Isocrates, the rhetorician, his character, 324,
Judea, remarks on the climate and natural circumstances of that country, 564.
Judicial orations, what, 343.
Juvenal, character of his satires, 540
Kaimes, lord, his severe censure of English comedies, 661.
Knight-errantry, foundation of the romances concerning, 507.
Knowledge, an essential requisite for eloquence, 461. The progress of, in favour
of the moderns, upon a comparison with the ancients, 473. The acquisition
of, difficult in former ages, 474.
Lamentations of Jeremiah, the most perfect elegiac composition in the sacred
Scriptures, 569.
Landscape, considered as an assemblage of beautiful objects, 55.
Language, the improvement of, studied even by rude nations, 1. In what the
true improvement of language consists, 2. Importance of the study of lan-
guage, ib. Defined, 62. The present refinements of, ib. Origin and progress
of, 63. The first elements of, 64. Analogy between words and things, 65.
The great assistance afforded by gestures, 68. The Chinese language, 69.
The Greek and Roman languages, ib. Action much used by ancient orators
and players, ib. Roman pantomimes, 70. Great difference between ancient
and modern pronunciation, ib. Figures of speech, the origin of, 71. Figura-
tive style of American languages, 72. Cause of the decline of figurative
language, 73. The natural and original arrangement of words in speech, 74.
The arrangement of words in modern languages, different from that of the
ancients, 76. An exemplification, ib. Summary of the foregoing observations,
78. Its wonderful powers, 181. All language strongly tinctured with me
taphor, 185. In modern productions, often better than the subjects of them,
313. Written and oral, distinction between, 463. See Grammar, Style, and
Writing.
Latin language, the pronunciation of, musical, and gesticulating, 69, 157. The
natural arrangement of words in, 75. The want of articles a defect in, 90.
Remarks on the words deemed synonymous in, 124.
Learning, an essential requisite for eloquence, 460.
Lebanon, metaphorical allusions to, in Hebrew poetry, 565.
Lee, extravagant hyperbole quoted from, 201. His character as a tragic poet,
Liberty, the nurse of true genius, 318.
Literary Composition, importance of the study of language, preparatory to, 5.
The beauties of, indefinite, 57. To what class the pleasures received from
eloquence, poetry, and fine writing, are to be referred, 59. The beauties of,
not dependent on tropes and figures, 227. The different kinds of, distinguish-
ed, 477. See History, Poetry, &c.
Livy, his character as a historian, 484, 488.
Locke, general character of his style, 239. The style of his Treatise on Human
Understanding, compared with the writings of Lord Shaftesbury, 498.
Longinus, strictures on his Treatise on the Sublime, 37. His account of the
consequences of liberty, 318. His sententious opinion of Homer's Odyssey,
Lopez de Vega, his character as a dramatic poet, 656.
Lore, too much importance and frequency allowed to, on the modern stage,
684.
Lowth's English Grammar recommended, 115, note; 145, note. His character of
the prophet Ezekiel, 569.
Lucan, instance of his destroying a sublime expression of Cæsar, by amplifica-
tion, 43. Extravagant hyperbole from, 201. Critical examination of his
Pharsalia, 599. The subject, 600. Characters and conduct of the story, ib.
Lucian, character of his Dialogues, 500.
Lucretius, bis sublime representation of the dominion of superstition over man-
kind, 32, note. The most admired passages in his treatise De Rerum Natura,
Lyric poetry, the peculiar character of, 537. Four classes of odes, 538
racters of the most eminent lyric poets, 541.
Lysias, the rhetorician, his character, 325.
Machiavel, his character as a historian, 492.
Machinery, the great use of, in epic poetry, 582. Cautions for the use of,
583, 590.
Mackenzie, Sir George, instance of regular climax in his pleadings, 226.
Man, by nature both a poet and musician, 513.
Marivaux, a character of his novels, 509.
Marmontel, his comparative remarks on French, English, and Italian poetry,
523, note.
Marsy, Fr. his contrast between the characters of Corneille and Racine, 643,
Massillon, extract from a celebrated sermon of his, 391, note.
Louis XIV. 393. His artful division of a text, 423.
Memoirs, their class in historical composition assigned, 495.
are fond of this kind of writing, ib.
Metalepsis, in figurative language, explained, 184.
Metaphor, in figurative style, explained, 184.
All language strongly tinctured
with, ib. Approaches the nearest to painting of all the figures of speech, 185
Rules to be observed in the conduct of, 187. See Allegory.
Metastasio, his character as a dramatic writer, 644.
Metonymy, in figurative style, explained, 183.
