It is but reciting the ordinary praises of the art of persuasion, to remind you how sacred truths may be most ardently promulgated at the altar-the cause of oppressed innocence be most powerfully defended-the march of wicked rulers be most triumphantly resisted-defiance the most terrible be hurled at the oppressor's head. In great convulsions of public affairs, or in bringing about salutary changes, every one confesses how important an ally eloquence must be. But in peaceful times, when the progress of events is slow and even as the silent and unheeded pace of time, and the jars of a mighty tumult in foreign and domestic concerns can no longer be heard, then too she flourishes,protectress of liberty,-patroness of improvement,-guardian of all the blessings that can be showered upon the mass of human kind; nor is her form ever seen but on ground consecrated to free institutions. Pacis comes, otiique socia, et jam bene constitutæ reipublicæ alumna eloquentia." To me, calmly revolving these things, such pursuits seem far more noble objects of ambition than any upon which the vulgar herd of busy men lavish prodigal their restless exertions. To diffuse useful information,-to further intellectual refinement, sure forerunner of moral improvement,-to hasten the coming of the bright day when the dawn of general knowledge shall chase away the lazy, lingering mists, even from the base of the great social pyramid ;-this indeed is a high calling, in which the most splendid talents and consummate virtue may well press onward, eager to bear a part.

Let me, therefore, indulge in the hope, that, among the illustrious youths whom this ancient kingdom famed alike for its nobility and its learning, has produced, to continue her fame through after ages, possibly among those I now address, there may be found some one-I ask no more-willing to give a bright example to other nations in a path yet untrodden, by taking the lead of his fellow-citizens, not in frivolus amusements, nor in the degrading pursuits of the ambitious vulgar,-but in the truly noble task of enlightening the mass of his countrymen, and of leaving his own name no longer encircled, as heretofore, with barbaric splendor, or attached to courtly gewgaws, but illustrated by the honors most worthy of our rational nature-coupled with the diffusion of knowledge and gratefully pronounced through all ages by millions whom his wise beneficence has rescued from ignorance and vice. This is the true mark for the aim of all who either prize the enjoyment of pure happiness, or set a right value upon a high and unsullied renown.-And if the benefactors of man.. kind, when they rest from their pious labors, shall be permitted to enjoy hereafter, as an appropriate reward of their virtue, the privilege of looking down upon the blessings with which their toils and sufferings have clothed the scene of their former existence; do not vainly imagine that, in a state of exalted purity and wisdom, the founders of mighty dynasties, the conquerors of new empires, or the more vulgar crowd of evil-doers, who have sacrificed to their own aggrandizement the good of their fellow-creatures, will be gratified by contemplating the monuments of their inglorious fame:-theirs will be the delighttheirs the triumph-who can trace the remote effects of their enlightened benevolence in the improved condition of their species, and exult in the reflection, that the prodigious change they now survey, with eyes that age and sorrow can make dim no more-of knowledge become power-virtue sharing in the dominion-superstition trampled under foot-tyranny driven from the world—are the fruits, precious, though costly, and though late reaped, yet long enduring, of all the hardships and all the hazards they encountered here below!-LORD BROUGHAM-Inaugural Discourse at Glasgow as Lord Rector, 1825

THE TEACHERS OF MANKIND.

Such men-men deserving the glorious title of Teachers of Mankind, I have found laboring conscientiously; though perhaps obscurely, in their blessed voca tion, wherever I have gone. God be thanked, their numbers every where abound, and are every day increasing. Their calling is high and holy; their fame is the property of nations; their renown will fill the earth in after ages, in proportion as it sounds not far off in their own times. Each one of these great teachers of the world, possessing his soul in peace-performs his appointed course-await ing in patience the fulfillment of the promises-resting from his labors, bequeathes his memory to the generations whom his works have blessed-and sleeps under the humble but not inglorious epitaph, commemorating one in whom mankind had a friend, and no man got rid of an enemy.-Address at Cor. ner Stone of Mechanics' Institute. Liverpool, 1825.

WILLIAM PITT.-TRAINING FOR PUBLIC SPEAKING.

