and the resources of a fitting diction, by soaking
his mind in some great authors which will alike satisfy and
stimulate his imagination, and supply him with a lofty expression.
Of these I suppose the best are, by common consent, the Bible,
Shakespeare, and Milton. It is a maxim that the pupil who
wishes to acquire a pure and simple style should give his
days and nights to Addison. But there is a lack of strength
and vigor in Addison, which perhaps prevents his being the
best model for the advocate in the court-house or the champion
in a political debate. I should rather, for myself, recommend
Robert South to the student. If the speaker, whose thought
have weight and vigor in it, can say it as South would have
said it, he may be quite sure that his weighty meaning will
be expressed alike to the mind of the people and the apprehension
of his antagonist.

There is one great difference between the condition of the
American orator and that of the orator of antiquity. The
speaker, in the old time, addressed an audience about to act
instantly upon the emotions or convictions he had himself
caused. Or he spoke to a Judge who was to give no reason
for his opinion. The sense of public responsibility scarcely
existed in either. The speech itself perished with the occasion,
unless, as in some few instances, the orator preserved it
in manuscript for a curious posterity. Even then the best
of them had discovered that not eloquence, but wisdom, is
the power by which states grow and flourish.

"Omnia plena consiliorum, inania verborum.

"Quid est tam furiosum quam verborum vel optimorum atque ornatissimorum
sonitus inanis nulla subjecta sententia nec scientia?"

Cicero's oratory is to excite his hearers, whether Judge
or popular assembly, for the occasion. Not so in general
with our orator. The auditor is ashamed of excitement. He
takes the argument home with him: He sleeps on it. He reads
it again in the newspaper report. He hears and reads the
other side. He discusses with friends and antagonists. He
feels the responsibility of his vote. He expects to have
to justify it himself. Even the juryman hears the sober
statement of the Judge, and talks the case over with his
associates of the panel in the quiet seclusion of the jury-room.
The Judge himself must state the reasons for his opinions,
which are to be read by a learned and critical profession and
by posterity. The speaker's argument must be sounded, an