Cox Libris Mex. THE Mitchel ART of RHETORIC MADE EASY, &c. BOOK I. INTRODUCTIO Ν. Of RHETORIC and it's PARTS. 1762 What is Rhetoric? What is it's Principal End? What is it's Chief Office? What is the Subject it treats on? How many Parts hath Rhetoric? Read the Reason. Read from whence Rhetoric derives it's Name. A. R HETORIC is the Art of Speaking or Writing well tand It's Principal End is to In Struct, Perfuade, and Please. It's Chief Office is to seek what may be most conducive to Perfuafion.* B. The Subject it. treats on is any Thing whatever; whether it be Moral, Philofophical, or Divine. The Parts it confifts of are four, viz. INVENTION, DISPOSITION, ELOCUTION, and PRONUN CIATION. ΑΝΝΟΤΑTIONS. OBSERVATION I. T Becaufe 'Twas this that first form'd Laws concerning Things just and unjust, honourable and dishonourable; without which stated Distinction, Human Society could never have fubfifted. By this too it is that we praise and honour Good Men, and vituperate and condemn the Bad. By this we instruct the Ignorant, and find out the Knowing, By this we inveftigate Things unknown, and determine of Things disputable. Orat. 3. ad Nic. - Neque verà mibi quidquam præftabilius videtur, quam posse dicendo tenere Hominum Cætus, Mentes allicere, Voluntates compellere quo velit; unde autem velit, deduCic. de Orat. 1. 1. §. 8. cere. HE DIGNITY AND USEFULNESS OF ORATORY will appear, if we confider, 1. Quod femper floruit & dominata eft in omni libero Populo. 2. Quod nihil eft auditu jucundius Oratione ornata Verborum Luminibus. 3. Quod nihil eft tam magnificum, ac potens, quàm Animos Hominum Oratione convertere. 4. Confilia maximis de Rebus explicat. 5. Laudat bonos, vituperat malos. 6. Hortatur ad Virtutem, revocat à Vitiis. 7. Languentes Animos excitat, effrænatos coercet. Fraudem Hominum ad Perniciem, Integritatem ad Salutem vocat. 8. Et ne quis eâ abutatur cum Probitate conjungenda eft. Cyp. Soarius, in Rhet. Tab. ISOCRATES, in Praife of Eloquence, fays, Οὗτα γὸ κὶ περὶ δικαίων, κι περὶ τῷ ἀδίκων, κὶ τὸ οἰχρῶν κὶ τῷ καλῶν ὄνομοθέτησεν, ὧν μὴ διαταχθέντων, ἐκ ἂν οἷοι τε ήμεν οἰκεῖν μετ ̓ ἀλλήλων. Τέτο κὶ του κακὸς ἐξελέγχουν, κς του ἀγαθὸς ἐξκωμιάζουν. ftio ad dicendum propofita. Hence Διὰ τότε τὸς τε ανοήτες παιδεύομεν, κς του φρονίμος δοκιμάζομλύ. Μετὰ τέτε κὴ σερί της αζνουμθύων σκοπέμεθα, κὶ περὶί τω ἀμφισβητησίμων ἀγωνιζόμεθα, OF ORATO OBS. II. П.Т THE LIMITS Because all that an Orator has to do is, Argumenta invenire, Inventa difponere, Difpofita exornare, &, Exornata pronunciare, viz. To Invent proper Arguments; To Dispose of 'em in a right Method; To Adorn 'em with beautiful Tropes, Figures, and fine Turns; and To Pronounce 'em with the Ornaments of Utterance and Action. ANNOTATIONS. perceiving what will be most conducive to Perfuafion on every Subject whatever. And CICERO and QUINTILIAN follow him. Quæ fit Materiæ Rbetorices? Quidam Argumenta perfuafibilia, quidam Civiles Quæftiones, quidam Materiam ejus totam Vitam vocant. Ego judico, Omnes Res, quæcunque ei ad dicendum fubjectæ erunt. Quint. Inft. 1. 2. C. 21. Vis Oratoris eft, ut omni de Re, quæcunque fit propofita, ornatè ab eo copioséque dicatur. Cic. de Orat. 1. 1.6. For which PETRUS RAMUS and others cenfure them thus; Dicitis ergo Oratorem omnibus Artibus & Virtutibus ornatum effe oportere, Dialecticis, Ethicis, Phyficis, Legibus, Historiis; unde non Homo ex Homine genitus, fed Deus quidam è Cælo delapfus in Terras effe videatur: Sed definiendum Oratorem ex Artis ejus propriâ judico Materia. Diftinguendum igitur Rhetoricæ Materia à cæterarum Artium Materiâ, Inventio, & Dispofitio, Logicæ Artis funto; Puritas autem Sermonis, & Elegantia, Grammaticæ: Quid ergo Rhetoricæ relinquetur? Elocutio & Actio. Hæc enim Rhetoricæ Virtus & propria & fola est, ut Rhetoric poffit Troporum Luminibus variare, Infignibus Figurarum ex. ornare, Modulatione Vocis permulcere, & Dignitate Gestús excitare. Ram. Schol. in Cic. 1. 