Lectures on rhetoric and belles lettres: By Hugh Blair, ... In three volumes. ... [pt.1]

LECTURE I. INTRODUCTION.

ONE of the most distinguished privileges which Providence has conferred upon mankind, is the power of communicating their thoughts to one another. Destitute of this power, Reason would be a solitary, and, in some measure, an unavailing principle. Speech is the great instrument by which man becomes beneficial to man: and it is to the intercourse and transmission of thought, by means of speech, that we are chiefly indebt|ed for the improvement of thought itself. Small are the advances which a single unas|sisted individual can make towards perfect|ing any of his powers. What we call hu|man reason, is not the effort or ability of one, so much as it is the result of the reason of many, arising from lights mutually com|municated, in consequence of discourse and writing.

IT is obvious, then, that writing and dis|course are objects intitled to the highest atten|tion. Whether the influence of the speaker, or the entertainment of the hearer, be con|sulted; whether utility or pleasure be the principal aim in view, we are prompted, by the strongest motives, to study how we may communicate our thoughts to one another with most advantage. Accordingly we find, that in almost every nation, as soon as lan|guage had extended itself beyond that scanty communication which was requisite for the supply of men's necessities, the improvement of discourse began to attract regard. In the language even of rude uncultivated tribes, we can trace some attention to the grace and force of those expressions which they used, when they sought to persuade or to affect. They were early sensible of a beauty in dis|course, and endeavoured to give it certain decorations which experience had taught them it was capable of receiving, long before the study of those decorations was formed in|to a regular art.

BUT, among nations in a civilized state, no art has been cultivated with more care, than that of language, style, and composition. The attention paid to it may, indeed, be as|sumed as one mark of the progress of society towards its most improved period. For, ac|cording as society improves and flourishes, men acquire more influence over one ano|ther by means of reasoning and discourse;

and in proportion as that influence is felt to enlarge, it must follow, as a natural conse|quence, that they will bestow more care up|on the methods of expressing their concepti|ons with propriety and eloquence. Hence we find, that in all the polished nations of Eu|rope, this study has been treated as highly important, and has possessed a considerable place in every plan of liberal education.

INDEED, when the arts of speech and writ|ing are mentioned, I am sensible that preju|dices against them are apt to rise in the minds of many. A sort of art is immediately thought of, that is ostentatious and deceitful; the minute and trifling study of words alone; the pomp of expression; the studied fallacies of rhetoric; ornament substituted in the room of use. We need not wonder, that under such imputations, all study of dis|course as an art, should have suffered in the opinion of men of understanding: and I am far from denying, that rhetoric and criticism have sometimes been so managed as to tend to the corruption, rather than to the im|provement, of good taste and true eloquence. But sure it is equally possible to apply the principles of reason and good sense to this art, as to any other that is cultivated among men. If the following Lectures have any merit, it will consist in an endeavour to sub|stitute the application of these principles in the place of artificial and scholastic rhetoric; in an endeavour to explode false ornament,

to direct attention more towards substance than show, to recommend good sense as the foundation of all good composition, and sim|plicity as essential to all true ornament.

WHEN entering on the subject, I may be allowed, on this occasion, to suggest a few thoughts concerning the importance and ad|vantages of such studies, and the rank they are intitled to possess in academical educa|tion* 1.1. I am under no temptation, for this purpose, of extolling their importance at the expence of any other department of science. On the contrary, the study of Rhetoric and Belles Lettres supposes and requires a proper acquaintance with the rest of the liberal arts. It embraces them all within its circle, and recommends them to the highest regard. The first care of all such as wish either to write with reputation, or to speak in public so as to command attention, must be, to ex|tend their knowledge; to lay in a rich store of ideas relating to those subjects of which the occasions of life may call them to dis|course or to write. Hence, among the an|cients, it was a fundamental principle, and frequently inculcated,

"Quod omnibus dis|ciplinis

et artibus debet esse instructus ora|tor;"

that the orator ought to be an ac|complished scholar, and conversant in every part of learning. It is indeed impossible to contrive an art, and very pernicious it were if it could be contrived, which should give the stamp of merit to any composition rich or splendid in expression, but barren or er|roneous in thought. They are the wretch|ed attempts towards an art of this kind which have so often disgraced oratory, and debased it below its true standard. The graces of composition have been em|ployed to disguise or to supply the want of matter; and the temporary applause of the ignorant has been courted, instead of the lasting approbation of the discerning. But such imposture can never maintain its ground long. Knowledge and science must furnish the materials that form the body and sub|stance of any valuable composition. Rhe|toric serves to add the polish; and we know that none but firm and solid bodies can be polished well.

