with having no regard to any interest but their own, and with making laws only to consume paper, and threatened them with the defection of their adherents, and the loss of their influence, upon this new discovery of their folly and their ignorance. 2. Nor, sir, I do now answer him for any other purpose than to remind him how little the clamors of rage and the petulancy of invectives contribute to the purposes for which this assembly is called together; how little the discovery of truth is promoted, and the security of the nation established, by pompous diction and theatrical emotions. Formidable sounds and furious declamation, confident assertions and lofty periods, may affect the young and inexperienced; and, perhaps, the gentleman may have contracted his habits of oratory by conversing more with those of his own age than with such as have had more opportunities of acquiring knowledge, and more successful methods of communicating their sentiments. 3. If the heat of his temper, sir, would suffer him to attend to those whose age and long acquaintance with business give them an indisputable right to deference and superiority, he would learn, in time, to reason rather than declaim, and to prefer justness of argument, and an accurate knowledge of facts, to sounding epithets and splendid superlatives, which may disturb the imagination for a moment, but which leave no lasting impression on the mind. 4. He will learn, sir, that to accuse and to prove are very different; and that reproaches, unsupported by evidence, affec only the character of him that utters them. Excursions (1 fancy and flights of oratory are, indeed, pardonable in young men, but in no other; and it would surely contribute more, even to the purpose for which some gentlemen appear to speak (that of depreciating the conduct of the administration), to prove the inconvenience and injustice of this bill, than barely to assert them, with whatever magnificence of language, or appearance of zeal, honesty, or compassion. SIR ROBERT WALPOLE 18. REPLY OF WILLIAM PITT-1741. [William Pitt, first Earl of Chatham, has generally been regarded as the most powerful orator of modern times. He certainly ruled the British Senate as no man has ever ruled over a great deliberative assembly. His success, no doubt, was in part owing to extraordinary personal advantages. Such was the power of his eye that he often cowed down an antagonist in the midst of is speech, and threw him into utter confusion by a glance of scorn or con.empt. Whenever he rose to speak his countenance glowed with animation. His voice was clear and full. His lowest whisper was distinctly heard; his middle notes were of exceeding sweetness; and when he elevated his voice to its highest pitch, the house was completely filled with the rich volume of sound. The effect was awful, except when he wished to cheer and animate,then he had spirit-stirring notes which were perfectly irresistible. The first sound of his voice in the following reply is said to have terrified Sir R. Walpole, who exclaimed, "We must muzzle that terrible cornet of horse." Sir Robert offered to promote Mr. Pitt in the army provided he gave up his seat in Parliament. Every speech of Lord Chatham is worth the attention of the student of oratory.] SIR, IR,-The atrocious crime of being a young man, which the honorable gentleman has, with such spirit and decency, charged upon me, I shall neither attempt to palliate nor deny, but content myself with wishing that I may be one of those whose follies may cease with their youth, and not of that number who are ignorant in spite of experience. Whether youth can be imputed to man as a reproach, I will not, sir, assume the province of determining; but surely age may become justly contemptible if the opportunities which it brings have passed away without improvement, and vice appears to prevail when passions have subsided. 2. The wretch who, after having seen the consequences of a thousand errors, continues still to blunder, and whose age has only added obstinacy to stupidity, is surely the object of either abhorrence or contempt, and deserves not that his gray hairs should secure him from insult. Much more, sir, is he to be abhorred, who, as he has advanced in age, has receded from virtue, and becomes more wicked with less temptation; who prostitutes himself for money which he cannot enjoy, and spends the remainder of his life in the ruin of his country. 3. But youth, sir, is not my only crime, I have been accused of acting a theatrical part. A theatrical part may either imply some peculiarities of gesture or a dissimulation of my real sentiments, and an adoption of the opinions and languages of other men. In the first sense, sir, the charge is too trifling to be confuted, and deserves only to be mentioned to be despised. 4. I am at liberty, like every other man, to use my own language; and though, perhaps, I may have some ambition to please this genleman, I shall not lay myself under any restraint, nor very solicitously copy his direction or his mien, however matured by age, or modeled by experienced. If any man shall, by charging me with theatrical behavior, imply that I utter any sentiments but my own, I shall treat him as a calumniator and a villain, nor shall any protection shelter him from the treatment he deserves. I shall, on such an occasion, without scruple, trample upon all those forms with which. wealth and dignity intrench themselves, nor shall any thing but age restrain my resentment-age, which always brings one privilege, that of being insolent and supercilious without punishment. 5. But with regard, sir, to those whom I have offended, I am of opinion that if I had acted a borrowed part, I would have avoided their censure. But the heat that offended them is the ardor of conviction, that zeal for the service of my country which neither hope nor fear shall influence me to suppress. I will not sit unconcerned while my liberty is invaded, nor look in silence upon public robbery. I will exert my endeavors at whatever hazard to repel the aggression, and drag the thief to justice, whoever may partake of their plunder. And if the honorable gentleman 6. [At this point Mr. Pitt was called to order by Mr. Wynnington, who went on to say: "No diversity of opinion can justify the violation of decency and the use of rude and violent expressions, dictated only by resentment, and uttered without regard to-" Here Mr. Pitt called to order and procceded thus:] 7. Sir, if this be to preserve order, there is no danger of indecency from the most licentious tongues. For what calumny can be more atrocious, what reproach more severe, than that of speaking with regard to any thing but truth. Order may sometimes be broken by passion or inadvertency, but will hardly be re-established by a monitor like this, who cannot govern his own passions while he is restraining the impetuosity of others. 8. Happy would it be for mankind if every one knew his own province. We should not then see the same man at once a criminal and a judge; nor would this gentleman assume the right of dictating to others what he has not learned himself. That I may return in some degree the favor he intends me, I will advise him never hereafter to exert himself on the subject of order; but whenever he feels inclined to speak on such occasions, to remember how he has now succeeded, and condemn in silence what his censures will never amend. 19. HOTSPUR. [This scene, where Hotspur, fresh from the field of his daring exploits, vindicates himself from the charge of refusing to give up the prisoners of war, should be declaimed very rapidly, harshly, and sometimes with interruption and hesitation, as if the speaker were unable to give it sufficient force. The voice assumes the highest tone it can command consistently with force and boldness-though sometimes the low and forcible tone is used to express anger with uncommon energy.] MY liege, I did deny no prisoners, But I remember when the fight was done, 2. He was perfumed like a milliner; And 'twixt his finger and his thumb he held A pouncet-box, which ever and anon He gave his nose, and took 't away again;- 3 With many holiday and lady terms, He question'd me; among the rest demanded I then, all smarting with my wounds being cold, Out of my grief and my impatience Answer'd neglectingly, I know not what, 4. He should, or should not; for he made me mad, To see him shine so brisk, and smell so sweet, And talk so like a waiting gentlewoman, Of guns, and drums, and wounds (heaven save the mark!) And telling me the sovereign'st thing on earth Was parmacity for an inward bruise; And that it was great pity, so it was, Betwixt my love and your high majesty. SHAKSPEARE. |