and the greateft heroes, while they are living; yet "after their deaths, that difference ceafes. Pofterity, "who are pleased and inftructed by the works they "have left behind them, makes no difficulty of put"ting them upon a level with whatever is more im"portant amongst men; and of ranking the excellent "poet with the greateft captain. The fame age that ་ is now fo highly magnified for bringing forth Auguftus, boafts no lefs of producing Horace and Virgil. In like manner, when pofterity will speak with aftonishment of the furprifing victories, and "all the great things which will render ours the ad"miration of all future ages; Corneille, (let us not

doubt of it) Corneille will have a place among all "those wonders. France will remember with plea"fure, that the greatest of her poets flourished in the "reign of the greatest of her Kings. They will like"wife think it some addition to the glory of our au"guft Monarch, when they fhall be told, he esteemed and honoured that excellent genius with his favour and munificence; that even two days before his death, and when he was just at his last gasp, he ❝fent him fresh proofs of his liberality; and that the laft words of Corneille were acknowledgments to Lewis the Great."

M. de Bergeret, cabinet-secretary, having been received a member of the French academy the fame day with M. Corneille, M. Racine pronounced a magnificent elogium on Lewis XIV. part of which I fhall infert in this place.

"Who could have faid in the beginning of the laft year, and even in this feafon, when we faw fo much animofity break out on all fides; fo many "leagues forming; and that spirit of difcord and fuf"picion which kindled the war in the four quarters of "Europe; who could have faid, that all would be "peaceable and quiet before the end of the fpring? "What probability was there of diffolving fuch a "number of confederacies in fo fhort a time? How

33

was it poffible to reconcile fo many contrary in"terefts? How calm that crowd of ftates and poten66 tates, who were much more irritated against our power, than the ill treatment they pretended to "have received? Would not one have thought that "twenty years of negotiation would not have fuf"ficed for putting an end to all these differences? "The diet of Germany, which was to examine only 66 a part of them, were no farther advanced than the "preliminaries, after an application of three years. "In the mean time, the King had refolved in his "cabinet, that for the good of Chriftendom there "fhould be no war. The night before he was to fet "out for his army, he writes fix lines, and fends them "to his ambaffador at the Hague. Upon this the

provinces enter into deliberation; the minifters of "the high allies affemble; every thing is in agitation, 66 every thing in motion. Some will not comply "with any thing demanded of them; others demand "what has been taken from them; but all are de“termined not to lay down their arms. The King, "in the mean time, caufes Luxemburgh to be taken

on the one fide; and on the other marches in per"fon to the gates of Mons. Here he fends generals 66 to his allies; there he orders the bombardment of "Genoa. He forces Algiers to afk pardon. He

even applies himself to regulate the civil affairs of "his kingdom; relieves the people, and gives them an "anticipation of the fruits of peace, and at length "finds his enemies, as he had forefeen, after a great "many conferences, projects and ufelefs complaints, "reduced to accept the very conditions he had offered "them, without being able to retrench or add any "thing to them; or, to fpeak more properly, with"out being able, with all their efforts, to go one step out of the narrow circle he had thought fit to pre"fcribe them,'

3

These two paffages are certainly beautiful, grand and fublime. Every thing pleases, every thing strikes,

E 4

but

but not with affected graces, exact antithefes, or glaring thoughts; nothing of that kind is feen in them. It is the importance and greatness of the things in themfelves, and of ideas which transport, that conftitute the character of true and perfect eloquence, fuch as was always admired in Demofthenes. The elogium of the King concludes with a grand thought, which leaves room to imagine infinitely more than it discovers, without being able to go one step out of the narrow circle he had thought fit to prefcribe them. We imagine ourselves prefent at the conference, where Popilius, that haughty Roman, having prefcribed terms of peace to Antiochus, in the name of the fenate; and obferving that King endeavoured to elude them, enclosed him in a circle which he made round him with a little stick he had in his hand; and obliged him to give him a pofitive answer, before he quitted it. This historical paffage, which we fhall leave the reader the pleasure of applying, has much more grace and ornament, than if we had cited the place from which it is taken.

