Man has thus got a Fire in his Head, his*
Reafbn, which is the gradual and deliberate
weighing of Things, and the cool comparing
of one inward Impulfe with another, mud
fhift its Quarters till his Brains grow cool a-
gain. I dare fay, that many Men, and ftili
more Women, who have without Emotion
heard the great Dr. Tillotfon talk excellent Senfe^
and Morality for half an Hour, would have-
been powerfully edified, that is, violently tran-
fported, with the tuneful and humble Reveries-
of John Bunyan, of Bifhop fteveridgs, or Daniel
This Aptnefs to be moved by Sounds is na-
tural, but improveable by Education and the
life of Words. There are in the Brain certain
Fibres, or Strings, which naturally {Vretch and
exert themfelves as fbon as certain Sounds ilrike
upon them, but without being sCble to annex
to them any determinate Idea, only in genera],,
's LETTERS.
that ^ they feel Pleafure or Pain. It is like
rubbing the Hand of a Man born deaf and
blind with a File, or a Flefh-Brufh : He feels
the Skin irritated, or Toothed, but knows not
with what. When thefe Fibres are touched,
they difperfe the Motion to the whole animal
Spirits, and create in them Motions and Agi-
tations agreeable to the Force and Quality of
that Sound, which was the firft Mover. Hence
People are cured of the Bite of the Tarantula
by Mufick ; which, by quickning the Motion
of the animal Spirits, raifes in the Blood fuch
a Ferment, as drives out the Poifon.
But when De(cr>ption is added to thole
Sounds, and they convey particular and diftin6t
Images ; and when Scenes of Horror or of Joy
are prefented in Sounds proper to convey them ;
then the Senfe and the Sound heightening vaft-
ly each other, their united Power over the Soul
is infinite, and uncontroulable. The Word
He//, for Example, is "without doubt capable,
of being pronounced in fuch a hideous Tone
and A6lion, as to aftecl; and affright even a
Hottentot^ who knows nothing. of He/I ; But if
with the Sound of Hel! 9 the Description of Hell
13 likewile conveyed : that it is a dark, im-
menie, and baleful Dungeon, guarded by fright-
ful and implacable Furies, armed with \A hips,
and Torches ; that it is tilled with (ufTocating
and burning Sulphur, and unintermimng Fire;
that it is inhabited by the Damned, whole Jn-
cefiant Shrieks, hideous Roarings, and ciifmai
Yells, are the chief. Entertainments there ; and
bv Devils, who by their endicis Infuhs add, if
* ** i** '* i i
poflible,
LETTERS.
poilible, to their intenfe Tortures and horrible
Burning, which are never, never to end *
Sights of H?oe 9 .
Regions of Sorrow, doleful Shades, where Peace
And Reft can never dwell, Hope never comes,
That comes to all ; but Torture without End
Still urges, find a fiery Deluge, fed
With ever burning Sulphur unconfurnd
I fay, this Idea of Hell,, added to the Sound of
Hell, would dreadfully aggravate the Horror
even in a Hottentot. He might likewife be
charmed with a foft and melodious Sound of
Heaven well pronounced, without having any
Conception^ of Heaven ; but ftill much more
charmed, if the Idea of it accompanied the
Sound, and all the celefliai Scenery of Delight,
a blefled Immortality, God, and Glory, were
fer, as it were, before his Eyes.
Such Force has Sound over the humane Soul,
to animate and calm its Paiiions ; and when
proper Action i? added to proper Sound, which
two Parts conftitute the mechanical Power of
Eloquence, the Effects of it are as certain as the
Effects of Wine, and its Strength as irrefiftible.
