CHAPTER XIV.

OF THE APPLICATIONS OF STYLE AND THE FORMS OF

COMPOSITION.

It has been already stated, incidentally, that different kinds of style must be used in the treatment of the different kinds of discourse. It is not within the scope of such a work as this to give rules and illustrations of these adaptations of style. They are to be found in the standard works of every department of English literature, and to be learned by training our native talents on the model of the best speakers and writers, and by developing and polishing what is natural, without detriment to its soundness and simplicity. In particular, it resides with the teacher, by his constant and judicious criticisms of the compositions of his pupils, to give them those just ideas which can never be entirely inculcated by

books.

There is much judgment required with pupils of different degrees and directions of talent, as to how often they should be required to write, and what length of composition should be demanded. Some

are quick in thought and slow in expression; some the reverse; some are full of ornament; others too plain and bald in speech. It would be well, after judiciously adopting the exercise to the powers of the individual pupil, not to let him sit down to write until he had taken time and opportunity to reflect carefully upon the subject, that is, to invent and arrange the discourse in the mind, before putting it upon paper. Nothing can be more perplexing to a beginner than to require him, at a moment's warning, to produce an essay on a subject upon which he has never thought; and nothing can lead more surely to a false and affected array of high-sounding words, in which euphony is made to take the place of argument and fact. This remark, of course, applies to stated and continuous instruction. As a trial of the readiness of the best writers in a class, it may be well sometimes to cause them to write what may be called extemporaneous essays upon a given subject; which will test the amount and the methodical arrangement of their knowledge, and the readiness of their powers of expression in words.

In many collegiate institutions it is usual to cause the lower classes to begin with translations from Latin and Greek authors; and this is an excellent course, since they are at once exercised in the study of the classics, and in the traduction of the foreign idioms into our own language. It is worthy of remark

that this is the form of discourse to be observed in the beginnings of modern literature. Chaucer's first efforts were translations, and the early English poets have followed his example in a greater or less degree.

Sometimes compositions are made to include paraphrases, or the rendering in our own language the thoughts of another already expressed in the same language. Occasionally the paraphrase of prose, by putting it into a poetic form, gives us a pleasing metrical form, and an adaptation to music, as in Addison's paraphrases of some of the Psalms, which are now used in most collections of hymns for public worship; but the paraphrase is usually a weak and unsatisfactory imitation of the original, in which all the effective, individual, and idiomatic points are lost, and the faults are exaggerated. Many examples of the truth of this remark might be cited from high authority. Thus, we have the fine rebuke to the sluggard, in the original: "Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise!" It is thus translated by Dr. Johnson :

"Turn on the prudent ant thy heedless eyes,
Observe her labours, sluggard, and be wise;"

in which every additional word is an injury to the sense and to the force of the appeal.

The same truth is made manifest in Dryden's paraphrase of Milton's "Paradise Lost;" and in many

verses of Pope's "Messiah," as rich and elevated as that poem really is.

In many essays or compositions, quotations are largely employed, and it is a question of some importance when and where they may be profitably used. In the main, we would advise that, except where an illustration is required, the writer should express the thoughts in his own words, and avoid quotations; but there must constantly occur exceptions to such a rule. Sometimes the passage quoted expresses the thought in a manner more felicitous than any other words will do; sometimes the authority of the quotation is valuable, as when it is taken from some very famous author; and sometimes it is used to enliven discourse, as in the occasional introduction. of a few lines of exquisite poetry, which are appropriate to the current of discourse: this latter use of quotations also introduces the element of harmony, and conduces to the elegance of style.

Quotations from the Scriptures are always forcible, for a reason beyond those just given; it is because they seem to corroborate that which is only of the nature of human wisdom, by the testimony of divine wisdom; and, well introduced, they produce the excellent effect of giving to the discourse a religious spirit, which elevates and purifies itself and its influence.

Of the forms of composition, as to the subjects,

the lengths required, and the details of manipulation, the use of paper, &c., each instructor will form his own system. It should, when made, be uniform. Perhaps the forms of public documents in our own country give us the easiest and best models, especially for large classes, where compositions are written frequently, and accumulate in large numbers on the instructor's desk for examination. Following this pattern, they should be written upon Congress letter-paper (in size), folded three times across the sheet, and endorsed on the back, beginning at the top with the name of the place or institution; then the date; then the name of the student and his class; and, in the middle, the subject. When compositions thus endorsed are tied together in file, the instructor can glance over the endorsements, and, after having examined them, make his remarks in the form of an additional endorsement.

In official papers, which are regularly filed away, this system is invaluable; in the place of the subject, we have in such documents a brief of the contents, as a part of the endorsement.

(111.) The Rhetoric of Conversation.

There remains but one topic upon which a few remarks seem requisite ; it is an inquiry to what extent the laws of discourse laid down in the foregoing pages, apply to our ordinary conversation.