And since many wou’d yield to the Clear Light of Truth were’t not for the shame of being overcome, we shou’d Convince but not Triumph, and rather Conceal our Conquest than Publish it. We doubly oblige our Neighbours when we reduce them into the Right Way, and keep it from being taken notice of that they were once in the Wrong, which is certainly a much greater satisfaction than that blaze of Glory which is quickly out, that noise of Applause which will soon be over. For the gaining of our Neighbour, at least the having honestly endeavour’d it, and the leading our own Vanity in Triumph are Real Goods and such as we shall always have the Comfort of. It is to be wish’d that such Propositions as are not attended with the Clearest Evidence were deliver’d only by way of Enquiry, since even the brightest Truth when Dogmatically dictated is apt to offend our Readers, and make them imagine their Liberty’s impos’d on, so far is Positiveness from bringing any body over to our Sentiments. And besides, we’re all of us liable to mistake, and few have Humility enough to confess themselves Deceiv’d in what they have confidently asserted, but think they’re obliged in Honour to maintain an Opinion they’ve once been Zealous for, how desirous soever they may be to get rid on’t, cou’d they do it handsomely. Now a Modest way of delivering our Sentiments assists us in this, and leaves us at liberty to take either side of the Question as Reason and Riper Consideration shall determine.
In short, as Thinking conformably to the Nature of Things is True Knowledge, so th’ expressing our Thoughts in such a way, as most readily, and with the greatest Clearness and Life, excites in others the very same Idea that was in us, is the best Eloquence. For if our Idea be conformable to the Nature of the thing it represents, and its Relations duly stated, this is the most effectual way both to Inform and Perswade, since Truth being always amiable, cannot fail of attracting when she’s plac’d in a Right Light, and those to whom we offer her, are made Able and Willing to discern her Beauties. If therefore we throughly understand our Subject and are Zealously affected with it, we shall neither want suitable words to explain, nor perswasive Methods to recommend it.
And since Piety and Vertue shou’d in spite of the mistaken Customs of the Age be the principal Theme of a Christians Conversation; that which those who bear that Sacred Name ought always to regard some way or other, even when it might be unseasonable to speak of it directly, the way to be good Orators is to be good Christians, the Practice of Religion will both instruct us in the Theory, and most powerfully inforce what we say of it. Did we truly relish the Delights of GOD’s Service, we cou’d neither refrain from talking of the Pleasure, nor be so ill-natur’d as not to strive to Communicate it; and were we duly warm’d with a Zeal for his Glory and concern for our Neighbours Soul, no Figures of Rhetoric, no Art of Perswasion wou’d be wanting to us. We shou’d diligently watch for Opportunities, and carefully improve them, accommodating our Discourse to the Understanding and Genius of all we cou’d hope to do good to.
Besides, by being True Christians we have Really that Love for others which all who desire to perswade must pretend to; we’ve that Probity and Prudence, that Civility and Modesty which the Masters of this Art say a good Orator must be endow’d with; and have pluck’d up those Vicious Inclinations from whence the most distastful faults of Writing proceed. For why do we chuse to be Obscure but because we intend to Deceive, or wou’d be thought to see much farther than our Neighbours? One sort of Vanity prompts us to be Rugged and Severe, and so possess’d with the imagin’d Worth and Solidity of our Discourse, that we think it beneath us to Polish it: Another disposes us to Elaborate and Affected ways of Writing, to Pompous and improper Ornaments; and why are we tediously Copious but that we fancy every Thought of ours is extraordinary? Contradiction is indeed for our advantage as tending to make us wiser, yet our Pride makes us impatient under it, because it seems to Lessen that Esteem and Deference we desire shou’d be paid us. Whence come those sharp Reflections, those imagin’d strains of Wit, not to be endur’d amongst Christians, and which serve not to Convince but to Provoke, whence come they but from Ill-nature or Revenge, from a Contempt of others and a desire to set forth our own Wit? Did we write less for our selves we should sooner gain our Readers, who are many times disgusted at a well writ Discourse if it carries a tang of Ostentation: And were our Temper as Christian as it ought to be, our Zeal wou’d be spent on the most Weighty things, not on little differences of Opinions.
