The tricks
of advocacy are not only no part of the advocate's duties,
but they are more likely to repel than to attract the hearers.
The function of the advocate in the court of justice, as thus
defined and limited, is tainted by no insincerity or hypocrisy.
It is as respectable, as lofty, and as indispensably necessary
as that of the judge himself.
In my opinion, the two most important things that a young
man can do to make himself a good public speaker are:
First. Constant and careful written translations from Latin
or Greek into English.
Second. Practice in a good debating society.
It has been said that all the greatest Parliamentary orators
of England are either men whom Lord North saw, or men who
saw Lord North--that is, men who were conspicuous as public
speakers in Lord North's youth, his contemporaries, and the
men who saw him as an old man when they were young themselves.
This would include Bolingbroke and would come down only to
the year of Lord John Russell's birth. So we should have
to add a few names, especially Gladstone, Disraeli, John Bright,
and Palmerston.
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