124 



CEATOHY AST) ELOCUTION. 



THE PULPIT. 



A celebrated divine, who was re- 

 markable in the first period of his 

 ministry for a boisterous mode of 

 preaching, suddenly changed his 

 whole manner in the pulpit, and 

 adopted a mild and dispassioned 

 mode of delivery. One of his 

 brethren, observing it, inquired of 

 him what had induced him to make 

 the change. He answered, "When 

 I was young, I thought it was the 

 thunder that killed the people ; but 

 when I grew wiser, I discovered 

 that it was the lightning ; so I 

 determined in future to thunder less, 

 and lighten more. " 



EFFECT OF MANNER. 



"The Duke of Argyle," says 

 Lord Chesterfield, " though the 

 weakest reasoner, was the most 

 pleasing speaker I ever heard in my 

 life. He charmed, he warmed, he 

 forcibly ravished the audience ; not 

 by his matter, certainly, but by his 

 manner of delivering it. A most 

 genteel figure, a noble air, an har- 

 monious voice, an elegance of style, 

 and a strength of emphasis, con- 

 spired to make him the most af- 

 fecting, persuasive, and applauded 

 speaker I ever heard. I was capti- 

 vated like others ; but when I came 

 V home, and coolly considered what 

 he had said, stripped of all those 

 ornaments in which he had dressed 

 it, I often found the matter flimsy, 

 the arguments weak, and I was con- 

 vinced of the power of those adven- 

 titious concurring circumstances, 

 which it is ignorance of mankind 

 to call trifling." 



WHITEFIELD. 



Garrick said he would give a 



. hundred guineas if he could say 



Oh!"asWhitefielddid. 



EDMUND BURKE. 



The agitation produced by Burke's 

 speech at the trial of "Warren Has- 



tings was such that the whole audi- 

 nce appeared to have felt one 

 convulsive emotion ; and when ifc 

 was over, it was some time before 

 Mr. Fox could obtain a hearing. 

 Amidst the assemblage of concur- 

 ring praises, which this speech 

 excited, none was more remarkable 

 than the tribute of Mr. Hastings 

 himself. " For half an hour," said 

 that gentleman, " I looked up at 

 the orator in a reverie of wonder ; 

 and during that space I actually felt 

 myself the most culpable 'man on 

 earth." Had the sentiment con- 

 cluded here, our readers would not 

 believe that it was in the language 

 or manner of Mr. Hastings. " But," 

 continued he, " I recurred to my 

 own bosom, and there found a con- 

 sciousness which consoled me under 

 all I heard, and all I suffered." A 

 friend of Hastings' thus satirized 

 Burke on the occasion : 



" Oft have I wondered that on Irish 



ground 

 No venomous reptile ever ret was 



found ; 

 The secret stands revealed in nature's 



work 



She saved her venom TO CREATE A 

 BUKKE ! " 



SHERIDAN'S POTIONS. 

 In the year 1805, on the day 

 when the very animated debate 

 took place upon the celebrated 

 Tenth Eeport of the Commissioners 

 of Naval Inquiry, the attention of a 

 gentleman, who happened to enter 

 a coffee-house near the House of 

 Commons, was instantly fixed by an- 

 other gentleman, whom he observed 

 at one of the tables, with tea, and 

 pen, ink, and paper before him. 

 For some time the latter sat alter- 

 nately drinking tea and taking- 

 down memoranda, and then called 

 to the waiter to bring him some 

 brandy ; when to the observer's 

 great surprise, a half-pint tumbler- 

 full was brought. The gentleman 

 placed it by him, continuing a while 

 alternately to write and drink tea ; 



