Eloquence a Virtue, Or, Outlines of a Systematic Rhetoric

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1859. Excerpt: ... the noble striving of Emulation, and, consequently, how necessary' it is to distinguish between Affection and Passion. Let it also be noticed that this list of Aristotle is not more copious than our own, and, consequently, that we have not been compelled, in order to systematically arrange the actual phenomena of consciousness, to mutilate them in the least. APPENDIX. WIT. If we, of right, require in the orator the ability to awaken Affection, we should also, perhaps, require that he have Wit. Wit is the destruction of Affection; it is-the bent of a mind, which, instead of being carried away by. the Holy and the Great, makes it an object of its scrutiny, and entertains itself with the apparent contradictions and contrasts which are contained in it. The play of such a mind is much more sure and safe when it-is directed against a Passion, which continually presents a great number of weak points, and which is always checked and abated whenever Wit gets the upper hand. It might, therefore, seem as if the weapon of Wit were necessary to the orator, not indeed for attack, but for defence against a Passion or an Affection awakened by bis opponent, that is working against him. This is the only one, among the many shallow reasons mentioned by Cicero, for the employment of Wit in Eloquence, that is not utterly to be rejected. And, indeed, it cannot be denied that a well-applied sally of wit is of great effect when the orator needs merely to free himself from some entanglement, to help himself quickly out of a momentary embarrassment, and by a brief word to get rid of a matter, especially if it does not pertain to the higher relations of human existence, and is of no special importance to any one. Yet, when the orator has in view the excitement of a great and power...