The World's Best Orations from the Earliest Period to the Present Time

1899. Edward A. Allen and William Schuyler, Associate Editors. From the Preface: The purpose is to present the best efforts of the world's greatest orators in all ages; and with this purpose kept in view as the matter of primary importance, to supplement the great orations with others that are representative and historically important-especially with those having a fundamental connection with the most important events in the development of Anglo-Saxon civilization. The greatest attention has been given to the representative orators of England and America, so that the work includes all that is most famous or most necessary to be known in the oratory of the Anglo-Saxon race...We have not confined ourselves to any one profession or field of eloquence. The pulpit, the bar, the halls of legislation, and the popular assembly have each and all been called upon for their best contributions. The single test has been, is it oratory? The single question, is there eloquence? The reader and student of every class will therefore find within these pages that which will satisfy his particular taste and desire in the matter of oratory. Some of the orators included in this volume are: Ethan Allen, Thomas Arnold, Francis Bacon, Richard Baxter, Lord Belhaven, Henry Ward Beecher, and Judah P. Benjamin.