That all living languages are exposed to continual fluctuation, the history of their progress leaves no reason to doubt. It is not, however, to be supposed, that all the changes they undergo will be beneficial. The irresistible sway of fashion; the caprice, the vanity, the affectation, of many speakers and writers, are the sources of the greater part of them; and from such sources nothing can be expected but corruptions. Persons, then, who are ambitious to speak and write with elegance, will be disposed to erect some standard by which they may regulate their practice; and they will naturally turn their chief attention to the example of those performers, who are deservedly in highest estimation. Speakers of the best elocution, and most persuasive eloquence, will be their guides in conversation and oratory. Authors of the most correct taste, solid matter, and refined manner, will form their patterns in writing. Classical authority is none other than the example of such speakers and writers.

This authority must not be extended so far as to produce imitation, an infallible impediment to all eminence; nor must it prohibit real im provements, suggested by the extension of knowledge and civilisation. It must not obstruct alterations, which remove deviations from the particular analogy of the language or the general principles of grammar; nor oppose the introduction of new words to denote new ideas. But within these limits, in all controversies about the retention of old, and the use of new words and idioms, about the style and manner of the composition, classical authority should be absolute and incontrovertible. It will not, however, be sufficient to restrain the caprice of fashion; but it will receive entire submission from every performer who is ambitious to acquire solid fame.' Vol. I. pp. 123-125.

The fourteenth Lecture enters upon the subject of ornament, which is treated under the heads, Melody, Inversion, and Figures. The last division occupies nine Lectures, and affords an opportunity of illustrating the rules of criticism by many delightful quotations. The subject of personification in particular, suggests several striking examples, on which our limits will not allow us to enlarge.

He

"Apostrophe," says. Mr. B. " has seldom made its appearance in modern oratory, except with some French preachers, and some enthusiasts of that character among ourselves." means to intimate, perhaps, by this despicable adoption of a vulgar slander, that the contemplation of an Infinite Being and an eternity of conscious existence, is not sublime enough to justify a high state of feeling, and the use of bold and impassioned figures. The only general impediment to the adoption of apostrophe, is a defect of importance in the occasion; and the only specific impediment, is the defect of sensibility in the orator or the audience. Mr. B. observes rightly, that the nature of the business in our courts of law and houses of Par liament, is calculated to repress the more passionate exhibitions of oratory, and the use of this figure in particular.He might have added, that as no figure produces finer effect

from a genuine orator, so none is more disgusting in the mouth of a pretender to eloquence. It is a weapon that may be successfully wielded by a Demosthenes or a Bossuet; but is only a ludicrous encumbrance in a feeble and aukward hand. The different kinds of style are next considered under the respective heads of "the elevated, ornamented, simple, nervous, diffuse, elegant, and finally, the vehement."-At the head of elegant compositions, Mr. Barron justly ranks Cicero's Dialogues de Oratore; and in verse, he gives an equally distinguished place to the Mantuan Bard.

1

The second part of Mr. Barron's course treats of Eloquence, or Public Speaking. He describes the British Parliament as the best field for modern oratory. Many circumstances, however, combine to render it a much less favourable scene for the display of eloquence, than the public assemblies of Greece or Rome. In these republics, the question of peace or war, the fate of states and potentates; often depended on the impression made by a public speaker; while, with us, these questions do not usually come under discussion, till the executive branch of government has adopted a conclusive determination. The legislature has therefore only the subordinate task, of arguing how far the measures already pursued deserve its approbation.

The subject of public speaking is comprehensively and judiciously discussed.

In treating of the eloquence of the Bar, a circumstance is mentioned which deserves attention. In ancient times, the moral character of the pleader was a principal point, while, at present, there is no profession in which mere ability will go so far, in defiance of the suspected absence of other qualities. The solution of this question is to be found in the superior talents and integrity of modern judges. The judges of Greece and Rome were uninstructed in law, and depended much on the statement of the orator, whose reputation for integrity was consequently a principal ground of confidence. judges, however, have no occasion to borrow their knowledge from the representations of a pleader; they care very little what he is, or what he asserts; they consider only what he can prove.

