for it must be with orations of this kind, as with the human body, which derives its real graces from its good conftitution; whereas paint and artifice only fpoil the face by the very pains taken to beautify it. VII. A maxim of great importance, which is verified both in the works of nature and those of art, is, that those things which are most useful in themselves have generally moft dignity and gracefulness. Let us caft our eye a little on the fymmetry and order of the different parts of a building, or a fhip; thofe which form the structure of man's body, and that harmony in the univerfe, which we are never weary of admiring; we shall perceive, that each of those parts, the benefit or neceffity of which alone might feem to have given the idea of it, contribute alfo very much to the beauty of the whole. The fame thing may be faid of an oration. That which conftitutes ftrength forms its beauty; and real beauty is never feparate from utility. k VIII. This maxim may be very useful in diftinguifhing real and natural graces from fuch as are fictitious and foreign; it is only examining if they are useful or neceffary to the fubject to be treated. There g Corpora fana, & integri fanguinis, & exercitatione firmata, ex iifdem his fpeciem accipiunt, ex quibus vires: namque & colorata, & adftricta & lacertis expreffa funt. Sed eadem fi quis vulsa atque fucata muliebriter comat, fœdiffima fint ip'o formæ labore, Quintil. Procem. 1. 8. Ut in plerifque rebus incredibiliter hoc natura eft ipfa fabricata, fic in oratione, ut ea, quæ maximam in fe utilitatem continerent, eadem haberent plurimum vel dignitatis, vel fæpe etiam venuftatis. de Orat. n. 178. 1 Singula hanc habent in fpecie venuftatem, ut non folum falutis, fed eriam voluptatis caufa inventa effe videantur...Habent non plus 1 utilitatis, quam dignitatis... Capitolii faftigium illud,& cæterarum ædium, non venuftas, fed neceffitas ipfa faricata eft. n. 180. Hoc in omnibus item partibus orationis evenit, ut utilitatem, ac prope neceffitatem, fuavitas quæ. dam ac lepos confequatur, n. 181. * Nunquam vera fpecies ab utilitate dividitur. Quintil. lib. 8. C. 3. Vitiofum eft & corruptum dicendi genus, quod aut verborum licentia refultat, aut puerilibus fententiolis lafcivit, aut immodico tumore turgefeit, aut inanibus locis bacchatur, aut cafuris fi leviter excutianur flofculis nitet, aut præcipitia pro fublimibus habet. Quintil. 1. 12. C. 10, is a flashy ftile, which impofes upon us by an empty gingle of words, or is always in fearch of little childifh cold thoughts; is mounted upon ftilts, or lofes itfelf in common places void of fenfe; or shines with fome fmall flowers, which fall as we begin to fhake them; or skips, as it were, to the clouds, in order to 'catch the fublime. But all this is far from true eloquence, it being nothing but tawdry and ridiculous parade; and to make youth fenfible of this, they muft attend very carefully to that exact severity of good writers, ancient or modern, who never depart from their fubject, and are never in extremes. For thefe falfe graces and false beauties vanish, when folid ones are opposed to them. n IX. I would willingly compare the graces of a florid ftile, with refpect to the beauties of one more nervous and juft, to what Pliny has observed of flowers when he compares them to trees. Nature, fays he, feems as if the intended to divert, and, as it were, fport in that variety of flowers, with which the adorns the fields and gardens; an inconceivable variety, and above all defciption, because nature is much more capable to paint, than man is to speak. But as the produces flowers for pleasure only, fo fhe often affords them only a day's duration; whereas the gives a great number of years, and fometimes whole ages, to trees which are intended for man's nourishment, and the neceffities of life; in order, no doubt, to intimate to us, that whatever is moft fplendid foon paffes away, and presently lofes its vivacity and luftre. It is eafy to apply this thought to the beauties of ftile, whereof we ⚫m Evanefcunt hæc atque emoriunter comparatione meliorum: ut lana tincta fuco citra purpuram placet... Si vero judicium his corruptis acrius adhibeas, jam illud quod fefellerat, exuat mentitum colorem, & quadam vix enarrabili fœditate pallefcat. Ibid. n Inenarrabilis forum varietas: quando nulli poteft facilius effe loqui, quam rerum naturæ pingere, lafcivienti præfertim, & in magno are are now speaking, which we know the orators generally call flowers. ARTICLE the FOURT H. General reflections on the three kinds of Eloquence. IT T would be of no advantage to examine which of these three kinds is fitteft for an orator, fince he muft poffefs them all; and that his ability confifts in making a proper use of them, according to the different fubjects he undertakes to treat; fo as to be able to temper the one with the other, fometimes foftening ftrength with beauty, and fometimes exalting beauty with ftrength. Befides, these three kinds have fomething common in their diverfity of style, which unites them; that is, a folid and natural taste of beauty, abhorrent of paint and affectation. But I cannot help obferving, that this florid and fhining eloquence, which sparkles, as it were, throughout with wit, is immoderately lavifh of its graces and beauties, upon which we generally fet fo great a value, and often prefer to all others, and which feems to be fo agreeable to the tafte of our age, though almost unknown to the judicious writers of antiquity, is, nevertheless, of no great ufe, and is confined within very narrow bounds. This kind of eloquence is, certainly, no way fuitable to the pulpit or the bar: o Ut confperfa fit verborum fententiarumque floribus, id non debet effe fufum æquabiliter per omnem orationem. 