LIFE OF ARCHBISHOP SHARP. 35 



that it is hard to know whether the success he 

 had in influencing the affections, be the effect 

 of his art in the arrangement of his matter, and 

 force of his expressions ; or whether his argu- 

 ments make their own address to the passions, 

 without being beholden to his skill and conduct, 

 for any adventitious recommendation. He had 

 withal an unusual pathos in his delivery, won- 

 derfully instrumental in exciting and preserving 

 attention, and captivating the mind. He had 

 naturally no ear for music ; and yet there was 

 something very engaging and harmonious in his 

 elocution, owing to the regularity and justness 

 of his cadences, and the happy accommodation 

 of the tone of his voice to the subject matter of 

 which he was speaking, together with an ob- 

 servance of swift or slow measures of utterance, 

 as best suited the teMure of his expressions, or 

 best served to enliven the sentiments he intended 

 to convey : so that, indeed, those discourses 

 which are published to the world, are only, as it 

 were, the dead letter, in comparison of what 

 they appeared under the persuasive power of 

 his delivery, and want that quickening spirit 

 that gave such life and inimitable beauty to 

 them in the mouth of their author. In short, 

 the advantages he gave to his own performances 

 were so remarkable, that it was his distinguish- 

 ing character among the London Divines, to 



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