found fufceptible of order, method, and conftancy, to a furprizing degree. Property is there fecure; induftry encouraged; the arts flourish; and the prince lives fecure among his fubjects, like a father among his children. There are perhaps, and have been for two centuries, near two hundred abfolute princes, great and fmall, in EUROPE; and allowing twenty years to each reign, we may fuppofe, that there have been in the whole two thousand monarchs or tyrants, as the GREEKS would have called them: Yet of these there has not been one, not even PHILip II. of SPAIN, fo bad as TIBERIUS, CALIGULA, NERO, or DOMITIAN, who were four in twelve amongst the ROMAN emperors. It muft, however, be confeffed, that tho' monarchical governments have approached nearer to popular ones, in gentleness and stability; they are still much inferior. Our modern education and customs inftil more humanity and moderation than the ancient; but have not as yet been able to overcome entirely the disadvantages of that form of government. BUT here I must beg leave to advance a conjecture, which feems very probable, but which pofterity alone can fully judge of. I am apt to think, that in monarchical governments there is a fource of improvement, and in popular governments a fource of degeneracy, which in time will bring thefe fpecies of government still nearer an equality. The greateft abufes, which arife in FRANCE, the most perfect model of pure monarchy, proceed not from the number or weight of the taxes, beyond what are to be met with in free countries; but from the expenfive, unequal, arbitrary, and intricate method of levying them, by which the industry of the poor, efpecially of the peasants and farmers, is, in a great meafure, difcouraged, and agriculture rendered a beggarly and a flavish employment. But to whofe advantage do these abuses tend? If to that of the nobility, they might be esteemed inherent in that form of government; fince the nobility are the true fupports of monarchy; and 'tis natural their intereft fhould be more confulted, in fuch a conftitution, than that of the people. But the nobility are, in reality, the principal lofers by this oppreffion; fince it ruins their eftates, and beggars their tenants. The only gainers by it are the Financiers, a race of men rather odious to the nobility and the whole kingdom. If a prince or a minifter, therefore, fhould arife, endowed with fufficient difcernment to know his own and the public intereft, and with fufficient force of mind to break thro' ancient cuftoms, we might expect to see these abuses remedied; in which cafe, the difference betwixt their abfolute government and our free one, would not appear fo confiderable as at prefent. THE fource of degeneracy, which may be remarked in free governments, confifts in the practice of contracting debt, and mortgaging the public revenues, by which taxes may, in time, become altogether intolerable, and all the property of the state be brought into the hands of the public. This practice is of modern date. The ATHENIANS, tho' governed by a republic, paid near two hundred per Cent. for thofe fums of money, which any emergent occafion made it neceffary for them to borrow; as we learn from XENOPHON *. Among the moderns, the DUTCH first introduced the practice of borrowing great fums at low intereft, and have well nigh ruined themselves by it. Abfolute princes have also contracted debt; but as an abfolute prince may play the bankrupt when he pleases, his people can never be oppreft by his debts. In popular governments, the people, and chiefly those who have the highest offices, being commonly the public creditors, 'tis difficult for the state to make use of this remedy, which, however it may be fometimes neceffary, is always cruel and barbarous. This, therefore, feems to be an inconvenience, which nearly threatens all free governments; efpecially our own, at the present juncture of affairs. And what a strong motive is this, to increase our frugality of the public money; left, for want of it, we be reduced, by the multiplicity of taxes, to curfe our free government, and wifh ourselves in the fame ftate of fervitude with all the nations that surround us? TH ESSAY OF ELOQUENCE. XVI. HOSE, who confider the periods and revolutions of human kind, as reprefented in hiftory, are entertained with a fpectacle full of pleasure and variety, and fee, with furprize, the manners, customs, and opinions of the fame fpecies fufceptible of fuch prodigious changes in different periods of time. It may, however, be observed, that in civil hiftory there is found a much greater uniformity than in the history of learning and science, and that the wars, negotiations, and politics of one age refemble more thofe of another, than the taste, wit, and fpeculative principles. Intereft and ambition, honor and fhame, friendship and enmity, gratitude and revenge, are the prime movers in all public transactions; and these paffions are of a very stubborn and intractable nature, in comparison of the fentiments and understanding, which are easily varied by education and example. The GоTHS were much more inferior to the ROMANS, in tafte and fcience, than in courage and virtue. BUT not to compare together nations fo widely different, that they may almost be esteemed of a different fpecies; it may be obferved, that even this latter period of human learning, is, in many refpects, of an oppofite character to the ancient ; and that if we be fuperior in philofophy, we are ftill, notwithstanding all our refinements, much inferior in eloquence. In ancient times, no work of genius was thought to require fo great parts and capacity, as the fpeaking in public; and fome eminent writers have pronounced the talents, even of a great poet or philofopher, to be of an inferior nature to those requifite for fuch an undertaking. GREECE and ROME produced, each of them, but one accomplished orator; and whatever praises the other celebrated speakers might merit, they were still efteemed much inferior to these great models of eloquence. 