Cicero, conscious that he was at the top of his profession (for in his time eloquence was a profession), in order to set himself off, defines in his treatise ‘De Oratore’, an orator to be such a man as never was, nor never will be; and, by his fallacious argument, says that he must know every art and science whatsoever, or how shall he speak upon them?  But, with submission to so great an authority, my definition of an orator is extremely different from, and I believe much truer than his.  I call that man an orator, who reasons justly, and expresses himself elegantly, upon whatever subject he treats.  Problems in geometry, equations in algebra, processes in chemistry, and experiments in anatomy, are never, that I have heard of, the object of eloquence; and therefore I humbly conceive, that a man may be a very fine speaker, and yet know nothing of geometry, algebra, chemistry, or anatomy.  The subjects of all parliamentary debates are subjects of common sense singly.

Thus I write whatever occurs to me, that I think may contribute either to form or inform you.  May my labor not be in vain! and it will not, if you will but have half the concern for yourself that I have for you.  Adieu.

LETTER XCV

London; December 12, O. S. 1749.

Dear boy:  Lord Clarendon in his history says of Mr. John Hampden that he had A head to contrive, A tongue to persuade, and A hand to execute any mischief.  I shall not now enter into the justness of this character of Mr. Hampden, to whose brave stand against the illegal demand of ship-money we owe our present liberties; but I mention it to you as the character, which with the alteration of one single word, good, instead of mischief, I would have you aspire to, and use your utmost endeavors to deserve.  The head to contrive, God must to a certain degree have given you; but it is in your own power greatly to improve it, by study, observation, and reflection.  As for the tongue to persuade, it wholly depends upon yourself; and without it the best head will contrive to very little purpose.  The hand to execute depends likewise, in my opinion, in a great measure upon yourself.  Serious reflection will always give courage in a good cause; and the courage arising from reflection is of a much superior nature to the animal and constitutional courage of a foot soldier.  The former is steady and unshaken, where the ‘nodus’ is ’dignus vindice’; the latter is oftener improperly than properly exerted, but always brutally.

The second member of my text (to speak ecclesiastically) shall be the subject of my following discourse; the tongue to persuade—­as judicious, preachers recommend those virtues, which they think their several audiences want the most; such as truth and continence, at court; disinterestedness, in the city; and sobriety, in the country.