Our

The second volume opens with the third department of the course, namely, Compositions in Prose and Verse. After treating of Epistolary Writings, and of Essays, the nature of Dialogue is elucidated. Of all dialogues, ancient or modern, those of Xenophon and Plato are incomparably the best. This excellence is derived, not only from the talents of the authors, but from the peculiar circumstance of their copying real conversations. No other consideration can account for

so great a similarity of views between two writers of very dif ferent qualifications.

From Dialogue Writing, our author proceeds to History, which he treats at great length. Poetry follows next, under Its several divisions of didactic, descriptive, epic, and dramatic. Instead of enlarging the number of our extracts, we shall give one sufficiently long to afford a fair specimen of the author's talent in comparative criticism.

Polybius possesses not descriptive powers equal to those of Thucy dides or Livy, but he discovers more enlarged views, and more political knowledge. He has interwoven more political information in his narrative than any other ancient historian. He is abundantly prone to speculate and to reason, and he frequently conjoins causes with their effects. He is attentive also to explain negociations and treaties, and he even descends sometimes to consider the interests and regulations of commerce. He occasionally steps aside from the course of his narrative to introduce discussions concerning war, government, and policy. He explains the genius of the Greeks and Romans for these very different arts, and he undertakes inquiries. into the merits of their respective civil constitutions. We are particularly obliged to him for the information he communicates concerning that wonderful naval and commercial people the Carthaginians, who seem to have been animated with a larger portion of the spirit of modern times, in respect of useful arts and navigation, than any other ancient nation. In a word, the idea Polybius has formed of history is surprisingly correct, and he seems to have wanted only the superior information and experience of later times to have rendered it complete. If his style be unpolished, if his discussions be too long, or too frequent, or too superficial*, the time at which he wrote forms an apology, if not an excuse. We cannot help regretting that Livy, who had before him such an example of the happy effects resulting from the union of politics and history, did not condescend more to imitate it. But Livy, perhaps, preferred the example of Thucydides and Herodotus to that of Polybius.

'Cæsar is the next Roman historian of whom I have not hitherto taken notice, and his merit is so great as to entitle him to particular attention. He was, like Xenophon, both a hero and a writer; and the Commentaries of the former, like the Anabasis of the latter, are rather a memoir than a history. His fame as a memoir-writer is superior to that of every other author except Xenophon, and it is doubtful which of them deserves to be preferred. Nothing can be more perspicuous, simple, and natural, than his Commentaries. He attains not, however, the dignity of history; and what he has written appears rather as the skeleton, than the body, of such a work.

In general he details his facts without much reflection. He seldom intermixes a political or a characteristic remark, though there were many opportunities for both in describing such singular people as the Gauls and Ge mans.

Cæsar's ruling passion was ambition; he was not, it would seem, very much concerned about his fame as a man of letters. He probably

* Lib. iii. c. 81.

intended this simple narrative for the gratification of the citizens of Rome, whom he had already persuaded to favour his views; and if this was his intention, he could scarcely be unsuccessful. His style is of that sort which gains the approbation of every reader. The most illiterate understand it, and the most polished are pleased with it, though it reaches not their notions of perfection.

The history of Livy has to exhibit a series of events of the most important and interesting nature. The situation in which he was placed rendered the sources of his information accurate and extensive. His integrity, industry, learning, taste, and experience, were highly eminent. He is, however, rather deficient in two of the great qualifications of an historian, political discernment, and the art of abridging or extending his. narrative, according to the importance of his matter. We discover in his work very little of that generalizing spirit which forms a system of human affairs, and displays the characters of men, and the causes of events, as the foundations of that system. He very seldom attempts to speculate, or even to offer a political remark; and he is at little pains to deduce the revolutions of Rome, from the nature of the government, and the circumstances of the times. If we except some compliments offered to the magnanimity, to the political and military merit of his countrymen, he is seldom better than a bare relater of facts, who leaves his reader to make the proper reflections.

taste.

