The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1858-10-01

1xeeMp 1faneoas EIoq uence.
Among asciest orators, there was iaborioas
DeepArAtion for The fbrum such A. u entirely un-
kaowa 10 noiern times and whick accounts 10
some msAsare fer the superiority OF ancient over
n sderp sloqueacs Cicero has been pronounced
upon high authority The most perfect example OF
tadsfatisabis applies top which the world has ever
s0en. whiist he WAS man of unissstaf genius.
Oratory Va. his master passion. the stady and
the entertainment Of his childhood. and for nearly
fmty ysars, he VAS It's nndispused master, yet oil
the time barniag the midnight oil, studying prac-
tietag, knowing no kind Of relsxssi 90. Demos
tlsaes, also. has been A. much aslaIsred Cor his
isdastry - Lis eloqueneo, tiomphipg over the
impsdimsnt 10 his speech, the feeble lungs, and
the timidity which dreaded The sound of its own
voice before the multitude that voice VIII icb men
Afterwards locked to hear from the remotest
parts Of Greece. ~ II pronounced oratious, which
Hume hes declared the models which. of all
human productions, approach neassst 70 perfec
tiou In England, Of late years, and in this conn.
try, there seems to be prevailing idea that great
orations can be produced without labor, and we
have hundred men in every State Who surpass
the Apcisnts 10 their ability 10 strike of at heat
the most magui fcent eforts. The act Of simua
ting sxtemyoraneous eioquence IL about the only
thing 10 II 70 modern orasory which cangbe called
ont Macksnsie has said that or atery il though
veil Of In ireland which Ia not really and truly
produced BY and 10 the occasion. Yet the mos.
admired Irish orations have much Of the odor o.
the lamp about them. and were probably produced
BY eassaAi study.
In America, our sloquepce IL oil supposed to
spring forth, Ike Minerva. completely equipped
from the brain Of Jupiter. Now, whilst extempo
raneous speaking, la connection with thorough
preparation. upon oil the principles and facts in
volved in . debate, 10 q valuable and indispensable
quality, 10 10 fact, pretty well proven, that the
finest passages 10 modern speeches have been
carefully elaborated before hand. John Quincy
Adams, the most accomplished Of American rheto-
ricians, declared that .'the stream which flows
spontaneous 10 almost always shallow. The talent
OF speaking well without preparation is rare, but
that OF uttering fluent nonsense. though often sub
stituted In it's stead, is very different thing
When Daniel Webster made his celebrated aliu
sion, 10 speech In the U. $. Senate, to aJhe morn
ing drum beat Of England, beginning with the
sun, and keeping company with the hours,' &C..
&C., Sias Wright, of New York, remarked to his
neghbor, Col Preston, Of South Carolina, that it
was the grandest extemporaneous display he had
ever heard. Col. Preston, himself Que OF the first
OF living orators, aud who never had much faith
Wrisht's opinion, aud the result a courteous
appeal to Ar Webster for decision. The reply OF
the great Massachusetts, orator was: 'Gen tlemen,
- reciined on NY lounge, last night repeated
that passags . hundred times" lie added that
the germ Of the idea occurred to him ten years b5-
fore, when on u visit TO the Cauadas. There are
many men, not quite as great as Webster, who, II
equally candid, would admit that their finest dis
plays are not the inspiration Of the moment.
Professor Dew, who once graced William aud
Mary with his elegant scholarship than whom no
man was more capable of judging, says that his-
terry has shown that the greatest speeches canno,
DO sxtsmporized, and that the best efforts have
been those most studied, where the orator, as has
been happily said, rennes into simplicity and ella
borates into ease He refers among modern speak
srs, to Lord Chatham, the most power full orator
whom England has ever produced, WHO prepared
himself most Iaboriously, and who is said to have
read Bsiley's dictionary twice over, and even to
have articulated before glass; to perfecklimseIf,
to have practiced beforehand the very folding Of
his flannel around him like toga. and the sweep
Of the crutch by which be awed his adversarie
into silence Sheridan, too, worked out his rheto.
rical embroidery with the greatest Industry aud
John Randolph prepared himself with great labor.
~ has been proved by his notes. The ora,ious of
Everett are generally prepared with the elaborate
attention even to the miniature beauties of Ian
guage, which Plato bestowed upon his treatises--
Our young aspirants may learn from the history
Of the past that study and labor essential
to success In eloquence rs in any other department
OF Intellectual sxertion.