Epistle XIX. To Cerealis.
by
the Same. [Mr. Henley]
[_]
On the Rehearsal of a Pleading.
YOU press me to recite a Pleading to a knot of Friends; I will comply with your Instance,
tho' I am extreamly scrupulous about it. For I am not insensible that an Action rehearsed will lose all its Force,
its Spirit, and almost its very Name. Since it is usually recommended and kindled up at once by the Bench of Judges,
the Number of Advocates, the Expectation of the Event, the Fame of more than one Pleader,
and the concern of the Audience, divided among the several Parties; besides the Gesture,
Walk, and even the moderate running about of the Speaker, and the vigour of the Body,
suited to all the Motions of the Mind. Whence it happens, that they who Plead in a sitting Posture,
tho' in the main they have the same Advantage as if they stood, yet by the mere Circumstance of sitting,
are weaken'd and depress'd. But in reciting, the principal Helps of Utterance,
the Eyes and Hands are obstructed: so that it is the less surprising if the Attention of the Audience begins to flag; mov'd by no outward Allurements,
and awaken'd by no stings of Passion. Add, that this Pleading is of a Controversial Nature,
and it is natural to think that what is penn'd with Difficulty, is heard with the same.
And indeed, who is so just an Auditor, as not to be more highly pleas'd by the Tuneful and the Inviting,
than the Close and the Severe? The Difference is nauseous, yet it is commonly the Cafe,
that the Hearers demand one thing, and the Judges another; since otherwise the Auditor ought to be mostly affected,
as he would be in the Character of a Judge. Yet possibly, amidst all these Inconveniences,
Novelty may add Grace to the Book among our Countrymen. For the
Greeks
have something not altogether unlike it, tho' of a different kind. It was their Practice to prove by Companion,
when they would demonstrate a Law to be contrary to the former: so we,
in objecting to the Law of Bribery, are obliged to compare it with itself and with others.
Which, however grateful it may be to the Ears of the Unknowing, yet ought
to be so much the more favoured by the Skillful. But if I rehearse, I will make use only of the most eminently Learned;
but weight it with your self impartially, whether it is proper to be recited;
and set all the Reasons that I know on either side in Ballance; give the Preference to the best Arguments;
for you will be accountable; I shall be excus'd by my Complaisance to you.