I have made no distinction in what has been said between Speaking and Writing, because tho they are talents which do not always meet, yet there is no material difference between ’em. They Write best perhaps who do’t with the gentile and easy air of Conversation; and they Talk best who mingle Solidity of Thought with th’ agreableness of a ready Wit. As for Pronunciation, tho it takes more with some Auditors many times than Good Sense, there needs little be said of it here, since Women have no business with the Pulpit, the Bar or St. Stephens Chappel: And Nature does for the most part furnish ’em with such a Musical Tone, Perswasive Air and winning Address as renders their Discourse sufficiently agreeable in Private Conversation. And as to spelling which they’re said to be defective in, if they don’t believe as they’re usually told, that it’s fit for ’em to be so, and that to write exactly is too Pedantic, they may soon correct that fault, by Pronouncing their words aright and Spelling ’em accordingly. I know this Rule won’t always hold because of an Imperfection in our Language which has been oft complain’d of but is not yet amended; But in this case a little Observation or recourse to Books will assist us; and if at any time we happen to mistake by Spelling as we Pronounce, the fault will be very Venial, and Custom rather to blame than we.
I’ve said nothing of Grammar tho we can’t Write properly if we transgress its Rules, supposing that Custom and the reading of English Books are sufficient to teach us the Grammar of our own Tongue, If we do but in any measure attend to them. And tho Women are generally accus’d of Writing false English, if I may speak my own Experience, their Mistakes are not so common as is pretended, nor are they the only Persons guilty. What they most commonly fail in is the Particles and Connexion, and that generally thro a Briskness of temper which make them forget, or Hast which will not suffer ’em to read over again what went before. And indeed, those who Speak true Grammar unless they ’re very Careless cannot write false, since they need only peruse what they’ve Writ, and consider whether they wou’d express ’emselves thus in Conversation.
Art of speaking.
But for this and for Figures, &c. and indeed for all that relates to this Subject, I must refer you to an Ingenious Treatise which handles it fully, and to which I’me oblig’d in great measure for what little skill I have. Observing only, that whatever it is we Treat of, our Stile shou’d be such as may keep our Readers Attent, and induce them to go to the End. Now Attention is usually fixt by Admiration, which is excited by somewhat uncommon either in the Thought or way of Expression. We fall a sleep over an Author who tells us in an ordinary manner no more than we knew before: He who wou’d Take must be Sublime in his Sense, and must cloath it after a Noble way. His Thoughts must not be superficial, such as every one may fall into at the first glance, but the very Spirits and Essence of Thinking, the sum of many hours Meditation folded up in one handsome and comprehensive Period, whose Language is Intelligible and Easy that the Readers may not lose the pleasure of the Kernel, by the pain they find in cracking the Shell. The most difficult Subject must be made easy by his way of handling it; tho his Matter may deserve a Meditation, yet his Expressions must be so Clear that he needs not be read twice to be Understood; these are to be Natural and Familiar, condiscending to the meanest Capacity, whilst his Thoughts are Great enough to entertain the highest. He Discourses always on a Useful Subject in a manner agreeable to it, and pleases that he may Instruct; Nothing seems Studied in his whole Composition, yet every thing is Extraordinary, a Beautiful Harmony shining thro all its parts. No Sentence is Doubtful, no word Equivocal, his Arguments are Clear and his Images Lively; all the Ideas he excites in your Mind, as nearly resemble the thing they represent as Words can make them. Whilst th’ exactness of his Method, and Force of his Reason Enlighten and Convince the Mind; the Vivacity of his Imagination and insinuating Address, gain the Affections and Conquer the Will. By the weight and closeness of the former you wou’d take him for an Angel, and the tender and affable sweetness of the last bespeaks him a Friend. He considers that as mere Florish and Rhetorick are good for nothing, so neither will bare Reason dull and heavily express’d perform any great matter, at least not on those who need it most, whose Palates being deprav’d their Medicines must be administred in a pleasing Vehicle. Since Mankind are averse to their Real Happiness, he does not only tell ’em their Duty but Interesses them in it; and thinking it not enough to run ’em down with the strength of Reason, he draws ’em over to a Voluntary Submission by th’ attractives of his Eloquence. For he has a peculiar Turn and Air which animates every Period, so that the very same Truth which was dry and Unaffecting in a vulgar Authors words, Charms and Subdues you when cloath’d in his. He shews no more warmth than may convince his Readers that he’s heartily persuaded of the Truths he offers them; and if it is necessary at any time to make use of Figures to give a more Lively Representation than plain Expressions cou’d, to discribe his own Passions and excite the same in others upon a just occasion, in a word to awaken a Stupid and Clear the Mind of a Prejudic’d Reader, his Figures are duly chosen and discreetly us’d. For he knows that scarce any thing speaks a greater want of Judgment than the shewing concern where there needs none, or is a worse fault in Oratory than the polishing a Wrong or a Trifling Thought, the neatness of whose dress may strike with Admiration perhaps at first sight, but upon a review it will certainly appear Contemptible. And therefore as he does not abound in Superfluous Ornaments, so neither does he reject any thing that can promote his End, which is not his own Reputation, but the Glory of his GOD and his Neighbours Edification. He considers the narrowness of the Humane Mind, and says all that is necessary but no more; Understands it so well as to know what will move and Please, and has so much command of himself as to give over when he has done enough. Yet he can exhaust the most fruitful Subject without making the Reader weary; for when he enlarges it is in Things not Words, and he mingles Variety without Confusion. All the divers excellencies of different Stiles meet in his to make up a perfect one, Strength and Ease, Solidity and Liveliness, the Sublime and the Plain. He’s neither so Lofty as to fly out of Sight, nor so humble as to become Creeping and Contemptible. His Strength does not make him Rugged and Perplext nor his Smoothness Weak and Nice; tho every thing is Neat, there’s not a grain of Affectation; he is gratefull to the Ear, but far remov’d from jingling Cadence. Brief when there is occasion without Dryness or Obscurity, and Florid enough to entertain th’ Imagination without Distracting the Mind. There’s not an Antiquated or Barbarous Word to be found in him, all is Decent, Just and Natural; no peculiar or Affected Phrases, whether Courtly or Clownish, Grave or Burlesque. For Plain and Significant Language is ever best, we have a mistaken Idea of Learning if we think to pretend to’t by sending our Reader every minute to the Dictionary. Words out of the common way are only allowable when they express our Sense with greater Force than Ordinary ones cou’d, or when they are so significant as to ease us of Circumlocutions, a hard word which I cou’d not avoid without using half a dozen words.
