“I own there are exceptions to this general observation, and that the Dean[1] we heard the other day together, is an orator.  He has so much regard to his congregation, that he commits to his memory what he is to say to them; and has so soft and graceful a behaviour, that it must attract your attention.  His person it is to be confessed is no small recommendation; but he is to be highly commended for not losing that advantage, and adding to the propriety of speech (which might pass the criticism of Longinus)[2] an action which would have been approved by Demosthenes.  He has a peculiar force in his way, and has many of his audience[3] who could not be intelligent hearers of his discourse, were there not explanation as well as grace in his action.  This art of his is used with the most exact and honest skill:  he never attempts your passions, till he has convinced your reason.  All the objections which he can form, are laid before you and dispersed, before he uses the least vehemence in his sermon; but when he thinks he has your head, he very soon wins your heart; and never pretends to show the beauty of holiness, till he has convinced you of the truth of it.

“Would every one of our clergymen be thus careful to recommend truth and virtue in their proper figures, and show so much concern for them as to give them all the additional force they were able, it is not possible that nonsense should have so many hearers as you find it has in dissenting congregations, for no reason in the world but because it is spoken extempore:  For ordinary minds are wholly governed by their eyes and ears, and there is no way to come at their hearts but by power over their imagination.  There is my friend and merry companion Daniel[4]:  he knows a great deal better than he speaks, and can form a proper discourse as well as any orthodox neighbour.  But he knows very well, that to bawl out, ‘My beloved;’ and the words ’grace! regeneration! sanctification! a new light! the day!  The day! aye, my beloved, the day!’ or rather, ’the night!  The night is coming! and judgment will come, when we least think of it!’—­and so forth—­He knows, to be vehement is the only way to come at his audience; and Daniel, when he sees my friend Greenhat come in, can give him a good hint, and cry out, ’This is only for the saints! the regenerated!’ By this force of action, though mixed with all the incoherence and ribaldry imaginable, Daniel can laugh at his diocesan, and grow fat by voluntary subscription, while the parson of the parish goes to law for half his dues.  Daniel will tell you, ’It is not the shepherd, but the sheep with the bell, which the flock follows.’  Another thing, very wonderful this learned body should omit, is, learning to read; which is a most necessary part of eloquence in one who is to serve at the altar:  for there is no man but must be sensible, that the lazy tone, and inarticulate sound of our common readers, depreciates the most proper form of words that were ever extant in any nation or language, to speak our own wants, or His power from whom we ask relief.