INTRODUCTION.

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I, e c t. utility or pleafure be the principal aim in view,X we are prompted, by the ftrongeft motives , toftudy how we may communicate our thoughtsto one another with moft advantage. Accord-ingly we find, that in almoft every nation, asfoon as language had extended itfelf beyond thatfcanty communication which was rerquifite for thefupply of men’s neceffities, the improvement ofdifcourfe began to attradt regard. In the languageeven of rude uncultivated tribes, we can tracefome attention to the grace and force of thofeexpreffions which they ufed, when they foughtto perfuade or to affect. They were early fen-fible of a beauty in difcourfe, and endeavouredto give it certain decorations which experiencebad taught them it was ^capable of receiving,long before the ftudy of thofe decorations wasformed into a regular art.

But, among nations in a civilized ftate, no artlias been cultivated with more care* than that oflanguage, ftyle, and compofition. The atten-tion paid to it may, indeed, be alfumed as onemark of the progrefs of fociety towards its moftimproved period. For, according as fociety im-proves and fiourilhes, men acquire more influenceover one another by means of reafoning and dif-courfe ; and in proportion as that influence isfelt to enlarge, it muft follow, as a natural con-fequence , that they will bellow more care up-on the methods of exprefiTing their conceptionswith propriety and eloquence. Hence we find,that iii all the poliilied nations of Europe , this