THE Letters addressed by Lord Chatham to his son, William Pitt, have not been preserved, or, at least, are not published in the Correspondence of the former, or in the Life of the latter, by Earl Stanhope. In this Life, and in an address to the University of Glasgow on the training of an orator, Earl Stanhope remarks:

In 1803 my father, then Lord Mahon, had the high privilege, as a relative, of being for several weeks an inmate of Mr. Pitt's house, at Walmer Castle. Presuming on that familiar intercourse, he told me that he ventured on one occasion to ask Mr. Pitt by what means he had acquired his admirable readiness of speech-his aptness of finding the right word without pause or hesitation. Mr. Pitt replied, that whatever readiness he might be thought to possess in that respect, was, he believed, greatly owing to a practice which his father had impressed upon him. Lord Chatham had bid him take up any book in some foreign language with which he was well acquainted, in Latin or Greek especially. Lord Chatham then enjoined him to read out of this work a passage in English, stopping when he was not sure of the word to be used in English, until the right word came to his mind, and then proceed. Mr. Pitt said that he had assiduously followed this practice. We may conclude that, at first, he had often to stop for awhile before he could recollect the proper word, but that he found the difficulties gradually disappear, until what was a toil to him at first became at last an easy and familiar task.

To an orator, the charm of voice is of very far more importance than mere readers of speeches would find it easy to believe. I have known several speakers in whom that one advantage seemed almost to supply the place of every other. The tones of William Pitt were by nature sonorous and clear; and the further art, how to manage and modulate his voice to the best advantage, was instilled into him by his father with exquisite skill. Lord Chatham himself was preeminent in that art, as also in the graces of action, insomuch that these accomplishments have been sometimes imputed to him as a fault. In a passage of Horace Walpole, written with the manifest desire to disparage him, we find him compared to Garrick.

To train his son in sonorous elocution, Lord Chatham caused him to recite, day by day in his presence, passages from the best English poets. The two poets most commonly selected for this purpose were Shakspeare and Milton, and Mr. Pitt continued through life familiar with both. There is another fact which Lord Macaulay has recorded from tradition, and which I also remember to have heard: "The debate in Pandemonium was, as it well deserved to be, one of his favorite passages; and his early friends used to talk, long after his death, of the just emphasis and melodious cadence with which they had heard him recite the incomparable speech of Belial."

But whatever the studies of Pitt, whether in the ancient languages or in his own, the aim of public speaking was kept steadily in view. He continued with Mr. Pretyman the same practice of extemporaneous translation which, with his father, he had commenced. We further learn from his preceptor that "when alone he dwelt for hours upon striking passages of an orator or historian, in noticing their turn of expression, and marking their manner of arranging a narrative. A few pages sometimes occupied a whole morning. It was a favorite employment with him to compare opposite speeches upon the same subject, and to observe how each speaker managed his own side of the question. The authors whom he preferred for this purpose were Livy,

Thucydides, and Sallust. Upon these occasions, his observations were not unfrequently committed to paper, and furnished a topic of conversation with me at our next meeting. He was also in the habit of copying any eloquent sentence, or beautiful or forcible expression which occurred in his reading." According to the unanimous assurance of those who knew him well, Mr. Pitt (the son) did not prepare the structure or the wording of his sentences, far less write them down beforehand. His own manuscript notes were very brief, and mainly confined to figures, to aid him in his financial statements.

CICERO.-PROFESSIONAL AND ORATORICAL TRAINING.

The following autobiographical account of Cicero's training for eloquence, both forensic and deliberative, is taken from his Treatise de Claris Oratoribus, entitled 'Brutus:'

When I became acquainted with the Roman Forum, Hortensius was at the height of his reputation, Crassus was dead, Cotta had been banished, and judicial proceedings were suspended in consequence of the war. Hortensius was in the army, performing his term of service, according to the Roman discipline, one year as a common soldier, another as a military tribune. Sulpicius was absent, as was also M. Antony. Trials were conducted under the Varian law alone, as there was occasion for no other, by reason of the war. L. Memmius and Q. Pompey were habitually present, and spoke as their manner was. They were not distinguished in their profession; but still they are honored with the title of orators by the eloquent Philip, according to whose testimony their speaking had the vehemence and fluency which belongs to the style of accusation.

The other most celebrated orators of the time were in office, and I had almost daily opportunities of hearing them speak in public. For C. Curio was then tribune of the people,-he, however, was not in the habit of speaking, since he had, on one occasion, been deserted by the whole assembly,-Q. Metellus Celer was not distinguished, but spoke occasionally. Q. Varius, C. Carbo, and Cn. Pomponius were distinguished orators, and may almost be said to have lived in the Forum. C. Julius, also, Curule Edile, almost daily delivered speeches in a very accurate style. As I had been extremely desirous to hear Cotta, I regretted his banishment; still I attended on the speaking of the other orators with great zeal. In the meantime, I was not satisfied with hearing oratorical performances only, but passed no day without reading, writing, and meditation. The next year, Q. Varius was condemned to banishment under his own law. Moreover, I attended diligently to the study of the civil law under Q. Scævola, who, though he did not give formal instruction on the subject, yet permitted such as were desirous of learning to attend his consultations, and learn what they could in that way. The year succeeding, Sylla and Pompey were elected consuls, and P. Sulpicius tribune. With the oratorical style of the latter, I became intimately acquainted, as he spoke daily in some cause or other.