In this Refpecfc Men refemble mufical Inftru-
xnents, and may be wound up, or let down to
any Pitch, by touching skilfully the Stops and
Cords of the animal Spirits. An expert Hand
can make a Violin rage as violently, weep as-
bitterly, _ beg as heartily, and complain as
mourn fully, as Words can exprefs thofe feve-
rai Paiiions; and more than Word?, without'
proper Modulation, can exprefs them. Thno-
thws
C^TO's LETTERS,
tbeus the Muiician played before Alexander
the Great an Aire fb martial and animating,
that he ftarted from the Table in a warlike
Fury, and called for his Horle and his Arms ;
and by another fpft Aire fb quelled the hoftile
Tumult in his Mind, that he fat down quietly
to Meat again. Thus was the Conqueror of
the World himfelf conquered by Sound. Drums
and Trumpets make Men bold : And the Mar-
quis de Biron, one of the braveft Men that
ever lived, died like a Coward for want of
them.
In a Day of Battle, when the Onfet is ani-
mated by all the awakening military Sounds of
a Camp, the eager Neighing of the Horfes,
and even the bufy and hollow Treading of
their Feet ; a general and warlike Murmur of
every Man preparing to fight ; the Clattering
of Arms, calling into the Imagination the fud-
d en life that is to be made of them ; the haity
Thunder and vehement Rattling of Drums,
infpiring an Impatience for Battle ; the dead
and fallen Dubbing of the Kettle- Drums, cre-
ating a fteady and obfHnate Bravery ; and,,
above all, the loud and (hrill Clangour of the
Trumpet, roufing a chearful and lively Bold-
nefs : All thele hoftile Sounds, each of them.
deftru6Hve of Coldnefs and Fear, muft occupy
and incenfe every Spirit that a Man has in
him, fet his Soul in a Flame, and make even
Cowards refblute and brave.
I have feen a Btggar gain an Alms by a
heavy and affecting Groan, when a Speech of
CzVero'scompofing, fpoken without Cicero" 1 * Art,
would not have gained it. That Groan ftruck
the
's LETTERS.
the animal Spirits fympathetically : and being
continued to the Imagination, raifed up there
a Thoufand fudden Conjectures and Preoccu-
pations in his Favour, and a Thoufand Cir-
cumftances of Difrrefs, which he who uttered
it perhaps never felt, nor thought of. Looks
and Appearances have the like Efficacy : Ano-
ther Beggar, fhivering and naked in a cold wet
Day, with humble, pale, and hungry Looks,,
or defpairing ones, (hall be as eloquent, with-
out uttering a Word, as the other by uttering
a Groan. The humane Sympathy in our Souls
raifes a Party for him within us, and our Fancy
immediately reprefents us to our felves in the
fame doleful Circumftances ; and, for that
Time, we feel all that the Beggar feels, and
probably much more ; for he is ufed to it, and
can bear it better. If to the above melancholy
Sound and miferable Sight, we add the grie-
vous Symptoms of Pain, Sickneis, and Anguifh,
(as one often meets with Objects under all
thefe terrible Gaffes of MiferyJ there is no
Pitch of humane Pity and Horror, that fuch a
Groups of humane Woes cannot raife.
Now, if fmgle Sound is thus bewitching,
and Gefture alone is thus perfwafive, and ftill
greatly more when united ; how vaftly pre-
vailing mull be their Force, when it comes
arrayed and heightened by a fwelling and irre-
fiftible Tide of Words, enlivened by the moil:
forcible and rapid Ideas, and bears down all
before it ? When the Orator attracts your
Eyes, charms your Ears, and forces your Atten-
tion ; brings Heaven and Earth into his Caufe,
and feems but to reprefent them, to fpeak thuV
Giro's LETTERS.
Senfe, and to contend for their Intereft ? When
he carries your Pailions in his Hands, and fu
pends or controuls all your Faculties, and yet
perfwades you that your own Faculties guide
you ? When he leffens great Things, magnifies
little Things, and difguifes all ; his every Ge-
ilure is animated, and every Mufcle perfwades;
his Words lighten, and his Breath is on fire ;
every Word glows, and every Image flames ;
he fills, delights, kindles, and aftonifhes your
Imagination , raifes a Storm in your Heart,
and governs you in that Storm ; rouzes all that
is humane in you, and makes your own Heart
confpire againft you ! In this magical
and outrageous Temped, you are at the entire
Mercy of him who raifed it.
