310 Oft the Nature and Utility of Eloquence. 



at leaft, if not highly dangerous ; nay, fomc 

 men have very dexteroufly and fuccefsfully 

 ufed the art itfelf to decry its innportance, and 

 vilify its tendency*. ^od fit indignifftmumy 

 fays Quintilian, in accufationem orationiSy utuntur 

 orandi viribus f . 



" It is evident," fays Mr. Locke, " how 

 ** men love to deceive, and be deceived, 

 *' fince rhetoric, that powerful inftrument of 

 " error and deceit, has its eftabliflied pro- 

 " feffors, is publicly taught, and has always 

 " been had in great reputation ;};." What 

 ** is the end of eloquence," fays Warbur- 

 ton in the chapter already referred to, " but 

 *' to ftifle reafon, and inflame the paffions ?" 

 The prejudices of Mr. Locke were undoubtedly 

 honeft, but they plainly fhow that he miftook 

 the abufe of the art for the art itfelf; and hap- 

 pily for mankind, my Lord Bacon's obferva- 

 tion is true II : " No man can well fpeak fair of 

 " things fordid and bafe, but in things honeft 



* The inftances of this felf-condemning cenfure are very 

 numerous, but there are few examples of it fo remarkable, 

 or fo entertaining, as a long paffage in Plato's Gorgias, 

 and another in the ninth chapter of Warburton's Doftrine 

 of Grace. 



t Lib. II. cap. 15. 



X ElTay on Human Underftanding, book III. ch. 10. 



II De rebus fordidis, et indignis non poffe quempiam 

 pulchre loqui, at de rebus honeftis facillime. De Augm. 

 Sclent, lib. VI. cap. 3. 



"it 



