has a vehement Flow, and fometimes the Flow is moderate and mild; and all this from the Management of the Numbers, as well as the Matter. If it be ask'd, What is Number in Oratory? I answer, Every Number is Num-ber in Oratory, but fome Numbers are more proper than others, for the Beginning, Middle, and End of Periods. An Oration is then to be made in Number, when the Subject is of exquifite Praise, or when the Narration is to be expounded, or in Amplifications and Perorations; and these Numbers are then effectual and powerful, when they confine and captivate the Audience; but this Kind is not to be continued long. A fwift Flow is from fhort Feet, but the Flow is remifs, when the Quantities are long. Contentions require a quick Flow, but in Expofitions the Numbers are remifs. The Period is concluded various Ways; the Afiaticks very much affected a Dichoree in the Conclufion. This Dichoyee is not naturally bad; but 'tis as great a Fault as any in Oratory, to make the Conclufions always alike; for we are not to repeat the fame Flows and Harmony often. There are many Numbers which make the Cadence agreeable in the Claufe. The Cretic and Paon, which is equal to the Cretic in Quantity, but longer by a Syllable, fall very aptly into Profe Compofitions; for the long Syllable is either first, as in the first Peon, and the short laft, and this Paon fuits the Beginning of Sentences; or the three fhort Syllables are firft, and the long Syllable laft, as in the fourth Peon; and this Paon, as as the Ancients thought, was best for the Claufe. I am not altogether against this Foot, but prefer others. The Spondee, to me, is not to be utterly laid afide; for tho' the two long Syllables of the Spondee are heavier and flower than the Paon is, yet there is fomething folid and majestic in the Spondee, particularly in the Incifions and Members; and as thefe. Members and Incifions have but few Words, the Slownefs of the Spondee is of Weight here. When I fpeak of these Feet in the Claufe, I do not mean the last Foot of the Claufe, but the last Foot, at least, but one of the Claufe, and often the Foot third from the Claufe: The Iambick and Dactyl, if next to the final Foot, (provided this Foot is a Trochee or Spondee, for 'tis no Matter which of these Feet is in the Claufe) contribute much to the Harmony of the Claufe; and these Feet do not harmonioufly end the Period, unlefs the Dactyl, which is placed in the Claufe, ftands for a Cretic; for 'tis equally the fame whether the Dactyl or Cretic is in the Claufe, for the final Syllable may be long or fhort. Ephorus, and all the Ancients, are agreed, that the Peon is the only Foot for the Beginning, Middle, and End of Periods but I think the Cretic fuits the Claufe ; beft. The Dochimus confifting of five Syllables, as amicos tenes is proper for any Place whatever, if us'd but seldom; but if repeated the Numbers will appear: But the Art of the Orator is to conceal his Numbers from Variety of Feet; and because an Oration is not only harmonious from Numbers, but from Composition, or from a certain Structure of Words, where where there is a Comparison of like to like, or an Oppofition of Contrarieties, this apt Compofition will often help us to Variety of Clau fes. A full Comprehenfion, or Period of Words, has four Parts, and is fomething like four Hexameter Verses. Incifions and Members are of the greatest Force in real Caufes, especially when we accufe or refute: Nor is any Kind of Oratory more preferable, or more preffing, than when we fmite with two or three Words, and sometimes with one, and fometimes, but feldom, with many. To speak, then, in a beautiful Manner, and like an Orator, is to speak, as you know Brutus better than any one, in the choiceft Words and the best of Sentences; nor is any Sentence of Ufe to the Orator, but what is aptly expounded and made compleat ; nor will the Light of the Words appear, but from a proper and due Difpofition; and this Difpofition and Expofition, are to receive Light from the Numbers; and that is Number which has no poetical Order and Flow, but is far from it, and most unlike it; not but Numbers are the fame in Profe as in Poetry, but the Order of the Feet make that which is pronounced Profe or Poetry. And we are obliged to use these Numbers and these Periods, if we wou'd be eloquent, not only because, as Ari ftotle obferves, the Flow of the Oration may not be infinite, but because whatever is aptly connected in Numbers and Periods, has a greater Force, than what is difharmonious, loose, and unbounedd. We [9] We may know, then, and that from Experience, by diffolving the Structure of a just Compofition, what it is that makes this juft Compofition; for we shall find, that by tranfpofing the Words, the Beauty of the Sentence is utterly loft; for when the Order of the Words is but a little changed, though the Sentence runs in the fame Words, all is nothing. "Tis. the Force of the Numbers and the Difpofition, that makes the Period vehement and strong; for Demofthenes cou'd never have thunder'd on his Audience with fo much Vehemency; had not his Thunder been darted from the Force of his Numbers. This, Brutus, is my Judgment on the Orator; if you like it, follow it; or if you have any thing different of your own, follow what is your own; for I fhall not make it Matter of Contention, nor fhall I ever affirm that what I have afferted fo much in this Book, comes nearer the Truth, than what you have to say : For you and I may not only differ in Judg-. ment, but, another Time, I may differ from my felf. This is collected, in a great Measure, from Cicero's Orator; but as this Subject is much improved by Quintilian, and fome of the Moderns, I fhall first give a Table of the Feet, with their Proportions and natural Effects, and then explain, from Ariftotle, Cicero, Quintilian, and Others, what is the Place and Difpofition of these Feet, in the Compofition of Oratorial Periods. |