fhall not fhock by affectation, nor yet fuffer admirable compofitions to languifh and chill the hearer, for want of being delivered with proper energy? may there not be fomething of gefture and expreffion adopted, which fhall give due dignity and effect to noble fentiments, conceived in the fpirit of ancient eloquence, and expreffed in language not lefs vigorous than that of Greece and Rome? May not fome advantageous change be made from awkward rufticity to manly grace; and instead of defacing the beauty of our compofitions, by negligence and frigid indif ference in action, fhould we not invent fome new and more effi. cacious exertions for ftriking deeply the impreffions of our native eloquence?" P. 140.

Nothing can be more appofite than the references to ancient models of excellence in gefture and delivery, from Ifocrates, Cicero, Plutarch, Valerius Maximus, and Quintilian but we must again refer our readers to the author himself, as it is impoffible for us to infert at full length those obfervations, which it would be an act of injuftice to abridge.

Chap. V. On reading, is extremely curious and amufing. The author conflructs his fcale thus. Intelligible, correct, impreffive, rhetorical, dramatic, and epic reading-and fpeaks of each in their order. Nothing can be more valuable than his remarks on the proper method of reading the liturgy of the eftablished church. On the fubject of the Scriptures he fhall fpeak for himself.

"The reading of the Scriptures must be confidered as even more interesting than the Liturgy itfelf, and is alfo more difficult. Their compofition is of that original and various character, which demands every effort on his part, who is called upon to deliver them for the inruction of others. Hardly is there a chapter, which does not contain fomething, which requires the moft impreffive reading; as remonftrance, threatening, command, encouragement, fublime defcription, awful judgments. The nar rative is interrupted by frequent and often 'unexpected tranfitions; by bold and unufual figures; and by precepts of most extensive application, and moft admirable ufe.

"In the narrative, the reader should deliver himself with a fuit. able fimplicity and gravity of demeanour. In the tranfitions, which are often rapid, he fhould manifeft a quick conception, and by rhetorical paufes and fuitable changes of voice, exprefs and render intelligible the new matter or change of fcene. In the figurative and fublime which every where abound, his voice fhould be fonorous, and his countenance expreffive of the elevation of his fubject. In the precepts he fhould deliver himself with judgment and difcretion; and when he repeats the words.

and

and precepts, as recorded, of our Lord himself, with more dif tinguifhed mildnefs, mingled with dignified authority. Such reading would be a perpetual and luminous commentary on the facred writings; and would convey more folid information than the moft learned and brilliant fermons. But who can enumerate the various interefts, which thofe facred books are calculated to awaken? and all of thefe, if poffible, fhould be fo deeply entered into, that he who reads, fhould, by every expreffion of voice and countenance, deliver them, as if he felt in his heart the force of their facred truth." P. 194.

In the treatife on oratory (chap. VII.) where the author feems to have put forth all his ftrength, and with admirable fuccefs, we find the following impreffive remarks on the character of a celebrated preacher of the church of Ireland, (Dean Kirwan) now removed from the scene of his illuftrious labours to an eternal reward.

"This is the field of eloquence, which merits the highest cultivation, and which has produced the most excellent fruit. In this great field, eloquence has already been brought almoft to fuch perfection as may be faid to vie with all that has been heard in Greece and Rome: and to this perfection could I wish it were carried again, and [that] in thefe countries. The first of those great Chriftian orators was John, the Patriarch of Conftantinople, emphatically and juftly firnamed Chryfoftom, a man learned in all the precious literature of antiquity, and educated by the moft celebrated rhetorician, Libanius of Antioch, whofe Chrif tian eloquence is enriched by all the vigour and tafle of philofophical and claffic elegance. What a model! and yet how little is he read *!—Bafil and Gregory, his contemporaries, emulated his eloquence. For a long period the cruel acrimony of controverfy banished pure and Christian oratory; nor did it revive till the fplendid æra of Lewis XIV. in France. The learned Boffuet, Bishop of Meaux, Bourdaloue, and Maffillon, and we may add Flechier, excelled in pulpit eloquence, and in Holland among the reformed, Saurin +.

To them Great Britain has to compare the manly vigour, the correct reafoning, and the pure gofpel excellence of many of her preachers; but little of eloquence. Her time is not yet ar

Whole pages from Chryfoftom might at this day be introduced in our pulpits with the best possible effect, particularly the laft divifion of his fubject, in which he makes the moral applica tion. (0xa.)

+ See Abbé Maury upon Eloquence, who in the prefent age is himself a most eloquent preacher.

rived; no great pulpit orator, among her many learned and pious divines, has been celebrated in Great Britain. One has appeared in Ireland . That he is a great orator, the manner in which he is attended will alone evince. He, to ufe the emphatical expreffion of our great Parliamentary orator, has broken in upon the flumbers of the pulpit; he is truly an extraordinary preacher, but yet cannot be esteemed a model for general imitation. His genius is too much fui generis, ardent and uncontrolled; his manner zealous and decided, and his doctrine rigid. But his compofition is excellent, his arrangement luminous, his invention happy, his ftyle pure and admirably varied, often moft fimple, and often magnificent; his figures are always juft, and fre quently fublime. His memory is perfect, his fluency uninter. rupted, his voice well managed, his action though not altogether graceful, yet various and highly energetic. The eloquence of the pulpit has never among us been carried to such pefection, nor have we heard of any preacher in great Britain to be com. pared with him in this refpect." P. 227.

There is fomething novel and curious in the fuggefted improvements, on the place from which the preacher fhould deliver his fpiritual admonitions. We give them to our readers, without offering an opinion of our own upon the fubject.

