the more important matters of the Antients Such were the deliberations of War and Peace the considerations of the good of the State and the publick interest the accusations and defenses of Princes and Kings which the great Orators discoursed with so much splendour The interests which are at this time the Subjects of the Barr are sometimes so little considerable that they are not capable to furnish matters of such worth to Eloquence as made it in those times to triumph over hearts His accedebat spl endot rerum magnitudo causarun quibus ipsa plurimum elo quentia praeslat Dialog de cous co eloq Crescit cum amplitudine rerum vis ingenij nee quisquam illustrem orationem facere potest nâ—si qui causam paremi invenit 16. This was one of the advantages that Messalla notes in the Dialogue of Quintilian the antient Orators had above those of his time in effect petty Subjects make petty Orators and the Spirit of him that speaks in publick is elevated by the merit and elevation of the Subject §. 13. There is an Eloquence of pure Authority which is of very great use at the Bar and though it be not passionate and its manner of declaiming be cold and serious yet it has the dignity that is required to imprint respect and veneration we hearken to it as to an Oracle being preingaged in its favour This is the Eloquence of the Judges and those which make Orations to Princes and great Lords who ought to observe this calm and peaceful Eloquence who must speak without emotion to preserve their Character for it ought to have nothing in it but submissive and respective and ought to be regulated according to the rank and quality of those to whom it is addressed either more or less respectively according to their degree or merit REFLECTIONS UPON THE Eloquence OF THE PULPIT T Is a thing above wonder that in so great a number of Persons who apply themselves to Preaching we find so few who succeed seeing they have so many advantages infinitely above all others who speak in publick The Eloquence of the Barr cannot furnish its Orators with matters so important to treat with things so touching to speak nor with such great motives to perswade as this Eloquence of the Pulpit all those Engines which she imployes in moving the Passions are so powerful the Figures of Rhetorick which are as sanctifyed in the Mouth by the commerce it has with the holy Spirit so glorious and the mysteries that it unfolds are so transcendent and it speaks by the dignity of its Character with so much authority that if there be any Eloquence which is perfect Mistress of hearts by the power that it hath to move and by its natural independance it must be this from whence comes it then that we have so few good Preachers It is not the fault of the Auditors since Faith prepares their Spirits to a perfect submission to what they come to hear the sight of Altars inspires them with respect and they are already perswaded by the principles of their Religion of what they come to attend Finally since the Preacher speaks