OF those who peruse the following Lec|tures, some, by the profession to which they addict themselves, or in consequence of their prevailing inclination, may have the view of being employed in composition, or in public speaking. Others, without any prospect of this kind, may wish only to improve their taste with respect to writing and discourse, and to acquire principles which will enable

them to judge for themselves in that part of literature called the Belles Lettres.

WITH respect to the former, such as may have occasion to communicate their senti|ments to the Public, it is abundantly clear that some preparation of study is requisite for the end which they have in view. To speak or to write perspicuously and agreea|bly, with purity, with grace and strength, are attainments of the utmost consequence to all who purpose, either by speech or writing, to address the Public. For without being master of those attainments, no man can do justice to his own conceptions; but how rich soever he may be in knowledge and in good sense, will be able to avail himself less of those treasures, than such as possess not half his store, but who can display what they possess with more propriety. Neither are these attainments of that kind for which we are indebted to nature merely. Nature has, indeed, conferred upon some a very favour|able distinction in this respect, beyond others. But in these, as in most other talents she bestows, she has left much to be wrought out by every man's own industry. So conspicu|ous have been the effects of study and im|provement in every part of eloquence; such remarkable examples have appeared of per|sons surmounting, by their diligence, the dis|advantages of the most untoward nature, that among the learned it has long been a con|tested, and remains still an undecided point,

whether nature or art confer most towards excelling in writing and discourse.

WITH respect to the manner in which art can most effectually furnish assistance for such a purpose, there may be diversity of opinions. I by no means pretend to say that mere rhetorical rules, how just soever, are sufficient to form an orator. Supposing natural genius to be favourable, more by a great deal will depend upon private applica|tion and study, than upon any system of in|struction that is capable of being publicly communicated. But at the same time, though rules and instructions cannot do all that is requisite, they may, however, do much that is of real use. They cannot, it is true, inspire genius; but they can direct and assist it. They cannot remedy barren|ness; but they may correct redundancy. They point out proper models for imitation. They bring into view the chief beauties that ought to be studied, and the principal faults that ought to be avoided; and thereby tend to enlighten taste, and to lead genius from unnatural deviations, into its proper chan|nel. What would not avail for the produc|tion of great excellencies, may at least serve to prevent the commission of considerable errors.

ALL that regards the study of eloquence and composition, merits the higher attention upon this account, that it is intimately con|nected

with the improvement of our intel|lectual powers. For I must be allowed to say, that when we are employed, after a proper manner, in the study of composition, we are cultivating reason itself. True rhe|toric and sound logic are very nearly allied. The study of arranging and expressing our thoughts with propriety, teaches to think, as well as to speak, accurately. By putting our sentiments into words, we always con|ceive them more distinctly. Every one who has the slightest acquaintance with composi|tion knows, that when he expresses himself ill on any subject, when his arrangement becomes loose, and his sentences turn feeble, the defects of his style can, almost on every occasion, be traced back to his indistinct conception of the subject: so close is the connection between thoughts and the words in which they are clothed.

THE study of composition, important in itself at all times, has acquired additional importance from the taste and manners of the present age. It is an age wherein im|provements, in every part of science, have been prosecuted with ardour. To all the liberal arts much attention has been paid; and to none more than to the beauty of lan|guage, and the grace and elegance of every kind of writing. The public ear is become refined. It will not easily bear what is slo|venly and incorrect. Every author must aspire to some merit in expression, as well

as in sentiment, if he would not incur the danger of being neglected and despised.

I WILL not deny that the love of minute elegance, and attention to inferior ornaments of composition, may at present have en|grossed too great a degree of the public re|gard. It is indeed my opinion, that we lean to this extreme; often more careful of po|lishing style, than of storing it with thought. Yet hence arises a new reason for the study of just and proper composition. If it be re|quisite not to be deficient in elegance or or|nament in times when they are in such high estimation, it is still more requisite to attain the power of distinguishing false ornament from true, in order to prevent our being carried away by that torrent of false and fri|volous taste, which never fails, when it is prevalent, to sweep along with it the raw and the ignorant. They who have never studied eloquence in its principles, nor have been trained to attend to the genuine and manly beauties of good writing, are always ready to be caught by the mere glare of lan|guage; and when they come to speak in public, or to compose, have no other stan|dard on which to form themselves, except what chances to be fashionable and popular, how corrupted soever, or erroneous, that may be.

