tations, because the deep personal interest he feels in his case urges him to observe his agent most critically, to see

"What rounds, what bounds, what course, what stop he makes,"

there is another watcher, whose duty it is even more imperatively to note the progress of the advocate's skilful craft, and test

"All kinds of arguments and questions deep;

All replication prompt and reason strong,"

the judge, the official administrator of the law. His demands are irresistible, and every pleader must be prepared to submit to his requirements in as far as the case permits. The less the capacity of doing so is possessed by the advocate, either in himself or from the case, the more must the suit be prejudiced in his eyes. To note the kind of pleading most in favour with a given judge is one of the chief duties of a legal orator; for only by conforming to the prerequisites of judgment does his case receive the full benefit of the court into which it is brought.

All judges do not insist on the same specific points. Some stickle for law, others are taken by claptrap; some are moved by logic, others by declamation; some decide by mere precedents, others by generalizations from them; some resign their souls to technicalities, others require reflection and incline to equity; some like to listen to a rigmarole of amplified and inflated matter, which suggests a sort of minor omniscience in the person who is expected to comprehend it, others are influenced by short, pithy, snappy, epigrammatic sayings, which look as if they had succeeded in cramming the essence of the laws of England into a nutshell. This is the look-out of the practitioners in each court. We believe that the vast majority of the requirements of judges in the conducting of cases before them may be satisfied by attending to the six points which we have noted in the synopsis now under exposition. They do not include a provision for the gratification of the foibles of the judges, yet it is quite necessary, when such high personages have these minor infirmities of humanity, that they receive observant attention, and not a little humouring.

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Categorical definition" is advisable in all disputes; à fortiori, in law it is essential. Law is especially full of propositions declaratory of the meanings of terms. The whole relevancy of an action often depends on the legal acceptation of the words used in the instruments. To be thoroughly prepared in all matters, real or nominal, which may require definition or description, is highly requisite, and indeed is most frequently indispensable in oratory to be uttered in the presence of a judge.

The motives or grounds of the law often differ from the intent or purpose of it. The cause of its being on the statute-book may occasion its applicability to one case, its desired effect may constitute the reason for reference to it in another, while the principle which it asserts may form the matter on which dependence is put in a suit.

The interpretation of the law is a concursus of all the judgments made regarding it; hence the need for a "careful induction of precedents," that they may be sifted into applicable and inapplicable, and that the law, duly interpreted, may be clearly and manifestly brought to bear upon the precise points, in any action, to which it refers, and to no others.

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These precedents having been sought and summarized, the laws to which it is found advisable to refer the case, and on which it is thought proper or expedient to ground any legal proceedings, are readily discoverable and may be easily quoted. In most cases a 'concise statement of the statutes," &c., and the judgments already pronounced, on which the advocate relies, must be laid before the judge. The arrangement of the address, so as to make the precise elements of an on-going case to which the statutes apply, at once and unmistakeably apparent, requires skill and tact as well as learning. It is dangerous to entrust the conduct of legal proceedings to a forensic orator of whom it may be complained,—

"With metaphysic art his speech he planned,

And said what nobody could understand."

The statutes quoted must be consistent with the merits of the case, the applicability of the one to the other must be satisfactorily shown, and the statement should result in some practical solution of the difficulty which the lawsuit was brought to clear up or get rid of.

Legal precedents and statutory enactments, though appealed to, will not secure success in pleading, unless the orator is careful to preserve "logical consistency of argument." The law of non-contradiction is here imperative. The pleas put in must be consistent and consilient. He must proceed along convergent not divergent lines of argument, and this must be maintained by evidence and reasoning all tending in the same direction. If alterant or alternate issues beraised, they must be such as shall not conflict with each other. They must either possess a correlation, or a relation of subordination. They must not be, either in appearance or effect, opposites. The judge ordinarily requires that the "tendencies and issues of the judgments sought" should be explained, that he may perceive whether the ends aimed at by the suit agree with the motive or purpose of the law, and whether the granting of the demand of a client may be beneficial to society, just to others, and due to the claimant. This requires forethought and prudence in the advocate, and affords splendid scope for oratorical argumentation in most forensic contests.

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A graver and grander possibility of effective eloquence lies in an appeal to the majesty and morality of the law." In this topic there is always an opportunity for fire, force, energy, sagacity, and felicities of diction and reasoning. It should issue easily and naturally from the previous portions of a speech, and should increase in intensity, rapidity, earnestness, and solemnity as the close draws near, till at last it becomes

"Majestic, equable, sedate;

Confirming, cleansing, raising, making free,

Strong to consume small troubles; to commend

Great thoughts, grave thoughts, thoughts lasting to the end."

III. The Jury (if any).—The jury require to be treated with discrimination and judgment. The power to read men, to find what is in them, and to discover what use may be made of them, is a valuable one. He who would master men by argument, or sway them by speech, must not only know well the might of thoughts and words, but must estimate their effectiveness upon the kind and class to whom he may address himself. To win men over to a given view, on whom the weight of a grave responsibility rests, requires a special adaptation of speech and argument, and many men who can affect a judge, fail in touching effectively the minds of juries.

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Effective narration" is a strong point in any one engaged in conducting a case before a jury. A clear, well-told, yet seemingly inartistic story, attracts the larger number of minds, unable ordinarily to realize within themselves the piecemeal statements brought out in evidence. Give such persons a story into which they can graff, or round which they can group the details brought out in cross-examination, and the judgment proceeds in the foregone grooves which the artful orator has laid down for them.

