Pierre de Poletica.

THE

BRITISH CICERO;

OR,

A SELECTION

OF THE

MOST ADMIRED SPEECHES

IN THE

ENGLISH LANGUAGE;

ARRANGED UNDER THREE DISTINCT HEADS OF POPULAR,
PARLIAMENTARY, AND JUDICIAL ORATORY:

WITH HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS:

TO WHICH IS PREFIXED,

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY AND PRACTICE OF
ELOQUENCE.

BY THOMAS BROWNE, LL. D.

AUTHOR OF "VIRIDARIUM POETICUM," THE "UNION DICTIONARY," &c. &c.

PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, AND ORME,

PATERNOSTER ROW.

1808.

STANFORD LIBRARU

ADVERTISEMENT.

To descant at large on the utility of a Work of

this nature, would, it is presumed, be deemed superfluous; yet, it is somewhat remarkable, that, among the numerous tasteful and judicious selections, from our most approved and celebrated writers, for the instruction and edification of youth, a work similar to the present, has not been arranged from the numerous specimens of oratory occasionally exhibited by those Statesmen, Barristers, &c. who have, from time to time, so eminently dignified the Senate and the Forum.-It cannot be denied but that Britain, as well as Greece and Rome, has had her Demostheneses and her Ciceros. Upon this ground then, the Editor presumes that a collection of the most polished orations of our Public Speakers, on different political and judicial subjects, will not prove unacceptable to the British Student, as calculated, at once, to infuse the spirit of true Eloquence, and the genuine principles of the constitution.-Having such models as Chatham, a Burke, a Fox, a Pitt, a Sheridan, &c. in the Senate, and a Mansfield, an Erskine, a Curran, &c. at the Bar, he must be roused to an admiration of their genius, if not to

an emulation of their example. The Editor there. fore supposes that it will be sufficient to inform the Reader, that his principal aim has been to make choice of those Speeches on the different subjects of legislation and jurisprudence which have chiefly occupied the attention of the Public, and have added great celebrity to those Members of the Senate and the Bar who delivered them.-The matter of the three Volumes comprehends the space of about forty years, and is brought down nearly to the present period. Should the work meet the approbation of the Public, the Editor proposes, in a fecond Edition, to enlarge it, and continue it to the time of Publication.-An Introduction to the study and practice of Eloquence, accompanied by some critical observations on Grammar, Rhetoric, and Logic, is prefixed.

Private Seminary,

Wright's Buildings, Kensington,

Aug. 2d, 1808.

Of Elocution, the third essential Function of the Orator 42

Of the fourth essential Function of the Orator

73