'Tis obfervable, that the ancient critics could fcarce find two orators in any age, who deferved to be placed precifely in the fame rank, and poffeffed the fame degree of merit. CALVUS, CELIUS, CURIO, HORTENSIUS, CESAR rofe one above another: But the greatest of that age was inferior to CICERO, the moft moft eloquent speaker, who had ever appeared in ROME. Those of fine taste, however, pronounced this judgment of the ROMAN orator, as well as of the GRECIAN, that both of them furpaffed in eloquence all that had ever appeared, but that they were far from reaching the perfection of their art, which was infinite, and not only exceeded human force to attain, but human imagination to conceive. CICERO declares himself diffatisfied with his own performances; nay, even with those of DEMOSTHENES. Ita funt avide & capaces meæ aures, fays he, & femper aliquid immenfum, infinitumque defiderant. THIS fingle circumftance is fufficient to make us apprehend the wide difference between ancient and modern eloquence, and let us fee how much the latter is inferior to the former. Of all the polite and learned nations, BRITAIN alone poffeffes a popular government, or admits into the legiflature fuch numerous affemblies as can be fuppofed to lie under the dominion of eloquence. But what has BRITAIN to boaft of in this particular? In enumerating all the great men, who have done honor to our country, we exult in our poets and philofophers; but what orators are ever mentioned? Or where are the monuments of their genius to be met with? There are found indeed, in our hiftories, the names of feveral, who directed the refolutions of our parliament: But neither themselves nor others have taken the pains to preferve their speeches; and the authority which they poffeffed feems to have been owing to their experience, wifdom, or power, more than to their talents for oratory. At prefent, there are above half a dozen speakers in the two houfes, who, in the judgment of the public, have reached very near the fame pitch of eloquence; and no man pretends to give any one the preference to the rest. This feems to me a certain proof, that none of them have attained much beyond a mediocrity in their art, and that the fpecies of eloquence, which they afpire to, gives no exercise to the fublimer faculties of the mind, but may be reached by ordinary talents and a flight application. A hundred cabinetmakers in LONDON can work a table or a chair equally well; but no one poet can write verfes with fuch spirit and elegance as Mr. POPE. We are told, that when DEMOSTHENES was to plead, all ingenious men flocked to ATHENS from the most remote parts of GREECE, as to the most celebrated fpectacle of the world. At LONDON you may fee men fauntering in the court of requests, while the most important debate is carrying on in the two houses; and many do not think themselves fufficiently compenfated, for the lofing of their dinners, by all the eloquence of our most celebrated fpeakers. When old CIBBER is to act, the curiofity of feveral is more excited, than when our prime minifter is to defend himself from a motion for his removal or impeachment. EVEN a perfon unacquainted with the noble remains of ancient orators, may judge, from a few ftrokes, that the ftile or fpecies of their eloquence was infinitely more fublime than that which modern orators afpire to. How abfurd would it appear, in our temperate and calm fpeakers, to make ufe of an Apostrophe, like that noble one of DEMOSTHENES, fo much celebrated by QUINCTILIAN and LONGINUS, when, juftifying the unfuccessful battle of CHARONEA, he breaks out, Ne illud quidem intelligunt, non modo ita memoriæ proditum effe, fed ita neceffe fuiffe, cum DEMOSTHENES dicturus effet, ut concurfus, audiendi caufa, ex tota GRECIA fierent. At cum ifti ATTICI dicunt, non modo a corona (quod eft ip- No, No, my Fellow-Citizens, No: You have not erred. I swear by the manes of thofe heroes, who fought for the fame caufe in the plains of MARATHON and PLATEA. Who could now endure fuch a bold and poetical figure, as that which CICERO employs, after defcribing in the most tragical terms the crucifixion of a ROMAN citizen. Should I paint the horrors of this fcene, not to ROMAN citizens, not to the allies of our state, not to those who have ever heard of the ROMAN Name, not even to men, but to brute-creatures; or, to go farther, should I lift up my voice, in the most defolate folitude, to the rocks and mountains, yet should I furely fee thofe rude and inanimate parts of nature moved with horror and indignation at the recital of fo enormous an action *. With what a blaze of eloquence must such a sentence be surrounded to give it grace, or cause it to make any impreffion on the hearers? And what noble art and fublime talents are requifite to arrive, by juft degrees, at a fentiment fo bold and exceffive: To inflame the audience, fo as to make them accompany the speaker in fuch violent paffions, and fuch elevated conceptions: And to conceal, under a torrent of eloquence, the artifice, by which all this is effectuated! SUITABLE to this vehemence of thought and expreffion, was the vehemence of action, obferved in the ancient orators. The fupplofio pedis, or stamping of the foot, was one of the most usual and moderate geftures which they made ufe of +; tho' that