LONDON;December 12,O.S.1749.
DEAR BOY:Lord Clarendon in his history says of Mr.John Hampden THAT HEHAD A HEAD TO CONTRIVE,A TONGUE TO PERSUADE,AND A HAND TO EXECUTEANY
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.
You must certainly,in the course of your little experience,have felt the different effects of elegant and inelegant speaking.Do you not suffer,when people accost you in a stammering or hesitating manner,in an untuneful voice,with false accents and cadences;puzzling and blundering through solecisms,barbarisms,and vulgarisms;misplacing even their bad words,and inverting all method?Does not this prejudice you against their matter,be it what it will;nay,even against their persons?I am sure it does me.On the other hand,do you not feel yourself inclined,prepossessed,nay,even engaged in favor of those who address you in the direct contrary manner?The effects of a correct and adorned style of method and perspicuity,are incredible toward persuasion;they often supply the want of reason and argument,but,when used in the support of reason and argument,they are irresistible.The French attend very much to the purity and elegance of their style,even in common conversation;insomuch that it is a character to say of a man 'qu'il narre bien'.Their conversations frequently turn upon the delicacies of their language,and an academy is employed in fixing it.
The 'Crusca',in Italy,has the same object;and I have met with very few Italians,who did not speak their own language correctly and elegantly.
How much more necessary is it for an Englishman to do so,who is to speak it in a public assembly,where the laws and liberties of his country are the subjects of his deliberation?The tongue that would persuade there,must not content itself with mere articulation.You know what pains Demosthenes took to correct his naturally bad elocution;you know that he declaimed by the seaside in storms,to prepare himself for the noise of the tumultuous assemblies he was to speak to;and you can now judge of the correctness and elegance of his style.He thought all these things of consequence,and he thought right;pray do you think so too?It is of the utmost consequence to you to be of that opinion.If you have the least defect in your elocution,take the utmost care and pains to correct it.Do not neglect your style,whatever language you speak in,or whoever you speak to,were it your footman.Seek always for the best words and the happiest expressions you can find.Do not content yourself with being barely understood;but adorn your thoughts,and dress them as you would your person;which,however well proportioned it might be,it would be very improper and indecent to exhibit naked,or even worse dressed than people of your sort are.