judge not by the eye, but by the ear, we shall find that the musical effect of one or two short unaccented words at the end of a sentence is precisely the same as that of one or two unaccented syllables. Thus: "on account of it" in euphony is the same as "company;" "by means of it" has the same euphonic effect as "tragedy," "beneficence," or any other dactylic word; "truth of," "depth of," are trochaic, and are equal in tone to "virtue," "goodness.'

In forming the conclusions of clauses or sentences, it would be a great mistake to seek always for sonorous words. It might be tolerable in oratory or elevated writing, but it would be almost certain to be tedious. As in the course of the sentence long and short clauses must be intermingled, so at the close there should be such a rhythmical termination as may best conduce to an elegant variety. This is essential to true harmony, and after all it is better to be even rough and harsh than effeminate, languid, or monotonous.

CHAPTER IV.

TRANSITIONS.

§ 285. HARMONY IN GENERAL.

ELEGANCE of style refers not only to the choice and arrangement of words, but also to the management of the work as a whole, its introduction, the statement of the different arguments, and the transition from one topic to another.

§ 286. THE INTRODUCTION.

The introduction will be more fully considered under the head of method, and needs but a brief notice in this place. An elegant introduction is neither too abrupt nor too much prolonged. It is managed in such a way that the reader is drawn on gently and gradually towards the discussion of the subject. The writer who is most conspicuous for easy grace in this respect is Addison.

§ 287. TRANSITIONS.

The same care must be exercised in the introduction of the various divisions of arguments, and the writer must study the best way by which the attention of the reader may be transferred from the conclusion of one topic to the beginning of another. This is called transition.

In didactic or scientific works the chief and, indeed, the sole consideration is perspicuity, and here the presentation of topics should be as direct and strongly marked as possible. The divisions and subdivisions also should be made very prominent, and every new argument should be distinctly and clearly stated. But in those writings where the higher qualities of style are sought after a different course must be adopted. In these the argument must of course be carefully elaborated, and made as effective as possible; but the divisions of the subject must be so managed that the reader may pass from one to another without too much abruptness.

Abrupt transitions are found most frequently in sermons. It once was the common fashion for the preacher to state the whole argument at the outset by way of introduction, a course that has been followed but seldom indeed in any other species of composition. This practice is not so common now, but it is by no means given up. Another fashion, equally inelegant, still prevails it is a transition to new topics by means of the words "secondly," "thirdly," " fourthly," etc. The practice is so common that objections are seldom or never made; yet no public lecturer or journalist or magazine writer or essayist would think of adopting it as a rule, nor would any advocate before a jury, or any Parliamentary orator.

§ 288. THE FORMAL TRANSITION.

The transition may be considered as of two kinds: first, the formal; and, secondly, the elegant.

The formal transition is characterized by the employment of certain words or forms of speech by which it is directly announced. These are appropriate to didactic, scientific, and argumentative works, and consist of such terms as the following: "First," "secondly," thirdly," etc.; "again," "yea, more," 99 66 once more," moreover," "besides," "but this is not all,” "and further."

66

A good example of the formal transition is found in the following extract from De Quincey's essay on Homer and the Homeridæ :

"The first class of arguments, therefore, for the sanity of the existing Homer, is derived from language. Our second argument we derive from the ideality of Achilles."

$289. THE ELEGANT TRANSITION.

In the elegant transition, on the contrary, such formal statements are carefully avoided, and the writer seeks to transfer the attention of the reader to a fresh topic in such a manner that there shall be no abruptness, but that the new one shall seem to grow out of the old.

An example of this may be found in De Quincey's essay on Style, in which he proceeds to show the effect of the publication of books upon general literature. The new topic is introduced thus:

"Did the reader ever happen to reflect upon the idea of publication-an idea we call it; because, even in our own times, with all the mechanic aids of steam-presses, etc., this object is most imperfectly approached, and is destined, perhaps, forever to remain an unattainable ideal."

Another example of transition by the same author is as follows:

"Such being the state of preparation, what was the result? These were the words which concluded our last essay. We must acknowledge that it had fallen far below the standard of our experience."

