active impulses of the individuals addressed, and thereby command their adoption of it by the force of their own natural dispositions. A leader of banditti has to deal with a class of persons whose ruling impulse is plunder; and it becomes his business to show that any scheme of his proposing will lead to this end. A people with an intense, overpowering patriotism, as the old Romans, can be acted on by proving that the interests of country are at stake. The fertile oratorical mind is one that can identify a case in hand with a great number of the strongest beliefs of an audience; and more especially with those that seem, at first sight, to have no connection with the point to be carried. The discovery of identity in diversity is never more called for, than in the attempts to move men to adopt some unwonted course of proceeding."

NOTE. The value of this knowledge of human nature, and of the considerations that will be most potent with the hearers, is strikingly illustrated in the speeches of Brutus and Antony, in Shakespeare's "Julius Cæsar."

Brutus, who presents to the mob high considerations of patriotism and honor, obtains for the most part only a vague admiration for his person, -as is indicated in their answers:

"Citizens. Live, Brutus! live, live!

I Cit. Bring him with triumph home unto his house.

2 Cit. Give him a statue with his ancestors.

3 Cit. Let him be Cæsar.

Shall now be crown'd in Brutus.

1 Cit. We'll bring him to his house with shouts and clamors."

On the other hand Antony, who speaks in the concrete, who dwells on Cæsar's kindness and regard for them, who rouses their pity for his wounds and appeals to their cupidity by mentioning his will, in which he has remembered them, raises a fury that only desperate deeds can quell:

"Citizens. Revenge, — about, — seek, — burn, — fire, — kill, — slay, — let not a traitor live!

2 Cit. Go fetch fire.

3 Cit. Pluck down benches.

4 Cit. Pluck down forms, windows, anything.

[Exeunt Citizens with the body.

Ant. Now let it work. - Mischief, thou art afoot,

Take thou what course thou wilt!"

Antony knows what chords to strike in a mob; Brutus judges all men by the same lofty standards that are potent with himself. Of course a man with giant's power is not always to use it like a giant; if Antony had been endowed with Brutus's uprightness, how his knowledge of human nature could have wrought for conciliation!

3. A third requisite of such power is tact to adapt one's self to unforeseen circumstances and make them bend to one's purposes. This of course is merely the knowledge of human nature already mentioned, combined with a presence of mind that enables the orator, when one resource fails, to try another.

NOTE. - An interesting illustration of such tact in handling a turbulent multitude is seen in Henry Ward Beecher's Address at Liverpool, in the time of our Civil War. There were in Liverpool many sympathizers with secession, and these made such an uproar that he could hardly proceed; but seizing his first opportunity to make a plea for the peculiarly British sentiment of fair play, he secured the ear of the audience. The following is part of his introduction:

"Now, personally, it is a matter of very little consequence to me whether I speak here to-night or not. [Laughter and cheers.] But, one thing is very certain, if you do permit me to speak here to-night you will hear very plain talking. [Applause and hisses.] You will not find a man — - [interruption] — you will not find me a man that dared to speak about Great Britain three thousand miles off, and then is afraid to speak to Great Britain when he stands on her shores. [Immense applause and hisses.] And if I do not mistake the tone and temper of Englishmen, they had rather have a man who opposes them in a manly way -[applause from all parts of the hall] — than a sneak that agrees with them in an unmanly way. [Applause, and Bravo!"] Now, if I can carry you with me by sound convictions, I shall be immensely glad - [applause]; but if I cannot carry you with me by facts and sound arguments, I do not wish you to go with me at all; and all that I ask is simply FAIR PLAY. [Applause, and a voice: "You shall have it too."]"

66

II.

The Speaker's Achievement of his Object. It will be observed here that we speak of the achievement of an object, instead of, as heretofore, the treatment of a subject or theme. This fact merits attention. The man who would persuade chooses an object rather than a subject. That is, the central aim and idea of his discourse takes in his mind the form of something to be put into practical action, something appealing to the will. The outcome of the discourse, so far as it is a work of persuasion, may be expressed in a single imperative proposition.

What the object of persuasion is, in general, we have already seen to make the hearer see and feel that his interest and duty lie in the adoption of a certain prescribed line of conduct or belief. Emerson1 thus summarizes it: "The Koran says, 'A mountain may change its place, but a man will not change his disposition'; yet the end of eloquence is, is it not?-to alter in a pair of hours, perhaps in a half-hour's discourse, the convictions and habits of years."