is now efteemed too violent, either for the senate, bar, or pulpit, and is only admitted into the theatre, to accompany the moft violent paffions, which are there reprefented. ONE is fomewhat at a lofs to what cause we may afcribe fo fenfible a decline of eloquence in latter ages. The genius of mankind, at all times, is, perhaps, equal: The moderns have applied themselves, with great induftry and fuccefs, to all the other arts and sciences: And one of the most learned nations of the universe poffeffes a popular government; which feems requifite for the full difplay of these noble talents: But notwithstanding all these advantages, our progrefs in eloquence is very inconfiderable, in comparison of the advances, which we have made in all the other parts of learning. SHALL we affert, that the ftrains of ancient eloquence are unfuitable to our age, and not to be imitated by modern orators? Whatever reasons may be made ufe of to prove this, I am perfuaded they will be found, upon examination, to be unfound and unfatisfactory. First, Ir may be faid, that in ancient times, during the flourishing period of the GREEK and ROMAN learning, the municipal laws, in every state, were but few and fimple, and the decifion of caufes was, in a great measure, left to the equity and common fenfe of the judges. The study of the laws was not then a laborious occupation. requiring the drudgery of a whole life to finish it, and utterly incompatible with every other study or profeffion. The great statesmen and The original is; Quod fi hæc non ad cives Romanos, non ad aliquos amicos noftræ civitatis, non ad eos qui populi Romani nomen audiffent; denique, fi non ad homines, veram ad beftias; aut etiam, ut longius progrediar, fi in aliqua defertiffima folitudine, ad faxa & ad fcopulos hæc conqueri & deplorare vellem, tamen omnia muta atque inanima, tanta & tam indigna rerum atroci tate commoverentur. Cic. in ver. + Ubi dolor? Ubi ardor animi, qui etiam ex infantium ingeniis elicere voces & querelas folet? nulla perturbatio animi, nulla corporis: frons non percuffa, non femur; pedis (quod minimum eft) nulla fupplofio. Itaque tantum abfuit ut inflammares noftros animos; fomnum ifto loco vix tenebamus. Cicero de Claris Oratoribus. generals generals among the ROMANS were all lawyers; and CICERO, to fhew the facility of acquiring this fcience, declares, that in the midft of all his occupations, he would undertake, in a few days, to make himself a compleat civilian. Now, where a pleader addreffes himself to the equity of his judges, he has much more room to difplay his eloquence, than where he muft draw his arguments from strict laws, ftatutes, and precedents. In the former cafe, many circumstances must be taken in, many perfonal confiderations regarded; and even favor and inclination, which it belongs to the orator, by his art and eloquence, to conciliate, may be difguifed under the appearance of equity. But, how fhall a modern lawyer have leifure to quit his toilfome occupations, in order to gather the flowers of PARNASSUS? Or what opportunity fhall he have of difplaying them, amidst the rigid and fubtile arguments, objections, and replies, which he is obliged to make use of? The greatest genius, and greateft orator, who fhould pretend to plead before the Chancellor, after a month's ftudy of the laws, would only labor to make himfelf ridiculous. I AM ready to own, that this circumftance, of the multiplicity and intricacy of laws, is a difcouragement to eloquence in modern times: But I affert, that it will not account entirely for the decline of that noble art. It may banish oratory from WESTMINSTER-HALL, but not from either houfe of parliament. Among the ATHENIANS, the AREOPAGITES exprefly forbad all allurements of eloquence; and fome have pretended that in the GREEK orations wrote in the judiciary form, there is not fuch a bold and rhetorical ftile, as appears in the ROMAN. But to what a pitch did the ATHENIANS carry their eloquence in the deliberative kind, when affairs of state were canvaffed, and the liberty, happiness, and honor of the nation were the subjects of debate? Difputes of this nature elevate the genius above all others, and give the fulleft fcope to eloquence; and fuch difputes are very frequent in this nation. Secondly, Ir may be pretended, that the decline of eloquence is owing to the fuperior good fenfe of the moderns, who reject with difdain, all thofe rhetorical tricks, employed to feduce the judges, and will admit of nothing but folid argument in any debate or deliberation. If a man be accused of murder, the fact muft be proved by witneffes and evidence; and the laws will afterwards determine the punishment of the criminal. It would be ridiculous to defcribe, in ftrong colours, the horror and cruelty of the action: To introduce the relations of the dead; and, at a fignal, make them throw themfelves at the feet of the judges, imploring juftice with tears and lamentations: And ftill more ridiculous would it be, to employ a picture reprefenting the bloody deed, in order to move the judges by the difplay of fo tragical a fpectacle: Tho' we know, that this poor artifice was fometimes practifed by the pleaders of old. Now, banifh the pathetic from public difcourfes, and you reduce the fpeakers merely to modern eloquence; that is, to good-fenfe, delivered in proper expreffions. PERHAPS it may be acknowleged, that our modern cuftoms, or our fuperior good-fenfe, if you will, fhould make our orators more cautious and reserved than the ancient, in attempting to inflame the paffions, or elevate the imagination of their audience: But, I fee no reafon, why it fhould make them defpair abfolutely |