"Solid Sense and Elegant Expression": the rhetorical backgrounds of the eighteenth-century essay (royal society)
Description
The early writers of the Royal Society--Thomas Sprat, Joseph Glanvill, John Wilkins, Robert Hooke, and Robert Boyle--recognized the need to develop a rhetoric that would answer the purpose of prose intended to inform and instruct as well as to persuade. The excessive ornamentation formerly considered mandatory for persuasive discourse represented to them an instrument to inflame the passions or deceive the mind, and therefore a barrier to clarity and understanding By concentrating on the effective manipulation of words rather than on the reasoned inquiry into probable truths, Elizabethan rhetoricians such as Richard Sherry, Henry Peacham, and George Puttenham had reduced the art of persuasion to the study of ornamentation. In contrast, Francis Bacon's rhetorical theory stressed a primary concern for matter over manner and for sound and reasoned presentation of material in all discourse aimed at discovering truth. Still, Bacon recognized the need for the persuasive art, viewing it as a valid means of making the truth available--and believable--to others Following Bacon's lead, the pioneer scientists of the Royal Society aimed for an unambiguous discourse that was capable of transmitting informational content without depending for meaning upon the hearer's preconceptions of the subject matter, the occasion for the discourse, or the character of the writer. In their desire to demonstrate the truth of their discoveries and the validity of their theories, the experimental philosophers demanded a clear, logical method of presenting their material and an explicit and highly referential language The legacy of writers of the Royal Society was two-fold: they established the ground rules for scientific discourse, and they created the kind of essay that was capable of bringing complex information to a general audience. Aiming to secure the support of their readers, the writers of the Royal Society created an informative essay directed toward the popular audience that was persuasive as well. Rather than persuading by means of rhetorical techniques that raise passions and stir emotions, however, they grounded their persuasion in a logically connected appeal to reason. It was this kind of discourse that informed the popular periodical essays of the eighteenth century