Ireland had but little trade, and scarcely any manufactures; the mental debility and degradation that inevitably follow a minute division of labour, had not reached her; so her population were generally intelligent-and many men of high talents, and low fortunes, wandered into the fields of literature, who might otherwise have sought affluence in the paths of commerce had not jealousy and misgovernment driven it from her shores. It has been well said, that the intricacy and multiplicity of modern laws, have been destructive to the true spirit of eloquence; but this cause has not existed with such force in Ireland, as to weigh down the energies of eloquence there, the profound science of the law has been studied, with very moderate severity, and by the great orators, Curran, Bushe and Grattan, in a manner not calculated to dull the keenness of their natural powers. The former of those gentlemen, finding his business increase beyond either his industry or knowledge, we are credibly informed, imported a lawyer from London, to read his briefs, and furnish him with authorities: a practice which must have been much more beneficial to the ease of the counsellor, than the security of the client.

Much has been said of the "Irish school of eloquence," and more than it is very easy to comprehend:-the truth is, there is no such thing. Ireland has produced a number of very eloquent and ingenious men; but the style of no two is alike. One is philosophical, using now the rarest and most classical words-now, the plainest and vulgarest, that a bad state of society affords at one moment, drawing a splendid image from Heaven, at the next groping a figure from the filth of a slaughter-house, or the horrors of a dissecting theatre: another is closely argumentative, word-sparing to obscurity, antithetical, magnificent and severe : a third is persuasive, ingenious, happy in arrangement, and skillful and splendid in execution-sometimes awful, always pleasing a fourth has all the solemn dignity resulting from a self satisfied weight of character, great analytical powers, learning, and an unforced elocution, seldom stooping his wing from the pride of place to imagery, wit, or vituperation: a fifth, a man of such genius, power, and astuteness, that whenever he exerted his mind, he left no thread upon the canvass without its keeping and colour, so that no human intellect could improve that effort, or equal it in another. With what justness such a vast variety of intellectual excellence, can be termed "a school," it is not easy to discover : when we refer one man's excellence to the school of another, the force of the phrase turns us towards points of resemblance; but when on examination we find they differ in modes of arrangement, illustration, and degrees of amplification, so as to vary from and VOL. III.

4

oppose each other, we are no more justified in asserting, that they belong to the same school, than we would be in class ing together all orders of architecture, because their general design was the shelter of human beings. If even there could be found a few orators who possessed a similarity of style, (which we by no means admit,) the fitness of jumbling them together with all others of the same nation, under the amply inclusive epithet of "Irish" school, is like that of the German play in the Anti-Jacobin, where we read "enter the army,' -composed of two soldiers, a fifer, and their general.

66

Until Mr. Phillips was quickened into life by the fiery heat of a low party, "as the sun breeds maggots in a dead dog," we heard of no gabble about the "Irish School" of eloquence: till then improved nature escaped criticism. No sooner was the thoughtless, poetical, word ringing, style of Mr. Phillips flooded out upon us, corrected by his own hand," than he found many admirers, among those who were half fevered by a little poetry, and not offended by much plunder; but critics it affected differently;--not satisfied with flogging the single offender, his nation's excellence was calumniated-upon the same principle of justice, that would prompt the sinking of a ship of the line, fully manned, for the petty thievery of her painter's apprentice. Curran, whose racy genius was fresh from the hand of nature, was blown upon by the same distempered breath that inhaled its prejudice from the bone-rottenness of Mr. Phillips. The Irish had been over-praised; and by a not unusual mode of exasperating error, the false step was correctively retraced by a ridiculous effort to undervalue. Englishmen and Scotchmen were set up as models of style, because they exhibited a purity, which took its rise in poverty. That was esteemed a merit, which was in fact a misfortune; and those pure orators were praised for avoiding that recurrency to imagery and fancy, which was obligingly withheld by nature, and not by the exercise of judgment or taste-even as a starved beggar might play the philosopher, and affect to attribute abstinence to principle and not to necessity. The mistake and misfortune have been, that the fame of Irish eloquence has been set upon an imperfect, if not a totally erroneous basis. The admiration for that which gained Mr. Phillips all his ill-earned repute, had been, by short-sighted intelligence, bestowed upon Burke, Grattan, Čurran, Sheridan and Bushe :figure, intensity of phrase, alliteration, antithesis, and effect in disposing a climax, made a strong impression on those who were impassive to closeness of argument or depth of investigation. These, the great Irish orators added to their style, because the rapid force of ardent feeling could not be "bodied forth" in

ordinary phrase; they suited the word to the matter, and if the thought was forcibly conveyed, they were satisfied to risk their reputation for "good taste," in the choice either of figure or term:-but they did not, like the celebrated collector before us,' bottom their claim as orators upon the list of incidents we have enumerated; they mainly and manfully rested upon vigorous argument, orderly and acute examination-displaying profound knowledge of human nature, derived from recorded knowledge and personal observation-no words for words sake,

like

"Rich windows-that exclude the light;

And passages that lead to-nothing:'

-Not twenty phrases strung together, like gilt marriage rings in a jeweller's shop, emblematic of deception, both in use and fabrication-no balancing of periods to endless satiety, filling the ear and starving the mind-trying the excellence of every sentence, not by the solidity of its sense, but by that ingenious process by which a chamber-maid criticises a basin, first ringing it with her knuckle, and then rating its soundness by the sharpness of the jingle. Cicero said of the bawling orators, that "their weakness made them rise into clamour, as lame men get on horseback." So does the barrenness of this "celebrated orator," in reasoning and reflection, drive him to rely upon verbal glitter-and the translation of pilfered poetry into paltry

prose.

