[150] "Encheiridion," sect. xvii. Dobson.
[151] Want of merit. _Cf._ "The Lying Lover," act ii.: "'Tis my own
indesert that gives me fears."
[152] England.
[153] Robert Hunter, a friend of Addison and Swift, was appointed
Lieutenant-Governor of Virginia in 1707, but was taken by the French
in his voyage thither. Having been exchanged for the French Bishop
of Quebec, he was appointed Governor of New York, and in 1710 took
charge of 2700 Protestant refugees from the Palatinate, who were to
settle there. During his government of New York, he was directed by her
Majesty to provide subsistence for about 3000 palatines sent from Great
Britain to be employed in raising and manufacturing naval stores; and
by 1734 he had disbursed _£21,000_ and upwards in that undertaking, no
part of which was ever repaid. He returned to England in 1719; and,
after being made Major-General, he was appointed Governor of Jamaica in
1729. He died March 31, 1734, and was buried in that island.
[154] "Æneid," vi. 853.
[155] Don Diego de Miranda. See "Don Quixote," Part II., chaps. xvii.,
xviii.
[156] The battle of Malplaquet.
No. 70. [STEELE.
From _Saturday, Sept. 17_, to _Tuesday, Sept. 20, 1709_.
Quicquid agunt homines ... nostri farrago libelli.
JUV., Sat. i. 85, 86.
_From my own Apartment, Sept. 19._
The following letter,[158] in prosecution of what I have lately
asserted, has urged that matter so much better than I had, that I
insert it as I received it. These testimonials are customary with us
learned men, and sometimes are suspected to be written by the author;
but I fear no one will suspect me of this.
"SIR,
_London, Sept. 15, 1709._
"Having read your lucubrations of the 10th instant,[159] I can't
but entirely agree with you in your notions of the scarcity of
men who can either read or speak. For my part, I have lived these
thirty years in the world, and yet have observed but a very few
who could do either in any tolerable manner; among which few,
you must understand that I reckon myself. How far eloquence,
set off with the proper ornaments of voice and gesture, will
prevail over the passions, and how cold and unaffecting the
best oration in the world would be without them, there are two
remarkable instances in the case of Ligarius and that of Milo.
Cæsar had condemned Ligarius. He came indeed to hear what might
be said; but thinking himself his own master, resolved not to be
biassed by anything Cicero could say in his behalf: but in this
he was mistaken; for when the orator began to speak, the hero is
moved, he is vanquished, and at length the criminal absolved. It
must be observed, that this famous orator was less renowned for
his courage than his eloquence; for though he came at another
time, prepared to defend Milo with one of the best orations that
antiquity has produced; yet being seized with a sudden fear by
seeing some armed men surrounding the Forum, he faltered in his
speech, and became unable to exert that irresistible force and
beauty of action which would have saved his client, and for want
of which he was condemned to banishment. As the success the former
of these orations met with, appears chiefly owing to the life and
graceful manner with which it was recited (for some there are who
think it may be read without transport), so the latter seems to
have failed of success for no other reason, but because the orator
was not in a condition to set it off with those ornaments. It
must be confessed, that artful sound will with the crowd prevail
even more than sense; but those who are masters of both, will
ever gain the admiration of all their hearers: and there is, I
think, a very natural account to be given of this matter; for the
sensation of the head and heart are caused in each of these parts
by the outward organs of the eye and ear: that therefore which is
conveyed to the understanding and passions by only one of these
organs, will not affect us so much as that which is transmitted
through both.[160] I can't but think your charge is just against
a great part of the learned clergy of Great Britain, who deliver
the most excellent discourses with such coldness and indifference,
that it is no great wonder the unintelligent many of their
congregations fall asleep. Thus it happens that their orations
meet with a quite contrary fate to that of Demosthenes you
mentioned; for as that lost much of its beauty and force by being
repeated to the magistrates of Rhodes without the winning action
of that great orator, so the performances of these gentlemen never
appear with so little grace, and to so much disadvantage, as when
delivered by themselves from the pulpit. Hippocrates being sent
for to a patient in this city, and having felt his pulse, inquired
into the symptoms of his distemper, and finding that it proceeded
in great measure from want of sleep, advises his patient, with
an air of gravity, to be carried to church to hear a sermon, not
doubting but that it would dispose him for the rest he wanted.
If some of the rules Horace gives for the theatre, were (not
improperly) applied to our pulpits, we should not hear a sermon
prescribed as a good opiate.
"----_Si vis me flere, dolendum est
Primum ipsi tibi_----[161]
"A man must himself express some concern and affection in
delivering his discourse, if he expects his auditory should
interest themselves in what he proposes: for otherwise,
notwithstanding the dignity and importance of the subject he
treats of, notwithstanding the weight and argument of the
discourse itself, yet too many will say,
"----_Male si mandata loqueris,
Aut dormitabo, aut ridebo._----[162]
"If there be a deficiency in the speaker, there will not be
a sufficient attention and regard paid to the things spoken:
but, Mr. Bickerstaff, you know, that as too little action is
cold, so too much is fulsome. Some indeed may think themselves
accomplished speakers, for no other reason than because they can
be loud and noisy (for surely Stentor[163] must have some design
in his vociferations). But, dear Mr. Bickerstaff, convince them,
that as harsh and irregular sound is not harmony, so neither is
banging a cushion, oratory; and therefore, in my humble opinion,
a certain divine[164] of the first order, whom I allow otherwise
to be a great man, would do well to leave this off; for I think
his sermons would be more persuasive if he gave his auditory
less disturbance. Though I cannot say that this action would be
wholly improper to a profane oration, yet I think, in a religious
assembly, it gives a man too warlike, or perhaps too theatrical a
figure to be suitable to a Christian congregation. I am,
"Sir,
Your humble Servant, &c."
