development of the paragraph, either this should have been the keynote, or it should have been somehow coupled with the other.

The difficulties and the snares of paragraph composition may be further shown in the following example from Paley. The complication of working a double subject is still more forcibly shown than in the foregoing example. The passage is from a Sermon on Contentment. The object of the paragraph is to set forth one of the advantages of the lot of the labouring poor, as compared with the idle rich. The substance of the argument is drawn from a law of the human mind, which the author endeavours to elucidate.

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"(1) And, first, it is an inestimable blessing of such situations [labour for subsistence], that they supply a constant train of employment both to body and to mind. (2) A husbandman, or "manufacturer, or a tradesman, never goes to bed at night without having his business to rise up to in the morning." These two sentences go well together, as general principle and specific examples, and might have been included in one; with this proviso, that if there are more examples to follow, the first sentence should be confined to the generality. As an overture sentence, the defect of the start will appear when we quote the third.

(3) He would understand the value of this advantage, did he "know that the want of it comprises one of the greatest plagues of "the human soul; a plague by which the rich, especially those "who inherit riches, are exceedingly oppressed." This is obviously a new and different question,—namely, whether or not it be a good thing to have a regular employment for body and mind. If the author had had before him the logical condition of an argument, that is to say, the requirement of two premises, he would have provided for both in a more regular way. He would have opened, by stating both together, and have followed them in separation, instead of jumping from one to the other in the course of the exposition. The rigid separation is the more desirable, because under each there is an alternative exemplification; from the side of the rich and from the side of the poor. Although in every argument there are two premises, it is not always necessary to dwell upon both; the stress of enforcement chiefly turns upon one. Thus, in the present case, what would be called the major premise, that regular employment is a condition of happiness, is much more in want of proof, than the other, or minor, premise, that the labouring poor are regularly employed; to adduce examples in support of the last is almost superfluous. The author's strength is wanted for the major premise, and the paragraph should have been framed for putting it forward as the overture. The plan of the paragraph would then be simplified. The principle to be stated and established would be, that compulsory, regular, employment is calculated to promote happiness. The mode

SNARES OF PARAGRAPH COMPOSITION.

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of proof would be still two-fold, namely, by positive and by negative instances; each of the classes being separately and continuously given.

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(4) Indeed it is to get rid of it, that is to say, it is to have something to do, that they are driven upon those strange and un"accountable ways of passing their time, in which we sometimes see "them, to our surprise, engaged." This is in close connection with the preceding sentence and so far completes the negative illustration from the rich idle man's case.

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"(5) A poor man's condition supplies him with that which no man can do without, and with which a rich man, with all his opportunities, and all his contrivance, can hardly supply himself: regular engagement, business to look forward to, sure employment "prepared for every morning." A mere iteration of the superfluous remark in the first and second sentences-the minor premise of an argument, whose stress lies on the major.

'(6) A few of better judgment can seek out for themselves con"stant and regular occupation." Only the drift of the passage can make us aware that the rich are here intended; the reference is wanting in explicitness, and we naturally suppose that 'a few' points to the principal subject of the previous sentence, which is the poor man; the contrary allusion to the rich is quite subordinate. The author now converts their case into a principal, and pursues it in the next sentence.

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(7) There is not one of you takes the pains in his calling, "which some of the most independent men in the nation have ‘taken, and are taking, to promote what they deem to be a point "of great concern to the interests of humanity, by which neither they nor theirs can ever gain a shilling, and in which, should they succeed, those who are to be benefited by their service, will "neither know nor thank them for it." This is a case in point, from the negative side; and is meant to show that men cannot live without a large amount of employment; the author, however, admits that there are exceptions.

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"(8) I only mention this to show, in conjunction with what has "been observed above, that, of those who are at liberty to act as "they please, the wise prove, and the foolish confess, by their con"duct, that a life of employment is the only life worth leading; "and that the chief difference between their manner of life and "yours, is, that they can choose the objects of their activity, which you cannot." This still iterates and drives home the case of the rich, indicating, however, an important difference, which is the text for another long sentence.

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(9) This privilege may be an advantage to some, but for nine "out of ten it is fortunate that occupation is provided to their "hands, that they have it not to seek, that it is imposed upon them by their necessities and occasions; or the consequence of liberty "in this respect would be, that, lost in the perplexity of choosing, "they would sink into irrecoverable indolence, inaction, and uncon

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"" cern; into that vacancy and tiresomeness of thought which are "inseparable from such a situation." This is a general affirmation of a fact in human nature applicable alike to rich and poor, and, if self-evident, would dispense with what has gone before. It needs to be proved itself; and the conduct of the idle rich was adduced in order to substantiate it. The author's thoughts, however, are now led into a new channel; instead of quoting the broad experience of mankind, he brings before us the inherent attributes of the mind itself, and dwells upon these in a succession of short emphatic sen

tences.

