this view, he indicates a nice stroke of management on the part of a speaker, namely, not to disturb a settled conviction by adducing reasons, since to do so implies that the point is unsettled. EXTRACT XVI.—The following passage from Adam Smith shows the Expository Method as applied to Moral Suasion. The theme is one that the author has often and earnestly expounded, the acquiescence in irremediable misfortunes. 1. "In the misfortunes for which the nature of things admits, or 66 seems to admit, of a remedy, but in which the means of applying "that remedy are not within the reach of the sufferer, his vain (and fruitless) attempts to restore himself to his former situation, "his continual anxiety for their success, his repeated disappoint"ments upon their miscarriage, are what chiefly hinder him from "resuming his natural tranquillity, and frequently render miser'able, during the whole of (his) life, a man to whom a greater misfortune, but which plainly admitted of no remedy, would not "have given a fortnight's disturbance." Although composed on an intelligible plan, this sentence is excessive in length, and admits of retrenchment. It may be looked upon as stating and exemplifying a principle at the same time (Ex. XIII. Sent. 1). We have next a series of interesting and impressive examples. แ 66 2. In the fall from royal favor to disgrace, from power to insignificancy, from riches to poverty, from liberty to confinement, "from strong health to lingering, chronical, and perhaps incurable disease, the man who struggles the least, who most easily and "readily acquiesces in the fortune which has fallen to him, very soon recovers his usual and natural tranquillity, and surveys the 66 disagreeable circumstances of his actual situation in the same "light, or perhaps, in a much less unfavorable light, than that in "which the most indifferent spectator is disposed to survey them." The latter part of this sentence also is wordy and diffuse. The examples given are not yet sufficiently concrete for effect. Better are to come. 3. "Faction, intrigue, and cabal, disturb the quiet of the unfor"tunate statesman." The parallel construction should now be at"The statesman, under misfortune, is disquieted by faction, intrigue, and cabal." tended to. 4. "Extravagant projects, visions of gold mines, interrupt the repose of the ruined bankrupt." The author seems aware that the placing of the principal subject at the close gives it an empha EX. XVI.] MORAL SUASION. -ADAM SMITH. 337 sis. Still, we must continue to invert his order. "The ruined bankrupt has his repose interrupted by extravagant projects, and visions of gold mines." 5. "The prisoner, who is continually plotting to escape from "(his) confinement, cannot enjoy that careless security which even 66 a prison can afford him.” Either by accident, or for variety, the parallel order is here attended to. A more emphatic brevity is attainable. "The prisoner, continually plotting to escape, misses the satisfaction he might gain in the careless security of his prison." 6. "The medicines of the physician are often the greatest tor"ment of the incurable patient." "Under incurable disease, the medicines of the physician tantalize and torment the patient." 7. "The monk who, in order to comfort Joanna of Castile, upon "the death of her husband, Philip, told her of a king, who, fourteen 'years after his decease, had been restored to life (again), by the "prayers of his afflicted queen, was not likely to restore sedateness "to the distempered mind of that unhappy princess." A most plausible period, yet radically disarranged. "Joanna of Castile, driven to distraction by the death of her husband, Philip, was not likely to have her mind quieted by the monk that told her of a king restored to life, fourteen years after his decease, by the prayers of his afflicted queen." 66 66 8. "She endeavored to repeat the (same) experiment in hopes "of the same success; resisted for a long time the burial of her hus'band, soon after raised his body from the grave, attended it al"most constantly herself, and watched, with all the impatient "anxiety of frantic expectation, the happy moment when her wishes were to be gratified by the revival of her beloved Philip." This incident is perhaps made too much of; the harrowing effect of it on the reader is not favorable to the author's lesson of tranquillity and contentment. This is a state of mind, to be nourished, through the same precautions as courage, by not exposing the subject to the opposite condition more than he can bear at the time. The sentence might be improved by changing the first member to the participial form. "Endeavoring to repeat the experiment," &c. Excepting the mistake of giving too exclusively the cases of persons failing to achieve contentment, the passage is a good instance of expository persuasion by example. The style of the au thor, here and elsewhere, would be greatly improved, by mixture with the short and balanced sentences of Macaulay. EXTRACT XVII.