Cdfar was refolved to punifli (V. Ligariits ;
but Cicero had a Mind to fave him, and under-
took his Defence, defar admitted him to
fpeak, only out of the Gaiety of his Heart,
and for the mere Pleafure of hearing him ;
for he was determined not to be (haken from
his Purpole. But he was deceived : Cicero in
the very Beginning of his Speech wonderfully
moved him, and proceeded in it with fuch a
Variety of P/itbos, and fuch an amazing Grace,
that Ctcfar often changed Countenance ; and it
was plain that his Soul was in a Hurricane,
and that all his Pailions were agitated. But
the Orator touching artfully upon the Battle of
P bar fali a, fb tranfported him, that he trembled
all over, and the Papers which he held dropped
out of his Hands ; and being quite overcome,
he acquitted Ligarius.
What
's LETTERS.
What an amazing Tnftance of the Power of
Speaking ! Behold the great and conquering
O/^r, the abfolute Matter of Rcme^ and of all
the Rrm.in World, provoked at a Man who
had born Arms againil him, fixed upon his
Doom, and Life and Death in his Hands !
Behold this great and arbitrary Man, this an-
gry, awful, and prepoflefled Judge, overpow-
ered by the Force of Eloquence, difarrned of
his Wrath, his Defigns wrefted from him, his
Inclinations, when he thought himfelf bed.
fortified in them, entirely changed, and him-
felf, from being terrible, brought to tremble !
dtffar too was a great Orator, and had often
tried upon others, with Succefs, the Power o
his own Rhetoriclc ; but was not then aware
how much it could do upon himfelf. It was
Cicero, it was the Orator, and not the Caufe,
that triumphed here. The bare Senfe of thac
fine Speech, would not have fufpended C#fir?s
Difpleafure for a Moment : But the Speaker
was not to be refilled : All Oppofition fled,
and every Spark of Refentment vanished be-
fore him. The Emperor was enchanted by the
Orator ; and Ctfnr was, as it were, poflefTed
\vith Cicero.
^ 6cc.
P. 5. I have in thefe two Letters comprised
all that I propofed to fay upon Eloquence :
In my laft I have confidered it politically,
and in this philofbphically ; and in both I have
fhewn its Force. I have likewife examined
the feveral Kinds of it, as far as concerns my
prefeat Purpofe, and (hewn how it affects Go-.
vernmenc
Giro's LETTERS.
vernment and humane Nature, and from what
Sources in both it proceeds. Thofe who
would ftudy it as an Art, and know the many
Accomplifhments neceiTary to excel in it, muft
read Cicero de Orators^ and Quintilltan.
I Intend, in this and fbme future Letters, to
give my Opinion about Plantations ; which
feems to me to be a SuhjecT: underftood but by
few, and that there is but little life made of
that Underftanding. It is mod certain, that
the Riches of a Nation confift in the Number
of its Inhabitants, when thofe Inhabitants are
ufeiully employed, and no more of them live
upon the Induftry of others (like Drones in a
Hive) than are neceffary to preserve the Oeco-
nomy of the Whole : For the reft, fuch as
Garneflers, Cheats, Thieves, Sharpers, and
Abby- Lubbers, and fbme of their Betters, wade
and deltroy the publick Wealth, without ad-
ding any thing to it. Therefore, if any Na-
tion drives or diflrefTes any of its Subjecls out
of their Country, or fends any of them out in
foolifli W 7 ars, or ufelefs Expeditions, or for
any other Caufes, which do not return more
Advantage than bring Lofs, they fb far ener-
vate their State, and let out Pare of their beft
Hearts Blood.
Now, in many Inftances, Men add more to
the publick Stock by being out of their Coun-
try
LETTERS. 183
try than in it ; as Ambafladors, Publick Mini-
flers, and their Retinues, who tranfaft the Af-
fairs of a Nation ; Merchants and Tradefinen,
who carry on its Traffick ; Soldiers in necef-
fary Wars ; and fometimes Travellers, who
teach us the Cuiloms, Manners, and Policies
of diftant Countries, whereby we may regulate
and improve our own : And all, or moft of
thefe, return to us again with Advantage. But,
in other Inftances, a Man leaves his Country,
never, or very rarely, to return again ; and
then the State will fuffer Lofs, if the^Perlbn
ib leaving it is not employed Abroad in fuch
Jndnftry, in railing fuch Commodities, or in
performing fuch Services, as will return more
Benefit to his native Country, than they fuffer
Prejudice by lofing an ufeful Member.