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“(10) A man's thoughts must be going. (11) Whilst he is "awake, the working of his mind is as constant as the beating of "his pulse. (12) He can no more stop the one than the other. (13) Hence, if our thoughts have nothing to act upon, they act upon "ourselves. (14) They acquire a corrosive quality. (15) They become in the last degree irksome and tormenting." This is, in the first place, a needless multiplication of short sentences. The six might have been made into two, if not into one. But, what is more important for us at present to remark upon, is the place assigned in the paragraph to this new aspect of the argument in favour of the author's chief position. We must concede to him the merit of keeping at the point without a break till it is finished. The only question is, whether it should precede or follow the other branch of liis argument already given. Generally speaking, a reason growing out of the nature of the mind is taken before an appeal to facts or experience. This, however, is not an absolute rule to be insisted on in the structure of a paragraph. All that we can say, in addition to the criticisms already offered, is, that the preparatory sentence should give an indication of the different lines of argument to be comprised in the paragraph; while each of these should be kept separate, as our author has in some measure succeeded in doing.

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"(16) Wherefore, that sort of equitable engagement, which takes up the thoughts sufficiently, yet so as to leave them capable of turning to anything more important, as occasions offer or require, " is a most invaluable blessing. (17) And, if the industrious be not "sensible of the blessing, it is for no other reason than because they "have never experienced, or rather suffered the want of it." The former of these two sentences is an inference from the strain of remark in those immediately foregoing; but, properly, it should repose on the entire body of the arguments. The last sentence is a mere appendage, by the way, and might have been curtailed and given as a second member to (16) :—“ although from never experiencing the want of it, the industrious are not fully sensible of its magnitude".

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Such is the paragraph as developed by the author. In the amended form, the opening sentence would be "Both from the constitution of the mind, and from our experience of life, we are able to show that a constant train of employment to body and mind, enforced by necessity, is essential to happiness". The two classes of proofs would then be adduced in order.

FIGURES OF SPEECH.

1. A Figure of Speech is a deviation from the plain and ordinary way of speaking, for the sake of greater effect.

Instead of saying 'That is very strange,' we may, on a particular occasion, say 'How strange!' 'The sunshine of the breast' is a departure from the ordinary meanings of both the words 'sunshine' and 'breast'. The 'Board of Green Cloth' is highly figurative. 'Oh that a man should take an enemy into his mouth, to steal away his brains.'*

2. A classification of the more important Figures may be based on the three leading divisions of the Human Understanding.†

The powers of the Understanding are as follows:

(1.) DISCRIMINATION, or Feeling of Difference, Contrast, Relativity. This means that the mind is affected by change, as in passing from rest to motion, from cold to heat, from light to dark; and that the greater and the more sudden the change, the stronger is the effect. The figure denominated Antithesis, or Contrast, derives its force from this fact.

(2.) The second power is called SIMILARITY, or the Feeling of Agreement. This signifies that, when like objects come under our notice, we are impressed by the circumstance—as

The idea of Figure' has nothing to do with Arithmetic; it signifies an unusual form of speech. Both the Latin figura and the Greek yua properly denoted any 'form' of speech, so that, according to this usage, all language is in some figure; and Quintilian mentions that this wider meaning was still occasionally employed. It was but a natural limitation of the idea when figura and oxua were specially applied to those more striking 'forms' that consist in a deviation from the ordinary way of speech. With the wider meaning compare the application of the same terms to the figures' of the Syllogism-that is, the various forms' it assumes. All the ancient rhetoricians recognized a distinction between Figures and Tropes, though the exact nature of the distinction was much disputed. In general, a Trope was considered to consist in the use of one word for another, as in the Metaphor, Metonymy, Synecdoche; while a Figure implied a change in the relations of the words or the application of a whole sentence, such as Antithesis, Exclamation, Apostrophe. The distinction is artificial, and turns on a point that has little relevance to the leading uses of the Figures in style.

when we see the resemblance of a child to its parent. The Figures named Simile, Metaphor, Allegory, are modes of Similarity.

(3.) The third power of the Intellect is RETENTIVENESS, or Acquisition. The ability to retain successive impressions without confusion, and to bring them up afterwards, distinguishes Mind; it is a power familiarly known by the name Memory. Now, the chief way that retentiveness or memory works is this: impressions occurring together become associated together, as sunrise with daylight; and, when we are made to think of one, we are reminded of its accompaniments. We cannot think of the sun's rising without thinking of daylight, and of the other circumstances that go along with it. Hence the mental association of things contiguously placed, is a prominent fact; and one of its many consequences is to cause us often to name a thing by some of its adjuncts, as the sovereign by the throne,' wealth by 'gold'. Such is the nature of Metonymy.

Of the three powers of Intellect now named, the second, Similarity, is most abundant in figures, and these may be taken first in order,

FIGURES FOUNDED ON SIMILARITY.

SIMILITUDES IN GENERAL.

1. The intellectual power named Similarity, or Feeling of Agreement, there being also Diversity, is our chief instrument of invention.

In the world at large, things repeat themselves in new aspects and connections. The diversity is an obstacle to the sense of agreement; when we are able to overcome this obstacle, we are rewarded with important discoveries and aids to knowledge. It was a great stretch of identification, under disguises, to find out that our earth resembles a ball in shape, and revolves about the sun, like Jupiter and Venus.

2. The most important identifications of all are those that extend knowledge by generalizing such phenomena as fall under the same laws.

The referring of the heavenly motions to the force of