The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1821-02-19 00:00:00

lmordinary elevation and Are, which seem to }orlon g
more to prophetic inspiration, than to political saga-
city. But he was mistaken' in thinking that his
auditors were as ardently excited as himself. or that
they were sufficiently prepared fur such an illustra-
tion as this. For him it was scarcely strong enough;
for them it was ettmvagant.
Yet the fervid glow of feeling. peculiar, 1 am
afraid. to the Greeks and Romans, not only sus.
tained. but encouraged. applauded, nay demand-
ed, flights of oratory as great, if not greater than
this. Witness the sublime oath by which Demos-
thenes made his fellow.eitizens forget the dims.
trona battle of Chanute*. " No. my fellow.
citizens, no; you have not erred. I swear by the
manes of those heroes, who fought for the some
cause in the plains of Marathon and Plata,* I"
Cicero, in one of his vpeechrs against Verres, after
painting in the strongest colours the ignominious
death of a Roman citizen, whom that infamous
praetor had caused to be crucified, breaks out into
the following hold amplification t—" If I painted
these horrors of this scene, not to Roman
not to the allies of one state, not to those who
have ever heard of the Kumar, name, not even to
men. blot to brute creatures; or 'VIM to go farther,
if in some desolase solitude, I lifted up my voice
in complaint and Ismeotation to the rocks and to
the siountaina, yet would these mate and inani-
mate parts or nature he moved at such a mon.
strous and disgratefut`ontrage as this."9—Shuk-
speare has rendered Mark Aotony's exhibition of
the rube of Caesar familiar to us. To whit a state
of excitement did that artful intriguer inflame the
feelings of the people; and how susceptible. how
quick, how " feather-sunned" must those feel-
ings have been, when such was the effect of Ass.
toss's address upon their minds, that they tore up
the benches and the tables in the forum (as Plu-
tarch relates) to make a funeral pile for the dead
boly. Not content with duly performing the last
rites towards one, who they must have known me-
ditated, in his life, the destruction of ill their an-
cient privileges, they snatched the burning brands
from the pile, and went to attack the houses of
those whom, until the close of Isis harangue, An-
tony dared not to call conspirators.
His grandfather, of the same name. who was a
much better orator than he, produced a marvellous
effect, not on a popular assembly. but WI a full
bench of Judges, by exposing the armor's of a
military client, whom he defended on a charge of
sedition. That client was his friend ; to sure him
from banishment was the object of his as:dress;
and I,e hesitated not 'ors mingle much of personal
feeling and entreaty in all the passion which he ex.-
reseed. Ila saw near him that esteemed friend,
whom be remembered to have been Consul, to
have been a General distinguished by the Senate,
to have umlauted the steps of the capitol in tri-
umph, but whom lie now beheld reduced to the
condition of an scccused person, clothed in mourn-
ing robes, and in danger of being banished from
country. But Antouy did not yield to the ar-
dour of his owls breast. until, by dwelling on the
sorrows and dejection of the accused, he had suc-
ceeded in moving the Judges even to tears; then
be tore open the vest of the old warrior, sheered
the honourable pears which lie received in n 11111.•
taming the glory Si some, and he appealed to
gods, to two), to citizens, and fiisnds, whether
such a man ought to 'be banished ? His cleat was
saved.
This, then, is the great and disadvantageous
difference between Is and the ancients—the dif-
ference to the chararterr, betwersi a Boman or an
Athenian, and an English audielice. This essential
differelice pervades our senate, our forum, and our
popular assemblies ; and it must necessaiily have a
proportional effect in reducing the rtandard of our
eloquence; for, surely. we are not destitute of all
the other means of success in that brilliant deport-
ment of literature. Philosophy, poetry, history,
and the arts, have each arrived to a degree of per-
fectiou its this country. which, in Rome at least,
Wes scarcely surpassed. The graces of style, the
vivid lights of fancy, the associations of imagery
and of thought, which are most apt to ex.
cite emotions, are thoroughly understood, and
by rainy of oar writers most felicitously pursued.
Civil liberty, which is admitted to be as necessary
to Use support of eloquence as pure air is to
the sustenance of animal life. is with us as abund-
antly enjoyed, mid as highly valued, as it ever has
been in any age or nazi . Trust difference of ua-
tional character alone remains ar a drawback—a
difference unfelt by the historian, for he writes io
the presence of posterity—a dithresice despised by
the poet, for he has lifted his mind

--To that ones/1161y mood
When escb conception was a heavenly guest—
A ray of immortality—sed stood
Rtsr-like around, anti*
i They isther'd to a God.

• Quod ai Ire nen ad ei►re Romano., non ad align**
satirise stows: etestatir, nun all eua qui pupuli Humana
roenen audiiiment denique, ai nun ad hfirninfe, vernal ad
beatia.; ant ellen, at tungins progiedier, at in sliqua
dnertisainta aoleiudsee, ad satin et ad scupulue hiec conga►ri
et deplueare aeklena, easmiontaiba tents aique beanie's, taro
et tam indigos mum *leakage eostuauvereutur.—Cie. in Var.

An anonymous letter was on Wednesday, the
7th instant, received by Geonog Tsileum. Esq.
of Stover House, Minton Abbots, in the county of
Devon, one of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace
fur the said county, threatening to take his life, and
to de.troy his property by lire. A reward of fifty
guineas, and a free pardon, are of in Saturday
night's Gazette, to any accomplice who shall give
such information us may lead to the conviction of
the offender or offenders. •,
Margaret Nichuhatt, the unfortunate woman
who attempted to awaissinate hie Lite most excel-
lent MAJESTY in the year 1789, is still living, and
is kept as • State pstient, under nominal restraint.
in Bethlem Hospital. Considering her advanced
age, she is in possession of most of her faculties
usual at those years, except that of hearing, which
is quite gone.
A middle-aged woman, poorly dressed, was at
six o'clock last evening found hanging under one
of the arches of Waterloo Bridge. She had been
observed the whole of the Clay loitering abort the
spot. Medical aid was instantly procured. but it
was too late to render any assistance. The body
was removed to the bone-house fini-a Coroner's lu-
quest. 'The utiferumple won in when found was
kneeling; rherefaseuslypesty suspended by her
shawl. • or. •