quently inculcated, "Quod omnibus difciplinis et "artibus debet effe inftructus orator ;" that the orator ought to be an accomplished fcholar, and converfant in every part of learning. It is indeed impoffible to contrive an art, and very pernicious it were, if it could be contrived, which fhould give the ftamp of merit to any compofition rich or fplendid in expreffion, but barren or erroneous in thought. They are the wretched attempts towards an art of this kind which have fo often difgraced oratory, and debafed it below its true ftandard. The graces of compofition have been employed to disguife or to supply the want of matter; and the temporary applaufe of the ignorant has been courted, inftead of the lasting approbation of the discerning. But fuch impofture can never maintain its ground long. Knowledge and science muft furnish the materials that form the body and fubftance of any valuable compofition. Rhetoric ferves to add the polish; and we know that none but firm and folid bodies can be polifhed well.

Of those who perufe the following lectures, fome, in confequence either of their profeffion, or of their prevailing inclination, may have the view of being employed in compofition, or in public fpeaking. Others, without any prospect of this kind, may wish only to improve their tafte with respect to writing and difcourfe, and to acquire principles which will enable them to judge for themselves in that part of literature called the belles lettres.

With respect to the former, fuch as may have occafion to communicate their fentiments to the public, it is abundantly clear that fome preparation of ftudy is requifite for the end which they have in view. To fpeak or to write perfpicuoufly and agreeably, with purity, with grace and ftrength, are attainments of the utmoft confequence to all who purpofe, either by fpeech or writing, to address the

public. For without being mafter of those attainments, no man can do justice to his own conceptions; but how rich foever he may be in knowledge and in good fenfe, will be able to avail himfelf less of those treasures, than fuch as poffefs, not half his store, but who can difplay what they + poffefs with more propriety. Neither are these attainments of that kind for which we are indebted to nature merely. Nature has, indeed, conferred upon fome a very favourable diftinction in this respect, beyond others. But in thefe, as in moft other talents fhe bestows, fhe has left much to be wrought out by every man's own induftry. So confpicuous have been the effects of study and improvement in every part of eloquence; fuch remarkable examples have appeared of perfons furmounting, by their diligence, the difadvantages of the most untoward nature, that among the learned it has long been a contefted, and remains ftill an undecided point, whether nature or art confer moft towards excelling in writing and difcourfe.

With respect to the manner in which art can moft effectually furnish affiftance for fuch a purpofe, there may be diverfity of opinions. I by no means pretend to fay that mere rhetorical rules, how just foever, are fufficient to form an orator. Suppofing natural genius to be favourable, more by a great deal will depend upon private application and study, than upon any fyftem of inftruction that is capable of being publicly communicated. But at the fame time, though rules and inftructions cannot do all that is requifite, they may, however, do much that is of real ufe. They cannot, it is true, infpire genius; but they can direct and affift it. They cannot remedy barrennefs; but they may correct redundancy. They point out proper models for imitation. They bring into view the chief beauties that ought to be studied, and the

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principal faults that ought to be avoided; and thereby tend to enlighten tafte, and to lead genius from unnatural deviations, into its proper channel. What would not avail for the production of great excellencies, may at leaft ferve to prevent the commiffion of confiderable errors.

All that regards the study of eloquence and compofition, merits the higher attention upon this account, that it is intimately connected with the improvement of our intellectual powers. For I must be allowed to fay, that when we are employed, after a proper manner, in the ftudy of compofition, we are cultivating reason itself. True rhetoric and found logic are very nearly allied. The ftudy of arranging and expreffing our thoughts with propriety, teaches to think, as well as to speak, accurately. By putting our fentiments into words, we always conceive them more diftinctly. Every one who has the flighteft acquaintance with composition, knows, that when he expreffes himself ill on any fubject, when his arrangement is loofe, and his fentences become feeble, the defects of his ftyle can, almost on every occafion, be traced back to his indiftinct conception of the subject: fo close is the connexion between thoughts and the words in which. they are clothed.

The study of compofition, important in itself at all times, has acquired additional importance from the taste and manners of the prefent age. It is an age wherein improvements, in every part of science, have been profecuted with ardour. To all the liberal arts much attention has been paid; and to none more than to the beauty of language, and the grace and elegance of every kind of writing. The public ear is become refined. It will not eafily bear what is flovenly and incorrect. Every author muft afpire to fome merit in expreffion, as

well as in fentiment, if he would not incur the danger of being neglected and defpifed.

I will not deny that the love of minute elegance, and attention to inferior ornaments of compofition, may at prefent have engroffed too great a degree of the public regard. It is indeed my opinion, that we lean to this extreme; often more careful of polished style, than of ftoring it with thought. Yet hence arifes a new reafon for the study of just and proper compofition. If it be requifite not to be deficient in elegance or ornament in times wher they are in fuch high estimation, it is still more requifite to attain the power of diftinguishing false ornament from true, in order to prevent our being carried away by that torrent of falfe and frivolous taste, which never fails, when it is prevalent, to fweep along with it the raw and the ignorant. They who have never studied eloquence in its principles, nor have been trained to attend to the genuine and manly beauties of good writing, are always ready to be caught by the mere glare of language; and when they come to speak in public, or to compofe, have no other ftandard on which to form themselves, except what chances to be fashionable and popular, how corrupted foever, or erroneous, that may be.

But as there are many, who have no fuch objects as either compofition or public fpeaking in view, let us next confider what advantages may be derived by them, from fuch ftudies as form the fubject of thefe lectures. To them, rhetoric is not fo much a practical art as a fpeculative fcience; and the fame inftructions which affift others in compofing, will affift them in difcerning, and relishing, the beauties of compofition. Whatever enables genius to execute well, will enable tafte to criticife justly.

When we name criticifing, prejudices may per

haps arife, of the fame kind with those which I men tioned before with respect to rhetoric. As rhetoric has been fometimes thought to fignify nothing more than the scholaftic study of words and phra fes, and tropes, fo criticism has been confidered as merely the art of finding faults; as the frigid application of certain technical terms, by means of which perfons are taught to cavil and cenfure in a learned manner. But this is the criticism of pedants only. True criticifm is a liberal and humane art. It is the offspring of good fenfe and refined taste. It aims at acquiring a juft difcernment of the real merit of authors. It promotes a lively relish of their beauties, while it preferves us from that blind and implicit veneration which would confound their beauties and faults in our esteem. It teaches us, in a word, to admire and to blame with judgment, and not to follow the crowd blindly.

In an age when works of genius and literature are fo frequently the fubjects of difcourfe, when every one erects himself into a judge, and when we can hardly mingle in polite fociety without bearing fome fhare in fuch difcuffions; ftudies of this kind, it is not to be doubted, will appear to derive part of their importance from the use to which they may be applied in furnishing materials for those fashionable topics of difcourfe, and thereby enabling us to fupport a proper rank in focial life.

But I fhould be forry if we could not reft the merit of fuch ftudies on fomewhat of folid and intrinfical ufe, independent of appearance and show. The exercife of tafte and of found criticism, is in truth one of the most improving employments of the understanding. To apply the principles of good fenfe to compofition and difcourfe; to examine what is beautiful, and why it is fo; to employ ourselves in distinguishing accurately between the fpecious and the folid, between affected and natural ornament, must