1. He goes on, Lib. 3. At Rhetorica, dicitis, fine his Inveniendi & Difponendi Partibus perfecta esse non poteft. Id verò falfum est. Poteft enim Puer cum à Grammaticis difcefferit, Tropos & Figuras in Poetis & Oratoribus. intelligere, & cum Dignitate pronunciare; quod folum Rhetoricæ eft. But CICERO had before precluded the greatest Part of RAMUS's Argument thus, Si cuipiam nimis infinitum videtur, quod ita pofui, quacunque de Re, licet binc, quantum cuique videbitur, circumcidat, Samputet. Cic. de Orat. 1.15. And QUINTILIAN thus, Solet à quibufdam & il. lud poni, Omnium igitur Artium peritus eric Orator, fi de omnibus ei dicendum eft. Poffem hic Ciceronis refpondere verbis, Mea quidem Sententia Nemo esse poterit omni Laude cumulatus Orator, nifi erit omnium Rerum magnarum atque Artium Scientiam confecutus: Sed mihi fatis est ejus esse Oratorem Rei, de qua dicet, non infcium. De quibus B2 erga Rhetoric derives it's Name from ῥέω, dico, thus: ̔Ῥέω, ῥήσω, ἔῤῥηκα, præt. paff. ἔῤῥκ-μαι, σαι, ται, whence are deriv'd ῥήμα, ῥήσις, ῥήτως, and ̔Ρητορική, fc. Τέχνη, Rhetorica five Oratoria Ars, The Art of Rhetoric or Speaking ornamentally. ΑΝΝΟΤΑΤΙΟNS. ergo dicet? de quibus didicit. Inft. 2. 21. In the Words therefore of the latter we shall leave the Limits of Rhetoric and the Orator just where we found'em. Tria funt Oratoris, ut doceat, moveat, delectet. Sit igitur Orator Vir talis, qualis verè Sapiens appellari poffit, nec Moribus modo perfectus fed etiam Scientia; qualis adhuc fortaffe Nemo fuerit: Sed non ideo minus nobis ad fumma tendendum eft. Proem. lib. 1. MEMORY is, OBS. III. properly speaking, no Part of Rhetoric, tho the Business of an Orator is, Invenire, difponere, eloqui, memoria complecti, & pronunciare; and if TULLY calls it so in one Place, he has omitted it in another: Hence, says RAMUS, Dicis Oratori tria esse videnda, quid dicat, quo quidque loco, & quomodo; primo Membro Inventionem, fecundo Collocationem, tertio Elocutionem & Actionem comprehendis: Memoriam igitur in bac trium Membrorum Partitione prætermittis. Communis est ais multarum Artium, propterea omittitur. Rhet. lib. 3. However, most of the ancient Orators, to help the Memory, recommend and give some obfcure Hints of an Artificial or Local Memory, from what they call Locis & Imaginibus; upon which Dr. GREY's Memoria Technica, and Mr. LOWE's Mnemonics, are fingular Improvements; which fee. And observe in general these RULES, 1. Si longior Oratio mandanda fuerit Memoriæ, proderit, totâ prius femel lectâ & intellectâ, per Partes discere. 2. Juvabit, iifdem, quibus fcripferis, Chartis edifcere. 3. Tempus matutinum longè commodius eft; tamen perquam utile erit pridie vesperi, priusque dormitum concedas, semel & iterum percurvere ea, quæ poftridie funt edifcenda. 4. Si quidpiam difficilius addifcitur, illi Loco non erit inutile aliquod Signum vel Notam apponere, cujus Recordatio excitet Memoriam. 5. Prafiat non tumultuariè, fed declamando ftatim & cum Gestu, difcere. 6. Maxima tamen fabricandæ & fervandæ fibi Me- Me moriæ Ars est frequens Exercitatio. PART i. PARTI. Of INVENTION, or, The Finding out proper Arguments to instruct, persuade, or move. What is Invention? On what are all Arguments grounded, and from whence are they to be fought? §. 1. What kinds of Arguments are from Reason? What Rational Arguments are call'd Artificial? How many Sorts of Topics are there? When, and of what kinds is a Topic Demonstrative? When is a Topic Deliberative? When is a Topic Juridicial? What is meant by Stating a Cafe? How many and what Ways may a Cafe be stated? What Rational Arguments are call'd Inartificial? §. 2. What is meant by Moral Arguments, or Arguments from Morals? §. 3. What is meant by Arguments from Affections? What is meant by the Affections or Passions? Which are the four chief Paffions? What are the other Paffions? C. NVENTION is the Finding out such proper Arguments as are suitable, according to the Nature of the Subject, to instruct, persuade, or move our Auditors to believe us. It also find out answers to objections. 1 All |