From this charlatanical and showman-like glibness of oratory, we turn with refreshed eagerness, to the true eloquence of Irishmen of genius-men who enlightened the most dreary topics by the lamp of learning, and the profoundest disquisition. Always natural and intelligible, they thoroughly understood the mind and feelings of their hearers, and with an irresistible force they convinced the understanding by argument, whilst they subdued the human heart by the splendour of genius. If, after what we have said, doubts yet remain of the correctness of our opinions, we can support them by proof approaching to the certainty of mathematics. Let any entertainer of doubts, with industry and inclination to solve them, take a speech, either of Burke, Grattan, Sheridan, Flood, Plunket, Curran or Bushe-let it be reduced to the plainest language which the united efforts of Greece and criticism can suggest, and "the result found” will be the most vigorous argument, and the most forcible and ingenious illustration, that the closest reasoner could devise on the given subject;-the "sapere est et principium et fons" will be, with them, found to be rigidly adhered to. Let the analyzer, in the same manner, examine a speech of" the celebrated Irish orator, Charles Phillips, Esq." delivered either on a public" or "private occasion," no matter whether before or after dinner,

and the mawkish deposit will be, weak argument, founded on old truths and the peace-disturbing base of popular passions, flippant sneers, and a saucy familiarity towards men and things to which he has always been an alien, from a marked inferiority both in situation and sense.

The book before us pretends to have been collected, with a view to vindicate the "Irish school of Eloquence" from "the malignant prejudices of a northern critic," and to give "the impartial an opportunity of judging for themselves." It is dedicated, in a very affectionate letter, "To the Honourable Cæsar A. Rodney, late Attorney General of the United States of America, Commissioner to the Spanish Provinces, &c. &c." commencing "Dear Sir ;" and the reason for this fondness and favour is explained in the first page. Mr. Rodney, it appears, about four years previous, then an "utter stranger" to Mr. Phillips, wrote him a letter of encouragement, to "cheer his literary efforts." The modesty of Mr. Phillips, however, not wanting encouragement from any body-he had not the politeness to answer the letter: finding it now convenient to dedicate to somebody, and that somebody an American, his name is added for effect-and Mr. Rodney, it is presumed, is fully impressed with the magnitude of the favour. Herein is Ireland's. aristocracy abused in "rare phrases ;"-thus:

Our aristocracy, (the natural patrons of a nation's genius,) have been provincialized into the very worst kind of partizanship-into a struggle, not for honours or principles, but for the sordid emoluments, and rancorous exercise of official station. And this contention, branded as it is by every bad passion, presents no feature of agreement, save an upstart family conceit, a very stupid, and a very unfounded self appreciation. Between these precious factions, [What factions?] Ireland is partitioned; they scrutinize every probationer-they tempt every profession. And if the adventurous candidate for honourable fame disdains to subscribe himself as a retainer for the one, or a brawler for the other, he is proscribed for sacrifice, by the conspiracy of both-denounced as a rebel by the slaves in place, and as an helot by the slaves of expectancy.'

Such is the unmeaning declamation of this amateur in eloquence, who seeks to fix his want of success in life upon the faults of others, instead of the manifold deficiencies which he exhibits in himself. He then, of course, praises America, and in a style that bears a like relation to common sense, as gilt gingerbread does to wholesome food; and ends with recommending his book to be "the manual of young Americans."

A preface follows, in which Mr. Phillips shows himself as uninformed on the subject of eloquence, as he is reported to be of the elementary principles of law and in order to elucidate the cardinal sins of his oratory, we present him to our readers in

his own words, which, to us, plainly account for his insane style, and are the last which we can afford to quote from the original composition.

The grand mistake into which our modern critics have fallen, upon the subject of eloquence, has been in subjecting to the same rules the essay composed to be read, and the speech arranged to be delivered. No two things in the world can be more opposite. What might appear extravagant in the one is chaste in the other; and the allusion studiously suited to inflame the delirium of a crowd, must appear wild and rhapsodical in the seclusion of the closet. The scene, the surrounding objects, the materials to be worked, the end to be obtained, and the means to be used, are all different. The reader, in the silence of retirement, sees nothing but his book, and may pause for observation at the close of every period. The hearer, on the contrary, all eye and ear, hurried away by the rapidity of his feelings, and heated by the sympathy of his associates, has no time to criticise the evanescent image, which, delighting him at the moment, may owe its whole success to the tone in which it is uttered, or the gesture that accompanies it. The critic, therefore, who analyzes a speech, ought not, in my mind, to require so much a permanent effect, as a momentary attainment. If the object of the orator be answered, his task is ended; and it can detract nothing from his merit to say, he has triumphed by means which the cooler judgment cannot sanction. His instrument may be the most fantastic or extravagant-he may terrify by a phantom-delude by a sophism, or mislead by an airy and unsubstantial meteor: the question is not, were they intimidating, visionary, and delusive, but were they such as might achieve his victory. This may not square with the rules and ordinances by which, according to closest criticism, perfection is to be adjusted; but true genius rejects their application.'

Is it possible that Mr. Phillips could have read his own "Specimens of Irish Eloquence"-understood them-valued themand yet deliberately expose upon paper so rank a rhapsody as this? We,in America, cannot believe that men, whose ears have received energetic, healthy, and manly reasoning, from Grattan, Curran, Plunket, and Bushe, would suffer their intellects to be abused or influenced by the mountebank practices here commended. By following such a recipe, a speech might be compounded to induce returning disease on a subject of lunacybut never to work conviction on reasonable beings.

Whatever faults Mr. Phillips has, both as a writer and orator-as a collector of specimens of his nation's fame in eloquence, he has our praise-our sincere thanks. Many of the speeches which he has preserved in this pleasing and valuable collection, lived only in our knowledge, as that such things The reporting of speeches is a comparatively recent art; and such men as neglected their fame, by omitting to superintend the publication of their own speeches, must be con

were.