3. de Orat. n. 96. p Magni judicii, fummæ etiam facultatis effe debebit moderator ille & quafi temperator hujus tripartita varietatis. Nam & judicabit quid cuique opus fit, & poterit, quocumque modo poftulabit caufa, dicere. Ofat. n. 70. VOL. II. q Si habitum etiam orationis & quafi colorem aliquem requiritis, eft plena quædam, & tamen teres, & tenuis, & non fine nervis ac viribus, & ea, quæ particeps utriufque generis, quadam mediocritate laudatur. His tribus figuris infidere quidam venuftatis non fuco illitus, fed fanguine diffufus debet color. 3. de Orat. D. 119. Ex meither neither is it proper for pious or moral fubjects, or books of controverfy, learned differtations, controverfies, apologies, nor for almoft an infinite number of other works of literature. Hiftory, which fhould be written in a plain and natural ftyle, would no way agree with one fo affected, and it would be ftill more intolerable in the epiftolary way, of which the chief characteristic is fimplicity. To what ufe then shall we reduce this fo much boafted kind of eloquence? I fhall leave the reader to examine the places and occafions where it may be reasonably admitted; and to confider whether it ought to ingrofs our application and esteem. Not that all thofe writings I have mentioned are void of ornament, of which Tully is a ftrong proof; and he alone is fufficient to form us for every species of eloquence. His epiftles may give us a just idea of the epiftolary ftyle: Some of thefe are merely complimentary; others of recommendation, acknowledgment, and praise. Some are gay and facetious, in which he wantons with a great deal of wit; others again grave and ferious, when he difcuffes fome important queftion. In fome he treats of public affairs; and thefe, in my opinion, are not the least beautiful. Those, for example, in which he gives an account of his conduct in the government of his province, firft to the fenate and people of Rome, and afterwards to Cato in particular, are a perfect model of the clearnefs, order, and concifenefs which fhould be predominant in memoirs and relations; and we must particularly remark the dextrous and infinuating method he employs in those epiftles to conciliate the good opinion of Cato; and to make him favourable to him in the demand he was to make of the honour of a triumph. His celebrated epiftle to Lucceius, where he requefts him to write the hiftory of his consulship, will ever be juftly looked upon as a fhining monument of - Epift. 2, and 4. lib. 14, ad famil, Epift. 12. 1. v, ad famil. his eloquence, and at the same time of his vanity. I have taken notice, in another place, of his beautiful epiftle to his brother Quintus, in which all the graces and refinements of art are comprised. His treatifes of rhetoric and philofophy are originals in their kind; and the last fhews us how to treat the most subtle and knotty fubjects with elegance and decorum. As to his harangues, they comprehend all the fpecies of eloquence, the various forts of style, the plain, the embellished, and the fublime. t What fhall I fay of the Greek authors? Is it not the peculiar character of Homer to excel no less in little than great things; and to unite, with a marvellous fublimity, a fimplicity equally admirable? Is any ftyle more delicate and elegant, more harmonious and fublime than Plato's? Was it without reafon that. * Demofthenes held the first rank among the croud of fpectators at Athens in his time, and has been always confidered as almost the standard of eloquence? In a word, not to mention all the ancient hiftorians, can any man of fenfe be tired with reading Plutarch? Of all thofe authors therefore, who were fo anciently and generally esteemed, did one of them degenerate into points and witty conceits, fhining thoughts, farfetched figures, and beauties induftriously crouded upon each other? And how little, and how jejune and childish does this style, which is almost banished from all ferious difcourfes, appear in comparison of the noble fimplicity, the wife greatness, which characterife all good works, and are of use in all affairs, times, and conditions? But, in order to judge of it in this manner, we need only confult nature. It cannot be denied, but those gardens fo exactly trimmed and laid out, fo inriched with whatever is fplendid and magnificent in art; thofe parterres, which are difpofed with fuch a delicacy or tafte; thofe fountains, cafcades, and little groves; are not very pleafing and agreeable. But will any compare * Quorum longè princeps Demofthenes, ac pene lex orandi fuit. Quintil. L. zo. c. 2. E 2 all |