compositions. We admit that, so trained, he might have been eminently shrewd and clever, but he would not have been Shakspeare as he has come down to us, and as we delight to know him. We have, therefore, purposely omitted much of the introductory matter commonly found in school treatises, believing that for those who have mastered the earlier rudiments, a familiarity with the best compositions will always prove the surest detector of what is faulty in style; and that the student, thus prepared, becomes keenly sensitive to improprieties and defects. It is, then, not without reason, that, while economizing time, we take leave to diverge from the beaten track, and after introducing the student to an acquaintance with some preparatory requisites, we counsel him at once to take the higher ground, and well acquaint himself with the best models our language can supply. Nor are we without support in this our view. It was the advice of Dr. Johnson, to a young man who consulted him as to the best means for improving his Style, "to give days and nights to Addison;" and though by some this celebrated Essayist is regarded as out of date, we hold the counsel advisable, for his writings exhibit a faultless Style and classic purity, while breathing a cheerful spirit, enlivened with a rich vein of humour, and a playful but harmless satire; and as a moral Essayist, he has rarely been excelled. We deem it well, then, to begin with Addison, but by no means to end with him. Our language offers a rich variety to select from, in every style of Composition, by eminent men; and it will be most conducive to improvement to vary the exercises, always selecting the best. We now have Essays from the Times and the Quarterly, in separate volumes, of the first order of merit; and a list might be given of Masterly wits in this department of literature, but the maturer student will be at no loss to judge for himself, and may freely consult his own taste. The question arises, How may the Doctor's plan best be carried out? We would propose to select a passage, and, after an attentive perusal, write from memory all that may be remembered of it, and then compare it with the original, noting carefully each striking defect. First efforts may be very faulty, but repetition will bring improvement; and whatever plan be adopted, the student may rely on the fact, that success depends far less on the method than on the diligent use of the means. That which we have proposed has this advantage, that while furthering his progress, he will be enriching his mind with varied and valuable information. We would here intimate, that as Composition must ever be indebted for its chief graces and ornaments, as well as its more graphic force, to metaphorical language, it is evident that the higher department of finished Eloquence is closely connected with Rhetoric, and must be referred to it for its crowning excellencies. THE SUGGESTIVE FACULTY. HINTS FOR ITS EXERCISE. In order to be fluent in Speech, we must be fertile in Thought; for words being but the signs of our ideas, to have a copious command of the former, we must multiply the latter. Whatever, therefore, sets our thoughts actively at work, will serve our turn, and claims our first attention. For this, formal rules are not needful, a single suggestion may suffice. We will, then, at once commence. You have received, we will suppose, two invitations, each being to spend a month, one with friends in town, the other in the country; you must choose between them, and, perhaps, are puzzled in doing so. Ere you decide, you will think, and turn over in your mind the pleasure and advantage you may expect from either. On the one hand, the country tempts you with its freshness and beauty, its rural scenes, its walks and rides, and healthful recreations. On the other hand, the Town attracts with its gaieties, its social pleasures, and diversified entertainments, in either case, not omitting the companionship you may prefer, and the society you will enter into. Here is no lack of matter for thinking, if you would choose discreetly; and it will be helpful to note down separately the pros and cons., and then weigh and consider. We have merely thrown out the hint for the youthful composer. Any incident or question may suggest matter for practice. To draw a contrast between Virtues and the opposite Vices, as Temperance and Intemperance, and Industry and Indolence; the choice of a profession; the benefits of commerce, social and national; in short, whatever supplies food and active employ for the thoughts. If we have laid some stress on this desideratum at the outset, it is from a conviction of the difficulty of begetting in the youthful mind the habit of so thinking as to search out and investigate; and every Preceptor is fully aware that such a process constitutes the indispensable element of solid improvement. The task, however, becomes easier with practice; one thought begets another, till at length we master the difficulty, and become conscious of our power. We then begin to take a pleasure in duly ordering our ideas, and in giving a becoming expression to them. COMMAND OF THE THOUGHTS. It is most desirable to acquire betimes a habit of fixing the attention, and concentrating the thoughts, which are ever prone to wander, especially with the unpractised; a watchful guard is, therefore, requisite, to counteract this propensity; and it is no less needful to be able to control our ideas than to have formed them aright. In the choice of words, also, to give a judicious expression to our sentiments, due care and discretion are indispensable In this preliminary process of mental discipline, negligence is wholly inadmissible, and is a bar to all improvement. VARIETY IN FORMS OF EXPRESSION. BY TRANSPOSITION. THIS is effected by changing the position of the component parts of a paragraph, or compound sentence, without altering the words. EXAMPLE. 1. When a good man dies he leaves all his bad behind, and carries all his good with him. When a sinner dies he leaves all his good, and carries all his bad. 2. When a good man dies he carries all his good, &c. 3. A good man when he dies leaves, &c. 4. A good man when he dies carries, &c. 5. When he dies, a good man, &c. 6. A sinner when he dies-When a sinner dies, &c. N.B.-This sentence admits of twelve variations. EXERCISES FOR PRACTICE. Vigilance gains strength from its own watchfulness, like the eye of the eagle guarding its young. He had ploughed, sowed, and reaped his often scanty harvest with his own hands, assisted by three sons, who, even in boyhood, were happy to work with their father in the field. May the sun every day this year, when it rises, find you well with yourself, and at its setting, leave you happy with your friends. Auger is so uneasy a guest in the heart, that he may be said to be born unhappy, who is of a rough and choleric temper. Those who are still purposing, but never acting, resemble St. George; always on horseback-never riding forwards. Of wild beasts, the slanderer bites the sorest; of tame beasts, the flatterer. A good conscience is to the soul what health is to the body; it preserves a constant ease and serenity within us, and countervails all the afflictions that can befall us. C In peril or war, true love is the vein of gold, or the stream of fire beneath the surface, unchanged amid the changes that pass over it. VERBOSE EXPRESSION. This is the reverse of that brevity which has been termed "the soul of wit." A needless profusion of words is not only tedious and wearisome, but tends to obscure what it would explain. The frequent repetition of personal pronouns, of the conjunction and, &c., are also to be avoided. The following may serve as an illustration : The true sublime. God said, "Let there be light, and there was light." The false. The sovereign Arbiter of nature, by the potent energy of a word, commanded the light to spring forth, &c. The sublimity here wholly centres in the wondrous act and fiat of Deity, and any attempt to magnify it by grandiloquence, and a pompous array of words, could have no other effect than to lower the thought by dividing the attention. Circumlocution is, however, so far from being always faulty, that it may, on occasions, be highly commendable. Supposing I have to impart a tragical event. To communicate the calamitous tidings abruptly might give a fatal shock to a feeling mind; I therefore break the sad truth by degrees, the better to enable the party to bear it. We would further remark, that amplification, managed with skill and taste, is often a great beauty, especially among the Poets. Shakspeare abounds in examples of graphic brevity, and also of amplification, and excels equally in both. The ancient Pindar thus describes "the moon at full:". "The full-grown Moon, upon her throne of gold, Now through the vast of Heaven her progress rolled." Thus Virgil, instead of saying, "It is near sunset,"- |