In the declamatory exercises of schools it would be expedient, likewise,
to move the passions and imagine the scene as a real one in life, and
it is the more important as there the part is performed rather of a
pleader against some person, than an advocate for some person. We
represent a person who has lost his children, or has been shipwrecked,
or is in danger of losing his life, but of what significance is it to
personate such characters, unless we also assume their real sentiments.
This nature, and these properties of the passions, I thought it
incumbent on me not to conceal from the reader, for I, myself, such as I
am, or have been (for I flatter myself that I have acquired some
reputation at the bar), have often been so affected that not only tears,
but even paleness, and grief, not unlike that which is real, have
betrayed my emotions.