Nearly all the folk-ballads are to be read in this way, i. e., rhythmically; but frequently, perhaps usually, the even-numbered lines have three beats instead of four. In drinking songs, also, rhythm is common, its freedom and sharp accentuation being favorable to conviviality. Thus the Soldier's Song in The Lady of the Lake, vi., is rhythmical, especially toward the end of each stanza. Also this Cambridge song of the seventeenth century: Come hither Apollo's bouncing girl, And in a whole Hippocrene of sherry, But she'll have a square-cap, if e'er she have any. We meet with rhythmic movement even in modern poetry of a higher order, e. g., Browning's Flight of the Duchess, Longfellow's Curfew (two beats to the line), Tennyson's Merman and Mermaid. * Square-Cap is student, a reference to the well-known University headgear of England. 1 B CHAPTER XVIII. ORATORY AND DEBATE. To treat the subject of oratory adequately would involve an examination of argumentative rhetoric, as set forth in the works of Aristotle and his successors, ancient and modern. In the present chapter nothing can be attempted beyond indicating a few general features, such as will be of practical service to the ordinary student. ORATORY. 203. The Oration is not a form of writing (see note to §1), but is a form of literature. It is to be defined as a spoken discourse, delivered by a certain person, before a certain audience, upon a certain occasion, for the attainment of a definite object. An oration may embody all the forms of discourse, i. e., narration, description, exposition, and argument. But the narrative and descriptive passages will-almost of necessity-be brief, and subordinate to the main object, which is Persuasion. The term persuade is used in a broad sense; the orator exerts himself to induce his hearers to act in a certain way, or to accept his views upon a certain subject, and his chief means to this end are exposition and argument. There are three varieties of oration: the Legislative (called by the Romans deliberativus, by the Greeks up * Highly instructive specimens of narration and description, strictly subordinate to the main object, persuasion, are to be found in Webster's Defence of the Kennistons and The Murder of Captain Joseph White. In the former, the incidents connected with the alleged robbery are told very effectively. In the latter, the description of the murder-scene is dramatic in its vividness. 314 Boulevτixós); the Judicial (forensis, dixavixós); the Demonstrative (demonstrativus, éπidentixós). The first two terms almost explain themselves. In a legislative oration, also called a deliberative, the speaker addresses a law-making body, with the object of inducing it to vote for or against a proposed measure. In a judicial, also called forensic, the speaker attacks or defends a certain person, or group of persons, in a trial at law. In demonstrative oratory, the speaker holds up to the audience a certain person, or a certain mode of action, for admiration and imitation. A demonstrative oration is also called a eulogy, or panegyric. All three kinds are well represented in the speeches of Webster.* The Defence of the Kennistons, the Murder of Captain Joseph White, and the Dartmouth College Case are judicial. The Reply to Hayne, The Constitution not a Compact between Sovereign States, and the so-called Saratoga speech are legislative. The last named, it is true, was not addressed to a law-making body, but to a mass-meeting. Yet its object was to influence legislation indirectly, by creating a strong public opinion in favor of certain measures. The First Settlement of New England, the Bunker Hill Monument, and the Eulogy on Mr. Justice Story are demonstrative. The oratory of the Christian pulpit is to be classified as demonstrative. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries sermons were, it is true, much more argumentative than at present. The aim of the preacher seemed to be to logically convince his hearers of the truth of Christianity in general, or of the truth of some one doctrine in particular. Such argumentation, however, is best reserved for printed polemical treatises, which can be studied at the reader's leisure. The present practice of pulpit orators is rather to expound the doctrines of the Old and New * A. J. George, Select Speeches of Daniel Webster. Boston; Heath. 1893. Testaments, to make clear what the founders of the Mosaic and Christian dispensations really intended, and to hold up their lives for zealous imitation. 204. From the nature itself of an oration may be deduced certain general principles. 1. Being limited to a certain occasion, the oration must be concise. Even where no time-limit is imposed, by law or by custom, the orator cannot afford to weary his hearers' patience. 2. On the other hand, being a spoken discourse, the oration must be, above all things, clear. The hearer, unlike a reader, has not the opportunity of refreshing his recollection of previous statements by turning back to a printed page. Hence it is the speaker's duty to put things in such a way that the hearer cannot possibly forget them. These two requirements, conciseness and clearness, are to be harmonized only by securing the most perfect structural unity and simplicity. The rule of unity prescribes that everything not bearing directly upon the issue should be rigorously avoided. Simplicity is secured by avoiding abrupt transitions from one section of the subject to another and by restricting the discourse to a few fundamental principles and primary sentiments. These principles and sentiments should be stated and re-stated more than once, and should be illustrated and enforced in a great variety of ways. In this respect the orator differs obviously from the writer, for example, from the essayist. The latter, relying upon the reader's ability, not only to meditate at leisure, but to turn back from any page to the preceding pages, may content himself with stating his points one by one, in due order, with very little illustration or enforcement and without any repetition. May, be it observed; for, even in the most formal essay, a moderate amount of amplification and recapitulation is desirable. Furthermore, the essayist is at liberty to indulge in nice discriminations of thought and delicate shades of feeling.* Behind and above all rules is the personality of the orator. It is this personal element which constitutes the peculiar charm of oratory, and also its mysterious power. The old saying, that the poet is born, not made, is applicable to the orator as well. Or perhaps it would be safer to say that the orator is both born and made. That special gift which we call eloquence is developed, and made practically serviceable, only by dint of persistent self-training. The biography of every orator who has made a lasting mark in the affairs of his people tells pretty much the same tale of patient study and concentration of purpose. In genuine oratory two features are so prominent as to call for special mention. The one is earnestness, sincerity of conviction, a fervor of belief that imparts itself to the hearer. This is the feature brought out by Webster himself in his exposition of eloquence (quoted in § 58). The other is reserve force. Every great master of utterance, written or spoken, poetry or prose, makes upon his hearers or readers, it is true, the impression of knowing more than he sees fit to tell, of holding himself in reserve for a still greater effort, if need be. But the orator is by eminence the man of reserve force. He seems to create in his hearers a feeling of confidence that he is able to meet any emergency out of his unexpended resources. 205. The aim of the orator is to persuade. But persuasion can scarcely be defined, for the reason that it consists of two processes seemingly incongruous, an intellectual and an emotional. The orator appeals to our understanding with arguments; but he applies these argu * In many law-cases the statements of fact and of legal principle are necessarily long and complicated. But the lawyer has two circumstances in his favor: the Court is presumed to be able to follow the most involved train of reasoning; evidence is now reported in short-hand and type-written. In congressional and parliamentary debates upon questions involving elaborate statistics, these latter can be printed. |