After all, it may not be amiss to take notice that Ornaments are common to Falshood and Truth, but Clearness and strength of Reasoning are not. They who wou’d propagate Error usually disguise it in Equivocal Terms and Obscure Phrases; they strive to engage our Passions, rather than to Convince our Reason, and carry us away in the torrent of a warm Imagination. They endeavour to refute, or if they can’t do that, to Ridicule the contrary opinion, and think this Sufficient to establish their own. Being much better skill’d in pulling down former Systems than in building new ones, for it requires no great skill to Object, and there are many Truths which we’re very Certain of, and yet not able to answer every Impertinent Enquiry concerning ’em. Their greatest Art is in confounding things, in giving a probable Air to what they write, in pretending to Demonstration where the nature of the Truth does not require’t, and in evading it where it does. An Immoral or Heretical Discourse therefore may be Cunningly but not well writ, for we can never plead for Error and Vice with true Eloquence. We may trick’em up in a handsom Garb, adorn’em with quaint Expressions, and give them such a plausible turn as may enable them to do very much Mischief; but this is only a fulsom Carcass, the substance and Life are not there if Vertue and Truth are wanting.
§. VI. For it is to little purpose to Think well and speak well, unless we Live well, this is our Great Affair and truest Excellency, the other are no further to be regarded than as they may assist us in this. She who does not draw this Inference from her Studies has Thought in vain, her notions are Erroneous and Mistaken. And all her Eloquence is but an empty noise, who employs it in any other design than in gaining Proselytes to Heaven. I am therefore far from designing to put Women on a vain pursuit after unnecessary and useless Learning, nor wou’d by any means persuade them to endeavour after Knowledge cou’d I be convinc’d that it is improper for ’em. Because I know very well that tho a thing be never so excellent in it self, it has but an ill grace if it be not suitable to the Person and Condition it is apply’d to. Fine Cloaths and Equipage do not become a Beggar, and a Mechanic who must work for daily bread for his Family, wou’d be wickedly Employ’d shou’d he suffer ’em to starve whilest he’s solving Mathematical Problems. If therefore Women have another Duty incumbent on ’em, and such as is inconsistent with what we here advise, we do ill to take them from it: But to affirm this is to beg the Question, and is what I will never grant till it be better prov’d than as yet it appears to be. For if the Grand Business that Women as well as Men have to do in this World be to prepare for the next, ought not all their Care and Industry to Centre here? and since the matter is of Infinite Consequence is it equitable to deny ’em the use of any help? If therefore Knowledge were but any ways Instrumental, tho at the remotest distance, to the Salvation of our Souls, it were fit to apply our selves to it; and how much more when it is so necessary, that without it we can’t do any thing that’s Excellent, or Practise Vertue in the most Perfect manner. For unless we Understand our Duty and the Principles of Religion, we don’t perform a Rational Service, it is but by Chance that we are Good or so much as Christians. We are their Property into whose hands we fall, and are led by those who with greatest Confidence impose their Opinions on us; Are as moveable as the different Circumstances that befall us; or if we happen to be Constant in our first way, it is not Reason but Obstinacy that makes us so. A great deal of Good will be omitted, and very much Evil, or Imperfection at least, stick to us, if we are not throughly acquainted with the Law of God and the secret springs and windings of our Hearts, which is scarce to be obtain’d without much Meditation and the helps that study affords.