About the same time, Philo, the head of the Academy, and some of the principal men of Athens, left that city and came to Rome, being driven away by the Mithridatic war. To his instructions I devoted myself with the greatest ardor, not only because I was enthusiastically fond of philosophy itself, and delighted with the variety and importance of the subjects with which it made me acquainted, but because I was impressed with the belief that the whole judicial system was abolished forever. During this year, Sulpicius died. The next, three of the most distinguished orators, Q. Catulus, M. Antony, and C. Julius, were most cruelly put to death. This same year I also took lessons at Rome, of Molo, the Rhodian, who was both an eminent pleader at the bar and skilful teacher of rhetoric. Although this account of my studies may seem irrelevant to the object of this treatise, yet I have given it that you, Brutus (as it is already known to Atticus), might have your wish gratified, of being made perfectly acquainted with the course I have pursued, and that you might likewise see how closely I have followed the footsteps of Hortensius throughout the whole of it. For almost three years after this, the city was free from any disturbance; but by reason either of the death, or departure, or banishment of the public speakers (for even M. Crassus and the two Lentuli were not at Rome), Hortensius took the lead in pleading causes: the reputation, however, of Antistius daily increased; Piso spoke frequently; Pomponius not so often; Carbo seldom; Philip once or twice only.

During this whole eriod, I was engaged, night and day, in the assiduous study of every branch of knowledge. I used to be with Diodotus, the Stoic, who died lately at my house, where he had long resided. From him I learned, among other things, the principles of dialectics, which deserves to be considered as a more contracted and circumscribed eloquence, and without which you, too, Brutus, have judged it impossible to attain to that higher kind of eloquence which is regarded as only a diffusive or expanded dialectics. To this teacher, and to the various branches of knowledge he professed, I devoted myself; but not so exclusively as not to continue my oratorical exercises regularly every day. I studied and declaimed together, often with M. Piso and Q. Pompey, or with somebody else, sometimes in Latin, but more frequently in Greek, both because the Greek being richer in oratorical embellishments, naturally led to the same perfection in the use of the Latin language, and because I could not be instructed, nor have my errors corrected by Greek masters, unless I spoke Greek. In the meantime came the tumult about re-establishing the commonwealth, and the cruel deaths of Scævola, Carbo, Antistius; the return of Cotta, Curio, Crassus, the Lentuli, Pompey; law and judicature restored; the republic recovered; out of the number of orators, however, three perished-Pomponius, Censorinus, Murena. Then, for the first time, we began to be concerned in causes, both private and public; not to learn our business in the Forum, as many do, but that, as far as possible, we might go into it ready prepared. At the same time, we studied once more under Molo, who had come as ambassador to the Senate, touching the rewards of the Rhodians. Thus it was that our first speech in a public (or criminal) cause, that, namely, for Sextus Roscius, was so highly commended, that no undertaking of the kind was thought beyond our talents; and from that time forward we appeared in many others, in which we prepared ourselves elaborately, and even by midnight studies.

And since it is your wish to know me, not by a few prominent marks, but by a full-length portrait, I shall include some things in this account of myself which may, perhaps, seem to be of minor importance. I was, at that time, remarkably spare and feeble of body; with a long, attenuated neck, and, altogether, such a frame and constitution as is thought to make any extraordinary exertion of the lungs imminently dangerous. The concern of those to whom I was dear was so much the more increased, that I spoke always, without the least remission or variety, with my voice stretched to the utmost pitch, and my whole body laboring and agitated. So that my friends and the physicians advised me to abandon all idea of the Forum; but I thought it better to encounter any peril, than renounce the pursuit of that glory which I believed to be within my reach. And thinking that, by altering my manner of speaking, and modulating my voice with greater skill, I should at once avoid all danger, and improve my elocution,-with a view of effecting such a change, I determined to go to Asia. So, after having been engaged in practice as an advocate for two years, and when my name was now become celebrated in the Forum, I left Rome. At Athens, I staid six months, attending the prælections of Antiochus, the most renowned and able philosopher of the old Academy, and thus renewed, under the directions of a great master, the study of philosophy, which I had cultivated from my earliest youth, and progressively improved myself in ever since. At the same time, I used sedulously to practice speaking under Demetrius, the Syrian, an old and not undistinguished professor of the art. Afterwards, I traveled all over Asia, taking lessons of the greatest orators, with whom I exercised myself in the same way, by their own invitation. Of these, the most distinguished was Menippus of Stratonice; in my opinion, the best speaker of that day in all Asia; and, if to be entirely free from affectation and impertinences of all sorts (nihil habere molestiarum nec ineptiarum) is to be, Attic, none was more so than this orator. Dionysius, also, was continually with me; as were Eschylus, the Cnidian, and Xenocles, of Adramyttium. These were then reckoned the principal speakers of Asia. But, not satisfied with their assistance, I went to Rhodes, and applied myself to the same Molo whom I had heard at Rome; who, whilst he was himself distinguished in the management of causes, and a writer of eminence, was the severest of critics in detecting and censuring any fault, and very able in the business of elementary instruction. He took par ticular pains (I will not say with what success) to prune away my style, which was redundant, and rioted in a sort of youthful luxuriance and licentiousness, and to keep it, so to express myself, within its banks. So that I returned, at the end of two years, not only better disciplined and practiced, but quite changed; for I had acquired a proper control of my voice, and what may be called the effervescence of my oratory had passed off, my lungs had gathered

