EX. XIII.] EXPOSITION BY APPLICATIONS. 331 been more purely theoretical, the proposition would have been stated in general language, and the examples dwelt upon in detail. The author might have made a semicolon pause after 'overcome the effects of it;' what follows 'the flexibility, or docility, so to speak, of the tissues,' &c.—would then be a participial member containing a reason or explanation. 66 2. "This unintentional imitation [Demonstrative reference] is commonly mixed with (that which) 'what' is designed; and sep"arate or together, they lead the child to a high degree of personal "assimilation with those (who have the immediate charge of him, 66 or in the midst of whom he grows up) 'that have the immediate charge of him (it n, or that he grows up among.' This adds another mode of imitation to what was previously stated, with the view of making a conjoined total to be applied to practice. In the subsequent exposition, the author keeps them for a time separate, and then drops the second to confine himself to the first. It is a somewhat trying operation to carry on the exposition of two principles together. The concluding clause—' they lead the child to a high degree of personal assimilation, &c.'—is a summary, or short iteration, of what goes before, and is the form intended to be used in the subsequent applications to practice. In this view, it might have been shortened with advantage (on Whately's principle, p. 194), or a shorter form might have been added,— something aphoristic or epigrammatic. The next sentence begins another short paragraph, devoted to distinguishing still more closely the two kinds of imitation. 66 1. "Although we cannot always discriminate the effects of un"intentional from those of intentional imitation, yet the predominance of either may in many cases be readily distinguished." "Yet we may in many cases distinguish the predominance of one or other." 2. "In the particulars (which I have) mentioned above (phrase "of reference] unintentional imitation obviously prevails." A new paragraph. 1. "The persistence of habits thus unde"signedly acquired, so as scarcely to be affected by lapse of time "or change of circumstances, may be observed very plainly in na"tional and 'in' provincial peculiarities, and is in nothing more re“markable than in speech." A new aspect of the general princi * There is here a license often unavoidable—a verbal noun qualified by an adverb, as if it were a verb—' persistence so as.' ple is now propounded for exemplification, and is the aspect that brings the author to his practical applications; namely, the irresistible force of habits acquired by unintentional imitation. In this sentence, he states the examples generally, and in the following sentences becomes more specific. 2, 3. "Every nation has modes of utterance impossible for the "most part to be shaken off, and as impossible to be acquired by "foreigners. A child brought up in Scotland till the age of seven "or eight, will scarcely ever be able in after-life to get quit of the "Scotch accent." The 'ever' in the phrase 'will scarcely ever be able,' really qualifies the whole sentence, and ought in strictness to be at the commencement:—" It scarcely ever happens, that a child brought up in Scotland," &c. The author now passes, in another paragraph, to a new phase of the operation of the principle. 1. "In such cases, we sometimes "see a sort of antagonism between intentional and unintentional "imitation." Here he states the general doctrine; in the next sentence he repeats it in an embodied or concrete form. 2. "The mature man, in the desire to get quit of [vary the "phrase, 'overcome '] a national or provincial peculiarity, attempts "an imitation, in which he is prevented from succeeding by the "lasting consequences of the unintentional imitation into which "he had glided when a child." 3. "The same truth may be shown by (converse) 'obverse ' in"stances." He now proceeds to give examples of the difficulties of the late learner. 4. "A German educated at home rarely learns to pronounce the "th in the article the, nor does an Englishman, confined till man"hood to his own island and his own tongue, succeed better with "the guttural in sich or tag." Then follow his practical applications; and by these, the author farther elucidates the general principles. We quote only a part. "From these familiar facts, illustrating the irresistible tendency "to personal assimilation and the durability of its effects, we may "deduce the high importance of placing children with people who "are easy, natural, and graceful in their deportment, who speak "with correctness and purity, and are free from objectionable "habits. "No Dominie Sampsons should be permitted where it is possi"ble to exclude them. The once prevalent practice of committing "children to the care of the lame, the deformed, the rough, the EX. XIII.] EXPOSITION BY APPLICATIONS. 333 "uncouth, the ungainly, the rickety either in body or mind, is now "indeed generally abandoned. It is becoming understood that an "instructor is all the better for being a favorable specimen of his own race, even in physical qualities and accomplishments. "As a rule, do not confine your children to any one whose "habits, manners, speech, play of countenance, and deportment, "you would not like them to imitate. It is doubtless extremely "difficult to act on such a rule; a compromise between welcome "and unwelcome qualities is, in general, the only practicable re"source." It will now be seen what is the expository value of practical applications of principles. It may also be seen, that, as exposition is not the chief end in view, the practical writer does not confine himself to following out any single principle, but introduces allusions to every doctrine that he thinks has any bearing on his subject. It is not often that a practical discussion contains so much clear elucidation of general principles, as is contained in the present passage; for, although the author lays down four or five different generalities, he provides a certain amount of methodical exposition for each. Exteact XIV.