This is often done by planting Colonies,
which are of two Sorts : One to keep con-
quered Countries in Subje&ion, and to prevent
the Neceffity of conftant Standing- Armies ; 2.
Policy which the Romans praclifed, till their
Conquefts grew too numerous, the conquered
Countries too diftant, and their Empire too
unweildy to be managed by their native Force ;
and then they became the Slaves of thole they
conquered. This Policy, for many Ages, we
our felves ufed in Ireland, till the Fafhion of
our Neighbours, and the Wifdom of modern
Ages, have taught us the Ufe of Armies : And
1 wifti thofe who come after us may never
learn all their Ufes. I muft confefs, that I am
not wife enough to enter into all the Policy
made ufe of formerly in governing that Coun-
try, and fhali in proper Time communicate
my
a8 4 C A T O's L E T T E R 3.
my Doubts, in hopes to receive better Infor-
mation, In the mean Time, I cannot but per-
fwade rnyfelf, that when our Superiors are at'
leifure from greater Affairs, it may be poiiible-
to offer them a Proportion more honourable to
the Crown, more advantageous to each King-
dom, and to the particular Members- of them,,
and vaftly more conducive to the Power of
the whole Empire, than the doubtful State they
are now in. But as this is not the Purpofe of
my prefent Letter, I (hall proceed to confider
the Nature of the other Sort of Colonies.
The other Sort of Colonies are for Trade,',
and intended to increafe the Wealth and Power
of the native Kingdom ; which they will a-
bundantly do, if managed prudently, and put
and kept under a proper Regulation. No Na-
tion has, or ever had, all the Materials of
Commerce within itfelf : No Climate produces-
all Commodities ; and yet it i& the Intereft, Plea-,
fure, or Convenience of every People, to ufe
or^ trade in mofr. or all of them ; arid rather to
raife them themfelves, than to purchafe them
from others, unlefs in fome Inftances, when,
they change their own Commodities for them,
and employ as many or more People at Home
in that Exchange, as lofe their Employment,
by purchadng them from Abroad. Now Co-
lonies planted in proper Climates, and kept tOv
their proper Bulinefs, undoubtedly do this ;
and particularly many of our own Colonies in
the Well-Indies employ ten Times their own
Number in Old England, by fending them from
hence Provifions, Manufactures, Utenfils for
tkemfelves and their Slaves, by Navigation,,
working
CATO's LETTERS.
Tvorking^ up the Commodities they fend us;
and retaining and exporting them afterwards,
and in returning ag-iin to us Silver and Gold,
and Materials for new Manufa&ures ; and our
Northern Colonies do, or may if- encouraged,
'iupply us with Timber, Hemp, Iron and other
Metals, and indeed may fupply us with moll
or all the Materials of Navigation, and our
Neighbours too, through our Hands; and by
that Means fettle a fblid Naval Power in Great
Britain, not precarious and fabjecfc to Difap-
pointments, and the Caprices of our Neigh-
bours ; which Management: would make us
foon Matters of moit of the Trade of the
World.
I would not fugged fo diftant a Thought,
as that any of our Colonies, when they grow
ftronger, (hould ever attempt to wean them-
felves from us ; however, 1 think too much
Care cannot be taken to prevent ir, and to
preferve their Dependencies upon their Mother-
Country. It is not to be hoped in the corrupt
State of humane Nature, that any Nation will
be fubjecl: to another any longer than it finds its
own Account in it, and cannot help itfelf.
