What does this proceed from? May a person write with simplicity, and yet without beauty? What does beautiful simplicity suppose? What other character of style is treated of? What is it distinguished by ? To what does this style belong? What is the first direction for attaining a good style ? What good will that do? What next is necessary? Is it every kind that will improve style? How ought we to write? What effect may pausing on every word have? How is it best to manage what we have written, in order to correct it? In the third place what is necessary? Of what use will an acquaintance with them be? Eloquence. Origin of Eloquence. What is Eloquence? What are its essential requisites ? What must be its foundation? What is the distinction between convincing and persuading? Who is to convince us? Who is to persuade us? Can persuasion be stable, that is not founded on conviction? What, besides solid argument and clear method, enters into the idea of eloquence ? How many degrees does eloquence consist of? What is the second? What is the third ? Of what is the highest species of eloquence the offspring? What is meant by passion? When do we perceive the first remarkable appearance of eloquence as the art of persuasion ? Had it a wide field in those republics? How came it to have? Who was their greatest orator? Was he formed by nature for an orator? Roman Eloquence. From whom did the Romans derive their Eloquence, Poetry, and Learning? In what did the Romans differ from them? How does he begin his orations? What are the characteristic excellencies of his style? What are his defects ? Was the Grecian or Roman orator most generally preferred? Did eloquence flourish long among the Romans ? How happened it to be so ? Has public speaking been valued as highly in any European nation as it was in Greece and Rome ? Why might we expect to find the spirit of eloquence. in France ? Why in Great Britain ? Can any reason be assigned why modern eloquence has been so confined and humble in its efforts? What has particularly checked the efforts of eloquence in the British parliament ? What made the eloquence of the Bar more flour ishing among the ancients than with us? What has checked the eloquence of the Pulpit Eloquence of Popular Assemblies. What is the foundation of every species of eloquence? What should be the first study of him who means to address a popular assembly? What is the capital rule to render him a persuasive speaker? Are set speeches approved in public meetings? Of what use are short notes of the substance of a discourse? • What forms the peculiar character of popular.eloquence in its highest perfection? What is the best rule by which to attain excellence in the higher strains of oratory? Is there any danger in this case of being too vebement? On what ideas should an orator adjust the whole train and manner of his speaking? What style is best, the diffuse or concise? Eloquence of the Bar. To what is the eloquence of an orator at the Bar chiefly addressed? By what is his sphere of speaking limited ? Why will not the judicial orations of the ancients answer as models of that kind of speaking which is adapted to the present state of the bar? In what must the foundation of a lawyer's reputation and success be laid? Are we to conclude, because the ancient manner of pleading is in a great measure superseded, that there is no room for eloquence at the bar? What is chiefly to be studied in the species of eloquence suited to the bar? How should it be shown? Why is conciseness in narration at the bar very necessary! Why is more diffuseness in argument requisite ? Is wit considered an excellence in a lawyer? Eloquence of the Pulpit. What peculiar advantages attend Pulpit eloquence? What disadvantages? What is necessary in order to excel in preaching? What is this object? What are the characteristics of pulpit eloquence? What does a proper union of these two form? What quality of style must be particularly attended to in a sermon ? Which are the most useful kind of sermons ? What subjects are best suited to a sermon? Is it necessary for a preacher to be concise? What should be the grand object of every preacher? What should he avoid? What study is peculiarly necessary for a preach er? Comparative Merit of the Ancients and Moderns. In what had the ancients pre-eminence ? What circumstances were favourable to the exertions of genius among the ancients? Have any advantages been gained by the moderns in poetry? Historical Writing. What is History? What are the great requisites in an historian? What should be the first object in historical detail ? What knowledge is particularly necessary for an historian? Of what use will it be? How is an historian to impart his political knowledge ? What are primary virtues in an historical narration? When are these attained? What renders an historian interesting? Of what use is delineation of characters to an historian ? Is morality essential to history? In modern times where has historical genius shone most? What are Annals? What are Memoirs ? What is Biography? Who is the most celebrated writer of biography? What improvements have been lately introduced into historical writing? Philosophical Writing. Dialogue. What is the professed design of Philosophy? Are style, form, and dress, therefore, to be neglected? What, beyond mere perspicuity, are required in a philosophical writer? What style is suited to philosophical writings? What model of this style does our language afford? What form did philosophical writing assume among the ancients? What are the characteristical distinctions of writers in this way? Epistolary Writing. What are the fundamental requisites of Epistolary Writing? What style is suitable? What are the distinguishing excellencies of the various celebrated writers in this way? J |