makes them forget his reputation for eloquence, he is unsuccessful. In making Queen Caroline, after listening to Jeanie Deans, say "This is eloquence," Scott does not pay Jeanie a compliment. In spite of his personal defects, Fox so fully possessed "the art of captivating the attention that you forgot the man entirely and thought only of the subject." 2 "In his [Erskine's] reply, though abounding with eloquence and ornament, no topic was admitted that did not bear directly upon the verdict." 2. "The extraordinary impression produced by him [Lord Plunket] in Parliament, was caused by the whole texture of his speeches being argumentative; the diction plain, but forcible; the turn often epigrammatic; the figures as natural as they were unexpected; so that what had occurred to no one seemed as if every one ought to have anticipated it; but all-strong expressions, terse, epigram, happy figure were wholly subservient to the purpose in view, and were manifestly perceived never to be themselves the object, never to be introduced for their own sake; they were the sparks thrown off by the motion of the engine, not fireworks to amuse by their singularity, or please by their beauty; all was for use, not ornament; all for work, nothing for display; the subject ever in view, the speaker never, either of himself or of the audience. This, indeed, is the invariable result of the highest cloquence, of the greatest perfection of the art, and its complete concealment. In all great passages, the artist himself, wrapt up in his work, is never thought of by his hearers, equally wrapt up in it, till the moment when they can pause and take breath, and reflect on the mastery which has been exercised over them, and can then first think of the master." 3 "The passages which delight the general audience, and make the speech, when published, agreeable to the reader, are not the passages which carry conviction to the mind, or advance the real merits of the cause with those who are to decide it. He who looks to this purpose only must never lose sight of any important fact or He argument that properly belongs to or arises out of the cause. 1 The Heart of Mid Lothian, vol. ii. chap. xii. 2 Abinger: Autobiography, pp. 58, 65. Sec, also, Quintilian: Inst. Orator. viii. iii. xiii. 3 Brougham: Statesmen of the Time of George III., vol. ii. p. 339. must show that his mind is busied about nothing else. He must be always working upon the concrete, and pointing to his conclusion. He must disdain all jest, ornament, or sarcasm, that does not fall directly in his way and seem to be so unavoidable that it must strike everybody who thinks of the facts. He must not look for a peg to hang any thing upon, be it ever so precious or so fine. He must rouse in the minds of the judges or the jury all the excitement which he feels about the cause himself, and about nothing but the cause; and to that he must stick closely, and upon that reason so vehemently and so conclusively, that the greater part of the audience will not understand him, and those who read his speech afterwards will not be able to comprehend it, without having present to their memories all the facts and all the history of the cause." 1 Hence, public speakers seek to establish a reputation for something else than eloquence, to attribute their success to some other cause, or to prove that it has been won in some other field than that on which they are entering. - Cicero begins his oration for the poet Archias with the remark: "If I have any ability, — and I feel how little that is," &c.; and his oration for Quintius by saying that he endeavors to make amends for his want of talent by application.2 During the most famous period of Scarlett's career as leader of the English bar, he was reputed to be the luckiest lawyer of his time. Yet neither Cicero nor Scarlett was noted for his modesty. 1 Abinger: Autobiography, p. 72. 2 See, also, Webster: Exordium in the White murder case, quoted p. 245. CHAPTER VI. INTRODUCTIONS AND CONCLUSIONS. OTHER things being equal, the shorter the exordium or the peroration the better. The following paragraph, with which Webster opened the White murder case, is a model in its kind : "I am little accustomed, gentlemen, to the part which I am now attempting to perform. Hardly more than once or twice has it happened to me to be concerned on the side of the Government in any criminal prosecution whatever; and never, until the present occasion, in any case affecting life.1 "But I very much regret that it should have been thought necessary to suggest to you that I am brought here to 'hurry you against the law and beyond the evidence.' I hope I have too much regard for justice, and too much respect for my own character, to attempt either; and, were I to make such attempt, I am sure that in this court nothing can be carried against the law, and that gentlemen, intelligent and just as you are, are not, by any power, to be hurried beyond the evidence. Though I could well have wished to shun this occasion, I have not felt at liberty to withhold my professional assistance, when it is supposed that I may be in some degree useful in investigating and discovering the truth respecting this most extraordinary murder. It has seemed to be a duty incumbent on me, as on every other citizen, to do my best and my utmost to bring to light the perpetrators of this crime. Against the prisoner at the bar, as an individual, I cannot have the slightest prejudice. I would not do him the smallest injury or injustice; but I do not affect to be indifferent to the discovery and the punishment of this deep guilt. I cheerfully share in the opprobrium, how great soever it may be, which is cast on those who feel and manifest an anxious concern that all who had a part in planning, or a 1 See also Cicero: Oratio in Caec. (Divinatio) i. i. hand in executing, this deed of midnight assassination, may be brought to answer for their enormous crime at the bar of public justice."1 The following paragraph, which forms the conclusion of Webster's address on the completion of the Bunker Hill Monument, is another model: "And now, friends and fellow-citizens, it is time to bring this discourse to a close. "We have indulged in gratifying recollections of the past, in the prosperity and pleasures of the present, and in high hopes for the future. But let us remember that we have duties and obligations to perform, corresponding to the blessings which we enjoy. Let us remember the trust, the sacred trust, attaching to the rich inheritance which we have received from our fathers. Let us feel our personal responsibility, to the full extent of our power and influence, for the preservation of the principles of civil and religious liberty. And let us remember that it is only religion, and morals, and knowledge, that can make men respectable and happy, under any form of government. Let us hold fast the great truth, that communities are responsible, as well as individuals; that no government is respectable, which is not just; that without unspotted purity of public faith, without sacred public principle, fidelity, and honor, no mere forms of government, no machinery of laws, can give dignity to political society. In our day and generation let us seek to raise and improve the moral sentiment, so that we may look, not for a degraded, but for an elevated and improved future. And when both we and our children shall have been consigned to the house appointed for all living, may love of country and pride of country glow with equal fervor among those to whom our names and our blood shall have descended! And then, when honored and decrepit age shall lean against the base of this monument, and troops of ingenuous youth shall be gathered round it, and when the one shall speak to the other of its objects, the purposes of its construction, and the great and glorious events with which it is connected, there shall rise from every youthful breast the ejaculation, Thank God, I—I also - AM AN AMERICAN!'"' 2 เ 1 Webster: Works, vol. vi. p. 51. 2 Ibid., vol. i. p. 106. Young writers often have to be told to begin at the beginning, and to end at the end. They do not know how to get at a subject, nor how to get away from it, as an awkward visitor does not know how to get into or out of a drawing-room. They should make it a rule not. to put in a word of introduction that is not closely connected with what is to follow and necessary to prepare the way for it, — by giving necessary information, by engaging attention, or by winning regard; and not to add a word at the end beyond what is needed to strengthen the conclusion, to recapitulate arguments, or to point a moral. The only valuable exordium is that which leads up to the subject; the only valuable peroration, that which grows out of the subject. “What is he coming to?" "Will he never get through?" are fatal questions. The objection which is sometimes made to abrupt beginnings or endings is not so well founded. It is far better to take firm hold of the subject at once than to approach it "doubtfully and far away;" and the mental shock caused by a sudden ending may be just what is needed to clench the argument. |