BUT as there are many who have no such objects as either composition or public speak|ing

in view, let us next consider what ad|vantages may be derived by them, from such studies as form the subject of these Lectures. To them, rhetoric is not so much a practical art as a speculative science; and the same instructions which assist others in composing, will assist them in judging of, and relishing, the beauties of composition. Whatever en|ables genius to execute well, will enable taste to criticise justly.

WHEN we name criticising, prejudices may perhaps arise, of the same kind with those which I mentioned before with respect to rhetoric. As rhetoric has been sometimes thought to signify nothing more than the scholastic study of words, and phrases, and tropes, so criticism has been considered as merely the art of finding faults; as the fri|gid application of certain technical terms, by means of which persons are taught to cavil and censure in a learned manner. But this is the criticism of pedants only. True criti|cism is a liberal and humane art. It is the offspring of good sense and refined taste. It aims at acquiring a just discernment of the real merit of authors. It promotes a lively relish of their beauties, while it preserves us from that blind and implicit veneration which would confound their beauties and faults in our esteem. It teaches us, in a word, to ad|mire and to blame with judgment, and not to follow the crowd blindly.

IN an age when works of genius and lite|rature are so frequently the subjects of dis|course, when every one erects himself into a judge, and when we can hardly mingle in po|lite society without bearing some share in such discussions; studies of this kind, it is not to be doubted, will appear to derive part of their importance from the use to which they may be applied in furnishing materials for those fashionable topics of discourse, and thereby enabling us to support a proper rank in social life.

BUT I should be sorry if we could not rest the merit of such studies on somewhat of so|lid and intrinsical use independent of appear|ance and show. The exercise of taste and of sound criticism, is in truth one of the most improving employments of the understanding. To apply the principles of good sense to com|position and discourse; to examine what is beautiful, and why it is so; to employ our|selves in distinguishing accurately between the specious and the solid, between affected and natural ornament, must certainly im|prove us not a little in the most valuable part of all philosophy, the philosophy of human nature. For such disquisitions are very inti|mately connected with the knowledge of our|selves. They necessarily lead us to reflect on the operations of the imagination, and the movements of the heart; and increase our acquaintance with some of the most refined feelings which belong to our frame.

LOGICAL and Ethical disquisitions move in a higher sphere; and are conversant with objects of a more severe kind; the progress of the understanding in its search after know|ledge, and the direction of the will in the proper pursuit of good. In these they point out to man the improvement of his nature as an intelligent being; and his duties as the subject of moral obligation. Belles Lettres and criticism chiefly consider him as a Being endowed with those powers of taste and ima|gination, which were intended to embellish his mind, and to supply him with rational and useful entertainment. They open a field of investigation peculiar to themselves. All that relates to beauty, harmony, gran|deur, and elegance; all that can sooth the mind, gratify the fancy, or move the affecti|ons, belongs to their province. They pre|sent human nature under a different aspect from that which it assumes to the view of other sciences. They bring to light various springs of action which without their aid might have passed unobserved; and which, though of a delicate nature, frequently exert a powerful influence on several departments of human life.

SUCH studies have also this peculiar advan|tage, that they exercise our reason without fatiguing it. They lead to enquiries acute, but not painful; profound, but not dry nor abstruse. They strew flowers in the path of science; and while they keep the mind bent,

in some degree, and active, they relieve it at the same time from that more toilsome labour to which it must submit in the acquisition of necessary erudition, or the investigation of abstract truth.

