ABSTRACT
Samuel Johnson once projected a history of criticism “as it relates to judging of authors.” Had the great eighteenth-century critic ever carried out his intention, he would have included some interesting comments on orators and their judges. Chauncey A. Goodrich’s topics of criticism are: the orator’s training, mode of work personal [physical] qualifications character as known to his audience, range of powers, dominant traits as a speaker. Hazlitt’s method of dealing with Burke resembles Taine’s as Saintsbury’s resembles that of Elton. In Hazlitt, the readers have a critic who deals with style in large; details of rhythm, of sentence pattern, of imagery, are ignored. Objections may be made to Morley’s method chiefly on the ground of omissions. Though much is done to re-create the scene, though ample use is made of the date and man, there is little formal analysis of the work.