—In connection with Oratory, we quote the celebrated Adjuration of Demosthenes, in the speech on the Crown; probably the greatest effort ever made to soothe and reconcile men under calamity and defeat. Demosthenes had himself been the chief adviser of strenuous resistance to Philip; the resistance had been unsuccessful, and yet he claimed honor for the intentions and the exertions of those engaged in it. "If I then undertook to say that it was I that brought you to "entertain sentiments worthy of your ancestors, there is no man "but could justly blame me. [Delicate insinuation; he would be "blamable if he claimed the credit of infusing patriotic sentiments; "these existed independent of him.] I assert that such tendencies 66 are your own; I declare that before my time the Athenian State was thus minded. Yet I do say, that I too have had a share in "the several transactions themselves. But this man (Æschines), "by censuring everything, and urging you to bitterness against me 66 as the author of the alarms and dangers of the State, seeks to rob me of my present honor, and deprives you of your everlasting "fame. For if ye condemn Ktesiphon, on the ground that my pol"icy has not been for the best, ye will then appear to have commit❝ted error, and not merely to have suffered reverses by the unkind"ness of Fortune. But ye cannot, ye cannot have erred, O Athe"nians, in braving peril for the safety, the liberty of all. No! By "your ancestors who fronted danger at Marathon, and stood ar"rayed at Platæa, by those who fought on sea at Salamis, and at "Artemisium, and by the many other gallant men, lying interred in "the public sepulchres; whom all alike the city held worthy of "honor and buried; and not alone the successful and the victors! "With justice; since all did the work of brave men, though each "had the fortune that the Deity assigned him." The orator has here skilfully touched the most powerful chords in the minds of his audience, and, trusting to the effects of his address, has dared the highest flight of figurative boldness. EXTRACT XVIII.-The following lines from the "Pleasures of Hope" exemplify the Poetic Figures and Qualities. I select for notice the more important points. "At summer's eve, when Heaven's aërial bow Spans, with bright arch, the glittering hills below, EX. XVIII.] CAMPBELL'S PLEASURES OF HOPE. 339 These lines contain a description individualized by the point of time given (at summer's eve'), and enlivened by circumstances of action-' spans with bright arch,' ' turns the musing eye,' ' mingles with the sky.' The touches conveyed in 'bright arch,' ' glittering hills,' 'sun-bright summit,' are graphically selected, and can be easily realized; if there be anything to object to, it is the three-fold iteration of the one idea of light. "Why do those hills of shadowy tint appear More sweet than all the landscape smiling near?” Another graphic touch that does not require much labor of comprehension. 'Shadowy tint' is not very happy; and 'sweet' is scarcely the word. 'Smiling near' is mere filling up. The rhyme falls upon insignificant words; a fault not always avoidable, but worth remarking on, as a great effect may be attained by assigning the position of emphasis to something really emphatic. "Tis distance lends enchantment to the view, And robes the mountain in its azure hue." The first line is a stroke of felicitous condensation; the three abstract nouns are vivified by a familiar and forcible verb; the melody is good; and a sentiment is conveyed in a line. The succeeding line calls for no special remark. "Thus, with delight, we linger to survey The promis'd joys of life's unmeasured way;" A good line might have been made out of these two, by omitting the subjective designations, 'with delight,' 'promis'd joys,' and combining the remaining figures. 'Thus, from afar, each dim-discovered scene More pleasing seems than all the past hath been." Space and time are here mixed in one figure, with a confusing effect. The occasional lameness of rhyme could not be better shown than by bringing under its emphasis such a word as 'been.' "And every form that Fancy can repair From dark oblivion, glows divinely there.' Notwithstanding the profusion of abstract nouns, the language is telling through action. The reference of the concluding word 'there' is not obvious. "What potent spirit guides the raptur❜d eye To pierce the shades of dim futurity?" The interrogation is suitably introduced; but the language is somewhat in excess; 'potent spirit,' 'raptur'd eye,' ‘shades of dim futurity.' "Can Wisdom lend, with all her boasted power, The pledge of Joy's anticipated hour?" We have had 'lend' already, and there are words more apt in this connection. The language is otherwise unexceptionable; and the rhyme brings into prominence two important words. The order of the sentence is good. "Ah no! she darkly sees the fate of man, Her dim horizon bounded to a span;" The first line is both simple and effective. The second iterates 'darkly' in 'dim;' the mixture of the two figures of darkness and contraction is not favorable to a distinct conception; and the word 'span,' made energetic by the rhyme, is not in keeping with a contracting and vanishing effect; it has already been used for the wide compass of the rainbow. "Or, if she holds an image to the view, 'Tis Nature pictured too severely true." The second line could hardly be improved. The rhyme gives emphasis to a really emphatic word; equally good, but not better, would have been the ending 'truthfully severe.' The first line is enfeebled by the weak complement of the verb-‘holds to the view' -receiving the place of honor and the stress of rhyme. These last six lines afford a good example of Contrast; after which the main theme is resumed with increased effect. Such contrasts are matter of delicate handling in poetry. When they are the painful obverse of a joyous subject, the principles of Art require them to be kept within the narrowest limits. In Thomson's "Castle of Indolence," Book I., the poet introduces into his picture of delicious quietism, a contrasting description of the harshness of labor such as to damp the enjoyment of the scene, while it can hardly be deemed requisite for the mass of readers, all too familiar with the subject. The present contrast of Campbell's is not too painful, nor too protracted, to be redeemed, and more than redeemed, by the heightened glow of the main subject. "With thee, sweet Hope, resides the heavenly light, That pours remotest rapture on the sight; The adjective'sweet' adds no force to the line, whose language otherwise is apt, and its arrangement perfect. In spite of the |