I 



On the Nature and Utility of Eloquence. 323 



great, there are at bottom certain leading prin- 

 ciples, certain mafter-paflions and prevailing pre- 

 judices that all men have in common, which 

 form the character of the fpecies, and greatly 

 overbalance all accidental and acquired differ- 

 ences. Variety of charafter is undoubtedly one of 

 the chara6leriftics of man, but fimilarity is a 

 more important one. We all both refemble and 

 differ from each other, in countenance and form, 

 as well as in the turn and quality of our minds. 

 Juft fo it is in the art of eloquence ; the 

 kinds are as various as the kinds of men, 

 and yet all arife from a few fixed and invariable 

 principles, and no other forms of fpeech can de-^ 

 ferve the names which Leland has given them, 

 but fuch as are addreffed to thofe qualities in 

 human nature, which every perfect individual of 

 the fpecies is found to poffefs. Such qualities 

 there undoubtedly are, and fo far as we are all 

 alike, fo far are the rules of eloquence invari- 

 able, fo far muft a fpeaker's addreffes to our un- 

 derftandings and tempers, be in all cafes the 

 fame. In what fituation, or at what feafon, 

 would it be wrong that the ftyle fhould be pro- 

 portioned to the fubjedt, fhould be perfpicuous 

 in explanation, accurate in reafoning, decorated 

 in giving delight, or animated in exciting paf- 

 fion ? That the opening of a fpeech fliould not 

 betray infolence or conceit ; that the narration 

 Y 3. fhould 



