e full forensic
need be given than that in Exercise I, Lesson V. Compare the brief
which you made of this extract from Burke with the forensic itself, a
few paragraphs of which are quoted there. Any student will find that
merely to glance through a part of this speech of Burke's is an
excellent lesson in brief-making and in the production of forensics.
First study the skeleton only--the brief--by reading the opening
sentences of each paragraph. Then see how this skeleton is built into
a forensic by the splendid rhetoric of the great British statesman.[4]

There are two ways in which the forensic may be developed from the
brief. Both have some advantages, varying with the conditions of the
debate. One is to write out every word of the forensic. When this is
done, the debater may, if he wishes, read from his manuscript to the
audience. If he does so, his chances of making a marked effect are
little better than if he spoke from the bottom of a well. The average
audience will not follow the speaker who is occupied with raveling
ideas from his paper rather than with weaving them into the minds of
his hearers.

The debater who writes his forensic may, however, learn it and deliver
it from memory. This method has some decided advantages. In every
debate the time is limited; and by writing and rewriting the ideas can
be compressed into their briefest and most definite form. Besides, the
speaker may practice upon this definite forensic to determine the
rapidity with which he must speak in order to finish his argument in
the allotted time.

At the same time this plan has several unfavorable aspects. When the
debater has prepared himself in this way, forgetting is fatal. He has
memorized words. When the words do not come he has no recourse but to
wait for memory to revive, or to look to his colleagues for help.
Again, the man who has learned his argument can give no variety to his
attack or defense. He is like a general with an immovable battery,
who, though able to hurl a terrific discharge in the one direction in
which his guns point, is powerless if the attack is made ever so
slightly on his flank. Perhaps the greatest disadvantage of this
method is that it does not give the student the best kind of training.
What he needs most in life is the ability to arrange and present ideas
rapidly, not to speak a part by rote.

It would seem, then, that this plan should be advised only when the
students are working for one formal deb