LONDON,February 11,O.S.1751
MY DEAR FRIEND:When you go to the play,which I hope you do often,for it is a very instructive amusement,you must certainly have observed the very different effects which the several parts have upon you,according as they are well or ill acted.The very best tragedy of,Corneille's,if well spoken and acted,interests,engages,agitates,and affects your passions.Love,terror,and pity alternately possess you.But,if ill spoken and acted,it would only excite your indignation or your laughter.
Why?It is still Corneille's;it is the same sense,the same matter,whether well or ill acted.It is,then,merely the manner of speaking and acting that makes this great difference in the effects.Apply this to yourself,and conclude from it,that if you would either please in a private company,or persuade in a public assembly,air,looks,gestures,graces,enunciation,proper accents,just emphasis,and tuneful cadences,are full as necessary as the matter itself.Let awkward,ungraceful,inelegant,and dull fellows say what they will in behalf of their solid matter and strong reasonings;and let them despise all those graces and ornaments which engage the senses and captivate the heart;they will find (though they will possibly wonder why)that their rough,unpolished matter,and their unadorned,coarse,but strong arguments,will neither please nor persuade;but,on the contrary,will tire out attention,and excite disgust.We are so made,we love to be pleased better than to be informed;information is,in a certain degree,mortifying,as it implies our previous ignorance;it must be sweetened to be palatable.
To bring this directly to you:know that no man can make a figure in this country,but by parliament.Your fate depends upon your success there as a speaker;and,take my word for it,that success turns much more upon manner than matter.Mr.Pitt and Mr.Murray the solicitor-general,uncle to Lord Stormount,are,beyond comparison,the best speakers;why?only because they are the best orators.They alone can inflame or quiet the House;they alone are so attended to,in that numerous and noisy assembly,that you might hear a pin fall while either of them is speaking.Is it that their matter is better,or their arguments stronger,than other people's?Does the House expect extraordinary informations from them?Not,in the least:but the House expects pleasure from them,and therefore attends;finds it,and therefore approves.Mr.Pitt,particularly,has very little parliamentary knowledge;his matter is generally flimsy,and his arguments often weak;but his eloquence is superior,his action graceful,his enunciation just and harmonious;his periods are well turned,and every word he makes use of is the very best,and the most expressive,that can be used in that place.This,and not his matter,made him Paymaster,in spite of both king and ministers.From this draw the obvious conclusion.The same thing holds full as true in conversation;where even trifles,elegantly expressed,well looked,and accompanied with graceful action,will ever please,beyond all the homespun,unadorned sense in the world.Reflect,on one side,how you feel within yourself,while you are forced to suffer the tedious,muddy,and ill-turned narration of some awkward fellow,even though the fact may be interesting;and,on the other hand,with what pleasure you attend to the relation of a much less interesting matter,when elegantly expressed,genteelly turned,and gracefully delivered.