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it is an incommunicable secret; the speaker himself hardly knows. Much depends upon the arrangement and upon the construction of the sentences. If the order be natural, logical and consistent, it is an aid to the memory. If the sentences are rhythmical, they im- print themselves on the mind, the cadence helping the memory. Lord Salisbury used to say that his finest sentences, as they occurred to him while preparing his speeches, burnt themselves upon his mind. That I believe is true of all who have practised the art of public speaking. After all, preparation is the great thing. It is indeed the one thing needed. Genius, as Carlyle has truly ob- served, is an infinite capacity for taking pains. A speech is not worth listening to, John Bright used to say, unless it has been care- fully prepared. The great English orator would absent himself sometimes from Cabinet meetings, when preparing his more im- portant speeches. It is constant preparation that fits you for the impromptu debate, that gives you the command of words, the readiness of resource, in a word the mental equipment of the accomplished debater. A successful debater is not necessarily a great orator. The qualifications of the orator are moral rather than intellectual. It is the emotions that inspire the noblest thoughts and invest them with their colour and their distinctive character.

Let no one aspire to be an orator who does not love his country, love her indeed with a true and soul-absorbing love. Country first, all other things next, is the creed of the orator. Unless he has been indoctrinated in it, baptized with the holy fire of love of country, the highest intellectual gifts will not qualify him to be an orator. Aided by them, he may indeed be a fluent debater, an expert in the presentment of his case, a fascinating speaker, able to please, amuse and even to instruct; but without the higher patriotic or religious emotions he will not possess the supreme power of moving men, inspiring them with lofty ideals and the passion for the worship of the good, the true and the beautiful. The equipment of the orator is thus moral, and nothing will help him so much as constant association with the master-minds of humanity, of those who have worked and suffered, who have taught and preached great things, who have lived dedicated lives, consecrated to the service of their country or of their God.

Addressing a body of young men, many, many years ago, on the art of public speaking, I said to them, 'You must live in a high and holy atmosphere fragrant with the breath of the gods. Burke, Mazzini, Jesus Christ, Buddha, Mohamed, Chaitanya, Ram Mohun