of a great affinity they bear to the springs and movements of our souls, or by their own superlative lustre, always outshine the adjacent figures, whose art they shadow, and whose appearance they cover, in a veil of superior beauties."

To the above account of the figures of rhetoric, and of their judicious use, it may seem necessary to add some directions respecting the arrangement of words, with a view to harmony, or the agreeable combination of sounds. But we are relieved from the trouble of any long details on this head, as, in the English language, our words must follow one another in the natural order of our ideas; and a knowledge of the few inversions allowable either in poetry or prose is easily required without rules. The ear also, improved by reading our best poets and orators, will be a sufficiently accurate guide in the choice of sounds and the harmonious structure of sentences. But we must never sacrifice sense to sound, nor must we introduce any superfluous or unmeaning expression, merely to fill up the chasms in a period, or to give it a smoother flow, and a more tuneful cadence.

The degree of exactness to which the ancients reduced the modulation, as it may be termed, of their prose, as well as of their poetry, is indeed astonishing. Several books were written on the subject by DEMETRIUS PHALAREUS, DIONYSIUS HALICARNASSENSIS, CICERO, QUINTILIAN, and LONGINUS. Dr. SMITH, in his notes on the latter, takes occasion to observe, that the free language, which we use, will not endure such refined regulation, for fear of encumbrance and restraint. Harmony, indeed, it is capable of to a high degree, yet such as flows not from precepts, but from the genius and judgment of composers. A good ear, he adds, is worth a thousand rules, since, with it, the periods will be rounded and sweetened; and, without it, all endeavours will be vain and ineffectual.

But though the rules of harmony, laid down with so much care and minuteness by those celebrated Greek and Roman critics, would be of very little service to the English orator, we cannot so rapidly pass over their valuable instruction on a variety of other important topics. Among these, we have now to notice CICERO's remarks on Style, which hold good in every language, and cannot be too often repeated, or too earnestly inculcated in the study of eloquence. By Style is meant the manner, the tone, the color, the character, that prevails in a piece of composition, or in any part of it. There are three sorts of style, the simple, the middling, and the sublime. CICERO, in order to render his description of each of them more animated, has given us the portraits of three orators, one distinguished for simplicity and ease, the second for peaceful and unaspiring mediocrity, the third for copiousness, elevation, and energy; and has shewn how perfect eloquence results from the admirable combination of the three different powers. Let us view those finished models of excellence in regular succession.

As the simple and easy speaker imitates the language of common conversation, he differs from persons unskilled in eloquence rather in reality than in appearance. For this reason, those who hear him, though they know no more of the art of speaking than children, yet feel a confidence that they can express themselves in the same manner; and the unaffected simplicity of his language appears very imitable to an ignorant observer, though nothing will be found less so by him who makes the trial. For, if I may so express myself, though his veins are not over-stocked with blood, his juices must be sound and good; and though he is not possessed of any extraordinary strength, he must have a healthy constitution. For this purpose, we must first release him from the shackles of harmonious modulation; for there is, you know, a kind of modulation to be observed by an orator, which we shall treat

of in the sequel, but it is to be used in a different species of eloquence, not in the present. His language, therefore, must be free and unconfined, but not loose and irregular, that he may appear to walk at ease, without reeling or tottering. He will not be at the pains of making all his expressions exactly coalesce; for those breaks, which are made by a collision of vowels, have now and then an agreeable effect, and betray the far from unpleasing negligence of a man more solicitous about things than words. But though he is not to labor at a measured flow and a masterly arrangement of his words, he must be careful in other respects. For even those small and inconsiderable objects are not to be treated carelessly, but rather with a sort of designed negligence; for, as some females are more becoming in a dishabille, so this artless kind of eloquence has her charms, though she appears in an undress. There is something in both which renders them agreeable, without striking the eye. Here therefore all the glitter of ornament, like that of jewels and diamonds, must be laid aside; nor must we apply even the crisping iron to curl the hair; there must be no paint, no washes, no artificial white or red; but neatness and elegance must be our only aim. Our style must be pure and correct: we must speak with clearness and precision, and be always attentive to appear in character. There is one thing, however, which must never be omitted, and which is reckoned by THEOPHRASTUS to be one of the chief beauties of composition, I mean that sweet and flowing ornament, a plentiful intermixture of lively sentiments, which seem to result from a natural fund of good sense, and are particularly graceful in the orator we are now describing. But he will be very modest in using the stores of furniture of eloquence; for we have a kind of furniture belonging to us, which consists in the various ornaments both of our sentiments and language. The ornaments of language are two-fold: the one relates to words, as they stand

singly; and the other, as they are connected together. A single word is then said to be well chosen out of these which are proper and in common use, when it sounds agreeably, and is the best which could have been taken to express our meaning. Among borrowed and figurative words, or those which are not used in their literal sense, we may reckon the metaphor, the metonymy, and the rest of the tropes, as also compounded and new-made words, and such as are obsolete and out of date; but obsolete words should rather be considered as proper ones, with this only difference that we seldom make use of them. As to words in connection, these also may be considered as ornamental, when they have a certain gracefulness which would be destroyed by changing their order, though the meaning would still remain the same; but with regard to the ornaments of thought or sentiment, which lose nothing of their beauty by varying the position of the words, they are indeed very numerous, though only a few of them are remarkably striking.

The orator then, who is distinguished by the simplicity of his manner, always implying correctness and elegance, will be sparing in the use of new words, easy and modest in his metaphors, and very cautious in the use of words which are antiquated; and as to the other ornaments of language and sentiment, he will be equally plain and reserved. But, in the use of metaphors, he will perhaps take greater liberties, because they are frequently introduced in conversation, not only by well-bred men, but even by rustics and peasants; for we often hear say, that the vine shoots out its buds, that the fields are thirsty, the corn lively, and the grain rich and flourishing. Such expressions are indeed rather bold; but the resemblance between the metaphor and the object is either remarkably obvious, or when the latter has no proper name to express it, the metaphor is so far from appearing to be labored, that we seem to use it merely to explain our

meaning. This therefore is an ornament, in which our artless orator may indulge himself rather freely, yet not so openly as in the diffusive and lofty species of eloquence; for that indecorum which is best understood by comparing it with its opposite quality, will even here be visible, when a metaphor is too conspicuous, or when this simple and dispassionate sort of language is interrupted by a bold ornament, which would have been proper enough in a different kind of style.

As to that sort of ornament which regards the position of words, and embellishes it with those studied graces, which are considered by the Greeks as so many attitudes of language, and are therefore called figures, a name which is likewise extended to the flowers of sentiment, the orator before us will make use even of this, though with great caution and moderation. He will conduct himself as if he was setting out an entertainment; and while he carefully avoids a splendid magnificence, he will not only be plain and frugal, but neat and elegant, and make his choice accordingly, for there is a kind of genteel parsimony by which his character is distinguished from that of others. He will therefore avoid the more conspicuous ornaments above-mentioned, such as the contrasting or opposing of word to word,-concluding the several members of a sentence with the same cadence, or confining them to the same measure,-and all the studied prettinesses which are formed by the change of a letter, or an artful play of sound,-that, if possible, there may not be the slightest appearance or even suspicion of a design to please. As to those repetitions, which require an earnest and forcible exertion of the voice, these also would be equally out of character in this humble species of style; but he may use the other ornaments at his pleasure, provided he checks and interrupts the flow of his language, and softens it off by using familiar expressions, and such metaphors as are plain and obvious. Nay, even as to the