( '26 ) 
Hitherto, you know, we have been fpeak- 
ing of what are called Tropes, which Rheto- 
ricians diftinguifhed from Figures: by thefe 
they underftood the mode of improving or 
adorning common language, not only by an 
artful application of words, but of entire 
fentences. Thefe figures are fo numerous, 
frequently fo infignificant, fo puerile, and 
fo confounded with their Tropes, that they 
are not worth remembering. 
I fhall finifti my long epiftle with what I 
conceive to be the belt method of acquiring 
that moft defirable of all human accom- 
plifliments, proper, graceful, and perfuafive 
elocution. I fay the moft defirable, becaufe 
the moft brilliant, and effectual, whether 
our purfuit be power or emolument -, and I 
dwell upon this aiTertion, becaufe it is im- 
poflible to infpire a young mind with that 
degree of enthufiafm neceflary to the attain^ 
jnent of a difficult objecl, if he be not pre- 
vioufly convinced of its importance. 
Young men who are intended for the 
pulpit, erroneoufly imagine, that if they can 
read a chapter in the Bible without ftum- 
bling, they are fufficiently qualified for the 
priefthood: "they learnt to read Englifh 
before they were fent to a grammar- fchool; 
11 from 
