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4ipon his victory over Pharnaces ? I came, I saw, I conquered.But there cannot be a greater or more beautiful example of this,than what Longinus has quoted from Moses.' “ The legislator of the Jews (says he), no ordinary person , having a just notion ofthe power and majesty of tlu: Deity , has expressed it in the begin-ning of his laws in the following words: And God said—what?Let there be light; and there was light. Let the earth be made;and it was made. This instance from the divine w riter, and thecharacter here given of him by that excellent critic, is the moreremarkable, as he was himself a Pagan . To command nature intohim by a word, represents it at once altogether boundless and un-limited.

Of the Sublime , with regard in Language. This comprehendsthree heads ; Elegance, Composition, and dignity.

I. Elegance. Those words and expressions chiefly contributeto form the sublime, which are most sonorous, and have the great-est splendor, force, and dignity. Long words, when equally ex-pressive, are rather to be chosen than short ones, especially mo-nosyllables. Thus, to conquer or vanquish an enemy, lias a fullerand more grand sound, than to beat an enemy. Compound wordsare also often preferable to simple ones, fjo if we say, C.tsar’sarmy, when he was present, was always invincible; this manner ofexpression lias more sublimity in it, than if we should say, Catsar’sarmy, when he was present, could never he conquered. 'Pile useof proper epithets also contributes very much to this character.Thus when the character of divine poet is given to Ilomer orVirgil, or prince of orators to Demosthenes or Cicero ; it conveysto the mind the most sublime ideas of them.

IE Composition. The force of this, as-Longinus observes, isso great, that sometimes it creates a kind of sublime, where thethoughts themselves are but mean ; and gives a certain appearanceof grandeur to that which otherwise would seem but common.But composition consists of several parts; the first of which is pe-riod. Sublimity arises from the several parts of a period, so con-nected, as to giv6 force, as well as beauty, to the whole. Theperiods, therefore, should be of a proper length. If they are tooshort, they loose their grandeur, and are gone almost before theyreach the ear ; as on the contrary, when they are too prolix, theyloose their force by becoming heavy and unweildy. The nextthing is the order and disposition of the several words arid membersof a sentence. The different placing but of one or two words willsometimes wholly destroy the grandeur of a sentence, and makeit extremely fiat. And in placing the several parts or members,they ought to be so disposed, that what is most weighty and im-portant should stand last. Tims Ttilly says of Catiline , “ Weought to return thanks to heaven, that we have so often escapedso odious, so frightful, so dangerous a plague of the state.” Ano-ther tiling is the connection of the words with regard to the sound ;that the pronunciation, in passing from one to another, may bemost agreeable to the ear, and best suited to the nature of thesubject. The last head is the proper use of tropes and figures ;which is here so necessary, that the title of dignity seems to havebeen given to this part of elocution, from the assistance it moreespecially affords to this character. For if, as Longinus says,compositions sometimes create a -sort of sublimity ; this much of-tener happens from the force and efficacy of some lively tropesand strong figures. As to tropes, bright metaphors are peculiarlysuited to raise and animate the style. This is manifest from theirnature, as they consist of similes, reduced to a single word ; which,if taken from things lofty and grand, must of consequence give asublimity to the style. What can suggest to us a greater idea ofthe valour of Ajax, than Ilomer’s calling him the bulwark of theGreeks? A number of these, well chosen, contribute no less tothe grandeur than to the beauty of discourse. Hyperbole some-times gives the same force to an expression, if cautiously used, soas not to exceed all appearance’ of truth. But the chief use ofit is, where proper words will not express the just idea of the thingdesigned to be conveyed; and it may seem rather the offspringof necessity than choice. Of this nature is that of Herodotus ,when speaking of the Lacedemonians at Thermopyire, he says,“ They defended themselves with the swords they had left, andeven with their hands and teeth, till the barbarians buried themunder their arrows.” As to figures, whether verbal or those whic hconsist in the sense, the nature of this character will easily directto such as are most proper. But poets take greater liberties in the