Every Man's firft Thought will be for himfelf
and his own Intereft, and he will not be long
to feek for Arguments to jullify his being fo,
when he knows how to attain what he pro'
poles. Men will think it -hard to work, toil,
and run Hazards, for the Advantage of others
any longer than they find their own. Intereft in
it, and efpecially for thole who ufe them ill:
All Nature points out that Courfe : No Creature
fucks the Teats of their Darns longer than
they
CATffs LETTERS.
they can draw Milk from thence, or can provide
themselves with better Food : Nor will any
Country continue their Subjection to another,
only becaufe their Great- Grand mothers were
acquainted.
This is the Courfe of Humane Affairs; and
all wife States will nlways have it before their
Eyes ; and will well confider there-fore how to
preferve the Advantages arifing from Colonies,
and avoid the Evils. And I conceive there can
be but two Ways in Nature to hinder them
from throwing off their Dependence: The
one to keep it out of their Power, and the other
out of their Will. The firft muft be by Force ;
and the latter by ufing them well, and keeping
thememploy'd infuch Prod uc~Hons, and making
fuch Manufactures, as will fapport themlelves
and Families comfortably, and get Wealth
too, or at leaft not prejudice their Mother-
Country.
Force can never be ufed effect ally to anfwer
this End, without deftroying he Colonies
themfelves. Liberty and Encouragement are
neceflary to carry People thither, and to keep
them together when they are there ; and Vio-
lence will hinder both. Any B^ay of Troops
confiderable ^ enough to awe : iem, and keep
them in Subjection, and ur ~r the Direction
too of a needy Governor, -i-ten fent thither to
make his Fortune, and at liich a Di (lance from
any Application for Rearefs, will fbon put an
End to all Planting, and leave the Country ro
the Soldiers alone and if it did not, would
eat up all the Pr ut of the Colony. For this
Reafon, Arbitrary Countries have not bed >
qually
CMTO's LETTERS. 287
qually fuccefsful in planting Colonies with free
ones;^ and what they have done in that kind,
has either been by Force, at a vail Expence,
by departing from the Nature of their Go-
vernment, and giving Privileges to Planters
which were denied to their other Subjeds.
And I dare fay, that a few prudent Laws,
and a little prudent Condu6r, would foon give
us rar the greateft Share of the Riches of all
Amenca, and perhaps drive many of other
Nations out of it, or into our Colonies for
Shelter.
If Violence, or Methods tending to Violence,
are^not ufed to prevent it, our Northern Co-
V?? le ? , muft conftant ly increafe in People,
Wealth, and Power. Men living in healthy
Climates, paying eafy or no Taxes, not mo-
lefted with Wars, mutt vaftly increafe by na-
tural Generation, befides vaft Numbers every
Jay flow thither from our own Dominions,
and from other Parts of Europe, becaufe they
have there ready Employment, and Lands
given to them for Tilling ; infomuch. that I
am told they have doubled their Inhabitants
mce the Revolution, and in lefs than a Cen-
tury mufl become powerful States : and the
n i re P,^ erful ^ S row > ftiil the more Peo-
ple will flock rhither : And there are fo many
Agencies in all States, fo many foreign Wars
ind domefhck Difturbances, that they can never
want Opportunities, if they watch for them, to
do what they (hall find their Intereft to do ;
and therefore we ought to take all the Pre-
cautions in our Power, that it fliali never be
their Intereft to act againft that of their native
Coon-
o8'8 Giro's LETTERS.
-Country ; and fhat can only he done by keep
ing them fully employ 'd in fuch Trades as will
increafe their own, as well as our Wealth; for
'tis much to be feared, if we do not find Em-
ployment for them, they may find it for
us.
No two Nations, no two Bodies of Men,
or fcarce two Men, can long continue in.
Friendfhip, without having fome Cement of
their Unions , and where Relation, Acquain-
tance, or mutual Pleafures, are wanting, mu-
tual Interells alone can bind it: But when thole
Interests feparate, each Side rouft affuredly
purfue their own. The Intereft of Colonies is
often to wean themfelves ; and is always fo
when they no longer want Protection, and
when they can employ themfelves more ad*
yantageoufly, than in fupplying Materials of
Traffick to others : And the Intereft of the
Mother-Country is always to keep them de-
pendent, and fo employed ; and it requires all
their Addrefs to do it ; and 'tis certainly more
eafily and effectually done by gentle and infen-
fible Methods, than by Power alone.