—The following passage, from Macaulay's History, is an expository and moralizing episode, occurring after the intimation that the Revolution was accomplished. 1. "It is the nature of man to overrate present evil, and to un"derrate present good; to long for what he has not, and to be dis"satisfied with what he has." The announcement of a doctrine of human nature, with obverse statement, iteration, and balanced structure. The subject of the paragraph is thrown to the end of the sentence (p. 133). 2, 3. "This propensity, as it appears in individuals, has often "been noticed both by laughing and by weeping philosophers. It 66 was a favorite theme of Horace and of Pascal, of Voltaire and of "Johnson." These two sentences might, with propriety, be made one; the second is merely the specification of what, in the first, is stated generally. 4. "To its influence on the fate of great communities may be "ascribed most of the revolutions and counter-revolutions recorded "in history." There is here another reason for joining the two foregoing sentences; in the expression 'fate of great communities' a balance lies with the phrase 'as it appears in individuals' in sen tence No. 2. Now an intervening sentence is an impediment to the perception of the parallelism. The second sentence might have started thus:—"As appearing in individuals, this propensity—"; and the present sentence might have answered to the construction,—"As manifested in communities, to it may be ascribed—". 5. "A hundred generations have passed away since the first "great national emancipation, of which an account has come down "to us." The last clause is a specimen of the disjointing effect of our prevailing relative construction. The sentence is unnecessary; the parade of the hundred generations' does not add to the force of the passage; still less should it have the prominence of the subject of a sentence. 66 6. "We read in the most ancient of books that a people bowed "to the dust under a cruel yoke, scourged to toil by hard taskmasters, not supplied with straw, yet compelled to furnish the daily "tale of bricks, became sick of life, and raised such a cry as pierced "the heavens." A well-managed picture of distress. It passes the limits of poetic pathos, to answer an oratorical purpose. 7. "The slaves were wonderfully set free; at the moment of "their liberation they raised a song of gratitude and triumph; but, "in a few hours, they began to regret their slavery, and to reproach 66 'the leader who decoyed them away from the savory fare of the "house of bondage to the dreary waste which still separated them "from the land of milk and honey." Well-formed in every respect; the increasing length and growing impressiveness of the members, together with the flowing cadence, are such as to realize Addison's best ideal of a sentence. 8. 9. "Since that time the history of every great deliverer has "been the history of Moses re-told. Down to the present time, "rejoicings like those on the shore of the Red Sea have ever been "speedily followed by murmurings, like those at the Waters of "Strife." Excepting the gross exaggeration of historical facts, nothing could be more happily expressed than these two sentences. The balanced arrangement is perfect, and yet not painfully obtrusive. 10, 11. "The most just and salutary revolution must produce "much suffering. The most just and salutary revolution cannot "produce all the good that [not 'which' for a wonder) had been expected from it by men of uninstructed minds and sanguine tem"pers." Exemplifies Macaulay's commendable defiance of the old conventions against repeating the same words. 66 EX. XV.] CHAIN OF REASONING. -CAMPBELL. 335 12. "Even the wisest cannot, while it is still recent, weigh quite "fairly the evils which it has caused against the evils which it "has removed." But for the parallelism with the sentence following, the burdensome relative 'which' might have been omitted. Even as it is, the participial form might be used; 'the evils caused by it,' the evils removed by it.' 18. "For the evils (which it has caused) 'caused by it' are felt, " and the evils (which it has removed) 'removed by it' are felt no "longer." This passage comes under the popular and interesting exposition of truths imperfectly defined, and therefore serviceable for rhetorical effect (p. 133). Extract XV.—A short extract is next given to show the nicety required in stating a chain of reasoning (p. 210). It is from Camp-. bell's Rhetoric. He is discussing the circumstances instrumental in operating on the passions. "The first is probability, which is now considered only as an "expedient for enlivening passion." The second clause is merely to guard against supposing that probability is here considered in all its bearings; it would be better dispensed with, the complexity of the exposition requiring the dismissal of all superfluous statements. 66 "Here again there is commonly scope for argument. Probabil"ity results from evidence, and begets belief. Belief invigorates 66 our ideas. Belief raised to the highest becomes certainty. Cer"tainty flows either from the force of the evidence, real or apparent, that is produced; or without any evidence produced by the speaker, from the previous notoriety of the fact. If the fact be. "notorious, it will not only be superfluous in the speaker to attempt to prove it [confusion of 'it-s'] but it will be pernicious to "his design. The reason is plain. By proving, he supposeth it "questionable, and by supposing, actually renders it so to his audience: he brings them from viewing it in the stronger light "of certainty, to view it in the weaker light of probability: in lieu "of sunshine he gives them twilight." Considerable study is requisite to disentangle this train of argumentation. The reasoning appears to return to itself. We at last discover the author's real thesis to be, the importance of Belief, or Conviction, in making people feel; whence it is desirable to do whatever will give conviction, and avoid whatever will shake it. If we have only probability, we should nourish, and not impair, that probability. And with |