strength, and my whole constitution some small degree of vigor and consistency.

There were two orators, at that time preeminent, to excite my emulation,Cotta and Hortensius: the former, pleasant and equable, expressing himself with great propriety, and with a careless ease and freedom; the other, ornate, animated, and not as you knew him, Brutus, when he was on the wane, but much more vehement, both in style and delivery. I, therefore, supposed that Hortensius was to be my principal rival, both as I resembled him more by the animation of my manner, and was nearer to him in age; and, besides that, in the most important causes the leading part was always conceded to him by Cotta himself; for a concourse of people, and the tumult of the Forum, require an impassioned and ardent speaker, with a musical voice, and an impressive and rather dramatic manner. In the course of the first year after my return from Asia, I pleaded several important causes whilst I was suing for the Quæstorship, Cotta for the Consulship, and Hortensius for the place of Edile. The next year I passed in Sicily; Cotta, after his Consulship, went to Gaul; Hortensius was, and was reputed to be, first at the bar. When I came back from Sicily, my talent (whatever it was) seemed to have attained to its full maturity and perfection. I fear I am dwelling too long upon these things, especially as they concern myself; but my object in all that I have said, is not to make a boast of any genius and eloquence, which I am far from pretending to, but to show you what my labor and industry have been. After having been employed, then, for five years, in the most important causes, and among the leading advocates, I was fairly matched with Hortensius in the impeachment of Verres, just after he had been elected Consul, and I Ædile. But, as this conversation, besides a bare recital of facts, calls for some ideas upon the art, I will briefly state what I think was most remarkable in Hortensius. After his consulship (probably because he had no competitor among the Consulars, and he did not care about those who had not been Consuls), he relaxed from that application and study which had been so intense in him from his childhood, and, surrounded with the good things of life, he determined to live more happily, as he reckoned it, more at his ease, certainly, The first, and second, and third year, the coloring of his eloquence, like that of an old picture, began gradually to fade, so gradually, however, that an unpracticed eye could not detect the change, although connoisseurs might. As he grew older, he seemed to fall off every day, as in other respects, so particularly in the command of language. While, on the other hand, I did not for a moment neglect, by every sort of exercise, but, especially, by writing a great deal, to increase the talent, whatever it was, that I possessed in that way. Meanwhile (to omit other things), in the election of Prætors, I stood at the head of the college by a very large majority; for, not only by my industry and assiduity in the management of causes, but also by a more exquisite and an uncommon style of speaking, I had forcibly drawn the attention of men toward me. I will say nothing of myself. I shall confine myself to the rest of our public speakers, among whom there was none who seemed to have cultivated more thoroughly than other people, those literary studies in which the fountains of eloquence are contained; none who had made himself master of philosophy, mother both of good words and actions; none who was sufficiently versed in the civil law, a knowledge of which is so essential to an orator, especially in private causes; none who was so familiar with the Roman history, as to be able to call witnesses of high authority from the dead whenever need were; none who, when he had fairly caught his adversary in his toils, could relax the minds of the judges, and divert them for awhile from the severity of their character and situation, to mirth and laughter; none who could expatiate at large, and introduce into the discussion of a particular case, general views and universal principles; none who, to amuse an audience, could digress from the subject in hand, who could inflame their minds with anger, or melt them to tears,-none, in short, who possessed that control over the human soul, which is the peculiar privilege of the orator.

Eloquence Defined.

Truc eloquence I find to be none but the serious and hearty law of truth, and that whose mind soever is fully possessed with a fervent desire to know good things, and with the dearest charity to infuse the knowledge of them into others. When such a man would speak, his words, by what I can express, like so many nimble and airy servitors, trip about him at command, and in well-ordered files, as he would wish, fall aptly into their own places.-MILTON.

True eloquence, indeed, does not consist in speech. It must exist in the man, in the subject, and in the occasion.-WEBSTER.