Valclusa Fountain will also arrest our eye for this also is of Nature's own and most cunning workmanship, bursts from the depths of the earth, with a full gushing current, into the light of day; and often will the traveller turn aside to drink of its clear waters, and muse among its rock and pines." The student will find other effective endings in Macaulay's Milton, Pilgrim's Progress, and Chatham. REVISING. There are two ways of executing the essay, and it is a matter of temperament which you choose. One is not necessarily better than the other. You may either work slowly and elaborate each paragraph before putting it down; or write quickly and correct the whole afterwards. But, whichever you do, the finished essay should be carefully read and revised. Read it aloud, if possible; and let the ear have its due share in improving the flow of the sentences. MODELS OF STYLE. The question is sometimes asked which of the essayists should be taken for models. If this means which should be followed with slavish imitation, the answer is "None." That would result in stiffness and unnaturalness. It is also easy to copy faults, difficult to imitate virtues. But the student will benefit by carefully studying Addison, Goldsmith, and Macaulay. It must not be understood that other essayists should be neglected; but these three are likely to be most suitable for beginners. And if only one can be studied, let that one be Goldsmith. Nor must the chief store-house of English prose be left unmentioned the Authorised Version (1611) of the Bible, “the greatest of English Classics." For, as Coleridge said, "intense study of the Bible will keep any writer from being vulgar in point of style." B. THE MIDDLE OF THE ESSAY. The middle, as has been said, consists of facts, illustrations and reflections. These may appear in different forms-narrative, description, exposition, argument. NARRATIVE. When we give an account of a sequence of events, we produce a narrative. Here our chief aim is to keep the order of time. But, for purposes of explanation, we sometimes interrupt that order, and narrate some earlier event. Again, if there are two streams of events ultimately meeting, what should we do? We should first trace one stream till we are near the meeting-place, then return and trace the other stream. The circumstances under which the events happen should be distinctly brought out, the actors should stand out clearly. Dialogue should be introduced where possible; for it adds vivacity. Before beginning, we must settle whether we mean to tell the story as one of the actors, or as a spectator, or as the omniscient narrator, who stands apart and is acquainted with all sides at once. The point of the narrative also must be kept in view and emphasised. For examples, see Section C. DESCRIPTION. When words are employed to represent what the eye sees, the ear hears, and so on, we are said to describe. Description is most difficult when the object is complicated: e.g. a varied landscape. In such a case, begin by giving a general idea of shape and size, or any other feature that suggests a comprehensive view; then describe the details in order. To picture a country scene, for example, you might imagine yourself on some lofty crag for the general view the details could be taken according to the points of the compass. Some particular time should be selected: for a landscape, take spring or autumn, sunrise or sunset, etc. Besides form, it is important to mention the colour, the posture, the movement of the object, associated circumstances and personal feelings: e.g. whether the object is viewed with pleasure or not. For examples, see Section C. EXPOSITION. This, which simply means explanation, is a very important kind of composition. For obviously one of the commonest things of everyday life is to explain; and at the same time that is the highest aim of science. Whether we set forth the construction of a kite or the principle of the solar spectrum, we equally make use of exposition. One method in exposition is to repeat the statement in different words, in a simpler and clearer form. For the essence of exposition is simplicity and clearness. This is the method of iteration. Another method, called obverse iteration, employs contrast. We show what a thing is, by stating that it is not its opposite. Again, an indispensable part of exposition is to produce concrete examples, particular instances of what we are explaining. Illustrations, also, are of great value: i.e. by comparison, things similar, but not the same, are made to throw light on each other. Text-books of science, grammar, etc., abound in instances of exposition. Literary examples will be found below in chapter XIV. Argument: PERSUASION. It is often necessary to establish some truth, to reason that some thing should be done, to induce others to believe or act as we do. This is argument and persuasion. Here we must start from a common ground of agreement between ourselves and others. For example, we could not profitably argue on astronomy with anyone who did not hold that the earth goes round the sun. We should begin an argument with an exact and clear statement of our aim, so that those whom we wish to influence, may not be in any uncertainty about our meaning. Next we should put forward our arguments, with the grounds for holding them; and then consider and refute the arguments of our opponents. Finally, we close by briefly enforcing our view. If, however, instead of advocating one side, we are acting in the capacity of an impartial