Now, in order to achieve such an object, the speaker must enlist the whole man on his side; must make him at once see, feel, and will the truth. In discussing, therefore, the procedures necessary to this end, we must take up each side of the human nature in turn, and consider what manner of address is most naturally adapted to it.

1. Address to the Intellect. By this is meant the speaker's determinate adaptation of his thought to the thinking and interpreting powers of his hearer. This of course is the staple of every form of literature; there are, however, certain special aspects of it as related to persuasion that need to be considered.

1. And first it is important to observe, that no persuasive or hortatory discourse can dispense with a solid, predominating basis of ordered thought. If men are urged to act, it is before all things essential that the nature and mode of the proposed action,

1 Emerson, Essay on "Eloquence."

its grounds and consequences, be clearly set forth and explained to their minds. To be sure, so far as it is merely thought, merely of the brain, it supplies no impulse; but, being the basis, it becomes the controller and regulator of the impulse when the latter is supplied. And when exhortation works on men without such regulative of solid thought, the sequel is but the wild, unguided frenzy of a mob. If men are to be persuaded, they must be directed to something definite, something in which the rational intellect will still be the guide of action.

NOTE. - Mark Antony, in the scene already cited, was but too willing to rouse passions without thought. The mob rushed blindly forth to destroy, fell upon Cinna the poet and tore him in pieces merely because he bore the same name with Cinna the conspirator, were wholly uncontrollable in their mad fury; while Antony, well pleased, satisfied himself with saying, —

"Now let it work. - Mischief, thou art afoot,

Take thou what course thou wilt!"

-

certain designing people lash a mob "Some therefore cried one thing, confused; and the more part knew

Another remarkable instance of passions aroused without a basis of reason is recorded in Acts xix. 23-41, where to frenzy by an appeal to their cupidity. and some another: for the assembly was not wherefore they were come together." And when Alexander attempted to explain matters to them, "all with one voice about the space of two hours cried out, 'Great is Diana of the Ephesians.""

2. From this it appears that in every persuasive discourse there are two elements, the didactic and the hortatory. In old-fashioned oratory these two elements occupied different sections of the discourse; but nowadays it is generally considered better to have them interwoven, so far as may be, throughout, so that a fact or argument may have the power of an appeal, and an appeal have the solidity of information or truth. These two elements may have, however, varying emphasis and proportion, according as the address is concerned more with the end of action or with the When men are indifferent to the end proposed, exhortation is needed to rouse them to a sufficient sense of its importance; when, though earnest in pursuit of the end, men are not

means.

sufficiently informed as to the means, the didactic element must predominate, in order to make their action rational and wise.

NOTE. In the late Civil War, for instance, when throughout the land orators were urging men to enlist and serve their country's need, the question of means was but subordinate, and the principal element of discourse was exhortation. On the other hand, in a large proportion of pulpit discourse, that which is addressed to those who have already complied with the general end of obeying Christ as Lord, the predominating element must be educative, -setting forth the means and involvements of a Christian life.

3. Of the different forms of discourse, the address to the intellect has to employ predominantly the argumentative, because the grounds of action are mostly established as truths and principles. But exposition also is largely employed, because many truths need only explanation to be made obvious. Narration and description are less prominent, and when used serve as a means of ordering questions of fact so as to make some theory of them more selfconsistent and reasonable.

NOTE. This use of narration and description is oftenest exemplified in courts of justice, where the elaborate machinery of taking testimony, crossexamination, and so forth, may in one light be regarded as accumulating material for a story of the event in question; and the lawyer's argument often consists largely in reconstructing the story according to his interpretation of the evidence. A good example of this is Webster's account of the murder of Captain Joseph White, which begins his masterly speech in that case.

4. Concerning the general management of the address to the intellect, two remarks should be made.

First, it should aim to conserve, with especial rigor, economy of the hearer's interpreting power. For, as all the energy that must be expended on understanding the thought leaves the hearer so much less in realizing it, much more will it leave him at disadvantage in acting upon it. The simplicity, the plainness, the directness, of all that goes to explain or prove the truth presented must be as nearly as possible absolute.

1 See preceding, p. 26.