A third division might be made as follows:- Children should render obedience and love to their parents. 1. Because they should do what is right. 2. Because in this way they secure their own happiness. 3. Because God has commanded them to love their parents. It may be said of the first part of this division, that it has no particular reference to the object of the writer. It is a truth of general application, and may with equal propriety be assigned in enforcing any other duty, as well as that of filial obedience. It is also implied in the other heads, since children do what is right, when, in obedience to God's command, they seek to secure their own happiness.* In the divisions made in the mind of the writer in forming his plan, he may present them as independent topics, to be united by the reasoning which he employs in support of each; or as distinct propositions, each of which has a particular bearing on what he purposes to prove or to advance. Example of Independent Topics. ON CHARITY. Senses in which it is used in Scripture. The kindred virtues with which it is allied. Its operation on individuals. On Society. Field of action extended by Christianity. Example of Distinct Propositions. 1. Charity employed in the Scriptures to denote all the good affections which we should bear to one another. 2. Charity the most important duty enjoined in Holy Writ. 3. Charity is an active principle. 4. Charity does not give every man an equal title to our love. 5. Charity produces peculiar and important effects on individual character. Exercises. The importance of a good education. Happiness founded on rectitude of conduct. Virtue man's highest interest. The misfortunes of men mostly chargeable on themselves. The question may arise, says Mr. Newman, from whose valuable treatise on Rhetoric the above directions are principally derived, Is it of importance distinctly to state the plan which is pursued in treating any subject? To this question he replies, that in the treatment of intricate subjects, where there are many divisions, and where it is of importance that the order and connection of each part should be carefully observed, to state the divisions is the better course. But it is far from being essential. Though we never should write without forming a distinct plan for our own use, yet it may often be best to let others gather this plan from reading our productions. A plan is a species of scaffolding to aid us in erecting the building. When the edifice is finished, we may let the scaffolding fall. The soul is immortal. God is eternal. Omniscience and omnipresence of the Deity. The importance of order in the distribution of time. The influence of devotion on the happiness of mankind. The real and solid enjoyments of life. The vanity of wealth. Nothing formed in vain. Remark. The plan, or the right division of a composition, should be a prominent object of attention and study. The young writer will find it a very useful exercise, in all his compositions, to lay down his plan first, before writing. In this way habits of consecutive thinking will be formed, and a principle of order established in the mind, which will be imparted to every subject of its contemplation. LXX. AMPLIFICATION. Amplification may be defined an enlargement, by various examples and proofs. Various are the ways in which writers amplify, or enlarge, upon the propositions which they advance. The ingenuity of the writer may here have full play, providing that he do not violate the unity of his subject. There are, however, some general principles which the student should have in view in the performance of such an exercise. The principal object of amplification is to exhibit more fully the meaning of what has been advanced. This may be done as follows: 1. By formal definitions and paraphrases of the propositions forming the heads of a subject. This is particularly requisite when the words employed in the proposition are ambiguous, new, or employed differently from their common acceptation. 2. By presenting the proposition in various forms of expression, avoiding absolute tautology, and showing in what general or restricted sense the words employed should be received, explaining the manner, also, in which to guard against mistakes. 3. By giving individual instances, explanatory of the general proposition. 4. By similes, comparisons, antitheses, and historical allusions. Writings which are designed to excite emotions, and to influence the will, require a more extended amplification than those which are argumentative, or those addressed directly to the understanding. In the former case, it is desirable that the mind should be led to dwell on what is presented to it, and to notice whatever is fitted and designed to excite the desired emotion. Hence, copiousness of detail, and a full and minute statement of attending circumstances, are required. But an argument should be stated concisely and simply, excepting only when it is in itself abstruse and complex, and when it is addressed to minds uncultivated and unaccustomed to connected reasonings. In such cases, even an argument may, with propriety, be amplified or enlarged. The successful exercise of amplification depends, 1. Upon extent and command of knowledge; 2. On the power of illustration; 3. On definiteness of thought in our reasonings; 4. On copiousness of expression. [The subjects of the Exercises, in various parts of this volume, will present a sufficient opportunity for the student to practise the art of amplification.] LXXI. ILLUSTRATION OF A SUBJECT. Illustration properly signifies the rendering clear what is obscure or abstruse. It is often the case, that subjects for consideration are presented which at first view appear to afford no avenue by which they may be approached. All appears dark around them; the subjects themselves appear isolated and distinct from any form of close examination. But as they are revolved in the mind, some connecting point is discovered, in which they may at last be seen to be united or closely allied to other subjects, and plain and clear deductions and inferences may be drawn from them. The process by which the illustration of such subjects may be effected, is thus explained by Mr. Jardine, in his remarks on what he calls "The Fourth Order of Themes." * "To investigate, is, in the original sense of the word, to search out for an absent object, by discovering and following out the traces which it has left * Jardine's "Outlines of a Philosophical Education," page 322. in the path over which it has passed. Thus, we attempt to discover a person who has concealed himself, by marking his footsteps towards the place of his retreat; and on the same principle, the hound may be literally said to investigate the track of the fox, by pursuing the scent, which remains on the line along which the latter had directed his flight. * "To these familiar processes may be compared the keen and earnest search of the mind, in its endeavors to ascertain the unknown causes and principles of things. Indeed, the perplexed anxiety which the set-dog often exhibits in the search of game, affords a striking example of the careful, anxious, and occasionally disappointed state of mind which the philosopher frequently experiences in his researches after truth. Trusting to a persuasion, natural to the human mind, that every effect must have a cause, and that the connection between causes and their effects is constant and ́uniform, the student of nature proceeds through the labyrinth of phenomena, guided by the chain which associates every event he witnesses with some prior event, which he infers must have preceded it, until at length he arrives at that ultimate point, which marks the boundary of physical causation, and limits the researches of philosophy. "Suppose, for example, he proposes, as an object of investigation, to discover the state of Egypt in respect to government, science, and art, in the time of Moses, and the only datum given, is this single fact- that fine linen existed in Egypt at that period. In what manner should the student be directed to proceed? He must begin with directing his attention closely to this fact as an effect, and then consider that fine linen that is, fine comparatively to other fabrics at that time-must be formed of fine threads, which can only be made of fine flax, which must also have gone through various acts of preparation, in which many workmen are employed, before the threads could be made into fine linen. The production of fine flax supposes an improved state of agriculture, and the raising of many other kinds of grain, wheat, barley, &c.,- to support the cultivators of flax, and the artists who form it into cloth. In no country can flax be the sole article of cultivation. It may be, then, certainly inferred, that, in the time of Moses, the art of agriculture, and the arts connected with it, had arrived at considerable perfection. Returning again to the datum, fine linen can be woven only in a fine loom, which must be accommodated to the fine texture of the threads; and a fine loom cannot be made without much skill in the arts of working metal and wood. The former is extracted; with great labor, from ores, dug from the bowels of the earth, and must go through many difficult and laborious * The following remarkable instance of the wonderful powers of reasoning possessed by the aborigines of this country, is presented to the student, to enable him to prosecute similar inquiries to a satisfactory result. The extract is from "Thatcher's Lives of the Indians, Owing partly to his organization, doubtless, as well as to his mode of living from childhood up, the senses of the Indian are extremely acute. It is related, in modern times, that a hunter, belonging to one of the western tribes, on his return home to his hut one day, discovered that his venison, which had been hung up to dry, had been stolen. After taking observations on the spot, he set off in pursuit of the thief, whom he traced through the woods. Having gone a little distance, he met some persons, of whom he inquired, whether they had seen a little, old white man, with a short gun, accompanied by a small dog, with a short tail. They replied in the affirmative; and upon the Indian assuring them that the man thus described had stolen his venison, they desired to be informed how he was able to give such a minute description of a person he had never seen. The Indian replied thus: The thief is a little man, know by his having made a pile of stones to stand upon, in order to reach the venison from the height I hung it, standing on the ground. That he is an old man, I know by his short steps, which I have traced over the dead leaves in the woods; that he is a white man, I know by his turning out his toes when he walks, which an Indian never does; his gun, I know to be short, by the mark the muzzle made in rubbing the bark of the tree where it leaned; that his dog is small, I know by his tracks, and that he has a short tail, I discovered by the mark it made in the dust where he was sitting, at the time that his master was taking down the venison.' I processes before it becomes malleable. The latter, also, must undergo much preparation before it can go into the hands of the carpenter; and the loom itself is a complex machine, supposing great skill and progress of the mechanical arts in Egypt at the time of Moses. The weaving of fine linen, too, supposes that artists, by imitation and ex ample, have acquired skill and dexterity in that art; and such perfection cannot be expected in any country, till a division of labor- the greatest instrument of improvement in all the arts-be in some degree established. The skilful weaver must be wholly occupied in making fine linen; and, therefore, there must exist many other artists employed in providing food, clothes, and lodging, - the necessaries and conveniences of life. Before the arts could have made such progress in any country, men must have acquired much knowledge of facts and events, by observation and experience; and have laid the foundation of general knowledge, by speculating on means of improving the arts; on removing the obstacles which retard their progress, and in opening up prospects of higher degrees of perfection. Farther, without taking up time to follow the natural and connected pro gress of the arts from their rude to their more perfect state, - I conclude this process of investigation with observing, that there can be little progress either in art or science in any country, without the existence of a supreme, controlling power, in some or other of its forms; by which men are compelled to live in peace and tranquillity, and the different orders of society' are prevented from encroaching on each other, by every individual being kept in his proper station. No arts or division of labor, -no fine linen or fine workmanship of any kind, can be found in those nations which live in continual warfare, either among themselves, or with their neighbors. Thus, by such a continued chain of regular and progressive deductions, proceeding from the datum with which it began, and without information from any other quarter, we have sufficient reason to believe, that, at the time of Moses, Egypt was a great and populous country; that the arts and sciences had made considerable progress, and that government and laws were established. Subjects for illustration. What may be learned of the state of Greece, and of the character of that nation at the time when Homer wrote the Iliad, without drawing information from any other source than from the Iliad itself? What was the state of the Highlands of Scotland, as indicated by the poems of Ossian ? Are there any marks in these poems of a later origin than that generally assigned to them? What were the causes which produced an absolute government at Rome under Augustus? What occasioned the conspiracy of Catiline? Is the character of Hannibal, in Livy, supported by the narrative he has given of his transactions? What were the grounds upon which the Trojans trusted to Simon's account of the wooden horse? What are the difficulties which occur in forming a standard of taste? In what sense is poetry called an imitative art? What are the proofs by which Horne Tooke confirms his theory of the origin of prepositions and conjunctions in the English language? What are the standards by which we judge of the perfection of one language above another? What are the causes which render it difficult for the student to acquire a habit of attention? What was the origin of the present political parties in the United States? |