States-here the general tendency in nearly every department, is towards eloquence and oratory. Not only the pulpit, the bar, and the senate, indicate it, but the conversation of daily life manifests it in a remarkable degree-and yet how rare with us is true eloquence, how almost unknown is an high order of elocution! But we have the tendency, and a strong one too, which needs only time, opportunity, and some cultivation, to produce a school of oratory of the purest and most commanding character. Where there is so much matériel, the elements must refine and chasten each other; and among a people, not only remarkably free, but whose climate favours constitutional ardour; whose laws and institutions bring for debate before popular assemblies, nearly every political measure; and finally, in a country where the remark of Pericles is more extensively verified than in any other ever known, viz: that 'he who has a formed judgment on any point, but yet cannot explain himself clearly to the people, might as well have never thought on the subject,' eloquence of the highest order must eventually find a home, and a correspondent elocution take an equally abiding and elevated rank. It is not our province to say in what eloquence consists-or how elocution is to be attained; we would incite the student to their cultivation, and his own mind and heart, with some instruction from books, &c. cannot fail to realize his aspirations.

The graces of eloquence and of oratory possess some charm for nearly every mind; but those who really have the chords that vibrate to the delicate touches of the orator, experience not merely a subdued gratification, but a positive delight, only to be compared with that felt by a refined musical ear, when listening to the accurate and chaste productions of a Handel or a Beethoven. There is music even in gesticulation; but that which is found in oral enunciation, often approximates very closely to the happiest combination of the harmony and melody of vocal or instrumental sounds, with the superadded advantage of receiving at the same time a perfect copy of the

* Vide post, Note 7 on this Title.

speaker's thoughts. How commanding is eloquence in the pulpit, the senate and the forum, and how lifeless and inefficient are the chastest productions of either of these classes of speakers, when destitute of the graces of gesture, the fine modulations of a well-tuned voice, the correct suppression of the expletives and minor words, and the bold relief of the words expressive of the emphatic idea! 'Any thing overdone is from the purpose' of public speaking, and to a sensitive ear and eye, is extremely offensive, and so of that which is underdone, or, in other words, of those speeches which are sluggishly delivered, without action of body, or even animation of eye and features. In such cases, the sentences, however pregnant with thought, still reach the mind as sounds void of ideas, or at least fail to produce their merited effect. Both of these classes of speakers, fatigue or disgust their audience, be their discourses in other respects ever so able. The one has set his diamonds in tinsel, the other has obscured their brightness with the oil of poppies.

This note might have been easily extended: the importance of its topic, and our strong desire to see forensic eloquence and oratory much more cultivated than they have been in our country, would have prompted us to a fuller inquiry, had we not been admonished that it is not within the scheme of our work, nor possible within its compass, to discuss with latitude the numerous subjects of importance, and of interest to the student of law.

(Note 2.) QUINCTILIAN'S INSTITUTES OF THE ORATOR. Marcus Fabius Quinctilianus was born at Calagurra in Spain, A.D. 42, and died about the year 124. At Rome he became a famous rhetorician, advocate, and critic, during the time of Domitian, who elevated him to the consular dignity. His 'Institutiones Oratoriæ' is among the most valuable of the works of the ancients that have reached us; and was among the earliest that claimed the notice of the typographical art. The entire work will be studied with no less interest than

improvement: but we claim special attention to the tenth and twelfth books; the former, as it abounds with the most valuable and interesting remarks on the Greek and Roman authors; and details of the literature of past ages: and the latter, as it is rich in topics of novelty and utility, proper to be read also in connexion with the subject of Professional Deportment, which forms the Ninth Division of our Course. Quinctilian, after having educated his orator in all the learning of his art, proceeds in this concluding book, to enforce the necessity of good morals, and prescribes some rules as essential to his certain and durable success. He ingeniously maintains that there can be no efficient eloquence, unless the speaker be an honest man;* points out the species of knowledge best calculated to improve the heart, and consequently to advance the orator's skill in the art of speaking; designates the particular dispositions of the mind which should be specially cultivated; speaks of the period in which the orator should commence his career; examines the difficult questions which arise as to the kind of causes which an orator is justified in advocating, and his conduct in their management; dwells on the matters which he should principally regard in studying his causes, and particularly those things which he should observe in pleading them; and concludes with some remarks on the various kinds of eloquence, and the adaptation of each species to the particular cause.