If to this graspable narrative there be added "a popular statement of the worth of the evidence" produced, or to be produced, on either side, and the whole be brought into a unity perceptible at a glance, or nearly so, the minds of ordinary men will frequently be found to acquiesce in the opinions founded upon it, and will be prepared to hold it as true. By the addition of a few salutary phrases of illustration, appealing to the case as their own, and bearing reference to their own positions or occupations, a cogency of application" may be imparted to the view taken which will materially affect the decision of the occupants of the box.

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It often happens that opinions are actively in process of dissemination among certain classes regarding specific laws, and their ordinary operations. When these opinions can be brought relevantly to bear upon the question at issue, they have a great effect in swaying the mind towards or from a given decision. Of course,

"He that stands upon a slippery place,

Makes nice of no vile hold to stay him up;"

and this last shift is most frequently employed in the worst or least hopeful cases; yet it forms a most effectual aid in eloquence, and may even in some cases cause opinion to weigh "double, as voice and echo," in the settlement of the jurors' decision. The success of such an element of address will most commonly be in proportion to the apparently casual and unimportant manner in which it is introduced and applied, though at other times the potency of it will altogether depend on its being thrown into vigorous prominence,

and dwelt upon with persistency. The "appeal to the expediency of the law," though valid as an elocutionary topic, requires much care, and is very apt to be unwarily overdone. This is to be avoided.

Juries are theoretically said to be arbiters as regards the facts of a case. They never in practice confine themselves to this mere paltry office; they continually concern themselves with the effects of their verdicts ;

"O that a man might know

The end of this day's business, ere it come!"

It is human and humane to do so; they cannot avoid the thought. But this very tendency and leaning supplies the adroit forensic orator with an occasion for a tirade of protestation, or for a tissue of popular oratory, the more successful that it is unacknowledged. Juries have no special culture. They are unskilled, as a general rule, in the arts of sophistry. They are placed in a position which makes them peculiarly alive to rhetorical artifices. Their emotions are all astir. The beat of their hearts is quickened, and the activity of their feelings is irrepressibly excited. They are prone to the movement of the passions. If the orator is skilful, and soothes their reason while he stirs their feelings, he can almost lead them as and whithersoever he would. This is a matter to be noted, however, not by forensic orators alone, but by those who, as jurymen, are subject to its influences; for they too have an interest, and ought to make it a positive duty to know the tricks and manners of forensic orators, that they may guard against their wiles, and guide themselves warily in their search for truth.

We hoped, on commencing to write this paper, to be able to include within its compass a fair though brief exposition of the whole synopsis of the elements of forensic eloquence. Matters, however, of great weight and moment, as we think, lie before us, which it would not be wise in us, for the reader's sake, to hold back. We are therefore reluctantly compelled to ask the indulgence of our readers, while we adjourn the discussion of this topic till another opportunity offers. The eloquence of the bar has had volumes devoted to it; yet we hope that these observations of ours may not be deemed superfluous. Eloquence in every phase of life possesses power. A pleasing or a spirited delivery of thought affects all, more or less-the young, the old, the thoughtful, the thoughtless, the philosopher and the man of the world, the judge and the juryman, the client and the public. To know why this is, and how its forces are got up, is an acquirement not less useful, as we believe, to the reflective and reading citizen, than to the bustling practitioner in the courts of what ought to be the guardian of the civil rights of man-the law. S. N.

Religion.

CAN MEMBERS OF CHRISTIAN CHURCHES CONSISTENTLY TAKE PART IN THE

CENTENARY MOVEMENT?

SHAKSPERE TER

AFFIRMATIVE ARTICLE.-III.

WE believe that the adoption of the negative on this question will be found to spring from a misconception of the requirements of the christian life.

Christianity, while it effects changes in the nature of man, produces no change of essence. It gives a new bent to all the faculties, a new purpose to life, a great object of love; but the Christian retains the same human qualities as before; the affections and the passions that stir the bosoms of his fellows, in him are not extinguished. He is subject still to human frailties and temptations, and his sympathy with his kind is not diminished but deepened. Christianity was never intended to make men ascetics or hermits, but to enlarge their interest in their kind, making them more active and earnest workers in their station, moving among men, and shedding a hallowing influence wherever their presence is found. They are not removed from the world, but have become the light of the world and the salt of the earth, and are to be known and felt by lives operative and powerful among their fellows.

This question touches every Christian, but most of all the minister of the gospel, for his decision will be the guide of hundreds. The office of the christian ministry is the most solemnly responsible that man can undertake, and, for the adequate fulfilment of its duties, demands qualifications varied and extensive. A heart renewed, fired with love to Christ, and deeply concerned for the salvation of others, is a good thing to commence with; but he who is most thus impressed will feel most strongly that something further is needed. All excellence will be unavailing without the operation of the Spirit of God; but this supposed, he will be the most successful who possesses the greatest intelligence. He who would be exclusively the servant of his divine Master, and yet be "all things to all men,' must have quick sensibilities; he must know much of the daily life of men, including an intimate knowledge of their trials and miseries, their joys, their ruling passions, and how most liable to be assailed and overcome by temptation; he who would be "wise as the serpent yet harmless as the dove" must be exact in observation, watchful of opportunities, and prudent in their use; he who would "speak in season and out of season," and yet not be guilty of the folly of "casting his pearls before swine," must display sound judg.