...

The following passage affords another example:

"Mutual service in endless gradation is clearly the world's great law. In the natural grouping of human life the same rule is found. It is not similarity, but dissimilarity that constitutes the qualification for heartfelt union among mankind; and the mental affinities resemble the electric, in which like poles repel, while the unlike attract."—MARTINEAU.

The transition is here eloquently made from "mutual service" in nature to the same thing among men.

The same thing may be seen in digressions, which, to be effective, should always be the outgrowth of the subject; and more especially in the return to the subject which must follow such digressions.

An example of the formal kind may be found in the following from De Quincey:

"Here let us retrace the course of our speculations, lest the reader should suppose us to be wandering."

A more elegant example is furnished by the same author, who, after a long digression upon German prose, Acts of Parliament, Mr. Pitt, Ariadne's clew, and the tricks of a funambulist, returns at last to his proper subject with these words:

"We might have made our readers merry with the picture of German prose, but we must not linger. It is enough to say that it offers the counterpole to the French style. . . . But these faults—are they in practice so wearisome and exhausting as we have described them?"

$290. PARAGRAPHS.

Paragraphs are the smaller portions into which composition is divided, and each one is usually occupied with a subordinate head of the argument. The whole subject of transition has therefore an especial reference to these.

But the paragraph has also other uses, for it has grown of late to be a distinct department of writing, and is now almost as important to the newspaper as the leading article. It is used chiefly for the following purposes:

To give intelligence.

To answer an opponent.

To give the essence of an argument.

To attack.

To defend.

The importance which it has acquired causes it to receive special attention, and the good "paragraphist" is as much appreciated, and at the same time as rare, as the good essayist.

§ 291. THE CONCLUSION.

From the examples above given, it will be seen that transitions from one topic to another refer not only to the introductions of paragraphs, but also to their conclusions. In addition to these, attention must be paid to the general conclusion. An elegant treatment of this requires that it should be neither too formal, nor too abrupt, nor too greatly protracted. The writer who aims to introduce his subject with an attractive ease will seek also to withdraw it in such a way as to leave a pleasing impression.

CHAPTER V.

WORD PAINTING AND ONOMATOPOEIA.

292. WORD PAINTING.

RHETORIC, under its conception as belles-lettres, and as a fine art, may be considered as analogous sometimes to painting, and at other times to music. It assimilates itself with the art of painting where a portrayal is made by vivid description, so that the scene lives before the mind, and the artist can easily reproduce it to the eye. The truth of this resemblance is expressed by the very term commonly applied to this kind of writing, "word painting." Sir Walter Scott's trial of Effie Deans and Macaulay's trial of Warren Hastings are well-known examples. In the following passage this is well illustrated:

...

"The noonday sun came slanting down the rocky slopes of La Riccia. Purple and crimson and scarlet, like the curtains of God's tabernacle, the rejoicing trees sank into the valley in showers of light, every separate leaf quivering with buoyant and burning life; each as it turned to reflect or transmit the sunbeam, first a torch and then an emerald. Far up into the recesses of the valley the green vistas arched like the hollows of mighty waves of some crystalline sea, with the arbutus flowers dashed along their flanks for foam, and silver flakes of orange spray tossed into the air around them, breaking over the gray walls of rock into a thousand separate stars, fading and kindling alternately as the weak wind let them fall. Every glade of grass burned like the golden floor of heaven, opening in sudden gleams as the foliage broke and closed above it, as sheet-lightning opens in a cloud at sunset; the motionless masses of dark rock-dark though flushed with scarlet lichen-casting their quiet shadows across its restless radiance, the fountain underneath them filling its marble hollow with blue mist and fitful sound, and over all the multitudinous bars of amber and rose, the sacred clouds that have no darkness, and only exist to illumine, were seen in fathomless intervals between the solemn and orbed repose of the stone-pines, passing to lose themselves in the last, white, blinding lustre of the measureless line where the Campagna melted into the blaze of the sea. "-RUSKIN.

293. THE MUSIC OF WORDS.

Rhetoric presents an analogy not only to painting, but also to music. This is brought about when the writer devotes