Every part of the performance affords proof of his judgement and The incidents are arranged in the most regular and lucid order, and he never indulges in unnecessary digressions or superfluous illustrations. His style is admirably adapted, both to the general nature of the composition, and the particular circumstances of the incidents. It possesses great perspicuity, dignity, ornament, and melody. It is a happy exhibition of energy without obscurity, of elevation without pomp or affectation, of embellishment without glitter. His orations are numerous, and uncommonly eloquent, happily fitted to the occasion and the character of the speaker. His descriptions present a judicious selection of circumstances, delineated in the most striking manner. In a word, in all the merits of composition, he has been seldom equalled, scarcely surpassed, by any historian, ancient or modern. His periods, however, are on some occasions involved, and extended to too great length; but these defects may, perhaps, be in part attributed to the corruption of transcribers, or the inaccurate punctuation of editors.

Tacitus is the most profound, though not the most elegant of all the ancient historians. Like a man of true genius, every thing about him is characteristic. His narrative comprehends a period of near a hundred years, from the death of Augustus to the accession of Nerva, which be divides into annals and history, between which there seems to be very little difference, either as to composition, manner, or arrangement. In both he displays the same powers, and writes with the same dignity. He excels all historians in strength of understanding, vigour of imagination and nervousness of style. Had he not been more sparing of his politica than of his moral remarks; had he not sometimes degenerated inte abscurity, from a desire too much to compress his meaning; and had he not, from the same cause, diminished the harmony of his periods, by the brevity, or rather abruptness with which they are frequently constructed

he would have furnished a model of historical composition which would have been admired as the most perfect, perhaps, that had ever appeared.' Vol. II. pp. 105,-110.

We cannot help regretting that a work possessing so much elegance, should be sometimes disfigured by verbal inaccuracies. In the 8th Lecture (page 132) we are told, "Perspicuity next claims attention. The proper business of it is to teach us to employ to the best advantage the stock of classical words we have acquired." In the same volume, (page 394,) we find the inelegant expression, "a a piece of violence," instead of an act of violence." "Throng," for busy, is not English. In page 405, our author says, "the affected, or florid, is the adjacent faulty stile to the ornamented." The common Scotticism in the use of the future auxiliaries, may be occasionally observed. In page 479, we find a sentence relative to Demosthenes and Cicero, the inaccuracies in which, and in some others of a similar description, can be excused only by. the disadvantages attending a posthumous publication.

These Lectures abound with judicious and profound views of life; they bespeak in every page the man who has read books, and marked the intercourse of the world with a philosophic eye. It might have been happy for his pupils, if he had imbibed or infused a small portion of Christianity with his literary principles. What could be more naturally expected from such advice as the following, than that some of his hearers would be secular and mercenary parsons, and others infidels and scoffers at religion!

Though the picture I have drawn of the clerical line of life may be deemed, perhaps, gloomy and unpromising, I would not wish it to infer any discouragement from entering the church. Many of the inconveniencies I have mentioned may be avoided or remedied. The provision, though not ample, is sure and independent; the character, properly supported, is always respectable; and the great leisure it affords, if converted to purposes of literature, may be rendered subservient both to fame and fortune.' Vol. I. pp. 552, 553.

In a course of lectures upon subjects which had already been treated by many prior writers, by Bossu, Du Bos, Fontenelle, D'Alembert, Marmontel, among the French; by Kames, Gerard, and Campbell, among ourselves, it was nowise necessary that every idea communicated to a class of young students, should be original. It is the duty of a public teacher to convey to his pupils, not merely his own discoveries and opinions, but the collective knowledge which he has acquired, from whatever source. Mr. Barron, like Dr. Blair and all other writers on these subjects, has been largely indebted to his predecessors. He thinks, however, on all occa