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Isaac. Eloquence. Getting married. Politics. Heraldry. success in Botany.

Northfield, July 23d 1848

Dear Brother, Excuse this dirty , bescrawled sheet of paper. I am short for this light paper Your excellent letter was joyfully received a few days since. If the postmark was correct however, it had been out of the way somewhere. A week in the South Following your plan of affording suitable precedence to the jib that time may be found to ship shape the stem sheets, I have begun this today. To recur once more to the subject of Eloquence. I can hardly allow that you have fairly got round my question as to Sargent & Choate. At least you have not given sufficient authority consistent with your previous theories, or statements for preferring Choate on Eloquence Choate is undoubtedly one of the possible the most eloquent men in the country "as most men count eloquence". But if you have heard Choate, I appeal to you; if his greatness is not in what you characterized as ""spurious mock eloquence" "Instead of strict truths or treats them as such; facile, agile, rapid in sophistry, rather that rapid in sound reasoning. Impetuosity and a sort of bold & confident audacity in asserting things unformed and uncertain as truth; and deducting principles and inferences in all sorts of ways & from all sorts of premises, are characteristics of his tactics" Why you made out a fine description of Choate's speaking; in fact of all popular & successful eloquence is usually precisely of this sort. In fact; if all these - if what you perhaps call "Balony" is not eloquence; and as I judge you mean, Truth, Candor, & Zeal, are its true essentials. I cannot yet see that you have not set yourself the other side up in awarding the palm of eloquence; to Choate, in preference to H.B. Sargent or Isaiah Rider However; Some of your ideas would find themselves approved by the great standard work on this head; viz. "Cicero de Orator". (of the orator). Which if your attention is bestowed upon this subject, you ought to read. I do not know as I ever saw a good translation though