It is rapid harmony, exactly adjusted to the sense; it is vehement reasoning, without any appearance of art; it is disdain, anger, boldness, freedom, involved in a continued stream of argument. And of all human productions, the orations of Demosthenes present to us the models which approach the nearest to perfection."*

Prof. Anthon observes: "Cicero's eloquence is like a consular triumph; he is himself the most conspicuous figure in the procession, which is swollen with the grandeur and riches of conquered provinces. Demosthenes is the terrible sweep of a vast body of cavalry. Cicero's oratory was local, fitted only to the audience; in Athens it would not have been tolerated. Demosthenes was for the whole earth, and at all times. In Rome he would have been as resistless as in Athens; and his eloquence would be as convincing now as it was in the popular assemblies of old."

Another eminent American critic, in noticing the grand characteristics of Demosthenian and Ciceronian oratory, has furnished us with the following beautiful comparison which will form an appropriate conclusion of this sketch:

"It is not a little remarkable that Roman eloquence, like that of Greece, should have been illustrated by a single name, so transcendently brilliant, that, in the effulgence which surrounds it, predecessors and contemporaries seem merged and lost. If the fame of Demosthenes rests upon a rock, that of his great pupil has a substratum equally solid, and still broader, for his eloquence, learning and philosophy, have charmed and instructed countless thousands, to whom the orations of the former were as but a sealed book. "Cicero," it has sometimes and not extravagantly been said, "is only another name for eloquence." And for what department of deep research and eloquent

Essays, xii vol. 1, p. 120.

literature then open to the human mind, is not Cicero another name? Where else shall we look for such a combination of all the elements of greatness? He was at once a retorician and orator-a philosopher and statesman a man of profound erudition, and lively wit. He lived and died a spotless patriot; and both in precept and example, was only less than a Christian moralist.

These considerations must not be deemed out of place, though our object be to speak of Cicero as an orator. They suggest the main source of his acknowledged superiority. Others may have equaled or surpassed him, possibly, in single qualities, but who else ever drew the perennial streams of eloquence from a fountain so inexhaustible? He has indeed one great competitor, whose transcendent merits he has himself acknowledged and portrayed with equal candor and ability. The names of Cicero and Demosthenes have long been coupled, and must ever shine like twin stars in the sky. Yet, let us say it reverently, they differ in glory.' While Demosthenes is brief and compact, Cicero is almost always diffuse. With the former, ornament is rare, and of secondary consideration; with the latter, abundant and evidently valued. Both abound in thought, but in one it is prominent and angular, like the muscular frame of Hercules, while in the other it is rotund and beautiful, as the Belvidere Apollo. Each makes use of consummate art; but while one conceals, the other displays it. The style of Demosthenes is nervous, that of Cicero flowing and graceful. The latter kindles the fancy, warms the passions, awakens the admiration of his hearers; but the former, with a giant's grasp, seizes their understandings and wills, and bends them to his purpose. Both added to their powers as orators the knowledge and abilities of the statesman, as both administered for a time the government of their respective

countries. In fine, to the Grecian orator we concede the superiority on great occasions, the spirit and the energy which could rouse a nation from apathy; but for him of Rome, we claim a higher praise as the orator of all occa sions, the delight and wonder of humanity."

CHAPTER III.

LORD CHATHAM.

The latter part of the eighteenth century was the golden age of modern parliamentary, and forensic oratory. It was a period illuminated by the brilliant genius of Mirabeau and Vergniaud in France,― of Mansfield, Chatham, Burke, Fox, Pitt, Sheridan, Grattan, Curran, and Erskine in Great Britain,― of Henry, Otis, Quincy, Warren, Hancock, Lee, Hamilton, and the Adamses in America. It was not only an age of oratorical glory, but one, pre-eminently, of literary and scientific greatness. Some of the most distinguished men that ever enlightened mankind then shone in the intellectual world. It was a period, too, forever illustrious in political history for some of the most important events that have ever occurred on our globe.

This era, which we may designate as that of George III, is so beautifully described by Mr. Alison that we are tempted to repeat a passage of his graphic description, affording a grand view of the world when the flame of eloquence shone so steadily and so brightly in Europe and America.

"The reign of George III," says that accomplished historian, "embraces, beyond all question, the most eventful and important period in the annals of mankind. In its eventful days were combined the growth of Grecian democracy with the passions of Roman ambition; the fervor of plebeian zeal with the pride of aristocratic power; the blood of Marius with the genius of Cæsar; the opening of

a nobler hemisphere to the enterprise of Columbus, with the rise of a social agent as mighty as the press or the powers of steam.

"But if new elements were called into action in the social world, of surpassing strength and energy, in the course of this memorable reign, still more remarkable were the characters which rose to eminence during its continuance. The military genius, unconquerable courage, and enduring constancy of Frederick; the ardent mind, burning eloquence, and lofty patriotism of Chatham; the incorruptible integrity, sagacious intellect, and philosophic spirit of Franklin; the disinterested virtue, prophetic wisdom, and imperturbable fortitude of WASHINGTON; the masculine understanding, feminine passions, and bloodstained ambition of Catharine, would alone have been sufficient to cast a radiance over any other age of the world. But bright as were the stars of its morning light, more brilliant still was the constellation which shone forth in its meridian splendor, or cast a glow over the twilight of its evening shades. Then were to be seen the rival genius of Pitt and Fox, which, emblematic of the antagonist powers which then convulsed mankind, shook the British senate by their vehemence, and roused the spirit destined, ere long, for the dearest interests of humanity, to array the world in arms; then the great soul of Burke cast off the unworldly fetters of ambition or party, and, fraught with a giant's force and a prophet's wisdom, regained its destiny in the cause of mankind; then the arm of Nelson cast its thunderbolts on every shore, and preserved unscathed in the deep the ark of European freedom; and, ere his reign expired, the wisdom of Wellington had erected an impassable barrier to Gallic ambition, and said, even to the deluge of imperial power, Hitherto shalt thou come and no further, and here shall thy proud waves be stayed.' Nor were splendid genius, heroic virtue,