St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1872-03-22

was put forth at the north, that all men
are now free.
More than any other modern orator
Mr.. P. practices sort of lively sOphis-
try and exaggeration which for the
time being seems to deceive himself,
and is almost sure to deceive his au-
dience. He carries you along so pleas
antly that you do not care to inquire
whittier you are tending or what dan
gerous depths are yawning beneath your
path What he says he says so charm
ingly that it wins its way into the con-
viction by virtue of its own charm.
Now this is the very essence of Oratory
whose province is persuasion and not
truth, as Macaulay tells us. AS soon as
ever the charm is broken and one gets
possession of his own wits again, he is
led to hold colloquy with himself some
what after the sort of two of Ben. JON
sons characters.
"Is not this canting? Do you under
stand him ?"
"Not |, but it sounds we'll"
1t is these qualities which stamp
Phillips as the foremost orator of his
day. That his object is ''persuasion
and not truth" is evident from the wide
berth he gives truth.
He has long been notorious for the
recklessness of his opinions, hut We are
forced to confess some surprise at the
recklessness of his facts. Grant such ii
man his premises and he proves any
thing. And it is here that he needs
watching
In his lecture on Friday evening he
argued for granting the ballot TO wo-
man on the ground that thus we shall
purify politics. He asserts that history
teaches. that whenever men and wo-
men work together the cause and the
workers are elevated. He cites no i'll
stance to that precise effect. but he as
sumes Mr.. Phillips is IL man of
large assumption that the reason why
Rome and the English literature from
Chiucer to Shakespeare WAS unCllaStc.
WAS because women did not read. That
literature WAS then manufactured only
for masculine consumers.
Now this statement SaVors either of
great carclesSncSS, or gross miSrcprc-
fEhn,. h,,rit,- h.,t
ever. for thinking that the Greek and
Roman matrons and maids did not
read. They read less than the same
classes now do. Ills did the men. for
books were all in manuscript, and mot
accessible to all.
PlinN mentions his witc'S love of lit
eraturr. Juvenal. speaking of pcdan
tic damscls. says. They fall on the
praises of Virgil and consider his merits
i'll the same balance with Homer.
Macaulay speaks of the "huc stocking
matrons of Rome" No one acquainted
with these races but knows that these
matrons were worthy their noble lords.
Many illustIiOuS names have come down
to us.
The assertion that women did not
read in the times of Chaucer and Shak-
speare is so bold Il statement is hardly
to justify refutation. Matthew Browne
i'll his Chducer'S England, says that in
some respects the culture of II well-hrcd
woman was higher than it is at present,
and he adds that 1.-THE book culture of
Lady Jane Gray and Queen Elizabeth
was so severe that it would now he re-
garded as unfeminne" that 1.-THE cor
respondence of the women of that day
shows IL freedom and vigor which well
might make Il modern lady envious if
she were capable of understanding it,"
l.. Maria Child. in her Brief History
of Women says, AS chivalry declined
men began to take pride in literature,
instead of leaving all book learning to
the meancr folk, and women of course
assumed corresponding character.
The merits of Aristotle and Plato di-
universities declared in favor of Arts
totle, but poets. lovers and women were
enamored with the ethereal Plato"
Again she says, women preached in
public, supported controversies, pub
lished and defended these, TILED the
chairs of philosophy, harangued the
in, I nj I. 4
Hebrew OF course in BNron's day, so
near our own time, women read. We
all remember his sharp epiglnmmatic
thrust at the fair sex. which Leigh /
Hunt pronounced the happiest instance
of triple rhyme on record.
But oh We lords Of ladies' intellectual
Inform us truly havn't they henpeck d you all ,"
Did Byron write his "dirt and divim- !
ity" because only men read p The
truth is every age has had its Byron.
How about Charles Reade! His pages
would make either Smollett or Fielding
blush. And should not dare ask who
reads Reade most, men or women. The
tone of IA book will he controlled by
two CAUSES: the character of the writer
and the license of the times.
Mrs. Child tells lis that ..thc wife of
Henry Fourth. like Elizabeth of Eng
land, made Use of expressions so gross,
that we in modern times can hardly
realize that they came from women. Is
it strange then that we find unchaste