Men will always think they have a Right to
Air, Earth, and Water, 10 employ themfelves
for their own Support, to live by their own
Labours, and to apply the Gifts of God to
their own Benefit; and in order to it, to make
the beft of their Soil, and to work up their
own Product ; and when this cannot be done
without Detriment to their Mother- Country,
there can be but one fair, honeir, and indeed
effed-ual Way to prevent it, which is, to di-
vert them upon other Employments as advan-
tageous
LETTERS. 189
tageous to themfelves, and more fb to their
Employers ; that is, in railing fuch Growth,
and making fuch Manufactures as will not
prejudice their own, or at lead in no Degree
equal to the Advantage they bring; and when
fuch Commodities are raifed or made, they
ought to be taken off their Hands, and they
ought not to be forced to find out other
Markets by ftealth, or upon throwing them-
felves upon new Protections : Whilft People
have a full Employment, and can maintain
themfelves comfortably in a Way they have
been ufed to, they never will feek after a new
one, efpecially when they meet Encourage-
ment in one, and are difcountenanced in the
other.
^As without this Conduct, Colonies mud be
mi&hievous to their Mother-Country for the
Reafons before given, fb with it the greated
Part of the Wealth they acquire centers there ;
for all their Productions are fb many Augmen-
tations of our Power and Riches, as they are
Returns of the People's Labour, the Rewards
of Merchants, or Increafe of Navigation ;
without which, all who are fent Abroad are a
dead Lofs to their Country, and as ufelefs as if
dead \ and more fo, if they become Enemies ;
for we can fend no Commodities to them, tin-
lefs they have others to exchange for them, and
fuch as we find our {mereltin taking.
As to our Southern Plantations, we are in
this refpecl: upon a tolerable Foot already ; for
the Produ6Hcns there, are of fo different a Na-
ture from our own, that they esn never inter-
fere with us, and the Climates are fo unhealthy,
V O L. ill. N that
e,
290 Giro's LETTERS.
that no more People will go or continue trier .
than are neceffary to raife the Commodities we
want, and consequently they can never be
dangerous to us ; but our Northern Colonies
are healthy Climates, and can raife all or moil
of the Commodities which our own Country
produces. They conftantly increafe in People,
and will conftantly increafe : And without the
former Precautions, tnuft, by the natural Courfe
of humane Affairs, interfere with moft Branches
of our Trade, work up our beft Manufactures,
and at laft grow too powerful and unruly to be
governed for our Intereft only : And therefore,
lince the Way lies open to us, to prevent fo
much Mifchief, to do much Good, and add
fo much Wealth and Power to Great Britain,
by making thofe Countries the Magazines of
our Naval Stores, 1 hope we fnall not lofe all
ihefe Advantages, in Compliment to the Tn-
terefts of a few private Gentlemen, or even to
a few Counties.
We have had a Specimen of this wife Con-
duel: in prohibiting the Irfo Cattle, ^which
were formerly brought to England lean, in Ex-
change for our Commodities, and fatted here,
but are now killed and fent Abroad directly
from Ireland : And fo we lofe the whole Car-
riage and Merchants Advantage, and the Vent
of "the Commodities fent to purchafe them.
And lately we have made fuch another prudent
Law, to prevent the importing their Woollen
Manufacture, which has put them upon wear-
ing none of ours, making all or moft of their
own Cloth themfelves ; exporting great Quan-
tities of all forts by Stealth, and the greater
Part
LETTERS.
Part of their Wool] to rival Nations; and by
fiich Means it is that we are beholden to the
Plague in France, to their Mifpffpi Company,
and their total Lofs of Credit, that we have
not loft a great Part of that Manufacture. It
is true, we have made feme notable Provifion
to hedge in the Cuckoo, and to make all the
People of that Kingdom execute a Law, which
it is every Man's Intereft there not to execute ;
and it is executed accordingly.
I (hall fbme time hereafter ccnfider that
Kingdom in relation to the Interdt of Great