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short, instead of imitating the style of any other writer as his guide, he has a style of his own, and observes the maxim of Horace in the literal use of the term:

'Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri !'"*

The style here described is peculiarly suited for extempore speaking, not only because slight verbal inaccuracies are less easily detected than in a written composition, but because a greater freedom and breadth of thought and language are required in speaking than writing; what seems to be pedantic or wildly hyperbolical in an address to a single person is perfectly appropriate when addressed to a large number of persons-just as in a picture,

"Erit, quæ si propius stes,

Te capiet magis, et quædam si longius abstes." It may be a question, however, whether there is not great danger in adopting this style of writing for general composition, and whether any revision will get rid of the evidence of a careless and hasty, though impassioned, manner of writing.

If, therefore, this style of composition be adopted, as peculiarly appropriate for extempore speaking, the inevitable effect of it must be counteracted by greater care in writing for other purposes. After all it is his taste which a man must try to improve, and this he can only do by an accurate study of good writers.

* Newman's Rhetoric, sixth edition, p. 203.

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CHAPTER IX.

Massillon, when asked which of his sermons he thought the best, replied, "That which I recollect the best."" LIFE OF MASSILLON.

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N these days, when a man is liable to have every word he utters taken down and commented upon, and to be held answerable for particular expressions, just as much as for the general drift of his argument, there are few persons, probably, who will doubt the great advantage of being able to prepare verbatim what may have to be said on any particular occasion. If this be so under ordinary circumstances, much more will it be the case with the Christian minister, who must necessarily deal with subjects that require the very greatest accuracy of expression, and who is continually in danger of giving a wrong impression of his meaning, or of falling below the dignity of the subjects which he has taken in hand.

To pass over many more obvious cases in which this power of memoriter speaking will be required, in the case of metaphor or simile it will be especially useful; as, if a speaker does not wish to run

the risk of getting hopelessly confused, or of very inadequately expressing his meaning, he must clearly foresee where such figures of speech will lead him, and how far he may press them into his service; besides which, in many of the most expressive analogies taken from everyday life, the greatest care is required to prevent the language used calling up ideas not at all suited to the subject they are intended to illustrate.

That memoriter speaking is at first both difficult and laborious we do not for a moment deny; but we assert that it is much less so than those who may have given it up on the first attempt can well imagine. There is not, perhaps, a greater difference between the ease and rapidity of touch in a finished musician, and the absurd awkwardness of the same person during the first few weeks of his novitiate in the art, than there is between the difficulty which a man will first experience in committing written matter to memory, and the facility which he will acquire by a few months' practice.

There are, however, great and I cannot but think unfounded prejudices against memoriter speaking; the unreality and deception which it is supposed to involve can only exist where the audience are unacquainted with the most rudimental principles of the orator's art. Many men, if they have thought upon a subject, cannot help speaking more or less from memory, particularly those who, if I may so express it, have acquired the habit of thinking in sentences.

Just, in fact, as a person who has thought over an important letter will know, almost word for word, what he intends to write before he puts pen to paper. Seeing, then, it is impossible to draw any line, and to say where the supposed deception finds place, the objections, if admitted at all, would hold good as regards all preparation for speaking—which is manifestly absurd.

It is not intended by these remarks to advocate memoriter speaking as a general rule, but rather to show that the power of so speaking is a necessary part of an orator's training; nor, indeed, is it to be supposed that in the expression (mandare memoria) quoted above, Cicero implies that an actual verbatim acquaintance with the matter prepared is requisite, but rather that the general scope of the whole should be clearly comprehended; that, in fact, the orator should study it not as a mathematician would the formulas of his science, but rather as a painter would study the general features of a landscape. We might go further and show that, just as in studying a landscape a day or even an hour will be of more avail to a skilful artist than a week to an amateur, so in the study of his written compositions, one hour, after a fair amount of practice, will do for the speaker what six would hardly have accomplished without it. Although, at first, he has to study every part in all its details, he very soon learns to seize intuitively upon the prominent ideas and even words, trusting to their subordinates being dictated

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by the inspiration of the moment, and naturally grouping themselves around them. Like the artist, he knows that though great accuracy may be required in bringing out some particular parts of his subject, yet that his taste will generally be shown not so much by a servile imitation, as by the boldness with which he conceives and reproduces the whole. Without considerable skill in the art, speaking entirely from memory has a very bad effect. man does not speak with any freedom, point, or force; the idea of a formal recitation is so irresistibly conveyed to his hearers that, though his words will be listened to, they will never come home like the words of an earnest, natural speaker; his eloquence, however great it may be, will suffer as much from his defective oratory as a fine song from a faulty execution. His whole delivery will be bad, there will be no light or shade, but one tone and manner throughout: argument, narrative, threatening, rebuke, encouragement, will all be the same; while the occasional sudden transitions from highly oratorical language to mere ordinary remark will often be so abrupt and unexpected as entirely to take off the mind from the matter to the manner. Such a speaker is like a bold but unskilful rider crossing an enclosed country; there is none of the quiet, the ease and grace, the steadiness, nerve, and masterly handling of one more practised; he is all excitement, and hurries on to the end with rash impetuosity, not only without the slightest appreciation

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