"The pulpit, in its prefent form (as has been already obferved), is moft unfavourable for delivery. If then, instead of fuch a mass of building as is feen to encumber our churchesthe clerk's desk, furmounted by the reading desk, and that by a towering pulpit, and that again with the founding board, together with its cushions, its staircafe, and all its apparatus accommodated only for repofe, if thefe were totally removed, and in their place a platform were erected of convenient fize and height, the preacher might ftand on that, and deliver thence his difcourfe with grace, and with effect*. This fituation, which at first appears novel, differs little from that of the reader at the communion table, whofe pofition has always a grand and decorous effect: becaufe no clofe panels cut off the half of

Dean Kirwan died Nov. 19, 1805. The author ftill left his Eulogy unaltered. All poffible teftimony confirms this account of his powers.` Rev.

"As the preacher, even according to our cuftom, ftands in delivering his difcourfe, there does not appear to be any neceffity for a fyftem of cushions to induce him to loll upon, nor, as he is clothed to the feet, for any enciofure to conceal his lower limbs, nor yet is a y fupport neceffary for his writing, which is never too heavy to be held in the hand.”

his perfon; but the whole is feen with all poffible advantage +."

"The platform should have either rails at the back, and steps at the three fides next the congregation, to give the position an air of fafety and gradual elevation, or if it were preferred, might have the steps at the back, and a low rail enciofing the the three fides. Upon this platform fhould the preacher stand (as St. Paul is fo finely reprefented in the Cartoons of Raphael); he might hold his fermon in his left hand, and with his right in general make his geftures. Sometimes he might ufe both, fometimes ufe with fine effect his hand and fermon. And if the preacher should prefer to pronounce his difcourfe without notes, he would in this fituation, and clad in the decent and graceful robes which are the proper habit of our minifters, be enabled to practise with advantage every power of delivery, and every dignified and fuitable gefture §. P. 225.

The

"Sterne's picture of Trim is highly fuitable for the charafter he has employed to read; but St. Paul's, by Raphael, is much more becoming to the preacher."

"Marmontel approves of the form of the pulpits as they are used in France and in England. He thinks they restrain the extravagance of the preachers of his country for a contrary reafon I fhould prefer the form of the ancient tribune, or that of the pulpits of Italy, in order to give more freedom to the action of our preachers, who are difpofed to be too tame and cold.

"C'eft peutêtre une raifon pour nous de pas regretter l'efpace de la tribune ancienne et celui de chaires d'Italie. On voit par un mot de Ciceron que les orateurs de fon temps abufoient quelquefois de la liberté de leurs movemens : rarus inceffus recommandoit il, nec ita longus, excurfio moderata, eaque rara.

Orat.

"On dit que les prédicateurs d'Italie auroient fouvent befoin de la même leçon. En France, la forme de nos chaires, et la fituation de nos avocats au barreau, ne laiffe que l'action du bufte: c'en eft affez pour les orateurs eloquens, et c'en est beaucoup trop encore pour les mauvais déclamateurs. Elémens de Littérature, artic. Declamation Oratoire, p. 290."

pit.

Mr. Sheridan very freely condemns the forms of the pulArt of Speaking, p. 42. Edit. Dub.

"The clergy have one confiderable apology from the awkwardnefs of the place they speak from. A pulpit is, by its very make, neceffarily destructive of all grace of attitude. What could even a Tully do in a tub, just big enough for him to stand in, immerfed up to the arm pit, pillowing his chin upon its cushion, as Milton defcribes the fun upon the orient wave? but

"The platform fhould be raised about as high as the breafts of the congregation, and not be placed at fuch a giddy elevation as fhould give the idea of danger, nor boxed up, as if fome juggling were to be performed within. It fhould be railed like. the communion table, and be in all refpects fimilar, only raifed fomewhat higher, and enclofing a fmaller fpace. The furni.. ture should be a chair for the preacher to fit in, before or after the fermon, and a cushion to kneel upon, with a small moveable reading desk or oratory holding a prayer book. A moveable or fufpended branch would be neceffary, if a discourse were to be delivered in the evening.

Mr. Auftin's remarks on flage delivery are dictated by found judgment and accurate tafte; and on the fubject of the opera his tribute of applaufe to the moft admired and excellent performer that ever charmed a Britifh audience, would itself deferve applaufe in return, had it not been disfigured by a defignation of his heroine totally inadmiffible in a didactic work, and too nearly allied to the Gipfey jargon of Fops' Alley. Against this glaring violation of propriety we enter our most decided proteft, and trust that in any future edition, we shall not be doomed to meet with The Graffini!

After fome ingenious obfervations on the pantomimic art, the author enters on the technical and fymbolic part of his own fubject, and here we follow him with trembling and hefitation-indeed he speaks of the attempt himself with becoming diffidence.

"To produce a language of fymbols, fo fimple and fo perfect as to render it poffible with facility to reprefent every action of an orator throughout his fpeech, or of an actor throughout the

it is hardly to be expected, that this, or any other impropriety in facred matters, of which there are many greater, should be altered. Errors in them, become, by long eftablishment, facred. And I doubt not, but fome of the narrower part of the clergy, as well as of the people, would think any other form of a pulpit, than the prefent, though much fitter for exhibiting the fpeaker to an advantage, an innovation likely to prove dangerous to religion, and, which is worfe, to the church."

"An obfervation in the Dialogus de Oratoribus attributed to Tacitus, applies to our pulpits and to the bar. Quantum virium detraxiffe orationi auditoria et tabularia credimus, in quibus jam fere plurimæ caufæ explicantur ? nam quomodo nobiles equos curfus et fpatia probant; fic eft aliquis oratorum campus, per quem nifi liberi et foluti ferantur, debilitatur ac frangitur eloquentia. Dial. de Orat. c. 39."

9

whole