The Sun.
London, England, 1863-09-29 00:00:00

THE PERFECT ORATOR.

"A perfect speaker would be almost a perfect man, so
that there never was, and never will be, a perfect orator.
The best does but approach the standard of ideal excellence.
Such great gifts of mind and body must combine to consti-
tute an orator that, when I detail them, you will cease to

wonder that great orators are so few. I will first sketch the
mental qualifications, for these, or some of them, are abso-
lutely indispensable, and their presence will go far to com-
pensate for the absence of many physical advantages.
"The foremost care of a speaker is, to have something to
say; his next is, to say it; and his third is, to sit down
when he has said it. Th3se may appear to you very com-
monplace requirements, and you will probably think that I
needed not have taken the trouble to write long letters to
you to tell you this. But in fact, like other golden rules,
they are more easy to remember than to observe. Consult
your own experience, and say how many of the speeches
you have ever heard, on any occasion whatever, gave utter-
ance to thoughts, to ideas, to aught that painted a picture
on your mind, influenced your judgment, or kindled your
emotions. Were they not mere sounding brass and tink-

ling cymbals, sentences ' full of sound and fury, signifying
nothing,' or words that scarcely fall at all into sentences,
insomuch that, when the speaker had concluded, you could
not very distinctly say what he had beon talking about ?
And if this sort of speaker so abounds, how much more
frequent still are they who never know when they have
done, and how to sit down, having said what they desired
to say. How many men, who are otherwise really respect-
able speakers, fail in this faculty of sitting down, are con-
tinually coming to a close and then beginning again, and
when you mentally exclaim, ' He is certainly going to finish
now,' start off on a new topic, or repeat the thrice-told tale,
and take a new lease of your ears, to the severe trial of your
patience."

Again, in the chapters on " The Oratory of the
Bar," we find the following very judicious advice
on the best mode of—

WINNING OVER A dt, RY.
" Light, lively, pleasant talk is the most effective. Do
not speak at them or to them, but with them. Lord
Abinger used to say that his great success as an advocate
was due to his making himself the thirteenth juryman.
There could not be a better illustration of the manner of
dealing with juries. Therefore take a little trouble at first
to put yourself on good terms with your jury, not by flat-
tering language, but by that more effective flattory which
is shown, not said. It you meet a man in the street, and
want to convince or to persuade him, how do you proceed ?
You take him by the button, you appeal to his intelligence,
you explain the matter to him in the most familiar terms
and with the most homely illustrations, and you do not let
him go till you have made him understand you. Twelve
jurymen are only a multiplication of such cases, to be treated
in the same manner.

"Good temper goes a great way towards conciliating a
jury. Command yourself; win with smiles; frowns repel
them. Exhibit unflinching confidence in your cause, for
any distrust betrayed by you is instantly imparted to them.
If the subject is dry, enliven it with some timely jest, and
the duller the theme the smaller the joke that suffices to re-
lieve its dullness.
* * * * * *

"It is often asked, how far jesting is permissible at the
bar. It is not in good taste, perhaps, but I must admit
that it is very effective. When the most grave work is
being done, men feel the strongest tendency to laugh. It is
wonderful what slight and sorry jests will provoke shouts
of laughter in a court of justice. I will not now consider
the cause of this, though the philosophy of humour accounts
for it. The fact suffices. that when surrounded by solemnity
we are most easily tickled to laughter. The advocate who
can summon smiles to the lips of his audience will com-
mand their ears more certainly than he who can only call
tears into their eyes, and both will achieve an easy triumph
over the speaker who can do neither, let him be ever so ac-
complished in other respects."

" The Oratory of the Pulpit," " The Oratory of the
Senate," and "The Oratory of the Platform," are
the subjects of separate study and consideration ;
the preliminary chapters being devoted to general
advice on composition and reading, as well as the ma-
nagement of the voice, &c. &c. Mr. Cox has not for-
gotten the most minute details in these instructions,
in order to facilitate the practical education of the
student; and many speakers who are above being
called Students would learn much from a thought-
ful perusal of these pages, whereby they might
benefit not themselves only, but those destined to
listen to their orations.

THE DUKE DE GRAMONT-CADEROUSSE is about,
says the Court Journal, to take unto himself a wife,
in the person of a native of one of the French colonies, who is
young, pretty, and exceedingly wealthy. It was the duke,
it will be remembered, who killed, in a duel, poor Dillon,
the sporting journalist; who figured prominently in that
famous scene in which Calzado, the director of the Italian
theatre, was detected cheating at cards--who has been the
hero of adventures innumerable; and, for some years past,
has been the "fastest" of all young men of rank in the fast
world of Paris. His retirement into domestic felicity will
leave a great void in the " life" of this gay capital; but,
doubtless, there may be many aspirants to the throne he
abdicates,