CONDUCT OF A DISCOURSE IN ALL ITS PARTS....INTRODUCTION, DIVISION, NARRATION AND EXPLI

CATION.

HAVING already considered what is peculiar to each of the three great fields of public speaking, popular assemblies, the bar and the pulpit, we shall now treat of what is common to them all, and explain the conduct of a discourse or oration in general.

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The parts which compose a regular oration are these six the exordium or introduction; the state or the division of the subject; narration or explication; the reasoning or arguments; the pathetic part, and the conclusion. It is not necessary that each of these enter into every public discourse, nor that they always enter in this order. There are many excellent discourses in which some of these parts are omitted. But as they are the constituent parts of a regular oration, and as in every discourse some of them must occur, it is agreeable to our present purpose, to examine each of them distinctly.

The design of the introduction is to conciliate the good will of the hearers; to excite their attention; and to render them open to persuasion. When a speaker is previously secure of the good will, attention, and docility of his audience, a formal introduction may be omitted. Respect for his hearers will in that case require only a short exordium, to prepare them for the other parts of his discourse.

The introduction is a part of a discourse, which requires no small care. It is always important to begin well; to make a favourable impression at first setting out, when the minds of the hearers, as yet vacant and free, are more easily prejudiced in favour of the speaker. We must add also, that a good introduction is frequently found to be extremely difficult. Few parts of a discourse give more trouble to the composer, or require more delicacy in the execution.

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An introduction should be easy and natural. should always be suggested by the subject. The wria

ter should not plan it before he has meditated in his own mind the substance of his discourse. By taking the opposite course and composing in the first place an introduction, the writer will often find that he is either led to lay hold of some common-place topic, or that instead of the introduction being accommodated to the discourse, he is under the necessity of accommodating the discourse to the introduction.

In this part of a discourse, correctness of expression should be carefully studied. This is peculiarly requisite on account of the situation of the hearers. At the beginning they are more disposed to criticise, than at any other period; they are then occupied by the subject and the arguments; their attention is entirely directed to the speaker's style and manner. Care, therefore, is requisite to prepossess them in his favour; though too much art must be cautiously avoided, since it will then be more easily detected, and will derogate from that persuasion, which the other parts of the discourse are intended to produce.

Modesty is also an indispensible characteristic of a good introduction. If the speaker begin with an air of arrogance and ostentation, the self love and pride of his hearers will be presently awakened, and follow him with a very suspicious eye through the rest of his discourse. His modesty should appear not only in his expression, but in his whole manner; in his looks, in his gestures, and in the tone of his voice. Every audience is pleased with those marks of respect and awe which are paid by the speaker. The modesty, however of an introduction, should betray nothing mean or abject. Together with modesty and deference to his hearers, the orator should show a certain sense of dignity, arising from persuasion of the justice or importance of his subject.

Particular cases excepted, the orator should not put forth all his strength at the beginning; but it should rise and grow upon his hearers as his discourse advanThe introduction is seldom the place for vehemence and passion. The audience must be gradually prepared, before the speaker venture on strong and

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passionate sentiments. Yet when the subject is such that the very mention of it naturally awakens some passionate emotion; or when the unexpected presence of some person or object in a popular assembly inflames the speaker; either of these will justify an abrupt and vehement exordium. Thus the appearance of Cataline in the senate renders the violent opening of Cicero's first oration against him very natural and proper. "Quosque tandem Catalina, abutere patientia nostra ?". Bishop Atterbury preaching from this text, "Blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me," ventures on this bold exordium: "And can any man then be offended in thee, blessed Jesus?" which address to our Saviour he continues, till he enters on the division of his subject. But such introductions should be attempted by very few, since they promise so much vehemence and ardour through the rest of the discourse, that it is extremely difficult to satisfy the expectation of the hearers.

An introduction should not anticipate any material part of the subject. When topics or arguments, which are afterward to be enlarged upon, are hinted at, and in part exhibited in the introduction, they lose, upon their second appearance, the grace of novelty. The impression intended to be made by any capital thought, is always made with greatest advantage, when it is made entire, and in its proper place.

An introduction should be proportioned in length and kind to the discourse which follows it. In length, as nothing can be more absurd than to erect a large portico before a small building; and in kind, as it is no less absurd to load with superb ornaments the portico of a plain dwelling house; or to make the approach to a monument as gay as that to an arbour.

After the introduction, the proposition or enunciation of the subject commonly succeeds; concerning which we shall only observe, that it should be clear and distinct, and expressed without affectation in the most concise and simple manner. To this generally suc ceeds the division or laying down the method of the

discourse; in the management of which the following rules should be carefully observed.

First: The parts, into which the subject is divided, must be really distinct from each other. It were an absurd division, for example, if a speaker should propose to explain first the advantages of virtue, and next those of justice or temperance; because the first head plainly comprehends the second, as a genus does the species. Such a method of proceeding involves the subject in confusion.

Secondly: We must be careful always to follow the order of nature; beginning with the most simple points; with such as are most easily understood, and necessary to be first discussed; and proceeding to those which are built upon the former, and suppose them to be known. The subject must be divided into those parts into which it is most easily and naturally resolved.

Thirdly The members of a division ought to exhaust the subject; otherwise the division is incomplete; the subject is exhibited by pieces only, without displaying the whole.

Fourthly Let conciseness and precision be peculiarly studied. A division always appears to most advantage, when the several heads are expressed in the clearest, most forcible, and fewest words possible. This never fails to strike the hearers agreeably; and contributes also to make the divisions more easily remembered.

Fifthly Unnecessary multiplication of heads should be cautiously avoided. To divide a subject into many minute parts, by endless divisions and subdivisions, produces a bad effect in speaking. In a logical treatise this may be proper; but it renders an oration hard and dry, and unnecessarily fatigues the memory. A sermon may admit from three to five or six heads, including subdivisions; seldom are more allowable.

The next constituent part of the discourse is narration and explication. These two are joined together, because they fall nearly under the same rules, and be

cause they generally answer the same purpose; serving to illustrate the cause, or the subject, of which one treats, before proceeding to argue on one side or the other; or attempting to interest the passions of the hearers.

To be clear and distinct, to be probable, and to be concise, are the qualities which critics chiefly require in narration. Distinctness is requisite to the whole of the discourse, but belongs especially to narration, which ought to throw light on all that follows. At the bar, a fact, or a single circumstance, left in obscurity, or misunderstood by the judge, may destroy the effect of all the argument and reasoning which the pleader employs. If his narration be improbable, it will be disre garded; if it be tedious and diffuse, it will fatigue and be forgotten. To render narration distinct, particular attention is requisite in ascertaining clearly the names, dates, places, and every other important circumstance of the facts recounted. In order to be probable in narration, it is necessary to exhibit the characters of the persons of whom we speak, and to show that their actions proceeded from such motives as are natural, and likely to gain belief. To be as concise as the subject will admit, all superfluous circumstances must be rejected; by which the narration will be rendered more forcible and more clear.

In sermons, explication of the subject to be discoursed on occupies the place of narration at the bar, and is to be conducted in a similar manner. It must be concise, clear, and distinct; in a style correct and elegant, rather than highly adorned. To explain the doctrine of the text with propriety; to give a full and clear account of the nature of that virtue or duty which forms the subject of discourse, is properly the didactic part of preaching; on the right execution of which much depends. In order to succeed, the preacher must meditate profoundly on the subject; so as to place it in a clear and striking point of view. He must consider what light it may derive from other passages of scripture; whether it be a subject nearly allied to some other from which it ought to be distinguished; whether