1 2 3 4 EXERCISE 106. Taking of Warsaw.-CAMPBEll. When leagued Oppression poured to northern wars Her whiskered pandoors and her fierce hussars, Waved her dread standard to the breeze of morn, Pealed her loud drum, and twanged her trumpet horn; Tumultuous horror brooded o'er her van, Presaging wrath to Poland-and to man !! Warsaw's last champion, from her height surveyed, Wide o'er the fields, a waste of ruin laid,– (°) Oh! Heaven! he cried, my bleeding country save; Is there no hand on high to shield the brave? Yet, though destruction sweep these lovely plains, By that dread name, we wave the sword on high, (。) He said, and on the rampart-heights arrayed (—) In vain, alas! in vain, ye gallant few! Dropped from her nerveless grasp the shattered spear, 5 The sun went down, nor ceased the carnage there, 6 The storm prevails, the ramparts yield away, Departed spirits of the mighty dead! Ye that at Marathon and Leuctra bled! Friends of the world! restore your swords to man, EXERCISE 107. Lord Chatham.—BUTLER Of those, by whom Lord North was preceded, none, probably, except Lord Chatham, will be remembered by posterity; but the nature of the eloquence of this extraordinary man, it is extremely difficult to de5 scribe. No person in his external appearance was ever more bountifully gifted by nature for an orator. In his look and his gesture, grace and dignity were combined, but dignity presided; the "terrors of his beak, the light10 nings of his eye," were insufferable. His voice was both full and clear; his lowest whisper was distinctly heard, his middle tones were sweet, rich, and beautifully varied; when he elevated his voice to its highest pitch, the house was completely filled with the volume of the 15 sound. The effect was awful, except when he wished to cheer or animate; he then had spirit-stirring notes, which were perfectly irresistible. He frequently rose, on a sudden, from a very low to a very high key, but it seemed to be without effort. His diction was remark20 ably simple, but words were never chosen with greater care; he mentioned to a friend that he had perused some of Dr. Barrow's Sermons so often as to know them by heart. His sentiments too, were apparently simple; but sen25 timents were never adopted or uttered with greater skill; he was often familiar and even playful, but it was the familiarity and playfulness of condescension-the lion that dandled with the kid. The terrible, however, was his peculiar power. Then the whole house sunk before 30 him. Still he was dignified; and wonderful as was his eloquence, it was attended with this most important effect, that it impressed every hearer with a conviction, that there was something in him even finer than his words; that the man was infinitely greater than the or35 ator. 40 No impression of this kind was made by the eloquence of his son, or his son's antagonist. Still, with the great man,-for great he certainly was,―manner did much. One of the fairest specimens which we possess of his lordship's oratory, is his speech, in 1776, for the repeal of the stamp act. Most, perhaps, who read the report of this speech, in Almon's Register, will wonder at the effect, which it is known to have produced on the hearers; yet the report is tolerably exact, and exhibits, although faintly, its leading features. But they should have seen the look of in45 effable contempt, with which he surveyed the late Mr. Grenville, who sat within one of him, and should have heard him say with that look,-"As to the late ministry, every capital measure they have taken, has been entirely wrong They should also have beheld him, 50 when addressing himself to Mr. Grenville's successors, he said, "As to the present gentlemen, those, at least, whom I have in my eye,”—(looking at the bench on which Mr. Conway sat,)-"I have no objection; I have never been made a sacrifice by any of them.55 Some of them have done me the honour to ask my poor opinion, before they would engage to repeal the act:they will do me the justice to own, I did advise them to engage to do it, but notwithstanding-(for I love to be explicit,)-I cannot give them my confidence. Pardon 60 me, gentlemen,"-(bowing to them,)—confidence is a plant of slow growth." Those, who remember the air of condescending protection, with which the bow was made, and the look given, when he spoke these words, will recollect how much they themselves, at the moment, 65 were both delighted and awed, and what they them selves then conceived of the immeasurable superiority of the orator over every human being that surrounded him. In the passages which we have cited, there is 70 nothing which an ordinary speaker might not have said; it was the manner, and the manner only, which produced the effect. EXERCISE 108. Mr. Fox and Mr. Pitt.-BUTLER. On his first separation from the ministry, Mr. Fox assumed the character of a whig. Almost the whole of his political life was spent in opposition to his majesty's ministers. In vehemence and 5 power of argument he resembled Demosthenes; but there the resemblance ended. He possessed a strain of ridicule and wit, which nature denied to the Athenian; and it was the more powerful, as it always appeared to be blended with argument, and to result from it. To 10 the perfect composition which so eminently distinguishes the speeches of Demosthenes, he had no pretence. He was heedless of method:-having the complete command of good words, he never sought for better; if those, which occurred, expressed his meaning clearly 15 and forcibly, he paid little attention to their arrangement or harmony. The moment of his grandeur was, when, after he had stated the argument of his adversary, with much greater strength than his adversary had done, and with much 20 greater than any of his hearers thought possible, he seized it with the strength of a giant, and tore and trampled on it to destruction. If, at this moment, he had possessed the power of the Athenian over the passions or the imaginations of his hearers, he might have 25 disposed of the house at his pleasure; but this was denied to him; and, on this account, his speeches fell very short of the effect, which otherwise they must have produced. It is difficult to decide on the comparative merit of 30 him and Mr. Pitt; the latter had not the vehement reasoning, or argumentative ridicule, of Mr. Fox: but he had more splendour, more imagery, and much more method and discretion. His long, lofty, and reverential panegyrics of the British constitution, his eloquent vi35 tuperations of those, whom he described as advocating. the democratic spirit, then let loose on the inhabitants of the earth, and his solemn adjuration of the house, to de fend and to assist him, in defending their all against it, were, in the highest degree, both imposing and concil 40 iating. In addition, he had the command of bitter, contemptuous sarcasm, which tortured to madness. This he could expand or compress at pleasure: even in one member of a sentence, he could inflict a wound that was never healed. 45 Mr. Fox had a captivating earnestness of tone and manner; Mr. Pitt was more dignified than earnest. The action of Mr. Fox was easy and graceful; Mr. Pitt's cannot be praised. It was an observation of the reporters in the gallery, that it required great exertion 50 to follow Mr. Fox while he was speaking; none to remember what he had said; that it was easy and delightful to follow Mr. Pitt; not so easy to recollect what had delighted them. It may be added, that, in all Mr. Fox's speeches, even when he was most violent, there 55 was an unquestionable indication of good humour, which attracted every heart. Where there was such a seeming equipoise of merit, the two last circumstances might be thought to turn the scale; but Mr. Pitt's undeviating circumspection,-sometimes concealed, some60 times ostentatiously displayed,-tended to obtain for him, from the considerate and the grave, a confidence which they denied to his rival. EXERCISE 109. Death of Lord Chatham.-PERCY. Lord Chatham entered the House of Lords for the last time on the 7th of April 1778, leaning upon two friends. He was wrapped up in flannel, and looked pale and emaciated. His eye was still penetrating; and though with the evident appearance of a dying man, there never was seen a figure of more dignity; he appeared like a being |