A System Of Rhetoric Eighth Edition

First Published in 1996. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

An examination of the language and style of the work to demonstrate Smith’s engagement with the challenges which history and actuality offer to his beliefs in the natural system of liberty.

Excerpt from A System of Rhetoric In presenting to the public a new text-book on Rhetoric, the author asks attention to these features as characteristic: (1.) It is kept in the foreground throughout, that the fundamental law of rhetoric is adaptation; that the form of discourse, like the fashion of clothing, has no intrinsic beauty, but is or is not artistic as it does or does not produce the effect designed, at the time and under the circumstances. (2.) That the student may look on rhetoric as an art, not like trigonometry which he may use, but like arithmetic which he must use, its most important laws are developed in the practical treatment of Conversation and Letter-Writing. The boy who does not care to be taught speech-making and verse-writing may be glad of help to feel at ease among strangers, and to write a business letter. To this is added instruction in Narration and Description. These are forms of composition in which the essential element is not literary taste but personal experience. Any man may be called upon to tell or to write for the newspaper what he has done or seen, and every man should be able to do it well. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Classical Rhetoric in the Middle Ages: The Medieval Rhetors and Their Art 400-1300, with Manuscript Survey to 1500 CE is a completely updated version of John Ward’s much-used doctoral thesis of 1972, and is the definitive treatment of this fundamental aspect of medieval and rhetorical culture.