"He was certainly," says his
son, "irresistible both in his orations and disputations," but
that was because "he was born an orator _([Greek: Theodidaktos])_.
Persuasion hung upon his lips, and the elements of logic and rhetoric
were so blended in him, and withal he had so shrewd a guess at the
weaknesses and passions of his respondent, that Nature might have
stood up and said, 'This man is eloquent.' And yet," continues the
filial panegyric,
"He had never read Cicero nor Quintilian de Oratore, nor Aristotle,
nor Longinus among the ancients, nor Vossius, nor Skioppius, nor
Ramus, nor Farnaby among the moderns: and what is more astonishing
he had never in his whole life the least light or spark of subtilty
struck into his mind by one single lecture upon Crackenthorpe or
Burgersdicius or any Dutch commentator: he knew not so much as
in what the difference of an argument _ad ignorantiam_ and an argument
_ad hominem_ consisted; and when he went up along with me to
enter my name at Jesus College, in * * * *, it was a matter of just
wonder with my worthy tutor and two or three Fellows of that learned
society that a man who knew not so much as the names of his tools
should be able to work after that fashion with them.
Pages:
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76