The most learned and ingenious Mr. Rosehat is also pleased to write to
me on this subject.
/# "SIR,
"I read with great pleasure in the _Tatler_ of Saturday last the
conversation upon eloquence. Permit me to hint to you one thing
the great Roman orator observes upon this subject, 'Caput enim
arbitrabatur oratoris' (he quotes Menedemus, an Athenian), 'ut
ipsis apud quos ageret talis qualem ipse optaret videretur, id
fieri vitæ dignitate.[165] It is the first rule in oratory, that a
man must appear such as he would persuade others to be, and that
can be accomplished only by the force of his life. I believe it
might be of great service to let our public orators know, that
an unnatural gravity, or an unbecoming levity in their behaviour
out of the pulpit, will take very much from the force of their
eloquence in it. Excuse another scrap of Latin; it is from one of
the Fathers: I think it will appear a just observation to all,
as it may have authority with some: 'Qui autem docent tantum,
nec faciunt, ipsi præceptis suis detrahunt pondus; quis enim
obtemperet, quum ipsi præceptores doceant non obtemperare?' I am,
"Sir,
Your most humble Servant,
JONATHAN ROSEHAT.
"_P.S._--You were complaining in that paper, that the clergy of
Great Britain had not yet learned to speak: a very great defect
indeed; and therefore I shall think myself a well-deserver of
the Church, in recommending all the dumb clergy to the famous
speaking doctor at Kensington.[166] This ingenious gentleman,
out of compassion to those of a bad utterance, has placed his
whole study in the new modelling the organs of voice, which art
he has so far advanced, as to be able even to make a good orator
of a pair of bellows. He lately exhibited a specimen of his skill
in this way, of which I was informed by the worthy gentlemen
then present, who were at once delighted and amazed to hear an
instrument of so simple an organisation use an exact articulation
of words, a just cadency in its sentences, and a wonderful pathos
in its pronunciation; not that he designs to expatiate in this
practice, because he cannot (as he says) apprehend what use it may
be of to mankind, whose benefit he aims at in a more particular
manner: and for the same reason he will never more instruct the
feathered kind, the parrot having been his last scholar in that
way. He has a wonderful faculty in making and mending echoes, and
this he will perform at any time for the use of the solitary in
the country, being a man born for universal good, and for that
reason recommended to your patronage by, Sir, Yours, &c." #/
Another learned gentleman gives me also this encomium:
"SIR,
_September 16._
"You are now got into a useful and noble subject; take care to
handle it with judgment and delicacy. I wish every young divine
would give yours of Saturday last a serious perusal; and now you
are entered upon the action of an orator, if you would proceed to
favour the world with some remarks on the mystical enchantments
of pronunciation, what a secret force there is in the accents of
a tunable voice, and wherefore the works of two very great men of
the profession could never please so well when read as heard, I
shall trouble you with no more scribble. You are now in the method
of being truly profitable and delightful. If you can keep up to
such great and sublime subjects, and pursue them with a suitable
genius, go on and prosper. Farewell."
_White's Chocolate-house, Sept. 19._
This was left for me here for the use of the company of the house.
"_To_ ISAAC BICKERSTAFF, Esq.
"SIR,
_September 15._
"The account you gave lately of a certain dog-kennel or near
Suffolk Street,[167] was not so punctual as to the list of
the dogs as might have been expected from a person of Mr.
Bickerstaff's intelligence; for if you'll despatch Pacolet thither
some evening, it is ten to one but he finds, besides those you
mentioned, "Towzer, a large French mongrel, that was not long ago
in a tattered condition, but has now got new hair; is not fleet;
but when he grapples, bites even to the marrow.
"Spring, a little French greyhound, that lately made a false trip
to Tunbridge.
"Sly, an old battered foxhound, that began the game in France.
"Lightfoot, a fine-skinned Flanders dog, that belonged to a pack
at Ghent; but having lost flesh, is come to Paris for the benefit
of the air.
"With several others, that in time may be worth notice.
"Your familiar will see also, how anxious the keepers are about
the prey, and indeed not without very good reason, for they have
their share of everything; nay, not so much as a poor rabbit can
be run down, but these carnivorous curs swallow a quarter of it.
Some mechanics in the neighbourhood, that have entered into this
civil society (and who furnish part of the carrion and oatmeal
for the dogs) have the skin; and the bones are picked clean by a
little French shock that belongs to the family, &c. I am,
"Sir,
Your humble Servant, &c.
"I had almost forgotten to tell you, that Ringwood bites at
Hampstead with false teeth."[168] #/