SECT. II.

What must chiefly be obferved in reading and explaining of authors.

I will reduce thefe obfervations to feven or eight heads, viz. reasoning and the proofs; the thoughts, the choice of words, the manner of placing them; the figures, certain oratorial precautions, and the paffions. To these remarks I fhall fometimes add examples from the beft authors, which will both illuftrate the precepts, and teach the art of compofing.

2 Popilius virga quam in manu gerebat circumfcripfit regem, ac : Priufquam hoc circulo excedas, inquit, redde refponfum fenatni, quod

referam. Obftupefactus tam violento imperio, parumper cùm hæfitaffet: Faciam, inquit, quod cenfet fenatus. Liv. lib. 45. n. 12.

ARTICLE

T

ARTICLE the FIRST.

Of the Reafening and Proofs.

HIS is the moft neceffary and most indifpenfible part of the oratorial art; being, as it were, the foundation of it, and upon which all the reft may be faid to depend. For the expreffions, the thoughts, figures, and all the other ornaments we shall speak of hereafter, fupport the proofs, and are only used to improve and place them in a clearer light.

a

They are to an oration what the skin and flesh are to the body, which form its beauty and gracefulness, but not its ftrength and folidity; they likewife cover and adorn the bones and nerves; but then they fuppofe thefe, and cannot fupply their room. I dont deny but we muft ftudy to pleafe, and, which is more, to move the paffions; but both will be effected with much more fuccefs, when the auditors are inftructed and convinced; which cannot be effected but by the ftrength of the reasoning and the proofs.

Youth then must be particularly attentive to the proofs and reafons, in examining a difcourfe, harangue, or any other work; and muft feparate them from all the outward fplendor with which they otherwife might fuffer themselves to be dazled; let them weigh and confider them; let them examine if they are folid, fit for the fubject, and difpofed in their proper places. All the confequence and ftructure of the discourse must be truly reprefented to them; and after it is explained to them, they fhould be able to give a reafon for the author's defign, and to declare upon

every paffage, that here the author intended to prove fuch a thing, which he does by fuch allufions.

Amongst the proofs, fome are ftrong and convincing, each of which fhould be dwelt upon and pointed out feparately, to avoid their being obfcured or confounded in the throng of other proofs. Others, on the contrary, are weaker, and must be affembled together, that they may mutually affift one another, and fupply the want of ftrength by their numbers. Quintilian gives us a very remarkable example of this. The queftion was concerning a man who was accufed of killing one of his relations, in order to inherit his eftate; and here follow the proofs which were advanced on that occafion: Hæreditatem fperabas, & magnam Hæreditatem; pauper eras, & tum maxime a creditoribus appellabaris, & offenderas eum cujus Hæres eras, & mutaturum tabulas fciebas.

d

Thefe proofs, confidered feparately, are flight and common; but being joined together, they strike us, not as the thunderbolt that ftrikes down every thing, but as hail which makes impreffion when its ftrokes are redoubled.

We must avoid dwelling too much upon things that don't deferve it; for then our proofs, befides their being tedious, become alfo fufpicious, by the very care we take to accumulate too great a number of them, which feems to argue our own diffidence of them.

f 'Tis a question whether we should place our best proofs in the beginning, in order to poffefs ourselves of peoples affections at once; or at the end, to leave a ftronger impreffion in the minds of the auditors; or

Firmiffimis argumentorum fingulis inftandum, infirmiora congreganda funt: quia illa per fe fortiora non oportet circumftantibus obfcurare, ut qualia funt appareant; hæc imbecilla natura, mutuo auxilio fuftinentur. Itaque fi non poffunt valere quia magna funt, valebunt quia multa funt. Quintil. 1. 5. c. 12.

d Singula levia funt & communia, univerfa verò nocent, etiamfi non ut fulmine, tamen ut grandine. Ibid.

Nec tamen omnibus femper quæ invenerimus argumentis onerandus eft judex: quia & tædium afferunt, & fidem detrahunt. Ib.

f Quintil. 1. 5. c. 12.

part