and retain the whole; in fine, a division that shews at once the extent of the subject, and of all its parts. but, on the contrary, here is a man who endeavours to dazzle his hearers, and puts them off with three points of wit, or puzzling ridles, which he turns and plies fo dextrously, that they must fancy they saw some tricks of legerdemain. did this preacher use such a serious grave manner of address as might make you hope for fomething useful and important from him? but, to return to the point you proposed; did you not ask me whether I meant to banish eloquence from the pulpit? B. Yes. I fancy that is your drift.

A. Think you fo? pray what do you mean by eloquence?

B. It is the art of speaking well.

A. Has this art no other end, befides that of speaking well? have not men fome defign in fpeaking? or do they talk only for the fake of talking?

B. They speak to please, and to perfuade others. A. Pray let us carefully distinguish these two things. men talk in order to perfuade; that is certain and too often they speak likewise to please others, but while one endeavours to please, he has another view; which, tho' more distant, ought to be his chief aim. A man of probity has no other defign in pleafing others, than that he may the more effectually inspire them with the love of juftice, and other virtues; by representing them as most amiable. he who seeks to advance his own in

tereft, his reputation, or his fortune, ftrives to pleafe, only that he may gain the affection and esteem of such as can gratify his ambition, or his avarice: so that this very defign of pleafing is ftill but a different manner of perfuafion that the orator aims at; for he pleases others to inveigle their affection; that he may thereby perfuade them to what advances his interest.

B. You cannot but own then that men often speak to please. the most ancient orators had this view. Cicero's orations plainly fhew that he laboured hard for reputation and who will not believe the fame of Ifocrates, and Demofthenes too? all the Panegyrifts were more follicitous for their own honour, than for the fame of their heroes; and they extolled a prince's glory to the skies, chiefly because they hoped to be admired for their ingenious manner of praifing him. this ambition feems to have been always reckoned commendable both among the Greeks and the Romans: and fuch emulation brought eloquence to its perfection: it inspired men with noble thoughts and generous fentiments, by which the ancient republics were made to flourish. the advantageous light in which eloquence appeared in great affemblies, and the ascendant it gave the orator over the people, made it to be admired, and helpt to spread polite learning. I cannot fee indeed why such an emulation fhould be blamed even among Chriftian orators; provided they did not fhew an indecent affectation in their discourses, nor in the least enervate

the precepts of the gofpel. we ought not to cenfure what animates young people, and forms our greatest preachers.

A. You have here put feveral things together, which, if you please, Sir, we will confider feparately; and obferve fome method in enquiring what we ought to conclude from them, but let us above all things avoid a wrangling humour; and examine the fubject with calmnefs and temper, like perfons who are afraid of nothing fo much as of error, and let us place the true point of honour in a candid acknowledgment of our mistakes, whenever we perceive them.

B. That is the exact state of my mind; or at least I judge it to be fo; and I intreat you to tell me when you find me tranfgreffing this equitable rule.

A. We will not as yet talk of what relates to preachers; for that point may be more feasonably confidered afterwards. let us begin with thofe orators whofe examples you vouched. by mentioning Demofthenes and Ifocrates together, you difparage the former; for the latter was a lifelefs declaimer, that bufied himself in polishing his thoughts, and giving an harmonious cadence to his periods. he had a very † low and vulgar

In the introduction of this very panegyric that our author mentions, Ifocrates fays, Such is the nature of eloquence; that it makes great things ap

pear
little; and fmall things to
feem great; it can represent
old things as new and new
things as if they were old; and
that therefore he would not

1

notion of eloquence; and placed almoft the whole of it, in a nice difpofal of his words. A man who employed ten or (as others fay) fifteen years, in fmoothing the periods of a panegyric, which was a discourse concerning the neceffities of Greece, could give but a very fmall and flow relief to the republic, against the enterprizes of the Perfian king. Demofthenes fpoke against Philip in a quite different manner. you may read the comparison that Dionyfius Halicarnaffius has made of these two orators, and fee there the chief faults he observed in Ifocrates; whose discourses are vainly gay and florid; and his periods adjusted with incredible pains, merely to please the ear: while on the contrary, † Demofthenes moves, warms, and captivates the heart. he was too fenfibly touched with the intereft of his coun

decline a subject that others
had handled before him, but
would endeavour to declaim
better than they.--------Upon
which Longinus (§. 38.) makes
this judicious remark; that by
giving fuch a character of elo-
quence, in the beginning of his
panegyric, the orator in effect
cautioned his hearers not to be-
lieve his difcourfe.

+ In oratoribus verò, Grae-
cis quidem, admirabile eft

quantum inter omnes unus
excellat. attamen cum effet

Demofthenes, multi oratores magni, et clari fuerunt, et antea fuerant, nec poftea defecerunt. Cic. Orat. §. 2.

Quid denique Demofthenes? non cunctos illos tenues et circumfpectos [oratores] vi, fublimitate, impetu, cultu, compofitione fuperavit? non infurgit locis? non figuris gaudet? non tranflationibus nitet? non oratione ficta dat carentibus vocem?---Quintil. lib. xii. cap. 10.

try, to mind the little glittering fancies that amused Ifocrates. every oration of Demofthenes is a clofe chain of reasoning, that represents the generous notions of a foul who disdains any thought that is not great. his difcourfes gradually increase in force by greater light and new reasons; which are always illustrated by bold figures and lively images. one cannot but fee that he has the good of the republic entirely at heart; and that nature itself speaks in all his transports: for his artful address is so masterly, that it never appears. nothing ever equalled the force and vehemence of his difcourfes. have you never read the remarks that Longinus made on them, in his treatise of the Sublime?

B. No: is not that the treatife that Mr. Boileau tranflated? do you think it fine?

A. I Am not afraid to tell you that I think it furpaffes Ariftotle's rhetoric; which, though it be a very folid tract, is yet clogged with many dry precepts, that are rather curious, than fit for practice; so that it is more proper to point out the rules of art to fuch as are already eloquent, than to give us a just taste of rhetoric, and to form true orators. but Longinus, in his difcourfe of the Sublime, interfperfes among his precepts, many fine examples from the greatest authors, to illuftrate them. † he treats of the Sublime in a lofty

†Thee, bold Longinus! all the nine infpire,
And bless their critic with a poet's fire: