call variation. Take some plain sentence in the English tongue, and then turn it into many forms in Latin;* as, for instance, A wolf let into the sheep-fold will devour the sheep: If you let a wolf into the fold, the sheep will be devoured: The wolf will devour the sheep, if the sheep-fold be left open: If the fold be not left shut carefully, the wolf will devour the sheep: The sheep will be devoured by the wolf, if it find the way into the fold open: There is no defence of the sheep from the wolf, unless it be kept out of the fold: A slaughter will be made among the sheep, if the wolf can get into the fold. Thus, by turning the active voice of verbs into the passive, and the nominative case of nouns into the accusative, and altering the connexion of short sentences by different adverbs or conjunctions, and by ablative cases with a preposition brought instead of the nominative, or by participles sometimes put instead of the verbs, the negation of and the contrary, instead of the assertion of the thing first proposed, a great variety of forms of speech will be created, which shall express the same sense.

"4. Acquire a variety of words, a copia verborum. Let your memory be rich in synonymous terms, or words expressing the same happy effect with the variation of the same thing: this will not only attain the phrases in the foregoing direction, but it will add a beauty also to your style, by securing you from an appearance of tautology, or repeating the same words too often, which sometimes may disgust the ear of the learner.

"5. Learn the art of shortening your sentences, by dividing a long complicated period into two or three small ones. When others connect and join two or three sentences in one by relative pronouns, as which, whereof, wherein, whereto, &c., and by parentheses frequently inserted, do you rather divide them into distinct periods; or at least, if they must be united, let it be done rather by conjunctions and copulatives, that they may appear like distinct sentences, and give less confusion to the hearer or reader.

"I know no method so effectual to learn what I mean, as to take now and then some page of an author, who is guilty of such a long involved parenthetical style, and translate it into plainer English, by dividing the ideas or the sentences asunder, and multiplying the periods, till the language become smooth and easy, and intelligible at first reading.

"6. Talk frequently to young and ignorant persons upon subjects which are new and unknown to them, and be diligent to inquire whether they understand you or not; this will put you upon changing your phrases and forms of speech in a variety, till you can hit their capacity, and convey your ideas into their understanding." Watts's Improvement of the Mind.

*This can be done in English as well as in Latin. See Lindley Murray's Exercises.

SECTION I.

DESCRIPTIVE REASONING.

I MUST tell you what I mean by descriptive reasoning. I mean a description which forms part of a piece of reasoning. I told you at the commencement of my book that any fact in history, or any object in nature, might become the subject of an argument. Now then, if we describe an object with a view to reason about it, I call that descriptive reasoning. For example, were a lecturer on anatomy to describe the eye, with the view of showing its construction to his pupils, that would be a description, and nothing more. Were a theologian to describe the eye in order to show that it must have had an intelligent author, then the description would become a piece of descriptive reasoning. Archdeacon Paley has done this :—

"Observe a new-born child first lifting up its eyelids. What does the opening of the curtain discover! The anterior part of two pellucid globes, which, when they come to be examined, are found to be constructed upon strict optical principles; the selfsame principles upon which we ourselves construct optical instruments. We find them perfect for the purpose of forming an image by refraction; composed of parts executing different offices: one part having fulfilled its office upon the pencil of light delivering it over to the action of another part; that to a third, and so onward: the progressive action depending for its success upon the nicest and minutest adjustment of the parts concerned; yet these parts so in fact adjusted, as to produce, not by a simple action or effect, but by a combination of actions and effects, the result which is ultimately wanted. And forasmuch as this organ would have to operate under different circumstances, with strong degrees of light, and with weak degrees, upon near objects, and upon remote ones, and these differences demanded, according to the laws by which the transmission of light is regulated, a corresponding diversity of structure; that the aperture, for example, through which the light passes, should be larger or less; the lenses rounder or flatter, or that their distance from the tablet, upon which the picture is delineated, should be shortened or lengthened; this, I say, being the case, and the difficulty to which the eye was to be

adapted, we find its several parts capable of being occasionally changed, and a most artificial apparatus provided to produce that change.”—Paley's Natural Theology.

In all our reasonings, great use is made of description. When a member of parliament proposes a new law, he commences with describing the present state of the law, shows what improvement is necessary, and then proposes his remedy. A barrister opens his address to the jury by a statement of the case; this statement is descriptive; and descriptions of past events, and of good and bad characters, form a large portion of the addresses from the pulpit. In long speeches, generally, there is often much minute detail, and reporters who cut down these speeches for the newspapers usually shorten or omit the descriptions. The reasoning process by which the description is connected with the point to be proved, may exist only in the mind, or it may be expressed in a subsequent stage of the argument.

