d rather the
feverish Delusion of a distempered Brain, and heated Imagination, than the
cool deliberate Result of rational Judgment; from which fermented Source,
also seem'd directly to flow his avowed Concern for the _long lost Art of
Oratory_ among us: Had Mr. _Sheridan_ attended to the Debates of our High
Court of Parliament; been frequent in our different Churches, and at the
Bars of our Courts of Judicature; and had, in this Case, formed a
comparative Judgment, from the Writings of _Demosthenes_, _Plato_,
_Isocrates_, _Cicero_, and _Pliny_ the Younger; from the Rules and
Precepts of _Aristotle_, _Longinus_, _Horace_, _Quinctilian_, _Scaliger_,
_Rapin_, _Poree_, and _Rollin_; he had been _then_ convinced how little
Occasion there was for his _lamenting_ the _Loss_ of an Art in this
Kingdom, which breathes there in full Maturity of all it's persuasive
Charms. This his dogmatical Assertion of the _long-lost Art of Oratory_,
his wild _Academical_ Projects, with the foregoing theatrical
Inconsistencies, too much subject that Gentleman to the Character given,
by the _Roman_ Satirist, of an assuming sharp-set _Greekling_:

_Gramaticus, Rhetor, Geometres, Pictor, Aliptes, Augur,
Scoenobates, Medicus, Magus, omnia novit._

Upon the Whole, I will readily grant Mr. _Sheridan_ a _Roscius_, if the
Name can sooth him; a _Critic_; nay, an _Orator_; but I shall be bold to
assert, that we have many, very many, in this Kingdom, of far greater
Powers than that Gentleman, whereof some of his Orations, _so called_, are
incontrovertible Testimonies.

This Kingdom hath of late Years exhibited as justly celebrated Male and
Female Players, as any other; evinced in the Characters of Messieurs
_Quin_, _Ryan_, _Delane_, _Sheridan_, _Barry_, _Mossop_, _Dexter_,
_Sparks_, Mrs. _Woffington_, the inimitable Mrs. _Fitz-Henry_, and several
others, of either Sex.

Mr. _Barry_'s Capacity, as a Manager, appeareth equal to his
eminently-affecting Powers in Tragedy, (so generally known, and so
unexceptionably confessed) from the magnificent Theatre, erected by that
Gentleman, with amazing Expedition, in Grandeur, Convenience, and
Elegance, preferable to any in _London_, or _Paris_: From the obliging
Decency the respective Performances thereof are conducted with, and
evidently from the surpassing theatrical Abilities of the Company, that,
with the most engaging Variety, entertains the Publick in _Crow-street_
Play-house. I have sometimes