Mexico, historical pictures the records of that empire, 80.
Milo, narrative of the rencounter between him and Clodius, by Cicero, 426.
Milton, instances of sublimity in, 32, 44, 47. Of harmony, 157, 168. Hyper-
Who the proper
bolical sentiments of Satan in, 200. Striking instances of personification in,
206, 207, 208. Excellence of his descriptive poetry, 551.
hero of his Paradise Lost, 581. Critical examination of this poem, 612. His
sublimity characterized, 614. His language and versification, 615.
Moderns. See Ancients.
Moliére, his character as a dramatic poet, 656.
Monboddo, lord, his observations on English and Latin verse, 521, note.
Monotony in language, often the result of too great attention to musical arrange-
ment, 164.
Montague, lady Mary Wortley, a character of her epistolary style, 505.
Montesquieu, character of his style, 233.
Monumental inscriptions, the numbers suited to the style, 166.
Moralt, M. his severe censure of English comedy, 661.
More, Dr. Henry, character of his Divine Dialogues, 501.
Motion, considered as a source of beauty, 54.
Motte, M. de la, his observations on lyric poetry, 540, note. Remarks on his
criticism on Homer, 593, note.
Music, its influence on the passions, 513. Its union with poetry, 514. Their
separation injurious to each, 518.
Naiveté, import of that French term, 244.
Narration, an important point in pleadings at the bar, 424.
Night scenes, commonly sublime, 31.
Nomic melody of the Athenians, what, 158.
Novels, a species of writing not so insignificant as may be imagined, 506. Might
be employed for very useful purposes, ib. Rise and progress of fictitious his-
tory, 508. Characters of the most celebrated romances and novels, 509.
Novelty considered as a source of beauty, 58.
Nouns, substantive, the foundation of all grammar, 88. Number, gender, and
cases of, 91.
Obscurity, not unfavourable to sublimity, 32. Of style, owing to indistinct con-
ceptions, 117.
Ode, the nature of, defined, 537. Four distinctions of, 538. Obscurity and ir-
regularity, the great faults in, ib.
Odyssey, general character of, 593. Defects of, ib
Edipus, an improper character for the stage, 633.
Orators, ancient, declaimed in recitative, 69.
Orations, the three kinds of, distinguished by the ancients, 342. The present
distinctions of, 343. Those in popular assemblies considered, 345. Prepared
speeches not to be trusted to, 346. Necessary degrees of premeditation, ib.
Method, 347. Style and expression, ib. Impetuosity, 348. Attention to
decorums, 350. Delivery, 353, 442. The several parts of a regular oration,
413. Introduction, ib. Introduction to replies, 419. Introduction to sermons,
421. Division of a discourse, 422. Rules for dividing it, 423. Explica-
tion, 424. The argumentative part, 429. The pathetic, 434.
The pero-
ration, 440. Virtue necessary to the perfection of eloquence, 459. Descrip-
tion of a true orator, 462. Qualifications for, ib. The best ancient writers
on oratory, 468, 477. The use made of orations by the ancient historians, 450.
See Eloquence.
Oriental poetry, more characteristical of an age than of a country, 515.
style of Scripture language, 73.
Orlando Furioso. See Ariosto.
Ossian, instances of sublimity in his works, 41. Correct metaphors, 192. Con-
fused mixture of metaphorical and plain language in, ib. Fine apostrophe in,
212. Delicate simile, 216. Lively descriptions in, 554.
Otway, his character as a tragic poet, 647.
Pantomime, an entertainment of Roman origin, 69.
Parable, eastern, their general vehicle for the conveyance of truth, 565.
Paradise Lost, critical review of that poem, 612. The characters in, 613. Sub-
limity of, 614. Language and versification, 615.
Parentheses, cautions for the use of them, 140.
Paris, his character in the Iliad, examined, 589.
Parliament of Great Britain, why eloquence has never been so powerful an in-
strument in, as in the ancient popular assemblies of Greece and Rome, 341.
Parnell, his character as a descriptive poet, 551.
Particles, cautions for the use of them, 142. Ought never to close sentences,
Passion, the source of oratory, 317.
Passions, when and how to be addressed by orators, 434. The orator must feel
emotions before he can communicate them to others, 437. The language of,
ib. Poets address themselves to the passions, 511.
Pastoral poetry, inquiry into its origin, 526. A threefold view of pastoral life,
527. Rules for pastoral writing, ib. Its scenery, 529. Characters, 530.
Subjects, 532. Comparative merits of ancient pastoral writers, 533. And of
moderns, 534.
