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CHAPTER XXII.

Of Grace.

2.3.4.5

THE gracefulness of rhetorical action depends partly on the person and partly on the mind. Some are so happily formed. in person, that all their motions are graceful; and some minds are so noble, that they impart genuine grace to the most uncouth forms: but both these cases are comparatively rare : the person in general requires to be practised into grace, and the mind to be instructed and encouraged. Grace, like the ideal beauty of the painter and of the sculptor, is not commonly to be found in the individual living model, but to be collected from the various excellencies of many. Most forms of the human figure are capable, in a considerable degree, of graceful motions, but if not trained and educated in the most perfect, are

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* Short and ungraceful gestures, not to give them any harsher character, are now affected by young men of fashion. When to these are added the further affectation of apathy of countenance, the hope of seeing the graces and persuasive ornaments of eloquence revived is distant.

3 Decor quoque a gestu atque a motu venit. Quint. B. 1013.

Illam, quicquid agit, quoquo vestigia flectit
Componit furtim subsequiturque decor.

Capperonius in Quintil.

more apt to imitate the awkward and the vulgar; because their manners abound among the majority or the less cultivated, and because they are the short, the inattentive, and the most direct expressions of the feelings. If the vulgar at any time attempt circuitous or ceremonious motions, they discover the habits of obsolete, and of bad taste.

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The mind also may be capable of every dignified sentiment, but when untaught, not being acquainted with the manner of suitable expression, and either dubious, or conscious of its own deficiency, it betrays in every motion of the person constraint and apprehension, with consequent awkwardness and want of grace. This happens principally to the young and timid." Men, who are seriously affected, and express their feelings in public according to their natural impression, if previously uninstructed, may in some measure be ungraceful; but, when so much in earnest, as to cease to think of appearances, or of any thing but the accomplishment of their particular object, they never fail to be energetic and impressive in proportion to their

Grace was in all her steps, heav'n in her eye,
In ev'ry gesture dignity and love.

Milton.

6 A late noble lord, in his observations on parliamentary speaking, seems to coincide in opinion with Demosthenes, that action is the great requisite. Action is to be understood, in order to perceive this coincidence, in its utmost extent as comprehending all the externals of oratory.

When you come into the house of commons, if you imagine that speaking plain and unadorned sense and reason will do your business, you will find yourself grossly mistaken. As a speaker you will be ranked only according to your eloquence, and by no means according to your matter; every body knows the matter almost alike, but few can adorn it. I was early convinced of the importance and powers of eloquence, and from that moment I applied myself to it. . . . . . . Ornaments are at present your only objects. Your sole business now, is to shine, not to weigh. Weight without lustre is lead. Chesterfield's Letters by Gregory, p. 309.

sincerity, their good sense, and the extent of their information. It will be here observed, that no comparison is made between sincerity, good sense, and information on the one hand, as opposed to grace on the other; the influence of the truth, however presented, it is hoped will always be victorious in every wise assembly. But it may not be amiss above all other ornaments to recommend it by the simple grace and dignity which so much become it, and so admirably suit its character. And the observation goes only so far as to shew that nothing less than the irresistible force of sincerity, and fact can bear out a public speaker when divested of grace, the proper garb and ornament of truth. A silly fellow, however capable of imitating a graceful manner, can never be an impressive speaker; his attempts degenerate into vapid affectation, and impose only on the weak and ignorant; yet, as such descriptions of people make no inconsiderable portion of a popular audience, the affected graces of a fluent coxcomb will not be altogether disregarded. Such is the influence of the exterior in oratory.?

But genuine oratorical grace can only be the result of refined cultivation adorning a superior understanding, or the

7 In some passages the noble Lord has delivered his opinions with perhaps an unjustifiable boldness. "If you would either please in a private company or persuade in a public assembly, air, looks, gestures, graces, enunciation, proper accents, just emphasis, and tuneful cadences, are full as necessary as the matter itself. Let awkward, ungraceful, inelegant, and dull fellows say what they will in behalf of their solid matter, and strong reasonings; and let them despise all those graces and ornaments which engage the senses, and captivate the heart; they will find (though they will possibly wonder why) that their rough unpolished matter, and their unadorned, coarse, but strong arguments, will neither please nor persuade; but on the contrary will tire out attention and excite disgust. We are so made that we love to be pleased, better than to be informed; information is, in a certain degree, mortifying, as it implies our previous ignorance; it must be sweetened to be palatable.

To bring this directly to you; know that no man can make a figure in this country, but

rare gift of nature to a pure and exalted mind, expressed by the actions of a distinguished person.

But though true external grace can hardly be either assumed by, or imparted, except to a mind of a generous and noble nature, yet cultivation will do as much towards the improvement of the person, in this respect, as education can effect towards the improvement of the mind, and the bringing into action the internal powers of oratory. Not every public speaker

by parliament. Your fate depends on your success as a speaker: and take my word for it, that success turns much more upon manner than matter. Mr. Pitt, and Mr. Murray, the solicitor general, uncle to Lord Stormont, are beyond comparison the best speakers. Why? only because they are the best orators. They alone can inflame or quiet the house; they alone are attended to, in that numerous and noisy assembly, that you might hear a pin fall while either of them is speaking. Is it that their matter is better, or their arguments are stronger than other people's? Does the house expect extraordinary information from them? Not in the least; but the house expects pleasure from them, and therefore attends; finds it, and therefore approves. Mr. Pitt, particularly, has very little parliamentary knowledge his matter is generally flimsy, and his arguments are often weak; but his eloquence is superior, his action graceful, his enunciation just and harmonious, his periods are well turned, and every word he makes use of is the very best, and the most expressive, that can be used in that place. This, and not his matter, made him paymaster in spite of both king and ministers. Chesterfield's Letters by Gregory, p. 294.

The historian may not be satisfied with some observations here, and the student may not agree in the full extent of all; but the whole letter deserves his perusal, and is important to him who intends to speak in public. The following passage is singular.

To govern mankind, one must not over-rate them; and to please an audience as a speaker, one must not over value it. When I first came into the house of commons, I respected that assembly as a venerable one; and felt a certain awe upon me: but upon better acquaintance, that awe soon vanished; and I discovered that of the five hundred and sixty, not above thirty could understand reason, and that all the rest were people: that those thirty only required plain common sense, dressed up in good language; and that all the others only required flowing and harmonious periods, whether they conveyed any meaning or not; having ears to hear but not sense enough to judge. These considerations made me speak with little concern the first time, with less the second, and with none at all the third. I gave myself no farther trouble about any thing, except my elocution and my style; presuming without much vanity that I had common sense sufficient not to talk nonsense. Ib. p. 435.

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