not liable to be dazzled by the gaudy plumage of the peacocks of Parnassus, nor to be led astray from the paths of Nature by the meteors of pedantry, affectation, perverted talents, or false taste.

Almost all the celebrated writers in the reign of Queen ANNE continued their equally brilliant and useful exertions during the government of her successor. Some of the former orators also remained; and the names of a WYNDHAM, a WALPOLE, a TOWNSHEND, a SHIPPEN, a RAYMOND, an ATTERBURY, and a BATHURST may be added to the illustrious list.

In the reign of GEORGE II. the oratorical catalogue was considerably enlarged; and we know not, which most to admire, the extraordinary height to which Eloquence was then carried, or the numberless variety of forms in which it appeared. But it would require the glowing pencil of a CICERO to do justice to the energy and vehemence of an ARGYLE ;-to the extensive knowledge and vigorous genius of a CARTARET;-to the commanding simplicity of a SCARBOROUGH, whose voice was said to have been borrowed by Truth and Virtue, which never want, and seldom wear ornaments ;-to CHESTERFIELD's elegance both of style and delivery, to his uncommon union of perspicuity with conciseness, of genteel humor with sound reasoning, of purity, precision, and a happy choice of words with the utmost ease and fluency ;—to the irresistible force and poignancy of a PULTENEY, whose tongue was more dreaded by the minister than any other man's sword;-to the plausible reasoning; the calm, fweet-toned, insinuating persuasiveness of a MURRAY; and to the transcendent powers of a PITT, who, though more indebted to Nature than any other orator that ever existed, was not under less obligation to

good

good fortune in having appeared on the great theatre of the world at a time when there was a GRATTAN to draw the following portrait of him.

The historical painter fixes upon the moment when Mr. PITT's advice to disconcert the perfidious designs of France and Spain by a well-timed blow being over-ruled in the cabinet, he resigned the seals rather than remain in a situation that made him responsible for measures which he was no longer allowed to guide. "The Secretary," says Mr. GRATTAN, "ftood alone. Modern degeneracy had not reached him. Original and unaccommodating, the features of his character had the hardihood of antiquity. His august mind overawed majesty; and one of his sovereigns thought royalty so impaired in his presence, that he conspired to remove him, in order to be relieved from his superiority. No state-chicanery, no narrow system of vicious politics, no idle contest for minifterial victories sunk him to the vulgar level of the great; but overbearing, persuasive, and impracticable, his object was England, his ambition was fame. Without dividing, he deftroyed party; without corrupting, he made a venal age unanimous. France sunk beneath him. With one hand he smote the House of Bourbon, and wielded in the other the democracy of England. The sight of his mind was infinite; and his schemes were to affect not England, not the present age only, but Europe and posterity. Wonderful were the means by which these schemes were accomplished, always seasonable, always adequate, the suggestions of an understanding animated by ardor, and enlightened by prophecy.

"The ordinary feelings, which render life amiable and indolent, were unknown to him. No domestic difficulties, no domestic weakness reached him; but, aloof from the sordid occurrences of life, and unsullied by its intercourse,

VOL. I.

course, he came occasionally into our system, to counsel, and to decide.

"A character fo exalted, so ftrenuous, so various, so authoritative astonished a corrupt age; and the Treasury trembled at the name of PITT through all her classes of venality. Corruption imagined, indeed, that she had found defects in this statesman, and talked much of the inconsistency of his glory, and much of the ruin of his victories; but the history of his country, and the calamities of the enemy refuted her.

"Nor were his political abilities his only talents: his eloquence was an æra in the senate, peculiar and spontaneous, familiarly expressing gigantic sentiments and instinctive wisdom; not like the torrent of DEMOSTHENES, or the splendid conflagration of TULLY, it resembled sometimes the thunder, and sometimes the music of the spheres. He did not, like MURRAY, conduct the understanding through the painful subtilty of argumentation; nor was he, like TOWNSHEND, for ever on the rack of exertion; but rather lightened upon the subject, and reached the point by the flashings of the mind, which, like those of his eye, were felt, but could not be followed.

"Upon the whole, there was in this man something that could create, subvert, or reform;—an understanding, a spirit, and an eloquence to summon mankind to society, or to break the bonds of slavery asunder, and to rule the wilderness of free minds with unbounded authority ;something that could establish or overwhelm empires, and strike a blow in the world that should resound through the universe."

Among the orators and statesmen of the last reign, and particularly in connection with the names of MURRAY and PITT, we cannot overlook that of HENRY FOX, who, like the two former, was raised to the honors of the peerage by

7.

by the sovereign now on the throne. His talents have been very faithfully described as less brilliant than solid: few of his cotemporaries equalled him in vigour of understanding or in extent of knowledge; and when he spoke in public, he always commanded attention, not by the splendor of his eloquence, but the superior weight and force of his observations *.

The firft Earl of CHATHAM and the firft Lord HOLLAND have the farther honor of having left behind them in their respective families two sons, WILLIAM PITT, and CHARLES FOX, who, with EDMUND BURKE, may be said to have formed the oratorical Triumvirate of the present reign. These also are dead; but their speeches will be preserved as long as our language; and if we had no other specimens of British eloquence, would alone be sufficient to place it on a level with the most admired productions of antiquity.

After the decease of those three great orators, I see many still in our Senate, who rise far above mediocrity, yet very few, indeed, who come up to, or even approach the same degree of excellence. To these few I cannot help addressing CICERO's beautiful exhortation to BRUTUS, after the death of HORTENSIUS. I hope they will feel some part of its force and pertinency even in my humble attempt to preserve its spirit, though the change of circumstances and character has rendered some alterations necessary. In this hope only, I presume to say to them-"As you now seem to have been left the sole guardians of an orphan eloquence, let me conjure you to cherish her with a generous fidelity: discourage the addreffes of her worthless and impertinent suitors: preserve her pure and unblemished in all her virgin charms; and secure

*See BELSHAM's History of Great Britain, vol. ii. book v.

her, to the utmost of your ability, from the lawless violence of every ruffian."

I still feel some confidence that genuine oratory will not be suffered to languish amongst us. We have many advantages almost peculiar to our country, arising out of the very form of our constitution and government: we have also before us some of the brightest models in every species of composition, as well as some of the best preservatives from those corruptions of literature which marked the fall of other nations: but we unhappily retain in our systems of public and private education too much of the old spirit of dry maxims, abstracted rules, unentertaining precepts, and such other perplexing details as are much more likely to impede than to assist the efforts of youth, and in many instances to give them a disgust to solid learning, which may continue in their maturer years, Instead of adhering to so absurd a plan, which ought long since to have been exploded ;-instead of Treatises of Grammar, of Rhetoric, of Logic, let us put into the hands of boys, as soon as they have learned to read, the most simple and elegant illuftrations of all three in the works of the authors above recommended. By adopt ing this method, the powers of the mind would be gradually unfolded; the fancy impreffed with beautiful images; the memory agreeably exercised; the easy and natural exertions of genius charmed forth by curiosity and emulation; and, what ought to be considered as of the utmost importance, such a habit of cheerfulness imperceptibly formed in the growing man as must make him happy in himself, and engage him to contribute to the happiness of others.

But though I cannot help confidering the style and the intricacies of most of the elementary books, still in general use, as a very improper introduction to the study of

poetry