Frederick Douglass, the Orator - Monroe County Library System

Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County · Historic Monographs Collection
92 LIFE OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS.
There have been those of brilliant minds who
have gained some reputation as speakers; they
have been successful in pleasing and amusing
those they addressed, but their success stopped
here. They could not reach the depths of the
heart, because their own hearts were not touched.
The poet Horace admirably enforces this thought
when he says: " If you wish me to weep, you
must first yourself be deeply grieved."
But to be fully appreciated, Mr. Douglass must
be seen and heard. This was also true of Henry
Clay. One could form but a faint conception
of his eloquence and grandeur by reading his
speeches, and yet, as reported, they were both
logical and argumentative. The fire and action
of the man could not be transferred to paper.
Mr. Douglass in speaking does not make many
gestures, but those he uses are natural and spontaneous.
His manner is simple and graceful, and
there is nothing about his style artificial or declamatory.
Much of an orator's success depends
upon his delivery. The younger Pitt said that
he could not discover where lay his father's eloquence
by simply reading his speeches. It is
related of Garrick that he was asked by a clergyman
why it was that he could produce greater
effect by a recital of fiction than the clergy by
the presentation of the most important truths.
Garrick replied: " Because you speak truths as if