The student will sometimes find appended to this work an Essay De Oratoribus, sive de Causis Corrupta Eloquentiæ. It is, indeed, a masterly production, but is erroneously imputed, we think, to Quinctilian. It is more probable to be

The ancients, under the head of Rhetoric and Oratory, embraced many other topics than those which seem to enter into the modern idea of those terms, ethics, law, politics, grammar, and even music, being regarded as essentials; and the rhetoricians taught these various subjects, so that orators passed directly from their schools, to become engaged in the duties of the Forum. In conformity with the notion that music and eloquence are closely allied, and should be so considered at the present day, an Essay was published by Henry Upington, Esq. in the Philosophical Magazine of 1817, on the question, Whether music be necessary to the orator,-to what extent, and how most readily attainable!

the work of Tacitus; and, as such, Mr. Murphy, the elegant translator of his works, has also given a translation of this small treatise. The editions of Quinctilian's works have been very numerous, and many of them splendid. The first edition printed at Rome, in 1470, folio, is extremely magnificent. The Declamations, often added to the early editions, are undoubtedly not genuine; they, however, may have belonged to his age. The most celebrated editions are the following: 1. The Leyden edition of 1665, with notes by various learned critics, compiled by Schrevelius and Gronovius. 2. The Leyden edition of 1720, by Burmann, reprinted at Padua, in 1736, and at Paris in 1725, folio. 3. The Leipsic edition of 1798, superior to any of the preceding. 4. Lüneman's edition, Hanover, 1826. The Paris edition of 1556, now before us, contains the Declamationes, but not the dialogues De Oratoribus, &c. The English translations are by Guthrie, in 1756-two volumes, with able notes; and Patsall's, in 1774; which is decidedly preferable, and is the one we have recommended to the general student.

(Note 3.) CICERO DE ORATORE.-The rhetorical works of Cicero are entitled to great consideration, not only because he was deeply learned in all that the Greeks had written and done on the subject, but as he was himself the greatest of practised orators. They consist of, and are entitled,

I. DE INVENTIONE RHETORICE, written when he was bout twenty years of age. It at present consists of two books, two others being lost, as some suppose, though the learned German editor of his works, Schüts, regards the work as complete in its present form.

II. DIOLOGI TRES DE ORATORE.-This was written when Cicero had attained his fifty-second year, and is dedicated to his brother. It consists of a relation of the circumstances under which the dialogues or conferences took place; which is followed by a detail (not in the author's own person, nor as

*On the subject of translations, vide ante Note 2, page 85, &c.

one of the interlocutors,) of what was discussed on the subject of oratory. Crassus, an orator of high distinction, and Antony, his friend, and rival, but an orator of less note and learning, accompanied by the great jurisconsult, Schevola, and the young orators Cotta and Sulpicius, retire to a Tusculan villa of great beauty, belonging to Crassus; and after the elegant hospitalities of the place were extended, they all sought the shade of a spreading plane tree, and conversed with the utmost freedom on the interesting topics of oratory. The sadness so generally felt by the citizens, on account of the threatening state of the republic, gave them an additional interest in the conversation, as it dispelled, for the time, this gloom, and prolonged the conversation for several days, during which Cæsar and Catulus, likewise orators, joined their party. It is supposed that the real sentiments of Cicero are to be found, more especially, in what fell from Crassus.

As a didactic and regular treatise this work is certainly much inferior to Aristotle's, but it derives great value from the ample experience of this most distinguished of Roman orators.

It was among the earliest works which attracted the attention of the typographical art, being printed at Milan as early as 1470, and at Venice, in 1485. The English translation, by Guthrie was published in 1755, and is accompanied by many useful annotations.

III. BRUTUS, SIVE DE CLARIS ORATORIBUS.-This is likewise a dialogue, the interlocutors of which are Cicero, Atticus, and Brutus. The scene lies in the pleasure grounds attached to Cicero's mansion at Rome. It is valuable as a history of Roman eloquence, including his own rise and splendid progress; and also for its interesting details of civil transactions. This work generally takes the name of Brutus.

IV. ORATOR AD BRUTUM.-This may be regarded as a sequel to the two last mentioned works, and treats mainly of the essentials to form a perfect orator; and of the true nature of Attic eloquence, as distinguished from that known by the name of Asiatic. This latter inquiry was designed, no doubt,