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UNITY OF THE PARAGRAPH.

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character of a preparatory illustration. Then the next sentence would have been :—"Now, so similar in character to volatility is the Diffusive power possessed by all liquid substances," &C., thus propounding the main subject of the paragraph and of the paper.

177. IV. A paragraph should be consecutive, or free from dislocation.

Each paragraph has a plan dictated by the nature of the composition. According to such plan, every pertinent statement has a suitable place; in that place, it contributes to the general effect; and, out of that place, it makes confusion. For examples see Extracts III., VII., XI.

178. Y. The paragraph should possess unity; which implies a definite purpose, and forbids digressions and irrelevant matter.

This rule belongs to compositions that address the understanding, and is not strictly enforced in Poetry. Thus in Milton:

"He scarce had ceas'd, when the superior Fiend

Was moving towards the shore; his pond'rous shield,
Ethereal temper, massy, large, and round,

Behind him cast; the broad circumference

Hung on his shoulders like the moon, whose orb

Through optic glass the Tuscan artist views

At ev'ning from the top of Fesole,

Or in Valdarno, to descry new lands,

Rivers, or mountains, on her spotty globe."

The lines beginning whose orb are a pure digression; but, as they give an interesting picture, they serve the object of the poet. See also the Odyssey, VIII. 521-30.

Adapting an old homely maxim, we may say, Look to the Paragraphs and the Discourse will look to itself; for, although a discourse as a whole has a method or plan suited to its nature, yet the confining of each paragraph to a distinct topic avoids some of the worst faults of composition; besides which, he that fully comprehends the method of a paragraph, will also comprehend the method of an entire work.

179. VI. As in the sentence, so in the paragraph, a

due proportion should obtain between principal and subordinate statements.

It is a maxim of style universally, that everything should have bulk and prominence according to its importance. We have formerly seen (p. 69) that the arts of condensation are especially required for this end. Thus Gibbon says:—" The forms of the old administration were maintained by those faithful counsellors to whom Marcus recommended his son, and for whose wisdom and integrity Commodus still entertained a reluctant esteem."

The following sentences occur in De Quincey's remarks on Style:—"Darkness gathers upon many a theme, sometimes from previous mistreatment, but oftener from original perplexities investing its very nature. Upon the style it is, if we take that word in its largest sense—upon the skill and art of the developer—that these perplexities depend for their illumination." The main subject here is the "Darkness gathering upon a theme; "the causes of the darkness are of minor importance, and should have been given more shortly,—whether from natural perplexity or from previous mistreatment.

PART II.

KINDS OF COMPOSITION.

WE must now consider in detail the peculiarities of the Five Kinds of Composition. We shall thus bring to view a number of other principles and maxims bearing on effectiveness of style. There will, also, be many opportunities of illustrating farther the precepts already laid down.

CHAPTER I.

DESCRIPTION.

1. WHEN an object of some degree of complexity is to be represented in language, there is a certain method to be observed; in other words, there is an Art of Description.

To recall a simple or familiar thing, in its ordinary aspect,— as, the moon, the sea, or a field,—a word is enough. Even if there be a qualifying term in addition, as, the full moon, the smooth sea, a field of wheat,—no direction is needed, except to give, as far as convenient, the qualifying attribute first. But when we have to describe a varied scene,—the array of a battle, a town, a prospect, the exterior or interior of a building, a piece

of machinery, the geography of a country, the structure of a plant or an animal,—we must proceed according to method.

2. I. The chief rule in Description is to include with the Enumeration of the parts a comprehensive statement, or general Plan, of the whole.

The general plan may usually be given first; and, if there be danger of its dropping out of view, it should be repeated. The particulars are to be enumerated in the order that they occupy in the plan.

3. The Form, or Outline, furnishes, in many instances, the comprehensive type that is sought.

We describe a field as triangular, square, oblong, semicircular, &c. A building is represented as long and narrow, lofty, circular, or quadrangular. A hill is conical, dome-shaped, or truncated. A valley is straight or winding. A city is round and compact, or long and straggling. A geographical tract is described in the first instance by its form.

4. In a definite description, the Magnitude is stated as well as the Form: as, a circle one hundred feet'in diameter; an oblong tract of country, covering two hundred square miles.

The Outline and Size together constitute the fundamental fact of the Object world,—Extension in Space. In the orderly enumeration of the contents, it is shown how the containing whole is made up.

Any well recognized form is sufficient, although not one of the simple mathematical figures. A thing may be heart-shaped, leaf-shaped, egg-shaped; it may resemble a boot, like Italy, a a spider, or a crown. The constellations exemplify groupings according to arbitrary but familiar shapes. A star is then known as in the belt of Orion, or in the tail of the Great Bear.

5. Some objects may have their parts arranged as branches from a centre, or main trunk.

The tree is a suitable type for a variety of things; as, the

PLAN OF ENUMERATION.

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tributaries of a river, valleys, and mountain ranges. A parallel case is furnished in the blood-vessels and nerves of the human body.

The complication of a town is often happily unravelled by starting from a main trunk. Many towns afford this naturally in a river, a valley, a ridge, or a principal highway; the streets arc then arranged and described as they branch off from the trunk; the larger branches being first pointed out, and then the smaller as tributary to these. In some cases, the point of departure may be a very prominent central object, as an elevated castle, or citadel, or a great public building. This reference may be joined with the other; and both may be combined with an outline.

G. Any feature suggesting a comprehensive aspect may be chosen. A figurative epithet often answers the Thus in Milton :

desired end.

"They plucked the seated hills, with all their load—
Roeka, waters, woods—and by the shaggy tops
Up-lifting, bore them in their hands."

Also in Carlyle's description of Zorndorf:—"Such is the poor moorland tract of country; Zorndorf the centre of it,— where the battle is likely to be :—Zorndorf and environs, a bare quasi-island among these woods; extensive bald crown of the landscape, girt with a frizzle of firwoods all round."

The subordination of the detail to the type necessarily ap

rouguoat, In Milton's description of Satan's Palace, the whole building is first characterized, "the ascending pile;" next in the interior, "the smooth and level pavement," and then the "arched roof."

The following passage, describing the Alps, exemplifies in part the foregoing rules as applied to Geography.

"The Alps consist, in their eastern portion, of several parallel ranges, running in a general east and west direction; westward of the 9th meridian, these are diminished to two chains, divided by the valley of the river Rhone; and still further to the west, where they bend southward, they form a single main chain, or axis of elevation, though with numerous offsets, which occupy the country on either side. In this, the most western portion, the entire breadth

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