she can persuade.

 

--SHAKESPEARE, _Measure for Measure_.

 

Him we call an artist who shall play on an assembly of men as a master on the

keys of a piano,--who seeing the people furious, shall soften and compose them,

shall draw them, when he will, to laughter and to tears. Bring him to his

audience, and, be they who they may,--coarse or refined, pleased or displeased,

sulky or savage, with their opinions in the keeping of a confessor or with their

opinions in their bank safes,--he will have them pleased and humored as he

chooses; and they shall carry and execute what he bids them.

 

--RALPH WALDO EMERSON, Essay on _Eloquence_.

 

More good and more ill have been effected by persuasion than by any other form

of speech. _It is an attempt to influence by means of appeal to some particular

interest held important by the hearer._ Its motive may be high or low, fair or

unfair, honest or dishonest, calm or passionate, and hence its scope is

unparalleled in public speaking.

 

This "instilment of conviction," to use Matthew Arnold's expression, is

naturally a complex process in that it usually includes argumentation and often

employs suggestion, as the next chapter will illustrate. In fact, there is

little public speaking worthy of the name that is not in some part persuasive,

for men rarely speak solely to alter men's opinions--the ulterior purpose is