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52 THE COUNTRYMAN. My (3r&&dH?aiier’8 (Iluiir. “De omnibus rebus, et quibusdam aliis.'" BY W. W. TURNER. Vol. 1. NOVEMBER 10, 1862. No. 2. Oratory. “ ’ Twas like a torch race—such as they Of Greece performed in ages.gone, When the fleet youths, in long array, Passed the bright torch triumphant on. * * * * * * I saw from ready hand to hand The clear though struggling glory burn.” On witnessing a contest in declamation among a number of young gentlemen, and. the subsequent delivery of a prize to liim who had excelled his companions, I Was led into a good many reflections, such as natu rally suggest themselves, on occasions of this sort. Well did the youthful orators acquit themselves ; manfully did they strug gle with each other ; nobly did they run the Tace. Long time it was doubtful on whose brow would rest the laurel wreath. Victory appeared to be first with one and then another, and seemed, as it thus veered about, like a bright light transferred from hand to hand, and finally it remained, steady and lustrous, with one favored speaker. The task of presenting the prize to the victor was a pleasing one. It ever delights a man of proper feeling to be the instrument of affording pleasure to others; a peculiar joy thrills him whenever ho can make glad the heart of youth ; most of all does he re joice when he knows that he is recognizing and distinguishing superior talent. What can be more gratifying to him, than to as sist in encouraging boys to noble effort to ward making intellectual progress 1 Who would not be proud to join in fostering a noble emulation ; a pme and exalted am bition ? Where is the man whose heart is so insensible that it does not warm with genuine enthusiasm, as he views a' contest for intellectual eminence among a number of brave youths, and who does not give ut terance to a mental huzza, as the winner in the fairly-run race, nears the goal of his am bition ? After I left the scene of the declamation, I continued thinking of the noble art of or atory ; its high end and aim ; its boundless scope; its incalculable power. A philosoph ical analysis of the thing we call eloquence could not be contained within the.limits of a paper like this, nor could less than a vol ume do the subject justice ; but a brief con sideration of the pleasure to be afforded ; the influence to be acquired ; the glory to be won ; the good to be accomplished, by a proper use of this mighty agency, may arouse some to a sense of its importance, and induce them -to bestow on the art of speaking the attention and study that it de serves. To bring before our imaginations, at a single view, the all-pervading influence which oratory has exerted in every period of the world’s progress, from the most re mote ages', dow'n to the present day, we have but to glance back at history. Prom inent in the picture that rises to the mind’s eye, appear the great orators of antiquity. Foremost in the senate, and the forum, on the public squares, and in the courts of mon- archs, stand these majestic figures, and we hear their voices in fiery harangues, or calm debate ; angry philippics, or well-consider ed argument ; fierce denunciation, or har monious and stately periods. We recollect how they swayed multitudes, or control led senates and kings ; how they pleased the rude mob, or charmed the senses of scholars and poets. Monarchs trembled at their rebuke. Sen ates yielded to their persuasive eloquence. And so all along down to this the 19tli century, the orator has “ ruled the court, the camp, the grove.” Who can measure his wonderful control over the soul of man ? Who will venture to set bounds to his power 1 He is acquainted with all the nicely attuned chords of the human heart, and he touches them with the skill of an accomplished musician. He knows when and how to breathe a gentle melody, like that of the “ lute touched softly,” and when to say as of the lofty harp, “ But bid the strains be wild and deep, Nor let thy notes of joy be first.” At one time, he does his “spiriting gent ly,’’and the quivering lip and silent, stream ing tear attest how deep and genuine is the pathos. Again he lashes the waves of hu man passion, till they heave and surge like old ocean’s foaming billows. He stretches over his audience a magic wand, and by its potent influence, raises the tempest and di rects or subdues it. As he recites a tale of wrong, of rights trampled under loot by some proud oppressor-, or vindictive foe, the strained eye, the rigidly compressed lip, and upraised arm proclaim his master pow er. The low mutterings and lialf-breathed imprecations are the first articulations of the rising tempest. Slow the deep feeling moves, and still—“ still as the breeze but dreadful as the storm.” The lightning of anger flashes, and ere long the loosing of all man’s fierce passions ends in wild and fear ful tumult. “ Who shall calm the angry storm Who the mighty task perform And bid the raging tumult cease ?” He who raised the storm can control it. He can pour oil on tTie troubled waters, and where all is rage and confusion, can issue the rresistible mandate, '* Peace, be still.” An art which gives one so much power, all will admit, is to be desired and sought after; hut let it be remembered that its ac quisition is the fruit of only long years of persevering application. Most people im agine that “ orator na&cituf, non Jit.” It is a popular error ; the idea that orators and poets are born, and do not become such by patient toil and study. Never was there a greater mistake. In illustration of this fact, the following anecdote is related, of Hon. John Philpot Curran, who seemed to breathe the natural language of elo quence, on all occasions. “ One day, after dinner,’an acquaintance, in speaking of his, eloquence, happened to observe that it must have been born with him. ‘ Indeed, my dear sir,’ replied Mr. Curran, ‘ it was not; it was born three and twenty years after me.’ He then went on to tell of his first effort as a public speaker, and said : ‘ I stood up, trembling through every fibre ; but remembering that in this I was but. imitating Tully, I took courage, and had actually proceeded as far as ‘ Mr. Chairman,’when, to my astonishment, I per ceived that every eye . was riveted upon me. There were only 6 or 7 present * * * yet was it, to my panic-struck imagination, as if I were the central object in nature, and assembled millions were gazing upon me in breathless expectation. I became dismayed and dumb * * * My lips, indeed, went through the pantomine of articulation, but I was like the unfortunate fiddler at the fair, who, upon coming to strike up the solo that was to ravish every ear, discov ered that an enemy bad maliciously soap ed his bow. So you see, sir, that it was not born with me.’ ” I need but refer to the well-known fact that nearly all the effective orations of both ancient and modem times which have been preserved, even those that appeared most brilliant, most like the resalt of unpremedi tated feeling and passion, were prepared and-elaborated in the closet; and no speech, of any length, has ever long survived the occasion that produced it, except such as wero composed with much care, or were delivered by men who had subjected them selves to a long course of training, in order