Selections from the Speeches and Writings | Page 5

critical
portraitures of Burke from the writings and speeches of men, who,
while opposed to him in their principles of legislative policy, with all
the chivalry and candour of genius paid a noble homage to the vastness
and variety of his unrivalled powers. Meanwhile, it may not be
presumptuous for a writer, on an occasion like the present, to
contemplate this great man under certain aspects, which, perhaps, are
not sufficiently regarded in their DISTINCTIVE bearings on the worth
and wisdom of his character and writings. We say "distinctive,"
because the eloquence of Burke, beyond that of all other orators and
statesmen which Great Britain has produced, is featured with
expressions, and characterised by qualities, as peculiar as they are
immortal. So far as invention, imagination, moral fervour, and
metaphorical richness of illustration, combined with that intense
"pathos and ethos," which the Roman critic describes ("Huc igitur
incumbat orator: hoc opus ejus, hic labor est; sine quo caetera nuda,
jejuna, infirma, ingrata sunt: adeo velut spiritus operis hujus atque
animus est IN AFFECTIBUS. Horum autem, sicut antiquitus traditum
accepimus, duae sunt species: alteram Graeci pathos vocant, quem nos
vertentes recte ac proprie AFFECTUM dicimus; alteram ethos, cujus
nomine (ut ego quidem sentio) caret sermo Romanus, mores
appellantur."--Quintilian, "Instit. Orat." lib. vi. cap. 2.) as essential to
the true orator, are concerned, the author of "Reflections on the French
Revolution," and "Letters on a Regicide Peace," is justly admired and
appreciated. Moreover, if what we understand by the "sublime" in
eloquence has ever been embodied, the speeches and writings of Burke
appear to have been drawn from those five sources ("pegai") to which
Longinus alludes. In the 8th chapter of his fragment "On the Sublime,"

he observes, that if we assume an ability for speaking well, as a
common basis, there are five copious fountains from whence sublimity
in eloquence may be said to flow; viz.
1. Boldness and grandeur of thought.
2. The pathetic, or the power of exciting the passions into an
enthusiastic reach and noble degree.
3. A skilful application of figures, both from sentiment and language.
4. A graceful, finished, and ornate style, embellished by tropes and
metaphors.
5. Lastly, as that which completes all the rest,--the structure of periods,
in dignity and grandeur.
These five sources of the sublime, the same philosophical critic
distinguishes into two classes; the first two he asserts to be gifts of
nature, and the remaining three are considered to depend, in a great
measure, upon literature and art. Again, if we may linger for a moment
in the attractive region of classical authorship, how justly applicable are
the words of Cicero in his "De Oratore," to the vastness and variety of
Burke's attainments! "Ac mea quidem sententia, nemo poterit esse
omni laude cumulatus orator, nisi erit OMNIUM RERUM
MAGNARUM ATQUE ARTIUM SCIENTIAM
CONSECUTUS."--Cic. "De Orat." lib. i. cap. 6. Equally descriptive of
Burke's power in raising the dormant sensibilities of our moral nature
by his intuitive perception of what that nature really and fundamentally
is, are the following expressions of the same great authority:--"Quis
enim nescit, maximam vim existere oratoris, in hominum mentibus vel
ad iram aut ad odium, aut dolorem incitandis, vel, ab hisce, iisdem
permonitionibus, ad lenitatem misericordiamque revocandis? Quare,
NISI QUI NATURAS HOMINUM, VIMQUE OMNEM
HUMANITATIS, CAUSASQUE EAS QUIBUS MENTES AUT
EXCITANTUR, AUT REFLECTUNTUR, PENITUS PERSPEXERIT,
DICENDO, QUOD VOLET, PERFICERE NON POTERIT."--Cic. "De
Orat." lib. i. cap. 12.
But to return. If a critical analysis of Burke, as an exhibition of genius,
be attempted, his characteristic endowments may, probably, be not
incorrectly represented by the following succinct statement.
1. Endless variety in connection with exhaustless vigour of mind.
2. A lofty power of generalisation, both in speculative views and in his

argumentative process.
3. Vivid intensity of conception, which caused abstractions to stand out
with almost living force and visible feature, in his impassioned
moments.
4. An imagination of oriental luxuriance, whose incessant play in tropes,
metaphors, and analogies, frequently causes his speeches to gleam on
the intellectual eye, as Aeschylus says the ocean does, when the Sun
irradiates its bosom with the "anerithmon gelasma" of countless beams.
5. His positive acquirements in all the varied realms of art, science, and
literature, endowed him with such vast funds of knowledge (In the
wealth of his multitudinous acquirements, Burke seems to realise
Cicero's ideal of what a perfect orator should know:--"Equidem omnia,
quae pertinent ad usum civium, morem hominum, quae versantur in
consuetudine vitae, in ratione reipublicae, in hac societate civili, in
sensu hominum communi, in natura, in moribus, co hendenda esse
oratori puto."--Cicero "De Orat." lib. ii. cap. 16.), that Johnson declared
of Burke--"Enter upon what subject you will, and Burke is ready to
meet you."
6. In addition to these high gifts, may be added, an ability to wield