LECTURE VI. ON A PRACTICAL METHOD OF TEACHING RHETORIC. BY SAMUEL P. NEWMAN, PROFESSOR OF RHETORIC AND ORATORY, AND LECTURER ON CIVIL POLITY AND POLITICAL ECONOMY, IN BOWDOIN COLLEGE. By the indulgence of your Committee I am permitted to offer you my views on a Practical Method of Teaching Rhetoric. These views, I will premise, are the result of some years' experience as an instructer, and of that reflection on the subject, to which I have been more particularly led, in an attempt to furnish an elementary treatise for the use of my pupils. It will be my endeavour to convey them to you in a manner as plain and didactic as within my power. With the impression, that in proposing a subject to me your Committee had more particularly in view that part of the art which is called composition, and in this sense the word rhetoric is often used, I now proceed to point out a 'practical method of instruction' in this department of study. And here it is necessary that I bring distinctly before your view the several advantages proposed to be attained by the study of rhetoric. This is important, since the most direct and sure way of obtaining these advantages, must be the best practical method of studying rhetoric. They are as follows;— 1. Some acquaintance with the philosophy of rhetoric. 2. The cultivation of the taste, and, in connexion, the exercise of the imagination. 3. Skill in the use of language. 4. Skill in literary criticism. 5. The formation of a good style. I shall, therefore, in discussing the proposed subject, direct your attention to these several particulars in succession. What, then, is the best practical method of giving the student some acquaintance with the philosophy of rhetoric? This is our first inquiry. By the philosophy of rhetoric, I here refer to those principles in the science of the philosophy of mind, and in the philosophy of language, on which are founded those conclusions and directions which are applicable to literary criticism, and to the formation of style. Obviously, then, it may be answered, that an acquaintance with the science of intellectual philosophy, and with the philosophy of language, should precede the study of rhetoric. Hence, no doubt, Milton and others assign to this branch of study the last place in a course of education. As before closing my lecture, I shall offer some remarks on the proper time of studying rhetoric, I here omit the discussion of this topic. It is known to all, that the prevalent opinion and practice are different from those recommended by Milton; so that our inquiry should be, what is the best practical method of acquainting the young with the philosophy of rhetoric-those whose minds are not accustomed to philosophical investigations, and who are ignorant of those sciences on which the art of rhetoric is founded. I answer, that, while the attention should be directed to but few principles, and those most essential in a practical view, instruction should be imparted principally by familiar, talking lectures. A text-book, if one is used, should contain but a mere outline,―some general principles plainly stated and well illustrated. Here I would more fully state, what I mean by familiar, talking lectures. Suppose I wish to make the student under stand what I mean by taste, and in so doing, I have occasion. to speak of the judgment, sensibility, imagination, emotions of beauty and sublimity. Now, should I attempt to effect my purpose by a definition, or an extended technical explanation of these terms, there would be little reason to hope for success. I would rather refer him directly to the operations of his own mind, point out to him instances where he forms a judgment, where his sensibility is excited, his imagination called into exercise, and emotions of beauty and sublimity kindled up in his own soul. It is true, he may not, after this, be able to give me an exact definition of these faculties and intellectual operations, but he has learned what is meant by the proposed terms; and when I have occasion to use them afterwards, I have no fears of not being understood. That instruction in this part of rhetoric is attended with difficulty, no one will deny. The subjects themselves are intricate; hard to be understood, and still harder to explain, especially to those whose minds are immature and unaccustomed to philosophical reasonings. Here, then, is room for much ingenuity in the instructer; and without a skilful effort on his part, the efforts of the pupil will be of little avail. Above all things, let not the mockery of set questions and set answers be practised, in teaching what pertains to the philosophy of rhetoric. After all, it must be allowed, that with the most skilful instructer, and the best text-book, young students will obtain but imperfect ideas in what pertains to the philosophy of rhetoric. Still, what is thus imperfectly acquired, will be of importance to them as opening some interesting fields of thought, which, with strengthened powers, they may afterwards explore; and further, as aiding them in better understanding the nature of the rules and directions founded on these important and somewhat intricate principles. I have stated as a second object to be attained by the study of rhetoric, the cultivation of a literary taste, and, in connexion, the exercise of the imagination. |