judge, we should set forth one view, with all that can be said for and against it; and then the other side with similar fulness. If we can, we should end by indicating which is the better view. Arguments may be: (1) of fact-that the Tower of Pisa is not perpendicular would be proved by testimony to the fact; (2) of principles-a thing is often regarded as established when it can be brought under some general law: think how much comes under the law of gravitation; (3) of duty—a certain thing, we argue, ought or ought not to be done because, as a matter of duty, it is right or wrong; (4) of interest-we show that it will be safe, profitable, pleasant to take one course; dangerous, unprofitable, unpleasant to take the opposite. In history and biography as well as in mathematics and science, we are confronted with problems of reasoning: e.g. Was Cromwell ambitious, or was he not? What induced part of England to side with the King in 1642, part to oppose him? Was Henry VIII. justified in the matter of the Queen's divorce? A close examination of the speeches of Brutus and Antony in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, III. ii., will repay the student. Note the cold reasoning of Brutus, and the passionate eloquence of Antony. Consult also Macaulay's speeches, e.g. the speech of 2nd March, 1831, on Parliamentary Reform, and the speeches on Copyright. Study these examples. I. The other maxim which deserves a similar examination is this:-"That it is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent man should suffer." If by saying it is better be meant it is more for the public advantage, the proposition I think cannot be maintained. The security of civil life, which is essential to the value and the enjoyment of every blessing it contains, and the interruption of which is followed by universal misery and confusion, is protected chiefly by the dread of punishment. The misfortune of an individual (for such may the sufferings, or even the death, of an innocent person be called when they are occasioned by no evil intention) cannot be placed in competition with this object. I do not contend that the life or safety of the meanest subject ought, in any case, to be knowingly sacrificed: no principle of judicature, no end of punishment can ever require that. But, when certain rules of adjudication must be pursued, when certain degrees of credibility must be accepted in order to reach the crimes with which the public are infested; courts of justice should not be deterred from the application of these rules by every suspicion of danger, or by the mere possibility of confounding the innocent with the guilty. They ought rather to reflect that he who falls by a mistaken sentence, may be considered as falling for his country, whilst he suffers under the operation of those rules by the general effect and tendency of which the welfare of the country is maintained and upholden. PALEY. 2. Take the case of War-by far the most prolific and extensive pest of the human race, whether we consider the sufferings it inflicts, or the happiness it prevents and see whether it is likely to be arrested by the progress of intelligence and civilisation. In the first place, it is manifest that instead of becoming less frequent or destructive in proportion to the rapidity of that progress, our European wars have, in point of fact, been incomparably more constant and more sanguinary since Europe became signally enlightened and humanised, and that they have uniformly been most obstinate and most popular in its most polished countries. The brutish Laplanders, the bigoted and profligate Italians, have had long intervals of repose, but France and England are now [circa 1810] pretty regularly at war for about fourscore years out of every century. In the second place, the lovers and conductors of war are by no means the most ferocious or stupid of their species, but for the most part the very contrary; and their delight in it, notwithstanding their compassion for human suffering, seems to us sufficient almost of itself to discredit the confident prediction of those who assure us that when men have attained to a certain degree of intelligence, war must necessarily cease among all the nations of the earth. There can be no better illustration indeed than this of the utter futility of all those dreams of perfectibility which are founded on a radical ignorance of what it is that constitutes the real enjoyment of human nature, and upon the play of how many principles and opposite stimuli that happiness depends, which, it is absurdly imagined, would be found in the mere negation of suffering, or in a state of Quakerish placidity, dulness, and uniformity. Men delight in war in spite of the pains and miseries which they know it entails upon them and their fellows, because it exercises all the talents, and calls out all the energies of their nature; because it holds them out conspicuously as objects of public sentiment and general sympathy; because it gratifies their pride of art, and gives them a lofty sentiment of their own power, worth, and courage; but principally, because it sets the game of existence upon a higher stake, and dispels, by its powerful interest, those feelings of ennui which steal upon every condition from which hazard and anxiety are excluded, and drive us into danger and suffering as a relief. While human nature continues to be distinguished by those attributes, we do not see any chance of war being superseded by the increase of wisdom and morality. JEFFREY. |