artistic rank in these regards, and would fain, indeed, accept him as
a prime educator in this important branch of oratory.

The attention of his hearers, which an Indian speaker of recognized merit
arrests and sustains, also lends its weight to substantiate his claim,
to good oratory; unless, indeed, the discriminating faculties of the
hearers be greatly at fault, which would caution us not to esteem this
the guide to correct judgment in the matter that it usually forms.

The Indian enlivens his speaking with frequent humorisms, and has,
I should say, a finely-developed humorous side to his character; and,
if the zest his hearers extract from allusions of this nature be not
inordinate or extravagant, or do not favor a false or too indulgent
estimate, I would pronounce him an excessively entertaining, as well as
a vigorous, speaker.

There are in the Indian tongue no very complex, rules of grammar. This
being so, the Indian, pursuing the study of oratory, needs not to
undertake the mastery of unelastic and difficult rules, like those
which our own language comprehends; or to acquire correct models of
grammatical construction for his guidance; and, being fairly secure
against his accuracy in these regards being impeached by carping critics,
even among his own brethren, can better and more readily uphold a claim
to good oratory than one of ourselves, whose government in speaking, by
strict rules of grammar is essential, and whom ignorance or contempt of
those rules would betray into solecisms in its use, which would attract
unsparing criticism, and, indeed, be fatal to his pretensions in this
direction.