fome Design in Speaking? or do they talk only for the fake of Talking?

B. They fpeak to pleafe, 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 likewife to please others. But while one endeavour's to pleafe, he has another View; which, tho' more diftant, ought to be his chief Aim. A Man of Pro-. bity has no other Design in pleasing others, than that he may the more effectually infpire them with the Love of Juftice, and other Virtues; by reprefenting them as moft amiable. He who feeks to advance his own Intereft, his Reputation, or his Fortune, ftrives to please, only that he may gain the Affection and Efteem of fuch as can gratify his Ambition, or his Avarice: So that this very Defign of pleafing is still but a different Manner of Perfwafion that the Orator aim's at; for he pleases others to inveigle their Affection; that he may thereby perfuade them to what advance's his Intereft.

B. You cannot but own then that Men often fpeak to pleafe. The moft ancient Orators had this View. CICERO'S O rations plainly fhew that he labour'd hardfor Reputation: and who will not believe the fame of ISOCRATES, and D E м O

STHENES

;

STHENES too? All the Panegyrifts were more follicitous for their own Honour, than for the Fame of their Heroes and they extoll'd a Prince's Glory to the Skies, chiefly becaufe they hop'd to be admir'd for their ingenious Manner of praifing him. This Ambition feems to have been always reckon'd commendable both among the Greeks and the Romans: and fuch Emulation brought Eloquence to its Perfection: it infpir'd Meri with noble Thoughts and generous Sentiments, by which the ancient Republicks were made to flourish. The advantagious Light in which Eloquence appear'd in great Affemblies, and the Afcendant it gave the Orator over the People, made it to be admir'd, and helpt to fpread polite Learning. I cannot fee indeed why fuch an Emulation fhou'd be blam'd even among Chriftian Orators; provided they did not fhew an indecent Affectation in their Difcourfes, nor in the leaft enervate the Precepts of the Gofpel. We ought not to cenfure what animates young People, and form's our greatest Preachers.

A. You have here put feveral things together, which, if you pleafe, Sir, we'll confider feparately, and obferve fome Method in enquiring what we ought to conclude from thein. But let us above all things avoid a wrangling Humour;

and

and examine the Subject 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 confider'd afterwards. Let us begin with thofe Orators whofe Examples you vouch't. By mentioning DEMOSTHENES and ISOCRATES together, you difparage the former; for the latter was a lifeless Declaimer, that bufied himself in polishing his Thoughts, and giving an harmonious Cadence to his Periods. He had a very low and vulgar Notion of Eloquence; and plac'd almost the whole of it, in a nice Difpofal of his Words.

*

*In the Introduction of this very Panegyrick that our Author mentions, ISOCRATES fays, Such is the Nature of Eloquence, that it makes great things appear little; and fmall things to feem great; it can reprefent old things as new; and new things as if they were old; and that therefore he would not decline a Subject that others had handled before him, but would endeavour to declaim better than they.--Upon which LONGINUS (§. xxxviij.) makes this judicious Remark; that by giving fuch a Character of Eloquence, in the Beginning of his Panegyrick, the Orator in effect caution'd his Hearers not to believe his Difcourfe,

Words. A Man who employ'd ten or (as others fay) fifteen Years, in fimoothing the Periods of a Panegyrick, which was a Discourse concerning the Neceffities of Greece, cou'd but give but a very finall and flow Relief to the Republick, against the Enterprizes of the Perfian King. DEMOSTHENES fpoke against PHILIP in a quite different manner. You may read the Comparison that DIONYSIUS HALICARNAS SÆUS has made of thefe two Orators, and fee there the chief Faults he obferv'd in ISOCRATES; whofe Difcourfes are vainly gay and florid; and his Periods adjusted with incredible Pains, merely to please the Ear: while on the contrary, DEMOSTHENES moves, warms, and captivates the Heart. He was too fenfibly touch'd with the Interest of his Country, to mind the little glittering Fancies that amus'd ISOCRATES. Every Oration of DEMOSTHENES is a clofe Chain of Reasoning, that represents the

*

* In Oratoribus verò, Græcis quidem, admirabile est quantum inter omnes unus excellat. Attamen cum effet DEMOSTHENES, multi Oratores magni, & clari fuerunt, & antea fuerant, nec poftea defecerunt. CIC. Orat. $., 2.

Quid denique DEMOSTHENES? non cunctos illos renues & circumfpectos [Oratores] vi, fublimitate, impetu, cultu, compofitione fuperayit? non infurgit locis? non figuris gaudet? non tranflationibus nitet? non Oratione fieta dat carentibus vocem ?--- QUINTIL. lib. xij. сар. 10.

I

the generous Notions of a Soul who difdains any Thought that is not great. His Difcourfes gradually encrease in Force by greater Light and new Reasons; which are always illuftrated by bold Figures and lively Images. One cannot but fee that he has the Good of the Republick entirely at heart; and that Nature itself speaks in all his Tranfports: for his artful Address is so mafterly, that it never appears. Nothing ever equal'd the Force and Vehemence of his Difcourfes. Have you never read the Remarks that LONGINUS made on them, in his Treatife of the SUBLIME?

B. No: Is not that the Treatise that Mr.BOILEAU tranflated? Do you think it fine

A. I am not afraid to tell you that I think it furpaffes ARISTOTLE's Rhetorick; which, though it be a very folid Tract, is yet clogg'd with many dry Precepts, that are rather curious, than fit for Practice; fo that it is more proper to point out the Rules of Art to fuch as are already eloquent, than to give us a just Tafte of Rhetorick, 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.