to.

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the Second, and his brother James, even to the very æra of the Revolution, though ELOQUENCE was active in its exertions in the senate and in the pulpit, it was scarcely less so, from the press. Many, indeed, of its most vigorous and successful productions were such as can scarcely seem to have attained to the dignity of the ELOQUENCE of the fourth period. But, the press was during those reigns, subject to troublesome and dangerous restraints; and it was with difficulty that ELOQUENCE Could at that time, make its way at all to the minds of the people, through a channel so much disturbed. The Revolution restored the press to full liberty and between that æra, and the accession of the House of Hanover to the throne of England, the political ELOQUENCE of the press attained even gigantic height of power. It was in this period, that Somers, Burnet, Swift, Addison, Steele, Mainwaring, Prior, Atterbury, Davenant, Defoe, produced their best pieces. The ability of Swift in this species of ELOQUENCE, greatly transcended that of all the others. The famous Philip, Duke of Wharton, when he had scarcely passed out of the age of childhood, produced, in his True Britons, some of the finest specimens which the English language even yet possesses of this political ELOQUENCE of the press. Bolingbroke, Pulteney, Lord Harvey, Lord Carteret, were the chief writers who addressed and influenced public opinion in this way, during a great part of the reign of George the Second. The political ELOQUENCE of the press began then to be, not transiently and occasionally, but regularly exercised, as a means for the constant government of public opinion. Campbell, Smollett, Shebbeare, Johnson, exercised this art, with effect perhaps not more powerful, but certainly with more of grace and dignity, towards the æra of the accession of our present Sovereign. The struggle between parties-with

which this reign began, the increasing illumination of the public mind, and the disposition which our present Sovereign earnestly shewed-to govern according to the wishes of his people, excited, from the very beginning of his reign, an extraordinary zeal to cultivate the political ELOQUENCE of the press. A great mass of ELOQUENCE of this sort was put into motion: its efficacy in action, was great: but, the mat ter was unworthy equally of the age, and of its own effects, The people were as it were-a barrel of gunpowder: And a faint spark from a glimmering rush-light, was sufficient to blow them up. The debates in parliament began to be daily reported in the newspapers; and did hence, much more to guide the political sentiments of the nation, by their opera, tion as ELOQUENCE of the press, than by their influence in swaying the determinations of the senate. The author of the Letters of JUNIUS stood forth; and, from the press, addressed the people in a strain of ELOQUENCE, which blasted with the force of lightning, and excited admiration, as if it had exhibited the sudden exercise of mysterious and supernatural power. JOHNSON opposed him, with force of argument and fire of sentiment, not inferior to his own, but with a predominancy of seemingly cold and laboured art-allied to the taste of the second æra of ELOQUENCE, that materially weakened the strength of effect with which he might otherwise have written. In political pamphlets, in the daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly periodical publications, and in a great diversity of forms, the political ELOQUENCE of the Press has since continued to be employed upon public opinion, even more diligently and successfully than at any time before. About the æra of the French Revolution, it's power had begun to become mischievously great. It has been subjected to some not unsalutary resaint. It still operates with mighty efficacy. It is, especially in this department of its culture and agency,

that

that modern ELOQUENCE may hope improvements, which shall raise it to a superiority over the best ELOQUENCE of ancient times.

ANOTHER branch of the printed popular ELOQUENCE of modern times, is, that of controversial works or memorials, in which personal defence is associated with the earnest support of some peculiar opinions in religion or philcsophy. No man ever writes so well, as when he writes to promote his own dearest interests. To recommend a theory or prejudice of one's own; to vindicate one's self from the charge of weakness or dishonour; to support against fierce impugnment, any favourite series of sentiments; in short, to defend one's self on any occasion, on which the faculties are not absolutely palsied by the sense of danger; confers a perspicacity of judgment, a vigour of conception, a comprehensive skill in design, and a power of fancy and of passion, which exceeds whatever the genius of man can, in other circumstances, be capable of. Hence, in some works of logical controversy, of which the writers were deeply interested in the fate of their opinions, such as the Religion of Protestants vindicated by CHILLINGWORTH, and the Lettres Provenciales by PASCAL, an ELOQUENCE, perhaps incomparably powerful, has been exemplified. Hence the wonderful power of the Eloquence of Rousseau, in his Letters to the Archbishop of Paris, to D'Alembert, to those who wrote against his Prize-Essay on the Arts and Sciences, in his own Confessions, and in the Vicar of Savoy's Confession of Faith, &c. Hence the admirable of GIBBON, in his Answer to Davis,-a power of power true ELOQUENCE, greatly exceeding whatever he has in his other works displayed. Hence, too, the charm which we find in the writings of truly great men, whenever they are reduced to touch in occasional digression upon the cir

cumstances

cumstances of their own lives. And hence the power with which those who are otherwise incapable of ELOQUENCE are observed to speak or write,-even as if a miracle like that of the inspiration of Balaam's ass were performed on them, whenever their life or fortune is in extreme danger. Of this species of ELOQUENCE of the press, modern times have produced various examples which cannot be too highly praised. They belong to the fourth period in the progress of the art. They are undeniably among its best ornaments.

In the living voice, indeed,-in the expression of features, the attitude, the gestures which accompany it,-in time, place, and circumstance,-in the sympathies by which all the members of an audience are naturally and almost unconsciously led to adopt any sentiment the more readily, because the emotions of others around, evince that they, also, adopt it,-in these peculiarities, oral ELOQUENCE enjoys mighty advantages, which can, by no art be conferred on the ELOQUENCE of the Press. But, the ELOQUENCE of the Press, in the greater extensiveness and permanency of its operation,-in its flattering the mind with the notion, that the conviction it impresses, is received by native discernment and by choice,-in its allowing leisure for the full intelligence of what is advanced,-seems to possess advantages more than sufficient to compensate for all that it loses, by not being orally delivered.

V. To what æra, then, in the progress of ELOQUENCE, --to what rank among the oratorical productions of that particular æra,-shall we refer the LETTERS OF JUNIUS?

It is not by difference in time, but by changes in the character of its productions, that we distinguish the progress

of

of ELOQUENCE into so many separate æras. Not, therefore, because these LETTERS were written in the latter part of the eighteenth century,-but because their composition is akin to that of Cicero, of Demosthenes, of Burke, of Rousseau, are they to be ranked among the best models of the happiest age of the Eloquence whether of ancient or of modern times. They possess, undeniably, that fire of sentiment, that boldness and picturesque power of imagery, that skilful comprehension and pointedness of design, that labour in the parts, and that happy artifice in the combination of these into a whole, which cannot but exalt any oratorical performance to be numbered with the compositions of the most enlightened æta of the art.

To distinguish what rank he holds among the orators of the æra to which his LETTERS cannot be denied to belong, it will be necessary to institute an accurate comparison between JUNIUS and the other great masters in ELOQUENCE, in which we must examine the particular merits of each of then, in all the essential excellencies of that species of exertion in which they are rivals.

1. THE first of these excellencies, is enlightened, unprejudiced, disinterested PURITY OF DESIGN. In this quality, I am inclined to think, that every other orator of every age must yield to DEMOSTHENES. DEMOSTHENES alone discerned and steadily pursued the true interest of his country, in his opposition to the artifices and the arms of Phillip. To preserve to Athens, the ascendency among the Grecian States, to save the Republics from sinking into subjection to a Barbarian Monarch, to maintain in the most civilized country of the world, that political arrangement of the people under which alone its arts, its science, its virtues, had been known to flourish, to revive

the