tion of egotism, self-consciousness, effort to be eloquent, is fatal to success in persuasion. "A fundamental element of a preacher's power is freedom from self-consciousness. If he asks How shall I do this most creditably to myself?' his sermon will have a different effect than if he asks How may I do this most effectively for others?' There is wonderful clearness and economy of force in simplicity. No man ever thought whether he were preaching well, without weakening his sermon. I think there are few higher or more delightful moments in a preacher's life than those which come sometimes when, standing before a congregation and haunted by questions about the merits of his preaching, which he hates but cannot drive away, at last suddenly or gradually he finds himself taken into the power of his truth, absorbed in one sole desire to send it into the men he is preaching to; and then every sail is set, his sermon goes bravely out to sea, leaving self high and dry upon the beach where it has been holding his sermon stranded."1

Simplicity

In persuasion a lofty oratorical style is less effective than the simple utterance of the truth. "If readers are thinking about a writer's style, or hearers about an orator's eloquence, they are less likely to be influenced by him than if they are so fully in style. absorbed in what he is saying as to pay no attention to the manner in which it is said. If a writer or an orator is thinking of his own style, he may please his readers or his hearers with well-turned periods or sounding phrases, but he will not move them; for he will inevitably betray the fact that manner is more to him than matter. If his mind If his mind is full of his full of his purpose, he

1 Phillips Brooks, Lectures on Preaching, 52.

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will express himself simply. I believe it to be true,' says Emerson, that when any orator at the bar or in the Senate rises in his thought, he descends in his language, - that is, when he rises to any height of thought or of passion he comes down to a language level with the ear of all his audience. It is the merit of John Brown and of Abraham Lincoln one at Charlestown, one at Gettysburg — in the two best specimens of eloquence we have had in this country." "1

Earnestness.

The greatness of the thought or the emotion expressed, the earnestness of the man, his absorption in the theme, and his evident interest in those addressed, rather than the pomp of declamation, give a speaker persuasive power. It was the clear, earnest, simple, sincere expression of his profound convictions that gave this power to Webster. to Webster. What would have been the result had he been thinking of his own eloquence when delivering the peroration of the Reply to Hayne, or making his appeal for Dartmouth College? "Demosthenes had a single object and a rigid purpose; he spoke in a severe, intense state of mind, meaning to accomplish something and make men act. He aimed to convince the hearer and sweep him along in his direction, to the same goal for which he was making. Cicero, on the other hand, was sometimes less earnest, more easy, sportive, pleasing, charming, winning admiration. Consequently he makes the orator and his oratory prominent. He never forgets the importance of the speaker; while Demosthenes so links himself, identifies himself with the cause that he is lost in it. Therefore while the audience and the reader have unbounded

1 A. S. Hill, Principles of Rhetoric, 398.

admiration for the great Roman, the Greek gets his own better praise when his auditors at the end of one of his Phillippics rise up and cry, Let us march against Phillip!" "1

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Climax.

The principle of climax is quite as important in persuasive, as in argumentative discourse. If persuasion pervades the entire speech it should increase with the progress of the speech. Mark Antony's oration is an example; Burke's speeches on American subjects also illustrate the principle; so do Webster's Constitutional speeches. An appeal, an array An appeal, an array of persuasive details, an exhibition of feeling that would be appropriate and effective at the close of a speech, would be unwarranted at the beginning, and would render tame and ineffective what would follow. A high pitch sustained from beginning to end, if that were possible, would weary by its monotony. The same principle holds in a briefer part of a discourse, the introduction, any passage in the body of arguments, or the conclusion. The closing paragraph in Brougham's speech in defense of Queen Caroline 2 cannot be excelled as an arrangement of this kind:

"Such, my lords, is the Case now before you! Such is the evidence in support of this measure evidence inadequate to prove a debt-impotent to deprive of a civil right-ridiculous to convict of the lowest offence-scandalous if brought forward to support a charge of the highest nature which the law knows-monstrous to ruin the honour, to blast the name of an English Queen! What shall I say, then, if this is the proof by which an act of judicial legislation, a parliamentary sentence, an ex-post facto law, is sought to be passed against this defenseless woman? My lords, I pray you to pause. I do 1 Sears, History of Oratory, 125.

2 Speeches on Social and Political Subjects.

save

earnestly beseech you to take heed! You are standing upon the brink of a precipice - then beware! It will go forth, your judgment, if sentence shall go against the Queen. But it will be the only judgment you ever pronounced, which, instead of reaching its object, will return and bound back upon those who give it. Save the country, my lords, from the horrors of this catastrophe — save yourselves from this peril-rescue that country, of which you are the ornaments, but in which you can flourish no longer, when severed from the people, than the blossom when cut off from the roots and the stem of the tree. Save that country, that you may continue to adorn itthe Crown, which is in jeopardy-the Aristocracy, which is shaken. save the Altar, which must stagger with the blow that rends its kindred Throne! You have said, my lords, you have willed-the Church and the King have willed-that the Queen shall be deprived of its solemn service. She has instead of that solemnity, the heartfelt prayers of the people. She wants no prayers of mine. But I do here pour forth my humble supplications at the Throne of Mercy, that that Mercy may be poured down upon the people, in a larger measure than the merits of their rulers may deserve, and that your hearts may be turned to justice !"

CHAPTER IV.

THE CONCLUSION OR PERORATION.

The third and last division of an argumentative discourse is the conclusion or peroration.

Purpose.

Whether it is an essential part or not, whether it should be brief or extended, whether it should reinforce conviction or supplement it with persuasion, depends on the subject and the character of the previous discussion. Its purpose is to secure final effectiveness, whether by refreshing the memory, driving home and clinching arguments, pointing out clearly their application, or stimulating to action by appeal to feeling.

When it

Omitted.

Frequently the peroration is omitted. If a speech is brief, if every explanation has been satisfactory, and every argument complete and convincing; if the plan has been clear and the order of presentation so natural that the memory readily recalls May be the whole; if it is evident that an audience is won at the close of the discussion, no peroration is necessary. It would be likely to do more harm than good. What had been convincing to the audience, might now seem to them not convincing to the speaker. It is a good thing to know when to stop. In some of Burke's long speeches, frequent summaries at the close of definite lines of reasoning, and the persuasive character of the whole, take the place of a formal peroration.

The work of the peroration may be argumentative; not that new arguments are to be introduced, but those already presented may be given additional force, by