use of them than would be allowed to an orator. The orator’$use of them being to set tilings in a stronger and clearer light, theVare more sedate and moderate. As the proper subjects of thischaracter are either divine tilings, or such as are in the higheste-teem and regard among mankind, which often require laudatory'discourses, or panegyric; these admit of all the ornaments of elo-quence; which, however, must be used with discretion : for whenthe mind is stretched to the utmost of its pow er in tins pursuit of asublime idea, it cannot attend to all the lesser fineries of language ;but from its own vigour, will lie led to express them in terms (bomost empliatical, and best suited to die nature, in such eases,therefore, the sublimity must appear rather from the elevation ofthe thought, attended with a simplicity of expre.-sion. than fromtlie ornaments and dress of the language: though, upon the whole,grandeur and majesty of expression is tire proper mark of thischaracter with relation to the language. After tins account of thedistinctions of style, we may observe, that the style of an oratorcomprehends all the characters already explained, of low, middle,ami sublime, as they are applied by him in the different parts ofhis province. For the language must be suited to the subject, andtlie different view of tile speaker necessarily occasions a variety intlie manner of expression. Now an orator Iras three objects inview ; to prove what lie asserts, to represent it in an agreeablelight, and to move the passions. Eacli of these parts of his pro-vince requires a different style. The low style is most proper forproof ami information ; the middle style is best suited for pleasureand entertainment ; hut the sublime is necessary to influence thepassions. Here the orator calls in all tlie assistance of nature andart ; the most raised and lolly thoughts, clothed with tlie brightestand strongest colouring, enter into this character. All tiiis vari-ety, however, is not always necessary. Regard must lie had totlie nature of tlie subject, die time, place, persons, and other cir-cumstances ; by all which die style is to be regulated. Cicero refers us to some discourses of his own, as instances of each kind.His oration for Lamina, lie says, is written in tlie low style ; thatfor the Manilian law in tlie middle style, and that for Kabirius in(he sublime ; and his Orations against Verves, and some others,are die patterns of the variety here mentioned. And lie gives usa very comprehensive description of a perfect orator in few words,when lie says: “Fie is one who can speak upon a low subjectacutely, upon a lotty subject with sublimity, and upon a mode-rate subject temperately.”

Of Pronunciation.

Pronunciation is also called action by some of the ancients:though, if we attend to the proper signification of these words, theformer respects the voice, and tlie latter tlie gesture and motionsof the body. But if we consider them as synonymous terms, inthis large sense pronunciation or action may he said to iie a suitableconformity of the voice, and tlie several motions of die body, inspeaking, to tlie subject matter of the discourse, The best judgesamong tlie ancients have represented this as (lie principal part ofan orator’s province, whence he is chiefly to expect success in tlieart of persuasion. When Cicero , in tlie person of Crassius, liaslargely and elegantly discoursed upon ail the other parts of ora-tory, coming at last to speak of this, lie says, “ All the formerhave their effect as they are pronounced. It is the action alonethat governs in speaking ; without which the best orator is of novalue, and is often defeated by one in other respects much bis in-ferior.” And he says, that Demosthenes was of the same opinion,wiio , when he was asked what was die principal thing in oratory,replied action; and being asked again a second and third dine,what was next considerable, lie still made the same answer ; bvwinch lie intimated, that tlu: whole art did in a manner consist in it.And indeed, if lie had not judged this highly necessary for an ora-tor, lie would scarce have taken so much pains in correcting thosenatural defects, under which lie laboured at first, in order to ac-quire it. See Demostuf.nks. Nor was lie less careful in en-deavouring to gain tlu: liahit of a lieccming and decent gesture ;for which purpose lie used to pronounce his discourses alone be-fore a large mirror. Such pains did this prince of the Grecian ora-tor; take to remove those difficulties, which would have been suf-ficient to have discouraged ail inferior genius. To how great aperfection lie arrived in his action, under ail these disadvantages,by his indefatigable diligence, is evident from tlie confession of his

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