Pathetic, the proper management of, in a discourse, 434. Fine instance of, from
Cicero, 439.
Pauses, the due uses of, in public speaking, 449. In poetry, 450, 522.
Pericles, the first who brought eloquence to any degree of perfection, 322. His
general character, ib.
Personification, the peculiar advantages of the English language in, 93. Limita-
tions of gender in, ib. Objections against the practice of, answered, 202.
The disposition to animate the objects about us, natural to mankind, 203.
This disposition may account for the number of heathen divinities, ib. Three
degrees of this figure, 204. Rules for the management of the highest degree
of, 209. Caution for the use of, in prose compositions, 210. See Apostrophe.
Persius, a character of his Satires, 546.
Perspicuity, essential to a good style, 116. Not merely a negative virtue, 117,
The three qualities of, 118.
Persuasion, distinguished from conviction, 315. Objection brought from the
abuse of this art, answered, 316.
Peruvians, their method of transmitting their thoughts to each other, 81.
Petronius Arbiter, his address to the declaimers of his time, 336.
Pherecydes of Scyros, the first prose writer, 73.
Philips, character of his pastorals, 535.
Philosophers, modern, their superiority over the ancient, unquestionable, 473.
Philosophy, the proper style of writing adapted to, 497. Proper embellishments
for, 498.
Pictures, the first essay toward writing, 79.
Pindar, his character as a lyric poet, 540.
Pisistratus, the first who cultivated the arts of speech, 321.
Pitcairn, Dr., extravagant hyperbole cited from, 202.
Plato, character of his dialogues, 499.
Plautus, his character as a dramatic poet, 654.
Pleaders at the bar, instructions to, 363, 424.
Pliny's Letters, general character of, 503.
Plutarch, his character as a biographer, 495.
Poetry, in what sense descriptive, and in what imitative, 59. Is more ancient
than prose,
73. Source of the pleasure we receive from the figurative style of,
206. Test of the merit of, 213. Whence the difficulty of reading poetry
arises, 449. Compared with oratory, 457. Epic, the standards of, 476.
Its union with
Definition of poetry, 511. Is addressed to the imagination and the passions,
ib. Its origin, 512. In what sense older than prose, ib.
music, 513. Ancient history and instruction first conveyed in poetry, 514.
Oriental, more characteristical of an age than of a country, 515. Gothic,
Celtic, and Grecian, ib. Origin of the different kinds of, 517.
vigorous in its first rude essays than under refinement, 518.
the separation of music from it, ib.
measures not applicable to English
structure of, 521. French poetry, ib.
Progress of English versification, 525.
tic poetry, 542. Descriptive poetry, 548.
571. Poetic characters, two kinds of, 581.
Pointing, cannot correct a confused sentence, 140.
Politics, the science of, why ill understood among the ancients, 483.
Polybius, his character as a historian, 479.
Confused
Pope, criticism on a passage in his Homer, 44. Prose specimen from, consisting
of short sentences, 130. Other specimens of his style, 147, 154.
mixtures of metaphorical and plain language in, 191. Mixed metaphor in,
194. Confused personification, 209. Instance of his fondness for antitheses,
222. Character of his epistolary writings, 504. Criticism on, ib. Construc-
tion of his verse, 521. Peculiar character of his versification, 525. His pas-
torals, 532, 535. His Ethic Epistles, 547. The merits of his various poems
examined, ib. Character of his translation of Homer, 591.
Was more
Was injured by
the
Metrical feet, invention of, 519. These
poetry, 520. English heroic verse,
Rhyme and blank verse compared, 523.
Pastorals, 526. Lyrics, 537. Didac
Hebrew poetry, 557. Epic poetry,
Dramatic poetry, 615.
Precision in language, in what it consists, 119. The importance of, 131. Re-
quisites to, 127.
Prepositions, whether more ancient than the declension of nouns by cases, 95.
Whether more useful and beautiful, 97. Dr. Campbell's observations on, 98,
note. Their great use in speech, 105.
Prior, allegory cited from, 197.
Pronouns, their use, varieties, and cases, 98. Relative, instances illustrating the
importance of their proper position in a sentence, 133.
Pronunciation, distinctness of, necessary in public speaking, 446. Tones of, 451.
Proverbs, book of, a didactic poem, 567.
Psalm xviii., sublime representation of the Deity in, 39. Jxxxth, a fine allegory
from, 197, Remarks on the poetic construction of the Psalms, 560, 564.