I. A description is a statement of the particular circumstances by which persons, places, and objects, are distinguished from other persons, places, and objects.

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The description of a person sometimes refers only to his fgure and countenance. "Leah was tender-eyed, but Rachael was beautiful and well-favoured." 'Joseph was a goodly person, and well-favoured." "In all Israel there was none to be so much praised as Absalom for his beauty; from the sole of his foot even to the crown of his head, there was no blemish in him." "The stature of William the Conqueror was tall, and the composition of his bones. and muscles uncommonly strong." "The exterior of Henry V., as well as his deportment, was engaging. His stature was somewhat above the middle size. His countenance beautiful, his limbs genteel and slender, but full of vigour."

Descriptions of a person sometimes refer only to appearance, manners, or habits. "And he said unto them, What manner of man was he which came up to meet you, and told you these words? And they answered him, He was an hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his

loins. And he said, It is Elijah the Tishbite."-2 Kings, i. 7, 8.

The poet Southey, in Dec. 1823, went to hear Mr. Hill preach, who, at that date, must have been seventy-nine years of age. The following description is extracted from one of his letters :

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"Rowland, a fine tall old man, with strong features, very like his portrait, began by reading three verses for his text, stooping to the book in a very peculiar manner. Having done this, he stood up erect, and said, "Why, the text is a sermon, and a very weighty one too." I could not always follow his delivery, the loss of his teeth rendering his words sometimes indistinct, and the more so, because his pronunciation is peculiar, generally giving e the sound of ai, like the French. His manner was animated and striking, sometimes impressive and dignified, always remarkable, and so powerful a voice I have rarely or never heard. Sometimes he took off his spectacles, frequently stooped down to read a text, and on these occasions, he seemed to double his body, so high did he stand. He told one or two familiar stories, and used some odd expressions, such as, A murrain on those who preach, that, when we are sanctified, we do not grow in grace!" again, "I had almost said I had rather see the devil in the pulpit than an Antinomian." The purport of his sermon was good; nothing fanatical, nothing enthusiastic; and the Calvinism it expressed was so qualified as to be harmless. The manner, that of a performer, as great in his line as Kean or Kemble; and the manner it is which has attracted so large a congregation about him, all of the better order of persons in business." ". -Sherman's Anecdotes of Rowland Hill.

And

Sometimes the description of a person refers to his mental faculties or attainments. "Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Beth-lehemite, that is cunning in playing, and a mighty valiant man, and a man of war, and prudent in matters, and a comely person, and the Lord is with him."-1 Sam. xvi. 18.

"JOHN WESLEY AT OXFORD.-At college he continued his studies with all diligence, and was noticed there for his attainments, and especially for his skill in logic, by which he frequently put to silence those who contended with him in after life. No man, indeed, was ever more dexterous in the art of reasoning. A charge was once brought against him that he delighted to perplex his opponents by his expertness in sophistry. He repelled it with indignation. It has been my first care,' says he, 'to see that my cause was good, and never either in jest or earnest to

defend the wrong side of a question, and shame on me if I cannot defend the right after so much practice, and after having been so early accustomed to separate truth from falsehood, how artfully soever they are twisted together.'"-Southey's Life of Wesley.

Sometimes the description is not of a person, but of a character. This description consists in an enumeration of particulars. See the description of a good wife in the last chapter of Proverbs. See also 1 Tim. iii. 2-7.

But

A description of a place may include its situation, climate, productions, both of nature and art, and its peculiar beauties, curiosities, advantages, and inconveniences. such full descriptions occur chiefly in books of history or geography. A description intended to be used in reasoning embraces only the chief point in which that country, city, town, village, &c., differs from others of the same class. See a description of Tyre in the 27th chapter of the Prophet Ezekiel. See also a description of the Land of Canaan, at page 33.

Descriptions of objects are of two kinds,-one relating to living forms, and the other to such as are inanimate. The latter refer to those which are the works of nature, and to those which are produced by art.

"Hast thou given the horse strength? hast thou clothed his neck with thunder? Canst thou make him afraid as a grasshopper? the glory of his nostrils is terrible. He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength: he goeth on to meet the armed men. He mocketh at fear, and is not affrighted; neither turneth he back from the sword. The quiver rattleth against him, the glittering spear and the shield. He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage: neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet. He saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha, and he smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting."-Job xxxix. 19-25.

"I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding; and, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down. Then I saw, and considered it well: I looked upon it, and received instruction."Prov. xxiv. 30-32.

II. A description of past events is called a narrative. A narrative is an account of events, and of the persons or