RHETORIC. 
ence, in size, in swiftness, and especially in 
independence of foreign aid. Guided by 
instinct, they soon learn by its instructions 
to walk, to feed themselves, and to swim. 
Their protection against the cold, and their 
weapons of defence, are provided for them 
by nature. But what pains and labour 
does it cost man to procure all these things. 
Re2ison is our inheritance, and seems to 
associate us to immortal beings. But how 
feeble would reason be were it not for the 
faculty of expressing our thoughts by speech, 
which is the faithful interpreter of reason. 
This is what is wanting to the inferior ani- 
mals much more than understanding, of 
which it cannot be justly said that they are 
absolutely destitute. If then we have re- 
ceived nothing from the Deity better than 
the use of speech, what is there which we 
ought to cultivate with greater industry ? 
What object is more worthy of our ambi- 
tion than that of rising above other men 
by that faculty, which alone raises them 
above the level of the brutes.” 
A still greater dignity will attach to the 
acquirement of eloquence, and consequently 
to the science of rhetoric, if it be consider- 
ed that eloquence and freedom go hand in 
hand. It is in free states, and under popu- 
lar governments alone, that oratory can 
flourish. When the people are appealed to 
on the subject of state affairs; when political 
measures are to be enforced by the en- 
lightening of their Judgment, or by the ex- 
citement of their passions, the greatest ta- 
lents are exercised in studying the art of 
persuasion, and the result is found in the 
most wonderful efforts of human ability. 
But when brute force predominates, and 
the people bow beneath the yoke of tyran- 
ny, the voice of reason is stilled, and elo- 
quence is mute. 
The ancient rhetoricians distinguish ora- 
torical composition into three species ; viz. 
the demonstrative, the deliberative, and tlie 
judicial. 
The first of those species is chiefly con- 
versant in bestowing praise or blame, and 
comprehends in its definition the panegyric 
and the funeral eulogy, whieh were so much 
in use among the ancients. In the former 
class may be enumerated Isocrates’s Pane- 
gyric on Evagoras King of Salamis, Cicero’s 
Oration on the pardoning of Marcellus, his 
Philippics against Mark Antony, and Pliny’s 
Panegyric on Trajan. Of the latter, speci- 
mens may be found in the funeral orations 
composed by Thucydides and Plato to 
commemorate the virtues of the Athenians 
who fell at the commencement of the Pelow 
ponnesian war. Nor have the moderns 
been wanting in excellent specimens of this 
species of eloquence. The funeral dis- 
courses of the most celebrated French and 
English preachers, the eloges pronounced, 
upon eminent men before the French Aca- 
demy, the generality of modern pulpit com- 
positions, and the occasional commendatory 
or vituperative speeches which have at va- 
rious times been uttered in the British Par- 
liament, will afford rich subjects of study to 
him who wishes to become acquainted with 
the principles of demonstrative eloquence. 
Deliberative eloquence • comprehends a 
most extensive field, embracing as its ob- 
ject the whole extent of public affairs; 
such, for instance, as war and peace, politi- 
cal negociations, domestic interests, foreign 
alliances, the regulation of trade and com- 
merce, and in general all matters connected 
with legislation and government. This spe- 
cies of eloquence cannot be cultivated in 
any other than a free state. The will of an 
arbitrary monarch supersedes its use, or 
terrifies it to silence. It is therefore to the 
“ high and palmy state” of Athens and of 
Rome that we must look for its energies 
as exhibited in ancient times, and we shall 
find its proudest memorials in the works of 
Demosthenes and Cicero. In more modern 
times it has, by the operation of political 
causes, been almost exclusively confined to 
the limits of our owui island-. And whilst 
the parliamentary speeches of Chatham, of 
Burke, of Fox, and of Pitt, remain upon 
record, Britain may dispute the meed of 
deliberative eloquence with either of the 
haughty republics of antiquity. 
Judicial eloquence comprehends in its 
purview the whole extent of Judicial pro- 
ceedings, both civil and criminal ; that is to 
say, the attack and defence of persons and 
of property. In ancient times the business 
of Judicial pleading was not confined to one 
class of men. The Roman orator was at 
all times ready to impeach a state criminal, 
or to plead in defence of the life, the honour, 
or tlie fortune of his friend. These were 
the illustrious days of forensic eloquence, 
when the first characters of the republic 
displayed their abilities at the bar ; when 
Cicero and Hortensius, in amicable rivalry, 
gave full scope to their superlative talents.' 
But degraded as the profession of an advo- 
cate is now in some respects acknowledged 
to be, yet in the proceedings of a British 
court of Justice, there have for a long series 
of year’s been evinced proofs of the most 