Pulpit, the eloquence of, defined, 317. English and French sermons compared,
339. The practice of reading sermons in England disadvantageous to oratory,
341. The art of persuasion resigned to the puritans, 342. Advantages and
disadvantages of pulpit eloquence, 377. Rules for preaching, 380. The chief
Whether it is best to read sermous,
characteristics of pulpit eloquence, 381.
or deliver them extempore, 388. Pronunciation, ib. Remarks on French ser-
mons, 389. Cause of the dry argumentative style of English sermons, 391.
General observations, 393.
His account of the ancient division of
His remarks on the importance of the
Quintilian, his ideas of taste, 11, note.
the several parts of speech, 88, note.
study of grammar, 106. On perspicuity of style, 116, 123. On climax, 149
Which ought not to offend the ear, 155,
On the structure of sentences, 152.
162. His caution against too great an attention to harmony, 164. His cau-
tion against mixed metaphor, 192.
His fine apostrophe on the death of his
son, 212. His rule for the use of similes, 219. His directions for the use of
figures of style, 229. His distinctions of style, 231, 240. His instructions for
good writing, 252, 253. His character of Cicero's oratory, 332. His instruc-
tions to public speakers for preserving decorums, 352. His instructions to
judicial pleaders, 363. His observations on exordiums to replies in debate,
420. On the proper division of an oration, 422. His mode of addressing the
passions, 437. His lively representation of the effects of depravity, 459 I
the best ancient writer on oratory, 468.
Racine, his character as a tragic poet, 643.
Ramsay, Allan, character of his Gentle Shepherd, 537.
Rapin, P., remarks on his parallels between Greek and Roman writers, 334.
Retz, cardinal de, character of his memoirs, 495.
Rhetoricians, Grecian, rise and character of, 323.
Rhyme, in English verse, unfavourable to sublimity, 43. And blank verse com-
pared, 524. The former, why improper in the Greek and Latin languages,
ib. The first introduction of couplets in English poetry, 525.
Richardson, a character of his novels, 510.
Ridicule, an instrument often misapplied, 649.
Robinson Crusoe, character of that novel, 509.
Romance, derivation of the term, 508. See Novels.
Romans, derived their learning from Greece, 329. Comparison between them
and the Greeks, 330. Historical view of their eloquence, ib. Oratorical
character of Cicero, 331. Æra of the decline of eloquence among, 336.
Rousseau, Jean Baptiste, his character as a lyric poet, 541.
Rowe, his character as a tragic poet, 647.
Sallust, his character as a historian, 480.
Sannazarius, his piscatory eclogues, 534.
Satan, examination of his character in Milton's Paradise Lost, 613.
Satire, poetical, general remarks on the style of, 545.
Saxon language, how established in England, 107.
Scenes, dramatic, what, and the proper conduct of, 628.
Scriptures, sacred, the figurative style of, remarked, 73. The translators of,
happy in suiting their numbers to the subject, 167. Fine apostrophe in, 212.
Present us with the most ancient monuments of poetry extant, 557. The
diversity of style in the several books of, 557. The Psalms of David, 560. No
other writings abound with such bold and animated figures, 561. Parables, 565.
Bold and sublime instances of personification, 566. Book of Proverbs, 567.
Lamentations of Jeremiah, ib.
Scuderi, madam, her romances, 508.
Seneca, his frequent antitheses censured, 221. Character of his general style, 498.
His epistolary writings, 501.
Sentence in language, definition of, 128. Distinguished into long and short, 129.
A variety in, to be studied, 130. The properties essential to a perfect sen-
tence, 181. A principal rule for arranging the members of, 132. Position of
adverbs, ib. And relative pronouns, 133. Unity of a sentence, rules for pre-
serving, 136. Pointing, 140. Parentheses, ib. Should always be brought to
a perfect close, 141. Strength, 142. Should be cleared of redundancies, ib.
Due attention to particles recommended, 143. The omission of particles some-
times connects objects closer together, 145. Directions for placing the import-
ant words, 146. Climax, 149. A like order necessary to be observed in all
assertions or propositions, 151. Sentence ought not to conclude with a feeble
word, ib. Fundamental rule in the construction of, 155. Sound not to be
disregarded, ib. Two circumstances to be attended to for producing har-
mony in, 156, 168. Rules of the ancient rhetoricians for this purpose, 158.
Why harmony much less studied now than formerly, ib. English words
cannot be so exactly measured by metrical feet, as those of Greek and Latin,
160. What is required for the musical close of a sentence, 163. Unmeaning
words introduced merely to round a sentence, a great blemish, ib. Sounds
ought to be adapted to sense, 166.
Sermons, English, compared with French, 339. Unity an indispensable requi-
site in, 382. The subject ought to be precise and particular, ib. The sub-
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