THE cultivation of taste is farther recom|mended by the happy effects which it natu|rally tends to produce on human life. The most busy man, in the most active sphere, cannot be always occupied by business. Men of serious professions cannot always be on the stretch of serious thought. Neither can the most gay and flourishing situations of fortune afford any man the power of filling all his hours with pleasure. Life must al|ways languish in the hands of the idle. It will frequently languish even in the hands of the busy, if they have not some employment subsidiary to that which forms their main pursuit. How then shall these vacant spaces, those unemployed intervals, which, more or less, occur in the life of every one, be filled up? How can we contrive to dispose of them in any way that shall be more agreeable in itself, or more consonant to the dignity of the human mind, than in the entertainments of taste, and the study of polite literature? He who is so happy as to have acquired a re|lish for these, has always at hand an inno|cent and irreproachable amusement for his leisure hours, to save him from the danger of many a pernicious passion. He is not in ha|zard of being a burden to himself. He is not

obliged to fly to low company, or to court the riot of loose pleasures, in order to cure the tediousness of existence.

PROVIDENCE seems plainly to have point|ed out this useful purpose to which the plea|sures of taste may be applied, by interposing them in a middle station between the plea|sures of sense, and those of pure intellect. We were not designed to grovel always among objects so low as the former; nor are we capable of dwelling constantly in so high a region as the latter. The pleasures of taste refresh the mind after the toils of the intel|lect, and the labours of abstract study; and they gradually raise it above the attachments of sense, and prepare it for the enjoyments of virtue.

SO consonant is this to experience, that in the education of youth, no object has in every age appeared more important to wise men, than to tincture them early with a re|lish for the entertainments of taste. The transition is commonly made with ease from these to the discharge of the higher and more important duties of life. Good hopes may be entertained of those whose minds have this liberal and elegant turn. Many virtues may be grafted upon it. Whereas to be en|tirely devoid of relish for eloquence, poetry, or any of the fine arts, is justly constructed to be an unpromising symptom of youth; and raises suspicions of their being prone to

low gratifications, or destined to drudge in the more vulgar and illiberal pursuits of life.

THERE are indeed few good dispositions of any kind with which the improvement of taste is not more or less connected. A cul|tivated taste increases sensibility to all the tender and humane passions, by giving them frequent exercise; while it tends to weaken the more violent and fierce emotions.

—Ingenuas didicisse fideliter artes Emollit mores, nec sinit esse feros* 1.2.

The elevated sentiments and high examples which poetry, eloquence and history are often bringing under our view, naturally tend to nourish in our minds public spirit, the love of glory, contempt of external fortune, and the admiration of what is truly illustrious and great.

I WILL not go so far as to say that the improvement of taste and of virtue is the same; or that they may always be expected to coexist in an equal degree. More power|ful correctives than taste can apply, are ne|cessary for reforming the corrupt propensi|ties which too frequently prevail among man|kind. Elegant speculations are sometimes

found to float on the surface of the mind, while bad passions possess the interior regi|ons of the heart. At the same time this cannot but be admitted, that the exercise of taste is, in its native tendency, moral and purifying. From reading the most admired productions of genius, whether in poetry or prose, almost every one rises with some good impressions left on his mind; and though these may not always be durable, they are at least to be ranked among the means of dis|posing the heart to virtue. One thing is certain, and I shall hereafter have occasion to illustrate it more fully, that without pos|sessing the virtuous affections in a strong de|gree, no man can attain eminence in the sublime parts of eloquence. He must feel what a good man feels, if he expects greatly to move or to interest mankind. They are the ardent sentiments of honour, virtue, magnanimity, and publick spirit, that only can kindle that fire of genius, and call up into the mind those high ideas, which attract the admiration of ages; and if this spirit be necessary to produce the most distinguished efforts of eloquence, it must be necessary also to our relishing them with proper taste and feeling.

ON these general topics I shall dwell no longer; but proceed directly to the conside|ration of the subjects which are to employ the following Lectures. They divide them|selves into five parts. First, some introduc|tory

dissertations on the nature of taste, and upon the sources of its pleasures. Second|ly, the consideration of language: Thirdly, of style: Fourthly, of eloquence properly so called, or publick speaking in its different kinds. Lastly, a critical examination of the most distinguished species of composition, both in prose and verse.

Notes

• * 1.1

  The Author was the first who read Lectures on this sub|ject in the University of Edinburgh. He began with reading them in a private character in the year 1759. In the follow|ing year he was chosen Professor of Rhetoric by the Magistrates and Town-council of Edinburgh: and, in 1762, his Majesty was pleased to erect and endow a Profession of Rhetoric and Belles Lettres in that University; and the Author was ap|pointed the first Regius Professor.
• * 1.2

  These polished arts have humaniz'd mankind, Soften'd the rude, and calm'd the boist'rous mind.